Shimla, July 9
The chargesheet in the 15-year-old case on appointments made in the Solan Municipal Corporation (MC) by sitting BJP MLA and former minister Rajeev Bindal is likely to be put up in a court with the government granting permission to prosecute him.

The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau received the nod to prosecute Bindal today and the final chargesheet will be put up in the court.

“This week we are likely to put up the chargesheet in the court as we have received the permission to prosecute Bindal,” said AP Singh, Deputy Inspector General (DIG), CID and Vigilance. He added that the moment a copy of the detailed chargesheet was given to the accused, the challan would be put up in the court.

The case refers to the appointments made by Bindal as president of the Solan MC was registered during the Virbhadra regime in 2006. A total of 22 persons had been appointed as clerks and safai karamcharis in the Solan MC in 1999.

The case against Bindal figures prominently in the Congress chargesheet which was submitted to the President of India and the Governor. Even as minister, Bindal remained the target of the Opposition Congress in and outside the Assembly.

The Vigilance Bureau, after the formation of the Congress government in December last year, had withdrawn the chargesheet put up in the court earlier for re-investigating some aspects in the case. On the basis of some new investigation, a new chargesheet has been prepared which will be put up in the court after having received the prosecution sanction.

The Vigilance Bureau during the BJP regime had sought the prosecution sanction from Assembly Speaker Tulsi Ram as Bindal was an MLA and minister. The request was turned down by the Speaker but with the change of regime, the Vigilance re-investigated the matter.

Bindal’s represented the Solan Assembly segment before shifting to the Nahan segment in the adjoining Sirmour district after his home turf was reserved for the Scheduled Caste. He is a close confidant of former Chief Minister PK Dhumal.

The Virbhadra regime is unleashing political vendetta against its opponents. The government should first put up the chargesheet in 4,875 appointments made on chits during the Congress regime, on which the inquiry report, prepared by two senior IAS officers, is lying with the government. I have regularised only 22 persons appointed by the Congress regime for which I am being victimised.
— Rajeev Bindal, BJP MLA

Dharamsala, July 9
The geological study of the site proposed for the Central University campus in Dharamsala seems to be an illustration of how scientific studies can be manipulated for political convenience.

Recently, on the request of the state government, the site selection committee of the Central University, Himachal Pradesh, visited Dharamsala. The committee was to consider an additional 120-hectare land being offered by the government for the Central University campus.

The previous government had offered just 60 hectares for the campus in Dharamsala and 318 hectares at Dehra. However, with the present government offering 180 hectares or 450 acres land in Dharamsala, speculation was rife that two-campus theory of the Central University might be dropped and a consolidated campus might come in Dharamsala.

On the request of the committee, the government got a geological study of additional 120 hectares being offered near the Indrunag temple area for the Central University campus conducted. The study that was conducted by Industries Department experts has cleared the land for the construction of the Central University campus with a few riders that at certain places retaining walls and drainage should be constructed.

However, now another study that was conducted by the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, has termed the land an active landslide zone.

As per the copy of the report that is available with The Tribune, the study conducted by Dr AK Mahajan, along with other areas of Dharamsala, has kept Chohla and Gamru, two villages near the Indrunag temple where the land for the Central University campus has been proposed, as active sliding zones. The study states that the villages have rotational slide that covers an area of about 500 metres. The slopes are generally wet due to percolation of water from higher parts .The study has also illustrated transverse cracks and swampy land in Gamru through photographs.

Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, Paul Rasu, who got the study conducted on the behalf of the state government, said the study conducted by the Industries Department had termed the Indrunag hill on which the campus was proposed to be built as stable. The experts from the department had collected the samples from the hill and studied these for two days before submitting their report, he said.

When asked about the report of the Wadia institute that had termed the hill as active sliding zone, he said, "I have no knowledge regarding the study".

Sources said the state government had put the process for getting clearance for the new site for the Central University campus at Dharamsala on fast pace and approvals were expected this week.

Shimla, July 9
The Himachal government has decided to modify the existing scheme for issuing high-security number plates (HSRPs) for vehicles to make it more people-friendly. It will include a provision for penalty for unnecessary delays in delivering the plates.

An official spokesperson said here today that many complaints had been received following which it was decided to make amendments in the standard operating procedure. As per the new system, the owner of the vehicle or his authorised representative would contact the office of the vendor in each Regional Transport Office (RTO) or the Regional Licensing Authority (RLA) along with the original registration certificate. The vendor would take an authorisation from the applicant in form A to apply electronically to the RLA or RTO for seeking an authorisation on the behalf of the applicants under the Motor Vehicle Order, 2001.

He said the vendor would automatically fetch the data of the vehicle from the vahan data base and verify the data with original certificates of the vehicle. If both data were found correct, only then a HSRP fee would be realised by the vendor and a computerised receipt given to the applicant.

He said Rs 50 per day would be imposed on the vendor and company as penalty if they failed to provide the HSRP to the applicant within four days after receiving the application, and Rs 75 per day after seven days and money received as penalty would be given to the applicant.

The official said Link Utsav Ventures Private Ltd was selected through a tender process to implement the scheme. After signing the concession agreement, the scheme was launched on November 15, 2011.

He said the present procedure was time consuming as the applicants had to visit the RTOs and RLA offices and the vendors. Besides, there was no system in place for intimating the applicants that his or her HSRP was ready or not.

He said there was no provision of penalty for late delivery of the HSRPs by the vendor to the applicants and there was no pressure on the vendor for timely delivery.

It is pertinent that as per the agreement signed between the state government and the vendor there was a provision for fixation of a timeline of four working days for the vendor to prepare and affix the plate on the vehicle.

Bilaspur, July 9
The Central Government has destroyed the economy and only brought desperation, frustration, poverty and financial bankruptcy in the country in the past 10 years of its ruling, said BJP MP and Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha national president Anurag Thakur while attending a series of public meetings at Mehathi, Chilla, Syohala, Bathoh, Rani Kotla and Suin Surhaad in the Naina Devi constituency yesterday.

The MP said the government had failed to control the prices of essential commodities. Increasing unemployment and rampant corruption among Congress leaders had spread desperation all around and terrorists were having a free play anywhere they liked almost every other day.

Anurag said the conditions had gone from bad to worse and now there was a need to change this atmosphere of desperation in the country.

Strongly batting for Narender Modi, Anurag said it was only Modi who had the capacity, capability, skill, will and experience to take this challenge of saving the country and its masses from utter doom.

He said only Modi could take the country out from this mess and quagmire of “mass helplessness” and bring it back on its rails for a flourishing economy and a prosperous and corruption-free, rejoicing and developing India.

Anurag said the Congress had no leader of any stature with "vision and will" and it also lacked policy, programme or planning to perform the task that lay before the nation.

Crticising the state government, the MP said it had betrayed unemployed youth by refusing to give promised unemployment allowance, spread confusion over the public distribution system and started a vendetta against Opposition leaders with a view to settle scores with them by concocting totally false and fabricated cases.

Local MLA Randhir Sharma also addressed the meetings.

Shimla, July 9
The Energy Resource Institute (TERI), New Delhi, will help apple growers in the state to tide over the problem of obsolete and senile plants and provide virus-free elite rootstocks to them so that the fruit production is enhanced considerably.

TERI is carrying out extensive studies in collaboration with YS Parmar Horticulture University, Nauni, to provide virus-free plant material.

It will also closely monitor and evaluate the field performance and investigate the graft compatibility.

Experts from TERI along with horticultural experts and growers will discuss various aspects of this project here this week in the presence of RK Pachauri, Director.

TERI is implementing the project on "Biotechnological interventions for the propagation and improvement of apple rootstocks" in two states, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The main objective is to select elite rootstocks and develop cost-effective tissue culture protocols.

With the Himachal government implementing a Rs 80 crore Apple Rejuvenation Project, the research and quality plant material being provided by TERI will help enhance the production. Under the scheme, all senile and old plantations are to be replaced with better varieties which are virus-resistant.

As part of the project, TERI procurd some established rootstocks from the horticulture university for multi-scale multiplication. The mother cultures were screened for various viruses such as apple mosaic, apple stem grooving and tobacco streak at the National Facility for Virus Diagnosis and Quality Control, New Delhi, and the Agriculture Research Institute and the Institute of Himalayan Bio-resource Technology, Palampur.

With the production in old apple orchards coming down considerably due to various factors such as low-density population, poor soil management and use of seedling stock, experts from TERI will provide clonal rootstocks. These will help maintain uniformity and impart characteristics such as dwarfing, early flowering and resistance to various diseases.

The tissue cultured plants which are virus-resistant will then be multiplied through micro-propagation and distributed among the growers.

TERI has tied up with the GB Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development at Almora in Uttrakhand. It is expected that the production by way of these rootstocks will be enhanced considerably.

Solan, July 9
Rain has done widespread damage to roads, irrigation schemes, bridges and houses in Solan and Sirmaur districts, causing losses of Rs 30 crore and Rs 50 crore in the two districts so far.

As much as 252.3 mm rain has been received in Solan in 15 days of June which also included the pre-monsoon showers, while 89.5 mm rain has been received in five days of July so far. Since the monsoon has just set in and the maximum rain is received in July and August, the losses are likely to rise.

With several irrigation and water schemes and roads having been damaged, the common people are bearing the brunt of the rains. The roads connecting villages suffer the worst damages.

In Sirmaur district, roads, houses and other infrastructure had suffered a loss of Rs 50.89 crore, which included a loss of Rs 21 lakh on roads and Rs 1.69 lakh on houses in the past 24 hours alone, said a district revenue official.

In Solan district, the building and roads wing of the Public Works Department (PWD) has suffered losses worth Rs 19 crore as several roads had been damaged. The HP State Electricity Board also suffered losses worth Rs 5.11 lakh, Horticulture Department Rs 5 crore and Irrigation and Public Health Departments Rs 5 crore to Rs 6 crore.

The Deputy Commissioners were regularly sending reports of rain damage to the state government so that funds could be provided for undertaking the repair work.

Since the aid received from the Central Government was a fraction of the amount of losses suffered by the state government every year, the onus of undertaking the repair work falls on the fund-starved state government.

Though the state government has sought an immediate relief under the National Disaster Relief Fund, the state government is yet to receive any aid.

Dharamsala, July 9
Sugar has not been available in Public Distribution Supply (PDS) shops in the state for the past one month. Though the state government has cleared a tender, no order has been given for procuring sugar, depriving residents of the cheap sugar they have been getting for another month.

All residents are entitled to get about 600 gram sugar per head from PDS shops in Himachal. The sugar was being provided in the PDS shops at Rs 13.50 per kg. However, the sudden decision of the Centre to finish levy sugar left the state government in a tizzy. It has no option than to buy sugar from the open market.

The Department of Food and Civil Supplies immediately swung into action and floated tenders for the procurement of sugar from the market. Sources said only one supplier fulfilled the strict conditions laid down by the state government.

However, the single tender got stuck in red tape. The rules say either the government has to take the Cabinet clearance for accepting the single tender or has to go through the entire process again. If the process of re-tendering is carried out, it will delay the process of procurement.

The sources told The Tribune that the Cabinet had given its clearance for procuring sugar through the single tender.

However, despite the Cabinet clearance, the department had not started the process of procuring sugar for its PDS shops.

The people, who are the beneficiaries, are feeling the heat. The poor in rural areas are protesting against the unavailability of cheap sugar.

BJP leaders have targeted the state government and Food and Civil Supplies Minister GS Bali. Rakesh Sharma, BJP spokesperson, said the Congress had failed to provide rationed sugar to the poor in the state. It should explain as to why Bali was not being able to deliver.

Bali refused to comment on the delay in providing sugar at PDS shops. He said every effort was being made to expedite the process.

Shimla, July 9
Pratibha Singh, the newly elected Member of Parliament from Mandi, called on All-India Congress Committee (AICC) chief Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi today. It was a courtesy call.

Sonia Gandhi congratulated Pratibha Singh for her landslide victory in the Mandi Parliamentary constituency by-election.

Pratibha Singh also called on Ambika Soni, general secretary, AICC, and Moti Lal Vohra, treasurer, AICC.They congratulated her on winning the by-election.

The Congress leadership applauded the development and welfare programmes being implemented by the state Government. Pratibha Singh thanked the Central leadership for nominating her as Congress party candidate from Mandi.

Shimla, July 9
A moderate intensity earthquake, measuring five on the Richter scale, shook the state this evening.

The tremors were felt in most parts of the state with the epicenter of the earthquake being the border areas of Jammu-Kasmir and Himachal Pradesh.

According to the local Meteorological centre, the earthquake of five magnitude rocked the state at 7.17 p.m.

The depth of the earthquake was 32.9 degrees north latitude and 78.4 degrees east longitude. Many parts of Himachal, including Chamba, Kangra and Shimla, fall in the high-seismic Zones IV and V and often experience tremors. — TNS

Palampur, July 9
The journey on the 160-km-long Kangra valley rail line between Pathankot and Baijnath is not less than a nightmare for hundreds of passengers travelling daily on this route. Incidents of thefts, chain and purse snatching are on the rise in the absence of adequate police force.

In the past one week, many passengers have been robbed of their valuables and cash on the route. However, the railway administration is not concerned with the situation. Sources say there are only 10 constables at the GRP police station, Kangra, and it is difficult to provide proper security to passengers in 12 trains daily plying on this route between Pathankot and Joginder Nagar.

Reports said there were two police posts at Kandrori and Baijnath, but they had been abolished subsequently reducing the police strength.

Slow-moving trains are soft targets for anti-social elements as it is easy to enter such trains.

A passenger at the Paprola Railway Station said it was risky to travel on this route in the late hours as nobody knew when thieves would enter the train and run away after snatching their valuables. A senior officer of the Northern Railways said the department had requested the state government to provide additional security on this route.

The board has not taken such action in other districts. Then why are the local authorities in haste to trouble thousands of residents of this town. The actual outstanding bill of the MC is Rs 32 lakh, but it has been inflated to Rs 70 lakh due to penalties. The MC (Nurpur) is regularly paying power bills to the HPSEB
— Krishna Mahajan, MC chairperson

Bilaspur, July 9
The Nagar Uthan Samiti, a social organisation at Shah Talai, has demanded that political parties and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should be brought under the preview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Samiti president Pyare Lal Soni, senior vice-president Uma Kapoor, general secretary BS Syal, organising secretary Chaman Soni, adviser Amin Chand and treasurer Shiv Kumar attended the meeting of the samiti at Shah Talai yesterday.

They expressed their surprise that political leadership of all parties gave sermons to others regarding transparency and clean public behaviour, but when it came to themselves, all of them ganged up to scuttle it.

Those political parties which were opposing this provision were actually proving to the masses that they might be indulging in some fishy deals and that was why they wanted to escape the RTI net, they opined.

Members of the samiti said the BCCI collected crores of rupees as funds from the general public and others, but it was not prepared to share any information about the spending.

Prominent leaders Kedar Nath, Vishva Nath, Rajesh Kumar, Pandit Sushil Sharma, Rakesh Kumar, Suresh Sharma, Manohar Lal, Suresh Sharma, Jogender Singh, Krshan Chand, KK Sharma and Manoj Joshi were also present at the meeting.

Chamba, July 9
Two persons were arrested and their vehicle Tata Spacio was impounded by the police near Gehra on the Chamba-Bharmour highway when their vehicle was carrying 186 kg naag chhattri (a forest produce) yesterday, Superintendent of Police (SP), Chamba, BM Sharma told reporters here today.

The SP said when a team of police officials of Gehra police post was on naka on the Chamba-Bharmour highway, a vehicle Tata Spacio coming from the Bharmour side was intercepted. On checking the vehicle, the naag chhattri was seized and the vehicle impounded, the SP said.

The two accused Om Prakash and Kunj Lal were arrested and a case was registered against them, the SP said adding that further investigation in the case was underway.

Bilaspur, July 9
The police has arrested Vijay Kumar, his mother Soma Devi of Badhaghat, near Ghumarwin, and her brother Rakesh Kumar of nearby Dangar for their alleged involvement in the kidnapping of a young girl of that area on the pretext of getting her married to Vijay.

Reports said this minor girl had gone out of her house for some work, but when she did not return till evening, her family started searching for her. They launched an FIR at Ghumarwin police station and also mentioned the name of Vijay Kumar who they said might have kidnapped her.

Later, led by SHO Sita Ram Sandhu, a team of police arrested Vijay from Hamirpur bazaar along with his mother and her brother as they recovered the missing girl from them.

The police got the girl's medical examination conducted in which rape was confirmed.

The police has registered a case under Sections 363, 366, 376 and120-B, IPC, and got police remand of the accused for three days from the court.