Dharamsala, August 2
Heavy to moderate rain lashed all mid and lower hills of the state today.

Intermittent rain, which started late last night, continued throughout the day in various parts of the state today with Dhundi recording 64.6 mm rainfall, followed by 54 mm at Solang Nullah and 31.2 mm at Nahan in Sirmaur.

Gharwin in Bilaspur district received 25 mm rainfall, while the figure was 13.2 mm for Kasuali. Berthin received 16.9 mm rainfall, Bhang Manali 9.8 mm, Dharamsala 9.6 mm (early morning), Palampur 7.4, Jogindernagar 6.5 mm and Nalagarh 7.2 mm.

Rain also lashed Shimla and its adjoining areas during the afternoon. The state capital recorded 4.6 mm rainfall till 5.30 pm.

Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti and Chamba districts also experienced intermittent rain during the past 24 hours. Overcast conditions also prevailed during the second half of the day in these districts.

The minimum temperatures across the state rose by 1 to 2°C in comparison to yesterday with the night temperature at Shimla town rising to 17°C from yesterday’s low of 16.3°C.

Bhuntar’s night temperature rose to 21.5°C in comparison to yesterday’s 20.3°C, while it rose to 12.9°C from yesterday’s to 12.2°C at Kalpa in Kinnaur district.

The night temperature at Dharamsala rose to 21.9°C from yesterday’s minimum of 21.7°C. The Met office has predicted rain and thundershowers at many places in the state during the next 24 hours.

KANGRA: Heavy rain lashed Kangra valley today. It threw life out of gear for more than two hours. Some localities of town remained flooded for hours due to chocked drainage system.

The Dharamsala road remained flooded at different places leaving people in the lurch. As the main drain along the national highway has not been cleared due to a tussle between the national highway authorities and the local municipality, the entire road gets flooded during rain.

Residents charged the municipal authorities with alleged negligence which, they alleged, led to flooding of roads. Despite repeated requests to the municipal authorities, including the executive officer, the drain along the Dharamsala road was not cleared, they alleged.

B.L.Sharma, a retired SDO of the HPSEB and resident of Jayanti Vihar, said unused sewer pipes were lying in drainage channels, thus blocking the water channels leaving the entire locality flooded. He said the residents had been requesting the authorities concerned to clear these drainage channels, but to no avail.

The residents have urged the Chief Minister to instruct the authorities concerned to mitigate the problems of the Kangra residents.

Shimla, August 2
The government has launched a crash programme for the upgradation, improvement and expansion of the road network under which Rs 4,000 crore was being spent during the current financial year.

Important roads are being widened and the Shimla-Kalka highway is being four-laned

This was stated by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh while addressing a public meeting at Bahli in Rampur subdivision last evening after inaugurating the new building of Government Senior Secondary School. Important roads were being widened and the Shimla-Kalka highway was being four-laned.

A large number of construction projects were under execution to help connect all gram panchayats within the current financial year.

Virbhadra Singh said efforts would be made to construct a helipad in every valley to promote quality tourism and also to attend to any emergency in such areas. Eco-tourism was being promoted in the state along with adventure sports.

The state had emerged as a role model in the education sector. Children did not have to go more than 1.5 to 2 km to attend school. The emphasis now was on bringing about a qualitative improvement in standards.

The Chief Minister said every houseless family was being provided land to build house and the Deputy Commissioners had been empowered to sanction 2 biswas of land in the rural area and one biswa in the urban areas to such families. 

Shimla, August 2
The Himachal Pradesh Tourism Corporation (HPTDC) will construct hotels at the two most popular destinations of Kasauli and Kiarighat.

The HPTDC has completed the drawing work and preparing estimates for the setting up of the new complexes at the two locations. These are likely to be at least 30-room units as there is great demand, especially on weekends when tourists from the adjoining areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Haryana come here.

The Tourism Department will seek funds from the Union Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation for constructing these hotels at Kasauli and Kiarighat.

In Kasauli, the HPTDC has only a six-room hotel, Ros Com, along with three annex. Officials said the occupancy of the hotel was almost 100 per cent on weekends and even on other days it was exceedingly well. “There has been a lot of demand for expansion and creation of a full-fledged hotel at Kasauli,” said a senior official. In Kiarighat the HPTDC has an old structure with a few rooms.

Besides constructing new properties, the HPTDC has undertaken major renovation work at the Palace Hotel Chail and at the Castle in Naggar in Kullu district. It was with Rs 4 crore received from the Centre for the upkeep and maintenance of heritage properties that major renovation work has been done at these two places.

Officials pointed out that many HPTDC properties were in need of major renovation as tourists do not mind paying any amount as long as the facilities are matching.

The basic aim of the corporation is to enhance tariffs after improving the facilities so that the earnings can be increased for which there is immense potential.

The main Palace Hotel in Chail has been redone with a blend of modern as well as heritage. While renovation in the main Palace Hotel and the adjoining Hotel Him Neel has been completed, the eight cottages are yet to be given a facelift. “Any further renovation work will be undertaken after funds are received from the Centre,” confirmed officials.

Major renovation work in under way at the Castle Hotel in Naggar, which was the property of the erstwhile rulers of Kullu.

Dharamsala, August 2
The Revenue Department of Himachal Pradesh had approved the proposal of a five-star hotel-cum-spa centre to be constructed by J.S. Resorts Pvt Ltd in the Mauja Bhattala area near McLeodganj hurriedly within 20 days of the recommendation of the district magistrate of Kangra.

The reason being that one of the director’s of the said company, J.K. Jain is a close friend of the former tourism minister GS Bali. He is considered close to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh also.

Bali had given the approval in principle to the project on May 29, 2007. On the basis of which, Kangra DM Bharat Khera wrote a letter granting approval to the project on June 11, 2007 to the financial commissioner of the Revenue Department.

The financial commissioner (revenue) granted permission on July 2, 2007. It was based on rule 38-A of the Himachal Pradesh Tenancy and Land Reform Rules-1975.

Contrary to this, there were hundreds of such mega projects waiting for approval with the state government in various departments for years but this project undoubtedly was treated as a special case by the state government.

As per the detailed project report of the five-star hotel, the company had submitted that they were purchasing as much as 29 kanals of land from as many as eight people from residents of Mauja Bhattala village by striking deals with them at their own level.

Solan, August 2
With a view to facilitate transporters operating in the industrial areas, the Baddi Barotiwala Nalagarh Development Authority (BBNDA) has initiated the setting up a transport nagar near the Balad riverbed. The authority has invited tenders for conducting feasibility studies of an area of nearly 715 bigha in the riverbed.

This survey will identify nearly 50 to 60 acre of land among the available stretch so as to accommodate at least 2,500 vehicles. Throwing light on the concept, the BBNDA CEO Amandeep Garg said the focus would be on providing space for parking of vacant vehicles and also facilitating the light commercial vehicles in the parking lot.

Further, to access the demand of the existing influx of vehicles and the future increase in their number keeping in view the industrial expansion, a demand survey would also be undertaken. This facility which was the first of its kind in the region would initially accommodate vehicles of Baddi and the Barotiwala areas.

The transporters had since long been demanding setting up of the facility as they were facing problems while parking their vehicles. The local truck unions had nearly 2,500 trucks. Since the land in question belonged to the common pool and it could only be used for community purposes the authority had moved a case for providing adequate land from the pool which could be allotted into the common pool. The hurdle had initially delayed the ambitious project.

DC Mohan Chauhan while confirming the development said the process of identifying suitable land was in progress. The project would also take care of the future scope of increase in the number of vehicles and provide an earmarked space for the trucks.

Dharamsala, August 2
A 14-year-old girl, who was allegedly forced into prostitution in Kangra district in December last year and later rescued from the clutches of two women pimps, has alleged that SHO of the Dharamsala police station R.P. Jaiswal and his wife were forcing her to change her statement in the court.

In a written complaint to the police and a statement to a TV channel, she has accused the Dharamsala SHO of luring her with a sum of Rs 1 lakh to change her statement in the court. He and his wife asked her not identify some of the culprits who had allegedly sexually exploited her, she alleged.

The police has marked an inquiry into the allegations of the girl. Palampur DSP Khushal Sharma has been asked to inquiry into the case. Meanwhile, Palampur SHO Sanjeev Chauhan, who rescued the girl and was earlier the investigating officer in the case, has been transferred to the state vigilance and anti-corruption bureau at Shimla.

The girl was abandoned by her mother after the death of her husband a few years ago. She was brought up by her grandmother in a small village near Jogindernagar in Mandi district. Her mother had married some other man and got settled with him. A middle-aged woman of her grandmother’s village, who was married at Palampur, forced her into flesh trade. Later, the she was introduced to a 26-year-old woman, who was allegedly a call girl. The minor girl was thus forced into prostitution.

The police has already arrested the two women who allegedly forced the girl into prostitution, besides a few other persons who had allegedly assaulted the girl sexually.

Meanwhile, Dharamsala SHO R.P. Jaiswal has denied all allegations levelled by the minor girl. He said an inquiry had already been ordered and the truth would soon come out.

Kumarhatti, August 2
Villagers led by BJP MLA H.N. Saini gheraoed Nalagarh police station for over two hours today in protest against the police failure to solve the death case of Fhumman Singh, who was found dead under mysterious circumstances along the Pinjore- Swarghat national highway near Nalagarh on July 21.

Zindo Devi, wife of the deceased, has accused the police of trying to hush up the case allegedly under pressure from influential people. The villagers shouted slogans against the police, alleging that it was hobnobbing with the accused to show Fhumman Singh as an accident victim. As per an earlier police statement, Fhumman Singh was killed after an unidentified vehicle hit his motor cycle.

Bilaspur, August 2
Though the government has been announcing repeatedly that it has not stopped giving jobs on compassionate grounds after a government employee dies in harness, Manoj Kumar, a youth of Sayohla village in the Jukhala valley near here, has been waiting for his appointment in the PWD for the past seven years on compassionate grounds without any success at all uptill now.

In a detailed representation given to the Chief Minister once again yesterday, Manoj Kumar said his father, Brij lal, an employee of the HPPWD, died on July 8, 2000. While his mother and grandparents had also since expired, the family comprising a younger sister and brother was without any source of income.

He and his brother and sister were totally dependent on some distant relatives for their daily existence.

He said he had repeatedly given representations to the principal secretary, HPPWD, and the principal secretary, finance, and also met them. But for repeated assurances from them, no job had come his way so far, Manoj Kumar said.

Manoj Kumar has urged Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to summon his file No. PBW-A-B-(2)45/2005 and order his appointment at the earliest to save him and his brother and sister from starvation. 

Shimla: Being hailed as a landmark achievement, the framing of a policy for recruitment of teachers in Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) is likely to put a major check on the controversies and legal hassles arising out of appointment of teachers.

Being viewed as one of the major achievements of vice-chancellor Anil Wilson, as it is being widely appreciated. The general feeling is that it will limit the scope of those wanting to make an entry merely on political clout and little merit.

The previous record shows that the successive governments, both the Congress as well as the BJP have pushed the cases of their favourites at the cost of meritorious and deserving candidates.

“It was painful for us also to see merit being ignored and political connections working better but the framing of the policy will minimise scope for this manouvering,” said a senior professor.

Kangra, August 2
The shifting of the Dr R.P. Government Medical College and Hospital from Dharamsala to Tanda has been put off for some time. It would now be shifted after September 20.

Principal of the college Suresh Sankhyan said here today that earlier it was decided to shift the hospital to Tanda on August 30 and the Chief Minister was to declare the hospital open. The inauguration had to be put off due to some unavoidable circumstances.

The principal said there was no blood bank facility in the new hospital as yet and the causality department was also not well equipped. Moreover, medical equipment worth crores was yet to reach Tanda.

As the operation theatres were also not fully equipped, it was not possible to start the hospital at this point of time.