Nahan, May 17
Over 3,000 angry Sikhs took out a protest march in Paonta town to protest against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Baba Ram Rahim.

School authorities had declared a holiday today keeping in view the spurt of violence in the neighbouring states on the issue.

Shimla, May 17
The police has registered an FIR against Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh brother-in-law Vir Vikram Sen for allegedly beating up a police sub-inspector at the Junga police line, last night.

The incident took place near the police line in Junga at around midnight.

Sub-inspector Bala Nand Kainthala in the FIR has alleged that he was beaten up by Vir Vikram Sen and three others.

He said the problem began when he asked Sen and his friends to stop blowing the horn in the night.

He said this infuriated Sen, who along with his friends allegedly beat him up.

According to him, one Giriraj was also beaten up when he tried to intervene.

An FIR has been registered in the Dhalli police station under Sections 451, 323, 504 and 34 of the IPC.

Sen said he had honked as a car was parked on the road, which drove off towards Chail.

“Later when the sub-inspector said as to why I was honking I apologised but since he was drunk he started misbehaving with me,” he said.

He added that seeing the sub-inspector drunk, he called up the police post in Junga and asked them to get his medical check up done.

He denied beating up the sub-inspector or anyone else.

Shimla, May 17
Former Union minister Shanta Kumar said today the Congress would have to be voted out of power, both at the Centre as well as the state, to rid the country of poverty, terrorism and discrimination.

The BJP campaign for the local MC gained momentum with Shanta Kumar holding two public meetings at Tutu and Chakkar, here today.

Shanta Kumar will be addressing six public meetings at Summer Hill, Cemetery, Sanjauli, Patiog, Ramnagar and Nabha.

He said despite increase in the production of wheat and sugar, the prices were beyond the reach of the common man.

“During the NDA regime, the godowns were overflowing with grains and prices were very much under control,” he said.

He accused the Centre of importing wheat and sugar only to make commission.

“The government has no control over the prices as there is no monitoring system which has led to sky rocketing prices,” he remarked.

He added that it was due to the wrong policies of the UPA regime that the youth and farmers had been compelled to commit suicide.

He said there was rampant corruption in the state and a beginning would have to be made to check this by voting against the Congress in the MC polls.

“Despite the entire government camping in Hamirpur and Shimla, the BJP will win the Lok Sabha election by a huge margin and gain control over the MC,” he said.

He said the BJP on being voted to power in the MC, it would take care of basic facilities like water and sewerage, which the Congress had failed to provide.

He added that efforts would be made to promote Shimla as an international tourist destination.

The BJP leader has been entrusted the responsibility of campaigning for the party in the prestigious MC polls, as Former Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal has been confined to the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat.

Shimla, May 17
The BJP today threatened that in case the State Election Commission (SEC) does not take action on the issue of bogus votes for the forthcoming municipal corporation elections, the party would be forced to take extreme steps.

State BJP secretary H.N. Kashyap met election commissioner, Rajendra Bhattacharya, and requested her to look into the issue of bogus votes.

“She has assured us that the BJP would be informed about the commission’s action in this regard by 5 pm tomorrow,” he said.

Kashyap said that despite their repeated requests to the SEC in this regard, no action had been taken so far.

“The BJP workers will be forced to take some extreme steps in case the SEC does not take any action by May 19,” he said. — TNS

Shimla, May 17
Indiscriminate dumping of debris on the hill slopes near Darni ka Bagicha on the bypass road is causing irretrievable damage to the forests and is polluting the Ashwini khad.

The unscientific disposal of muck is not only devouring the green cover but is also ruining the aesthetic charm of the beautiful hillside.

The heap of debris that is piling-up in the dense deodar forest appears like an ugly scar on the face of the hill slopes.

The mountain of muck is spreading in all directions, destroying vegetation, and choking the nullah.

It is finally washed into the Ashwini Khad, contaminating the main source of water supply to Solan and a number of other villages.

The devastation of the green cover continues as the municipal corporation and the Public Works Department have failed to provide proper sites for the dumping of debris.

In hills, large quantities of earth has to be escalated during the construction of buildings which generate truck loads of muck.

With no earmarked sites, the builders throw muck on the hill slopes with most of the muck being disposed off at Darni ka Bagicha.

Principal chief conservator for forests Pankaj Khullar admits the department had not paid due attention to the problem and said he had issued instructions to the concerned officers to take strict action.

To deal with the problem, the MC will have to create dumping sites in various parts of town.

Shimla, May 17
While reiterating that his doors are always open for talks, Himachal Pradesh University Vice-Chancellor Anil Wilson said today that he had no other option but to go by the university ordinance stipulating the condition of 75 per cent attendance.

There is a virtual stalemate between the university authorities and the Students Central Council (SCA), with the latter proceeding on an indefinite fast after talks with Dean of Studies Shiv Raj and the SCA failedlast evening.

“Our concern should be the larger welfare of Himachal Pradesh University rather than protection of the interest of a section or class,” he said.

Nurpur, May 17
The detection of symptoms of paralysis in 18-month-old Nikhil of Kyala village in Hadal gram panchayat in this subdivision has put the Health Department on high alert to rule out any case of polio.

Nikhil was admitted to the local civil hospital last week with symptoms of paralysis.

The hospital conducted all clinical tests on the kid and sent his stool to the Central Research Institute (CRI) at Kasauli to rule out the possibility of polio.

According to Kangra CMO Kangra J.S.Chandel the CRI report is awaited.

Ruling out the possibility of polio he clarified that the symptoms were of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP).

It is learnt that similar symptoms have been found in nine children in Kangra district so far and all were found negative for polio.

Meanwhile, the Health Department is undertaking special immunisation for 500 children in the Hadal gram panchayat on May 20.

Nurpur, May 17
A number of families of the town fell prey to mobile quacks from West Bengal who were moving in the town in three groups yesterday.

These quacks knocked the doors of those hapless families in ward number 2, 4 and 9 whose members had been ailing since a long time.

They assured them of recovery free of cost. The modus operandi of the quacks was simple.

They prescribed and handed over a list of expensive ayurvedic medicines to the families who bought them from the market.

In the list one medicine was not available from the chemists.

They convinced the patient families that medicine was requisite part of the ayurvedic formula to be prepared for the miraculous treatment and they were having that with them.

They allegedly swindled Rs 9,000 from the families against that medicine.

In ward number 4, one resident, Yogesh Sundri, suspected foul play in it.

He immediately caught them and managed to return money to all three families.

They were not handed over to the police. They were let off by the residents with the condition they would not be seen in the area, henceforth.

The defrauded families, however, got their money back but thousands of rupees were already wasted in purchasing the ayurvedic medicines.

Kangra, May 17
The Canadian High Commissioner to India, David M Malone, while praising the progress made by Himachal Pradesh, said India which he saw as a boy of 10 was now totally different from what it used to be.

Malone shared these views with divisional commissioner B.K. Aggarwal and DC Bharat Khera in a meeting today at Dharamsala.

Consul General, Helen Economo Amundsen of the Consulate General of Canada at Chandigarh, was also present at the meeting.

Malone said the state had amazingly kept its population under control and heavy social investments made by the state government had paved its way towards prosperity and praised the state’s growing economy.

He appreciated the steps taken by the state government to boost tourism and said road and air services had improved a lot.

He said working with Indian scholars in the UN Assembly gave him many reasons to smile upon and his stay in India since September, 2006, provided him a good opportunity to see India closely .

Divisional commissioner B.K. Aggarwal briefing him about the journey of progress made by the state, said the people were now taking off-season vegetables, floriculture, and horticulture, as their main occupation.

Aggarwal said incentives given by the central government had brought industrial revolution, with Solan and Sirmour districts, emerging as industrial hubs of the state.

Aggarwal said tourism saw new heights and the up-gradation of the Gaggal Airport was very encouraging.

Mandi, May 17
The district police today resolved the dispute between the Pandoh residents and Pandoh-based 3rd IRB Battalion.

Both representatives of Pandoh panchayat and officials of the battalion gave an assurance that they would cooperate with each other so that such incidents did not recur in future.

The assurance of cooperation was endorsed by commandant 3rd battalion Asif Jalal, representatives of Byopar Mandal and Pandoh gram panchayat at a meeting in Pandoh today which was chaired by Mandi SP M. Chander Sekhar along with Mandi ASP Rajesh Dharmani.

Representatives of traders and gram panchayat Pandoh pleaded that they have no tussle with the battalion as such as their only grudge was that the jawans created an atmosphere of fear that day.

“The commandant has assured that they would work as a community and would not allow such a thing to happen again”, they added.

The SP said the matter had been resolved as the 3rd battalion would cooperate with local representatives of the gram panchayat and traders to deal with local problem so that such things do not recur.

When asked about as to what would happen to the 13 jawans who were booked for hooliganism Chander Sekhar said the police would continue with the investigations and if found guilty they would be punished as per the provision of law.

Nahan, May 17
Close on the heels of its victory in UP, the BSP has launched its statewide awareness campaign in Himachal Pradesh from Paonta Sahib.

Under the leadership of BSP general secretary Man Singh Manhera, BSP workers from different parts of the district took out a rally in Paonta Sahib.

Addressing the rally Manhera called upon the workers to prepare themselves for the forthcoming Assembly elections in Himachal.

The BSP had decided to contest all t68 seats, said Manhera, amidst the slogans of ‘UP hamari hai ab Himachal ki bari hai’.

Saying that the ultimate goal of the BSP was ‘to capture Delhi’, he levelled several charges of corruption against the UPA government, alleging that the government was patronising corrupt politicians, officers and businessmen.

During the 10-day awareness campaign Manhera would cover more than 5,000 km on foot and address 10 rallies in every Assembly segment.

In the first phase of awareness, BSP policies and programmes would be conveyed to the people.

The Tribune had highlighted their plight in the story ‘Hospital closure hits leprosy patients hard’ dated January 29, 2007.

Chief medical officer D.R. Galfat said leprosy patients were welcome for treatment and could get admitted for all requisite care.

Nahan, May 17
Three houses were gutted today in Rug Bakhot village under Dahan Panchyat in the Rajgarh area.

Rajgarh SDM Vivek Chandel said this evening that the fire broke out at 4 am due to electric short circuit.

He said that Rs 2,000 each had been disbursed to each of the affected family as an immediate relief.

Shimla, May 17
Making a scathing attack on the BJP, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said today that the saffron party had always been playing with the sentiments of the people and dividing them in the name of region, caste and religion to achieve its ulterior motives of coming to power which still was a distant dream.

“The BJP has always been blackmailing the people emotionally and dividing them in the name of region, caste and religion to achieve its ulterior motive of coming to power,” the CM said.

He was addressing election meetings at Berthin, Jhanduta and Jejhwin in favour of Congress candidate for Hamirpur parliamentary seat Ram Lal Thakur.

The people of the hill state had seen the real face of the saffron party and could not be misled anymore by the BJP, he said.

On the contrary, the Congress was a nationalist partywhich gave top priority to national integration, welfare and socio-economic uplift of the downtrodden, he said.

Taking a potshot at BJP nominee from Hamirpur Prem Kumar Dhumal, Virbhadra said he remained Chief Minister for five years but could not initiate any programme for the benefit of the hill state.

“The Congress government formulated the biggest rural water supply scheme in Dhumal’s assembly segment of Bamsan,” he claimed. — PTI

It hopes to achieve a turnover in excess of Rs 150 crore during the year.

Shimla, May 17
Governor V.S. Kokje inaugurated the yog vigyan shivir organised by the local Guru Nanak Dev Samaj Kalyan Evam Shikshan Sansthan, at Jathia devi, near here, today.

He said the camp would go a long way in promoting yoga which played a vital role in improving the quality of life by keeping individuals mentally and physically fit.

He said it was important to combat stress and strains of the highly competitive modern world.