Manali, September 22
After remaining closed for three days, the Rohtang pass, the only gateway to Lahaul-Spiti, was reopened to vehicular traffic today afternoon.

S.K. Doon, Commander of 38 Task Force (GREF), said the Rohtang Pass- Khoksar road had been thrown open for vehicular traffic. BRO personnel had to work day and night for it. The snow clearing operation on the Rohtang Pass road was being undertaken on war footing as hundreds of vehicles were stranded there.

He said the road up to Zingzingbar on the Manali-Leh highway had been thrown open for traffic, while the stretch to Sarchu would be cleared by tomorrow evening.

S.K. Dhiman, superintendent, BR.II, BRO, said all stranded light vehicles and trucks crossed over the Rohtang Pass from Khoksar side this afternoon. About 30 vehicles without drivers were still stranded between the Rohtang Pass and Khoksa, he added.

According to Lahaul-Spiti DC C. Paul Rasu, 10 persons, including two Japanese tourists were airlifted by the Air Force from Sarchu, 222 km from Manali, on the Manali-Leh highway. All stranded persons could not be airlifted due to bed weather. Most of the drivers of oil tankers, others vehicles and passengers continued to be stranded between Baralacha Pass (Bharatpur) and Sarchu. The road from Sarchu to Leh had been reopened.

Both Japanese tourists were taken to Keylong regional hospital as they were suffering from high-altitude sickness. One of them was later admitted to the hospital as he was suffering from jaundice.

The Air Force could not airdrop blankets, dry fruits, medicines and water bottles at Chhatru due to bed weather this afternoon. About 100 persons were still stranded on the Manali-Kaza road. They were staying in teashops, PWD rest house and potato farmhouse.

A rescue team of four persons was airdropped at Sarchu. The team would help out the stranded persons to reach Keylong.

Shimla, September 22
While 25 tribals, who were trapped in snow along with 7,500 sheep and goats in the higher reaches of Chitkul in tribal Kinnaur district, have been rescued, un-official reports indicated that groups of nomadic shepherds from eight villages of Sangla valley were still stranded near the Rupin Pass with over 10,000 animals.

The graziers were on way to Sirmaur. The higher ranges where they were moving with their flocks were under 3 to 4 ft of snow. They would not be able to come down until the snow melted, sources said.

The Lahaul-Spiti district authorities rescued 10 persons, including 10 foreigners, from Sarchu and brought them to Keylong. Essentials were airdropped for the remaining stranded persons and the rescue effort was on. In Kinnaur, 129 tourists, including 35 foreigners, were rescued from various places in the Sangla valley.

As many as 282 buses of the state road transport corporation have been stranded at various places due to disruption of road network as a result of which the corporation had already suffered a loss of over Rs 1.5 crore. The maximum number of buses (180) were held up in Shimla district. However, all passengers have been moved out through transshipment.

Shimla DC J.S. Rana said three houses in Chopal and a school in Nerwa had been got vacated as a precautionary measure. The Shimla-Rohru and the Shimla-Rampur roads had been reopened. A control room had been set up in the ADM office, he added.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal reviewed the situation in the state at a high-level meeting. He directed the authorities to evacuate the stranded people at Sarchu and Chhatru by opening the road and, if necessary, by requisitioning helicopter services. He said the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), assisted by the PWD, was working overtime to open the road through the Baralacha Pass to Sarchu. The entire stranded lot had earlier been shifted to safer places towards Sarchu by the rescue teams. The military camp had been providing medical and other facilities near Sarchu to the stranded passengers and all of them had been reported to be safe and medically fit.

The road up to Zing Zing Bar had been already cleared and the Baralacha pass was likely to be cleared within a day or two, depending on the weather conditions. Work was on to clear the road connecting Lahaul with Spiti via the Kunzum Pass. Efforts were afoot to clear the road up to Chhatru at the earliest so that all stranded people could be evacuated by road towards Manali. The Rohtang Pass had been thrown open for vehicular traffic.

In Rampur Bushehr, where a bridge had been washed away and transshipment was taking place, an alternative road was being constructed to facilitate the movement of vehicles carrying apples to the markets, besides transporting other essential commodities into the valley. The road leading to Chopal was likely to be cleared over the next 24 hours.

The BSNL telecom network remained disrupted in a large number of areas. Parts of Shimla, Kinnaur, Bhuntar, Una and Kangra districts had mild to moderate rain today. The local Met office has forecast rainfall at isolated places over the next 24 hours.

Shimla, September 22
Even as life is limping back to normalcy in the state capital, most parts of the town did not receive water supply for the fourth consecutive day today as there could be no pumping due to high silt levels.

Although there has been some respite from rain, the residents continued to face water crisis. The areas fed by the Ashwani Khud station are the worst hit. These include Broke Hurst, Vikasnagar, New Shimla, Khalini and Panthaghatti.

Deputy mayor Harish Janartha said the position was likely to improve in a day or two as four of the five pumps at the Gumma waterworks had been started. “The supply in Sanjauli, Dhalli, Chotta Shimla and other areas fed by Gumma station is better,” he said.

He said efforts would be made to divert water from the Gumma station to give supply to areas that were fed by Ashwani Khud. However, there could be a problem in running the pumps at Gumma as well as there was a heavy downpour today evening.

The power supply has also been erratic in the town with some areas like Combly Bank and Dingle Estate going without power for the third consecutive day. With many of the electricity poles giving way and the cables and wires being snapped because of landslides and falling trees, restoring power supply has become a tedious task. HPSEB officials said power supply had to be stopped to some areas from where uprooted trees had to be removed.

Dharamsala, September 22
Inquiry by the Kangra police into alleged hawala operations being carried in the state has been seriously compromised due to the non-cooperation of the Jammu and Kashmir police. Instead of cooperating, the Jammu and Kashmir police detained the raiding party of the Himachal Pradesh police and let the accused go scot free.

The Kangra police had recently arrested five persons from Khandwal barrier and recovered $2,500 and poppy husk from them. During interrogation, the accused told the police that they had procured foreign currency from a resident of Kashmir. The police suspected the seizure was a part of the hawala operations being carried in the district.

A team of five police officials, including ASI Rakesh Kumar and Subhash, head constables Tarsem Singh and Jaswant Singh, and constable Vinod Kumar, along with two accused, Kishori Lal and Pardeep, residents of Titu area of Shimla, had yesterday gone to Jammu and Kashmir to nab the culprits. On identification by the accused, the police caught Manzoor Ahmed, who had allegedly supplied foreign currency to the Himachal Pradesh residents.

However, the Himachal Pradesh police party was in for a shock when they took Manzoor Ahmed to Kazipur police station for transit remand.

The Jammu and Kashmir cops, instead of helping the Himachal Pradesh police, let the accused go scot free and detained the raiding party.

SP (Kangra) Atul Phulzele took up the matter with the higher officials of state. It was only after their mediation that the raiding party was allowed to come back, but without the main accused.

Phulzele, when contacted, admitted that the Jammu and Kashmir cops misbehaved with the raiding party. He also stated that as per their information, the accused — Manzoor Ahmed — had links with a terrorist organisation. Had he been arrested, it would have been a major breakthrough in hawala operations being carried in Himachal Pradesh under the aegis of terrorist organisations active in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The SP also told that the Himachal Pradesh police would register its protest against the behaviour of the Jammu and Kashmir police with the home ministry and higher authorities. The ill will created among the police force of both states might affect their joint operations being carried out to check terrorist activities along the state borders.

Shimla, September 22
The continuing spell of un-seasonal rain has cast a shadow over the MTB Himachal, India’s only adventure cycling marathon scheduled to be held from September 27 to October 6.

With just four days to go for the 10-day classic mountain cycling event, most of the metalled and un-metalled single-lane roads, mountain trails and village backtracks are blocked due to landslides. Since the priority of the administration is to open the main highways first, it may take some days to clear the interior roads. Further, it will take much longer to restore the forest trails. About 90 per cent of the route falls in Shimla and Kullu districts, which are the worst hit by heavy rain.

The event cannot be deferred as there are 30 foreigners from the USA, the UK, Brazil, Belgium, Hungry, Hong Kong and other countries among the 80 participants who were already on way. In all, 33 foreigners had sent entries, but three participants opted out of the event following bomb blasts in New Delhi. Australian mountain biking champion U. Kingston, leading Canadian mountain biker Chad Ortevad and MTB Himachal 2007 runner-up John Nobel of the USA are the prominent among foreign participants.

Mohit Sood, president of the Himalayan Adventure Sports and Tourism Promotion Association (HASTPA), which is organising the event, said the participants would start from Shimla on September 27 as scheduled but the route beyond Narkanda would be changed, depending on the conditions of the interior roads.

Originally, over 80 per cent of the route comprised dirt tracks, but the percentage was likely to come down to 60 as large stretches of un-metalled single roads would have to be kept out. The number of competitive stretches (23) would not change. However, the total length of the competitive portion would come down from the original 395 km.

Although it was an adventure sport and participants, particularly the foreign participants, were quite used to difficult topography, the association would not take any chances. The landslide-prone stretches would be bypassed, he added.

The average riding altitude will be 2,000 m with the high point at Jalori pass (3,223 m) and touching low at Pandoh (750 m).

Shimla, September 22
The Congress has lambasted the government for its failure to promptly restore roads, water supply, power supply and other amenities affected by heavy rains and alleged that the indifferent attitude of the disaster management machinery was responsible for it.

General secretary of the party Kuldeep Rathore said that the authorities had failed to open even the main highways and one did not know when the interior roads would be restored.

The transportation of the apple had come to a grinding halt and unless the roads were cleared on a war footing the growers would be put to heavy losses for no fault. Hundreds of fruit-laden trucks had been stranded in the interior pockets.

He urged the government to put more men and machinery on the road clearance to ensure that the apple growers did not suffer any losses.

The residents of the state capital had to go without water for the third consecutive day and some localities were still without power.

When this was the state of affairs right under the nose of the government, the plight of the affected people in the interior could be imagined.

He said Pradesh Congress Committee chief Kaul Singh had directed the district party chiefs to send their reports after assessing the loss in their respective areas.

The party would submit a consolidated report to the Centre and party high command to seek adequate relief.

Referring to BJP leader Sat Pal Jain’s charge that the UPA government was soft on terrorists he said that the party under whose regime Parliament and the Akshardham and Raghnath temples came under attack and Pakistanis’ intruded the country and forced the Kargil conflict had no locus standi to make such allegations.

It was amusing that the party whose government released most wanted terrorists and sent the external affairs minister to escort them right up to Kandhar were making such statements.

He said the Congress was in favour of a more stringent law to deal with terrorism and exercise was on in the UPA government for the purpose.

Dharamsala, September 22
The Himachal Pradesh Government has started patting its back following an assurance from the Rajasthan Government that the Pong Dam oustees would be allotted land in Bikaner and Jaisalmer districts of that state. However, the issue is too complex to be resolved so easily.

The Pong Dam Oustees Sangharsh Committee has rejected the government proposal. President of the committee Ashwani Kumar Awasthi said, “We have been taken four times to the areas where land is being offered in Jaisalmer and Bikaner districts. The land being offered is totally arid. We have already rejected the offer. The Rajasthan Government is committing a fraud with us by allowing locals to grab fertile land allotted to us and giving us arid land in lieu thereof.”

For the construction of the Pong Dam, 20,722 families, mostly from Kangra district, were displaced. Out of these, 16,352 families were allotted land and residential plots in Ganganagar district of Rajasthan. The remaining families were to be allotted residential plots in Rajasthan as their land was not in proportion to the criterion laid down for allotment of agricultural land.

As per the compensation package, 2.2 lakh acres were reserved in Ganganagar district for allotment to Pong Dam oustees. Each displaced family was to be allotted one murabba (25 acres) and a residential plot. Though many from the said 16,352 families got the agriculture land in papers, 4,380 families, who were to get residential plots, never got anything.

The major problem being faced by the oustees who were allotted land, is that their land has been encroached upon by native farmers in Anoopgrah district. Some of the farmers had moved the Supreme Court to get their land vacated. On their petition, the court directed the Rajasthan Government to get 1,188 murrabas vacated from encroachers and hand over the possession to dam oustees. Twelve years have gone by since the Supreme Court passed the orders, but the oustees have failed to get the land so far.

Kangra, September 22
A 27-year-old woman was hit on the head with an axe by her husband at Taperh village under the Jawalamukhi police station late last evening. The condition of the woman was said to be critical.

Kangra SDPO O.P. Jamwal said Rakesh Kumar asked his wife Seema Devi (30), mother of a 12-year-old boy, to hand over her mobile phone to him last evening. Rakesh broke the mobile. Seema protested against it. This led to a quarrel between the two and Rakesh ran after Seema with an axe in his hand. Suddenly Seema fell down and Rakesh hit her the head with the axe.

The victim was taken to a hospital by residents.

A case has been registered under Sections 498-A and 307 of the IPC. Rakesh has been arrested.

Kangra, September 22
Dr R.P Government Medical College, Tanda, has been suffering due to government apathy, as nearly 690 posts in different categories have been lying vacant here. As a result, the patients are the worst sufferers and the medical staff overburdened.

The college with a 500-bed hospital has been craving for the required staff in order to come up to the expectations of the people of the region. The Tanda Medical College was considered next to the prestigious IGMC, Shimla, in the state and recently, when the cadres of both colleges were separated, the staff from here preferred to join the IGMC leaving the patients and the hospital in a lurch.

The medical college has no neurosurgeon. Hence, all patients, particularly those with severe head injuries sustained in accidents, are referred to the PGI, Chandigarh, or Ludhiana.

As many as 60 posts of registrars, 13 posts of associate professors, 15 of assistant professors, seven of junior residents, two of causality medical officers, 260 posts of staff nurses, 59 posts of ward sisters, 14 posts of radiographers, five posts of darkroom assistants, four of ECG operators, six posts of pharmacists, nine posts of senior laboratory technicians and 21 posts of laboratory assistants have been lying vacant.

Besides, there are posts of class IV employees and sweepers, too, lying vacant. Thus, compromising the sanitary conditions in the hospital that is a pre-requisite for the health and treatment of the patients.

The MRI machine is there but due to lack of technical staff, the MRI room remains locked. Numbers of medical equipments worth lakhs have been gathering dust as the technicians and experts were not available to run them. The medical college has ambulances but the number of drivers is insufficient. Referral patients are forced to get ambulances from outside that results in loss of time and at times loss of lives.

While Tanda falls under Nagrota Bagwan Assembly constituency that is represented by Congress MLA G.S Bali, BSP MLA Sanjay Choudary represents Kangra constituency. Thus, there is no political push from the local BJP leadership to see the hospital grow in the right direction.

The college authorities say the government has been was upraised about the vacant posts and hope that these posts would be filled up shortly.

Hamirpur, September 22
Health minister Rajiv Bindal has directed the district health authorities to employ private specialists in the hospitals where the number of medical experts is less. During his visit to the district hospital today, the minister asked the chief medical officer to seek services of medical specialists on daily basis by paying them Rs 5,000 per day for a maximum four days a month.

Bindal has also asked medical officers to prescribe only quality medicines keeping its efficacy in mind. He also directed the health authorities to increase the number of beds in the intensive care unit in the district hospital and announced an aid of Rs 40 lakh for improving sanitary condition in the district hospital. 

Mandi, September 22
Anil Sharma, Mandi (sadar) Congress MLA and son of former telecom minister and senior Congress leader Sukh Ram, is in the spot as the BJP today demanded his resignation on moral grounds as his name has been figured in the multi-crore benami royal property deal.

State president Jai Ram Thakur today demanded that name of the MLA in the benami deal should be made public and the MLA should resign on moral grounds as MLAs were answerable to the public.

Meanwhile, investigations has put on record the name of Anil Sharma being involved in the benami deal. He has paid Rs 97.5 lakh through bank cheques to Sanjay who was arrested by the police earlier.

Sanjay has put his statement on record that the MLA had given him the money to buy the royal property. Both Sanjay and his agent Subash are in judicial remand. The ACJM has ordered their brain mapping tests in the Tek Chand murder case that is also linked to the benami deal, police sources stated.

Anil Sharma, who was reported to be in Delhi had switched off his mobile phone, but Sukh Ram, who was in the town, said the money had been given to buy land of royal property adjoining his hotel here. “It is white money and has signed cheques with him,” he stated.

Sukh Ram said he had talked to one of the shareholders, Indira, in the royal property about his interest in the land. “It was she who told Anil to give the money to Sanjay,” he claimed, accusing the BJP of defaming the Congress on the entire issue.

SP Mandi M.Chandra Sekhar said investigation were on in both cases. “The name of the MLA transferring Rs 97. 5 lakh in Sanjay’s account is on record,” he added.

Shimla, September 22
The Himachal Pradesh High Court today granted permission to the Forest Department to fell selected trees that posed threat to life and property. However, the court made it clear that no construction would be allowed on the cleared areas. It also imposed condition that for every felled tree four trees would have to be planted and taken care of.

The court refused to grant a blanket permission for felling of 150 trees that were termed extremely dangerous by the Forest Department. In all it had submitted a list of 414 trees.

Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Jagdish Bhalla and Justice Deepak Gupta had granted permission after taking into consideration the factum of danger to life and property.

The state had filed an affidavit wherein it had annexed the list of 414 trees by terming them “green dangerous, green tilted dangerous, dry dangerous and dry standing trees”. The Forest Department had stated that out of 414 trees, 150 were checked by the inspection committee that had urged to grant permission of felling of at least 150 trees.

Dissatisfied with the list filed by the Forest Department, the Bench decided to look up the photographs on merit and gave the permission to fell the selected trees. It also expresses concern and dissatisfaction over the attitude of forest officials as they had failed to identify the actual number of trees.

The court had fixed the hearing for today. It passed orders for the grant of permission of felling standing trees that had become dangerous to life and property following heavy rain. On the request of the state, the court had yesterday held a special sitting and directed the state to file affidavit giving complete details of the trees that could fall anytime and posed a threat to life and property. 

Bilaspur, September 22
The chief information commissioner of Himachal Pradesh has issued a show-cause notice to the PIO-cum-SI (panchayat) for not furnishing the required information within 30 days to Archit Sant, a social activist of Chandpur area near here. Sant had asked for the details of development works done and budget sanctioned under each head in seven gram panchayats of the area within past one year.

The chief information commissioner has also sought an explanation from the block development officer, Bilaspur (sadar), as to why the officer did not appeal within the stipulated period. He has been further asked to answer why an action should not be recommended against him under Section 19(8)(a) of the RTI Act.

The commissioner has further ordered the block development officer to ensure that the desired information was furnished to the complaint free of cost within two weeks.

Bilaspur, September 22
The police yesterday arrested three minors with fake currency notes worth Rs 1.46 lakh. The accused are being interrogated by the police to ascertain the source of the fake money and their contacts.

SP K.K Indoria said here today that the boys were from Bihar and had arrived here only yesterday. They were staying at the waiting room of main bus stand here. The accused have been identified as Suneel Kumar (17), son of Mohinder Mukhia of Bitiya district; Brij Kishore Yadav (14), son of Ram Dayal of West Champaran district; and Manohar Shah (16), son of Hariyal Shah also of West Champaran district. Indoria said the accused were arrested when one of them tried to circulate a Rs 1,000 fake currency note with a shopkeeper for the second time within a short period as he had succeeded in deceiving the shopkeeper the first time.

The second attempt proved costly as the shopkeeper asked others to verify the second Rs 1,000 note. It was found it to be fake and the police was immediately informed.

The SP said after a thorough search fake currency notes worth Rs 1.46 lakh were recovered. As many as 55 fake currency notes of Rs 1,000 and 182 notes of Rs 500 denominations were recovered from the accused. A case under Sections 489-B and 489-C of the IPC has been registered and investigation is on to trace the king pin of the fake currency racket.

Hamirpur, September 22
SP (Hamirpur) Asif Jalal has suspended a police head constable and a home guard personal for dereliction of duty. Both of them were deployed on examination duty few days ago at the Government Senior Secondary School, Taoni Devi.

Large-scale cheating in the examination centre was reported wherein outsiders openly helped the students and police personnel deployed on the duty allegedly remained silent spectators. The SP has placed head constable Kashmir Chand and home guard personal Pawan Kumar under suspension.