Shimla, June 21
The CID wing of the state police has made a major breakthrough in its efforts to get the stolen George Cross back as UK courts could shortly begin the proceedings for recovering the medal from Ashok Nath, who has been booked on charges of cheating and theft from Bilaspur.

It was only a week back that the UK authorities confirmed having received a voluminous 240-page document from the Himachal police, giving all incriminating evidence related to the cheating case booked in Bilaspur against Ashok Nath, who was instrumental in the national property allegedly being sent abroad in an illegal manner.

The CID is learnt to have sent a detailed questionnaire to the UK police so that Nath could be quizzed with regard to his role in the sudden appearance of the George Cross at an auction in London. Timely action by the Himachal police had prevented the auction of the George Cross awarded to Kirpa Ram of the 8th battalion of 13th Frontier Force Rifles in 1946. His widow Brahmi Devi had also requested the government to get the medal back to India.

“Considering the lengthy procedures and formalities, the progress in the recovery of the George Cross has been fast and soon the UK courts could start the proceedings for its recovery,” confirmed DIG (CID), N. Venugopal. He added that a case had already been registered against NRI Ashok Nath and his associate L.M. Jain, a Delhi-based dealer.

The state CID had taken up the issue of recovery of the George Cross from London by taking it up with the Ministry of External Affairs, the Home, Interpol and the UK High Commission. The letter of rogatory sent by the Himachal police has been scrutinised by judicial courts in the UK and soon they could start the proceedings to get the case property back.

Having failed to negotiate the issue of return of the George Cross back to the police with Ashok Nath, formal proceedings were initiated through the diplomatic channel. The police had asked both Jain and Nath to personally appear before it with regard to the George Cross theft case registered by the Bilaspur police but the two have yet to join investigations. Brahmi Devi had earlier got a police complaint registered on February 3, 2002, that the medal had been stolen from her house.

The CID tried to build up pressure on Nath by establishing his alleged involvement in a number of other cases relating to acquiring of antiques where the permission of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and other agencies was not taken by him.

Solan, June 21
With the Himachal Pradesh High Court directing Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, to redraw merit list of appointment of assistant professors in the Department of Biotechnology, after quashing two appointments, a question mark has been raised over the recruitment process.

The fact that five other appointments have been challenged in the court and at least two more were in the process of being challenged, it had brought the entire recruitment process under a scanner. Though the university patted its back for filling the backlog, a large number of irregularities proved lack of transparency.

Information sought under the Right to Information (RTI) Act revealed that an absentee candidate was marked present and even awarded marks by the interview board in the Department of Post Harvest Technology which was in sharp contrast to some candidates who were not granted marks in some other departments on the plea of reserving the post by the vice-chancellor as chairman of the committee.

In another case, in the Department of Social Sciences a senior candidate was debarred even from appearing in the interview for not possessing the required qualification (NET) though this condition was relaxed as per a notification of the UGC dated June 1, 2009, for candidates who had submitted PhD thesis before December 31, 2002.

Thus rules were twisted to adjust favourites, candidates alleged.

Certain in-service candidates who did not possess no-objection certificates (NOC) from their present employer were not entertained in the interview. On the contrary, number of privileged in-service candidates among selected ones neither submitted the NOCs during the interview nor at the time of joining their duty, thus violating an essential condition.

The candidates also rued that 20 marks kept for the interview were used as a convenient tool to adjust favourites with the lesser-qualified candidates securing 18 marks while even toppers were granted 10 marks, thereby reducing their chances of procuring appointments. Similarly, marks of experience were granted at the whims and fancies of the board.

The recruitments had disheartened the meritorious candidates who were now forced to seek a legal remedy.

Shimla, June 21
The tiny hill state may have a negligible role in the country’s politics but its leaders are proving heavy weights at the national level, holding key positions in the government and the main opposition party.

The election of union commerce minister Anand Sharma to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan provides the latest example of the growing clout of state’s leaders. There was a time when the ruling parties were forced to accept and elect leaders from outside to the House of elders. Interestingly, the state has virtually two leaders who have entered Parliament from Rajasthan. Former minister Chandresh Kumari who remained a member of the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha from different constituencies in the state, got elected from Jodhpur during the 2009 Lok Sabha poll.

The state has just four Lok Sabha seats but has two ministers in the Union Cabinet, union minister for steel Virbhadra Singh and Anand Sharma. For years the state remained unrepresented in the Union Cabinet. It was only in 1999 that Shanta Kumar who remained chief minister of the state twice, was inducted into the Cabinet by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The state had also got a lion’s share in the main opposition party BJP and its national president Nitin Gadkari has included three leaders from the state in his team. Shanta Kumar has been made vice-president and an emerging leader J. P. Nadda had been inducted as general secretary. Recently, Anurag Thakur, another upcoming youth leader and elder son of Chief Minister P.K.Dhumal, was chosen to head the youth wing of the party.

The fact that the state has managed to secure more than its due share provides an indication that the small state has the capacity to throw up competent leaders who could deliver at the national level. While Shanta Kumar and Virbhadra Singh are leaders of stature with long experience, Anand Sharma and Nadda represent the next generation leadership and Anurag Thakur, the future face of BJP.

Solan, June 21
The Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB) will be a role model in the country in delivering efficient services to people of the state.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said this while addressing the felicitation function and state-level Executive Committee meeting of the HPSEB Ministerial Services’ Association here yesterday. He said financial benefits worth Rs 280 crore were delivered to the board pensioners. He added that power theft need to be checked and people helping in nabbing culprits need to be rewarded suitably.

The Chief Minister said the state government had examined every input very closely, consulted every association of board employees’ before undertaking the unbundling exercise of the board. Besides, the government had implemented and incorporated all realistic suggestions of unions of the board. He said all rights with regard to pay scales, pension benefits, security of service, revised pay scale and other benefits were discussed in length. He said Rs 1.98 crore were provided for the Board Employees’ Welfare Fund.

Dhumal emphasised the need for introspection, since the state government had been creating public sector undertakings (PSU) with the sole motive of ensuring profit, which employees of all PSUs had to bear in mind. He said it was the duty of the management and employees to work hard to bring their PSUs into profit, which would add to financial incentives to its employees.

The Chief Minister said the state government favoured congenial atmosphere for resolving all issues relating to demands of employees which had been instrumental in maintenance of cordial relations with employees. He said every public servant was required to work as per his capacity and provide benefits as per need. He said the public servants were accountable towards common man, who had to be rendered priority in delivering best of the services.

Health Minister Dr Rajiv Bindal welcomed the Chief Minister to his home segment and said the state government revoked victimisation of employees on coming to power. He thanked the Chief Minister for getting five more national highways for the state.

Hamirpur, June 21
Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh has refuted allegations of Chief Minister PK Dhumal for poor performance of his ministry due to his frequent tours in the state.

Talking to media persons here today, the minister said, "I am not accountable to Dhumal for my performance in the Union Cabinet and people to whom I am accountable are fully satisfied by my performance."

" I am an elected member of Parliament and had been Chief Minister of the state five times; though I want to come to the state frequently to meet people but unable to do so and making such an allegation is like hitting a person below the belt," he added .

He said,”The ministry of steel has performed quite well under the able leadership and guidance of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and today steel production has increased substantially and demand had risen by 9 per cent which is a sign of vibrant economy.”

The minister said, "The present production of steel is 59.4 metric tonnes and we have targeted to increase it to 120 metric tonnes by 2012 and Rs 70,000 crores would be spent for expansion and technological improvement of SAIL (Steel Authority India Limited) plants in the next five years.”

Replying to a question Singh said, "Though I welcome State Congress leader’s statement of keeping the Congress party's door and windows open for entry of more people in the party but it should also be ensured whether good people are coming or bad people making entry to create mischief.”

Shimla, June 21
The government will extend all possible help for ‘Kalchakra’, a sacred religious ceremony of Buddhists during which the Dalai Lama will deliver sermons, scheduled to be held in 2013 at Pooh in Kinnaur district.

He said the Rs 2.5 crore helipad at Pooh, the foundation stone of which was laid by him last evening, would go a long way in providing best of the facilities to the devotees who turned up in strength for such an historic event. He said other necessary infrastructural facilities were being upgraded for the smooth conduct of the ceremony which was likely to attract a large number of foreigners.

Addressing a public meeting at Rarang today after laying the foundation stone of a drinking water supply scheme, he said the Buddhist Festival of Guru Chhangyad would be declared a district-level festival. He said such festivals played an important role in preserving the rich cultural heritage of the state and the tribal fairs and festivals in particular were unique and attracted lot of visitors from different parts of the country.

Dhumal announced that the state government would get the survey of Panendan-Kshadra local link road for the convenience of the local people. He sought the cooperation of people for construction of hydroelectric projects in the larger interest of the country. The local people would also be benefited from these projects which would boost economic activity in the interior areas.

Dhumal said the government would focus on development of agriculture and allied sectors to bring prosperity to rural areas. He said Rs 1093 crore would be spent under various schemes to strengthen the agriculture sector over the next three years. The agriculture market network was being expanded and modernised so that the farmers and fruit growers did not face problems in disposing of their produce.

Shimla, June 21
A boy and a girl hailing from Durg district of Chhattisgarh committed suicide at a hotel in the Lakkar Bazaar area of the town here last night.

Sudhish Kumar (28) and his girlfriend Devi Singh (32) booked into the hotel on June 19. It was last night at about 11.30 that the girl sought help from the hotel staff to take them to hospital as they had consumed poison. The two were rushed to the hospital where the boy was declared brought dead while the girl later also breathed her last.

The police found a suicide not stating that nobody should be held responsible for their death as they had chosen to end their lives. SSP R.M. Sharma said that in another note found in the room, Sudhish has confessed that he had killed Avinash, a doctor from Kohrinagar in Chhattisgrah to whom his girlfriend was engaged.

The police said Sudhish was a personal assistant to a sitting MLA in Chhattisgarh. He was wanted by the police in the murder case of Dr Avinash that took place in last week of May earlier this year. Three others wanted in the case have already been arrested. The Jhajra police in Durg district of Chhattisgarh confirmed the murder of Avinash who was engaged to Devi Singh. The bodies of the two have been sent for a post-mortem examination and their respective families informed about the incident. They are likely to reach here by tomorrow evening.

Every year there are either murders or suicides in Shimla hotels by tourists from outside the state. Last year, a student of the IIT, Roorkee, had murdered his girlfriend in a hotel room and fled after committing the crime. He was arrested by the police while he was travelling in a train.

Though in this case it was not difficult to establish the identity of the two as they had entered the correct addresses in the hotel register but in most other cases the police has to look for clues as the names and addresses in the hotel register are fictitious.

Kullu, June 21
Body of a Japanese mountaineer, Minoru Yanagi (76), was lifted with the help of Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters yesterday after a massive hunt.

Captain Randhir Salhuria, director, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports, Manali, said here today that the deceased was registered with the institute for a special refresher climbing course from June 13 to 22. Yanagi, an expert mountaineer, successfully scaled the 17,200-ft-high Shitidhar Glacier on June 19, but as he tried to descend an ice mass came rolling down and threw Yanagi to the other side of the mountain towards north in the general axis of Lahaul in Shitidhar Glacier.

He said a rescue team headed by Salhuria and assisted by Rajeev Sharma launched search operations for the victim mountaineer and found him on the steep face of the glacier. Salhuria said the team reached near the body in the second attempt on June 19, but found that the ground rescue was not possible. They then sought help from the IAF and two helicopters were pressed into service yesterday.