Shimla, July 12
Activists of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) today staged dharnas across the state in protest against the decision of Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) to increase the percentage of marks for qualifying the BSc(I) examination without informing the students in time.

The ABVP demanded a review of the decision to increase qualifying percentage for individual subjects from 35 to 40 as a result of which only 26 per cent candidates were successful in the examination. The main reason for the poor result was that most of the students were unaware of the decision as the university even did not inform the colleges in time. In some cases the letter reached the colleges after the students had gone on preparatory holidays.

It pointed out that the decision to increase the qualifying marks was taken by the executive council in 2007 but it was suddenly implemented at the fag end of 2009.

The ABVP is not against the increase in the percentage of qualifying marks but it should have been done at the start of the session and the students informed accordingly.

Rohtang Pass, July 12
More than 500 vehicles still remained stranded on both sides of the landslide-prone 300-m-long track of the damaged Manali-Leh highway, about 5 km below the Rohtang Pass, even after a joint team of the Kullu district administration and Border Roads Organisation (BRO) evacuated about 100 vehicles, most of them coming from the Keylong side today.

The BRO deployed two bulldozers and repaired the damaged track of the Manali-Keylong-Leh highway to make some room for the vehicles stranded there since yesterday. However, the falling boulders disrupted the evacuation time and again.

The Tribune spotted trucks, oil tankers, Leh-bound tourists’ vehicles stranded on both sides of the landslide. Leh-bound tourists could not cross the spot as vehicles were sinking in the shallow muddy track.

Mandi DC BM Nanta, Manali SDM Rajeshwar Goel, BRO commander SK Doon and GREF engineers from Stingri, Koksar and Manali monitored the operation by creating the track to escort the stranded vehicles stranded from the Lahaul side.

GREF engineers suspended the evacuation operation in the evening as trucks were getting struck in the sinking road.

The passengers pressed upon the BRO and the DC that they be evacuated as it was getting dark and cold. “We are struck here since morning and want to go to Killar and Pangi,” said Tej, a tourist from Delhi.

Nanta and Doon said their first priority was to evacuate all vehicles coming from the Lahaul side. The people coming from the Manali side can go back to Manali, they added.

After inspecting the spot, Nanta said the landslide was still sinking and boulders were falling and they have decided to close the Pass for tourists tomorrow and would review the situation on Wednesday.

The tourists are advised not to go Leh or other places till the landslide is stabilised. “We have put a barrier at Marhi to not to allow vehicles to cross from tomorrow till the road is restored for traffic,” he added.

Doon said the falling boulders have damaged the bulldozers and the BRO was applying wait and watch policy as the track was sinking.

He said they need time to clear the road for traffic and movement of traffic would impede restoration work.

Shimla, July 12
With the road network fast expanding and the loss-incurring state road transport corporation not in a position to ply anymore services, the government has sought funds from the Centre for purchase of new buses to strengthen the passenger transport services.

A Rs 273 crore detailed project report has been submitted to the Union Ministry of Surface Transport to seek one-time grant for replacement of old buses, which have completed life, and additional vehicles to operate services on new routes. The state is demanding funds on the plea that cost of operation of bus services is much higher in the hills and wear and tear of the vehicles is also much more as a result of which the corporation cannot spare funds for replacing the aged buses.

Accordingly funds have been sought for replacement of 500 old buses and purchasing another 500 for introducing bus services on new routes. The state has underlined the fact that thousands of kilometres of new roads constructed under various programmes will be of little use to the local people if bus services are not made available. Funds have also been sought for purchase of 250 maxi cabs for providing services on low passenger traffic routes.

A separate detailed project report has been prepared for strengthening the passenger transport services in the difficult tribal areas. An amount of Rs 45 crore has been sought for replacement of 150 buses in the three depots at Keylong, Reckong Peo and Chamba, catering to the tribal areas, and purchasing as many new buses for introducing services on new routes.

Transport Minister Mohinder Singh had been personally following the matter and had already met the Union Minister for Surface Transport in this regard.

Managing director of the corporation Bharat Khera said the ministry had raised certain queries to ascertain the reason for high operational cost which had been addressed.

The losses of the corporation, which has a fleet of 1,900 buses, have been mounting with each passing day due to high operational cost and the cumulative loss has crossed the Rs 540 crore mark. 

Dharamsala, July 12
The state government is contemplating to take over the Himani Chamunda temple, considered to be the real Chamunda Devi temple by the locals and is located 12 km uphill from the present Chamunda temple.

The administration of the temple was marred with disputes among the local caretakers, following which the government has decided to take it over.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and Rajya Sabha member Shanta Kumar are keen in the temple’s development. The Himani Chamunda temple is an old structure and one has to trek about 12 km on difficult hilly terrain to reach the destination. The state government has planned to develop the place to promote religious tourism in Kangra district. The sources told that the government wants to develop the temple at par with Vaishno Devi temple in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Himani Chamunda temple is located at a height almost equal to Vaishno Devi temple. The government intends to connect the temple with ropeway. The sources told The Tribune that the project has been handed to the Tourism Department of the state.

Meanwhile, the administration has also lunched a project to improve facilities at the current Chamunda temple located on the Dharamsala-Palampur road. The temple officer had ordered removal of encroachments around the temple area. A large numbers of shops located in the vicinity of the temple are likely to be demolished. The affected shopkeepers have, however, moved court against the demolition of their shops.

The temple officer said after removing the encroachments, a park and an additional parking facility would be created near the temple. Presently, during the mela days the pilgrims face problems due to narrow lanes leading to the temple. The lanes have been created due to encroachments by the shopkeepers.

The temple authorities also told that they intend to develop a shopping complex having 100 shops. The shopkeepers who would loose shops would be accommodated in the new complex.

The Sanskrit College being run in the Chamunda Devi temple complex would also be shifted out at an alternative accommodation.

The Kangra district has four major temples, including Jawalaji temple, Chamunda Devi temple, the Baijnath temple and Brajeshwari Devi temple that attracts lakhs of tourists every year. However, the Tourism Department has failed to exploit the potential of religious tourism in the district. Till date the Tourism Department has failed to work out a package tour for the tourists, who intend to come to Kangra for visiting the said temple. If the package would be worked out and sold through internet, it could bring in good business for locals involved in the tourism industry in the district.

Bharmour, July 12
Natural calamities like intermittent rains accompanied by gale, hailstorm and untimely snow have not only damaged the cash crops of apple and vegetables during this season but also upset fruit and vegetable growers of the Bharmour tribal region which is a “valley of apples” in Chamba district.

The destruction caused by the weather conditions forced local fruit and vegetable growers to raise the problem before the government.

According to fruit growers, over 30 per cent apple crop has been destroyed with the falling off of its flowers owing to unexpected rains and hails and there is no scope of getting back the expenditure spent on the upkeep of apple orchards. In addition to this, there is also a huge loss to potatoes and peas in the area, they added.

They said orchardists and farmers in the region had small land holdings and the destruction caused to their cash crops like apple and vegetables had come as a big blow to them.

They appealed Chief Minister PK Dhumal to direct the authorities and experts of the Horticulture and Agriculture departments to take stock of the situation and assess the damages caused to apple and vegetables due to the sporadic snowfall and rains in the region.

They also urged the Chief Minister to make a provision of providing relief to the affected apple orchardists and other farmers of the area.

Meanwhile, according to preliminary reports gathered from field experts of the Horticulture Department, more than 30 per cent of the apple crop had been destroyed by intermittent weather conditions in the Chamba, Salooni, Tissa and Bharmour regions of the district.

According to tentative estimate of experts, the targeted production of apples in Chamba district is expected to be around 11,000 metric tonnes, including 5,000 metric tonnes in the Bharmour area during the current year, but it is being estimated that hardly 6,000 metric tonnes production can be procured from the apple trees owing to the prevailing weather circumstances like light snowfall, intermittent rains, hailstorm, etc and the temperature required at the time of fruit-bearing season could not be maintained.

Last year, the targeted production of apple was anticipated at about 16,000 metric tonnes but the production had gone down nearly 35 per cent due to unexpected weather conditions and apple growers had to incur a huge loss of over 7,000 metric tonnes.

Official sources revealed that out of 15,881.17 hectares under horticulture in the district, 9,673.8 hectares area was under apple cultivation.

Hamirpur, July 12
Though senior Congress leaders are taking serious efforts to settle all disputes pertaining to the Congress organisational elections, cancellation of scheduled organisational elections of the Congress in Hamirpur and Sujanpur blocks of Hamirpur district has once again exposed factionalism in the party.

The party leaders divided in different groups forced the cancellation of the election on intervention of the central leaders of the Congress, fearing takeover of the party organisation by the rival group ignoring their interests.

The elections for Sujanpur and Hamirpur block Congress committees, which were scheduled to be held on July 11 and 13 respectively, were cancelled on Saturday on the intervention of chairman of the national election committee of the AICC Oscar Fernandez and state election in-charge Rajni Patil, on complaints of the party leaders.

The election for the Sujanpur block Congress committee was postponed when BC Lagwal, who had contested the last Assembly election against CM PK Dhumal from Bamsan Assembly constituency, after rejection of about 1,250 party memberships and his claim of active party member was rejected by Assistant Returning Officer, who is a close confident of former Hamirpur MLA Anita Verma.

Both Lagwal and Anita Verma are keen of taking control of party organisation by their supporters in Sujanpur block as Sujanpur has been recently created a new Assembly constituency after delimitation and elimination of the Bamsan Assembly constituency. This dispute has been resolved after meeting with state election in-charge Rajni Patil by both the groups today at Shimla and July 14 has been fixed as new date for the elections here.

In Hamirpur block, the objections were raised by former MLA Kuldeep Pathania and his supporters pertaining to membership of Narender Thakur and his supporters, who had contested the last parliament election from Hamirpur as Congress candidate after deserting the BJP.

Mandi, July 12
The central government’s 22-member joint committee constituted to look into the implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) under the chairmanship of NK Saxena, a secretary in the central government, is expected to visit Himachal Pradesh from July 28 onwards.

The team will hold meetings with the Chief Secretary and other officials of the state government on the FRA implementation.

Himalayan Niti Abhiyan (HNA), an NGO, convener Guman Singh said the team would first meet oustees of the Bhakra Dam at Bilaspur on July 28 and then hold meeting with dam oustees and people hit by the cement plants: ACC-run Barmana, JP-run Bhagha and Ambuja-run Darlaghat.

People from the districts of Una, Chamba and Kangra will also meet officials of the central team at Bilaspur, he added.

The team would be accompanied by activists of the HNA and other local NGOs that had been championing for the cause of people that have been hit by the cement plants and other projects in the state.

The team would then visit Kinnaur on July 30 where people would lodge protest and grievances they have been suffering from the JP hydro projects and other private IPPs.

The team would then hold the final round of meeting with the Chief Secretary and other officials over the implementation of the FRA, the HNA informed.

Manali, July 12
The two Nepalese engaged in illegal mining on the river bed of the Solang khud near Bahang village along the Manali-Rohtang-Leh highway today got trapped in the middle of the flash floods, as the raging river caught them red-handed at around 5 pm today.

The joint team from the local police and Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and fire brigades swung into action after the Kullu DC BM Nanta, who spotted the tractor in the flash floods while he was on way his way back from the Rohtang Pass. He alerted the SDM and the police and asked to rescue the tractor and two persons struck in the vehicle.

Later, it turned out that the tracker was engaged in the riverbed mining. The Tribune spotted other tractors along the flood plain of the Solang, but at a safer distance. Even the labour colonies along the Bahang-SASE establishment have sprouted along the flood plain of the Solang khud, the tributary of the Beas that flows through this town.

Manali SDM Rajeshwar Goel said the tractor owners have been challened under the Mining Act and Motor Vehicles Act, as they were engaged in the illegal mining. Nanta said they have issued notices to the labourers along the khuds, but the problem still continued along the river sides.

Meanwhile, administration closed the Beas for river rafting due to the flash flood today. The DC said the flash floods were sudden and they have stopped river rafting in the Beas. The river level has risen and rafting has been closed till the water level subsides, he added.

The sudden floods in the Solang khud started from the Beas Kund glacier from the Dhundi side about 26 km from this tourist town today. The flood was triggered perhaps due to rains in the upper catchments, said the officials.

Dharamsala, July 12
The family of a MLA from Gangath, Des Raj, will lose 10-kanal land that was allotted to it by the government in 2000-01. Kangra Divisional Commissioner Omkar Sharma, in an order passed on Friday, has held that the land shall vest in the government.

The father of former MLA Shaligram was listed as landless in the list prepared by revenue officials in 1981.

However, at that time no land was allotted to him. In 1995, when the list was reviewed the name of Shaligram was removed from the list of landless residents of Kangra district, as that time the family had considerable property in its name.

Surprisingly in 2000, the then Nurpur SDM, once again added the name of MLA’s father in the list of landless persons. In the same year, about 10-kanal government land was allotted to the MLA’s father in the Mohal area of Indora tehsil.

A case was filed in the court of Kangra District Magistrate against the allotment of land in 2004. The then district magistrate, Bharat Khera, had cancelled the allotment of land.

However, the family moved an appeal in the court of Kangra Divisional Commissioner. Later, the original allottee of the land died. However, the family, including the Gangath MLA, continued to follow the case.

On Friday, the Divisional Commissioner upheld the decision of the District Magistrate and ruled that the land was allotted to the father of the MLA in an illegal manner. He ordered that the land should vest in the government.

The sources told The Tribune that this was not an isolated case in which the government land was allotted to an influential family. Many influential politicians and bureaucrats had got government land allotted in their names. The government lands had been allotted in the names of politicians even in Shimla.