Shimla, October 9
The court turned down the bail plea on medical grounds filed by the counsel of Subhash Ahluwalia, former principal private secretary to Virbhadra Singh, who was today remanded to five days police custody.

Accepting the plea of the Vigilance Bureau, which sought five days custodial
interrogation of the bureaucrat, Special Judge (Forests) J.L. Gupta turned down
the bail request of Ahluwalia on medical grounds and sent him to police remand
for five days.

The matter will come up for hearing before the special judge now on October 13.

Vigilance sources said the officer would remain in the IGMC till he is not in a fit position to be moved out during the remand period.

Ahluwalia could not be produced before the judge as he was reported to be unwell and not in a condition to be moved out of hospital.

Doctors attending on him said he had complained of discomfort in the chest and was suffering from diabetes. His condition was being monitored by the doctors, who said he had fluctuating sugar levels.

The court had last month allowed the operation of four of the 16 bank accounts
held by the Ahluwalia couple. All their bank accounts had been frozen by the
Vigilance Bureau.

Ahluwali’s troubles started with the BJP assuming power in the state. He was
booked by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau in a case of disproportionate
assets case.

His arrest came though finally after several rounds of intensive questioning of both Ahluwalia and his wife, Meera Ahluwalia, a college principal.

Having remained the high profile principal private secretary to the Chief Minister during the Congress regime, his name figured prominently in the chargesheet prepared by the BJP, who had been demanding an inquiry against him.

It was only towards the end of the Congress tenure that he was shifted from the CM office and made MD of the HP Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) and commissioner, Tourism.

Shimla, October 9
Work on a hydel project in Himachal Pradesh that is meant to provide drinking water to the national capital has been advancing at a snail's pace as the hill state is yet to get the promised Rs 300 crores from the Delhi Government for initiating the project.

The Rs 24-billion project, to be constructed on the Yamuna river in Sirmaur district, will not only quench the thirst of Delhiites by providing 23 cubic metres of water per second but is also meant to generate 40 MW of electricity for the hill state.

The proposal to construct the Renuka dam was first mooted in 1990 at an estimated cost of Rs 4 billion, but the delay in beginning work on the project has pushed its cost up six-fold.

Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (HPPCL) director Tarun Kapoor said the Delhi Government had promised to initially provide Rs 3 billion to the state for starting the land acquisition work.

"The Delhi Government has committed to us that it will provide Rs 3 billion so that we can immediately start the land acquisition work," he said.

"We have identified 2,000 hectares of land for acquisition. But due to paucity of funds, we are unable to issue a notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act to initiate the process," Kapoor told IANS.

Sirmaur deputy commissioner Pushpinder Rajput said more than 1,500 families would be directly or indirectly affected by the project.

"We have identified more than 1,500 families that would be reallocated from the project site but we need funds for giving them relief and rehabilitation packages" he pointed out.

As per the agreement between the Himachal Pradesh and Delhi Governments, the hill state will only bear the cost of installing the electrical mechanical equipment, including turbine generators, while the Delhi Government will pay rest of the cost, including on land acquisition and dam construction.

"The acquisition of land, especially private, for any project is a Herculean task. We have worked out relief packages for the affected families. Now the ball is in the court of the Delhi Government. Once we get the funds, we will start acquiring the land," the HPPCL director said.

"If the acquisition work is completed within a few months, then the project would be awarded for execution by the middle of next year," Kapoor added.

The project, which will supply water to Delhi during the nine non-monsoon months through a gravity pipeline that will pass through Haryana, is likely to be commissioned by 2014, he said. — IANS

Shimla, October 9
Concerned over the tardy progress in removing encroachments on forest land and high pendency of such cases the state government proposes to give more powers to the Forest Department.

Obviously, the decision to give powers of collector to divisional forests officers for purpose of removing encroachments taken in 1994 has not yielded desired results.

There are about 9,000 cases of encroachments, some of which are more than 20 years old, pending with various courts.

These are besides the 41,083 encroachers who had themselves admitted that they were in illegal possession of forest land after the then BJP government brought out a policy for regularisation of encroachments in 2002.

The divisional forest officers have passed eviction orders in thousands of cases, but the encroachments could not be removed as the illegal occupants filed appeals in the court of divisional commissioner which have been pending for long.

The government now proposes to make the conservator of forests the appellate authority in place of the divisional commissioner.

The issue came up during the recent meeting convened by Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal to review the functioning of the Forest Department and he asked the department to send the necessary proposal.

Once the appellate powers are vested in the conservator of forests the department will not only be in a position to effectively monitor and pursue the cases, but also be held accountable for any delay.

The move to further empower the department is a positive one welcome, but the government should first act in the cases where the encroachers have admitted that they were in illegal possession of land.

They could be readily removed, as the department does not have to go through the cumbersome process to prove their offence.

Under the Forest Conservation Act forest land cannot be diverted for non-forestry use without the prior approval of the Centre.

However, the offenders were taken in by the much-publicised policy of the Dhumal government for regularisation of encroachments and lost no time in filing affidavits to admit that they were in illegal possession of forest land.

In all as many as 41,083 applications for regularisation of 7,407 hectare of encroached land were received. No action has been taken against them so far.

The Centre had taken a serious view of matter and made it clear that encroach-
ments on forest land would not be allowed to be regularised in any eventuality.

Shimla, October 9
On the occasion of the 'World Post Day', India Post today launched Electronic Money Order (EMO) Service at 18 General Post Offices in the Himachal Pradesh circle.

Additional Director of India Post R L Sharma said in advent of new technology and communication network, the department is facing new challenges.

''To meet the challenges, the postal department is doing computerisation of its POs which has revolutionalised pace and availability of services to customers,'' he said.

The department has utilised the computer-based networking services in Express Parcel, e-Payment, Western Union Money services, Instant Money Order and Speed post among others.

The Himachal Post circle has network of 18 General Post Offices, 443 departmental sub-post offices, 18 Un-departmental Branch POs.

He said every corner, even remote areas of the state, had been linked with network of postal services with computerisation of 18 GPO and 109 sub-post offices, and the facility would be extended to 51 POs.

The National Post week is being celebrated from today to October 15. — IANS

Kullu, October 9
The famous weeklong Kullu Dussehra started with a great fervour and gaiety with the rath yatra of ‘Raghunath Ji’ pulled by hundreds of devotees in the historical Dhalpur maidan here today.

The whole atmosphere was filled with rhythmical sound of drums and lilting of sehnai with men, women and children in their traditional folk dresses, besides hundreds of foreign and domestic tourists gathered to watch the spectacular event.

Maheshwar Singh, Karan Singh, descendents of Raja Jagat Singh, former ruler
of Rupi (Kullu), along with their offshoots, led the shobha yatra, that started
from Raghunathpur, the sanctum of the chief deity of Kullu, and the idols of
Lord Rama and Sita were placed in a beautifully decorated rath at the northern
end of Dhalpur maidan.

The rath was pulled up to the camp temple of Raghunath that was erected in the middle of the maidan where next six days would be full of religious activities.

Governor Prabha Rau, deputy speaker Khimi Ram, MLA Shanta Kumar, state Chief Justice Jagdish Bhalla and other dignitaries were present.

Later, the Governor inaugurated the exhibition of industries and power projects coming up in the state and showed special interest in the local handicraft and Kullu shawls. Raghunath Ji, the chief deity of Kullu, accompanied the rath yatra.

The district administration failed to resolve the long pending issue of the ‘Shringa Rishi’ and ‘Balu Nag’ and both the Devtas were forced to stay back at their camp temple surrounded by the police.

The district administration said that the action was taken to avoid unruly scene at the rath yatra.

SHIMLA: The Dussehra was celebrated with great fervour as effigies of Ravana were burnt at the Hanuman temple in Jakhu and Sankat Mochan as a symbol of victory of good over evil.

Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal visited the Jakhu temple where the Dussehra is celebrated in a big way.

He said people should follow the teachings of Ramayana, which guide us towards enlightenment from the darkness of ignorance.

Large number of people gathered at the Sankat Mochan temple in Tara Devi to celebrate the festival.

The huge effigies went up in flames as people celebrated the victory of Lord
Rama against Ravana.

The Dussehra was also celebrated at the Kaibari temple where the local Bengali community was joined by large number of locals.

Dhumal also took part in the congregation organised by Sant Nirankari Mission
at Peterhoff today.

He said India was the motherland of great personalities like Gautam Buddha, Mahavira and Swami Vivekananda, who enlightened the people with their philosophical teachings and showed them the right path.

CHAMBA: Amidst huge crowd effigies of Ravana, Kumbhakarna and Meghanath were burnt to ashes describing it triumph over the evil in the historic chowgan of Chamba.

Earlier, the Dussehra kesari wrestling, Vijaya Dashmi holy procession was held in the main bazars of Chamba. All activities on this occasion were organised by the local Shri Ramalila Club.

Speaker Tulsi Ram presided over the prize distribution ceremony and gave away prizes to the participants.

However, Rs 200 crore would be spent by the state government for the construction of 40-MW powerhouse.

Hamirpur, October 9
After the formal induction of former district BJP president and son of BJP stalwart Jagdev Chand’s son Narinder Thakur into the Congress, he has not only trained guns on Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal but also given a call to other BJP leaders, who had been ‘feeling frustrated’, to quit the party.

Talking to mediapersons here, he said, “Members of our family were the founding blocks of the BJP since Jansangh days in Hamirpur district. They contested every parliamentary or assembly election from 1957 onwards when there were few takers for the ticket. However, after the death of my father, the BJP has been hijacked by P.K. Dhumal in Himachal Pradesh and attempts are being made to obliterate my father’s legacy.”

Continuing his attack on Dhumal, he said, “After the last election, all powers of the BJP government in the state have been vested in one family. Father (Dhumal) is the CM, son (Anurag) is an MP and his father-in-law (Gulab Singh Thakur) is the No. 2 minister and virtual Deputy Chief Minister.”

On being asked why he left the BJP, which his father had nourished in the state for more than 30 years, he said, “Dhumal is trying to politically finish my family and I had no other choice but to join the Congress. If Dhumal is bent upon finishing us, I am determined to save my family.”

He made a fervent appeal to BJP men feeling frustrated in Mandi, Kullu, Solan, Kangra and other districts to follow suit and quit the BJP.

“I will tour Hamirpur, Bamsan and other assembly segments and rope in all the
leaders who are feeling frustrated in the BJP by making them join the Congress,”
he declared.

Hamirpur, October 9
A procedural lapse on part of the officials in the Health and Family Welfare Department has led to lapsing of the budget meant to be paid as monetary relief to 124 AIDS-affected children.

Ninety-four of these children belong to Hamirpur district. Thirty-six of them acquired HIV from their parents, while 40 are orphans whose parents had died of AIDS.

The state government had announced to provide monetary relief to these children for their education, food and other expenses through the AIDS Control Society.

During 2007-08, the state government sanctioned Rs 2 lakh for the purpose, but no money has been allocated during this financial year till now.

AIDS-affected children of up to 3 years of age are paid Rs 300. Those in the 4-to-6-year age group get Rs 400, 7-to-9-year-old get Rs 500, 10-to-12-year-old get Rs 600 and 13-to-15-year-old get Rs 700 per month under the scheme.

While officers are just passing the buck on each other for delay in allocation of the money by the state government, sources in the department said the budget was not allocated due to procedural lapse on the part of the department.

“The officials concerned forgot to submit the utilisation certificate to the government as a result of which budget could not be got released for the current year,” they said.

AIDS programme officer in Hamirpur district hospital Katwal said, “The monetary relief to AIDS-affected children could not be paid since March, 2008, as the budget has not been allocated for the current year so far.”

Director (health services) Sulakshana Puri said, “The budget for the purpose was not allocated by the government as the required utilisation certificate was not submitted. However, we have submitted the certificate now and the funds will be released soon,” she added.

Shimla, October 9
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal participated in a congregation organised by the Sant Nirankari Mission at Peterhof here today.

Addressing the congregation, Dhumal said the Nirankari sect practiced equality
and made no discrimination among human beings on the basis of caste, creed,
religion etc.

He said that it showed the path to spirituality by observing discipline in life besides practicing good deeds.

He lauded the Mission for contributing significantly in uniting people and strengthening the bonds of brotherhood.

On the occasion, the Chief Minister received the blessings of Nirankari Mission Chief Baba Hardev Singh. — UNI

Shimla, October 9
Himachal Pradesh has earned the distinction of being the first state in the country to achieve total financial inclusion.

Stating this while inaugurating the 111th state-level Bankers Committee Meeting here on Tuesday, chief secretary Asha Swaroop stressed on consolidating this success by using modern technology to provide doorstep-banking services in all remote and rural areas of the state.

She called upon banks to address credit needs of the farming community on priority.

She said the annual credit plan for the state for the year had been fixed at Rs 4,230 crore and in the first quarter the achievement was Rs 993 crore.

The government was making efforts to switch over to a 100 per cent banking treasury system within a month to facilitate better cash management and control over the treasury.

Only 14 sub-treasuries remained to be converted into banking treasuries. She urged the banks to play a proactive role for the benefit of people in rural areas by using IT-enabled solutions to bring banking activity to their doorsteps.

Nurpur, October 9
The regional farmers and mazdoor sudhar sabha, which has been battling for ownership rights of trees on their private land for the past many years, has appealed to Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal to delete the entry of ‘Teh Zamin Malkan Khudra Darkhtan Malik Sarkar’ from the new forest working plan being formulated for the next 15 years for Nurpur forest division.

In a memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister, president of the sabha alleged that this anti farmers’ law was prevalent in the region since the British era and was depriving the poor farmers of their legitimate right of ownership of spontaneously grown trees on their own land.

He said the state Forest Department had entrusted the task of managing private forest area (spontaneous trees growth) with forest cooperative societies in 1945.

However, now the whole scenario had been changed and more than 70 per cent of these societies had become defunct after 1972.

“Notwithstanding restoring of the private forest land to its owners the state Forest Department has incorporated it in the ensuing forest working plans formulated in 1975-76 and 1990-1991,” he lamented in the memorandum.

The memorandum had been signed by as many as 30 affected farmers of lower Kangra district who also pleaded that they had developed orchards by spending huge sum of rupees on their private land which were not growing smoothly due to thick shade of densely grown broad-leaved trees.

They appealed to Dhumal to intervene personally to ensure exclusion of their private lands in the new forest working plan.

Kangra, October 9
A model water supply scheme, Manie-Pargode, first of its kind in the district, would cost Rs 1.2 crore and would supply water to 20 villages of three panchayats, the foundation stone of which was laid today by Himachal Pradesh Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Ms Sarween Choudary.

It would be completed in two stages. Rajeev Mahajan, SDO, IPH, Manie, today
said that water for the scheme would be lifted from the Gaj river by providing an
infiltration gallery.

He described the scheme as 'model scheme'. He said that through this model scheme efforts would be made to have equal distribution of water to all consumers irrespective of the altitude and level of the area.

Mahajan said that 5000 residents of 20 villages falling under Manie, Pargode and Brubalahar panchayats would get benefited by this scheme.

Residents had been demanding augmentation of this scheme for the past few years.