BJP dissidents to meet today
Hamirpur, March 1
The BJP dissidents who have been working under the banner of Mitters will meet at Bhota (Hamirpur) on March 2 to finalise their future strategy. Most of the dissidents are trying to re-enter the BJP.

Shimla, March 1
Total outstanding debt of the state has more than doubled from Rs 4967 crore in 1997-98 to Rs 12,393 crore in 2003-04. Annual interest burden has increased from Rs 453 crore to Rs 1172 crore in the period. Gap between revenue receipts and expenditure has increased from 3 per cent in 1999-2000 to 41 per cent in 2002-03. Revenue deficit increased from Rs 1,022 crore in 1998-99 to Rs 1,482 crore in 2002-03. Also fiscal deficit shot up from Rs 1,662 crore to Rs 2341 crore during the period.

Growth of Revenue expenditure has exceeded the rate of growth of the gross state domestic product (GSDP) and the revenue receipts. The state is increasingly resorting to borrowings to meet revenue expenditure. Overall fiscal liabilities of the state grew at an average annual rate of 21.58 per cent average over the five-year period. The liabilities as ratio to the GSDP increased from 60 per cent to 73.49 per cent and stood at 2.72 times of its revenue receipts and 7.49 times of its own resources.

In addition, the outstanding government guarantees which are in the nature of contingent liabilities, increased from Rs 1869 crore in 1998-99 to Rs 4503 crore in 2002-03. Direct fiscal liabilities of the state are growing at much faster than the GSDP. On average for each one per cent increase in the GSDP the fiscal liabilities increase by 1.748 pre cent over the period.

Increase in fiscal liabilities to the GSDP and revenue receipts coupled with the growing revenue deficit, indicate that the state is slipping into debt trap. There has also been a decline in the net availability of funds from its borrowings due to larger portion of the funds being used for debt servicing.

Shimla, March 1
Himachal Pradesh will join the International Roerich Memorial Trust in celebrations of the birthday centenary of the famous painter Nicholai Roerich, falling on October 23, this year in a big way by organising a series of programmes.

This was stated by Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, during a meeting with the Russian Ambassador, Mr Alaxender M. Kadakin, who called on him here today.

The Chief Minister said the state, especially Naggar in the Kulu valley, had come on the world map because of the association Roerich had with the valley. He said the painting school being established at Naggar would bring out new talents and help in encouraging creativity under the guidance of the eminent artists. All possible assistance would be provided to the trust to make the school functional. The construction of the school was being carried in the traditional hill architecture style. The project was likely to cost about Rs 8 crore.

Mr Virbhadra Singh said the road leading to the art gallery at Naggar was being widened and maintained.

Shimla, March 1
Elaborate arrangements have been made for the smooth run of the 310-km road show of the Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, who will kick off the party’s poll campaign during her two-day visit to the state on March 3 and 4.

The whistle-stop tour, during which she will visit 18 Assembly segments, will help her cover large parts of three out of the total four parliamentary constituencies of the state. While there will be no rallies, Mrs Gandhi will have brief halts to interact with the people at 27 places — 15 on the first day and 12 on the second day. There could be some unscheduled halts too.

Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, and Mrs Vidya Stokes, PCC chief, will accompany her during the show. Apart from security vehicles, only the car of the Chief Minster will form the part of the convoy. Mr Virbhadra Singh said the show would be a grand success as the people of Himachal Pradesh had a special affection for Mrs Gandhi and the Nehru family, which had played a vital role in shaping the destiny of the hill state.

As many as 40,000 posters of Mrs Gandhi, over 2000 banners and over 150 welcome arches will be put up along the route. She will start the show from Gaggal, near Dharamsala, and pass through Ichhi, Mataur, Samloti, Nagrota, Parore, halt for lunch at Palampur. Thereafter, she will proceed to Mandi via Baijnath, Paddar, and Jogindernagar. On the second day she will visit Ner Chaowk, Sundernagar, Jahu, Bhota and Badsar. She will fly to Chandigarh from Lathiani in Una. Thousands of security men will be deployed all along the route and anti-sabotage checks will be conducted at al the places of halt.

HAMIRPUR: The road show which will cross Hamirpur district on March 4. Ms Gandhi will enter the Bhareri area of Hamirpur district from Sarkaghat and then proceed to Barsar via Bhoranj and Bhota.

Shimla, March 1
The state unit of the BJP has ridiculed the statement of Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, alleging step motherly treatment meted out by Vajpayee government to Himachal Pradesh and asserted that the special assistance of Rs 2,000 crore which the state had received during the past five years was unprecedented.

In a statement here today Mr Randhir Sharma, BJP spokesperson said only an ungrateful step son could make such an allegation to mislead the people on the eve of the Lok Sabha poll.

He said such words did not behove the Chief Minister, who during his earlier tenure could not get even a single rupee not to speak of any financial package, from his own Congress Government headed by Mr Narasimha Rao.

The BJP spokesman said the present Virbhadra government was subsisting on the funds given by the Centre either as an advance, grant-in-aid or loans, otherwise it would have gone bankrupt.

Hamirpur, March 1
The BJP dissidents who have been working under the banner of Mitters will meet at Bhota (Hamirpur) on March 2 to finalise their future strategy. Most of the dissidents are trying to re-enter the BJP.

The party dissidents had contested the last Vidhan Sabha elections and had harmed the cause of the official nominees of the party. Only one of them, Naveen Dhiman was elected to the state Assembly. He is also among those who will attend the March 2 meeting along with other dissident leaders like Mahendra Sofat from Solan, Kamal Padha from Shahpur (Kangra) and Narendra Thakur and Raghubir Singh Thakur from Hamirpur.

A recent decision of the state unit of the party, taken at Jwalamukhi, regarding taking back all such persons who offered unconditional apology has made these persons to think about rejoining the party.

A meeting of the party dissidents had taken place at Ghaloon (Nadaun) in the Hamirpur district recently at which two senior BJP leaders — Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal and Mr Suresh Chandel — were present. Both leaders had held long talks with the dissidents and had told them to return to the party mainstream.

However, no final decision was taken in the meeting about their re-entry into the party. The meeting, however, decided to work for making Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee the Prime Minister of the country once again.

Hamirpur, March 1
The Himachal Pradesh Government is upset about the assault on the family of the state Forest Minister, Mr Chander Kumar Chaudhry, at Nadaun in the district on Saturday night.

The Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, has taken a serious note of the incident and has sought complete details from the Director-General of Police, Shimla, and the Deputy Commissioner, Hamirpur, in this connection.

The SP here has sent the ASI, Nadaun, to Jwali to record the statement of the minister and his family members to send a detailed report to the Chief Minister and the DGP, Shimla. The ASI is likely to submit his report by late tonight, according to sources in the district administration.

The Nadaun police again summoned all three suspects to the police station this morning and interrogated them about the incident. The police had released the suspects after taking them into custody following complaints by the minister and his gunman.

Shimla, March 1
The notification for Lok Sabha election in the four parliamentary constituencies in the hill state will be issued on April 16.

Mrs Manisha Nanda, chief electoral officer, said here today the last date for filing of nomination papers would be April 23. Scrutiny of nominations would take place on April 24.

Dharamsala, March 1
Former Himachal Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal today criticised the Virbhadra Singh government for bad law and order situation in the state. He was addressing reporters here.

Referring to an attack on Forest Minister Chander Kumar and his family on Saturday night. Mr Dhumal said when a minister and his family were not safe, how could the government protect life and property of people.

He said in one year more than 300 murders had taken place in the state. He said rapes, abductions, people going missing and their bodies being found and unclaimed bodies have become very common and the government had failed to check it.

He said that the Prime Minister had given additional package of Rs 553 crore to Himachal and the Vidhan Sabha.

He said roads were in bad condition in the state.

Nurpur, March 1
Parshotam Singh (50), an employee of the Public Works Department, today died at the official house of the Executive Engineer, PWD, Nurpur division, under mysterious circumstances.

According to the DSP, the body of the deceased was found hanging by the ceiling fan in the lobby of the house. The body was first noticed by the milkman who came to the house in the morning. He informed the neighbours who called the police. The police took the body in its custody and handed it over to the family of the deceased after conducting a post-mortem.

The police believes it to be a case of a suicide.

According to the DSP, the Executive Engineer of the PWD was away when the incident took place. Parshotam Singh had been guarding the house since Saturday.

However, Rajinder Singh, nephew of the deceased, suspected foul play in the “mysterious” death of his uncle. He demanded a probe into the suspicious circumstances accompanying his uncle’s death.

His body was recovered from behind the bushes on the old Amb road on January 16 this year.

SP Ashok Sharma today told newsmen that the murder was planned and executed by Raj Kumar, resident of the same village.

Giving details, he said Rishu was being offered a government job on compassionate grounds because his father who was an employee had expired two years ago.

The family had also received some money from the employers of Rishu’s .

Rishu’s mother decided to deposit Rs 50,000 of the money in a post office and hence the services of Raj Kumar were requisitioned, who was employed at the Gagret post office.

According to the police, on January 15, Rishu handed over the money and the deposit slip to Raj Kumar, who asked him to come to the post office to take the receipt.

When Rishu reached the post office this afternoon, Raj Kumar was not there. As he proceeded towards his village, he spotted Raj Kumar coming on his scooter. The latter asked him to accompany him to some place.

Next day, Rishu’s body was recovered, which bore injury marks. The SP said Raj Kumar has confessed his crime.

The SP said investigations had revealed that a Kaloh resident, Som Nath, who was working in the ITBP had given a sum of Rs 1 lakh to Raj Kumar for depositing in his wife’s account.

Raj Kumar had reportedly spent Rs 50,000 out of this amount on his brother’s marriage and he was finding it hard to return the sum to Som Nath. The accused was in search of Rs 50,000 and he got an easy prey in Rishu.

Though Raj Kumar has claimed that Rishu’s uncle, Dilbagh Singh, was also a co-conspirator, the SP said inquiries had not been able to prove the theory of the accused.

Shimla, March 1
The State Social Welfare Advisory Board has decided to take up the matter regarding the implementation of a pension scheme for its employees with the government.

Stating this here today, Mrs Satya Kapoor, chairperson of the board, said she had discussed the issue with the Central Social Welfare Board which had given sanction for the pension scheme. She said that the central board had also released pending amount of the funds sanctioned for vocational training programme for the last two years. Out of the pending Rs 45 lakh, Rs 37 lakh had been released which was further being disbursed to the institutions concerned.

Mandi, March 1
On the second day of the Tsechu Fair the Dalai Lama along with thousands of Buddhist pilgrims from different parts of the world, performed “parikrama” of the holy lake of Rewalsar this evening. Ugaen Trinla Dorje Karmapa, who had arrived last evening also participated in the ceremony.

The Dalai Lama began his day in Rewalsar with the invocation of oracles session which lasted for 90 minutes. This was followed by a two-hour long Cham dance.

Later, in the evening, the Dalai Lama delivered a religious discourse for two hours and initiated some devotees to Buddhism.

The Dalai Lama also visited the Shiva temple, the shrine of Lomas Rishi and a Gurdwara. Karmapa also went to the cave of Padama Sambhava located on Sar Ki Dhar hill.

He also went to Kagyu Drinking Monastery and returned to Nyingma Monastery where he is staying. He will leave for Dharamsala tomorrow morning along with his 10-member entourage.

Bilaspur, March 1
Deputy Commissioner, Mr Shubhasheesh Panda, has exhorted students to diversify their activities and take interest in various fields to ensure self-employment as there are very few avenues left in government services.

Addressing the annual prize distribution function of the Government Postgraduate College here today, Mr Panda said the youth would have to change their mental make-up of always deciding to go in the government jobs after finishing their education. They should get technical training and other specialised training to equip themselves to face challenges of life.

Bilaspur, March 1
Special Police Force, including three reserved units and 100 Home Guards, has been deputed for “Holla Mohalla” fair to be held at Guru Ka Lahaur and “Sehri Sahib at Bassi village in the district from tomorrow till March 7.

The Superintendent of Police, M. Chander Shekhar, said here today that all arrangements had been finalised for the smooth conduct of the fair.

Kangra, March 1
The Vigilance Department yesterday arrested a kanungo of the Suhumita circle of Bhettiyat tehsil at Chamba district for accepting a bribe of Rs 15000, vigilance department sources said here today.

Mr Bargava, Superintendent of Police, Vigilance Zone, Dharamsala, today said the kanungo Rattan Chand was accepting a bribe of Rs 15000 from Mr Yumuna Dass, a resident of Thural of Kangra district of verification of demarcation for felling of khair trees in the private land and was caught red-handed by a team of officials of the Vigilance Department.

Kulu, March 1
P.D. Goel also announced sentence in case of rape of minor girl of sixteen. Rakesh Kumar, son of Jaisi Ram, a resident of Bandla in Kangra district, was sentenced to three years rigorous imprisonment in a case of rape of a minor. A fine of Rs 1,000 has also been imposed on him for the offence committed under Section 363, IPC.

In case of failure to pay he will have to undergo simple imprisonment for three months. He has also been convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for five years and pay a fine of Rs 1000 for the offence under Section 366-A, IPC.

Kulu, March 1
Kulwant Singh, a resident of Muktsar, who was apprehended by the local police on January 31, 2003 from Manikaran chowk for possessing 1.550 kilograms of charas, was convicted by P.D. Goel, Sessions Judge, Kulu, today. He has been sentenced to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment. A fine of Rs 1 lakh has also been imposed on him for the offence committed under Section 20 of the NDPS Act. In case of failure to pay the fine the accused will have to serve a sentence for a further period of one year.

In another case Takashi Sato, a Japanese holder of passport (No. Mr -z066193, visa No. K-597468) who was apprehended by the district police on December 3, 2002 from near Mahini nullah for possessing 0.650 kilogram of charas was also convicted and sentenced by the Sessions Judge here today.

Nahan, March 1
During checking on the inter-state Minus bridge this morning, the shillai police seized 2.25 kg of charas from Rizwan, a resident of Chilkana Sultanpur village in Saharanpur district. The suspect is in police custody.

Mr S.R. Sharma, Superintendent of Police, Sirmaur district said here this evening that when the Shillai police, led by Sub-Inspector Dilshad Mohammed stopped a bus for checking on the Minus bridge, one passenger, Rizwan (36) jumped from the rear door and tried to escape but he was arrested by policemen.

Mr Mangat Ram became unconscious and was brought to Shimla for treatment.

Kumarhatti, March 1
Pardeep Kumar, a resident of Kasauli, was killed when the van (HP-02-5325) in which he was travelling carrying rolled into a 150-meter-deep gorge near Lawrence School, Sanawar, last night.

Kangra, March 1
The Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education yesterday decided to change the dates of the Sanskrit and English papers of the middle examinations conducted by the board following the leakage of the papers in Mandi district, sources said here.