Shimla, September 8
The government is contemplating giving partial relaxation in the existing ban on constructions in greenbelts in the town, but it will not apply to the Jakhu area falling above the road from the Ridge to St Bede’s Chowk.

A Cabinet subcommittee discussed the issue here last week and the matter would be deliberated upon once again before it was placed before the Cabinet. There is a lot of pressure on the government to give some relaxation in the ban as a large number of people who own plots in green areas have not been able to undertake construction.

Even if the government agrees to give some relaxation in the ban, only one-and-a-half storey will be allowed and that too with 40 per cent coverage of the total plot area.

As such, the permission will be need-based and even if the greenbelts fall in the core area where two storeys are allowed or in the restricted area where four storeys are allowed, only one-and-half storey will be allowed.

It was in December, 2000, that the state government had imposed a complete ban on constructions after 17 greenbelts were notified to save the dwindling forest and green cover in and around the town.

Though the matter has been discussed by the Cabinet on a number of occasions, the Chief Minister is personally of the opinion that as far as possible, the shrinking green area of the town must be saved.

In fact, the government proposes to increase the number of greenbelts from the present 17 to over 180 so as to curb construction at the cost of greenery.

It has been proposed that the number of greenbelts be increased even on the outskirts of the town.

“Even if the government agrees to give partial relaxation in the ban on construction, only those areas falling below the road leading from the Ridge to St Bede’s Chowk will get relief,” said an official.

He said there was no question of allowing even minor construction in the Jakhu area as it is considered the crown of the ‘Queen of Hills’ having a thick deodar forest.

In fact it was only some time back that an exhaustive exercise was undertaken jointly by the Revenue, Forest and Town and Country Planning Departments to undertake fresh demarcation of greenbelts so that there is no ambiguity.

Dharamsala, September 8
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today launched the land distribution campaign (pattas) in Dharamsala by handing over the ownership revenue papers of two biswas of land to as many as 15 eligible and deserving families of Kangra district.

While launching the scheme he said his government had formulated a scheme to provide two biswas of land in rural areas and one biswa in urban areas to the landless and poor people having an annual income not exceeding Rs 10,000 and with no property in their name.

He said the scheme aimed to provide shelter to every family to help them dwell in houses of their own.

He said such families would not be permitted to sell the allotted land in the name of any person by way of sale or gift deed and in such cases the allotted land would be returned back to the state government.

In such cases, they would be blacklisted and subsequently termed ineligible to get the land for house construction again, he added.

He said the government had invited applications from the poor people to avail benefits of this scheme latest by September 30 through their respective tehsildars and efforts would be made to distribute all ‘pattas’ by October 31.

He has urged the gram panchayats, panchyat samities and zila parishad members to create awareness amongst people so that such families were provided the benefits of the scheme.

He said all deputy commissioners had been directed to implement the scheme in a time bound manner by according top priority.

The CM said his government would consider the construction of houses of the identified families under the Indira Awas Yojana, Rajiv Gandhi Awas Yojna and may also consider providing special financial assistance from the state government funds.

Dharamsala, September 8
Senior Congress leader and in charge of the party affairs in the state R.K. Dhawan today held a meeting of the office-bearers of the state unit of the party, district and block-level leaders of Kangra, Chamba, Una and Hamirpur districts.

He was here to get feedback from them on the actual position of the party at the grassroots level so that a concrete strategy could be made to ensure win in the forthcoming Assembly elections.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, state party president Viplove Thakur, most of the ministers, party MLAs of these four districts and more than 60 office-bearers of the state body, besides district presidents and block-level leaders were present in the meeting.

Although proceedings of the meeting were kept secret, sources in the party said Dhawan had stressed upon the need to fight elections collectively shedding personal egos and local factionalism.

He asked senior party leaders of the state unit to tone up themselves and go out in the public in order to convince people about development works carried out by the state government. He also advocated for a comprehensive plan to get media support.

Virbhadra Singh reportedly said only those leaders would be given party ticket who had the capacity to win their respective seats.

State unit president of the party Viplove Thakur said those leaders who had worked against the party during the last Assembly elections would also not be given party tickets at any cost.

Shimla, September 8
The sudden transfer of two senior doctors, including the head of the Orthopaedics Department (HoD), has cast its shadow on the ‘16th Himorthocon and workshop on hand surgery’ organised by the department at the Indira Gandhi Medical College today.

In a surprise move the government ordered the transfer of the HoD of the Orthopaedics Department, Dr Mukand Lal, who is the organising secretary of the two-day workshop on hand surgery in which over 50 surgeons from North India, including eminent doctors from AIIMS and PGI are attending the workshop.

Dr Mukand Lal has been transferred to Dr Rajendra Prasad Medical College, Tanda, Kangra, only a day prior to the workshop.

In his address Dr Lal even though in an oblique reference criticised the government policy of not utilizing the services of specialists in a proper manner.

Interestingly the transfer of Dr Lal had been ordered within a week of the transfer of spinal surgery expert, Dr Manoj Thakur from IGMC. Both Dr Lal and Dr Thakur have been transferred to Tanda.

Shimla, September 8
The state government proposes to frame new norms for granting loans in the cooperative sector so that cooperatives could be provided assistance for carrying out their activities.

Industries and cooperation minister Kuldeep Kumar said new norms would facilitate diversification of activities of cooperatives in areas like tourism, hydroelectric projects and other sectors.

He was presiding over a meeting of the state cooperative council. He said small hydroelectric projects up to 5 MW capacity had been reserved for Himachalis and 12 hydel cooperatives had so far been registered in the state.

He stressed the need for strengthening cooperative banking and also directed that cases of outstanding loans be sent to the government for waving the interest.

He asked members of the council to send their suggestions regarding the State Cooperative Societies Bill so that necessary amendments could be incorporated.

He said the National Cooperative Development Corporation was providing loan facilities to the apex cooperatives of the state, which had given a big boost to the cooperative movement.

Integrated cooperative development projects were also being implemented in the state. The council recommended that the government should provide guarantee for loans to be raised by hydro-cooperatives.

It also recommended the State Housing Federation should be exempted from section 118 of the Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, 1972.

Hamirpur, September 8
A man killed his wife and injured his two sons with a sickle last night. The incident occurred around 4 am at Panjahali village under the Majhog-Sultani Panchayat, around 8 km from here.

Rakesh Kumar (37) allegedly killed his wife Praveen Kumari (32) while she was asleep and injured his sons Ashu (7) and Ashley (9) with a sickle. He has been arrested.

Ashu was admitted to Hamirpur zonal hospital with serious injuries. Ashley, who tried to resist the attack and raised the alarm, had also received deep cuts.

Shilpa, 13-year-old daughter of the couple, is away on a trip to Manimahesh with her grandmother.

Rakesh ran away towards the fields after the attack. He was overpowered by villagers and handed over to the police.

Ratan Chand, brother of Praveen, said his sister was married to Rakesh more than 15 years ago. Rakesh was unemployed for quite some time, while his sister was supporting the family by selling milk, he added.

Hamirpur DSP K.G. Kapoor said, “The accused is perhaps a drug addict. He has been booked under Sections 302 and 307 of the IPC.”

She said though there was a provision of 674 cores in the Budget for anganwari workers, nothing much had been done for their welfare so far.

Mandi, September 8
Congress-supported candidate and former Mandi Municipal Council (MMC) president Sushila Sonkhla was today elected as the new president of the council.

She defeated her BJP-supported rival Anil Kapur by seven votes to six votes in the second meeting of the 13-member council held here in presence of Mandi SDM and chief executive officer of the council Arun Sharma.

After a week-long drama of lobbying and speculation, the two councillors, Anand Behal and Sonkhla, had emerged as contenders for the council post among the pro-Congress councillors.

Again the BJP played a tactical move by proposing the name of Tosh Kumar, who is considered to be the pro-Congress councillor, but he was opponent of both Sonkhla and Behal.

He wanted to contest the election but none of seven pro-Congress councillors supported him.

Despite a directive from the Congress High Command, Tosh Kumar stabbed the Congress at the back by supporting Anil Kapur after he withdrew his name in favour of him, here today, ignoring the directive of the high command, sources revealed.

Even factionalism came to the fore among the pro-Congress councillors as Behal, a supporter of Mandi MP Pratibha Singh, and Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and Sonkhla, a supporter of Mandi Sadar MLA, Sukh Ram refused to budge.

But it was due to strict directive from the high command that Congress councillor should rule the council, Behal withdrew from the contest in favour of Sonkhla as she has support of four councillors.

Kumarhatti, September 8
Mystery shrouds the recovery of a badly decomposed body from a well under Nalagarh police station this morning.

The body was packed in a sack and was floating on water. Dile Ram, resident of Khilli Khovla village informed the police about the body.

He claimed that the body was of his missing wife. His version has confused things.

The police are thinking as to how he could know about the body lying in the well.

The police has sent the unidentified body to Shimla for a postmortem examination and started investigations.