Kullu, July 27
It is unfair to blame foreign tourists for the drug menace in Kullu valley, says Dr BS Raval, who is at the forefront of fighting drugs in the region. No single agency is responsible for the easy availability of drugs in this part of Himachal Pradesh, he points out while citing the penetration of the Internet, video films and dearth of alternative and more meaningful avenues of recreation as the other major factors.

“We wake up only when drug addicts get violent, break houses, beat their parents or commit suicide,” says Raval and laments lack of united action and team-work in combating drugs. Anti-drug rallies, after all, are a one-day affair and are more a ritual than anything else.

President of ‘Naya Savera’, the only de-addiction centre in the region, Arvind Kumar, who himself had struggled to give up drugs 15 years ago, attributes the drug epidemic to a ‘crisis of relationship’. People who are short on confidence, he says, are susceptible to drugs which allow them to escape from virtual reality. Strong family bonds, better communication and healthier relationships, he feels, are the key antidotes to drugs.

The de-addiction centre at Jhiri, he points out, treats a large number of youngsters and the number of school-goers approaching the centre for help is alarming.

Drug, claimed some of these school students, are freely available outside schools and colleges all over the state. And peer pressure often prompts school boys to try out the forbidden drugs.

Foreign tourists, specially the budget tourists or the back-packers, have added a touch of glamour by holding “Full Moon” parties, raves etc in which drugs appear to play a significant role. But the police action outside schools or at these parties is rare.

Vikram, son of an Army officer, is a counsellor at the de-addiction centre. The centre, he admits, rescued him from drugs. He had not only become an addict but also seriously toyed with the idea of becoming a drug-don, attracted by the easy money and high margins the trade continues to offer.

Ajay, who bunked schools in Sundernagar to look for drugs, and Ringzin from Lahaul, who picked up the addiction while following foreigners, two more addicts treated by the centre, which claims to have cured 183 of them. And there is certainly room for more such centres, it would appear. An alarmingly high percentage of school-going children, indicate unofficial surveys, in the region seem to be aware of drugs and how they taste.

The addicts, says Daya Ram, begin by stealing household goods and progressively turn to more serious crime in order to get money to purchase drugs. Many of the addicts suffer from serious lapse of memory as well.

Teenagers from affluent families, and even girls, seem to be taking up drugs although they do not come to the de-addiction centres in the state for treatment, says Kumar. “ They can afford to get treated outside,” he adds and claims that most of these rich brats take to drugs to overcome ‘boredom’.

DIG Central Range, Anurag Garg, claims that specific information about suppliers seldom reach the police. Society, he says, must take the initiative to expose the suppliers.

Shimla, July 27
Rules are for common man, not for the influential even if it pertains to the highly sensitive core area and heritage zone, stone’s throw away from the Mall Road.

A construction site in the heart of the town has become a cause of inconvenience for people who are finding it difficult to use the passage connecting the Subzi Mandi area and the Mall Road. Flying concrete pieces today hit two women who were passing by as construction is being undertaken callously putting the safety of passers-by at risk.

Interestingly, this very site had remained controversial even during the last BJP regime, as a temporary shop had been raised at the site despite the fact that no new construction could come up in the core area under Town and Country Planning (TCP) rules. Rubble from the structure has been permanently stacked causing problem to people using the passage.

Even though the approval in this case has been sought by the owner but neither the MC nor the TCP officials have bothered to check if the reconstruction is being undertaken strictly along old lines or violations are being made. Digging is being undertaken on the ground floor, which could open up much more space and allow him to construct additional rooms.

In sharp contrast to this is the case of a common citizen who has made umpteen requests over the last one year to the MC to allow him undertake repair work of his dilapidated house in Chakkar with little success. “I was earlier told that permission will be given only if all six owners undertake repair which is not possible as some of them live abroad and others outside Shimla,” said the hapless person.

A.N. Sharma, Commissioner (MC), when contacted said the entire case of the said construction case would be checked to ensure that no violation was being done.

The owner of the building under construction, Kapil Mahashe, when contacted claimed that he had taken the required approval and that there was no violation. In case of the core area and heritage zone no new construction can be undertaken and reconstruction along old lines is permissible.

Earlier, this permission was granted by the Cabinet but three months back a committee under Secretary, TCP, was constituted to approve cases in the Core, Heritage and Green areas but only along old lines.

Shimla, July 27
Paonta-based export oriented food processing unit, Himalayan International, is set to enter north Indian market next month with its range of natural milk-based products and ethnic Indian sweets.

According to Manmohan Malik, managing director of the company, the products would be introduced in the national capital region — Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh — in the first phase and other parts of the country by the year end.

He said he expected the domestic sales to touch Rs 25 crore during the current financial year.

"We will launch the “all natural” sweets that we market in North America. Packed in ISO certified plant, our products are of good value for the Indian consumer too,” said Malik.

The company had been selling products in the US and Canada for the past over a decade.

Shimla, July 27
Scanty snow during the last winter in the high mountain ranges of the tribal areas has encouraged the Army to make yet another bid to search for the bodies of the victims of the AN-12 transport, which crashed at South Dakka glacier, near the Kunzum Pass in Lahaul, with 102 persons on board 41 years ago.

A team of 20 trained mountaineers from the Dogra Scouts led by Maj Vasudevan has been assigned the job. The search expedition will start from Sumdoh and reach Bathal on July 29 where the base camp will be set up for conducting search operations at the 17,400-ft high glacier. After spending about a week in the ranges for acclimatisation, the team is expected to start the search for the victims’ bodies and wreckage of the ill-fated aircraft.

Only four bodies had been recovered since the wreckage of the plane, which went missing on February 7, 1968. They were first discovered when some mountaineers stumbled upon the body of a victim, Sepoy Beli Ram, in 2003. More importantly, the black box of the aircraft, which could throw light on the cause of mishap, had also not been found so far, Vasudevan informed.

“Searching wreckage and bodies spread over a large area and buried under snow is not an easy job at such heights where oxygen level is low. However, we are hopeful of making some headway this time as the high ranges received much less snow during winters,” he pointed out.

The last search expedition was sent in 2007 and no attempt was made last year. Since the area remains under snow throughout the year, the remains, including bodies, have been well preserved in the extreme cold conditions with mercury mostly remaining below the freezing point. Personal belongings and other documents extricated from glaciers during previous search operations were found intact.

Vasudevan informed that while all members were experienced mountaineers and one Balwant Singh had the distinction of scaling the Mount Everest.

Shimla, July 27
The CPM sought CBI inquiry into the alleged illegal appointment of a college lecturer in Sanskrit, Meena Sharma, in the Education Department in violation of the rules.

Rakesh Singha, secretary, state committee of the CPM, in a representation made to the CBI today demanded that a thorough inquiry should be made into the alleged illegal appointment made using the clout of her husband, RM Sharma, SP, Shimla.

Singha alleged that the present regime had shown undue favour by regularising the services of Meena Sharma on April 16, 2008, and ordering her transfer on the very same day from Sujanpur Tihra college to Government College, Kotshera. “She was not only regularised and transferred to her choice station but was also given a sum of Rs 11.72 lakh,” he alleged.

Meena had served on contract basis in DAV College, Sujanpur Tihra, for less than a year before the college was taken over by the government. Only the staff, which had completed more than one year of service was regularised.

“The allegations are totally baseless and motivated by the fact that I in my capacity as district police chief tried to enforce law and maintain peace in the HPU,” the SP said. He added that the CPM before levelling such baseless allegations should have cross-checked with the facts.

Sources in the government informed that the decision to condone the one-year condition in case of seven employees had been taken by the Cabinet. Moreover, the salary due to these teachers, including that to Sharma, was given on the directions of the State Administrative Tribunal.

Bilaspur, July 27“As many as one crore saplings will be distributed by the Forest Department to the farmers in the state under the ‘grow more trees campaign’ being launched by the department during this rainy season. Forest Minister JP Nadda said this while addressing a seminar of NGOs’ here last night.

The Forest Minister said presently the department had three crore plants in its nurseries and steps would be taken to ensure that more of these saplings were given to the farmers free of cost from these nurseries to be planted in their fallow lands and on sides of grain fields. This would help in protecting the environment .

Nadda said Chief Minister PK Dhumal would launch three afforestation schemes in Shimla on August 2 while he would also inaugurate a state-level vana mahotsava there on August 8.

He said efforts were on to involve all sections of society in this work and 400 saplings would be planted in the town by NGOs, officers, senior citizens, employees , shopkeepers and journalists under the Harit Bilaspur programme in the rainy season.

Nurpur, July 27
The local Arya Government College is still awaiting the posting of lecturers to start classes of science and commerce stream. The academic session has already commenced on July 1st and the Education Department has also issued notification last month to start the classes for the current session.

The classes of existing subjects in arts stream have started but those students who have taken admissions in the science (medical and non-medical) and commerce streams have not begun their classes as there is no faculty available to teach them.

The state Education Department had created 16 posts of teaching staff for science and commerce in August last year but failed to initiate the process of filling up the created posts. The ongoing process of posting of lecturers has been delayed due to lackadaisical attitude of the Education Department.

Local MLA Rakesh Pathania who took keen interest in the sanctioning of new faculties in the college said the process of appointing lecturers was in progress and the vacant posts to run new streams would likely be filled within a week or so.

Bilaspur, July 27
The government must face the menace of terrorism boldly and crush it with iron hands by adopting and enforcing strong laws as other countries of the world have already done.

This was stated by Indresh, national president of Himalaya Parivar , an organisation devoted to protection and preservation of the environment in the Himalayas and also giving protection to the rich hill culture of this region, while addressing a state-level function on “Vijay Diwas” here yesterday.

Indresh, an RSS activist, said terrorism had become the biggest problem of the country and it required government’s strong will and action to curb and crush it so that nobody dared to repeat any mischief.

Indresh paid glowing tributes to the warriors who valiantly fought and those who gave their lives at the Kargil front and brought victory for the country.

Earlier, Indresh inaugurated the General Zorawar Singh Park and unveiled statue of the General in this park in Raura sector of this town.

He said the state unit of Himalaya Parivar had done a unique service by installing statue of the great General who was born at Bilaspur and who was responsible for annexing the entire region of Ladakh , which was the theatre of the Kargil war now. Coming generations would take pride in valour and victories of such great soldiers which would inspire them to follow their example for sacrifices, he added.

Forest Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda announced that he would make all efforts to ensure that a life size-statue of this “Little Napoleon of India” is installed at the War Memorial here at the Changar sector, a chair set up in HP University in memory of this great General and a lesson introduced in the school syllabus of students of proper age so that they could know the facts of such heroes and get inspiration.

Colonel Jaswant Singh Chandel gave an account of life and heroic deeds of General Zorawar Singh Kehlooria and strongly rebutted claims of some people regarding the his birth place. He said even English historians were one in admitting that the General was born at Bilaspur. 

Shimla, July 27
Sportspersons from the state excelled in the 84th International World Karate Championship held at Himeji city in Japan last week by winning two silver and a bronze medal in the junior category for the country.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has congratulated the karate team that had nine members from Himachal Pradesh for their outstanding performance at the international level.

He said the performance of the three players would give a boost to the sports in the state and encourage youth to take up such a sport in a big way.

He emphasised on the need to train girls in karate, which would not only equip them with the art of defending themselves but also instill confidence in them.