Shimla, October 9
Branding the Dhumal government as “corrupt” as the previous Virbhadra Singh regime, former minister Vijay Singh Mankotia today demanded a judicial probe into the Brakel case to help expose the key political players who had soiled their hands in the dirty deal in successive regimes.

Addressing a press conference here today, Mankotia said the verdict of the high court, quashing the allotment of the twin hydroelectric projects to the Brakel Corporation, had put both the governments in the dock. While in Opposition the BJP had made it a big issue and promised to cancel the allotment. However, on coming to power, it allowed the company to deposit the upfront premium instead of cancelling the project.

As such, neither of the governments could escape responsibility for illegality brought out by the court in allotment of the projects.

In fact, the court had almost censured the government by observing that “if the previous government had acted illegally and blinked over, the successive regime was duty-bound to rectify the mistake which it did not do”. It was a serious matter and the only way out to bring the “wrong doers” in the two regimes to the book was to set up a commission headed by a sitting judge of the high court to investigate the “shady deal” and expose the beneficiaries of the alleged “kickbacks.”

He said both the government lacked credibility, integrity and transparency and the ultimate sufferers were innocent people of the state. The manner in which the present government gave a clean chit in the “call girls scandal” after conducting a facile inquiry was reminiscent of the previous Congress regime which had acted in the same way in the CPMET questions paper leak case.

Mankotia expressed concern over the manner in which permissions were being granted under Section 118 of the Land Reforms and Tenancy Act, virtually opening floodgates for outsiders which could reduce Himachalis to refugees in their own state. There was spurt in shady land deals, both “nami and benami”, involving money of outsiders and he was collecting details of such deals to uncover those behind it.

However, he maintained that leaders like Virbhadra Singh had no right to cry foul as such deals also took place during the Congress rule.

Shimla, October 9
The manner in which former minister Vijay Singh Mankotia today attacked the Dhumal government provided ample indications that the firebrand leader was preparing to end his self-imposed political “sanyas”.

It is for the first time since the BJP came to power in the state that Mankotia has trained his guns on the government. He has been relentlessly targeting Congress supremo Virbhadra Singh for the past almost five years and has still not given up his tirade against him. But by equating the Dhumal regime with the previous Congress government in the matter of corruption, he has clearly signalled his intentions to wage a battle against the government of the day, if only to occupy the centre stage again.

Mankotia had announced his retirement from politics after the dismal performance of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the last Assembly elections in the state under his leadership. However, after some time, he floated a non-political forum “Adalate Awam” (court of the people), to fight against corruption and raise various public issues.

The sudden change in his stance may have come as a surprise for many but there appears to be a long-term game plan. With BJP stalwart Shanta Kumar deciding to quit electoral politics and veteran Congress leader Sat Mahajan giving up active politics, there is a leadership vacuum in Kangra, the biggest and politically most important district of the state. He is looking to fill the space being vacated by two leaders who had been occupying the centre stage for the past more than four decades.

He would have preferred to return to the Congress but with his bete noir Virbhadra Singh still going strong and calling shots in the party, it may not be possible. For now, he will continue to raise his voice against corruption and take up issues of public interest to recover the lost political ground using the non-political platform. In fact, Mankotia had successfully used similar tactics to keep his political fortunes afloat when he floated “Himachal Nirman” organisation after he was sacked from the Congress in the late 1980s.

Shimla, October 9
Chief Minister PK Dhumal urged the Centre to adopt a sympathetic attitude towards developing states and pay special attention to small states which had meagre resources at their disposal.

Speaking at the 2nd IBN 7 Diamond States Award ceremony in New Delhi last evening, he said the cost of development was higher in the hill states due to different geo-physical conditions and deserved a special dispensation. His government was trying its best to get the Special Industrial Package, which was curtailed to March 2010, restored to its original date of March, 2013. He said it was unfortunate that the package sanctioned by the NDA regime had been reduced by three years, whereas in some of the states, it would continue till March, 2013.

The Chief Minister said the state had lost huge chunks of fertile land due to the construction of the Bhakra Dam and Pong Dam as a result of which thousands of families had been rendered homeless and landless. However, many of the oustees were still awaiting rehabilitation and even the state had not been compensated adequately for the sacrifices made by its people to pave for major hydel projects.

He said the rice quota, under the public distribution system (PDS), also needed to be restored as the state was being provided only 6,000 tonnes as against the demand for 18,000 tonnes. The people of the state had been traditional rice-eaters and the habit could not be changed overnight. The cut imposed in the quota was making it difficult for the state to meet the requirement, he said.

Earlier, Dhumal received the Diamond State Award from Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar for being the best state in the country in women empowerment and employment generation and the Special Award for the overall performance in the country.

Rajdeep Sardesai of IBN 7 detailed the awards and apprised the audience of the process adopted to select the best states in the country.

Dharamsala, October 9
The state government has failed to take optimum benefit of the Anpoorna Yojna of the Centre under which poor and destitute senior citizens are given 10 kg free rice per month.

Under the yojna of the Union Government, any senior citizen, who has attained 65 years age and is destitute, is entitled to 10 kg free rice per month. According to the quota sanctioned by the government, 6,375 such persons can avail the benefit in Himachal. However, highly placed sources told The Tribune that till date the Himachal government has not been able to locate 6,375 beneficiaries under the scheme.

The sources said the state government could locate just 3,800 beneficiaries in the entire state. This amounts to just about one destitute senior citizen in each village of the state. Himachal presently has about 3,300 villages.

The data defies the logic keeping in view the remote areas in the state and poverty in those areas. A highly placed official said everyday about five to 10 old persons visited offices of deputy commissioners in various districts for getting aid under the Red Cross or other government scheme. Most of them are destitute and Anpoorna scheme could help mitigate their problems.

The officials, when contacted, accused panchayat representatives for the folly. They alleged that the government had delegated powers to select deserving candidates for various social sector schemes to panchayats. The panchayats referred names to the Social Welfare Department that further forwarded them to the Food and Civil Supplies Department.

Decisions in panchayats mostly are being taken by some pradhans on political considerations. They, allegedly, choose beneficiaries of social schemes on parameters of loyalty rather than criteria fixed by the government.

The problem is being faced in other social welfare schemes also as the Indian Rural Development Programme (IRDP). In the said programme, financial aid is given to poor persons living below the poverty line (BPL) for treatment of serious ailments. However, here also the BPL cards are prepared on the basis of names recommended by panchayats that often are biased.

A cobbler in Khaniara village, who was suffering from throat cancer and badly required financial aid under the IRDP scheme, was clear illustration of the fact. He failed to avail the benefit of the government scheme just because the panchayat did not give him the BPL card.

Mandi, October 9
Activists of the ABVP, students’ outfit of the ruling BJP, today staged a protest march and burnt effigy of Mandi Deputy Commissioner Onkar Sharma.

Raising their banner of revolt against the DC, ABVP activists held protests against him for his alleged “misbehaviour” with the ABVP delegation that met him yesterday. The activists burnt his effigies on Mandi, Sundernagar, Sarkaghat and Dharampur college campus, boycotting classes.

The ABVP gave three days ultimatum to the state government to remove the DC from the post. “We will not allow BJP ministers in Mandi till the DC is removed,” they asserted.

Interestingly, the SFI dubbed the ABVP’s move as a “political gimmick” to gain mileage and supported the DC’s refusal of not giving them permission to collect funds for the ABVP’s upcoming national conference to be held at Una.

Defending the DC, PWD Minister Gulab Singh Thakur at Hatgarh told mediapersons that the DC did not slap any ABVP activist. “I will mediate between the ABVP and the DC and and sort out the matter with negotiation,” he added.

However, Chaman Sharma, ABVP organisational secretary, Mandi zone, who had lodged the complaint with the police yesterday, charged that the DC misbehaved with the “ABVP delegation” after they met him at his office.

“We had gone to reiterated our demand of not to start IIT classes at postgraduate college here as it would dislodge students from the college,” he claimed.

Chaman Sharma claimed that they went inside his office but he misbehaved and manhandled them. “He slapped me thrice and roughed up us,” he charged.

Meanwhile, Onkar Sharma dismissed the allegation as false.

He dismissed the ABVP’s claims that the delegation was for raising the IIT issue. “No such delegation met me or gave any memorandum to me,” he said.

Mandi SP Sonal Agnihotri said they had received a written complaint but had no prima facie evidence.

Kullu, October 9
In the absence of any fixed criterion to select artistes for international folk festival cultural nights, influential “chit artistes” are ruling the roost, —be it at Kullu Dussehra, Mandi Shivratri or Shimla’s Summer Festival — as they manage to find a place in the show because of recommendations of influential politicians in power.

The week-long Kullu Dussehra cultural nights, that concluded here early this week, has once again exposed the poor quality of programmes that were dished out at the Lal Chand Prarthi Kala Kendra organised by the mela committee. The same old anchors from the district public relations office repeated the same old dialogues, much to the dismay of the audience.

“However, more dangerous is the trend of ‘chit artistes’ recommended by those who call shots in Shimla,” rued Naresh and Deep Shikha Thakur, who have been attending cultural nights for the past four years.

Art lovers resent the way the mela committee and the art, language and cultural department select artistes for performing on the stage for international folk festival.

Shamsher Singh, an actor and associate director of Mumbai-based Amenta company, observed that the committee had not fixed any criteria to select artistes or performers, thereby making a mockery of the international stage. He said money paid to the artistes was very less and there was no proper lodging arrangements. The Russian artistes had to eat at the dirty canteen run by the mela committee. “This canteen is run free of cost to add more voters to the list of local leaders rather than a facility for the artistes,” he told The Tribune.

DC-cum-vice-chairman of committee BM Nanta said it was a difficult task to shortlist and select artistes for Himachali nights and the mela committee did its best possible.

Hamirpur, October 9
Though the health department is claiming to provide cheap medicines and medical tests to patients in the government hospitals but charging Rs 100 for a scrub typhus test has raised many eyebrows here since the medicine used for this test is bought at a very nominal price.

The medicine for this test is being bought from the Central Research Institute (CRI), Kasauli, in a viol which contains sufficient medicine to conduct at least 50 tests.

The CRI supplies this viol for Rs 575 to all buyers, including the health department of the state, which means that medicine for this test costs just about Rs 11 per test. But the patients undergoing this test have to shell out 10 times the cost of this medicine for a scrub typhus test.

It is notable that though scrub typhus is a serious contagious disease which is quite common in many parts of the state during monsoon and present months and many people had been suffering for this disease for past some time. After reoccurrence of scrub typhus cases in the state the health department had started the facility of scrub typhus test in the government hospital.

An official working in the supply department of the CRI, Kasauli, has confirmed that ‘we supply one viol of medicine for Rs 575 to every buyer and even to government departments.”

District hospital SMO Dr K.S. Dogra said, “The health department charges Rs 100 for conducting a scrub typhus test but I cannot comment on the cost of viol or cost incurred on conducting this test.”

Hamirpur, October 9
Electricity supply to parts of Hamirpur town and surrounding areas would remain shut on October 13 in areas falling under the electricity subdivision No-II due to maintenance.

Giving this information assistant engineer has said that supply in Pucca Bahroh, Anu, Krishna Nagar, Sham Nagar, Central School, Dang Kwali, Bajuri, Hathali Khadd, Bhota Chowk, Masiana, Gaura, Housing Board Colony, Dagneri, Do-Saraka, Lahar and Lahadi areas would remain shut between 9 am and 2 pm.

The supply in Hamirpur Bazaar, bus stand, Mini Secretariat, Pratap Nagar, Heera Nagar, Degree College, Sinduri Maata and the NIT area will also be shut from 3 pm to 5 pm, he added.