The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Himachal Pradesh Edition

Mankotia quits active politics
Resigns as state convener of the BSP
Lalit Mohan
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, October 17
State convener of the BSP Major Vijay Singh Mankotia (retd) announced retirement from active politics here today. He also resigned from the post of the state convener of the BSP. The announcement has created a stir in state politics.

In a letter written to Mayawati, national president of the BSP, Mankotia has thanked her for offering him such an important position. Talking to The Tribune, Mankotia said he was of the opinion that the mantle of leadership should now pass on to the younger generation. “In the continuous degeneration of the political system, I find myself a complete misfit. I am unable to identify myself with the political system that considers money power, liquor power and material inducements as essential tools to win elections,” he said.

“My political carrier has been a struggle for justice, dignity and honour. I have fought tooth and nail against corruption. The charges I made against the top politicians and government officials during the regime of Virbhadra Singh have been established,” he claimed.

In the recent past, Vijay Singh Mankotia had also resigned from the post of state president of the Indian Ex-Servicemen League. He had remained undisputed president of the league for the past 25 years.

Mankotia was a congress MLA from the Shahpur assembly constituency during the previous Congress government. However, he raised his voice openly against Virbhadra Singh. He also flayed the previous government for alleged bias against lower Himachal areas and launched a Kangra cap in place of prevalent Himachali cap to give different identity to lower Himachal areas. He also levelled serious allegations of corruption against Virbhadra Singh.

Before the previous Assembly elections, Mankotia quit the Congress and joined the BSP. He was made the state convener of the BSP and the party fought elections under his stewardship. Though the BSP failed to make any major breakthrough in terms of winning seats, it bagged 7 per cent votes for the first time in the state that reportedly led to defeat of Congress candidates in many areas.

Mankotia said though he had quit active politics, he might launch a social forum to empower the people of state to raise their voice against corruption.

Karan Singh flays Dhumal, Advani
Our Correspondent

Kullu, October 17
Karan Singh, a former minister in the Prem Kumar Dhumal government, has said that L.K. Advani and Dhumal have been acting anxiously to remain at the helm of party affairs at the national and state level, respectively.

He was speaking at a press conference at City Choice here today. He said Advani had declared Vajpayee an “unwell man”, unfit for being the prime ministerial candidate, to achieve his own goal to become the Prime Minister. Similarly, Dhumal had been sidelining Shanta Kumar and Maheshwar Singh, senior BJP leaders, to frustrate them till they take “sanyas” from politics or quit the party. He reminded Advani of the Kandhar episode and said he had no right to talk against any government for being weak when it came to taking anti-terrorist measures.

He expressed surprise over Dumal’s son Anurag being designated as the next Lok Sabha candidate from the Hamirpur constituency, while senior leaders like Shanta Kumar and Maheshwar Singh were not accorded deserved importance. The style of working of these leaders had forced many senior leaders of HP to leave the BJP, he added.

Karan Singh, who recently joined the Congress, said he would keep “Atal Ji” as his role model and work for the Congress till his last breath.

Three hurt in accidental blast
Kuldeep Chauhan
Tribune News Service

Mandi, October 17
The high-intensity "accidental explosive blast" near Chakror village in Joginder Nagar subdivision today injured three persons of the Satayan Shankaram Joint Venture (SJJV), destroyed 20 sheds and triggered "small cracks in several houses, besides "damaging TVs, refrigerators and other items of about 300 families living in the surroundings of the blast site" in Khuddar panchayat.

The injured have been identified as Dinesh Sethi, manager, SJJV, and its three workers,Manoranjan(Orissa), Krishan Kumar and Raghu Ram( both Karnataka).

Sethi was monitoring the burning of the waste materials near Chakror when explosives exploded due to fire, the police said.

The police has registered a case of negligence under the IPC against the company.

The injured persons were rushed to the hospital at Joginder Nagar civil hospital where they were reported to be out of danger.

The blast could have been more fatal had the fire caught 62 live detonators and 30 boxes of explosives that the police today recovered from the blast site.

Pardhan Gram Panchyat Khuddar, Vijay Kumar who rushed to spot after the blast and informed the police told The Tribune that the blast was so powerful that it caused cracks in several houses in Chakran, Ror, Ropru Chegar, Bangota, Chakror and Mangrol villages located in the 300 mtrs to 400 mtrs vicinity of the
blast spot”.

The villagers demanded strict action against the SJJV for gross negligence in burning the explosives along with waste materials. No government officials except from the police reached the spot so far to assess the damage, they rued.

SP Mandi M Chandra Sekhra said that there was no reason for panic as the blast was triggered by the “explosives burnt negligently” by the SJJV company along with the waste materials. He ruled out any possibility of a terrorist bomb blast in the case.

Dinesh Sethi, manager, Satayan Shankaram Joint Venture(SJJV), the former contractor of the HPSEB’s 110 MW Uhal-III project, said that they were burning the waste materials but could not notice the presence of explosives in it.

SDM Joginder Nagar Rattan Gautma said, “We are assessing the damage caused by the blast.”

Sanitation Campaign
Bilaspur bags first place
Our Correspondent

Bilaspur, October 17
The district has achieved unique distinction of attaining first place in matter of ‘Total Sanitation Campaign’ launched throughout the state to ensure that all households in the villages should have lavatories and should be abandoned the old practise of going out for natures call for good as this habit has been responsible for spreading of a number of diseases.

Confirmed reports here yesterday said while Ghumarwin Development Block had been declared the best Block in total sanitation programme in the state and all its 41 gram panchayats had been provided with protected lavatories, 65 gram panchayats of this district, including 24 panchayats from two of its other development blocks, had achieved this target.

Ghumarwin Development Block would get a consolidated cash prize of Rs 30 lakh from the President Pratibha Patil tomorrow at Hissar, while each of the 65 panchayats of district would get cash prize of Rs 2 lakh for this achievement. The district has only 151 total gram panchayats in its three Development Blocks.

No serum; three die of rabies in village
Lalit Mohan
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, October 17
Three residents of Sidhbari village near Dharamsala, including four-year-old UKG student of Saint Mary School, have died of rabies. Many other rabies patients belonging to Sidhbari and its surrounding areas find their lives in danger as the serum required to save them from rabies is not available in the area.

The health authorities here have vaccination for dealing with class 1 and 2 cases in which infection is confined to the area below the neck. In cases where the infection is in the above-neck area, the required medication needs to be given immediately so as to prevent virus from reaching the brain. The patients who died yesterday were bitten by a rabid dog in the neck or the head about 20 days ago in the Sidhbari area. Sangama Kapoor (4) was bitten by a dog in the neck at Sidhbari on September 26 while returning home after school. She was given vaccination as per the advice of doctors. She died in the early hours today and was cremated at her native village.

Jai Chand, a resident of Diala Kalan village, who worked in the Sidhbari area, was also bitten by a dog on September 26. His son said they took their father to zonal hospital at Dharamsala. He was given a tetanus injection and asked to go to Tanda medical college. Although he underwent medication as per the advice of doctors, he started developing symptoms of rabies infection a few days ago. He was again taken to Tanda medical college, where he died yesterday.

Durgo Devi, another resident of Sidhbari, was also bitten by a dog on September 26. She died on October 12.

Interestingly, while a lot of hue and cry is being raised in the area over the deaths due to rabies, the district health authorities allegedly have no knowledge about these developments. Kangra CMO Anil Mahajan said he had no knowledge about the deaths. Medical officer (health) Kaushal also declined having any knowledge about the deaths.

Head of the department of preventive social medicine at Tanda medical college Ashok Baradwaj, however, maintained that serum containing active antibodies of animal or human origin was mandatory in cases of rabies infection in the above-neck area.

Finally, paragliding championship starts
Tribune News Services

Dharamsala, October 17
The paragliding championship finally started at Bir-Beling today. The championship started at about 12 pm today after the winds in the region subsided.

Gurpreet Dhindsa, technical adviser to the championship, said that 80 pilots, including 21 Indians, participated in the event here today. The participants including six army personal, 11 women and rest of them foreigners, including a Pakistani paraglider.

The paragliders were given the target to complete 103 km. They took off from Beling and sailed over hills up to Dharamsala before landing at Bir. The foreign paragliders were thrilled and exited with the experience.

Though the championship was inaugurated on October 15, the contest could not start due to bad weather in the past two days. Earlier, the contest was to end on October 20. However, with two days lost to bad weather it might get delayed.

MoU signed to set up container freight station
Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 17
The state government today signed a memorandum of understanding with the Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) for the setting up of a container freight station (CFS) and the Inland Container Depot (ICD) at Sheetalpur village in the Baddi area of Solan district.

Principal secretary, Industries, Subhash Negi signed the agreement on behalf of the government with Harpreet Singh, Director (Projects and Services) in the presence of chief minister P.K. Dhumal here today. Dhumal said the construction would be completed by CONCOR at a cost of Rs 53 crore during the next 15 months.

“The setting up of the depot will cater to the export requirements of the local industrialists and products valued at over Rs 700 crore would be transported by CONCOR from the station,” he said. He added that the sate government would be transferring 86 bighas of land valued at Rs 16 crore to the CONCOR at a nominal lease of Re 1 per acre for a period of 95 years.

The chief minister said that the depot would function as a container freight station till the time the location gets connected with broad gauge railway line after which it will be converted into an ICD. “The CONCOR would book the finished goods and manage the movement of the containerised cargo throughout the country,” he stated.

Dhumal said having this kind of a facility would be a great boon for the industrialists as all warehousing activities would also be managed by them and it would also bear the custom expenses as well as manage single window service to the customers by fixing the tariff.

He said the setting up of the container depot was a long pending demand of the industrialists as it would allow smooth operations and export of the finished goods and easy transportation of the raw material to the manufacturing unit.

He hoped that the setting up of the depot would be instrumental in the setting up of more export-oriented multinational industries in the belt. “We have once again taken up the issue of connecting Baddi industrial area with the broad gauge rail line at Chandigarh as this will help transportation of finished goods,” he said.

Urgent need to reduce carbon emissions: Expert
Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 17
Even if you are a non-believer in the proverbial theory of inevitable “pralaya”, the fact that an increase of 5°C in temperature could spell doom for the apple crop and majestic deodars in Himachal besides causing torrential rains and landslides could certainly make you sit up and think about reducing carbon
emissions.

Studies on climate changes have revealed that an increase of 2°C in temperature in South Africa has virtually destroyed apple cultivation there. Prof N.H. Ravindra Nath from the Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, and an authority on climate change yesterday cautioned that in case timely steps were not taken to avert the ill effects of global warming, the implication would be far-reaching for the northern states, including Himachal Pradesh.

Rao said in case there was no reversal in the trend of climate change, the temperatures in Himachal would be up by almost 5°C over the next 100 years. It would reduce food production by around 30 per cent and ring the death knell for apple production, the main horticultural produce.

“The need of the hour now is to adopt a sustainable path of development so that carbon emissions, which are resulting in global warming, can be reduced,” he remarked. The present trend of climate changes indicated that the forests in Himachal would be highly vulnerable and there would be wilting of deodars, pine and other broadleaved species that would take another 100 years to grow, he added.

Reassuring that the scene for Himachal was not as grim as it would be for Punjab and Haryana, whose carbon emissions were far higher than that of Himachal. The hill state could emerge as the first state in the country to become carbon neutral, he added.

“The objective is achievable for Himachal if it is able to undertake plantation on the one million hectares of wasteland. One can easily offset carbon emissions by controlling use of coal, diesel and having thrust on forestry and agriculture,” he suggested.

Ahluwalia still in hospital despite being discharged
Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 17
Despite the IGMC medical board discharging Subhash Ahluwalia on the request of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau, the bureaucrat is still lodged in the casualty complaining of pain in the chest.

Till the filing of the report, Ahluwalia, whose police remand has been extended till October 20, was being examined by the registrars of the cardiology and medicine departments to see if he needed to be readmitted or was fit enough to be discharged. He was earlier discharged from the special ward where he had been admitted since his arrest on October 8.

Although the medical board of the hospital decided around 1 pm that the officer could be discharged from the hospital, his family insisted that he was not well enough to leave the hospital. As per documents, he was discharged by the hospital authorities at 4 pm.

In the morning, the medical board, comprising the medical superintendent and doctors from the departments of cardiology, medicine and psychiatry, decided that Ahluwalia could be discharged. He has been advised to continue medication and get himself checked in the OPD after two weeks.

He has been diagnosed to be suffering from diabetes, blood pressure and mild depression. The bureau has been seeking Ahluwalia’s discharge from the hospital by placing a request before the hospital authorities practically daily.

Ahluwalia, who was principal private secretary to the former Chief Minister during the Congress regime has been booked by the bureau in a case of accumulating disproportionate assets.

Bypass inaugurated
Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 17
The 4 km long Sanjauli-Dhalli bypass constructed at a cost of Rs 15.80 crore has finally been thrown open for traffic, easing out the congestion in Sanjauli and for traffic bound for upper Shimla, Kinnaur, Spiti and Karsog area of Mandi district.

Chief minister P.K. Dhumal today inaugurated the double laned bypass which will give relief to commuters. “The Sanjauli road had fallen short to meet the requirement of increased pressure of vehicular movement and the need for a bypass was felt in order to meet the priorities of infrastructure development of the sate capital,” he said.

Dhumal said it was in 2002 during their earlier regime that the matter for seeking forest and environment clearance had been taken up with the Centre.

Horticulture minister Narender Bragta, minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Sarveen Chaudhary and local MLA Suresh Bhardwaj were present on the occasion.

Rohtang Pass reopened for light vehicles
M.C. Thakur

Marhi (Manali), October 17
The 13,0540-foot-high Rohtang Pass, the gateway to Lahaul and Spiti, has been reopened for light vehicles up to Keylong. The road from Keylong to Leh is still closed for all vehicles.

According to the Border Roads Organisation, the Manali-Rohtang road was reopened yesterday evening but the snow lying on the roadside had again come on to the road due to high-velocity winds, making the road slippery and driving difficult.

The work of clearing snow is in full swing. BRO sources said if the weather remained clear, heavy vehicles would be allowed to cross the Rohtang Pass from tomorrow.

The Manali depot buses of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation did not leave for Keylong for the second consecutive day today. Neither did any bus come to Manali from Keylong.

The Manali-Kaza road in Spiti Valley also remained closed for two consecutive days due to fresh snowfall on the Kunzum Pass.

Body found
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, October 17
A highly decomposed body has been recovered by the police from Triund, about 20 km from here. Triund is a spot located in higher reaches of Dhauladhar hills near the snow-line area. One has to track about 8 km to reach the spot.

The police sources available here said since the body was in a highly decomposed state, it was difficult to identify it. Presently, they could just ascertain that it was the body of a man.

The body has been shifted to Tanda medical college where a post-mortem examination would be conducted tomorrow to ascertain reasons of death.

Woman’s bid to commit suicide
Our Correspondent

Sundernagar, October 17
In an incident of its own kind, Sapna, a resident of Mandir Tanda, Mandi district, tried to commit suicide on Wednesday when her husband, Tek Chand, refused to give money to her for purchasing items to celebrate ‘Karva Chauth’. She has been admitted to the zonal hospital, Mandi, and still stated in coma.

As per report lodged in the Balh police station, in a fit of rage she tried to commit suicide by hanging herself from the fan.

The police lodged the FIR against the victim under Section 309 of the IPC.

According to her parents, they smelled some foul play in the matter.

3 houses gutted
Our Correspondent

Bilaspur, October 17
Three houses were completely destroyed in a fire that broke out at Sunhani village, about 40 km from here, last night.

The houses belonged to Ghanshyam, Gyan Chand and Mansha Ram. Members of their families were fast asleep when the fire broke out. Villagers helped them to come out of their burning houses besides taking out cattle from the cowsheds.

Although there was no loss of life, everything else, including clothes, beddings, furniture, jewellery etc., were reduced to ashes. The cause of the fire could not be ascertained immediately.