Solan, August 13
Even as the state health authorities are relying on Central Research Institute (CRI), Kasauli, to conduct testing of swine flu, refusal of institute to take three samples sent today from Shimla has put a question mark over the institute’s credibility.

Confirming this, IGMC principal Dr Surinder Kashyap said they had sent three samples for testing to CRI today but the same had been returned.

He said he was not aware of the reason but now these samples would be sent to National Institute of Communicable Disease (NICD), Delhi, for testing.

Intriguingly, the institute director had himself convened a press conference on Monday and said they had set up a bio-safety level-three laboratory after spending crores and were equipped to test swine flu cases.

The CRI was among 18 other government designated labs in the country which had been authorised to conduct these tests by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It was suppose to accept samples from Himachal and Haryana.

Dr KR Mani, director, CRI, when contacted, confirmed the same and said they had received three samples from Shimla and were undertaking testing for swine flu.

He added that they had set up a fully-equipped laboratory confirming to bio-safety level-three and testing of swine flu was underway. He refused to accept that the institute was not equipped to handle such cases.

This contradictory statement had put a question mark over the credibility of the institute which was already struggling to save its image after the Drug Controller General of India had withdrawn its licence to manufacture certain vaccines.

Sources in the institute revealed that lack of reagents availability and sudden receipt of swine flu samples had exposed lack of preparedness of the institute to test swine flu cases.

What was, however, surprising was the fact that the institute had backed out at a time when testing of swine flu was the most crucial step in detecting its presence and later helping in its specific diagnosis.

The refusal had also put a question mark over the three samples sent to the institute yesterday by the IGMC, Shimla.

Solan, August 13
Trucks plying on the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) industrial belt will soon switch over to compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel which will help reduce atmospheric pollution in this eco-fragile hill state.

The arrangement will be through once Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) finalises the vendor to distribute CNG to Chandigarh and peripheral regions.

Since the Gas Authority of India was already transporting CNG till Nangal, the state government had requested it to extend this pipeline till the BBN area.

An MoU was consequently signed between the two to facilitate this arrangement, said Manoj Sharma, director, industries.

The will also make available piped gas to industrial area for domestic, industrial and commercial use and the facility would be extended later to adjoining industrial areas like Poanta Sahib, Kala Amb and Parwanoo.

The PNGRB, which was responsible for transporting the CNG, has now invited tenders to select the vendor for city gas distribution in Chandigarh which would be extended till the BBN area.

This will help solve the woes of domestic consumers and who faced hardships in procuring LPG cylinders.

Earlier, the Department of Industries had handed over a survey report to the PNGRB which assessed the gas requirement in the industrial areas of the state including, Gagret, Una, Tahliwal, Mehatpur, Parwanoo, BBN, Gwal Thai, Indora, Damtal, etc.

With nearly 3,445 small scale industries and 358 medium and large units, the expected power use at present is 716 MW.

According to this survey, about 1,124 MW power was expected to be available after commissioning of various projects by 2012.

With nearly 10 cement plants, including existing and upcoming, in the state, as many as 20,000 trucks were slated to transport cement which could readily consume CNG and reduce atmospheric pollution emanating on account of use of high-spirit diesel.

The atmospheric pollution caused by the use of diesel had become a cause of concern for environmentalists.

Consumption of diesel at present was assessed at 32,0726 litres while that of motor spirit was to the tune of 10,7430 litres.

According to the survey, the present LPG consumption was 70,081.2 MT which would rise to 93,379.508 MT by 2012.

Officials said they hoped to make the CNG facility available for these truckers in the near future and hence the demand survey had been handed over to the board.

Dharamsala, August 13
The recovery of 21 bonded labourers from the JP Power Project has led to blame game among the police and civil administration officers of Kinnaur.

The police administration was earlier accused of issuing a clean chit to power project authorities on the issue of bonded labourers.

When questioned yesterday, YS Pathania, SP, Kinnaur, had said they had just issued a clean chit on the issue of child labour as domestic servants in power project area.

However, today the SP contacted The Tribune and said earlier he had no knowledge about the case.

“After the news appeared, I checked the facts. It is not the police but the local SDM of the area who had issued clean chit to the power project authorities on the issue,” he said.

Sources available here said the Kinnaur district administration today arranged for a bus and dispatched the labourers to Delhi.

Police constables and labour officer would accompany the rescued labourers till Delhi where they would be handed over to the Madhya Pradesh police, they added.

The sources also said the present case of recovery of bonded labourers from the power-project site might be tip of the iceberg.

Since local labour is not available in remote tribal areas where the power projects are coming up, generally labour was arranged through dubious middlemen and labour contractors from UP, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

Once in remote tribal areas where in cases one had to trek mountains to reach the site, the labourers were at the mercy of contractors.

Regular check up by labour officers at such construction sites could help save the poor labourers from exploitation, they said.

Shimla, August 13
Having fished out almost two-decade old records from the Industries and General Administration Department (GAD) pertaining to high-profile CD case, Vigilance Bureau quizzed some key witnesses to establish linkages before the questionnaire could be handed over to Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife next week.

Sensing the significance of the case, teams of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau are engaged in the process of collecting old records from various parts of the state, including Shimla, Dharamsala and Kullu, so that information about the possible beneficiaries could be collected. They are already in possession of records from the Small Industries Development Corporation (SIDC) and GAD.

Sources confirmed that several key witnesses, some of them from outside Himachal, had been questioned during the past two days to establish linkages as the recording in the audio CD pertained to 1989-90.

It is reliably learnt that the Vigilance sleuths have also collected information from GAD department with regard to the departmental promotion committee (DPC) to see if Mohinder Lal was given undue favour in grant of super scale of the rank of a divisional commissioner.

The late bureaucrat was very close to Virbhadra Singh and had remained Deputy Commissioner, Shimla, before being given the important post of director, Industries.

The Vigilance Bureau is also collecting records from some other departments like the Power and State Pollution Control Bureau, to see if some gratuitous and unjustified favour had been extended to the industrial units and other beneficiaries in violation of the norms.

Vigilance sources said though the questionnaire to be sent to the former Chief Minister and his wife was ready, it had been decided to hold on till information from various channels was collected.

“The questionnaire will be delivered to him through a special messenger next week and he will be given 15 days’ time to send in his reply,” said sources.

Kullu, August 13
Partly hit by global recession, partly by the swine flu panic and untimely snowfall scare in the cold desert, inflow of foreign tourists has registered a drop of over 20 per cent as compared to last year in the state.

Sources in the state tourism department revealed that Himachal had received over 1.70 lakh foreign tourists till July this year.

It appeared to be substantially less than the arrival of 3.76 lakh foreign tourists in 2008. The peak season for foreign tourist arrival is April-July in the state.

Even at the end of the year, the figure might climb marginally by 10 per cent or so, said hoteliers and travel agents.

Interestingly, the Kullu-Manali circuit has registered an increase of 11 per cent increase in July this year as compared with that of last year.

“11,522 foreigners visited the district in July this year compared to 9,650 foreigners in 2008 in July,” said Rajeshwar Goel, district tourism officer-cum-SDM, Manali.

But in the shadow of last year’s freak snowfall that stranded over a thousand tourists at several places between Keylong-Leh and Kaza-Batal-Koksar for several days in July-August, looms large in the cold desert of Lahaul-Spiti.

“Spiti has witnessed a drastic drop of over 80 per cent party due to freak snowfall scare, due to swine flu and due to economic recession,” said travel agents.

“The foreign tourist arrival is not even one-third of that of last year,” said an official from Kaza.

“Spiti witnessed arrival of over 15,000 tourists out of which 10,000 were foreigners in 2008. But this year, just 2,000 foreigners have visited Spiti till now and it is almost the end of the tourist season here,” he said.

The major attraction for the foreign high-spending backpackers is the Buddhist tourist circuit of monasteries and gompas in the cold desert of Lahaul-Spiti.

TC Thakur, president, Manali hoteliers association, said foreigners’ arrival this year as a whole had dropped by over 20 per cent as compared with last year.

Manisha Nanda, Commissioner, tourism, however, said the state had received over 65 lakh domestic and 1.70 lakh foreign tourists till July this year.

The peak season was over but tourist arrival was fairly good despite global recession and other reasons, she added.