Kangra, May 11
The 17th Karmapa - Ogyen Trinley Dorjee (22) left for Delhi today to visit the US from the Kangra airport in a special aircraft amid farewell by hundreds of Tibetan monks. He is scheduled to stay in the US till June 2.

The Karmapa was granted permission by the ministry for external affairs to visit the US for the first time after his arrival along with his entourage.

He left for Delhi in a special aircraft this afternoon along with his nine-member entourage, including his elder sister his two aides Lama Dumna and Lama Dhargyal. The two lamas were instrumental in the escape of Karmapa, when he was 14-year-old, from the Tsurphu Monastery falling under the Chinese controlled Tibetan Autonomous Region.

The Karmapa, who was under scanner of the security agencies since his arrival at Dharamsala eight year ago, had to put off his plans twice to visit the USA in view of the lack of response from the Government of India on his requests earlier.

He is scheduled to arrive in New York on May 15 and would stay back there till May 18. He would leave for Woodstock the next day, the seat of Karma Tryana Dharamchakra and the main centre of the Kagyu tradition in the West. He is also scheduled to visit New Jersy, Washington, Colorado and Seattle during his stay.

He was eager to visit Woodstock where the Buddhist institutions managed by Kagyu Sect, most of which were set up by his predecessor the 16th Karmapa Ranjang 
Rigpe Dorje.

Shimla, May 11
The mercury plummeted sharply as rain and hailstorms continued to lash the mid and lower hill areas of the state for the third consecutive day today.

The city and the surrounding areas are experiencing intermittent rain and hail. The total precipitation over the past 24 hours was 51.9 mm. The people were forced to wear woollens as the minimum temperature dipped further from yesterday’s 14.6 °C to 9.5°C today. The maximum temperature also declined from 21.2°C to 19.9°C.

Narkanda, Kufri, Kharapathar, Chail and Sundernagar also received light to moderate rain. Kalpa in Kinnaur had a low of 2°C and maximum of 19.9°C, while Bhuntar was comparatively warmer with a maximum temperature of 32.5°C and minimum of 11.5°C. Parts of Kinnaur district received light rain whereas the higher reaches of Bharmour and Pangi received light snow. Most of the other tribal areas experienced dry weather.

The continuing spell of freak weather is giving sleepless nights to farmers and fruit growers, as frequent rain is affecting harvesting of wheat in mid and high hill areas, which require bright sunshine for the purpose. The apple and stone fruit crops have been hit due to hailstorms.

However, the untimely rain provided relief to the people from the acute water scarcity for a while as the discharge in various water sources, which had come down drastically, increased for sometime.

Mandi, May 11
The Rs 3-crore deal involving the sale of “prime royal land and property of the former kings of Mandi connected with the International Shivratri fair has forced various organisations to demand a through probe into the matter.

They demanded that the government should take steps to preserve and protect the historic heritage of the town by bringing all such buildings under the Ancient Monument Protection Act.

Lawan Thakur, convener of Indian People’s Theatre; Sunder Lohia, president of the Janvadi Writers Sangh; and P.C. Bisht, president, Citizens Council, Mandi, said, “the scions of the former kings of Mandi are just custodians of the royal property, particularly that connected with Raj Madhava, whose deity is enshrined in the Damdama temple.

They said that Havan kund, Baba Kot and other old buildings should have been preserved as heritage buildings under the Ancient Monument Protection Act.

Even state BJP president Jai Ram Thakur today issued a strongly worded statement here, saying that the government had ordered a probe into the sale as it had stirred the sentiments of the people. “The government will not allow anybody to get away with it. The party is examining the role of the BJP mandal president in this regard”, he asserted. In fact, Ashokpal Sen, and his sister, Indira Mahindra, married into the family of Mahindra in Maharashra, both siblings of the last

Mandi king, late Joginderpal Sen, have been fighting a legal battle in the high court claiming their rights over the “nisf property” ever since the family settlement agreement was signed in 2000.

What has fuelled speculation over the deal is that its major buyer is Khub Ram, a nonentity from Chachiot who has bought a major chunk of land- over 6539.69 square metres area out of the half share of the property measuring over 6659.69 square meters claimed by Indira.

The other two are local contractors, Kashmir Singh and his brother, Gopal, who have bought 80 sq metres and 40 sq metres, respectively.

Interestingly, the deal was struck by Devinder Jamval, who has the power of attorney on behalf of Indira Mahindra, after the high court vacated the stay in the last week of April.

But after counsel for Ashokpal Sen took up the issue, the high court again imposed a stay in the case on May 5.

Deputy Commissioner Onkar Sharma said: “The government has stopped the mutation and is probing the matter thoroughly.” 

Shimla, May 11
Former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has accused the Dhumal government of misleading the people on the issue of carbon credits and said it was a deliberate attempt to belittle the achievement of the previous Congress regime which pioneered the first such scheme under the World Bank-funded Mid-Himalayan Watershed Development Project.

In a statement here today he pointed out that the Congress regime had taken care of the carbon credit financing facility available under the Kyoto Protocol while negotiating the development policy loan and funding for the Rampur hydel project by the World bank. Not only that it also got the first-ever scheme approved in principle from the bank under the Mid-Himalayan Watershed Development Project in May, 2007, for selling carbon credits to the bank directly to benefit the growers. It made India the first country in Asia and second in the world to have such a scheme. Trading in carbon credits was established six or seven years ago and was presently being administered by the United Nations.

He said as such the claim of the present government that this source of funding was not recognised by the Congress government was false and politically motivated. In fact, the recent visit of an official team to Costa Rica was only a follow-up action for the implementation of the scheme but it was being projected as an achievement of the present regime.

The manner in which the government has started claiming carbon credits for everything only reflected its ignorance regarding the concept. He cautioned that any proposal not backed by adequate scientific data was bound to weaken the state’s case. If collectively pursued the hill state could get Rs 1,50,000 crore rather than Rs 15,000 crore, as stated.

The entire process for obtaining carbon credits was quite cumbersome and time- consuming and it was highly unlikely that the money would available from this source by July, as was being claimed by the government.

Kullu, May 11
The MDLR airlines had finally announced its operation to Dharamsala from May 12.

Koustav M. Dhar, executive director, Marketing and Planning, said the director general of civil aviation (DGCA) had approved its flight operation to Dharamsala and the airlines was expecting to get clearance for Kullu very shortly. He said most likely we would start at Kullu by May 15.

It may be recalled that the MDLR was to start its flights on Delhi-Chandigarh-Kullu and back sectors from April 28 but the bursting of under carriage on the approving flight resulted in the clearance of the aircraft and the operations. Dhar said the aircraft and the pilots of the ‘grounded aircraft’ of the mishap at the Kullu-Manali airport on April 26 have been cleared by the DGCA.

Solan, May 11
With the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) yet to release requisite funds for fighting forest fires, the Forest Department has been forced to depend on the meagre funds available with it.

The department loses saplings, tree cover and other forest wealth in fires that usually erupt between April to June every year. The department had prepared an estimate of Rs 3 crore this year and the same was sent to the MOEF for approval. As per norms, the state contributes around 10 per cent of the amount, while the lion’s share is pooled in by the ministry.

Last year, this grant was around Rs 2 crore. However, keeping in view the increasing instances of forest fires an estimate of Rs 3 crore has been sent to the ministry.

But the delay in the release of funds is causing hardship to the department.

With thousands of acres of forestland being covered with pine trees, which spill inflammable pine needles, the department has to deploy special men as fire watchers and others who can clean the forest area. This is the sole way of controlling forest fires.

Principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) Pankaj Khullar said, “The ministry’s meeting is slated to be held on May 12 and we will request it to release the requisite funds by the end of this months. This will enable us to carry out effective fire fighting.”

“Since last year’s funds were received in September, it had created much inconvenience. We are hopeful of receiving the due help well in time this year. Meanwhile, we are using the state share in anticipation of the Central grant,” he added.

In Solan district alone, there have been a number of instances of fires where several hectares of forest area has been engulfed in flames. The department had also ensured that a forest official sensitised villagers about forest fires during gram sabha meetings as this could help in checking instances of forest fires, officials said.

Shimla, May 11
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal will be presented the "Golden Peacock Award" on May 30 during the opening ceremony of the Global Convention on climatic change at Palampur. 

The grand jury of Golden Peacock Award under the chairmanship of former Primer Minister of Sweden Ola Ullsten had approved “Environmental leadership” honour in recognition of the Chief Minister’s outstanding initiatives in this area.

Shimla, May 11
Governor V.S. Kokje has stressed the need for imparting values-based education in schools for overall development of the students.

Presiding over the “Eswaramma Day” celebrations at the Sri Sathya Sai Educational Centre here today, he said education without value or “sanskars” had no meaning and emphasised that parents and teachers should strive to inculcate moral values in children so that they could become quality citizens.

He lauded the Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisation for providing education with emphasis on morals and ethics, development of mental and physical faculties, character-building and allround development of children.

Kokje complimented the students for staging an outstanding cultural programme which also threw light on the aims and objective of the school. He said knowledge empowered the people and they could play a greater role in nation-building.

Lady Governor Leena Kokje was also present. Principal of Sri Sathya Sai Seva School Krishan Singh presented the annual report. A “sarva dharma bhajan” and a colourful cultural programme were also present on the occasion.

Mandi, May 11
Lal Singh, coordinator of Nehru Yuvak Kendra (NYK), Mandi-Kullu, has come under fire from the volunteers of the Nehru Yuvak Mandal (NYM), Kanda, Balichowki and Indian People Theatre Association (IPTA) for his dictatorial and callous behaviour.

They have lodged the complaint against him with the Mandi DC and SP demanding strict action in connection with the letter of threat he had issued to the NYM, Kanda, on March 19.

IPTA convener Lawan Thakur in the complaint had urged a strict action against Lal Singh for threatening the NYM, Kanda, of dismissing their membership and lodging the FIR without any plausible ground.

The IPTA also demanded an action against Lal Singh from the zonal director, NYK and ministry of youth affairs, New Delhi in this case, stating that they had committed no crime or misused the funds.

The NYM, Kanda, said they could not attend the national integration camp at Sonepat from March 18-24 due to the death of a family member during that time.

However, Lal Singh issued them a letter, (copy of letter released to the Press), threatening them with “lodging of an FIR and dismissing their membership” they rued.

“We have neither taken any advance nor have done anything wrong,” they complained.

Lal Singh was on the defensive, saying he had only issued them a show cause notice to explain their position.

He also admitted they were not given any advance money for the purpose.

Nahan, May 11
Babita Sumra, state general secretary of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), in a statement released to press here recently criticised the state government for not granting permission for the establishment of steel plant in Nahan constituency. The Union ministry of steel had granted sanction to establish this plant near Nahan.

She alleged that the BJP government by refusing permission for the establishment of this plant in the Nahan area had once again proved that they were totally anti-Sirmaur and anti-development.

Quoting a new item, which says that the government was ready to give permission for the establishment of the proposed plant in Kangra district in place of Nahan, the BJP proved that the party was perusing the agenda of regionalism in the state.

People here were totally frustrated with the attitude of the government in this case. The factory would provide employment to thousands of unemployed youths of Nahan and its surrounding areas, she added.

Sumra said during Nahan MLA Sadanand Chauhan’s tenure approval for installation of the steel plant near Nahan was one of his major development works. With his efforts the steel plant was gifted by the LJP national president and Union minister for steel Ram Vilas Paswan to people of Sirmaur and Nahan in particular.

She said during his public rally in Nahan Chowgan Paswan announced that the Union Government had sanctioned two steel plants to be established one near Nahan and another in Jammu. At that time the Congress had created several hurdles in establishment of the proposed plant and refused to give land for the plant.

However, the steel ministry purchased private land for the purpose and when the plant was ready for installation, the state BJP government had raised hackle, which was unfortunate.

She warned that if the government does not give permission for the establishment of proposed government steel plant near Nahan an agitation would be started soon.

Shimla, May 11
The Congress has charged the BJP with misleading people regarding the terminal fruit market at Dhalli the foundation stone of which was laid by Chief Minister P.K.Dhumal a few days ago.

A former chairman of the agriculture produce market committee (Shimla and Kinnaur) said here that the Bhatta Kufer site at which the foundation stone had been laid was acquired from the Transport Department for setting up an auction yard at the intervention of former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. The department had plans to set up a bus stand there but he took up the case for the construction of an auction yard there with Virbhadra Singh. He convinced the Transport Department to shift the bus stand to old Dhalli where the Sanjauli bypass was likely to become functional shortly.

He said the BJP government was silent about what it intended to do at the existing market in Dhalli. The agriculture committee had detailed got a detailed project report prepared for 175 shops, offices, cold store and parking space for over 100 vehicles there.

The charge that the Congress regime did nothing to facilitate marketing of agriculture produce was politically motivated. Apart from the Dhalli market project the Congress government also implemented a Rs 3.60-crore market project in Rohru the first phase of which was already functional. 

Sundernagar, May 11
State Lecturers’ Association of non-government colleges of the state has urged Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal and education minister I.D. Dhiman to reconsider the decision of the state Cabinet to reduce the grant-in-aid to the colleges from 95 to 50 per cent.

According to Chander Parkash Kaushal, president of the association, this decision would effect the functioning of these colleges adversely. As these institutions have been providing higher education to more than 6,000 students, mostly from rural areas of the state at low-cost.

The employees of these colleges namely St Bede’s College Shimla, DAV Colleges at Kangra and Kotkhai and MLSM College Sundernagar were working against the posts, which were created by the government itself. The teachers and other employees of these colleges have been working for the past 10 to 30 years. It seems that while taking the decision of reduction in the grant-in-aid the process of recruitment of employees in these college at government level has not been taken into consideration.

The association feels that in the present scenario, when government is reeling under acute financial crunch, these colleges are more viable as the government had to provide 95 per cent of the salary part of the employees. Moreover, the outcome of these colleges in different fields had been excellent for the last so many years.

A deputation of the association yesterday met with Sundernagar MLA Thakur Roop Singh and urged him to intervene into the matter as a premier college falls in his constituency. He assured the deputation that he would take up the matter of restoration of 95 per cent grant-in-aid very shortly with the Chief Minister.

The association, however, thanked the Chief Minister for the release of grant-in-aid to these colleges for the last financial year.

Nurpur, May 11
Hundreds of defence pensioners under the banner of local unit of ex-servicemen league today held a rally and protested against the recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission.

Addressing the rally, the chairman of the league Lt Col N.S. Pathania alleged that the commission was undermining the status of serving as well as pensioners of the defence forces in the country by giving recommendations full of anomalies. “The pay commission did not incorporate any representative of any of the Indian defence forces before constituting its committee whereas, a big chunk of 36 per cent Army personnel constitute a total strength of central employees in the country,” he lamented.

He said it was an irony that the commission had recommended only 12 per cent increment of the basic pay against the hike of 33 per cent inflation in the country.

Later the agitating defence pensioners of lower Kangra district held a protest demonstration in the town. Holding placards they raised slogans against the Central Pay Commission. They also demanded constituting of a separate pay commission for defence pensioners in the country.

Earlier, the league convened its meeting at Suliali near here recently and urged the chairman of the Sixth Central Pay Commission to redress grievances of the defence pensioners by incorporating the suggestions and submissions of the representatives of all defence forces of the country so that defence pensioners, war widows and disabled should not feel neglected.

It also demanded a permanent CSD canteen and basic medical facilities like polyclinics or MI room at Nurpur under the ex-servicemen contributory health scheme.

Nurpur, May 11
The local subdivisional unit of the Non-Gazetted Officers federation organised a free health checkup camp on the premises of the Civil Hospital here today.

Local MLA Rakesh Pathania inaugurated it and lauded the efforts of the unit for initiating such social welfare activity in the area.

A team of specialist doctors from Tagore Health Care and Research Centre, Jalandhar, examined over 200 patients with different ailments. Apart from free diagnosis and clinical tests they were given free medicines.

Gansham Sharma, the Kangra district president of the federation, informed that it was the eight free health checkup camp in the district organised by the federation. The federation had been awarded prizes by the national-level NGOs for holding successful camps in the district.

Kumarhatti, May 11
The much-hyped Giri water-lifting scheme is not living up to the expectations of the residents here. Ever since its implementation the water woes have rather enhanced manifold. The underground water pipes laid to carry the water in the area have, in fact, been plagued with leakages at many points, thus affecting the supply adversely.

Interestingly, the water supply to this town remained affected for days altogether after a tomato grower in upstream area unplugged a water joint to facilitate the water supply to his fields. The matter had come to light when someone noticed it.

Hopes of people to get healthy water supply are dashed, as the supply is now even worse than before the launch of the scheme, pointed out the residents. Moreover, the IPH has stopped using water from the sources that were earlier being used to meet the water demand.

From the past one month the water supply was only available after the gap of three days, rued the residents. “We have to do great hardships even to arrange for drinking water,” they lamented.

The residents also blamed the IPH staff to be biased while supplying water in different localities. The temper ran high few days back when a verbal duel was ensued between the locals and the staff over water distribution.

Meanwhile, Dharminder Gill, executive engineer, IPH, Solan, said the scheme was at the testing stage. There were all possibilities of leakages due to increase of water pressure, he said. The water supply was affected as the flow had to be stopped to plug the leakages in the pipe, he asserted.