Shimla, October 23
Taking a serious notice of the brazen act of the state Forest Department concealing vital facts regarding the protected wildlife area to be diverted and number of trees likely to be submerged in the Kol dam project , the Central-empowered committee of the Supreme Court has asked the government to stop work till the issue was settled.

Notices have been issued to the Chief Secretary and the Principal Secretary, Forests, who have been asked to file replies within two weeks. The committee has also asked the department to furnish correct data and take action against the officers responsible for the lapse. The issue came up before the court after a non-government organisation filed public interest litigation on the basis of a report published in The Tribune.

The department not only concealed the fact that a part of the Majathal wild Life Sanctuary was to be diverted but also left out some thickly wooded forest areas with standing trees worth more than Rs 2 crore from the diversion plan while seeking the mandatory forest clearance from the Centre. It obtained permission for diversion of 954 hectare of forest land which did not include wild life area under the Shimla Division. Besides the Harshang forest, spread over 22 hectare, was completely left out and parts of some other forest were also not included.

The additional area for which forest clearance has not been obtained is 130 hectare on which over 44,000 trees are standing. Out of this 80 hectare had been diverted under the FCA (forest conservation act) but not under the WPA(wildlife protector act). The faux pas has virtually made the forest clearance granted by the Centre for the project redundant, as trees could not be felled without permission.

The revenue department had all along maintained that the additional area to be diverted was 130 hectares and the commissioner, revenue, had also written in this regard to the government in 2001. However, still the Forest Department failed to make amends and stuck to its position that no wildlife area or additional forest area is likely to be submerged.

Later when the department raised the bill for recovering the value of tress from the National Thermal power corporation (NTPC) the user agency the discrepancy was pointed out by the wildlife wing. Instead of rectifying it a fresh demarcation was ordered which only confirmed that 130 hectare area, mainly under the Majathal sanctuary which provided habitat for a host of species, particularly like the cheer pheasant, has been left out. The diversion of protected wild life areas is allowed only if equivalent area is included in the sanctuary. This has not been taken care of under the environment management plan.

The issue was discussed at the highest level-after which Mr Ashok Thakur, Principal Secretary Forests, asked the department to look into the and find out how such huge area was left out of the diversion plan. However, the department ordered a fresh demarcation for which there was no justification as the revenue department and later the joint demarcations carried out by the wildlife wing and the NTPC in 2005 had confirmed that 130 hectares had been left out.

Now the committee has asked the government to take action against the erring officers, it remains to be seen what course it follows. Whatever, be the reasons the department will have to seek clearance under both the Forest Conservation act and the wildlife act failing which permission to fell the trees will not be granted.

Chamba, October 23
The Satrundi-Bagotu portion of the 167-km Chamba-Killar highway was declared fit for plying of bus service over the 14,500-foot Saach Pass, the highest road in the state, with Mr Virbhadra Singh, Himachal Chief Minister, flagging off the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) bus service at Tissa to Bagotu.

October 19 would be marked as a ‘golden chapter’ in the development history of Chamba district in the state, he said.

The highway had been inaugurated for plying of light vehicles two months ago while the road on the side of the Churah valley had been widened and declared fit for bus services on October 19.

The Chief Minister on this occasion congratulated the people of the state especially of Chamba. The Pangi valley which had so far been accessible through Kangra-Mandi-Kullu-Lahaul and Spiti districts covering a distance of over 700 km with a journey time of over 40 hours had now been reduced to only 167 km.

The Chief Minister said that the Pangi valley people would now be in a position to travel conveniently to their district headquarters. He said that another milestone had been added in the history of roads network in the state with the completion of the road through Saach Pass.

Shimla, October 23
The intense cold wave sweeping tribal areas and other higher hills in Himachal Pradesh continued unabated today even as mid and lower hills had some respite from rains and icy winds.

The high altitude areas in tribal belt of Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti, Pangi and other high mountain passes experienced moderate snowfall last night, causing further drop in mercury while other mountain ranges reeled under sub-zero temperature.

State capital Shimla recorded a low of 7.5 degree celsius while the mercury stayed at three degrees in upper areas of the town.

Kalpa in the Kinnaur tribal area recorded a low of minus 0.4 degrees while Lahaul, Spiti and Pangi groaned under biting cold wave conditions with minimum temperature staying between minus five and minus 10 degrees.

The mighty Rohtang Pass (13,050 ft), Kunzam Pass (14,000 ft) and Saach Pass (14,500 ft), the sprawling Dhauladhar ranges and Pin Valley had intermittent snowfall late last night but weather cleared in the morning.

However, sky was overcast in the evening and fog engulfed the high altitude areas.

Continuous rains and snow in the region during the past one week had signalled early arrival of winters and temperatures across the state had fallen six to 10 degrees below normal. — PTI

Kangra, October 23
Lieut-Col Shakti Chand (retd), state president of the All-India Defence Personnel Welfare Association (AIDPWA) of Himachal Pradesh, today demanded that those politicians should be snubbed who at the cost of national security had demanded clemency for Mohd Afzal Guru convicted as a conspirator of the December 13, 2001, attack on Parliament by the militants.

Lieut-Col Shakti Chand said that the country was reeling under the threat of militants every where because of the activities of the militants like Afzal Guru, and politicians like Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, and Dr Farooq Abdullah, former Chief Minister of J&K, who pleaded for clemency to such militant at the cost of the national security. He demanded that Mr Azad should be sacked and Governor’s rule imposed in the state in view of his alleged pro-militant demand.

He said, on one hand, the security forces in the country were sacrificing their lives while fighting militants and, on the other, politicians were trying to protect the convicted militants like Afzal Guru.

He alleged that the politicians like Mr Azad (Cong), Dr Abdullah (NC) and Ms Mehbooba Mufti (PDP) were raising the hue and cry over the Afzal Guru’s hanging just with an eye on their vote bank without any national interest.

Kangra, October 23
Mr Vipin Parmar, a former MLA from Sullah and close confident of former Union minister Shanta Kumar, was today elected unopposed the district chief of the Kangra BJP.

Dr Radha Raman Shastri, Returning Officer, told The Tribune that Mr Parmar was declared elected unopposed as the nomination papers of Mr Rakesh Pathania from Nurpur were rejected on technical ground.

Dr Shastri said that 16 delegates for the state poll from 16 Assembly segments in this district were also elected unopposed today. He said that 32 candidates had filed their nomination papers yesterday.

Of them 10 were rejected on technical ground. He said that six others withdrew from the contest and only 16 remained in the fray and they were elected.