Shimla, May 7
Vigilance inquiries are likely to be ordered against senior ministers in the Virbhadra regime on the basis of the allegations made against them in the BJP charge sheet, which is now being probed by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau.

It is reliably learnt that the Vigilance Bureau has already shortlisted the names of four or five former ministers against whom there were specific charges in the BJP chargesheet.

The Vigilance Bureau is awaiting permission from the top bosses before the formal order for inquiry is issued by the Home Department.

Even though the names of practically all ministers in the Virbhadra regime had found mention in the BJP chargesheet, inquiries are likely to be ordered against only four or five of them.

After scrutinising the document in detail and getting information from its sources, the Vigilance Bureau is of the opinion that inquiries could be held against at least five ministers, against whom very specific charges have been made, said sources.

Though the chargesheet has names of several other Congress leaders against whom allegations have been made, there was no point pursuing these as the charges against them were very general.

Moreover, senior BJP leaders in the state are of the opinion that the government should not show any haste to order inquiries or register cases against former ministers and Congress leaders, lest a signal goes that they are acting out of political vendetta.

The chargesheet had also made serious allegations against Subhash Ahluwalia, former private secretary to Virbahdra Singh, and senior IPS officer and ADGP
B.S. Thind.

“Since separate Vigilance inquiries are already being held against the two officers who were close to the previous Congress regime, there is no need to hold a fresh probe against them,” said a senior police officer.

Serious allegations had been levelled against Congress ministers, including Singhi Ram, Kuldeep Kumar, Ram Lal Thakur, Kaul Singh Thakur and G.S. Bali in the chargesheet.

The BJP had submitted the chargesheet to Governor V.S. Kokje, seeking a CBI probe but there was no action.

Shortly after assuming power, the BJP regime had handed over the chargesheet to the Vigilance Bureau.

So far it is only former horticulture minister Singhi Ram who has been in trouble in the forged certificate case registered by the Vigilance against him and his daughter.

B.R. Rahi, a former chairman of the Himachal Board of School Education, was also arrested and interrogated.

Shimla, May 7
Chief electoral officer (CEC) Manisha Nanda has issued guidelines to the candidates and political parties in connection with the Hamirpur Lok Sabha byelection.

As per the guidelines, the code of conduct will be in operation in Hamirpur, Una, Kangra and Bilaspur districts where polling will be held on May 22.

The enforcement of code will not affect the ongoing programmes, which have actually started in the field before the announcement of the election.

Similarly, relief and rehabilitation measures areas affected by floods, droughts and other natural calamities can be started and continue and financial assistance or medical facilities could be provided to the terminally or critically ill persons with appropriate approvals.

Public places like maidans, helipads, rest houses would be available impartially to all parties and contesting candidates for holding meetings.

The local police authorities should be informed of the venue and time of the election meetings well in time and all necessary permissions taken.

If there are any restrictive or prohibitory orders in force in the place of the proposed meeting, these shall be respected. Exemption, if necessary, must be applied for and obtained well in time.

The assistance of the police should be obtained in dealing with persons disturbing meetings or otherwise creating disorder.

All workers must display badges or identity cards. Unofficial identity slips issued to voters shall be on plain (white) paper and not contain any symbol, name of the candidate or name of the party.

Restrictions on plying of vehicles during the campaign period and on the polling day must be fully obeyed.

Only persons with a specific valid authority letter from the Election Commission could enter any polling booth without any exemption.

No aspect of private life, not connected with public activities, of the leaders or workers of other parties could be permitted to be criticised.

Temples, mosques, churches, gurudwaras or any other place of worship could not be used for election propaganda

Demonstrations or picketing before the houses of individuals by way of protesting against their opinion or activities shall not be resorted to.

No one can make use of any individual’s land, building, compound wall and vehicles for hoisting flags, putting up banners, pasting notices or writing slogans without specific permission of the owner.

Processions along places at which another party is holding meetings should not be undertaken. Posters issued by other parties and candidates shall not be removed or defaced.

Posters, flags, symbols or any other propaganda material shall not be displayed in the place being used on the day of polling for distribution of identity slips or near polling booths.

Loudspeakers, whether static or mounted on moving vehicles, should not be used before 6 a.m. or after 10 p.m. and without written permission of the authorities concerned.

Shimla, May 7
Public works minister Gulab Singh said Rs 1,365 crore World Bank-funded project would put the road infrastructure development in the hill state on the fast track.

Addressing a review meeting of the Public Works Department here today he said under the project 435 km of road would be upgraded and another 2,000 km would be maintained and improved.

Providing road connectivity to every village was the top priority of the present government and he asked the officers to ensure timely completion of works.

The emphasis was also on ensuring quality in construction of projects and any negligence in execution of works would be viewed seriously.

The government would honour officers and officials who performed well but action would be taken against those found negligent in discharging their duties.

The minister said the Nabard had sanctioned 118 road projects, involving an expenditure of Rs 180 crore for the state, which would be completed soon.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna, started in 2000, by then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, projects worth Rs 2,146 crore had been sanctioned under the scheme.

The target was to connect all villages having population of 500 or more with roads by 2009, and those with population of more than 250 by 2012.

The government was according priority to maintenance and improvement of roads and a provision of Rs 50 crore had been made for this purpose in the budget.

He directed the department to prepare detailed project reports so that funds could be secured from the Central Government.

Secretary PWD Balram Sharma said there was a need to expand road network in rural areas as 90 per cent of the population lived in villages.

Shimla, May 7
Defending the move to field Anurag Thakur as the BJP candidate from Hamirpur, the BJP said today that it was certainly not a case of ‘parivarvad’ and the Congress had no moral right to rake up the issue.

Addressing a press conference here today, Satya Pal Jain, in charge of party affairs in Himachal, said Anurag had been fielded not because he happened to be the son of Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal but because he had worked for the party and made contribution in promoting cricket in the state.

Jain said it was the unanimous decision of the party to field Anurag, who would win by a record margin.

“We are fighting the Congress but we do not know whether the Congress leaders are fighting the BJP or each other,” he remarked.

Taking exception to the utterances and use of unparliamentary language by Congress leaders, especially Virbhadra Singh, Jain said the party should not vitiate the atmosphere in the hill state which till now had been politically, socially and culturally very high.

Jain also demanded that the Women Reservation Bill should be passed in both Houses during the coming monsoon session so that the next general election is contested with reservation for women. As BJP would ensure that the Bill was passed.

He lashed out at those who were trying to create hurdles and delay by talking of reservation for OBCs and other sections.

“They are using such excuses only as a weapon to defeat the Women Reservation Bill, to which they are opposed,” he said.

Hamirpur: State BJP chief Jai Ram Thakur claimed here on Wednesday that the byelection for Hamirpur would pave the way for the installation of a BJP government at the Centre.

He said “the issue of price rise had led to the defeat of the Congress in Punjab, Uttarakhand and Himachal and this would lead to its defeat in the present election too.”

He said the Congress had not been able to plan its election campaign till now with former CM Virbhadra Singh annoyed at being sidelined.

Palampur, May 7
Seema Sood, a postgraduate engineer (gold medalist) from BITS, Pilani (Rajasthan), has in a letter addressed to President of India Pratibha Patil sought permission for mercy killing bedridden as she was in a room for the past 13 years with her all body joints affected by arthritis. Her hips, shoulders and elbows were almost dead. Her wrists, fingers and feet had no movement. A Tribune team called on Seema Sood at here residence in Tika Aima village this evening.

Seema, who belonged to a poor family, said in the absence of any treatment her condition had gone worse in the past 10 years. She had no will to live in the present circumstances. She was operated upon nine years back for a knee ailment but the surgery had showed no improvement.

Now she has been advised knee replacement, which requires over Rs 10 lakh, something beyond her means as her 70-year-old mother was living from hand to mouth.

In tears, Seema said she lost her father in the year 2000. Her only brother was serving in the Cooperative Department at a meagre salary, and was not in a position to bear such a heavy expenditure.

Fed up with this life of endless pain, disease, Seema has implored the President to grant her plea. Inquiries revealed that Seema had requested the state government three years ago for financial help but failed to get any reply.

Though she also wrote a letter to the then Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, none came to her rescue. Now that her condition had gone worse, she was not fit even for surgery.

Local MLA Parveen Sharma called on Seema today and asked her to withdraw her appeal for mercy killing as Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal would bear all expenses of her treatment. Parveen Sharma claimed that he had already spoken to the Chief Minister in this regard.

Mandi, May 7
Thanks to the alienation of local communities from the forests and perpetuation of monoculture in the forest conservation in the state, the ill-equipped Forest Department is no match to the raging forest fires that consume a sizeable forest area and kill thousands species of vegetation during every dry summer and winter months in the state.

Apart from this, the government has yet to adopt a modern fire-fighting system like air-borne water sprinkling system to fight the forest fires.

“It is yet to put in practice fire-preventive measures, quelling myths about fire among local communities in the fire-prone jungles,” revealed experts.

The state government is talking about taking advantage of carbon credit for its green gold or forest wealth.

But a precious little is being done to save the state’s “green gold” worth Rs 1,000 crore as forest fires cause on an average a loss of over Rs 90 lakh to Rs 1 crore, besides an un-replaceable loss to the breeding of new species of plants during each dry months in the state every year,” experts warned.

Environmentalist, Kulbhushan Upmanyu said, “Locals are no stakeholders in forest management. They face alienation from forests due to wrong policies of forest management.”

Forest minister J.P. Nadda said, “The DFOs and ACFs in the areas concerned have been asked to inspect each and every fire-prone jungle and compliance had been assured. Funds are no hindrance.”

He asserted they are reaching out to the villagers, quelling myths about fires. “We are organising workshops in the sensitive areas. We are upgrading the system and reviewing the whole system as and where it is needed,” he added.

Nahan, May 7
A court has granted bail to six students arrested in connection with the suicide case of Trishana Negi, a student of the Himalayan Institute of Dental Sciences, Paonta.

However, three employees of the institute were refused bail in the case. This information was provided by Paonta DSP V.S. Thakur this evening. The name of all these persons had figured in the suicide note of Trishana Negi.

He said the court refused bail to Balvinder Kaur (warden of women’s hostel), Upender Singh Dhall (teacher) and Krishan Kumar Khetrapal (executive) and remanded them in judicial custody.

The students who got bail were Navjot Kaur, Aditi, Haranchal, Anoop Kaur, Ravneet Singh (all second-year students) and Ajita (first-year student).

Kangra, May 7
A mysterious flame is attracting people to the Pong Dam locality, near Batoli Fukarian village of this district, these days.

Around 10-inch-high flame has been burning bright for the past one week. To unravel the mystery behind the flame, an ONGC team is scheduled to arrive here on Thursday.

The flame was first noticed by a couple a week ago. The area generally remains submerged in the dam waters, but it’s dry these days due to lower level of water in the dam.

Dr James Peter, basin manager, ONGC, Dehra Dun, said a team of experts led by scientists of the chemistry department of the ONGC would visit the site on Thursday to assess the situation.

About the origin of the mysterious flame, he said, “It can be due to the burning of grass underneath the earth surface or can even be a genuine gas emission.” Everything would become clear after the ONGC team visited the site, he added.

He assured the people that best efforts would be made to make drinking water available in the summer.

Kangra, May 7
The state government approved a Rs 1.30-crore project for the Kangra Municipal Council for constructing a parking place, besides a shopping complex and a community hall adjacent to the council office in the heart of the town and 40 shops near the municipal stadium.

D.R. Choudary, executive officer of the municipal council, said in the first phase at a cost of Rs 31 lakh a parking place to accommodate at least 40 vehicles would be constructed on the ground floor near the municipal council office. This parking place would be completed by August.

He said in the second phase a shopping complex would be constructed on the first floor and in the third phase a community hall for holding social and other functions, including marriages, would be constructed on the second floor. The work on the second phase would start in August.

Choudary said if the state government fails to fund the project in the second and the third phase both storeys would be constructed under the self-financing scheme.

The municipal council stadium would be beautified and developed by constructing 40 shops on the eastern side opposite to the Ved Market and a seating capacity from behind the shops would be constructed in a stair case shape.

Kullu, May 7
“Banking at your doorstep”, a drive for financial inclusion by providing banking facility and financial services at an affordable price to a vast majority of the low-income population deprived of these facilities, Punjab National Bank (PNB), Kullu district, launched its IT-enabled biometric smart card-based banking at Lal Chand Prarthi Kala Kendra here recently.

Chief guest Vinod Rai, comptroller and auditor general of India, applauded the resilience and competitiveness of the Indian banking system to respond efficiently and quickly to the emerging global challenges but regretted that economic and technological benefits of the country’s development have not percolated to a vast section of the population.

This had resulted in their financial exclusion, which means lack of access to financial products such as bank accounts, credit, remittances and payment services, financial advisory services and insurance facilities.

K.C. Chakrabarty, chairman and managing director of the PNB, apprised that under IT enabled financial inclusion, the bank had identified 27 Pilot projects (20 in rural areas and 7 in urban areas) to be launched across 13 states in the Indo-Gangetic Belt.

Out of 20 rural Pilot projects, 5 Pilot projects have already been launched; this project at Kullu is 6th in the series. Around 1,000 PNB Bio Metric Smart Cards have been issued in 15 villages under this 6th Pilot project in Kullu.

Chakrabarty said the business correspondent/ facilitator with the help of web camera and biometric scanner would open the bank accounts and would issue biometric smart cards.

POS machines would be used to read/write smart cards, which also enable you to do your banking transactions. He will deposit your cash and make your payments at your doorsteps and would issue a receipt.

Shimla, May 7
With President Pratibha Patil arriving here on May 27, it is after a span of almost 12 years that the head of the state will stay at the Rashtrapati Niwas also known as ‘Retreat’ for almost a week.

The President is scheduled to arrive here on May 27 and will stay here till June 2. This will be her first visit to the state ever since she assumed office. Her programme was telephonically been conveyed to the state government.

There had been slight rescheduling of her visit as earlier she was to reach Shimla on May 23 but it had been postponed due to her engagements in Delhi. Her programmes during the stay here were yet to be chalked out.

Her predecessor, APJ Kalam did visit the ‘Queen of Hills’ on two separate occasions but only spent one night at the Retreat.

Retreat is the official residence of the President of India at Charabra, about
12 km from here.

K.R. Narayanan was the last President who had stayed at the Retreat in September 1996, for about a fortnight.

The Rashtarapti Niwas here had permanent staff, which takes care of the President whenever he or she arrives here, mostly in the summer months.

In fact, there is a separate helipad near Retreat, called Kalyani, which is for the exclusive use of the President.

Repeated requests by the state to allow the use of the helipad to others, including big hotel resorts, had been turned down by the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Shimla, May 7
Exhaustive research will be carried out to identify the heroes of the 1857 Revolution and their statues will be installed as a mark of respect to them.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal announced this while delivering his inaugural address at the two-day zonal conference of the Bhartiya Itihas Sankalan Samiti, which commenced here on Sunday evening, to mark the 150th year of the 1857 Revolution.

He said although Himachal happened to be a non-entity at that time but people from all areas of various erstwhile states had contributed their bit in giving momentum to the great revolution.

The state government would conduct in-depth research to identify the freedom fighters so that suitable memorials could be raised in recognition of their martyrdom, besides, maintaining the registers as a record and history to inspire the coming generations to remember the people who had sacrificed their lives.

He urged the samiti to provide necessary information with regard to the freedom fighters hailing from different parts of the state.

With the construction of this bridge the distance between Jawalamukhi and Una would be reduced by 10 km.

Mandi, May 7
The medical representatives’ union, HIMRA, urged the state government to lift the ban on their entry in government hospitals and fix the meeting hours for them with the doctors in the hospitals so that they can run their duties smoothly.

The MRs also urged the government to check the menace of spurious drugs and monopoly of “single-agent pharmaceutical companies” which had captured over 30-50 per cent drug business in the state.

Talking to mediapersons after they elected its new executive of the Mandi unit here yesterday, state general secretary, HIMRA, Surinder Thakur, said they would meet the health minister soon and request him to lift the ban imposed about five years ago on their entry into the hospitals.

The HIMRA leaders said the vested interests and certain dubious multinationals are dominating the drugs trade in the state.

The government must register each and every MR of the company so that fake drugs can be checked, they added.

Thakur demanded that all drugs should be included in the Drugs Price Control Act as the same drugs are being sold in the markets with different prices.

Over 30-50 per cent companies have no MRs which in turn not only deny employment opportunity to the unemployed youth, but they are evading tax and sell the “same branded drugs” at higher prices, he charged.

The government should get quotations from different companies in case of life saving drugs and ensure rational price structure for each drugs to check menace of black marketing and spurious drugs in the state.

The companies deduct the ESI fee from their salaries but they are not issuing the ESI card to the MRs.

Kangra, May 7
Himachali parents were better informed and more demanding of the schooling system, and they were more aware of the facilities provided to them which has resulted in better maintenance and upkeep of school buildings and equipment.

This has produced remarkable results in the state in the field of education. This was disclosed by Ashutosh Raina, a research scholar in the Department of Public Policy at John’s Hopkins University in the US, who is working on educational policies in India and abroad, while talking to The Tribune.

He said one of the striking findings of the PROBE (Public Report on Basic Education) survey was the contrast between Himachal and other states.

The studies revealed that the state has made remarkable progress toward universal elementary education and it thrives on social consensus regarding the need for education for all children.

He said parent support compulsory education, for both boys and girls. Between 1961 and 1994, the male literacy rate rose from 21 per cent to 94 per cent and in 2001 it remained on 86.2 per cent, and the female literacy rate rose from 9 per cent to 86 per cent and in 2001 it remained 86.08 per cent.

He said according to UIS survey Himachal ranks among the most educated states in India with highest literacy rate at Hamirpur district.

There were stories of villagers in Himachal resorting to spontaneous agitation, for example, blocking the road or threatening to boycott the elections, to obtain a new school or affect the transfer of negligent teachers.

Unlike other PROBE states, Himachal made a concerted effort to keep their
schools well staffed.

An average primary school has more than three teachers, instead of single-teacher schools more common, elsewhere.

The pupil to teacher ratio is 27 in Himachal; in other PROBE villages it ranges from 9 to 172.