Dharamsala, April 29
BJP candidate from the Kangra parliamentary constituency Rajan Sushant organised a road show here today. His supporters accompanied him in a caravan of two-wheelers and four-wheelers. They were raising slogans to attract public attention. The caravan came to a halt wherever they saw small gatherings of people and party leaders utilised the opportunity to highlight achievements of the state government.

The road show passed through the entire Dharamsala assembly constituency area starting from Kotwali market to Tapowan. Sources said the step was aimed at reaching out to the public as gathering people for the big rallies was becoming increasingly difficult.

Addressing a gathering, Rajan Sushant alleged Congress candidate from Kangra and sitting MP Chander Kumar was resorting to caste politics. During his five-year stint as an MP, Chander Kumar had failed to take up issues of the state in Parliament. This, despite the fact that the Congress was heading the UPA government at the Centre. He did not oppose the proposed termination of industrial package to the state, he alleged.

On the contrary, the current BJP government had managed to get sanctioned many projects from the UPA government, he claimed.

He said the contribution of Chander Kumar could be gauged from the fact that he did not participate even in the inaugural ceremony of the NIFT that was presided over by the UPA minister Shankar Singh Vaghela.

District president of the BJP Vipin Parmar said the Dhumal government had provided benefit to every section of society. Interestingly, transport minister Kishan Kapoor, who is the local representative, did not join the road show. Sources maintained he had been sent to Jodhpur in Rajasthan for campaigning.

Kullu, April 29
Eight tourists from Kolkata were killed and five seriously injured in an accident at Acchharu nullah, about 13 km from Banjar, in this district today when the Tempo Traveller (PB-01-6563) in which they were travelling from Shimla to Kullu via Ani rolled down to a 1000 feet deep gorge, killing seven of them on the spot. Six injured were rushed to the government hospital at Banjar where one of them succumbed to her injuries. The five were referred to the regional hospital here. The condition of all the injured was stated to be stable, according to Dr Mahesh Kapoor.

K K Indoria, superintendent of police, here said that the tourists were from West Bengal and going from Shimla to Kullu. The Deputy Commissioner here said that the tourists were BSNL employees from Kolkata.

The dead included four men, two women and two children. They were identified as Rajesh (55), the driver, Ankur Pakrashi (51), Diya Pakrashi (10), Bhanu Pal (16), Archna Pal (40), Shekhar Chakrovorty (50), Ganapati Mazumdar (60) and Amrita Chakravorty alias Tuktuki (8).

The Injured were Shreya Pal (18), Ankush Pakrashi (18), Gopal (45), Sumana Charovorty (42) and Sharauni Pakrashi (45). The bodies of the dead were brought to regional hospital here for a post-mortem examination.

Pratibha Singh, MP, who was on election campaign in the area reached the spot and advised the administration to provide all possible help immediately. The SDM, Banjar, DSP, Banjar, and other officials reached the spot and executed the search and rescue operations. The injured were immediately shifted while the four of the dead were retrieved till the filing of the news.

Shimla, April 29
The controversy surrounding the filing of a complaint by suspended IPS officer BS Thind against the Chief Minister before the Lokayukta and its subsequent withdrawal has assumed political significance with the officer denying that he had sought dropping of charges against PK Dhumal.

Even as no confirmation could be made in the Lokayukta about a communication having been received from Thind denying that the affidavit filed on his behalf was not sent by him, the officer has added to the mystery by stating that somebody has forged his signatures to seek dropping of allegations levelled by him against the Chief Minister on April 4.

However, it is reliably learnt that Thind is likely to appear in person before the Lokayukta within the two-three days to clarify that he had not sent any affidavit seeking withdrawal of complaint against Dhumal.

Thind is scheduled to appear in a Solan court in connection with a case on May 2.

This kind of a development, especially before the Lok Sabha elections, could have far-reaching political implications as the BJP had been linking Thind with former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

However, with the officer now alleging that he has not sought dropping of charges against Dhumal, the million-dollar question that remains unanswered is as to who could have done this on his behalf and with what motive.

It is reliably learnt that the Lokayuta is also investigating the matter at its own level to ascertain if the signatures of Thind are forged or not. Some inquiries have been made with regard to this controversy over the past two days.

With the matter still under consideration of the Lokayukta, confusion prevails as the Congress and the BJP have been trading charges on the Thind issue.

The BJP has always tried to point fingers at Thind by playing up his proximity to Virbhadra Singh. In fact, his name had prominently figured in the charge sheet prepared by the BJP.

Even as the truth about the affidavit and the signatory to it is yet to be unveiled, the issue has become a topic of hot political debate.

With both the BJP and the Congress accusing each other of corruption, it will be interesting to know as to who is trying to forge the signatures of Thind to get the complaint against Dhumal dropped.

Shimla, April 29
In a major step to prevent recurrence of episodes like the one witnessed recently in which Rs 61 lakh were recovered in cash from the office and a personal bag of the divisional forest officer, Theog, the government has revamped the financial work and tendering system in the Forest Department.

Financial limits have been imposed to ensure that only small works were carried out by the department and all major works were got executed through contractors. So far, the department has been executing works amounting to corers of rupees by employing casual labourers and lakhs were paid in cash to the workers on the basis of muster rolls in each division, which left much scope for corruption and financial irregularities.

As per the new norms, the department will be able to carry out works only up to Rs 1 lakh. The works involving expenditure ranging from Rs 1 lakh and up to Rs 5 lakh will be awarded by inviting quotations from registered contractors. All works in excess of Rs 5 lakh will be awarded through tenders. Instead of maintaining muster rolls and accounts, the field staff will focus on supervision of work awarded to contractors.

Further, all payments in excess of Rs 5,000 will be made either through cheque or electronic transfer. Until now, payments were made in cash and the officers concerned withdrew huge amounts from banks and the money was often misused. It was quite strange that in a state which had achieved total financial inclusion and payments to even casual workers under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme were being made through cheques, a major department was withdrawing such huge amounts of government money in cash for various payments.

Additional Chief Secretary, Forests, Avay Shukla had set up a five-member committee under the chairmanship of Chief Conservator of Forests DP Sinha to carry out a detailed exercise for a complete switch over to cashless transactions in the department.

The new system would not only bring down cash transactions to a bare minimum, but also ensure timely and cost-effective execution of projects. A foolproof system of monitoring of works, particularly new plantations, using digital imaging would also be evolved.

Dharamsala, April 29
Political rivals of Chandresh Kumari, former MLA from the Dharamsala assembly constituency, are following her up to Jodhpur in Rajasthan from where she is contesting the Lok Sabha election on the Congress ticket this time.

Chandresh Kumari belongs to the royal family of Jodhpur. She was married here in the royal family of Lambagaraon. She is the daughter of late maharaja of Jodhpur Hanwant Singh and sister of former ruler of the state Gaj Singh.

After marriage in Himachal, she had been contesting the elections on the Congress ticket from the Dharamsala assembly segment. She remained MLA from Dharamsala in 1972, 1984 and 1989. She also remained a Rajya Sabha member from the state.

However, the Congress has fielded her from Jodhpur this time to counter BJP strong man and former Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh. Sources available here said after the reconstitution of the Jodhpur constituency, it had become a Rajput dominated area. The Congress decided to pull back Chandresh Kumari back to her paternal place Jodhpur to give a tough fight to the BJP. Her brother, Gaj Singh, is, however, a supporter of the BJP.

The BJP has now summoned arch rival of Chandresh Kumari from Dharamsala to campaign against her in Rajasthan. BJP minister for transport Kishan Kapoor, who defeated Chandresh Kumari from the Dharamsala assembly segment, in the last assembly elections, has been summoned by the party to Jodhpur.

He left for Rajasthan today. When contacted by The Tribune, he was in plane on his way to Rajasthan. He said he would tell the electorate regarding her performance as an MLA in Dharamsala. During her stint as an MLA from here, she was not easily assessable to the public. If failed in Himachal, how anyone could hope that she would deliver the goods to the voters of Jodhpur, he said.

Shimla, April 29
Stepping up the offensive against PK Dhumal on the issue of corruption, Pradesh Congress Committee chief Kaul Singh has said that he should step down as the Chief Minister of the state in view of the complaint filed with the Lokayukta by an officer of the rank of additional director general of police until his name was cleared in the case.

Addressing a press conference here today, he said morality demanded that he should quit the office to pave way for an impartial probe. Behind the scene, manoeuvring was on to get the complaint withdrawn. He also accused the Dhumal government of trying to hush up the “currency wad” scam in which BJP candidate from the Shimla Virender Kashyap was involved. He said Rs 25,000 deposited with the police was only a fraction of the total amount involved. He wanted to know what happened to the rest of the money.

He said the conduct of Kashyap was in line with the BJP culture as was evident from the involvement of party’s senior leaders right from the then national president Bangaru Laxman to Himachal MP Suresh Chandel. Kaul Singh claimed there was a wave in favour of the Congress and the popularity graph of the BJP had nose-dived in a short span of time, forcing Dhumal to bring Shanta Kumar, who was conveniently sidelined by him, to the forefront for campaigning.

Having a dig at Dhumal for dubbing him a defector, Kaul Singh said the senior-most minister in his Cabinet was also the biggest turncoat of the state, who got elected on the Congress ticket and became the Speaker with the help of the BJP and later defected to the party.

Shimla, April 29
The Himachal Pradesh Corporate Sector Workers Coordination Committee has rejected recommendations of the 5th Punjab Pay Commission and urged the Punjab government not to accept it in the present form. In a statement here today chairman and general secretary of the committee Harbans Rana and Rameshwar Gripta, respectively, said if the recommendations were implemented without any amendments the employees of Punjab would get lower salaries than their counterparts in the central government. The panel had recommended lower allowances than compared to the central pay commission.

He said the employees of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh would form a joint front to fight against the injustice done by the pay commission. He said the review committee set up the Punjab government should suitably increase pay scales, grade pay and allowances otherwise recovering would have to be affected from many categories of employees who were already getting more. Further, no financial benefits would accrue to them on promotion. Rana also urged the Himachal government to grant education allowance for children, house rent, conveyance allowance, mobile allowance and other benefits on the pattern of Punjab.