Shimla, August 1
Sujan Singh Pathania, who represents the Jwali Assembly segment of Kangra district, was sworn in as a Cabinet minister here today.

Governor V.S.Kokje administered the oath of office and secrecy to Pathania at a simple function held at Raj Bhavan.

With this, the strength of the Virbhadra Singh ministry has gone up to 11. The state could have a maximum of 12 ministers, including the Chief Minister.

Sujan Singh Pathania has been allotted the portfolios of Transport and Health and Family Welfare. The Chief Minister retained the Tourism portfolio, which was earlier held by G.S.Bali, who resigned in the wake of a sting operation by a news channel, along with Transport.

Talking to mediapersons after the oath ceremony Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said that he had decided to induct Pathania much before Bali resigned. However, his induction was delayed as the Governor was on a tour. The vacancy caused by the exit of Bali would be filled soon.

However, he ruled out the possibility of appointing chief parliamentary secretaries and parliamentary secretaries in the near future. The matter was had been put on hold as of now.

He rejected the demand of former Chief Minister Shanta Kumar for a CBI probe into the controversial birthday party which led to unceremonious exit of Bali from the ministry, asserting that there was no justification for making such a demand.

Replying to a question he said Bali had so far not sent any written request for a judicial probe into the incident. He had only read his statements in the print media in this regard.

He said it could be a frame-up as Bali was in the party for only a few minutes and he was accompanied by his wife, daughter and other family members. Guests were also with families but this was not shown by the electronic media.

He found no merit in the explanation of the BJP that its legislator, Virender Kanwar, was not present in the party and that the news channel had used an old video clip which showed him in the company of Bali. He said if this was so the authenticity of the entire video footage of the sting operation would be under doubt. If a video clip of the BJP legislator could be incorporated the whole operation could be a cut-and-paste job. Further, if BJP itself had doubts about the video footage it should not make a hue and cry on the issue, he added.

Dharamsala, August 1
The Tibetan government-in-exile has encroached upon a piece of land worth more than Rs 50 lakh belonging to the Wakf Board falling within a mosque at McLeodganj. A part of this land was being used as the security office of the Dalai Lama and the rest houses the Welfare Department.

Many government departments had also encroached upon large pieces of commercially viable land at many places belonging to the board but were unwilling to vacate them. The total value of such land today runs into crores of rupees.

For more than 15 years, the Wakf Board authorities tried without success its level best to get the land vacated from the Tibetan authorities. Finally, the board had to file a civil suit against them in a local court.

The Wakf Board evidence was recorded in the local court on Monday after the claims that the land belongs to their mosque.

Rafaquat Hussain, officiating executive officer of the Wakf Board, told The Tribune here today that as per the revenue records he had claimed before the court that the land belonged to the board.

He revealed that this land was given by the board as per directions of the state government in 1979 on a nominal lease that was renewed every year. In 1990, the board as a policy matter decided not to extend the lease and get vacated all land that was commercially viable so that the income of the board could be increased by exploiting its potential.

Several notices were issued to the Tibetan government-in-exile to vacate the land in the 1990s but when it refused to vacate it the board was forced to file a civil suit in a local court.

He revealed that many government departments had also encroached upon wakf land, forcing the board to seek legal help for its vacation. As many as 40 cases were pending in various courts, demanding the vacation of wakf land.

Rafaquat Hussain said among the encroachers were Government School, Kangra; Kangra municipal council, Nagrota Bagwan government school, Nagrota Bagwan nagar panchayat, Government School, Nadrool (Kangra), gram panchayat of Bhawarna (Palampur) and state electricity board, Sirat (Damtal).

Disclosing that 70 of wakf properties in Dharamsala alone were illegally occupied by private parties, he lamented that neither the district administration nor the police was helping the board to get these vacated.

Bilaspur, August 1
Addressing BJP rallies at Jhandutta and at Bharari in Geharwin reserved and Ghumarwin Assembly constituencies of the district yesterday, BJP leader and former Chief Minister and MP Prem Kumar Dhumal said the Virbhadra Singh government had panicked as it was losing its base rapidly in the state and there was a possibility that elections be held in a huff in state in October or November.

He exhorted BJP workers not to rest with the party’s recent victory in Hamirpur parliamentary bi-election, as this victory was only a semifinal, but asked them to work in the field to ensure the party’s victory in the forthcoming elections. He expressed confidence that the BJP would defeat and rout the Congress in forthcoming Assembly elections.

Dhumal lambasted the Congress government and said it had failed on every front and instead of solving problems of the people, it had added to their miseries by indulging in corruption

Dhumal said the government was surrounded by controversies and scandals, the recent one involving that of tourism and transport minister G.S Bali. Dhumal thanked voters for giving him a huge lead in the parliamentary bi-election and declared that it proved that people wanted a change of guard in the state during the next elections.

BJP state vice-president Ram Swaroop Sharma, former minister Rikhi Ram Kondal and K. D. Dharmani MLA also addressed the rallies. At Bharari, BJP youths burnt an effigy of former minister G. S. Bali, while at Jhandutta, led by mandal president Rakesh Gautam, the BJP presented a memorandum to the Governor through the local Tehsildar.

Earlier, Dhumal honoured 11 veteran leaders of the BJP and three leaders of the Congress.

Nahan, August 1
Cutting across party lines for the first time in the panchayati raj history of Sirmaur district, the zila parishad members from the BJP and the Congress have opened a front against the Deputy Commissioner of Sirmaur.

They have alleged that the DC was all set to spend Rs 15 crore under the Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF), which was to be spent through the parishad as per the guide lines of the Government of India.

After uproar in the parishad meeting yesterday, the annoyed Congress and the BJP zila parishad members issued a joint press note this evening making their position clear on the issue and announcing their ‘lines of agitation’ against the DC.

Preet Mohan and Jitender Rana, both Congress members and Kamal Raj Verma and Lal Singh, both affiliated to the BJP, spoke on behalf of the members to convey their concern on the things going on in the district.

The members said Sirmaur and Chamba districts had been selected by the Panchayati Raj Department of the Government of India under the BRGF and had send an approval of Rs 15 crore as the first installment. Money was to be spent through the parishad on different development programmes in the district as per the guide lines.

They alleged that in coming in conflict with the guidelines laid by the Government of India, the DC was all set to spend the money without any information to the parishad, which was objectionable.

The members alleged that the DPO did not attend even a single meeting of the parishad which was a matter of deep concern.

They warned that if they did not get any cooperation of the district administration in the matter, the matter would be raised at the state level.

Sirmaur DC R.S. Negi refuted the charges levelled against him and made it clear that the DPO was his staff officer who was not suppose to take part in the parishad meetings. He said the mechanism to spend the money under the BRGF was yet to be finalised.

Dharamsala, August 1
The Dharamsala police has finally arrested the mastermind involved in the selling of land by fraud means given in grant to the oustees of the Pong dam in Rajasthan.

Many oustees had lost their land to the land mafia, based in Rajasthan, who sold their land on forged sale agreement executed on behalf of the real owners in their absence.

A senior police official revealed that the mastermind, Madan Lal, was arrested from Rajasthan.

He was arrested on the complaint of one Amar Singh of Farian village of Kangra district who alleged that his land was fraudulently sold by Madan Lal with the help of one Desh Raj.

It may be mentioned that an FIR in this regard was registered at the Jawali police station in 2005 against a local stamp paper vendor Lal Chand Chowdary and Vijay Kumar for their alleged connivance to illegally sell about 125 kanals of land granted to Amar Singh in Vijay Nagar tehsil of Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan.

The accused persons allegedly forged a sale agreement on behalf of Amar Singh with his fictitious signature and sold his land to one Subash Chand, a resident of Vijay Nagar in Rajasthan, for Rs 8 lakh.

The land was sold by way of a sales agreement on a stamp paper purchased on the name of Amar Singh from a stamp paper vendor at Jawali with purchased serial number 372 on July 7, 2004. However, when the vendor was summoned with his record by the investigating team, it was found that no entry with its serial No. 372 was made on the above mentioned date.

Madan Lal was finally arrested from Rajastan by Inspector Badri Nath in charge of the CIA staff.

Shimla, August 1
The Himachal Power Engineers Association has resented the one-year extension in service granted to B.S. Bakshi, executive director, Regulatory Commission, who was to retire on July 31.

The association at an emergency meeting here today decided to approach the Chief Minister in this regard and urge him to direct the state electricity board to withdraw the orders of extension with immediate effect.

In case the Regulatory Commission wished to continue with the services of Bakshi, he could be re-employed by as a consultant or adviser but no extension should be granted as a matter of principle as the engineers were already facing stagnation in the board. The association hailed the decision of the Chief Minister not to grant an extension to the present member (operation) and appoint Daljit Singh, the seniormost chief engineer in his place.

Shimla, August 1
Faced with an acute shortage of CAN fertilizer, the state government has urged the Centre to ensure its adequate supply to meet its requirement of 5,000 metric tonnes for the current kharif crop.

The issue was raised by agriculture minister Raj Krishan Gaur at the second meeting of the Fertilizers Advisory Forum in New Delhi today. “The farmers are facing great inconvenience as against a requirement of 5,000 metric tonnes of CAN fertilizer, the Gujarat National Fertilizer had supplied only 500 metric tonnes,” he said.

Gaur said after the closure of National Fertilizer Limited, Gujarat National Fertilizer was meeting the 10,000 metric tonnes annual demand of CAN fertilizer from Himachal. “With the company now expressing its inability to meet the 10,000 metric tonnes demand of Himachal, the Centre should intervene to ensure timely supply,” he said.

Gaur said the present policy of decontrolling phosphate and potassium fertilizers has resulted in a steep increase in their prices as compared to nitrogenous fertilizers. “The Centre must increase the subsidy on phosphate and potassium fertilizers to bring down their prices so that they are within the reach of small and marginal farmers,” he said.

He also raised the issue of the special freight reimburse scheme introduced by the Centre at Rs 283 per metric tonnes as the extra cost of transportation from rail head to the consumption centre. “With Chandigarh being declared as the rail head this figure works out to be Rs 800 per metric tonnes and the state government is spending Rs 2 crore annually to meet this gap,” he said. He requested the Centre to meet the actual cost of transportation from rail point to the consumption centre.

Kangra, August 1
An unidentified decomposed body of a woman was recovered from Munooni river near Nandrool yesterday, the police said here today. In another incident, a woman committed suicide by jumping before a train on the Pathankot-Joginder Nagar railway line at Sameela.

Kangra SHO Surender Kumar Sharma said a decomposed body of an unidentified woman was recovered from the Manooni Khad yesterday near Nandrool. He said since the body was not in a condition to be shifted to Dharamsala for postmortem the doctors were called and the postmortem was conducted at the site.

The body was cremated by the police in the presence of Nandrool village pradan Mangla Devi and other panchayat members.

He said in another incident, Sureshta Devi (25), a resident of Sammela village, jumped before a train near Kangra railway station, and died on the spot. The parents of the deceased alleged that she was forced to commit suicide by her in-laws.

He said the police had arrested her father-in-law and mother-in-law under Sections 498 A and 306 of the IPC, who were remanded to judicial custody by the court today.

Sundernagar, August 1
The alleged incident of thrashing of SFI activist Raman Thakur by principal of the local Maharaja Luxman Sen Memorial College R.S.Chandel yesterday has taken a new turn as the police has registered a case against both of them.

Raman Thakur, a student of the college, attempted suicide yesterday but was saved due to timely intervention and admitted to the local civil hospital. A suicide note was also recovered saying that thrashing by the principal had forced him to resort to this step.

As per information, as Raman Thakur was coaxing students of the college to join a protest march, the Principal came there and slapped him. Feeling humiliated, he tried to commit suicide but was saved by the police who was informed by other students.

Chandel has denied having thrashed the SFI activist.

The SFI has demanded immediate removal of the Principal.