Dharamsala, May 31
Congress MLA and former tourism minister Major Vijay Singh Mankotia has announced to launch a “dharam yudh” in the state with the help of common people to expose corrupt politicians and bureaucrats.

Shimla, May 31
The HP High Court today issued notices to the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Major Vijay Singh Mankotia on the issue pertaining to restraining the print and electronic media from publishing/telecasting the contents of CD issued by the suspended Congress MLA, whereby allegations of corruption have been levelled against Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife, Pratibha Singh.

Hamirpur, May 31
The high-pitched campaign for the Hamirpur Lok Sabha byelection came to an end this evening with Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and BJP candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal holding a series of public meetings on the last day.

The campaign closed at 5 p.m. today after which political activists switched over to a door-to-door campaign.

All polilitical leaders and activists who have come from the outside are supposed to leave the Hamirpur constituency by this evening.

Addressing public meetings at Bhota, Kahodta and Bhoranj, Virbhadra Singh came down heavily against Mankotia and Dhumal.

Talking about the CD he said “this act is nothing more than a conspiracy hatched by Dhumal and Mankotia to take political mileage in the present election.”

Directly blaming Prem Kumar Dhumal for the CD he accused “this CD is a brainchild of Dhumal” He also carried his attack against BJP leaders for their role in alleged corruption charges.”

On the other hand Dhumal addressed public meetings at Matahani, Amroh, Chhaniyar and Salakad.

Dhumal blamed the present government for its faulty policy towards farmers of the lower region and said khair tree growers have suffered due to this policy.

He also dealt the issue of closure of sawmills and monkey menace in this region.

Bilaspur: Even as both BJP and the Congress are claiming a “comfortable win “as campaigning ends this evening, the voter has kept a studied silence in the four Assembly segments of Bilaspur falling in the Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency.

Voters are citing “rising prices and unemployment” as the issues which will decide their choice.

“I do not know whether people will vote on the basis of “the audio CD or cash-on-camera issues, but I think common people are more concerned about rising prices and unemployment”, said Dinesh Kumar of Rishikesh in the Gherwani segment, who represents the state’s over 7.46 lakh unemployed youth.

“I have not got any job for the past seven years after I have done a diploma in pharmacy.”

For Anif and Nassir Muhamad, who represent a sizeable Muslim community in the town, feel that the anti-incumbency factor will favourthe BJP this time.

Ashwani Gupta, a local optician, however, differs. “Kot Kahlur will give Ram Lal Thakur the maximum lead and the Congress is well-placed in Bilaspur this time”.

“Neither the audio CD nor cash-on- camera are issues here as people feel all use these for politicking”.

On the other hand, both state BJP president Jai Ram Thakur and Congress Bilaspur in charge Harsh Mahajan, who held corners meeting in the district on Thursday, claimed that their respective parties were on a winning trail in the four Assembly segments-Bilaspur Sadar, Geharwin, Ghumarwin and Kot Kahlur- that fall in the Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency.

Mandi, May 31
Even as the Forest Department is preparing to issue a show-cause notice to four suspended officers of Mandi division in the Panarsa illegal felling case, the forest staff and range officers’ unions have come out in support of these officers.

They have demanded revocation of the suspension order in 48 hours failing which they plan to launch a state-wide stir.

The Forest Ministerial Staff Association and the Forest Ranger Welfare Association held a meeting in support of the suspended officers.

Members of these unions said, “The government should make special arrangements to mange sensitive beats as employees have to face threat to life from the timber mafia in the absence of a proper security cover.”

They claimed in the present case, the forest teams had filed a damage report in case of 160 trees and recovered 90 cubic metre timber from the area.

“One cannot say that the officers did not take note of the illegal felling,” spokespersons of the unions claimed.

They said the suspension would encourage forest mafia and dampen the morale of the officers handling sensitive beats.

“Instead, the department should fill all vacant posts of guards and make special provisions for sensitive beats,” they said.

Principal chief conservator of forests Pankaj Khullar, however, said the department would not buckle down under any pressure.

The suspended officers would be given ample opportunity to present their case after the show-cause notices are issued to them shortly, he added.

Nahan, May 31
Illegal mining under the Yamuna bridge on the National Highway 72 at Paonta Sahib has been going on unchecked under the very nose of the local administration authorities.

On a recent visit to Paonta, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had said a Bill on regulating mechanised mining would be brought in the next Assembly session.

If the modalities were not complete, an ordinance could be promulgated to check illegal mining. However, nothing had been done in that direction so far.

According to sources, if the mining under the bridge was not stopped, it might lead to collapse of the bridge.

A bridge at Kala-Amb had come down crumbling last year after its support pillars were affected due to mining.

The bridge links HP and Uttarakhand. “Unchecked mining will certainly weaken the strength of the pillars of the bridge,” said district mining officer Ashok Sharma.

Truck and tractor-trailers can be seen ferrying sand, bazri and stones from there. A person said he paid Rs 950 per truckload to the contractor supervising the mining operations.

Deputy commissioner Rajinder Singh Negi said he had instructed the district mining officer and the SDM, Paonta, to intensify raid on the offenders.

Shimla, May 31
A circular rail line on the lines of metro connecting the proposed satellite townships and the existing tourist destinations to rid the ‘Queen of Hills’ of traffic congestion has been proposed in the transport plan under the city development plan.

Being one of the most important component of the city development plan (CDP), the detailed transport plan for the town has been prepared by the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department. The proposal was discussed at a high-level meeting of urban development, transport and PWD officials here today.

The transport plan will be implemented under the National Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

To ease traffic congestion in the town a circular rail line, aerial ropeways, bypasses, pedestrian bridges and conveyer belts, among others, has been proposed.

The proposed circular rail line will connect Shoghi, Kufri, Naldehra, Pabo, Ghannati, Ghandal, Jubbarhatti and Vaknaghat.

This will provide easy access to all these popular tourist destinations while providing connectivity to proposed satellite townships like Vaknaghat and Ghandal.

Another highlight of the transport plan is the pedestrian bridges at the bottlenecks like Tutu, Boileauganj, 103 tunnel, Chotta Shimla, Lakkar Bazar, Victory Tunnel, Auckland House, Cancer Hospital and Sanjauli. With unregulated traffic choking the roads it has become practically impossible for the pedestrians to walk on the road.

To ease traffic congestion, another proposal is to have truck terminals on the national highways where the bypasses will cross.

The trucks would ply only on the outer by-passes. Four new by-passes on the northern, eastern, western and southern side have been proposed.

The activities zone will be set up near Jubbarhatti, west of Kamna Devi and Tara Devi. Various activities having non-conforming use like wholesale, warehousing, godowns, wooden market and other such works would be shifter to this zone.

This is basically aimed to decongest the most congested and pressure areas of the town.

Shimla, May 31
Over 45 per cent shops in the town have been found to be selling pan and gutkha to children below the age of 18 years.

These are the findings of a survey conducted by the Department of Community Medicine, Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), on World No Tobacco Day yesterday.

Head of the department A.K. Bhardwaj said 45 per cent of pan shops were located within 100 yard of school and college buildings which was a violation of the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003.

“By having these shops in such close proximity of educational institutions, one is enticing the younger generation to fall prey to the deadly menace,” he remarked.

He added that in violation of the Act passed by the government, most of the pan shops were displaying advertisement boards much bigger in size than permitted and almost half of them were not displaying the statutory warning against the consumption of tobacco products.

The department observed World No Tobacco Day with students of senior secondary schools of Boileauganj and Tutu. A road show was also organised from the IGMC to the Rotary Town Hall to make public aware of the deadly evil of smoking.

A seminar-cum-exhibition was also organised highlighting the ill-effects of smoking.

Besides, seven mobile parties will also be kept in readiness. The border with Punjab has been sealed.

Shimla, May 31
Former Chief Minister and BJP candidate for the Hamirpur byelection P.K. Dhumal said today it was the people of the state, high command and the party legislators to decide whether he should remain in Parliament or return to state politics.

Responding to the statement by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh that he should file an affidavit that he would stick to the Lok Sabha if elected, the BJP leader said this showed that the Congress had already conceded defeat.

“I will act as per the wishes of the party high command in this regard as I am a disciplined soldier of the BJP,” he remarked.

Dhumal said he was contesting the election as per the wishes of the party and the people of the state.

Launching a counter-attack on Virbhadra Singh he said that if the contents of the CD released against him were not true, he should file an affidavit that it was false.

“If Virbhadra Singh does not file an affidavit it will amount to an indirect acceptance of the veracity of the allegations,” he said. He added the deliberate silence by the Chief Minister on the issue was proving to be a deafening confession.

While demanding the resignation of the Chief Minister, he said morality demanded that both Virbhadra Singh and Pratibha Singh should not attend the Assembly and Parliament till their names were cleared of the allegations.

Dhumal also sought an explanation form the Chief Minister as to why he had not reported the Rs 1-crore theft from his office.

He owes an explanation to the people of the state regarding the source of money, he added.