Kangra, October 22
One hundred-year old building housing the office of the Executive Engineer PWD at Dharamsala gutted in a devastating fire late last night destroying property worth rupees one crore, fire brigade sources said.

Fire officer Sukh Dev said the fire broke out last night and engulfed the entire building within minutes, as the building was a completely wooden structure. He said six fire tenders— three from Dharamsala, one each from Kangra, Palampur and Yol cantonment— were pressed into service to control the fire and save the adjacent offices of the Chief Engineer PWD North and the SDO PWD office. It took four hours to fight the flames in which four fire persons were injured. Mr Dev said besides himself, three other fire personnel Parveen Kumar, Rajeev Kumar and Kuldeep Kumar were injured.

He said property worth Rs 250 crore was saved by the fire brigade personnel as the fire was not allowed to spread to the adjoining buildings. Public cooperation also helped in fighting the fire.

The cause of the fire could not be established immediately. Mr R.P. Jaswal, SHO Dharamsala, told The Tribune that the police registered a case under Section 285 of the IPC. He said the cause could either be short circuit or a fire cracker like a rocket burst on the eve of Deepawali. He, however, ruled out any possibility of sabotage.

Chief Engineer PWD North R.S.Kanwar who was out of station reached Dharamsala this afternoon. He told The Tribune that a departmental inquiry had been ordered to investigate the fire which destroyed the property and documents of the department.

Shimla, October 22
The Himachal Government will set up an institute for mentally challenged children in collaboration with the Spastic Society of India.

This was stated by Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, during his visit to Balika Ashram at Mashobra, near here, on the occasion of Divali.

He said the institute would cater to the educational and vocational training requirements of the mentally challenged children within the state. All expenses of the institute would be borne by the state government and vocational courses would also be introduced to help the special children in sharpening their skills so that they could get employment.

He said his government was committed to providing social security cover to the special children so that they could also lead a dignified and secured life.

The Chief Minister said that a new block would be constructed at Balika Ashram to provide them better living conditions. He directed the authorities to complete all formalities so that the construction of the hostel building could be started on priority.

Mr Virbhadra Singh said the government would provide all possible assistance to the underprivileged sections of society and help them in getting good education and vocational training.

He asked the staff in the ashram to look after the inmates with a missionary zeal and dedication and extend parental care and affection to them.

He also distributed sweets and crackers among the children in the ashram.

Shimla, October 22
With the Centre refusing to grant funds for the management of wildlife sanctuaries kept under the control of the territorial wing, the Forest Department has decided to take up with the government the matter for transfer of the six such protected areas to the wildlife wing.

The Centre has been asserting that for proper management the protected areas must be kept under the wildlife wing but the state has been reluctant to do so. Out of a total 32 sanctuaries and two national parks six important protected areas are still under the control of the territorial wing. These include the Tundah, Kugti, Sechu Tuan , Shimla catchment forest and the Dhauladhar sanctuaries. They are spread over 1500 sq km and account for 21 per cent of the total protected wildlife area in the state which was quite significant.

Obviously, with such a large protected area still under the territorial wing it is not possible to ensure proper management of wildlife reserves. Moreso, because the Centre has not been providing funds for the implementation of the management plans. In the process the department is losing funds to the tune of about Rs 1 crore annually.

Consequently, these protected areas are suffering neglect as hardly any works are being undertaken for habitat improvement and conservation of the wild life. The territorial wing has its own scheme of things in which conservation of wild life is not a priority. Mr Vinay Tandon, Additional Principal Chief Conservator, Wildlife, said the matter for transfer of sanctuaries to the wildlife wing would be taken up with the government. He said it was essential for proper management of wildlife reserves.

The Centre had also asked the states to create conservation reserves adjacent to sanctuaries and national parks in government owned areas to serve as buffers for protecting the habitat, fauna and flora. Such reserves were also required to be set up in corridors linking two protected wildlife areas. However, the Wildlife Department has not found the proposal feasible, except for the Great Himalayan National Park in Kulu around which a buffer zone varying in width from 2 km to 4 km is being created. The department maintains that there is little room for creating such buffers around protected areas as over 12 per cent of the state's total geographical area is under sanctuaries and national parks as against national average of just 4 per cent.

Shimla, October 22
Acute shortage of technical staff has been plaguing the state Mining Department which is emerging major source of revenue for the government.

Gravity of situation could be judged from the fact that of the total 18 technical posts as many as 14 are vacant. All nine posts of assistant geologist and three of technical assistant are vacant. Besides, two out of the total six posts of geologist are also vacant.

Workload of the department has increased manifold with the Centre making it mandatory to carry out geological stability studies in respect of roads involving forest land. The department has been flooded with cases of roads being constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna. Besides, a large number of bridges is also being constructed all of which require geological investigations. But it is not in a position to carry out the task due to paucity of manpower. Not only that the survey to assess the limestone deposits in the Kothi Baghi belt in Sunni has also been held up due to shortage of staff.

Besides carrying out geological investigations, the department has to regulate mining activities across the state. There are 300 stone crushers, about 500 slate quarries and three big cement plants which are involved in large-scale mining. The government has approved five more mega cement plants which will come into production in the next three to five years which would further add to the workload.

Each cement plant fetches a royalty of Rs 15 crore and a revenue of Rs 100 crore by way of sales tax, road tax and other levies. Total revenue of the department has increased to Rs 42 crore and it will cross the Rs 120 crore mark when all plants start production. However, still the government is reluctant to provide adequate staff to the department as a result of which it is not in a position to perform its regulatory role effectively.

Sundernagar, October 22
The declaration of names of office-bearers and the district delegates to the district unit of the BJP, which were declared today by the president, Mr Inder Singh, raised a controversy in political circles of the party in Mandi district. As many as six those new faces out of nine were included in the list of office-bearers whose names were never mentioned by the Assembly segment unit.

The election to the post of president was held at Baggi in the presence of Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, former Chief Minister, on October 18. He had declared that all the district delegates (three from each Assembly segments) along with the president, were elected unanimously. All the senior leaders, who were present that day, had stated that Mr Ramesh Sharma was elected general secretary unanimously. The formal declaration was to be made on October 19, but this was not done.

Today the declaration of nine member office-bearers of the party was made by Mr Inder Singh. Interestingly, six new faces were included in the list of office-bearers (they are Mr Rakesh Jamwal as general secretary, Mr Ajay Rana as vice-president, Mr Manvinder Kapoor as treasurer and Mr Jawar, Ms Kalavati and Mr Tula Ram as secretaries). The names of these office-bearers were never forwarded by the different units to the district unit.

As per the constitution of the party, the office-bearers were to be elected from the list of district delegates and three names from the Assembly segment unit were forwarded. But the declaration of the district body surprised senior leaders and workers of the party.

According to party sources, the person whose names were not recommended by the Assembly segment unit, could not be the office-bearers as per the constitution.

The senior leaders of the BJP are silence on the episode. The president of the BJP district unit was not available for comments.

Nurpur, October 22
Solid waste material is collected in tractor-trailor and three-wheelers daily from every nook and corner of the town and thrown in the open in the suburban area near Chinva village of the Ganhi Lagor gram panchayat by the Municipal Council. Obviously, the open stacking of solid waste has not only polluted environment but also created public nuisance for the villagers.

A lot of resentment is prevailing among the rural people over the open heaps of garbage and solid waste material. They complained that a number of animals had even died after swallowing waste material being stacked near the village. The MC, which at present is without any scientific means to dispose of garbage and solid waste material, never thought of digging pits for its disposal. According to the information, the MC had selected a site for solid waste management project near Chinva village one year back, but due to the ownership of the Forest Department the proposal was dropped.

According to Mr R.S. Verma, Executive Officer of the MC, a new site for the project has been selected in Ward No. 9. He said the MC had applied for a no-objection certificate for the same.

Shimla, October 22
People of Dhami village in Himachal Pradesh hurl stones at each other in a unique and a dangerous one-day festival, which is usually celebrated a day after Diwali as part of the annual celebration.

During the fair, youth from Hanlog and Jamog villages, near Shimla town, hurl stones at each other and the group with the least wound is declared the winner.

Legend has it that the then king started the ritual to end the custom of human sacrifices and it has since then continued and is celebrated a day after the Diwali festival.

''In order to stop human sacrifice, the king asked the people to hurl stones at each other everyday on this year after Diwali festival. However, if anyone gets injured, then he is taken to the Kali temple and is cured immediately, a village elder Kanwar Vikram Singh said.

''I have been seeing it for the last 30 years and nobody has ever been injured or hurt seriously during the festival.'' After the festivities end, the villagers also pay respects to a local deity, who is revered by majority of the residents.

In spite of high chances of injury, participants at the festival are always enthusiastic about it.

The police and local administration officials say the ritual has been going on for years now without anyone getting seriously injured and they were here with makeshift medical camps to treat the injured. — UNI

Baddi, October 22
One person died and four others were injured when two motorcycles (DL AJ 0882 and HP12-T 1895) collided with each other here last evening.

The injured were rushed to the local hospital. Later, they were referred to the PGI, Chandigarh. The deceased hailed from Bihar.