Shimla, October 6
With the detection of alleged collusion of some forest and Municipal Corporation (MC) employees with plot owners to find ways to break the law to enable construction in violation of the regulations, the MC has referred such cases to the Vigilance and the Anti-Corruption Bureau.

In two such cases of house construction, the MC authorities detected that there had been an alleged negligence on the part of forest department officials and the MC staff, who inspected the plot before clearing the building plan. After the building plans (map) were approved by the MC staff, it was later detected that there were trees, which had not been indicated on the plot.

“I have referred two such cases to the Vigilance Bureau as this is a very serious trend and there are apprehensions that there could be other such cases as well,” said A.N. Sharma, Commissioner, MC. He admitted that technically the building maps had been approved on the basis of the favourable report given by the MC and the forest staff but in reality there were trees on the plot and this could create legal wrangles.

Sensing the seriousness of the issue, the MC has referred the cases to the Vigilance Bureau so that a detailed investigation could fix the responsibility and action could be taken against the erring officials. These two cases are just a reflection of the ways and means the plot owners are adopting to break the law for construction in connivance with the staff who give a positive report when the ground realities are otherwise.

Despite a ban on the construction in the 17 green belts of the city, there are several instances where the construction is on in full swing. In case of influential people, it is being done with the approval of the Cabinet while others are doing it illegally with little check. The status of such buildings that have been constructed without approval still remains unauthorised but the government has failed to take action.

Even now the water and electricity connections of such structures have not been cut despite there being a provision. As a result it is only the law abiding citizens for whom the rules and regulations exist as those wielding influence get away with it by one or the other way. 

Shimla, October 6
The Manali-Leh highway will be closed for all vehicular traffic from October 31. A spokesperson of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), which maintains the highway, said here today that the Rohtang Pass and the Baralacha Pass were blocked due to snow during winter as a result of which the movement of vehicles was not possible.

In case, any vehicle got stranded due to bad weather or any other eventuality, the BRO would not be responsible for any loss to human life or property. Further, if an accident or any other mishappening occurred, it would not be in a position to carry out snow clearance operation for evacuation, he said.

The spokesperson advised all to avoid taking any chances by using the road after the closure. — TNS

Dharamsala, October 6
Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Delhi has proved a boon for the tourism business in the state. The Delhi government has declared 15-day holidays in schools due to the Games, causing sudden influx of tourists in Kangra district.

Swatantra Mahajan, who is running a hotel in lower Dharamsala, said: “Some travel agents had told us about the coming holidays in Delhi. So, we offered a special package for this period and the response from tourists had been enormous.”

Shubham, who is running an ice cream parlour in Bhagsunag, a tourist place near Dharamsala, said, “I had not given any new order for ice cream as the tourist arrival is generally low in this season. However, in the past few days, there has been an unprecedented rush of tourists.”

Vikas, who is running a hotel and restaurant in the same place, has his hotel packed with tourists. Pankaj, who is running an eating joint in McLeodganj, also says that it is a brisk business time. His eating joint is full to its capacity these days.

In McLeodganj, generally October is a lean tourist period with foreign tourists leaving for Goa. However, due to arrival of tourists from Delhi, almost all hotels are full. The summer traffic jams are back at McLeodganj and Bhagsunag with vehicles clogging the limited parking places.

Inquiries from locals revealed that on the last weekend, most of the hotels even in lower Dharamsala were packed to their capacity.

The hoteliers from the region managed to make the most from the recent the CWG holiday season in Delhi due to the increase presence on cyberspace. More and more hotels in the region are going on websites. They are directly offering packages to the tourists, which is helping them in increasing business.

Though main tourist spots are doing brisk business, tiny hamlets in the surrounding areas like Dharamkot that depend for foreign tourists are not so lucky. The stricter visa norms adopted by the government has hit them hard.

Raju, who is running an eating joint in Dharamkot, says that this year it will be difficult for him to even break even with annual lease amount. Very less foreign tourists have arrived in the region this year, he adds.

Shimla, October 6
Traffic restrictions imposed for Commonwealth Games in Delhi are creating problems for apple growers as fruit-laden trucks are being made to wait at the Kundli border for two to three days.

According to reports reaching here, about 1200 to 1500 apple trucks from the state were awaiting entry today on the border as the local authorities are daily allowing only 150 trucks to enter the Azadpur market. The situation is not likely to improve over the next few days.

The growers are worried as harvesting has been delayed by more than a fortnight due to incessant rain and blocked roads, and if the trucks are stranded on the border, there will be further ripening of fruit. As a result, they will not get good prices for their produce.

Till yesterday, 3.29 crore boxes of apple had been exported from the state and with over 3 lakh boxes being sent out daily, the total production this year may touch 4 crore boxes. In 2007, when the earlier highest production of 2.97 crore boxes was achieved, 2.19 crore boxes had been exported during that period. As many as 692 trucks left the state for various markets yesterday. Besides, an all-time high of 70,000 tonne of fruit has been procured under the market intervention scheme (MIS) so far.

The harvesting season officially closes on October 31 and there is still much fruit left in the higher hills of Shimla and Kinnaur district. Thanks to CWG and the festive season ahead, the rates have increased by 20 per cent to 25 per cent over the past two days and good quality apple of superior varieties like the royal delicious is fetching Rs 1,100 to Rs 1,150 per box.

More than half of the apple procured under MIS could not be transported and the government has decided to convert the heaps of decaying fruit at the collection centres into organic manure with the help of scientists of Dr Y.S.Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry. 

Shimla, October 6
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today directed the Public Works Department (PWD) to restore all roads by making them pliable for traffic by October 15.

He was presiding over a high-level meeting to review the conditions of roads across the state. He asked the department to cancel leave of all functionaries concerned and ensure that they were available at their respective stations till the restoration work was completed.

He said the state had experienced incessant rains during monsoon season, which had damaged 17,682 km of road length in different parts and the loss came to Rs 1,009.35 crore. Due to persistent efforts of the department all major roads were kept open for vehicular movement to facilitate transportation of man and material with deployment of 480 heavy machinery, including 137 departmental dozers and 199 earth movers and 144 private machines.

He said there were only six roads to be restored and they would be opened by the middle of this month. He also approved the emergent restoration of damaged roads’ schedule and fixed the target for clearance of slips from road formation, patchwork on tarred roads and due periodical renewals by giving preference to damaged stretches by October 30. Further filling of potholes, including non-metalled roads, essential walls required for safe movement of vehicular traffic and clearance of drains and culverts was to be completed by November 30.

Dhumal said keeping in view heavy rains the state government had made advance arrangements of procurement of 45,937 drums of bitumen and 82,740 sq m of crate wire to carry restoration work well before the onset of winter season for which Rs 37 crore had already been released.

He said the Theog-Kotkhai-Hatkoti-Rohru road improvement work, which remained hampered due to heavy rains, needed to be speeded up after the apple season. 

Kangra, October 6
Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College (RPGMC) at Tanda would be developed as the state-of-the-art hospital with specialised medical facilities for the people. Efforts would be made to computerise all classrooms in the college.

Chief Minister PK Dhumal said this while addressing students and fraternity of the college on the occasion of the Annual Cultural Night ‘Connexus’ of the SCA of the college, after he dedicated and laid the foundation stone of various projects valued at Rs 20.58 crore to students of the college, yesterday.

He said budgetary provisions for the health sector had been doubled and Rs 900 crore earmarked for health-related activities during the current financial year.

The Chief Minister also launched the official website of the college www.rpgmc.co.in and released the SCA souvenir to mark the celebration. He also honoured outstanding students and medical professionals of the college on the occasion.

On this occasion, Health Minister Dr Rajiv Bindal said the RPGMC had been upgraded into a PG centre for specialised medical education. He said the |state had raised demand for 32 PG seats and sanctioned 28 posts of teaching faculty to start specialised medical courses.

He said 1.93 lakh HIV tests had been carried out during the past 30 months compared to 92,000 tests carried between 1992-2007.

Dr Jaishree Sharma, director, Medical Education, welcomed the Chief Minister and Dr Anil Chauhan, principal of the college, read out the progress report.