Nahan, May 3
All nine occupants of a Mahindra jeep (HP 63-0129) were killed on the spot as the vehicle on way to Timbi in Shillai tehsil, about 140 km from here, fell into a deep gorge this morning.

The jeep with nine passengers was plying on the Bakras-Milla road when the accident took place. A relief of Rs 5,000 was paid to the kin of the victims

Police sources said the jeep with nine passengers was plying on Bakras - Milla road when the accident took place. The driver of the vehicle failed to negotiate a curve near Panjwana village, and the jeep rolled into a deep gorge.

The Bakras area is one of the remote rural areas in the district, where the accident took place. Residents after getting the information about the accident, rushed to rescue the occupants of the Jeep, ‘but it was all in vain’, said a resident of Panjwana village.

The vehicle was completely smashed. Mutilated bodies were laying around on the hill slope.

Villagers informed the Shillai police and hospital authorities about the accident. Administrative officers and police officers from Paonta rushed to the spot as the area falls under Paonta sub division.

A post-mortem examination was conducted at Shillai hospital, after which the bodies were handed over to the kin of the victims. Shillai tehsildar J. K. Hans, disbursed Rs 5,000 to the kin as an immediate relief.

Police sources said, out of the nine dead, five belong to Bakras village, that included, Dieudi Devi (30), Jagdish Singh (32), Inder Singh (44), Sunder Singh (24) and Kalyan Singh (35). Three were residents of Shalian village, which included Raghubir Singh (30), Atma Ram (16), Kamal (13) and Ran Singh was from Gudahan village of the Shillai area.

Dharamsala, May 3
Special electricity cable laid to supply uninterrupted power supply to the state Vidhan Sabha complex at Tapovan in Dharamsala, was destroyed by fire. The incident has cost the state exchequer Rs 20 lakh.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh wanted to hold the winter session of the Vidhan Sabha in the new building, so as to silence the opposition. The BJP was demanding that the winter session should be held at Dharamsala

The construction work of the main building and other works related to water and electricity supply and fittings were temporarily done in a hurry under political pressure, so that the last year’s winter session could be held in the new building.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh wanted to hold the winter session of the Vidhan Sabha in the new building, so as to silence the opposition. The BJP was demanding that the winter session should be held at Dharamsala.

The special electricity cable line was laid in haste by the officials of the electricity board from the Fatehpur feeder without ensuring the quality of work. The total distance of the line is more than three km.

Electricity board executive engineer R.S. Badwas has confirmed that the main electricity cable was destroyed and efforts were on to replace it with a new wire. In reply to a question, he said the cost of the wire was approximately Rs 20 lakh.

Meanwhile, the ongoing construction work in the Vidhan Sabha complex was partially hampered due to the non-supply of power from the main line.

Soon after, the Vidhan Sabha was sine-die, all temporary arrangements were removed and the construction work was again initiated for doing it permanently. Most of the temporary work carried out at that time related to wood work, electricity fittings, furniture and furnishing.

Hamirpur, May 3
In reply to a question Dhumal categorically denied that he was a BJP candidate for the Hamirpur parliamentary byelection. He said: “ I am the leader of the opposition in the state and would not contest byelection as the party candidate.”

Dhumal said the BJP candidate for Hamirpur would be finalised by May 13 along with the announcement of party candidates for the Goa assembly elections.

Dharamsala, May 3
The SHO of the Jawalamukhi police station of Kangra district has been removed from the post and sent to the police lines for allegedly thrashing an employee of the municipal council last week.

Employees of the MC held a protest rally against SHO Surinder Thakur on the next day of the incident following which district police chief Ajay Yadav marked an inquiry into the incident.

Additional superintendent of police Santosh Patial held a preliminary inquiry into the incident in which Surinder Thakur was found guilty of thrashing the MC employee.

It was found in the inquiry that while on a night patrol, the SHO had some arguments with Harbans Singh, an employee of the local municipal council who was on official duty. He was collecting tax from the buses passing through the Jawalamukhi bus stand.

The SHO, wearing a civil dress, was allegedly under the influence of alcohol. He thrashed the MC employee ruthlessly with the help of his subordinates.

Ajay Yadav confirmed that the SHO had been removed from the post and sent to the police lines. A departmental inquiry had also been initiated against him, he said.

Regarding the new posting, he said few names had been proposed and sent to the election commission through the chief electoral officer of the state. The grant of approval from the commission was still awaited, he added.

Nahan, May 3
A project being pursued under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) to provide services to handicapped children at their doorstep under the ‘Home Based Programme for children with special needs’(HBP), has almost collapsed in Sirmaur district due to bureaucratic negligence and which has been resented by people of 26 rural villages of Sirmaur district.

In a letter sent to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, hundreds of residents of Dadahu, Nohradhar and Bakras education blocks, have requested him to intervene and check ‘autocratic bureaucracy’, which would help the poor, sick and handicapped children as per the provisions of the project.

Interestingly, the gram panchayats of Dadahu, Naya Panjor, Ghatoin and Sangna Stahan have strongly condemned the SSA officers who were putting the lives of over 20 handicapped sick children in danger by stopping them medical aid which earlier was being given to them under the project for the past one year.

They have asked the Chief Minister to expand this HBP programme and cover more than 500 handicapped children under the project, so that the real theme of the project is served.

The panchayats had resented the move of the SSA officers so as to crush the NGO, SIDHI, which was providing health care and other services to such children at their doorstep for the past one month.

Amit Bhardwaj, vice-president of gram panchayat Dadahu, said in the budget proposal forwarded by the SSA to the state project director, expenditure under the proposal was reduced this year.

Although 40 children of three education blocks under Nahan and Paonta sub divisions were being covered for the past one year but the expenditure was being demanded for only 20 students. He questioned that when the budget was no constrain, then why was the expenditure reduced ?

Solan, May 3
The Central Research Institute (CRI), Kasauli, will soon manufacture vero cell-based Japanese Encephalitis (JE) vaccine which will help reduce its cost considerably. This was announced by health services deputy director-general Dr Dharamshaktu who visited the institute on the occasion of it’s 101st raising day.

Being the only producer of the JE vaccine in the country, the institute will now switch over to the new technique that will enable it to meet the market requirement.

Addressing doctors and employees, he said CRI was among the major suppliers of DTP vaccine for the universal immunisation programme of the Government of India. Keeping in view the threat of influenza in the country, its Influenza surveillance centre was being expanded and work on the production of a vaccine to deal with it was underway. Institute director Dr K.R. Mani also spoke on the occassion. 

Shimla, May 3
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has proposed to bore three tunnels and realign the Hindustan-Tibet highway at six places to protect the vulnerable portions of the road from floods and landslides. Brig K.P. Singh, Chief Engineer of the Deepak Project, stated this at a press conference, here.

The road had been realigned near the Malling Nullah but that had not solved the problem and it was still prone to landslides. These treacherous stretches could be circumvented only by boring tunnels

It also proposes to make permanent bridges in place of the existing bailey bridges to make the highway more secure. He said the tunnels were proposed to be built through the highly fragile Khadradhank, ever-sliding one km stretch of road at Malling Nullah and Pagal Nullah.

The road had been realigned near the Malling Nullah but that had not solved the problem and it was still prone to landslides. These treacherous stretches could be circumvented only by boring tunnels. Further, there were certain portions where the road and the Sutlej ran parallel and it suffered frequent and extensive damage due to floods, he said.

The engineers had identified scum stretches where the road would be realigned and laid at a higher level. Permanent bridges would be constructed at Shongtong, Khab, Choeling, Kharo and Akpa. There were some problems with the strata at Akpa due to which the bridge could be delayed, the remaining four bridges would be in place by 2010, he further added.

He said funds were a constraint as the Ministry of Defence had only a fixed the allocation for improvement and maintenance works.

The BRO had urged the state government to take up the matter with the Centre for providing funds through the Ministry of Surface Transport on the pattern of Uttrakhand. It will ensure high -level funding and enable it to complete works early, he said.

Work on the Rs 1,123 crore Rohtang tunnel will commence next year. The detailed project report being prepared by an Australian company will be available by the end of the current year. Technical bids had already been invited and the contract will be awarded within the financial year to ensure that work got underway next year. 

Nahan, May 3
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh would pay a one-day visit to Sirmaur district on May 4 . As per the scheduled programme he will address a public rally at Rajgarh and inaugurate Dr Y.S. Parmar Samarak fair and tournament at Haripur Dhar.

The Chief Minster is scheduled to lay the foundation stone of Rajgarh degree college in Kotli village near Rajgarh. The state government had already sanctioned Rs 15 crore for the construction of three degree colleges at Rajgarh, Sangrah and Shillai, informed Gangu Ram Musafir, Speaker, HP Vidhan Sabha.— OC

Nahan, May 3
Many parts of Sirmaur district on Thursday experienced hailstorms and thunder showers which caused harm to fruit crops like mangoes, peaches, plums and other varieties of fruits in the many parts of the district. It was the second shower of the week which has pushed the mercury down. The horticulturists are dazed after experiencing the behavior of weather. — OC 

Dharamsala, May 3
Skills of artists from Rajasthan are being showcased in a five-day art exhibition which was inaugurated in Kangra museum here, today.

The paintings are a mix of oil and acrylic colours, miniature, drawings, graphics and collage works of 32 artists of the desert state. It is sponsored by the Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur, in a cultural exchange programme.

The miniature paintings that are being showcased range from the majesty of the court that depicts maharajas and their palaces, love stories of kings and images from everyday life. One of the paintings by Kailash Chand Tiwari of Jaipur has an intricate background with lush foliage and formal front lines of flowers which depicts a love scene between Radha and Krishna. Another delightful painting by Nathulal Verma of Jaipur with muted colours depicts ‘dasis’ doing make-up of their ‘maharani’ while she is busy looking at a beautiful rose.

Some of the paintings embody the very essence of Rajasthani Rajput painting. They illustrate several verses from the epics. These vibrant paintings depict nearly every detail mentioned in the text.

The paintings are works of artists in the age group between 35 and 78 years.

The prominent artists whose works are being showcased include Abbas Batliwala of Udaipur, Asha Samrati of Sujangarh, Amit Rajvanshi of Ajmer, KL Verma of Sambhar, Basant Kashyap of Nathdwara, Mamata Chaturvedi of Jaipur, Pawan Kumar of Kishangarh, Shail Choyal of Udaipur and many others.

Out of the many techniques and mediums of art introduced during the past few decades, the recently-invented acrylic paint seems to supersede all of them because of its easy availability in the market.

Jawahar Kala Kendra director M.K. Sharma, who is coordinating the exhibition, said the contemporary art of Rajasthan has one common bond - warm colours and decorative nature. “Our attempt is to include all medias and works of major artists of the desert state working at different places”, he said.

The exhibition was inaugurated by Divya Himachal editor Anil Soni. Rajendra Rajan, a noted literary figure, Ramesh Chandra, curator of the local museum, and Dr Karam Singh, district language officer, were among others who were present on the occasion.

The general impression about Himachal Pradesh being a peaceful state has eroded over the recent years with the growing incidences of corruption and use of money and muscle power in politics.

The violent clash between BJP and Congress workers at Kangra, as reported in these columns in the May 2 edition, is a reflection of such a trend. Increasing politicisation of most sections of society and its institutions has made political affiliations lucrative. In this age of consumerism and highly insecure future, politics is seen as a shortcut to realise materialistic objectives. It is the main reason why most people in politics aspire for higher stature and fight for important portfolios.

Rakesh K. Sharma

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