Shimla, June 30
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has termed Congress candidate Pratibha Singh’s win in the Mandi byelection the victory of the Congress ideology and leadership of party president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

He said people had expressed faith in the policies of the government by extending an overwhelming support to the party.

It would further strengthen the resolve of the government to ensure balanced and speedy development of the state and its people.

He thanked the voters of the rain-ravaged Kinnaur district who voted for the Congress candidate despite the calamity and said the government would reciprocate in the same spirit and undertake massive relief and rehabilitation works to bring normalcy in the area.

PCC chief Sukhwinder Singh said the party and the government had been functioning in coordination.

Industries Minister Mukesh Agnihotri said the voters had shown the BJP its actual standing and they had not been misled by its hollow claims and false propaganda.

It was the victory of the common man and the Congress workers who had sent out the signals to the BJP what was in store
for it in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

He said out of the total 17 Assembly segments, the Congress candidate secured lead in 16 segments.

Mandi, June 30
New Mandi MP Pratibha Singh today asserted that the massive victory of the Congress had set the stage for the 2014 General Election in the country as the voters were fed up with the BJP's politics of propaganda and voted for development of the state in the bylection.

Congress workers dance with joy; and (below) newly elected MP Pratibha Singh receives a certificate from District Election Officer Devesh Kumar after her victory in the Mandi bypoll on Sunday. Photos: Mahesh Chander Sharma and Jai Kumar

After getting the certificate of victory from the Returning Officer Devesh Kumar, the Congress took out the victory procession from Paddal to Seri Munch with party workers bursting crackers.

Accompanied by her son, Vikramaditya Singh and her daughter Aparajita Singh, Pratibha Singh, Heath Minister Kaul Singh Thakur, Rural Development Minister Anil Sharma, Excise and Taxation Minister Prakash Chaudhary, Chief Parliamentary Secretaries Sohan Lal Thakur, Rangila Ram Rao, Tek Chand Dogra, Chopal MLA Balbir Verma, PCC member Atal Sharma and other Congress leaders staged victory march and thanked the voters for electing the Congress MP with a huge margin.

Pratibha Singh later told a press conference that it was the victory of Congress workers and leaders led by Virbhadra Singh who campaigned in all 17 constituencies. The results had shown that the voters had rejected the BJP's divisive slogans, she said.

Pratibha thanked the people of the constituency and would tour the whole area and work for their development.

Talking about her priorities, she said the main concern was to rehabilitate the people of Kinnaur who had lost their orchards, houses and roads and water schemes in the recent floods. “I will raise the voice in Parliament as the matter had been taken with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by the Chief Minister,” she added.

Shimla, June 30
The Centre will soon send a high-level team to assess the loss caused on account of damage to public and private property by heavy rains and unseasonal snow in the tribal Kinnaur district and other areas.

This was stated by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh after meeting Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde in New Delhi today.

He apprised the Union Minister of the massive destructions caused by heavy rains and flash floods in the state and also gave details about the steps being taken by the state in undertaking rescue and relief operations.

He said senior officials from various ministries and departments and representatives of financial institutions would assess the damage and also assist the state government in its rehabilitation efforts.

The Centre would also provide funds to the state under various Centrally sponsored schemes. He said disaster management experts would help in undertaking restoration works and implementation of rehabilitation programmes.

Shinde appreciated the efforts of the state in carrying out relief and rescue operations and said the Centre would provide all the possible assistance for restoring normalcy and undertaking rehabilitation measures.

Kangra, June 30
The road linking the Baba Balak Nath Temple and Government Senior Secondary School, New Kangra, with this town through Donga Bazaar is in a bad condition and ignored by the municipal authorities.

The road was damaged due to rain months ago, but the recent rain has left it unusable for vehicles now.

The road is a link to the famous shrine of Baba Balak Nath on a hilltop.

Vijay Chadda, Municipal Committee member from ward No. 6 in which this damaged road falls, said she had been asking the municipal authorities to visit the site to know the situation and also see the damaged stairs connecting Donga Bazaar, but to no avail.

She demanded that the road be repaired as students of Government Senior Secondary School, New Kangra, pilgrims and thers visiting the Baba Balak Nath Temple were facing a lot of inconvenience.

Municipal Committee chief Suman Verma said the work was allotted to a contractor a month back, but the work was not started. She would look into the issue. She said she would visit the spot on Monday.

Hamirpur, June 30
The district administration has failed to allot 120 shops constructed about 18 months ago to relocate hundreds of kiosk owners of the town. The shops around the stadium of the government school have been lying vacant for quite some time as kiosk owners have shown little interest in taking possession of these shops.

A total of 208 shops were constructed by a joint committee of the district administration and the Municipal Council, Hamirpur, with the Deputy Commissioner, Hamirpur, as its chairman.

As many as 85 shops were built under a self-financing scheme for vegetable vendors sitting in the main bazaar for which the vendors had contributed Rs 85,000 each. Most of these have already been occupied by the vendors.

The other 120 shops were constructed by the committee to relocate kiosk owners having kiosks near the bus stand and the construction cost was met by the committee.

Though the district administration has been approaching the kiosk owners to shift to newly constructed shops, they seem to be not interested to move.

The main reason being cited by the kiosk owners is that shifting to these shops will put them at a disadvantage due to the location of these shops as buyers will not come to the new shopping complex.

The kiosk owners do not want to vacate the existing kiosks as they are doing good business here near the bus stand.

Deep Kumar, president, Hamirpur Municipal Council, said, “The district administration should take steps to allot 120 shops which are lying vacant, otherwise the shops will start getting damaged.”

Satish Sharma, SDM, Hamirpur, said, “The matter will be taken up with the Deputy Commissioner.”

Shimla, June 30
Terming the decision to impose a ban on the construction of government buildings in urban areas impracticable, the BJP has said it will have been laudable had the government prohibited construction by private builders.

Party spokesperson Ganesh Dutt said it was deplorable that private builders were allowed raising structures and restriction were being imposed only on government agencies. He said until new urban areas were developed with water, power, sewerage and road connectivity, permission should not be granted for raising new structures.

Further, government offices should be located keeping in view the convenience of people. A recent example of problems caused due to shifting of offices was provided by the district courts. People had to spend Rs 500 to reach the new complex. The people would have to spend more on fuel for commuting.

He said the government was in the process of enacting a new town and country planning Act and it should take a view so that no amendments were required for the next three decades.

Places like Shimla should be divided into zones and areas where construction could not be allowed and ban be imposed on purchase and sale of land. The maximum number of storeys should be fixed before granting permissions for construction.

Dutt said work on the structures like Deen Dyal Upadhyaya hospital, which were already under construction, should not be stopped as it would have impact on quality of health services. 

Mandi/Kullu, June 30
A fake currency racket being operated under the garb of making payment to farmers selling their produce at the Bandrol Subzi Mandi has come to light. The police has confiscated the payment of Rs 60,000 of fake currency made to Chappe Ram, a farmer of Damchin village in the Fozal area in Kullu, but has yet to arrest the accused in the case.

Complainant Chhape Ram said he had sold his fruit to a buyer at the Bandrol Subzi Mandi and was paid Rs 60,000 by him during night hours. But when he was paying Rs 5,000 to his client, they found that the currency in the demonination of Rs 500 and Rs 100 notes was fake.

The victim called the accused on his mobile number, but he threatened him saying that he should not disclose it to any one or he would kill him.

But Chhape Ram informed the police today.

SP, Kullu, Vinod K Dawana said the currency was fake as the monogram of Mahatma Gandhi was missing and the quality of the paper was very poor. A case had been lodged under Sections 420, 489-A and 489-B, IPC, and the SIU assigned the task to arrest the accused, he added.

Dharamsala, June 30
The railway bridge on the Chaki river in Kangra district has been damaged once again due to flash flood. However, the damage to the bridge has brought to the fore illegal mining taking place on the Chaki riverbed on the Punjab-Himachal border. The illegal mining is threatening bridges and water schemes in the area.

The Railways is also blaming the illegal mining for the damage to its bridge.

Last year also, two pillars of the railway bridge were damaged and the railway services to Kangra district suspended for about six months. The Himachal High Court had formed a committee under then Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, RS Gupta, to study the reasons for the damage to the railway bridge and measures that could be taken for preventing further damage to the bridge.

The committee that also included the DC of Pathankot district had recommended that mining should be banned within the one-km radius of the railway bridge. Technical members of the committee had recommended that the peers of the bridge should also be strengthened. The recommendations were accepted by the High Court and necessary directions were issued.

Besides the railway bridge, the bridge over the Chaki connecting Pathankot with Kangra had also collapsed due to illegal mining.

The Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) authorities and even the air force authorities have been alleging that illegal mining in the Chaki was threatening their infrastructure.

However, the illegal mining is still continuing in the Chaki. Officials of the Mining Department blame illegal mining to the undefined border of Punjab and Himachal. They alleged that many people from Punjab carried out illegal mining in the area, especially during the night.

The Chaki has been exploited to such an extent that its ecology and water retention capacity has almost been finished.

Shimla, June 30
Governor Urmila Singh has called for a renewed commitment and vigorous action to effectively fight the growing drug menace and substance abuse.

Speaking after giving away prizes to winners of International Day against Drug Abuse Half-Marathon organised by the Police Department here today, she said youth should be made aware of the perils of drug abuse and it was every individual's responsibility to spread awareness.

She said such marathons had been instrumental in drawing the attention of people to the problem and motivating them to contribute towards the social cause.

The Governor lauded the efforts of the department in organising such events with a view to associating the common man in the fight to save youth from falling prey to drugs.

Jawans of the HP police presented a colourful cultural programme.

Earlier, DGP B Kamal Kumar welcomed the Governor. People from different walks of life participated in the half-marathon. Besides, the 10-km mini-marathon, a 3-km dream run in four categories and run for special children were also organised.

Shimla, June 30
In an initiative to cope up with the growing monkey menace, the Forest Department has decided to plant araucaria araucana, an evergreen tree, and African marigold, a flowering species, on a trial basis.

Monkeys are known to have a disliking for these two species and, therefore, stay away from them. While the intermingled branches of araucaria araucana are said to puzzle monkeys, the fragrance of African marigold also keeps them at bay. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests RK Gupta said the department would introduce these species at selected places and study their impact. He said if the experiment worked, the species would be propagated on a large scale.

The initiative is part of the multi-pronged strategy formulated by the department to deal with the monkey menace. A primate park will also be set up to deal with the problem. It will be established over a huge forest area so that it can support a large population of monkeys. In the beginning, the animals will be provided food by the department. However, for the long run, suitable fruit-bearing trees and other trees will be planted in it to make the park a self-sustaining place for the animals.

The state already has four functional monkey sterilisation centres where over 70,000 monkeys have been sterilised till date. The plan is to set up six more centres this year to give an impetus to the sterilisation programme.

During the current planting season, over 35 lakh saplings of medicinal species will be planted in the state. The objective is to conserve and propagate herbs which are on the list of endangered species. In all, the department has planned to plant over 1.5 crore saplings to help raise forests over an area of 22,000 hectares. Of this, 70 per cent of the area will be planted during the current monsoon season and the remaining in winter. A large number of fruit plants will be planted to make the forests congenial for wildlife.

The department will also involve residents in the afforestation programme by distributing among them over three lakh saplings during this season. Officials said the department would also assist natural regeneration in forests by effectively protecting new plants.

They said shrubs and bushes would be planted to prevent the spread of forest fires. The implementation of the Rs 10-crore project for the revival of the endangered chilgoza pine would also be started this year. 

Kangra, June 30
A bhajan sandhya was organised by Geet Sangeet Music Academy at the multipurpose hall of Kangra Polytechnic here last night. The evening started with ‘Ganesh Vandana’ by Sunil Kumar.

Tajeswani, a child artiste, sings a bhajan at the same function. Photos: Ashok Raina

A presentation of bhajan in “Raag Bhairav”, “Bhola Bhandari”, was presented by Sunil at the end of the sandhya. Ajay Parashar Shivank sang “Jai Raghunandan Jai Sai Ram” based on “Raag Yaman” and “Meli Chader Oadh Kay” based on “Raag Kalawati”.

Tajeswani (8) supported on tabla by Aartik, another child artiste, presented “Duniya Chalay Na Shri Ram Kay Bina”.

Ajay Verma, secretary, HPCC, was the chief guest and Ajit Bhardwaj presided over the function. Suman Verma, city municipal chief, was the guest of honour on the occasion. 

Shimla, June 30
The Himachal government has asked Tibetan refugees residing in the state not to indulge in any “benami land” deals even as the exiled community, which enjoys a refugee status in India, has been repeatedly seeking the regularisation of the land purchases made by its various institutions in the hill state.

Various issues pertaining to the exiled Tibetan community residing as refugees in 17 main settlements of Himachal Pradesh were discussed at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Sudripta Roy here today. Besides P Mitra, Principal Secretary, Revenue, other senior functionaries from the Home and Revenue Departments attended the meeting.

Dolma Gyari, Home Minister in the Tibetan Administration, along with Settlement Officers, raised various issues pertaining to the exiled Tibetan community.

“A decision on benami land deals by Tibetans will be taken strictly in accordance with the law of the land and the Tibetan administration has been told that its people must not make any such benami land deals,” said Chief Secretary Roy.

The issue had been raised by the Tibetans even during the previous Congress regime. Sources said at present six cases pertaining to such land deals in violation of the norms were pending in the court of the Collector, Kangra, on which a decision was yet to be taken. A list of 22 such properties which had been made on illegal land deals had been given to the government.

The Tibetans administration has been seeking regularisation of the land deals which fall in the category of “benami” deals as these have been made in violation of Section 118 of the Tenancy and Land Reform Act. Tibetans, who are residing in large numbers at McLeodganj and other settlements in the state, cannot buy land in their name as they only enjoy refugee status in India.

The DP Sood Commission on Benami Land Deals constituted by the Dhumal regime too had come down heavily on such illegal land deals being made by Tibetans with the connivance of locals. The report had stressed the need for the formulation of a rehabilitation policy for Tibetans and the vesting of such land transactions with the state government.

It was during the previous Congress regime that it was decided to vest all such land bought by the Tibetans with the state government under sub section (2) or subsection (3D) of Section 118, Tenancy and Land Reform Act.

This land was to be further granted on a long-term lease basis on nominal amount in favour of the Dalai Lama Central Tibetan Relief Committee. The land was to be leased out to the committee for a period of 50 years or till the return of the refugees to Tibet. Sub-lease in favour of societies, trusts and institutions promoted by Tibetan refugees for their livelihood and shelter too could be done. The grant of lease was meant to be a onetime measure as a special case in transactions made in violation of the law before December 31, 2005.

During Saturday’s meeting, the Tibetan administration also sought ration cards for the refugees. At present they are only getting a fixed quota of subsidised food items fixed by the Centre. They also raised issues like the rehabilitation of 120 families at Sanjauli, vehicle parking and improvement of roads in McLeodganj and other settlements.

Solan, June 30
The monkey sterilisation centre, which was set up at Kandaghat in July last year, has become a white elephant with barely six monkeys having been sterilised at the centre.

The centre was set up in the old building of the SDM Office after undertaking repair of the building and Rs 15 lakh was spent on it. It was inaugurated on July 4, 2012, by former Health and Ayurveda Minister Rajiv Bindal.

Interestingly, six monkeys were sterilised by the Veterinary Officer on the day the centre was inaugurated and, thereafter, no such operation could take place in the absence of technical staff.

Prior to this, the monkeys were sent to the Tutikandi-based centre from Solan. The Tutikandi-based centre had been facing the shortage of monkeys for sterilisation and this had put a question mark on the purpose of opening this centre. With the Forest Minister announcing the opening of more such centres in various parts of the state, one wonders what will be their fate as there appears to be a dearth of technical staff.

The centre had failed to undertake any productive work and monkey population appeared to be increasing every year.

Officials of the Forest Department said the centre was likely to be shifted from this site as a communication had been received from the Forest Minister in this regard. 

Palampur, June 30
Baijnath town and its adjoining dozen villages have been facing a drinking water crisis for the past four days. Long queues of residents can be seen in front of natural water sources and hand pumps.

Information gathered by this correspondent revealed that the water storage tank built at a cost of over Rs 1 crore by the IPH Department at Bhatoo village had gone dry for the past three days as villagers had stopped supplying water to the tank.

Local residents said the department had also failed to make proper arrangements for the crossing of water pipes over the Bhatwali khud. During floods in the river, the pipes got damaged or washed away. Despite repeated reminders, the department had failed to make proper crossings of pipes over the khud in the past eight years, they added.

Residents also met the local MLA and lodged their protest over the failure of the IPH Department in restoring drinking water supply to the town.

Meanwhile, Kishori Lal, MLA, Baijnath, said he was aware of the problem and the IPH Department had been asked to take necessary steps within one week. There would be no shortage of funds for this purpose, he added.

Nurpur, June 30
The National Human Rights Manch has taken a strong exception of the misuse of the Dowry Act and registration of one-sided FIRs under Section 498 (A).

Talking to mediapersons at the Nurpur Press Club Bhavan here yesterday, Dr JS Khera, national president of the manch, who was on a one-day visit to the area, said offering and accepting dowry was a crime and one-sided action should not be taken in such cases.

The manch president, reacting to the misuse of SC/ST Act, appealed to the society not to use this Act in settling scores as it created social hatred.

He said the manch had planned to set up an old-age home at Una. Later, he addressed a public meeting at Bahi-Pathiar and educated villagers about human rights and the mission of the manch.