Dharamsala, August 7
A massive landslide on the Dharamsala-McLeodganj road destroyed 12 houses of Army men and four of residents at Terra Line village. All 26 families living in the village have been evacuated as their houses are also threatened due to landslide.

No loss of life was reported as Army jawans, noticing a crack in the hill, had evacuated the personnel living in the quarters. The villagers said they had heard the sound of damage to Army houses last night. The villagers gathered in the school ground that saved their life.

Narain Singh, head of the village, said when the villagers heard barking of dogs, they came out. When they saw Army housing collapsing, they ran towards the village school.

Swatri Pradhan, a woman, said it was villagers who had warned her family regarding the sliding and her entire family ran for cover in the school.

When The Tribune team visited the area, the villagers were trying to shift to safer places. Most of the villagers were Gorkha families of ex-servicemen.

Since all houses of the village are under threat, the Army has provided them 15 quarters. The district administration has also provided them a grant of Rs 2 lakh. Minister for Housing and Urban Development Sudhir Sharma said all affected residents of the village would be allotted land where they could build their houses.

Sources here said the main communication tower of the Army in the area was also under threat. The massive landslide in McLeodganj and Dharamsala has posed a threat to human life due to haphazard constructions. A study conducted by the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, had revealed that many areas in Dharamsala and McLeodganj were active sliding zones. Despite this, the district administration did not take any step to check construction in such areas.

Chamba, August 7
The normal life in Bhattiyat has been affected on the second day today and transportation services were still disrupted.The school students and villagers were facing problems. The SDM said two more houses had been collapsed in a nearby village due to rain and the families evacuated to safer places. The Chamba-Shimla highway via Lahru remained blocked, the SDM stated, claiming that the restoration work had been undertaken on a war footing.

The SDM said a report about the damages to houses, cowsheds, agriculture land and other property was expected to be compiled tomorrow as the officials were on the job in the remote and difficult terrains of the sub-division.

Shimla, August 7
National president of the Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM)Anurag Thakur today lashed out at the UPA regime for failing to take stern action against Pakistan despite repeated attack on the Army men posted along the Line of Control (LoC).

He was addressing party workers who took part in a dharna staged by BJYM activists outside the Deputy Commissioners office in protest against the killing of five soldiers in the Poonch sector.

“How long will the people of the country remain mute spectators to the killing of soldiers by the Pakistan army,” he quipped.

He blamed the UPA regime for not acting tough against such repeated attacks by Pakistan. “I want to know what is preventing the Prime Minister and the Congress-led UPA regime from acting tough against such barbaric acts by Pakistan,” he said.

State president of the BJYM Sunil Thakur said the real culprit for the killing of five soldiers was the weak and indecisive UPA regime. Local legislator Suresh Bhardwaj also blamed the UPA regime for the attack. Senior BJP leaders, including Ganesh Dutt, took part in the dharna.

Shimla, August 7
Denying any wrongdoing in the HP Cricket Association (HPCA), Anurag Thakur, MP, today dared Virbhadra Singh to hold parallel inquiries into the sports body affairs as well as charges levelled against him before he assumed office of the Chief Minister in a time-bound manner.

Addressing a press conference here today, he said the HPCA was open for any probe but asked whether the Chief Minister also volunteer to get all allegations against him probed. "Let there be a fair probe into all allegations against the HPCA as well as the alleged controversies with regard to income tax returns, Ispat diary entries and excess land holding by the Chief Minister in six months by any agency," he alleged.

"Notwithstanding the inquiries and registration of the FIR against the HPCA, we will not just fight back, but if need be retaliate and expose several cases where norms have been flouted by the Congress regime," he warned.

He said the HPCA did not care two hoots for the Vigilance inquiry and would go ahead and give its hotel to ITC as the job of the HPCA was to promote sports and not run the hotel.

He said the political witch-hunting was nothing new as even during its last tenure, the Congress regime had hounded the HPCA. "We are not just on a firm-footing legally, but it is owing to the efforts by the HPCA that Himachal has found a mention on the global map and international teams played in Dharamsala," he said.

He justified the move to change the HPCA's entity from a society to a non-profit company only to save itself from the control of the state government, like most other cricket associations had done all over the country. "The Congress regime in its last tenure had brought in a sports Act which was later repealed, but our endeavour has been only sports promotion and strengthening of infrastructure," he said.

Anurag said world-class stadia had been built at Dharamsala, Nadaun and Bilaspur by the HPCA, without taking even a single penny from the government.

"It is for the public to choose either the Kalmadi model of sports, where thousands of crores of tax payers' money was siphoned off, or the HPCA model where the state came on the international map," he said.

Shimla, August 7
Ministers lambasted Industries Minister Mukesh Agnihotri and Urban Development Minister Sudhir Sharma have lambasted Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) president and BJP MP Anurag Thakur for levelling false and baseless allegations against Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and asserted that such tactics to divert attention of people from the misdeeds of the sports body would not help.

In a joint statement here today, they said an inquiry being conducted into the affairs of the HPCA was as per the chargesheet submitted by the Congress and it was committed to bring reality before the public. Leaders of the BJP had been levelling frivolous charges against Virbhadra since the Assembly elections and all these had been proved to be false and political motivated. The court and people of the state during the Vidhan Sabha had totally rejected the allegations and Anurag was only trying to divert the attention of people from the murky affairs of the HPCA.

The ministers said no illegal decision was taken during the tenure of Virbhadra as Union Steel Minister and no steel company was given any undue advantage. BJP leader Arun Jaitley had made these allegations just ahead of the Assembly polls.

The reference made by Anurag regarding the alleged diary seized by the Income Tax Department proved nothing. An inquiry was conducted by Income Tax Department and no irregularity was found.

However, irregularities had been found in the HPCA which clearly indicated that these had been committed in the names of Anurag and PK Dhumal. Shamlat land of a village was gifted to Anurag by then Chief Minister Dhumal.

They said an FIR had been lodged against the HPCA after proper investigation in Dharamsala.

Udaipur (Lahaul-Spiti), August 7
The 141-km Tandi-Sansari Nullah national highway under the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) continues to be travellers' nightmare as the BRO has started the double-laning work on the 10-km stretch. It is unlikely to meet the target by 2015, revealed engineers.

The BRO took over the road from the PWD in 2011 after it was declared as a highway of strategic importance as it links the Jalandhar-Srinagar national highway at Badot in the Kishtwar region.

From Tandi to Udaipur, the road is full of potholes, giving rough rides to commuters daily. “It takes four hours for a bus to cover a distance of 60 km,” said farmers, who transport vegetables on this road.

Because of the widening work between Thirot and Udaipur, the journey takes an hour to cover 10 km.

The condition of the 82-km-long Udaipur-Sansari Nullah stretch is worse as it has never been tarred ever since it was constructed by the BRO, resented Shamsher and Nok Ram, residents of Pangi.

The road was the lifeline for the people of Pangi sub-division and Tindi gram panchayat, Udaipur, but politicians had never bothered to improve the condition of this route, they added.

The RCC task force of the BRO blamed the delay on acquiring forest land and sanctioning the estimates. It had taken almost two years and it was likely that the double-lane target would be not be completed in time, they feared.

Though the widening work is in full steam on the 9-km-long Udaipur-Thirot stretch, the RCC task force faces another problem of taking forest clearance and acquiring the private land, the process which has not been started as yet.

The task force will have to remove encroachments on both sides of the road between Jhalma and Tandi.

The highway passes through the valley’s thickly populated villages spreading along the road that can push the BRO and locals into legal hassles.

The BRO has yet to submit the revenue papers to the Forest Department for clearance, said HL Rana, DFO, Lahaul division.

Major SK Narwal, who heads the RCC task force, said the 20-km widening work had been started and estimates for the 30-km road were ready for sanction. “We have already acquired 14 metres and need a 10-metre width for which the case is almost ready,” he added.

He said the road stretch between Thirot and Tandi would be repaired this season.

Shimla, August 7
Over 2.50 lakh students will cast their vote in the elections to the Students Central Association (SCA) at Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) and student bodies in 108 colleges in the state on August 17.

As per the recommendations of the Dean Student Welfare, Vice-Chancellor ADN Bajpai fixed August 17 as the date for student polls in HPU, Regional Centre, Dharamsala, Evening College and other degree colleges. He has urged the district administration and police in all the districts to extend help and cooperation to ensure peaceful and fair student polls.

The date for the filing of nomination papers has been fixed for August 13, while withdrawals will take place the next day. The polling will take place on August 17 and the results will be declared the same day by evening. The final voters list will be displayed on August 12. The elections are being held in accordance with the revised Constitution, 2007 of the SCA (Campus and CSCA) and SCSCA Constitution, 2009.

With the announcement of the student polls, the HPU authorities as a precautionary measure has stepped up vigil on the campus as well as in the hostels. Additional deployment of police force is also being done to ensure that there is no violence and peaceful polls are held.

As per the recommendations of the Lyngdoh Committee for student polls, no slogan shouting or printed posters can be pasted within 200-metre radius of the campus. With the election expenditure for every candidate being fixed at Rs 5,000, only handwritten or painted posters and other publicity material can be put up.

Shimla, August 7
Closed-circuit cameras will be installed at all vantage points in Indira Gandhi Medical College and hostels and special buses with police personnel will be engaged to ferry freshers to and from college as a preventive measure against ragging.

The decisions were taken at the meeting of the anti-ragging committee of the IGMC here today under the chairmanship of the Principal, Dr SS Kaushal. KK Sharma, Joint Director, Medical Education, also attended the meeting.

Besides, installing cameras at various places, constables will travel in the buses with freshers while moving to and from the college for two months. It has also been decided to register an FIR in case anyone is found indulging in ragging.

Although a distinct dress code is being formulated for MBBS, dental and nursing students, all students will be asked to wear a name plate on their apron for easy identification. A senior student along with a member of the teaching faculty will be made mentor for six first-year students. Telephone numbers of all members of the committee as well as senior district administration and police officials will be displayed in the college.

Shimla, August 7
The State Electricity Board Employees Union has opposed the decision to outsource operation and maintenance of some 33-KV power sub-stations in the state. It has urged Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to intervene in the matter.

The union said the sub-stations at Barsaini, Neem Nala, Dhundi and Palchan in Kullu district were important control centres for managing power during power cuts, maintenance of lines and other such exigencies and had to be manned by well-trained and experienced staff.

Deployment of unskilled and inexperienced staff by private firms at such centres could lead to accidents, exposing the field technical staff working on distribution lines connected to the said sub-station to a high risk, it said.

It pointed out that the strength of the staff was decreasing and the number of consumers and work pertaining to operation and maintenance was increasing. More than 1,200 employees of various categories were retiring annually as the number of pensioners had crossed the figure of 14,000, the union said. The number of consumers had shot up from 6 lakh to 20 lakh, but the staff strength had been reduced from 44,000 to 19,000. Instead of recruiting staff, thousands of posts of various categories had been abolished, it said.

Important works of billing, revenue collection, operation and maintenance of lines, sub-stations and power houses were being outsourced to petty contractors due to the shortage of staff. Besides, the employees working under contractors were being exploited and a handsome margin of contract amount was retained by the service providers, the union said.

Further, no mechanism for maintaining a check on revenue collections was being made due to which the possibilities of fraud with consumers and also with the board had increased, which was affecting the quality of services, it said.

The union urged the Chief Minister to make recruitments at lower levels to fill vacancies of commercial and technical staff.

Shimla, August 7
Rajender Singh, Director, Information and Public Relations, has asked departmental functionaries to ensure an optimum use of traditional publicity media and video shows for publicising public welfare schemes and policies of the government.

He was presiding over a review meeting of the department here today. He said audio-visual media could be used even more effectively for generating awareness about public welfare-oriented policies and programmes right down to the grass-root level. He directed the district-level officers to organise video shows based on new initiatives, policies and programmes in all the panchayats on a large scale.

He also directed the officers to send a proper feedback so that the government could formulate new policies and programmes based on aspirations and opinion of the common people.

He said efforts were being made to strengthen the department by providing modern facilities up to the sub-divisional level and the matter for filling up vacant posts of different categories would be taken up with the government. Emphasis would be on imparting high-level training to officials, especially on new media with a view to improve the working.

He asked all the officers to ensure that targets were achieved within the stipulated time period.

Shimla, August 7
The HP State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed Oriental Insurance Company to pay Rs 79,07,909 as insurance claim to Athens Labs of Sirmour. Apart from this, the commission also directed the insurance company to pay 1,00,000 as compensation and 20,000 as litigation expenses.

The commission comprising President Justice Surjit Singh and member Chander Shekhar Sharma passed this order on a complaint filed by the company alleging that it had constructed a building for its factory, which was insured with the company of Rs 2 crore.

In July and August, 2008, because of heavy rain, cracks developed in the building, causing huge loss. This fact was intimated to the company in response to which a surveyor visited the spot and assessed the loss of Rs 86,00,000. But the company repudiated the claim on technical grounds.

While allowing the complaint, Justice Surjit Singh observed that, “Undoubtedly, the complainant is a company and is engaged in commercial activity of manufacturing pharmaceutical items, but the services of insurance availed by it was not for any commercial activity.”

Kangra, August 7
Three members of a family from Chari village were arrested following the death of Meena Kumari (27) due to 80 per cent burn injuries today.

Kangra Sub Divisional Police Officer Ashok Verma today said Meena Kumari, daughter of Parshutam Ram of Khanog village, near Nagrota Bagwan, was married at Chari village to Angad Kumar, an engineer working in Japan.

He said Angad left for Japan a fortnight earlier and Meena was living with her in-laws and sister-in-law.

Parshutam alleged that Chari village pradhan told them yesterday that his daughter was seriously injured with burns and her in-laws had left her at the DRPGMC, Tanda.

He said Meena in her dying declaration had charged her in-laws with torturing her. He said Kishori Lal, father-in-law of the victim, his wife Soma Devi and daughter Laxmi Devi were arrested in this connection.

DSP Ashok Verma said hundreds of men and women from the victim's parental village gathered at the Tanda hospital and heavy police deployment was made to avert any ugly situation.

SDM Ajeet Bhardwaj was also supervising the situation. A case under Sections 306, 304, 498-A and 34 of the IPC.