Dharamsala, January 31
Unperturbed by the controversies related to the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, a huge number of devotees continue to throng his Gyuto Tantric monastery at Sidhbari, 8 km from Dharamsala.

The devotees could be seen waiting for hours in long queues outside the main temple seeking darshan and blessings of the Karmapa.

The devotees, including foreigners from across the world, are visiting the monastery in a huge numbers. Indians from places like Kaza, Kinnaur, the upper areas of Manali etc were seen outside the monastery waiting patiently for their turn.

Security officials on duty were busy recording the details of the identification proofs of the visitors. The passport details of the foreign visitors were being registered by the officials and in case of Indians, proofs like voter ID, PAN cards or any other valid ID proofs were being verified. Cameras and mobile phones were not allowed inside the main hall and visitors were asked to deposit these with the authorities.

The exact number of the visitors today was not known as the officials said the number was huge.

They said it was difficult for them to quote the number as there were three different registers for visitors, one for foreigners, one for Tibetans and the last one for Indian, and in some cases, more than one person entered under one entry. Those who were not carrying any ID proof were not allowed inside the temple. Cameras and mobile phones were also not allowed inside the main temple and they were deposited with the authorities.

Norbu, an Indian follower, said, “We have full faith on him (17th Karmapa) and have nothing to do with the allegations being framed against him”.

Devotees were seen praying and chanting for the well-being of their guru and everybody, who was contacted by The Tribune, said their guru was supreme for them. While standing in the queue, a devotee was saying that he was not a Chinese spy. Many foreigners were inquiring from the police officials deployed there about their say on Karmapa’s status but they refused to comment.

Shimla, January 31
Investigations into money transactions effected by alleged hawala operator Amrik Singh have revealed that the Pakistani agency ISI has spread its tentacles in the state by creating a network of sources, mostly comprising ex-servicemen, under a well-planned exercise.

In fact, Amrik Singh, a resident of Mandi, has turned out to be an important link in the ISI espionage network unearthed following the arrest of Bhagwan Das, ex-servicemen, working as a veterinary pharmacist in the Animal Husbandry Department who had been supplying sensitive information pertaining to military cantonments in the state to Pakistan.

He had transferred over Rs 1 crore in the recent months to the accounts of 10 persons out of whom seven were in Punjab and Delhi, and rest the natives of the state. The money trail has led to the arrest of Ghanshyam Singh Guleria of Malkher village in Kangra district who retired from the postal wing of the Army only last month. He was nabbed from Chandimandir today.

Additional director general of police, CID, ID Bhandari said all seven recipients outside the state had been traced and placed under surveillance. One of the transactions was traced to Phunia Devi of Lad Barol in the state whose husband was working as a cook in Hong Kong.

The fact that the money was sent by her husband clearly indicated that Amrik Singh, whose brother was in Thailand, had been indulging in hawala transactions. There was a possibility that he might be aware that some persons, into whose accounts he had transferred money, were ISI agents.

The police reached Amrik Singh after Bhagwan Das, who was arrested from Khundian three days ago after being under surveillance for over four months, revealed that money was being transferred to account of his son Rajesh Kumar, employed in ATM security, in Chandigarh.

The police came across two such recent transactions one of which was traced to Amrik Singh. The other transaction was made through an ATM in Raxol, close to Nepal border, under a pseudonym Sanjay. Amrik used to transfer money to the accounts of the persons on the basis of an SMS sent by his brother Avtar Singh from Thailand. The SMS enabled the police to identify the recipients.

The interrogation of the two suspected ISI agents has revealed that they were supplying sensitive information like movement of Army units, morale of the jawans, casualties in various operations and activities being carried out in cantonments.

Shimla, January 31
The ISI is virtually trapping ex-servicemen in its net with handlers approaching them under a false identity posing as officers from the welfare wing of the Army.

This is evident from the manner Bhagwan Das, who was arrested three days ago for spying, was contacted telephonically and ultimately coaxed into supplying sensitive information on a payment. The person Gurmeet from Punjab, who got in touch with him posing as an Army officer, initially sought innocuous information pertaining to welfare of serving Army personnel. However, he was an officer of the ISI, identified as Qureshi by the intelligence agencies.

The focus was on ex-servicemen as they could easily enter the cantonment areas and were in a regular contact with serving personnel. Bhagwan Das had joined the artillery unit of the Army in 1971 and after serving in Bikaner, Ajmer, Kathua and Tejpur retired in 1984. He was reemployed as veterinary pharmacist in the state Animal Husbandry Department and was to retire today.

The ISI has been making a good use of advanced mobile communication technology to ensure that the recipients of telephones are not able to make out that the call is being made from Pakistan.

In case of Bhagwan Das, the call was traced to a SIM of a mobile network which, much to the surprise of the intelligence agencies, had not been activated. Technical experts were being consulted to unravel the mystery. He received a call from his handlers even while he was being interrogated by the police.

Even while using the hawala channels for making payments to the sources, money was not being deposited directly in their accounts to avoid any suspicion. A circuitous route was taken by transferring the money into the accounts of close relatives through different conduits in small instalments.

For instance, in case Bhagwan Das, the two instalments, one of Rs 8,000 and the other of Rs 6,000, were deposited in the account of his son Rajesh Kumar in Raxol and Mandi in Decmber and January.

Chandigarh, January 31
Himachal Pradesh Congress president Kaul Singh Thakur has announced that his party was working on collecting data for the release of a list containing names of several ministers in the current BJP government who were involved in land and forest scam and were actively supporting the mafia.

Coming down heavily on the BJP government in the hill state, the Congress president told journalists at a Meet the Press programme that corruption had crossed all limits in the state and the BJP was not only shielding, but also patronising the corrupt. “The state government has submitted a list of 62 tainted officers in the vigilance net to the high court, but these officers continued to occupy important positions in the government”.

He pointed out that the state was rocked with one scandal after the other. Recently the Himachal Pradesh Education Board (HPEB) gave class 10, middle and plus two certificates to about 900 students, who had never been to schools and not taken any exams. These students were not only issued certificate, but were also placed in the merit lists.

Thakur said the Congress was shortly going to constitute a five-member committee that would look into all the scams, illegal property deals, involvement of bureaucrats and ministers in land and forest mafia operations. The report would then be revealed to the people who could then judge who they want to vote for the 2012 polls.

Terming the BJP government as a failure on all counts, he said fruits, including apples, worth Rs 250-300 crore from the last crop rotted because the government could not provide cartons or transport for the produce. He added that the cardboard factory in Jubbal Kotkhai that had produced cardboard boxes was sold by the government for Rs 1.08 crore instead of reviving it.

Thanking the Central Government for giving several important projects to the state, the Congress chief said allegations of discrimination against Himachal by the Centre as raised by the BJP were baseless.

Hamirpur, January 31
Hundreds of students of the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Hamirpur, today held a protest against the alleged repeated beating of students by some local taxi drivers.

The students marched from the NIT campus towards the SP office raising slogans against the taxi drivers. However, they were persuaded by the police not to proceed further from Anu Chowk assuring them action against the culprits.

The students took this step after alleged repeated beating of some students by the taxi drivers on Friday and Sunday nights.

Narrating the incidents, students said, “About 12 taxi drivers mercilessly beat up one of the students, injuring him seriously after an altercation over fare to the NIT campus on Friday night. Again two other students were beaten up on Sunday night over the same issue.”

They alleged, “The taxi drivers, stationed at the local bus stand, act in the most highhanded manner and fleece the students by overcharging them reach the campus during the late hours from their native places. As there is no other mode to reach the campus, the taxi drivers have been using strong-arm tactics in case of any complaint.”

The students alleged, “A taxi service was started by the HRTC at the Hamirpur bus stand some time ago, but was withdrawn under pressure of the taxi drivers.”

On the other hand, the taxi drivers accused the NIT students for damaging three taxis.

The police has arrested eight taxi drivers and impounded five vehicles.

The arrested taxi drivers are Vinod Kumar, Dinesh Kumar, Balbir, Pradeep Chauhan, Sunil Kumar of Sarahkad village, Sunil Kumar of Masyana village, Sunil Kumar of Kalanjahadi, and Vikas.

Hamirpur SP Kuldeep Sharma said, “The police has arrested eight taxi drivers and registered cases against them. I will take up the matter of fixing the local taxi fares with the RTO.”

Director NIT Dr RL Sharma said, “The taxi drivers have been charging exorbitant fares from the students and using strong arm tactics and we have taken up this issue with the district administration, besides demanding fixing of taxi fares.”

Shimla, January 31
The Himachal Power Engineers Association has urged the government to appoint a technical professional as the chairman-cum-managing director (CMD) of HPSEB Limited instead of a bureaucrat.

A deputation of the association met Chief Minister PK Dhumal on Saturday and appreciated his decision to appoint present chairman of HPSEB Limited Subhash Chand Negi as the chairman of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission. The association made a plea for appointing a power engineer as the new CMD of HPSEB Limited in place of Negi to bring professionalism in the unbundled government company.

General Secretary of the association Ram Prakash said HPSEB Limited was a technical outfit and it must be headed by a power engineer who had the knowledge of the intricacies and complexities of the power sector and had the capability of managing the day-to-day affairs effectively. More so because there was a need to make the company a highly competitive utility through corporate culture.

The association drew attention of the Chief Minister to the fact that more than 150 posts of assistant engineer were lying vacant in HPSEB Ltd and it had become difficult to manage the affairs. It also requested that the state transmission utility (STU) and Himachal Pradesh Power Transmission Corporation Limited (HPPTCL) be strengthened by creating additional posts of chief engineer and other staff so that it could execute various transmission works in the state for evacuation of power from the upcoming projects. At present, it was not implementing any projects to put requisite transmission infrastructure in place, the lack of which would hamper the evacuation of power.

Shimla, January 31
The widening of the Kumarhatti-Nahan state highway under the World Bank will entail a huge environmental cost as 11,606 trees are being felled to widen the carriageway.

Under the project, the existing single lane of 72.73 km is being widened and strengthened at a cost of Rs 142.22 crore. Forest clearance has already been granted for 42 km stretch and work is underway on the first phase from the Kumarhatti side. In all, 33 months have been given for implementing the project which is slated to be completed by July 2012.

Indeed, numerous road projects are taking a heavy toll on the trees even though the quantum of forest land diverted for the purpose is much less compared to hydropower projects. Forest officers point out unlike the hydropower projects, every tree that stands in the acquired land is felled and thus the destruction of foliage is much more.

In case of hydropower projects not all the trees are required to be felled. For instance, in case of the 1500 MW Nathpa Jhakri project, the country’s largest hydropower plant, out of over 3,400 trees which stood on the acquired land, only 2,500 were axed.

Similarly, in case of 126 MW Larji project, out of the total 4,260 trees only 1,360 were actually felled. However, in case of roads apart from trees felled during the construction or widening, many more trees have to be axed. The trees keep coming down for years even after the work on road is completed as the cutting of hill renders the strata prone to landslides. During the rains, the fragile strata gives way causing numerous landslides which invariably bring downs trees.

Roads are proving a big drain on forests along with the hydropower projects and together account for over 88 per cent of the total 9,216 hectare of forest land diverted till December 31, 2010, for non-forestry purposes since the enactment of the Forest Conservation Act.

The total forest area, diverted for construction and widening of roads, comes to 1792 hectare out of which 796 hectare has been diverted over the past five years for 321 projects. Similarly, 3,929 hectare has been diverted for setting up hydropower projects and another 2226 hectare for laying power transmission lines. 

Solan, January 31
Terming the recent amendments in the entry tax provisions as discriminatory, investors have expressed resentment against charging of different rates of entry tax on same items.

Investors opined that this decision was not only irrational but also against the spirit of justice.

The Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh Industries Association, which convened a meeting recently over the issue, has unanimously decided to oppose the decision.

In a press note released here, association’s media secretary Sanjay Khurana said this discrimination would cause harassment to the industry and lead to litigation between the department and the assesses.

The members also expressed their anguish on the imposition of this entry tax on the items already covered under the Additional Goods Tax (AGT) as it tantamount to double taxation. The industry was, therefore, loaded with taxes as it was paying AGT on certain items on which entry tax had also been imposed and this included cotton yarn, cement, steel, plastic, etc.

The association has decided to send a representation to the Chief Minister to rationalise the rates of the entry tax on all industrial inputs to 0.5 per cent rather than having different rate of taxes on different industrial inputs. 

Hamirpur, January 31
The action committee of the Jhaniara Cooperative Society accused certain officials of the State Cooperative Department for allegedly not taking action in the irregularities committed in the cooperative society, and thereby, sheltering a few officials of the society.

The president of the action committee, Surjeet Singh Rana, said the action committee and general house of the Jhaniara society had demanded a strict action against the secretary for manipulating his pay scales and drawing other benefits without the sanction of the society.

The action committee had been demanding action against the secretary of the society for seeking dearness allowance, interim relief, increase in salary after eight, 16 and 24 years equivalent to other employees, deducting 12 per cent CPF without any sanction from the general body of the society.

The irregularities pertaining to one-time settlement of loans, investing society money in investment schemes without the knowledge of its members etc, had been raised by the members of the society.

The members of the Jhaniara Cooperative Society had been raising these issues in the general house meeting of the society and had later formed an action committee to take up these issues at various levels and demand appropriate action in this matter.

The president of the action committee said the committee had brought these irregularities to the knowledge of asistant registrar, cooperative societies, Hamirpur, and the illegality committed by the secretary in distribution of loans to his favourites by not keeping proper security.

“While there was a mandate to keep 10 per cent amount of the loan disbursed, the secretary gave loans of Rs 2 to Rs 18 lakh against securities of Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000,” he added.

The president of the society said an inquiry conducted by the deputy director, cooperative societies, Dharmshala, had clearly indicted the secretary of the Jhaniara society, assistant registrar, cooperative societies, Hamirpur, and the auditors of the department, for the alleged irregularities in the society and they would soon meet Chief Minister PK Dhumal demanding action in the matter.

Palampur, January 31
Shanta Kumar, national vice-president of the BJP, said the Central Government was not serious about the recovery of black money stashed away in Swiss banks.

He said millions of people, whose hard-earned money “had been looted by corrupt politicians, dishonest businessmen and bureaucrats”, had a right to know why this unnecessary delay was being caused by the UPA government to recover this amount.

In a press release issued here today, Shanta Kumar said the statement of the Swiss finance secretary about the stand of the Swiss Government on the black money indicates that the Indian Government was deliberately delaying the issue on the pretext of Double Tax Avoidance Agreement (DTAA).

The DTAA was signed in August last and so far had not been ratified by the Centre to the reason best known to them. This has been disclosed by the Swiss Finance Secretary in Deaos.

The BJP leader said the government was time and again asked to ratify the DTAA and UN Convention Against Corruption, which is a internationally recognised legal tool to share the information about tax evaders and black money holders.

He said UN Convention Against Corruption was the only International legal instrument to recover the money back from the tax-heaven countries.

Chamba, January 31
A three-day exhibition of rare coins and philately, which started yesterday, has been organised at the local Bhuri Singh museum.

Jatin Jaswal, a local enthusiast, has displayed a wide range of old coins representing various dynasties of India.

The exhibition also showcased the coinage of the western world comprising the coins of America, Europe and Central Asia as well as far eastern currency. Besides coinage, a rare collection of stamps was also displayed in the exhibition.

Inaugurating the exhibition, local MLA Balkrishan Chauhan applauded the efforts of Jatin for maintaining his interest in the collection of rare coins and philately.

Vijay Sharma, a noted art critic and in charge of the museum, told about the importance of coins in reconstructing the history of particular region or country.