H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

CM refutes Stokes’ charge on MoUs
Shimla, May 20
Retaliating to the remarks made against the BJP government by PCC chief Vidya Stokes, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today said she should do some introspection before making allegations of widespread corruption. He said seven FIRs regarding the alleged misuse of power were registered by the police against the state Child Welfare Council when she was heading it.

PCC Chief Vidya Stokes (C), CLP leader Virbhadra Singh (R) and Thakur Ram Lal (L), a former Chief Minister, at a meeting of the general house of the PCC at Shimla on Monday. — Photo Anil Dayal

Ornaments stolen from temple recovered
Kangra, May 20
The police today recovered 17 kg of silver ornaments costing more than Rs 1.60 lakh stolen by three burglars from the Brijeshwari Temple here from a hide-out of these burglars in the town.

Supplier ordered to pay compensation
Nurpur, May 20
The Kangra District Consumer Redressal Forum on Saturday ordered Arpan Traders and Moderate Machine Private Limited, Jaipur, and their agent, Mr T. S. Pathania, to pay compensation to the tune of Rs 75,000 to Ms Asha Pathania, a partner of Happy Stone Crusher, Damtal, for allegedly causing, monetary loss to the latter who had placed an order for some machinery with the former.

Briton found dead
Dharamsala, May 20
A British national on a visit to India was found dead while travelling in a private bus from New Delhi to Dharamsala. According to the Kangra SP, Mr Sanjay Kundu, he boarded the bus from New Delhi today and when the bus reached Dharamsala he was found dead on his seat.

Woman cop commits suicide
Shimla, May 20
Serla (32), a police constable posted in the office of the Superintendent of Police allegedly committed suicide last night. Her body was found hanging from a tree in the jungle in the Comeli Bank area, about 300 metres away from her house, this morning.

Governor, CM mourn Gulsher Ahmed’s death
Shimla, May 20
The Governor, Dr Suraj Bhan, has expressed shock and grief over the demise of Mr Gulsher Ahmed, former Governor of Himachal Pradesh, who died in a hospital at his native place today.

Power failure hits water supply
Shimla, May 20
Most parts of the town had to go without water as power failure affected pumping operations at the Gummah headworks and the Ashwini khud.

CM refutes Stokes’ charge on MoUs
Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 20
Retaliating to the remarks made against the BJP government by PCC chief Vidya Stokes, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today said she should do some introspection before making allegations of widespread corruption. He said seven FIRs regarding the alleged misuse of power were registered by the police against the state Child Welfare Council when she was heading it.

Mr Dhumal said Ms Stokes was either the most misinformed person about the developments in the state or was just trying to “mislead” the people.

He alleged that Ms Stokes’ comments about the hydroelectric power projects indicated that she lacked the knowledge of the reality, although copies of the MoUs for executing these projects were placed on the table of the Assembly.

Mr Dhumal claimed that the government had taken care of each and every aspect to benefit the people of the state while signing these MoUs. For the first time it had been made mandatory that the engineers of the HPSEB would continue to be on deputation with these projects even after their commissioning, he said.

It has been provided in these MoUs that the private projects would supply power to Himachal Pradesh during winters between October and March when the state falls short of electricity, which has to be procured from elsewhere on higher rates. These projects are supposed to supply the 15 per cent unallocated power to the state on the pattern of the Central projects.

Mr Dhumal said the Congress government had failed to tap the hydroelectric potential while work on projects to generate over 7,500 MW of power had been started during the BJP regime.

The Chief Minister said the 86 MW Manala project had started generating power during the BJP regime, a software-IT park had been started and an information technology university and an engineering college had been set up in the state.

Ornaments stolen from temple recovered
Our Correspondent

Kangra, May 20
The police today recovered 17 kg of silver ornaments costing more than Rs 1.60 lakh stolen by three burglars from the Brijeshwari Temple here from a hide-out of these burglars in the town.

District police chief Sanjay Kundu told mediapersons that the burglars had decamped along with Rs 80,000 cash and the silver ornaments on April 28. But the temple authorities had lodged a complaint before the police stating that only Rs 80,000 were stolen from the temple. Surprisingly, a police party, on the instance of two accused youths, Dalbir Singh and Vipin, recovered silver ornaments weighing 17 kg packed in bags and signed by the temple authorities. Rs 11,577 were also recovered from their possession.

Dalbir and Vipin were arrested by the police along with 751 gram of silver ornaments during a routine checking at the Kandwal barrier in the district on Saturday. The van in which they were travelling was also impounded by the police. During interrogation, they confessed the crime of stealing cash and silver from the temple and named Vikram as their accomplice, who was arrested by the police from Gangath.

The police today produced all three accused before the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Bhim Singh who remanded him to police custody for seven days.

Meanwhile, the SDM, Kangra and Assistant Commissioner, Brijeshwari Temple, Dr Naresh Kumar Laath, on the direction from the Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, moved an application with the police station, Kangra, against three temple officials demanding investigation in the alleged misappropriation of the silver ornaments of the temple as the theft of these was not reported to the police.

Supplier ordered to pay compensation
Our Correspondent

Nurpur, May 20
The Kangra District Consumer Redressal Forum on Saturday ordered Arpan Traders and Moderate Machine Private Limited, Jaipur, and their agent, Mr T.S. Pathania, to pay compensation to the tune of Rs 75,000 to Ms Asha Pathania, a partner of Happy Stone Crusher, Damtal, for allegedly causing, monetary loss to the latter who had placed an order for some machinery with the former. The supplier allegedly failed to deliver the machinery meant for Happy Stone Crusher in time despite receiving Rs 10,000 in advance.

Against an order placed with the supplier for the machinery on November 28,2001, the agent of the supplier, in an agreement, had promised to deliver the machinery by December 10,2001 at the site of work. The machinery was not delivered to the buyer on the stipulated date. The agent again visited the complainant on March 15,2002, and informed her that the machinery was being loaded on that day and took Rs 30,000 more as advance payment. The complainant was asked to make the final payment on the delivery of the machinery at the site.

After waiting for the delivery of the machinery at the site for a few days, the complainant filed a petition with the Consumer Redressal Forum on March 26 and claimed a compensation of Rs 2 lakh. Following a number of hearings the forum, headed by its president, Mr M. R. Choudhary, decided the case in favour of the complainant.

Briton found dead
Our Correspondent

Dharamsala, May 20
A British national on a visit to India was found dead while travelling in a private bus from New Delhi to Dharamsala. According to the Kangra SP, Mr Sanjay Kundu, he boarded the bus from New Delhi today and when the bus reached Dharamsala he was found dead on his seat.

He said the police had initiated inquest proceedings and a post-mortem would be conducted to ascertain the exact cause of his death by a team of doctors of the local government hospital. Arrangements had been made to preserve his body and the relatives had been informed accordingly, he added.

Woman cop commits suicide
Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 20
Serla (32), a police constable posted in the office of the Superintendent of Police allegedly committed suicide last night.

Her body was found hanging from a tree in the jungle in the Comeli Bank area, about 300 metres away from her house, this morning. According to Mr Virender Singh, ASP, although prima facie it appeared to be a case of suicide, the police was investigating it from all angles.

He said she returned from Kasauli where she had gone to visit her eight-year-old ailing son at 6 p.m. and left the house after an hour.

Governor, CM mourn Gulsher Ahmed’s death
Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 20
The Governor, Dr Suraj Bhan, has expressed shock and grief over the demise of Mr Gulsher Ahmed, former Governor of Himachal Pradesh, who died in a hospital at his native place today.

Dr Suraj Bhan, in a condolence message to the bereaved family, prayed for the peace of the departed soul and strength to the family members to bear the irreparable loss. Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, also condoled the death of Mr Gulsher Ahmed.

Power failure hits water supply
Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 20
Most parts of the town had to go without water as power failure affected pumping operations at the Gummah headworks and the Ashwini khud.

Taps in Sanjauli, Chhota Shimla, The Mall, Lower Bazar, Nabha, Chakkar and Tutikandi remained dry, causing hardships to residents and tourists. The Municipal Corporation pressed six tankers into service to supply water but it was able to cover only a few areas.

There was no pumping from Gummah station overnight as a thunderstorm, which hit the region late in the evening, snapped power supply.