Dharamsala, April 22
Leader of opposition Vidya Stokes said that the BJP had no moral right to level charges of corruption against the Congress or UPA government. While addressing a press conference at a hotel here this evening she said that the BJP national president Bangaru Laxman was caught accepting cash in a sting operation. Out of about 10 MPs caught in another sting operation accepting cash for asking questions in Parliament, six were that of the BJP. So the party has no right to level charges of corruption against the Congress, she said.

She also said that the BJP leaders were alleging that the present UPA government was weak in containing terrorism. However, the BJP prime ministerial candidate LK Advani during his stint as union home minister also failed to contain the terrorist attacks. It was during his stint as home minister that the terrorists attack Akshardham temple.

She also alleged that the present BJP government in the state was just taking claim of the development works carried out by the previous Congress government or the UPA government in the state.

When asked to comment about differences in opinion among the Congress leaders over allotting ticket to Narinder Thakur from Hamirpur, Vidhya said that the state leadership had sent a panel of four names to the party high command. However, initially the ticket was given to Madan Lal, a former cricketer. Since he developed ill health the ticket was later allotted to Narinder Thakur. It was a decision of party high command and we should respect it.

About the recent spat between the senior Congress leader GS Bali and HPCC president Kaul Singh, she said that it was minor exchange of arguments and would have no ramifications on the elections.

Vidya also expressed the hope since Chander Kumar managed to defeat Shanta Kumar the BJP stalwart in the last Lok Sabha elections, he would manage to repeat it against Rajan Sushant.

Shimla, April 22
Seven more candidates filed their nomination papers for the elections in the state today.

Thakur Singh filed his nomination papers for the Mandi constituency as a Rashtriya Raksha Dal candidate, while Som Nath entered the fray from the Shimla (SC) constituency as Bahujan Samaj Party candidate.

Three Independents: Dr Rajender Sharma, Sandeep Sharma, and Vivender Kumar filed nomination from the Hamirpur constituency and another Independent Dhani Ram from the Kangra constituency.

Meanwhile, Chief Electoral Officer Anil Kumar Khachi said the candidate put up by the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) from the Kangra constituency would be eligible for the allotment of “Bungalow” symbol under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.

He further stated that the candidate of Janata Dal (United) would also be eligible for the allotment of “Arrow” symbol. He said the LJP was a recognised party in the Bihar having “Bungalow” as reserved symbol and Janata Dal (United) was recognised in both Bihar and Jharkhand with “Arrow” as reserved symbol.

The Election Commission of India had accepted the request of the politicial parties and directed to allot the reserved symbols.

Bassi (Dharamsala), April 22
The BJP candidate from Hamirpur parliamentary constituency Anurag Thakur is targeting remotest areas as part of his election campaign. The youngest MP in the state today visited the remotest areas of Jaswan assembly constituency of Kangra district that falls in Hamirpur parliamentary constituency.

He visited Bassi, Suel Khad and Taka villages after trekking over hilly passages created by natural rivulets. The roads were non-existent in the area. While talking to The Tribune Anurag said that in this election he wanted to get in touch with the people who had never been approached by politicians earlier. The areas are remote and bereft of basic amenities. Interaction with people of these areas helps me understand their problems. If voted to power I would try to redress the problems of these areas, he said.

Being the first politician to approach them in this election Anurag was an attraction among the rural residents of remote areas. Clad in a trendy jean and shirt unlike other politicians Anurag concentrated on small corner meetings in villages and personal interactions with villagers during the campaigning. The rural women were at the forefront in listing their problems before their young MP.

While addressing the rural masses Anurag Thakur said that the UPA government had failed to check the rise in prices of essential commodities. The senior Congress leaders were juggling statistics that the inflation had reached near zero point. However, the fact is that prices of sugar and edible oils had reached record high. The sugar that is government controlled commodity is being sold in market at Rs 30 per kg and edible oils at over Rs 90 per kg.

The prices of other essential commodities have also risen beyond the reach of poor classes of the country. The cartels of traders have also reduced the weight of almost all commodities while keeping similar prices tags thus fleecing the poor people. However, the union government has failed to check the activities of cartels and protect the interests of poor people, he alleged.

Anurag also claimed that he managed to bring the issue of one rank one pension issue of ex-servicemen on the memorandum of the party.

Vikram Thakur, the state vice-president and former MLA from Jaswan and Kirpal Parmar for Rajya Sabha member were among other BJP leaders who accompanied Anurag Thakur during the election campaign.

Shimla, April 22
BJP candidate from the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat Anurag Thakur today served a legal notice on the spokesperson of the Hamirpur District Congress Committee (DCC) Joginder Thakur and the printer, publisher and editor of a vernacular daily for publishing a defamatory advertisement in the newspaper.

Convener of the state media cell of the BJP Ashok Kapatia said the notice had been served on the DCC chief and the newspaper to tender and publish an unqualified apology for having published the advertisement without verifying the facts. “In case they fail to do so, Anurag will be forced to initiate criminal and civil proceedings for defamation and recovery of damages for the loss of reputation,” Kapatia said. The advertisement in the form of three questions had appeared in a vernacular daily on April 20.

The BJP leader said even the BJP could hit back as it had enough material against the Congress candidate, but it would not resort to such undignified form of campaign. 

Shashan ( Hamirpur), April 22
Congress candidate Narinder Thakur today made an all-out effort to capitalise the legacy of his father, BJP stalwart late Jagdev Chand Thakur, in his election campaign besides making a frontal attack on Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal for allegedly ‘acquiring huge assets by making politics a business’.

Addressing a series of meetings under Hamirpur assembly segments, represented by his father for many decades, Thakur said

“You are well aware how the BJP government was formed in the state by contribution and sacrifices of BJP founders like Jagdev Chand Thakur but today the BJP government has been turned into a business and making money has become their only concern.”

He said “it was my father who pleaded with the central leaders of the BJP to give party ticket to Dhumal but instead of being thankful, he started conspiring against our family.”

Thakur said “though for past 16 years, after the death of Jagdev Chand Thakur, Dhumal always tried to harm our family politically but now he has found sudden love for my father and paid homage to him in recent BJP’s public meeting.”

Making a firm commitment to fight corruption in politics Thakur said, “I am in politics to expose the corruption and follow the honesty of my father Jagdev Chand by saying ‘main un logo ka bhanda phodunga jinohne aaj rajniti ko dhanda bana diya hai (I would expose those who have made politics a business.”

He said, “I have joined the Congress by getting impressed by an honest politician like Prime Minister Manmohan Singh under whose leadership the country has made tremendous progress.”

Thakur also talked several achievements of the UPA government, “like providing employment to rural poor through NREGA, progress made in space exploration, waving loans of farmers, handling economic crisis in India despite worst global economic condition, signing nuclear deal with the US and opening several institutes like the IIT and central university in Himachal Pradesh.”

Shimla, April 22
Celebrating its sesquicentennial year, the ongoing crisis at the prestigious Bishop Cotton School has deepened with the entire workforce of 109 employees proceeding on strike after the talks failed to resolve the stalemate following termination of the services of 33 employees.

Although the strike is being observed by the terminated employees since February 27, when the school reopened after winter holidays, the situation took a turn for the worse when all 109 workers decided to proceed on strike from April 20 when the talks between the striking workers and the school management failed despite efforts of the district administration.

The crisis has virtually pushed the school (with a strength of 525 boarders) on the verge of closure. The news of the situation worsening further has left the parents worrying. The fact that about 40 senior schoolboys have not returned after an unscheduled 10-day Easter break, has left even the school authorities anxious.

“The board of governors after considering the cases of all 33 employees agreed to take back 18, whose service record is not all that bad, but the workers are insisting on taking back all, which is not possible,” confirmed School Principal Roy Christopher Robinson.

Admitting that teachers were managing the school for the past two days, including cleaning and sweeping, he, too, is clueless what the future holds for the school if the present situation persists.

“I can only hope and pray that the district administration and the office of the Labour Commissioner do something and better sense prevails on workers,” he said. He added compensation ranging between Rs 1.5 to Rs 5 lakh had been offered, but the workers were yet to report back.

Deputy Commissioner Amar Singh Rathore said it was on the request of the school management that they tried to resolve the dispute, but the workers had not come back to take the offer of reinstatement of 18 employees, as offered by the school.

With the management willing to take back only 18 of the 33 terminated employees, the workers have decided to continue with the agitation come what may. “When all 33 terminated employees face the same charges how can the management resort to pick and choose, so there is no question of any compromise till all are taken back,” said Rajender Kumar, general secretary of the BCS Workers Union.

Prepared for the worst in the form of closure of the 150-year-old residential school, the workers say it is a question of livelihood of 109 families. “My four generations, including my grandfather Uthar Singh, my father Trilok Singh, I myself and my son Parwinder have been serving the school, so terminating our services is an arbitrary and uncalled for decision,” says Jagmohan, serving the school for the past four decades.

Mandi, April 22
Judged from his public meetings and the affidavit submitted to the returning officer at the time of filing his nomination as the BJP candidate from Mandi, present scion of Rupi Kullu state Maheshwar Singh is a college dropout and crorepati politician.

He entered public life during the Janata Party’s anti-Emergency wave in 1977, when he became an MLA from Kullu. This three-time MP defeated Congress candidate Sukh Ram in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections as a BJP candidate by a margin of 28,000 votes.

For his supporters, he is an easily accessible politician. However, he faces opposition from his detractors within the party. Kullu MLA Govind Thakur and Banjar MLA Khimi Ram had openly opposed the allotment of the party ticket to him.

If judged by his public speeches, he has nothing substantial to count on in terms of development for the voters he represents. He entertains his voters by his trademark “local anecdotes in local dialect”.

Maheshwar Singh’s “political punch” against his formidable rival Congress candidate Virbhadra Singh is: “He will have to pay the price for the non-performance of Pratibha Singh, the sitting MP. She won last time because she was CM’s wife.”

Some of his detractors maintain that Maheshwar Singh, being a chief representative of Lord Raghunath, the presiding deity of Kullu Dussehra, should shun politics as his alignment with a political party dilutes the “institution of devis and devtas”.

On the other hand, Maheshwar Singh claims that he never mixes “rajniti with devniti”, but the “jagati pooch” ritual at Naggar in protest against the Himalayan ski village has diluted his stand. “Even during Kullu Dussehra, tussle between two devtas, Shringa Rishi and Balu Nag, remained unresolved and assumed political colour,” said members of the Kardar Sangh.

As per the affidavit filed by him with his nomination papers, Maheshwar owns agricultural land worth Rs 1.2 crore in Kullu, non- agricultural land at Dhalpur worth Rs 7 lakh and ancestral land at Dhalpur worth Rs 20 lakh.

His total assets are worth Rs 3.77 crore. He has 15 bank accounts with total deposit of around Rs 23 lakh. He owns two vehicles (Rs 4.5 lakh) and an LIC policy (Rs 2 lakh). He has 300 gm of gold 2 kg sliver jewellery (Rs 4 lakh).

Shimla, April 22
The high court today directed the Brakel Corporation not to create any third-party interest for the Jangi-Thopan and Thopan- Powari power projects till next hearing.

Passing the interim order, the Division Bench of Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice VK Ahuja adjourned the hearing on the petition filed by Reliance Infrastructure challenging the recent decision of the state government as regards the allotment of projects to the Brakel Corporation for May 7.

The Reliance, which had also participated in the global bids for the two projects, has filed a fresh petition in the court for setting aside the recent decision of the state government whereby it had decided to allot both projects to the Brakel Corporation.

Meanwhile, the Brakel Corporation also filed a reply to the petition wherein it informed the court that the decision of the government was right and the state had taken the decision after considering all facts.

It is pertinent to mention that the Reliance had earlier challenged the decision of the state with regard to allotment of these projects to Brakel on the ground that it had given wrong facts to the state with regard to its financial and technical competence.

After the disposal of the petition, the state issued a show-cause notice to Brakel asking it to explain why the allotment of these projects to it should not be cancelled for giving wrong facts to the state. Issuing the show-cause notice to Brakel, the state decided that if the allotments were cancelled, the projects would be re-advertised. But after considering the case of Brakel afresh, the state, on November 25 last year, decided to allot these projects to Brakel. The Reliance had filed this petition against that decision.

Shimla, April 22
Over 500 students from 40 schools participated in processions taken out to create awareness among the people about ‘climate change’ as part of the Earth Day celebration here today.

Groups of students carrying placards took off from various parts of the city and marching through main streets converged at Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Portmore, where the state-level function was held.

Presiding over the function Chief Secretary Asha Swaroop called upon the people to initiate action at their own level to minimise the impacts of climate change. She said that judicious use of water, electricity and natural resources would contribute towards this objective.

She further said children were agents of change and should be made aware about the drastic effects of climate change and they should be taught about the measures to be taken to prevent further degeneration of environment. Eco-clubs could motivate the children to initiate plantation and awareness campaigns. She said that preservation of environment was very essential to save the earth for future generations.

Principal secretary, environment, Sarojini Ganju Thakur, urged the children to become torch-bearers in the campaign for saving the environment.

Hamirpur: Students of different schools took out a rally in Hamirpur town on the occasion of World Earth Day here today. The rally was flagged off by Deputy Commissioner Abhishek Jain.

Hundreds of students carrying placards and banners conveying messages on environment and earth protection marched through the bazaar of Hamirpur raising slogans.

Later, they assembled at Government Boys Secondary School where several competitions were held.

Addressing the students the DC said, “If we fail to give attention to protect our environment than future generations would face very severe problems of livelihood like finding water for drinking and irrigation.”

He said for conserving our environment we would have to create awareness among people and main objective of organising this programme is that the students should take this message down.

Jain said, “We must conserve water and energy and also observe the ban on the use of plastic to protect our environment.” The DC also gave prizes to the winners of different competitions.

BILASPUR: All of us have an onerous duty and responsibility to protect environment and prevent any type of pollution around us and save the earth from degradation. This call was given by Deputy Commissioner JS Rana while presiding over the district-level “World Earth Day” function here at Government Girls Senior secondary School on Wednesday.

Earlier, large number of students, sportspersons, senior citizens and officers took out a ‘prabhat pheri’ through the town while later school students took out an “environment rally”. A function was also held marked by debate, declamation contests, lectures and one act plays.

Additional District Magistrate Subhash Chaudhary, Assistant Commissioner Kimud Singh and District Science Supervisor Ashok Sharma also addressed the function.

Sainj (Kullu), April 22
Contractors and subcontractors working at the phase-II of the 2,051-MW Parbati project being executed by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) continue to dump muck into the Sainj river.

The corporation has not stopped work on the project despite a directive to that effect from the State Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board (SEPPCB) on April 17.

Villagers and fishermen said the aquatic life in the river had been severely hit ever since the NHPC started work on the project. Silt level remained high in the river even during winter, they said. They alleged the SEPPCB team had merely done a formality of ordering the closure of the project, but the fact remained that the debris was still being dumped into the river.

The work on Parbati-II and Parbati-III projects is in progress in the Sainj valley. Plying of trucks, tractors, JCBs and continuing blasting has ripped apart the river system. NHPC contractors have yet to put in place proper muck-dumping management system at almost all 17 identified dumping sites along the river.

Silt is accumulating in the 126-MW Larji barrage downstream, posing danger to the turbine of the project.

Member secretary (SEPPCB) Nagin Nanda said the NHPC was asked to close the operations on April 17 as it had not taken enough measures to plug muck dumping into the river. “We have asked the controller of JJ and Blasting, Faridabad, to stop all supplies to the NHPC, till the board is satisfied with the progress at the project site,” he said.

On the other hand, NHPC chief engineer (civil) Rakesh Goel claimed the company had undertaken protection work at all dumping sites. “We have put up crate walls and monitoring the inflow of muck and silt into the river,” he claimed.

Dharamsala, April 22
Residents from villages adjoining the Yol cantonment area today held a protest dharna outside the office of Kangra DC. They alleged that the boundary walls raised by the army authorities in the Yol cantonment area have made their life difficult. The walls have blocked the path to houses of the locals.

In many of the areas the villagers now cannot drive vehicles to their houses. They have to cross rivulets on foot to reach their homes. The villagers alleged that the paths through the army area in the Yol cantonment existed for the past over 100 years. However, the army authorities have raised walls to cover their area. This has left the villagers in a maze.

Earlier also, the residents of the area had boycotted the elections to the Yol Cantonment Board. They had demanded de-notification of the board. The residents had alleged that the board was hardly providing them any urban facility. However, since they were considered to be in an urban area, they were bereft of facilities being extended to residents of rural areas. The residents of villages in cantonment board are not getting any benefit of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and other loan schemes for agriculture purpose.

The villagers also presented a memorandum of their demands to DC KK Pant.