Dharamsala, October 6
About 15 men and 50 mules and horses carrying food supplies to Bara Bhangal village got trapped on the way due to heavy snowfall in the higher reaches of the Dhauladhar range.

Sources said these persons were deployed by a local contractor to stock food supplies in Bara Bhangal village for winters. They had to cross the Thumbsar Pass (18,500 feet) to reach the said village. The village remains cut off from the main land after snow blocks the pass. There is no road contact to the village and people have to trek for three days to reach it after scaling high-altitude mountains. The Food and Civil Supplies Department had allotted the contract for stocking food grains in the village for winter months.

Jagdish Kumar, who was allotted the task of stocking food in the remote village, said the 15 men deployed by him got trapped in Bara Bhangal village or its surrounding areas. "I was given the task of carrying 688 qunital food stock to the village. Till date, I have been able to supply just 354 quintal stuff. About 50 quintals food grains have got trapped at Panarti, a high-altitude place en route Bara Bhangal, due to heavy snow," he added.

According to the contractor, it would be very difficult for him to carry the entire supply of 688 quintal to the village as the Thumbsar Pass had been blocked due to heavy snow. He said the pass was not likely to open till April. Instead of apprehending his problem, the Department of Food and Civil Supplies had given him the notice to take the supplies to the village by October 15, which looked impossible, he added.

As per official data, the village has a population of around 650. It is also the only area in Kangra district that has apple plantations. The farmers of the village might also not be able to transport their apple and vegetable produce to the market due to heavy snowfall.

Kangra DC K.K. Pant said there was no need to worry. There was enough food stock in the area and the administration was trying to stock more food items to meet any unforeseen situations. The amount of stock that had reached the village was sufficient for six months, he said.

Dharamsala, October 6
Heavy rain this morning damaged the paddy crop in the entire region. In many areas of the district, the farmers had harvested the crop and piled it in the fields. However, the unexpected rain in the early morning offered no time to them to shift the produce to safety.

Farmers said their entire harvested crop got drenched in the rain. This was bound to lead to grain damage.

Experts from Palampur Agriculture University also confirmed that this would cause damage to both quality and quantity of paddy and vegetable crops.

“In case of paddy that has not been cultivated so far, this will lead to loss of grain directly. In case of the harvested paddy lying in the fields, the loss would be more as it would lead to discolouring of and damage to grains,” they said.

Rain at this point in time was also bound to hit vegetables production.

Though the farmers in the region suffer from bad weather conditions almost every year, there is no direct government scheme to save them from financial loss.

When asked to comment on the issue during his recent visit to the area, Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal said the crop insurance was the only viable solution for providing farmers compensation for damaged crops. He said earlier farmers had to contribute 90 per cent towards the premium for crop insurance, while 5 per cent was contributed by the government. However, now he had increased the share of government to 50 per cent.

Though the government has tried to reduce the financial burden of crop insurance on farmers, very few of them are opting for the scheme. The poor financial condition and lack of awareness among them are the basic reasons for their inability to take benefit of the scheme. The onus of motivating farmers to get their crops insured lies with the Agriculture Department.

Shimla, October 6
About 30 persons were injured when the police resorted to lathi charge to disperse the protesting PTA teachers who “gheraoed” the state secretariat here today. In all 60 persons were rounded up from the spot and 25 of them were arrested and lodged in the Boileauganj police station.

The day-long protest had almost passed peacefully. However, problem arose at the fag end of the day when the agitating teachers moved towards the main gate of the secretariat and insisted on meeting Chief Minister P.K.Dhumal. Sensing trouble the police swung into action and resorted to lathi charge to prevent the protesters from gate crashing into the secretariat.

Vice-president of the State PTA Teachers Association Pankaj Kumar alleged that the police resorted to lathi charge without any provocation as the teachers only wanted to have a meeting with the Chief Minister to discuss their demands. He said more than 35 teachers, including women, received injuries in the head, hands, legs and other parts of body. The action was pre-planned and the police targeted leaders, including president of the association Vivek Mehta who was roughed up and taken to Boileauganj police station.

Superintendent of police R. M. Sharma claimed that four policemen, including ASP Mohinder and DSP Madan , were injured in the scuffle as the protesters forcibly tried to enter the secretariat. He said the police had no option but to use force to prevent them from entering the building. They also blocked traffic for about two hours before moving towards the main gate of the secretariat. He said that the protesters turned violent and also damaged the window panes of the Chhota Shimla police station

The protesters alleged that no medical examination of the teachers injured in the lathi charge was conducted and they were taken away in vehicles and left at various places.

A case has been registered under various sections of the IPC for obstructing traffic, damaging public property and trying to make forcible entry into the secretariat.

The main demands of the teachers include framing of viable policy to regularise the services of PTA teachers , no teacher should be removed from service and the inquiry being conducted to harass them stopped forthwith.

Shimla, October 6
The ruling BJP received a serious setback today when Naridnder Thakur , a son of party stalwart late Jagdev Chand , joined the Congress. The development is all the more important as the signs of disillusionment and rebellion in the party have started emanating from Hamirpur, the home district of Chief Minister P.K.Dhumal.

He was considered to be a natural successor to carry forward the political legacy of Jagdev Chand and even contested the by-elections from the Hamirpur assembly seat after his death in 1993. However, the scenario changed completely after entry of Dhumal into state politics. He was denied the party ticket in 1998 as Dhumal, who was declared the chief ministerial candidate, preferred his sister-in-law Urmil Thakur over him and she won the seat. Naridenr had been cooling his hells on the sidelines ever since.

However, it is the sudden rise of Dhumal’s cricketer son Anurag Thakur who was given ticket for Hamirpur parliamentary by-election which finally forced Narinder to quit the party and join the Congress. With senior Dhumal in command in the state and son taking over the mantle of MP from him, the fate of Narinder had been virtually sealed.

Narinder said he was sidelined because there was a lurking fear in the mind of Dhumal that with the legacy of Jagdev behind him he could be a serious threat to his political existence. This was the main reason for unabashedly promoting his son ahead of other senior dedicated leaders. Anurag was a greenhorn and had made no contribution to the party. In contrast, Jagdev Chand never promoted any family member during his lifetime and he was given the ticket by the party only after his sudden demise.

Co-in charge of the BJP affairs in the state O.P. Dhankar said that the exit of Thakur would not make any difference to the party. He also discounted the allegation of promoting ‘parivarvaad’ against Dhumal and asserted that Anurag had made to Parliament on his own merit.

Bilaspur, October 6
Congress MLA Rajesh Dharmani here today announced the dissolution of the earlier District Congress Committee and four Block Congress Committees. He took over as the president of the district unit at the newly constructed Congress office, Indira Bhawan, in the presence of a large number of party leaders and workers.

Addressing mediapersons at the circuit house, Dharmani, who is the only Congress MLA from the Ghumarwin segment in the district, said he would soon tour all four assembly segments and announce the constitution of Block Congress Committees.

Rajesh Dharmani said he was determined to take the Congress out of “the rest house culture” and to ensure that only those workers and leaders who had the time and aptitude to actually work in the field and give results should be given various responsibilities. He said he would endeavour to reorient party cadres into social services like blood donation, sapling plantation, removal of social evils, improving sanitation in various areas etc.

He said the workers would propagate party programmes and achievements of the Central Government in every village and ensure victory of the party in the parliamentary elections.

He lashed out at BJP leaders for criticising the Congress-led Central Government for being allegedly soft in dealing with terrorists. He said BJP leaders had no right to say so as it was in their tenure at the Centre that terrorists had attacked Indian Parliament and the Akshardham temple.

It was the BJP government at the Centre that had sent a Central minister to Peshawar in a special aeroplane to release the most dreaded terrorists there, he added.

Palampur, October 6
Palampur Agriculture University today launched two research projects on seabuckthorn and development of bio-pesticide.

The university has given a grant of Rs 9 crore for both the projects under the World Bank funded national agriculture innovation projects (NAIP) programme. The research on the projects would be carried out by the university in collaboration with All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, the Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) and local NGOs and farmers of Lahaul-Spiti district.

While speaking at the launching programme vice-chancellor Tej Pratap said the seabuckthorn cultivation can solve the firewood problem in cold deserts as well as improve the economy of locals.

China under a project launched in seventies had brought about 3 million hectare area in their cold deserts under seabuckthorn cultivation, which improved the economy of farmers in China. Due to such massive cultivation of seabuckthorn an entire industry has come up in China that is catering with the products from the crop.

In India also the economy of cold desert areas can be transformed by promoting seabuckthorn crop. However, this needs massive initiative on part of the Indian government. In the project allotted to the university in the next four years the university will find solutions for creating continuous supply chain of seabuckthorn, better prices for farmers and use of its products as juice and oil for commercial exploitation. The university has got Rs 4.12 crore for the project.

University expert Dr D.C. Sharma while giving information on the other project that was also launched today, said that in the next four years the university would try to develop bio-pesticides for garden pea and cabbage, two main vegetables grown in Himachal. The university would try to develop commercial formulations of bio-pesticides and make them viable for commercial exploitation.

The university has got grant of Rs 4.73 crore under the project that it would conduct in collaboration with IARI and NGOs.

J.P. Mittal, national coordinator for NAIP, while speaking on the occasion congratulated Palampur Agriculture University scientists for bagging the project. The projects are being run under the aegis of the World Bank.

The technologies under the programme can transform the economy of farmers and help in preserving the traditional knowledge.

Chandigarh, October 6
The Snow and Avalanche Studies Establishment (SASE) will be expediting the work on constructing a “snow gallery” on the approach to the proposed tunnel under the Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh.

The Chief Controller, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Dr A.S. Pillai told SASE scientists that the snow gallery should be completed next year. During a review of the project, he was told that the gallery’s proposed date of completion was 2010, which observed, could be advanced.

SASE, a DRDO laboratory engaged in the study of snow formation and avalanche mitigation, is the consultancy agency in the project, while Border Roads Organisation (BRO) would be responsible for execution of the the construction work.

The work on the tunnel would commence only after the gallery is complete, so as to secure the approach from avalanches. The much-awaited strategically important Rohtang tunnel will provide an all weather round-the-year alternate land route to Jammu and Kashmir.

Acting as an “overbridge”, the gallery will allow avalanches, mudslides and water to pass overhead without affecting the road or traffic passing underneath the structure. The actual Rohtang tunnel will be drilled into the mountain.

According to SASE scientists, there are about a dozen avalanche- prone points near the site of the tunnel’s south portal. At a couple of points, avalanches occur without fail every year, blocking the road. The north portal towards Leh also has some avalanche-prone points, but some other structures like snow nets are proposed to be erected there.

The foundation stone of the project was laid on May 26, 2002, by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The 8.9-km long tunnel beneath the Rohtang Pass, located at an altitude of about 12,000 feet, would reduce the distance between Manali and Sarchu in the Lahaul Valley by 46 km.

Besides being of immense importance to the military by facilitating the movement of troops and supplies into Ladakh, the tunnel will also boost the economy of the region. Lahaul valley remains cut of from rest of the state for about six months because of closure of the Rohtang Pass due to snow.

Kangra, October 6
The Dalai Lama today left for Delhi for a routine medical check-up. He left by a charted plan from the Kangra airport.

Personal secretary of the Dalai Lama Tenzin Tekla said the Nobel laureate was accompanied by his attendants and personal staff. He said the Tibetan leader would stay in a hotel tonight and would get himself medically examined tomorrow. He, however, refused to divulge the name of the hospital where the Dalai Lama was scheduled to undergo medical examination citing security reasons. He said the Dalai Lama would return to Dharamsala on Thursday.

Meanwhile, prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile Samdhong Rinpoche would deliver a keynote address at the inaugural day of the first Europe Tibet Congress in Basel, Switzerland, to be held from October 11 to 12, as the Dalai Lama, who was to inaugurate the Congress, was indisposed.

The Dalai Lama was shifted to Leelawati Hospital in Mumbai following pain in the abdomen on August 8. His all engagements scheduled for September were cancelled, including tours to Mexico and Dominican Republic. He, however, attended a weeklong teaching programme here last week.

Mandi, October 6
In its bids to help out tourists during nature-induced hazards like untimely snow and landslides, the Department of Tourism and Civil Aviation (DTCA) has decided to make registration of tourists, including trekkers, visiting the “cold desert of Lahaul-Spiti and inner areas in Kinnaur district mandatory soon.

The decision comes after seeing the hardship faced by tourists who remained stranded in Lahaul-Spiti from September 18 to 25, sources said. So far, there is no centralised registration of tourists that can give clue about the whereabouts of tourists visiting the snowbound regions of Lahaul-Spiti, Pangi and Kinnaur.

“The DTCA has decided to make registration of tourists mandatory for travel agents in the state so that the department knows how many tourists are in the snowbound areas on a particular day,” sources added.

The department was caught unawares by the recent “snow-blockade”. The officials groped in the dark for days not knowing as to how many tourists had got stranded in the snowbound Baralacha and Rohtang Pass areas.

The department came to know about the stranded tourists after a week when over 600 tourists, including over 100 foreigners, were evacuated from the Bharatpur, Rohtang, and Koksar areas on the Manali-Leh highway and the Chhatru-Batal-Chandertal area on the Manali-Kaza road.

President of the Travel Agents Association Iqbal Sharma said, “The centralised registration of tourists in Manali, Shimla and other places will enable us to know as to how many tourists are visiting cold-desert areas.”

Principal secretary (tourism), Manisha Nanda said the department had decided to make registration of tourists mandatory for travel agents. This would help the department to immediately locate the tourists as and when there was an emergency.

Nurpur, October 6
Scores of patients coming from distant places in the local Civil Hospital for their treatment had to return without any prescription on Monday as they found the OPDs of four specialists locked thanks to the apathy of the state Health Department which has deputed these medical specialists in a disability camp at Rehan without prior notice to the patients.

The patients experienced a lot of inconvenience, especially on sending the pediatrician and the orthopaedic surgeon in the camp. The department has sent them twice within four days to these camps paralysing their OPDs.

Inquiries reveal that earlier the department had sent these specialists to Inodra in the same camp on October 3. There is a lot of resentment for deputing specialists of this hospital catering to the needs of Nurpur, Jawali and neighbouring Bhatiyat subdivisions in the camps without any prior notice to the patients. Over 500 patients used to visit the hospital OPDs daily. The hospital is already facing a dearth of doctors and sudden deputing of four specialists altogether has been crippling the health services in the hospital.

In this connection hospital in charge Dr Deepak Sharma said he had no option but to implement the orders of the Kangra CMO and had to send the hospital specialists in the camp organised by the state Health Department.

Shimla, October 6
The state government will issue 1 kg of additional quota of levy sugar to ration card holders for October in view of the festivals falling during the month. Food, supplies and consumer affairs minister Ramesh Dhawala said here today that due to the efforts of Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal the Government of India had allotted 5,000 tonne of wheat and wheat flour to the state.

The maximum price of wheat flour and rice under the targeted public distribution system had been fixed at Rs 8 per kg and Rs 9 per kg, respectively.

Dhawala urged the Centre to provide additional quota of rice, edible oils and sugar to the state to meet the increased demand during the festival season.

Bilaspur, October 6
Eight persons, including a tea vendor and seven labourers, were injured, one of them seriously, when lightning struck the premises of S.P.S. Industries in government industrial area at Gwalthai about 90 km from here today morning during a rainstorm, which appeared suddenly.

Superintendent of police K.K. Indoria said here today that the seriously injured person was rushed to the PGI, Chandigarh, while remaining seven have been admitted to government hospital at nearby Nangal.

Indoria also said that 15 passengers were injured when a tourist bus from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, on its way to popular shrine of Shri Naina Devi Ji, suddenly turned turtle near Naina Devi today forenoon.

He said the bus was loaded with 45 passengers and all 15 injured were given first aid and treated at the nearby government primary health centre at Ghwandal and all passengers are said to be out of danger.

Nahan, October 6
Two persons wanted by the Haryana Police, in connection with some theft cases, were last night rounded up in the Navratri fair at Trilokpur village where they were observed roaming in suspicious circumstances by the Himachal Police. The suspicion of police deepened when they failed to tell their correct address and names during the preliminary interrogation.

The Haryana Police was informed in this connection and they were identified as Sanjeev Kumar, a resident of Khera (Bilaspur), Yamunanagar district, and Prince, a resident of Gadrio village, Yamunanagar district. They were produced today in front of the Nahan SDM, who released them on personal bond and Haryana Police immediately arrested them and took them to Haryana.