Daring cop foils
highway robbery
MANDI, Sept 8 — A gang of criminals has been busted by the Jogindernagar police with the arrest of five men. Arms were also recovered from them. A Maruti car, with a specially designed cavity to conceal arms, has also been impounded.

Soil erosion threatens village
JWALAMUKHI: Dehrian, an isolated village, located 7 km from here on the Dharamsala-Shimla state highway across the Kalidhar, is under threat due to heavy soil erosion near the village.
Probe into "beating up" of havaldar
SHIMLA, Sept 8 — A court of enquiry has been ordered into the beating up of a havaldar allegedly by his senior officers in a local Army unit on Sunday.
NJPC staff gherao director
SHIMLA, Sept 8 — Employees of the Nathpa Jhakri Power Corporation today gheraoed its Director (Civil) to protest against the move of the Power Ministry to take measures to favour the HPSEB employees who have been deputed to the NJPC.
1 arrested for bid to obstruct exam
HAMIRPUR, Sept 8 — The Barsar police today arrested Satish Kumar of Daryota village of the district for allegedly trying to obstruct the holding of the supplementary examination of the HP Board of School Education at Senior Secondary School, Bani 32 km from here.
Spate of thefts in Mandi
MANDI, Sept 8 — A series of thefts committed in the town during the past few days has caused panic among the residents.

Daring cop foils highway robbery
From Our Correspondent

MANDI, Sept 8 — A gang of criminals has been busted by the Jogindernagar police with the arrest of five men. Arms were also recovered from them. A Maruti car, with a specially designed cavity to conceal arms, has also been impounded.

Mr Sanjay Kumar Kundu, S.P., told mediapersons this evening that all the five members of the gang were hardcore criminals involved in a number of dacoities.

Three members of the gang, Raj Kumar, Ranbir and Anand Prakash belonged to Sonepat while the two others, Jai Prakash and Ajit Singh were from Bagpath (UP).

Police parties from Sonepat and Bagpath are being sent to Mandi, said Mr Kundu.

The gang members, who are under police remand, were brought before mediapersons along with the arms and ammunition recovered from them.

The accused admitted that they had planned to go to Kulu-Manali to commit dacoities there. Another target was the Bagpath Post Office, where Rs 10 lakh in cash is collected daily. They planned to loot it during the day.

The gang was apprehended while giving chase to a Maruti with a newly married couple inside. They planned to rob them of their cash and jewellery. While giving chase they hit a motorcycle going towards Baijnath. Gian Chand a constable of the 3rd battalion Pandoh, who was driving the motor cycle, chased the car, overtook it and stopped it at Chantra. He pulled out the driver Raj Kumar. When another accused, Jai Prakash, brandished a country made pistol he quickly snatched it. But then a big crowd gathered, which beat up and overpowered the robbers. The police of Ghatta and Jogindernagar also arrived on the scene. One of the robbers who fled was also chased down and his weapon which he had thrown in the forest, was also recovered.

A case has been registered under Sections 279, 506 and 399 IPC and Sections 25, 54 and 59 of Indian Arms Act.

Mr Kundu said all vehicles entering the district would be thoroughly checked.

Soil erosion threatens village
From Brijender Sharma

JWALAMUKHI: Dehrian, an isolated village, located 7 km from here on the Dharamsala-Shimla state highway across the Kalidhar, is under threat due to heavy soil erosion near the village.

Surprisingly, the government has failed to take steps to check the menace. The erosion has occurred despite repeated representations made by the Dohag gram panchayat, under which the village falls, and the Mahila Mandal since 1996, when the whole area was swept away by landslides. In fact, the sliding portion, adjacent to the village, is a result of heavy rain.

The rainy season was also the cause of erosion in the area adjoining the village, thus ruining prime agricultural land. Gujjars had to get their houses vacated before the erosion could damage them. In another corner water tanks of the Irrigation and Public Health Departments were also damaged.

The Gujjars' houses are situated barely 15 feet from the sliding stretch adjoining the village. Several "sheesham" trees have also been damaged. The adjoining khud has been blocked.

Desh Raj Choudhary, a social activist, talking to this correspondent, said agricultural land belonging to residents of Dehrian village was likely to be ruined.

The protection work that had been carried out below the sliding portion of the village was described as eyewash by the villagers.

When this correspondent contacted Dehra's Soil Conservation Officer, he said the department had funds for treating agricultural land damaged by slips and soil erosion and for launching community irrigation schemes. The department would soon conduct an extensive survey of the agricultural and non-agricultural land that was damaged following the erosion.

On the other hand, Division Forest Officer S.R. Badiala expressed the department's inability to carry out the work unless a separate budget was sanctioned. "However, we have been doing tree plantation at the sliding portions inside the forests to check soil erosion," he added.

Besides, sources disclosed that an estimate had been sent to the government by the department to do protection work of Dohag panchayat and its surrounding areas. Once the estimate was approved, work would be started, he added.

Probe into "beating up" of havaldar
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Sept 8 — A court of enquiry has been ordered into the beating up of a havaldar allegedly by his senior officers in a local Army unit on Sunday.

The havaldar, Rajinder Singh, has been admitted to Military Hospital with grievous injuries.

A case has also been registered by the police and further investigation is in progress.

It was alleged that the havaldar was beaten up by a Captain (Adjudant), a Subedar and a Naib-Subedar at midnight.

However, the Commanding Officer (CO) of the unit when contacted on telephone said the allegation of the havaldar was false. His tooth broke when he fell down during a scuffle.

The CO said that during routine checking at about 1 a.m. on Sunday, he found the havaldar sleeping although he was on guard duty. As punishment, he was ordered to be put under arrest.

However, the havaldar misbehaved with his senior officers who were sent to take disciplinary action against him. He tried to throttle the captain, the CO claimed.

He denied that the havaldar was beaten up. He received the injury during the scuffle, he claimed.

NJPC staff gherao director
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Sept 8 — Employees of the Nathpa Jhakri Power Corporation today gheraoed its Director (Civil) to protest against the move of the Power Ministry to take measures to favour the HPSEB employees who have been deputed to the NJPC.

The NJPC employees yesterday "gheraoed" the Director (Finance) till 9 p.m.

Mr Rajesh Patre, general secretary of the NJPC Employees Association, said that their protest was against the move of the ministry to grant higher benefits to the seconded employees of the HPSEB.

1 arrested for bid to obstruct exam
From Our Correspondent

HAMIRPUR, Sept 8 — The Barsar police today arrested Satish Kumar of Daryota village of the district for allegedly trying to obstruct the holding of the supplementary examination of the HP Board of School Education at Senior Secondary School, Bani 32 km from here. The authorities informed the police and SDM, Mr Gopal Sharma and the SHO reached there and took the man into custody.

The SDM Mr Gopal Sharma told this reporter on the phone this evening that a case under Sections 453 of the IPC and 107 and the 151 of the Cr PC had been registered against Satish Kumar, who had come to the centre along with his students allegedly to unduly help them. When the staff objected, he misbehaved with them and in the process the examination was delayed by more than 20 minutes.

Spate of thefts in Mandi
From Our Correspondent

MANDI, Sept 8 — A series of thefts committed in the town during the past few days has caused panic among the residents.

Cash worth Rs 52,000 was stolen from Sanjwan Hospital on Saturday. Thieves also broke into the Bhima Kali Temple at Bhiuli and decamped with an unspecified amount of cash.

Besides these, there have been thefts in Jawaharnagar, including one in the house of a petrol-pump owner. A gang of thieves from Madhya Pradesh is suspected to be responsible for these thefts.