Dharamsala Kangra Shimla

HPSEB asked to pay damages
SOLAN, Sept 7 — The District Consumer Forum, in a landmark judgement today held the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board liable to pay Rs 10,000 as damages along with litigation costs of Rs 1,000 for not supplying power to a consumer for nearly six months.

HVC denies charge
SHIMLA, Sept 7 — The Himachal Vikas Congress has refuted the charge that workers of the BJP and the HVC assaulted the Principal of Senior Secondary School, Baragaon, and decried the attempt of Mr J.B.L. Khachi, a senior Congress leader, to give political colour to the incident.

Sonia to visit Himachal
DHARAMSALA, Sept 7 — The All-India Congress Committee AICC, President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, will visit Himachal Pradesh to address election meetings in favour of the party candidates.

• 2 washed away

Congress is power hungry: Dhumal
From Our Correspondent

JAWALAMUKHI, Sept 7 — The Chief Minister Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, today ridiculed the Congress slogan of stability.

Launching the election campaign of the BJP-HVC alliance candidate, Mr Suresh Chandel, he said the Congress was a power-starved party and wanted to capture power at all costs. He charged the Congress with forcing elections on the country and said frequent elections created instability and affected the administration.

Without naming Mrs Sonia Gandhi, he pointed out that the Congress had one campaigner, who did not own responsibility for the party’s decisions. One handicap, the Congress suffered from was that there had been no authentic voice of the party in the elections. Though the polls had been precipitated on the issue of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, yet the issue had not figured in the last elections. Now, party was trying exploit the sentiments of people of Kargil issue.

Reminding people that the nation was facing fresh election because the Vajpayee government at the Centre had lost the confidence motion in the Lok Sabha by a solitary vote; he urged the people to cast each vote. He said that the BJP government in the state was also established by a vote.

Launching a frontal attack on Congress leader Kewal Singh Pathania, Mr Dhumal said Mr Pathania had no right to challenge the performance of present state government. He refuted Mr Pathania’s allegations with regard to development of the Jawalamukhi Assembly segment. He alleged that it had been the gameplan of the Congress party to misguide the people by raising bogey of non-performance of the ruling party in the state.

He further said the BJP had never opposed the implementation of the Mandal Commission’s report.

He also demanded a change in electoral system of the country and said that state funding of candidates was must to make democracy more purposeful and put a limit of Rs 1 lakh. But candidates spend several lakhs and even crores, with the result that every candidate was compelled to file a false affidavit right from the day he or she plunged into the fray. He admitted that this was not an easy thing, but then all political parties should sit together and decide on or how they were going to streamline the whole system of funding. We should work out a formula by which all recognised parties could each be given a certain amount of money for contesting elections, he added. There should be a limit volition commissioner to ensure that nobody exceeded that limit, he said.

Govt machinery being misused: Virbhadra
Tribune News Service

DHARAMSALA, Sept 7 — The former Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, has accused the BJP of making blatant misuse of government machinery, for election purposes in the state.

Addressing a press conference here today, the CLP leader, said that unless and until the election commission intervened in the matter, they did not expect a fair role of the government, during the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP was repeating the misuse of government machinery as was done during the byelections to the Baijnath, Kinnaur, Lahaul Spiti and Bharmour assembly constituencies, in the past.

He regretted that despite bringing the matter to the notice of the state's Electoral Officer and the Election Commission of India, along with evidence of the violation of code of conduct, no action had been taken so far. "It is painful to see that the silence on the part of those responsible for the conduct of free and fair poll, is only emboldening the administration to float the election code of conduct."

Some of the ministers and chairmen of Boards and Corporations were utilising the services of government drivers for their private vehicles, while some others had put private numbers on government vehicles to be used for electioneering. "Some of the senior officers at the sub-division level were trying to influence the voters by promising to get development works done if they voted for the BJP," he alleged.

Mr Virbhadra Singh, expressed surprise over the announcements made by Mr Shanta Kumar, after the dissolution of Parliament, about disbursement of money from the MP's development fund. He took to task the ruling party MLA, Mr Dulo Ram, for instigating the people to resort to violence during elections. He was commenting on the alleged statement of the MLA, that those areas where the polling booth of the Congress would not be allowed to be put up, should be given Rs 1 lakh." Is it not an open invitation to promote poll-related violence, which only reflects the commitment the BJP has towards democracy and electoral politics.

HPSEB asked to pay damages
From Our Correspondent

SOLAN, Sept 7 — The District Consumer Forum, in a landmark judgement today held the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board liable to pay Rs 10,000 as damages along with litigation costs of Rs 1,000 for not supplying power to a consumer for nearly six months.

Mr Hira Nand Sharma, a resident of Dochi Nasho village in Kandaghat tehsil, had filed a complaint before the forum alleging that the board had disconnected power to his house without assigning any reason on June 24, 1996. The board failed to restore the power supply till December 26, 1996 inspite of repeated complaints and request to the authorities concerned.

Mr Sharma had alleged that power supply was discontinued on account of the decaying and consequent falling down of the wooden electricity poles carrying power lines to his village.

The board, in reply pleaded that the forum had neither any jurisdiction to entertain, try and decide such complaints nor Mr Sharma could be treated as a 'consumer'. They also denied that power supply to the complainant's house had remained suspended from June 24, 1996 to December 26, 1996. They also maintained that the complaint had been attended to and supply restored.

The forum comprising Mr Mrigainder Singh and Virendra Thakur upheld the complaint of Mr Thakur, which was fully supported by a certificate of the gram panchayat.

The forum held Assistant Engineer (Kandaghat), Electricity Subdivision No.2; Executive Engineer, Electricity Division, Solan and Superintending Engineer (Operations), Solan circle, "(liable for culpable negligence, gross indifference, blatant carelessness towards their official duties as public servants)". It ordered these officials to pay Rs 10,000 as damages to the complainant and also pay Rs 1,000 as costs within 15 days from today.

Father seeks justice for son’s murder
From Our Correspondent

NURPUR, Sept 7 — Fauzi Ram, a poor and illiterate father of Gagan Singh (20) of Kheir village in Nurpur subdivision, has been running from pillar-to-post to get justice for his son’s death at Bhikhi Pind in Amritsar district.

The hapless father who submitted his complaint to the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, the Director-General of police, Punjab and the Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar, has lamented that his son, who had been working as a servant in a sweet shop on the Bhikhipind link road for the past three years, was allegedly murdered, but the police in connivance with the accused had declared it a suicide case.

He said in May his son had come home and complained that his employer was treating him shabbily. He stated that on July 23 at 8 p.m. he received a telephone message from the employer that his son was in police custody. Owing to his poor health he sent his two sons along with two members of the gram panchayat to Bhikhipind next day. They found the boy dead there.

A case registered and post-mortem examination conducted which declared it a suicide case.

The father suspected a foul play and alleged that his son was murdered by his employer and resented police inaction.

In his complaint to the Chief Minister he has sought a fair probe into the death of his son and arrest of the culprits.

HVC denies charge
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Sept 7 — The Himachal Vikas Congress has refuted the charge that workers of the BJP and the HVC assaulted the Principal of Senior Secondary School, Baragaon, and decried the attempt of Mr J.B.L. Khachi, a senior Congress leader, to give political colour to the incident.

Mr Bhagat Ram Chauhan, president of the Shimla district unit of the party, said that the Principal, who was a staunch supporter of Mr Khachi and had been openly campaigning for the Congress, had an altercation with the delegation of the Parent-Teacher Association of Sarswati Vidya Mandir who went to take possession of rooms belonging to the PWD as per orders of the government. He alleged that Mr Khachi had earlier got the rooms forcibly evicted from the private school, handing over the accommodation to the local government school.

The new government had passed orders for the restoration of rooms to Vidya Mandir but the Principal was not handing over the possession.

Sonia to visit Himachal
Tribune News Service

DHARAMSALA, Sept 7 — The All-India Congress Committee AICC, President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, will visit Himachal Pradesh to address election meetings in favour of the party candidates.

Stating this, the AICC election observer, Mr Maurice Kujur, a Rajya Sabha member from Orissa, said Mrs Gandhi may visit either on September 20 or 21.

"Though the state leadership had requested her to stay for two days, but due to her tight schedule she will be coming only for a day," he said.

2 washed away
From Our Correspondent

KANGRA, Sept 7 — Two persons were today washed away due to flashfloods in the Baner Khud, near here, taking the number of deaths due to the floods in the district to 11 during the monsoon.

According to the police, Babu Ram (40), of Amritsar and Rinku (30), of Daliara Dheera of this district, were working near the banks of Baner Khud when flashfloods following heavy rains washed them away. The bodies have not been traced yet.