HP to probe ACR scam
SHIMLA, Aug 11 — The Himachal Government will enquire into the annual confidential report scam in the Revenue Department and take suitable action against the officers involved.


Hindustan-Tibet road closed
SHIMLA, Aug 11 — Four persons were killed in different incidents while a dense fog enveloped parts of Himachal Pradesh today.

ITBP called out in cloudburst zone
SHIMLA, Aug 11 — The Indo-Tibetan Border Police was today called out by the Himachal Pradesh government for rescue operations in the Damar area of Kulu district where 8 persons were washed away in a cloudburst yesterday.

Ram Lal's charge against Chandel
JAWALAMUKHI, Aug 11 — Mr Ram Lal Thakur, Congress candidate from the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat has charged the BJP state unit President and candidate from the seat, Mr Suresh Chandel, of utter failure on all fronts despite having won the seat in the last elections.

IITT College courses not recognised
SHIMLA, Aug 11 — Himachal Pradesh University has made it clear that the four-year BE and B.Tech courses in information and technology of the IITT College of Engineering, Kala Amb, were not approved by it.

HP docs unhappy with govt
KANGRA, Aug 11 — More than 150 medical officers of the Himachal Pradesh Medical Service have resigned in the past two years allegedly due to the government's apathy towards them.

HVC men unhappy with Shimla nominee
NAHAN, Aug 11 — The Himachal Vikas Congress workers in Sirmaur district are not happy with the official announcement of giving the party ticket to Lt-Col Dhani Ram (retd) for the Shimla (reserved) Lok Sabha seat in the coming elections.

Tank project row resolved
NAHAN, Aug 11 — Confrontation between the local Municipal Counsil and some retired government officials over the "Pucca Tank Development Project" seems to have ended after the shifting of the project to the Delhi Gate nullah.

HP to probe ACR scam
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Aug 11 — The Himachal Government will enquire into the annual confidential report scam in the Revenue Department and take suitable action against the officers involved.

This was announced by Mr P.K. Dhumal Chief Minister, here today, while presiding over the annual conference of the state revenue officers and tehsildars association here today. It was a matter of concern that the annual confidential report of a tehsildar kept vanishing from the secretariat every year between 1988 to 1996. This serious lapse, deliberate or due to negligence, affected the entire cadre and led to adhocism in the Revenue Department, the most important arm of the administration.

He said the government would take effective steps to ensure that such lapses did not occur again.

The Chief Minister called upon revenue officials to solve the problems of Army personnels on a priority basis. He said most problems faced by the serving personnel pertained to the Revenue Department.

Dr Rajan Sushant, Revenue Minister, said the government would review obsolete land laws and strengthen the Revenue Department.

A high-level committee has been set up to review existing laws and frame comprehensive new legislation. It would submit its report by December. The irrational law under which landlords were denied ownership of trees growing on their land had been amended suitably and pastures and "gair mumkin" land had been taken out from the purview of the Forest Conservation Act.

Mr K.K. Sharma, president of the association urged the government to provide vehicles telephone and other facilities to tehsildars keeping in view their multifarious duties. He also demanded ante date seniority to tehsildars on induction into the state administrative service, raising of promotion quota from 22 to 35 per cent, regularisation of adhoc tehsildars and naib tehsildars, enhancement of registration fee from Rs 100 to Rs 500 and filling of vacant posts of district revenue officers, tehsildars and naib tehsildars. He said that the government should do away with adhoc promotions as it created problems in cadre management and led to litigation.

Hindustan-Tibet road closed

SHIMLA, Aug 11 (UNI, PTI) — Four persons were killed in different incidents while a dense fog enveloped parts of Himachal Pradesh today.

A nine-year-old boy was killed and two others injured due to a landslide at Nor village in Kulu district today. The deceased was identified as Dev Raj.

One person, identified as Duni Chand, washed away while crossing the Ravi river at Sherpur in Chamba district today. His body was yet to be traced, police said.

A report from Dharamsala said that the bodies of two unidentified persons were recovered from the Pong Dam and Samkhard Khud in Kangra district.

With these deaths, the toll in rain-related incidents in Himachal Pradesh rose to 22 so far.

A dense fog, accompanied by rain, enveloped the mid hills and the capital town of Shimla which reduced visibility considerably.

The fog, however, disappeared as the day advanced. Reports of fog were also received from Mandi, Sundernagar and Solan areas.

The tribal district of Kinnaur remained cut off by road from rest of the state for the third day today as the Hindustan-Tibet national highway remained blocked at Nugalsari where the heavy machinery of Continental Foundation Construction Company worth Rs. 10-crore was washed away in flash floods yesterday.

Efforts were afoot to restore the road link and senior officers were at the site for relief and rescue operations. The traffic to Kinnaur was being routed through transhipment, official sources here said.

Rescue works at Domair in Kulu district where eight persons were washed away in a cloudburst were in full swing and bodies of two of the victims had been retrieved. The Deputy Commissioner, Kulu, Mr Ashwani Kapoor who reached the spot after trekking a distance of 9-km was still camping there.

Leopard enters house, captured
From Romesh Dutt

SOLAN, Aug 11 — A leopard’s craving for dog meat, considered a delicacy amongst its tribe, landed it in a zoo with a bloodied nose and a broken tooth.

A team of foresters led by Divisional Forest Officer, S.K. Sharma and Range Officer, Shakti Awasthi succeeded in capturing alive the eight foot long leopard from the guest room of a farmer of Bisha village of Kandaghat tehsil, about 26 km from here today.

The leopard had barged into the house while chasing a dog on Monday evening. the dog, a pet of the house owner Mr Chander Bhardwaj had managed to outwit the big cat on three earlier occasions though each time, it suffered wounds, the scars of which are visible even today. The animal had been on the prowl around the village for quite some time now with villagers reporting the killing of atleast seven dogs and some calves.

As per the story pieced together by Mr S.K. Sharma, the leopard appears to have attacked the dog again on Monday, but the cannine managed to run into the safety of its home. Only this time, his determined pursuer gave chase.

The Bhardwaj house consists of two bed rooms, and a guest room, all three of which open onto a covered verandah. While the dog made straight for his master’s room which has a door-closer mechansim fitted on it, the leopard was left outside. Determined to gain entry it began to leap at the walls of the room.

During one of such attempt one of its paws accidently hit on an electric switch which turned on a lamp. The plaster along the switch bore several claw marks.

By the light the leopard saw a ‘rival’ and pounced upon it. Instead it landed on all force inside the guest room as the mirror, fixed in place of one of the windows, broke. The shril sound of falling glass woke up the household.

A thouroughly shocked Bharadwaj was greeted with the sight of a fully grown leopard crouching inside the guest room as if readying to have a go at him. After some moments of shock the farmer quickly arranged for a ply board to be nailed where the broken mirror had been earlier sealing the big cat inside.

Bisha is situated amidst thick cedar and oak forests. The few houses located in it are widely scattered so it was sometime before neighbours could reach the place and well past seven the next morning before a message could be sent to the Range Officer’s office and the civil authorities.

As news of the trapped animal spread, a crowd of nearly 200 villagers gathered outside the Bhardwaj home. Their excited babble sent the leopard into a frenzy as all that morning it tried to break through the stone walls by hurling itself at them. It also tried to force open an iron grill fixed on one of the windows of the room, using its powerful claws and teeth. An inspection of the damaged grill revealed that had the animal made a few more attempts, it would have given way allowing it to escape.

The by now very hungry wild cat was finally caught after it fell for the bait (the same dog) which was placed in one of the two compartments of an iron trap, specially made for the purpose at around 2.30 a.m. today. It was immediately shifted to Tuti Kandi Zoo at Shimla.

Replying to a question by this correspondent, Mr S.K. Sharma said that he had opted for the animal’s removal to Shimla zoo, as it was badly injured. It would be upto the wild life experts of his department to decide as to whether release the animal into it’s natural habitat after treatment or to keep him in captivity.

Not that the Bhardwajs, given the choice, would welcome the former option after their 48-hour ordeal with their uninvited guest.

ITBP called out in cloudburst zone
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Aug 11 — The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) was today called out by the Himachal Pradesh government for rescue operations in the Damar area of Kulu district where 8 persons were washed away in a cloudburst yesterday.

According to official reports men of the SSB and Home Guards were also engaged in rescue operations.

About 150 jawans of the ITBP have been deployed for rescuing affected families and the nearly 1000 pilgrims on the holi Shrikhand pilgrimage. These pilgrims were stranded following washing off of a bridge in the cloudburst.

Mr P.K. Dhumal, Chief Minister reviewed the situation in a high-level meeting here this morning. He said that work on restoration of roads and bridges damaged by the cloud burst in Damar village in Ani sub divsion of Kuly district had been taken up on a war footing.

The Chief Minister said foodgrain stocks had been rushed to the area and repair work of village paths was being taken up.

He said that Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Ani had been made mela officer and overall in charge of Shrikhand pilgrims who would be assisted by the local tehsildar.

Meanwhile, two more dead bodies have been recovered from affected village.

IITT College courses not recognised
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Aug 11 — Himachal Pradesh University has made it clear that the four-year BE and B.Tech courses in information and technology of the IITT College of Engineering, Kala Amb, were not approved by it.

Referring to the admission notice inserted in various newspapers by the college for admission to 40 seats in these courses, an official release of the university pointed out that the institution had not sought extension of affiliation as required under the statutes. The university would not be responsible for any demages to the students seeking admission in the courses without extension of affiliation, it warned.

HP docs unhappy with govt
From Our Correspondent

KANGRA, Aug 11 — More than 150 medical officers of the Himachal Pradesh Medical Service have resigned in the past two years allegedly due to the government's apathy towards them. They have either opted for private practice or left the state to join hospitals elsewhere.

Stating this here yesterday Dr Susheel Sharma, spokesman of the Himachal Pradesh Medical Officers' Association, said more doctors were likely to resign if the government's attitude remained the same.

He said the lecturers' cadre, which was abolished by the previous government, was not restored by the present government despite the assurance of the Health Minister, Mr J.P. Nadda.

Mr Sharma said the Recruitment and Promotion Committee meeting had not been held for the past one and a half years because of which promotion avenues of the doctors had been blocked. He said the time-bound scale, post graduate increment and 6 per cent rural health allowance were not released by the government despite assurances. As a result of this several doctors had left government services.

Ram Lal's charge against Chandel
From Our Correspondent

JAWALAMUKHI, Aug 11 — Mr Ram Lal Thakur, Congress candidate from the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat has charged the BJP state unit President and candidate from the seat, Mr Suresh Chandel, of utter failure on all fronts despite having won the seat in the last elections.

He criticised Mr Chandel for making false promises regarding Kol Dam and the Bhanupali-Bilaspur broad gauge lines.

Mr Thakur said industries set up in Bilaspur and Una district had provided employment to youths of neighbouring states like Haryana and Uttar Pradesh at the cost of youths of the state due to the wrong policies of the BJP government.

He said the Union Government had planned to start a project for the exploration of hydrocarbons in the Jawalamukhi area but work had not started on it adding that Mr Chandel had failed to take up the issue with the Union Government.

HVC men unhappy with Shimla nominee
From Our Correspondent

NAHAN, Aug 11 — The Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC) workers in Sirmaur district are not happy with the official announcement of giving the party ticket to Lt-Col Dhani Ram (retd) for the Shimla (reserved) Lok Sabha seat in the coming elections.

They said they were expecting that the ticket would be given to Chaman Lal Gachhi of Solan or to Mr Mohan Lal Azad from the Renuka area. They had already started campigning in favour of these candidates.

The workers expressed surprise at the selection of a "politically unknown person" for the party ticket. Although they are ready to campaign for the official candidate, yet they feel that in Sirmaur district, which is a stronghold of the Congress, campaigning for a relatively unknown candidate will make their task difficult. They spoke on condition of anonymity on such a "controversial matter".

The workers feared that the party may not get full support of the leading BJP workers of the district.

Tank project row resolved
From Our Correspondent

NAHAN, Aug 11 — Confrontation between the local Municipal Counsil and some retired government officials over the "Pucca Tank Development Project" seems to have ended after the shifting of the project to the Delhi Gate nullah.

Under the Development of Medium and Small Towns Scheme, the Municipal Council had received Rs 2 crore mainly for the construction of a pucca tank and development of some other parts of the town. Out of the amount Rs 1.50 crore has been allocated for the development of a new site near Delhi Gate, where a shopping complex, a public parking lot and a commercial complex will be constructed. The construction work of this four-storeyed building has been entrusted to HP Housing Board and a part of the estimated cost has already been remitted to the board.

According to Mr R.R. Sharma, Executive Officer, the Municipal Council has prepared a separate project worth Rs 19 lakh for the repair and fencing of the tank. He said the project was still under process while the Delhi Gate project had been approved by the State Government.