Shimla, January 16
After a gap of four days, heavy snowfall was witnessed in state’s border areas adjoining Jammu and Kashmir, while light to moderate snow covered rest of the tribal belt.

Pangi valley, Bharmour area, Sach Pass and Dalhousie subdivisions also had another spell of snowfall, while lower hills of Chamba district witnessed heavy rain. Rainfall at Tisa was recorded at 2.5 mm.

According to the Met office, snowfall was likely in tourist towns of Shimla, Manali, Kufri and Narkanda over the next 48 hours.

Sources said the tribal town of Keylong had recorded 9 cm snowfall so far while there was fresh snowfall of around 25 cm on higher peaks of Lahual and Spiti. Mountain peaks in Kinnaur district received mild snowfall while lower hills remained overcast since morning. Udaipur town received 5.2 mm rainfall.

Lahual and Spiti district, Rohtang Pass, Mankaran and Dhundi also received snow. The sky over tourist resorts of Manali, Solang Nalla remained cloudy. Snowscape of Solang Nalla was attracting a large number of tourists.

Dhauladhar ranges in Kangra district witnessed heavy snowfall, while the downstream area in the mountain lap was lashed with rain that intensified the cold wave in the region. Nagrota Surina of Kangra district recorded 0.5 mm rainfall. There were reports of rain from Baijnath also.

Tribal areas of Mandi district like Chauhar valley, Shikarid Devi, Karsog and Janjili remained overcast, while rest of the areas of the district were partly cloudy.

Night temperatures moved up at most of the places. The minimum temperature at Keylong increased by 2°C and settled at -3.7°C while the maximum was 2°C. Kalpa recorded a night temperature at -0.1°C. Manali recorded 0.1°C, Solan 2°C, Bhuntar 5.4°C and Dharamsala 5.5°C.

Shimla recored a minimum temperature at 7.8°C. In Sundernagar, the minimum temperature rose by 2°C and settled at 8.5°C. Mandi town recorded 9.8°C, while Nahan was warm at 14.3°C.

Palampur: Cold wave conditions have been prevailing in the Palampur region for the past 24 hours.

The upper reaches of Dhauladhar ranges and high-altitude areas of Chotta and Bara Bhangal received heavy snowfall, while the lower areas had rain. Rain and snow had adversely affected normal life in the region. Power supply and vehicular traffic to the snowbound areas of Chotta Bhangal had also been hit. The bus service between Baijnath and Kothi Kohar had been suspended because of heavy snowfall near Barot. No bus from Barot could move further to Kotho Kohar and Bara Gram on Friday.

According to reports reaching here, Thamsar Pass (18,000 feet) had received three feet snowfall till this evening. Billing area had one feet of snowfall.

A spokesman of the District Food and Civil Supplies Department said there was adequate stock of food grains in Chhota and Bara Bhangal areas and there was no cause to worry.

Shimla, January 16
Senior Congress leader and in charge of party affairs in the state RK Dhawan has said that “winnability and loyalty” will be the main criteria for selection of candidates for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. However, recommendations of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) will be given due consideration while making the final choice.

He said this while Talking to mediapersons after a meeting of the extended PCC held here today. He said the party fancied its chances in all four parliamentary seats and it would make all-out efforts for a clean sweep in the coming elections. There was complete unity in the party and much enthusiasm in the rank and file. The dismal performance of the BJP government over the past one year and its various acts of commission and omission had provided much ammunition for attacking the ruling party, he added.

The PCC had been asked to start the exercise for selection of candidates immediately and hold the meeting of the state election committee before January 31 and send its recommendations to the high command. The reports of the observers sent by the high command to gather feedback about prospective candidates would also be taken into consideration.

The party would kick-start its campaign for the Lok Sabha elections with four regional rallies, one in each constituency, for which the dates would be announced shortly. These rallies would be addressed by prominent national leaders of the party.

He admitted that the party failed to take advantage of the achievements of the Virbhadra Singh government because of the organisational weakness and said these would be highlighted during the Lok Sabha elections.

Mandi, January 16
The District Consumer Redressal Forum, Mandi, has summoned the ADM, Kullu, in connection with the case of overcharging for information sought under the Right To Information (RTI) Act against the ADM by IPTA convener and RTI activist Lawan Thakur to appear before the forum here on February 17.

As per the RTI Act, the official if found guilty will have to pay the penalty from his pocket.

Admitting the case for hearing here today, president of the consumer forum has summoned the ADM, Kullu, to appear before the forum in connection with the case of overcharging for information under RTI on the expenditure of Kullu Dussehra sought by the IPTA last year here on February 17.

Lawan Thakur had charged that the ADM charged him Rs 260 for 26 pages at the rate of Rs 10 per page whereas the government had decided that information under RTI would be charged Rs 2 per page.

He had cited notification issued by the state government on October 22 wherein the cost of information under RTI had been slashed from Rs 10 per page to Rs 2 per page.

But the ADM, Kullu, despite reminder in this case charged him Rs 10 per page when he had sought information supplied to him after the issue of notification, he claimed citing receipts of the information sought.

Though the ADM Kullu had pleaded that he had not received the copy of the order, the officials in the dock as per provision in the Act, the penalty and overcharging amount could be recovered from the erring official.

Shimla, January 16
The government has decided to set up 3,366 common service centres (CSCs) in rural areas. These centres will be set up in partnership with private players.

An official spokesperson said the project was part of a central scheme to set up one lakh CSCs across the country to bridge the digital divide in urban and rural areas through public-private partnership.

The purpose of “Lok Mitra Kendras”, as these centres would be called in the state, would be to provide government services at the doorstep of the people. The people living in remote locations would not have to visit various offices located at distant places for getting various services. The government has assigned the work of setting up and making operational 1,296 Lok Mitra Kendras in Kangra division to Zoom Developers Private Limited. A consortium comprising Tera Software Limited and CNG Trading Company Private Limited had been awarded the contract for 956 kendras in Shimla division and 114 kendra in Mandi division.

These companies would select village-level entrepreneurs on their own and would be responsible for making the centres functional. The government would not be responsible for any payment to such village-level entrepreneurs, he said.

The private players had started the fieldwork for identifying locations for Lok Mitra Kendras. These centres would have computer, printer, scanner and broadband Internet connectivity.

The Department of Information Technology has started identifying various government services that could be provided through these kendras.

Shimla, January 16
Speaker Tulsi Ram called for making energy conservation a habit with the people in view of the limited reserves of crude oil, natural gas and other fossil fuels.

Presiding overt the inaugural function of the “Oil and gas conservation fortnight” launched by the public sector companies here yesterday, he said non-renewable resources would not last for long and people should come forward to conserve energy and other precious resources like water. He lamented that unnecessary and misuse of energy had become a way of life with some people. There were families which were maintaining more vehicles than they really needed which put unnecessary burden on the ever-depleting natural resources.

The state government had taken initiative in energy conservation and launched the “Atal Bijli Bachat Yozna” under which compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) were being distributed to domestic consumers free of cost.

India was importing huge quantities of oil and gas for which it had to spend foreign exchange running into million of dollars. It was not a healthy situation as the energy security of the country was in peril.

State-level coordinator of the Indian Oil Corporation said bio-diesel was being promoted as a viable alternative to bring down the consumption. He said over 70 per cent of the country’s crude oil requirement were being met through imports and that it had no control over its prices.

Kangra, January 16
Resentment prevails among residents of upper Kanol village in Dhera subdivision of this district against the government as the village lacks link road and other facilities, including a fair price shop and a dispensary.

The villagers alleged that 80 families of upper Kanol were suffering for a half kilometre stretch of link road connecting it with the Daliara-Dadaseba main road, despite repeated requests to the Congress and the BJP governments.

They alleged that the village neither had a dispensary, nor a fair price depot. It neither had a society, nor a patwar khana thus the residents were in a lurch. The village does not even have a branch post office.

They alleged that the local panchayat too was not helping upper Kanol villagers to rescue them out of the long pending traumatic situation.

They alleged that even up-pradhan of the Kanol Panchayat Kishen Kumar resigned under protest. They also alleged that the post of the panch was lying vacant, as Yash Paul too had resigned from the panchayat.

Kishen Kumar said he resigned under protest as the development works had come to a standstill.

Village pradhan Sudhershana Devi said development works were in progress. She, however, confirmed that the road linking the village with the main road could not be constructed as yet. The villagers expressed resentment against the previous MLA Navin Diman and present Congress MLA Yog Raj for ignoring the village.

Nurpur, January 16
The Panchayati Raj Department has suspended the panchayat pradhan of the Hadal Gram Panchayat under Nurpur development block for his alleged irregularities committed in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) Scheme while undertaking development works.

The district panchayat officer, Kangra, after holding thorough inquiry into the allegations levelled by ex-pradhan Subash Singh, ordered the suspension last evening.

According to information, the complainant after getting certified copies of muster rolls under the RTI Act from the office of the BDO, Nurpur, had submitted a complaint in January last year to the Chief Minister and the local BDO demanding high-level probe into the alleged forged attendance on muster rolls engaged by the Hadal Gram Panchayat.

The certified copies of the muster rolls had shown attendance of a few labourers under the NREGA scheme from August 16 to 31 in 2007.

Bilaspur, January 16
Additional Sessions Judge, Fast Track Court, Ghumarwin, AK Sharma has found Subhash Chand, son of Khajana Ram of Bhagedh village, Ghumarwin tehsil in this district, guilty under Sections 333 and 332 of the IPC and has sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for two years and additional fine of Rs 2,000 under Section 333 of the IPC.

Subhash Chand was also sentenced to one year’s imprisonment and additional fine of Rs 1,000 under Section 332 of the IPC. In case of default in payment of fines he would have to undergo imprisonment for one month under Section 332 and three months under Section 333 of the IPC.

Earlier, public prosecutor RK Barwal told the court that on December 5, 2001, Subhash Chand picked up a quarrel with constable Hemraj and Home Guard Geeta Ram when both of them were on patrol duty at Bhagedh Bazar when they tried to pacify him as he was shouting unnecessarily outside a dhaba. He assaulted the men on duty and caused them various injuries and then tried to flee from the scene of incident.

Constable Hemraj later got an FIR registered against Subhash Chand and the prosecution presented 11 witnesses to prove the charges.