Shimla, April 3
As part of changing political alignments preceding the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP today sprung a surprise by making BSP leader Dahramvir Dhami, who was headed towards the Congress change his direction and join the ruling party.

Dhami, an old Congressman from Kullu, who had contested the last Assembly elections on the BSP ticket and polled 23,000 votes seemed peeved at the disregard being shown towards dedicated party workers by the “coterie” surrounding the top Congress leadership. He formally joined the BJP in the presence of Chief Minister PK Dhumal, here today.

“When Varun, son of Sanjay Gandhi, to whom 80 per cent of the Congressmen today owe their existence, is being treated so shabbily it is pointless for a nobody like me to expect recognition and respect in the Congress,” he remarked. He said he had taken all his political decisions with the consent of his supporters and this time they asked him to join the BJP as they felt Dhumal had a vision for the state.

Incidentally former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who is contesting from the Mandi Lok Sabha seat, had recently met Dhami at his home and assured him about his re-entry into the party. “He had said that I will be taken back in the Congress within three days but 15 days have passed and there was no headway,” he retorted.

Dhami directed his ire mainly at Pratibha Singh, who he said had failed to be with the people of the constituency in their hour of crisis, which included devastating fires in Malana, Solang and Barshiani and major bus accidents. “We ensured her victory and she got the highest number of votes from my village, but she failed to deliver,” he said.

Dhami said it was only recently that he had a close interaction with Dhumal, who in the first meeting itself asked the officials to prepare a policy on herbiculture and floriculture. “I am myself a grower but despite raising the issue with Virbhadra Singh several things did not change while in the first meeting itself the Chief Minister took action,” he said showering praises on Dhumal.

He said with only three out of 17 legislators from the Mandi parliamentary seat being from the Congress, the fate of the party was clear.

Shimla, April 3
The first-ever attempt of a celebrity to make electoral debut by contesting the Lok Sabha polls from the hill state has ended with the former Test cricketer and Congress nominee from Hamirpur Madan Lal opting out of the race citing health reasons.

While the state has been a favourite hunting ground of erstwhile “rajas”, it has not any film stars, cricketers and other celebrities in the electoral arena. The all-rounder who came out trumps in pressure cooker situations on the cricket field on numerous occasions found the stress of the electoral battlefield too much to handle. A member of the Kapil Dev’s World Cup winning squad of 1983, Madan Lal had unsettled batsmen with his bouncers and wielded the willow effectively during his cricketing days. But he was all at sea on the treacherous political turf where he had to face short-pitch stuff not from the rivals but his own partymen.

However, he was quick to read the “sticky” nature of the wicket and declared himself unfit to take the field well before start of the battle.

His exit paved way for Narinder Thakur, a son of BJP stalwart late Jagdev Chand, who was the first choice of state Congress president Kaul Singh and former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh from day one.

Madan Lal was “para-dropped” in the electoral arena by the Congress high command to take on Chief Minister PK Dhumal’s son Anurag Thakur, who is also a cricketer and made his achievements as president of the state cricket association the main plank to win the bypoll for the seat last year. However, the bickering in the party over allotment of ticket to him became obvious to him during his first visit to the constituency early this week. The experienced cricketer realised that he was not supported by a good fielding side.

His absence from the arena will certainly take the cricket flavour away from the campaign, though the Congress still hopes that Madan Lal and the likes of Kapil Dev will canvass in the constituency.

With the celebrity candidate out of arena, the party is banking on the capacity of Narinder Thakur to dent the vote bank of the BJP of which his father was one of the main architects in the state.

He has immense strategic value for the Congress in breaking the BJP stronghold where it has posted win only once over the past two decades in 1996.

Chandigarh, April 3
Congress candidate from Hamipur parliamentary constituency in Himachal Pradesh Narinder Thakur today claimed that voters were fed up with Prem Kumar Dhumal’s brand of dynastic politics and Chief Minister’s son Anurag Thakur was set to lose by a huge margin.

Addressing a press conference here today, Narinder Thakur, who has replaced cricketer Madan Lal from Hamirpur, alleged that he apprehended large-scale rigging in the constituency as official machinery could be misused to favour Anurag Thakur, son of the Chief Minister.

“The Election Commission (EC) should declare all polling booths in the constituency as sensitive and order installation of CCTVs to ensure free and fair polling,” he added.

Narinder, who switched over from the BJP to the Congress a few months back, alleged that the BJP had strayed from its primary purpose of public service under Dhumal’s regime with corruption ruling the roost.

In fact, corruption and maladministration of the Dhumal government in the past one-and-a-half years would be major issues in the forthcoming elections in the hilly state, he added.

Refuting allegations that there was rampant factionalism in the party, the Congress leader claimed that his winning potential was only criteria for the selection as the party candidate from Hamirpur. Even Madan Lal, who opted out of the race for the Hamirpur seat reportedly due to “health reasons”, would campaign for the Congress in the parliamentary elections, he claimed.

Terming Anurag Thakur as the “parachute candidate”, who had business interests in Jalandhar, the Congress candidate asserted that he would expose various acts of omission and commission of the father-son duo.

Narinder Thakur is son of former BJP stalwart late Jagdev Chand and his roping in by the Congress is seen as a prized catch for the party in the Hamirpur area. The BJP has been retaining the seat since the past five elections and by fielding Narinder, the Congress is trying to break the saffron party’s monopoly over the seat.

Hamirpur, April 3
With the announcement of replacement of Congress nominee Madan Lal by Narinder Thakur for the Hamirpur constituency, two clans of BJP stalwarts late Jagdev Chand Thakur and Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal would vie for supremacy in this region, but from different platforms.

While Anurag Thakur, son of the Chief Minister, would be carrying the BJP’s baton, for the Congress it would be Naridner Thakur, son of late Jagdev Chand Thakur.

Naridner, who had joined the Congress after revolting against the BJP, was being considered as a front runner for the party ticket. Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) president Kaul Singh had been openly supporting his candidature even after nomination of former cricketer Madan Lal. However, his nomination was cleared after many hiccups.

His political career began when he contested the Hamirpur Assembly seat on the BJP ticket in 1994, which had fallen vacant after the death of his father and senior BJP leader Jagdev Chand. However, he lost the by-election by a narrow margin of about 600 votes at the hands of Congress candidate Anita Verma. After this, Narinder was made district BJP president but was denied ticket during the 1998 Assembly election and his sister-in-law Urmil Thakur stepped in for him.

After feeling ignored in the BJP during the previous BJP government he contested as an Independent during 2003 Assembly election from here by forming Mitra Mandali but lost the election and was expelled from the BJP.

He was again taken back in the BJP during 2004 Parliamentary polls and remained in the party till a few months back when he finally quit to join the Congress.

His candidature to contest the Hamirpur seat was floated by HPCC president Kaul Singh Thakur and even found support from former CM Virbhadra Singh, though a section of the Congress leaders strongly opposed his nomination and Madan Lal was nominated by the Congress high command.

Since his main strength is considered his capacity to take the BJP head on in the Hamirpur constituency to give a tough fight to Anurag Thakur, who had won the last election by a record margin of 1,74,666 votes, by utilising the legacy of late Thakur Jagdev Chand, his real test comes is this election.

Dharamsala, April 3
The state AG office has questioned the rationale of the Forest Department behind formation of societies to utilise compensatory forest funds. Sources available here said the AG had written letter to concerned officials in the Department of Forests seeking clarification on seven points. Besides this, it has also asked to supply a copy of bylaws of the societies.

The AG has sought clarification in the matter after The Tribune reported the matter in these columns. After the Mid Himalayan Society, the Department of Forests in the state has formed three societies, which include the Sutlej Watershed Society that is already functional and the Beas and Ravi Watershed Societies that are being made functional this year. The said new societies have been formed to utilise funds provided by power companies for the Catchment Area Treatment (CAT) plans.

All major power projects coming up in the state have to deposit huge sums with the Forest Department to compensate for conversion of forest land to other use and loss of tree cover. The funds are meant for restoration of forest cover and to minimise soil erosion in the river catchment area due to construction of dams. Funds in crores are lying at the disposal of the Forest Department for carrying out works under the CAT plans.

The Forest Department is placing funds provided by the power projects at the disposal of societies. In societies the funds are utilised through respective divisional forest officers (DFOs).

Had the fund been utilised through the Forest Department the AG office could have kept watch over its utilisation. However, since the funds are being utilised now by the societies they are not coming under the preview of AG. Now, the officials are getting the accounts of societies checked from chartered accountants, which are functioning as companies.

The rationale behind the formation of societies was that it would help in clearing the bottlenecks and speedy utilisation of funds. However, certain recent cases have raised apprehensions behind the company style functioning in the Forest Department. In the recent past the state Vigilance Department had caught a forest official in the Theog area of Shimla district and recovered Rs 61 lakh.

The present government after taking over has also once again decided to get the accounts of the Mid-Himalayan project re-audited. Sources in the Department of Forest said checks and balances in utilisation of funds have got scaled down to dangerous extent after funds are being utilised through the societies.

If the PWD and IPH departments that have budgets running in thousands of crores can function as government departments, why the Forest Department needs societies for carrying out their regular work, they have questioned.

Hamirpur, April 3
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has asked India to play active role in propagating ancient Indian thought and concept of ahimsa (non-violence), tolerance and being compassionate to the world.

Addressing a meet of National Indian Students Forum (NISF) here today at National Institute of Technology (NIT) he said, “I being a Buddhist, ancient Indian philosophers like Nagarjuna and others have been my teachers and I owe to them but now time has come when India should play an active role of masters in teaching their ancient philosophy to the world.”

He also appreciated the maximum help given by India to the Tibetan refugees-in-exile in India during the last 50 years by saying, “Though many NGOs and other countries have supported the Tibetan refugees, maximum support came from India as homeless people found happy home here.”

In his discourse on ‘Ethics for new millennium’ he touched philosophical concepts like potentials of human beings to lead a happy life, importance of controlling emotions, what should be done to create happy human society, importance of logic and philosophy, role of mental level and being compassionate, ahimsa, secular way of life, concept of love and non-creation and belief in cause and effect etc.

Earlier, NIT director IK Bhatt welcomed the Dalai Lama.

Manali, April 3
The entire upper Manali region experienced a fresh spell of snowfall, while the lower parts of the areas were lashed by rain today, resulting in considerable fall in the temperature.

Tourists were in for a surprise today to see the upper areas of the Manali region covered with a white blanket of snow. Hundreds of tourists rushed to Kothi, Gulaba and the Solang valley to see the fresh snowfall. A festive atmosphere again prevailed at Gulaba, as tourists were seen enjoying riding on Yak, snow-skiing and making snowmen.

The vehicular traffic on the Manali-Leh highway was disrupted due to snowfall at several places beyond Gulaba, about 19 km from here, this morning.

The higher reaches of the Kullu valley, including the Pir Panjal ranges, Rohtang Pass, Brighu ski slopes, Hamata Pass, Chanerkhani Pass, Marhi, Beaskund, Dhundi and the Solang valley experienced fresh spell of snowfall today.

According to sources, due to the snowfall, snow-clearing operation on the Manali-Rohtang road was also disrupted. The Border Roads Organisation (BRO), which was clearing snow between Rahni nullah and Rohtang Pass, had to stop today.

However, farmers and orchard owners of the region have welcomed the rain. They say it is beneficial for the apple crop in the upper region and the standing crops in the lower parts.

Kullu: Kullu valley was lashed by thunderstorm last night while the upper reaches experienced another spell of snow. Kullu, Mohal, Shamshi, Bhuntar and Gadsa areas were lashed by hailstorm as well damaging the stone fruits and the apple flower bearing trees.

The Mattikochhar peak, Fungni Dhar and Lug Valley peaks had snow fall. The mercury fell considerably due to the snow and rains.

The reports from Lahaul confirmed that Keylong, the district headquarters of Lahaul and Spiti district, had 20 cm of snowfall 
last night.

Despite of the cold conditions, temples in Kullu witnessed long queues of devotees on the Ram Naumi celebrations since today morning. The Jaggannathi Temple Bekhali had more than 10,000 visitors today.

Chamba: The entire Chamba region has been lashed by heavy widespread downpour last night while the high peaks had heavy snowfall; according to continual reports pouring into the district headquarter town of Chamba this afternoon.

As a sequel to this, there is a considerable downfall in the temperature also in the lower areas, the reports said.

The reports further said the nallahs and rivers of the area were flooded with rainwater as a result of heavy rainfall.

Some interior roads of the region were blocked due to landslips disrupting the transportation services. The restoration work to clear the debris of landslips from the road was in progress and it was expected to resume the vehicular traffic latest by this evening.

Shimla, April 3
Even as the Congress camp is rejoicing at the allotment of ticket from Hamirpur to Narinder Thakur, Chief Minister PK Dhumal said it is only the results on May 16, which would indicate as to who has emerged stronger.

Addressing a press conference here today, Dhumal said it was the internal party matter of the Congress as to who should be their candidate but he is happy at the fact that the Congress has finally fielded a BJP man. “It is only once the results are out that people will know whether fielding Narinder Thakur has put the BJP on the backfoot or frontfoot,” he said.

Dhumal refused to comment when asked if the Congress had insulted cricketer Madan Lal. “It is the internal matter of the Congress so I do not wish to comment on the issue but the BJP is all set to win the four Lok Sabha seats in the state,” he said.

He, however, said Virbhadra Singh had taken a very wrong decision to contest the elections, as he had himself admitted that he had reluctantly jumped into the fray. “When in 1999 he had declined to contest on health grounds how can a person after 10 years be in a better position to contest,” he said.

Talking about the election manifesto, he said the party had specially taken care of demands pertaining to the hill states and its people, including one rank-one pension issue of ex-servicemen.

He said it was on the demand of the hill states that the party had mentioned in the manifesto that policies pertaining to hill states would be formulated after holding consultations with the respective governments. “The party has promised that serving and retired defence personnel would be completely exempted from income tax, a separate pay commission for them and accepting the one rank- one pension demand,” he said.

Shimla, April 3
The Himachal Pradesh High Court yesterday stayed the order passed by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kangra, wherein he had ordered if the girl students had any complaint of criminal misbehaviour they would be free to report the matter directly to the police or to the court in an obscene SMS case in Palampur Agriculture University (PAU).

Justice Surinder Singh passed this interim order on a petition filed by the Vice-Chancellor of PAU, Tej Pratap Singh, wherein he challenged the order of the CJM. The court today directed the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kangra, to send his comments on this petition.

It is pertinent to mention here that the CJM had taken a suo motu notice regarding the SMS case in PAU and pulled up the police and university authorities and passed the order, which was stayed by the high court today.

The court stayed the some part of the order passed by the CJM where he had directed that the girls of the university might directly file complaint to the court or to the police in respect to any offence. The CJM had also directed to send the copy of the order to the girls and place the same on notice board.

The petitioner, Tej Partap Singh, has challenged the order of the CJM on the ground that the same is in conflict with the directions passed by the apex court. He has also asked to take action against the CJM for flouting the orders of the Supreme Court. The petitioner said he could not comply with the orders of the CJM as same were against the law laid down by the apex court.

He said six girls student had complained him about the behaviour of their head of the department.

He took prompt action against him and an FIR was also lodged with the police on March 2.

Dharamsala, April 3
The vigilance has booked Hari Kishan Atwal, a resident of Rainsari village in Una district for allegedly using general power of attorney to sell the property of his deceased uncle Om Prakash Mehta.

Dharamsala zone vigilance SP, Santosh Patial, said Aditi, a resident of Rainsari village, approached them with a complaint against her cousin Hari. Aditi alleged that the accused had used the general power of attorney issued by her father after his death to sell 36-kanal land belonging to their family. On inquiry, it was found that Om Prakash had died on December 24, 2008.

A case has been registered against the accused under Section 420 of the IPC.