H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

German trekker identified
MANALI, July 14 — The German trekker who was shot dead yesterday has been identified as Jorg Weihrauch (26) of Augburg in Germany. Mr Adrian, his companion, who was brought here by a rescue team has been admitted to Lady Willingdon Hospital.

Three hurt in building collapse
SOLAN, July 14 — Three persons had a miraculous escape while property worth about Rs 50 lakh was destroyed in a building collapse here today.

1 killed, 41 hurt as bus falls into khud
MANDI, July 14 — One person was killed and 41 others were injured, when Jai Devi — Mandi bus of Himani Travels (HP-31-3900) fell into a khud near Balana village, today.

Renaming of sanatorium opposed
KANGRA, July 14 — Kin of Rai Bahadur Jodhamal Kuthiala, on whose name the tuberculosis sanatorium at Tanda was established, have expressed resentment over the renaming of the sanatorium after Dr Rajendra Prasad and the decision of the government to shift it to Dharampur to convert it into a TB and chest disease department of Dr Rajendra Prasad Medical College, Tanda.

German trekker identified
From Our Correspondent

MANALI, July 14 — The German trekker who was shot dead yesterday has been identified as Jorg Weihrauch (26) of Augburg in Germany. Mr Adrian, his companion, who was brought here by a rescue team has been admitted to Lady Willingdon Hospital.

Meanwhile, a police party led by the DSP, has left for Chika and Balugera to search for the gunmen.

Speaking to this correspondent, the injured German trekker said he and Jorg Weihrauch, both school teachers in Germany, were going for a trek to Leh via the Manali-Hamta Pass and Chhatru route. He said the gunmen fired at their tent four times.

They both came out immediately but when they realised that they were being fired at, they ran in different directions. Jorg Weshruch was hit in his head and chest while Adrian was hit in both his legs. Later, he went back to the camping site and found Rs 14,000, two air tickets and passports missing. Mr Adrian said he could not understand the language being spoken by the gunmen but was sure they were speaking some Indian language.

Mr Adam Lee Esiahpaeir, a British national, and Mr Sanjeev Sharma a local adventurer, along with a police team succeeded in reaching the spot yesterday. They said keeping in view the difficult route, it was not possible to shift the body of the German trekker to Manali without a helicopter.

The SP, Mr Anurag Garg, today visited Prini village, the starting point of the trekking route, along with a medical team and later visited Lady Willingdon Hospital to take the details of the incident. He said the German Embassy had also been informed about the incident.

The police had been directed to set up nakas on all trekking routes leading to the Hamta Pass from Manali and Chhatru on the Manali-Kaza road.

The district administration is trying to arrange a helicopter to lift the body of the deceased from Balugera. According to the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Ashwani Kapoor, the helicopter deployed for the operation was not able to take off from Chandigarh today due to foggy weather.

Three hurt in building collapse
From Our Correspondent

SOLAN, July 14 — Three persons had a miraculous escape while property worth about Rs 50 lakh was destroyed in a building collapse here today.

The building is situated on the busy Rajgarh road near the Deputy Commissioner’s office and had been recently constructed. Two adjoining buildings, which were nearing completion, were also severely damaged. It was alleged that the civil authorities and the Town and Country Planning Department staff had allowed construction of all three buildings in utter violation of safety norms.

The area on which these four-storeyed structures were apparently permitted to be constructed is a known sinking area. Almost every other building on it has developed wide cracks over a period of time. One multi-storeyed building which housed a public school till the early nineties, had sunk by nearly five feet some years ago.

Old timers say that the whole belt, starting from Saproon bus stand to Dhobi Ghat locality of this town (the collapsed building stood) on this stretch, had been sinking slowly ever since multi-storeyed concrete structures had replaced the traditional light structures made of mud, wood and stones.

It could not be ascertained whether the Town and Country Planning Department officials had ascertained the load bearing capacity at the affected site before sanctioning the building plans.

Fortunately, the collapse occurred at a little past midnight when all five shops housed in these buildings had closed down. Only three Gurkha construction workers were inside the building at the time of it’s collapse. All of them were partially buried and could be extricated only after a posse of policemen lead by ASP Sunder Lal and civil officials lead by SDM Rakesh Dhiman arrived on the scene. The injured were rushed to the local zonal Hospital, where they were admitted with minor injuries.

Out of the five shops in the damaged buildings, one was taken over by a young entrepreneur only yesterday. He had brought computers and accessories only a few hours before the mishap. The shops’ formal inauguration was slated for today.

The SDM, Mr Rakesh Dhiman, had constituted a committee headed by an Assistant Engineer of the PWD to probe the incident. He had issued special instructions to ascertain weather any building norms were violated in the sanctioning of the building plans and subsequent construction work.

A former Congress MLA, Ms Krishna Mohini, had urged the government to provide speedy relief to the affected persons.

Meanwhile, the district administration had evacuated 15 persons living in nearby buildings which could be damaged in case the remaining structures collapse.

1 killed, 41 hurt as bus falls into khud
From Our Correspondent

MANDI, July 14 — One person was killed and 41 others were injured, when Jai Devi — Mandi bus of Himani Travels (HP-31-3900) fell into a khud near Balana village, today.

The injured were shifted to Civil Hospital at Sundernagar where condition of six persons was stated to be serious.

The dead had been identified as Durga Dass of Fagao village near Jai Devi.

The cause of accident could not be known immediately. Mr V.K. Dhavan, additional SP, Mandi had rushed to scene of the accident.

The district administration has granted on ex-gratia of Rs 5000 to next of the kin of Durga Dass and Rs 3000 to the seriously injured persons.

As many as 42 persons were travelling in the bus when it fell into the khud. Of the 41 injured, 35 persons were discharged after the first aid.

An inquiry has been ordered.

Renaming of sanatorium opposed
From Our Correspondent

KANGRA, July 14 — Kin of Rai Bahadur Jodhamal Kuthiala, on whose name the tuberculosis sanatorium at Tanda was established, have expressed resentment over the renaming of the sanatorium after Dr Rajendra Prasad and the decision of the government to shift it to Dharampur to convert it into a TB and chest disease department of Dr Rajendra Prasad Medical College, Tanda.

In a statement here today Mr Vijay Kuthiala, grandson of Rai Bahadur Jodhamal’s brother, said he was pained to see that the name of Rai Bahadur Jodhamal who had donated land and lakhs of rupees for the setting up of the sanatorium had been disassociated from it.

He said at a meeting of the governing council of the HP State Tuberculosis Control Society on June 12 under the chairmanship of Mr S.S. Parmar, Financial Commissioner-cum-Health Secretary, it was decided that the sanatorium might be converted to a TB and chest disease department and handed over to Rajendra Prasad Medical College.

Rai Bahadur Jodhamal Kuthiala Government TB Sanatorium was dedicated to the nation by Dr Rajendra Prasad on May 21, 1958. The British Government, in order to accommodate prisoners of World War II, had built some hutments at Tanda, 4 km from here. After the Partition and repatriation of POWs the barracks remained unutilised. The then Punjab Government headed by Mr Partap Singh Kairon later established a 200-beded sanatorium there in 1952. The sanatorium was spread in 560 kanals which were donated by the Rai Bahadur.

Mr Vijay Kuthiala urged that the college be named after the Rai Bahadur.

Mr Kuthiala also said the canteen and the chemist shop of the sanatorium should be publicly auctioned and necessary funds raised to improve the condition of the Jodhamal Club.