Shimla, September 1
Blaming mismanagement and negligence on the part of administration for the fatal Naina Devi stampede the Opposition Congress staged a walkout on the opening day of the monsoon session in protest against the failure of the government to accept the demand for a judicial probe into the incident

The issue was raised through a calling attention motion after the question hour by three senior party leaders Vidya Stokes, Virbhadra Singh and Kaul Singh, who highlighted several shortcomings in the arrangements and non-availability of drinking water and medical assistance. Chief Minister P.K.Dhumal gave a detailed reply to all the points and said that the government was open to any suggestion to improve arrangements. He even offered to incorporate any suggestions the party had to make on the basis of its fact-finding report.

However, the Opposition was not satisfied with the reply and urged the Chief Minister to accept the demand for a judicial probe by a sitting judge of the high court. Kaul Singh asserted that the facts given by Chief Minister and what he and other party leaders, who visited the spot immediately after the incident, were completely at variance and only a judicial probe could clear the mist. He even alleged that the letter giving clean chit to the government, written by the Chhabba family of Una which lost seven members in the tragedy, was procured. She had an entirely different story to tell when he visited their village along with some mediapersons.

Dhumal said it was surprising that Congress members were raising such an issue even before the report of the inquiry conducted by the divisional commissioner was presented in the House. He urged the Opposition to wait for the report which had already been presented to the government. He said a similar tragedy took place in 1983 under Congress rule and no judicial probe was ordered at that time.

Criticising their action Dhumal said that the oldest party of the country did not have moral courage to face the truth. It had not even waited for the inquiry report and tried to politicise the issue.

Earlier , replying to the motion Dhumal said that the final death toll was 142 and that 85 persons were injured. He refuted the Congress charge that there were no doctors and said nine doctors were on duty and another six were deputed later. There was no lathi- charge and people died of asphyxia after they crashed into a temporary barricade erected to regulate flow of pilgrims. The Congress leaders alleged that the flow of pilgrims was not regulated and people had been waiting for over six hours to pay obeisance.

Manali, September 1
The 473 km long Manali-Leh highway as an all-weather double lane highways by 2015 may run behind target as four more tunnels - Baralacha, Taglangla, Lachlungla, Nakila - are yet to be put in the pipeline by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Though the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has started work on double-lane on the 100 km long stretch of highway from the Himachal side, but the work from the Leh side has yet to pick up pace.

Raising fears over the delay in the Manali-Leh all-weather route is the fact that the 9 km long Rohtang tunnel, conceived in 1983, took more than 25 years before the tender was awarded to the AFCONS-Sartberg, a joint venture company recently. Rohtang tunnel awaits final nod.

Besides, the government has yet to prepare the feasibility reports of Baralacha tunnel (16,500-ft) under Deepak project and Lachlungla (16,616-ft), Nakila (15,547-ft), Taglungla (17,582-ft) tunnels under the BRO Himank project, sources revealed.

Deepak project has sent a proposal to construct the 5.6 km Baralacha tunnel to the central government. “But the process of constructing the tunnels from Leh side is yet to gain momentum”, the sources added.

Moreover, the feasibility reports on four other tunnels proposed on the highway are yet to be prepared, the sources said.

Apart from the bureaucratic delays in getting clearances for all-weather double-lane highway project, the BRO gets just six months long working season in the cold deserts of Lahaul and Leh-Ladakh adding to delays in the project, revealed BRO engineers.

In fact, the highway axis has emerged as a land route of great strategic importance for the Armed Forces during the Operation Vijay of the Kargil conflict because the enemy had intersected the Srinagar-Zozila-Leh axis of the highway threatening the supplies to the Siachin glacier.

Chief engineer, Deepak project, Brig J.K. Narang said, “The proposal for the Baralacha tunnel has been sent to the government. The feasibility report will be prepared after the proposal is accepted by the government”.

Narang added that the Rohtang tunnel would be completed in 63 months as per target and the highway is targeted to be completed by 2015. “We have started work of double lane on the 100 km long stretch from Himachal side”, he added.

Shimla, September 1
The state government might approach the High Court to seek permission for removal of several dangerously inclined green deodar trees in the town, which continue to pose a threat to the life and property of many residents.

Forest authorities have been flooded with applications seeking removal of hundreds of green trees that could cause damage to life and property. However, in view of complete ban on felling of green trees by the HC, authorities are unable to remove them even though their fall could prove to be disastrous.

The Shimla Forest Division has forwarded 228 cases for felling of dry and green trees during the last one month alone to the Tree Authority Committee (TAC). All cases for seeking permission to remove the dry trees are placed before the TAC, but in case of green trees permission cannot be granted till relaxation is sought from the HC.

“Despite the fact that the cabinet has constituted a committee headed by the director, town and country planning (TCP) to take a decision about felling of green trees after assessing each case individually, there will be problem in giving sanction for their cutting till court directives in this regard are not obtained,” said a senior officer of the forest department. As such, even the officers are adopting a policy of wait and watch since in view of the HC ban they do not want to invite trouble by felling green trees.

Moreover, the committee has been assigned the task of undertaking spot inspection in case of 30 trees so far, and members are learnt to be reluctant to take up the job of inspecting each and every green tree for whose removal residents have given an application.

Other members of the committee include conservator, forest, commissioner, municipal corporation, and the deputy commissioner.

However, with all these officers being burdened with other work, they have little time to undertake inspection of each and every site. “The practical way out is to seek relaxation from the court and have a permanent mechanism where green trees, in case they are posing a threat, can be removed,” said another officer.

Notably, it was after the death of woman in the Chotta Shimla area after a massive tree fell on her house that the DFO (Urban), Shimla division, received 149 applications for removal of trees, mainly green, within 15 days duration.

In the subsequent meetings of the TAC held on August 12 and 28, the forest authorities forwarded a total of 116 and 82 cases for felling of trees.

Shimla, September 1
The Himachal Government would soon consider making it mandatory for hydropower projects up to 5 MW capacity to give 70 per cent employment to people from the state.

Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal stated this while intervening during the question hour in the Vidhan Sabha, here today. The matter was raised by Kaul Singh through a supplementary. The condition is already in place for projects of more than 5 MW capacity.

Replying to the main question of Dike Ram, the labour and employment minister Ramesh Dhwala said out of the total 31,063 persons employed in hydropower projects of more than 5 MW capacity as many as 17,189, about 54 per cent, are Himachalis. In projects up to 5 MW, there were 2,476 Himachalis in a total workforce of 2762.

The CM also informed G.S. Bali of Congress party that so far no memorandum of understanding or agreement had been signed for the execution of the Jhangi-Thopan and Thopan Powri hydroelectric projects.

The Brakel Corporation had failed to deposit the upfront premium of Rs 173.42 crore in time and the amount was deposited only after a show-cause notice was issued to it on January 7, 2008. The matter was considered by the government and it decided to withdraw the notice subject to the company fulfilling certain conditions like payment of interest at market rate, withdrawal of provision for international arbitration and preponement of the payment of remaining installments of upfront premium, and furnishing essential details about both the Brakel Corporation and the Brakel Kinnaur Power Limited, which was formed without informing the government.

The company accepted the conditions and also deposited the interest amount but failed to supply all the particulars. Meanwhile, Reliance Energy filed an amended petition in the High Court raising doubts over the eligibility of the company.

A preliminary scrutiny of the documents revealed that there was substance in the allegations and in such circumstances the government could not confine the issue to only the non-payment of upfront premium. Another show-cause notice was issued to the company asking as to why the allotment of project be not cancelled for misrepresenting facts at the time of submission of bids, failure to supply essential information and transferring or promising to transfer equity to a third party without prior approval.

The reply of the company had been received and is under examination.

Shimla, September 1
As many as 37 persons were killed and property worth Rs 911.64 crore was damaged by rains this year, the heaviest recorded in the state over the past 30 years.

Giving this information in a suo motu statement in the Vidhan Sabha today, revenue minister Gulab Singh said major losses had been caused due to damage to roads and bridges. District Shimla accounted for the highest overall loss of Rs 365 crore, followed by Mandi (Rs 119 crore) and Kangra (Rs 103 crore). He said reports of damage were still being received and the figures would go up.

A sum of Rs 30 crore had been released for restoration of roads and bridges and till date Rs 105.70 crore been provided for relief and restoration measures during the current financial year. As per the relief manual, Rs one lakh was provided to the dependents of those killed and Rs 50,000 in case of disability of more than 75 per cent. In case of grievous injury, Rs 15,000 was given.

In all 1,279 water supply schemes were damaged, all of which had been restored. Roads affected by landslips had been cleared on a war footing to ensure smooth flow of traffic. A comprehensive disaster management plan was also being prepared to deal with such calamities and mitigate their impact.

Dharamsala September 1
Residents of village Chandmari are up in arms against the fencing being carried out by the Army authorities in the village. They held a massive protest against the bid, here today.

The villagers sat on a dharna on Dharamsala-Macloedganj road near their village from 8 am to 11 am. They raised slogans against Army authorities and demanded that basic facilities of their village should be spared.

Three octogenarian freedom fighters from the village Hoshiar Singh Thapa, Jagat Bhadur Gurum and Babar Singh Singh Gura were the star attractions during the protest. The freedom fighters sat on a dharna carrying the ‘Tamar Patras’ issued to them by the government of India.

“We never thought we would have to carry out another struggle against the army of our own country in the twilight of our life,” said the dejected freedom fighters. They said the decision to trap them behind barbed wires defied logic. They also threatened to return their ‘Tamar Patras’ to the government if the path to the village was blocked.

Meanwhile, sources said Army authorities have now invited the villagers for talks and a three-metre path to the village would be left.

The district administration has also taken up the matter with Army and requested them to leave the school ground. They have offered that the Army could be given alternative land in lieu of the school ground.

Residents of Chandmari, that has 66 families of ex-servicemen and nine families of freedom fighters, have been forced to agitate against the alleged apathetic attitude of the Armed forces personnel. 

Nurpur, September 1
Up in arms against the ban on felling of trees on private land the farmers of this subdivision have warned to stage dharna on Pathankot-Mandi National Highway (NH)-20 at Jassur near here on September 8 from 9 am to 1 pm under the banner of the Kisan Vikas Sabha (KVS).

In a memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister today through local administration the KVS has urged the state government to remove this anti-farmers ban as it directly linked livelihood of the farming community in the hill state.

It also warned to intensified its stir for the rights and justice of the farmers and repeat the same traffic blockade on September 22. In the memorandum the KVS stated that mahila mandals had also joined the agitation in support of the demands of the thousands of farmers.

Members of different mahila mandals would also block traffic at Raja Ka Talab and Jangrara Kothi link roads for four hours on September 8. Earlier, too, the agitating farmers had staged dharna on NH-20 at Jassur on August 18.

Kullu, September 1
The BSNL would soon launch a streamlining campaign for the smooth services of its landline and mobile telephones in the Lahaul area, of the tribal Lahaul and Spiti district, on a war footing.

Vijay Kumar, the new telecom district manager (TDM), while talking to mediapersons said official procedures were the biggest hassle for executing developmental projects in the tribal district. He said that the area being snow-bound for more than eight months in a year has limited time for executing works. Proposals for better communication services were made, but by the time those got through in the procedural pipeline the area was closed due to heavy snow. He said the BSNL would streamline the available systems in the Lahaul area and urge the higher authorities to sanction the proposed plans keeping in mind the period available for execution of works.

The TDM informed that the road works being done by the Border Road Organisation (BRO) in Lahaul had damaged Optical Fibre Cables (OFC). However, the BSNL, although facing the constraints of staff shortage, would restore the OFC immediately. He further said the mobile phone services in Lahaul would be better as VSAT equipments would be replaced with the present system.

Answering a question on the effects of dozens of towers erected by various cellphone companies, the TDM said the BSNL has initiated infrastructure sharing projects to provide such facilities to the private operators and hoped that that would minimise the construction of towers. He said uncovered areas like Lug Valley, Dora Nullah, Sainj and Manikaran Valley would also have better connectivity for mobile phones in the near future, as four sites have been approved under the USO.

Hamirpur, September 1
The Himachal Pradesh Government has initiated the process of attaching government hospitals at Hamirpur, Una and Mandi with three medical colleges to be opened in these districts in the private sector.

The government has started collecting details about existing infrastructure, equipment, bed capacity and staff strength etc in these hospitals so that exact estimates could be prepared to provide the required facilities as per Medical council of India (MCI) norms.

The decision to attach zonal hospital Mandi and district hospitals of Una and Hamirpur with upcoming medical colleges in the private sector was taken some time back. Sources in the health department said the secretary health to state government has sent a letter to authorities in these hospitals to submit the infrastructure details as soon as possible. Accordingly, officials here are busy preparing these details. Once these are submitted to the government, the process of evaluating the same would begin.

Government agencies have already identified the land for opening the medical colleges at Hamirpur, Una and Mandi. A consultant, who would prepare a detailed report about the shortcomings in the existing facilities and expenditure involved for this entire exercise as per requirements of the medical colleges, would soon
be appointed.

Principal secretary health, family welfare and ayurveda Deepak Shanan while talking to The Tribune said: “We are appointing the consultant for exact evaluation of the existing infrastructure and facilities in these hospitals and expenditure involved in removing the shortcoming as per MCI requirement for a hospital to be attached with the medical college.”

“After completion of this process we would invite bids from private organisations for starting the medical colleges under public-private participation scheme,” he added.

Kasauli, September 1
Floods may have caused widespread devastation in Bihar but it has rekindled the hopes of the Central Research Institute (CRI) here to get its manufacturing licence revoked, at least for anti-venom serum. The license, which was suspended in January for the failure of the institute to adhere to World Health Organisation’s Good Manufacturing Practices, has since then led to suspension of the institute’s major work.

What raises the hopes of the institute for getting its license revoked is the fact that floods in Bihar have led to outbreak of diseases, including snakebites. Since the population affected by the floods is over 22 lakh the demand for anti-snake venom serum would also go up. This could give the institute an opportunity to manufacture this sera again as it is a life saving serum. “Though our license has been suspended but under such emergency circumstances saving lives could take precedence over quality” opined a senior scientist.

Interestingly, though the institute no longer has a manufacturing license it continues to supply yellow fever vaccines to various port health offices as anyone going to South Africa is supposed to get vaccinated against yellow fever. Though its manufacturing was suspended for some time after January, the production was re-started soon. Sources revealed that nearly 10,000 doses of the vaccine were being manufactured every 3 to 4 months.

The institute also continued to supply DPT group of vaccines, which includes DT, DPT and TT vaccines. Though it was the institute’s mainstay, it had scaled down its production to 30 to 50 of its original quantity. This procedure to supply vaccines had raised a question mark over the office of the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), which first suspended the license and now it allowed such supplies. It was a tricky situation since if a vaccine reacted adversely the institute would face a tough situation.

Interestingly, the DCGI had recently given a written undertaking in the high court that vaccines manufactured would not be used.

What has, however, lit the institute’s hope was the arrival of a letter from the DCGI’s office, which has directed the institute to fulfil some norms after which there could be a partial revocation of the license. Since a proposal to convert the institute into a testing lab was also underway and a central committee has already visited the institute the hopes of revival were very much alive. Officials, however, said another committee was expected to visit the institute soon to take stock of the situation.

Shimla, September 1
Special Judge J.L. Gupta has adjourned the matter regarding defreezing of the 15 bank accounts held by IAS officer Subhash Ahluwalia and his family members till tomorrow.

Ahluwalia had earlier pleaded before the Special Judge that the bank accounts held by him, which had been frozen by the vigilance and anti-corruption bureau, should be made operational. On the request of the VB, the court today gave them time to file their reply by tomorrow.

The VB had opposed his plea on the ground that it would be inappropriate to allow Ahluwalia to operate the accounts as the investigations in the disproportionate assets case registered against him were still being conducted.

Ahluwalia, who remained principal private secretary to the Chief Minister during the Congress tenure, had said that he needed to use his accounts for depositing certain cheques, which he received as rents. The bureau had pleaded that for such purposes he could open a new bank account.

The VB during its investigations had found that deposits worth Rs 1.34 crore had been made in the 15 bank accounts held by Ahluwalia, his wife and their two children, during the last five years. The Bureau was also in the process of assessing the value of the properties owned by Ahluwalia and his family.