Shimla, November 30
The gallantry medal theft may turn out to be a case of cheating with the police tracing all three persons connected with the fake affidavit submitted by main accused Kirpal Singh of Moga on the basis of which the George Cross, awarded by the British Government to naik Kirpa Ram of Bhapral village in Bilaspur in 1946, had been listed for auction by the London-based auction house Dix Noonan Webb Limited.

Teams have been despatched to Kharar to locate one Jain to whom Kirpal gifted the medal, as mentioned in the second affidavit, to check the authenticity of the document. During interrogation, Kirpal Singh had revealed that he paid Rs 20,000 to Brahmi Devi for the medal and sold it to Jain for Rs 60,000. It has also been confirmed that SP Chaudhary, who signed the second affidavit as witness, is no more. Once Jain is traced, the whole story about how the medal reached London for auction will be revealed.

The police managed to decipher illegible names of Nirmla, a close relative of Brahmi Devi, the widow of Kirpa Ram, and Sita Ram, local ex-Army personnel, who obtained the stamp paper from Ghumarvin. Both admitted having accompanied Brahmi Devi and Kirpal Singh for the affidavit to be given in connection with payment of Rs 50,000 from the Army. However, they maintained that there was no mention of medals and they were not aware of what was eventually written on the stamp paper. Kirpal Singh and another person accompanying him posed as Army personnel who had come to make the payment. However, they gave only Rs 20,000 to Brahmi Devi. The police failed to understand why Nirmla and Sita Ram did not come forward to tell the story themselves.

Kirpal Singh, on the other hand, told the police that he came to Bhapral village twice and during the first visit, Brahmi Devi showed some medals but he did not purchase any as he was not sure of their value. He came again after a month after a dealer told him that old medals, particularly George Cross, fetched a high value and also that such items could not be sold and you have to get it as gift. Accordingly, he paid her Rs 20,000 and got an affidavit that it was gifted to him. The affidavits do not carry any legal weight as they were not attested by anyone and also did not carry the mandatory mention that contents had been told to Brahmi Devi, who was an illiterate, in the vernacular she understood.

Superintendent of Police Kuldeep Singh said investigation conducted, so far, indicated that Brahmi Devi might have been duped. Teams were at work and the required evidence would be collected by tomorrow and sent to the Scotland Yard and the auction house before the auction scheduled for December 2, he added.

Shimla, November 30
The IPH Department has imposed a penalty of over Rs 60 lakh on two contractors for undertaking sub-standard work which had resulted not just in delay of the Giri water supply scheme for the capital town, but had also delayed its execution to full capacity.

Addressing a press conference here today, IPH Minister Ravinder Ravi said as far as the Giri water supply scheme was concerned, though upto 15 MLD water was being supplied to the town, there were a lot of leakages for about 2-km stretch near Dhalli. “We have imposed a penalty of Rs 57.85 lakh on Hill Construction and Engineering Company and Rs 3.08 lakh on another contractor for failing to undertake standard work,” he said.

Ravi said efforts were on to plug the leakages near Dhalli.

“With the government agreeing to release Rs 80 lakh to the PWD for the task, hopefully the problem would be rectified shortly,” he said. He added that the government had already spent a sum of Rs 68.78 crore on the Giri scheme.

To cater to the escalated drinking water requirements of the state capital for the next three decades, the government will shortly pose the Rs 1,350.97 crore Pabbar water supply scheme to the World Bank, he added.

“According to the detailed project report, the scheme will provide upto 50 MLD water daily to meet the water requirements of the capital town till 2040 when the population is expected to be about six lakh,” he said.

The minister further said the scheme to lift from the Sutlej was also under consideration of the department and now, with a fresh survey, the number of trees that would have to be felled, had almost been reduced to nil.

He said under a special drive, almost 50,000 public taps, installed in residences, had been converted into private connections, bringing an additional income of Rs 7 lakh per month.

“We have installed 3,349 hand pumps during the past two years out of which 1,986 are in drought-prone areas,” he said.

The Shah Nehar project had been declared a single project by the Centre and efforts were on to get the share due from Punjab prior to this, he added. He said several schemes had also been approved for the drought-prone areas.

Rs 1.56 crore had been received under the “Jalmani” project for installing aqua guards in all 15,000 schools of the state to provide pure drinking water to students. He added that efforts were being made to install at least one hand pump in the vicinity of a school.

Dharamsala, November 30
The Himachal government is planning to have a full-fledged Secretariat at Dharamsala. According to sources, the present Secretariat building, that houses office of the Deputy Commissioner and other district officials, would pave way for a state-level Secretariat that would have offices of the Chief Minister and all Cabinet ministers.

The top floor of the present Secretariat is likely to house the office of the Chief Minister. The Cabinet ministers will be accommodated in the lower floors of the four-storeyed building, the sources added.

The offices of the Deputy Commissioner and other district-level officials are likely to be shifted to old district administrative complex. The building of the old administrative complex, that was housing the office of Settlement Officer and Labour Courts, are already under demolition.

The new office complex is to come up at the place cleared after demolition that would house the office of Deputy Commissioner and other district officials. The government has already sanctioned Rs 10 crore for the new complex.

The new Secretariat here would be another political move to woo voters of Kangra district and lower parts of the state. The lower areas of Himachal or the areas of Punjab that were merged in the state, have been alleging discrimination. The Kangra district, that has 25 per cent of the state’s total population and 16 Assembly segments, has been at the forefront in struggle for representation to lower areas of the state.

Earlier, the Congress got the Assembly House constructed in Dharamsala for holding the winter session of the Himachal Assembly. Now, the BJP government would try to woo the voters by giving them the Secretariat that would house all ministers.

However, the fact remains that though the Assembly has been constructed and the Secretariat is under construction, it is mere political rhetoric rather than a serious effort to shift the government to lower areas in winter. The winter session of the Assembly is held here for just six days in a year. This year also, the winter session would have just six sittings from December 14 to December 21.

Realising that shifting the entire official paraphernalia to Dharamsala for just six days is a waste of money, the government has launched an austerity drive. This would mean lesser officials would move to Dharamsala for winter session.

Shimla, November 30
The government has finally granted prosecution sanction to the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau in the Drabla road construction case but what remains to be seen is whether political bosses, on whose directions the irregularities were allegedly committed, would also be nailed or allowed to go scot-free.

It was only a few days back that the government granted permission to the Vigilance Bureau to prosecute one superintendent engineer, one executive engineer, one SDO and two JEs. The names of three contractors had also figured in the case who had been named for the alleged financial irregularities in the construction of the Drabla road near here.

“The affidavits given by the two officials stating that they were under tremendous political pressure when they undertook the construction work of the said road, are still being looked into but chances of any action against the said politician on its basis are remote,” said a senior police official.

IPH Minister Ravinder Ravi said even contractors would not be spared. “I am of the firm opinion that all contractors, who are found to be involved in any kind of financial irregularities, must be blacklisted and in the Drabla case, one contractor was working under nine different firms,” the minister added.

With Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) chief Kaul Singh Thakur was the IPH Minister during the Congress regime, it remains to be seen if the heat of the case would touch him. He has been crying foul that the present BJP regime was acting with vengeance and trying to frame its political opponents.

The IPH Department had shown an expenditure of over Rs 1.64 crore on the construction of the road to the Giri water supply scheme whereas the actual amount spent on it was far less. The officials responsible for the road construction of the road had allegedly shown a much-escalated cost than the actual amount spent on various tasks like cutting, proper gradient as well as dumping of the debris resulting in huge loss to the state exchequer.

DGP (Vigilance) DS Manhas confirmed that the prosecution sanction had been received and the challan would be put in the court shortly.

The BJP, while in Opposition, had raised the issue and the task to inquire into the alleged irregularity was assigned to a three-member committee, including present IPH Minister Ravinder Ravi, Food and Supplies Minister Ramesh Dhawala and Transport Minister Mahender Singh. The Drabla issue had featured very prominently even in the BJP charge sheet prepared while the Congress was in power.

Shimla, November 30
State BJP chief Khimi Ram today lashed out at the UPA regime for adopting a discriminatory attitude towards the BJP government in the state.

In a statement issued here today, he said that the affidavit filed by the UPA regime in the Supreme Court rejecting Himachal’s claim of 12 per cent free power in power projects only reflected the bias that it had against the hill state. “The BJP regime in the state will not tolerate such unfair treatment and Himachal will take all such steps, including legal measures, to get its rightful claim,” he said.

He regretted that despite two Union Ministers in the UPA regime from Himachal, the state’s interests were not being protected. “It is shocking that Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh is indulging in petty politics on the issue of helicopter flights to snow-bound areas but he is quiet as far as protecting the state’s rights are concerned,” he said.

The BJP chief said as far as restoring the special industrial package was concerned, the two Cabinet ministers had failed to get relief to the state.

Shimla, November 30
The Union Ministry for Steel today unfolded a long-term plan to expand its manufacturing and marketing network, in partnership with private sector, to help increase consumption of steel products in the hill state. The initiative has been taken at the behest of Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh who is keen to make his tenure at the Centre count for the state.

A high-level delegation, headed by Atul Chaturvedi, Secretary, Union Ministry of Steel, was sent to discuss the plan with a team of the state government led by Chief Secretary Asha Swaroop here today. It was informed during the meeting that besides setting up a processing plant at Kandrori for which land had already been acquired, the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) would set up two more plants in Sirmour and Mandi districts. Further, the Rathriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) would expand its marketing network in the state by appointing dealers in seven districts, including Una, Hamirpur, Shimla, Solan, Kullu, Mandi and Sirmour.

Efforts would be to enter into an arrangement with private parties under which SAIL would supply the basic raw material and they would set up units to convert it into various products.

It was decided at the meeting that a three-member committee, comprising VK Arora, assistant director, SAIL, Manoj Kumar, director of industries, Himachal Pradesh, and Alok Sharma from the CCI, would be constituted to pursue the plan.

Briefing mediapersons about the plan, Chaturvedi said the state was lagging behind in steel consumption as evident from the fact that per capita consumption of steel was almost one-third of the national average, indicating a vast scope for improvement. As against the national average per capita consumption of 64 kg, the state consumed only about 16 kg per person annually. With a large number of hydropower plants, transmission lines and other infrastructure projects coming up in the state, consumption of steel was bound to go up, he said.

The major items proposed to be manufactured in the state included TMT iron bars, small diameter drinking water supply pipes, angle irons for erecting transmission towers, steel utensils and other such items which could be made by local entrepreneurs. Besides supplying basic raw material, SAIL would also have a buy-back or marketing arrangement with private parties if they so wished.

He said steel processing plant at Kandrori would be completed in three years’ time at a cost of Rs 80 crore to Rs 90 crore. SAIL would hire the service of MECON, a consultancy company, for preparing feasibility reports for various projects to be taken up in partnership with private parties.

Shimla, November 30
The global meltdown did not affect the public sector steel manufacturing units like the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) which recorded maximum profit among major manufacturers across the world.

Stating this here today, Atul Chaturvedi, secretary, Ministry of Steel, said the domestic demand fuelled mainly by the infrastructure projects kept the industry afloat in the country. The current production was around 62 million tonnes and the plan was to double it by 2013 for which a plan had been drawn out.

The country was in a position to face competition from China, the largest steel producer, which accounted for 49 per cent of the global output with a production of 550 million tonnes so long as it did not indulge in unethical practices like dumping.

When asked about the move of private steel producers to increase prices of steel, he said SAIL had reduced the price twice, in October and November, and as such there was no case for it though, though there might not be any further scope for reduction.

Chaturvedi said the decision to disinvest 10 per cent equity in national mineral development corporation was likely to fetch Rs 13,000 crore. Further, in SAIL the 10 per cent disinvestment would be in addition to what had already been done and it was likely to net Rs 8,000 crore. The SAIL would also come out with an issue to raise 10 per cent more from the market, which would be used for its own expansion programme.

Solan, November 30
The Solan police claims to have solved the murder case of a taxi driver Bhisham Thakur with the arrest of one of the three accused Satpal from Sagriya in Rajasthan. The mysterious disappearance and subsequent death of the Darlaghat-based driver in June had led to quite a stir in the area.

SP Prem Thakur, while addressing mediapersons, said Bhisham’s Innova taxi (HP-01A-2559) had been hired by some employees of a cement unit at Darlaghat for Moga on June 19 and they had left that very night. He had informed his family members that he would return back the next day but failed to do so. His disappearance created suspicion in the mind of his uncle Roop Singh who got a case of abduction and murder registered against the three company employees — Satpal Singh, Charanjeet Singh and Kashmir Singh — on June 25 at the Darlaghat police station.

A police team later went to Moga to trace his whereabouts and it was learnt that the said vehicle was recovered in a burnt state under the jurisdiction of the Kotkapura police station on June 20. A comparison of the engine and chassis number confirmed the authenticity of the vehicle. The police also learnt that Bhisham was found in an unconscious state lying on the roadside under the jurisdiction of the Kurali police station. He was later admitted to the PGI, Chandigarh, where he succumbed to his injuries and the Punjab police had undertaken inquest proceedings as per Section 174 of the Cr PC.

Police investigations later led to the findings that the trio, who had hired the taxi, had beaten up Thakur and had dumped him on the roadside while they had taken the taxi to their native Deon village in Moga district. After leaving their luggage home in the morning, they drove the vehicle near Jeto Mandi and left it in a burnt state there around 11 am.

Two of them — Satpal Singh and Kashmir Singh — left for Sagriya in Rajasthan the next day to work there. The Darlaghat police later visited Punjab and Rajasthan in their search and managed to arrest Satpal Singh while efforts were on to nab the other two. Interrogation has revealed that the trio had hatched a conspiracy to loot the vehicle at Darlaghat.

Shimla, November 30
The Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), here is organising a two-week long Autumn School on the life and thought of Mahatma Gandhi from tomorrow.

This is for the first time that the institute is holding any such event. Apart from institutions like the Sabarmati Ashram, Gujarat Vidyapeeth and Wardh Ashram, no other institution in the country has offered such a course.

The participants will be acquainted with basic texts of the Mahatma during the course and also aspects of his complex, multi-layered inspiring life. As many as 25 selected participants from across the country and in the age group of 22-32 years, will attend the unique school.

Prof SR Mehrotra, an eminent historian, will inaugurate the Autumn School.

Resource persons such as Prof Sudhir Chandra, Prof Thomas Weber, Prof Shashi Joshi, Prof Suresh Sharma and filmmaker Feroz Abbas Khan will discuss aspects of Gandhi’s life and thought with the participants.

During the school, Feroz Abbas Khan’s celebrated film “Gandhi, My Father” will be screened at the institute. The course will be coordinated by Professor Tridip Suhrudan, an eminent Gandhian scholar and a trustee of the Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust.

Hamirpur, November 30
While 72 contractual doctors working in government hospitals are struggling to get themselves regularised for the past few years, the HP Medical Officers’ Association (HPMOA) is also peeved at their alleged degradation during selection of doctors for fresh contract jobs by the state government.

The government had recruited 375 MBBS doctors and 25 dental doctors a few years back on contract basis on the monthly salary of Rs 16,000 per month.

The state Cabinet had regularised a large number of them but 72 doctors still continued to work on contract basis with a salary much lower than their regular colleagues.

Though many of these doctors were working in tribal and backward areas, pleas to regularise their services had not found favour with the state government.

These doctors had been also been opposing the criteria adopted by the government for regularising their services after eight years of service like any other unskilled employees of the state.

“The idea of regularisation of jobs of medical officers after putting in eight years of service like other unskilled employee is not only unjustified, but also a disgrace to them since they have not only obtained professional degrees after years of hard work, but also had to undergo vigorous job training during their internship and house jobs in medical colleges,” rued medical officers.

The HPMOA, while flaying the regularisation policy of the state government in regard to medical officers, is also annoyed with the recruitment procedure for filling contractual posts of doctors through Rogi Kalyan Samitis (RKS).

General secretary of the association Dr Jiva Nand Chuahan said, “It is really sad that while selection of all class I posts like Ayurveda doctors are made by the HP Public Service Selection Board, MBBS doctors are being recruited by BMOs through RKS which is a disgrace to their profession.”

Meanwhile, Deepak Sanan, Principal Secretary, Health, said, “A comprehensive policy is framed by the finance department for regularisation of all contract employees and doctors would also be covered under this policy. Now recruitment for all posts, including Ayurveda doctors, will be made through the RKS only.”

Hamirpur, November 30
Hamirpur DC Abhishek said Rs 5.72 lakh were being spent for the welfare of physically challenged children under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) in the district.

Addressing a review meeting of the SSA here today, he said the number of these children in the age group of six to 14 years was 477 and efforts were being made to take care of their education under the scheme.

He said two day care centres were functioning in the district where such children were being taken care of and parents could bring their children to these centres for taking care during the daytime also.

The administration was also providing home base education for these children and at least one camp in every block was also organised for them besides organising ‘prashashan janta ke dwar’ for these children.

The DC said such children were also issued certificates in the regional hospital on every Saturday except on second Saturday.

Jain also asked parents to bring the cases of those children who could be treated by operations in the knowledge of the district administration so that funds could be provided for their treatment.

Kangra, November 30
The Vivekananda Kendra and Repudaman Charitable Trust in a joint venture will hold a free ENT camp as its monthly feature on December 4 and 5 at Kangra.

PR Agnihotri, in charge for Vivekananda Kendra Kangra, said today that a free OPD ENT camp would be held on December 4 at Gopalbagh Gurkhari from 4 pm onwards and free ENT endoscopic surgical camp would be held at the local Civil Hospital here on the morning of November 5.

He said Dr Sanjay Sachdeva, director and HOD ENT Fortis Hospital, Delhi, would attend both OPD and surgical camp during the two-day camp.

Shimla, November 30
A 53-year-old man Phool Chand undergoing treatment for depression at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) here jumped to death from the fourth floor of the hospital here today.

According to the police, the patient had been in depression for the past five years and was undergoing treatment. This morning he jumped off the building while his wife had gone for some work in the hospital.

Doctors at IGMC said Phool Chand would often get violent, so he had been kept tied while his wife and another relative attended on him. Some days back when his family was taking him to Chandigarh for treatment, he ran away and inflicted 29 injuries on his body with a knife.

The doctors added that he had almost been cured of the wounds and the surgery done on him had also been successful but probably depression did not desert him.