Shimla, August 19
The BJP has said that the one-man inquiry committee appointed by the high court to probe the controversial birthday party of former minister G.S. Bali does not absolve the state government of its responsibility of holding criminal investigations.

Releasing the report prepared by the five-member BJP fact-finding committee to look into the birthday party of Bali, the in charge of party affairs in Himachal, Satpal Jain said the BJP would ask the SSP, Kangra, to register an FIR against Bali and arrest him. “Since he is a very senior Congress leader, the investigation should be done by the CBI rather than the state police,” he said.

Welcoming the appointment of one-man committee of O.P. Garg, a former judge of the Allahabad High Court, Jain said they were confident of a fair probe but the state government on its part should also take some action. “There are no legal hassles as far as simultaneous holding of an inquiry commission and registering of criminal proceedings is concerned,” he said.

The committee headed by party MLA Ramesh Dhawala was constituted on August 4 and it handed over its report to the state party chief on August 16. The BJP only gave a gist of the report as the party would next week hand over the complete report to the Governor so that he issues the necessary directions to ensure a fair probe.

In the report various violations under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986, Excise Act, Section 403 of the IPC involving misuse of government vehicles, Sections 268, 290, 292 and 294 of the IPC have been listed.

“The appointment of a one-man inquiry is a slap on the face of the government as they did not order an inquiry on their own,” he said. He said on the last day of the three-day Monsoon Session of the Assembly, BJP workers from all over the state would hold a demonstration against the Congress government on issues like CD against Virbhadra Singh, Bali birthday party and other corruption issues.

Jain while naming four bureaucrats said these officials should clarify their stand as according to the hotel staff they were also present there. “We are giving them a chance to clarify their position,” he said.

Bilaspur, August 19
Led by Pradesh Congress Committee member and former MLA Krishan Kumar Kaushal, a large number of men and women virtually raided the office of child development and project officer (CDPO) Gyan Chand Sharma here and strongly protested against what they called the “hush-hush” manner of selection and appointment of anganwari workers and sahayikas after a mock interview.

The protesters alleged that merit and the selection norms were openly flouted and only women recommended by forest minister Ram Lal Thakur were selected and the list of selection has not been made public. Only favoured women were being informed on the phone to join duties immediately so that even the court can not provide relief after they have joined duty.

The protesters threatened to move the court on the issue.

They also shouted slogans against forest minister Ramlal Thakur, district administration and the government. They also gheraoed the office of the CDPO for some time. The police was summoned to provide protection to the office and the protesters dispersed after some time. 

Shimla, August 19
While the Himachal government has finally transferred the control of six sanctuaries from the territorial wing to the wildlife wing, it has dropped the proposal to bifurcate the two wings of the Forest Department.

The proposal to have a separate wildlife cadre was mooted as the hill state had a very large area under sanctuaries and national parks. With a total of 32 sanctuaries and two national parks, the protected wildlife area accounts for about 14 per cent of the states total geographical area as against 4 per cent at the national level.

Besides, it was also pursuing ambitious programmes for conserving breeding of rare birds like the western tragopan and cheer pheasant.

Principal chief conservator of forests Pankaj Khullar said there were practical difficulties in the bifurcation of the cadre as it would have led to disputes over seniority. Moreover, wildlife existed even outside the protected areas which were being managed by the territorial wing.

The divisional forest officers of the territorial wing were also the wardens of their division. Some other states which had separated the two wings were forced to reverse the decision.

In the USA, there is a separate wildlife service but it looks after the protected areas only. A similar arrangement would be made in the state without actually separating the two wings.

The major concern was regarding the management of the six wildlife sanctuaries under the territorial wing. Now that the government has transferred the Tundah, Kugti, Sechu Tuan , Shimla catchment forest, Gobind Sagar and the Dhauladhar sanctuaries to the wildlife wing, the department will get funds from the Centre for the implementation of the management plans.

Kumarhatti, August 19
Ranjeet Singh, up-pradhan of the Bagheri panchayat under Nalagarh subdivision, has accused panchayat pradhan Gurdial Singh of committing irregularities in preparing the IRDP list. In a complaint to the Chief Minister, the copy of which was marked to the revenue minister, the chief secretary and local administrative heads, Ranjeet Singh has accused the pradhan of mentioning his landholding as only seven bighas to get IRDP benefits.

He has also accused the pradhan of adding his brother’s name in the list by showing only six bighas of land in his name. In fact, both brothers held over 25 bighas of land each, he has alleged. This act of Gurdial Singh has deprived over 35 poor persons of IRDP benefits, he has alleged.

The CM office has instructed the Nalagarh BDO to conduct a probe into the case. Sachin Kanwal, Nalagarh BDO, said the inquiry was under process.

Meanwhile, Gurdial Singh has termed the allegations as baseless. The IRDP list was finalised in a meeting of the gram panchayat sabha and it was a unanimous decision, he maintained.

Shimla, August 19
The recent heavy rainfall, triggering floods, landslides and cloudbursts in the state, has come as a setback for the apple growers, particularly in Kinnaur and Upper Shimla, who are unable to transport their produce to the market.

Due to damage to the road links like Sangla-Chittkul, Tangling-Purnavi near Rekong Peo in Kinnaur and Ghanvi-Ladana-Sudana and Ghanvi-Pancha in Rampur subdivision of Shimla district, thousands of apple boxes were lying stranded.

Their woes have been multiplied as truckers were asking for exorbitant fare to transport the apples to the Azadpur market in Delhi.

Satyajit Negi, an orchardist from Purvani village of Kinnaur, said due to floods in Tangling, apple growers were facing problems in transporting to the market over 70,000 boxes of apple in Powari and Purvani.

About 20,000-25,000 apple boxes were lying stranded in Ghanvi village of Shimla, which witnessed a devastating cloudburst triggering flash floods on August 14 that washed away several roads.

Horticulture Minister Singhi Ram said the government was aware of the woes of apple growers. Repair and restoration of roads were in progress on a war footing to open link roads for movement of apples to the market.

Besides, the government had opened 263 apple collection centres under the market intervention scheme in which culled apple was being purchased at Rs 4.25 per kg, he added.

Narrating his sorrow, Sahib Singh Mehta from Gahan village of Kinnaur, said after much difficulty and a high fare, he had sent his apples to Delhi which reached Azadpur Mandi yesterday but the labourers were not unloading his fruits. "I got information that apples would be unloaded only on Monday," he said, adding that because of the delay many apples might get rotten.

Rajendra Suneil of Kadri village, near Ghanvi, said thousands of his apple boxes were lying stranded in the absence of trucks to transport them to Delhi.

Development officer of the Horticulture Department M.M. Chauhan said a survey revealed that apples worth about Rs 7 lakh were lying stranded in Ghanvi.

The apple growers of Ghanvi and neighbouring Dharla village narrated their woes to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh when he paid a visit to Ghanvi yesterday. He assured them that a span would be laid from Dharla to Ghanvi for the transportation of their crop to the main road for onward journey. He ordered the Deputy Commissioner for laying the span at the earliest. — PTI

Dalhousie, August 19
Former Cabinet minister and Congress MLA from Banikhet Assembly constituency Asha Kumari categorically denied media reports that the functionaries of Jaiprakash Associates had approached her and the district administration for acquiring land for setting up of infrastructure relating to the proposed cement plant in Banikeht area in Chamba district.

Asha revealed that a period of more than six months had elapsed after the signing of memorandum of understanding (MoU) but none of the functionaries of Jaiprakash Associates had so far approached the district administration for earmarking land for the cement plant.

The cement plant was delayed due to reasons best known to the company which had signed the MoU for executing the cement plant at Sikridhar in Chamba district, Asha said.

She said the MoU was signed by Prem Kumar, principal secretary (Industries) on behalf of the Himachal Pradesh Government and Manoj Gaur, executive chairman of Jaiprakash Associates in the presence of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and industries minister Kuldeep Kumar on February 1 at Shimla.

The two-million tonne capacity plant to be set up at a cost of Rs 800 crore would be commissioned after five years. It would provide direct employment to 1,000 persons and indirect employment to over 5,000 persons, she added.

Shimla, August 19
The Police Department has granted promotions to its 799 employees at various levels as part of its human resource development efforts and to help raise their morale and encourage them to serve the people with more dedication and devotion.

A spokesperson of the department said a well-planned strategy had been chalked out to ensure timely promotions to strengthen functional environment of police organisation. It was a record achievement as never before so many promotions had been effected in a span of one year.

In all, 413 personnel were promoted as head constable, 136 as assistant sub-inspectors, 51 as inspectors, 49 as sub-inspectors and 44 as gazetted officers.

These promotions also included “out-of-turn promotions” earned by police personnel by nabbing criminals like Amrish Rana. In this case, five police personnel were promoted to the next higher ranks out of turns as reward for their hard work and dedication towards duty.