Shimla, September 6
The Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Kaul Singh Thakur, today said the popularity graph of the BJP government in the state had plummeted, which would be reflected in the Lok Sabha elections.

Addressing a press conference here today, the Congress chief said the people were already fed up with the Dhumal regime, which was taking anti-people decisions. “The very fact that even during the five-day brief assembly session there were protests and demonstrations by PTA teachers, sahayak teachers and anganwari workers is a measure of the resentment that is building up against the government within a short span of eight months,” he said.

Thakur said whenever it was a question of protecting the interests of the state, the Congress had extended full support to the government. “The resolutions seeking Rs 1,000 crore from the Centre as relief and restoring of rice quota had been adopted unanimously,” he said. He added that the Congress during its rule had urged the Centre to extend the special industrial package to Himachal till 2013.

Defending the staging of walkout by the Congress in the House he said that this was the right of the opposition party. “Whatever we have done is as per the conventions and traditions of the House and the Congress has not done anything which is against democratic norms,” he remarked.

The Congress chief accused the Dhumal regime of having a prejudiced and biased attitude against the PTA teachers. “Removing the PTA teachers will completely paralyse the educational institutions in the state as they have been instrumental in providing education in the remote and rural areas,” he said.

He said despite agreeing to let the services of PTA teachers continue, the government was now going back on its commitment and removing them. “The government can remove only those teachers whose appointment is against norms but it cannot throw all the PTA teachers appointed during Congress tenure,” he rued.

He said the public distribution system in the state was in complete shambles, the roads in a pathetic condition and the health institutions lying vacant.

“The inaugurations and foundation stones laid by the government till now are of works completed or sanctioned by the previous Virbhadra regime for which the BJP government cannot take credit,” he said.

Dharamsala, September 6
The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) has mourned the demise of Taktser Rinpoche (86), the eldest brother of the Dalai Lama.

He was Dalai Lama’s former representative in Japan and former abbot of the Kumbum monastery in Amdo.

Taktser Rinpoche died at his home in the US after prolonged illness yesterday. He is survived by his wife Kunyang Norbu and three sons.

The departments and offices of the administration remained closed today, following an hour-long prayer session at 2 pm.

Senior officials of the Central Tibetan Administration, including the members of the Kashag, attended the prayer session.

Recognised at the age of three as the reincarnated abbot of the Kumbum monastery in modern-day Qinghai, one of the most important monasteries in Tibet, Taktser was already a prominent figure in Tibet’s religious hierarchy even before the Dalai Lama was born.

In 1950, when the Dalai Lama was still in Lhasa, Chinese officials attempted to persuade Taktser Rinpoche to travel to Lhasa and convince the Dalai Lama to accept the “peaceful liberation” of Tibet, even promising to make him the governor of Tibet if he succeeded, according to one account.

Taktser eventually agreed to travel to Lhasa to see the Dalai Lama, but evaded his Chinese escorts en route and instead conveyed to the Dalai Lama his deep misgivings about China’s influence in Tibet. He urged the Dalai Lama to retreat to the border with India.

Upon leaving Tibet in the 1950s and over a long and prolific writing career, he wrote several academic papers and books on Tibet, including his own autobiography, “Tibet Is My Country”, one of the first books on the Tibetan experience to have scholarly credibility.

He went on to serve as professor of Tibetan Studies at Indiana University in the US, where in 1979 he founded the Tibetan Cultural Center.

Hamirpur, September 6
Heavy downpour accompanied by storms yesterday evening has caused an extensive damage to standing crops, roads and buildings in Hamirpur district affecting the normal life while one person has lost his life in a landslide.

Jindu Ram of Pathyalar, under Badsar subdivision, died after being buried under a landslide.

The rain and strong winds which started late in the evening yesterday continued till 9.30 pm rendering hundreds of travellers and vehicles stranded at many places as many roads were blocked due to uprooting of trees, electricity poles and landslides.

The National Highway No. 88 linking Hamirpur with Kangra was blocked from 6 pm to 11 pm at Jalari. Traffic on the Nadaun-Hoshiarpur road and several other link roads was also disrupted due to the landslides.

Nadaun subdivision was the worst affected by the rains, where walls of tehsil, range office and EO buildings collapsed. Hundreds of trees were uprooted, and standing crops on vast area in the district also damaged.

The deputy director agriculture said “Though we are still trying to assess the exact loss, according to initial reports about 90 per cent vegetables and 52 per cent maize crop has been damaged.”

The rains also disrupted electricity supply in Hamirpur town and other areas and electricity in several areas have not been restored till now.

Kangra, September 6
Hundreds of trees have been uprooted and vehicular traffic got stuck on different roads and national highways due to heavy rains last evening in Kangra. The temperature has dropped due to first snowfall of the season on the Dhauladhar mountain range.

Reports of damage of houses came from Dhaulatpur in Jayanti Vihar and Mandir Mohala localities of this town and Soura on the outskirts of this town.

The power supply remained disturbed for more than 20 hours in this town.

The additional deputy commissioner said there was major loss in Kangra subdivisions and revenue officials were deputed to collect the information.

Meanwhile, a jeep belonging to Kapil Dev Sharma was badly damaged near the Kangra bus stand when a large tree fell on it. However, the occupants of the jeep managed to jump out unhurt.

KUMARHATTI: The high velocity winds have damaged standing crop of maize of this area late last evening. Tomato crop has also reportedly suffered adversely.

The dust storm has not only damaged maize crop but also shattered the hopes of farmers to get healthy produce of maize.

There were high expectations from maize crop after premature and heavy rainfall has baldy affected the produce of off-season cash crops in the area.

After the poor yield of tomato and capsicum, we were virtually relying on maize crop to fill the loss deficit to some extent, said a farmer of Bhojnagar area.

Solan, September 6
Dissatisfied over the inclusion of rural areas in the master plan of the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial area, the villages are now up in arms against some of its provisions.

The plan is now applicable to 229 villages, including 124 new ones. A section of villagers said it was unfair to bring their villages under the rigorous provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act as it would cause undue inconvenience to them. They would not be able to undertake even genuine construction in their areas, they said.

The Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh Development Authority (BBNDA) has invited objections from the public till September 12. CEO of the authority Amandeep Garg, however, said the date could be extended as some people had resented the little time granted to read the document and file objections. He said suggestions could be made as to how rural people could carry out need-based constructions.

Allaying fears of the rural people, Garg said stringent regulations would be applicable for the core industrial and commercial activities, while the rural people would be able to carry on with their need-based projects, including cowsheds, shops and other income-generating venture. There would be no bar on even selling land as was being misunderstood by the people now.

“The plan has divided the industrial area into specific zones. While restrictions will be stringent on industrial and commercial activities in the core zones, it has been proposed to maintain flexibility in case of other activities. This has been done to ensure that the interests of the rural people are watched,” he said.

Further, the width of the roads would be 60 m from prospective effect. No construction would be allowed within that width. To bring about planned development, 100 m width on both sides of the national highway, 50 m in case of state highways and 50-m width in case of other identified roads would be kept free from unplanned activities.

Panchayat pradhans, led by zila parishad chairman Ram Kumar, filed objections before the DC. 

Shimla, September 6
The government has enhanced the financial assistance from Rs 200 to Rs 500 per month being given to Second World War veteran and their widows who were not receiving any help till now.

The decision was taken by the state cabinet which met here last eveing under the chairmanship of chief minister, P.K. Dhumal. The decision will benefit 1565 war veterans and their widows in the state.

The cabinet also approved the policy for regularisation of the daily wage workers in all departments who had completed eight years of service on March 31, 2008. As per the announcement made by chief minister on August 15, all the contract employees who had completed eight years on March 31 this year would also be regularised.

The cabinet also gave approval for regularizing those JBT contract teachers who had completed eight years of service on March 31, 2008 and also agreed to give them relaxations in age.

The cabinet also approved filling of 40 posts of frash-cum- chowkidar-cum-peon in the state secretariat on daily wage basis. The cabinet also approved creation of 10 posts of different categories in Himachal Pradesh High Court registry.

The cabinet also gave approval for purchase of nine light vehicles as replacement by the HRTC so that ticket-less checking could be carried out more effectively.

Shimla, September 6
The Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) has decided to provide 5 per cent interim relief to all its employees from November 2006.

The decision was taken at the HRTC Board of Directors (BoD) meeting held here yesterday. Transport minister Kishan Kapoor said another major decision pertained to relaxing age of senior citizens from 65 to 60 years for the purpose of availing smart cards.

With the relaxation in age, all persons of 60 and above age would be eligible for 20 per cent discount for travelling in the HRTC buses on producing the smart card. It was also decided to increase tribal allowance from Rs 100 to Rs 200 per month.

Similarly, winter allowance would also be given at the rate of Rs 200 per month instead of Rs 100.

The wages of those working on contract basis in the HRTC have also been increased by 10 per cent.

Kangra, September 6
Tremors were felt in Kangra valley today forcing the residents of this town to rush out of their homes and offices in panic.

R.S. Negi, the in charge of the seismology laboratory at Naddi, said an earthquake measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale struck the valley at 11.19 am.

Negi said the earthquake that lasted for 8 seconds was of a major intensity. Tremors were felt in Chamba too.

Tremors were also felt yesterday in Kangra as an earthquake measuring 4.8 on the Richter scale struck the valley.

Mild tremors were also experienced here on Thursday at 9.15 pm.

The Kangra additional deputy commissioner said there was no report of any loss of life and property from any part of the district.

She said in view of the three earthquakes in Kangra during the past three days, the disastrous management was in place and the administration was prepared to face any eventuality.

Dharamsala, September 6
The illegal mining in mountains along Khaniara village is continuing despite ban orders of the Himachal High Court. When The Tribune team visited the area, slates mined illegally from the mountains were being brought openly in the market of Khaniara village. Trucks of slates were being loaded are sent to different parts.

The sources available said that the traders were engaging poor locals for carrying out mining. They reach the mines located in mountains in early morning hours. The slates are mined and brought down the hill on mules or donkeys.

Thel high court had banned mining in the area in 2000 on a PIL raising environment concerns due to uncontrolled mining in the area.

Interestingly, despite the fact that all operations of illegal mining and sale of slates is continuing openly, mining department officials have turned a blind eye towards the entire activity. The sources available here said that the mining officials were not acting in the matter due local political pressure.

The district mining officer Madan Lal when asked expressed surprise over the fact that illegal mining was taking place in Khaniara. In the recent past the mining officials imposed fine on illegal slates being taken out of the village.

After the mining was banned in Khaniara the Himachal Government got permission from special empowered committee of the Supreme Court to allow mining in 25 hectares area.

Sarkaghat (Mandi), September 6
One passenger died and 41 others were injured, five of them seriously, when the HTRC bus they were travelling in plunged into the 50 ft deep gorge at Seel near Triphalghat on the Mandi-Sarkaghat Highway today. The bus was on its way from Mandi to Seu in Sarkaghat.

The passenger killed on the spot has been identified as Gain Chand (52), head constable from Sunagbari (Sarkaghat), who was heading the seven-member police team taking three murder accused from Mandi jail to Sarkaghat for appearance before the judge today.

Five seriously injured have been identified as Jagdish (27), Damu Ram (31), Prem Dutt (20) (all from Sarkaghat), Atma Ram (65) and bus driver Bhupinder Singh.

Preliminary police investigation into the accident revealed that the “moving bus broke its front tyre iron support and lost its balance and plunged into the gorge. The police has registered a case under Sections 279 and 304 A.

Local residents, the teams of police and health officials rushed to the spot and rescued accident victims and rushed them to the Sarkaghat Civil Hospital.

Hamirpur, September 6
Fearing threat of a disciplinary action by the BJP for contesting the ongoing election for the directorship of Kangra Central Cooperative Bank (KCCB), Prthivi Singh Thakur, the outgoing chairman of the bank, has expressed his resentment over the issue.

Talking to mediapersons here today he said, “I have contested 42 elections from panchayat to state Assembly and remained the chairman of the bank, but developments in the present election are disturbing.”

Thakur said, “If the party was so keen to involve itself in this election, it should have invited application for the nomination.” Former MLA Karam Singh contesting against Prthivi Singh withdrew his nomination in favour of Prthivi Singh.