Shimla, February 8
A Delhi-based tout, M.P. Singh, who had allegedly sold the paper to the HP-CPMT topper has been remanded in police custody till February 12.

The police had yesterday arrested M.P. Singh when he had come to the court where his bail application came up for hearing. Being based in Delhi, he was running coaching classes and was sending candidates to medical colleges in China and other countries.

The Himachal police had conducted several raids at his home in Delhi. It was owing to these raids that he had applied for bail which was rejected. "We have ample evidence to prove that M.P. Singh had sold the PMT question paper to two candidates from Shimla and Paonta Sahib, one of whom had topped the entrance test," said a police officer.

Police sources said M.P. Singh had contacted parents of several candidates to sell the question paper but had managed to sell it only to two.

Meanwhile, the police is trying to remove the procedural objections raised by the prosecution in the charge sheet prepared against more than 60 persons involved in the PMT scam. The High Court has extended the deadline of the police team probing the PMT scam till February 26.

Shimla, February 8
One can now smell the sweet fragrance of carnations grown in the remote Churah valley of the Tissa area in Chamba in the international flower markets of Holland.

Successful cultivation and export of international-standard carnations grown in the cool climes of the Churah valley for the first time is likely to open doors to foreign markets for floriculturists of the state.

Despite government efforts in the past, floriculture has not been able to take off in a big way, mainly because of lack of proper markets for carnations, gladiolus and tulips.

The first consignment, comprising over 2,500 stems of carnations in seven colours, was exported to Holland recently.

The plants were imported from Holland and grown in greenhouses by farmers in the Churah valley under guidance from Dutch experts.

The carnations grown in greenhouses in Churah were well received in markets in Holland.

Even Dutch experts found the cool climes of the Churah valley ideal for cultivating carnations, though those were grown in greenhouses.

With very high returns from floriculture, it is being expected that more farmers will take to its cultivation in the near future.

It was at the International Flora Expo held in Delhi in September 2006 that the opportunity for exporting flowers to Holland came Himachal Pradesh’s way.

The state, along with 15 other countries, had put up a stall, where carnations grown in the state were displayed.

The event had been organised by the Agriculture Produce Export Development Agency.

With a return of almost Rs 1 lakh from a 500 square metres plot, the government too was keen to promote floriculture so that more farmers switched to growing flowers.

The first consignment of flowers exported to Holland were sold at a rate of between Rs 10 and Rs 11 per plant to the growers.

So far, about 467 hectares in the state had been under floriculture cultivation.

Carnations were mainly being grown in polyhouses in Mandi, Kulu, Solan, Bilaspur, Chamba and Sirmaur districts.

Dutch experts started talks for growing carnations in Himachal Pradesh and visited Churah in Chamba in first week of December to see the place.

They had come back to educate the farmers about grading, cutting and proper packing.

In fact, the first consignment of carnations exported to Holland was classified and packed by a Dutch expert, Mr S. Naile.

The prices the carnations would fetch in Dutch markets would decide the scale to which floriculture could expand in the state.

Shimla, February 8
Keeping in view the outbreak of jaundice in the town, the Municipal Corporation (MC) and the Irrigation Department have been directed to get microbial tests of weather samples from national laboratories.

Presiding over a joint meeting of the MC, the IPH and the Health Department, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Tarun Kapoor, advised people to continue drinking boiled water in view of the long incubation period of jaundice. He directed the authorities to check all the distribution lines to ensure that there was no mixing of water from sewerage lines and drinking lines.

With 10 new cases of jaundice reported today, the total number of jaundice cases so far since the outbreak of the disease has gone up to 138. The residents have been asked not to use water from unprotected sources and only make use of tap water.

Mr Kapoor directed the authorities to make use of the latest rapid test kits. "Barring one sample of water collected from Vikasanagar, all others have been found to be satisfactory," he said.

Kangra, February 8
Barring a few showers last evening, the continuous dry spell since December 11 last has hit people living on the foothills of the Dhauladhar mountain ranges.

It has adversely affected wheat and oil crops, power generation and influx of tourists.

Dr S.C. Negi, senior scientist with the Wheat Research Centre of the CSK HPKV at Malan, said since there was no rainfall after December 11, the wheat crop had shown yellowish leaves in rain-fed areas.

He said the early sown wheat crop showed initial good growth, but late sown crops would be much affected as it was under water stress.

He said there was a drought-like situation since December 11 as there was no rainfall.

Dr Negi, expressing concern, said it would result in drastic reduction in yield to the extent of 60 per cent.

Wheat was being cultivated on 361,000 hectares in the state, with production of about 600,000 tonnes and an average productivity of between 15 and 16 quintal per hectare.

The Changer area was the worst affected by the drought-like situation, he asserted.

Mr Vijay Sharma, senior manager with the HPTDC, said nature played a major role in attracting tourists to the state, but this year, nature had not been kind.

He said people from the plains usually got attracted to hills because of rain and snow.

Ms Renu Sharma, a tourist from Chandigarh said she had been attracted by the scenic beauty of Dharamshala, but the areas was without rain and snow.

Mr V.K. Misra, resident engineer, Banner power house at Jai, said power generation during winter was less due to the non-occurrence of rain.

He said the state purchased power from other states in winter, but supplied power to other states in summer.

He said if the dry spell continued, hard times were likely in the coming summer.

The state had imposed power cuts in industrial towns of the state.

SOLAN: With virtually no rain in the region since December, various crops have suffered an estimated loss of Rs 25.89 crore in the district. According to an estimate made by the Agriculture Department, vegetable crops and wheat have suffered major damage ranging from 30 to 35 per cent.

Pulses and barley, have suffered losses ranging from 20 to 25 per cent. Similar losses have been incurred by oilseeds also. The potato crop in Nalagarh and Kunihaar suffered total damage, while the crop in Kandhaghat may germinate.

Shimla, February 8
In a last-ditch effort to save of the ecologically fragile “queen of hills” from further degeneration, the Himachal government has brought 243 villages in the periphery under the Town and Country Planning Act to pave way for the development of Greater Shimla.

The planning area almost has been doubled to 20,000 hectares from the existing 9950 hectares with the inclusion of 188 villages of Shimla tehsil, 50 of Kandaghat, four of Theog and the lone Durgapur village of Sunni. With this total number of villages in the Shimla planning area has risen to 405, including the Municipal area.

With this no new construction or subdivision of land could be carried out in the notified planning area without the permission of the Town and Country Planning Department.

The decision has been taken in view of spurt in construction activity and benami land deals around the city. A number of multi-storeyed structures have come up in rural areas disturbing serenity and spoiling natural grandeur of hills. It was also creating a plethora of problems like water shortage disposal of solid waste and traffic congestion.

In fact, only recently Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, ordered an inquiry into the benami land transactions and construction of multi-storeyed flats by builders and their sale to outsiders in violation of the Land Reforms and Ternancy Act which debars non-agriculturists from acquiring property in the state.

The main objective of Greater Shimla is to disperse development activity from the eco-sensitive zone of the built up city along its east-west axis.