Shimla, July 13
Having undertaken extensive renovation at some of its prime properties, the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) is all set to enhance tariffs by almost 15 per cent, as the revenue of the undertaking has gone up in the recent past.

The tariffs at all the HPTDC hotels in the state are likely to go up by 10 to 15 per cent as facilities have been improved and certain properties refurbished. More than Rs 50 lakh has been spent on the Palace Hotel, Chail. The heritage property at Naggar called Castle Hotel has also been renovated and given a major facelift.

“We will shortly review the tariffs as we feel that after improving amenities at majority of the units, there is scope for marginal increase in tariff,” said Tourism minister G.S. Bali. He however, added that the hike would be less than 15 per cent and care would be taken to ensure that these properties had matching facilities.

It was less than a year ago, that the HPTDC had ordered increase of about 10 per cent in the tariff at its prime property, Hotel Holiday Home, in Shimla. Encouraged by the increase in revenue as a result of improved occupancy, the authorities felt that there was scope for enhancement even at other places. The revenue at Holiday Home alone has gone up from Rs 5 crore to Rs 6.50 crore .

Some of the hotels located at Kasauli, Manali, Naggar, Chail, and Dharamsala would witness the maximum hike in tariff.

Infact, a sum of Rs 2.50 crore has been spent on the hotel at Naggar, housed in the castle of erstwhile rulers of Kullu. Moreover Naggar has been declared a ‘heritage village’.

The HPTDC has also undertaken massive renovation of its hotels in Dharamsala and Mcleodganj. Parking areas have been created in the congested Kotwali bazaar area where Hotel Dhauladhar is located. Improvements have also been made at Bhagsu Nag hotel in Mcleodganj which witnesses a lot of foreign tourists.

A senior official added that such a hike in tariff would only lead to further increase in revenue and would not affect occupancy.

Dharamsala, July 13
The state BJP today announced that corruption would be the biggest poll issue in the forthcoming Assembly elections due by February, 2008.

Talking to mediapersons before a meeting of the state-level delegates of the party here, Jai Ram Thakur, president of the state BJP, said the Virbhadra government was neck- deep into corruption.

Highlighting the allegations of corruption levelled against Virbhadra Singh in the audio CD by none other than an MLA of his own party, the state party chief said it was for the first time in the history of the hill state that a political head of the hill state was entangled into such a controversy.

When asked about the allegations of 'irregularities in recruitments' levelled by Virbhadra Singh against senior BJP leader and former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, the BJP leader said that during the past four-and-half years the Chief Minister had not been able to prove those allegations.

Denying infighting in the party, he said "We have won the Hamirpur byelection with joint efforts and will also win the Assembly elections unitedly", he said.

Thakur said it was up to the central leadership to project a leader for the post of Chief Minister. The onus on the state leadership was to fight the elections collectively and pave the way for the formation of the next government in the state, he said.

Thakur said there was no threat to the party from the BSP which was trying hard to become a third force in the state.

The BJP would give more preference to women in the distribution of the ticket for the Assembly elections. However, the ability to win the election would be the main criteria in selecting the candidate.

Later, he discussed the poll strategy at a meeting of the state delegates of the party.

Nurpur, July 13
The Cabinet nod to fill 59 posts of different categories in the 100-bedded civil hospital will help provide better health services to inhabitants of Nurpur and Jawali subdivisions and neighbouring Bhatiyat subdivision of Chamba district. The patients of these areas have to visit private hospitals at Pathankot in Punjab for better health services and surgeries.

Though the second phase of the hospital comprising 100 beds was inaugurated by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on August 13, 1996, the Health Department had not started functioning of the 100-bedded hospital so far. Following persistent pressure mounted by local MLA and revenue minister Sat Mahajan the department issued a notification for upgradation of the hospital in June after about 11 years.

Specialists have been posted in the hospital under the Centre’s National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). An airconditioned OPD for specialists is coming up in the hospital while a blood storage centre is ready for commissioning.

Hamirpur, July 13
BJP leaders and activists today staged a demonstration in protest against price rise in Gandhi Chowk here. Despite incessant rain BJP activists led by former Chief Minister and Hamirpur MP Prem Kumar Dhumal assembled at Gandhi Chowk and held a demonstration shouting slogans against the government.

Addressing the gathering Dhumal lambasted the government for failing to check prices. He said the prices of essential commodities had skyrocketed in the past few months which had made the life of the common man miserable. Dhumal also warned the Congress government to learn a lesson from its defeat in the Hamirpur parliamentary byelection. He asked the government to take concrete steps to check the prices of essential commodities.

The party also submitted a memorandum to the Governor through the district administration. MLAs I.D. Dhiman, Baldev Sharma and several other leaders took part in this demonstration.

Kullu, July 13
Dharam Vir Dhami, a former state chief of the Congress Sewa Dal and former vice -chairman of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation, ridiculed the statement given to mediapersons at the All-India Journalists Meet at Manali by Prem Kumar Dhumal, former Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, about re-inviting the global tenders for the Ski Village project near Manali.

He said on one hand, the district leaders of the BJP had been making hue and cry against the project for environmental damage and on the other hand, the former Chief Minister wanted to allocate the same project to some other company.

He said Dhumal had in principal accepted that such tourism promotion project should come up in Himachal Pradesh expressing his disagreement with other BJP leaders.

Dhami further said that Dhumal also criticised the ongoing construction of Allein and Dhuhangan hydro electricity project near Manali for damaging the environment. He said that the said project was cleared by his government. He further said the Congress government had imposed fine in crores to the company for damaging environment assessed by the Forest Department.

He alleged that even the forest damages case registered with the police were withdrawn. He said the slogan of regionalism given by the BJP during the Hamirpur elections would prove damaging to the democratic set up of the country.

Mandi, July 13
Influential plot owners, who have availed the government’s plots and incentives to set up industry, have turned Saulikhad industrial area here into a non-industrial hub for service stations, commercial stores, houses and scrap stores under the nose of the Department of Industry (DIC) over the years. Other industrialists have alleged that the influential industrial plot owners in connivance with certain officials in the DIC, are violating industrial norms, and misusing the industrial plots for non-industrial purposes.

They blamed the DIC for promoting its “one-point agenda of selling plots to influential persons”, regardless of whether they set up their units or not there. “The department has sold about seven plots in phase-III, which was kept as a “green area”. Even the Forest Department had planted trees during a vanmahotsav few years ago”, they said.

Even the DIC figures corroborate their charges. The department has sold over 137 plots in the Saulikhad industrial area, in phase-1, 31 plots, in phase-II, 66, in phase-III 40 plots, since the creation of industrial area in 1988.

But 61 plot owners have not set up their units even after many years, pleading that “they had to import machineries from outside the state which had delayed the process”. Even those who have set up their units blamed the DIC for encouraging non-industrial activity in the industrial area.

“In as many as five cases, the plot owners have turned industrial plots into service stations for washing vehicles and have availed the government incentives and plots. Four owners have raised sheds renting them out to scrap dealers”, insiders said. While some industrialists have build houses and run units on the ground floor, but there are others who have build their houses on the industrial plots.

But in phase-III that runs along the national highway, certain “influential plot owners have either constructed commercial buildings or are constructing such buildings, which have allegedly been or are being rented out to the highest bidders, the insiders said. Even the maintenance of the industrial area is poor.

Mandi DIC general manager, S.K. Chaudhary claimed that the there was no ‘green area’ as such planned in the industrial area. Out of seven plots, five plots were allotted in 2002 and two plots were allotted recently.

“Four scrap stores have been told to shut down. We are issuing notices to plot owners who have not set up their units. The service stations are included in the service industry,” he said. “After getting the government permission, the plot owners can run their units or rent them out to start outlets for selling the end products. The industrialists can use buildings for residential purposes provided they have set up their units on the plot for reasons of safety of units”, he claimed. The DIC officials said they have sent a proposal for the maintenance of the area to the government as they had no funds.

Mandi, July 13
In two separate incidents, six-year-old Meera Devi of Mihot village in Barot was seriously injured by a falling stone and two motorcycle-borne boys from Sarkaghat were injured after a private bus hit their motorcycle near Jogindernagar on the higwhay in the Jogindernagar subdivision.

According to the police, Meera Devi was hit by a falling stone, when she was on her way back home from her school near Mihot village in Barot and sustained serious head injury. After treatment at a Jogindernagar hospital she was referred to medical college and hospital at Dharamsala.

Solan, July 13
Notwithstanding the opposition by the BJP’s strong protest against the Ski Village Project in Manali, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said the mega tourism project would be completed at all costs.

Describing the project as beneficial for the hill state, the CM told reporters it would be completed at all cost.

The project would prove to be a milestone for the state as it would attract tourists from all over the world benefitting the local economy, he added. — PTI

Shimla, July 13
The Himachal High Court has directed the state government to establish 10 new testing stations for the routine testing of vehicles by March 2008 and quashed the order of state government, whereby it had notified the HRTC workshops as testing stations.

The Division bench headed by Justice Deepak Gupta observed that since the issue was of great public importance, therefore, any testing station should not be allowed to function without mechanical instruments required for the testing of vehicles. The Court, however, observed that till March 2008, the present arrangement would continue.

The government may open the testing station itself or may call private persons to establish the same. These testing stations should be at least 10 km from the district headquarters.

Shimla, July 13
A police team today left for Moga to trace the three suspects, including two students of the Moga Engineering College involved in the Kalyani helipad murder case.

The team led by a SHO and accompanied by six other police personnel left for Moga today as the three suspects involved in the case are absconding. A 25-year-old medical representative, Vikas Verma, was murdered at the Kalyani helipad near Rashtrapati Niwas in Charabbra on July 1, following an altercation with some youth from Punjab.

“The two youths who are students of the Moga Engineering College have not been attending classes and are missing from their homes,” said Anand Pratap Singh, SP, Shimla. He said a team sent earlier had returned unsuccessful.

The three wanted in the case, include a Moga-based agent who arranges foreign travel of people from Punjab and was driving the Ford Ikon under which Vikas Verma was crushed to death as the youth from Punjab sped away.

Shimla, July 13
The state unit of the NSUI has expressed concern over the inordinate delay in filling posts already cleared by the Cabinet and urged the government to set up a monitoring committee to ensure that the vacancies were filled in a time-bound manner.

President of the union Kewal Pathania said that applications for various posts had been pending with the three government universities in the state for more than a year and the process of selection had not begun. He urged Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to frame rules to fill the posts within a stipulated timeframe.

Further, a common timeframe should be announced for the entire state for filling the posts of anganwari workers and forest guards and the exercise should be completed within a month. The Police Department should revert to the open recruitment policy as the current policy was very stringent.

He appreciated Virbhadra Singh for opening 22 colleges in the past two years and urged him to settle the issues relating to absorption of staff of the private colleges taken over by the government at the earliest. The decision to set up five nursing colleges would meet a longstanding need of the state facing an acute shortage of nursing staff.

He said the union would plant two lakh saplings during the current year as against one lakh planted last year. It would organise debates and declamation contests from July 24 to 30 on "Vision 21st century. It was in agreement with the recommendations of the Lyngdoh committee report which would be discussed at length.