Shimla, September 14
While the possibility of involvement of senior ITBP officials in the red sander wood smuggling case cannot be ruled out, the two arrested personnel have confessed to their association in the crime-taking place across the Indo-China border in the Lepcha area of Lahaul Spiti.

The two arrested ITBP personnel, Deputy Commandant Sukhdev Singh Rana and Inspector Manmohan Singh, are presently in the police custody till September 20. It is reliably learnt that the two have admitted their involvement in the crime and the police has been able to find corroborating evidence. Both have now been placed under suspension following their arrest.

However, there are indications that the police could lay its hand on some evidence, which could establish the involvement of a few senior officials of the ITBP posted on the Lepcha border. Three villages, located in Tibet along the banks of the Parechu, are visible from the Indian side at Lepcha and smuggling had been taking place here for the past some time.

During interrogation, the two arrested ITBP officials have admitted accepting money in lieu of allowing illegal passage of the wood.

“They, however, said the moment they got to know that the police had apprehended the trucks, they destroyed the cash received, though we have yet to confirm this,” said a police official.

They have, reportedly, admitted to allowing smuggling small consignments of the red sander wood across the border even in the past. In fact, this time it was the biggest consignment which was being smuggled into China for which the licence was issued by them.

During investigation, the police has been able to establish the fact that even in the past the two officials had been accepting favours, including monetary benefit, to allow smuggling of other products. This included jackets, shoes, crockery, flasks and other such products.

Meanwhile, the police is trying to locate the main suspect Narinder who is the kingpin in the case. He was last seen at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), Shimla, on August 24 where his son was admitted,” said SR Rana, SP, Lahaul Spiti.

The police has even questioned his wife and taken call details of her mobile number with little success. The police has tried to gather information about Narinder from his father and other relatives who live in Kaza but he has not got in touch with anyone.

Shimla, September 14
The Forest Department has decided to put on hold all major catchment area treatment (CAT) plans to facilitate their recasting in accordance with the shift in focus from eco-goods to eco-services with enhancement of water sources as the cornerstone.

In all, CAT plans of seven hydroelectric projects, on which major work is yet to carried out, will be recast, taking into consideration the altered ground realties Emphasis will be on bio-engineering treatment to check soil erosion and improve water retention instead of civic structures.

Year-wise action plan will be prepared with component specific work programme for biological and engineering measures which will also define clear-cut interventions while making provisions for the mandatory stipulations like payments for environment services (PES).

The total amount sanctioned for the CAT plans for Chamera III, Budhil, Parbati II, Parbati III, Larji, Sainj and Sawra Kuddu projects amounts to Rs 117.05 crore out of which Rs 113.13 crore is yet to be utilised.

The year-wise action plan will be have complete details of all sub-elements, including nursery, afforestation, enrichment and subsequent maintenance, fencing options like live-hedges, water conservation, moisture retention, reclamation of landslides and pasture improvement along with specific methodology to be adopted.

Instead of raising woody plantation, bushes and shrubs will be planted in the first two years to help bind and improve the moisture content. These will be protected with live hedges and not the usual barbed wire fencing. Trees will be planted only in the third year and only about 500 saplings will be planted in place of the normal density of 1,100 trees per hectare.

Additional principal chief conservator of forests JS Walia said many CAT plans were compiled in the late 1990 and early 2000 as the funds were lodged with the CAMPA. This time gap had made the original plans redundant in view of the changes that took place in the past few years, altered ground realities and new techniques in the field of soil and water conservation, necessitating the recasting.

Shimla, September 14
Chief Minister PK Dhumal today emphasised the need for popularising Hindi and said it was a language that could integrate people emotionally and help in strengthening the unity and integrity of the country.

He was speaking at the state-level Hindi Divas function organised by the Department of Language, Art and Culture here today. He also gave away awards to officers and officials who have contributed for the promotion of Hindi language in official use on the occasion.

Dhumal said Hindi Divas was an occasion for introspection to assess as to what extent society had been successful in achieving the objectives relating to popularisation of the national language.

“It is always good to acquire knowledge of other languages but at the same time it is much more important to popularise Hindi as it is our national language and even common man can understand it,” he remarked.

Dhumal regretted that in spite of attaining Independence 63 years ago, Hindi was not able to get the place which it should have and it was the need of the hour to make concerted efforts to popularise it.

Secretary Tourism Manisha Nanda and Director Language, Art and Culture Prem Sharma were also present on the occasion.

Shimla, September 14
Expressing concern over increasing addiction to drugs and intoxicants, including some medicines, Chief Secretary Rajwant Sandhu today directed the police and health departments to launch a campaign to check sale of such drugs to youth.

She was presiding over the high-powered committee meeting held here to chalk out a multi-pronged strategy to combat drug menace. She said the ill effects of such drugs and intoxicants must be highlighted through publicity campaigns so that awareness could be generated against drugs, especially among school and college students.

She said surprise raids should be conducted at such places where drug consumption was on the rise so that the guilty could be booked.

Shimla, September 14
Expressing concern over the decision to allow private builders like the DLF to raise colonies in and around congested cities like Shimla, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Kaul Singh today accused the Dhumal government of promoting outsiders at the cost of the interest of the state, its people and the fragile hill environment.

Addressing a press conference here today, he said builder mafia was flourishing under the protective wings of the government which had made a mockery of Section 118 of the State Land Reforms and Tenancy Act by allowing outsiders to acquire huge chunks of land to build apartments and set up private universities. Such projects were being allowed without taking into confidence the local people who were being directly affected.

He said no objection certificate from the concerned gram sabha and the panchayat body should be made mandatory as such projects put further stress on natural resources and created all sorts of problems.

He alleged that the government was out to change the demographic composition of the state by bringing in people from outside en masse to reduce the locals to a minority.

He demanded resignation of the chairman of the state board of school education who, he maintained, was morally responsible for the latest scam in which candidates who never appeared in the examinations were declared successful.

Mandi, September 14
Villagers of Keran, Chambi and Khatravari, who are opposing setting up of the controversial cement plant at Chambi near Sundernagar by Harish Cement Private Limited, today urged that the state should cancel the memorandum of understanding (MoU) considering its adverse impact on environment, agriculture, irrigation and public health in the Sundernagar-Mahadev-Chambi belt.

The fate of the plant has become uncertain as the central high powered committee appointed by the Supreme Court and Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) have not given its final approval for the same”.

Even the date for the MOEF’s approval accorded to the mining lease expired this month.

The Krishak Vikas Samiti, Kisan Kalyan Samiti, Chambi and Sundernagar Sangharsh Samiti have joined hands in opposing the cement plant as it would ruin local drinking and irrigation water sources and kuhals in both Chambi and Keran.

Dharamsala, September 14
The floodgates of Pong Dam were opened at 9 am today after a gap of about 13 years. Water was released through these gates last time in 1997.

About 33,000 cusecs of water was released from the Pong Dam. It included 15,000 cusecs through spillway or floodgates and 18,000 cusecs through turbines. Out of this, 11,000 cusecs was released in the Mukerian hydel canal and remaining 22,000 cusecs in the main Beas river basin.

As per paper records, the Beas can easily accommodate over 50,000 cusecs of water. However, since over a decade very less water has been released in the Beas, many people have encroached on the river bed. It is these encroachers that have become a cause of concern for the administration.

The Kangra district administration and BBMB authorities had made announcements, warning people against venturing near Beas banks.

The Beas passes near Indora area of Kangra district after crossing the Pong Dam.

Kangra Deputy Commissioner RS Gupta said there was no report of loss to life or property due to release of water from the Pong Dam.

Since the Bhakra Dam is also full to its capacity this year, the Beas water cannot be diverted to Gobind Sagar lake.

The step taken by the BBMB management to release water can be termed as over-cautionary. The Pong Dam has the capacity to store water up to 1,410 ft.

However, after the 1988 floods that caused massive devastation in Punjab, the BBMB authorities have scaled down its storage capacity to 1,390 ft.

In 1977, water was stored up to 1,403.20 ft and in 1978, it was stored up to 1,405 ft.

The water was released from the Pong Dam todayas its level had reached above 1,392 ft. From the engineers’ point of view, the BBMB should generate power rather than water by releasing it through floodgates.

Filled up to the brim, the Pong Dam would be at its best during winter when lakhs of migratory bird visit the internationally recognised wetland.

It can be an excellent opportunity for tourism department to sell the site to ornithologists from across the world.

However, the swelled lake would be bad news for the farmers who had encroached upon dried-up banks. They were carrying farming on banks. However, since the banks are now submerged, they would have to wait till summers for the water to recede.

Manali, September 14
Continuous rains in the entire western Himalayan region and flashfloods in the Leh areas has resulted in poor arrival of adventure lovers.

According to an adventure and cultural tour operator in Himachal Pradesh and Leh, inclement weather conditions and unexpected flashfloods in the Leh region disrupted many trekking and cultural tours. In the months of July, August and September, Lahaul-Spiti, Kinnaur and Leh attract many foreign and domestic tourists for Jeep safaris, cultural tours and trekking.

In 1989, the Manali-Leh highway was opened to foreign tourists by the Government of India, and ever since the number of foreigners visiting these areas increased. However, flashfloods in the Leh-Ladakh region disrupted all adventure tourism related activities like trekking, jeep safaris, cultural tours and mountaineering expeditions.

According to sources, till August 31 last year, as many as 16,249 foreign tourists visited Lahaul-Spiti valley, but this year the number decreased to 9,765.

Dharampur, September 14
With an eye on the impending panchayat and urban civic body polls, the BJP has stepped up its drive to foster a sense of belonging among its cadres by initiating training camps in all four parliamentary constituencies.

The cadre might remained disenchanted from the government as a chosen few seemed to dominate the show but the party was now sparing no efforts to educate and encourage its base to gear up for the urban and rural civic body polls.

Furthering this, a three-day training camp comprising party men from the Shimla parliamentary constituency comprising Solan, Sirmaur and Shimla districts started here today where state president Khimi Ram, Chief Minister PK Dhumal, party vice-president HN Saini, Health Minister Rajiv Bindal, Horticulture Minister Narender Bragta, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Sarveen Chawdhary, MLAs Dr Rajiv Sehzal, Govind Ram, Vinod Chandel and others participated.

Addressing the party workers Khimi Ram stressed the need to propagate the achievements of the government among the masses and said such camps were essential to keep the party’s ideology alive.

Dhumal while addressing the workers gave figurative details of various programmes initiated for various sections of society, including woman, youth, elderly, SC/ST, handicapped, agriculturists, employees, etc, so that this information could be disseminated among the masses.

Dharamsala, September 14
The district police has confiscated a scanner that was allegedly being used by the main accused in the examination scam.

According to sources, the police raised the house of a relative of the main accused Ashwani Dogra in Nagrota Bagwan area in the early hours today and recovered the scanner and other material.

Meanwhile, the police today produced Ashwani in the court of the Kangra CJM and requested for further custody to bring out the facts in the case. The court further sent Ashwani into three-day police custody.

The other accused Suresh Chaudhary was also remanded in police custody till September 15.

Kangra SP Atul Fulzele, when contacted, admitted that the scanner was confiscated. He said it was used likely by the accused to produce fake answer sheets.

When asked about alleged involvement of the education board and certain school officials in the scam, the SP stated that there was a procedural lapse on their part.

Meanwhile, it has been over a week since the scam was first reported to the police by authorities of the Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education (HPBSE).

However, the police has till date not laid hands on any of the board or school officials.

It has raised doubts about the investigation. State president of the Youth Congress Manmohan Katoch today demanded a CBI inquiry into the scam. He alleged that the investigation was being twisted to protect the board officials.

Scam of such magnitude could not have happened without the active connivance of board officials, he alleged.

Earlier, it was believed that the main accused, who was running a private academy near Gaggal, was procuring answer sheets from certain government schools. However, today the police came to the conclusion that the accused was using scanner to produce fake answer sheets. However, the serial numbers on the answer sheets and codes of evaluation centres left many questions unanswered.