Shimla, January 9
The strike by employees of various oil companies has started showing impact on the hill state. Some of the filling stations have gone dry and the situation is likely to worsen as the available stock of petroleum products will not last for more than two days. If the strike continues, the vehicular movement will virtually come to a standstill over the next 48 hours.

The government has ordered rationing of petrol and diesel to reduce consumption. Director of Civil Supplies RS Gupta said the impact was minimal till today as enough stock was available at the dumps of Hindustan Petroleum. However, its employees had also joined the stir now. Consequently, 2.47 lakh litre petrol and 3.78 lakh litre diesel stocked at the Shoghi dump could not be supplied to the filling stations.

The government had ordered rationing of petro products and instructions had been issued to dealers to give petrol worth Rs 100 to two-wheeler drivers and Rs 500 to those coming for refuelling of four-wheelers at a time.

Priority should be given to the police, health and other such departments. The LPG supply had also been affected. In Hamirpur, Kangra, Bilaspur, Kinnaur, Una and Mandi districts, the number of refills available was less than 350 each. Only Shimla district had sufficient stock of 4,226 refills.

While Shimla and Mandi districts had reasonable stocks of petrol and diesel, the largest districts of Kangra had only 52,000 litre petrol and 1.2 lakh litre diesel.

The state road transport corporation that requires about 1,10,000 litres of diesel every day for its operations has been forced to make purchases from private dealers as its own filling stations are fast drying up.

Shimla, January 9
The Cabinet today approved the rehabilitation and resettlement plan in respect of various hydroelectric projects being executed by Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited to provide the best possible deal to the project-affected families (PAFs).

The meeting was presided over by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal.

As per the Cabinet decision, the plan would be prepared on socio-economic baseline for each project after independent surveys.

Besides providing 100 units of free power every month to each of the PAFs for 10 years, free medical facilities would also be made available. The landless would be entitled to resettlement grant ranging between Rs 25,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh as one-time relief, besides compensation for land.

Rehabilitation colonies having all basic amenities would be developed to rehabilitate the project-affected families. The SC and ST families, if settled outside the district, would be entitled to get additional resettlement grant of 25 per cent. The plan aimed at providing the best package to project-affected families and ensuring quality life in the project area. The corporation would contribute towards the development of the area and the people to create goodwill for the organisation for long-term relationship.

The Cabinet also approved a consumer awareness policy to help educate the masses about consumer rights. The policy provided for constituting state and district-level consumer protection councils. It would be implemented by the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department all over the state.

It also granted approval for the restoration of 0.85-MW Roolang small hydroelectric project in Mandi district with the condition that the executing company would pay security charges as per the hydropower policy and deposit all pending dues with HIMURJA besides paying extension charges at the rate of Rs 10,000 per MW per month for obtaining techno-economic clearance from the state electricity board.

Shimla, January 9
Pradesh Congress Committee chief Kaul Singh has charged the Dhumal government with “messing up” affairs of the state electricity board, which has ceased to be a legal entity due its failure to take up the matter with the Centre well in time.

Addressing a press conference here today he said that the development showed the government in poor light, more so as the government was still not taking any corrective steps to restore the “lawful” status of the board and instead wasting its time and energy in distributing compact fluorescent lamps(CFL) to consumers. The CFL scheme itself was a big scam as evident from the substandard lamps being supplied to consumers some of which did not last even a single night.

The claims being made by BJP leaders that the government would claim carbon credits under the CFL scheme was misleading as it had not carried out the necessary spadework before launching the scheme. Without fulfilling various mandatory requirements it would not be possible to claim carbon credits. The whole approach had been flawed right from the naming of the scheme after Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It was a normal practice to name schemes after leaders who have passed away but Chief Minister P.K.Dhumal was naming schemes after Vajpayee who was very much alive and he wished him a long life.

He said the decision to relax Section 118 of the land reforms and tenancy act which debarred outsiders from acquiring land was a complete sellout of state’s interest.

Solan, January 9

Malvika (19), a resident of Chandigarh, was killed, while three others were injured, one of them critically, when Skoda (UA-07F-2304) car, they were travelling in, fell into a 500-feet deep gorge near Jabli on the Kalka-Shimla highway last night around 1 am.

The other occupants included Padmini, Anuradha and Abhishek Gupta, all were students of BBA and were studying at SD College, sector-32, Chandigarh. After receiving information the police rushed to the spot and managed to admit all injured to ESI hospital, Parwanoo, for a preliminary treatment. The car had been badly mangled in the accident.

All of them were referred to the General hospital, Panchkula, while Malvika succumbed to her injuries on the way. Padmini, who hails from Amritsar and critically injured, was shifted to Silver Oaks Hospital at Mohali. The other three, who had received minor injuries, had been discharged this morning from Government Medical College, Sector-32.

SDPO, Parwanoo, Ramesh Pathania said the vehicle was on its way to Chandigarh when the occupants, including the driver and owner of the car Rohan Arora, failed to negotiate a sharp curve and being in high speed it fell into the deep gorge.

Amlela (Dharamsala), January 9
A scam in a forest project implemented under the aegis of the Department for International Development (DFID) has come to the fore.

Under the Sanjhi Van Yojna Scheme launched in the state under the DFID assistance, Rs 20 lakh was issued in 2003 for Amlela village. The amount was reportedly used for the construction of a water harvesting structure, creating wire spurs, a water storing structure, check dams and planting trees in 10 hectare area there.

A survey by The Tribune team revealed irregularities in the implementation of the project. A water harvesting structure has been brought up on the Chanoli drain passing through the village at a cost of Rs 5 lakh. However, the structure is in such an area that it is of no use to the village. Moreover, it has already got damaged and filled with silt.

Sources said the plan was to build RCC walls. However, stones had been used to bring up the structure and the walls had been plastered with cement. The cement plaster had peeled off at certain places, revealing the stone structure beneath.

The water storing structure brought up in Ghiran Khad had been washed away. The plantation carried out under the scheme was also not there.

Zila parishad member Prabhat Chaudhary said he had been complaining against irregularities in the scheme for long, but to no avail. He provided The Tribune with a copy of the report of an inquiry conducted by a committee of forest officials.

“Forest officials have themselves admitted to gross irregularities in the project. The report states that the plantation carried out in the village under the project has been eaten up by cattle. It has also reported that nine check dams have been washed away while 10 have been partly damaged. Despite the inquiry report, no action has been taken against the officials concerned,” Prabhat Chaudhary said.

Forest officials have reportedly given contradicting reports in the case. While one of inquiry reports indicted officials, another one maintained that the people were making full use of the structures raised under the scheme.

Prabhat Chaudhary had written a letter to former Chief Minister and Rajya Sabha member Shanta Kumar to get the matter inquired into. Following intervention by Shanta Kumar, the vigilance authorities have now started inquiring into the case.

Conservator of forests, Dharamsala, A. Rama Mohan Reddy said an accused assistant range officer and forest guard had been chargesheeted in the case.

However, the things had not gone beyond chargesheets and inquiries, sources maintained.

Palampur, January 9
The construction on seven rural roads, aided by the World Bank in this region, could not be taken up because of the failure of the World Bank authorities to accord the administrative approvals for these works. The World Bank had already sanctioned Rs 5.5 lakh for these roads.

The Public Works Department (PWD) had also completed the tender process for these roads in the month of April and May 2008, but no headway was made for early completion of these roads in the absence of administrative approval. Laxity at the part of the World Bank authorities and officials bottlenecked the PWD construction. If no measures were taken in time, the PWD had to call tenders again which would further delay the construction for another one year.

Information gathered by The Tribune from the PWD authorities revealed that the seven roads included the Satrehar Link road for Rs 56 lakh, Gadiara Link road for Rs 54 lakh, Dehan- Masrena raod for Rs 37 lakh, Link road to Bharad village for Rs 1.5.crore, Punnar- Patrokh road for Rs 76 lakh and Malhau Dungni road for Rs 78 lakh. All these roads fall in the backward changer area of this subdivision.

Official sources said during the Congress regime funds were allocated for these roads by the World Bank, thereafter the tenders were called and all paper formalities were completed by the PWD authorities. Over six month had elapsed but no administrative approval was granted by the World Bank causing inconvenience to the public.

NL Sharma, chief engineer, PWD (north zone), said files pertaining to these works had been forwarded to the engineer-in-chief, Shimla. Final approval for these works was to be granted by the World Bank authorities at New Delhi. He said as and when approval was accorded the PWD would award these works immediately to the contractors.

It is further revealed that if administrative approval was not granted before March, entire budget allocations would be lapsed causing loss of Rs 5.5 crore to the state government.

Dharamsala, January 9
All three senior Congress leaders, including HPCC president Kaul Singh, former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and former union minister Sukh Ram are keen to contest elections from the Mandi parliamentary constituency.

Kaul Singh while talking to The Tribune said he was interested in contesting the elections from this constituency. Sukh Ram and Virbhadra Singh have conveyed to party high command their willingness to contest, he said.

Kaul Singh, however, added that the final decision regarding candidature from the Mandi constituency was to be taken by the party high command.

The information provided by HPCC president reveals that with sitting Congress MP Pratiba Singh, wife of Virbhadra Singh showing little interest in re-contesting, the Congress would have its handful while deciding the candidate for this constituency.

Kaul Singh when asked about the probable party candidates from Hamirpur parliamentary constituency said that presently the Congress was considering candidatures of Sukhwinder Singh, MLA from Hamirpur, Mukesh Agnihotri from Santoshgarh and even Narinder Thakur, a former BJP leader from Hamirpur, who has recently joined the Congress. Some other candidates are also being considered, he said.

Kaul Singh is considering Narinder Thakur as probable candidate from the Hamirpur constituency despite stiff opposition from some Congress leaders from Una and Hamirpur districts.

Kaul Singh said the Congress sitting MPs, Chander Kumar from Kangra parliamentary constituency and Dhani Ram Shandil from Shimla, would be re-fielded from their respective constituencies. Both the leaders have performed well in their stint as MPs and that the party has full faith in them.

The Congress is stepping up its campaign against the ruling party by declaring BJP’s first year in power as anti-people. The BJP in its first year in power has taken many anti-people decisions. Despite promising its election manifesto to set up administrative tribunal benches at Mandi and Dharamsala, the present government has abolished the tribunal. This has hit the interests of all the employees in the state. The present government has affected 30000 transfers in the first year of its rule.

The PTA teachers and anganwadi workers recruited by the previous government have been ousted from jobs.

The government is just taking credit of works or projects initiated by the UPA government. It has neither conceived nor implemented any scheme on its own Kaul Singh said.

Shimla, January 9
The Congress received a further boost in the state today when senior BJP leader and a former minister Mansa Ram joined the party.

His homecoming will strengthen the party’s base in Mandi district and prove beneficial for it in the ensuing Lok Sabha poll. A prodigy of veteran Congress leader Sukh Ram , he has been in and out of the party during his 40-year electoral career. He unsuccessfully contested the 2007 assembly election as a BJP candidate from the Karsog (reserved for Scheduled Caste) constituency.

There is no doubt that he has a strong electoral base in Karsog which enabled him to win the seat twice as independent, once as Himachal Vikas Congress candidate and twice as the Congress nominee. A shrewd leader Mansa Ram has taken the decision to quit the BJP keeping in view the next assembly poll. The seat was won by BJP rebel Hira Lal who has already become the associate member of the ruling party. It was a foregone conclusion that he will be the party’s official nominee in the next election.

Mansa Ram is the third important BJP leader to join the party after Narinder Thakur and Karan Singh and the developments should be cause of concern for the ruling party which has completed just one year in office. PCC chief Kaul Singh maintains that it was clear indication of the fact that not only the common people had been disillusioned by the Dhumal regime but the BJP leaders were also totally dissatisfied with the party and the government.

Mansa Ram has the unique distinction of being a member of the ministry under all the chief ministers the hill state has seen so far, except Shanta Kumar.

Shimla, January 9
The Congress will come out with a chargesheet against the Dhumal government by March 31.

The first meeting of the committee set for preparing the chargesheet met under its chairperson Gangu Ram Musafir here today.

It decided to collect information regarding various alleged scams, scandals and acts of omission and commission of the government. The process would be completed by February 15.

The next meeting of the committee will be held on January 17. Senior leader like Kaul Singh, Vidya Stokes and Virbhadra Singh have also been invited for the meeting.

The Pradesh Congress Committee chief also convened a meeting of the media monitoring committee to discuss the strategy to gear up the publicity and communication machinery of the party in view of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. It was decided at the meeting that a booklet should be brought out enlisting achievements of the UPA regime and the institutions and projects granted to the state by it over the past four years.

Kullu, January 9
Residents of Kais panchayat ultimately came on the road yesterday to materialise the threat of breaking the pipeline the Irrigation and Public Health (I&PH) Department. Panchayat pradhan Yum Devi Negi said the residents several times urged to provide drinking water but to no avail so, the panchayat submitted resolution to the department.

A week ago the residents gave ultimatum to the I&PH department that if the demand was not looked into, they would break the pipeline carrying water from the natural source in Dudhala that falls in the Kais Panchayat to Kharahal Panchayat area. More than 250 residents started march towards the pipeline yesterday but were amicably controlled by I&PH officials with the help of the police. Anil Sharma, assistant engineer, promised that the matter would be settled by January 20 and urged the residents to cooperate. He said a drinking water scheme for Rs 44 Lakh had already been forwarded to the Union government for the Kais area. The residents agreed to the assurance and withdrew the agitation for the day.

Negi said the residents were not satisfied with the plea of the submission of the scheme to the Central government as the process of the clearance of such schemes at the Centre were lengthy and usually take months. She said the department would have to provide alternative until the sanction of the scheme or the residents would again adopt the agitation and would go to any extreme.

Kangra, January 9
Adolescents in the age group of 10-19 make up one fifth of India's population today which was over one billion and it was increasingly felt that investing in this group was going to pay rich dividends for future health.

Disclosing this during the five-day training to FHWs/LHVs/SNs from six districts- Kangra, Una, Chamba, Kullu, Hamirpur and Mandi- on the adolescent-friendly reproductive and sexual health services (ARSH) under NRHM at the Regional Health and Family Welfare Training Centre, Chheb, near here, which concluded today, Dr Vijay Sood, principal of the centre, said the NRHM was launched by the Prime Minister on April 12, 2005 and covered the entire country with special focus on 18 states, including Himachal Pradesh.

Outlining aims and objectives of the orientation programme during five days of the training, Dr Surender Nikhil Gupta, epidemiologist said ," We need to equip the health providers with knowledge and problems of adolescence and make them more sensitive to the needs of adolescents and to enable the health providers to provide adolescent-friendly health services".

Stressing the need for investment in adolescents' health, Dr Nikhil said this would reduce the burden of disease, infant mortality rate, maternal mortality rate and total fertility rate which were the standing indicators for National Rural Health Mission (2005-2012).

Chairing the concluding function of training today Dr I.D. Sood, former principal of the centre, said the young people had the right to the preventive healthcare, that was why WHO had rightly raised the Theme of World Population Day for 2008 as 'Young and their Reproductive Health'. 

Shimla, January 9
The government plans to make the state open-defecation free by the end of 2010. This was stated Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal here today.

He said grievances redressal cells had been created in all departments and nodal officers had been designated for attending the complaints. Any person could lodge his complaint through a cyber cafe or personal computer using e-Samadhan facility. The complaints were being monitored at the levels of secretaries, head of departments, ministers and MLAs, he added.

Kangra, January 9
The CPI has today lambasted the government for making issues related to the truckers strike as “prestige issue” leaving the common people in a lurch and economy strained. The CPI demanded that the government should enter into serious dialogue with the striking truck operators to resolve the issue.

In a statement issued here today Himal Chand, member state secretariat and former member the National Council CPI said the truck operators’ strike had left life out of gear. He said scarcity of petrol, diesel and LPG had put people in a dock.

Himal said farmers were worst affected for want of the transportation of their perishable produce. He alleged that the government was mute spectator to the crisis when consumers were craving for the essential commodities.

Hamirpur, January 9
The first meeting of the district grievances committee was held here today. It was presided over by Assembly Speaker Tulsi Ram.

The meeting took up several grievances raised by the members and directed the departments concerned to resolve these by the next meeting and sought explanation from district officer of the mid-Himalayan project for not being present in the meeting and recommended shifting of the office of the project from Sujanpur to Hamirpur.

He also asked members to send their grievances to be included in the agenda beforehand so that officers could come prepared with their replies and the issues could be resolved in the minimum time.