Shimla, July 4
While the Brakel Corporation is desperately seeking a personal hearing from Chief Minister P.K.Dhumal to save the mega projects allotted to it, one of its partners, SNC-LAVALIN International (SLII), has added to its worries by shooting a letter to the Vigilance Department informing that it was never a part of any consortium formed for the construction of the projects.

The company sent a copy of the letter written to the Brakel Corporation in this regard to the additional director-general of vigilance, which is investigating the matter. As per the letter the SLII had only entered into an MoU on February 7, 2006, whereby it was prepared to consider providing services to Brakel subject to terms and conditions to be agreed. However, there was never any agreement to provide the said services on any terms and conditions. Moreover, the MoU also expired on February 7, 2007, and it was not renewed.

It asserted that it was wrong on the part of Brakel to allege the existence of an agreement wherein SLII committed to investing or having equity participation in the Jhungi-Thopan and Thopan-Powari hydroelectric projects in India.

However, the Brakel Corporation maintains that it had already informed the government that SLII had backed out and it had, in its place, entered into a tie-up with the Synergies company of the USA. In fact, it was initiating appropriate legal action against the company. It also said that the “timely” change of stand by SLII was not a coincidence as the company was working closely with its rival, Reliance Energy Limited.

It is learnt that having failed to seek a personal hearing form the Chief Minister the Brakel Corporation has submitted a detailed representation to the government in which every point raised in the Cabinet memorandum for the meeting held on June 27 for the cancellation of projects has been answered. The Cabinet had deferred the matter.

The issue will now be decided by the Cabinet at its meeting on July 7. The case is listed for July 9 in the high court which asked the government to clarify its position after it changed stand midway on the issue Reliance Energy has moved the court for cancellation of the two projects secured by Brakel in global tenders. 

Shimla, July 4
The state government will have equity participation in most of the big hydroelectric projects and it will give preference to execute such projects as joint ventures with central public sector undertakings, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said while interacting with a high-level delegation of the National Hydro Power Corporation lead by its CMD S.K.Garg here today. Out of the total identified potential of 21,000 MW about 6,500 MW had been harnessed and efforts were afoot to tap at least 50 per cent of the potential by 2012. The state was in favour of taking up big hydroelectric projects as joint ventures with central public sector undertakings with equity participation up to 49 per cent.

He said the state had 25 per cent equity participation in the 1500-MW Nathpa Jhakri Power Project while a 412-MW project with 30 per cent equity participation was being executed through Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited as a joint venture. The government would enter similar tie-ups with more power project executors to ensure maximum equity participation on the same analogy.

The Chief Minister said the NHPC, NTPC and SJVNL were executing mega hydel projects which were at different stages of completion and the state would be in a position to generate 12,000 MW of power by 2012.

The NHPC alone was executing six projects over the Beas and Ravi river basins, which included the 2021-MW Parbati project in Kulu.

Dhumal said the government was committed to implementing the new hydel policy, particularly the condition of 70 per cent employment to local people at all levels, provision of 1.5 per cent of the project cost for local area development. He assured the delegation of all possible help in assigning more projects for execution in joint ventures. He asked the NHPC to contribute towards development of health infrastructure the project areas by providing funds for the upgradation of medical facilities in the zonal hospitals of Kullu, Chamba and Mandi, besides the construction of an inter-district bus terminal at Chamba.

Chairman of NHPC S.K.Garg informed the Chief Minster that all six projects being executed by the organisation would be completed by the target dates. He urged Dhumal to allot more projects to the NHPC, which was investing Rs. 12,000 crore in the hydro power sector of the state.

Shimla, July 4
The government today de-notified the Himachal Pradesh Hindu Public Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowment Act enacted during the previous Congress regime.

The management of Sri Satyanarayan Mandir, Rampur Bushehr in Shimla district, and Sri Shani Dev Mandir, Sarali village in Hamirpur district, were taken over despite opposition from various quarters. The BJP had also opposed the decision.

The government has also constituted a committee to oversee the management of religious shrines in the state and to suggest necessary amendments under the Himachal Pradesh Hindu Public Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowment Act.

It would also suggest steps to improve basic amenities for devotees visiting the shrines.

K.C. Sharma, IAS (retd), will be convenor of the committee with Dev Raj Sharma, Sohan Singh of Nadaun, Lekh Ram of Dehra village, and Narender Sharma of Paonta Sahib, as its members. Vidya Chand Thakur, Department of Language and Culture, will be member secretary.

The government has also constituted a committee under the chairmanship of the chief secretary to finalise the proposal to install a statue of Lakshmi Bai at Rani Jhansi Park on The Mall. Secretary (finance), secretary (language and culture), deputy commissioner, commissioner and administrator of the local municipal corporation, engineer-in-chief, chief architect and superintendent engineer of the PWD will be the members of the committee and director of language (art and culture) will be the member secretary.

Nangal Kalan (Una), July 4
After the cremation of Surjeet Kumar, a class X student, who was allegedly beaten to death by a schoolteacher, a strange silence prevails in the village. The police is yet to register an FIR in the case.

According to village pradhan Jeet Kaur, whose statement was recorded on camera, the deal was settled for Rs 2 lakh.

The poor parents have been compensated for the death of their child, she said.

The pardhan said, “We pressed on Surjeet’s father not to sign the deal. However, poverty and pressure from influential people seemed to have weighed heavy on the mind of the poor.”

She said other students of the school told her that Surjeet was brutally beaten by his teacher, who broke at least three sticks on him. Surjeet got so terrified that he did not even go home.

The pardhan also admitted before the camera that the accused teacher came before the panchayat and admitted his mistake.

“I feel bad about it. Being a part of the panchayat, I have no option but to bow before the decision of others,” she said.

Surjeet’s father said he was a poor person and did not have resources to fight the case in the court.

Una SP, Gyaneshwar Singh, said since the police received no complaint FIR was not registered.

He said the police was investigating the case under Section 174 of the CrPC. The SP said he had not yet seen the copy of postmortem report.

However, sources in the civil hospital told that though there were blunt injury marks on the body, the doctors concluded that none of them were fatal.

The cause of death could only be ascertained after the chemical examination of viscera, the sources here said.

The political heat has also started simmering over the case. Local Congress MLA Mukesh Agnihotri said he would ensure justice to the family.

Mandi, July 4
A moneylender-cum-contractor from Bari village of Mandi went missing yesterday. The moneylender’s, Tek Chand, brothers today lodged a complaint with the police, terming his disappearance as kidnapping.

Tek Chand’s brothers - Karam Singh, Ravi Singh and Mast Ram - also met the SP and brought the matter to his notice. They suspected a foul play in the sudden disappearance of their brother.

Karam Singh told The Tribune that his brother was kidnapped as he had expressed fears about money overdue with some party, which he did not name.

Tek Chand’s wife and daughter said he left home around 2 pm saying he would come back within two to three hours after attending a court case in Mandi. “His phone remained unanswered after 2.30 pm and then it was switched off after 2 am,” they rued.

The family sources revealed that he was involved as partner-cum-financier with a local contractor in the Rs 4 crore-road project in the district and it led to raising needle of suspicion about his sudden disappearance.

SP Mandi M. Chandra Sekhar said the police suspected that Tek Chand was involved in some aggressive “money-lending to small or big contractors and the police was trying to investigate with this point in view.”

Mandi, July 4
The police today busted an inter-district gang of two-wheelers thieves and arrested three kingpins of the bike lifters- Prithi Singh, Dharampur, Chet Ram and Chaman Singh, Shiva Automobile, Sundernagar, and recovered four vehicles from them.

Following a tip off, the police raided the shop of Prithi Singh at Baroti and recovered two bikes and a scooter.

The thieves have been booked under Sections 379, 411 and 120 B of the IPC.

The thieves hunted for new vehicles in the district, lifted them and sold these vehicles at cheaper rates, the police said.

One of the kingpins, Prithi Singh, who was arrested today, was sent to police remand till July 7 after he was produced before the judge today.

Mandi SP M. Chandera Sekhar said, “The gang has inter-district link and they used to lift new two-wheelers. We are investigating their linkages outside the state as well. We expect more arrests tonight or tomorrow in Bilaspur as well.”