The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Secretary (Home) gets notice in tape scam case Legal Correspondent Shimla, May 14 The Himachal Pradesh High Court has issued a notice to Secretary (Home) on a plea of Mr S.M. Katwal, former Chairman of the Subordinate Staff Services Selection Board, urging the court to direct the respondent to register a criminal case against the Chief Minister and other Cabinet ministers who are allegedly involved in the tape scam. Mr Katwal has prayed that this scam be investigated by an independent agency. He had alleged in his petition that he went to register a case against the respondents at Hamirpur police station but the police refused to register a case. It was further alleged that written complaints were submitted to the Additional Chief Secretary, but to no avail. Thereafter, he filed a complaint before the Sessions Judge, Hamirpur, but it was rejected. The petitioner has impleaded the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, and Cabinet ministers Chandresh Kumari, Kuldeep Kumar, Singhi Ram and G.S. Bali as respondents along with Congress leader Sukh Ram and Ishwar Das, MLA from the Anni constituency of Kulu district. Mr Justice Kuldeep Chand Sood has issued notices to the Secretary (Home) and the SHO of Hamirpur police station and directed them to file replies within four weeks.
	Cong’s carrot-and-stick policy pays off Rakesh Lohumi Tribune News Service Shimla, May 14 The carrot-and-stick policy of the Congress to make ministers and legislators work hard for the success of its candidates in the elections has paid off. The party had made it clear that the retention or exclusion of ministers and inclusion of legislators in the Cabinet would depend on the performance in their respective segments. The ministers did put in a lot of effort into the party’s campaign as is evident from the fact that only two ministers failed to secure lead for the party. While Mrs Chandresh Kumari, Health Minister, trailed in the Dharamsala segment by 1,178 votes, Mr B.B. Butail, Revenue Minister, had a meagre lead of 390 votes in the Palampur segment. The party led in the assembly segments represented by the remaining 15 ministers, including the Chief Minister. Mr Mukesh Agnihottari, chief parliamentary secretary, secured a lead of 12,762 votes in the Santokhgarh segment, the highest after the twin constituencies of Rampur (25,063 votes) and Rohru (20,516 votes) which are the domain of the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh. Mr Kaul Singh, Irrigation and Health Minister, who refused to contest managed a healthy lead of 9,082 votes from the Drang segment. While Mr Ram Lal Thakur, Industries Minister, who lost from the Hamirpur seat, got a lead of 6,490 votes in the Kotkehloor segment, Mr Kuldeep Kumar, Minister for Cooperation, secured a lead of 6,127 votes in the Gagret segment. Mr Chander Kumar, Mr G.S. Bali, Mr Harsh Mahajan and Mrs Asha Kumari were among the ministers who managed a lead in excess of 4,500 votes in their respective segments. The assembly segments in which the ruling party did well included Theog (9,888 votes), Jubbal-Kotkhai (9,596 votes), Pacchad (8,778 votes), Mandi (7,807 votes) Chopal (7,636 votes), Renuka (6,812 votes), Chintpurani (6,284 votes) and Kinnaur (6,145 votes). It remains to be seen whether Mr Virbhadra Singh actually goes by the performance while reconstituting his 17-member ministry which has to be pruned to 12 under the new law restricting the strength of the ministry. The BJP, which had 18 legislators, including Mr Mohinder Singh and Mr Naveen Dhiman, associate members of the BJP legislative party, led in 23 segments. The maximum improvement was in the Kangra parliamentary constituency. The party had only two legislators in the total 17 segments under the constituency but it secured lead in eight segments. It held nine out of 17 segments in the Hamirpur seat but led in 11 segments. In the Mandi constituency, it had four legislators and it led in only three segments. While its legislators Mr Jai Ram (Chachiot) and Mr Khimi Ram (Banjar) trailed the party managed a lead in Jogindernagar. In the Shimla constituency, the party held three segments but it could get a lead only in Nalagarh.
	BJP leader booked for threatening polling staff Our Correspondent Palampur, May 14 The Baijnath police has registered a criminal case against Mr Dulo Ram, a former MLA and senior BJP leader of Baijnath for threatening polling officials during polling in Phathar village. According to police sources, the case has been registered on the complaint of Mr Ghanshyam Dass, a junior engineer in the HPSEB who was one of the polling officials. The Police said Mr Dass had alleged that peaceful polling was going on May 10 when all of sudden Mr Dulo along with other BJP workers came to the polling booth and threatened the polling staff posted there. He told them not to call the voters by name. He also told the polling staff, that whatever he said they should follow. However, no FIR was registered on May 10. Today, on Mr Dass’s complaint, the police registered a case. When contacted on telephone, Mr Dulo Ram told The Tribune that there was no truth in the complaint of Mr Dass. He asked why Mr Dass remained silent for three days. He said if there was any problem, Mr Dass should have reported the matter to the police on the same day. He said the registration of the case was an afterthought of Congress leaders. He alleged that the Baijnath police had registered a case on the behest of Congress leaders and the action of the police was politically motivated. He denied the charge and said he would fight the case in a court of law.
	Unemployment major issue in HP, says Kangra MP Our Correspondent Dharamsala, May 14 The newly-elected Lok Sabha member from Kangra, Prof Chander Kumar, has said that the unemployment in Himachal Pradesh was the biggest problem and as an MP it would be his endeavour to explore the possibilities for ensuring more job opportunities for the unemployed. Talking to mediapersons outside the counting hall here, Prof Chander Kumar said he would try to ensure that the principle of “one rank on pension” was implemented so that the large number of ex-servicemen from the state were benefitted. He said efforts would be made to raise the recruitment quota and extend the broad gauge railway line in Kangra. Addressing the people on the occasion, he said the people had voted for the good performance of the Virbhadra Singh government. Having a dig at media, Mr Chander Kumar regretted that some of them worked as PROs of the BJP candidate, Mr Shanta Kumar. He appealed to media to be unbiased in its reporting. Later, he went to the Deputy Commissioner’s office and collected his warrant of appointment from Dr Shrikant Baldi. Mr Hander Kumar left for Shimla today. From there he will proceed to Delhi.
	Probe sought into scams during NDA rule Tribune News Service Shimla, May 14 Mr Kuldeep Rathore, spokesperson for the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee, today said the new Congress-led government at the Centre should probe all major scams of the NDA regime. Addressing a press conference here today, he said the new government should take steps to identify those behind the scams and take appropriate action against them. Mr Rathore said the Congress would have done much better had various television channels not come out with such misleading exit and opinion polls. He said the government spent over Rs 800 crore on the “feel good” and the “India Shining” campaign, but it boomeranged as there was nothing on the ground to match the tall claims. The NDA did not fulfil its promises, he added.
	Transport Dept to adopt e-governance Our Correspondent Kulu, May 14 The Himachal Pradesh Transport Department will go high-tech by starting e-governance and issuing registration certificates (RCs), permits and driving licences electronically. This was stated by Mr G.S. Bali, Transport Minister, here today while addressing a press conference at the HPTDC hotel, Sarwari. He said the department had already started e-governance at the Regional Transport Office (RTO) at Dharamsala under this plan. The other offices in the state would also be computerised, he added. Mr Bali said the checking of vehicles, the validity of RCs permits and licences would be done electronically. He said the department was going to open parking lots at Kulu, one at the old bus stand at Akhara Bazar for which Rs 10 lakh had been sanctioned and another somewhere between Kulu and Manali. The construction would start within three months. Mr Bali said 10 to 12 new buses would be allocated to the local HRTC depot and 10 each to Keylong and Mandi depots. He also said that an AC Volvo bus like the one the IIRTC has already started from Shimla to Delhi would be starting from Dharamsala in the next three days and one from Manali with in the next 15 days. He said the contract for the construction of the Tuti Kandi bus stand at a cost of Rs 25 crore had already been given and Rs 6 crore had been sanctioned for the bus stands at Chamunda, Chintpurni, Chamba, Guler, Jawali, Santoshgarh and Theog. The minister said 33 ambulances had been requisition and every depot in the state would have one of these so that rescue operations in case of an accident did not get delayed. He said rash and reckless driving by private bus drivers would lead to cancellation of permits of the owners. Mr Bali also talked about a new comprehensive plan, “own your vehicle”. Under the plan, the youth could own their vehicles and connect the interiors of the rural areas. He said the vehicles would be financed and maintained by the HRTC. The owner of the bus would have to deposit Rs 1 lakh as refundable security. These vehicles could be eight or 18-seaters and the owner would have to keep a stock of the HRTC tickets.
	30 obscene CDs seized Our Correspondent Solan, May 14 The local police arrested Joginder Arora, a video library owner, on Wednesday evening after a raid led to the recovery of as many as 300 fake CDs, including 30 obscene CDs, from a godown located on Old Court Road here. A case under Section 292 of the IPC and Sections 63 and 65 of the Copyright Act was registered against Arora. A police party, led by SHO Babita Rana, raided a small godown located at a remote location from Arora’s video parlour on a tip-off and confiscated the CDs, including audio and video MP3s. The team also recovered a CD allegedly shot at a hill station in the district. The seized CDs included 25 English and five Hindi obscene CDs. Further investigations are being conducted by the police to identify the local hotel and characters appearing in a Hindi CD allegedly shot locally. This is the first case of a CD shot locally. Earlier such cases have been reported from Kulu and other parts of the state. The police had earlier received the information that an x-rated compact disk, allegedly showing a local girl in indecent scenes with a tourist from the plains was being viewed in the town. The 40-minute CD shows a man who identifies himself as Sanju and claims to be hailing from the plains. He further revealed that he often visited a hill station in the district during the summers. The girl who appeared to be unaware about the movie being shot was seen objecting to the constant flickering of the light in the room. She was also shown consuming a cake allegedly laced with some intoxicant to make her semi-conscious. A white-coloured vehicle carrying the couple amidst the pine clad hills is also seen in the movie which confirms the fact that it has been shot around Kasauli. A third voice humming some song is also heard in the movie though no third person can be seen in the CD. The CD, which has been doing the rounds in select video parlours across the town for the past about a fortnight, has exposed claims of the Police Department of having carried out frequent raids to confiscate such obscene CDs. The SHO said more raids would be conducted across the town to seize more such CDs.
	Gen Vij to launch health scheme Our Correspondent Hamirpur, May 14 Army Chief, General N.C. Vij will launch the Contributory Health Scheme for the ex-servicemen and their families of Hamirpur district here on May 18. Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh will also attend the function, according to Naresh V. Vig, PRO the Ministry of Defence, 11 Corps here today. He said that ex-servicemen in a large number would attend the function. Mr Vig said that the scheme would be managed by 11Corps and it start functioning from May 18. Lt-General P. K. Singh, Corps Commander and Brig A, M. Sharma, Commander, 91 Sub Area visited here today in connection with the scheme. They paid a visit to the old JBT complex, where the project is to be started. The Himachal Pradesh Education board had taken over the building meant for the hospital and this had upset people of the district, ex-servicemen and their families. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had to intervene when the issue was highlighted in The Tribune following which half portion of the old JBT building was given to the Army for starting a hospital in the complex under the Contributory Health Scheme for the ex-servicemen. Under the scheme, retired soldiers who get pension less than Rs 3,000 a month have to pay one-time charge of Rs 1,800 and become members. A place having more than 2,500 ex-servicemen will have independent clinic. Where the population of ex-soldiers is less they will have to go to government dispensaries. All treatment, including that serious ailments will be free of cost. The Army has already decided to open health centres in Una, Chamba, Bilaspur and Hamirpur while Dharamsala, Solan and Shimla will have Army hospitals.