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500 tourists on Manali-Leh highway stranded
Nathpa Jhakri project design faulty
Centenary celebrations of CRI on Sept 27
11 scrub typhus cases in Mandi
Panel to study problems of Pong oustees
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Amalgamation of audit wings on the cards
5 arrested for poaching spotted deer
Rs 2.65 looted from businessman at gunpoint
Kokje turns 66
Medical teachers threaten stir
Cop succumbs to injuries
at PGI
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500 tourists on Manali-Leh highway stranded
Mandi, September 6 The damaged bridge at Koksar across the Chandra river has hit Army’s and civil supplies of essential commodities, to the Lahaul and Leh-Ladakh region as it would take another two days to repair the bridge, revealed inputs from Koksar here. Though the Borders Roads Organisation(BRO), which maintains the highway is repairing the bridge, but only three to four workmen are engaged in the work and it would take another two to three days to restore the bridge to traffic, the sources revealed. Though the HRTC has started
transshipment of passengers coming from the Manali side and Leh-Keylong side, but over 50 taxis and 50 private vehicles carrying 500 tourists have been got stranded on the highway for the past two days. “We have no money to go back to the home town as we are got stranded at Koksar”, rued Mr Manish Mittal, who along with his four friends had travelled in a car to Triloknath temple in Lahaul. “We asked the Armymen when the bridge will be repaired they told that it would take two days or more”, he informed The Tribune today evening from Sissu guest house, 20 km from Koksar in Lahaul. “They have disjointed the bridge as its iron plates were damaged by the overloaded trucks, which crossed the Bailey bridge on Sunday evening”, tourists revealed. “The bridge was badly damage, but it appears that it is no emergency for BRO as work is going on a snail’s pace”, they rued. BRO engineers blamed the civic and police authorities in Kulu district, which has done nothing to control the menace overloaded trucks plying on the sensitive Manali-Keylong Leh highway. Traffic jams have become common on the Gulaba-Rohtang stretch as this part of the highway is sinking slowly at over four points, said BRO engineers. “Under the norms, a truck can not carry more than eight tonnes of load on the Manali-Leh Highway. We have written it on all bridges, and have asked the police and civic authorities to check overloading of trucks, but to no avail”, claimed Mr. P Sharma, a GREF official, at the BRO wing that maintains the Manali-Serchu highway. Assistant Engineer, BRO, headquarters, Manali Pankaj Saraswat said that BRO Commander BR Raju had gone to the spot to monitor the repair work. “It may take a day or two to restore the bridge to traffic”, he informed. But DSP, Manali Kushal Sharma said that they had no weighing machine to check as to which truck was overloaded. But we have challaned trucks from time to time. We need a place near Palchan to do so, and have taken up the matter, but the weighing machine had not bee installed so far”, he explained. |
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Nathpa Jhakri project design faulty
Shimla, September 6 The latest accident in which water from the tail pool entered the underground powerhouse due to bursting of the labyrinth pipe of one of the six units has revealed yet another defect in the design. As the base of the underground powerhouse is not only lower than the tail pool but also the bed of the Sutlej river the possibility of backflow of water was always there. Yet regular draft tube gates have not been provided to deal with such an eventuality. Only service gates have been provided which are closed with the help of a crane and the whole exercise takes a few hours. The regular draft tube gates take only five to 10 minutes to close down during which only a small quantity of water can enter the powerhouse. Had the regular gates been there, the powerhouse would not have been submerged under one lakh cubic metres of water. During the August 2000 flood, too, water entered the powerhouse from the tail race to submerge the turbines which were under installation. Further, the power supply set up for the powerhouse and the battery unit are also located in the base of the 49 m high cavern which were first to be submerged. The power supply was disrupted immediately making it impossible to start pumping to drain out water or take other measures. Mr H.K. Sharma, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam, admitted that regular gates could have saved the situation. He said the nigam would now prepare a plan to install regular draft tube gates. There has been the problem of excessive silt which has virtually crippled the project. It has been mostly functioning at one-third of its installed capacity. The project has been designed for a maximum silt level of 5,000 ppm (parts per million) but the level has mostly remained beyond the permissible limit during the peak generation season. The turbines have been unable to withstand the impact of silt and vulnerable parts like cheek plates , guide vanes and runners were getting eroded within two to three months. The intake at the Nathpa dam has also been choked due to silt as a result of which the project authorities were not able to use all four desilting chambers, forcing the project to operate below capacity. It will take about a week to pump out the water and until then engineers will be able to assess the damage. As such no one could say how much time will be required to make the project operational. .A team of experts headed by Mr F.K. Dudeja, Managing Director of the Narmada Project, is arriving at Jhakri this evening to assist the nigam in dealing with the problem. |
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Centenary celebrations of CRI on Sept 27
Solan, September 6 A confirmation in this regard was received from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, New Delhi, last evening. The institute which entered its centenary year on May 3 this year had postponed its celebrations in the hope of inviting the President as its chief guest. Initially, the staff maintained that it was the busy schedule of the President which led to the postponement of the celebrations. They, however, opined that since the request to invite the President was routed through the Ministry of Health it had been deliberately held back as the institute had earned the dubious distinction of being involved in one controversy after the other for the past several months. Set up by Lieut-Col Sir David Sempl, who was the pioneer behind “carbolised antirabies vaccine” in India on May 3, 1905, the institute has been known as the “rabies and snake bite institute.” It is a referral centre for dog and snake bite cases in North India. It also has the distinction of being the Government of India’s centre for yellow fever vaccination. The institute was controlled by the armed forces before independence and was under the control of the Ministry of Defence. After Independence it worked under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Now it is a subordinate office of the Director-General of Health Services, New Delhi. |
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11 scrub typhus cases in Mandi
Mandi, September 6 Health officials said of the 21 patients 11 had tested positive for scrub typhus a high-grade fever marked by red spots and caused by rat flea bite. Dr H.P. Malhotra, Senior Medical Superintendent, Mandi hospital, said of the 21 patients, 11 had tested positive for scrub typhus. “Five patients are under treatment and will be discharged in a couple of days, she added. The CMO, Mandi, Dr K.C. Sharma said only few cases had been reported, from Kotli, Okhla, Baldwara and adjoining areas. “These are sporadic seasonal cases in areas where residents sleep on the floor of their houses”, he explained. Dr Sharma said all health centres in the district had been stocked with the required medicines for such cases. “The fever is not fatal and non-communicable, and takes around seven days to cure”, he added. |
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Panel to study problems of Pong oustees
Nurpur, September 6 Talking to The Tribune, Mr Sat Mahajan, Revenue Minister, today revealed that the committee would submit its report to the state government and the government would despatch a high-powered committee in Rajasthan to solve the problems being faced by the oustees there. The committee which left today for Anupgarh, Gharsana and Jaisalmer in Rajasthan consists of the DC (R and R), the SDM, Jawali, and the Assistant Settlement Officer , he added. |
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Amalgamation
of audit wings on the cards
Shimla, September 6 Mr Virbhadra Singh said the audit of all Panchayati Raj institutions needed to be carried out atleast once a year to ensure that funds allocated to them for various developmental activities were utilised properly. The Chief Minister said financial discipline was the need of the hour in every department and public sector undertaking. Strict vigil was required to check financial malpractices and pilferage. Accountability had to be maintained while dealing with financial matters and mismanagement of the public funds would not be permitted. He said the Audit Department had the greatest responsibility of safeguarding the public money and it should gear up for it by adopting latest auditing system. He said technological advancements had provided a number of solutions for auditing problems which should be put in to use in the state.
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5 arrested for poaching spotted deer
Nahan, September 6 According the police, more than 10 poachers fired on forest officials near Sukhchainpur village. When they, under the leadership of Ranger Officer Shobh Ram, tried to nab them. When the forest officials zeroed in on the poachers in the sanctuary area, the poachers first fired in the darkness and then threw three guns, one skin of spotted deer, some flesh of a wild animal and some other small instruments and
field from the spot. However, the forest officials could identify some of the local poachers. Mr S.R. Sharma, superintendent of Police, Sirmaur, confirmed that in this connection a case had been registered at Paonta police station under the Wildlife Protection Act and Sections 353 and 332 of the IPC. He said that five persons, Shadi Ram of Johron village, Chitru Ram (Johron), Mhender Singh (Johron), Trilochan Singh (Kotri Vyas) and Gyan Chand (Johron) in Paonta tehsil had been held. |
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Rs 2.65 looted from businessman at gunpoint
Solan, September 6 Mr Girdhari Lal, who was travelling by his Maruti (PB-08-7708), was suddenly stopped by three motor cycle-borne youths.
One of the youth brandished a pistol and sprayed chilli powder in his eyes while another youth snatched the bag containing cash from Girdhari Lal. The youth left the motor cycle (PB-49-9111) in the nearby fields and fled.
The police immediately swung into action and launched a manhunt to trace the culprits. The police officials said various nakas had been set up to nab the culprits. |
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Kokje turns 66
Shimla, September 6 Several ministers, senior officers of the state government and Vice-Chancellors of all the three universities were among those who called on the Governor to greet him personally. Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister, was the first to call the Governor in the morning to greet him.
Governors of many states also telephoned Mr Kokje and extended their greetings to him. |
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Medical teachers threaten stir
Shimla, September 6 The association pointed out that the anomaly cropped up due to the arbitrary method of calculating the dearness pay as the state government had not followed either the Punjab Government or the Centre in this regard. As a consequence the total emoluments of medical and dental teachers had been reduced by approximately Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 per month from the salary they were drawing earlier. |
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Cop succumbs to injuries at PGI Parwanoo, September 6 He had sustained serious injuries in an accident at Kharuni near Nalagarh on the night of September 3. He was returning back to Parwanoo after investigating a case on scooter along with another man. The scooter was hit by a vehicle. Devinder Kumar, who was driving the scooter, was admitted to PGI along with the pillion rider. He had sustained serious head injuries. He hailed from Baghbani village near Nalagarh. He was survived by his wife and two kids.
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