Shimla, February 14
The people here heaved a sigh of relief today as the weather gods relented somewhat after four days of incessant snow and rain.

Although the sky remained overcast throughout, there was not much of fresh snow. There were only mild spells of sleet, accompanied with snow flakes. Snowfall continued in the higher reaches, with Dhundi recording 20 cm of fresh snow and Solang Nullah 12 cm. The lower areas had intermittent rain, with Dharamsala receiving 19.6 mm and Sundernagar 2.8 mm of rainfall.

The comparatively improved weather enabled the maintenance staff to open roads and restore power supply. The 80 tourists, who were stranded in two hotels between Kufri and Chail, returned safely, as the Public Works Department managed to open the road from the Chail side late last evening. The 55 tourists lodged in Toshali Resorts did not wait for the morning and drove away in their own vehicles at 10.30 pm. The rest, who were in Shilon Bagh, returned this morning. Earlier, the team sent by the administration to provide them medical aid and other necessities had reached the hotels.

The Hindustan-Tibet Road has been opened for light vehicles, but heavy vehicles were still being diverted through Basantpur. The Rohru and Chopal areas were still not accessible from Shimla due to blockade of the road at Kharapathar .However, buses were plying through Vikasnagar from the Sirmour side.

Mr Tarun Kapoor, Deputy Commissioner, said it would take another two days to open the road for heavy vehicles. Heaps of snow had piled up on both sides and only single-lane traffic was possible. The PWD had been asked to clear the road for two-way traffic near Narkanda and Kufri, the main bottlenecks.

As per the local met office, the weather will clear tomorrow. The minimum temperature will fall, while the maximum temperature could rise.

Dharamsala, February 14
In yet another shocking case of crime against minor girls in Kangra district, a schoolgirl of Class VI, studying in the Government Middle School at Katholi village, has allegedly been married to a resident of Chamba district by her sister’s mother-in-law, keeping in dark the parents of the girl.

Earlier, two cases of attempt to rape involving five-year-old minor girls and forcibly pushing a 14-year old girl into prostitution had come to light in the district during the past couple of weeks.

Ved Prakash, father of the girl, said that his daughter was forcibly married by her elder daughter’s mother-in-law. She had gone to her sister’s village to meet her.

The ill-fated girl’s father originally hails from Jalandhar and is working as a labourer.

She had not gone to school from last Friday and was allegedly married to a resident of Sihonta village of Chamba district on Monday.

As per the office records of the school, she was born on May 23, 1993, and is, thus, less than 14-year-old.

When contacted, Mr Ajay Yadav, Superintendent of Police, said the SHO of Nagrota Suriyan police station would conduct a thorough inquiry into the matter.

However, a controversy over the age of the girl has surfaced in the preliminary investigations made by the police. Both daughters of Ved Prakash are said to be twins and are aged 21.

In order to ascertain the exact age of the girl, the SP has further asked the SHO to get her examined from a government medical professional so that further action could be taken accordingly.

Kangra, February 14
Eighteen families living below the poverty line have been moving from pillar to post for the past one year for seeking ration under the Antodaya Ana Yojna. A sarpanch of Kawari village at Nagrota Bagwan in this subdivision had allegedly grabbed their ration cards.

The heads of the 18 BPL families in a complaint lodged with the Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, alleged that their ration cards was grabbed by Mr Baldev Choudary, sarpanch of Kawari village. A similar copy had also been sent to the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission.

In the complaint submitted to the Deputy Commissioner they stated that under registration no’s DRDA 2836 dated August 21, 2005, and DRDA 3165 -78 dated September 19, 2005, the 18 families were registered by the DRDA and were further registered in the Block Development Office, Nagrota Bagwan, under No 2005 -6/ 2101 - 2205 dated 15-9-2005 and under resolution no 2 of Kawari Panchayat on October 2, 2005, on the occasion of the Gandhi Jayanti they were regularised as the BPL families.

They said the BDO and DRDA offices were informed about the regularisation of these families under the BPL category. The 18 heads of the families, which included three widows Bimla Devi, Ayodia Devi and Krishena Devi, said their ration cards were issued on February 2006 but were kept by the Mr Choudary.

They said despite repeated requests the ration cards were not handed over to them and the sarpanch kept on threatening them due to his strong political links. They alleged that the sarpanch was violating the law of the land by putting these BPL families in a dock.

They urged the government to take action against the sarpanch for misusing his official position and they be provided with the food grains.

When contacted Mr Kuldeep Thakur, BDO, Nagrota Bagwan, said he was not under pressure and had sought a report in this connection from Mr Choudary through a panchayat secretary to sort out the issue.

Palampur, February 14
Mr Krishan Kapoor, former Transport Minister and spokesman for the BJP, today said the state government had failed to get its due share from the Centre despite assurances given by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to the state last year.

Addressing a press conference at the local Press Club here this morning, Mr Kapoor alleged that the Centre was giving a stepmotherly treatment to Himachal Pradesh and adopting the policy of pick and choose in the allocation of funds for various Centrally-sponsored projects.

He said it was on record that several requests made by the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, were turned down by the Union Government.

He alleged that the state was not given any funds to meet the losses suffered by it due to heavy rain and flash floods during the last rainy season. Though a Central team visited the state, no financial assistance was released in this regard.

Mr Kapoor said the Prime Minister had made a commitment with the state government during his visit to Shimla last year that three new railway line projects would be completed in the state before 2008, but even after the expiry of a year and a half, the Railway Minister had not released any budget for these railway lines.

The BJP leader demanded a special financial package for the state on a par with Bihar, West Bengal and the North-East.

He said the Chief Minister should come out with a “While Paper” on all these issues.

Shimla, February 14
Providing the much-needed air connectivity for promoting tourism in the ‘Queen of Hills’, Air Deccan will be starting its regular flights between Shimla and Delhi from April onwards.

A meeting between Air Deccan officials and hoteliers was held here last week in which they decided to start the flights from the tourist season. Initially, the Air Deccan flights will fly for four days a week, thereby providing regular flights on alternate days.

Air Deccan will be using a 48-seater aircraft thereby bringing down the fare to about Rs 3,000. Besides the reduced fare, during the summer season the problem of getting a ticket would also be sorted out to a great extent.

Over a dozen big hotels, including Oberoi-owned properties, East Bourne, Combermere, Chalet Resorts, Potter Hill, Springfield and others have guaranteed to provide 12 seats per flight. In fact, Air Deccan wanted a corporate assurance of at least 12 seats to ensure that it does not turn out to be an uneconomical venture for them.

Sources said with the problem of a limited runway and some other technical problems, Air Deccan will not be able to adjust more than 25 passengers on its return flight from Shimla. As such while coming from Delhi it can carry 48 persons but on return only half the number can be taken.

Erratic and unreliable air connectivity to the state’s capital has been one of the major impediments for the arrival of high-end tourists. “These days people do not mind spending money but they want minimum possible time for travelling, so starting of regular flights will help give a boost to tourism in a big way,” said Mr Rajesh Pathania, General Manager, and East Bourne Hotel.

Nahan, February 14
Himachal Pardesh has made tremendous development in horticulture, power, education, horticulture, aggriculture, education and with a vast network of roads. The state has, today, 9.4 per cent growth in comparison to national growth of 9.3 per ccent said the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh.

Addressing a press conference, he said Rs 5 crore had been earmarked for the development of Nahan in this financial year. The heritage of the town would be preserved, added the Chief Minister.

About the revival of Nahan Foundry, he said the proposed mill would make good steel products.

“We have fulfilled our poll manifesto and controlled corruption. We did not spare former Chairman, members of the Himachal Pardesh, subordinate services selection board in this regard,” said the Chief Minister.

For the development of Saket Fossil Park he was committed to providing tourist facilities and a wide metalled road.

Solan, February 14
Stiff opposition has arisen over the proposed move of the state Health Department to make the hitherto single-member drug licensing authority into a multi-member committee by including two more members.

The state presently has two assistant drug licensing authorities based at Shimla and Dharamsala. Interestingly, though the state has acquired the status of becoming the pharmaceutical hub of the country by attracting more than 350 units from all over the country, it has no drug controller. The Health Department has failed to constitute the Departmental Promotion Committee to fill the vacant post from among the department.

On the contrary, a move was floated some months ago to include two more members to the drug licensing authority by incorporating both assistant drug licensing authorities and the local drugs inspector into the single-member committee. The consequent amendment, however, ended up bringing the issue of license to sale counters under the purview of this three-member committee in October last year.

The HP Drug Manufacturers Association has further opposed the move, as it feels this would delay the process of seeking licenses. The association president, Mr R.K.Arora, contends that since the three members do not sit at Shimla, the licenses will be delayed till the three members meet to convene a meeting.

Shimla, February 14
The increasing animal-human conflict is making people more and more intolerant towards animals, creating problems for the wildlife staff who are supposed to prevent wanton killings of animals placed in the protected category.

Some recent incidents in which wild animals were killed by villagers in the presence of wildlife staff has made the Forest Department realise that the expertise in handling animals was not enough. The staff has to be trained in crowd management, too, as every time a wild animal is seen anywhere in and around a village, hordes of people appear on the spot, making any kind of rescue a difficult proposition. The situation usually becomes intractable if the intruder happens to be a leopard who has been at the receiving end despite being a highly protected species. Its killing is an offence under the Wildlife Act, punishable with a minimum of three years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000. Over the past eight years, as many as 62 leopards have been killed by villagers by putting up traps and snares.

Only last week an eight-month-old leopard cub became a victim of mob-chase in Lohara village of Mandi district. People spotted two cubs in the periphery of the village. While one of them managed to escape, the other got scared and took shelter in a cave. Mr Sushil Kumar, Divisional Forest Officer, along with other staff, tried his best to persuade the villagers to let go the harmless animal, but they refused to budge and insisted on capturing the animal. The plea of the officials that it was a protected animal and capturing or killing it was an offence under the Wildlife Act failed to cut ice with them. On the contrary, they accused the officer of misbehaving with them.

The officials could do nothing as the crowd swelled and villagers tried to capture the animal in a cage. However, it went past the cage and tried to run away.

The crowd, along with some dogs, chased it and the exhausted animal was captured. In the process it sustained injuries, including dog bites. The officials rescued the injured animal and provided first aid to it before it was sent to animal rescue home at Gopalpur. It died after two days apparently due to injuries. The exact reason will be known only after the report of post-mortem is available.