Shimla, March 3
With the Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC) no longer in existence and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) totally disintegrated, it will be virtually a straight contest between the BJP and the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections.

The HVC, floated by former union telecom minister Sukh Ram in 1997 after parting ways from the Congress, and the BSP, headed by firebrand leader Vijay Mankotia, had raised the vision of a third political force in the state where the Congress and the BJP have been traditionally occupying the centre stage.

However, the HVC was merged with the Congress before the 2007 assembly elections. The BSP, which managed to win an assembly seat for the first time and polled over 6.5 per cent votes, suffered due to large-scale exodus of leader and workers after the elections.

The Lok Jan Shakti Party (LJSP), which won a seat in the 2003 assembly elections, is trying to occupy the space vacated by the HVC and the BSP. It has decided to contest all four Lok Sabha seats, but it will struggle to make contests triangular.

While the parties like the Janata Dal, the HVC and the BSP had been tilting the scales in the assembly elections, these had not been able to cut much ice during the Lok Sabha elections. Riding the Kargil wave, the HVC contested elections in alliance with the BJP to bag the Shimla (reserved) seat in the 1999 elections.

The BJP-HVC combine made a clean sweep on all four seats. It was only the second time in the electoral history of the state that the Congress lost the Shimla seat. The party lost the seat for the first time in 1977 when the “Janata wave” wiped it out from the northern India. The “Janata wave” ended the hegemony of the Congress, which ruled the roost for about 30 years, paving the way for the BJP to emerge as a political force.

The Congress came back strongly wresting all four seats in 1980 and 1984. The BJP won three seats and the Congress one in 1989, while the two parties shared the seats equally in the 1991 mid-term poll. The Congress more than recovered the lost ground by winning all four seats in 1996. 

The BJP repeated the 1989 performance by wresting three seats in 1998, while the Congress maintained its hold over the Shimla seat. It was only in 1999 that the Congress lost all four seats. 

Shimla, March 3
The screening committee constituted by the Congress high command for shortlisting candidates for the four Lok Sabha seats in the state will hold its first meeting in New Delhi tomorrow.

The committee headed by Janardan Diwedi and having Mosina Kidwai, Sheilja, Kaul Singh and Vidya Stokes as its members will evaluate merits of candidates recommended by the state election committee. However, it will be a mere formality for three seats for which the candidates have more or less been decided.

The views of the screening committee will matter in respect of the Hamirpur seat, a traditional stronghold of the BJP, from where elder son of Chief Minister PK Dhumal Anurag Thakur is seeking re-election.

Pradesh Congress Committee chief Kaul Singh, who is camping in Delhi, met national party president Sonia Gandhi and urged her to expedite the process for the selection of candidates.

He impressed upon her that the party was losing precious time as the BJP had declared its candidates more than a month ago.

Narinder Thakur, son of BJP stalwart late Jagdev Chand, is among the front-runners for the seat, though some Congress leaders are opposing him. Others in the line are: Sunil, OP Rattan, MPS Rana and RS Verma.

In all probability, Virbhadra Singh will be fielded form the Mandi seat, which he had won four times before entering the state politics. In fact, he has been touring the constituency extensively for the past quite sometime. At present, the seat is held by his wife Pratibha Singh, who has declined to contest the election this time.

Sitting MPs Chander Kumar and Dhani Ram Shandil will seek re-election from the Kangra and Shimla seats, respectively. Dhani Ram won the 1999 and 2003 contests comfortably.

However, having held the seat for nine years, he will have to face the anti-incumbency factor this time. Chander Kumar is better placed in that regard as he has completed only his first term as an MP.

Hamirpur, March 3
With the enforcement of the election code of conduct in the state after the announcement of general elections, several programmes in which Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal was to participate have been put on hold and the government has started acting on the guidelines of the Election Commission.

The function at Deoth-Sidh scheduled for March 4, where the Chief Minister was to lay the foundation stone of a tourist information centre and dedicate a “serai” to the public, has been cancelled.

Following instructions from the state government, a drive was today launched to remove hoardings and banners put up by various agencies to publicise policies and programmes of the state government.

The gates erected by the Hamirpur nagar parishad on which cut-outs of various leaders were put up are also being removed.

The Public Relations Department that had put up many billboards and other publicity material at several places has also instructed the district public relation officers to remove such material as per the guidelines contained in the model code of conduct for the elections.

Dharamsala, March 3
The 11th Five-year Plan of the country would concentrate on motivating small and marginal farmers to organic farming besides providing institutional support to progressive farmers who have already converted to organic farming.

In the proposed plan that is being prepared by Vice- Chancellor of Palampur Agriculture University Tej Pratap, an expert on organic farming, the states like Punjab and Haryana that have benefited from the Green Revolution are being left out of organic agriculture promotion plan. 

The said states were not being included in plan for promotion of organic agriculture as a substantial section of agriculture experts in the country is of the view that it might threaten the food security of the country.

Tej Pratap in an exclusive interview with The Tribune over the issue said that the proposed organic sub-plan in the 11th Five-year Plan was targeting two groups of farmers. It includes about 65 per small and marginal farmers in rain-fed area who produce just for their own consumption and the progressive farmers who are practicing organic farming to cater to high-end customers.

By motivating and providing support to small and marginal farmers about 10 million hectares agriculture land in the country can be converted to organic farming. This would also help improve the economy of said farmers as by converting to organic farming their inputs cost to farming would reduce. 

Slowly as the demand for organic farm produce is increasing the small farmers would also be able to sell their products in local markets at higher prices, Tej Pratap is proposing.

The Trai Organic Farmers Association in Uttaranchal and Maharashtra Organic Farmers movement and spices producers of Kerela are successful stories of organic farming in the country.

The government needs to provide institutional support to such farmers. The government needs to provide market supply chains and create awareness regarding organic food among the consumers so that organic produce gets ready market in the country also. Survey conducted across the country has also proved the middle class is more conscious about food they take and are ready to purchase organic crops even at higher prices.

Tej Pratap is also proposing that more experts on organic farming should be produced in the country. Presently very few experts are available and just a few organic produce certifying agencies are available.

Besides the organic sub-plan for 11th Five-year Plan of the country Tej Pratap is also drafting Asian Countries Prospective of Organic Farming a plan for promoting organic agriculture in Asia.

Kullu, March 3
The first batch of CT/GD women SSB comprising of 577 mahila constables passed out today at the only SSB training centre for women in India at Shamshi, about 7 km from here. Governor Prabha Rau presided over the passing out parade and took salute from the recruit trainees. 

She lauded the contribution of the SSB in nation building activities and strengthening the social bonding of the remote and difficult areas with the mainstream. She called upon the women force to work with sincerity and dedication for the country.

DIG RS Pathania said the training session started in June last year while 612 young women drawn from all over India joined the training centre and one batch of “sportspersons” and “followers” (cook, barber, nurse etc category) passed out after a training of three months.

He said the training had the complete syllabi of the Indian Army Training for nine-and-a-half months. He said the SSB was the first border guarding force to induct women constables for border guarding duties.

Inspector General SSB HQ BR Bhardwaj congratulated the trainers for achieving a new challenge and hoped that they would prove successful with good results in future as well. He emphasised that they would try their best to make this first women battalion a model force in the organisation.

As many as 1,452 personnel have been trained under the BRTC and 352 police personnel of the Himachal Pradesh Police were trained in this centre since its inception in June, 2008, Bhardwaj added.

Shimla, March 3
Concerned over negligible regeneration and depleting deodar cover in the ‘Queen of Hills’, the forest department as part of its changed strategy will first plant Robinia trees, which in turn would provide the shade cover mandatory for survivalof deodar trees.

With efforts of the forest department to undertake plantation of deodar trees with the latest root ball method failing, thrust will now be on planting robinia, which will provide the required shade for deodars to be planted later. To begin with, the department is planning to plant 600 robinia splings all along the Cart Road in the town.

The process of planting the saplings has been delayed due to insufficient moisture in the soil on account of scanty rains. Huge 90 cm pits have been dug and covered with pit moss so that the moment it rains, the plantation can be undertaken.

“We have collected almost 600 robinia plants which are almost 6 feet tall from our nurseries in Theog and Sunni and the moment there are rains we will undertake plantation,” informed Rajesh Sharma, DFO (Shimla division).

The department had last year planted 300 deodar saplings in the Jakhu area with the latest root ball method where a few years old tree is uprooted along with the soil around the roots and planted in a new place. Despite adopting the root ball method, the survival rate of the deodars was barely 10 per cent.

Senior officials admit that the experiment of having successful deodar plantation probably failed in the Jakhu area due to monkey menace and the fact that the plants did not get enough shade, which it is used to.

As such it was on the directions of the Principal, Chief Conservator Forest, Vinay Tandon that it was decided to plant robinia, so that the required shade for the deodars to be planted later could be ensured.

Studies undertaken by the Himalayan Forest Research Institute (HFRI) indicated that a large number of deodar trees were drying due to human interference and haphazard construction.

The study indicated that the natural regeneration process was practically missing, as there was hardly any soil cover due to excessive construction activity. Moreover the roots of the century-old deodar trees were getting trapped in retaining walls and other structures, leading to its drying up.

Manali, March 3
Solang valley, 13 km from Manali, a picturesque tourist spot which offers one of the most spectacular ski slopes in the western Himalayas were presenting a deserted look this season. The valley, which normally used to have four to five feet of snow during the winter months in the past years, were totally devoid of snow this year, disappointing the winter sports lovers and snowmobile owners.

The main slopes of the Solang valley received only about 29 inches of maximum snowfall till today, but due to rise in temperature it melted very fast.

The valley gets domestic and foreign tourists throughout the year, but during the winter months, it becomes very popular among the visitors for riding snowmobiles, which carries two persons apart from its driver.

According to president of the Snowmobiles Association Bhumi Chand, this year due to lack of sufficient snow for the snowmobiles on the main slopes of Solang valley the fate of 40 owners of the snowmobiles hangs in balance. He further added that in the past years the craze for riding snowmobiles had increased. However, this season we had only one week to operate snowmobiles and for more than two months we had covered our snowmobiles with trampoline.

He said that they were the most affected due to less snowfall this year, as this is a source of livelihood for them.

Bilaspur, March 3
Hoshiar Singh Thakur, a zila parishad member from the area, has expressed resentment for thousands of people of the six gram panchayats of the Naina Devi area. The residents were forced to drink polluted water by the Department of Irrigation and Public Health through the Kala Kund-Naina Devi lift drinking water supply scheme.

In a detailed representation given to Chief Minister PK Dhumal, Thakur has said the scheme was implemented after the visit of Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee to the shrine several years ago. He had sanctioned and immediately provided funds after being informed regarding paucity of water in the area.

However, now the scheme is in total shambles due to neglect by the department and the main storage tank at Kala kund is full of debris. Raw water is being supplied direct from the Gobind Sagar to the villagers for drinking purpose without any kind of filtration.

Thakur said this is nothing but playing with the lives of the people as carcasses can be seen floating in the water apart from garbage.

He said he had visited the entire area only a few days ago and it would be in pure public interest if the department immediately do the needful and ensure regular and clean drinking water supply to the villages fed by this scheme.

Thakur also objected towards the neglect of the Nalyan ka Naun drinking water supply scheme of Bilaspur town, which serves almost half of the town, as its water is being polluted by the overflowing sewerage water from a nearby tank.

Shimla, March 3
Five persons were killed in two separate accidents in the Tikkar area of Shimla and Sunni since last night.

Two persons were killed and three seriously injured when their car (HP-03-3773) rolled down the Gharat nullah near Sunni today. Those dead included Bhup Singh and Rupinder Thakur. The injured Bhupinder Thakur, Virender Thakur and Yogesh have been admitted to hospital with serious injuries.

In another accident that took place at about 10 pm last night near Ghasini nullah of Dewali village in Tikar sub-tehsil of Shimla. Out of the 12 persons who were travelling, three died on the spot while six sustained serious injuries.

The deceased include Hem Raj, Rajesh and Dileep. Those who sustained injuries include Inder Singh, Ram Lal, Dharam Dass, Daulat Ram, Ram Lal and 
Lalu Nepalai.

Horticulture minister Narender Brgata has expressed sympathy with the families of those killed in the accident. He asked the administration to provide immediate relief to the injured and help to the kith and kin of the deceased.

Chamba: Two persons were killed and three others were seriously wounded when a Bolero (PB06-G-4190) swerved off the road and fell into a 100 m deep gorge, near Saroo, on the Chamba-Pathankot highway this afternoon.

Reports revealed that all five occupants in the vehicle were officials of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), who were returning after an official visit to the NHPC’s Corporate Office at Faridabad.

The deceased have been identified as Dharam Pal Dogra, supervisor (IT), and Rajinder, driver of the NHPC region, Banikhet. The bodies were brought to the Regional Hospital Chamba, for autopsy.

The condition of the three seriously injured was stated to be critical. They had been referred to Pathankot for undergoing further medical treatment.

Those injured include deputy manager (finance) Sanjay Sahoo, assistant manager (finance) Rakesh and deputy manager (IT) Vibhore.

General manager Chamera Hydroelectric Project Stage-III KK Joshi said he along with other senior officers of the NHPC working in the hydroelectric projects in Chamba district rushed to the mishap spot to supervise the relief and rescue operations.

“Chairman and managing director of the NHPC SK Garg while expressing grief with the bereaved families has directed the NHPC authorities working in the area to make all possible arrangements for transporting the bodies to their native places without any delay, besides, providing all help to the seriously wounded officials for their medical treatment,” Joshi said.

Meanwhile, the police has registered a case in this connection.

Mandi, March 3
The police today recovered the body of one Jagdish Chand, who was assumed to have gone to Shimla on February 25 for some work, from the debris of a cowshed near Jandhrukhur village under the Sarkaghat police station.

After getting information from Rakho panchayat pradhan Suresh Kumar, the police went to the spot and recovered the body from the debris. The villagers spotted the body in the debris of the cowshed that had crumbled down on February 25. However, nobody removed the debris then.

The wife of the deceased told the police that her husband had left for Shimla, He went through the cowshed to feed the pet animals with grass, however the cowshed fell on him and was buried alive.

The police conducted the post-mortem and handed over the body to the family ruling out any foul play.

Mandi, March 3
With the conviction of former telecom minister Sukh Ram in a case of disproportionate assets, the ruling BJP is set to rake up similar cases against some former ministers of the previous Virbhadra Singh government.

The party plans to bring such cases, which are being investigated by the State Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau, to the forefront during the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Since the election code of conduct does not ban criminal investigations or exposing corruption during elections, the BJP is reportedly coining a new strategy to expedite investigation into disproportionate assets cases involving four ministers of the previous Virbhadra Singh government, insiders maintain.

Even the issue of audio CD involving former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh would be raked up during the elections, if the Congress fielded Virbhadra Singh from Mandi this time, sources said. The case of defamation filed by Virbhadra Singh against former BSP state convener VS Mankotia was still pending in the court.

The BJP had prepared a chargesheet against prominent persons, including Virbhadra Singh’s special secretary Subhash Ahluwalia, and submitted that to the then Governor. The party was once again preparing to rake up such cases.

Soon after assuming power in the state, the BJP government expedited the vigilance cases against former four ministers and arrested Ahluwalia in connection with a case of disproportionate assets. These ministers included former IPH minister Kaul Singh Thakur, former forest minister Ram Lal Thakur, former industry minister Kuldip Kumar and Singhi Ram.

However, the BJP might not take much advantage of the conviction of former telecom minister Sukh Ram by a special CBI court in New Delhi as he was instrumental in bringing the BJP-BVC combine government in the state under Prem Kumar Dhumal in 1998, party insiders said.

Not only that the BJP was also on the defensive on the issue of SM Katwal, who was convicted by the district court during the Virbhadra Singh’s rule, and the cash on camera scam involving the then BJP Hamipur MP Suresh Chandel, who still remained a BJP member, Congress insiders added.

The Congress has dubbed various vigilance cases as a ploy to implicate Congress men.