Shimla, May 20
While the supporters of rival factions headed by Mr Virbhadra Singh, the Chief Minister, and Ms Vidya Stokes, a former party president, fought fierce battles for supremacy across the state during the ongoing organisational poll, it took hardly any time in achieving unanimity on the choice of president in the home district of the two leaders.

The presence of the Chief Minister at the meeting of the delegates convened for election to the Shimla District Congress Committee (Rural) proved decisive. Mr Vidya Sagar, a staunch loyalist of Mr Virbhadra Singh, was elected unopposed.

The proceedings were started by the Chief Minister who dwelt at length about the happenings of the last organisational poll when his supporters were handed out a raw deal. Thereafter, he demonstrated his strength by asking those who supported him to stand. Barring a few everyone stood up. He said the majority was with him but he would accommodate the rival faction.

Thereafter, Mr Virbhadra Singh proposed the name of Mr Vidya Sagar for the district president. His arch rival, Ms Stokes who was also present at the meeting, supported his candidature. Mr Kehar Singh Khachi, a supporter of Ms Stokes, was unanimously elected as the vice-president, while Ms Kanta Sharma, Mr Virbhadra loyalist, was elected treasurer.

The results of election to the District Congress Committees would be announced by Mr K.C. Lenka, chairperson of the state election authority, on May 21 and the new chief of the Pradesh Congress Committee would be elected on May 23.

Mr K.D. Sultanpuri, District Returning Officer for the Congress organisational poll, here today announced that Mr Jagjivan Pal had been unanimously elected president of the Kangra District Congress Committee.

He said he was declaring the result after obtaining clearance from Mr K.C. Lenka, chairperson of the state election authority for the Congress organisational poll.

Mr Sultanpuri said there was no dispute at any stage and all the 130 delegates were present at the meeting.

PAONTA SAHIB: Mr Rattan Singh, vice-president, Parbandhak Committee of Gurdwara Paonta Sahib, has been elected president of the District Congress Committee Sirmaur. Mr Rattan Singh is a former MLA.

CHAMBA: Mr Surinder Bhardwaj, MLA from Rajnagar, in this district was elected president of the District Congress Committee (DCC) last evening.

Mr Kamal Kumar Thakur was elected senior vice-president and Mr Sant Ram treasurer of the DCC.

Shimla, May 20
The overall female literacy rate may be lower than that of male in the hill state, but girls have been faring better than boys at the primary and middle-level school education.

Not only the failure rate of girls is lower, they are also securing higher percentage of marks than boys across the state. Data available with the Education Department reveals that during the 2003-04 academic session, the percentage of unsuccessful boys at the primary level was 11.56 as against 6.63 for girls. At the upper primary (Class VI to VIII) level, the repeaters among boys were 13.36 per cent as against 11.87 per cent girl students.

The success rate of girls in the examination for Classes V and VIII, which are conducted by the state board of school education, is also higher. During 2003-04, 96.02 per cent girls passed, whereas the percentage for boys was 95.63. Further the percentage of girls securing more than 60 per cent marks was 58.41, as against 54.79 per cent in case of boys. The only exception was the tribal Lahaul Spiti district, where the percentage of boys scoring more than 60 per cent marks was 49.19 as against 40.29 for girls.

The trend was more or less similar for the Class VIII examination, though the gap in the performance of girls and boys narrowed down. The pass percentage of girls was 78.66 slightly higher than the figure of 78.60 for boys.

However, the percentage of girls securing more than 60 per cent marks was 21.45 as against 18.90 in case of boys. Here again, the exception was tribal district of Kinnaur where 14.91 per cent boys aggregated more than 60 per cent marks as against 14.45 per cent girls.

The state government had been providing free education to girls up to the university level. They were being provided uniforms free of cost up to the primary level. Further, textbooks were being provided free to the underprivileged students up to Class V.

Solan, May 20
Even as the ministry of Surface Transport and Roads has conducted a survey for four-laning of the Kalka-Shimla National Highway No 22, lack of funds has impeded the project. Delhi-based Span Consultants, which had submitted a survey report in 2002 had pegged the cost of this project at Rs 675.02 crore.

The ministry has since then been making efforts to arrange funds from international agencies, including the World Bank. With little coordination between the state government and the ministry, a number of palatial constructions continue to come up on the highway.

While this will further enhance the cost of land acquisition once the project is initiated, state National Highway officials say they have no clue how the project will come up.

A stretch of 111-km of the highway between Tipra village on the Haryana-Himachal border and Dhalli, near Shimla, has been surveyed. The existing two-way carriageway which has been in use for the past several decades is facing an ever-increasing influx of traffic, particularly of tourists, leading to a number of accidents.

The number of vehicles is believed to increase by another 30,000 in the next 20 years. Experts opine that the operational cost of the highway has increased necessitating its expansion.

The survey report points out that in order to facilitate expansion, land acquisition has to be undertaken both from the valley as well as the hillside. A 30-metre road is required to convert the highway into a four-lane carriageway. At least 20 metres from the hillside and another 15 metres from the valley side will have to be acquired. A 1.5 metre median bifurcating the two double lanes with to and fro tracks are proposed to channel the traffic in an organised manner.

With a view to conserving the forest over and reducing land acquisition, as many as seven tunnels have been proposed on the highway. The tunnels spread over 8.95 km, will be located at the Barog bypass, Solan Brewary, Ded Grat, two tunnels near Kandhaghat and another at Shoghi-taradevi and the Shimla bypass.

The tunnels will reduce the distance by 22.4 km. Initially, 11 tunnels were planned but later four were scrapped. A tunnel at the entry point of Shimla is proposed while the vehicles coming from Dhalli area can use the existing bypass.

The 24-km existing bypass requires fresh acquisition. A 6-km integrated bypass is further proposed at Tipra which will join the national highway at Timber Trail. This will have a minimal affect on the existing buildings and also ease congestion.

The presence of a reserve and protected forest at some places will require an additional clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests. The most visible effect would be in the form of resettlement in places like Dharampur, Kandhaghat, Jabli and Shoghi.

Dharamsala, May 20
The local Irrigation and Public Health Department has got an unusual task of locating the buried manholes on the Kotwali Bazar highway running through the heart of the city. Due to the lack of coordination between the Irrigation and Public Health Department and the Public Works Department, the latter laid premix on the nearly 40 manholes which had been constructed by the Irrigation and Public Health Department a few months ago. Now, manholes will have to be first located and then brought to the level of the road.

Mr S. K. Vats, Superintending Engineer, IPH, admitted that there was lack of coordination between the two departments and the PWD should have discussed the matter with them before constructing the road. “Now that the manholes have been buried, we will try to dig them out by measuring the reduced distance to find out their locations,” he added.

Residents and businessmen of the area have, however, demanded that the manholes be located immediately as it would otherwise become impossible for the department to clear the sewerage line in case of any blockage.

“Nearly 4 inch thick tar has been laid on all manholes and then levelled with a roller. Moreover, each manhole had been constructed a cost of Rs 12, 000,” said Ramesh Kumar, a resident of the Kotwali Bazar area. The Deputy Commissioner said he was looking into the matter and efforts would be made to ensure that both government departments work in coordination.

Meanwhile, Mr Vats said his department had ensured that there was no scarcity of water in Dharamsala and McLeodganj, especially during the ongoing tourist season. “We have Rs 37 lakh proposal for the Civil Line and the Civil Bazar areas and another Rs 40 lakh project for the satellite town of Dari,” he added.

Shimla, May 20
Former Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal today demanded a CBI probe into selections made under the ex-servicemen quota by the HP Public Service Commission (HPPSC) in the Irrigation and Public Health Department.

Addressing a press conference here today, he alleged that four persons had been selected by the HPPSC under the ex-servicemen quota, whereas their wards had already availed this benefit.

Terming the rule of the state and central governments as full of political vendetta, he said that they were treating their political opponents as enemies.

Mandi, May 20
The court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr R. K. Sharma, today granted bail to eight persons, including five former directors of the now defunct Board of Directors (BoD), arrested on Tuesday night in connection with bank fraud case of Mandi Urban Cooperative Bank Ltd here.

The court today directed the five former directors of the MUCBL and three bank clerks to cooperate with the prosecution and not leave the country without the court’s prior permission.

Fearing police action, 13 others including four former directors and nine employees of the bank, today applied for anticipatory bail in the case. The court will take up the bail application tomorrow, sources said.

Police investigation has found that these 13 persons have also sanctioned loans to their family members and close relatives on low interest rate, causing a breach of trust under the Cooperative Act and RBI rules. As a result, the bank suffered huge losses and landed in the present crises, the sources said.

The Administrator, MUCBL Mr M.R. Bhardwaj, said the state government was monitoring the case and would spare no one. They should come forward and refund the loans”, he added.

Dharamsala, May 20
Versatile Bollywood actor Anupam Kher would be given the Divya Himachal Award for Excellence at a national seminar on ‘Strategies for the Development of Himachal Pradesh’ to be organised by Divya Himachal Prakashan on June 2 at McLeodganj. The Dalai Lama would inaugurate the function and the Chief Minister would be the chief guest.

Addressing a press conference here yesterday, Prof N.K. Singh, ex-chairman of the Airport Authority of India, said experts from IT, commerce, education, power and the tourism industry would discuss strategies for the development of the state at a brainstorming session of the seminar.

Issues like development of proper infrastructure to attract tourists and ways to check pilferage of power would be on the agenda.

Ms Vidya Strokes, Minister for Power, Mr G.S. Bali, Minister for Tourism and Transport, Mr Kuldeep Kumar, Minister for Industries, Mr Ram Lal Thakur, Minister for Forests and Mr R.V. Shahi, Secretary, Ministry of Power, Government of India, were expected to take part in the seminar.

Shimla, May 20
Dr S.K. Pandey, an eminent farm scientist, has been appointed as the Director of Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI), here, for 5 years.

Dr Pandey, who was heading the crop improvement division, joined the CPRI in 1971 as Research Assistant. — TNS