Dharamsala, December 26
Sports are in the stranglehold of politicians and bureaucrats, thanks to the lacklustre performance of established sportspersons as sports administrators.

Obviously, it has put down performance of players in almost all games. No sports federation or association in the state is free from the influence of the politician-bureaucrat nexus.

No wonder then, more and more politicians and bureaucrats are trying to get into the area of sports administration. For them, sports means power and free publicity.

Allocation of funds in the annual plans of the state budget and soaring costs of running sports associations and federations has also attracted the politicians towards sports bodies.

Cabinet minister Ram Lal Thakur is the president/chairman of the sports associations/federations of kabaddi, volleyball, rifle shooting and the Olympic Association. Power minister Vidya Stokes is at the helm of affairs of the women hockey.

The sports body of handball is headed by Anita Verma (MLA), that of football by Jagat Singh Negi (MLA), women cricket and softball by Asha Kumari (MLA), athletics by Anil Sharma (former MP), archery by J.P. Nadda (former minister), aero sports by Ashok Thakur (IAS), billiards by S.D. Sood (IAS), bridge by Shantnu Bahuria (IAS), boxing by Raja Yogendra Singh (former MLA), basketball by Sanjay Sandhu (IPS), badminton by S.S. Parmar (IAS) and cricket by Anurag Thakur, son of Prem Kumar Dhumal.

Once, a politician takes over the office of a sports organisation, it’s very difficult to remove him/her from the post. Vidya Stokes is running the affairs of women’s hockey at the national as well as the state level for the past many years.

Insiders say politicians are necessary at the helm of sports bodies to get things going on; otherwise it will not be easy to run sports activities solely at the government level as these bodies are generally faced with paucity of funds and poor management.

In the current financial year, the state government has earmarked more than Rs 8 crore for sports activities, which is less than half per cent of the total annual plan of the state. Out of the earmarked funds, half of the amount goes towards salaries and infrastructure management. One could well judge how the sports activities are being handled at the government level.

Notwithstanding all this, the state has produced some fine players in various fields like Deepak Thakur, Samresh Jang, Sita Gosain etc. but they achieved success only after going out of the state. Lack of proper infrastructure and support from the government at the right time are the two main reasons behind this.

Balwinder Kaur, a young basketball player groomed at Dharamsala, who recently participated in the women’s junior Asian championship after which she was picked up by the Indian Railways, feels sports can touch new heights in the state only if the games are freed from the clutches of politicians and bureaucrats.

“I think senior sportspersons of the state need to come forward and show their ability as good administrators,” she maintains.

Hamirpur, December 26
While all party candidates and leaders are anxiously waiting for the counting of votes on Friday, some of them are also busy filing complaints against the leaders who have reportedly worked against the party candidates in the election.

There have been reports from both, the BJP and the Congress that certain leaders have worked against the party or remained indifferent during the election campaign.

Although the problem of anti-party work has been more serious in the ruling Congress, the BJP has also not remained unaffected by this problem.

Since Congressmen have contested as rebels against the party candidates in the Mewa and Nadaunta constituencies, the maximum reports of anti-party activities have been made from there.

The Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) had already expelled the rebel candidates Prem Kaushal, Avnider Rani and her husband Manjeet Singh Dogra, a former MLA.

The party sources said, “There are serious allegations of anti-party activities against District Congress Committee (DCC) president Balak Ram Sharma, district general secretary Tej Nath Tej, DCC vice-president Rajesh Thakur and few others.”

In this context three separate reports have been submitted. The Congress party observer and secretary of AICC Jitender Singh has filed his report to the AICC. District election in charge Ranjeet Singh Verma and media in charge Deepak Sharma have submitted their reports to the HPCC.

Telling about the reports Verma told The Tribune, “We have received reports of anti-party work from the blocks and I too have gathered reports during my touring in the blocks and these have been submitted to the HPCC for further action.”

On the other hand, the BJP candidates from Hamirpur and Nadaun constituencies are also gathering information against certain people for working against the party.

Both, Urmil Thakur and Vijay Agnihotri are reportedly gathering information and are determined to submit reports to the state party leadership against certain party leaders who have reportedly worked against them in the election.

Shimla, December 26
Taking a stern view of the various BJP mandals in the state overstepping their jurisdiction in expelling senior leaders and, above all, virtually bypassing the state disciplinary committee, the BJP said today that all such orders had no meaning.

Interestingly, senior party leaders have been surprised at the manner in which some BJP mandals, especially Kullu, Gangath and Palampur, expelled senior leaders from the party for six years on disciplinary grounds, despite not having the powers to do so.

“Since the mandals are not empowered to take decisions on expulsion issues, the orders issued by the Gangath, Palampur and Kullu mandals have no relevance,” confirmed state BJP chief Jai Ram Thakur.

The matter has suddenly assumed significance as this time the orders have been issued by the mandals for the expulsion of former state party chief Maheshwar Singh and Chandersen from Kullu, former MP Kripal Parmar and former MLA Shiv Kumar. While Kripal Parmar is the state unit vice-president, Maheshwar Singh is in the state executive of the party.

The state BJP chief today warned that disciplinary action would be taken against all such partymen who continue to overstep their jurisdiction and take decisions on expulsion. He added that they could debate the matter and send their recommendations to the state disciplinary committee, which was the competent authority to take the final decision.

With senior leaders in certain places indirectly extend support to nominees other than the official BJP candidates, the mandals are up in arms against the tactics and have decided to order their expulsion on their own “since it is unlikely that action will be taken by the state leadership against big leaders who have worked against the official nominee”.

“The mandals can certainly discuss the issue in their meetings but they are in no way authorised to order expulsion or go to the media at all,” said Jai Ram Thakur. He added that anybody taking such a decision on his own could face expulsion.

Thakur clarified that the state BJP disciplinary committee alone was authorised to order expulsion orders on anti-party activities or for other organisational matters.

The Kullu mandal has demanded the expulsion of Maheshwar Singh, who was denied the party ticket from Kullu.

In fact, his younger brother, Karan Singh, a minister in the Dhumal regime, on being denied the ticket from Banjar jumped into the fray as a BSP candidate.

Former MP Kripal Parmar has already stated that being an officer-bearer of the state body, the mandal was not empowered to order his expulsion.

He further clarified that he did not campaign for Anita Dhiman, who contested as an Independent candidate, but worked for the official BJP nominee.

Similarly, action was taken against former MLA Shiv Kumar for working against the BJP nominee in the hometown of former union minister Shanta Kumar.

Shimla, December 26
The H.P. High Court has held police officer Upender Thakur guilty of contempt of court in a case pertaining to interference with the judicial process.

A Division Bench comprising Mr. Justice Deepak Gupta and Mr. Justice V.K.Ahuja, while holding the police officer guilty, also warned him to desist from any such act in future.

The court passed this order on a criminal contempt proceedings initiated against him on a letter written by the judicial magistrate, Dalhousie.

In his letter the judicial officer had informed that on June 17, 2007, Upender Thakur, the then SP, Chamba, telephoned him and asked him not to grant bail to the accused in a State vs Babu Ram case.

According to the judicial officer, when he told the S.P that the matter would be decided as per the record, the S.P threatened him of dire consequences in case the bail was granted in the said case.

Thereafter, the police officer filed a reply and he admitted that he had telephoned the judicial officer concerned but according to him the conversation had taken place in a different context in as much as he was not trying to interfere in the judicial process nor had he asked the judicial officer to decide the matter in a particular manner.

However, the contemnor filed another affidavit tendering his unconditional apology. While accepting the apology the Bench observed that the police officer had no business to ring up a judicial officer.

In a civilised country like ours where the rule of law must prevail we cannot allow any person, howsoever high he maybe, to try to interfere the course of justice.

The court further observed that the police officer had committed criminal contempt since his action not only scandalises and lowers the authority of the court but is also a clear attempt to interfere with the judicial process.

The court also said that leave aside trying to tell an officer not to grant bail, no police officer should even try to contact a judicial officer and talk to him about a case pending before him.

Chamba, December 26
Thanks to the ‘election code of conduct’, developmental activities, including the ongoing schemes for the welfare and uplift of the people, have come to a halt in the far-flung corners of Chamba district.

The construction work on more than 12 main link roads has come to a standstill and poor labourers earning their livelihood by working there have been rendered unemployed.

Contrary to it, private enterprises executing the mini and micro hydroelectric projects in this region have speeded up the work for early completion and commissioning in view of a possible change of power in the state.

In case the BJP wrests power, the private hydel enterprises from outside the state are expected to face ouster or crackdown as these will no longer be allowed to plunder indefinitely the riparian rights of inhabitants residing in the area.

While the Congress is keeping close watch on private enterprises that took advantage of the ruling Congress government but clandestinely helped the BJP in the recent assembly elections directly or indirectly.

Sundernagar, December 26
The Consumer Forum, Mandi, has directed Shri Ram Transport Company, Jalandhar, to pay an amount of Rs 2 lakh at the rate of 9 per cent per annum along with the cost of complaint, Rs 2,000, to Bir Singh of Larankalo village in Kullu on account of wrongful seizure of his truck.

As per the complaint, Bir Singh had purchased a Swaraj Mazda truck for his livelihood in 2002 and it was financed by the defendant for an amount of Rs 3.58 lakh, the total value of the vehicle was Rs 4.99 lakh, the complainant had paid the balance amount.

The latter further agreed to pay 47 monthly installments of Rs 11,340 per month. Bir Singh had been paying the regular instalments from July 21, 2002 to August 30, 2005. However, he could not pay the instalment in September, 2005, and the financer company seized the vehicle forcibly.

He later offered to pay the instalment in October, 2005, but it was refused by the company. The vehicle was later sold by the company.

Bir Singh claimed damages on account of wrongful seizure of vehicle alleging that the act amounts to deficiency in service as per the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act.

The finance company alleged that as there was default in payment and as the complainant was not ready to pay the entire sum, the vehicle was sold for Rs 1.60 lakh in order to realise the loan amount. Moreover, Bir Singh had to further pay the instalments of the loan to the company. All was done as per the provision of the agreement that was executed between the company and the complainant.

The forum held that the wrongful seizure of vehicle amounts to deficiency in service. At the time of seizure of the vehicle its cost was Rs 3 lakh and Bir Singh had already paid Rs 5.53 lakh to the company.

The forum further held that even if the complainant has to pay the company an amount of Rs 1 lakh, he was still entitled for Rs 2 lakh, which were awarded to him as compensation along with interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum in addition to Rs 2,000.

A fire brigade jeep was later rushed which managed to douse the fire after five hours, station fire officer S.S. Pundir said.

Kullu, December 26
Virbhadra Singh today visited Mohini village, where 48 houses were burnt on Thursday. He announced an additional relief of Rs 30 lakh out of the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund besides Rs 30 lakhs approved under the government relief manual to the fire victims.

He directed forest officials to allocate confiscated timber to the fire victims against TD (timber distribution) rights.

The government would take up the matter of allowing TD to the fire victims with the high court, he added.

Talking to the mediapersons at Banjar after visiting Mohini village, he said the Congress would secure majority in the Assembly elections and the dreams of the BJP leaders to form a government in the state would remain a dream.

About the exit poll conducted by one of the TV channels, he said, “Pol to es exit poll ki 28 tarikh ko khul jayegi” (the assessment of the exit poll would be exposed on the 28th).

He said the TV channel should note that there were 6,994 polling stations in the state and mere sitting at the headquarters would not give overall picture of the prevailing trend. He said such practices should be shunned.

He also hinted at forging an alliance to form the government. The Congress had associate members in the present Vidhan Sabha and if the need be, the same could be done to form the government after the results were declared on December 28.

In reply to a question about the expulsion of three senior Congress leaders, Chander Kiran Prarthi, chairman of the Kullu and Lahaul-Spiti Marketing Board, Devender Negi, a member of the Board of Directors of the HRTC, and Chander Sen, a member of the Board of Directors of the HPTDC, from the party by the state Congress president, he said they had the right to appeal and if they could satisfy that they had not done any anti-party work during the elections, the expulsion could be revoked.

He stressed the party was above anybody and discipline would have to be maintained.

Shimla, December 26
The railway authorities today started a special tourist train ‘Shivalik Duplicate’ between Shimla-Kalka in order to handle the tourist rush in view of Christmas and New Year.

Every year the railway authorities start special trains to handle the rush of tourists to the ‘Queen of Hills’.

The train was started today in the evening and has a capacity of accommodating 100.

The railway authorities had been keen to start two of these special trains, but with the engines lying out of order it was not possible to start them earlier.

The ten days period from December 20 onwards is the busiest tourist season of the year when visitors from all over the country visit the hill town to celebrate Christmas and New Year.

Though majority drive up, yet the charm of taking a train journey on the serpentine track, having 108 tunnels, has its own charm.

There are many who love to travel by train, but with heavy bookings at times, they are unable to do so. In view of this, such special tourist trains are started.

The railway authorities here said the special train would be run till there is enough rush.

“There is no need for another train as one special train is sufficient to handle the present rush of tourists,” said railway superintendent here.

Nahan, December 26
Angry residents of Sainwala village in the Kala Amb area this evening blocked the Chandigarh- Nahan national highway for over one hour at Kala Amb, demanding the arrest of the driver whose car crushed to death a resident of the village.

As per police sources, a car (HP 18 A 1277) crushed Raj Kumar (35), a resident of Sainwala village, to death in Moginand village.

The car driver took critically injured Raj Kumar to a private clinic at Kala Amb and fled from there. Raj Kumar was an assistant lineman in the Himachal Pradesh Electrcity Board.

A large number of villagers from Sainwala and other surrounding villages started a dharna on the Chandigarh-Nahan highway blocking the road for nearly one hour, disrupting traffic on this busiest road of the district.

Villagers lift the blockade around 6 p.m. after Vijay Sharma, SHO, Nahan, assured them that the accused would be arrested soon.

Una, December 26
BJP leader Prem Kumar Dhumal, MP and former Chief Minister of Himachal, said here today that the BJP was sure of forming a government in the state.

People of the state, Dhumal said, were not happy with the Congress because of rising prices, unemployment, bungling in appointment of para-teachers and anganwari workers and non-fulfilment of promises made during the last Vidhan Sabha elections.

Such promises included providing employment to one member of each family. These factors, he said, would ensure BJP's victory in the recent elections.

Shimla, December 26
Over 5,000 persons have been deputed for undertaking the counting of votes on December 28 at 41 locations across the state.

Chief electoral officer Manisha Nanda said today that elaborate arrangements had been made to ensure proper counting of votes for the 68 Assembly segments, which took place in two phases.

“Besides this, 41 engineers from Bharat Electronics Limited, Bangalore would be on duty on the day of counting at all the locations to ensure smooth functioning of electronic voting machines (EVM),” she informed.

She added that 878 counting supervisors and an equal number of counting assistants along with additional staff had been put on counting duty. She said counting would take place in 68 halls on the 878 counting tables.

Nanda said the state had a total of 45,44,166 voters out of which 32,75,924 had exercised their right to franchise.

She added that 69.67 per cent male voters and 72.55 per cent female voters had case their vote.

“In seven districts of Kinnaur, Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Una, Kangra, Chamba and Lahaul Spiti, the female voters turned out in larger number than the male,” she stated. The highest female voting had been registered in the Nalagarh constituency in Solan.

All the 16 Assembly segments of Kangra have registered higher female voter turnout.

Chamba, December 26
The police nabbed charas smuggler Raj Kumar of Ludhiana (Punjab) on Tuesday and seized 14 kg of charas from him.

According to sources, officials of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) stopped a private vehicle for checking, which was on its way to Pathankot, at Kandla on the Tissa-Pathankot highway.

On inspecting the vehicle, the police seized 14 kg of charas and arrested Raj Kumar who was driving the vehicle.

The accused is suspected to be involved in charas trafficking for quite some time. The value of 14 kg of charas is about Rs 2 crore in the international market.

The police registered a case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance (NDPS) Act.

Nahan: The CIA staff arrested three residents of the Renuka area at Kali Dhang, near Jatoun, about 45 k.m. from here, on Monday night, and seized charas and two leopard skins from them.

Sirmaur SP J.P.Singh told The Tribune this evening that working on a tip-off, the CIA staff managed to arrest Subhash Chand of Sunder Ghat village, Tejender Singh of Ganog village and Sant Ram of Sail Pab village in Sangrah tehsil while they were trying to manage an illegal sale deal.

The police seized two leopard skins worth over Rs 20 lakh in the international market and 440 gm of charas from them. Cases under the relevant Acts had been registered against the accused.

Hamirpur, December 26
While the process of restructuring of the staff is on in the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Hamirpur, a large number of technical and clerical employees are apprehending denial of promotions and higher pay scales to them due to new recruitment and promotion rules.

The restructuring of the technical and clerical staff in all NITs in the country was started some time ago by the Ministry of Human Resources of the Central Government keeping in view the needs of these institutions.

The NIT, Hamirpur, had also started homework in that regard when it came under the NIT Act after August 15, 2007. Earlier, it was registered under the Societies Registration Act as a regional engineering college.

Under the restructuring process, while NITs would recruit new staff under the guidelines issued for appointing technical staff with higher pay scales and provide better pay scales to qualified persons, the less educated and unskilled staff would reportedly face a bleak future.

There are many employees working in the technical and clerical categories having matriculation or ITI diplomas as their qualification. They were appointed in the regional engineering college, which was later upgraded as NIT.

These employees are now apprehending that under the restructuring process they would not only be denied promotions, but also not get benefits of new pay scales due to their qualification.

The NIT authorities had appointed subcommittees headed by chairmen of respective departments to submit a report for the restructuring process, who have already submitted their reports.

Director of the NIT I.K. Bhatt said: “Though the final decision in this regard will be taken by the higher authorities, there are enough safeguards to protect interest of every section of employees in the restructuring process.”

Shimla, December 26
Dr Mahavir Singh, head of the physics department at the Himachal Pradesh University (HPU), has been invited by the Universite de Bretagne Occidentale, Brest, France, to undertake joint work in synthesising nano-particles used in cancer therapy and memory devices.

He has been invited by Prof Patrick Queffelec, in charge of the electronics and telecommunication laboratory at the French university.

Dr Mahavir Singh will also deliver lectures on nano-materials and will prepare a proposal for a joint project between the departments of science and technology in India and France.

His articles published in international publications during the past one year focus on nano-technology, the latest in cancer therapy.

He has already developed nano-particles by various soft chemical techniques and had used highly sophisticated instruments to see these.

He has earlier worked with Prof Sandy Fitzegeralad from the University of Dundee, UK, on nano-particles.

This has resulted in research collaboration between the physics department of HPU and the engineering division of the University of Dundee.

Dr Mahavir has many international publications to his credit, including one that appeared in the recent issue of ‘Applied Physics Letter’, the topmost journal in physics at the international level.

He said it was the only organisation that had adopted 3,500 villages throughout the country for making lives of people living there better and happier.

Solan, December 26
Guru Nanak Dev (GND) University, Amritsar, emerged winners at the North-East Zone Intervarsity Kabaddi championships held at Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni.

Panjab University (PU), Chandigarh, the CCS, Meerut, and Kurukshetra University (KU) bagged the second, third and the fourth position, respectively.

In the first league match of the championship, CCS University, Meerut, outplayed Kurukshetra University (63-26) with a clear lead of 27-14 during the half time.

The goal scorers for CCS-Meerut were Meena, Pooja and Anita who outwitted their opponents through their raids as well as catches.

In another league match, last year’s champions GND varsity, defeated Panjab University, 49-24. The team from GND varsity managed to maintain a good lead of 26-16.

For the winners, Sushila, Mukhtiar, Rajbir and Amandeep were the outstanding players who did not give any chance to PU to match their players in both compartments of the game.

The third league match was played between Kurukshetra University and PU. It was won by the latter by 21-15. At half time, the score was 10-7.

For PU, captain Rupinderjeet and Veerpal played excellent game. For KU, Kavita and Poonam tried to give the fight, but in the end PU overpowered them and won the match.

In the last league match, GND varsity defeated CCS-Meerut. At half time, the score was 23-11.

For GND vardity, Sushila and Rajbit displayed their fast raid skills. They were ably assisted by Mukhtiar and Amandeep. They won the match 52-26.

However, Anu, Anita and Pooja of CCS-Meerut tried to give fight to GND varsity girls as they scored few points for their team, but it was the GND varsity team that won the match, 52-26.