Manali, September 20
The 13,050 ft high Rohtang Pass , gateway to Lahaul and Spiti valley, experienced season’s heavy snowfall, while the lower parts of the region were lashed by rains, snapping the road link between Manali and Lahaul-Spiti since yesterday evening.

According to Border Roads Organisation sources (BRO) massive efforts are being made since last evening to open the Rohtang Pass. But due to bad weather conditions and many vehicles which were parked both side of the road are posing a major problem to clear the snow. Most of the vehicles, including tankers carrying fuel to Leh, were parked without drivers.

All the stranded persons on both side of the Rohtang Pass were rescued by a joint team of Border Roads Organisation, the Manali police and the Mountaineering Institute, Manali and they were made to cross over the Rohtang Pass to Marhi and Khoksar.

Chint Ram Sharma, traffic in charge, Manali, said that a rescue team from Manali police station was also left to the spot last evening and today all the stranded passengers were brought to Manali. Sharma said that there was not any report of death due to cold as all the stranded persons was safe.

The 475-km long Manali- Leh highway , the lifeline of Lahaul-Spiti and Leh-Ladhak regions was closed to vehicular traffic in the wake of heavy snow on Baralacha, Lachlangla and Tanglangla passes.

Manali-Kaza road in Spiti valley also remained closed to vehicular traffic due to heavy snowfall on Kunzum Pass.

The unseasonal rains in Manali region badly hampered the cutting of grass by the farmers for winter fodder for their cattle. It is difficult to drying up and badly got wet.

Shimla, September 20
The government has sounded a high alert placing the state machinery in ready position to deal with any emergency situation arising out of the incessant rains, which have claimed hundreds of lives and caused damage to private and public property during the past 48 hours.

Chief Minister P.K. Dhumla today convened a meeting of the state-level disaster management group to take stock of the situation arising due to rain, landslides and uprooting of trees.

He directed the authorities to constitute a disaster management committee under the chairmanship of Parminder Mathur, additional chief secretary, to regularly monitor the situation through the deputy commissioners so that the rehabilitation work could be undertaken.

“Every possible channel must be utilised to rescue the stranded people and ensure the safety of life and property of every individual,” he said.

He added that wherever necessary the services of rapid response forces, military and para military forces would be requisitioned, along with the help from the police and home guard personnel.

He directed the officials to rush teams with necessary supplies of essential commodities and medical aid to the areas where people had been marooned.

He added that details from the DCs must be taken through videoconferencing regularly.

Dhumal said reports of damage to life and property were pouring in from different quarters and the police and revenue authorities needed to verify it.

“Top priority must be accorded to evacuation of stranded people and shift them to safe places,” he said.

“Warning must be issued to people residing along the rivers since water level was rising due to unprecedented rains. They must be evacuated from the sinking zones as well,” he said. He added that constant vigil must be maintained on the water level in the rivers and rivulets.

Chief minister directed the forest authorities to constitute a team to identify trees, which could be a potential threat to the safety of life and houses of people.

He added that after taking photographs of such trees, they should be removed immediately to avert any mishap.

He also directed the authorities to rush rescue teams to evacuate stranded people at various places, including Keylong, Sarchu, Gramphu and Chhatru and Rohtang Pass.

He asked the PWD to press all its machinery to clear the road so that vehicular movement could be restored.

He asked the Health Department to equip itself with medical teams to attend to any emergency call.

He asked the concerned departments to remain on high alert and work in close coordination to deliver relief to the people without loss of any time. A control room has been set up at the state secretariat with telephone numbers- 0177- 2622204 and fax number 0177- 2621154 and 0177- 2621685.

Mandi, September 20
Heavy rains in the area blocked highway at three points between Bilaspur and Swarghat and Hanogi temple and Rans Nallah in Mandi district for more than 22 hours.

The regular supplies of milk, bread butter and newspapers were disrupted till late afternoon due to blockades triggered by the landslides at three points at Gambhorola, Gambhar and Dhar Kansi.

The traffic near Hanogi temple on the Mandi national highway (NH)-21 came to halt as 10-metre portion of the highway was submerged in the surging water of the Beas river for few hours.

Executive engineer (NH)-21 B.S. Barbal said all these points had been cleared and traffic on the highway had been restored today around 2 pm. The water level of Beas has receded at near Hanogi point, which runs along the river and the highway, is cleared, he added.

Shimla, September 20
The Cabinet today held an emergent meeting to take stock of the situation arising out of the extensive damage caused to life and property due to excessive rains in the state during the last two days and seeks additional central assistance.

Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal chaired the meeting in which it was decided to seek additional financial help from the Centre. “Though we have already sent a resolution, adopted unanimously seeking Rs 1,000 crore financial assistance, in view of the fresh damage due to rains, the loss is likely to be much more,” said Dhumal.

Later the Chief Minister, along with his ministerial colleagues, called on Governor Prabha Rau and apprised her about the heavy damage caused by rains. Dhumal sought help from union home minister Shivraj Patil whom he apprised about the damage caused all over the state.

Dhumal said the deputy commissioners and other officials had been directed to give immediate relief to the people so that no inconvenience was caused to anyone. “The biggest problem in Shimla, which is resulting in loss of human life and damage to property, is falling of trees, so I have asked the authorities to undertake a survey and get them removed after taking photographic evidence,” he said. The task, he said, had been assigned to DC (Shimla), conservator and commissioner (MC).

Shimla, September 20
A high-powered central team will visit the state from September 24 to 26 to assess the flood losses due to excessive rainfall during the current monsoon season.

This was stated by Revenue minister, Thakur Gulab Singh, while speaking at a function organised by Delhi-based Himachalis in New Delhi today. “A central team headed by N.S. Kalsi, joint secretary in the Home ministry will visit Kangra and Bilaspur districts to take stock of the situation and assess the losses due to the flood,” he said.

He said the state government had already sought a central assistance of Rs 1,000 crore as compensation so that relief, rehabilitation, construction and repair work could be undertaken. He said major damage had been caused to the roads, the bridges, the drinking and irrigation water schemes besides huge loss to crops and fruits.

Thakur said the state had attracted an investment of Rs 35,000 crore under the industrial package sanctioned to Himachal. “An additional investment of Rs 30,000 crore is expected to be made in the state by 2010,” he informed.

Solan, September 20
The continuous rains, which have lashed the district in the past 48 hours, have caused widespread damage to property with 96 cowsheds and 35 houses getting damaged. While 14 houses have suffered complete damage the remaining 21 have been damaged severely.

Apart from this, the district administration vacated a girls hostel of the local Government Degree College after its retaining wall collapsed due to the heavy rains. The inmates have been shifted to a nearby tribal hostel. Deputy commissioner Dr Amandeep Garg said, “Individual loss worth Rs 10 lakh has been reported and nearly 9 heads of cattle have been perished. About 80 per cent of the roads, including major roads and the link roads, have suffered damage. Instructions have been issued to the PWD to clear the roads with emphasis on major roads.”

Three kiosks were washed away in a flash flood at Barotiwala and eight cattle heads were buried alive after a cowshed caved in at Chavgaru village in Jadhana panchayat of Kandaghat sub division.

Various landslides occurring near Dharampur, Kumarhatti, Solan, Jatog and Kandaghat forced the railway authorities to suspend all trains on the Kalka-Shimla section since last evening.

Various houses at Deoghat, Chambaghat and Salogra developed cracks due to either sinking of the earth or due to collapse of the retaining walls. Traffic remained suspended on various link roads, including Kasauli-Jangeshu, Kasauli-Jagjitnagar, Kasauli-Sanawar, the Kumarhatti bypass, Kunihaar-Subathu, Arki-Manju, Darlaghat-Mangal and the Kasauli-Dharampur road for several hours due to uprooting of trees and heavy landslides.

Vehicular moment was slowed down due to landslides on various roads. Power and water supply remained disrupted at various places with telephone lines and cable network, too, suffering damages.

Vast stretch of arable land was also washed away at Delgi, Bharti and along the Gambhar river lying in the Kasauli constituency.

Shimla, September 20
Normal life has been disrupted as heavy rains continued to lash most parts of the state with the record for the highest ever rainfall in September being broken after a gap of 46 years.

A total of 177.1 mm of rainfall was recorded in Shimla town till 8.30 am today breaking the previous highest ever rainfall in this month. It was on September 21, 1962, that Shimla had recorded rainfall of 158 mm.

With the rains continuing through the day today, Shimla recorded 15.9 mm of rain till late in the evening with vehicular traffic to most parts of upper Shimla and Kinnaur district being affected badly. Within Shimla town, the people faced great difficulty in commuting as the roads have been blocked due to uprooted trees and landslides.

According to the local meteorological office, the rain is likely to continue for the next 36 hours. There was fresh snowfall on the higher reaches of tribal districts of Kinanur and Lahaul Spiti. Keylong recorded snowfall of 16 cm, while 8 cm snow was recorded in Chitkul.

Solan received rainfall of 213.6 mm of rain, Bhuntar - 116 mm, Mandi - 92.6 mm, Dharamshala - 14.4, Keylong - 23 mm and Kalpa - 78. 1 mm.

Kumarhatti, September 20
The heavy rainfall has triggered landslides on most of the roads in this area thus affecting the vehicular movement badly.

The massive flow of debris from hills on the Kumarhatti-Nahan road at Jorhji near here last evening has suspended the traffic. The efforts were on to clear the road.

The traffic on the Kalka-Shimla national highway was also affected after a landslide near Sanwara, about 8-km from here. The traffic was diverted through Barog after boulders blocked the Barog bypass, about 4-km from here. The traffic on the highway through Barog was also disrupted shortly after a tree fell on the road at Kheel Ka Mour, about 2-km from here. Meanwhile, the traffic through the Barog bypass was restored today.

The Kumarhatti-Sultanpur, Dharampur-Subathu, Subathu-Solan and Bhojnagar-Parwanoo were also closed from last evening following landslides at many places.

Two houses were damaged at Maheeyan village near Bhojnagar, about 12-km from here, after land gave way following heavy downpour in past three days. The houses that were along the road have developed cracks. The occupants have to vacant the houses.

Nalagarh, September 20
Battling shortage of staff and resources, the National Rural Health Mission appears to have lost its direction. The much-hyped health programme has not just failed to appoint sufficient specialists, but the lone hospital upgraded as a first referral unit (FRU) in the district has added little to its facilities.

The district has also faced worst discrimination with one hospital getting declared as FRU as against three in the neighbouring Sirmaur dictrict.

As per the mandate of the mission, at least one community health centre should have been upgraded to a FRU per year.

But despite three and a half years only the Nalagarh hospital has been declared as a FRU.

Such FRUs were supposed to get blood bank units with key specialists, including gynecologist and pediatrician, as the mission focused on child and mother health care.

But this FRU could only get a facility to store blood that, too, could not continue due to paucity of staff. With no anesthetist no operations could be performed.

CMO Dr S.N. Sharma, while agreeing to the staff shortage said, “Gynecologists and pediatricians are unavailable since the past few months and this has affected the implementation of various health programmes. With few willing to join the services, the government was unable to provide adequate staff.”

As per the mission mandate, every district is supposed to have a district health mission headed by the chairman of zila parishad, but this setup had been blatantly given the go-by.

Zila parishad chairman Ramkumar said, “It was an appalling state of affairs that various sub-centres either had a lone health worker or none and though it was mandatory to have at least one male and one female health worker per centre, the shortage of staff led to virtual locking of various sub-centres.”

Hamirpur, September 20
After India getting its first individual gold medal in the Olympics in shooting by a golden shoot of Abhinav Bindra in Beijing, another shooter from India, Vijay Kumar has brought an honour to the country by winning a bronze medal in the ongoing CISM world shooting championship from 14 to 22 September in Boden city of Sweden.

Vijay Kumar, resident of Harsour village, a serving naib subedar in the Indian Army, has bagged the bronze medal in 25-meter rapid-fire pistol category.

He said, “I have won bronze medal in 25-meter rapid fire in the pistol category and would be competing in two more competitions in 25 and 10 meters pistol shoot and hope to perform well in these too.”

Vijay, who had missed the Beijing Olympics due to his illness, has won gold medals in the Common Wealth and the Asian games.

In 2005 he had won gold medal in the junior Common wealth games and in 2006 Vijay had won gold and a bronze medals in the Commonwealth Games at Melbourne.

He has won about 60 medals, with two gold medals in Doha Asiad, in shooting competitions till now and has been awarded with Arjun Award in 2006.

His father subedar Banku Ram (retd) told: “It is a great moment for our country and my family since it is the first time Vijay has won a medal in the world competition.

Shimla, September 20
Forest minister, J.P. Nadda yesterday stressed the need for promoting cultivation of medicated mushroom and floriculture so that the income of the farmers could be supplemented.

Nadda chaired the meeting of the cabinet sub-committee constituted for implementation of the election manifesto held here yesterday. Reviewing the progress of the horticulture department with respect to fulfilment of the promises made in the election manifesto he said there was vast scope for cultivating medicated mushroom.

“The department must chalk out a plan to popularise cultivation of medicated mushrooms so that the rural people can get to know about it,” he said. He said efforts should be made to promote floriculture and identify places in Delhi and in neighbouring places for the setting up of flower market.

“It is only by devising proper marketing mechanism that the farmers can get good prices for their produce,” he said. He added that the government is committed to create employment opportunities for the unemployed youth.

Nadda said horticulture sector had great scope for generating employment and self-employment avenues. He directed the officials to identify such avenues and prepare projects to achieve the objective.

Health minister, Rajiv Bindal said the election manifesto had been adopted as a policy document and it would be implemented in letter and spirit.

Ambera (Una), September 20
Dinanath Sharma, a semiliterate farmer of a remote village of Una district, has been successfully undertaking pearl farming here. He is the first known farmer in the region to have successfully carried out pearl farming using fresh water mussels, an aquatic bivalve variety of mollusk species.

Dinanath can be seen monitoring his crop of fresh water mussels tied to bamboos in his fish ponds brought up along a local nullah. “This year, the crop will be good and I expect to harvest at least about 300 pearls,” he said.

He got the idea of starting pearl farming in 2002 after watching a TV programme about training being given for the purpose in Orissa. “I made up my mind and left for Bhubaneswar in Orissa. I was the oldest person among the batch of farmers from South India and Gujarat, who were there to receive training in fresh water pearl farming,” he said.

“After the nine-day training, I came back to my village and got six bundhs constructed in the natural nullah flowing through the village. However, the bundhs were washed away in a flash flood during the monsoon. I did not lose heart and once again constructed ponds along the rivulet,” he added.

“Initially, I tried to use the local fresh water mussels. However, there was not much success. I then procured mussels from Orissa and created a nursery,” Dinanath said.

He gets Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 per piece for every unfinished pearl weighing 0.5 gm. Local customers are buying pearls from Dinanath for use in medicines.

Inspired by Dinanath, two other farmers have also started developing mussel nurseries for pearl farming in the district.

Shimla, September 20
Chief Judicial Magistrate Yashwant Singh today adjourned the criminal defamation case filed by Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal against the former Chief Minister of Punjab, Amarinder Singh, and senior Congress leader Moti Lal Vora for October 4.

The matter was listed for recording the statements of Kaul Singh, state Congress president, Kanwar Shamsher Singh, former chief secretary of the state, and Ram Lal Thakur, former forest minister.

But they did not turn up. They were to appear as witnesses in favour of Amarinder Singh in this case.

The court fixed October 4 for recording their statements.

In another complaint filed by the Chief Minister against the minister of state for external affairs, Anand Sharma, the court was also adjourned for October 4.

Dhumal filed both cases on the grounds that during the campaigning for previous Assembly elections in the year 2003, these Congress leaders levelled false allegations against him.

Dharamsala, September 20
Suresh Bhandari, resident of Kangra district pleads in a letter written to Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal to transfer him to his native place.

Bhandari, a school principal, was transferred to government senior secondary school, Bartoo, in Rohru Tehsil of Shimla district, the area represented by former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. He said in 2005 the school, in which he was transferred, was just a primary school. In 2006, it was upgraded to middle school and in 2007 to senior secondary level during the stint of the former Chief Minister.

The principal alleged that the school was running in a rented house and presently it had the strength of only 43 students. He was being retained as principal of the school with no job and for managing only handful students.

The principal pleaded to the Chief Minister that he was 57-ear-old and was to retire. As per the transfer policy floated by the present government, the employees having just one year for the retirement are to be posted near their home so that they can settle down there.

He has requested that he may be transferred to government senior secondary school, Paror in Kangra district against a post that is going to be vacant after October so that he can do some justice to his job.

Solan, September 20
An industrial unit, PICL India Limited, which manufacturers electrical gadgets, was razed in a massive fire which started around 3.30 am at Burawala village. Though no loss of life was reported, the unit suffered major loss as the fire lasted for more than 10 hours.

Fire tenders had to be summoned from the neighbouring Baddi, Parwanoo and Nalagarh to douse the fire. The unit located in an industrial shed of nearly 10,000 sq metre had invested nearly Rs 1.5 crore in its building, while raw material as well as finished goods worth Rs 3 crore were all lost in the fire. The unit manufactured various electrical appliances including mixer grinders. The impact of the fire was so huge that even the rain could do little to control it. Since highly inflammable plastic material was lying in the unit, it caught uncontrolled fire.

Bilaspur, September 20
The police has arrested two persons with the help of forest officials who are said to have been involved in smuggling of sandalwood from the government forest here in town today.

Superintendent of police K.K. Indoria said those arrested were Vinod kumar of Malyawar village and Basant singh of village Gwal muthani, while two others were reported to had fled from the scene after finding the staff of Forest Department arriving on the spot.

Indoria said accused Bishan Dass and Rajkumar, who had made good their escape, would be arrested soon. He said a case had been registered and police was investigating the matter, as there were repeated reports of theft and smuggling of sandalwood from this forest since some time and both the police and the Forest Department were on an alert to capture these smugglers.

The accused are said to have attacked Range officer Lal singh Chandel while attempting to flee and were captured with the help of forest guard Daulat Ram.

The police has also recovered one quintal of sandalwood, which these smugglers had cut from the forest, and were carrying in a big gunny bag. The police also impound the car involved in the crime.