Shimla, September 24
The orders of the state high court directing the Shimla Municipal Corporation to remove encroachments on its land within four months has put the authorities concerned in a bind as the name of Mr Sohan Lal, Mayor, allegedly figures in the list of offenders along with a large number employees of the local body.

In fact, the encroachments have been detected on the orders of the court after the matter was brought to its notice through a public interest litigation. Joint teams comprising officials of the Revenue Department and the corporation constituted on the directions of the court have detected about 1,000 encroachments. According to sources in the corporation, about 100 municipal employees are among those who have illegally occupied the municipal land and constructed various structures.

As many as 850 encroachments have been detected in Krishna Nagar and Mr Sohan Lal is one of the encroachers. While the Mayor maintained that he had not encroached upon the municipal land and that Sohan Lal, whose name figures in the list, was some other person, the inquiry conducted by the tehsildar concerned indicated that the encroacher was indeed the Mayor. Notices had been issued to the offenders and process under the public premises Act had been initiated.

The municipal authorities maintain that completing proceedings in such a large number of cases will not be possible in such a short time. However, sources reveal that the real reason was that the officers concerned do not want to earn the wrath of the political bosses. Mr Sohan Lal says that the matter has been taken up with the government.

But there is no way out as the high court is monitoring the case. In fact, the corporation was forced to demolish the illegal “dharas” on forest land after the court took a tough stand and refused to provide any relief.

With election to the corporation just six months away, encroachments on municipal land will be a major issue which the BJP will try to exploit. The government had early this month brought a retention policy to regularise unauthorised constructions, which has been challenged in the high court.

Dharamsala, September 24
With traffic load increasing manifold in recent years in Himachal Pradesh, as many as eight key bridges on national highways would either be re-constructed or added in the districts of Kangra, Hamirpur and Mandi.

Work on these projects would start soon as they have already been approved as part of this year’s plan of the National Highway Circle (Shahpur).

According to sources, the Bathu bridge, which collapsed recently cutting off Kangra from National Highway-88 from Shimla, would be constructed at a cost of Rs 3 crore and it would be 70 metres long. The 110-metre-long Dehri khud bridge on the Pathankot-Mandi highway would also be constructed at a cost of Rs 4.50 crore.

The other key bridges include the Hathli khud bridge in Hamirpur to be built at a cost of Rs 2 crore, a provision of Rs 1 crore has been made for the construction of the Sakrala khud bridge in Hamirpur and a 35-metre-long bridge on the Bajgar khud, near Jogindernagar in Mandi district, at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore.

The Tarlokpur khud bridge on the Pathankot-Mandi highway would be reconstructed at Rs 4 crore, Rs 3,5 crore has been kept aside for the reconstruction of the bridge on the Chambi khud, which would be 50-metre-long and a 55-metre long bridge, to be made at a cost of Rs 2 crore, has been planned on the Ali khud, said sources.

“One key bridge in this lot would be in place of the 86-year-old Bathu bridge as it is considered the lifeline of the Kangra valley. Located near Ranital, 14 km from Kangra, it had collapsed on August 4 this year following incessant rains. The new bridge would be constructed keeping in mind the increased load of vehicles over the years. All new bridges would be four-laned for a better flow of traffic,” said an official of the national highway.

The Shahpur Circle of National Highway takes care of National Highway-20, running from Pathankot to Mandi; National Highway-21, which connects Chandigarh with Mandi and Manali; the Mandi-Hamirpur-Jalandhar NH-70; Shimla-Kangra National Highway-88 and a stretch of 11 km of the Jalandhar-Pathankot National Highway 1-A.

Kulu, September 24
A 10-member high-level committee presided over by Jamlu devta, the presiding lord of the landlocked Malana village, will decide the fate of an “organic farming cooperative”, proposed by the joint Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and a Himachal Pradesh Police team in an open house session held today, in the village here in two days.

Committee members said they would convey the decision to the NCB and the police on September 26 after the proposal would be submitted before the jury to be presided over by the devta.

After destroying cannabis in over 2140 bighas on the forest land around Malana village during a four-day-long anti-cannabis drive, NCB Superintendent O.P.Sharma held the open house with the Malana villagers and proposed to set up a cooperative for the organic farming for the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, flowers, medicinal herbs and other horticultural crops as an alternative to the contraband cannabis crop.

The team members explained the house attended by the pradhan, Malana panchayat, Beli Ram, ward member Budh Ram, including six members of the committee and a large gathering of children and women.

Talking to The Tribune after he reached Kulu after the meeting Mr Sharma said the villagers wanted to switch over from the cultivation of cannabis to fruits and medicinal herbs.

“The land is suitable for growing the organic fruits and vegetables. But they demanded that the village should be linked by a road, which is currently under construction from Malana barrage”, he said.

“The lack of transport, technical training and education are other problems.” They have planted apple trees, but how to take the fruit to market as they have no road”, they pleaded.

Since Malana villagers do not permit the use of insecticides, chemicals and other materials as their devta object to these things, the best bet is the organic farming, cultivation of herbal medicines and wool farming, which they have been doing for the centuries in the village, experts added.

The “organic cooperative” will be registered with the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Kulu, once the committee sends us the go-ahead within two days, said Mr Sharma.

Manali, September 24
Though the local residents have proposed to build a multi-purpose stadium on the prime 16.5 bighas of Alu Ground here, the vested interests are trying to convert the place into a parking lot to cater to the demands of the powerful hotel industry.

Voicing their concern, the Nagar Panchayat, school teachers and the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) pleaded that Alu Ground be developed into a multi-purpose stadium as the land grabbers and the vested interests have set their eyes on the prime land for other purpose.

School Principal Pushpa Devi and PTA president Chaman Thakur said: “There is no proper stadium in the town to organise sports meets. There are over 8,0000 students in the government and private schools in the block. They have no stadium for them nor any other land available in the town for the purpose”.

Ms Suman, who runs a private school, said schoolchildren in the entire Naggar block faced a lot of problems as they had no playground to organise sports and other school competitions. “The government should develop Alu Ground into a multi-purpose stadium. The government is thinking about hotels and resorts, what will be the future of local children who have no proper playground to play”, she added.

In fact, the government, on the direction of the High Court, had hired a consultant firm to devise a development plan for Manali town. “The firm has also recommended that Alu Ground be developed into a stadium as most of the space in the town has been covered by the parking lots, hotels and a large number of tourist vehicles, leaving thousands of schoolchildren in the town high and dry.”

“The report will be tabled before the High Court for hearing as the public interest litigation (PIL) on the case is pending before it,” sources said.

Alu Ground was named as it has been rented out to load and unload potatoes from Lahaul during the season over the years. “It was in the possession of Senior Secondary School, Manali, running here since 1907. But why Alu Ground is not transferred to school remains a mystery,” claimed school teachers who had fought for its possession about four years ago till the PIL was filed in the High Court.

Mr Vijay Thakur, president of the Nagar Panchayat, said the school was in possession of Alu Ground for over 50 years. “We favour that a stadium be built there. PIL is pending in the high court”.

Nurpur, September 24
The state BJP has taken strong exception to targeting former Chief Minister and senior party leader Prem Kumar Dhumal and implicating him in false cases by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

Mr Rajinder Rana, joint media in charge of the state BJP, in a statement here today alleged that the government was targeting Mr Dhumal as he had been critical of the anti-people decisions of the state government like PTA recruitment, irregularities in the sale of industrial plots and the ski village project. “Mr Dhumal has been playing the role of an opposition leader in and outside the Assembly, but the Virbhadra Singh government is scuttling the voice of the Opposition by issuing such threats,” he lamented. He claimed that the government was trying to implicate BJP leaders in false cases keeping in view the next Assembly elections.