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Rain-wrecked
6 killed in landslides, flash floods in Nahan
Road, telecom networks hit
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400 stranded on Manali-Leh
highway
15 families rendered homeless in Mandi
A man-made calamity
Silt forces closure of Beas-Sutlej Link project
Dhumal behaving like ‘thanedar’: Virbhadra
Former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh addresses a press conference at Mandi on Sunday. A Tribune photograph
HC pulls up govt on retention policies
CM assures help for Guru Gaddi Nashini celebrations
Employee unions vie for govt recognition
Centre urged to sanction two more highways
Cops helping in copying during exams to face action
HC holds special sitting to hear Forest Dept’s plea
Sunil Kant Gupta gives a presentation during the Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan at Kangra on Sunday. Photo: Ashok Raina
PTA teachers protest
Prepare all schemes in time: DC
Ayurvedic pharmacy council sought
1 held in royal property case
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Many areas still cut off, death toll 48
Tribune News Service
Shimla, September 21 The death toll due to rain-related incidents over the past two days rose by three in Shimla district, taking the total toll in the state to 48. While two more deaths were reported from Chhaini in Rohru, one person, who was seriously injured when a tree fell on him near Theog, died at the IGMC here today. Unconfirmed reports claimed that nine labourers were killed in Kinnaur after their huts came under debris. However, there was no confirmation of the event from the administration side. The local unit of the Akhil Bharatiya Nepali Samaj claimed that four Nepali workers were buried alive at Ralli. Five Bihari workers were feared killed at Kasthal, CITU leaders said. The death toll in Shimla district has reached 36 and the total loss to property has been estimated around Rs 300 crore. Deputy commissioner J.S. Rana said the Hindustan-Tibet road has been reopened up to Rampur and traffic on the state highway to Rohru has been restored up to Kotkhai. The focus was on opening the main roads after which clearance of link roads would be taken up. Karamapa and his team members, who were stranded near Bharatgarh due to snow at Baralacha pass, have been evacuated towards Leh. Rescue teams had already been rushed to take out remaining stranded people in the area. The Kullu-Manali road had been opened and the efforts were on to clear the Rohtang Pass that was under 3 ft of snow. The water supply to Shimla, Mandi and some other towns had been affected. Shimla was getting only 11.5 MLD (million litres daily) supply against its requirement of 35 MLD and efforts were being made to restore 60 per cent water supply by evening. Power supply and telecom services have been severely hit in Shimla and Kinnaur areas. Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal convened an emergency meeting of high-level officials of the state government to review the situation. He said massive damage to roads, public and private property had been reported from different parts of the state and most of the rivers were flowing above the danger mark. The traffic on the Chandigarh-Manali and the Shimla-Manali roads had been restored, while the Manali-Keylong stretch was likely to be reopened by the evening. The BRO had started snow clearance on Manali-Keylong-Baralacha-Sarchu highway, he said. He directed the irrigation and public health authorities to ensure clean and chlorinated water for public consumption and the damaged water supply network be restored on priority. He directed the HPSEB authorities to restore electricity supply to the areas affected due to the landslides and tree felling. Horticulture minister Narender Bragta, along with a team of officials, has been touring the severely affected areas like Rohru, Jubbal-Kotkhai and Chopal to personally supervise the relief and restoration work. Traffic on the state highway from Kumarhatti to Nahan has also been restored. Dhumal directed that the authorities to restore traffic on the Theog-Chopal road on priority and asked the Public Works Department to work round the clock to repair all roads in the shortest possible time.
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6 killed in landslides, flash floods in Nahan
Nahan, September 21 As per the reports, five family members of Govind Ram, a resident of Pein Kuffar village, were buried alive yesterday when debris of a landslide fell on their house. The bodies of Savita and four children Anshu, Guddu, Shalu and Vikas were found by the police and local residents. A team of doctors, dispatched from Rajgarh, had to walk more than 13 km on foot to reach the village. Postmortem was conducted on the spot. Govind Ram, Jania Ram and Kamla Devi were injured and under treatment in the Rajgarh subdivisional hospital. Sirmaur deputy commissioner Pushpender Rajput gave Rs 25,000 as an immediate relief to the affected family. The police said a factory worker, Narender Kumar, resident of Narayan Garh in Haryana, was washed away in the Markanda river. The police has launched a hunt to locate his body. Due to unexpected flood in the Paataal river at Katal village, the house of Hari Singh Banolta was flooded with water. His family was rescued with the help of local people yesterday.
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Road, telecom networks hit
Nahan, September 21 Major roads linking rest of Sirmaur with the district headquarters remained closed due to heavy landslides. An incident of cloud burst has been reported from Jadol Taproli panchayat under the Rajgarh subdivision. Agricultural land of 12 villages on the bank of Giri river was washed away in the flash floods. Crops, cowshed and agricultural land had received heavy loss in over 20 villages of the area. No loss of life had been reported from the area, said administrative sources. Five villages of the area were vacated by the villagers. All panchayats of
Nohra, Rasumandar and Pajhota valley remained completely cut from the Rajgarh subdivisional headquarters for the third day today. Only traffic on the
Rajgarh-Solan road could be restored after 24 hours yesterday. All roads connecting Rajgarh remained closed today too. Telephone services in the area were disrupted so the actual assessment of loss had become difficult, said sources. As per the reports, more than 40 cattle were washed away in the flash floods in the district. More than 60 cowsheds collapsed, out of which 44 collapsed under the Rajgarh subdivision only. A newly raised ITI building in Shamloh village under Rajgarh subdivision was damaged by heavy landslides. Almost all roads linking inner parts of the district with district headquarters remained closed for the past 36 hours. However, the Paonta-Nahan-Shimla road was opened yesterday. More than hundred vehicles were stranded on the different roads in the district, including 20 HRTC buses. |
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400 stranded on Manali-Leh
highway
Manali, September 21 According to deputy commissioner, Lahaul-Spiti, C. Paul Rasu, 400 persons were still stranded between the Baralacha Pass (4,891 m), Bharatpur and Sarchu (4,253 m). Tourists, drivers of oil tankers and 14 persons from Jispa who were on their way to Sarchu to receive the Karmapa were safe, he added. Air Force helicopters airdropped blankets, medicines, dry fruits and water bottles for those stranded at Baralacha, Bharatpur and Sarchu, he added. About 30 labourers were also stranded between Gramphu and Batal on Manali-Kaza road. Most of them reached safely at Khoksar and some of them were staying at the potato farmhouse. He said the administration would try to rescue the stranded people with the help of Air Force personnel tomorrow. According to Border Roads Organisation (BRO) sources, massive efforts were being made to open the Manali-Leh highway between the Rohtang Pass and Khoksar. BRO teams had been successful in clearing snow up to 55 km from Manali towards Khoksar in the Lahaul valley. If the weather remained good with no more rain or snow, traffic on the road would be restored tomorrow, sources said.
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15 families rendered homeless in Mandi
Mandi, September 21 Villagers had to seek shelter in nearby Kotwan village in the night. “The houses have become unsafe for living,” they said. Ward panch Roshan Lal said they had received no help from the government so far. They somehow managed to salvage their belongings and escort cattle to safety in the night, he added. Balichoki naib tehsildar Hira Singh said he was not informed about the incident so far. “We will visit the spot soon to assess the exact loss,” he added. Meanwhile, Mandi DC Onkar Sharma said 14 houses had been damaged in the heavy rain over the past two days. The loss to the property and crops in the district was estimated to be around Rs 85 lakh. He said landsides destroyed 29 cowsheds and partially damaged 14 houses in different parts of the district. He said the disaster management teams had been put in place. “The PWD has been asked to restore road connectivity,” he added.
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A man-made calamity
Shimla, September 21 Heavy rain is not an abnormal phenomenon in the region and, in fact, the overall precipitation has actually been declining over the years, particularly during the past three decades. However, the incidents of landslip, collapsing of buildings, uprooting of trees and damage to life and property have been increasing with each passing year. This paradoxical situation has arisen due to unregulated and excessive construction activity. Huge multi-storeyed structure has been allowed to come up on steep slopes in blatant violation of the building laws. It is a dangerous scenario in which a landslip or a moderate earthquake could trigger off a concrete avalanche with catastrophic consequences. Unregulated construction activity, lack of proper drainage and large-scale deforestation have disturbed the delicate geological equilibrium and destabilised the hills. The un-fragmented expanse of concrete mass generates a high surface runoff and a moderate rain is enough to transform khads and nullahs into torrents that frequently change course to cause landslips and other damage. Indiscriminate excavations for construction of buildings, roads and other projects take a heavy toll on vegetation. On an average, about 1,200 to 1,500 trees are felled annually. Consequently, the lush green slopes of the yore have been transformed into concrete jungles and the city is spilling over in all directions. The provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act have been observed only in breach. Successive governments have made a mockery of the development plan for the Shimla planning area by repeated amendments to help regularise unauthorised constructions. In all, 39 amendments have been carried out, mostly to condone deviations, increase the number of permissible number of storeys and allow construction in prohibited areas and greenbelts. Instead of enforcing the law, successive governments have been coming out with retention policies to help regularise unauthorised structures. The previous BJP regime had notified three such policies in 1999, 2000 and 2004 and the subsequent Congress government came out with three more during 2004, 2005 and 2006. While the law provides for compounding of deviation from approved building plan only up to a maximum of 10 per cent, the rules notified in November 2006 allowed compounding up to 50 per cent, which was patently illegal as rules cannot supersede the Act. The concern of the government to ensure regulated growth of the city could be judged from the fact that the revised development plan finalised in 2003, which puts severe restriction on construction activity in the core area, has not been approved for political reasons. In the meantime, hundreds of building plans have been approved in a fast-track mode and construction activity is continuing on a feverish pitch. |
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Silt forces closure of Beas-Sutlej Link project
Mandi, September 21 The HPSEB-run, 126-MW Larji power project, however, resumed power generation yesterday after the project remained closed for 17 hours to flush out the silt from the Larji barrage. This shutdown has resulted in a generation loss of over 25,000 million units of electricity yesterday in both projects. The Larji lost revenue worth Rs 60 lakh during the 17 hours of the shutdown,
said sources. Though the Larji has resumed production in all three units since 10 pm yesterday, the BSL has been losing 990-MW of
electricity every day as it is a peak generation season. The 126-MW Larji power project remained closed for more than 17 hours. The generation was resumed on Saturday at 10 pm, the sources said. The silt was flushed out during the shutdown. The project engineers said the powerhouse was shutdown to flush out the high-level of silt from the Larji Barrage. BBMB flushed out the silt today from the Pandoh reservoir at 4 am, shutting down the Dehar powerhouse. The Board has closed the three units yesterday following high silt content in the Beas river, the sources said. The inflow of silt in the Beas river on which the projects are located shot up to the 15,333 PPM yesterday. Deputy chief engineer, BBMB,
C.L. Gupta, said the inflow into the Beas had increased to 94,000 cusecs of water yesterday. “The PPM level has now come down to 3500 PPM today from 15,333 PPM recorded yesterday,” he added. Gupta said the refilling of the Pandoh started at 4 pm today after the silt was flushed out. “We expect that power generation would be resumed at night today,” he added. |
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Dhumal behaving like ‘thanedar’: Virbhadra
Mandi, September 21 He said, “Dhumal was ruling the state like a
thanedar.” “Dhumal has reviewed each and every decision of the previous Congress government that led to regional discrimination and political bias, which is unconstitutional,” he charged. Talking to reporters here, Virbhadra Singh, who is here to attend the yog
shivir, said Dhumal had been governing the state like a ‘thanedar’ and had ordered more than 1,000 inquiries. He had transferred employees, who were at the verge of their retirement. “Dhunal will go down in the history as Chief Minister of transfers, inquiries and announcements,” he added. Virbhadra Singh said the Congress appointed PTA teachers laying down rules in schools, where no regular teachers would go. “We regularised voluntary teachers and contract teachers appointed earlier by the BJP government, but Dhumal has coined new yardsticks to oust PTA teachers leading to political bias”, he alleged. Virbhadra Singh claimed that Dhumal’s personal agenda was visible. “He has opened taxation tribunal, which will benefit a few traders. He abolished the State Administrative Tribunal, contrary to BJP’s manifesto, meant for large section of employees,” he said, adding that the Congress after coming to power would restore it and open its Benches at Mandi and Dharamsala. He said the previous Congress government had created 23,000 posts in heath, education, police and others for regular appointments through HPPSC and
SSSC, Hamirpur, in 2007, but could not fill them due to announcement of state Assembly elections four months in advance. “Dhumal government abolished those posts, then recreated them only to be filled on contract basis which amounts to cheating of the unemployed educated youth”, he charged. |
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HC pulls up govt on retention policies
Shimla, September 21 While passing the order in a case pertaining to violation of building laws in Rampur, Justice Rajiv Sharma expressed concern over the fact that unauthorised constructions had reached alarming proportions despite a plethora of laws enacted to regulate construction activity in the state. Observing that the menace had not been arrested by enforcing the law, the court asserted it could take judicial notice of the fact that state had come out with a number of retention policies for regularisation of unauthorised constructions by charging a nominal compounding fee. “The tendency of the government to shirk from its sovereign duty to enforce the law strictly has resulted in the negation of the rule of law. It is a duty cast upon the state to uphold the majesty of law by implementing it and punishing the guilty. The act of the government to regularise the unauthorised constructions gives premium to the defaulters and sends wrong singles to the law-abiding citizens,” it further observed. Directing the government to inform the court if it proposed to make the Town and Country Planning Act and the Municipal Corporation Act more stringent, the judge left it to the state to prescribe minimum punishment as deterrent to persons who flagrantly violated the laws by indulging in unauthorised constructions. |
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CM assures help for Guru Gaddi Nashini celebrations
Shimla, September 21 This was stated by Chief Minister
PK. Dhumal while presiding over a meeting of a committee to review arrangements for the celebrations here today. He said there were a large number of Sikh devotees in the state and the government had always been extending all possible help to celebrate their fairs and festivals. He said all required arrangements would be made to celebrate the 300 years of “Guru Gaddi
Nashini” in a most befitting manner. The administration would provide necessary assistance to the organising committee and maintain law and order. He said smooth movement of vehicles needed to be ensured during the celebrations so that commuters were not put to any inconvenience. He directed the police to make foolproof security arrangements to avert any untoward incident. Secretary language and culture B.K. Aggarwal detailed the arrangements proposed to be made by the state for the celebrations. President of the organising committee Rawail Singh gave details of the programme. |
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Employee unions vie for govt recognition
Dharamsala, September 21 At a press conference held here recently, B.K. Kaul, state president of Employees Confederation, said the administration should clarify what criteria had been adopted to invite employee unions. He said the confederation was the only recognised employee union in the state. However, the district administration chose to invite Prem Singh
Bharmoria-led employee union as it was being backed by the RSS. “Though we are sure that the CM would ensure justice to us. The Employees Confederation will be forced launch an agitation if biased attitude is adopted towards other unions,” Kaul alleged. He also demanded reinstatement of O.P. Goel, an employee of the tourism corporation who had allegedly carried a crusade against corrupt officials during the stint of the previous Congress government. “Now that the charges levelled by Goel have been found true, he should be reinstated,”
he said. In a parallel press conference, Prem Singh Bharmoria said the faction of employee union led by him enjoyed the maximum support. “The administration has rightly chosen us for representing employees in the district advisory committee meeting,” he
maintained. A few days ago, another faction of the employees union affiliated with the BMS had vented ire against the administration for ignoring it in the advisory committee meeting. Sources said there were four factions of the employee mahasangh affiliated to the BMS in the state. “These are led by Surinder Thakur, Chawla, Ram Singh and Prem Singh
Bharmoria. Besides, there is employees confederation led by B.K. Kaul,” sources added. All employee unions that were earlier part of the mahasangh are now vying with each other for government recognition. However, the tiff between unions is creating a trouble for the administration. Meanwhile, the administration has maintained that the meeting of the district advisory committee took place in a congenial environment. Kangra DC K.K. Pant said Rs 5 lakh had been sanctioned by the government for the construction of the BMS Bhawan. |
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Centre urged to sanction two more highways
Shimla, September 21 In a letter to union minister for shipping road transport and highways T.R. Baalu, he has requested that the 91-km
Nagrota-Ranital-Dehra-Mubarkpur road and the 160-km Paonta-Rajban-Shillai-Meanus-Hatkoti road be upgraded to national highways. He informed the minister that the Planning Commission had already given its approval for declaring these two roads as national highways and his ministry should take further action in the matter and issue necessary notifications. He sought central assistance to the tune of Rs 40 crore for undertaking repair and reconstruction work on various roads that had been badly damaged due to heavy rain in the state. He demanded that the “right of way” criterion for national highways in the state should be fixed at 18 m. The Government of India had fixed minimum 30-m width as the “right of way” criterion for national highways, while the hill road manual prescribed a “right of way” of 24 m in normal circumstances and 18 m in exceptional circumstances for hilly areas. The minister requested to increase “bank of sanction” factor for Himachal Pradesh from the present 3.5 to 6 on the pattern of Arunachal Pradesh and
Meghlaya, keeping in view its similar geographical and topographical conditions. |
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Cops helping in copying during exams to face action
Shimla, September 21 Police personnel and home guards are deployed at examination centres to ensure that no unauthorised person is able to come within 100 m of the centre. However, those assigned the duty have not been carrying out the job properly. On numerous occasions, they have been found helping in copying in league with outside elements whom they were supposed to keep at bay. Mass copying has been a frequent occurrence in school and college examinations mainly because of the failure of police personnel to check outside interference. The Police Department has now decided to act tough in such cases. Henceforth, departmental action will be taken against those guilty of dereliction of duty. In case of abetment to offence, an FIR will be registered against the police personnel concerned under the Prevention of Malpractices in Examination Act. IGP S.R. Mardi said instructions had been issued to all SPs in
that regard. The Hamirpur SP has been asked to register an FIR against the head constable who has been suspended for helping students in copying at the
Toni Devi government school centre during the ongoing supplementary examinations. |
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HC holds special sitting to hear Forest Dept’s plea
Shimla, September 21 Chief Justice Jagdish Bhalla heard the plea at his residence. He directed the government to file a supplementary affidavit giving complete details of the trees that could fall anytime and thus posed a threat to life and property. He also asked the government to append a copy of the clarification sought by the state in respect of the judgement of the apex court in that regard. Meanwhile, the three-member committee comprising the deputy commissioner, the municipal commissioner and the conservator of forests concerned had prepared a list of about 400 standing trees that required immediate felling so as to save life and property. The government is likely to file the affidavit in the court tomorrow. |
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Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan held
Kangra, September 21 Sunil Kant Gupta, a well known flute player, Maan Ganderav, National Award recipient, Vidushi Ashwini Bhide Deshpande, both Indian classical vocalists, left the audience spell bound during their two-hour presentation at the Sangeet Sammelan held in the auditorium of the local Polytechnic here today. Vidushi Ashwini Bhide Deshpande, an outstanding vocalist of the famed ‘Jaipur- Atrauli’, presented the Raagas Alhiya Bilawal, Khat Todi and Dadra. She was accompanied by Sunita Sharma with santoor, Vinay Kumar Misra with a harmonium and K.N. Khaudi with Tabla. J.R. Gazta, Kangra divisional commissioner, was the chief guest on the occasion. He lighted the lamp and declared the sangeet sammelan open. Tej Krishen Rawal, station director of AIR Shimla, who organised this sammelan for the fourth time without any break in this hill state, said such sangeet sammelans were strengthening the national integration at the grass-root level through Indian Classical music. Vidushi Ashwini said she was impressed by the beauty of Kangra valley and she wished to visit the valley again in order to learn more from the music of this
hill state. |
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PTA teachers protest
Kangra, September 21 The demonstration was headed by Rajeev Kumar, state vice-president (regional) of the union. He said the government was adopting a callous attitude towards PTA lecturers and teachers in the state, resulting in social, economic, political and mental trauma to these persons. He said government was adopting the policy of victimisation towards the PTA lecturers and teachers and politicising the issue. He said their issue should be sympathetically dealt with. They expressed resentment against SDM Pardeep Kumar for allegedly not accepting their memorandum in his office despite the fact that he was informed about it in advance. They later pushed the memorandum into his office through underneath the door. The SDM said he was not supposed to attend the office on Sunday just to accept a memorandum. The protesting teachers said while the government took serious note of lodging their protest on working days, there was none to hear them on Sunday, resulting in mental agony to this section of the society. |
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Prepare all schemes in time: DC
Mandi, September 21 The DC said Rs 2.60 crore was being spent on agriculture and allied activities for the benefit of SC and ST families. Besides, Rs 5.65 crore was being spent on rural development activities in the SC and ST dominated villages, he added. He said to provide safe drinking water and irrigation facilities in the SC and ST dominated villages, the government was spending Rs 20.27 crore in the district. The DC directed the district heads to complete targets well in time so that the beneficiaries could reap the benefits of schemes. |
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Ayurvedic pharmacy council sought
Shimla, September 21 The mahasangh also demanded that promotions to the post of chef Ayurvedic pharmacist be made on the basis of the total sanctioned posts of pharmacists and not the filled posts. The cadre of chief pharmacists should have a strength of at least 15 per cent of the total sanctioned posts. It also urged the government to grant revised pay scales to homeopathic compounders with effect from January, 1994 on the Punjab pattern which the state was bound to follow, and re-designate the post as homeopathic pharmacist. |
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1 held in royal property case
Mandi, September 21 Malik had applied for anticipatory bail in the court, but it was rejected by the judge. DSP Sundernagar Gurdev Sharma said Malik would be produced before the judge today. He had joined the investigation, he added. |
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Shimla, September 21
Former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh termed the Prem Kumar Dhumal’s rule as a “regime of transfers, inquiries and announcements”.
He said, “Dhumal was ruling the state like a thanedar.” “Dhumal has reviewed each and every decision of the previous Congress government that led to regional discrimination and political bias, which is unconstitutional,” he charged.
