Dharamsala, July 10
The Foreign Secretary, Nirupama Rao, today visited Dharamsala and met the authorities of the Tibetan government-in-exile. She met the Kalon Tripa (Prime Minister of Tibetan government-in-exile), Somdang Rinpoche, over lunch. She is also scheduled to visit the Dalai Lama later in the day.

Rao did not interacted with the media. She refused to comment when mediapersons tried to contact her on the airport. She is scheduled to return tomorrow.

Earlier, she was scheduled to visit Dharamsala on July 3. However, due to undisclosed reasons the visit was postponed.

Sources at the foreign office in McLeodganj termed the visit as a courtesy visit to the Dalai Lama. The proposed visit of the Foreign Secretary to Dharamsala, headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile, assumed significance in view of diplomatic initiative of India to thwart the proposed supply of nuclear reactors to Pakistan by China.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had sent National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon to Beijing as his special envoy. The visit was coming at a time when the nuclear nexus of China and Pakistan was viewed as irritant for India.

China had adopted a very aggressive diplomatic position against the Dalai Lama, especially after violent protests in Tibet just before the Beijing Olympics. China was blaming the Dalai Lama for engineering protests in Tibet. The protests also seemed to have shocked the Chinese authorities as they proved that the Dalai Lama still exercised considerable influence in Tibet even after 50 years in-exile.

The China had also gone cold on the bilateral talks between its functionaries and envoys of the Dalai Lama. During the last round of talks, the envoys of the Dalai Lama had submitted a memorandum of proposed autonomy under the Chinese sovereignty. However, the Chinese rejected the proposed memorandum.

The visit of the Foreign Secretary to Dharamsala also assumed significance in view of strained Indian and Chinese relations over the proposed supply of nuclear reactors to Pakistan and strong diplomatic stance by China against the Dalai Lama. China was also increasing its interests in most of the neighbouring countries of India, including Sri Lanka.

Mandi, July 10
Busting the modus operandi of greedy fruit agents making fast money at the health of consumers, the Health Department destroyed 10 tonnes of banana allegedly treated with a banned chemical which was confiscated from a store run by FC fruit company at Ner Chowk, near here.

The team led by food inspector LD Thakur raided the store and seized the fruit and insecticides from there. The insecticide was banned under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act.

Thakur said about 10 tonnes of raw banana was transported here from the outside market recently. The fruit owner then treated it with the banned chemical to fetch higher price, he said.

The team observed that the profit-making fruit agents used the insecticide to maximise their profit as they buy the fruit raw from farmers or other sources at lower prices. Then they transport and store it at different locations to sell the fruit at much higher prices to consumers in Mandi, Kullu, Manali and others markets in the region, they added.

Food experts said the fruit agents used insecticides to make the fruit look fancy and sell at double the prices they pay to farmers or other sources. The chemicals used on the fruits for artificial ripening are harmful for health of consumers and are banned, they said.

Thakur said the fruit agents were using stores on the outskirts of the town to treat the fruit with chemicals as they have kept a strict watch on them in the town.

“We have sent the samples to the forensic testing lab at Kandaghat and challan will be put up in the court after the report is received,” he added.

Kangra, July 10
A 17-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a youth at her home in Lower Shiotu village in this district last night when parents of the victim were away.

Kangra District Police chief Atul Fulzele said at 10 pm last night Lucky Chouhan (27) of Upper Shiotu village broke open the back door of the house and entered the girl’s room who was taking care of her unconscious grandmother.

He said the parents of the victim were out to DRPGMC at Tanda and taking the advantage of her loneliness Lucky raped her.

The police has registered a case under Section 376 of the IPC and arrested Lucky, who is already married.

Shimla, July 10
With the earlier attempts to set up a special economic zone (SEZ) in the state failing to materialise, the government is exploring the possibility of setting up a pharma SEZ in Kangra district with the long-term goal of promoting health tourism with an eye on patients from Pakistan and Middle East countries.

Pharma giant Mankind Pharma has showed keenness to set up a SEZ in Kangra, which besides having pharmaceutical units could have a big corporate hospital with the objective of attracting tourists not only from across the country, but also abroad as well.

Considering the short distance to Attari near Amritsar, the entry to Pakistan and the international airport at Amritsar, the possibility of promoting medical tourism is being explored.

State Industries Minister Kishan Kapoor held talks with representatives of Pharma Mankind at New Delhi yesterday. “They have shown keen interest in the proposal to have a Pharma SEZ somewhere in Kangra as its distance from the Amritsar international airport and the Gaggal airport is very short,” Kapoor said.

He, however, added that the proposal would be pursued only with the consent and cooperation of the public. “The SEZ will be set up by the private company and the state government would only provide them infrastructure like road and good connectivity, which already exists in Kangra,” he said.

With Himachal Pradesh emerging as a favoured destination for big names in the pharmaceutical industry, the government is hopeful that the idea of a pharma SEZ would work wonders. The state has an ideal climate and natural beauty suited for promoting health tourism.

It is reliably learnt that search for over 1,000 bighas in Kangra has already begun and a team of the Industries Department could visit the district soon. “To avoid public opposition, our effort is to search for government land minus any forest land and minimum possible private ownership so that clearances are easy to obtain,” said a bureaucrat.

Going by the previous experience when people came on to the streets to oppose the coming up of a SEZ in Una, the government wants to adopt a cautious approach. The centre had granted approval for the setting up of SEZ in Una in November, 2006, but with its validity period getting over, the project could not take-off.

Two other SEZ proposed for Kangra and Vaknaghat in Solan too could not take shape. The one proposed for Kangra in April, 2006, was rejected by the Central Approval Board in January, 2008. The validity period of the one approved for Vaknaghat in November, 2006, also got over without any headway.