Shimla, October 14
The confusion created due the adverse reaction of the Congress to the advancement of assembly polls in the state may be cleared during the visit of the Election Commissioners here on October 16.

Chief election commissioner (CEC) M. Gopalaswamy will be accompanied by two other members, Navin Chawala and S.Y.Kureshi. They are visiting the state to oversee the poll arrangements but Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who maintains that government was not consulted before finalising the poll schedule, is likely to take up the matter with the commission.

Meanwhile, Virbhadra Singh and two senior ministers, Kaul Singh and Sat Mahajan, who returned from Delhi this afternoon held a meeting to finalise the stand to be taken by the government before the Election Commission. They held discussions with the officers concerned.

He also called on Governor V.S.Kokje at Raj Bhavan. The two were together for about 40 minutes.

They also went through all the documents presented by the government and the party before the commission on the issue. They will again fly to Delhi tomorrow with the copies of the documents and hand these over to in charge of party affairs in Himachal R.K.Dhawan so that the high command could decide the future course of action to be adopted on the basis of record.

After finalising the stand the Chief Minister and other leaders will return to the state capital tomorrow and take up the matter with the commission on Tuesday. While the Congress is not worried about the first phase of polling in the three tribal segments scheduled for November 14, it has reservations over the second phase in which voting will take place in the remaining 65 seats on December 19. Apart from the fact that an early poll will curtail the term of the 10th Vidhan Sabha by more than two months, the government also sees weather as a problem during the peak winter.

Kullu, October 14
The surprise announcement of Assembly elections in the state has put the Kullu Dasehra festival committee in a peculiar situation. VIPs names already decided for the inaugural and closing functions would not be given invitation now in order to avoid the violation of the ‘elections code of conduct’.

The vice-chairman of the Dasehra committee and the DC here had approached the Election Commission for permission to allow the committee to invite the decided chief guests for the festival. DC Abhishek Jain said as per the traditions, the Governor of the state usually inaugurated the festival and for the closing ceremony the Chief Minister was the chief guest. He said the administration would act according to the advice of the Election Commission.

The forthcoming elections would also deprive the district of many sops that would have been announced during the Dasehra functions by the Chief Minister. The much needed national highway by-pass bridge at Jia, constructed at the cost of Rs. 12.50 crore, which was already delayed by more than two years to be functional, was to be inaugurated by the Chief Minister during the Dasehra visit.

Similarly, the work was being done on a war footing to complete the Rs1.31-crore Dev Sadan at Dhalpur as the invitation by the Kardars was accepted by the Chief Minister to inaugurate on the last day of Dasehra. The Nazrana given to all participating Devi-Devtas in Dasehra was to be enhanced but now the announcement would be restricted due to the code of conduct.

Meanwhile, the DM here has imposed section 144 in the town from October 21 to 27. The government press note issued here today said the carrying of arms and ammunition by anyone except the police, Army, ITBP and SSB personnel, would be banned during the festival.

Kangra, October 14
State BSP convener Major Vijay Singh Mankotia has demanded that a contempt case be registered against Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh for questioning the decision of the Election Commission of India to announce holding of the polls in two phases this year. Mankotia raised the issue while addressing a press conference at Dharamsala yesterday. He expressed astonishment over the Chief Minister’s remarks as to what had compelled the Election Commission to announce the holding of poll two months earlier than scheduled.

He said questioning of the EC decision was allegedly indicating the aging factor of the Chief Minister. He ridiculed the Chief Minister for visiting the USA under the pretext of singing a MoU with the US authorities. He said none of the earlier Chief Ministers had ever visited other countries under this pretext despite the fact the state had been getting loans from the World Bank since 1980. He said it was the job of senior bureaucrats to sign the MoUs with the USA and not that of the Chief Minister.

The BSP leader said his party would not issue an election manifesto but would go with an agreement with the people of the state for their wellbeing and overall development of the state in different fields if the BSP came to power and the agreement would not be violated. Mankotia said the BSP would give preference to all national highways in the state. Besides, pressure would be mounted on the Central Government to convert the Pathankot-Jogindernagar railway track into a broad gauge one. 

Hamirpur, October 14
BJP in charge of Himachal Pradesh Satya Pal Jain has said the “ Election Commission of India is a constitutional body and the Chief Minister should honour its decision to announce early Assembly elections in the state”.

Addressing mediapersons here today Jain said :“Virbhadra Singh should welcome the announcement of poll and face the elections with dignity and bravery since the Election Commission has fulfilled its constitutional obligation and nobody has the right to interfere in its working, not even the Supreme Court.” He said “the CM should use a dignified language towards the Election Commission and in case he urges it to postpone the elections the BJP also has the right to approach it.” 

Nahan, October 14
Promising to take action against corrupt people, state BSP convener Vijai Singh Mankotia today said it would order a judicial probe against Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh for accumulating money through “corrupt means” after coming to power in the state.

Addressing a public meeting at Haripurdhar, he said on coming to power, it would order a judicial probe against Virbhadra Singh and his wife MP Pratibha Singh for their role in “corrupt practices”.

Referring to the Chief Minister’s remarks on the Election Commission's decision to hold early elections, he said the Congress party had been rattled by the announcement and was trying to get the polling dates shifted to early next year.

Mankotia accused both the ruling Congress and the BJP of failing to fulfill the expectations of the common man. He said this time people would vote for the BSP.

Asserting that the party would lodge a complaint with the Election Commission against the Sirmaur district administration for not allowing his helicopter to land at Sarahan in the district, he said his public meeting was called off there due to this.

He also cautioned the administration from playing into the hands of certain politicians and said they would pay a heavy price for that. — UNI

Shimla, October 14
As many as 50 persons have been fined by the local Municipal Corporation for smoking and spitting in public places.

The crackdown follows a recent High Court order directing the corporation to bring those violating the ban on smoking and spitting in public places to book, its joint commissioner O.P. Kant said. Most of those fined were found smoking and spitting in public places like The Mall and The Ridge last week in violation of the Himachal Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1994. The lawbreakers were fined Rs 50 to 500, he said.— PTI

Nahan, October 14
The driver and conductor of a truck (HP 17-0896) were killed on-the-spot when their truck fell into a khad near Chillon temple in Sataun area last night.

As per information, driver Kapil and conductor Joginder Singh, both residents of Chopal area, were found dead in the Chillon khad this morning. Sources said both succumbed to their injuries before they could be rushed to the hospital. The truck was loaded with sand and was on its way to Chopal when it met with an accident.

The bodies were handed over to their families after a postmortem. Paonta police officials said the matter was being investigated.

Hamirpur, October 14
The Sarva Kalyankari Sabha today organised its 7th annual function at Chowki Jambal, near Hamirpur, in which top BJP leaders and Editor-in-chief of Punjab Kesari Vijay Chopra was present. Former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, BJP in charge Satya Pal Jain and state BJP chief Jai Ram Thakur, besides others, attended this programme.

Speaking on this occasion Vijay Chopra said “social and human service is the best service and every person should keep himself ready to devote his life to society and human service.”

BJP leaders praised the sabha for helping poor and needy persons.

President of the sabha Rajinder Rana said the sabha had provided scholarships to 700 poor students and helped 1270 poor families till now.

The sabha honoured Arjun awardee Vijay Kumar with Hamir Ratan while Prem Chand, Milap Chand, Desh Raj Sharma, Vijay Saroch, Rajinder Rajan, Pushpa Thakur, Ratan Chand and Pinko Devi were awarded the Hamir Gaurav award for their achievements in different fields.

Mandi, October 14
With the announcement of Assembly elections in the state, ticket aspirants have started gearing up their workers and cadres, particularly in the tribal segments of Lahaul-Spiti, Kinnaur and Bharmour where elections will be held in the first phase. The HP Tribal Employees Federation has welcomed the announcement saying the holding elections on November 14 would help both local residents and employees involved in the election process in the landlocked snowbound areas. The Lahaul-Spiti segment has 22,484 voters, including 11,387 males, 11,100 females and 326 service selectors.

Raghuvir Singh Thakur, sitting Lahaul-Spiti Congress MLA who is strong contender for the party ticket, said: “The announcement is welcome but it came as a surprise as both candidates and parties will have just one month to prepare for poll. It is for the first time that the tribal people will get an opportunity to elect their MLAs before the rest of the state,” he said.

Tribal leaders of the BJP have also welcomed the decision. Former PWD minister and Lahaul-Spiti BJP leader Ram Lal Markande said the BJP had been demanding that elections in tribal segments should be held simultaneously with the rest of the state. The 13,000-ft-high Sach Pass closes road approach to Pangi areas in the Bharmour segment, the 13,050 Rohtang Pass cuts Lahaul valley and 15,000-ft-high Kunjam Pass cuts Spiti from valley after mid-November due to snowfall.

Solan, October 14
With the state government having failed to implement the much-hyped elementary education in letter and in spirit, the students are at the receiving end. Instead of finding a solution to the feud between TGTs and school-cadre lectures the directorate has complicated the situation by issuing as many as 14 notifications.

In the latest notification, the under secretary has now directed the TGTs to continue teaching in the higher secondary schools until the government ensured that the lecturers were told to teach classes IX and X.

As per the norms of elementary education, TGTs were supposed to be sent to elementary schools and consequently the school cadre lecturers were to teach classes IX and X. But with either of them refusing to accept the switchover, the Education Department has been caught in a fix.

The government had constituted a six-member committee comprising a nominee of the state government, dean of studies, HPU; deputy director, Sirmaur; as the member secretary, presidents of the School Lecturers Association, the Science Masters Association and the Promtee School Lecturers Association on September 5 to resolve the issue.

The committee was supposed to study feasibility of this arrangement taking into view the existing system of other states where elementary education was being implemented. But even before the committee could ponder over the nitty-gritty of the system the Education Department suspended the president of the HP School Lecturers Association on the grounds that the association had messed up the system.

Ruing this decision the association said the department had violated the norms of the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) by directing lecturers to teach classes IX and X. As per the NCTE norms only trained teachers could teach these classes but the norms were being violated by directing the lecturers, some of whom were not trained, to teach these classes.

President of the association Ashwani said they were trying to ensure that the classes did not suffer with this feud between the lecturers and TGTs but it was the onus of the Education Department to ensure that norms were fulfilled and funds drawn for implementing elementary education were put to good use.

Nurpur, October 14
The Himachal Pradesh Employees’ Confederation has accused Virbhadra Singh’s government of filling vacant posts in government departments on a contract basis and by not following recruitment and promotion rules. State president of the federation, Subash Sharma, in a press conference alleged that the government had made backdoor recruitments which promoted nepotism in the state.

He said the government had failed to bring out the truth of the so called ‘hard disc’ for which Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had alleged backdoor appointments during the previous Dhumal government’s regime. Earlier, the Dhumal government had constituted the Shukla Committee to investigate recruitments through chits by the Virbhadra Singh government during 1994-1998. He has demanded a white paper on the present positions of both.

Sharma said the present government had ignored the State Public Service Commission and the Subordinate Services Selection Board which were meant for filling up vacancies of gazetted and non-gazetted employees in the state. Sharma also rued that action had not been taken against those employees who had campaigned during the Lok Sabha byelection of Hamirpur constituency a few months ago and have urged the State Election Commission to take action against them.

Palampur, October 14
Slate mines in the Ghaniara and Yol Camp areas of Kangra district are 200-year-old. Britishers were the first to open slate mines in the valley in 1808. Later, these were taken over by the Kangra Valley Slate Company, which continued mining till Independence. After 1950, the Government of Punjab handed over the control of these mines to the panchayats and local bodies concerned. Government also allowed these panchayats to collect royalty on the sale of slates.

Till 1997, the Ghaniara panchayat was looking after the management of these mines. It had been receiving a large sum of money by way of royalty and was the richest panchayat in the state.

There are over 500 mining pits at Ghaniara and Yol Camp. Over 10,000 labourers were engaged in the industry here. The panchayat had employed over 40 supervisors to inspect mines and collect royalty.

In 1997, the state government closed down all slate mines rendering over 10,000 persons jobless. They are now hand to mouth and moving from pillar to post to earn their livelihood. Despite repeated requests, the government did not initiate any steps for their rehabilitation, sources said.

Resentment prevails in the Ghaniara and Yol areas over the alleged callous attitude of the state government towards the affected families. On the one hand, the government was granting licences for mining to business houses like Ambuja and ACC, on the other hand it has rendered thousands of persons jobless by closing the mines here, people say.

The Pollution Control Board had reportedly refused to grant pollution clearance certificate to the mines at Ghaniara, therefore the government was reportedly left with no alternative but to close down the mines here.

President of the Ghaniara panchayat said the board had adopted double standard by giving clearance to Ambuja and ACC at Darlaghat and Barmana, but refusing the same to Ghaniara mines. This despite the fact that the big companies used heavy machinery for mining and causing a lot of damage to the environment.