Manali, November 18
The 13,050 ft-high Rohtang Pass, the gateway to Lahaul-Spiti, experienced fresh snowfall while the lower parts of the valley were lashed by rain, snapping the road link between Manali and the Lahaul-Spiti valley today.

The Manali-Sarchu road, which was to close for all vehicular traffic from November 15 but remained opened due to dry spell in the region, is finally closed now.

The road to Rohtang was temporarily closed and the vehicular traffic on the Manali-Rohtang road was disrupted due to fresh snowfall at several places beyond Gulaba, 19 km from here, today.

Hundreds of tourists, who came to Kullu-Manali, were delighted to see the hills covered under the “white blanket”.

The entire higher reaches of the Kullu valley, including the Pir Panjal ranges, Brighu slopes, Chaderkhani Pass, Hampta Ski slopes, Marhi meadows, Gulaba and Dhundi also experienced fresh snowfall.

Cold winds continued to lash the areas throughout the day due to fresh snowfall in the upper Manali region leading to further decline in the day temperature.

Rajiv Sharma, deputy director of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports here, said two rescue posts had been set up, one at Mahri, 35 km from here on the Manali-Leh highway, the base of the Rohtang Pass, and second at Khoksar in Lahaul-Spiti district.

Sharma further said the rescue posts would help monitor the safety of pedestrians crossing the Rohtang Pass and meet any eventuality due to the bad weather. People crossing over the Rohtang Pass were requested to register themselves with the rescue posts at Marhi and Khoksar to get benefits of these posts.

PALAMPUR: Palampur and its adjoining areas experienced rain this morning. The upper reaches of the Dhauladhar ranges and the Chotta Bara Bhangal areas received the first round of snowfall of this season. While the lower areas were lashed by light to heavy showers.

There is a considerable fall in the temperatures in the Palampur region. Scarcity of LPG, charcoal and kerosene has further multiplied problems of residents here. The prices of charcoal has also increased after the decision of the HP Forest Corporation to not to sell charcoal in their depots.

Shimla: Report of brisk showers were also received from Kangra, Solan, Mandi, Kulu and Chamba districts. Shimla and surrounding areas had been experiencing light showers since last night. The city had recorded 4mm of rain till this evening. Solan (4.8) mm and Dharamsala (4.4 mm) were the other two towns which had rain.

Dharamsala, November 18
A former Congress minister and senior leader from Kangra Vijay Singh Mankotia has threatened to move the Supreme Court in case the Union Government fails to act against Virbhadra Singh, the Union Minister for Steel, in a corruption case registered against him in Himachal.

Taking a cue from comment of the Supreme Court in the Raja case, Mankotia said an FIR had been registered by the Himachal Government against the former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife in 2009. The Chief Minister has been accused of misusing his office relating to some financial transactions.

The FIR has been registered on the basis of recording of their conversations in an audio cassette, the authentication of which was done by the Central Forensic Laboratory, Chandigarh. After a high court ruling, the state government has also filed a charge-sheet against him in the court in October 1, 2010.

In a letter to the Prime Minister on the letter, a copy of which was distributed to newsmen here today, Mankotia said the Supreme Court had been justifiably compelled to question the Prime Minister’s Office response to the 2-G spectrum scam involving former minister A Raja.

He said, “We, the people of the country, wish that this stage should never have come.”

Mankotia has demanded in the letter that Virbhadra Singh should be dropped from the Cabinet like A Raja as he was also facing serious corruption charges.

He said, “Earlier also on June 14, I had written a letter in this regard to the Prime Minister. However, I have not even received acknowledgement of the letter as yet.”

“This time I have also forwarded my letter to the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. In case I do not get any response from the office of the Prime Minister this time also, I would be compelled to move the Supreme Court”, Mankotia said.

Mankotia has been carrying out a sustained campaign against Virbhadra Singh. It was he who released the audio cassette on the basis of which now an FIR had been registered against Virbhadra Singh and his wife.

Dharamsala, November 18
The Primary Health Centre at Chamunda village, 15 km from Dharamsala, has been working without staff nurse for the past few months. The nurse, who was posted here, was transferred to the Tanda Medical College after promotion.

The PHC caters to the health needs of 15 panchayats and a population of around 30,000. The primary objective of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) of providing 24x7 delivery and emergency services is being defeated here as the centre closes at 4 pm.

A retired resident of the village said, “Unavailability of doctor (after 4 pm) and staff nurse force patients to rush to Tanda or Dharamsala at the time of emergency at night which is again not very convenient for poor population of the village as taxi drivers charge very high at night.”

“It is not possible for doctors to be available 24 hrs, but if the government could provide residence to the doctor at the PHC, it could solve lots of problems,” said a villager.

The Chief Medical Officer, Kultar Dogra, when contacted on phone by The Tribune, said, “Yes, the post of staff nurse is vacant at Chamunda PHC but it will be filled soon.”

He agreed that there had been a shortage of staff nurses and the priority was to make staff nurses available to those centres which receive maximum number of delivery cases. He also added, “We have bed facilities and will also provide food to patients, if need be, but patients of the area prefer going to Nagrota Bagwan, Gopalpur, Tanda, Dharamsala or to Military Hospital (Yol) for deliveries.”

Dogra further said, “The formalities of land transfer are in process. We have received Rs 20 lakh for the construction of doctors’ residence which has also been forwarded to the Public Welfare Department (PWD). As soon as we get the land transferred, the construction will begin.” 

Kullu, November 18
Is an Italian national, Galeno Orazi, 65, arrested by the police on November 1 under Section 14, Foreigners Act, from the illegal “dogri” house at Nerang forest in the uphill of Malana a drug kingpin?

A 40-man team of the CID, led by the Additional Director-General of Police ID Bhandari, launched a first major operation last week in Malana and other areas in the Parbati valley, but failed to find anything concrete.

SP Kullu Abhishekh Dular said Orazi’s visa had expired in 2009, but he had been staying in a “dogri”, a makeshift house in Nirang forest in the Malana valley without any valid documents. He was arrested and sent to the judicial custody, he added.

A police investigation revealed that Orazi was looking like a Malana villager and his stay was facilitated by certain villagers who are in the drug trade allegedly, including Malana panchayat pradhan Beli Ram as he did not inform the police about his stay. Orazi confessed that he used to take hashish and used to grow cannabis, vegetable and other things in the area, police sources claimed.

Though the police has sought criminal background of Orazi from the Embassy of Italy, the police has yet to get the report.

The role of the police has come under scanner as Orazi has been staying over the years without his name registered in the police station. Each foreigner has to fill the C-form 24 hours after his arrival.

Dular said the police was quizzing Beli Ram and his nexus with the Italian. “We have not recovered charas from him and he may be deported to his country”.

In fact, the CID team had zeroed in on Malana on a tip-off that an Italian kingpin was staying in the “dogri” illegally and was about to smuggle high-quality charas from the village to some outside destination. But the team found huge quantities of ganja and marijuana stocked in the three-story house in the Atrang forest area in higher reaches, about 8 kms from Malana village.

ID Bhandari said they had the intelligence that the Italian was camping in the forest in Malana, but he was arrested by the police before the CID team reached.

Bhandari said they did not register the case as the villagers ran away from the place.

But the stock of ganja and marijuana in the house, is an indicator that these things are also produced in the area and the police is investigating the role of the Italian national, he added.

Hamirpur, November 18
While the re-evaluation of three papers by the HP Board of School Education, in which a local school candidate was declared fail in 10+1 examination, has improved the marks of the student several times, this has exposed a serious flaw in bringing the guilty examiner to book by the Education Department.

A local boy studying in a private school here had taken 10+1 exams of the HP Board of School Education and was declared fail in three subjects i.e. physics, chemistry and informatics practice, held in March this year. He was given 15, 13 and 16 marks, respectively, by the examiner.

As the student was quite confident of faring well in the exams, he applied for re-evaluation in these papers, after which he not only passed but also secured about four-time higher marks-- 57, 56 and 59-- in these subjects.

Though the student has been declared pass, now he and his parents are peeved at the casual approach of the examiners marking his papers, resulting into depression and wastage of one year of the student. His father is now planning to move the court demanding punitive action against the guilty.

Since the Board of School Education just debars examiners for a certain period, they manipulate their re-appointment soon.

Since many student fail every year due to sheer negligence of the examiners, the demand for stringent action by the Education Department against them is being felt as there is no provision of such action in the board Act.

Secretary of the board Prabhat Sharma said, “There is only provision to debar the examiner in such cases and we will write to the Education Department for further action against them in such cases. As many as 96 cases were forwarded last year and 56 this year.” Director of Higher Education OP Sharma said, “The board of school education should conduct inquiry in such cases and if inquiry justifies action against examiner, we should take action against such teachers.”

Shimla, November 18
Chief Minister PK Dhumal unveiled a 15-ft statue of Rani Lakshmi Bai at the Rani Jhansi Park, here today.The three-tonne statue of the crusader of freedom movement Rani Lakshmi Bai has been raised as a mark of respect to the freedom fighter who revolted against the British regime. The statue has been sculpted by Faqir Charan Parida of Haridwar at a cost of Rs 26 lakh.

Speaking on the occasion, Dhumal said the government would explore the possibility of raising a memorial of freedom fighters from Shimla district in the park as a tribute to the great warriors who laid down their lives for the country.

He said the Department of Language, Art and Culture was compiling the data of the freedom fighters district wise so that the future generations could draw inspiration from the sacrifice made by their ancestors.

He said light and sound system would be installed to highlight the heritage park that would give boost to heritage tourism.n The Chief Minister said Himachal was a land of valiant soldiers who had made supreme sacrifices for the nation and the government had set up memorials dedicated to freedom fighters and martyrs at various places. He also inaugurated the main gate to the park.

Shimla, November 18
With the Survey of India (SoI) and the Ministry of Defence reluctant to grant permission for the digitisation of restricted maps, the forest department is considering alternatives to complete the integrated catchment area treatment (CAT) plan for the Sutlej basin which has already overshot the deadline.

The World Bank-funded project for preparing the plan based on geographical information system for the catchment of the river upstream Kol Dam, assigned to the Pune-based Nayak Environment Research Institute (NERIL), was to be completed by September last. However, the task could not be accomplished as the department had failed to get permission for digitisation of the restricted maps, the hard copies of which are already available with it.

The CAT plan cannot be completed without the digitised maps as it involves incorporation of remote sensing data and global positioning system technology to ensure effective implementation and monitoring. The matter is being pursued for the past more than a year and the department is considering finalising the plan without the sub-watersheds close to China border falling in the restricted zone.

The plan is being prepared for 210 sub-watersheds covering the entire catchment upstream the Kol Dam. Out of these, 31 large sub-watersheds upstream Wangtu encompassing the environmentally sensitive high-altitude areas, including the cold desert of Spiti, fall in the restricted zone and their maps cannot be digitised without permission. The NERIL has completed most of the field work but further progress is not possible without digitisation of maps.

The department wants to complete the CAT plan for the 179 sub-watersheds for which no permission is required for digitisation of maps. It wants to give concrete shape to the remedial measures proposed for sub-watersheds in restricted zone so that work could be undertaken at the earliest.

However, it will be subject to the condition that NERIL will complete the digitisation work of the 31 sub-watersheds as and when permission is granted. A final decision will be taken after discussing the proposal with the NERIL shortly. Even then, the time overrun may exceed six months.

Initially, the Ministry of Defence advised the department to obtain the digitised data directly from the SoI but the latter turned down the request on the plea that digitised data was not available with it. When approached for a second time, it asked the department to keep in touch but gave no specific time limit for supplying the digitised data.

Shimla, November 18
The Himachal Pradesh High Court today directed the state government to decide the representation of those candidates who had become ineligible for appointment as Shastri teacher due to implementation of new Recruitment and Promotion Rules.

This order was passed by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice V K Sharma on a petition mentioning that the state government was giving effect to the Recruitment and Promotion Rules with retrospective effect.

The bench further added that they had passed Shastri degree and prior to amendment of the rules, they were eligible for appointment in government schools. They submitted that the government amended the rules in May 2010 and prescribed the minimum qualification as 50 per cent marks in Shastri degree.

The subordinate selection board had advertised the posts by prescribing the minimum qualification as per amended rules.

The petitioners submitted that the vacancies had been there prior to amendment of the rules and the government had failed to fill the posts on year-to-year basis. They contended that the Supreme Court had held that the vacancies occurred prior to the amendment should be filled according to old rules.

Taking into consideration the contentions of the petitioners, the bench directed the petitioners to submit their representations within three days and directed the government to decide the same.