Dharamsala, December 31
The higher reaches of Dharamsala and tourist spots Naddi and Dharamkot received a heavy snowfall, much to the delight of tourists. Naddi received a heavy snowfall last night and the entire area wore a white mantle in the morning. The tourists staying in hotels were seen playing with snow in Naddi. The area also received snow this afternoon.

A few tourists, who managed to reach Dharamkot, 2 kilometres uphill from McLeodganj, enjoyed a heavy snowfall in the afternoon. The village received over 1-ft snow. The tourists were seen making snowman at many places in Dharamkot.

However, vehicles found it very difficult while coming back from Dharamkot due to heavy snowfall and narrow road.

McLeodganj received a light snowfall later in the afternoon. However, it melted very soon. All hotels and restaurants in McLeodganj were jampacked and tourists huddled to escape from rain.

Sources here told The Tribune that it was after about five years that such a heavy snowfall had been witnessed in the upper areas of Dharamsala on December 31.

With weekend approaching on the New Year, a large number of tourists are rushing to spots around Dharamsala. With cloudy conditions persisting, more snow is being expected during the night.

The sources here also said if winds persisted during night, snow might come to the lower areas of Dharamsala.

Manali, December 31
Normal life was disrupted at several places in the entire upper Manali areas today following moderate to heavy snowfall. Manali and its adjoining areas had the season's heavy snowfall since yesterday.

The snow kept its date with the New Year and turned the entire region “white”. Hundreds of tourists, who have converged on the tourist town of Manali from nearby plains to celebrate the New Year, were delighted to see the town under white blanket of snow.

The vehicular traffic in the upper Manali region was disrupted due to thick layer of snow on the road. Motorists had a difficult time in the morning on the Manali-Kullu road and Manali-Naggar road which had a fresh spell of snow since yesterday. All vehicles on the Manali-Kullu road and the Manali-Naggar road were moving at a snail's pace.

A festive atmosphere was prevailing at Nehru Park, known as Ram Bagh, and Mall Road as the New Year revellers had fun exchanging snowballs, having photo sessions, trying to make snowmen, yak riding and skiing.

The power supply in many parts of the region was disrupted yesterday. Tourists and local residents shivered in cold as the heating devices did not work due to power failure.

The internationally famous ski slopes of the Solag valley also experienced a heavy snowfall. The entire higher reaches of the Kullu vallley experienced a moderate to heavy snowfall. 

Shimla, December 31
The ruling BJP and the main opposition Congress have made more claims and counter-claims after the second phase of the panchcyat polls.

While the BJP spokesperson Ganesh Dutt maintained that the Congress had lost even in the assembly constituency of its state president Kaul Singh, general secretary of the Congress Kudeep Rathore said the BJP was not doing well in Hamirpur, the home district of the Chief Minister, as was evident from the fact that its block president had lost from Bhoranj.

The Congress yesterday sought the intervention of the Governor, Urmila Singh, to ensure free and fair poll to the panchayati raj institutions and urban local bodies which, it alleged, had been virtually reduced to a farce due to the blatant violation of the model code of conduct by the ruling BJP.

A deputation of the party led by general secretary Kuldeep Rahtore met the Governor at the Raj Bhawan and submitted a memorandum expressing concern over the failure of the state election commission to act on its complaints.

However, Ganesh Dutt termed as “childish” the action of the party, and it also indicated that the claims of the party that it had won in 75 per cent of the seats were hollow. The party leader would not have rushed to the Raj Bhawan to complain against the election commission if it had done well in the poll.

The Congress memorandum listed various instances of violation of the code of conduct, which included increase in daily wages from Rs 100 to Rs 120, release of Rs 3 crore for paying salaries of PTA teachers, withdrawal of rose as election symbol after nominations on the plea of the BJP, and the launching of free ambulance services.

Further, the ministers were campaigning with the official paraphernalia, and officers and employees were being pressurised to support the ruling party candidates. The party urged the Governor to issue specific directions to the commission for enforcing the code of conduct in letter and spirit, check misuse of government machinery and take action on complaints of the opposition.

Solan, December 31
Claiming a marked improvement in the health facilities in the state, Health Minister Dr Rajiv Bindal today said the health infrastructure had improved in the last three years and this was manifested in the various parameters like an increase in the rate of institutional deliveries and a decrease in the infant mortality rate from 44 to 22 per thousand births as per the latest reports.

Reacting to Congress allegation that the OPD had been affected due to the diversion of the staff to the ambulance services, he said the agency concerned needed four doctors.

Till the time they were unavailable, an arrangement had been made to spare the staff. He said the hospital was functional and no service had been affected by this arrangement.

Addressing mediapersons here today, he said an aid of more than Rs 2.50 crore had been released to the local MC and the creation of additional parking places had added to the income of the MC. Besides decongesting the town, new parking would soon be created at the old bus stand.

Mandi, December 31
Though the BJP and the Congress have come out with their manifestos for development of this temple town, independents and party rebels have put up a steady fight giving sleepless nights to party candidates for the posts of the president and the vice-president for the 13-member municipal council to be elected on January 3.

Over 19,500 voters of the town, by and large, are a disillusioned lot as the Mandi council continues to be plagued by scandals and breakdown of health and hygiene apparatus for which they hold the successive Congress and BJP regimes responsible. The civic and municipal laws are being used more to settle political scores than to bring about a sense of cleanliness, safety of the senior citizens and women in the town.

Dr BL Kapur, an author belonging to this town, said, “All party candidates make big promises, but when it comes to implementation, they have a poor record.”

Taking up corruption and poor hygiene in the town as issues among voters, independent candidate for the vice-president’s post, Lawan Thakur, said, “A scam of Rs 5 lakh has come to light in the council after the audit, as an employee of the council used to collect money from shopkeepers as house rent, but the amount was never deposited to the council.”

Cashing in on the two Congress rebels in the fray for the post of president, BJP candidate Bhuvneshwari Kapur cited party’s 18-point manifesto for welfare of the town. “I am a first timer and will fulfill all promises made in the manifesto ranging from construction of parking lots to cleanliness of town as the BJP is in power in the state”, she added.

Countering the BJP claims, Sushila Sonkhla of the Congress, who had a stint as president earlier, said she would work with more vigour and make the town neat and clean.

Congress rebels Krishan Tandon and Champa Sharma claimed, “the parties have misled the voters as they have not given the tickets to the right candidates”. Only the voters, not parties, decide who should govern the council, added Tandon. 

Dharamsala, December 31
New Year parties in hotels and restaurants in and around Dharamsala are in vogue. Most of the places are calling for live bands for New Year parties. This has provided a short boom for the local musical bands.

Inquiries here revealed that famous Hijackers Band of Dharamsala is performing at Asia Health Resorts. Even smaller hotels and restaurants are roping in small-time musicians for the New Year parties.

With this kind of exposure, musical bands in Dharamsala are finally coming off age. The local youth, along with some permanently settled foreigners, here have come together to form bands that can be seen performing in local hotels and restaurants in and around Dharamsala.

The “Himalayan Band” is rocking the area these days. The band is the initiative of Lisa, an American, who is now married to the owner of a vernacular paper of the state and settled here permanently.

The local rural youth performing for local bands are extremely talented. They said, “We established a small musical room in Dharnu village. We trained a few other local youth and formed the Himalayan Band. Now we have performed in almost all local restaurants and hotels”.

They further said, “Since most of their work is concentrated in McLeodganj and its surrounding tourist spots, we are catering mostly to the foreign tourists. We generally sing western numbers for them”.

Hijackers Band is the oldest and very famous in Dharamsala. Interestingly, the band was formed in late seventies by a few members of the Gorkha community of Dharamsala. The band was formed by some local youth here when there were very few musical bands in the country and no musical channels to motivate or promote musicians.

One member of Hijackers Band, Mohit Chauhan, is now famous playback singer in Bollywood and has given many hit numbers.

Kuljeet Da, as he has known in the area, is one of the founders of Hijackers Band.

Kuljeet said, “The band was started in 1975-76. Initially, we kept performing in local hotels and restaurants. However, from nineties, we also started giving stage performances. We have performed at almost all the stages organised in Himachal”.

The bands that are initiative of local musicians need to be given platform by the Himachal government atleast in the summer festivals organised in different parts of the state.

Dharamsala, December 31
The BJP today listed its development works as a poll plank for the forthcoming municipal council polls. The Minister for Industries, Kishan Kapoor, while addressing a press conference here today, said the maximum development in Dharamsala area had been carried out during the BJP’s stint in power in the state.

Listing the development works he said during the BJP rule, six parking places had been constructed in Dharamsala municipal council area. Besides, four parking places are under construction and three new are proposed. An amount of about Rs 25 crore has been sanctioned for solving the parking problem of the area.

A scheme worth Rs 10 crore for providing free houses to the urban landless has also been sanctioned for Dharamsala town. The administration is looking for land to construct these houses, Kapoor said.

He further said the state government had given liberal funds for development of Dharamsala as a sports town. An international-level cricket stadium that hosted the IPL matches last season, is already complete. A Sports Authority of India stadium is catering to national and international-level players from the state. A synthetic athletic track has also been laid for helping sprinters train at high altitudes, the minister said.

He further claimed that for promotion of tourism the present government had sanctioned projects worth crores for the development of Bhagsunag and the Dal lake areas. Kapoor said during the Congress regime, Dharamsala was totally neglected and all roads leading to the town were in a poor shape.

In Dharamsala municipal council, Varinder Parmar of the BJP is locked in a direct tussle with the Congress nominee, Subhash Nehria, for the post of president. Kamala Patial, an independent and former president of Dharamsala municipal council, is also said to be in contention. However, the lack of cadre votes of parties in direct election for the post of president might prove as weakness for Kamla Patial.

The BJP has tried to balance various communities and castes while deciding its candidates for Dharamsala municipal council. 

Shimla, December 31
Lt-Gen K Surendra Nath, who had been officiating as GOC-in-C, since December 1, will formally assume charge of the Army Training Command (ARTRAC), here on January 1.

An alumnus of Sainik School, Korukonda, and the National Defence Academy, Pune, Lt-Gen Nath was commissioned into 1, Madras (Mechanical) Battalion, which he later commanded.

During his 37 years of meritorious service, Lt-Gen Nath had varied operational experiences and held several prestigious commands, staff and instructional appointments.

He also had the honour of representing the country in the United Nations Mission in Cambodia and in the UN Headquarters at New York. Prior to assuming the charge of GoC-in-C, he commanded a Corps in the Western Sector.

He said he would spearhead the transformational vision of the Chief of Army Staff to meet the emerging security challenges. The ARTRAC would continue to define the doctrinal and the conceptual changes for the Army that were imperative to meet these challenges. The orchestration and orientation of the training of officers and men would remain the prime focus. 

Shimla, December 31
Work on the Gyspa Storage Power Project will finally take off with the Centre agreeing to release funds for the preparation of detailed project report, environment impact assessment and environment management plan.

The 300-MW scheme proposed on the Bhaga river in the tribal Lahual valley is to be executed as a national project with the Centre bearing 90 per cent of the cost. The Himachal Pradesh Power Generation Corporation has sought Rs 30 crore for the purpose. It has already engaged Scott Wilkins as the consultant for preparation of the report.

Initially, the project was to have a storage capacity of one lakh MAF (million acre feet) with the dam site downstream the Gyspa. However, it would have submerged a major part of the most scenic town of the valley and uprooted people.

The corporation, thus, proposed an alternative site 3-km upstream which will save the town, but reduce the storage capacity to 0.70 MAF. The country is entitled to have a storage capacity of 1.9 MAF under the Indus Water Treaty.

Further, the plan to construct a rock-fill dam is also being reviewed as the clay required for such a structure is not available in the valley. Instead, a rock-fill concrete-faced dam is being proposed. The height of the dam will be 200 m and it will be more than 500 m long.

Keen to harness the full storage capacity to which the country was entitled, the government has decided not to construct the 144-MW Gondhla hydroelectric project proposed on the Chandra river. Instead, a storage dam as suggested by the Government of India will be constructed on the river.

The Central Water Commission, which was asked to identify sites for storage projects in the Chenab basin, found the site suitable for the purpose. However, the storage capacity of the dam will be limited to 0.5 MAF as its height cannot be raised beyond 200 m because of the road bridge on the Leh-Manali highway upstream. If required, another dam will be constructed upstream Chhatru project to have the full storage capacity.