Dharamsala, October 22
About 30 physically challenged children started their training in high-altitude trekking at the Regional Mountaineering Institute, McLeodganj, today.

Deputy director of the institute D.S. Gulia said after the initial training, these children would go to Indru Pass (14,500 feet). They will also camp at Triund at snowline. The students would complete their training and trekking schedule in 14 days.

Gulia said it was for the first time that physically challenged children from the region were being trained for high-altitude trekking. The trekking would infuse courage among them and they would consider themselves equal to any other person. The physically challenged children did their exercise with full zeal at the institute today.

Though they were ready to start their training as soon as they arrived at the institute in the morning, the authorities made them wait for more than two hours for the chief guest of the function. Officials of the HP State Council for Child Welfare had invited their secretary Ritu Sethi for the inauguration of the camp. Sethi was to reach there at 11 am, but she arrived around 1 pm.

Shimla, October 22
The state government will refrain from taking over any religious shrine against the wishes of devotees and ensure that temples under the state control were managed in accordance with the established traditions.

This was stated by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal during a meeting with Swami M.D. Diwan, national chairman of the Math Mandir, here last evening. Respecting the sentiments of the devotees, the government had already de-notified three of the temples taken over during the earlier regime and handed over their management to the local trustees. In all, 31 temples had been taken over by the government solely with the purpose of ensuring their proper management, he added.

He said a committee had been constituted to suggest measures for proper management of temples in the state. It had visited almost all major shrines to evaluate the quality of management.

It must be ensured that every penny received as donation was utilised only for the improvement of infrastructure and development of the temple. He said the government was keeping a strict vigil on the income and expenditure of temples.

He said the prominent shrines taken over by the government included famous temples at Chintpurni, Naina Devi, Baba Balak Nath, Shri Jwalaji, Mata Chamunda and Kangra, which were thronged by lakhs of devotees every year. The government had appointed temple officers to oversee the management and maintain sanctity of these shrines, while the prayers were being performed by the ‘pujaris’ in accordance with tradition.

Workshops were being organised by the language, art and culture department to train “pujaris”.

Swami Diwan emphasised the need for ensuring autonomy of religious shrines and upholding the religious sentiments of devotees. He said prayer services and rituals should be performed strictly as per the established practices. He said the “math” would consider introduction of temple management courses for bringing in professionalism in management of temples.

Shimla, October 22
The high court today granted bail to Subhash Ahluwalia, former private principle secretary to former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, in a disproportionate assets case.

While granting the bail, Justice Surinder Singh directed him to join and cooperate in the investigation of the case as and when called by the investigating officer.

The court directed him not to issue any threat, offer inducement or make any promise to any witness acquainted with the facts of the case. So long as the case remained under investigation, he would not leave the territorial jurisdiction of the court.

While granting bail, the court observed, “It is true that corruption in India is deep-rooted and it has eaten up the roots of society. It cannot be said to be an offence of ordinary nature. However, the grant of bail or its rejection has to be looked into on the set legal parameters. Against the whole scenario, which has been placed before the court and the fact that the petitioner has been sent to judicial custody, bail cannot be denied to him,” he said.

The court further observed that without commenting on the merits or demerits of the case, the bail application of Ahluwalia was allowed on his furnishing the bail bond for Rs 20,000 with a surety of the like amount to the satisfaction of Special Judge, Shimla.

According to the prosecution, he is having assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. He was arrested by the state Vigilance Anti-Corruption Bureau on October 8 and remanded in custody by the Special judge. During the hearing, the prosecution opposed the bail application on the grounds that the conduct of the petitioner was not fair during his police custody. He mostly remained admitted to the hospital. Keeping in view his status and position, there was an apprehension that he would influence the prosecution evidence. It was also argued that though his passport had been impounded, chances of his escaping from the legal wrath could not be ruled out.

However, counsel for the petitioner argued that he had rendered all possible cooperation in the investigation. He associated the interrogation more then 10 times and was also interrogated during his illness in the hospital, thus he had a case for bail.

Earlier, the Special Judge, Shimla, had rejected his bail application and remanded him in judicial custody for 14 days.

Mandi, October 22
The police today sounded an alert in the region for Internet users receiving online money allurements through e-mails.

The step comes after a retired government servant, O.P. Bhatia, got duped of Rs 15 lakh under a “Nigerian letter scam” through e-mail. A case has been registered under the Information Technology Act.

The case was registered at the Jogindernagar police station. Bhatia was made almost bankrupt by an online cheat over a period of time. The police has got the e-mail address of the cheat, but his identity and whereabouts are yet to be ascertained.

Bhatia said he received some e-mails over a period of time. Falling pray to the allurements, he deposited around Rs 15 lakh (in instalments) in the bank account number provided by the alleged cheat.

The police released a copy of the e-mail received from one “Miss Dian James”, daughter of Konta. “Such persons never disclose their real names or addresses,” the police said.

SP M. Chander Sekhar said, “We have received about 10 other cases of similar allurement through e-mail. The police has got the telephone number of the cheat in the present case, who possibly belongs to Nigeria.”

He cautioned the Internet users not to fall to any allurements.

Shimla, October 22
HPL Socomec, whose bid was rejected last month because of its failure to fulfil technical specifications, has quoted the miniumum rate of Rs 396 for a pack of four compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) in the fresh tenders invited by the state electricity board.

As many as seven companies had submitted bids for the Rs 80 crore tender supply of 72 lakh compact fluorescent lamps in response to the tenders invited after changing the terms and conditions.

Besides the four companies, Phoenix, Surya Bulbs, Asian Electronics and Havell’s, which had bagged the contract in the cancelled tender, three other companies Philips and HPL Socomec, whose bids were rejected in the cancelled tender, and Paswara had also participated. However, tenders of Philips and Paswara were rejected during evaluation of technical bids as they did not have the mandatory BIS certification for manufacturing CFL lamps of .85 power factor.

The financial bids were opened today and the rates quoted by the four companies which had bagged the contract earlier were higher than HPL Socomec.

The board has so far not taken any final decision on awarding the contract. Since none of the company had the capacity to supply the bulk quantity within a short period more than once company could be given order after holding negotiations over rates.

Shimla, October 22
In a minor police reshuffle the government today promoted ADGP (Vigilance) D.S. Manhas as the DGP. Manhas after his promotion has now been given charge of CID. ADGP (CID) I.D. Bhandari will now look after Vigilance, earlier held by Manhas.

The police also changed the district police chief of Bilaspur and Chamba. Kuldeep Sharma has been appointed as Bilaspur SP in place of K.K. Indoria who has been posted as the SP Security in the CID at Shimla.

Chandershekhar Sharma, SP in the Special Investigation Unit in the Vigilance at Shimla, has been posted as Chamba SP in place of R.S. Negi who has been posted as Commandant of the battalion at Junga.

The government also promoted six ASPs and posted them as SPs. Additional SP, CID at Shimla, Prem Lal has been posted as Commandant of the 5th IRB and Mandi ASP Jai Pal Singh has been posted as the AIG (Railway, Traffic and Tourism) at Shimla. Hardesh Bisht, ASP, Shimla has been posted as SP, Anti Corruption Bureau. Kuldeep Sharma, who was ASP, chief minister security has been posted as Bilaspur SP.

ASP Sonal Agnihotri has been made the police chief of the newly created Baddi-Barotiwala, Nalagarh industrial district. ASP Rajesh Dharmani has been promoted and posted as Lokayukta SP.

Shimla, October 22
The 17th Godfrey Phillips Bravery Awards for exhibiting social acts of courage and exemplary physical bravery shown by individuals in the states of Himachal, Punjab and Haryana were awarded here today.

The Mind of Steel Award was given to Sangeeta Deol from Dhanal village, near Jalandhar, for her grit in fighting against all odds to emerge victorious. Being afflicted with polio since the age of five, today she has her own agricultural technology management agency.

The gold medal for physical bravery was given to Ramesh Kumar Nayak, a shopkeeper from Haryana who risked his life to save a man trapped in a sewer. Undeterred by the risk to his own life, he jumped into the sewer to save his life. He received a citation and a cash award of Rs 1 lakh.

The silver medal for physical bravery was give to Virender Dutt Sharma, an excise inspector who saved 15 persons trapped in a bus that was being swept away by the waters of the Sirsa river near Nalagarh in Solan.

The bronze medal for bravery was given to Kripal Singh Thakur, who saved five lives by jumping into the Swan river in Una. The special bravery award was given to Rajnish Pathania of Hoshiarpur, who saved eight persons from being drowned in the Kandi canal. The gold medal in the social acts of courage was given to a self-help group of Gaddi women of Dharamsala. The silver medal was given to Vinod Kumar Kanathia, who led uneducated women of the Mewat area of Haryana into self-reliance.

The bronze medal was given to Abdul Ghani, a social workers from Chamba. He has donated blood 156 times. The special award in this category was given to Aagaz, an NGO working for uplift and empowerment of women in and around Ludhiana.

Hamirpur, October 22
Former BJP leader and son of BJP stalwart Jagdev Chand, Narinder Thakur, who recently joined the Congress, has accused Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal for allegedly patronising corruption and claimed that this government would soon collapse under its own weight.

Talking to mediapersons here today, Thakur said, “The BJP has been hijacked by the Dhumal family to prop up their own interests and the common people and party MLAs are feeling frustrated and claimed that majority of them would revolt against Dhumal and the government would fall under its own weight.”

He said, “The Chief Minister is not concerned about the common people today and is always allegedly surrounded by industrialists, contractors and sycophants many of whom are involved in corruption.”

Thakur said, “The BJP and Dhumal have not answered to the issues raised by him till now and have questioned which industry is being run by Anurag Thakur and what assets were owned by Dhumal and his family before 1998?”

Contesting the claim of BJP leaders that his exit from the BJP would not make any difference, Thakur said, “If my exit from the BJP is making no difference than why Dhumal has started visiting the district every week now and while difference is visible even today its real impact would be seen during the next Parliament election.”

Mandi, October 22
The BJP on the one hand and the Congress, the CPI, the CPM and the BSP on the other are face-to-face over the issue of Mandi medical college as six more activists of the Mandi Medical College Sangharsh Samiti (MMCSS) joined the chain hunger strike here for the third day today.

CPI state president Des Raj criticised PWD minister Gulab Singh Thakur’s statement that the sangharsh samiti was a political stunt alleging in a statement issued here today that the BJP wanted to run the government through the “politics of mortgaging interests of the pubic to the profit making private company” not through the “democratic politics of vote banks”.

The six CPI members, who joined the MMCSS chain hunger strike, include Lalit Thakur, Keshav Sharma, Hardev Singh, Prashant Mohan, Kameshawar Sharma and Makardwaj.

On the other hand, BJP spokesperson Randhir Sharma while addressing a press conference here today described the ongoing strike as the Congress managed show, misleading the people of Mandi for the coming elections.

Sharma alleged that state president Kaul Singh Thakur, who was misleading people on the medical college in Mandi was a “defector” and had one point agenda to oust senior leaders, Virbhadra Singh and Vidya Stokes out from the party.

Sharma asserted that the BJP government wanted to make it clear that it would open the medical college under public-private partnership in Mandi, which would benefit the people of Mandi in long-run.

Kaul Singh Thakur claimed that the BJP was on the defensive on the issue of the medical college and resentment against the BJP was increasing day by day on the issue spreading like wildfire in the district. 

Mandi, October 22
Eight councillors of the 13-member Mandi Municipal Council (MMC) moved a no-confidence motion against their president Sushila Sonkhla and vice-president Yog Raj here today. They met DC Onkar Sharma and submitted a signed letter of no-confidence motion to him.

The councillors who have moved the motion include H.K. Vaidya, Anil Kapur, Suman Thakur (of pro-BJP leaning), Tosh Kumar, Anand Kumar, Krishna Devi and Asha Chopra (of pro-Congress leaning). They claimed both incumbents had lost faith of the majority and had no right to stay in the office.

The councillors who abstained from signing the motion included Push Raj, former MMC president, Gagan Kashyap, Jai Krishan, Sonkhla and Yograj.

Sonkhla and Yog Raj said it was a democratic process and they were ready to face the House.

Meanwhile, the no-confidence motion is being viewed as a setback to the pro-Sukh Ram lobby in the House headed by Sonkhla.

The DC said he had received the letter signed by eight councillors demanding removal of the president and the vice-president. “The SDM, Sadar, has been asked to call a meeting of the House within 15 days for the purpose,” he added.

Chamba, October 22
The Himachal Pradesh Senior Citizens Forum has demanded the state government to set up “day-care centres” and “senior citizens homes” in all districts of the state for those who actually need it at this stage of their life.

In a memorandum submitted to the state government today, P.C. Oberoy, district president of the forum, expressed deep concern over the halfhearted approach of the departments concerned in the implementation of government notification regarding Social Security (Concessions to Senior Citizens) Rules, 2002, in letter and spirit.