Shimla, August 4
Discussion on the adverse impact of cement plants on environment, raised in the Vidhan Sabha by Leader of Opposition Vidya Stokes, boomeranged on the Congress as Chief Minister PK Dhumal furnished information from official records indicating that all 11 plants were cleared during the previous Congress regime.

“As many as six plants were allotted during the last term, out of which four were sanctioned in 2007 alone in undue haste,” Dhumal pointed out. He said some of the Congress leaders who had raised the issue were members of the Cabinet that had sanctioned the project. But they had not opposed the proposals.

Now out of power, they are expressing concern over the negative impact of the cement plants on the hill ecology and environment. The Chief Minister categorically stated that the state would not review any of the agreement signed by the previous government in this regard.

Referring to the criticism that cement plants were concentrated in Barmana-Darlaghat area, he said the projects could be set up only where limestone was available. He agreed that movement of trucks was a major source of pollution and to address this problem, the government was pursuing the Bhanupali-Bilaspur rail line project.

Dhumal said the government had no control of over pricing of cement and as such could not force the companies to reduce rates. Regarding the loss of green cover due to mining, the chief Minister said the government would consider introducing compensatory afforestation schemes on the pattern of catchment area treatment plan for hydropower projects.

Initiating the debate Stokes said the cement plants would spell disaster for the fragile hill environment and they should be discouraged.

Senior Congress leader Kaul Singh said fertile land should not be acquired for setting up the plants and urged the government to ensure that the Sundernagar cement plant was set up at the original site of Nahan to save agriculture land. 

Shimla, August 4
With HPCC and Congress legislators backing him, Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh today said the registration of an FIR against him was a desperate move by the BJP regime to damage the Congress’ and his reputation through baseless accusations.

Calling the registration of the FIR a “gimmick”, former Chief Minister said: “The talk of a so-called CD being there had been in the air for the last more than two years. If at all such a CD exists, it is certainly an exercise in fabrication and doctoring.”

The Steel Minister said the FIR was just a desperate act of political vendetta. “It appears that the BJP remembers to act on the CD only at the time of elections as the first time it was released Dhumal was going to contest the Lok Sabha elections in 2007, and now once again it is in the news as the by-elections are imminent,” he stated.

Virbhadra said he had already filed a criminal complaint for defamation against Vijai Singh Mankotia, who initially released the so-called CD at a press conference at Dharamsala in 2007. “The matter is under trial in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Shimla,” he said.

HPCC chief Kaul Singh Thakur said the FIR was politically motivated. “It is a government of inquiries for inquiry against its political opponents,” he remarked, adding the timing of the release of the CD in 2007 and the registering of the FIR now was just to get political mileage out of a fabricated case.

Meanwhile, 13 Congress MLAs, in a signed statement, said Dhumal was acting with political vendetta. “This is not for the first time that the BJP has tried to frame Virbhadra Singh. Earlier, a 29-point chargesheet was investigated by the CBI, who gave clean chit to the Union minister,” they said.

Congress leaders added that it was not for the first time that such baseless allegations had been levelled by Mankotia. He had on earlier occasions also tendered an unconditional apology after which Virbhadra Singh had withdrawn defamation case filed against him.

MANDI: Congress leaders and workers in the region today lambasted the state government for registering a case against Union Steel Minister and Mandi MP Virbhadra Singh in the “fake audio CD case” as another political ploy to malign his “clean political career”. In a joint statement, former Sundernagar MLA Sohan Lal, former MILFED chairman Chet Ram, and former Mandi council president Pushp Raj charged that the BJP was trying to implicate Virbhadra Singh in the case as he had already filed a defamation suit.

KULLU: Budhi Singh Thakur, president of the district Congress committee, has alleged that Dhumal was out to malign the image of former Chief Minister and Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh before the ensuing by-elections in the state by lodging an FIR in the CD episode case. Thakur said Dhumal had got the FIR lodged to get benefit in the Roharu constituency by-election but the people of Roharu would give him a befitting reply by electing Congress candidate with a huge margin. 

Shimla, August 4
The state government is planning to incorporate a penal clause to deal with violation of mandatory condition for providing 70 per cent employment to Himachalis in the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Independent Power Producers (IPP’s).

Stating this in the Vidhan Sabha today, Chief Minister PK Dhumal said violations of the 70 per cent employment condition had been brought to notice of the Power Department from time to time and showcause notices had also been issued to the errant agencies.

Out of the 26 projects, the conditions had not been met in respect of nine, including the Karcham Wangtu project in which only 618 out of the total 2,786 employees were Himachalis. In all, 1,324 Himachalis were given employment in these projects from January 1 to October 31. The government had been following up the matter with the IPP’s and would also try to get the backlog on this account cleared, he added.

Intervening in a question regarding private BEd colleges, he said 73 colleges with an annual intake of about 9,000 were far, too, many and seats were vacant.

The government had raised the minimum marks for admission to BEd to help improve the quality of education in the state.

Health Minister Rajiv Bindal told Subhash Manglet that the government had been facing problems in filling posts in the First Referral Units (FRU’s) because of shortage of medical specialists.

He said as per norms, six medical specialists were required for each FRU, but the availability was much less. Over the past 18 months, 21 specialists had
been recruited.

Replying to another question, he said the government had submitted Rs 150 crore-plan to improve and expend facilities at the Dr Rajendra Prasad Medical College at Tanda to the Centre under the upgradation programme. The Centre would provide Rs 125 crore and the state government would contribute the rest. 

Shimla, August 4
Taking a serious view on the issue of encroachments made by the shopkeepers on the Mall Road and Lower Bazaar area of the town, the high court today authorised citizens of Shimla to bring to the notice of the court any encroachment by sending a letter to the Registrar General of the court.

The court also directed the Shimla Municipal Commissioner to ensure that the orders were complied with in letter and spirit. It also held the Commissioner liable for the implementation of these orders. The order was passed on a public interest litigation with regards to the fact that shopkeepers were encroaching upon the Mall Road and had covered the drains leading to blockage.

The court also directed secretary (town & country planning) and secretary of the heritage committee to file their affidavits giving the latest status regarding the matter of uniform and proper facades on The Mall with in two weeks.

While passing the order, Division Bench comprising Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Surinder Singh observed: “We had in our earlier orders noted that the shopkeepers are willing to pay small fine for encroaching on the road and the time has come to ensure penalties are levied upon them such as, penal provision like being sent to jail or cancellation of the licence to run a shop.”

The matter will come for further hearing on August 26.

Hamirpur, August 4
While a large number of new electricity connections are on hold for continuing shortage of meters and other material in Himachal Pradesh Electricity Board (HPSEB) stores, employees are finding it difficult to carry minor repairs at some places due to this reason.

The HPSEB, which caters to lakhs of consumers of the state, is in such a short supply of material that in many divisions even PVC wire is not available for carrying necessary repairs or replacement.

Sources in the board say “a large number of new consumers are not being given connections as meters and other material is not available in the stores.”

While lack of funds is stated to be as one of the reasons for not carrying these purchases, bureaucratic lapses are also to be blamed for this.

Insiders in the HPSEB say “the purchase of many items, including poles, conductors, wires and meters has not been made for quite some time and some of these have not been purchased since March last.”

An employee working in the field on condition of anonymity told The Tribune, “We are not even getting common material like PVC wire and wire clips and find it difficult to replace even small piece of wire as burning of wire due to short circuit is quite common during the rainy season and we have to face wrath of the consumers too in the field.”

Interestingly, while executive engineers are empowered to make local purchases up to 3 lakhs and superintending engineers can make purchases up to Rs 12 lakh in the HPSEB, still daily use material is not available.

Expressing his concern on the inability of the HPSEB to provide new connections to consumers, a line staff says, “How would revenue of board increase if we fail to provide new connections and carry routine maintenance work.” 

Mandi, August 4
Scientists have suspected some volcanic activity in a small explosion reported at Mount Rangri on July 28.

With this, the Resident Commission, Spiti, today took the videography of the suspected explosion spot and asked the Geological Survey of India, Lucknow, to take satellite pictures or dispatch a scientific expedition to the area to ascertain the facts.

Chief scientific officer at the State Council for Science, Technology and Environment RK Sud in his report to Spiti Commissioner today said there could be some volcanic activity, as the area lies on the Rangrik fault that passes through the region.

“There can be some seismic activity, but it can be verified from the scientific study”,
Sud said.

Resident Commissioner P Mandal told The Tribune that nobody precisely knew as to what happened there at the top. “But it is so far only hearsay that there was some explosion, as there was no fire or gas at the spot. Only a marginal U-shaped landslide is visible”, he said.

Earlier, the earthquake struck the Spiti region in 1975 with epicentre at Rangrik.

Una, August 4
The police has solved a blind murder case in which a soldier, in connivance with his brother-in-law, had killed his wife.

The police managed to crack the case after the co-accused, arrested on suspicion, spilled beans. On the information provided by him, the police today traced the body of the deceased from a forest area near Bal Kaurpi temple.

Only the skeleton could be recovered as the murder took place about a month ago.

Una SP Santosh Patial, while talking to The Tribune, said the body has been identified on physical grounds but it would also be sent for forensic examination to confirm identification. The SP said the main accused, Rakesh Kumar of Hatwana village in Bangana area of Una district, had married Swaran Lata in 2000. The couple was having troubled relations.

On July 3 Rakesh Kumar offered his wife to take her to her parent’s house in Dehra area of Kangra district. In a deserted area near the temple, the duo killed Swaran Lata and dumped the body.

After committing the crime Rakesh went back on duty. The complaint regarding missing Swaran Lata was registered by her brother. The SP said they were now approaching the Army authorities to arrest Rakesh Kumar.

Solan, August 4
With no transportation arrangements being made by the state government or authorities of the JP University of Information Technology at Waknaghat, the students travelling from their to the campus are openly fleeced by the unauthorised taxis.

Since hundreds of the students commute from Shimla, Solan and other nearby places, they are forced to spend Rs 70 to commute from Waknaghat to the campus, which is hardly a distance of 2 to 2.5 km.

Students, who travel daily from Solan, told The Tribune that, “Earlier, a few taxis were available at subsidised rates. But now, unauthorised taxi union dictates rates. The students are forced to suffer under these circumstances. Since they have monopolised the trade, they do not allow others to operate.”

“In absence of other options, we are compelled to pay exorbitant price daily. Though, the matter has been brought to the notice of the university authorities, but we are yet to find any alternative arrangement,” they added.

Registrar of the university Brig (retd) Balbir Singh said he had been pursuing the issue of fixing rates of taxis for the past one year with the Kandaghat SDM and Solan DC, but nothing had been materialised till now. 

Una, August 4
Additional District and Sessions Judge, Una, Chirag Bhanu, on Saturday sentenced Ashwani Kumar of Daulatpur in Una district for murder of his wife Monika. He has been sentenced to life imprisonment and fine of Rs 10,000.

According to a press note issued today by ADA AK Nadda, Monika’s marriage with Ashwani took place in 2000 without dowry. But later, her in-laws started demanding dowry. Due to harassment she left for her parent’s house and filed a case in the Dalhousie court and before the Human Rights Commission.