Shimla, May 9
With campaigning for the municipal corporation elections gaining momentum, water shortage is emerging as the main issue.

The BJP is blaming the Congress for the perennial water crisis plaguing the city and using the recent outbreak of jaundice to attack it. Suresh Bhardwaj, former state BJP chief, who is overall in charge of the campaign, has been devoting maximum time to the issue at every corner meeting.

The Congress, he asserts, has only been doing lip service to the residents and it has done nothing to enhance the water supply. The present water supply system was put in place by the British and augmented after Independence only once in 1991 by the then BJP government.

The Congress had only announced big schemes to cater to the growing demand from time to time that were never implemented, he said. Initially, it talked of bringing water from the Sutlej, then the Giri and now from the Pabbar.

The Congress has also taken up the issue seriously and announced that the water supply scheme based on the Giri would be commissioned on October 2 this year after which the residents would be provided water twice a day. It has also announced that a Rs 500-crore scheme would be implemented to bring water from Pabbar to find a permanent solution to the problem.

Meanwhile, the BJP opened election offices with fanfare in five more wards, while the Congress constituted committees of its frontal organisations, including the NSUI, the Youth Congress and the Sewa Dal, to effectively carry out its campaign.

Shimla, May 9
The Congress candidate Ram Lal Thakur will file his nomination papers for the Hamirpur parliamentary elections on May 12. Giving the information, district Congress committee spokesman Deepak Sharma said before filing the nomination, the party would organise a massive rally on the same day in Hamirpur.

He said Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and president of the Himachal Pradesh Congress committee Viplov Thakur would address the rally.

Hamirpur: Independent candidate Amin Chand, a resident of Duhak village under Sujanpur tehsil, filed his nomination papers for the Hamirpur Lok Sabha byelection on the second day of nominations on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, The Saw Millers and Workers Union has decided to field its candidate from Hamirpur, a spokesman for the union said. The union also blamed the government for the sorry plight of its members.

BILASPUR: District Magistrate-cum-district election officer Rajendra Singh said that 330 polling stations had been set up in the district for the Hamirpur Parliamentary byelection.

He said out of these, 3,998 were service voters, 1,34,272 male voters and 1,31,580 female voters. He said a total of 53 polling stations had been identified as super-sensitive and 45 sensitive polling stations in all four assembly segments of the district.

Meanwhile, he has passed an order under Section 144 of the IPC, which pertains to the banning of publically carrying of all types of arms and ammunitions and explosives throughout the district from May 9 till June 8. He said this was done to ensure that elections were conducted in a peaceful manner. 

Kangra, May 9
Principal secretary Health and Family Welfare Harinder Heera today categorically stated that there was ‘no question’ to accept the demand of the Himachal Pradesh Medical

Officers to withdraw the notification regarding the increase in their age limit for VRS from 45 to 55 years and service time from 20 to 30 years.

Heera stated this while talking to The Tribune during her one day-visit to Dr R.P. Government Medical College at Tanda today.

She said it was not possible to reverse the decision because hospitals in the state were already falling short of doctors. She said she wanted to know why the medical officers were keen for VRS when they were being paid the best in the country and were provided the best service conditions. She said if the doctors went on VRS, it would hamper work in the hospitals.

When questioned that the medical officers were not being paid satisfactory PG increments, she said the PG increments to doctors were being paid at par with Punjab, but they were demanding higher increments which was under the active consideration of the government.

Heera today attended a day-long meeting with the authorities to discuss the modalities for shifting of the Dr R.P. Government Medical College hospital from Dharamsala to the new building at Tanda by the end of this month. She said the Chief Minister had directed the Health Department authorities to shift the hospital to the new building by the end of this month and she hoped that they would meet the dead line.

Shimla, May 9
The high court today held that a workman is entitled to gratuity even for the period he served as a daily-wager before regularisation.

The order was passed by Mr Justice Rajeev Sharma. He said if a workman worked in two different spells in different capacities, he would be entitled to get the benefit of both Acts, that is the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, and the Pension Rules, 1972. The workman would be entitled to gratuity for the period he served as a daily-wager under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, and for the rest of the period after his regularisation to superannuation under the Pension Rules, 1972.

“Both legislation can co-exist and can operate simultaneously,” the court said. There would not be any conflict while implementing the Acts in case of workmen even if the nature of their appointment varied from time to time. The court directed that the copy of this judgement be sent to the secretary, labour and employment, for distribution to the controlling as well as the appellate authority constituted under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972.

Mandi, May 9
The Sundernagar police today arrested the doctor who had been absconding after allegedly beating up a fellow pharmacist at the Dehar Primary Health Centre on May 5.

The police said the doctor had been identified as Saurabh Sharma and he would face charges under Sections 353 and 332 of the IPC for causing injury to a government servant in office.

Pharmacist Ramesh Gupta was thrashed by the doctor after they entered into a heated argument at the health centre. Ramesh later lodged an FIR against the doctor.

The accused doctor had gone missing after the incident. He would be produced before a judge tomorrow.

Nahan, May 9
Chief Judicial Magistrate R.K. Sharma awarded six-month imprisonment to former Director of M/s Golden Project Limited Rupinder Thakur in connection with a case registered under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, here yesterday. Thakur is based at Nahan.

A fine of Rs 2,000 was also imposed on him and in case of default in payment, he would have to undergo imprisonment for further 2 months. The convict was also ordered to pay Rs 4.41 lakh (double the amount of the cheque for Rs 2,20,500).

Complainant Madan Sarup Gupta had invested Rs 73,500 with the said company for five years on November 27, 1996. However, the maturity cheque bounced due to insufficient funds in the accounts of the company.

Dharamsala, May 9
The Union Ministry of Rural Development today sanctioned Rs 19.48 crore to Himachal towards part payment of the first instalment of funds against the provisional allocation of Rs 116.90 crore for the hill state under the accelerated rural water supply programme of the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission.

The amount sanctioned is a part of the allocation under this scheme for the current financial year. The balance amount would be released after the receipt of the auditor- general's report for 2004-05.

A senior official said that Rs 9.33 lakh had been released as a part of the first instalment of the accelerated rural water supply programme funds against the total allocation of Rs.56lakh for the financial year 2007-08.

Up to 15 per cent of these funds may be utilised for operation and maintenance and up to 5 per cent may be spent on taking sustainability measures, said the official.

Meanwhile, the union government has asked the hill state to delegate powers for management of rural water supply schemes through the panchayati raj institutions .

No expenditure should be incurred on taking up water quality problems as there is a separate allocation for the purpose, advised the union government.

This allocation is for the execution and completion of schemes to provide safe drinking water to rural habitations and schools, added the official.

Dharamsala, May 9
The District and Sessions Court of Kangra based at Dharamsala today sentenced one person to a rigorous imprisonment of 10 years for raping two minor sisters and another two years for threatening to kill them along with a fine of Rs 25,000 that would be paid as compensation to the victims.

The two minor sisters, who are partially mentally challenged, were raped by one Tarlok Singh, alias Toka, a resident of Nagri village of Palampur subdivision, at their house in February 2006, when their father was not at home.

The accused had come to attend a family function in the victims’ village. He entered the house of the victims and sexually assaulted them. He first raped the elder sister who was 15 years and six months old at that time, and then he raped the younger one who was 14 years old at the time of the incident.

The girls were able to recognise the culprit. The mother of the victims was at home at the time of the incident but she was sleeping in the other room, so she did not come to know of it.

When the village women observed teeth marks on the cheeks of the victims, they questioned the girls and then the girls told them about the incident. A local women organisation persuaded the parents of the girls to go to the police and report the incident.

A case was registered at the Palampur police station against the accused. A medical examination was conducted on the girls which confirmed that they were raped. The trial lasted for almost a year and today, additional district and K.S. Chandel session’s judge sentenced Tarlok Singh. 

Dharamsala, May 9
The zila parishad of Kangra has threatened both union and state governments to launch an agitation if its participation in the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) scheme was not ensured on the pattern of Sampooran Grameen Rozgaar Yojana (SGRY) scheme.

Members of the zila parishad met here under the chairmanship of Des Raj Bagi to discuss the situation that had emerged after the scrapping of the SGRY scheme in the district following the introduction of the NREG scheme.

Bagi said participation of the parishad in the formulation of policy and disbursement of funds that they used to enjoy in the SGRY scheme, had been taken back by the government after the NREG scheme was launched.

It may be mentioned that in the SGRY scheme, 50 per cent of the policy making and financial disbursement powers were vested directly in the hands of the gram sabha and panchayats, 30 per cent in the hands of the panchayat samiti and 20 per cent in the hands of the zila parishad.

However, after the launching of the NREG scheme in the district, the policy making and financial disbursement powers of both the panchayat samiti and the zila parishad had been reduced to nothing. Gram panchayats and sabhas have been vested with all the powers.

The zila parishad members passed an unanimous resolution to launch a stir against the union as well as the state government if their financial and policy making powers were not restored soon.

After the meeting, members of the parishad along with Bagi met District Magistrate Bharat Khera, to hand over a memorandum addressed to the Prime Minister, demanding restoration of powers of the zila parishad.

Light to moderate rains lashed almost all places in Kullu, Mandi, Solan, Sirmaur, Kangra, Kinnuar and Shimla districts, recording a fall in the minimum temperatures.

The met office said rain followed by hailstorm had damaged apple crop in Kullu and Shimla districts, causing huge losses to horticulturists.

The rains had brought down the mercury by several degrees below normal, forcing many to pull out their woollens in Shimla.

The higher altitude areas of Lahaul Spiti and Kinnaur districts received mild spell of snowfall yesterday with the Baggi, Ranadi, Kalbog and Kairi areas in Shimla district recording hailstorm this morning.

The met office said the minimum temperature of Shimla town dropped to 10.6°C, as compared to 14.7 °C recorded yesterday.

Sundernagar recorded 12.4 mm of rains, Bhuntar, 10.5, Kalpa 2.5 mm, Solan 2.8 mm, Palampur 2.6 mm, Nahan 16 mm, Bhang Manali two mm and Dhundi 2.5 mm of rain, it said.

It said the minimum at Sundernagar and Bhuntar dropped to 16.8 °C and 13.1 °C as compared to 18.2 °C and 14.6°C respectively.

Both Solan and Palampur recorded minimum temperatures of 16.5 °C, Nahan 21.2°C, Una 19°C, Bhang Manali 10°C, Dhundhi 6.5°C and Patsio 0°C.

Shimla, however, recorded a maximum temperature of 24.9 °C as compared to 25.1 °C. The sky over Shimla and other adjoining areas was overcast during the second half of the day after the sun played hide and seek early today.