Shimla, November 15
Even though politics was the last thing that Mr Hamid Karzai wanted to talk about as he recalled his wonderful four years of student life here, yet fighting the Taliban and leading Afghanistan on the road to prosperity and peace seemed to be uppermost on the mind of the President of a nation devastated by terrorism.

Mr Karzai, who visited the Shimla for the second time since he became President, seemed a little uncertain when asked about seeking a second innings as head of a nation ravaged by war and insurgency. While sharing those carefree nostalgic moments spent in Shimla with students at Himachal Pradesh University here today, there was the unavoidable talk of turmoil and instability plaguing his country.

"I wish to leave a legacy of continuation and initiative-building, and if I feel I have fulfilled my duty towards my country, I would want to hand over the reins of the country to a younger leadership and new generation," he said. As he parried questions about Pakistan's role in supporting the Taliban, he said it was the duty of every individual to fight terrorism, which was still claiming livers of innocent children and women.

Reflecting optimism, he said despite terrorism, Afghanistan was progressing rapidly as it had touched a growth rate of 15 per cent, thanks to a good monsoon. "Today women in Afghanistan are being given positions of prominence as 28 per cent of them are in Parliament; there are three ambassadors and one Governor of a province," he said, elaborating on equal opportunities being provided to women.

“I can call myself anything but a politician, which is the reason why I have till date not formed my own political party, for which one has to be shrewd,” he remarked. "Bharat se hamare sambandh bahut gehre hain aur ham ab tak di gai $ 700 million ki madad ke liye bahut shukarguzar hain," he said in impeccable Hindi.

About his arrival 23 years ago in India, he said knowing about Mahatma Gandhi was an experience in itself as he learnt about tolerance, cross-cultural co-existence and values like humanity. "The youth of today's India must adhere to the moral values and virtues left behind by the Mahatma for a better and visionary leadership for tomorrow," he said.

Recalling his first impression of Shimla, he said the train ride from Kalka and the walk to the university on a misty afternoon was enough for him to fall in love with the place he still adored. Talking of his stay at the YMCA for four years, he remembered even the minutest of details, including the names of the cook, washerman, warden and of course his landlord and old friends, he still keeps in touch with.

Reciting a hindi film song "Dil dhoondta hai phir wahi fursat ke raat din", he said this was how he felt in Shimla, where he longed to be as and when possible.

Dharamsala, November 15
Himachal Pradesh would soon have two trauma centres at Rampur and Nagrota Bagwan as a proposal sent to the Ministry of Surface Transport and the Ministry of Health has been approved.

Transport and Tourism Minister G.S. Bali said here today that two trauma centres were likely to be set up in Mandi and Chamba in the next phase for the benefit of passengers sustaining serious injuries in road accidents.

Trauma centres have been a long-awaited facility for people of different districts in the state. Doctors at Dr Rajendra Prasad Zonal Hospital said trauma cases had shot up in the region due to the increasing rate of road accidents and there was definitely a need for trauma centres.

Lack of dedicated trauma services even at the zonal hospitals brings down the survival chances of trauma patients and they succumb to their injuries either on the way to hospital or on the spot itself as there is no instant first-aid service on the two killer road stretches, said a doctor.

With the condition of the PWD roads bad in most districts and the amount of vehicles swelling manifold in the tourist seasons, the number of serious accidents has increased in the past five years.

Mr Bali said the Dharamsala bus stand would be given a new look as part of the BOT scheme and the proposal worth Rs 5 crore to Rs 10 crore was being prepared.

Chamba, November 15
The Chairperson of the 20-Point Economic Programme Committee, Mrs Asha Kumari, today directed the Superintendent of Police, Chamba, to register cases against the paramedical training centres run in the district without recognition.

Pointing to one such centre at Bathri, she asked the SP to register a case against it for extorting money from the poor and innocent youths of the region. She asked the Chief Medical Officer to take note of such paramedical training centres and assist the police in bringing the offenders to book.

Addressing officials at the meeting of the committee held here today, Mrs Asha Kumari lambasted the Forest authorities for not distributing the seed of saplings in time. On a query of Mr Jagdish Chand, a member of the committee, the chairperson directed the Forest officials to look after the saplings planted in the vanamahotsavs organised from time to time.

Taking an exception to the negligence of the Forest officials, she lamented that huge funds were spent on the plantation work but the dream of bringing a ‘green revolution’ could not be realised due to the half-hearted approach of the functionaries in the implementation of national afforestation programme.

Irked over the absence of Deputy Director of Horticulture Chamba at this meeting, the Chairperson said: “I regret to state that the authorities of the Horticulture Department are not showing much interest, thereby putting the ‘national horticulture mission’ on the lowest ebb”.

She informed that the Centre had constituted the National Horticulture Board from which the requisite funds could be obtained for giving a boost to horticulture.

Mr Kuldip Singh Pathania underscored the need to check female foeticide in the district, as the female-male ratio is 956:1000 in Chamba district.

Shimla, November 15
The first ever move of the state electricity board to procure power from the market, to meet the winter shortfall, has ended in a fiasco with no power trading company responding to the bids invited for the purpose.

The board had invited tenders for procuring 125 MW of power, to makeup for the shortage spanning about 10 hours a day, from December to February. There are about 20 power trading companies approved by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission but none of them responded, making it obvious that surplus power is not available in the market. The state requires about 100 million units to meet the shortfall during the period.

Interestingly, there is no peak-time shortage as the state gets ample supplies from the Nathpa Jhakri Project which is only operated during peak hours. The state has 25 per cent share in the project and its gets about 37 per cent power, including free power as royalty.

The board was expecting that with the interlinking of the eastern grid surplus power will be available from the northeastern region. However, that has not happened and the board is now looking for a higher share from the unallocated Central pool to tide over the crisis. The neighbouring Haryana has agreed to give 40 MW of power under banking arrangement.

The power drawn by the hill state during winter will be returned during the summer when the supplier state faces shortage.

Solan, November 15
In a case of utter negligence, the Parwanoo branch of the State Bank of India opened a bank account without proper verification, causing a loss of lakhs to the bank.

Mahinder Singh got a savings account (number 011900/2030) opened at the Parwanoo branch on December 30, 2005. Later, he got another current account opened in the name of a fake company, Nalagarh Trading Company. He presented fake documents in the form of copies of driving licence and PAN card. Though there are no sectors in Nalagarh, the address was shown as 1380, Sector 2, New Nalagarh. Bank officials cared little to verify the documents.

A local Chartered Accountant, Surinder Babbar, who had aided Mahinder in opening the company’s account, has also been booked for conspiracy. According to the documents available with the police, Mahinder had been operating the company’s account through cheques. He deposited as well as withdrew money through cheques. He credited two cheques amounting to Rs 96,000 and Rs 46,000 in his company’s account which were supposed to be cleared from one of the bank’s branches in Uttar Pradesh.

He, however, forged the signatures of the manager there after conniving with the post man. The cheques were never received by the branch in Uttar Pradesh for verification. He then deposited these in his savings account. The bank, however, later found out that these cheques had not been verified by the branch in Uttar Pradesh.

Kangra, November 15
Kangra town and the suburbs today observed a complete bandh with all shops and business establishments remaining closed to mourn the death of three teenaged boys in a road accident. The three were killed at Birta village on the Dharamsala road on the outskirts of this town last evening following a head-on collision between the motorcycle they were travelling on and a private bus.

The tragedy struck three families of the Donga Bazar locality and the entire town joined them today in their hour of agony. Some schools in the town also remained closed today to mourn the death of the three.

The Kangra Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mr V.S. Thakur, told The Tribune that three school-going boys, all aged around 15 and riding a motorcycle (HP 40 3014), dashed against a private bus (HP 39 2765). All three were killed on the spot. The DSP said the victims, who had taken the motorcycle from Narinder Sharma, a contractor in their neighbourhood, were riding rashly, resulting in the tragedy.

He said the victims had been identified as Abishiek Bansal, Tarun Kumar and Tanuj Phawa, all residents of Donga Bazar in the town.