Kullu, September 28
Famous week-long Kullu Dussehra took off to a colourful start today with the rath yatra of Lord Raghunath pulled by hundreds of devotees at the historical Dhalpur Maidan here. The atmosphere was filled with rhythmical sound of drums and lilting of shenais.

Maheshwar Singh and Karan Singh, both descendants of Raja Jagat Singh (former ruler of Rupi (Kullu)), along with their offshoots, led the yatra that started from Raghunathpur, sanctum of the chief deity of Kullu. The idols of Lord Rama and Sita were placed in a beautifully decorated wooden rath at the northern end of the Dhalpur Maidan and were pulled to the middle of the ground where they would be worshipped for the next six days in a camp temple.

Governor Prabha Rau, former Deputy Speaker Khimi Ram, BJP state chief and other dignitaries were present on the occasion. Later, the Governor inaugurated the exhibitions of industries and power projects coming up in the state and showed special interest in the local handicraft and Kullu shawls.

The participation of foreign tourists was unprecedented this time. Few foreign tourists were of the opinion that Dussehra was a spectacular occasion they have ever watched. A British couple said they had come to India for the first time and attending Dussehra festival here had given them a great pleasure.

Dussehra in Kullu begins after celebrations are over elsewhere in the country, because, the legend has it that “Lanka Dahan” was done on the day after a full moon night, which according to the Hindu calendar falls after the seventh day of the Vijyadashmi.

CHAMBA: Signifying the triumph of good over evil, Dussehra was celebrated in a big way at the legendary Chowgan of Chamba on Monday. A shobha yatra carrying palanquins of local deities and accompanied by local bands was taken out through the bazars of the town.

The procession, which was organised by the local Ramlila Club, lent the crowd an enthralling panorama.

The effigies of Ravana, Meghnath and Kumbhakaran were burnt to ashes amid huge crowd at the Chowgan.

With this, the 10-day long Ramlila along with sports activities organised on the occasion concluded here.

NURPUR: Dussehra was celebrated with religious fervour at the ground of historical Nurpur fort.

Thousands of people from far off places thronged here to celebrate the festival being celebrated like a fair for the past many years with the efforts of the local municipal council. The local SDM presided over the function.

Hamirpur, September 28
State spokesman of the Congress Deepak Sharma has strongly criticised the functioning of the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau and called it an “agent” of the BJP.

Talking to mediaperosns here today, he alleged, “The state Vigilance Bureau has become a tool in the hands of the ruling BJP to browbeat its political opponents and is functioning as an agent of the BJP government.”

He said, “The Vigilance is now targeting people who have dared to raise a voice against Chief Minister PK Dhumal.”

Commenting on the functioning of the Vigilance, Sharma said, “The inquiry in the call-girls episode in which a few politicians and high ranking officers of the state government were allegedly involved, speaks volumes on its functioning since the agency first raided the hotel and found high ups in the company of call girls and later gave them a clean chit in this incident.”

Sharma also accused the Vigilance of targeting former CM Virbhadra Singh, HPCC president Kaul Singh Thakur, former forest minister Ram Lal Thakur and other leaders at the behest of the state government as part of political vendetta.

He said, “The Congress would not be cowed down by such tactics of the Vigilance and would launch a state-wide agitation to expose its dubious functioning.”

Bilaspur, September 28
Government Senior Secondary School, Kandraur, bagged the overall best trophy and was also declared best in march past while best discipline trophy was won by Government High School, Chatt, in the four-day district-level annual girls tournament under-19 years which concluded here last evening. Former principal Nanak Ram Bhardwaj was the chief guest who was incidentally the first principal of Government Girls Senior Secondary School of the town where this tournament was organised.

Bhardwaj said times had changed and women from the state were coming forward in every sphere of life. Suman Rawat Mehta, who brought laurels by winning a bronze medal in Asian Games in athletics, Kamlesh Thakur and Pooja Thakur, who were members of the Indian kabaddi team, had done the state proud.

Indu Sankhyan, secretary, District Schools Sports Organising Committee, said 252 girls drawn from 28 high and senior secondary schools from the district, participated in this meet. 

Bilaspur, September 28
Villagers of Balh Bhluwana gram panchayat in Chandpur area near here are harassed by a stray bull which has spread panic and scare in the entire area by its strange habit of suddenly running and furiously attacking anyone whom it spots.

A deputation of the village elders of the Gram Vikas and Sudhar Samiti Talwaad, led by Ram Singh Chandel, met Deputy Commissioner Subhash Chaudhary here last evening and narrated their tale of woe. They also presented him a memorandum urging that the Animal Husbandry Department should intervene and help the villagers get rid of the menace.

They said because of the bull-scare, elders, women and school-going children of the area were finding it increasingly difficult to venture out alone.

It had already attacked a number of unsuspecting villagers and destroyed their crops, they added. They recalled that last year, an ex-serviceman was similarly attacked by a stray bull which had resulted in his death on the spot at Kandraur village.

Chamba, September 28
The condition of the Killar-Alwas-Bagotu road, which had been widened, has ameliorated considerably during the past year.

The only lifeline linking the isolated picturesque Pangi tribal valley with its district headquarters at Chamba has proved to be a boon for the people of the valley, which remains covered with snow for about seven months.

According to Vidhan Sabha Speaker Tulsi Ram, who represents this area, during the past year this road had enabled the people of the valley to sell their agro-horticulture produce to open markets thereby earning lucrative profits from the cash crops like off-season vegetables of peas and potatoes as well as apple fruit.

This time, the residents of the valley had transacted business of nearly Rs 12 lakh through the newly constructed link road via the Saach Pass, the speaker added.

Chamba, September 28
The district administration of Chamba, for the first time, has taken an initiative to reach the public living in far-flung Tikkrigarh area in Churah subdivision of this district under an ambitious programme launched by the state government called “Prashasan janta ke dwar” to redress the public grievances on the spot.

After his return from the interior terrain of the district, Chamba Deputy Commissioner Devesh Kumar said here recently that during his interaction with the people, he received serious complaints with regard to inordinate delay in the payments of some works executed under NREGA in Tikkrigarh area.

The DC stated that the accountable officials were taken to task and directed to release the payments due under NREGA in the area. He warned the officials not to delay payments under the scheme meant for the benefit of the general public. He directed irrigation and public health officials to keep the drinking water supply scheme of government Bagheigarh school functioning.

The DC directed the officials to insert the waiting-list of widow and old-age pension cases on the official notice board for the information of general public thereby maintaining transparency of the government functioning.

During the programme, the DC received 28 complaints out of which 20 were disposed of then and there while the residual complaints would be worked out within a fortnight.

Solan, September 28
After much dilly-dallying, the Co-operative Department has finally registered a case of embezzlement against the secretary of Rajpura Co-operative Society for misappropriating funds to the tune of Rs 2.3 crore.

Department’s registrar AJV Prasad, who had arrived from Shimla, got the case registered after going through the facts of the case at Nalagarh last week. The police, after registering the case, had initiated a probe and since the amount involved was huge, even members could be questioned as funds could not be misappropriated without the connivance of some members, opined police officials.

Out of the total 2,586 members, as many as 2,500 had deposited funds in the fixed deposit of the society. However, the society failed to return them their maturity value despite lapse of the validity period in March this year. The depositors were now contemplating their next plan of action as they had failed to get back their money despite several assurances.

They have threatened to initiate stringent action against former executive members of the society who, after presenting their view on September 24, had failed to deposit the requisite funds.

The registrar also put in place a three-member board of administrators comprising a deputy registrar, district inspector and a local inspector, to oversee the society affairs. The assistant registrar had already been appointed the administrator earlier, confided joint registrar KS Dhaulta, who was conducting the inquiry.

The society had bought large-scale land using the funds and the three-member board would now consider selling that land to recover the funds.

Earlier, a sum of Rs 11 lakh was recovered from an assistant manager and other defaulters on September 24.

Interestingly, the society had set an example by bagging a district-level award in 2005 for its outstanding performance after enrolling 2,586 members from nine panchayats comprising 52 villages.

Shimla, September 28
The wildlife week celebrations in the state will have a flavour of film with the forest department deciding to hold a special film festival to be attended by four-time Green Oscar winner Mike H. Pandey.

This is for the first time that a film festival devoted to conservation of wildlife is being organised during the week observed every year from October 2 to 8. The main attraction of the festival to be held at the historic Gaiety Theatre will be Pandey’s outstanding wildlife film “Shores of Silence”, which led to the conservation of a global heritage, the “whale sharks”. The celebrations will open with the screening of the film which brought Pandey into limelight.

Pandey has been in the news after his name was included in the list of “Heroes of Environment” published in the latest edition of the Time magazine. His commendable efforts in conservation of wildlife has put him in league with Al Gore, a former vice-president and film maker who created awareness about global warming.

However, the focus of the celebration will be on activities involving the school children to help raise the level of awareness about wildlife conservation in the young minds. The activities will no longer be confined to towns and urban areas and the effort will be to ensure participation of maximum number of children from rural schools. An officer has been deputed in each wildlife sanctuary to organise various activities involving children from schools located nearby.

On the first day the officer will organise a trek in the sanctuary during which the children will be given detailed information about the flora, fauna and the importance of protecting the wildlife. After the trek the students will be asked to write an essay to narrate their experience. Teachers having interest in wildlife will be associated with the programme and they would also serve as resource persons for other wildlife related programmes.

On the following days painting competition, quiz, slogan writing competition and other such activities will be organised in different institutions. The winners of the competition will be given attractive prizes.

Shimla, September 28
Focussing on preventive measures is the only way to effectively combat heart disease in a country like India with scant medical facilities.

This was stated by well-known cardiologist Dr Anil Grover who has come out with a book in Hindi on the subject specially for the benefit of Himachal people.

Coronary heart disease has been on a rise both in urban and rural population and the present trend indicates that it will emerge as the top killer by 2015. Unlike advanced countries like the US, the problem cannot be addressed by expanding medical care infrastructure. It is not economically viable given the huge population, Dr Gorver pointed out. He also started tele-cardiology and teleconferencing services and consultations via e-mail for the people of Himachal to mark the World Heart Day.

The country was spending about 0.5 per cent of the gross domestic product on health care and the problem could not be solved even if it was raised to 25 per cent to create infrastructure. However, a dramatic impact could be made if even half of it was utilised for creating awareness about preventive measures among the masses. In a state like Himachal Pradesh, which had good telecom connectivity, tele-medicine services was the best alternative, he added.

An alumnus of the local Indira Gandhi Medical College, Dr Grover is fully conversant with the topography and health profile of the people of the state. He said while not much could be done about the genetic factors, heart disease could be prevented and effectively managed by adopting appropriate preventive measures. Sedentary lifestyle, irregular food habits, smoking, consumption of alcohol and host of other such behavioural attributes, coupled with stressful environment, made people prone to heart disease.

He said the main reason for his writing a book in Hindi was that it would help create awareness among common villagers and make them realise the need for adopting preventive measures. He will also be organising special heart camps in different parts of the state in near future.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, while formally releasing the book titled “Swasth Hridaya”, praised the effort and said the book would provide basic knowledge about heart ailments to people.

Kangra, September 28
Despite upgrade of the Civil Hospital here to 100-bedded in December, 2000, by the Dhumal government, the hospital is ailing as these orders have not been implemented till date.

The apathy of the consecutive governments of the Congress and the BJP has left this hospital in shambles. From the past nearly nine years the upgrade orders remained in the files only and the people have pinned their hopes on the present government for implementing its own order. However, instead of providing more staff the existing was also being transferred one by one.

Construction of an additional building complex for this 100-bedded hospital, foundation stone for which was laid by PK Dhumal as the Chief Minister, remained a distant dream till date.

At present, the hospital does not even have the staff to cater to the requirements of a 50-bedded hospital and the number of doctors has also been reduced to three and heavy rush of nearly 500 OPDs daily is unmanageable. However, a doctor joined here recently because of public cry.

This, so called 100-bedded hospital, has a requirement of 17 doctors but at present it has only four doctors. This strength was less than that required even in a 50-bedded hospital.

According to hospital sources, out of four doctors one is on off, at least one goes for court evidence and two doctors manage the show. Instead of 14 staff nurses there are only nine and instead of 20 class-IV employees there are only five in this hospital, the sources added.

Shimla, September 28
The hill state received 36 per cent less rainfall than normal during the current monsoon season.The local Meteorological today officially announced the withdrawal of the south-west monsoon from the entire state. The withdrawal line passes through Uttarkashi, Aligarh, Sawai Madhopur, Udaipur and Naliya.

During the monsoon period commencing from June 1, the state received 496.6 mm of rainfall in all as against the normal 770.4 mm. Out of the 12 districts in the state, five — Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kinnaur, Kulu, and Una — received normal rainfall and the rest recorded deficient precipitation.

Chamba district received the lowest rainfall of 227.3 mm, which was 74 per cent less than normal. It was followed by Lahaul and Spiti 200.6 mm (-56 per cent), Sirmaur 822.3 (-41 percent), Kangra 947.2 mm (-39 per cent) and Mandi 729.9 (-36 per cent).

Kullu with a precipitation of 585.3 mm (+3 per cent) and Bilaspur with 864 mm (-4 per cent) received almost normal rainfall. However, the tribal Kinnaur district with 262.1 mm (+44 per cent) and Una with 1009.6 mm (+21 per cent) recorded significantly higher than normal rainfall.

The late burst of monsoon in the second week of September which brought 248 mm of rainfall over fours days significantly made up for the deficiency which stood at 72 per cent by the end of July and 52 per cent at the end of August. The drought-like condition during June and July caused extensive damage to the agriculture and fruit crops.