Shimla, February 8
Ms Asha Kumari, Education Minister, became the first victim of the tainted minister issue when Governor V.S. Kokje, accepted her resignation here today.

The development, though not unexpected, has come rather suddenly. Ms Asha Kumari resigned on February 1 and Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, while confirming this, had stated that he would take a decision in this regard after returning to Shimla. He was scheduled to reach the state capital only on February 14 after completing his annual winter sojourn to the merged areas of the state. However, the resignation was suddenly forwarded to the Governor, who was in New Delhi last night, and it was accepted this morning.

According to party sources, the exit of Ms Asha Kumari, a staunch Virbhadra loyalist, was hastened due to the tough posture adopted by the party high command. In fact, if insiders are to be believed, the minister had submitted her resignation almost a month after charges were framed only under pressure from the high command. As the high command refused, Mr Virbhadra Singh was left with no option but to accept the resignation.

It is not the first time that a tainted minister has to bow out of the office after charges were framed in a criminal case. In 1998, Mr Sukh Ram, the then PWD minister in the Dhumal government, had to quit after a Delhi court framed charges against him in a case concerning the telecom scam.

Ms Asha Kumari was under constant pressure from within the Congress party and also the BJP to resign following the framing of charges against her in an alleged land grabbing case at Dalhousie in Chamba district.

Ms Asha Kumari is facing trial in a case of cheating and alleged grabbing of government land in Dalhousie in the court of Special Judge (Chamba) along with her husband Brijendra Singh and a number of revenue officials.

The Judge had framed charges in the case against her and others on January 4.

Prior to the framing of charges in the case, the state government had moved an application in the court for re-investigation of the case.

Following the dismissal of the application by the Chamba court, Ms Asha Kumari challenged the dismissal order in the Himachal Pradesh High Court through a revision petition, which was also dismissed.

On another revision petition filed by her, challenging the entire case against her as politically motivated, the state High Court has called for the entire records of the alleged land grabbing case. The hearing of the case has now been fixed for February 18.

Hamirpur, February 8
Local lawyers are determined to go ahead with their daylong strike tomorrow in protest against the decision of the state government to start work on a new judicial complex at a site not acceptable to them.

The state government has finalised a site on the Hamirpur-Pathankot national highway for the judicial complex.

The Chief Justice of the HP High court had recently constituted a three- member team consisting of the Deputy Commissioner, the Sessions Judge and the president of the district bar association for the selection of the site .

The team , after inspection of various sites, decided to have the complex near the local truck union office .

Lawyers are upset over the new site and have proposed three sites for the complex, all adjacent to the courts complex here.

President of the District Bar association Rajeev Soni says in spite of opposition by them , a new site had been selected that was 3 km from the present courts and outside the limits of the Hamirpur civic body.

He said if no action was taken to solve the tangle, they would be compelled to further intensify their agitation.

Meanwhile, there are reports that the state government has decided to take up the matter with the Chief Justice of the High court.

Shimla, February 8
A record number of 1,42,296 migratory birds from Central Asia and Siberia have arrived at the Pong Dam for the winter sojourn during the current season.

The one-day simultaneous census carried out by the Wildlife Department at the sprawling water body spread over 307 sq km revealed a marked increase in the presence of species like pintails, coots, bar-headed geese, cormorants and common pochards. The only important species which declined was rudishel duck.

The number of trans-Himalayan winged visitors exceeded last year’s head count by 1,37,585 by about 4,700 which was quite encouraging. As many as 69 water fowl species were recorded this season as against 64 last year. In all 91 species, including 22 terrestrial species, were spotted during the bird count.

The maximum increase was registered in the number of coots which shot up from 22,764 to 29,353. The number of common pochards rose from 9,237 to 13,978, while that of cormorants from 14,608 to 18,831. The pintail count also showed an upward trend registering an increase from 28,813 to 29,548 and the bar-headed geese increased from 27,064 to 28,700.

Mr A.K. Gulati, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), said that a notable feature was the large presence of bar-headed geese. Almost 40 per cent of the total Asiatic population of the water fowl stayed in the lake for the winter. He said sighting of a new species like woodcock was reported but it was yet to be confirmed by experts. There could be some mistake by the field staff in identifying the bird.

The bird count was conducted by 10 teams specially trained for the purpose. The lake, which came into existence three decades, has emerged as a major destination for migratory birds. Only a few hundred birds visited the water body in the late seventies. The number crossed 10,000 mark in the early 1980’s and had been increasing ever since.

Hamirpur, February 8
By meeting her for the first time, no one can imagine that she is a newly elected member of the Hamirpur Zila Parishad. Her name is Saveena Kaundal. She will turn 22 on February 18. Hailing from Bharmoti village of the Nadaun revenue subdivision of the district, she was elected to the Zila Parishad recently with a margin of more than 3,000 votes. She completed her graduation in commerce last year and is a student of a computer centre at Nadaun.

Ms Saveena entered the political field by chance. A vacancy was caused in the Amlehar ward due to the death of a woman member of the parishad. Mr Atam Parkash, former vice-chairman of the Nadaun Panchyat Samiti and a close confidant of Mr Sukhvinder Singh Sukhoo, MLA, proposed the name of Ms Reena Kaundal, elder sister of Ms Saveena, for the seat.

Since she was out of the state for her higher studies, the Congress leaders decided to approach Ms Saveena, who readily agreed and finally won the election.

In an interview with The Tribune at her Bharmoti residence, Ms Saveena said, "I was not interested to join politics. However, when an offer came for the election, I gave my consent and won the election." She said she wanted to study further and become a lawyer and had no ambition to become an MLA at present. She, however, said she enjoyed the first meeting of the Zila Parishad at Hamirpur recently. Ms Saveena said she was finalising her priorities for the welfare of her ward.

She said there were 12 gram panchayats in the ward and they had their own problems. "However, there is a common problem of water in most of the ward. I will try to solve this with the help of the Hamirpur district administration", she emphatically said. Ms Saveena's father is a Sub-Inspector and mother runs a small shop in the village.

Kangra , February 8
Hundreds of the students of the local Government Polytechnic College today resorted to an indefinite boycott of their classes and held a gate meeting demanding that the students be given a “golden chance”to clear their pending papers without wasting one year.

The protesting students threatened today that they would resort to strikes, dharana and rallies and from February 15 in support of their demands golden chance was not given to them by the Himachal Pradesh Technical Education Board. They said the boycotting of their classes would continue till February 15. The college wore a deserted look following the boycott by the students of all classes.

In a letter to the Director Technical Education ,the striking students said that more than 25 second years tudents of this college have failed to pass their first semester and as per the Board rules these students can't get an admission in the fourth semester until they clear the first semester.

They demanded golden chance be granted to them on the pattern of last year.

When contacted the Acting Principal of the College Mr. Dinesh Sharma today confirmed that the students boycotted their classes and have given an ultimatum to the Board authorities for accepting their demand.

Mr Dinesh Sharma confirmed that there were 25 students in this college who have been denied admission to the fourth or sixth semester until they clear their first or third semester.

A lecturer on the condition of anonymity said, " We are still maintaining the quality of education in the polytechnic colleges but the H.P. technical Education Board authorities who had been succumbing to the pressure of the students every year for the last five years and granting them a golden chance when the students resort to the strike.

Another lecturer said: " Either the Board should decided once for all not to give them a golden chance or include a clause in the Board rules of carrying on system till they pass the examination".

Dharamsala, February 8
The Naddi area, near here, would be developed as prominent tourist destination by setting up necessary infrastructure to attract local and foreign tourists.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh announced this at a function organised by the Gaddi community at Naddi last evening.

He also declared a grant for Rs 22 lakh for cleaning up water of the Dal Lake in the area.

Mr Virbhadra Singh said McLeodganj had emerged as an international destination for tourists and pilgrims due to the presence of Dalai Lama there and the government was trying to maintain the religious sanctity of the place.

He further said the government had also constituted a separate welfare board for the Gaddi community, which had been asked to advise the government on adoption of necessary measures for socioeconomic upliftment of the community. “The Gaddi community has been declared a tribe and all its members were eligible to avail benefits and facilities for their upliftment,” he said.

The Chief Minister directed the PWD to metal the Dharamsala-McLeodganj road before the onset of summer so that tourists were not put to inconvenience. He also announced the upgradation of the Government Primary School, Gatari, to a middle school.

He also said that a Rs 40 crore tourism infrastructure development scheme was underway in the state, out of which Rs 8 crore was being spent in Kangra district during the current financial year.

“A Rs 7.23 lakh Buddhist Development Scheme is also being implemented to renovate and maintain prominent Gompas in the state, besides creation of basic roadside amenities to visitors to the state. A well-equipped bus stand would be constructed at McLeodganj at a cost of Rs 6 crores soon,” he said.

Kumarhatti, February 8
A minor schoolgirl was killed when she was run over by a truck (HP-12-2347) at Baddi this morning. The girl, Pinki, daughter of Mr Swarn Singh of Sandhol village, was on her way to school when the truck going towards Nalagarh side hit her. The girl died under a front wheel of the truck.

The truck driver, Vinod Kumar, was arrested. A case under Sections 279 and 304 IPC, has been registered against him.

The girl was studying in class VII.

In another accident, a tourist from Maharashtra was killed when a taxi (DL-14-8960) carrying him rolled down into a deep gorge at Bangora village, near Shalaghat, on the Shimla-Bilaspur road yesterday.

The deceased, Sachin Shah, had hired the taxi from Delhi along with his wife, Rojal, to visit Himachal Pradesh. The couple was on the way to Manali from Chail when taxi driver Umesh Kumar lost control over the vehicle. The injured couple and the driver were rushed to the IGMC, Shimla, where Sachin Shah succumbed to his injuries.

A case has been registered against Umesh Kumar.