Shimla, December 16
The Renuka Bandh Sangharsh Samiti and other organisations opposing the construction of Renuka Dam have expressed concern over the continuation of the land acquisition proceedings even after the rejection of forest clearance for the project by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Activists of these organisations have lambasted the state government for adopting a dual policy in the matter and alleged that the people were being taken for a ride. On the one hand, the Chief Minister was saying that the state would not pursue the matter and that the project would not be allowed to come up against the wishes of the people and on the other the process of land acquisition was continuing on a fast track.

Upset over the government’s attitude, the activists yesterday wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of the state High Court pleading for a stay on the land acquisition in view of the prevailing uncertainty regarding the future of the project. They cited the ruling of the apex court to assert their plea.

"The project proponents do not have a forest clearance for the private forest land which they are acquiring. As per the Supreme Court order dated May 8, 2009, in the T.N. Godavraman case, the shamlaat or private forests should attract the provisions of the Forest Conservation Act 1980".

Further, the letter also pointed out that the forest clearance for 775 hectares for the project had been declined and yet the land acquisition process was being continued, making a mockery of the decision of the Union Ministry and the Forest Conservation Act. It was shocking that the entire process of the forest clearance had been reduced to a mere formality. If the project fails to get necessary clearances, the money spent on the acquisition would be a waste of public resources, the letter said.

Meanwhile, members of the Renuka Bandh Sangharsh Samiti have raised their objections on the grounds that the precious forest land was being acquired for peanuts and that the number of standing trees on it have been grossly under-stated.

Shimla, December 16
Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh today appeared before a Special Court in a corruption case registered against them by the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau.

During the course of hearing, the court handed over a copy of the police challan to Virbhadra Singh and his wife and also granted them exemption from personal appearance on the next date of hearing on their request.

Special Judge B L Soni adjourned the case for March 5, 2011, for further proceedings. The court also accepted the bail bonds of the Virbhadra Singh and his wife.

According to the facts of the case, the FIR had been registered by the Vigilance Bureau on August 3, last year, in connection with an audio CD released by former Congress minister Vijai Singh Mankotia, allegedly having recorded conversation of Virbhadra Singh, his wife and some other officers in the late 80s and early 90s while he was the Chief Minister. The CD allegedly contains the conversation pertains to corruption between the late Mohinder Singh, an IAS officer, and petitioners.

After the hearing of the case Virbhadra Singh and his counsel alleged that the police was playing in the hands of Chief Minster Prem Kumar Dhumal and DGP D S Minhas and had made this false case to seek personal gains. They mentioned that the police in its challan had admitted that it could not collect material regarding the authenticity of the CD and the fact that same was unedited.

They alleged that police was now relying on the statements of two persons which had been made after 20 years of the incident. 

Shimla, November 16
Chief Minister PK Dhumal has urged Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee to review the decision and withdraw such orders, if any, with regard to discontinuation of Delhi-Una and Nangal-Una train services from December 23.

Taking cognisance of the reports, with regard to the decision of the Union Railway Ministry to discontinue the train service to Himachal on the pretext of foggy weather conditions prevalent in North India, he termed the decision as unfortunate and against the wishes of the people who were availing services of these trains.

The Chief Minister said the hill state had been denied its legitimate right in railway expansion since Independence as only 33 km of broad gauge railway network had been constructed in the state. In the wake of inadequate railway network, the entire transportation of man and material rested upon the road transport alone.

He said under such conditions discontinuation of the existing railway service would further add to the woes of the commuters. He said it was for the first time that such a decision had been taken by the Railway Ministry curtailing routes of the trains in Himachal Pradesh alone.

Dhumal said in fact the utility of these trains had got enhanced manifold as people prefer to travel by these trains only notwithstanding, the delays. He said the state government had been raising its demand regularly to enhance the railway network in the state to lower the pressure on road and provide people with convenient transportation mode.

He said foggy weather conditions was a regular phenomenon during the winter season and never before had any train service been discontinued on this pretext.

He urged the Railway Minister to review the decision in the best interest of the people of Himachal Pradesh and ensure that train service was continued uninterrupted and credibility of the service maintained amongst the regular commuters.

Hamirpur, December 16
Two more power projects in this region will soon come up to generate power from the waters of the Beas. Thana Plaun (141 mw) and Beri Nichli (78 mw) on the Beas are at present under the investigation stage and construction on both these projects is likely to start within the next two years.

The work to construct both these projects has been entrusted to Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (HPPCL) and work has already begun.

The first project, Thana Plaun, will come up at Thana village on the confluence of the Rana Khud and the Beas, with an estimated cost of Rs 1,200 crore. The proposed dam at the village will form a reservoir upstream up to Jawahar Nagar of Mandi.

Another project, Beri Nichli, with an estimated cost of Rs 624 crore has also been planned on the Beas between Utpur and Harsi villages in Mandi and Kangra districts for which waters of the Binwa khud, a tributary of the Beas will also be added.

HPPCL has already opened its office at Sujanapur Tihra with a general manager and other field staff to execute both these projects.

Both these projects are at an investigation stage and drilling and survey work is in progress. HPPCL is also carrying a survey for proposed roads, construction of barrages etc and applied for stage 1 environment clearance from the Ministry of Forest and Environment.

A consultant has also been appointed to prepare a detailed project report of both these projects.

Managing Director of HPPCL Tarun Kapoor, who along with other technical officers visited the area recently, said, “A consultant has been appointed and pre-bid meeting has been fixed on December 21. All these works are undertaken simultaneously and construction work on these projects will begin in next two years.”

Dharamsala, December 16
Hizbul Mujahedeen ultras, who were arrested in Kangra district yesterday, were working as labourers with a local contractor in the Dharamsala area.

According to information provided by police officials, Jameel Ahmed and Ghulam Nabi were also staying in a house provided by the contractor. They were introduced to the contractor by a local mason.

Other labourers, who used to stay with the arrested ultras, said: “They were normal in behaviour and we took them as Khans, the migrant Kashmiri labourers who come and work in these areas, especially during winter months”, they said.

Sources also said the arrested ultras were involved in the construction of a house of a retired executive engineer of the Himachal government. The house was located in the vicinity of the Army area. There location was quite close to the Yol Rising Star Core headquarters.

The sources also said they also used to roam about in the vicinity of the Himachal Vidhan Sabha complex at Topavan in Dharamsala.

Meanwhile, a team of the Himachal Police left for Doda district today to verify the information provided by Jameel Ahmed during his interrogation.

The interrogation of the other terrorist, Ghulam Nabi, was going on. Besides, officials of other intelligence agencies also tried to collect information from him.

The officials were trying to establish if the arrested ultras were involved in spying activity.

In the recent past, a jail warden of Dharamsala jail was arrested on charges of spying. He was arrested for working in coordination with female Pakistan spy arrested by the Punjab Police in Gurdaspur district.

As an aftereffect of the arrests, the police officials have now ordered verification of all other migrant Kashmiri labourers or vendors working or settled in the area.

Though directions have been issued many times for verification of Kashmiri migrant labours working in the area, it was never taken seriously. The police officials generally remained soft towards verification exercise due to fear of being accused of discriminating against Kashmir residents.

Shimla, December 16
Being the busiest time of the year, the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) has made elaborate arrangements to attract tourists for celebrating Christmas and New Year at various destinations in the state.

Stating this here today, Vineet Kumar, managing director, HPTDC, said special packages were being offered for the convenience of tourists. He added that special celebrations would take place at Hotel Holiday Home and Peterhoff at Shimla, Palace Hotel at Chail, Pinewood at Barog, Manimahesh at Dalhousie and at Dharamsala and Manali complexes.

He said the special packages were available for Hotel Holiday Home for the New Year eve, which would include Gala Night and attractive prizes for the winners of various events. A painting competition for children between 8-12 years on December 24 would also be organised.

He further said the Heritage Premium Hotel and The Chail Palace would also offer special packages for the tourists on December 31 and on January 1. He added that the corporation had already announced a winter discount up to 30 per cent in all its hotels, except from December 23 to January 2.

The HPTDC had also started a Volvo bus from December 15 from Shimla to Kalka and further to Chandigarh Railway Station. The service would facilitate the passengers for boarding Paschim Express and Shatabdi Express at Chandigarh and Kalka.

Nurpur, December 16
The local unit of the Himotukarsh Sahitya and Jankalyan Parishad, an NGO, while celebrating its seventh annual function in Bachat Bhawan here today recognised the services of four persons rendering their meritorious services in their fields.

K.R.Dhiman, chancellor of Horticulture and Forestry University, Solan, and local MLA Rakesh Pathania jointly honoured them with Himotukarsh Himachal Shri Awards. Those who got these awards were assistant professor (skin department) of the Tanda medical college Vikram Mahajan, DSP vigilance (Chamba) Arvind Chowdhary, ward sister, civil hospital, Nurpur, Sulkashna Devi, and JCB operator (PWD division Fatehpur) Krishan Gopal.

Kanwar Hari Singh, state president of the parishad, briefed various programmes being undertaken by the parishad for the past 36 years in the state. On this occasion, cash scholarships were also given to 66 meritorious students of 17 schools of the area who had appeared in the scholarship examination conducted by the local unit of the parishad. Students of various schools also presented colourful prorgramme in the function.

Shimla, December 16
Reacting sharply to the allegations levelled by retired IPS officer B.S. Thind with regard to the closure of Gumma Carton Factory, Horticulture Minister Narender Bragta today said it was the controversial police officer who was responsible for the sad state of affairs at the unit.

Addressing a press conference here today, Bragta said it was during the five-year tenure of Thind as managing director (MD) of Agro Packaging that the corporation had suffered a loss of Rs 24.32 crore.

It was shocking that a man during whose stint there were such huge losses was today pointing fingers at the BJP regime, he said.

The minister said the order for cartons worth of Rs 71 lakh from the Jammu and Kashmir government was surrounded in controversy as a commission of Rs 13.70 lakh had been paid. A sum of Rs 8.64 lakh was spent on purchasing gifts while the loan of Rs 13 crore taken by the Congress regime was repaid by the BJP regime by paying Rs 27.09 crore, he said.

Solan, December 16
Nineteen jhuggis were destroyed in a fire while timely action to douse the flames helped in saving the remaining 300 at Baddi near the Suncity Housing Complex around 11 pm yesterday.

No loss of life was reported, though the inmates of these jhuggis lost all their wares.

Police officials said no exact cause of fire had been ascertained. The fire was doused within an hour and the fire tenders from Baddi had been pressed into service.

Loss worth Rs 3 lakh had been reported and the jhuggi dwellers were demanding relief from the administration as the fire had rendered them homeless.

The dwellers had received no relief from anywhere and they were left to fend for themselves in the cold.