Mandi, May 31
The Himachal Lokhit Party (HLP) today demanded that the state government should take possession of the five-star hotel from the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) headed by Anurag Thakur.

It also demanded that the probe into the phone-tapping case be expedited and alleged that the phone of Jai Ram Thakur, now Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Mandi who was the Rural Development Minister in the previous government, was tapped.

Addressing a press conference here, HLP vice-president Khushi Ram Balnatah, Babu Ram Mandyal and Gaurav Sharma demanded that the government should take possession of the reportedly illegally built five-star hotel and take action against wrong-doers involved in land deals involving private universities.

They alleged that Dhumal gave land illegally to the HPCA for the hotel in Dharamsala. Balnatah said the previous government had given between 500 bighas and 700 bighas to private universities while Himachal Pradesh University had just 50 bighas.

The HLP alleged that it was embarrassing for the BJP that Jai Ram's phone was tapped. The state government should speed up the probe and release the list of persons whose phones were tapped as it was a matter of violation of human rights and invasion of privacy, Balnatah said.

The HLP leaders alleged a nexus between BJP leader Arun Jaitley and certain Congress leaders as they were talking about a law for the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in the spot-fixing scam but not demanding resignation of the IPL and BCCI chiefs to rid the cricket body of corruption.

“It is a question of the security of the country as the spot-fixing scam has been linked to Dawood Ibrahim,” they said. They demanded that the government should probe the cricket body and send wrong-doers behind bars as the people of the country were emotionally linked to cricket.

Balnatah alleged that the HPCA was the only state body running a five-star hotel. He claimed that the land deal was illegal. Referring to Jai Ram, Balnatah alleged that Dhumal was annihilating future leaders who posed a challenge to his supremacy. “We will oppose the BJP and organise tours in all segments,” he asserted.

Shimla, May 31
Engineers of the Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) have successfully employed nanotechnology to enhance the life of vulnerable parts of turbines of the Nathpa Jhakri project which got eroded by excessive silt.

Using nanotechnology based tungsten carbide protective coating, the in-house maintenance unit of the power plant has made cheek plates, vane guides and other vulnerable parts good enough to pass through a silt load of over 11 lakh tonnes.

The turbines will now last the entire generating season and with considerable less damage to the parts which could be easily repaired during the lean winter months.

The high speed silt particles created deep cavities in the uncoated turbines which suffered extensive damage after passing just between 3 and 3.5 lakh tonnes of silt. The simple tungsten carbide coating arrested erosion and those could withstand up to 8 lakh tonne of silt.

The Union Ministry of Power had reduced the permissible limit of silt from 5,000 parts per million (ppm) to 4,000 ppm to help contain damage. Accordingly generation was scaled down from 6,950 million units to 6,612 million units.

The latest protective coating of nanotechnology based material has further enhanced the resistance to erosion and the turbines could pass over 11 lakh tonnes of silt suffering much less damage.

General Manager Sanjeev Sood said the project could now be operated even if silt was on the higher side which usually happened during the peak monsoon when the Sutlej was in spate.

He said the effort was to make turbine parts sturdy enough to endure 14 lakh tonnes of silt and to provide protective coating on runners which were being repaired by welding so that repairs could be carried out after two years.

He said it would help reduce the cost of maintenance by 50 per cent. He revealed that the discharge had increased early this summer and it was around 1,000 cumecs four days ago compared to 390 cumecs last year. He said unlike the past, the Sutlej was contributing more silt than the Spiti river.

He said the project had generated 1,343 million units of power since April 1 compared to the target of 1,289 million units. He added that it has been operating at 109 per cent and producing over 38 million units daily compared to the designed energy of 36 million units.

Shimla, May 31
Justice BS Chauhan of the Supreme Court has underlined the need to carry out appropriate changes in the entire system around the administration of criminal justice in view of the rapid scientific development that had taken place in all the spheres of human activity.

Addressing a three-day regional conference on “Administration of criminal justice: Issues and challenges” organised by the State Judicial Academy in collaboration with the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal, here today, he said changes were required at all the levels, right from the police to the judicial system. He urged judicial officials to adopt innovative approach to deal with situations that arose from time to time so that justice was delivered in the right way.

“New issues have come up in society like live-in relationship, false promises of marriage, etc, and courts have to be sensitive in finding out the right cause of such incidents. Judicial officials should go in depth in such cases to know the facts,” Justice Chauhan said.

Chief Justice of the HP High Court Justice AM Khanwilkar said, “Criminal justice depends on chain of benefactors from the police, forensic experts, advocates, public prosecutors, witnesses and the courts. Each of these benefactors is important and every part of the chain is to be improved and strengthened”.

“It is like a house built with a pack of cards and inaction or act of commission or omission by even one of these benefactors inevitably resulted in subversion of justice. It is, thus, important to delineate protocols and the best practices to be observed by each of these benefactors. All the functionaries involved in criminal justice deliverance should be provided with adequate staff and equipment to speed up the process,” he said.

Judges had a pivotal role in the administration of criminal justice and they should not be silent spectators, but at the same time they should not give an impression of being proactive, judgemental or opinionated before the trial concluded, he added.

Justice DD Sud welcomed judicial officials and Dr Balram Gupta, director, National Judicial Academy, also spoke on the occasion.

Hamirpur, May 31
PL Thakur, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Central Range, Mandi, today visited the spot to supervise an investigation into an alleged gang rape of a minor girl by four persons in the district.

Superintendent of Police (Crime) Punita Bhardwaj from Shimla also joined the investigation and interacted with the victim.

The police had arrested all the four accused involved in the case, while Vijay Kumar, alias Chhotu of Kunwana, was arrested last evening, Naresh Kumar was arrested late last night. A local court today sent them to a seven-day police remand.

Two other accused being juveniles, were produced at the Juvenile Justice Board, Hamirpur, today. A team of forensic laboratory from Shimla has also collected samples from the place of incident.

A case under various Sections of gang-rape was registered last evening at the Hamirpur Police Station on the complaint of the minor girl. She had alleged that she was subjected to sexual assault by four boys for three days after abducting her from a fair at Gasota village four days ago.

Jagat Ram, SP, Hamirpur, said, “We have arrested all the four accused involved in the case and also impounded two vehicles used in the crime”.

Solan, May 31
The Nalagarh police finally registered a case against Dalip Kumar and his mother Vidya Devi hailing from Jogo village in Nalagarh subdivision for having abetted the suicide of a woman after dilly-dallying over the matter for four days.

A case under Sections 306 and 506 of the IPC was registered against the duo last evening and Vidya Devi was arrested today while a police team headed by sub-inspector Mast Ram was on the lookout for Dalip Kumar.

The police action was delayed and cost the woman her life. She approached the police on May 27 after she was beaten up by the duo and later threatened.

The case not only exposed the lax attitude of the police but lack of sensitivity as they had failed to address the grievance of the woman in time.

The role of senior police officers was under the scanner as they tried to underplay the woman’s grievances and failed to register a case even after her suicide on May 29.

The Jogo police had not handled her complaint seriously even though the woman had alleged eve-teasing by Dalip Kumar whom she charged with stealing her phone as well.

He continued to harass her after the police failed to act. The woman was hospitalised on May 29 after she attempted suicide by consuming a pesticide. She died this morning.

While Director-General of Police B Kamal Kumar sought a report on the lax attitude of the police following media reports, the State Women’s Commission asked the Baddi Superintendent of Police why timely action was not taken.

State Women’s Commission Member Namita Chowdhary said she sought a report and they would act accordingly consequent to the receipt of the report.

Superintendent of Police S Arul Kumar said the assistant sub-inspector who was in charge of the Jogo police post was transferred to the Police Lines and a departmental inquiry was initiated against him.

He added that another assistant sub-inspector had taken charge of the police post and efforts were afoot to arrest Dalip Kumar.

Inspector-General of Police (Law and Order) Sanjay Kundu directed the Baddi SDPO to conduct an inquiry into the suicide case. When contacted Kundu confirmed the development.

Mandi, May 31
With support from the Seraj Congress, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today attacked the BJP claiming that Seraj had tasted development during the Congress regime. Seraj is the home segment of BJP candidate Jai Ram Thakur.

Addressing a public meeting at Bali Chowki in support of Congress candidate for the Mandi Lok Sabha byelection Pratibha Singh, Virbhadra said he was familiar with the problems of the people of the constituency as he had trekked the area when there were no roads there. Today, the Congress had linked the constituency by links roads and opened schools and dispensaries for the welfare of the people there, he claimed.

Virbhadra Singh said June 23 was his birthday and added that he would like victory of the party as a birthday gift from the people of the Mandi parliamentary constituency.

He alleged that the BJP had no base in Seraj and was benefiting because of the disunity there. “Now, the entire Congress is one and the BJP will be wiped out,” he claimed.

Faction-ridden Congress leaders from Seraj, Prof Vir Singh Chauhan, Tara Thakur, Shiv Lal, Chet Ram Thakur and Daleep Singh, joined a single front and vowed to work for the victory of Pratibha Singh from Seraj.

Congress vice-president Harsh Mahajan, District president Puran Chand and Banjar MLA Karan Singh also criticised the BJP and claimed that the Congress would win the seat by a huge margin.

On the other hand, BJP candidate Jai Ram Thakur while addressing meetings in Seraj charged that the Congress had always discriminated against Seraj as the Assembly seat was won by him four times in a row.

“When the BJP came to power, Seraj saw development,” he said.

Dharamsala, May 31
SpiceJet will start its service from the Gaggal airport in Kangra district from June 7. Minister for Housing and Urban Development Sudhir Sharma gave this information while talking to The Tribune today.

He said SpiceJet flight would start from Delhi at 5.55 am and land at the Gaggal airport in Kangra district at 7.30 am. This is second airline service to start from Kangra. This month, the Air India had also started its service from Delhi to Gaggal.

The minister said air connectively to Kangra had been resumed after an active lobbying by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. He claimed that the improved air connectivity would act as a boost to the tourism industry in Kangra.

The air connectively to Kangra district was lying suspended for the last more than six months. Earlier, just the Kingfisher airlines used to operate from Kangra to Delhi. However, since the Kingfisher airlines was grounded, the air connectivity to Kangra district was lying suspended.

The lack of air connectively had hit tourism. For the past about six months, the Dalai Lama administration had shifted most of the teachings from McLeodganj to Delhi or other parts of the country. Sources in the Tibetan administration claimed that the teachings were shifted out of McLeodganj as there was no air connectivity to the area.

Now that the air connectivity to Kangra region has been resumed, it is being expected that the Dalai Lama will schedule his teaching in the McLeodganj area. The sources here said the economic slowdown in Europe and other Western countries has also hit tourism in Dharamsala region.

The numbers of domestic tourists coming to Dharamsala has taken a hit due to the normalisation of situation in Jammu and Kashmir. “More domestic tourists are now going to Jammu and Kashmir rather than tourist places in Himachal,” the sources in the tourism industry said.

Shimla, May 31
Lt-Gen Sanjeev Madhok will take over as the 17th General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Army Training Command (ARTRAC) here tomorrow. He replaces Lt-Gen Surendra Nath, who retired today.

Born on July 21, 1955, at Gorakhpur, Madhok joined the 47th course at the National Defence Academy (NDA) in January 1972. He was awarded a gold medal for standing first in the overall order of merit at Indian Military Academy.

An excellent sportsman, Madhok was awarded medals in tennis and cross-country races at the National Defence Academy (NDA). He was also a playing member of the NDA hockey team.

Lt-General Madhok was commissioned into 15 Guards in December 1975. He commanded the 4 Guards (1st Rajput), later an independent brigade, an infantary division and a corps on the western front. He worked as Instructor and Weapon Training Officer at Officers’ Training Academy (OTA), Chennai, and as an Instructor and Adjutant at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. He attended the “International crisis management course” at the National Defence College, Stockholm.

An academician as well, Madhok is an MSc in Defence Studies from Madras University and an MPhil from Devi Ahilya Vishwa Vidyalaya, Indore. As GOC-in-C, ARTRAC, he will be chairman of the Army Technology Board and work along with Directors of IITs and other reputed technical institutions.

He will also be the chairman of the Army Management Studies Board and an associate with Directors of IIMs. General Madhok has vast operational and administrative experience. He has also served in the UN missions. He was on deputation to a United Nations mission in Iran as Senior Operations Officer in 1990-91.

Chamba, May 31
To monitor the poll expenditure, a district-level Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) has been constituted under the chairmanship of Chamba Deputy Commissioner (DC) Kadam Sandeep Vasant

As per the orders issued by the Deputy Commissioner, the committee has been constituted for the certification of advertisements and scrutiny of paid news in the Bharmour tribal Assembly constituency of Chamba district, which is a part of the Mandi parliamentary constituency. Examining the complaints or issues pertaining to paid news in newspapers, TV, Internet etc in connection with the ongoing Mandi byelections in the state has come within the purview of the committee, which has started functioning forthwith, the Deputy Commissioner said.

The Deputy Commissioner said he being the District Election Officer would be chairman of the committee, which comprised Additional Deputy Commissioner, Field Publicity Officer of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, a senior journalist of the district and the District Public Relations Officer as members.

The office of the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee has been set up in the office of the Tehsildar (Recovery) at Chamba.

Shimla, May 31
The Himachal Pradesh High Court yesterday disposed of the Jakhu aerial ropeway matter pending before it following the decision of the state government to approve the 13-storeyed structure after the payment of penalty imposed on them.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice RB Misra passed this order after the court was intimated about the approval granted to the pending project by the state Cabinet. The Municipal Corporation (MC) assured the court that the structural stability aspect of the 13-storeyed building had been ascertained through technical experts from the IIT, Roorkee.

In view of the submission made by the state government and the MC, the court disposed of the matter. The project had been hanging fire as the promoters had erected 13 floors despite getting an approval for 11 floors. They had also violated the norms of construction applicable to the core area of Shimla, which had led to the filing of a PIL. The MC had worked out a compounding fee of Rs 60.68 lakh to regularise the structure.

Solan, May 31
The change in recruitment and promotion (R&P) rules for promotion as Chief Engineer in the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department has led to a series of transfers for the post of Superintending Engineer (SE), Nahan.

As many as four transfers have been effected in Nahan within a few days with each official replacing the other within a short time. According to the new R&P rules, each SE has to spend at least three years in the design wing, thus sparing them of a field posting for as many years before being promoted as a Chief Engineer.

Ashish Gupta, SE, Nahan, was transferred after he was promoted as a Chief Engineer and S Mahajan was sent to Nahan in his place. He was, however, soon transferred to Kullu and BS Bhatia was transferred as the SE, Nahan, after his promotion. Bhatia had, however, given an option of working in the design wing, but had been given a field posting at Nahan. The department was quick to amend its mistake and posted Bhatia back, thus sending another officer BR Sharma as the SE, Nahan.

Since the post of a design SE is available in the zonal offices or the head office at Shimla, an SE willing to work in the design wing could not be given this posting. RK Sharma, Engineer-in-Chief, IPH, confirmed that according to the new R&P rules, each SE had to spend a three-year-tenure in the design wing before being promoted as a Chief Engineer. The series of transfers had adversely affected the working of the department and consumers were suffering due to the lack of water, said Dr Rajiv Bindal, MLA, Nahan. He said the state had changed four SEs within a span of few days.

Dharamsala, May 31
The Dalai Lama and US President Barack Obama share the highest level of popularity in US and five European countries, a most respected online survey has said.

Pope Francis is the only leader who comes close to them.

Harris Poll conducted an online survey among 7,245 adults aged above 16 years in France, Germany, Great Britain and Spain and 18 plus in Italy and the United States between May 8 and 15, 2013.

Across the six countries, three-quarters of the adults (78 per cent) on an average have good opinions of both President Obama and the Dalai Lama.

At least 64 per cent respondents in the US, 81 in France, 86 in Italy, 85 in Spain, 79 in Germany, 70 in Great Britain have a good opinion of the Dalai Lama.

For President Obama, it is a little more of a difference, with his own country being the low point. While just half of the Americans (51 per cent) have a good opinion of the President, he is much more popular in Europe, 87 per cent in Italy, 87 in France, 80 in Spain, 83 in Germany and 79 in Great Britain, the Tibetan here said.

Shimla, May 31
There will be a complete ban on fishing in all general reservoirs of the state from June 1 to July 31 and the sale of fish will not be permitted. Director of Fisheries Gurcharan Singh said today that special staff had been deputed to keep a strict vigil on such activities and enforce the ban stringently. He said ban on fishing for two months in reservoirs was imposed every year as most fish species underwent the breeding process during this period which ensured large-scale fish seed production.

He said the Fisheries Department would collect 1.3 crore seedlings of major carp and silver carp from the Gobindsagar, 80 lakh from the Pong Dam and 10 lakh from the Chamera reservoir.

He said steps had been taken to check illegal fishing during the ban period.

Shimla, May 31
Urban Development and Town and Country Planning (TCP) Minister Sudhir Sharma said recently that the Vigilance Bureau was investigating the permission granted by the previous BJP regime to outsiders to purchase land in the state and the Apartment Act was being amalgamated into the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Act.

The Urban Development and Town and Country Planning Minister criticised the statement of former Chief Minister PK Dhumal regarding permission for the construction of colonies granted to nine non-Himachalis.

“I advise that the former Chief Minister must verify facts before giving such unfounded statements in the media,” he said.

He said the permission for the construction of colonies and apartments was not granted to non-Himachalis by the present government, but "during the previous BJP regime hundreds of permissions had been given to non-Himachalis in violation of rules".

“The Vigilance Bureau is probing the violation of Section 118 of the Tenancy and Land Reform Act by the BJP regime,” he said.

He said the TCP Act, 2013, had been prepared by amalgamating the Apartment Act and it would be placed before the Vidhan Sabha during the Monsoon Session.