Solan, September 10
ADGP B.S. Thind finally turned up to get his voice sample recorded before the Parwanoo police here today.

Thind, whose presence was required in a case relating to alleged extortion after Parwanoo-based businessman Ashok Mittal lodged a complaint on the basis of an audio CD, was interrogated for over two hours and his voice sample taken.

Parwanoo DSP Ramesh Pathania said Thind turned up around 12 noon and was interrogated for over two hours. “We have also given him a questionnaire pertaining to relevant issues in connection with the case and he has conveyed that he will submit his written reply by September 16. His voice samples will be sent to a Hyderabad-based laboratory for comparison with the voice heard in the audio CD,” he added.

The completion of this procedure has come as a major relief for the investigating officials as the case could make no headway without taking his voice sample. Sources said Thind had also been directed to join the investigation as and when required.

Thind, who remained elusive on earlier three occasions, had been served a summon in person for the first time in the case. A Parwanoo police team had intercepted him at a CBI court at Patiala on September 5. He had gone there in connection with a case. On all other occasions, the summons were delivered through personal envoys at his various addresses.

While Thind had been attending the CBI court at Patiala regularly, he had been absenting himself from joining the investigation here. He attended the court at Patiala on August 18 and September 5.

He is currently posted in the State Human Rights Commission and has got extended his medical leave till September 23. The case came to light in June when the Parwanoo police registered a case against him on the charges of extortion, cheating, criminal intimidation and conspiracy under Sections 384, 420, 120-B and 506 of the IPC and Sections 9 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act following a compliant by Ashok Mittal. Thind had allegedly demanded lakhs for getting Mittal’s shop vacated.

The Parwanoo police has already interrogated one SP, whose name figured in the CD, while two more SPs were likely to interrogated soon.

Shimla, September 10
The court today released four bank accounts held by IAS officer Subhash Ahluwalia and his wife, which had been de-freezed by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau following registration of a disproportionate assets case registered against him.

The matter came up for hearing before the Special Judge, J.L. Gupta here today. Ahluwalia, who remained principal private secretary to the former chief minister had moved the court seeking release of the 16 bank accounts held by him and his family members.

However, the court imposed the condition that the Ahluwalia couple can operate the accounts for further use but the money deposited in them till now would have to be left untouched. They cannot withdraw the money lying deposited in them since they were frozen by the Vigilance Bureau.

The two accounts that Ahluwalia can operate from now onwards includes the ones at the State Bank of Patiala and HP Cooperative bank branches at Chotta Shimla. His wife Meera Ahluwalia has been allowed operationalisation of her two accounts in the State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank, The Mall. The matter will come up for hearing on September 22.

Ahluwalia has sought court’s intervention to let him operate his accounts as he requires money for personal use. On the other hand the bureau had opposed his request on the ground that the investigations were at an advanced stage and allowing him to operate his accounts could affect investigations.

The Vigilance Bureau had booked Ahluwalia after they detected that deposits of Rs 1.34 crore had been made in the 16 accounts held by him and his family members. The bureau took the plea that they were still in the process of ascertaining the source of the deposits and the value of the properties owned by him were being assessed.

Shimla, September 10
Apprehending early onset of winter, the people of landlocked, Lahaul valley, want the government to dispatch essential commodities to the tribal areas ahead of the normal schedule.

A deputation from the valley, led by local legislator Ram Lal Markandey, met Chief Minister P. K. Dhumal here yesterday. He urged him to rush the supplies of essential commodities - fuel wood, timber and other items for the winter when the valley was cut off due to snow.

They told the Chief Minister that the winter was likely to get underway much earlier this year and hence, the essential commodities needed to be stocked well in advance.

The deputation also requested him to direct the PWD to restore the rain-damaged roads in the valley at the earliest so that the supplies could be sent to all villages.

The Chief Minister assured them that the work to restore the damaged roads was being taken up on priority and the concerned departments would also be directed to ensure the timely stocking of the essential commodities required by the residents of the valley during the winter.

Mandi, September 10
The monthly meeting to review progress made under the 20-point programme turned out be a mere ritual here today as most of the officials of various departments, who turned up for the meeting, did not have the latest figures with them.

PWD and revenue minister Gulab Singh Thakur, who chaired the meeting, pulled up the officials for their lackadaisical attitude.

He asked heads of various departments to ensure that all targets were achieved in a time-bound manner.

He ordered officials to come prepared with the data so that the purpose of holding such meetings was served. He asked officials of the agriculture and horticulture animal husbandry departments to visit fields to assess whether or not the benefits were reaching the farmers.

He said the benefits under the NREGA should reach the needy villagers in each block. A sum of Rs 20.21 crore had been spent on the programme in the district so far, he added.

He also asked officials to ensure that benefits of various housing schemes under the Rajiv Awas Yojna, the Atal Awas Yojna and the Indira Awas Yojna reached the socially backward persons in the district.

He asked PWD engineers to speed up the work on 48 rural roads in the district under the PMGSY.

BJP MLA from Nachan Dile Ram sought information from officials of the animal husbandry, agricultural and horticultural departments as regards “seeds and plants” given to SC families in the Nachan area, but the officials concerned did not have satisfactory answers to his queries.

Officials of various departments, however, maintained that they were not informed about the meeting.

“We just rushed in for the meeting that was called at a short notice,” they said.

There were 41 items on the agenda for the meeting. Mandi DC Onkar Sharma read out the agenda at the start of the meeting which was attended by MLAs Inder Singh, Dile Ram and Anil Sharma and zila parishad president Baldev Saini, Mandi council president Sushila Sonkhla and officials of various department.

Shimla, September 10
Himalayan International Limited has signed an agreement with the USA-based world’s largest retailer Walmart and its Indian subsidiary Bharti Walmart for selling its food products in the country through their network of retail stores.

Chairman of the Paonta Sahib-based company Manmohan Malik said separate agreements had been signed with Bharti Walmart and Walmart for selling its products and undertake “cash and carry operations” at wholesale prices.

Initially, the company’s products would be sold through nine Bharti Walmart stores in Punjab (at Patiala, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Jalandhar) and Chandigarh. The products would be introduced in all 100 stores to be opened by December next.

Malik said his company would make available its products in Bharti Walmart stores under the brand name “Himalaya Fresh” to achieve a business target of Rs 25 crore from sales through its stores in India during the current financial year.

The company would mainly sell milk products like yogurt, cheese, Italian cheese, bread, frozen appetisers, mushroom range and packaged Himalayan sweets.

Dharamsala, September 10
In order to manage its water resources the state government has decided to establish a new hydrology department. The department would have two divisions to be established at Mandi and Shimla. Besides, six sub-divisions would also be established at Shimla, Mandi, Santoshgarh in Una district, Nahan, Nurpur in Kangra and Palampur in Kangra district.

The minister for public health and irrigation Ravinder Ravi gave this information while taking to The Tribune here today.

He said the hydrology department would be given the task of generating data regarding water resources of the state. The data would be used for long-term planning for management of natural water resources.

Presently the state government departments do not have their own data regarding the natural water resources in the state. The departments are dependent on satellite data collected by central government organisations for any planning.

When asked the minister said that new recruitment would be made for the new department. The officers from irrigation and public health departments can be deputed in the new department.

The department of public health also called a meeting of suppliers of pipes for various drinking water and irrigation schemes to be brought in the state. The department is going to purchase pipes worth Rs 150 crore for the said schemes.

At the meeting held today suppliers of pipes objected to some of conditions proposed in tenders. The contractors wanted the security amount for tenders to be reduced and time period for supplying equipment increased after the allotment of tenders.

The department officials rejected the demand for reduction in security amount. The officials, however, expressed their willingness to consider the demand for increase in time period for supplying pipes after considering the cases on merit.

Later, while talking to newsmen Ravinder Ravi said that the Congress was a divided house in the state. The newly appointed PPCC president Kaul Singh has been claiming revival of the Congress in the state. However, he has failed to control factionalism in his party.

Shimla, September 10
In a major administrative reshuffle, the government today ordered the transfer and postings of 18 IAS and 22 HAS officers.

T.G. Negi, Principal Secretary, Youth Services and Sports (YSS) has been shifted as Principal Secretary, Training and AR. Bhim Sen, Principal Secretary to the chief minister has been given additional charge of Tribal Development relieving S.C. Negi of the charge.

Dr Desh Deepak has been posted as Secretary, Lokayukta. V.C. Pharka, Principal Secretary (AR), has been appointed principal secretary, YSS. Manisha Sridhar, principal secretary, Cooperation, will hold additional charge of Animal Husbandry Department.

Anil Kumar Khachi, Secretary (Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs) has been given additional charge of Technical Education Department. Ram Subhag Singh, Director, Tourism and Civil Aviation, has ben posted as Dircetor Vigilance-cum-ex-officio secretary (Home and Vigilance). He will also hold additional charge of Fisheries relieving Rajesh Kaushal.

Nisha Singh, Divisional Commissioner, Shimla, has been posted as Member (Administration) in the HPSEB. Sanjay Gupta, MD, General Industries Corporation, has been posted as Secretary, Forest. Kashmir Chand, Director, Vigilance-cum-ex-officio Secretary (Home and Vigilance) has been posted as MD, HP Financial Corporation relieving Manoj Kumar of the additional charge. He will also hold additional charge of MD, GIC and the State Industrial Development Corporation.

B.S. Nainta, Secretary, Lokayukta, goes as Secretary, Health and Family Welfare. Jagdish Chander, Member (F and A), HPSEB, will hold additional charge of MD, HP Power Transmission Corporation. Rakesh Kaushal, Secretary (Revenue) has been given additional charge of Divisional Commissioner.

Balbir Tegta, Special Secretary (Social Justice and Empowerment) goes as Special Secretary, Food and Civil Supplies and CA relieving N. S. Chaudhary of the charge. Nandita Gupta, DC, Hamirpur has been posted as Special Secretary (Finance). She will also hold additional charge of Director, Public Finance and Public Enterprises relieving Arvind Mehta of the additional charge.

Abhiskek Jain, Special Secretary (LEP and Horticulture) goes as DC, Hamirpur. Ritesh Chauhan, presently SDC, Palampur, will hold additional charge of SDO, Jaisinghpur.

HAS officers who have been transferred include Rajesh Sharma, Secretary, HP Board of School Education who has been posted as State project Director, Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan. Rameshwar Sharma, Joint Secretary (Revenue), Shimla as ADM (Law and Order). Ramesh Kumar Sharma, GM, HPMC as AC to DC, Kullu. Manohar Lal Sharma posted as SDM, Rohru, goes as RTO, Dharamsala.

Bihari Lal Raghav, Additional Director, Urban Development goes as GM, HPMC. Man Singh, SDM ,Tissa as Joint Secretary (Revenue). Sanjay Sharma, RTO, Dharamsala, as SDM, Rohru, Neeraj Kumar SDM, Jaisinghpur as SDM, Manali, Vinay Singh, SDM, Manali, as SDM, Bilaspur. Vijay Kumar, SDM, Karsog as SDM Sarkaghat, Rajeev Kumar as SDM, Tissa, J.C. Patial SDM, Sarkaghat as SDM Karsog. 

Shimla, September 10
The much talked about information technology (IT) park to be set up at Vaknaghat may finally see the light of the day. The government is likely to approve the project in the next Cabinet meeting scheduled for September 18.

Although there has been a talk of setting up the IT park for the past around 10 years, the project has failed to take shape. In 2006, the previous Congress regime invited the expression of interest (EOI) for the IT parks to be set up at Vaknaghat and other places, including Nalagarh in Solan, Raka-Ka-Bagh and Nagri in Kangra and Dalhousie in Chamba.

Ever since there had not been much headway, but now the matter for the Vaknaghat project is being deliberated at the highest level. The Cabinet could finally approve it on September 18 and assign the work to a private company.

Ten private companies from Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Gurgaon and Chandigarh had sent in their bids for the project. In fact, Ramky Infrastructure Consulting Private Limited had given a presentation also. The IT park would be set up in 64.73 acres. It would be undertaken in public-private partnership. Although there could be some last-minute changes, the company with which the agreement was to be signed would have to pay Rs 10 crore as upfront money to the Department of Information Technology.

The IT park would have IT buildings, towers, recreational area, core amenities block, besides commercial and residential areas.

Various departments, including IT, PWD, industries, town and country planning and environment and pollution are involved in the project. The issue regarding having planned development of the IT park with the latest amenities is also being discussed.

With Himachal emerging as a preferred destination for setting up various educational institutions like medical and engineering colleges, the setting up of the IT park will further attract big investment in the state, which is ideally suited for the IT industry. 

Shimla, September 10
Action will be taken against traders misusing the name of Kullu shawl which has already been registered under the geographical indications (GI)Act.

Deputy commissioner J.S.Rana while presiding over a a meeting to check unauthorised production and sale of Kullu shawls advised weavers, traders and producers to get themselves registered with the Kullu Shawl Weavers Association (KSWA). It would enable them market their product in the name of Kullu shawl.

He said unauthorised and unregistered shopkeepers and producers were not entitled to use the name of Kullu shawl in signboards and hoardings. Unauthorised use of the name was punishable and could attract a fine of Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh, besides imprisonments for six months to three years.

Principal scientific officer of the state council of science technology and coordinator for the patent information centre said that the KSWA was the authorised user of the Kullu shawl geographical indication. He said an awareness campaign had been launched to educate weavers, producers and general public about the implications of the products registered under the GI Act. 

Kumarhatti, September 10
The pass outs of the first batch from the Solan Homoeopathic Medical College and Hospital here are a distressed lot.

After completing the 5-year Bachelor Homoeopathy Medical Surgery course from the college three months ago, the students failed to get jobs.

The college was started in August 2002. It was affiliated to Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, and recognised by the Central Council of Homoeopathy, Department of AYUSH, Government of India.

As many as 48 students have passed out from the first batch.

The successive state governments have opened new ayurvedic dispensaries in many areas, but no attention was paid to open homoeopathy dispensaries, rued the father of a student.

The pass out students had registered with the Homeopathic Council, but still they were jobless, he said.

No efforts were being made to appoint the pass outs as homoeopathy physicians at the block-level hospitals, said another parent.

Dr P.C. Gupta, principal of the college, said the pass outs would get the jobs according to their merits.

Many vacancies for homoeopathy would arise soon after the launch of the centre-supported National Rural Scheme, he said. 

Shimla, September 10
The pendency of complaints at the state and various district consumer forums is increasing due to failure of the government to provide adequate staff.

As per norms the number of pending complaints should not be consistently higher than 150 in any consumer forum which is not the case in the state. The number of pending cases was 868 in the state consumer forum, 1438 in district consumer forum (DCF), Shimla, followed by 695 in DCF,Kangra, 528 in DCF, Una and 189 in DCF,Mandi. This was despite the fact that its disposal rate of the state and district forums was the best in the country.

However, it is pointed out that much of the problem could be solved if two more are set up at Solan and Hamirpur and more staff is provided to the existing four.

The representatives of the association met Chief Minister P.K.Dhumal here today and urged him to provide a steno to the presiding officer and upgrade the posts of superintendent from grade-II to grade -I.

The fora are required to supply copy of orders free of cost but the copyists are not provided for the purpose. The association demanded creation of a post of copyist in each fora.

Nahan, September 10
A 19-year-old woman, resident of Nagal Suketi village in the Kala Amb area, was allegedly gang raped on Monday by two residents of Haryana, the police said.

The accused allegedly took her forcibly to a nearby jungle, the police added.

The Nahan SHO said the police arrested the accused yesterday.

Earlier, Ramesh, a resident of Sadhaura (Haryana), was nabbed and later Shamim, another accused, resident of Mustafabad, was arrested.

The SHO said a case under Sections 376 and 452 of the IPC has been registered. They were remanded in custody for three days by a local court. He said the medical report of the woman confirmed rape.