Shimla, October 18
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal celebrated Diwali with special children of the School for Hearing Impaired and Visually Challenged at Dhalli, near here. Dhumal visited the institution and distributed sweets, crackers, pullovers, jackets and blankets to all 141 children.

He spent some time with the inmates and wished them a happy and successful year ahead. He complimented the teaching faculty of the institution for taking up the assignment of teaching special children who deserved more attention as compared to normal children. Helping them to grow into responsible citizens of the country was a noble task, he added.

He said teaching such children required special skills, a missionary zeal and above all a humane attitude. It was a challenging task for teachers and management to run the institution successfully. Such children deserved opportunity to learn skills that could help them grow into responsible citizens. It was the duty of the society to come forward and take care of such children so that they could become part of the mainstream and lead a dignified life.

Keeping in view the services being rendered by the faculty of the institution, the state government would be considerate towards its demands and would consider a uniform honorarium to them at par with their counterparts in Sundernagar institution.

Dhumal said the government was committed to the welfare and socio-economic uplift of the downtrodden and other vulnerable section of the society. It had launched various programmes for their speedy development and ensuring social security to them. The State Council for Child Welfare had been looking after the interests of the vulnerable sections and providing them educational and vocational training facilities.

There were a number of institutions in the state to cater to the educational needs of the special children. Various non-governmental organisations were also supplementing the state effort for the welfare of special children, he added.

He said it was heartening to note that some special children had succeeded in securing admission in various vocational educational institutions which would help them stand on their own feet. An colourful cultural programme was presented by the children on the occasion. Later, the Chief Minister also visited the Bal Ashram at Tutikandi and distributed sweets among the inmates.

Mandi, October 18
Diwali celebrations were marred with residents in many parts of the state complaining that desi ghee, paneer and sweet shops owners allegedly sold adulterated “desi ghee” of non-milk fat with impunity not only in Mandi, Kullu and Manali towns but also in Shimla city as well. The streets and roads in the town were littered with wastes left behind by firecrackers and the town reeked of sulphur and other gases.

According to residents, they did not buy sweets, paneer, khoya and desi ghee as they found them to be made of non-milk fat. Their fears were allayed earlier as the health team took samples of ghee brands and sweets during raids and found them to be adulterated in many parts of the state, including Mandi. Pre-packed branded sweets, dry fruits and other gift packs were the first choice of the consumers as they suspected sweets to be made from the non-milk fat.

Food inspectors claimed that they had taken samples from sweet shops and sent them for testing to the laboratory at Kandaghat. The reports were awaited, they claimed.

Wastes of burnt crackers littered the streets and roads as the State Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board remained as inactive as ever on the issue. The sweepers had a tough time in the town and they dumped the waste along the slopes and in khuds, adding to pollution.

Shimla, October 18
Already in the red, the State Forest Corporation will be hit hard by the new timber distribution (TD) rules under which converted timber will be provided to right holders instead of trees.

With a complete moratorium on commercial felling of green trees in place, the corporation has been making do by converting fallen, damaged and dried up trees available under salvage marking. On an average, over two lakh cubic metre of standing volume of trees was being worked to extract about one lakh cubic metre of timber.

The sale of timber yields Rs 90 crore to 100 crore annually, accounting for more than 75 per cent of its total turnover of around Rs 130 crore.

However, under the new TD rules, trees available under salvage marking will be worked by the Forest Department to supply converted timber to right holders. Green felling will be felled for the purpose only if trees are not available under salvage marking. Every year about 1.25 lakh cubic metre to 1.5 lakh cubic metre of standing volume were allotted to right holders till June, 2006, when the High Court imposed a ban on grant of trees under the TD rules.

As such, almost 70 per cent of the trees, available under salvage marking, will be utilised for meeting the requirement of right holders under the TD rules. The corporation will have only about 50,000 to 60,000 cubic metre of standing volume to work. The turnover of the corporation will be reduced to half and it will plunge further deep into a financial crisis. The corporation has accumulated losses to the tune of Rs 50 crore, but during the last financial year, it earned a profit of Rs 1.97 crore. However, with its main activity gone, there will be little hope for the public sector undertaking. It will become dependent on the resin tapping and processing for which 20 lakh blazes are available. The total turnover on this account ranges from Rs 35 crore to Rs 40 crore.

Avay Shukla, Additional Chief Secretary, forests, said the corporation would have to diversify its activities to remain viable after losing the bulk of timber business. The corporation has already started eco-tourism activity which will have to be carried out on a large scale. Besides, it could take up marketing of herbs and medicinal plants which are being propagated on a massive scale under the new government policy, he added. However, to create business worth over Rs 60 crore by undertaking such activities would take a long time, he said. 

Hamirpur, October 18
While short supply of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders continues in Hamirpur district for several weeks, common consumer is finding it difficult to cope with its shortage.

All five gas agencies operating in the district have not received its normal supply of LPG cylinders since July and long waiting lists for refills have piled up at these agencies.

When almost every consumer is feeling the pinch of shortage of LPG refills, the plight of rural customers is worse since they have to stand on the roadsides waiting for trucks supplying LPG cylinders for days together.

The normal supply of LPG cylinders has not been restored to the gas agencies and the main reason for this is cited as shortage of trucks carrying refills from the refilling plants.

According to information, all LPG refilling plants supplying LPG cylinders in the region are facing shortage of trucks to dispatch the supply from Baddi, Mehatpur and Jalandhar refilling plants.

The situation is alarming as on an average only five truck loads against the requirement of 26 truck loads of LPG cylinders have been supplied in the current month to the five gas agencies in the district.

The situation of refill shortage is almost the same in all gas agencies at Sujanpur, Badsar, Bhoranj and two agencies of Hamirpur.

Sources said, “The short supply of LPG cylinders has created a short fall of about 1,500 refills each in every gas agency and a total shortfall of about 8,000 refills has piled up.”

District Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs officer TL Chaudhary said, “The short supply of LPG refills is continuing from the refilling plants and we have informed the higher authorities about the situation.”

Minister of Food and Civil Supplies Ramesh Dhawala said, “We have called a meeting of officers and efforts will be made to restore normal supply of LPG refills in the state.”

Dharamsala, October 18
The Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs has enacted a law to check manipulation in digital weighing machines at various shops and other trading centres. In future, it would be mandatory for the shopkeepers using the digital weighing machines to keep printers attached to them. They would have to provide consumer printed slip of the amount of material weighed on the digital machine along with the bill.

KL Dogra, the officer responsible for checking violations in weights and measures used by traders in Kangra district, while talking to The Tribune, said the new law had been enacted to safeguard the interests of consumers. He said initially they would make the traders aware of the new law. They were being asked to install printers along with the digital weighing machines. However, if they fail to install the printers within the prescribed time, legal action could be taken against them.

He said since April this year, the department had challaned 66 traders in Kangra district. Out of these, 54 had been found guilty of various kinds of violations. A fine of Rs 81,000 had been imposed on them.

The Weights and Measures Department is ensuring that there are six types of declarations on packed goods. These include name of the manufacturer, net content, date of packing, date of expiry, maximum retail price (MRP) and the customer care cell number. In many cases it had been found that locally made packed goods did not have customer care cell number printed on the packing, he said.

The display of customer care cell number on all packed goods being sold in the country has been made mandatory since May 1, 2008. Consumers can directly call the manufacturer from the cell number displayed on the packing. In case the cell number is not displayed or is not functioning, an action can be taken against the seller as well as the manufacturer.

In some of the cases where the traders were fined it was found that the MRP was reprinted or changed on packing.

Dogra also said traders having digital weighing machines should also keep solid weights approved by the department so that the machines could be checked by the consumer in case of doubt.

Chamba, October 18
Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Speaker Tulsi Ram on Thursday flagged off a Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) bus from Killar, the sub-divisional headquarters of Pangi tribal valley, to Shimla, the state capital.

It is for the first time that an HRTC bus was introduced from Killar to Shimla, linking the far-flung areas of Pangi tribal valley directly with the state headquarters at Shimla.

The bus would cross Saach Pass, situated at an altitude of 4,413 m, via district headquarters town of Chamba and Pathankot, covering a distance of 600 km in 32 hours.

The Speaker said the bus would be a great facility to the tribal people of Pangi, making their journey easy to different parts of the state. The bus would also facilitate the inflow of tourists to the valley from neighbouring states and generate employment opportunities to the people of the valley, he added.

Later, presiding over a meeting of the tribal project advisory committee at Killar, the Speaker said the state government was spending Rs 35.61 crore on the development of the mountainous Pangi tribal subdivision of the district under the tribal area sub-plan, during the current fiscal year.

Shimla, October 18
While the festival of Diwali passed off without any major untoward incident, a devastating fire reduced a 110-year-old building in Sanjauli locality to ashes this morning.

Krishna Building, the five-storeyed timber-framed structure, was engulfed in flames within moments and by the time fire tenders arrived on the scene, it had already turned into an inferno. As the leaping flames threatened to swallow the adjoining structures, the firemen had a tough time in protecting them. Despite their best efforts, one of the structures suffered some damage when a side wall of the burning building collapsed on it.

There was no casualty as all 50-odd occupants were rescued from the building. However, a fireman Ashok Ram was injured as a part of the crumbling structure crashed on him. He was admitted to the local Indira Gandhi Medical College Hospital. The total loss has been estimated at Rs 2 crore.

About 90 firemen, including 40 from the Army, fought the flames for over five hours to bring the blaze under control. The building was razed to ground and the remains were still smouldering. The efforts of the firemen saved the adjoining buildings in the congested locality. Nothing could be salvaged and all personal belongings of the families were also burnt.

In all, 11 families were rendered homeless, though the number of actual tenants was less than half. They had sublet the accommodation to other families.

Deputy Commissioner JS Rana, Superintendent of Police RM Sharma, Deputy Mayor Harish Janartha and other officials personally supervised the fire fighting and relief operations.

Sharma said the fire started from the fourth floor after a leaking cooking gas cylinder caught fire. The inmates of the house tried to put out the flames but it spread quickly. A case under Section 285 of the IPC has been registered for causing loss due to negligence.

The affected families have been provided shelter in the local gurdwara and satsang bhawan. They have been supplied quilts, blankets and other necessities, besides immediate relief of Rs 10,000 each.

In two other separate incidents a Santro car was destroyed and an auto repair shop damaged by fire caused by stray fire-crackers.

Mandi, October 18
With the “surprise exit” of former Mandi MP and wife of Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh from the election arena in the by-election for the Rohru Assembly seat, the Congress high command has ensured the defeat of the party as most of the Congress activists campaigning are now disinterested and have wound up offices, making it easier for the four-time loser Khushi Ram Balnatah of the ruling BJP.

Except for a “handpicked non-influential Congress workers” in Rohru, a significant majority of the Congress workers, mostly Virbhadra Singh’s supporters, have abandoned their campaigning as soon as Pratibha Singh withdrew her name from the list of contenders for the party ticket.

According to sources, the anti-Virbhadra Singh lobby, led by Leader of Opposition Vidya Stokes and Congress president Kaul Singh Thakur, called the shots with the party high command, forcing Pratibha Singh to withdraw her name.

The Congress high command is trying to put across AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s new party mantra “neta chuniye and neta baniye” across the state not only among Congress rank and file, but also among the common man.

However, this experiment in Virbahdra Singh pocket borough may cost the Congress the seat and can act as a major “morale booster” for the BJP as Khushi Ram Balnatah enjoy a “sympathy wave”, said party workers. Even Chief Minister PK Dhumal has made concerted campaign and will be present with Balnatah when he files his nomination paper.

Dhumal aims at making a bid dent into the Congress stronghold that can raise his political prestige, reveal party sources.

Moreover, the Rohru Congress is a divided house in case party candidate is other than Pratibha Singh. There are over 15 ticket contenders but with only two in the ring, it has already turned 13 other sideways as dissensions have surfaced not only in Rohru but other parts of the state between the rival groups, insiders revealed.

They cited the example that the influence of Vidya Stokes and Kaul Singh Thakur were cut down to size in the recent Lok Sabha elections as Congress lost its traditional stronghold, the Shimla seat, to the rival BJP, which won three seats except Mandi.

“History may repeat in one of Congress’ formidable forts in the apple belt and may spell disaster for the Congress as the BJP has already gained Jubbal-Kotkhai, Shimla, Theog and is counting on the fourth one, Rohru,” alerted party workers.

Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Sohanlal Thakur claimed that every Congressman had taken the message positively and Mandi MP would campaign in Rohru and Jwali for the party candidates as the Congress was united and confident of winning both the seats.

Bilaspur, October 18
Randhir Sharma, BJP state spokesperson and MLA from the Naina Devi Assembly segment here in the district, has claimed that the BJP was ready to face by-election in the Rohru and Jwali constituencies with full preparations and under a planned strategy. There was no doubt that the party would win these two seats with comfortable majority and also annex the Rohru seat which had been the so-called stronghold of the Congress since years, he said.

Addressing mediapersons here today, Sharma said the failure of the Congress-led central government to control prices of essential commodities, reduction in supply of rice and sugar through ration depots in the state by the central government, failure to meet genuine demands and rights of people of the state by the Centre and also anti-people policies of the former state Congress government led by then Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh would be the main issues in this by-elections.

He said the BJP would highlight the phenomenal achievements of some 22 months of the Dhumal government and its policies, which have benefited every section of the population.

He categorically denied that there was any resentment among any section of the BJP regarding ticket allotment by the high command. He said any dissenting voice would soon fall in line due to the very nature of the election. However, the gap was very wide in the Congress due to clear division of its leadership and, as earlier, this would also help defeat of the rival party.

Dharamsala, October 18
An outbreak of gastroenteritis was reported in Nirwana Khas village, near Yol cantonment, around 6 km from Dharamsala, today. Till the filing of this report, 18 persons from the village had been hospitalised at various medical centres of the area.

Kangra CMO Dr Anil Mahajan, while talking to The Tribune, said from preliminary investigations it seemed that the reason behind gastroenteritis in the village was to consumption of contaminated water. As soon as we received a report regarding the outbreak, a medical team headed by Dr Amit Gupta was sent to the area.

Out of the severely affected patients, six have been sent to the Zonal Hospital at Dharamsala, 11 to Tanda Medical College and one to Balaji, a private hospital in Kangra.

The CMO said water samples from the public health water source in the village and traditional bawli (the place where water seeps from the hills) had been collected and sent for checking. Information regarding the outbreak has also been sent to the district administration, he added.

Sources in the area revealed that people, especially in villages, still preferred water from bawli to the public health water sources for drinking.

The villagers consider public health water supply unfit for drinking with a view that it was coming from drains.

They consider bawli, where water comes directly from within the hills, as more fit for drinking.

However, the health authorities are of the view that the water in direct natural sources is prone to biological contamination in the form of viruses and bacteria. Virus and bacteria present in water are common source of gastroenteritis. In the present case also the source of gastroenteritis seems to be untreated water from natural source.

Solan, October 18
With a view to assessing the water availability in the state in its perennial as well as seasonal sources, the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department has initiated a project to collect this data. A private agency has been hired to prepare a master plan whereby data of water availability in various rivers, nullahs, dams, etc, will being assessed.

IPH Minister Ravinder Singh Ravi disclosed this while speaking to The Tribune. He added that since there was no ready data of the water availability in the state, this exercise would help them assess how much water was actually available and how well it could be harnessed to meet water scarcity.

He said the matter had also come up for discussion during the department’s recent review meeting where seriousness about water wastage was also expressed. The IPH Department had, earlier, made presence of water harvesting structures mandatory in all state government buildings as this would have helped save non-replenishable source of water.

On the non-implementation of the Groundwater (Regulation and Control of Development and Management) Act, 2005, despite it having been formulated way back in 2005, the minister said certain clause of the Act appeared too far-fetched and hence they were in the process of bringing about the requisite modifications. This procedure would be completed at the earliest and the Act would soon be implemented in the state.

Though the Act had directed judicious use of groundwater in the wake of the receding water table and permission was required to be sought from the Ground Water Board, it had failed to be implemented till now in the absence of a notification. This had led to severe misuse of water, especially in the industrial area where large quantity of withdrawal had receded the water table drastically.

He said despite a severe drought posing water shortage in all neighbouring states, Himachal, due to its meticulous planning, faced no such problem. He said the department was undertaking boring of 25,000 new tube wells as they came handy where other sources of water were not available.

The department was also in the process of repairing old tube wells and new ones were put in place where the old ones failed to be repaired or where water table had gone abysmally low, he added.