Shimla, August 21
The 10-day monsoon session of the Vidhan Sabha got off to a stormy start as members of the Opposition BJP raised slogans and walked into the well of the House to press for the acceptance of its adjournment motion to discuss the damage caused by heavy rains and floods in Kinnaur and other parts of the state.

The matter was raised by Suresh Bhardwaj soon after the House finished with obituary reference to Sarla Sharma, a senior Congress leader and a former member of the House, who died recently. He urged the Speaker to suspend the question hour and allow the adjournment motion for which notices had been given by four members, including him, to discuss the important issue of devastation caused by rain during the current monsoon. He said the damage caused by rain was more severe compared to Uttarakhand and the matter should be taken up immediately.

However, Speaker Brij Bihari Lal Butail pointed out that the Chief Minister was to give a statement on the issue and as such their adjournment motions could not be allowed. Further, notices were not in accordance with the rules and procedures of the House. The members had given only a copy of notice instead of three as required. He said as such he was rejecting the notices. Besides Bharadwaj, Ravinder Ravi, Randhir Sharma and Mohinder Singh had also given adjournment notices for discussion on the issue.

His ruling led to an uproar, as BJP members started raising slogans in protest. At this point, Leader of Opposition PK Dhumal suggested that instead of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh making a statement, the issue be clubbed with the discussion on the earthquake threat listed for today as both floods and tremors were natural calamities. It would give the members an opportunity to raise the concerns pertaining to their constituencies as the entire state had been affected.

However, Butail maintained that the Chief Minister’s statement was listed in the business and once a statement was made there could be no discussion on the matter as per rules. This further infuriated the protesting BJP members who trooped into the well of the House and raised the pitch of the slogans. However, the Speaker proceeded with the question hour amid sloganeering and Virbhadra Singh also made a suo motu statement on damages caused due to heavy rains across the state. The House was adjourned after completing the business listed for the day.

Shimla, August 21
At least 50 persons have been killed and 24,142 animals, including sheep, goat, cattle and mules, have perished in the incessant heavy rain during the current monsoon in the state so far. The total loss has been estimated at Rs 2,892 crore.

Stating this in the Vidhan Sabha, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh informed that the monsoon set in early and the state experienced heavy rain from June 15 to 17, which caused extensive damage to Kinnaur and Sirmour. The precipitation was 576% to 1,358% above the normal. As a result, 5,287 housing structures (both pucca and kuchha houses), cowsheds, labour sheds and shops were fully or partially damaged. The total loss to private property was estimated to be about Rs 200 crore.

He further stated that the maximum 23 persons were killed in Kinnaur, followed by seven in Shimla district, four in Kangra, five in Sirmour, six in Mandi, three in Kullu, one each in Hamirpur and Chamba. As many as 4,377 roads had been affected, resulting in a loss of Rs 1,221.45 crore and disruption of normal life in many parts. Many stretches on the national highway from Wangtu to Sumdoh had been washed away and the BRO had pegged the loss at Rs 40 crore.

The loss on account of damage to 2,763 water and irrigation schemes and 109 flood protection works had been pegged at as Rs 256.78 crore. The damage to standing Kharif crops on over 20,573 hectares had been put at Rs 200 crore and to fruit crops at Rs 302 crore. Besides, a permanent damage to 3,500 hectare horticultural land valued at Rs 4.52 crore had been reported.

The power infrastructure was also severely damaged, especially in Kinnaur, and the loss on this account had been assessed at Rs 475 crore. Community assets like panchayat ghars, mahila mandal bhawans, community centres, village paths had also been damaged, resulting in a loss of over Rs 165 crore.

The Chief minister said the government had released Rs 129.24 crore to various departments and the deputy commissioners to provide immediate relief to the affected people and carry out the restoration work. The state obtained the first installment of Rs 68 crore from the Centre under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and it also released its share of Rs 15 crore.

The Cabinet enhanced the compensation to the affected farmers. For the loss of agricultural and horticultural crop between 25% and 50%, the amount would be Rs 2,000 per bigha; between 50% and 75%, Rs 2,500 per bigha; and for the loss above 75%, Rs 3,000 per bigha. For the loss of substantial portion of land, the compensation has been raised to Rs 3,000 per bigha; for desilting of agricultural land, Rs 1,000 per bigha; for re-plantation, Rs 2,700 per bigha; and rejuvenation of damaged plants, Rs 2,000 per bigha.

Shimla, August 21
Leader of Opposition PK Dhumal today charged the ruling party with suppressing people’s voice by not allowing the Opposition to raise important issues concerning like damage caused by rain in the Vidhan Sabha.

He said the BJP members had given notices for bringing an adjournment motion to discuss the issue, but it was disallowed.

His suggestion to take up the issue, along with the discussion on earthquake threat listed in the business for the day, was also not accepted and proceedings were conducted amidst uproar and sloganeering.

It was the responsibility of the government to ensure smooth functioning of the House but it made no effort to sort out matters and restore the order in the House, and rushed through the proceedings, he added.

The former Chief Minister said the government was evading a discussion as it had failed on the disaster management front. Also, there was no response from Centre on the financial assistance to deal with the situation.

He denied the charge of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh that false cases were instituted against Congress leaders at his behest during the BJP regime. He said the CD case was referred to the vigilance on the High Court’s order in 2007 when Congress was in power. The Sagar Katha case resulted because of overwriting in the files and doubts were naturally raised when an agreement was signed on March 23, 1998, just a day before he took over as Chief Minister.

The Congress government was indulging in political vendetta and the employees seen as BJP sympathisers were shifted to far-off places in violation of the transfer policy. The BJP had during the recent meeting of its state executive in Palampur decided to launch a campaign against the "Badla and Badli" regime. The protest in front of the Vidhan Sabha on March 23 was a part of it.

Shimla, August 21
Terming the protest by the BJP in the Vidhan Sabha a ploy to divert attention from the “misdeeds” of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA), Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today alleged that the sports body headed by former Chief Minister PK Dhumal’s son Anurag Thakur had committed a fraud and an appropriate action would be taken in the matter after completion of investigations.

Interacting with mediapersons after the session, he said: “There were too many skeletons in the cupboard of the HPCA and a case had already been registered. Many irregularities were being detected but as the matter was being investigated it would not proper to reveal details.”

He said no one was against the game of cricket but the sports body had betrayed the confidence of people. The state vigilance and anti-corruption bureau had found a second body with same acronym HPCA registered in Kanpur and its address was found to be fictitious. The vigilance team which visited Kanpur was told that no company was ever housed on the premises.

The HPCA had allowed the players from Punjab to represent the state in Ranji trophy and even managed fake state domicile certificates, he said. It got shamlat land allotted for creating a facility for lodging the players but built a commerical five-star hotel on it. The chief minister rejected the charge of political vendetta and said it was Dhumal who had misused power to harass political opponents by joining hands with former director general of police DS Minhas to fabricate cases against him and other Congress leaders.

He said Dhumal should apologise to people of the state for framing political opponents in false cases if any political morality was left in him.

Thunag/Thatchi, August 21
Apple famers are facing a lot of inconvenience in transporting the fruit to markets as the Gohar-Janjheli main road beyond Thunag has got blocked due to a landslide. Besides, Thatchi-Didar and Bali Chowki-Sudhrani-Thatta and Lambathatch-Kalni roads have been cut off for the past one week due to landslides in Mandi district.

Apples packed in cartons face the danger of rotting, as the 15-km-long Thatchi-Didar road had been blocked due to landslides beyond Thatchi at several places for the past 10 days, said Damodar of Didar village.

The apple season is at its peak, but roads at many places are muddy and slushy, making the transport of the crop difficult. Even a JCB sent by the Public Works Department (PWD) is of little help, said Gauri Dut, another Didar village resident.

The road blockades have hit farmers and commuters seeking to travel to two gram panchayats of Thatchi and Khalwahan, which are highly productive areas for the apple crop.

The story is no different in Thatta, Kalnidhar and Jahal khad areas of Bali Chowki tehsil and Baga Chanogi, Thatchadhar and Lambathach in the mid-belt of Seraj block.

A 5-km-long road is blocked at Khanidhar, disconnecting 12 villages in Thatta panchayat. Big rocks have fallen on the road, but the PWD hasn’t cleared the blockade 4 km beyond Sudhrani so far, villagers rued.

The Lambathatch-Batkidhar road has also been hit by landslides at different places for the past three days. “We have taken up the matter with the PWD to open the roads in Seraj, as the apple season is at its peak and villagers are facing problem,” said Prof Vir Singh Chauhan, Seraj Congress leader.

Seraj has suffered damage to roads worth Rs 22 crore so far. The PWD has restored the damaged roads temporarily, said engineers, who are engaged in restoring the road traffic.

Gohar PWD Executive Engineer KK Sharma said they had restored the Thatchi-Didar road. Two JCBs and two tippers were at work to restore the Gohar-Janjheli road beyond Thunag. The work was also on to restore the Sudhrani road to Thatta where massive landslides had blocked the road, he added.

Shimla, August 21
The Himachal Pradesh High Court has come down heavily on the Principal Secretary (Social Justice and Empowerment) for failing to file an affidavit explaining the functioning and affairs of the Tibetan Children's Village (TCV), Dharamsala.

The court had given the directions to the Principal Secretary in the last hearing on a petition alleging that the TCV, home to a large number of orphaned, abandoned and surrendered Tibetan children, is not registered as a children's home under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000.

Expressing its dissatisfaction, the court gave the Principal Secretary another opportunity to file an affidavit with regard to the functioning of the village and also explain whether the state was complying with the provisions of the Act and the laws concerning child rights. The court further cautioned the officer that failure to do so would only aggravate contempt of the court.

Anil Malhotra, counsel for the petitioner, contended before the court that Himachal Pradesh had no state commission for the protection of child rights, no children’s courts and no monitoring scheme for registration of children's homes. He also contended that the state had not constituted child welfare committees, inspection committees or advisory boards as per the Act.

In August 2012, petitioners Karma Lama and his Italian wife Paola Pivi had met five-year-old Tenzin Tsering at Dharamsala and took him in their care at Kashmir Cottage at Dharamsala while working on a research project.

However, TCV president Tsewang Yeshi asked the petitioners to return Tenzin, who was to be sent to France with Tashi Choedon who had found Tenzin abandoned and brought him to TCV three years ago.

The petitioners alleged that when they refused to return the child, TCV threatened them with kidnapping and abduction charges. The petitioners approached the Guardian Judge, Dharamsala, for the custody of Tenjin. But the Guardian Judge directed the petitioners to hand over the custody of Tenzin to TCV on or before September 1.

The petitioners, however, challenged it before the high court with a prayer to transfer of the guardianship proceedings to some other court. On this plea, the court had stayed the order of Guardian Judge for handing over the child to TCV.

Shimla, August 21
The state government, which is keen on foreign direct investment (FDI) in the housing sector, is formulating an integrated township policy for setting up satellite townships, aimed at decongesting overcrowded towns of the state.

Even as the policy is still in the process of being formulated, the government has already identified sizeable chunks of land near the three main towns of Shimla, Dharamsala and Una, to set up satellite townships. The integrated township policy is being jointly prepared by the housing, law, finance and revenue departments before it is given a final shape and presented before the Cabinet for approval.

With the idea of inviting the FDI in the housing sector, the government wants to prepare all modalities concerning the satellite townships. “To begin with, we intend to have three satellite townships with the help of the FDI for which we are preparing a scheme so that the role of the HP Urban Development Authority (HIMUDA) and the private entrepreneur can be clearly defined,” said Sudhir Sharma, Minister for Urban Development and Town and Country Planning Department.

He said with most of the major towns of the state buckling under pressure due to growing population coupled with the additional burden of stream of tourists, satellite townships would have to be developed. “We plan to have satellite townships for Shimla, Solan, Mandi, Dharamsala and Nahan,” said Sharma. He added that at least 500 bighas of land and an investment of about Rs 5,000 crore would be required for setting up a satellite township under the public-private partnership mode.

The biggest question is whether to keep the land in the name of the government or have some other arrangement with the investor who will be making the entire investment. All options, including keeping the land in the name of the government, were open, but a final decision is yet to be taken in this regard, said officials.

Even though the need for having satellite townships has been felt for long, there has been little progress on this front. “The fact that at least a minimum of 500 bighas is required for setting up a township makes our task even more difficult as such huge chunks of land are not easily available in the hills,” admitted a senior functionary of HIMUDA.

The main objective of the integrated township policy is to facilitate the creation of efficient equitable sustainable urban settlements and to facilitate private partnership in urban development.

Shimla, August 21
The four medical students, convicted of ragging Aman Kachroo, a first-year medical student in Kangra, to death, have been allowed by the state government to complete their MBBS.

Following the government decision, the four second-year students, who were released nine months before the completion of their four-year sentence on August 15 are likely to resume their studies shortly. The government has written to the Principal of Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College (DRPGMC), Tanda, Kangra, to allow them to complete their remaining medicine studies after intimating the Medical Council of India (MCI). A request had been made by the four students to the government to allow them to complete their medical education so that they could lead a normal life after having served their sentence.

It was on March 8, 2009, that 19-year-old Aman Kachroo died after being subjected to intense physical ragging. It was on the basis of the post-mortem report which confirmed death due to brain haemorrhage along with the police complaint lodged by Aman that the four youths, Abhinav Verma, Mukul Sharma, Navin Verma and Ajay Verma, were sentenced to four-year sentence. The conviction on November 11, 2010, had put an end to their budding medical careers, with all four ending up in jail in Dharamsala and Hamirpur.

"We have written to the Principal of the Tanda medical college to allow the four youths to complete their MBBS studies subject to MCI norms and HP University ordinances," confirmed Jaishree Sharma, Director, Medical Education. She added that the four youths could not be deprived of the chance to compete their education as they had already served the sentence for the crime for which they had been convicted.

Sources said after getting approval from the Principal Secretary, Health, the Director, Medical Education, had asked the Principal, Tanda medical college, to collect details of the academic record, attendance, conduct and other details of the four students while they were in college.

Rajinder Kachroo, father of Aman, after losing his only son had started a campaign against ragging and set up the Aman Sathya Kachroo Trust and launched an anti-ragging helpline. It was the nationwide movement against ragging following Aman's death that the Supreme Court had barred ragging and the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) started an anti-ragging helpline.

Rajinder Kachroo is learnt to be unhappy with the government's earlier decision of releasing the four students, nine months before the completion of their sentence as he feels this will be a severe blow to the efforts to curb ragging.

Solan, August 21
Tax evasion worth crores was detected by Excise and Taxation Department officials in the Nalagarh area where fake firms had been set up in Una and Bilaspur to claim input tax credit (ITC) allegedly by Nalagarh-based M/s Satya Metals.

The firm had reportedly been making purchases from different dealers at Bilaspur and Una since 2010-11, thus claiming a total of ITC amounting to Rs 15.55 crore against a total deposit of Rs 2.68 lakh. It was allegedly swindling the state exchequer of approximately Rs 15.48 crore.

This was due to the fact that the dealers at Bilaspur were non-existent and other dealers at Una either never made any sale to the dealer at Nalagarh or made smaller sales in comparison to what had been claimed by the dealer at Nalagarh.

One such erroneous claim has also been made by M/s Blus Sea Metal, Nalagarh, which resulted in a loss of Rs 16.39 lakh.

Both these dealers have deposited Rs 2 crore and Rs 7 lakh in total pending the completion of investigations, confided Excise and Taxation Officer Rajiv Sharma who added that more such cases had been detected and the department was now scrutinising the details.

The case has exposed how fraudulent means are being adopted by traders to avail undue tax benefits by operating in the bordering area of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh.

Chamba, August 21
The Manimahesh pilgrimage will commence officially on August 28, the occasion of Janamashtami. It will culminate on September 13, the occasion of Sri Radhashtami. But devotees of Lord Shiva, hailing from different parts within and outside the state, have already started making a beeline for Manimahesh for the holy bath, reports reaching here today said.

The reports said a number of pilgrims from the adjoining areas of Kullu, Mandi and Kangra districts, besides the neghbouring states, had started arriving at Bharmour.

Meanwhile, the Chamba Welfare Association, an NGO, has rebuked the district administration for not managing the Manimahesh yatra as per old customs and traditions, thereby causing resentment among people.

In a representation made to Himachal Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri, the association alleged that donations made by devotees and pilgrims at the Manimahesh Lake and collected by the administration were not divided equally among Sri Dasnami Akhada, Sri Laxmi Narayan Temple, Sri Charpat Nath Yogi Temple, all of Chamba town, and priests of Hadsar village near Bharmour township.

Association president RK Mahajan and general secretary YR Sehgal in the representation said as per the old annals, these institutions were the rightful shareholders of the money collected.

“Now two names have been added in this list due to political influence as well as the demand of people of Bharmour, which includes a private trust and ‘chelas’ of the area,” they stated.

Hamirpur, August 21
Cracking the typing test conducted by the Himachal Pradesh Subordinate Services Selection Board (HPSSSB), Hamirpur, for promotion to Class III posts, is turning out to be difficult, as only 203 employees could qualify the test even after relaxing the norms in a special chance given to them.

For 684 posts available, only 203 candidates could be recruited by the HPSSSB after declaration of the result today. The Class IV employees working in various government departments are promoted to the Class III category under the Limited Direct Recruitment (LDR) Promotion Scheme, for which a typing test in Hindi and English is being conducted by the HPSSSB every year.

This year nearly 800 posts of Class III were to be filled under the scheme, but 89 candidates could be recruited after the test in the first attempt conducted a few months ago.

Keeping in view the availability of the substantial seats available, the state government had given a special chance to Class IV employees to clear the test by relaxing norms.

Under the special chance, the employees were given relaxation of five marks in the typing test. For clearing the Hindi typing test, the passing marks were lowered from 25 to 20 and for clearing the English test the marks were lowered from 30 to 25.

Secretary, HPSSSB, Vijay Kumar said, “Out of 600 candidates, 203 have qualified the test in a special chance given to them and this test is held every year so remaining employees can appear for the test next year.”

Sundernagar, August 21
Special Judge, Mandi, PP Ranta has sentenced Roshan Lal of Dhamchyan, Jogindernagar, to undergo rigorous imprisonment (RI) for 10 years and pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh. In case of the non-payment of fine, he will further undergo simple imprisonment for one year. Roshan was arrested with 2.7 kg of charas.

He was nabbed from a bus at Galu village near Jogindernagar carrying a bag containing 2.7 kg charas on March 22, 2010.

The prosecution examined 14 witnesses. Although the driver and the conductor of the bus did not support the case of prosecution, the court held that the testimony of police witnesses was reliable and it could be safely relied to convict the accused.

The court held Roshan guilty of offence as per Section 20, Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, and heard him on the quantum of sentence.

Mandi, August 21
An old building in the Darmayan Mohalla here was destroyed in a fire that broke out last night. The police supect a foul play in the incident.

Fire tenders rushed to the spot and prevented it from spreading to other buildings. The police has lodged an FIR under Section 436, IPC, on a complaint of tenant Asha Devi, who lived on the upper floor.

There were two tenants, including a shop, in the building. The tenants and the owner claimed they had suffered a loss of Rs 30 lakh.

The police said a protracted legal battle was going on between the two tenants and the owner. The owner had wanted them to vacate the building.

Bilaspur, August 21
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has always been sympathetic towards Bhakra Dam oustees' problems and taken a keen interest to solve these.

This was stated by Congress state general secretary and state Planning Development and 20-Point Implementation Committee Chairman Ram Lal Thakur while talking to mediapersons here this evening.

Ram Lal said Opposition parties were trying to exploit the Chief Minister's recent statement out of context and misrepresenting it to prove that he had become hostile towards their interests.

He counted some of the concessions given by the Chief Minister to the oustees like waiving off their rehabilitation loans with interest and penal interest, holding special “mini settlement" for their areas to save them from litigations, allotting 187 plots to them at the Cinema Colony in 1985 and now earmarking two sectors for allotting plots to the remaining oustees in the transport workshop area, constructing the Ali Khud bridge and laying foundation stones of the Baghchhal and Berry Dadollan bridges over the Gobind Sagar etc.

Ram Lal challenged BJP leaders to come out with a single concession which they had given to the oustees during their rule in the state.

The BJP could not finalise even the Rehabilitation Policy regarding the regularisation of encroachments of oustees in Bilaspur town even after its commitment in the HP High Court.

Shimla, August 21
Stressing the need for the empowerment of women, Himachal Pradesh High Court Chief Justice AM Khanwilkar today said the gender-based discrimination, which had become order of the day, was a big challenge before the new generation.

He was speaking at the inauguration of a two-day national seminar on “Violence Against Women”, organised jointly by the Department of Law and Economics, at Himachal Pradesh University (HPU). “With changing times and mindset, perhaps we have forgotten that we have been brought up in an environment where women are worshipped as Shakti and we respect them as mother and sister,” he said.

Justice Khanwilkar said women constituted half of the world’s population and yet had to undergo the ignominy of discrimination, injustice and violence in some form or the other. He emphasised upon that the issue be taken up as a mission by looking at its causes, including the high rate of illiteracy, economic dependence, caste and religious sanctions, lack of leadership and, more importantly, male-dominated society.

He said the empowerment of women from their childhood was the only way forward. He elaborated on various forms of violence against women, including physical, verbal, sexual, social, emotional and financial. He regretted that in recent times, several instances of violence against girl child have come to the fore involving their own relatives, who were expected to protect and nurture them.

He stressed that strategies must be evolved to sensitise not just those who are responsible for maintaining law and order, but also those who investigate crime against women.

HPU Vice-Chancellor Prof ADN Bajpai, welcomed the Chief Justice.

Bilaspur, August 21
Dharam Singh (55), an assistant lineman of the HP Electricity Board and a resident of Bamta, near here, was electrocuted when he was working on the top of an electric pole at Upper Kosariyan sector here today.

Reports said he was working without any proper equipment. He had climbed up the electric pole to set right some defect in streetlight.

He was rushed to the Regional Hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead. — OC