Dharamsala, May 20
The police last night arrested regional manager Mahinder Singh Rana and inspector Sudarshan Kumar of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) in connection with the HRTC scam that came to light in April.

Both of them were produced in a local court today that remanded them in police custody for three days.

An FIR in connection with the scam was lodged at the Dharamsala police station on the complaint of Shrikant Baldi, managing director of the corporation, in the first week of May. A separate inquiry by the state vigilance and the anti-corruption bureau in this regard was also in progress.

Both officials had applied for anticipatory bail earlier this week, but the court rejected their applications.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the total embezzlement of funds by both officials was around Rs 4.6 million. The HRTC had already provided an audit report of around 800 pages to the police that established the embezzlement of funds.

In one of the incidents, the regional manager had fraudulently taken away Rs 3 lakh collected in the form of parking fee from private bus operators at the Kangra bus stand. Later, admitting to the offence, he deposited the amount in the accounts of the HRTC.

He had also allegedly deployed HRTC buses on special tours for schools, colleges, institutions and individuals and collected huge amounts of money as rent but never deposited these in the accounts of the HRTC.

He allegedly misused the buses owned by the corporation on more than 300 occasions. The total amount collected by him in that regard had been calculated at more than Rs 2.5 million. Many more cases of misappropriation of funds were also being investigated into by the police.

Shimla, May 20
Sahib Singh Verma, BJP national vice-president, has charged Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh for misusing the state helicopter for election campaigning and said his party would lodge a complaint with both the State and Central Election Commissions regarding it.

He said the Chief Minister who was campaigning in Hamirpur , flew in a state-leased helicopter to Shimla to join the campaign for the municipal corporation poll. He said it was a blatant violation of the model code of conduct for the elections.

He said the code of conduct was being observed only in breach which was evident from the fact that hoardings highlighting the achievements of the government had not been removed yet and almost all of them carried the photographs of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Virbhadra Singh.

Ministers were moving from ward-to-ward in their official vehicles sporting red lights to seek votes and the election rally of the Chief Minister was held in the premises of the State Road Transport Corporation, he added.

He said the Congress was threatening poor slum dwellers that their dwellings would be demolished if they did not vote for the Congress.

He said the Congress did not do anything to improve the infrastructure of the state and said if the BJP won the polls, it would provide many facilities to the people within a period of six months.

Despite the misuse of government machinery by the Congress, the BJP would win the Hamirpur poll by a record margin.

Mandi, May 20
An organised racket of forest mafia has come to light in four forests in the Ropa-Kandi belt of Mandi district. The revelation came to light in an inquiry report submitted to the government by the forest flying squad a few days ago. The government has decided to fix responsibility in the case, officials said.

The flying squad inquiry into the illegal felling of trees in the Panarsa forest range revealed that over 282 trees, mainly deodars, were felled illegally in the forests of Sakrunala, Dugesti, Laksal and Jamu nala over the past three years.

It was reportedly due to the active role played by members of the mahila mandal, Ropa, that the illegal act came to light. Members of the organisation volunteered and accompanied the team pointing out illegal felling of trees in forests.

In fact, timber smugglers were having a free run on the Kamand-Katola-Kandi-Ropa-Bajaura road that passes through the deodar-rich belt in Chehtigarh panchayat.

The smuggled timber finds easy markets in Mandi-Paddar-Jogindernagar-Sundernagar belt through the Katindi barrier and in Kullu, Bhuntar and the Bajaura-Panarsa belt through Bajaua barrier on the National Highway No. 21.

The Katindi and Bajaura barriers are serving no purpose in checking timber smuggling as “three private sale depots run by the forest department have free access to the timber in the jungle as these depots-cum-saw mills are stationed within the Bajaura barrier,” sources say.

Principal chief conservator of forests Pankaj Khullar said: “The inquiry report has been submitted to the government and the department will fix responsibility in the matter. There is only one guard to handle three beats and barriers are being relocated to keep a watch on the smugglers.”

Principal secretary (forests) Ashok Thakur said the government had received the report and would soon take an action on it.

Shimla, May 20
The 59-km stretch of the Hindustan-Tibet road between Phagu and Kumarsain will be widened and improved at a cost of Rs 28 crore, said Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh after inaugurating a Rs 20-lakh tourist hut at the Hatu Peak in Narkanda for the convenience of trekkers and tourists scaling the peak as part of adventure tourism. He also paid obeisance at the shrine of Goddess Hatu.

The Chief Minister said the government had taken up the road construction and improvement programme in a big way. In addition to the construction of new roads, the existing ones were being improved and widened for smooth driving. The Hindustan-Tibet road was one of the oldest and important roads connecting the state with the rest of the country. The government had already sanctioned funds for the widening of a 10-km portion of the road and strengthening and tarring of the entire stretch between Phagu and Kumarsain.

He said that cutting work in all narrow portions had already been started and the road would be completed on war footing before the onset of the apple season so that the fruit growers did not find any inconvenience in marketing their produce.

Virbhadra Singh emphasised the need to speed up the codal formalities process and efforts needed to be made to complete the entire process, right from tendering to award of the projects within one month at the most. He said that the delay in award of such works resulted in delayed delivery of the benefits to the people of the area, besides escalation in the cost of project. With new innovations in road constructions and availability of advanced machinery, it was possible to complete works within a fixed time frame.

He said Rs 3 crore had been earmarked for development of the Narkanda area from the tourism point of view since it was a favourite spot for skiers, nature lovers and common tourists who thronged the place round the year. Under the tourism development project the existing infrastructure would be improved and strengthened to cater to the increased demand of the tourists, besides developing new destinations in the area for dispersal of tourism activities where all basic amenities would be created. By giving boost to the tourism promotional activities, the local youth would also be in a position to explore self- employment avenues.

Virbhadra Singh announced Rs 15 lakh for the development of the Hatu temple area, besides Rs 5 lakh for improvement of the temple complex.

Later, the Chief Minister laid the foundation stone of the integrated development of small and medium town development project of the Narkanda nagar panchayat to be constructed at a cost of Rs 1.20 crore. He also visited the Manan Devta temple.

Mandi, May 20
Fired with a mission to serve people, Chander Shekhar, additional chief organiser of Mandi sevadal, has chosen the Balidan Divas of late Rajiv Gandhi on May 21, to launch the Sankalp Padyatra from the Torkkola panchayat in his home constituency Dharampur, where the Congress has failed to secure a win since the last 15 years.

“Sevadal workers will go door-to-door meeting residents and will try to solve their problems”, said Chander Sekhar at the launch of his mission at his maiden press conference here.

Chander Sekhar a young leader in his thirties, has prepared colourful posters carrying pictures of Mahatma Gandhi, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, late Rajiv Gandhi and Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, elaborating the achievements of the Congress government since the past four years in the state.

He said the padyatra would start from the historic fort at Kamlah in Torkola panchayat, which was the weakest base of the Congress in Dharampur and would commence on October 2, and said the CM would be joining them that day.

He added they would go to each village in the 49 panchayats and seek the blessings at the Shaktipeeths of Awahdevi, Janitari Devi, Shiva mandir, and Sakrini Mata. 

Solan, May 20
The temporary halt on the appointment of teachers through the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) may have brought cheer to the hundreds of trained graduate teachers awaiting promotion as school cadre lecturers but it has exposed chinks in the Directorate of Secondary Education.

This fact came to the fore when a recent notification issued on April 28 by the directorate sought to put a temporary halt on further appointments by the PTA, orders had not been received at a number of districts. The notification clearly directs all deputy directors in the district headquarters to send a list of prevailing vacancies of school cadre lecturer to the directorate within three days through fax or a special messenger.

This would help the directorate to place more than 700 teachers in various schools. The fact that their Departmental Promotional Committee had already cleared the promotion of TGTs with postgraduate qualifications they were awaiting transfer orders eagerly. A chaotic situation had been created with the simultaneous filling of vacancies through the PTA as many a times it was found that a PTA-appointed teacher had already joined against a vacancy by the time a regular teacher came to join. The directorate has now put on hold PTA appointments till these vacancies are filled.

Interestingly, since some deputy directors had not received this notification they could not send their vacancy lists. Joint director K.K. Khanna said the notification was aimed at ensuring that there was no chaos and doubling of appointments at the same station. Since it created inconvenience to both appointees the notification had been issued as a temporary measure. He added the PTA appointments would be resumed once these DPC lecturers were transferred.

Himachal Government Teachers Union president P.R.Sankheyan said it was a long- awaited step and the PTA appointments should be totally done away with as they ignored merit and were often back-door entries of favourites. 

Shimla, May 20
Maninder Jeet Kaur of the Himalayan Research Group, a leading NGO engaged in scientific research and extension work, has been conferred the national award for women’s development through application of science and technology for 2006. She is the first recipient of the prestigious award from the hill state.

The award instituted by the Union Ministry for Science and Technology had been given in recognition of the pioneering work done by the young botanist in making technology accessible to women of the remote areas of the Himalayan region. The award carries a citation and a cash award of Rs 1,00,000.

Dr. Maninder has worked in the field of medicinal plants cultivation, mushroom cultivation and fodder management. Implementation of the model developed by the group had done miracles in improving the quality of life of rural women, especially of women belonging to Himachal Pradesh.

During her project implementation Maninder trained more than 1500 women in button mushroom cultivation in different parts of the state where women had a faint idea about wild edible mushrooms but were not aware of mushroom cultivation in living rooms and cowsheds.

Nahan, May 20
On account of long stagnation, resentment is reportedly brewing in the minds of officials of the State Treasury and Accounts Department.

The Tribune investigated that promotions to the post of junior assistant, senior assistant, superintendent and treasury officers, in the department had been hanging fire for the past over 10 to 15 years, despite the already existing vacancies.

At present about 18 vacant posts of treasury officers, about 14 of senior assistants, 5 of superintendents and 12 of junior assistants, have been lying vacant and due to this, subsequent promotions are being delayed and official work is being hampered.

For over two decades, there are reports that officials have been waiting for promotions despite the fact that the department is held by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh himself.

The Chief Minister had assured that he would solve the deadlock, said a junior assistant on the condition of anonymity.

When a senior officer was asked about the employees who had been in service for the past 15 to 20 years and would retire without promotion, he said many officials did not qualify for the existing posts.

He said by the end of this year, the department would explore new ways to fill in posts which were lying vacant.

Chamba, May 20
The extent to which the law and order situation is gradually deteriorating in Chamba district, can be well imagined from the press notes issued daily by the police department to the media centre.

A number of reports regarding thefts, criminal assaults, abduction, narcotic smuggling, and murders, are constantly occurring in the area.

These press notes are in fact, testimony of the prevailing law and order scenario in the district.

Lately, a case has been registered against a youth of Rajpura village in Chamba district, who allegedly kidnapped a girl of Kangra for marrying her forcibly. Following the report, the police launched a manhunt for the youth.

In another incident, popular folk singer of Kangra, Karnail Rana was abused, manhandled and even threatened at gun-point by a police constable who was accompanied by two other accomplices, including an employee of the Revenue Department and a lawyer of the area, after a musical concert.

The constable Manohar Lal was put under suspension and further investigations were going on, sources confirmed.

In the wake of such incessant criminal incidents in different parts of the district, has raised a big question mark on the safety and security of the people. 

Nahan, May 20
A dalit woman Sangeeta Devi, resident of Drabala Sanghthar near Rajgarh tehsil, was intercepted by a gang comprising 20 villagers who mercilessly beat her up in the absence of her husband who was away to Nahan. In a report filed at the Rajgarh police station, she said the gang destroyed her tomato crop and beans by ploughing her field and evicted the cows out of her gaushaala.

She narrated her tale of woe to SDM Vivek Chandel and Sirmaur SP J.P. Singh for police action against the culprits. The SDM has instructed DSP Bhagmal Thakur to take urgent action against the accused villagers. —TNS

Hamirpur, May 20
The spurt in the cases of telephone cable thefts of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) lines in many parts of the district is giving sleepless nights to the BSNL officials and now the police has launched a drive to catch the thieves.

During the past fortnight, about 12 cases of cable theft have been reported paralysing the communication service in different parts of the town.

BSNL officials told The Tribune that telephone cables had been stolen from Lamblu, Balhot, Brahmi, Kariala, Sastar, Kakri, Boat colony, Ghanal, Kanyala, Lahel and from Guma.

“Not only are the cable thieves active in rural areas but also in the town. Cable from the main bazaar has been stolen and 2-3 cases are reported daily with 200 to 400 meters lengths taken away” the officials added.

The BSNL officials are finding it difficult to restore communication links as it takes a lot of time to put new cables where the WLL facility is not available.

General manager of BSNL A.L. Singh said, “We are facing a lot of problem in maintaining communication links due to large incidents of cable thefts.”

Superintendent of police Hamirpur, Ganeshewar Singh, when contacted told The Tribune that they had formed joint patrolling parties in every Thana with the DSP acting as the nodal officer to check the cases of theft and had launched a drive against the receivers of cable in the market.