Manali, September 25
The 474-km long Manali-Leh highway, one of the highest motorable roads in the world, was reopened for vehicular traffic last night.

Due to heavy snowfall the highway was closed for vehicular traffic since September 19 and hundreds of vehicles were stranded on the highway.

According to S K Doon, Commander of 38 Task Force (GREF) said that the 222-km Manali to Sarchu road which is maintained by the 38 Task Force (GREF), was opened for light vehicles yesterday evening, but today it was opened for heavy vehicles also and now the vehicles are plying smoothly on the Manali-Leh highway.

He said that all stranded vehicles had reached their respective destinations. The Deputy Commissione, Lahaul and Spiti, C .Paul Rasu said with the opening of the Baralacha Pass, all the stranded vehicles and passengers reached safely at Keylong and Leh.

He further said that a few stranded trucks, including oil tankers who were on the way to Leh and Keylong also resumed their journey.

He added that all those stranded people and vehicles had moved towards Manali and Leh, respectively, and normalcy had been restored.

Vikas Shukla, tehsildar, Kaza, said that 10 foreigners were airlifted from Kaza to Kullu with the help of an Air Force helicopter today.

He said that they were trying to evacuate five engineers of Eastern Railway and two American tourists, who are still stranded at Tabo due to landslide.

He added there were still about 150 foreigners stranded in Kaza, all stranded tourists are safe, only those who are sick and weak due to altitude sickness would be evacuated, the rest will be bought back to Manali by road.

The road to Kaza, about 200 km from Manali, will be possibly reopened tomorrow.

The road from Manali to Batal is reopened, the PWD is making a massive effort to reopen a 10 km stretch between Batal to Kunzum by this evening.

The 75km road from Kaza to Sumdo will also be reopened tomorrow for vehicles
going to Kinnaur.

MANDI: Meanwhile, a 12-member group which reported missing has been rescued and identified as Dutch trekkers.

They were rescued across Kunjam Pass towards Kaza. But one porter from Kullu was killed in Pin the valley.

But the fate of six persons, fearing missing in the avalanche in the Bharatpur area remained untraceable.

“We will get to know when we receive reports from Serchu side. We suspect three-four persons were missing”, the deputy commissioner added.

Atal Handa, an engineer, working in the Chatru project who reached today at Manali along with his two colleagues said, “Twenty passengers were stranded at Chota Dhara, 40 persons at Batal and 12 Dutch at Chandertal.

Rasu said the Manali-Spiti road would be opened from traffic tomorrow and all passengers would be evacuated by tomorrow.

Shimla, September 25
The country’s toughest and most exciting cycling marathon, the Hercules MTB Himachal 2008 will be flagged off from here September 27 amidst uncertainty over the final route which could be changed at the last minute depending on the condition rain-battered roads and forest trails.

President of the Himalayan Adventure Sports and Tourism Promotion Association (HASTPA), Mohit Sood said that four teams were busy assessing the conditions of the route to ascertain if they were for cycling and the final course would be decided for each leg on the basis of their report.

The sections blocked by landslides or extensively damaged due to torrential rains would be bypassed. In the process the percentage dirt tracks, which came to 80 per cent in the original route, could come down by about 15 to 20 per cent. However, there would be no major changes in the route.

Pedalling 70 to 80 km every day the participants will cover about 680 km during the event and achieve an aggregate elevation gain of 14,000 m in uphill climbs during the ten-day (including arrest day) odyssey.

The average riding altitude will be 2000 m with the highest point at Jalori pass (3223 m) and lowest at Pandoh (750 m).

The even is being sponsored by the state tourism department which has been supporting adventure sports activities to promote environment friendly tourism.

The total prize money involved is Rs 6 lakh. The overall champion will walk away with a purse of Rs 1 lakh, while the teams ending up at the second and third places will get Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000, respectively.

Mandi, September 25
As many as 500 head of sheep and goats and 15 horses were reported missing or feared killed in the recent untimely snowfall in Koksar and Rohtang area from September 19-24 in the Lahaul valley.

The shepherds have demanded compensation from the government as it was matter of bread and butter for them.

Shiv Ram, a shepherd from Kamand, Mandi, lodged the complaint at Koksar police post stating that he had 126 sheep and goats, 26 of them and one horse remained missing till today.

“I left them in Suna Pani grazing fields on September 19 duo to heavy snow and could trace out only 126,” he rued.

Tek Chand, Tej Ram, Mani Ram, Chintan, Tula Ram, Dula Ram, all shepherds from Kullu and Mandi, complained at police post that more than 250 head of sheep and 250 heads of goats and 12-16 horses still remained missing from the grazing fields which were covered by a thick blanket of snow.

Shepherds said that many sheep and goats have perished in avalanche in Kulti nalla.

Meanwhile, the team of animal husbandry doctors and police today went to the grazing fields on the southern face of Chandra valley around Koksar to verify the missing livestock in the snow-hit region.

Depu ty Commissioner, Lahaul-Spiti, C P Rasu said about 500-600 sheep and goats were missing in the valley.

“We have yet to verify as to how many perished in snow as the team has not reached here from the grazing fields”.

Mandi, September 25
The Himachal Electricals and Electronics Manufacturing Association (HEEMA) has claimed that over 200 small-scale units face closure, as the Himachal Pradesh Electricity Board has withheld their due payments worth Rs 5 crore.

The Board has also imposed strict conditions in which they cannot bid for fresh tenders. Sunal Gupta, president of HEEMA, and general secretary Suret Nayak said the small units faced closure, as the Board that catered to their products had not released their payments worth Rs 5 crore for the past one year.

“Besides, the Board has imposed fresh conditions in the “e-tendering” system like the “turnover, ISO certification, fast performance etc” to keep the state’s small units out from the bidding process,” they alleged.

The HEEMA said new conditions would wipe out state’s over 200 units from the business. The HEEMA demanded that government should relax these conditions for the state’s units till they upgrade their units.

“We have been asked to pay Rs 2.5 lakh in advance, deposit Rs 25,000 as against Rs 500 earlier, which is non-refundable fee for the bids. It is not affordable for small units,” they said.

They urged the Chief Minister to look into the matter. They demanded that all state units should be given 17.5 per cent orders on priority basis so that the small units survived. The new conditions should be postponed for two years, they added.

Shimla, September 25
The Left parties, including the CPM and the CPI, today staged a demonstration outside the deputy commissioner’s office in protest against the signing of the nuclear deal by the UPA regime by bypassing Parliament.

The CPM and CPI activists led by Rakesh Singha, Tikender Singh Panwar, Jagat
Ram and Vijender Mehra lashed out at the UP government for hoodwinking the
people of the country.

They said the Prime Minister was in the USA to formalise the nuclear deal which compromised India’s sovereignty and vital interests.

“The Prime Minister has gone back on his assurance that he will come back to Parliament after getting the clearance from the IAEA and the NSG whereas Parliament has been convened on October 17 well after the deal has been sealed in Washington,” said Singha.

He said the refusal to call Parliament came at a time when the country was already faced with major problems like series of bomb blasts, attack on Christians and continuing price rise and floods.

Protests were by held by activists of the Left parties at various places, including Kangra, Mandi, Kullu and Nahan against the UPA regime for going ahead with the nuclear deal without coming back to Parliament.

Hamirpur, September 25
National general secretary of the BSP Man Singh Manehra has criticised the UPA government for negotiating the nuclear deal with the USA.

Addressing mediapersons after holding a pubic meeting at Gandhi Chowk today, he said, “The nuclear deal would be more beneficial to America since it would not only provide employment to 2.5 lakh people in America, but also help them economically by exporting nuclear reactors and other equipments to India.”

The BSP leader said, “The nuclear deal agreement has made it clear that India would not be able to carry any nuclear tests after signing the treaty, but still the Indian government has been misleading the people on this issue.”

He said, “Nuclear power is the costliest power and disposal of nuclear waste is a very sensitive matter, which cannot be ignored.”

Manehra said, “The BJP government in the state should provide reservation to the economically weak people among the upper caste and provide them reservation in government jobs after conducting a survey.”

He said, “The BSP has launched Jan hit Chetna Andolan in the state and rallies at all district headquarters would be held by October 5 after which all 68 segments in the state would be covered by November 13.”

Hamirpur, September 25
With the district health authorities still blaming the leakage for the presence of fungus in a bottle of Dextrose Normal Saline (DNS) while it was being administered to a patient in the district hospital here few days ago, it seems the health authorities did not have any foolproof method to check it.

The district health authorities had not even taken the sample of the fungus affected DNS bottle. They said it could not be taken since the bottle had leakage.

The health authorities are linking the presence of fungus to the leakage of the bottle during transportation. But they failed to explain as to how the bottle went unchecked from the store to the ward.

District drugs inspector Nishant Sareen said, “The DNS bottle with fungus was found having leakage during the transportation and thus its sample could not be taken. But the bottle with leakage is highly prone to fungus, normal during transportation.”

People here have expressed their serious concern on the presence of fungus in IV fluid bottles since this could be hazardous to the lives of the patients.

The case filed against a Punjab-based firm in the local court by health authorities after detection of fungus in its IV fluid supplied to district hospital Hamirpur last year had fallen flat in the court on the technical grounds.

Hamirpur chief medical officer D.S. Chandel said, “I have asked the supplier to withdraw all 250 boxes of IV fluid supplied to the department. We have also installed IV fluid view boxes to detect fungus before administering the fluid to the patients.”

Hamirpur, September 25
State president of Sarv Kalyan Kari Kalyan Sabha Rajinder Rana today announced to organize several programmes in the coming months.

Rana said on October 12 the sabha would organise a free medical check up camp at Chabutra in which specialists from the PGI, Chandigarh, had been invited.

He said director of Chandigarh medical college and hospital Dr Raj Bahadur and known cardiologist Dr yash Pal Sharma would be examining the patients.

Dharamsala, September 25
The Swai Jal Thara scheme, under which the panchayats or groups could get hand pumps installed, has been revived in the state.

However, the increased cost of material, including steel and other equipments, in the past two years might create bottlenecks for applicants, who have been waiting for their applications to be processed.

The scheme that had created drinking water sources in many parts of the state was discontinued by the Union Government in the 2006.

Large number of applications under the scheme got struck due to discontinuation of the scheme by the Union Government.

In Kangra district only, over 120 applications for the installation of hand pumps are lying pending with the zila parishad office.

The hopes of these applicants have rekindled after the present government got the scheme revived from the Union Government.

The cases are being revived and they will be sent to the Union Government for approval in October.

The state government is likely to get a grant of Rs 27 crore from Union Government for the scheme.

However, the time period fixed for reviving the old applications is very short.

In old applications or cases, the estimates for the schemes were made two years ago. The rates of steel and all other equipment have doubled since then.

So, if the state government gets the cases approved from the Union Government as per the old estimates, the contribution that the applicants have to make in the scheme might increase significantly.

Due to the increase in share, the people in the rural areas might not be able to take the benefit of the scheme.

The public health authorities admitted that the cost of previous estimates
needed to be escalated.

They said they had informed the zila parishad authorities to inform the applicants to increase the estimates.

However, the zila parishad authorities had till date not informed the applicants to revise the estimates.

Some of the applicants alleged that they did not have any knowledge about the status of their applications.

“Whenever, we contact the zila parishad authorities we are told that our applications are lying with the chairman,” they said.

Shimla, September 25
Banking services remained paralysed in the state as officers and employees of various public sector banks observed a complete strike for the second day today in support of their demands.

The agitating bank staff held protest demonstrations in major towns all over the state. The people were put to great inconvenience as only the private and cooperative sector banks functioned.

The members of the All-India Insurance Employees Association extended support to bankers’ stir and held lunch-time demonstrations throughout the state to express their solidarity.

Convener of the United Forum of Bank Unions C.S.Verma said the strike was a complete success and that all 1100 odd branches in the state remained closed for the second consecutive day today.

The striking bank staff held a rally in front of the main branch of the State Bank of India at which the leaders criticised the government for pursuing anti-people policies which would harm the economic interest of the country in the long run.

They asserted that the merger of public sector banks and handing over the control of banks to big capitalist and foreign direct investors was neither in the interest of the public nor employees.

They also criticised the callous attitude of bank managements with regard to appointments to be made on compassionate grounds and pointed out that a large number of such cases were pending.

The other demands include acceptance of demand for second option of pension regarding which an assurance was given in February 20008 and wage revision which had become due from November 2007.

Shimla, September 25
After experimenting with rhododendron trees, the forest authorities have now decided to switch over to hydrangea which will be planted all over the town not only from ornamental point of view but also for the fact that it is a good soil binder.

With thrust being on planting more and more trees in and around the town, the forest authorities had been planting rhododendron trees, called ‘brass’ locally for the past three years.

However, since the plants had to be brought all the way from Darjeeling, the cost was working out to be too high.

With hydrangea, a huge shrub bearing pinkish-blue flowers growing locally, the forest department will be preparing cuttings, which will be planted on a large scale. This season only about 500 cuttings will be planted.

“We have decided to plant hydrangea as it will not just beautify the town but will hold the soil which is the need of the hour,” said Raman Sharma, ACF, Shimla.

With many areas in the town being landslide prone, hydrangea can be planted anywhere, be it on slopes or flat land.

The fact that it does not require much care and the local climate is suited for the plant will help in its natural growth.

Another advantage of the plant is that it grows very fast unlike rhododendron which takes atleast 10 to 15 years to grow big enough.

Even though rhododendrons were suited for Shimla and new varieties of the flower were being introduced but with the cost working out to be very high, the department has decided to switch over to hydrangea.

More than 5,000 rhododendron trees have been planted during the past three years.

Forest officials have said the manner in which more and more landslides were taking place in Shimla, thrust will have to be on urban forestry or else the situation would turn from bad to worse.

Concern has been expressed by one and all on the depleting green cover and drying of deodar trees in the capital.

With natural regeneration of deodar and other trees being negligible, thrust will have to be on urban forestry and planting of more and more trees.

Solan, September 25
As many as seven persons working in a Deoghat-based pharmaceutical unit here became unconscious when a container containing methyl chloride accidentally fell and led to spill over of the chemical.

The mishap occurred at 3 pm today. According to doctors in the regional hospital here, victims were admitted there after they complained of nausea and unconsciousness.

Sources said the fumes of methyl chloride made the workers unconsciousness. Those affected included Kalpna, Savita, Kailash, Shyma, Sarita, Savita and Mohan Lal.

Sundernagar, September 25
A delegation of the Sundernagar Sangarsh Samiti, led by its president Amar Singh, met Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal at Government Polytechnic College here yesterday.

They requested the Chief Minister to shift the location of the proposed cement plant to a far away place that, too, on a barren land.

The Chief Minister assured them that he would look in to the matter.

In a memorandum, submitted by the office-bearers of the samiti, it was alleged that the proposed cement plant would be within the thickly populated area and hence, would be dangerous for the health of the people of the Mandi district.

It would eat up the agricultural land of the area and Balh Valley, which is known as mini Punjab of Himachal.

It was further alleged that the proposed site was near to the Bandli Wildlife Sanctuary and setting up of the plant would harm the environment of the area and more than 10 drinking water supply schemes would be completely ruined.

It was alleged that hundreds of oustees families had settled down in this area and with the project the oustees would be again be displaced.

It was further alleged that 90 per cent of the population in and around Sundernagar was against the setting up of cement plant near Sundernagar.

So it would be in the interest of the public that the site of plan should be shifted to a far away place from Sundernagar.

Joginder Singh Thakur, general secretary of the Bhartiya Kishan Sangh has appealed to the Chief Minister to shift the proposed project site to a far away place that, too, on a barren land.

He further said giving fertile land for the mining projects was against the policy and election manifesto of the BJP.

He said a campaign had been started to harass and victimise the Congress activists and all these attempts would be resisted.

These youths were subjected to rigorous training through workshops, seminars and group discussions.