Dharamsala, January 21
The elections to the posts of president and vice-president in Kangra zila parishad were adjourned today after the Congress boycotted the meeting.

The BJP managed to get 35 elected members inside the Zila Parishad hall till 1 pm. Though the party had majority, it fell short of three members to manage an adequate strength for completing the quorum in the House. The Kangra zila parishad has 56 elected members. As per the rules 75 per cent or 38 members should be present in the House for first meeting.

Due to lack of quorum, the meeting was adjourned by the deputy commissioner, Kangra, RS Gupta. He fixed January 27 as the next date of meeting for the election to the president and vice-president. At the next meeting since simple majority is required, most likely the BJP will manage to get its candidates elected.

Earlier in the morning, political drama unfolded as senior leaders of the Congress gathered at Centre Point hotel along with their zila parishad members while the BJP called its strength in Kunal, the Himachal Tourism hotel.

Though the BJP had managed a majority in the House, its leaders, including all ministers and MLAs from Kangra, were trying to poach a few members of the Congress to complete quorum in the House.

Congress leaders after realising that they would not be able to win the posts of president and vice-president, decided to boycott the elections. Their entire energy was concentrated at not allowing the BJP to complete the quorum in the House.

However, despite diktat of senior Congress leaders, two of their supporters, including Prem Sagar and Akshay Jasrotia, were present in the House. Later while addressing a press conference, the senior Congress leaders Viplove Thakur, the Rajya Sabha member and former president of the HPCC and Chander Kumar, former MP and AICC member, alleged that the ruling party was misusing power.

Viplove Thakur alleged that the BJP workers gheraoed the House of Sapna, a BDC member from the Sakri area of Nagrota Surian, to prevent her from participating in elections. It was only after the police was called that the BDC member had managed to leave her house.

Chander Kumar alleged that the elected members were being threatened that their kin in the government service would be transferred in case they did not vote for the ruling party.

The BJP ministers Kishan Kapoor, Industries Minister Ravinder Ravi, Minister for IPH, Sarveen Chaudhary, Minister for Social Security and Ramesh Dhawala, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, were present at the zila parishad hall. 

Dharamsala, January 21
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and national vice-president of the BJP and Rajya Sabha member Shanta Kumar have flayed the UPA government on the issue of black money allegedly stashed in Swiss bank accounts.

Shanta Kumar in a press note issued here today said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Cabinet colleagues were misleading the country on the black money stashed in secret bank accounts in Switzerland and other tax-heaven countries. The government was avoiding the issue of recovery of black money from Swiss banks under some political pressure that was unfortunate and disgusting, he said.

Shanta further said the fact was that the Swiss government wanted to return the illegal money to the country concerned and this had been conveyed to the Indian government by the authorities in the Swiss government. The Indian government was deliberately avoiding the issue by not fulfilling the necessary conditions to acquire the black money.

Shanta said he had the opportunity to participate in the UN General Assembly as a member of a parliamentary delegation in October 2010. The issue of corruption and flow of illicit money was also discussed at the meeting.

In the deliberations, Swiss representative Mithias Bachman disclosed that their government was committed to returning black money to the originating countries as it considered this as “Stolen Property”.

The Swiss representative disclosed that besides enacting a law to return the black money to originating countries, Switzerland had signed and ratified the UN convention against corruption. The Swiss representative also clarified that return of illicit money depended upon political will of the country concerned, he said.

Shanta Kumar further said Manmohan Singh had categorised the black money as an issue of tax evasion. However, it constituted criminal offence.

Dhumal in a separate press conference said the US government had been able to recover its ill-gotten money stashed in Swiss banks after suing the banks. However, the Indian government was not taking any step in this regard.

Manali, January 21
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal will inaugurate the first ropeway-cum-ski centre at the Solang valley, 13 km from here, on January 23.

The ropeway-cum-ski centre at Solang is an initiative of the state government. The Department of Tourism awarded the contract on the BOT basis to Ski Himalayas Ropeway in public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

Joint MD of the company Amitabh Sharma said during summer, the visitors would take a ride to the top of Mount Phatru at an elevation of 3,200 metre-high and would enjoy breath-taking views with delicious food at the cafés on top. It had some amazing treks springing out at that elevation and also had a launch pad for 
adventurers who would like enjoy to paragliding.

Nahan, January 21
Four children among five were killed and two labourers injured when a wall caved in and its debris fell on two tents which were pitched in adjacent to the wall at an underconstruction dairy farm located at Challana village on Mahipur Road of Sirmaur district last night.

Those killed comprising three siblings and their cousin brother all of whom had come from Jammu and Kashmir to spend their holidays with their father and uncle at the village.

Punjab Singh, a labourer, was away to an adjoining village while the children were alone in the tent. Those killed included Kapur Singh, Bahadur Singh (12) and Vikram (8), their cousin Rakesh (15) and Anil Kumar (23) who was an Assamese labourer sleeping in an adjoining tent. Kishore, an Assamese labourer, and Kashmir Singh, a Kashmiri labourer, were also injured in the accident.

DSP (headquarters) Babita Rana Pal said a wall which was about 34 feet long and 3 feet wide had been constructed about 6 months ago. A large portion of this wall measuring almost 18 feet, which was subject to constant water seepage, caved in suddenly and fell on the two tents last night.

A case under Section 304-A and 336 of the IPC has been registered against contractor Ganesh and BJP leader Sandeepni Bhardwaj who was the owner of the farm house spread over 250 bighas.

The police said that it was a case of negligence as it was known that the wall was subject to seepage from the hill above and an arrangement had been made to drain out the water which seemed to be pouring in continuously. Though the wall gave no signs of being damaged on the surface but it had weakened from within due to the seepage and it thus fell over the tents thus claiming five lives.

Shimla, January 21
There has been a big response to small hydro power projects with the Himurja, the nodal agency for renewable energy, receiving 499 applications from independent power producers (IPPs) for 35 projects and as many self-identified projects up to 5 MW.

Out of the 35 projects with an aggregate capacity of 60.01 MW, as many as 28 projects of up to 2 MW capacity have been reserved for Himachalis and not surprisingly a majority of applicants are from the state.

The seven projects are Nati (2.20 MW) and Machhad-I (3MW) in Shimla, Jigrain (4.80 MW) and Duada (2.30 MW) in Kullu, Upper Tain (5 MW) in Chamba, Chainra (4.30 MW) and Bakhli (4.50 MW ) in Mandi. The combined generation capacity of these projects is 26.10 MW.

The maximum number of 17 projects (22.75 MW) are in Shimla district, followed by Kullu with 9 projects of 14.70 MW, Mandi with 4 projects (111.50 MW), Chamba with 3 projects (9 MW) and Sirmour and Shimla with one project each of 1.90 MW and 0.16 MW, respectively.

An expert committee will evaluate the financial capability of the applicants on the basis of which the projects will be allotted. Till date, 485 projects (up to 5 MW) with the aggregate capacity of 1215 MW have been allotted out which 35 projects of 138 MW have been commissioned.

During the current financial year, 24 projects of 93 MW were scheduled to be commissioned. Currently, 46 projects of 147 MW are under various stages of construction and another 56 projects of 182 MW are in the process of securing various mandatory clearances. Out of which 22 projects of 71 MW will be completed in the next financial year and another 36 projects of 121 MW capacity in the following year. In 2013-14, 40 projects of 126 MW capacity are slated for completion.

Since 1995, over 500 projects (up to 25 MW) with an aggregate capacity of 2,100 MW have been allotted to independent power producers.

Shimla, January 21
Alleging the Dhumal government of being interested only in “the business of privatisation of higher education at the cost of the state institutions”, the state Congress president, Kaul Singh, has urged the Governor to restrain the Vice-Chancellor of the Himachal Pradesh University from taking any policy decisions.

Taking a strong exception to the manner in which the incumbents were being appointed to sensitive posts like the controller of examinations, Kaul Singh said the academic standards of the university had plunged to abysmal depths over the past three years due to the political interference in its day to day functioning. Seniority, merit and experience were being ignored in making appointments to various administrative posts, and political affiliation had become the sole criteria for selecting incumbents.

The recent appointment of the controller of examinations was in violation of the statutes of the university. Moreover, the incumbent did not fulfil the basic qualifications. The various bodies of employees, students and teachers were agitating against the illegal appointment and academic atmosphere was being vitiated because of the wrong action of the authorities. It was for the first time that an outsider had been appointed as the controller of examination.

Kaul Singh said the Congress would soon come out with a charge sheet to help bring those responsible for various acts of commission and omission in the university to book. He added that the party would be compelled to conduct its own inquiry into the violation of rules in key appointments. The financial position of the university had also worsened and the government had denied the UGC scale to the officers of the university. 

Mandi, January 21
The district administration today removed the extensions made by shopkeepers on the premises of the Paddal stadium to make way for the construction of a parking lot for vehicles.

A district administration team, led by the ADM and the SDM, Sadar, pressed the JCB machines into service and removed over a dozen illegal extensions on the premises of the stadium.

The district spots council owns the Paddal stadium and has rented out the shops to the owners. But the owners have extended their shops to the open spaces outside impeding the free movement of public.

Deputy Commissioner of Mandi Dr Amandeep Garg told The Tribune that the shopkeepers’ extensions had been removed and the space would be converted into a parking lot for over 40 odd vehicles.

Garg said the parking lot would be constructed shortly by the district spots council and would be opened for the general public.

The parking lot will help decongest the town, particularly during public functions and festivals, and allow a free flow of traffic, he added.

Mandi, January 21
The next time you travel to different destinations of Himachal Pradesh like Kullu-Manali, Rohtang Pass, Shimla , Dalhousie and Dharamsala, you do not need to bring plastic bags and bottles.

For you will be greeted with “green pamphlets” at the state’s barriers that will give you a “green primer” on Himachal’s new green mantra: Help make Himachal a polythene-free state.

The Departments of Environment, Science and Technology, and Tourism, are now pooling their efforts to change the mindset of the tourists making a beeline for Himachal Pradesh. The idea is to spread Himachal’s green mantra far and wide, both among the domestic and foreign tourists.

The tourism officials say on an average over 90,000 foreigners and around 10 lakh domestic tourists travel to Kullu-Manali in a year. Though there is no exact study on the matter, on an average a tourist generates about 0.5 kg of garbage during his or her stay in the valley, said hoteliers.

Since the state has banned the use of plastic in Himachal Pradesh, it is taking steps to discourage the use of plastic bottles among tourists as well.

The government has challaned over 559 offenders and has collected Rs4.40 lakh as fine in the state since last December.

Now the state also expects its guests to obey its “green rules”, and change their mindset of using plastic bags and bottles. The HPTDC-run hotels have already scrapped the use of plastic bins and bottles and offer its guests to use the filtered water that they can fill from HPTDC restaurants and hotels. Spreading its mantra among the tourists, the district administration, Kullu, is setting up “green hoardings” along the highway at key points educating the tourists on the state’s new mantra of “green tourism”.

The DC, Kullu, BS Nanta, told The Tribune that they were taking these steps for the coming tourist season.

Tourists travelling to Rohtang and the Himalayan National Park and other spots would be given pamphlets at the green barrier in Manali. They would also be advised not to use plastic bags and bottles and dispose of any plastic items into the bins kept at different spots in the area, he added.

Director, environment, Dr Nagin Nanda said they had distributed the pamphlets to tourists on a trial basis last year at Kullu and Dharamsala which turned out to be a success in creating awareness. “This time we will distribute pamphlets to tourists at all barriers leading into the state,” he added.

He said the use of plastic bottles, including bottles of mineral water and soft drinks had not been banned in the state.

“But we are discouraging the use of these items among the citizens and the tourists who travel to eco-sensitive zones like the Himalayan and Pin valley national parks, Rohtang Pass and other destinations,” he added.

Shimla, January 21
A former leader of the non-gazetted employees, Gopal Das Verma yesterday floated a combined body to fight for the rights of government employees, pensioners and workers.

He said he was forced to set up a new body as differences among leaders had led to the emergence of three and even four organisations for each category, which were fighting against each other instead of raising the issues concerning the employees, pensioners and workers. Even worse was the fact that the existing bodies were aligned with major political parties like the BJP and the Congress, and these were functioning on party lines.

The non-gazetted employees’ federation had split into four divisions and there were three associations of pensioners. With divisions in the ranks of employees and workers the government was not implementing even the routine demands and the joint consultative committee meetings had bee reduced to a meaningless exercise.

He said the new body would meet on February 1 to finalise a charter of demands which would be submitted to the government. The demands warranting immediate action included release of the instalment of dearness allowance which became due from July 2010 and payment of arrears on account of revision of pay in one instalment.