Dharamsala, March 9
Hundreds of quintals of ration meant for distribution under the public distribution system (PDS) among 1,200 residents of Bara Bhangal village, falling under Baijnath subdivision of Kangra district, went “missing” during the months of August, September and October, last year.

The village is situated at a height of about 9,000 feet in the far-flung areas of the district and is usually cut off during the winters from the rest of the state due to heavy snowfall.

Investigations made by The Tribune have revealed that as much as 630 quintals of ration have allegedly gone “missing” and possibly been sold in the open market.

Details available from the food and civil supplies department have revealed that the authorities concerned had dispatched a total of 1,306 quintals of ration in the months of August, September and October through a transport contractor to be handed over to the cooperative society of Bara Bhangal for distribution among the residents under the PDS.

However, Rai Singh, secretary of the village cooperative society, received 203.33 quintals of ration for August, 348.32 quintals for September and 125 quintals for October, last year.

The proper receipt of taking possession of this ration was properly given to the transport contractor to get it deposited in the food and civil supplies office concerned.

The records maintained in the food and civil supplies office of Paprola reveal that the office had dispatched 1,306 quintals of ration for Bara Bhangal village during the months of August, September and October. Nobody knows where the rest of the 630 quintals of ration have gone.

President of the cooperative society Chunni Lal, vice-president Chura Mani and members Baldev Raj, Paras Ram, Ashru Ram, Jasia Ram and others had brought the matter to the notice of the district magistrate of Kangra and demanded an investigation into the ration scam.

Sources in the office of the district magistrate have revealed that the matter has been referred to sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) of Baijnath Sandip Kumar for investigation.

The SDM has asked naib-tehsildar of Baijnath Ramjit to conduct an inquiry into the alleged scam.

Meanwhile, pradhan of the local gram sabha Kanchana Devi has asked the local administration to provide adequate ration for distribution among the residents as the stocks are running short in the stores of the cooperative society.

Mandi, March 9
Attendants and guardians of 10 patients, some of them critically ill, today raised their ire against the deputy commissioner, Lahaul-Spiti, after he sent them to Jispa helipad about 24 km away from Keylong, while VIPs, including superintendent of police, a manager and others, who were healthy were flown from the Stingri helipad, just 6 km away from Keylong.

Attendants and patients said they had requested the DC to fly them from Stingri helipad which was just 6 km from Keylong.

"But we were asked to go to Jispa helipad, about 24 km from Keylong. Instead, the DC reserved seats for the SP, a manager and other influential passengers and flew them from Stingri. Is the government running flights for them?", they asked.

Norbu from Piaso village in Lahaul and Phunchok Dolma, who were suffering from serious gynecological problems. Jatin Jaichen, Tashi Khewang and Sunita rued as to how they had to travel in taxis for 24 km in the freezing cold today to Jispa before they boarded the helicopter to Kulu.

"We had to pay Rs100 per person, the taxi charges Rs 700 from Keylong to Jispa. The administration is busy looking after the welfare of VIPs and its own staff while poor patients are left to suffer” complained patients, most of them poor tribals.

The DC said: "The two flights -one each from Stingri and Jispa helipads- were scheduled for today. We had 10 passengers at Jispa and we sent 10 patients there from Keylong as the helicopter carries 20 passengers in a flight.”

Shimla, March 9
With less than a year for the state to go for assembly poll, the Vigilance Department has registered two cases for alleged irregularities committed during the BJP rule in the state.

It is after more than three years of investigation conducted by the department that an FIR has finally been registered in the compounding of the deviation in the construction of Willows Bank Hotel at the Mall and awarding of contract to the TRIG security agency at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC).

The FIR has been registered against the owner of Willows Bank Hotel and the then senior officials of the Municipal Corporation for compounding the structural deviation during construction. It is expected that some senior BJP officials’ names could also be dragged into the case after a further probe.

It was alleged that in the award of contract to TRIG, the formalities had not been fulfilled and the company had been allegedly favoured over others, resulting in a huge monetary loss to the government.

The FIR has been registered against the managing director of TRIG and the then Health Director.

Shimla, March 9
Heated arguments were witnessed in the Vidhan Sabha today as P.K Dhumal, leader of the BJP legislative group, and G.S Bali, the transport minister, traded charges during the debate on general budget. The debate was initiated by Dhumal but it was Bali who dominated the proceedings. He launched a frontal attack on the Opposition using the charges of corruption, favouritism and discrimination levelled against Dhumal by BJP ministers and legislators. When the BJP members protested, Bali threatened to expose them.

Referring to the chargesheet submitted by the BJP against the Congress Government he said those who had levelled false and fabricated allegations would be made to pay. It was an irony that Mohinder Singh, who was sacked by Dhumal from his Cabinet on charges of corruption, was a member of the committee which framed the chargesheet against the Congress government. Directly targeting Dhumal he said the BJP government reduced the quantum free power from the Karcham Wangtu on its own as a result of which the state would lose thousands of crores of rupees.

He had full facts about disinvestment carried out during the BJP regime and if required he would come out with the documents to expose the acts of commission and omission. Interestingly, there was no mention of the chargesheet in Dhumal's speech but Bali exploited it to the full to nail the BJP.

Earlier, initiating the debate Dhumal said the scheme to supply essential commodities on subsidised rates was not a practical solution to combat the problem of price rise. Instead the government should have waived the 4 per cent VAT on foodgrains and reduced it on diesel and petrol.

Initiating the debate on the general budget for 2007-08 in the Vidhan Sabha he said the public distribution system was in a bad shape and the state had not been able to lift its quota of foodgrains allotted by the Centre. The scheme would further strain it. His speech was confined to issues like the price rise, malfunctioning public distribution system and there was no mention of corruption. Citing figures he said in 2004-05 against the target of 1,32,300 tonne of wheat for APL (above poverty line) families only 80,573 tonnes was lifted. Similarly, in case of BPL (below poverty line) families the shortfall was 6,141 tonnes and in case of rice it was 5,1391 tonnes

The shortfall in respect of Antyodaya families was 388 tonnes , Annapurna yojna 220 tonnes, levy sugar 1121 tonnes and kerosene 5,694 kilolitres. It was the same story during 2005-06 with APL wheat shortfall of 36,031 tonnes, BPL 6028 tonnes, Antyodaya 1198 tonnes, Annapurna yojna 206 tonnes and kerosene 3383 kilo litres. He maintained that the rate of wheat for APL families under the subsidised foodgrain scheme had been increased from Rs 9.60 to 10.55 per kg. The Rs 100 crore to be spent on providing subsidy on foodgrains should have been made available to farmers to help increase productivity. There was no package for farmers in the budget. He also focussed on the non-performance of the government on various fronts. Singhi Ram, the civil supplies minister, refuted the charge of Dhumal.