Shimla, May 23
The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau today interrogated Meera Ahluwalia, wife of IAS officer Subhash Ahluwalia, and some of his close aides, who worked with him while he was the principal private secretary to then Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

Vigilance sleuths also seized a laptop, computer and some documents from the residence of Ahluwalia in the US Club area of the town. The officials also found some documents pertaining to investments made in shares, fixed deposits, life insurance etc.

While the Vigilance Bureau (VB) today interrogated Meera, they are likely to summon the bureaucrat tomorrow after which the two are likely to be questioned jointly so as to crosscheck their statements and claims with regard to their income, property and investment.

Ahluwalia, is presently posted as settlement officer, Dharamshala, while his wife is a college principal posted in Solan. The couple is likely to be questioned by the Vigilance officials for the next two-three days. The VB has also got information about some new accounts that had not been disclosed by the bureaucrat.

Besides Meera Ahluwalia, those who were questioned by the officials included Sanjay Sharma, senior editor in the information and public relation department. He had worked with Ahluwalia in the CMO on special duty while Virbhadra Singh was the Chief Minister.

Another official, Puran Chand, who was PA to Ahluwalia while he was in the CMO, was also summoned for questioning by the Vigilance Bureau. It is learnt that both were questioned about the properties and other possible investments that could have been made by Ahluwalia and his family.

An employee of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation, presently posted in Manali, has been summoned for questioning tomorrow.

The VB yesterday registered a case against Ahluwalia under Section 13-I (e) and 13-II of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Serious corruption charges had been made against Ahluwalia in the BJP chargesheet that the party had handed over to the Governor last year, seeking a CBI inquiry.

Chamba, May 23
The cloudburst in the Aura-Phatti belt of Bharmour tribal subdivision in Chamba district has caused a huge destruction to the public and private property in the affected area, besides damage to the roads connecting the Adit-I and II of the Chamera Hydroelectric Project (stage-III) under construction on the Ravi river last night.

According to official information available here, Suresh Kumar, who was a worker at the Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), executing civil works on the Chamera project-III, was killed on the spot when a boulder fell on him from the alongside hill as a sequel to the gush of waters of the cloudburst. The deceased belonged to Giyunra village near Gehra about 35 km from Chamba. While five other workers of the HCC had a narrow escape.

According to K.K. Joshi, general manager of the Chamera hydroelectric project (stage-III), the road between the Adit-I and II connecting the headrace tunnel of the project was damaged due to the debris drained down by the floodwaters following a cloudburst. About four vehicles of the HCC were trapped in the debris mixed with huge boulders.

Officials of the Bharmour tribal subdivision said five panchayats had been badly affected due to cloudburst. These panchayats included Aura, Durgathi, Garola, Ulansa and Sinyur. Several cultivable fields had been washed away causing damage to fruit crops like apple, peach, plum and apricot and other agriculture crops.

Meanwhile, Bharmour tehsildar had given an immediate relief of Rs 10,000 to the next of kin of the deceased and the HCC had also given an immediate relief of Rs 25,000.

Shimla, May 23
Eligible weavers will have to pay a nominal premium of Rs 69.56 annually to seek cover under the Health Insurance Scheme being implemented by the government for providing them better medical care. An official spokesperson said all those having at least 50 per cent of their income from handicraft weaving and aged between 18 to 59 years were eligible to avail themselves of the benefits under the scheme that would also cover beneficiary’s wife and two children.

He said the scheme was being implemented through the ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company. The coordinator of the company would deposit the premium, along with the nomination forms of the beneficiaries, with the office of the general manager, District Industries Centre.

The medical treatment expenses of the weavers under the scheme would be reimbursed by the ICICI Lombard and the annual limit of availing medical assistance under the scheme would be Rs 15,000 per family. It was a component of the Handicraft Weavers Comprehensive Welfare Scheme aimed at providing insurance cover with enhanced insurance benefits. The other component was the Mahatma Gandhi Weavers Insurance Scheme, the main objective of which was to provide enhanced insurance cover to weavers in case of not only natural but also accidental death and complete or partial disability.

Dharamsala, May 23
Students from private schools dominated the top positions in the Class VIII board examinations, results of which were declared here today. The students bagged nine out of top 10 positions.

Anika of DAV Senior Secondary Public School, Baroli in Kangra, topped the examination conducted by the Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education (HPSEB). She scored 676 marks out of 700.

Radhika Kumari of DAV Senior Secondary School, Una, and Rishika Grace of Sarkaghat Senior Secondary Public School, Barchawar, Mandi, shared the second place. Both scored 672 marks each.

Neral Kaushal of Greatway Public High School, Sujal in Kangra, came third with 668 marks while Swati Sharma of Little Angle Public School, Mehra in Hamirpur, stood fourth with 666 marks.

The fifth position went to Kashish Thakur of Manerva Senior Secandary School, Ghuwarwin in Bilaspur, who scored 664 marks, Aditya Guleria of Oberoi Lotus Public School Indora stood sixth scoring 663 marks, Neelam from DAV Senior Secondary School, Una, seventh with 662 marks, Kirti Anand and Ashwarya of Little Angle Public School, Mera, took eighth position with 661 marks.

The ninth position was shared by Prerna Angrish of Blue Star Public School, Hamirpur, Pranab of TR DAV Senior Secondary School, Pango in Hamirpur, Asha Mehta of Lower Valley Public Senior Secondary School, Bajora, Kullu, and Diksha Ahuja of Dayanand Model High School, Dharamsala, all of them scored 658 marks each while Diwanshu Thakur of Government Senior Secondary School, Jai Dev Mandi, Deepshika Bharti of Public Model Institute, Thanakalan, Una, and Parul Sethi of Him Sarvodaya Senior Secondary School, Ghuwarwin in Hamirpur, were placed at 10th position scoring 657 marks each.

The secretary board, Rajesh Sharma, said the total pass percentage had dipped by about 8 per cent this year. Last year, the pass percentage was 68.37 per cent while this year it dipped to 60.64 per pent. A total of 1,11,748 students appeared in the board examinations out which 70,451 managed to pass out, he added.

Hamirpur, May 23
District president of the Congress Committee Balak Ram Sharma has resigned from the post.

In a fax message sent to Himachal Pradesh Congress committee (HPCC) president Viplove Thakur today, Sharma has expressed his inability to continue as the president and requested her to appoint some young person to the post.

It is notable that district president was accused of being absent from the election campaign of the Congress during the present election and the issue was also raised before the general secretary of the AICC and in charge of Himachal affairs R.K. Dhawan during his election tour.

Confirming the move, Sharma said, “I have sent my resignation to the HPCC president.”

Reacting on the issue, HPCC president Viplove Thakur said, “I have received the resignation and matter would be taken up with AICC general secretary R.K. Dhawan.”

Nahan, May 23
Additional police force was dispatched to Dadahu, about 35 km from here, this evening to control the situation after the Dadahu market was attacked by nearly 50 assailants boarded in three utility jeeps armed with lathies. Five persons have been injured in the attack reportedly.

As per reports reached here late this evening, around 50 persons boarded in three utility jeeps entered Dadahu market and started beating shopkeepers with lathies. The assailants completely ransacked two shops. Rest of the market was closed immediately. Articals worth lakhs of rupees, including refrigerators, were thrown on the road, sale counters, interiors were broken and shops were completely destroyed, the eyewitnesses said.

Injured persons were rushed to Dadahu referral hospital for treatment. After this incident hundreds of angry residents assembled in the market and blocked the Nahan-Renuka main road. The residents shouted slogans against the police and demanded the SP to visit the spot and take action against the ‘inactive’ Renuka police and arrest all assailants.

As per information, a small quarrel with a villager from Koti Dhaman area took place in the Dadahu market during the daytime. According to local residents, the attack was the repercussion of that quarrel, but assailants surprisingly attacked those persons who tried to hush up that quarrel.

Sirmaur SP J.P. Singh said the additional police force was immediately dispatched to Dadahu and the DSP had been asked to supervise the investigations.

Solan, May 23
The Nalagarh police today claimed to have busted a gang of thieves and solved the case of computers’ theft at the Nalagarh postgraduate college.

SP Solan S.P.S. Verma said the police managed to arrest members of the gang with the arrest of its kingpin Jatta, alias Gurpreet, a resident of ward number 3, Nalagarh. He was arrested from Panchkula. He had earlier gone missing and the police was on the lookout for him.

It was an interrogation of another accused Shallu Walia that the police came to know about the involvement of Gurpreet in the case. His subsequent arrest and interrogation revealed that they had formed a gang comprising some local youths, including Rahim Khan, Arvind (alias Kaalu) and Anil Kumar, who possessed some knowledge about computers.

The police has arrested all these persons. The stolen computers were reportedly transported to Zirakpur in Punjab in Anil’s car. As per their version, two computers were sold to the Chandigarh’s CIA staff while another 10 were sold at Meerut. The police was hopeful of recovering all stolen computers.