Dharamsala, February 27
In a bid to modernise and speed-up its functioning, the Himachal Pradesh police in the first phase has introduced the facility of lodging an FIR through e-mail in as many as 19 police stations of the states, besides, launching use of e-mail for communication of routine instructions between the head office and district headquarters.

Sources in the state police revealed that the facility of lodging FIR through e-mail has been introduced at the police stations of Chhota Shimla, Balu Ganj, Sadar Shimla, Theog, Sadar Bilaspur, Ghumarvin, Barmana, Sadar Solan, Kandaghat, Dharampur, Parwanoo, Sadar Mandi, Sadar Kullu, Dharamsala, Sadar Hamirpur, Nahan, Sadar Una, Reckong Peo and Sadar Chamba.

With the advancement of technology this facility will save the time of complainants in getting justice. Moreover, it will also be much easier to maintain computerised records of the FIRs.

The state police has further planned to computerised all police stations of the state and connect them with e-mail facility by year-end. “Issuance of routine instructions, petition endorsements will be done through e-mail. This will greatly reduce the time taken for sending instructions,” claimed a senior official of the state police.

Priority is also being given to networking of all police stations in the state. Once the computer networking is done, the DGP office will be able to access an FIR or a case file from any police station of the state.

The state police under this programme had also introduced the facility of online payment of challans through Internet banking or credit cards in account No. 30119774966 of the State Bank of India through their web portal hppolice.gov.in.

The web portal also includes information for public like telephone directory of police officers, necessary guidelines and tips for general public, tourists and foreigners, crime trends, information under the RTI Act, list of most wanted and missing persons and details of various community policing schemes launched by the state police.

Manali, February 27
The weather god finally obliged Manali with the season’s first snowfall this morning. The snowfall, which began in the wee hours of the morning, was still continuing.

The tourist town of Manali having been without snow for most part of the winter, residents were in for a surprise as the entire upper Manali region was covered with a white blanket. Manali recorded about 18 cm of snowfall at the time of filing of this report. Hundreds of tourist who have converged on the famous tourist hill station of Manali from the nearby plains were delighted to see the town donning an impeccable white mantle. The thick white layer covering the trees, roofs and the ground transformed the landscape virtually into a fairyland.

A festive atmosphere prevailed at Nehru Park, the heart of the town, as winter revellers threw snow balls at each other and had photo sessions.

Due to widespread snowfall in upper Kullu valley, all Manali-bound buses suspended their journey at Alu ground, about 5 km from here.

Traffic on the Manali-Rohtang road was disrupted at several points beyond Bhang, 4 km from here. All buses remained suspended today on the Manali-Naggar road also. The 13,050 ft-high Rohtang pass had the season’s heaviest snowfall. The famous ski slopes of the Solang valley also recorded about 45 cm of snow till the filing of this report. The entire higher reaches in the Kullu valley, including the Pir Panjal ranges, Bhrighu slopes, Chanderkhani pass and Hamata ski slopes also had snow.

The belated snowfall has raised hopes of a good apple crop.

Shimla: Normal life in the state was affected as incessant snow and rain lashed the region throughout the day.

The tribal areas of Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti, Churdhar, Harpur Dhar and other higher reaches are having heavy snow since last night. The Rohtang Pass had received 120 cm of snowfall, Solang Nullah 75 cm and Manali 45 cm by the evening.

The Hatu peak had 70 cm and Narkanda 20 cm and the nearby tourist resort of Kufri 5 cm of snowfall. The snowfall was continuing at the time of filing the report.

The Hindustan-Tibet highway and the roads leading to Rohru and Chopal have been blocked due to snow. Kinnaur and Rampur-bound traffic has been diverted through Basantpur.

Shimla and its surrounding areas are having continuous rain accompanied by sleet since morning. The day temperature dipped sharply as high-velocity winds lashed the region all through.

The lower areas are having widespread rain which is considered good for the rabi crop. Bhunter had recorded more than 50 mm of rain by the evening. The entire apple belt is having snow much to the delight of the growers who are expecting a good crop.

Kangra: The Kangra valley experienced incessant rains during the past 24 hours and the Dhauladhar mountain range and its foothills, overlooking the Kangra valley, experienced heavy snowfall.

The people shivered with cold wave-like conditions in the valley. The worst-hit were the school-going children.

Kangra town experienced 9 mm of rainfall during the past 24 hours. The traffic on certain link roads was disrupted.

Shimla, February 27
The result of the Assembly poll in the neighbouring Punjab and Uttrakhand echoed in the Vidhan Sabha with BJP members terming it as a writing on the wall for the Congress government in the state.

The BJP group was jubilant while the treasury benches looked visibly subdued. Participating in the debate on motion of thanks on the Governor's address, the buoyant BJP members lost no opportunity to have a dig at the ruling party and referred to the ouster of Amarinder Singh’s regime as a precursor to things to come in the hill state. Their repeated references to the election results enraged the chief minister, who intervened to counter the attack.

I.D. Dhiman of the BJP said the Congress government in the state would meet the same fate during the ensuing Assembly poll as the people were totally disillusioned by its lacklustre performance on all fronts.

Virbhadra said the defeat in the two states was a sad development but it would not demoralise the partymen in the state.

He said the BJP should not dream of coming to power in the state as elections were a different ball game in the hill state.

Dhiman said the government was opening schools and colleges without any provision in the Budget. As against 25 high schools announced in the Budget, 143 had been opened and 232 upgraded to senior secondary level against the provision of 50.

Mandi, February 27
Patients in the region now need not to go to other cities and towns for specialised medical treatment as hospitals in the Mandi-Kullu-Hamipur region have been linked through the telemedicine system to Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), Shimla, and the PGI, Chandigarh, offering online consultancy by experts.

Health officials said the telemedicine system of health services would also take care of shortage of specialists in civil and district hospitals in the state.

Mandi zonal hospital, Karsog civil hospital, Jhenjheli primary health centre in Mandi district, Kullu regional hospital, Banjar civil hospital in Kullu district and Hamirpur district hospital have been linked to the IGMC, Shimla, through telemedicine initiative. The patients will also have the facility of getting treatment diagnosis online from the PGI.

The patients will start benefiting under the initiative from early March. Medical superintendent of Mandi zonal hospital Prem Lal Poonam said equipment had been installed and patients will get telemedicine consultancy after the trial run on March 5. “Patients in Mandi, Jhenjheli and Karsog will be linked directly to the IGMC and later to the PGI.”

Kullu’s chief medical officer S.K. Malhotra said the telemedicine equipments were being installed at Kullu regional hospital and Banjar civil hospital.

“The online service will take care of unnecessary referral cases to the IGMC or the PGI,” he added.

Kangra, February 27
Five councillors out of total nine of the local municipal council today moved a no-confidence motion against president Suman Verma and vice-president Meenakshi before the Kangra deputy commissioner.

Deputy commissioner Bharat Khera said a group of five councillors headed by former MC chief Bal Krishen came to his office and handed over the letter of no-confidence against Suman Verma and Meenakshi. Others who accompanied Bal Krishen were Urmila Sharma, Bhawna Gupta, Ashok Sharma and Ashwani Kumar.

Suman Verma had taken over as the MC chief on January 20, 2006, and had support of Naresh Kumar, Ram Swroop Verma, Meenakshi and Ashwani Kumar.

Ashwani Kumar slipped to the fold of Bal Krishen and tilted the balance. Bal Krishen confirmed the handing over of the letter to the DC.

The DC said he would authorise the local SDM to serve a notice regarding no-confidence motion with not less than 15 days notice.

Shimla, February 27
Expressing disappointment at the inadequate funds being given to Himachal Pradesh in the rail budget, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said he would take up the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

It was leader of opposition P.K. Dhumal who raised the matter in the assembly after question hour. The former Chief Minister said the railway Minister had done great injustice with the people of Himachal by not including any main rail line projects important for the hill state.

“I request the Chief Minister to adopt a resolution which we will support to plead Himachal’s case before the centre,” Mr Dhumal said. He said some other smaller states had been given far more funds but Himachal’s claims had been practically ignored.

Virbhadra Singh said though he welcomed the rail budget in general, he was certainly disappointed at the non-inclusion of major projects in Himachal in this year’s budget. “I will personally meet the Prime Minister and the railways minister and convey the disappointment of the people of the state and request them to do whatever is possible and rectify this mistake,” he remarked.

The CM said he was more disappointed as despite the Prime Minister’s announcement that the Bilaspur-Bhanupalli rail line would be taken up as a national project and the Nangal-Talwara line would be completed within two years, they did not find mention in the rail budget.

The Chief Minister said the Bhanupalli-Bilaspur line was the most crucial for Himachal as it would connect a number of districts and open up the hinterland for industrialisation.

Mr Dhumal said the negligible funds allocated to Himachal in the rail budget was a matter of concern for all. 

Shimla, February 27
The state electricity board will not have to pay more for power generated from the 300-MW Baspa project as the state Electricity Regulatory Commission has approved the final cost of the project at Rs 1,502 crore which is Rs 120 crore less than the cost filed by Jaypee Industries, which executed it.

With this the controversy over the power purchase agreement pertaining to the Baspa project has been set to rest. The cost of generation has been worked out at Rs 2.84 per unit for the year 2004-05 and Rs 2.91 per unit for the following year.

Eyebrows were raised when the state electricity board signed a supplementary power purchase agreement with Jaypee Industries, in February, 2003, in violation of the Electricity Act. The commission taking suo motu action in the matter, quashed the supplementary agreement and directed the company to file an application for determination of tariff in accordance with the Act. The cost of generation would have worked out at around Rs 3.30 per unit under the agreement putting the board under strain.

The company had filed a cost of Rs 1,622 crore as against the cost of Rs 1,550 crore approved by the government. The state electricity board has been purchasing power at Rs 2.95 per unit in accordance with the interim order of the commission. The cost of generation will come down with each passing year and by 2016 it is likely to be around Rs 1.77 per unit.

The exercise took almost four years during which the company under the directions of the commission worked to restructure and replace its expensive debt to being down interest rate from 18.5 per cent to 10.5 per cent. As a result, the annual interest liability came down by Rs 69 crore, reducing the cost of generation.

The commission disregarded the direction of the government to peg the cost of project at Rs 949 crore at the 1993 level when the MoU for executing the project was signed with the company. It maintained that the mandate of the government in issuing directions to the commission under Section 108 of the Act was very limited and tariff was not covered under it. The commission has directed the company to continue with the efforts to reduce the cost of debt and further bring down the rate of interest to around 9 per cent. The total debt of the company is Rs 1,130 crore, including foreign loan of Rs 176 crore. If the company succeeds, the generation cost will come down further.

Shimla, February 27
The Himachal Government has decided to refund the court fee under Section 42 of the State Government Fee Act and permit 100 per cent reimbursement of the court fee in case of amicable settlement of cases in the lok adalats. The state government will be at liberty to enhance, reduce, remit or refund.

The decision was taken by the state Cabinet which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh here last evening. It approved an amendment to the hydro-power exclusively for Himachalis, giving them preference in projects having capacity between 3 and 5 MWs for more than one applicant. Additional preference shall be given to the applicants belonging to the district where the proposed project is located.

It decided to adopt a new procedure for recruitment of constables for creation of a new battalion. The base of the recruitment will be population of the district. In case there is a vacancy in the existing battalion, 50 per cent weightage will be given to the sanctioned posts of the district and the remaining 50 per cent to the population of the district concerned, while usual reservation roaster will be followed.

It also approved the opening of 22 new primary health centres and upgradation from primary health centres to community health centres at different places in the state, besides sanctioning about 150 posts of different categories to man the institutions.

The Cabinet gave its nod for equity participation of the government in solution mining and caustic soda product projects at Maigal in Mandi district. The project is likely to cost Rs 270 crore and provide employment to 220 persons. It will be executed by Hindustan Salt Mines Limited. The state government will provide 105.06 bighas in lieu of 5 per cent equity participation, besides an amount of Rs 43.55 lakh. If the land is not utilised for the specific purpose with in the period of two years, the same will revert to the state government.

The Cabinet also approved relaxation in the Town and Country Planning norms for preparation of maps to construct four-storeyed parking near municipal toilets at Chhota Shimla, parking place near Cancer Hospital, Cart Road, Shimla, another parking place near the lift below Cart Road, besides construction of three-storeyed parking and one storey for commercial use near the rain shelter of Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC).

Shimla, February 27
The state government has sent a proposal for deletion or inclusion of certain areas falling in 19 of the 32 wildlife sanctuaries in Himachal Pradesh to the Centre under the rationalisation process. This was stated by forest minister Ram Lal Thakur in reply to a question raised by Rajiv Bindal of the BJP in the Assembly today. Bindal requested the government to exclude areas falling within the Chail wildlife sanctuary, where a population of over 15,000 persons was getting affected.

He said in the proposal sent to the Centre the government had only recommended exclusion of Chail Bazar from the sanctuary area, whereas a much larger population was getting affected. He said the matter had been brought to the notice of chief minister on several occasions by the people of the area.

The minister said a notification for rationalisation of all sanctuaries in the state was issued in 1999 and subsequently the Supreme Court in 2002 said that no rights would be given to people within the sanctuary. “The matter has been examined by the national and state wildlife boards and as per the directives of the SC a two-member committee visited certain areas and its report is still awaited,” he stated.

He said depending on the outcome of the proposals sent by the state the rationalisation proposals of the remaining sanctuaries would be sent to the Centre.

In reply to another question by Mohinder Singh of the BJP on the total number of missing persons in the state during the past three years, Virbhadra Singh said the figure stood at 2004. This included 543 children, 585 youth and 876 women.

“Of this number, 1,115 persons have been traced and there is no report of any gang of kidnappers abducting children or women operating in the state,” he said. He pointed out that all police stations had been directed to contact families concerned to find out if the missing persons had been found as in most of the cases the police are not intimated and his status remains as untraceable in police records.

The chief minister also denied discrimination in allocation of funds under decentralised planning and said these were given as and when schemes and proposals were received from respective districts.