Dharamsala, September 19
Former Chief Minister and Hamirpur MP Prem Kumar Dhumal had demanded a CBI probe into the Rs. 31,500-crore PDS scam and strict action against the guilty for siphoning off food items meant for distribution through the PDS among below poverty line families during the past three years.

Talking to mediapersons after the inaugural ceremony of the four-day cricket match between India ‘A’ and South Africa ‘A’ teams here today, he appealed to the political parties, social organisations, NGOs and individuals to join hands for a crusade against corruption in society.

Alleging that corruption was prevalent in the hill state too, he said Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh was shielding corrupt politicians and bureaucrats. He advised bureaucrats not to follow blindly their political masters in corrupt practices lest they should face trouble in the next government.

Nurpur, September 19
The Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) has been chalking out its strategy to take up the issue of allocation of funds against the approved special package announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his last visit in the state.

Addressing a press conference here after presiding over meeting of Congress workers of the local unit, state president of the Congress Viplove Thakur said the party would raise the issue effectively before the PM during his scheduled visit on September 30 in the state.

Replying to queries of mediapersons Thakur said the party would contest Assembly polls under the leadership of AICC chief Sonia Gandhi and the Congress as a whole. She parried the question when asked whether Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh would be entrusted the task of leading the party in the assembly polls but made it clear that after winning the majority the next CM would be elected by the Congress MLAs.

She asserted that the Congress would contest polls on the issues of over all development of the state and landmark achievements of the state as well as that of the UPA government. She denied any impact of the episodes of CD release against the CM and birthday bash of former transport minister.G.S. Bali on the election prospects of the Congress and claimed that the electorate were least concerned with such vague issues.

She said she had been holding meetings of the party block committees throughout the state with an objective to rejuvenate the cadre and gear it up for the ensuing Assembly elections. 

Chamba, September 19
Two persons were killed in two separate incidents at different points in Chamba district during the past 24 hours, according to reports reaching here today.

The reports said one person was killed and another seriously injured when a private vehicle swerved off the road and fell into a gorge near Dunali on Chamba-Bharmour road. The deceased was identified as Budhi Singh, driver of the vehicle, and was a resident of Bakloh village of the district. The injured Dev Raj was a resident of Banog village near Mehla.

In another incident, a girl was washed away in the river Chanderbhaga near Dharwas Nala about 10 km from Killar, in Pangi valley. The body of the girls had not yet been recovered, the report said.

Shimla, September 19
Deputy election commissioner of India R Balakrishnan held consultations with the representatives of recognised political parties to ascertain their views regarding holding Assembly elections in the three tribal segments along with the rest of the state.

While the election for 65 of the total 68 segments in the state is held in February, the snowbound segments of Bharmour, Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti go to polls in June. The state High Court while hearing a public interest litigation had urged the state government and the election commission to ascertain the possibililty of holding elections in the state in one go.

While the parties were in favour of holding Assembly elections in the tribal constituencies alongwith the rest of the state ,they had differences over the timing.

Represented by Rajiv Bindal , H.N.Kashyap and Rajender Kishore the BJP said elections in the entire state should be held simultaneously and if there were practical problems like weather, the BJP was ready to go to polls before schedule. At present the term of the legislators of the tribal constituencies was curtailed as elections in these segments were held four months later.

The party stressed that the commission would have to make special arrangements for simultaneous poll, like issuing postal ballots to the migratory voters who shift to other parts of the state during winter and deployment of additional forces to prevent misuse of government machinery by the ruling party, well in advance. It was against holding elections in the three segments alone ahead of schedule.

General secretary of the state Congress Kuldeep Rathore also favoured simultaneous poll.

The representative of the CPM Rakesh Singha also expressed a similar point of view. He suggested that elections could be advanced to December 15 for the purpose.

Shimla, September 19
The Centre will soon come out with a comprehensive policy to facilitate translocation of wild animals to help reduce the animal-human conflict.

Union minister of state for environment and forests S. Ragupathy, who is on a three-day visit to the state, told The Tribune here today that various states were facing problems due to an increasing human-conflict with leopards, monkeys and other animal making frequent forays into human settlements. The government had granted permission for selective killing of monkeys in severely affected areas but people have not come forward to take advantage of it.

Similarly, prowling leopards was also a serious problem. The proposed policy would take care of all aspects like nature of habitat and carrying capacity of the forests to identify the areas for translocation of the animals. The animals could be relocated either within the same state or shifted to some other states, subject to their willingness. The Centre would also support programmes to contain the population of animals like monkeys through sterilisation and other methods.

Ragupathy was impressed by the initiative to introduce the concept of carbon credits taken under the Rs 365-crore World Bank-funded Mid-Himalayan Watershed Development Project which would enable the villagers to earn Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 per hectare annually from the plantations for a period of 30 years. He said Himachal was the first state in Asia to introduce the carbon credit system which would provide the much-needed fillip to the participatory forest management programme in the country. He was particularly happy with the increasing role being played by women in forest conservation in the state.

Solan, September 19
The police has identified the driver of the pick-up van which had collided head on with the car of a former additional advocate-general Sandeep Kaushik at Sanwara on Saturday. The driver and owner Suraj is a resident of Bapu Dham colony in Chandigarh and he has remained elusive ever since the mishap took place.

Parwanoo DSP Bhaghat Thakur said his relatives were being interrogated and it was learnt that he had fled to his native place in UP. A police team led by Dharampur SHO Bhisham Thakur had been entrusted the task to nab the erring driver.

Since the BJP was crying foul play in this case, the police was conducting a thorough probe into the matter. The case had become a crucial issue in the state as the deceased lawyer had contested a number of controversial decisions of the state governments which had been reversed. This had caused much embarrassment to the ruling Congress.

DSP said more details about the accident would be known once Suraj was arrested as nothing concrete could be ascertained till the driver was interrogated.

He added that efforts were on to nab the culprit and they were hopeful of arresting him soon. The police was also ascertaining the details of the pick-up van from the region licensing authority.

Nahan, September 19
Sapna, a girl of Kajeil village in Bilaspur district was honoured by Vivek Chandel, subdivisional magistrate, Rajgarh, yesterday at a public function organized at Rajgarh PWD rest house by the Bhanat Panchayat of the area for setting an example of honesty by returning a bag containing Rs 1.06 lakh to its owner.

At the function, the SDM praised her honesty and honoured her with a Himachali cap, a shawl and commendation certificate. — OC

Chandigarh, September 19
Even as concerted efforts are on to include 104-year-old Kalka-Shimla railway line in the world heritage list by UNESCO, a strategic bridge connecting Dharampur with Subathu over a tunnel has failed to catch the attention of the authorities concerned.

The authorities have allegedly failed to show the bridge to the UNESCO team which is currently on a tour of the region to enlist the railway line for the heritage list.

The historical bridge also has heritage value as this small link bridge was reportedly used by the Viceroy to go to the then summer capital of India -Subathu - in a small car.

Since January 2007, when the bridge was declared “unsafe” for traffic, residents of Sabathu are at the receiving end of the apathetic administration. With the Railways and the PWD allegedly passing the buck over the repair of the bridge, the Subathu residents are forced to travel an extra 40 km via Solan to reach their homes, Madan Gupta Spatu, author and astrologer, told the Tribune here today.

Though the government efforts to get the heritage status for railway line were laudable, yet the neglect of the important bridge speaks volumes about the conservation and maintenance efforts of the government agencies, Spatu alleged.

As the area produces a variety of seasonal vegetables and is a big supplier to the plains, the farmers have suffered huge losses after its closure.