H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

Centre allots 5.90 lakh to BRO
SHIMLA, July 26 — The Centre has allocated a grant of Rs 5.90 lakh to the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) for geological and environmental studies for the construction of the tunnel under Rohtang Pass.

Speaker questions MLA’s plea
SHIMLA, July 26 — Mr Gulab Singh Thakur, Speaker of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly, has questioned the maintainability of a writ petition filed by Mr Kashmir Singh, a Congress legislator, against his verdict validating the merger of the splinter group of the Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC) into the BJP.

Maharashtra CM’s resignation sought
KANGRA, July 26 — The Himachal Pradesh Shiv Sena has demand the resignation of the Maharashtra Chief Minister on moral grounds following the dismissed of the case filed by the state government against the Shiv Sena chief, Mr Bal Thackeray.

Killers of tourist will be nabbed, Germany assured
SHIMLA, July 26 — The Himachal Pradesh Government has assured the German Embassy that all-out efforts will be made to arrest all those involved in the murder of a German tourist in the Kulu valley recently. Two suspects have already been arrested.

2 die in flash floods
CHAMBA, July 26 — Flash floods in Chamba district claimed two lives in the Baira belt of Churah sub-division in the district bordering Jammu and Kashmir last evening. The victims were washed away in the Satrundi nullah.

Illegal katha factory raided, 2 arrested
SHIMLA, July 26 — The Sirmaur police raided an illegal katha factory at Misrawala and seized a large quantity of khair wood, yesterday.

2 boys washed away
DHARAMSALA, July 26 — Two boys were washed away in the waters of Khoti khud and a girl was saved by a local youth, here last evening.

• Raids on stone quarries
  

Centre allots 5.90 lakh to BRO
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, July 26 — The Centre has allocated a grant of Rs 5.90 lakh to the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) for geological and environmental studies for the construction of the tunnel under Rohtang Pass.

A spokesman for the government said the Centre had assured follow-up action regarding the construction of a tunnel announcement of which was made by the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, during his recent visit to Himachal Pradesh.

This decision had been communicated to the state government by the Ministry of Surface Transport.

The Centre had informed that Rs 5.90 lakh had been earmarked for carrying out geological investigation, environmental studies and for taking satellite imagery works.

Speaker questions MLA’s plea
From Our Legal Correspondent

SHIMLA, July 26 — Mr Gulab Singh Thakur, Speaker of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly, has questioned the maintainability of a writ petition filed by Mr Kashmir Singh, a Congress legislator, against his verdict validating the merger of the splinter group of the Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC) into the BJP.

Arguing his case, he pleaded before a Division Bench of the high court, consisting of the Chief Justice C.K. Thakkar and Mr Justice R.L. Khurana, that under Article 212 and Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India the high court had no jurisdiction to entertain such a petition.

The court granted four weeks’ time to the MLA, Mr Mansa Ram and Mr Prakash Chaudhary, both ministers in the present government, for filing a reply.

Mr Kashmir Singh has challenged the decision of the Speaker on the grounds that the split in the HVC and the subsequent merger of the splinter group is ‘illegal’ and sought the disqualification of the two legislators under the anti-defection law.

Maharashtra CM’s resignation sought
From Our Correspondent

KANGRA, July 26 — The Himachal Pradesh Shiv Sena has demand the resignation of the Maharashtra Chief Minister on moral grounds following the dismissed of the case filed by the state government against the Shiv Sena chief, Mr Bal Thackeray.

In a statement here today, the state chief of the sena, Dr Gulshan Kumar, demanded that if the Maharashtra Chief Minister failed to resign, the president should dismiss the state government.

Killers of tourist will be nabbed, Germany assured
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, July 26 — The Himachal Pradesh Government has assured the German Embassy that all-out efforts will be made to arrest all those involved in the murder of a German tourist in the Kulu valley recently. Two suspects have already been arrested.

This assurance was given by the Chief Secretary, Mr A.K. Goswami, to Mr Wolfram Maas, Minister Counsellor, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, who met him here today and discussed possibilities of economic cooperation between Federal Republic of Germany and the Government of Himachal Pradesh.

The Chief Secretary said that Germany had been assisting Himachal Pradesh in a big way through Indo-German agriculture project and Changar development project in the field of forestry which, he added, had greatly helped the state in achieving the present level of development. Himachal Pradesh would further welcome economic cooperation with Germany.

Mr Maas disclosed that India had been the largest recipient of German assistance in the past and Germany now considers India as a potential market and a partner for economic cooperation in the hi-tech areas.

The areas of food processing, beer manufacturing, hydel power, health care training, minor irrigation and tourism were disclosed and identified the possible sectors of economic cooperation between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Government of Himachal Pradesh.

It was decided at the meeting that specific proposals in these sectors would be formulated and considered by the German Government.

2 die in flash floods
From Our Correspondent

CHAMBA, July 26 — Flash floods in Chamba district claimed two lives in the Baira belt of Churah sub-division in the district bordering Jammu and Kashmir last evening. The victims were washed away in the Satrundi nullah.

An official spokesman from the Subdivisional Headquarters of Churah subdivision, Bhanjraru, said here today that a police party had rushed to the incident site and recovered the bodies of Lal Chand resident of Ghadi village and Nirmal Singh of Sari village.

The revenue authorities had also rushed to the site to provide relief to the next of kin of the deceased, the spokesman added.

Illegal katha factory raided, 2 arrested
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, July 26 — The Sirmaur police raided an illegal katha factory at Misrawala and seized a large quantity of khair wood, yesterday.

The owners of the unit, Mr Sukhdarshan Chauhan, and his wife Sushma who failed to produce any valid permit from the Forest Department were arrested. They had also not maintained any record of the khair wood procured and katha produced.

They also could not produce any document of the saw unit, boiler compressor and other machinery installed at the factory.

The two were booked under Sections 33, 41 and 42 of the Forest Act and Section 379 of the Indian Penal Code. The seized wood has been handed over to the Forest Department.

2 boys washed away
Tribune News Service

DHARAMSALA, July 26 — Two boys were washed away in the waters of Khoti khud and a girl was saved by a local youth, here last evening.

According to the police, the mishap took place when the children had gone to the khud to take bath. The two boys, Deepak Kumar (10) and Lakshay (4) were washed away by the current. The eight-year-old girl was saved by a local youth, Mr Sanjay Kumar, of Pohoda village.

The body of Deepak Kumar was pulled out and rushed to hospital. However, the body of Lakshay has still not even recovered.

Raids on stone quarries
From Our Correspondent

SOLAN, July 26 — The SDM, Nalagarh, Mr K.C. Chaman, conducted a series of surprise raids on river bed stone quarries along the Mahadev rivulet yesterday and impounded seven tractor-trailers found to be carrying stones, sand and grit without any valid documents.