Shimla, October 25
Perturbed over reports of differences among top leaders over grant of ticket from Rohru to Manjit Singh bypassing Pratibha Singh, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Kaul Singh and Union Minister Virbhadra Singh today addressed a joint press conference to put up a united face.

Reports have been appearing in the media that the two senior Congress leaders were at loggerheads. Not only that, with no senior leader, including Kaul Singh, Vidya Stokes and Virbhadra Singh visiting Rohru ever since the candidature of Manjit was announced, an impression was made that he had been left in the lurch by the state leadership. Some local party leaders had even revolted over the denial of ticket to Pratibha Singh.

It was for the first time since the allotment of ticket that Kaul Singh and Virbhadra Singh were seen together. The latter made it clear that being an important part of the Congress establishment, he would put his heart and soul in the campaign but primarily it was the collective responsibility of the state leadership, particularly the PCC chief and the the CLP leader, to ensure victory of the party.

He will be canvassing for the party candidate for five days. It will be quite unusual for Virbhadra Singh as, while contesting himself, he hardly needed to visit the constituency.

When asked about the denial of ticket to his wife, he said he was told that a policy decision had been taken not to patronise relatives of leaders and he was glad its implementation had been started from Himachal Pradesh with him.

The BJP has been upbeat over the developments in the Congress and is making a serious bid to wrest the impregnable bastion of Virbhadra Singh. However, after initial hiccups, things seems to be falling in place for the Congress.

Yesterday, the party managed to persuade rebel Mathu Ram Bushairi and today a BJP leader Devendra Bushairi, who remained a member of the state executive, joined the Congress along with 32 other activists, including several pradhans.

Only the outcome of poll will indicate to what extent the “show of unity” will help recover the ground lost due to bickering among top leaders, confusion in the rank and file caused in the wake of allotment of ticket to Manjit Singh.

Shimla, October 25
Expressing concern over the reluctance of advanced countries like the US to reduce carbon emissions, Chief Minister PK Dhumal today called for new parameters for gauging the level of development to help reverse the process of climate change.

“At a time when the world at large was debating ways and means to reduce carbon emissions a higher per capita energy consumed or number of vehicle per person can no longer be deemed as indices indicating the level of development of a country.

In fact, the countries boasting of high fgures of such data deserved to be penalised as higher energy consumption and more vehicles meant more carbon emissions,” he said while addressing participants at stakeholders’ interaction and training meet organised by the department of environment and science and technology.

He said the countries with higher carbon footprint had no right to ask the developing nations like India to contain carbon emission unless they themselves took steps to reduce their own levels. The plea of these countries that habits of people could not be changed overnight did not hold as the main issue was averting the impending environmental disaster, which would spell doom for all life on the earth.

The stakes were really high and not only each country but also every individual had to take measures to reduce carbon footprints.

The policies and programmes to combat climate change would not deliver results unless they were implemented by ensuing people’s participation. Himachal Pradesh had taken lead on this front by launching CLAP (community-let assessment, awareness, advocacy and action programme for environment protection) to become the first carbon neutral state in the country.

Forest Minister JP Nadda spoke about the initiatives taken by the government to protect environment like imposition of ban on polythene carry bags. He said the decision to implement the programme through non-government organisation, Development Alternative (DA), was to make it people’s initiative.

President of the DA Arun Kumar said the programme would be implanted in three phases over a period of three years during which assessment of carbon footprints would be carried out at the local level and remedial measures taken to tackle hot spots. Over 600 panchayats and all local urban bodies would be involved in the programme.

Rohru/Mandi, October 25
Congress men in this traditional home borough of Mandi MP and Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh are in open revolt against Pradesh Congress Committee president Kaul Singh Thakur and Leader of the Opposition Vidya Stokes, holding them responsible for superseding the “will of people of Rohru” by denying party ticket to Pratibha Singh, former Mandi MP and wife of Virbhadra Singh, for this by-election.

On the other hand, talking to The Tribune, Vidya Stokes denied any tussle with Virbhadra Singh, claiming that it was the party high command which allotted ticket to party candidates. “If any party man feel so, it is shameful and baseless. Party workers should be loyal to a party and not to an individual,” she said.

She claimed there was no factionalism in the Congress and clarified that it was Pratibha Singh who had cited “personal reasons” for not being able to contest the elections. “I could not go to Rohru for nomination as I was down with fever,” she claimed, but dismissed query on “political resolution in favour of Pratibha Singh”.

The resentment here has soared to such a feverish pitch that the Congress is finding it difficult to get workers for canvassing for party candidate Manjit Singh as almost entire Block Congress Committee (BCC), Rohru, has resigned in protest and has shut down campaign offices in the segment.

Workers charged that the high command ignored the “political will of Rohru” and instead listened to “view of political opponents of Virbhadra Singh”.

Revolting and resigning in protest here included PCC member and senior Congress leader Negi Ranvijay Singh, senior vice-president Onkar Sunta, vice-president Gobind Machhan, general secretaries Dinesh Chauhan and Rajinder Ranta, Congress workers Prithviraj Machhan, Joginder Machhan, SS Machhan, Girdhari Lal Janartha and Lekh Raj Chauhan, who gave a boycott call for canvassing in Nawar Valley, a significant vote bank of the Congress.

Negi, a Congress worker for the past 52 years, said it was now difficult to get workers for canvassing here as they had revolted and resigned in protest.

The irate Congress men said they had resigned as the state party president and Leader of the Opposition misrepresented facts before the high command. “We will not join canvassing even if Virbhadra himself asks us to do so as workers feel cheated and confused,” they said. The Congress men opined that neither Kaul Singh Thakur nor Vidya Stokes came here for Manjit Singh’s nomination.

“It was a poor Congress show as compared with joint face presented by BJP’s Khushi Ram Balnatah, a four-time loser, who now enjoys a sympathy wave as the BJP is in power in the state”, they said.

Shimla, October 25
With two major road projects being executed by Chinese company Longjian Road and Bridge Limited falling behind schedule by over 10 months, the state road project authorities have taken up the matter with the top management of the company how it intends to complete the project with new visa restrictions in place.

Work on the Mehatpur-Una-Amb and Theog-Kotkhai-Hatkoti-Rohru road projects, which was already behind schedule for various reasons, has come to a standstill with 96 Chinese nationals leaving for home last month. The ongoing work has virtually transformed the section of the road from Chhaila to Hatkoti into a dustbowl, causing much inconvenience to motorists.

The foreign nationals were forced to return after the new policy of the Government of India under which foreigners are not allowed to work in the country on business visa came in force August last. They will have to obtain work visa for the purpose. Those on business visa had to leave by September 30.

At present, some skeletal staff comprising about 12 Nepalese and Indians is manning the two projects.

Project director-cum-chief engineer BB Kalra has written to the management to discuss the issue and apprise what course of action it wanted to take.

The state had been pursuing the matter with the Government of India for allowing the Chinese nationals to stay till the completion of the projects but without success. The officials feel that the company will have to recruit Indian manpower as under the new policy, work visa to foreigners will be granted only in those specialised areas where indigenous skills are not available. There is a provision in the agreement under which the company could give subcontracts.

The two projects, involving an expenditure of Rs 354 crore, were awarded in May and June, 2008, and were to be completed by November, 2010. However, so far only 7 to 8 per cent work has been completed and a paltry Rs 20 crore have been spent but the company has deployed construction machinery worth over Rs 24 crore at the two sites to expedite work. However, just when the work had started picking up, a damper came in the form of visa restrictions.

So far the company is willing to complete the project but much will depend on the attitude of the Centre. If it adopts a liberal approach then some technical experts could get work visas otherwise it will have to recruit Indian manpower.

Shimla, October 25
Leader of the Opposition Vidya Stokes has lambasted the BJP government for its U-turn on the issue of allotment of power projects to the Brakel Corporation and sought a CBI probe to uncover the “truth” behind the shifting stand.

In a statement here today, she said soon after coming to power, the BJP government talked about cancelling the two projects with aggregate capacity of 960 MW but after a few months, it changed its stand. The sudden shift raised serious doubts about its intention behind allotting the projects.

Further, the dilly-dallying attitude of the government deprived the government of revenue worth crores as the project had been delayed unnecessarily at a time when the country was energy-starved. It was a very serious matter in the eyes of the judiciary and the legislature and the present government should not hesitate to get it inquired by a central agency.

The Chief Minister had given an indication to this effect and he should not dither from its stand and expedite the process, she said. 

Mandi, October 25
Mincing no words to express his dissatisfaction over the proposed medical college here, former Taxation and Excise Minister and former Gopalpur MLA Rangila Ram Rao today accused the Dhumal government of ignoring health care at Sarkaghat hospital and resorting to gimmick of opening the private medical college.

“We oppose the attachment of 100-bedded hospital to the private medical college as it is a question of risking health of poor and middle class patients, who cannot afford the cost of high treatment at the college,” he asserted.

Extending his support to the Mandi Medical College Sangarsh Samiti (MMCSS), Rao stated that the government had failed to fill vacant posts of doctors at the Sarkghat college as there were only three specialist doctors to take care of a large number of patients that turned up daily. “The Congress created 100-bedded hospital here and appointed 12 specialists giving quality health care to patients here,” he claimed.

He said Rs 20 lakh was allotted to the hospital from the Rural Health Mission and the hospital was constructed after spending crores of rupees.

He further alleged that the present government, far from appointing doctors, was out to spend public exchequers to the profit-making private party. “We oppose privatisation of health infrastructure and would never allow the government to attach Sarkaghat hospital to the proposed medical college.”

He claimed that students seeking admission to college would be charged hefty fees. “The patients would be made to pay through their nose while getting treatment at the private hospital.”

He said majority of people in the state belonged to middle and poor strata and there was no logic in opening private medical colleges in the state by mortgaging the government hospitals. “The government hospitals provide affordable and even free treatment to poor patients which is denied in the private hospitals,” he claimed.

Rao said they supported the MMCSS and CPM on the issue and would launch the protest at various forums.

On the other, the government claimed that the proposed medical college would give quality health care to rural patients in the region as the college would be operated under the public-private partnership.

Shimla, October 25
Depleting snow cover and greater pace of melting in the Ravi and Beas basins could ring alarm bells for hydro power projects as delayed snowfall, coupled with high temperatures, would result in most of the snow melting by June.

These facts have come to light in a study undertaken to estimate the snow cover during the last two winters in the Beas, Sutlej, Ravi and Chenab basins in Himachal Pradesh by the Remote Sensing Cell of the State Council for Science, Technology and Environment and the Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad, by SS Randhawa, RK Sood, AV Kulkarni and BP Rathore.

Based on the satellite imagery of the area under snow, it was found that the decrease in snow cover area was almost 29.95 per cent in the Ravi basin and 21.29 per cent in the Beas basin. In contrast to this, the decline was far less significant in the Chenab basin (0.77) and the Sutlej (5.50) per cent.

“In case the same trend of snow melting continues, by the end of June, most of the snow cover in the Ravi and Beas basins would melt, seriously affecting the discharge availability for power projects located in this area during the lean season,” said RK Sood, Joint Member Secretary in the Council for Science, Technology and Environment.

He said though factors like less altitude and aspect were certainly responsible for greater melting, if the present trend continued, the availability of water for power project could be affected.

Another interesting fact which had come to light during the study was that the total area under snow cover had decreased from 19,211.69 sq km on April 23 to 10,617 sq km on June 20, this year.

Another disturbing trend is that most of the snowfall had taken place during the summer months of March-April, resulting in its faster melting due to high temperatures as compared to the winter months of December-January and February when maximum snow used to fall.

According to satellite images, the trend witnessed that about 55 per cent snow cover in the Ravi and 30 per cent in the Beas basins during the months of February, March and April this year had melted within a span of just two months. Interestingly, during the same period, the snow cover had been reduced by 18 and 10 per cent in the Sutlej and the Chenab basins.

Scientists and environmentalists point out that such shift or delayed snowfall would not be of much use at it would melt faster, thus leading to shrinkage of glaciers due to less accumulation.

Sundernagar, October 25
A live tooth implant surgery was conducted on the concluding day of the Continuing Dental Education (CDE) Programme at Dental College here today. The surgery on a patient was performed by a team of doctors comprising Dr SPS Sodhi, Dr DK Gupta, Dr Sanjay Kalra and Dr NK Aggarwal. The procedure was witnessed live through an audio-visual system by over 100 participants in the programme.

According to experts, an implant can be compared with an artificial root, which is inserted in an empty area of the mouth where the tooth is missing. It was for the first time that the live telecast of tooth implant was done in the state.

Prior to conducting the surgery, the participants were detailed about the bio-mechanics and complexities of this much sought-after surgery, which left the participants enriched in their knowledge. The learned surgeons expressed their happiness by the enthusiasm shown by the participants and the arrangements made by the dental college.

After the surgery, the delegates were trained on implant surgery on one-to-one basis on models.

Himachal Dental College proposes to hold such CDE programmes on regular basis and in a phased manner in future for the benefit of the students and doctors/practitioners of the region.

Chief Guest Maj Gen (Dr) PN Awasthi, secretary, Dental Council of India, explained the utility and importance of such programmes in dental education.

In his inaugural address, Maj Gen Dr PN Awasthi (retd) hailed the role of Dr VK Gupta, chairman, Himachal Dental College, Sundernagar, and disclosed that the government was considering about passing a bill to make it mandatory for all dental clinics to get themselves registered with the State Dental Councils and the Dental Council of India. 

Hamirpur, October 25
Major national trade unions of the country have joined hands to protest against the economic policies of the central government and have decided to hold a nationwide protest on October 28 demanding immediate action on their five-point demand charter.

Leaders of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), the Bhartiya Majdoor Sangh (BMS), the All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) and the Hind Majdoor Sabha (HMS) have already held a joint convention at New Delhi on September 14 and decided to hold a joint protest and submit a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The issues that these trade unions want to highlight through this protest are price rise, retrenchment due to economic recession, violation of labour laws, implementation of unorganised sector workers bill in true spirit and oppose disinvestment of Navratan public sector undertaking (PSUs).

Talking to The Tribune, national secretary of the CITU Dr Kashmir Singh Thakur said, “While price of essential commodities has skyrocketed, the workers are feeling its pinch the most as more than 93 per cent work force of the country is unorganised and due to current recession in the industry 30 lakh workers have lost jobs.

While the government is giving bail out package to the industry, workers are not a part of this package, violation of labour laws is rampant throughout the country, large number of workers have been kept out of benefits of the Unorganised Sector Workers Bill, 2008, due to economic criteria and Navratan PSU like NTPC are being disinvested.”

The trade unions through a memorandum to PM would demand immediate check on price rise, include rehabilitation of retrenched workers in bail out package to the industry, stop violation of labour laws, raise economic criteria for getting benefits to workers under the Unorganised Sector Workers Bill, 2008, and put a stop to disinvestment of Navratan PSUs since the sale of national assets to meet funds for financial deficit is against the national interests, 
he added.

The leaders of the state units of these trade unions have also decided to organise a protest throughout the state on October 28.

Hamirpur, October 25
Traffic on the National Highway-88 at Nadaun Chowk in Hamirpur was disrupted for about two hours today due to traffic jam.

This resulted into long queues of vehicles on both side of the road from Hatli khud towards Bilaspur and till Pucca Bharo towards Kangra side.

Hundreds of passengers travelling in buses and in their vehicles were stranded on the road for quite some time causing them harassment.

According to information, the traffic jam was caused due to wrong parking of vehicles on the road and normal flow of vehicles on the road was only restored after intervention of the police, which also had to struggle for quite some time to maintain the normal traffic.

The voucher receipt numbers 16, 18 and 56 were fabricated and signed in the complainant’s names. The DSP said investigations were on and next line of action would be taken after a probe into the allegations.