H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

Storm leaves woman dead, 5 hurt
Property worth lakhs destroyed
Kangra, May 27
A high-velocity storm accompanied by heavy rain struck Nagrota Bagwan town and Massal, Kawdi and Bunnaid villages of this Subdivision last evening leaving a woman dead, five persons injured and destroying property worth lakhs of rupees.

Aiyer happy over working of panchayats
in HP
Kulu, May 27
Mr Mani Shankar Aiyer, Union Minister for Panchayati Raj, Youth Services and Sports, expressed satisfaction over the working of the Panchayati Raj institutions in Himachal Pradesh. In video (28k, 56k)

Bill for elderly on cards: Meira
Kangra, May 27
The Centre is contemplating to enact a law in the country on the pattern of Himachal Pradesh to protect the elderly people from harassment at the hands of their children and to legally strengthen them by scrapping the rights of their children on ancestral property when they fail to serve them at that age.

Imposter ‘travels’ in CM chopper
Dharamsala, May 27
The police arrested a youth for allegedly imposing as an official of the Intelligence Bureau at the venue of a yoga camp being organised by Swami Ramdev in Hamirpur late this evening. He had reportedly travelled with Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to Hamirpur in his chopper.

One killed in road mishap
Nahan, May 27
One person was killed and three school children were critically injured at Paonta Sahib yesterday when a truck coming from Sataun side hit a motorcycle at Badripur chowk.

Storm leaves woman dead, 5 hurt
Property worth lakhs destroyed
Our Correspondent

Kangra, May 27
A high-velocity storm accompanied by heavy rain struck Nagrota Bagwan town and Massal, Kawdi and Bunnaid villages of this Subdivision last evening leaving a woman dead, five persons injured and destroying property worth lakhs of rupees.

“It was a nightmare for 15 minutes when the storm with high velocity struck at 6 pm last evening in Kawari village followed by Nagrota Bagwan, Massal and Bunnaid villages and people were seen running for safety and trees were uprooting leaving the road and rail traffic disrupted”, said Prabjoot Singh, a local businessman of Nagrota today.

Trees fell at different places on the national highway and on the rail track. A tree fell on a hut of some Rajasthani labourers near the Nardha Sharda temple in Nagrota Bagwan, leaving one woman dead and five persons injured.

According to the Nagrota Bagwan police station, the deceased was identified as Roshan Devi, 55. Among the five injured two were identified as Mangal Singh, 80, and Sugni Devi, 76.

The roofs of many houses were blown by the storm in the affected villages. The power supply had been disrupted in the area and Chamunda, Pathiar, Mallan and other area surrounding Nagrota Bagwan since last evening. The electric poles were seen uprooted and wires scattered on both sides of the highway. The state electricity board authorities were busy in restoring the powers supply today.

The telephone lines were disrupted and even mobile phones lost the connectivity. The water supply in different areas was also disrupted.

Mr Bharat Khera, Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, said the property worth Rs 50 lakh was destroyed in this storm.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh visited Nagrota Bagwan to take stock of the situation. He distributed relief among some affected families and expressed shock over the tragedy. He assured of all possible help to the affected families.

Mr G.S.Bali, Transport and Tourism Minister, accompanied the Chief Minister to the affected village.

Aiyer happy over working of panchayats in HP
Our Correspondent

Kulu, May 27
Mr Mani Shankar Aiyer, Union Minister for Panchayati Raj, Youth Services and Sports, expressed satisfaction over the working of the Panchayati Raj institutions in Himachal Pradesh.

Mr Aiyer was addressing a press conference at HPTDC hotel Sarwari here today.

Mr Aiyer said in the 11th Five-Year Plan, the Centre had adopted the theory of “devolution” and Panchayati Raj representatives would be given powers to decide and utilise developmental plans themselves.

He said the new system would provide ample scope to the panchayats to decide their own plans for the development of their area.

He said the Panchayati Raj institutions would plan on their own the activity map, budget and district planning.

Mr Aiyer said his purpose to visit rural areas and have interaction with villagers was to know the ground realities and initiate plans in the times to come accordingly.

He said within the next eight months his ministry would finalise the plans after considering the suggestions of the Panchayati Raj institution representatives and villagers.

Answering a question whether his ministry has earmarked funds for the development of the Panchayati Raj institutions in Himachal Pradesh, Mr Aiyer said there were plenty of funds.

Bill for elderly on cards: Meira
Our Correspondent

Kangra, May 27
The Centre is contemplating to enact a law in the country on the pattern of Himachal Pradesh to protect the elderly people from harassment at the hands of their children and to legally strengthen them by scrapping the rights of their children on ancestral property when they fail to serve them at that age.

This was disclosed by Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Meira Kumar at a Press conference here today. She said Himachal Pradesh had been the guiding force for them to shortly present a Bill in Parliament. She said the old people passed on the rights of ancestral property to their children but the children committed atrocities on their parents and the Centre was eager to give the old people relief by this law.

She said there would be an old-age home at every district headquarters in the country.

The minister, when asked about the reservation controversy in the country, replied that the government had already taken a final decision on this issue.

She lauded the achievements of the government during the past two years. She said social upliftment was a priority with the UPA government and as such 40 per cent of the Budget was for the social welfare and upliftment schemes for the downtrodden and economically weaker sections of the society.

Ms Meira Kumar was here on the last leg of her three-day tour of the state today and was accompanied by Tourism and Transport Minister G.S. Bali.

Imposter ‘travels’ in CM chopper
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, May 27
The police arrested a youth for allegedly imposing as an official of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) at the venue of a yoga camp being organised by Swami Ramdev in Hamirpur late this evening. He had reportedly travelled with Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to Hamirpur in his chopper.

Talking to The Tribune, Mr Daljeet Thakur, SP, Hamirpur, confirmed that the imposter claimed that he was an IB official and that he travelled to Hamirpur along with the Chief Minister.

“He was found roaming around under suspicious circumstances and when the district police personnel tried to question him, he could not give convincing answers. He says his name is Gaurav. He is being interrogated and the details of the case are still not known,” he said.

A seven-day yoga camp by Swami Ramdev began at the NIT grounds in Hamirpur today.

Sources in the Police Department said when the imposter was questioned, he said he was not an IB official but a press correspondent and had come to cover the event.

One killed in road mishap
Our Correspondent

Nahan, May 27
One person was killed and three school children were critically injured at Paonta Sahib yesterday when a truck coming from Sataun side hit a motorcycle at Badripur chowk.

Rajiv Saini succumbed to his injuries on way to hospital while Prince (14), Manisha (12) and Sonali (12) were critically injured. The police has registered a case against the truck driver.