H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

Truck mishap death toll 29
Shimla, May 22
Mechanical fault and an inexperienced man being on the wheel may have proved fatal for the Public Works Department labourers, 29 of whom died when the truck in which they were returning home after work rolled down a khud at Bathal, near Nerwa in Chopal area of Shimla district, last evening.

Political support key to Manmohan’s success: Dhar
Dharamsala, May 22
Mr P.N. Dhar, who headed the secretariat of the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and was one of her closest advisers, feels that the success of Prime Minister-designate Manmohan Singh will depend upon the political support he gets.

Neeraj tops Class XI exam
Dharamsala, May 22
Neeraj Balaini of Government Boys Senior Secondary School, Mandi, has secured the first position in the plus 1 examination, the result of which was declared today by the H.P. Board of School education.

State teachers’ union gen secy quits
Kangra, May 22
The Himachal Government Teachers Union today received a jolt when its general secretary Subhash Pathania of this district resigned under protest alleging that the HGTU was ignoring the interests of the teachers community.

3 arrested with animal skins
Dharamsala, May 22
The police has nabbed three persons and seized skins of three leopard and one barking deer from them . The skins are valued at more than Rs 2 lakh.

• Defence pensioners’ camp from May 24

Truck mishap death toll 29
Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 22
Mechanical fault and an inexperienced man being on the wheel may have proved fatal for the Public Works Department (PWD) labourers, 29 of whom died when the truck in which they were returning home after work rolled down a khud at Bathal, near Nerwa in Chopal area of Shimla district, last evening.

The last rites of all 29 persons whose bodies were extricated were performed in their villages falling under Bohar and Pahawan panchayats today. While three injured persons are receiving treatment at Nerwa, two seriously injured have been admitted to the Indira Gandhi Medical College hospital here. The labourers were engaged in tarring work on the Nerwa-Gunna road.

Though the Sub- Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Chopal, is conducting an inquiry to ascertain the cause of the mishap, it is learnt that an inexperienced person driving the truck caused the accident. The SDM, Mr G.R. Bharti, has been asked to submit the inquiry report within 15 days. Apart from ascertaining the cause of the accident, the inquiry will fix responsibility and suggest remedial measures.

“Since Sheikh, the driver of the truck (HP-08-0755) was on leave, his assistant Binoo was driving the truck which went out of control,” said Dhoom Singh Bekta (26), one of the injured persons admitted to the IGMC. He said the accident took place around 7.30 p.m. and he fell out of the truck before it rolled down into the gorge. Another injured person at IGMC, Mr Chand Ram, too, said the driver was inexperienced.

The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Sushil Negi, while confirming that the regular driver was on leave, said a mechanical fault was the major cause of the accident.

A pall of gloom descended on the five villages to which most of the deceased belonged as their last rites were performed. With limited sources of livelihood and scarce agricultural land, practically every male member from each family works as a daily wager, mostly engaged in road construction.

The worst-affected is a family from Fodij village, of which three brothers Dharam Chand, Mehar Singh and Kedar Singh were killed in the accident. Laik Ram and Buddhi Singh, who used to return home by the same truck daily, were fortunate as they did not go to work yesterday.

The deceased include Bhagat Ram, Mast Ram, Sant Ram, Jitender, Hari Singh, Kedaru, Kedar Singh, Budhi Singh, Bhoop Singh, Jagat Ram, Tulsi Ram, Parmanand, Jagat Ram, Dharam Chand, Mehar Singh, Kedar Singh, Mani Ram, Sukh Ram, Nandu Ram, Tulsi Ram, Nan Chand, Man Chand, Saibu, Mor Singh, Parmanand, Jalam Singh, Biroo Ram, Vinod and Nantia. An immediate relief of Rs 10,000 has been provided by the district administration to the families of the deceased.

Those admitted to the Primary Health Centre, Nerwa, include Madan, Shiv Lal and Parma Nand, who have been given Rs 1,000 each for treatment. The two admitted to IGMC are Dhoom Singh and Chand Ram, who have been given Rs 1,500 each.

Political support key to Manmohan’s success: Dhar
Our Correspondent

Dharamsala, May 22
Mr P.N. Dhar, who headed the secretariat of the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and was one of her closest advisers, feels that the success of Prime Minister-designate Manmohan Singh will depend upon the political support he gets.

Talking to this correspondent at Kandbari yesterday, Mr Dhar said Mr Manmohan Singh had a brilliant academic record and had held all important economic positions in the government.

Mr Dhar said the success of the coalition government at the Centre would depend upon the political support to the economic policies.

He said for the success of the coalition, it was necessary that all partners should together put India on a growth path.

Mr Dhar, who is a renowned economist, said economically rational solutions were not necessarily politically feasible and this led to a gap between needs and requirements.

Neeraj tops Class XI exam
Our Correspondent

Dharamsala, May 22
Neeraj Balaini of Government Boys Senior Secondary School, Mandi, has secured the first position in the plus 1 examination, the result of which was declared today by the H.P. Board of School education.

According to Mr B.R. Rahi, Chairman of the board, 94,059 students — 51,741 boys and 42,318 girls — appeared in the examination of which 48,509 were declared pass. The pass percentage is 51.66, down from last year’s 52.17.

Four students of the Him Academy, Hamirpur, have been placed in the merit list.

The following is the merit list:

Neeraj Balaini, Government Boys Senior Secondary School, Mandi, 473/500, first; Vandna Raghuvanshi, Him Academy, Hamirpur, second; Ankit Chaudhary, GBSSS, Chamba, 456, third; Surya Bhan Singh, Him Academy, Hamirpur, 454, fourth; Renu Sharma, Government Senior Secondary School, Joginder Nagar, 452, fifth; Mithila Thakur, SD Senior Secondary School, Shimla, 449, sixth; Ankush Mahajan, K. Ram Memorial Government Senior Secondary School, Mastpur, Kangra, 448, seventh; Pratima Rana, Him Academy Hamirpur, 447, eighth; Ankush Banyal, DAV Senior Secondary School, Una, 445, Ninth; and Nitesh Kumar, Him Academy, Hamirpur, 443 tenth.

State teachers’ union gen secy quits
Our Correspondent

Kangra, May 22
The Himachal Government Teachers Union (HGTU) today received a jolt when its general secretary Subhash Pathania of this district resigned under protest alleging that the HGTU was ignoring the interests of the teachers community.

In a statement here, Mr Pathania said that he had been repeatedly telling the union President Mr Prakash Thakur now the interests of the teachers community were being sidelined but the HGTU had the failed to do any thing positive for the teachers community.

He blamed the office bearers of the HGTU for working under political influence. He said that instead of working for the teachers community the HGTU leadership was doing everything for its own political vested interests. He said that he had been protesting against such anti teacher approach of the HGTU but his protests had been brushed aside.

He said he was deprived of even issuing a notification on the block-level polls of the HGTU in this district which was prerogative of the general secretary . He said under this suffocated atmosphere it was difficult to continue so he resigned today.

3 arrested with animal skins
Our Correspondent

Dharamsala, May 22
The police has nabbed three persons and seized skins of three leopard and one barking deer from them . The skins are valued at more than Rs 2 lakh.

Assistant SP Asif Jalal said today that during a police naka near Darang on the Pathankot-Manali National Highway late last night, Nandu Ram, his brother Ram Kumar who belongs to Haryana and local resident Prakash were noticed moving in suspicious circumstances. When challenged by the police, they tried to run away but were nabbed. Three leopard skins and the skin of a barking deer were seized from them.

Mr Jalal said the three appeared to be members of an international gang which poaches in Kangra and supplies skins to the international market through dealers in Delhi.

Defence pensioners’ camp from May 24
Our Correspondent

Dharamsala, May 22
The annual identification camp for Defence pensioners will be organised in the Kangra District Sainik Welfare Board from May 24 to October 29, 2004 at following places Baroh Nagrota Bagwan at Sainik Rest House Kangra, at Tiara at Khundian Dada Siba, PWD Rest House Rakkar (Pragpur) at PWD Rest House Nagrota Surian at PWD Rest House, Dehra at Rest House Ranital.