Naggar, June 9
The 40- km-long left bank bypass under the Public Works Department (PWD) that was constructed as an alternative highway after the 1995 flash floods in the Beas is littered with potholes, uneven surface and has narrow undressed curves as the PWD has put the work on hold due to a lack of political will. From the Gramshila bridge to Naggar, the road is almost littered with potholed and narrow stretches.

The left bank road has emerged as a better alternative to the right bank approach as it commands a better view of the valley, said residents of Naggar. “But tourists who come here complain that the road is potholed between the Gramshila flyover and Ghurdhor, near Naggar, and the road stretchers are narrow”, they rued.

Local villagers at Ghurdhor complained that they had requested local MLA Raj Kishan Gaur to expedite the work of tarring and maintenance, but nothing had been done so far. As most of the apple, kiwi and other fruit produced along the left bank of the Beas, the road had always been ignored, the farmers rued.

They feared that the rains could trigger landslides and damage their fields.

The Subdivisional Officer, PWD, Division-II, Kulu, which supervises the left bank highway, Mr Pawan Kumar Mahajan, said that tarring work for the 4-km long road was awarded last year. “We have done patch work on the potholed road at several points between Gramshila and Kais prior to the former PM’s visit recently”, he claimed.

PWD engineers said that the project had been forwarded to the World Bank for funds to widen the left bank road from Gramshila to Manali.

Chamba, June 9
The Chamba-Langera highway linking rest of the state with the border land of Chamba district in Himachal Pradesh with the adjoining state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) continues to remain blocked for the past several months due to a huge glacier at certain points following heavy snowfall.

Langera is the last village on this highway situated on the borders of Chamba district. In fact, this is an inter-state highway, which further connects Bhaderwah area in Kistwar tehsil of Doda district.

The blockade of this highway by a huge glacier has hampered the frequent movement of vehicular traffic, and the security forces, deployed there to guard the border land in the Kihar sector in Chamba district, were facing hardship to transport their foodstuff, belongings and other materials.

Apart from this, the border land in the Kihar sector has also been facing telecommunication problems for the past several days as the heavy snow has also prevented the telecommunication services on the highlands.

Meanwhile, the state government has directed the Public Works Department to remove the glacier and resume vehicular traffic on the Chamba Langera highway.

Dharamsala, June 9
A six-year-old girl was raped in the Jahu area of Hamirpur district yesterday. The 50-year-old accused, Gobind Bhagat, who is from the same locality, was caught red-handed by the girl’s parents and was beaten up by residents of the area before being handed over to the police.

Giving details of the case, Mr Daljit Thakur, Superintendent of Police, Hamirpur, said that the parents of the girl were scrap-pickers and the incident took place on Wednesday morning when they had gone out for work. When they returned around 11 a.m., they heard screams of their daughter from inside their house. On seeing them, the accused tried to flee but was overpowered by residents of the area.

Both the girl’s family and the accused hail from Garh Charoli district in Maharashtra and the accused is also a scrap-picker.

A case has been registered against the accused on the charge of rape at Hamirpur police station under Section 376, IPC, and the police took the girl for medical examination in the local hospital.

Mandi, June 9
The Sarkaghat police arrested four persons at Hamirpur last night. The suspects were allegedly robbing involved in a incident on Tuesday night on the Mandi-Riwalsar road. The police recovered Rs 1.5 lakh from them.

The SP, Mandi district, Mr Ajay Yadav, said that the four suspects had been arrested under Sections 341, 307, 382, 223 and 34, IPC, from a hotel. They had been identified as Yugal, Kartar, Vjay and Rakesh. All of them belonged to the Sarkaghat-Sandol area, he added.

Mr Yadav said the suspects intercepted an Air Tel employee, Mr Jivan Kumar, coming back from Sarkaghat on scooter. He was carrying cash payment to Mandi head office at Dalwan. The miscreants bashed him up before they decamped with cash.

Mr Kumar had told the police that he was carrying Rs 2.5 lakh as cash payment from Sarkaghat.

Mr Yadav said the police was interrogating the arrested persons to ascertain the fact. Mr Kumar who was injured in the incident, is serious but reported to be stable at the local zonal hospital.

Nurpur, June 9
The local police which had allegedly been shielding the accused by keeping their names out of the FIR on Monday relating to the killing of a scooterist, Vijay Kumar (36) of Channi village when the accused in a Balero jeep chased the scooter and hit it repeatedly, amended the FIR on Tuesday.

Following the protest and demonstration by the irate people of the Sansi tribe and direction of the senior police officials the local police, which had earlier registered a case under Section 304 of the IPC against Goldy, driver of the jeep, has now booked the wine contractor, Rakesh Kohli, alias Babbu, and Babba, the henchman of the contractor.

The agitating residents and members of the Sansi tribe had been demanding registration of a murder case against the wine contractor and his henchmen who allegedly chased the scooter, hit and killed the scooterist on the spot.