Shimla, August 27
The monsoon session of the Vidhan Sabha ended on a bitter note with the House witnessing acrimonious exchanges between opposition and the treasury benches over the allegation of telephone tapping made by Union Minister Virbhadra Singh.

The trouble started when Chief Minister PK Dhumal finished his reply to the issue raised by Rakesh Pathania through a call attention motion. Mukesh Agnihotri and some other Congress members accused the government of hatching a conspiracy against Virbhadra Singh. The charge was rebutted by Dhumal which led to angry exchanges and noisy scenes.

Dhumal asserted that telephone of the Union Minister was not tapped and offered to get the charge investigated by the CBI or any other independent agency. He said if the inquiry found even an iota of truth in the allegation, stern action would be taken against the officers responsible for it. He categorically stated the no unauthorised tapping of telephones was being carried out. There was a proper procedure laid out under the law for the purpose and it was used only in cases involving national security and illegal activities like smuggling, he added.

He said Virbhadra Singh was making misleading charges and was blaming everything on the BJP government only because of the audio CD case registered by the Vigilance Bureau against him. The fact was that the CD surfaced in May, 2007, when he was the Chief Minister. It was Virbhadra Singh who moved the high court in the matter and the CD and audio cassette were sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) for examination in November, 2007, during the Congress rule. The forensic report received subsequently stated that the voice in the CD was of Virbhadra Singh and as such the BJP government did not have much role to play.

He also denied that intelligence sleuths were deployed at his residence to keep track of his movements and said till few months ago Virbhadra Singh was seeking deployment of additional security personnel.

Raising the issue, Rakesh Pathania said allegation made by Virbhadra Singh that his telephone was being tapped and that Himachal Pradesh had been reduced to a police state was very serious and had tarnished the image of the state.

Dharamsala, August 27
Taking a cue from the statement issued by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on corruption in high places, former Congress leader Vijai Singh Mankotia has urged Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal to expedite investigation in CD case registered against Union Minister for Steel Virbhadra Singh.

While talking to The Tribune here today, Mankotia complimented the Prime Minister for directing the CBI to not let big fish escape punishment. It was a signal to the Himachal CM to ensure that the FIR registered against Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh was pursued vigorously, he added.

He further said the Supreme Court had held reports of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) as valid proof in cases against former Rajya Sabha member and prominent lawyer RK Anand and BJP MP Varun Gandhi. In case of Virbhadra Singh also, reports of the CFSL had proved that voice on the CD in question was his and of his wife.

Even after that if Virbhadra Singh was questioning the authenticity of the recorded voice, he should present himself for a polygraph or lie detector test, Mankotia said.

He demanded that the charge sheet in the CD case should be presented at the earliest.

When asked if he would be a party to the case in court, Mankotia said he was more than willing to assist the Vigilance in the case in any manner.

Mankotia also demanded that the state government should inform public regarding the status of investigation being carried out by the state Vigilance regarding some property in Parwanoo. He said according to information, the Vigilance had recorded the statement of a businessman in which he had said he paid money to some senior political leader of the state through a senior police officer who was already facing corruption charges. The government should tell public whether any money was exchanged between a high ranking police officer and top political leader of the state, he added.

He further said Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abadullah had set high standards by resigning from his post after certain allegations were made against him. However, similar example was not being followed by other leaders facing corruption charges, he added.

Shimla, August 27
After deciding to expel Gaddi leader Dulo Ram from the BJP, the special committee constituted to look into complaints of anti-party activities against sitting MLA Urmil Thakur will give a hearing to those who have levelled allegations against the legislator from Hamirpur.

The three-member committee headed by state BJP general secretary Khushi Ram Balnatah will shortly give a personal hearing to the complainant who has levelled allegations of anti-party activities against Thakur. A CD had also been handed over to the party by the mandal chief of the constituency of Hamirpur, represented by Urmil Thakur.

The committee gave a personal hearing to the MLA almost a month back. “A final decision on Thakur’s case will be taken once the Balnatah committee submits its report to Khimi Ram,” said a senior party functionary. The other members of the committee include Renu Chaddha, MLA from Banikhet, and former minister Praveen Sharma from Una.

Even though the committee headed by Balnatah had to submit its report within 20 days of its formation, yet there has been hardly any progress and the matter has been pending. The BJP leaders from Hamirpur, including the mandal chief, had levelled allegations against Thakur that she did not work for the party candidate Anurag Thakur in the Lok Sabha elections.

They had also handed over a CD containing alleged telephonic conversation of the MLA with certain people. Her own party men have accused the MLA of having worked for the Congress candidate Narinder Thakur, who was the Congress candidate from Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat.

The MLA on her part has denied having worked against the party candidate. It is the report of the Balnatah committee which will finally decide the fate of Thakur, who had been very close to the Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal during the last tenure.

However, party circles feel that the party might not go to the extent of expelling Urmil from the party and she would be let off. “The fact that she is a legislator and not just a party functionary or leader makes all the difference and as such there are little chances of her being expelled like Dulo Ram,” said a senior leader.

Dharamsala, August 27
General secretary of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) Asha Kumari will hold meeting of the Jawali Block Congress Committee at Fetehpur tomorrow to decide the party candidate for the forthcoming Jawali constituency by-election. District Congress president and former MLA Brij Vihari Butail will also be present in the meeting.

According to sources, the Congress might field former MLA Sujan Singh Pathania for the forthcoming by-elections of Jawali. However, the party leaders want to take the local leadership into confidence before taking final decision on the matter.

The Jawali Assembly constituency had fallen vacant after the election of Rajan Sushant as MP from Kangra. He was earlier representing the area.

The sources said besides the Congress the BJP had also started the exercise of selecting a candidate for the Jawali by-election.

Former MLA from the constituency and Kangra MP Rajan Sushant wanted the party ticket from the area for his wife. However, the sources said his brother had also shown keen interest in contesting from the area. In the recent past, his brother had moved an application seeking party ticket from Jawali for the by-election.

The sources in the BJP said the final decision over the matter would be taken by the party high command.

The Congress that took drubbing in the recent Parliament elections by loosing three seats in the state despite wave in favour of the party at the national-level would try to make up for loss in the forthcoming by-election for Jawali and Rohru Assembly constituencies.

The party leaders have already started galvanising the workers at the lower levels in the constituency.

Shimla, August 27
The Vidhan Sabha today passed four bills seeking to increase salaries and allowances of the chief minister, the speaker, ministers, the deputy speaker, chief parliamentary secretaries, parliamentary secretaries and legislators.

While the average hike comes to around Rs 16,000 per month, the total monthly emoluments will be raised to Rs 55,000 in case of MLAs, Rs 57,000 in case of parliamentary secretaries, Rs 58,000 in case of deputy speakers, chief parliamentary secretaries and ministers of state, Rs 61,000 in case of the speaker and ministers and Rs 64,000 in case of the chief minister. The loan limit has been raised from Rs 14 lakh to Rs 20 lakh.

Chief Minister P.K.Dhumal said in case of government employees and other sections of working class, pay commissions were set up for periodical revision of wages. However, in case of ministers and MLAs, who were also affected by inflation, a bill has to be passed every time to effect raise in the emoluments which was quite embarrassing. He said it would be appropriate if the Lok Sabha set up some commission for the purpose.

Earlier, health minister Rajiv Bindal informed Hari Narain Singh during question hour that out of the total 1,35,404 workers covered under the employees state insurance scheme in the state, 1,19,043 were in Solan district and 746 in Mandi. He said under the scheme Rs 70.71 crore were deposited in Solan and only Rs 53,110 in Mandi from April 1,2006 to July 16,2009.The government preferred to have an ESIC medical college at Mandi as there was demand for a government medical college.

The previous Congress government had issued a notification for setting up the college in Mandi on October 8,2007, but it was published in the gazette only on October 23 when the code of conduct for elections had come into force. 

Sundernagar, August 27
Sessions Judge DK Sharma today rejected bail applications of 11 policemen who had wrongly withdrawn travel allowance (TA) while on government duty in 2003-2004. Though the order was announced in the presence of the investigation officer, all accused disappeared from the court following the order and could not be arrested so far.

According to sources, 25 police officials of the 3rd Battalion, Pandoh, had wrongly claimed the TA and the total sum amounted to Rs 8.2 lakh. The anomaly was noticed in 2006 during a routine audit of the department and soon after the police registered a case under Sections 420, 467, 468 and 120B of the IPC against these officials.

The police had asked the accused to join the investigation of the case, but instead they filed applications for pre-arrest bails before the Sessions Judge, Mandi.

While rejecting the bail applications, the court held since the police officials were involved in the corruption case, hence custodial interrogation was needed for further investigation.

According to Mandi DSP Narinder Kumar, who is investigating the case, none of the police officials surrendered following the rejection of bail applications and that he had sent his teams to nab the accused.

Shimla, August 27
Even though more than 100 shopkeepers and vendors, running their businesses on the road between the Ridge and the Rivoli bus stand have got temporary reprieve from the Supreme Court (SC), the government is considering providing them alternate stalls close to the present Tibetan Market.

Following the SC order, where it has been directed that status quo may be maintained with regard to functioning of the Tibetan Market, the MC could not today order the closure of the market on the Rivoli slope as per High Court directives. The matter is once again listed in the Supreme Court next week but till then the stall owners have been allowed to run their businesses.

The state Cabinet has already approved the case of 103 (76 Tibetans and 27 Indians) persons who will be entitled to an alternate stall at a convenient place. Though earlier it had been suggested that the shops would be relocated to a site near BCS or Vikasnagar, it is on the court’s directives that a committee was constituted to identify a commercially viable site.

Following the recommendations of the committee it is likely that a complex will be made at the site falling between the MC office and the present Tibetan Market. “Since the area falls in the core and heritage zone, the matter was finally approved by the Cabinet,” said an official. All these 103 persons are ‘tehbazaris’ which means they are licencees of the MC and would be provided alternate stalls to run their businesses.

The government could now consider the case of 47 other persons who too are running stalls and shops without the MC licence on the Rivoli slope, sympathetically. The MC is likely to forward their cases to the government for consideration.

Solan, August 27
With the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh Industrial Development Authority (BBNDA) withdrawing its NOC which had led to the release of power connection to a Jharmajri-based unit that lacked the requisite revenue papers, its role has come under a cloud.

This NOC had led the state electricity board to issue a temporary connection to Micro Turners IV, which had been illegally auctioned by Indian Financial Corporation Limited (IFCL) in December last year.

As per the NOC, the certificate was applicable for availing a water and electricity connection and was issued on June 9, 2009. This NOC was issued on a temporary basis although the unit had failed to submit any revenue papers

The BBNDA maintained that they had not issued any NOC and had merely written to the state electricity department to issue a temporary connection for repair work but the NOC itself stated that the construction of the applicant had been approved vide letter no. 8289/1. The BBNDA had, however, claimed that the unit had furnished an affidavit that it would obtain a NOC from the Excise and Taxation Department (ETD).

Interestingly, the ETD had written to the BBNDA to withdraw the temporary NOC issued by them on August 4, as the department owned the unit site. The BBNDA had then granted the unit a period of 10 days to submit the NOC but despite lapse of this period the NOC was not withdrawn and the unit continued to run its operation.

It was only after publication of a news item in these columns that the office of the Chief Minister sought an explanation from the BBNDA and the latter swung into action and finally wrote to the power board to withdraw the NOC on August 25.

The BBNDA wrote that since the unit was unable to produce revenue papers and a NOC from the ETD the board was requested to disconnect its service connection
immediately.

Principal Secretary to the CM Bhim Sen said explanation sought from the BBNDA had been received and they were inquiring into various aspects of the case, including the issuance of a NOC on a temporary basis by the BBNDA.

Interestingly, the state electricity board was processing the case for allotting a power-availability certificate to the unit but it was for the timely intervention of the officials of the ETD that they had put it on hold, confided an official.

Kangra, August 27
The Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Employees’ Union (HPSEBEU), has threatened to launch an agitation if Chief Minister PK Dhumal does not check his bureaucracy from allegedly working against its employees.

Kuldeep Singh Kharwara, state president of the HPSEBEU, said the Chief Minister had, in principle, made a commitment regarding reorganisation of the HPSEB as one entity which could undertake function of generation, transmission and distribution, but the state bureaucracy was allegedly creating an atmosphereof mistrust.

He said the HPSEB had achieved the target under the Electricity Act, 2003, of 100 per cent electrification and metering in both urban and rural areas, besides attaining second position in the country in curbing line losses.

He said to hand over the power board to a private company was not acceptable to the employees.

Dharamsala, August 27
The three-day Dal lake fair began with fervour after inauguration by Minister for Industries Kishan Kapoor. Motivated by religious devotion, a large number of devotees from across the district transcended to the lake despite its water being drained by the district administration for de-silting operation.

The devotees had to content themselves with taking bath in small “kunds” (natural water sources).

The minister, while speaking on the occasion, said a master plan had been envisaged to develop the entire Dal lake area. Over the year, the depth of the lake had reduced due to silting from adjoining hills. The lake was now being de-silted up to a level of about 10 feet, he added.

The administration also has the proposal for flooring the bottom of the lake. However, many people are critical of the proposal. They are of the view that it might reduce the water seeping from hills into the lake. In many cases, ponds in hills, that were provided with concrete lining, failed the objective of storing water.

The mid-altitude Dal lake is located at a distance of about 11 km from Dharamsala in Tota Rani village.

The lake, which is a natural water body at a height of 1,775 metres from the sea level, is surrounded by deodar trees and is a tourist attraction. Local residents consider it sacred as there is a Shiva temple located on its banks.

Chamba, August 27
Devotees of Lord Shiva, including tourists from different parts of the country, are making a beeline to have a holy bath in the icy waters of the famous Manimahesh Lake nestled in the northwestern mountainous ranges of the mighty Himalayas in Chamba district on the auspicious occasion of Radhashtmi.

The number of pilgrims to have the holy dip is expected to go beyond the figure of 50,000, according to an official report.

About three lakh pilgrims, thronging Manimahesh from different parts of Himachal Pradesh and the neighbouring states in over one month’s continuous pilgrimage, had already visited the famous shrine. This is the higher ever record of the number of devotees in the history of Manimahesh yatra.

Devi Singh Negi, Additional District Magistrate (ADM) of Bharmour tribal subdivision, said pilgrims, including men, women and children from all walks of life, actively participated in the pilgrimage.

“Such is the faith of devotees that they battle all odds to reach for the auspicious day. They offer prayers to Lord Shiva to redeem them from sins and purify their hearts,” the ADM added.