H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

Roerich gallery to be developed as culture centre
Kulu, October 30
The Roerich Art Gallery at Naggar village, about 30 km from here, would be developed as a cultural and arts institute. This was stated by Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, speaking on the occasion of centenary celebrations of Svetoslav Roerich, a son of Nicholas Roerich, at Naggar today.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh releases a souvenir at the centenary celebration function of Svetoslav Roerich at Naggar, near Kulu, on Saturday. —  Photo by M.C. Thakur

Manali-Leh highway to close from today
Shimla, October 30
The Manali-Sarchu-Leh highway, connecting the tribal areas of Lahaul, Udaipur, Pangi and Ladakh with the rest of the country would be officially closed for all vehicular traffic from tomorrow, almost one month in advance due to erratic weather conditions, intermittent early snowfall, extreme cold temperatures and icing of roads up to 20 km on either side of the Rohtang (13,050 feet) and Baralacha (17,332 feet) passes.

Cong factions get active as Sonia’s visit approaches
Shimla, October 30
The fighting between the warring factions in the state Congress, already engaged in a blame game over the party’s defeat in the Guler byelection, is likely to intensify with the AICC chief, Ms Sonia Gandhi, scheduled to visit the state capital on November 10.

NGO to identify problems of Nurpur rural areas
Nurpur, October 30
The International Committee for Development and Regional Cooperation (ICDRC), a national-level non-government organisation (NGO) which has been working in six states of the country to identify the problems and review development activities in the rural areas is nowadays working in Himachal Pradesh in the Nurpur development block.

Govt denies shielding Ayurveda Dept officer
Shimla, October 30
The Himachal Pradesh Government has denied the allegation of Dr Rajiv Bindal, spokesperson of the state unit of the BJP, that the Chief Minister’s office was shielding an officer of the Ayurveda Department, who was being accused of tormenting his wife.

Decision on HP varsity staff after they file replies
Shimla, October 30
The issue of show cause notices being served on a few Himachal Pradesh University employees, whose appointment had been questioned by the Kaul Committee, dominated the proceedings of the Executive Council meeting of the university. According to sources, the report of the sub-committee, which had been constituted to look into the appointments, was placed before members of the council.

District library to be shifted
Dharamsala, October 30
The district library will soon be shifted from its present location, so that the area could be utilised as a parking place. As per a survey conducted by the District Administration, parking space for nearly 200 vehicles could be made there.

Stop contract system, demand doctors
Nurpur, October 30
Taking exception to the practice of contract-based appointments of doctors in the state, the Himachal Pradesh Medical Officers Association has urged the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, to abolish the system.

2 bodies found
Kumarhatti, October 30
The body of a migrant Nepalese labourer (22) was found hanging from a tree in the Thade Ka jungle area near here yesterday afternoon. Mr Naresh Kumar, a panchayat ward member from Kayaar village, noticed the body and informed the police.

Roerich gallery to be developed as culture centre
Our Correspondent

Kulu, October 30
The Roerich Art Gallery at Naggar village, about 30 km from here, would be developed as a cultural and arts institute. This was stated by Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, speaking on the occasion of centenary celebrations of Svetoslav Roerich, a son of Nicholas Roerich, at Naggar today.

He announced a plan for the restoration and renovation of the art gallery and botanical research laboratory building, artists’ home, studio and learning centre. A new art gallery-cum-museum would also be added to the existing museum. The work on the development of the estate garden would be speeded up. More facilities were also being created for the researchers and visitors.

The Chief Minister said a grant of Rs 8 crore had been approved for setting up an arts college. He said a herbal garden would be established in which indigenous medicinal plants would be preserved. Mr Virbhadra Singh said Professor Nicholas Roerich was a world-renowned artist, thinker, philosopher, explorer, poet and educator.

The paintings of Svetoslav Roerich had roots in many traditions and yet did not belong to any movement of our time, but represented a very personal style, he said.

Mr Virbhadra Singh lauded the International Roerich Memorial Trust and the Department of Language and Culture for celebrating the centenary of Svetoslav Roerich.

Vornsof, president of the Roreich International Centre and Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General, presented medals to Mr Virbhadra Singh; Mr Ashok Thakur, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Art, Language and Culture; Mr S. S. Chandel, trustee, International Roerich Trust; and Mr R. D. Nazim, Deputy Commissioner, for their contribution to the promotion of art and culture.

Mr Nichlay Kudoshev, deputy chief of the Russian Embassy, thanked the Indian and Himachal Pradesh governments for organising the celebrations and said it would go a long way in promoting the Roerich legacy.

Mr Ashok Thakur said the Government of India had sanctioned Rs 2 crore for the promotion of activities at the Roreich International Centre, Naggar. He added that Rs 6 crore would be spent to set up an international art centre, Rs 2 crore to preserve the heritage building and art at Naggar, besides Rs 1 crore on rural tourism in the area.

Earlier, the Chief Minister released a souvenir. Ms Shposh Nicholas, vice-president of the International Roerich Centre and director-general of Roerich Museum, Moscow; Rozedovski, Controller and Head of the Russian Centre for Science and Culture; were also present on the occasion.

Manali-Leh highway to close from today

Shimla, October 30
The Manali-Sarchu-Leh highway, connecting the tribal areas of Lahaul, Udaipur, Pangi and Ladakh with the rest of the country would be officially closed for all vehicular traffic from tomorrow, almost one month in advance due to erratic weather conditions, intermittent early snowfall, extreme cold temperatures and icing of roads up to 20 km on either side of the Rohtang (13,050 feet) and Baralacha (17,332 feet) passes.

The passes would remain closed for the winters and no vehicle would be allowed to cross these passes, a communication received from headquarters of 38 Border Roads Task Force, maintaining the highway, stated.

The passes were closed due to early snow in second week of September and were opened after six days. The passes were again closed on October 24, 25 and 26 and the Border Roads Organisation and the district administration had tough time in taking out the vehicles stranded in the tribal areas.

Earlier the passes were officially closed on November 15, but due to fairly good weather during past few years the passes remained opened even till late December. The state government had made adequate arrangements for maintaining regular supplies of all commodities during the winters in the snowbound tribal areas.

The people of the tribal valleys were totally cut off from rest of the world for six to seven months.

The technological advancements in field of telecommunication had made it possible to link the tribal valleys with telephone and even mobile services had been introduced in these areas by the BSNL.

The people of these area could remain in touch with rest of the world through phone and fortnightly helicopter services were also run to various places in the winters by the state government for delivery of mail and ferrying people in case of urgency. — PTI

Cong factions get active as Sonia’s visit approaches
Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 30
The fighting between the warring factions in the state Congress, already engaged in a blame game over the party’s defeat in the Guler byelection, is likely to intensify with the AICC chief, Ms Sonia Gandhi, scheduled to visit the state capital on November 10.

Since the three-member committee constituted by the PCC chief, Ms Vidya Stokes, to look into the reasons for the defeat is likely to submit its report on November 1, the issue is likely to dominate during Ms Gandhi’s visit.

“Though the occasion is the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Congress Bhavan here, the party’s defeat is bound to be the main issue for discussion,” said a senior minister.

The Virbhadra camp is likely to put the blame for the Guler defeat on the utterances of a Congress MLA, Major Vijai Singh Mankotia, who was dropped in the downsizing of the Cabinet. “When a party legislator accuses the government of ignoring the interest of Kangra district, there is little that the party set-up can do as a save-facing device,” said a Virbhadra loyalist.

The camp is also likely to raise the issue of inaction by the party against Mr Mankotia, as his accusations amounted to anti-party activities. “Instead of taking Mr Mankotia to task for harming party interest during the byelection, the PCC chief chose to ignore it completely, emboldening the dropped minister,” said a minister.

It is being speculated that the Chief Minister might raise the issue of bringing about caste balance by inducting a minister from the Rajput community from Kangra into the Cabinet, as the community had voted against the party in Guler.

On the other hand, the Stokes camp, already in an upbeat mood over the approval of the Congress Bhavan site selected by the PCC chief, despite opposition by the Chief Minister, is likely to use the situation to their advantage. “If the party has lost despite being in power, it means we need to set our house in order and we will certainly bring the matter to the notice of Ms Gandhi,” said a Stokes loyalist.

The HPCC spokesperson, Mr Kuldeep Rathore, today said that Ms Gandhi, coming here on a day-long visit, would address a public meeting on the Ridge. She would also lay the foundation stone of the Congress Bhavan to be constructed at a cost of Rs 1 crore.

NGO to identify problems of Nurpur rural areas
Our Correspondent

Nurpur, October 30
The International Committee for Development and Regional Cooperation (ICDRC), a national-level non-government organisation (NGO) which has been working in six states of the country to identify the problems and review development activities in the rural areas is nowadays working in Himachal Pradesh in the Nurpur development block.

According to Mr Ashutosh, general secretary of the ICDRC, 10 members of the NGO divided into three groups, have been visiting the far-flung rural areas of the Nurpur development block.

After coordinating field reports of these teams, a project report would be prepared.

After that a project for the development of the rural areas of the Nurpur development block would be formulated in which the ICDRC would recommend uplift of the area.

The recommended project would be funded by international-level NGOs.

He said the main objective of the survey was to assess the basic amenities being provided by the government to the rural people and identify their problems.

Govt denies shielding Ayurveda Dept officer
Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 30
The Himachal Pradesh Government has denied the allegation of Dr Rajiv Bindal, spokesperson of the state unit of the BJP, that the Chief Minister’s office was shielding an officer of the Ayurveda Department, who was being accused of tormenting his wife.

An official spokesman said the allegation was false and baseless and the government was not even aware of the case what to speak of its interference in the matter. Even otherwise there was no question of the government interfering in the personal matter of any person.

Dr Bindal had himself admitted that the matter was personal while stating that the complaint pertaining to Rajpura in Punjab was being investigated by the Punjab police.

In such a situation how could the state government influence investigations, he asked?

He further said the officer concerned had no role in transfers or promotions in the department.

He maintained that no district ayurveda officers had been appointed on ad hoc basis by the government and the allegations in this regard were factually incorrect. He said merit and seniority were always taken into consideration while effecting promotions.

He further said that transfer orders were issued after due scrutiny of each proposal and the question of any interference did not arise.

Decision on HP varsity staff after they file replies
Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 30
The issue of show cause notices being served on a few Himachal Pradesh University employees, whose appointment had been questioned by the Kaul Committee, dominated the proceedings of the Executive Council meeting of the university. According to sources, the report of the sub-committee, which had been constituted to look into the appointments, was placed before members of the council. It accepted the report of the sub-committee but a final decision is likely to be taken only after all nine employees, who have been issued showcause notices, have filed replies.

The sources said a final decision on these appointments made during the BJP tenure would be taken after going through the replies. “If the candidates can prove that they have wrongly been issued the notice and meet the eligibility criteria then they will be allowed to continue,” said a council member.

On the basis of the recommendations made in the committee report, notices have been served on three teaching and six non-teaching employees.

District library to be shifted
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, October 30
The district library will soon be shifted from its present location, so that the area could be utilised as a parking place. As per a survey conducted by the District Administration, parking space for nearly 200 vehicles could be made there.

According to press note issued here, the district library building was in a dilapidated condition and needed to be reconstructed after demolition. “The area is very close to Kotwali Bazar and residents have been requesting the administration to develop it into a parking place. Earlier, there was a plan to reconstruct the building, keeping the ground and first floors as parking space,” it said.

It has now been decided to construct a suitable building for housing the district library on a permanent basis in a plot near the Deputy Commissioner’s office.

Stop contract system, demand doctors
Our Correspondent

Nurpur, October 30
Taking exception to the practice of contract-based appointments of doctors in the state, the Himachal Pradesh Medical Officers Association has urged the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, to abolish the system.

It asked the government to appoint 100 doctors, for which the government had taken the decision, through the HP Public Service Commission on a regular basis.

A joint statement issued by Dr Naresh Gupta and Dr Ajay Pathania, state president and general secretary of the association, here yesterday, hailed the decision to appoint 100 new doctors in the state.

They expressed concern over the failure of the government to fulfil their demands.

2 bodies found
Our Correspondent

Kumarhatti, October 30
The body of a migrant Nepalese labourer (22) was found hanging from a tree in the Thade Ka jungle area near here yesterday afternoon. Mr Naresh Kumar, a panchayat ward member from Kayaar village, noticed the body and informed the police.

The police tried to establish its identity from locals but failed. The body was sent to the Community Health Center, Dharampur. The labourer was 5 feet 4 inch tall and was wearing blue jacket over red colour shirt with green trouser and slippers in feet.

In another incident the body of a rag picker was recovered from a nullah near Kandhaghat. The body was noticed by Mr Mahesh Dutt, the former up-pradhan of Mahi panchayat. The man was wearing blue trouser and T-shirt. A sticker found from deceased’s trouser revealed that it was stitched by a tailor from Nainatikkar near here. The three small rolls of iron and copper were found lying near the body.