Shimla, November 9
Foreigners having links with drug mafia are not only undertaking clandestine cultivation of cannabis and opium but also are involved in felling hundreds of deodar and fir trees in forests in the higher reaches of “Magic valley” of Malana in Kullu, known for producing best-quality hash in the world.

It was a raid by a CID team, headed by Additional Director General Police I D Bhandari in the Malana area today, which found the cultivation of cannabis and opium in the fields created by felling of trees.

Much to its surprise, the team found a three-storey house stacked with 35 quintals of harvested cannabis and one quintal seeds, which have been destroyed in Andarang village, almost 16 km from Malana, high-up in the mountains.

“We had intelligence report about the involvement of foreigners but the vast expanses of cannabis cultivation spread over 60 bighas has left us shocked. It indicates that illegal cultivation of cannabis is very much going on unchecked in the interior and remote parts of the Malana valley,” said Bhandari.

He, along with senior officials and CID sleuths, has been venturing into these inaccessible areas for the past two days.

He admitted that they suspected the involvement of some Germans and Austrians in the illegal act but no arrests had been made so far as the cultivation was on forestland.

The fact that the locals hailing from Malana have their base in these remote areas in the form of “dogris” indicates their involvement. What is surprising is the fact that the revenue and forest staff, who have been directed to report illegal cultivation of cannabis, neither took note of it, nor informed the police about it.

The involvement of the foreigners in the drug trade in the Kullu-Manali area is nothing new. Though the police and the Narcotics Control Bureau have been undertaking destruction campaign, there is still no check over the menace which is not only assuming alarming proportions but is spreading to some of the non-traditional areas in other districts also.

He admitted that neither the police nor any other law-enforcing agency had ever visited these areas, thereby emboldening the people to get into the illegal act.

“We will have to create the awareness of law among these people by educating them and at the same time strengthen our intelligence,” he said.

Bhandari said he would raise the issue of negligence on the part of forest, revenue, education and other agencies in reporting such illegal cultivation. “The state-level committee, headed by the Chief Secretary to combat the drug menace, has directed all these agencies to cooperate and inform the police about such cultivation,” he said.

Shimla, November 9
The state Cabinet at its meeting held here today expressed concern over the inadequate and delayed supply of fertilisers, LPG and kerosene by the Centre, leading to a lot of inconvenience to the people.

The Cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal adopted a resolution, requesting the Central Government to supply fertilisers on demand basis to the state on priority in view of the coming cultivation season, speed up the supply of LPG and restore the kerosene quota to the state.

With a view to encouraging higher bidding, the Cabinet decided to allow the independent power producers 100 per cent merchant sale of its power without any condition of the state government’s right of first refusal.

The Cabinet also decided to enhance the limit of expenditure to president and vice-president of Municipal Councils and Nagar Panchayats from Rs 30,000 and Rs 20,000 to Rs 60,000 and Rs 40,000, respectively, by amending the Himachal Pradesh Municipal (Election) (Amendment) Rule, 2010 and further decided to keep the post of vice-president in Municipal Councils unreserved.

The approval was also given for the regularisation of 30 daily wagers in the Department of Rural Development who had completed a minimum of eight years of service against the existing vacancies of class III and IV in the department.

It granted approval to free and concessional travel facilities in HRTC buses to police personnel on voucher basis.

It also approved the development of parking-cum-commercial complex identified near Old Subzi Mandi at Palampur on Public Private Partnership mode on revised terms and conditions.

Shimla, November 9
With the panchayat elections due next month, the political clime in the state has begun warming up with the two major political parties, the BJP and the Congress, gearing up for the poll.

Addressing a press conference here today, state BJP general secretary and chairman of the Food and Civil Supplies Corporation Ram Swaroop Sharma said the BJP was fully geared up for the panchayat poll. “Seeing the inevitable defeat that it is sure to face in the panchayat poll, the Congress has started levelling baseless allegations,” he remarked.

He refuted the Congress allegations that the government had made changes in the roaster with an eye on the panchayat elections. “It is the BJP regime which gave 50 per cent reservation to women in panchayats and the changes have been made only to enable this and if the Congress still has doubts they can seek information under the Right to Information Act,” he remarked.

Sharma said it was only the BJP regime that had implemented the 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments to give full powers to the panchayats and other local bodies. “Today the Congress can make tall claims but the fact remains that during its own rule, the panchayats only had symbolic powers,” he alleged.

The convener of the BJP Panchayati Raj Cell, HN Kashyap, who was also present on the occasion, said the roaster was being prepared on the basis of the 2001 census. “Only those panchayats where the Scheduled Caste population is about 5 per cent will be reserved and there is no reason for the Congress to doubt the intentions of the government,” he added.

“We are taking the panchayat elections very seriously and have chalked out a strategy where party workers will seek votes on the basis of the development undertaken by the BJP regime,” he added.

Shimla, November 9
Health Minister Rajiv Bindal said today that the government was trying its best to engage the services of more doctors, including specialists, so as to provide quality services to people at their doorstep.

He said the government was doling out special incentives to doctors so that they opt to serve in the difficult and interior regions of the state. He said the government was providing reservation up to 95 per cent to in-service candidates for doing post-graduation.

Bindal said seeing the requirement of doctors, the government had approved filling of 150 posts of doctor on regular basis through the HP Public Service Commission for which process had been started.

He said the Health Department had also made a provision to regularise the services of contractual doctors who had completed six years of regular services whereas in other departments contractual employees were being regularised after eight years of regular service.

The minister said the government had enhanced the budget of the Health Department from Rs 450 crore in 2007 to Rs 900 crore in 2010 adding that the government was committed to provide specialised services to the people of the state at their doorstep.

Kangra, November 9
One person was killed and another injured when an Alto in which they were travelling fell into a water tank of Gang Barav temple late last evening on the Dharamsala-Hoshiarpur highway, the police said here today.

Mohinder Singh, investigating officer of the Gaggal Police post, said Daljeet Kumar, driver of the car (PB-07-U-9036), which was on the way to Dharamsala from Hoshiarpur, could not negotiate a curve at 10.30 pm last night and fell into the water tank of the temple in the outskirts of this town.

He said the driver, 34, resident of Hoshiarpur, was rushed to Tanda Medical College by the local residents where doctors declared him brought dead. The police said three other persons, identified as Manish Kumar, Deep Chand, Bikram, all residents of Hoshiarpur, were injured and admitted to Tanda Medical College. Rakesh Kumar, resident of Gotam Nagar, Hoshiarpur, escaped unhurt in the accident.

The police said there was a sharp curve on this highway which had become an accident-prone site and had no signboard to indicate this curve. People not well-versed with the topography of the area drove straight and fell into the water tank.

There is no parapet on this curve so drivers become victims of the departmental negligence, said a local resident A B Rajbansh. On October 20, Manoj Kumar, a resident of Bilaspur, also fell into the water tank at the same spot while driving a motorcycle and died on the spot but the authorities did not learn a lesson from the death of the youth.

Dharamsala, November 9
The ex-servicemen, who have not yet received any pension from the Army or any other body, will get financial help in the form of old-age pension, said Deputy Commissioner RS Gupta here today.

He was addressing a meeting of the district Sainik Welfare Board.

He instructed the board’s officials to identify such ex-servicemen, who were not receiving pension from any source and should be provided old-age pension.

Gupta further said ex-servicemen were being provided with the benefits of one-rank one-pension in the district and benefits of the scheme to their families were under consideration. He said a help desk had been opened in the DC office here to address the issues of the ex-servicemen.

He also added that the government was providing Rs 330 per month as pension to the families of 1,161 martyrs and their widows in the state. Apart from that Rs 500 per month is being given to 240 ex-servicemen of the IInd World War and 760 war widows.

An amount of Rs 70,000 has been provided for the maintenance of sainik guest houses in the state.

Shimla, November 9
In a minor administrative reshuffle, the government today ordered the postings of three IAS and three police officers.

K. Sanjay Murthy on return from Central deputation has been posted as director, Energy, relieving Tarun Kapoor from this additional charge.

Madhu Bala Sharma on return from the induction-training programme at Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy, Mussorie, has been posted as special secretary, Social Justice and Empowerment.

Rajiv Shankar on return from training at the academy in Mussorie has been posted as director, Himachal Pradesh Institute of Public Administration (HIPA), relieving TG Negi of the additional charge.

Arvind Sharda, on his return from UN Mission posting has been posted as SP, Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau, South Zone at Shimla.

Shubra Tiwari too on her return from UN Mission has been posted as SP, CID at Shimla.

Ranjana Chauhan, awaiting posting has been posted as Additional SP, Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau, Mandi.

Solan, November 9
With a daylong meeting held between four truck unions and management of the Ambuja Cements failing to resolve the 33-day-long dispute, it was inching towards a major unrest. The meeting was chaired by the district administration.

An indication of the brewing discontent among 3,000 truckers was visible when the truckers gheraoed the Arki-based guest house where officials of the district administration, including Deputy Commissioner AS Rathode, SP Hardesh Bisht, DSP Kuldeep Rana, SDM Balbir Singh, were sitting to discuss the failure of talks.

President of the Solan District Truck Operators’ Union Rattan Mishra said they had come prepared to accept Rs 625 per tonne per km as freight charges for transporting clinker as against their earlier rates of Rs 653 per tonne but the unit management today took a u-turn and failed to accept even this rate which was acceptable earlier and demanded a discount of 5 per cent. This was totally unacceptable as it was not feasible to give any discount and, hence, the talks failed today. The unit management even failed to listen to the administration that was trying to work out a solution.

The unit management comprising joint vice-president Chancal Kumar, vice-president Manoj Karnawat and Jalpotta failed to accede to the demand of accepting a hike of Rs 625 per tonne.

Having exhausted all scope of chalking out an amicable solution officials are now contemplating to write to the government about the failure of these talks and fearful of unrest from the truckers the police is concentrating on keeping the law and order situation under control as instances of violence cannot be ruled out.