Solan, May 4
With the exact cause of the fire which damaged the Kandaghat railway station on Monday night yet to be confirmed, a four-member team of officials has started an inquiry into the incident.

The restoration work was, however, begun to put in place a temporary structure which would house a rest room and a ticketing system for passengers. Since the section yielded a revenue of almost Rs 1.5 lakh per month, the railway authorities had begun the work on a priority.

A visit to the site revealed that officials of the engineering wing comprising assistant engineer and works inspector were preparing drawings of the new structure after selecting a new site.

As an immediate measure, a tent and some chairs were arranged at the site to facilitate the passengers. Since this was the peak tourist season, the number of passengers had grown by almost 20 to 25 per cent.

The officials revealed that since the buildings which were razed in the fire were constructed during the British era, their restoration would be done on the same lines using wood and bricks.

They added that since the original drawings were available with them, they would reconstruct the new structure as per its original design. A final plan would be drawn up once the inquiry was complete.

Interestingly, doors and windows of the railway station would be painted dark blue like the remaining part of the station, while the building would be given crèam colour as it was an age-old tradition to match the colours of the trains with the buildings, revealed an official.

The ancient communication and track-control system, called the Neals Token Instrument System, which had been destroyed in the fire, had been replaced with a similar system.

Workers were seen removing the gutted portions of the canteen and main office so that the restoration work could begin. The officials said they were awaiting instructions from the DRM, Ambala, and proceeding as per the directions.

The rail traffic was plying as usual and the authorities had to reschedule a few trains yesterday morning. It was, however, restored by yesterday afternoon and trains were plying as per their usual schedule today.

In 1903, the rail line was opened to traffic by Indian Viceroy Lord Curzon and only Europeans were allowed to avail the facility.

Regaining lost glory

Since the original drawings are available with them, they will reconstruct the new structure as per its original design. A final plan will be drawn up once the inquiry is complete.

Shimla, May 4
The government has decided to order a judicial inquiry into the essentiality certificates issued under the State Apartment and Property (Regulation) Act, right from the time it came into force in 2005 to March 31, 2011.

Stating this while speaking at a function organised to give awards for developmental journalism here today, Chief Minister PK Dhumal said a lot of hue and cry was being raised on the issue and the probe would bring out the facts.

A national-level award was conferred on Charanjeet Ahuja, special correspondent, Financial Express, while the state-level awards were given to Munish Sharma, bureau chief, Pahali Khabar, (first) Rachna Gupta, bureau chief, Dainik Jagran, and Archna Phull, bureau chief, Daily Post, (second).

Ashwani Sharma, special correspondent, Indian Express, who was also selected for the second position, declined to accept the award as per the policy of his newspaper. The third position was bagged by Sunil Sharma, bureau chief of Divya Himachal.

The district-level awards were given to Ajay Thakur of Dainik Jagran (first), DR Saklani of Divya Himachal (second) and Sunil Rana, then representing Dainik Jagran (third). — TNS

Shimla, May 4
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal released a special cover brought out to mark the Golden Jubilee of Project Deepak of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) at a function in the Gaiety Theatre here today.

Addressing a gathering, he lauded the contribution of the BRO staff, particularly those involved in Project Deepak, under which a strong communication network in border areas of the state was created. The staff also constructed 1,880 km of roads in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Rajasthan since its inception, besides 50 major bridges.

It was only due to the project that the Manali-Leh road was opened to traffic in 1999, when Pakistan infiltrators had captured important posts in Kargil.

Chief Engineer, Project Deepak, IR Mathur, said the double-laning of the Hindustan-Tibet and the Manali-Sarchu roads were being taken up on a priority.

Shimla, May 4
Having an all-weather connectivity to border areas in Ladakh through Manali may finally be translated into reality as based on the pre-feasibility studies, the Defence Ministry can soon pave the way for the construction of the Shinkula tunnel, immensely important for India from the strategic angle.

The Project Deepak, after completing the pre-feasibility studies based on the weather data collected during the peak of last winter, will soon write to the Ministry of Defence to undertake a proper feasibility study as the only option to have unhindered access on the 470-km Manali-Leh road is by way of a tunnel under the 15,920-ft Shinkula Pass.

“We are writing to the Army headquarters for undertaking a proper feasibility report,” confirmed IR Mathur. The Snow and Avalanche Studies Establishment (SASE) also recently set up its camp at Shikula to have a data base which will help in execution of the tunnel project. Work on the Rs 1,500-crore Rohtang tunnel is already underway.

The length of the tunnel will be between four to five km and the estimated cost is likely to touch Rs 800 crore. The tunnel will not only provide the connectivity but also reduce the distance to Ladakh by 100 km and will help in bypassing the four lofty mountain passes of Baralacha La, Thaglang La, Nakila and Lachung La.

“We are exploring the possibility of having a road through the area with the provision of snow clearance during summers, but seeing almost 20 feet of snow accumulation in the area this winter, having a tunnel seems mandatory,” said sources.

Shimla, May 4
The High Court today rejected the anticipatory bail of IPS officer KK Indoria, Assistant Inspector General of Police, allegedly involved in a corruption case registered at the Kullu police station on February 9 this year. The court also rejected the bail of Ram Shankar Tripathi, employee of AD Hydro.

Justice DD Sood, rejecting the bail plea, observed that prima facie, the offence committed by the accused was a serious economic offence and there were many loose ends to be tied up in the investigation.

The court added that Indoria would be subjected to medical examination every day to ascertain whether he had been subjected to any custodial violence or torture.

The state government had submitted a detailed report in the court, mentioning therein that co-accused Ramesh Chander had received money from AD Hydro Company by using the name of the petitioner, who was posted as the Superintendent of Police, Kullu, at that time. It was alleged that some money was also received from Abir Construction company, Bhuntar, and as such Rs 36.25 lakh was received by Ramesh Chander as gratification.

The government stated that during investigation, it had come to light that Rs 5 lakh was received by Ramesh Chander on the instructions of the petitioner and this fact had been admitted by the officials of AD Hydro company.

The amount was paid for the deployment of police force, whereas no force was deployed at AD Hydro at that time. Ramesh Chander deposited Rs 2 lakh in the account of the real brother of the petitioner.

The state has urged the court that for further investigation, the custodial interrogation of the petitioner is necessary. The court has, however, granted bail to Ramesh Indoria and Akash the other two accused.

Shimla, May 4
An international authority on “manuscriptology”, Prof GC Tripathi, has underlined the need for extending the National Mission on Manuscripts (NMM) beyond 2012 to help preserve and draw the maximum knowledge from the rare manuscripts still available in the country.

“The country has over the past 200 years lost almost 90 per cent of the manuscripts due to lack of preservation. The surveys conducted by the British authorities indicated that there were five to six crore manuscripts, but under the NMM only 60 lakh manuscripts have been located”, Tripathi, who is in the city in connection with a 21-day workshop on “Science of manuscripts” told The Tribune.

The NMM was started in 2003 with an objective of locating, cataloguing, preserving and digitising the manuscripts and by the time most of the families and individuals, who possessed the manuscripts, had vanished.

He said so far, only 30 lakh manuscripts had been digitised and put on the web and as such a lot of works was yet to be done. Moreover, the most important part of the project, to extract the hidden knowledge and disseminate it, was not easy to accomplish as the manuscripts were in different scripts which were on the verge of extinction.

While 65 per cent of the works were in Sanskrit, they were written in different scripts depending on the region. There were few scholars who knew the scripts and workshops were being organised across the country to create a new generation of scholars to help decipher the available manuscripts, he said.

An interesting feature was that a single work was available in different scripts and that helped in accurate interpretation, Tripathi, who had a stint as Director of the Kalakosha division, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), explained.

Dharamsala, May 4
The Municipal Council (MC), Dharamsala, couldn’t hold its monthly meeting on Monday due to a tiff between MC president Kamla Patial and ward members.

The tiff between the president and ward members arose after Kamla served notices to the female ward members asking their husbands and relatives not to interfere in the MC official work. As per the president, “I issued a circular with the agenda for today’s meeting, but the members in reply mentioned that they wouldn’t be attending the meeting. I came to know that in some ward members’ husbands and relatives had been interfering in MC work. This is unethical”.

All the seven ward members have been boycotting the meeting along with their male colleagues. They are demanding retrieval of the notices served to them by the president.

Onkar Nehria, who contested against Kamla Patial for the president post and lost, now playing the middle man between the president and the members, said, “It is a small issue. There has been some misunderstanding which will be solved soon”.

Mandi, May 4
In its bid to save farmers from spurious plants, the Horticulture Department will provide “disease-free certified plant materials” that will be raised in government nurseries for the fruit growers in each district. Besides, officials will ensure that the benefits of the National Horticultural Technological Mission reach farmers through the Bagwan Milan programme launched in the state.

Informing this at a press conference here yesterday after he reviewed the progress of the development schemes in the district, Horticulture Minister Narender Bragta said the plants would be raised in nurseries and then the disease-free certified plants materials would be supplied to farmers.

“We are setting up two model hi-tech farms in each district. The two such farms are being set up at Pingla and Pangna in Mandi”, he added.

Bragta said the quality plant materials would empower farmers technologically to make their produce competent in the world markets. “We have launched the Bagwan Milan Programme in the state under which the officials concerned have been made accountable for the success of government schemes and directed to visit the fields and ensure the benefits reach the common villagers”, he added.

He said the mission had benefited the farmers and the government had spent Rs 35 crore for the past seven months and no case was pending.

He said the government had given Rs 3.32 crore as compensation under the crop insurance schemes for apple and mango farmers.

Shimla, May 4
The Himachal Kisan Sabha has charged Horticulture Minister Narinder Bragta with misleading people on the issue of anti-hail guns, the failure of which has caused an extensive damage to the apple crop this season.

Secretary of the Shimla district unit of the sabha Sanjay Chauhan after visiting the hailstorm-hit areas of Jubbal said the damage to apple trees was so severe that its impact on the crop would not be limited to the current season, but would affect the production over the next three to five years.

There was 2 to 4 inches of hail in Dhar, Bhadal, Kathasu, Barthata, Bholar and other parts of Jubbal tehsil. The area around Khathasu, where the anti-hail guns had been installed, was the worst hit and it raised serious doubts about the effectiveness of the technology.

While the US company, which manufactured the device, was maintaining that the anti-hail cannons were installed on a trial basis under a pilot project, the minister was claiming it was a big success and seemed more keen than the company to promote the product.

Sanjay Chauhan urged the government to immediately assess the loss caused to the apple crop and give adequate compensation to the affected growers. He also demanded 90 per cent subsidy on anti-hail nets which were more effective than the anti-hail gun.