Dharamsala, March 7
The Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau has finally procured an arrest warrant against Mukesh Kumar, proprietor of the MK Enterprises, a transport company, in the bitumen scam.

Sources said a team of vigilance was camping at Chandigarh to arrest the accused transporter. Sources in the vigilance said the transporter was, however, absconding.

The sources further said the Una court had issued the arrest warrant for the accused transporter in the scam till March 23.

If the vigilance failed to arrest the accused transporter till that date, the further proceeding for declaring the accused as proclaimed offender might be started.

The accused was given the task of transporting bitumen drums from the stores of Indian Oil and HPCL companies to the PWD stores in Una district.

The inquiry by vigilance officials had, however, revealed that drums that were supposed to reach the PWD stores in Una were missing.

It was later found that the drums never reached the PWD stores and were
allegedly swindled.

The vigilance had registered a case against the PWD junior engineer in charge to stores and the transporter.

They had earlier arrested the junior engineer. However, he later obtained bail from the Una court.

The vigilance officials were still perplexed over the fact that where the 900 bitumen drums meant for the Public Works Department of the state went.

From the investigations till date, it has come to the fore that the drums never
reached Una and were swindled midway by the transporter in connivance with
PWD officials.

The swindled bitumen may have been sold in Punjab where many private companies were constructing roads on Built Transport and Operate (BOT) basis.

The vigilance officials, on condition of anonymity, said some higher officials of PWD might also be involved in the case on charges of lack in supervision.

However, the main accused would remain the junior engineer who was in
charge of stores.

After initial detection in Una district the tentacle of the scam were scattered in different parts of the state.

Bitumen was found swindled in Chamba and Shimla district also, for which separate FIRs were registered.

The investigation into those cases was still going on, the sources said.

Shimla, March 7
State BJP spokesperson Randhir Sharma said the Congress was harping on the achievements of the UPA government to avoid comparison with performances of the Dhumal government and the previous Virbhadra Singh regime.

Addressing a press conference here today he said the BJP was prepared to compare the achievements of the NDA and UPA governments at the Centre as the former had fared better than the latter on all fronts.

However, the Congress was on a weak wicket even at the state-level as the BJP government had achieved much more than the Congress did during its five-year rule.

It was for this reason that PCC chief Kaul Singh was only speaking about the UPA’s achievements day in and day out.

Lasting the achievements of the NDA he said it was former Prime Minister AB Vajpayee who decided to carry out a series of atomic explosions to claim the status of a nuclear power and restored the pride of the country by giving a fitting rebuff to Pakistan during the Kargil war.

It was the NDA regime, which started the Antyodaya Annapurna Yojna to provide succour to the needy, launched Prime Minister’s Gram Sadak Yojna to provide road connectivity to villages and kept check on prices all through.

Vajpayee had a special concern for Himachal Pradesh and for this reason he sanctioned a number of mega projects like Rohtang tunnel and gave nod for implementing Kol Dam and Parbati hydroelectric projects.

In contrast the UPA ignored the state as evident from the fact that against the
loss caused due to rain damages amounting to over Rs 2,000 crore it gave only
Rs 28 crore.

Ridiculing Virbhadra Singh’s statement that the BJP had done nothing for the state he said it was the Shanta Kumar government which created a separate irrigation and pubic health department and launched a programme for providing drinking water to villages and installation of hand pumps on a war footing.

Shimla, March 7
A record of sorts will be created with the Hamirpur parliamentary constituency going to polls for the fourth time in five years.

The constituency has witnessed two by-polls since May, 2003 general election.

The BJP has won the seat five teems in a row since 1998 and the margin of its victory has been increasing progressively for the past three elections.

The seat has been a traditional stronghold of the BJP and the party has lost the seat only once in 1996 since 1984.

Suresh Chandel won the seat thrice since 1998. He won by just 1800 votes in 2003. However, he was sacked following his involvement in the cash-on-camera scam.

The by-election held subsequently in June, 2007 saw P.K. Dhumal , the then BJP legislative party leader, win the seat by over 80,000 votes.

However, the seat fell vacant as Dhumal took over a Chief Minister in December, 2007. His elder son Anurag Thakur won the byelection to the seat by the highest margin of 1,74,666 votes.

He surpassed the performance of his father who had secured lead in 15 out of the total 17 assembly segments and led in all segments, including Una, the home segment of his Congress rival O.P. Rattan.

The increasing margin of defeat makes it obvious that the Congress has lost huge ground in the constituency over the past five years.

It has so far not declared its candidate from the seat while Anurag Thakur
whose candidature was announced almost a year ago has been moving in the
constituency ever since.

The only positive development from the Congress point of view is that Narinder Thakur, son of late BJP stalwart Jagdev Chand, has joined the party.

Now he is among the front-runners for party ticket.

How much impact it will make on the electoral scene will be known only after the results of elections are declared, the Congress has something to cheer about.

Much will depend on whether or not he is granted the ticket.

A section of the Congress is opposing his candidature on the ground that the party should field a Brahmin to balance caste equations.

Shimla, March 7
The CPM will contest the Mandi parliamentary seat and support non-Congress and non-BJP parties in other three seats.

Stating this while announcing the candidature of Dr Onkar Shad from Mandi here today members of the state secretariat Tikender Panwar and Kashmir Chand said the objective was to prepare ground for a third alternative in the state to the two mainstream party which had been occupying the centrestage all these years.

While the BJP was communal the neo-liberal policies of the Congress would spell disaster for the country.

The estimates of the national sample survey organisation reveal that 70 per cent of the population was living on just half a dollar a day but the Congress failed to take any steps to strengthen the agrarian economy for their uplift.

Farmers were committing suicide and unemployment was rising, making growth irrelevant for the people.

They claimed that it was largely due to the influence of Left parties in the UPA regime that the country was slightly less impacted by the global recession.

They were largely instrumental in the enactment of the forest dwellers act and
the right to information act and programmes like the national rural employment
guarantee programme.

Besides these national issues, the CPM would also highlight the privatisation of education and health services.

Floodgates had been opened for the private sector in the name of making the hill state an education hub.

Even in hydropower escort the interests of the state had been compromised and projects were being handed over the private sector.

The party would come out with an alternative developmental strategy for sustainable and inclusive growth.

Apart from generation of resources through forests and electricity generation by having 25 per cent equity share in addition to 15 per cent free power as royalty it would also take up the demand for one generate settlement of forest dwellers.

Bilaspur, March 7
State Congress vice-president Ramlal Thakur criticised the BJP government for keeping a dual face, one for public consumption and other for secret implementation.

Addressing mediapersons at the Circuit House here today, Thakur said some years ago when PK Dhumal fought a parliamentary election against him, Dhumal raised a hue and cry against continuing of Rajinder Singh Thakur as Bilaspur DC, pointing to the fact that he was not an IAS officer.

Dhumal had pleaded with the Election Commission (EC) that only IAS and IPS officers should be appointed Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police in the districts undergoing elections.

Thakur said consequently the EC had ordered the transfer of Rajinder Singh on
Dhumal’s complaint.

Thakur said now when Dhumal is the Chief Minister, he should come out and tell that how many IAS and IPS officers he had posted as DCs and SPs, particularly when the elections were being held here on May 13 and the election code of conduct had already been enforced.

Thakur alleged that despite repeated government claims regarding transparency and impartiality in appointments, several persons who were not possessing required qualifications were appointed in the state Agriculture Department.

Kullu, March 7
The ATMs of the State Bank of Patiala (SBOP) and Punjab National Bank (PNB) in this district do not have surveillance cameras.

A woman from Chandigarh having an account in PNB lost her ATM card in a marriage party here on February 26.

She found that an amount of Rs 25,000 had been taken out of her account through the ATM of the PNB and the SBOP, Kullu.

When the matter was taken up with the local bank branches, the management expressed inability to trace the user, as the ATMs did not have cameras.

Similarly, another woman lost Rs 3,000 as the amount was taken out from the PNB ATM at Akhara Bazar last year and the matter was taken up with the PNB, Kullu.

The bank management then assured the customer that cameras would be installed at the earliest.

However, one full year had passed and no action was taken into the matter and this inaction of the bank authorities made another customer its victim.

Sanjeev Kaundal, IT manager, PNB of this region, said the ATM cards could not be misused, as the system was “foolproof”.

He further claimed that the customer might have shared her PIN number as otherwise the ATM card could not be used.

Answering a question that why PNB ATMs do not have cameras while other banks did install cameras, Kaundal said “at the time of installation of these ATM machines, the guidelines were not for fixing the cameras”.

The SBOP had faced breaking of the door of the ATM at Akhara Bazar and the machine remained non-functional for more than a month.

Later, the ATM was shifted to Sarwari, but no cameras were installed.

SBOP chief manager RP Sharma said the installation of ATMs was the policy decision taken at the head office and he could not comment on the fixing of cameras at the ATM premises.

He, however, agreed that camera was a must in the prevailing situation and the matter would be taken up with the head office.

Solan, March 7
With the Himachal Pradesh University failing to approve staff of Solan Homoeopathy Medical College and Hospital, the faculty members are facing uncertain future.

Though the college was granted affiliation by the varsity in 2006 and annual inspections were held, this sudden announcement left the faculty members stunned.

In a representation to the Vice-Chancellor, the faculty members, organised under the Homoeopathic Doctors Welfare Association (HDWA), have pleaded for their case demanding grant of approval to them.

This fact was made known to doctors through a recent communication from the university where it was pointed out that since they were not approved by the varsity, they could not demand pay scales as per the university norms.

The working of the college management has come under a cloud following this declaration of the university.

While as per the university norms if the faculty was not approved, the college would not be eligible to admit students for the next batch.

Interestingly, the same faculty was approved till 2008 and nearly three batches of students had passed out of the college.

The college admits students as per the procedure laid down by the university.

The doctors alleged that they were neither granted the due scale nor was the college trust adopting the laid down procedure for appointing the faculty members as no university representative was present during interviews.

The association president, Farzand Masih, and secretary Dr Sandeep Choudhary alleged that the college had reduced the EPF and it was even less than 10 per cent.

The college had no regular principal and as against the required strength of 43, barely 19 doctors were serving the college. This was violation of university norms.

VC Sunil Gupta said after assuming the charge about 10 months ago, all such colleges, where the university representatives were not present at the time of annual inspections, had been rejected.

Not only all such colleges would be subject to re-inspection, but the objections pointed out by the committee would have to be addressed.

In case a college failed to do so, it would be de-affiliated, he added.

Shimla, March 7
Forest minister J.P. Nadda has directed his department to formulate a calendar for fire protection which should also involve joint forest management (JFM) committees.

Reviewing the performance of the department at a meeting here today he said all 1381 JFM committees, out of which only 688 were functional, needed to be activated and involved in forest protection activities.

He said circle-level workshops would be organised for these committees in fire-prone areas so that they could be trained in fire control measures.

The committee members would attend the gram sabha meetings to be held on
April 9, 2009.

During 2009, as many as 19 lakh saplings of medicinal plants would be planted.

While 90 per cent of the medicinal plants would be raised under various departmental schemes, the remaining 10 per cent would be distributed to the public.

In addition 20,000 saplings of “peepal” and “ban” trees would be raised in over 6,000 villages to revive the traditional way of plantations.

Shimla, March 7
The District Consumer Forum has pulled up the HP Board of School Education for indulging in unfair trade practice and imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on it for unnecessarily harassing a student.

The forum passed this order on basis of a complaint filed by a student.

The student alleged that he had sent an examination form of class XI along with a requisite fee to the board, which was duly received by it in time.

However, an official of the board informed him that his form was received late and he was asked to pay Rs 430 as a late fee.

The complainant alleged that the board had wrongly charged late fee from him since the board received his form in time.

During the hearing of the case, the board stated before the forum that it was due to clerical mistake and not intentionally the late fee was demanded from him.

The forum observed that the action of the board was patently illegal and arbitrary in demanding extra amount from the complainant, whereas the examination form was received by it in time.

It further observed that the date of receipt of the form was wrongly read by the official, even the higher authority of the board did not take any action against the defaulting official.

The forum also directed the board to refund the extra amount charged by it.

Shimla, March 7
Over 8,000 children suffering from congenital deformity of cleft lip and palate in the state will now be able to flash their smile with confidence as the Smile Train is all set to help them undergo surgeries.

The organisation will provide financial assistance of Rs 70 lakh for the purpose.

An agreement will be signed between the state government and the Smile Train on March 9 for the creation of an operation theatre for the plastic surgery department at the IGMC.

Principal of the IGMC Surender Kashyap and Regional Head (South Asia) of the Smile Train Satish Kalra will sign the agreement.

The Smile Train is the world’s largest organisation working in the field of rectifying congenital deformities of cleft lip and palate.

The organisation has also agreed to bear the entire cost of surgeries that the department of plastic surgery will perform.

“The creation of an exclusive operation theatre for the department will help us conduct over 350 cleft-lip and palate operations every year,” said head of the plastic surgery department Vijay Kumar Diwana.

He said majority of such patients did not seek medical help feeling that plastic surgery was an expensive process.

“The cost of surgery varies between Rs 3,000 and Rs 8,000, but it makes a world of difference in enhancing the confidence and general life of a patient,” he said.

He said the people from all walks of life were coming forward for donating money towards the fund.

Nurpur, March 7
Devinder Singh (27) of Bodh, near here, died on the spot in an accident at Ghoon, near Nagrota Surian, last night.

The incident took place when the driver of a Nova, in which he was travelling, lost control of the vehicle as a result of which it fell into a roadside gorge.

The vehicle was on its way from Nurpur to Nagrota Surian. A case has been registered in this connection.

The other vehicle occupants, Rajinder (driver), Radha Devi and her two minor sons, Prashant and Mohit received injuries.