H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

Vigilance Dept may book 6 PWD engineers
Shimla, October 16
At least six senior engineers of the Public Works Department, right up to the level of Engineer-in-Chief, are likely to be booked by the Vigilance Department in connection with the irregularities in the allotment and execution of works in Dharampur division during the BJP regime.

HC summons records in Sagar Katha case
Shimla, October 16
The Himachal Pradesh High Court today summoned the records of the Special Judge (Forest) court with regard to the Sagar Katha case. Mr Justice K.C. Sood, after hearing the state revision plea, issued notices to the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, a former chief secretary, Mr O.P. Yadav, Mr Geeta Ram and the partner of Sagar Katha Udyog, Mr Dinesh Kumar, who have been impleaded as party respondents in this revision petition.

Fear of leopard stalks villagers
Hamirpur, October 16
Fear stalks villagers of the Bharnot and Khiah areas of Hamirpur district, where a leopard has been the cause of trouble to them. The leopard injured a goat last evening and also tried to maul a woman, Nirmla Devi, but she managed to escape.

Demand to strengthen Suhi hillock
Chamba, October 16
Mr M.C. Marwaha, President of the Chamba Welfare Association has demanded strengthening of the portion of Suhi hillock above Chamba town, the hillock was damaged during the construction, and widening of the road for bus service and heavy vehicles.

3 die in separate accidents
Mandi, October 16
Three persons died and one was injured in the district in three different incidents yesterday, according to reports received today. Punnu Ram (70) of the nearby Sauli Khad area was hit by a speeding scooter while he was walking.

• Govt hikes DA by 3 per cent
• Agnihottari gets PR portfolio

Vigilance Dept may book 6 PWD engineers
Rakesh Lohumi
Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 16
At least six senior engineers of the Public Works Department, right up to the level of Engineer-in-Chief, are likely to be booked by the Vigilance Department in connection with the irregularities in the allotment and execution of works in Dharampur division during the BJP regime.

A probe conducted by the Vigilance Department on the basis of a Congress chargesheet against the Dhumal government had revealed serious irregularities like allotment of works on fake quotations, deviation from approved plans and ignoring the lowest bidder while awarding contracts. After a scrutiny of the investigation report, the department has shortlisted three major cases for registration of the FIRs.

As per the inquiry report in one of the cases, a contractor, Mr Suresh Kumar, who was awarded the construction work of the road to Lambi village, changed the alignment of the road on his own and diverted the road to his own house. However, the road could not be completed as some villagers whose land was involved, after the change in alignment, obtained stay from the court.

As a result, only 400 m of road could be constructed after deviation which was not fit for plying vehicles due to a steep gradient. The engineers of the PWD, instead of penalising the contractor, who is a reported to be a close relative of Mr Mohinder Singh, the then PWD Minister, ignored the deviation and made the payments to him.

In the second case, the construction of the Mari-Kamala road was allotted to a favoured contractor after splitting the over Rs 55 lakh work into several small works ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh to circumvent the tendering procedure. During the course of the investigation., some fake quotations were also detected. It was found that the quotation submitted in the name of one Mr Balam Ram was fake as his signature did not match. He told the police that he had not submitted any such quotation.

In yet another case, a major cutting work on the Jogindernagar-Sarkaghat road was allotted to the second lowest bidder instead of the lowest bidder. Though there was a difference of over Rs 40 lakh in the two offers, the Chief Engineer, Mandi, accepted the Rs 1.82 crore bid made by a contractor, Mr Ashwini Kumar, and ignored the Rs 1.37 crore bid of Mr R.B. Dhiman on the ground that his mind was wavering and he was not keen to execute the work. The case was got approved by the then Engineer-in-Chief.

All these cases pertain to the 1998-99 period when Mr Mohinder Singh was the PWD Minister. The Vigilance Department is likely to seek permission of the government for registration of FIRs against the senior officers of the PWD allegedly responsible for the irregularities.

HC summons records in Sagar Katha case
Our Legal Correspondent

Shimla, October 16
The Himachal Pradesh High Court today summoned the records of the Special Judge (Forest) court with regard to the Sagar Katha case. Mr Justice K.C. Sood, after hearing the state revision plea, issued notices to the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, a former chief secretary, Mr O.P. Yadav, Mr Geeta Ram and the partner of Sagar Katha Udyog, Mr Dinesh Kumar, who have been impleaded as party respondents in this revision petition.

The revision petition has been filed against the order of the Special Judge (Forest) whereby the application for re-investigating the matter was dismissed. The investigating agency has pleaded that to reach a conclusion in the case, it is the right of the agency to re-investigate the matter. But by an order passed on September 27, 2003, by the Special Judge, this right has been taken away illegally. The special court has failed to appreciate an important fact that the material on the basis of which the agency wants to re-investigate the matter, goes to the root of the case.

In the order under challenge the special court has held that the court has already taken cognisance of the matter on the basis of the material placed before it by the investigating agency and the prayer for re-investigating the matter cannot be allowed at this stage.

For framing of charges against Mr Virbhadra Singh and the other co-accused, the special court sought clarifications on some issues from the counsel of Mr Virbhadra Singh. For this purpose, the case was ordered to be fixed for October 18.

Fear of leopard stalks villagers
Our Correspondent

Hamirpur, October 16
Fear stalks villagers of the Bharnot and Khiah areas of Hamirpur district, where a leopard has been the cause of trouble to them. The leopard injured a goat last evening and also tried to maul a woman, Nirmla Devi, but she managed to escape.

Another woman had received serious injuries about 15 days ago on being attacked by the leopard. She is recovering at her residence.

Although the Department of Forests had installed a cage on the boundary of the village to arrest the leopard, the unmanned cage has failed to attract the animal.

Villagers of Bharnot told ‘The Tribune’ here this afternoon that roars of the leopard were heard daily from a nearby khad.

The villagers venture out in groups fearing attack by the prowler.

They demanded that the leopard be apprehended before it turned maneater.

Demand to strengthen Suhi hillock
Our Correspondent

Chamba, October 16
Mr M.C. Marwaha, President of the Chamba Welfare Association has demanded strengthening of the portion of Suhi hillock above Chamba town, the hillock was damaged during the construction, and widening of the road for bus service and heavy vehicles.

Mr Marwaha informed here today that the part of the hillock was prone to landslides and posed a threat to the existence of the Suhi-da-Marh (stone masonry gate) and the shrine of Goddess Suhi Devi (920 AD) situated above.

Mr Marwaha met the Chamera hydroelectric project authorities who had assured that the portion of the damaged hillock including Suhi-da-Marh and the stone steps would be repaired soon and repair, widening and tarring of the road from Kariyan to the powerhouse site at Jarangala was almost nearing completion.

Mr Marwaha suggested the authorities to renovate the Suhi-da-Marh including stone steps with a flyover.

The association has assailed the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) for diverting the Dehradun-Chamba bus via Gagret as the diversion of the long-route bus from Dehradun to Chamba vice versa would put the bus passengers to inconvenience and loss of time and money.

The association hailed the introduction of a Chamba-Shimla Express super fast bus service to benefit passengers coming from Churali, Bharmour and remote belts of Chamba district.

3 die in separate accidents
Our Correspondent

Mandi, October 16
Three persons died and one was injured in the district in three different incidents yesterday, according to reports received today.

Punnu Ram (70) of the nearby Sauli Khad area was hit by a speeding scooter while he was walking. He was taken to the Regional Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. The scooterist, identified as Rajinder Kumar of Nela village in Mandi, fled the scene. A case has been registered against him.

In another incident, an old mentally retarded woman was found dead near Pandoh on the Mandi-Kulu national highway. She had been hit by a vehicle last night. She was cremated after a post-mortem.

Devi Ram of Ruhrudhar village in Aut panchayat was on his way to his home when he slipped and felt into a deep gorge. His body was found after three days. The relatives of Devi Ram cremated him without informing the police.

Dharam Pal of Dubal Dhan village of Kulu district was waiting for a bus near bus stand when a speeding motorist rammed into him and fled the scene. He was severely injured.

Govt hikes DA by 3 per cent
Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 16
The Himachal Government today released another instalment of additional dearness allowance, which became due from January, 2003.

The dearness allowance of the employees has been enhanced from 52 to 55 per cent of the basic pay from January 1, 2003. The additional dearness allowance will be paid in cash with effect from October 1,2003 and the arrears since January 2003 will be credited to the General Provident Fund. The enhanced allowance will be paid to all regular and work-charged employees.

Agnihottari gets PR portfolio

Shimla, October 16
Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, today entrusted the Public Relations portfolio held by him to Mr Mukesh Agnihottari, Chief Parliamentary Secretary.

He will also continue to hold the Housing portfolio. — TNS