Mandi, May 15
The Mandi district police today booked 13 police personnel from the Pandoh-based 3rd Battalion in connection with a case of hooliganism in which the jawans thrashed up five persons and roughed up a few others.

The police has identified the 13 jawans involved in the incident who went on rampage, thrashing up whosoever came in their way.

The incident took place at the Pandoh bazaar after the jawans were provoked by an earlier scuffle with taxi drivers.

They have been booked under bailable Sections of 147, 156, 323, 341 and 227 of the IPC. No arrests have been made so far.

Local residents, however, complained that if the police trained its jawans that way, they were no less than hooligans who caused fear in the minds of the people, rather than inspiring confidence among them.

They demanded the jawans should be held accountable for their rowdy and rude behaviour.

Senior police officials camped at the bazaar throughout the day to restore confidence among the people but the residents seemed to be scared of the jawans.

Meanwhile, medical reports of three of the five persons who sustained injuries who were thrashed up by the jawans are stated to be normal, the reports of the two other are still awaited.

The ASP, Mandi, Rajesh Dharmani, told The Tribune that peace had been restored at Pandoh and 13 jawans were being interrogated in connection with the case.

Hamirpur, May 15
Ten candidates have filed nominations for the Hamirpur byelection. Today was the last day for filing nominations.

Besides, BJP candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal, his covering candidate Sat Pal and Congress candidate Ram Lal Thakur, seven Independent candidates, namely Amin Chand, Subhash Chand, Brij Lal, Matawar Singh, Sabardeen, Desh Raj and Prem Singh, have filed nominations.

The scrutiny of the nomination papers will be undertaken tomorrow and withdrawals will be allowed on May 18.

Shimla, May 15
Facing rebellion within the party in almost four wards, the BJP today managed to compel its party worker and independent candidate from the Annadale ward Rattan Chand Sharma to withdraw in favour of official nominee.

Sharma, whose wife Swarna Devi is a sitting BJP councillor today withdrew from the contest in favour of the BJP candidate Pradeep Kashyap.

It was after a lot of persuasion from state party chief Jai Ram Thakur and MP Suresh Bhardwaj managed to convince Sharma to withdraw from the contest.

Desperate to gain control over Shimla municipal corporation (MC), senior BJP leaders are trying their level best to convince rebels in three other wards to withdraw from the contest.

Unlike the ruling Congress, the BJP has not expelled any of the rebels from the party as efforts are still on to convince them to withdraw in favour of the BJP candidates.

Out of the other rebels, Paras Ram is contesting as an independent against the official BJP candidate Harnam Singh in the Dhalli ward.

Similarly, in the Tutu ward too the BJP is facing internal rebellion from party worker Roop Ram Shandil, who is still in the fray as an independent against BJP candidate Sagar Chand.

Jyoti Sharma of the BJP is contesting as an independent from the Bharari ward against BJP candidate Sanjeev Sood.

“We are hopeful that the rebel candidates in the Dhalli and Tutu wards will ultimately relent in favour of the BJP candidates,” said a senior leader.

Meanwhile, former Delhi Chief Minister and in charge of party affairs in Himachal Sahib Singh Verma today interacted with party workers from the Ram bazaar, Middle Bazar and Krishnanagar wards.

Shimla, May 15
The Congress has said that the statement of BJP vice-president Sahib Singh Verma that P.K. Dhumal, who is contesting the Hamirpur Lok Sabha byelection, could become the Chief Minister of the state reflected the leadership conflict in the party.

Stating this at a press conference, party general secretary Kuldeep Rathore said the statement given with the objective to cement the fragile unity would prove counter-productive and only accentuate the ongoing tussle for leadership.

If Dhumal was in race for the post of the Chief Minister, he should not contest the parliamentary byelection as assembly elections were just a few months away. The people would not be fooled by such gimmicks, he added.

Accusing the BJP of adopting double standards on the issue of corruption, he said a party that ruled the state for five years with the support of former union minister Sukh Ram had no locus standi to speak about morality in politics.

The party disrupted proceedings of Parliament for 13 days when money was recovered from his residence, but it had no qualms in forming the government with his support.

The fact that Suresh Chandel had not been expelled from the BJP despite his dismissal from the Lok Sabha being upheld by the Supreme Court in connection with “cash for question” scam showed the “party with a difference” in poor light, he said.

He said Chandel’s dismissal and corruption would be the main issues in the Hamirpur byelection.

He refuted the BJP charge that the detailed project report for the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission had not been approved and said the Centre had already released funds for the solid-waste management plant, Auckland House Tunnel and the housing project for the poor.

Shimla, May 15
District-level committees headed by deputy commissioners would monitor the price situation, availability, and distribution of ration under the public distribution system (PDS) on a weekly basis.

This was stated by chief secretary S.S. Parmar while presiding over a meeting of the state-level price monitoring committee today. He said the newly prepared 2.15 lakh ration cards were being distributed to the people through gram panchayats.

The civil supplies corporation sold pulses, mustard oil and iodised salt worth Rs 22.75 crore in April to various fair-price shops, he added.

Bilaspur, May 15
Three persons were killed and six injured, five of them seriously, in various accidents here.

A tractor overturned on the Bhallu-Billor road in the Balghad gram panchayat area. Sanjeev Kumar (23) of Prahu village and Gyanchand of Gharad village died on the spot, while Raj Kumar, Purshottam Chand, both of Parahoo village, and Harpreet of Nangal were seriously injured. Driver Jaipal escaped with minor injuries. The injured were taken to the PHC, Jhandutta.

Tehsildar G.R. Bansal gave Rs 5,000 to the families of each deceased and Rs 2,000 to the injured on behalf of government.

In another incident, Dipak of Rona Jagatkhana village was killed after he fell off the tractor in which he was travelling and was crushed under its tyre on the Panjpiri-Jagatkhana road.

Brijlal and Rakesh, both of Rohin village, were injured when their scooter collided with jeep on the industrial area road near Ali Khud bridge. They were taken to the district hospital from where they were referred to the PGI Chandigarh.

Kangra, May 15
Kangra II additional district sessions judge K.S.Chandel today convicted three accused persons for gang raping a class X student of Dhera in 2003 and sentenced them to 10-year rigorous imprisonment and fine of Rs 25,000 each.

Deputy District Attorney B. K. Marwha, said today the court under Section 376 of the IPC sentenced two accused persons Ravi Kumar and Mohan Lal who had raped a class X student after kidnapping her, to 10-year rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 25,000 each to be paid as a compensation to the victim and in default they would have to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two more years.

He said both the accused persons were sentenced to seven year RI and Rs 10,000 was fined under each Section of 363 and 366 of the IPC and in default of payment of fine as compensation to the victim both the victims will have to undergo further one year RI.

Marwha said under Section 376 of the IPC the third accused in the case, Surjeet, was also sentenced to10-year RI and Rs 25,000 fine to be paid to the victim as compensation and in default of payment of fine he will have to undergo RI for two more years.

Nahan, May 15
A large number of youth living in the district and adjoining area are fast taking to drugs in the absence of frequent raids on drug peddlers.

Drug peddlers like Vinod and Kailash, who had a flourishing business, are now undergoing trial in the local court of chief judicial magistrate, district drug inspector Kapil Dhiman said.

Local chemists too have a thriving business as there is no check on them.

The drugs being used include opium, smack, country-made liquor, poppy husk, painkillers, corex, rexcof, proxyvon and many others are being consumed indiscriminately.

Dhiman claimed that though more than hundred samples were taken for chemical examination this year, yet the results were being awaited.

In the past year no sample was declared unfit as these samples did not fall in the ambit of sub-standard parameters.

The youth get very easily addicted to drugs on account of easy availability in the market.

Locally-based NGO PACE co-ordinator Ajay Saini said one of the prominent reasons for addiction was a rise in unemployment rate.

SP Jai Prakash Singh has chalked out a strategy to hold lectures in various schools and colleges to educate youth about evils of drugs.

The police force nevertheless remains helpless to control the rising menace as they can not conduct raids on defaulters without the concurrence of the medical authorities.

He added that drug abuse had been gaining alarming proportions and spreading its tentacles in the district and adequate measures were needed to curb it.

Shimla, May 15
The high court has reduced the sentence awarded to the accused by a fast-track court at Shimla from 10 years to 5 years in a charas recovery case on the ground that the quantity of the charas was lesser than the commercial quantity.

While partly allowing the appeals filed by the accused a division bench comprising Mr Justice Surjit Singh and Mr Justice Sanjay Karol held that as per the report submitted by the chemical examiner it is clear that the quantity of the charas was 28 percent.

On the basis of the report of the chemical examiner it is proved that the quantity of the charas was lesser than the commercial quantity.

As per the facts narrated in the appeal, the charas seized from the accused was 1.6 kg. If the quantity was calculated on the basis of chemical examination, it would be 462 gm. What constituted the remaining part of the material seized was not clear in the report, the court said.

A fast-track court at Shimla had awarded 10-year sentence to the accused, besides a fine of Rs 1 lakh.

The accused challenged the order in the high court on the ground that the material seized was not charas.

Shimla, May 15
Governor V.S. Kokje inaugurated a photo exhibition entitled “Jerusalem in old maps” organised by the Department of Language, Art and Culture in collaboration with the Israel Embassy, here today.

Kokje said India, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Babylon, Syria and Jerusalem had the distinction of being the oldest civilisations in the worlds which were rich in cultural and artistic traditions.

He said India had cordial relations with Israel which would be further strengthened with such activities.

The Governor evinced keen interest in the exhibits which depicted the historical background of Jerusalem and also generated awareness about Israel among the artists.

There was small area under irrigation and the state wanted to imbibe the achievements of Himachal Pradesh, especially on the farm front.

Baddi, May 15
The core banking has revolutionised the banking sector in the country.

With this facility in hand, the bank account holders could avail all banking conveniences anywhere with same degree of satisfaction that they used to get from their original bank branch.

This was stated by P.L. Gairoal, CMD, Dena Bank, during the inauguration of a new bank branch here today.

He said: “Under core banking, your branch would travel with you. The core banking had opened up a vista of anywhere anytime banking. The customers’ service would now be available at a single window. The delays in remittances would become history with every customer would get a personal attention for all his or her needs”.

He said though many other banks had already ventured out into the core banking ahead of Dena Bank, it was the first to have brought in a number of software solutions integrated with core banking designed to meet the aspirations of its clientele. All new branches of the bank offered core banking to its bank customers, he asserted.

Highlighting the achievements, the CMD said the bank had already crossed over Rs 42,592 crore in terms of total business, up from Rs 38,371 crore last year. The bank’s net worth stands at Rs 1,013.93 crore, with its capital adequacy at 12.04 per cent, giving comfortable headroom for factoring in the needs of Basel II norms by March 2009.

Congress MLA from Doon Lajja Ram and Solan Zila Parishad chairman Ram Kumar were among others present on the occasion.