Dharamsala/Shimla,February 12
A day after Chief Secretary Rajwant Sandhu issued a clean chit to Karmapa, the Chief Minister, Prem Kumar Dhumal who was here today said that she has been misquoted by media.

Reacting to reported statement of the Chief Secretary, the CM said that the Karmapa had not been issued a clean chit. “We had neither held earlier that Karmapa was accused of something nor are we now issuing any clean chit to him”, the CM said.

The inquiry into the case was still going on and anything in the matter can just be said after it is completed. The charges of possessing foreign currency against the Karmapa-backed trust are being probed by the central agencies. The state police is just investigating the aspects of the land deal being affected by the Karmapa-backed trust and Dharamsala-based businessman and money involved in the deal, the CM said.

However, the communication gap between the CM and the Chief Secretary over the matter has created a political furore with many more political leaders jumping into the controversy.

The sources here said that till late in the evening yesterday, the Chief Minister was not aware about the statement of the Chief Secretary in which she allegedly issued a clean chit to the Karmapa. The CM was informed about the statement by newsmen who asked him to react to it. The statement infuriated the CM who has been maintaining strong viewpoint that the law would take its own course in the matter and no special privilege would be extended to anybody, including the Karmapa. He allegedly took up the matter with the Chief Secretary yesterday evening. The latter maintained that she has been misquoted in the matter.

The Chief Secretary’s statement and the reaction of the CM to it gave a chance to the Congress leaders to criticise the state government in the matter.

The supporters of Virbhadra Singh alleged that his statement issued a few days ago in favour of Karmapa has been endorsed by the Chief Secretary.

There were reports that the statements of Chief Secretary, the union minister for small, micro and medium industry Virbhadra Singh and CM illustrated the difference of approach between the union and state government over the Karmapa case. Keeping in view the foreign policy the union government did not want to proceed with criminal charges against the Karmapa. However, state government especially the political leadership in state is in no mood to give any relaxation of Karmapa backed trust in the case.

According to the sources, the government has now issued an advisory to all police officials investigating the case against giving statements to media.

Shimla: The Congress today demanded a fair and an independent inquiry into the recovery of huge foreign currency from the premises of the Tibetan spiritual leader Karmapa as it was a very sensitive issue involving national security.

In a statement issued here today, state HPCC spokesperson and general secretary Kuldeep Rathore said the conflicting statements given by Chief Minister PK Dhumal and Chief Secretary Rajwant Sandhu regarding giving a clean chit to the Karmapa reflects complete lack of coordination between the bureaucracy and the Chief Minister.

“It is surprising that in such a sensitive case, the statements of the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary are conflicting which have left everyone confused,” he remarked.

He further said the government needs to act with much more responsibility while handling such issues which could have not only national but also international repercussions.

Nurpur/Dharamshala, February 12
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today dedicated the newly built 45-metre-long bridge at Trilokpur, near here, on the Pathankot-Mandi National Highway No 20 Built at a cost of Rs 5.2 crore, this bridge has replaced the 109-year-old bridge.

Addressing a public meeting on the occasion, Dhumal said roads and bridges on the NH-20 were under execution on which Rs 79.5 crore would be spent.

“These will further strengthen the quality of road connectivity in the area. The government has decided to replace all old bridges on the NH-20 in a phased manner,” he said.

He claimed that out of the 15 national highways across the state, 12 had been sanctioned during the BJP regime. He asserted that he had personally pursued the cases of sanctioning of NHs in the state with the Centre.

“The recently approved five national highways are Hamirpur-Palampur, Brahmpukhar-Baijnath, Bharmour-Pathankot, Tara Devi-Chandigarh, Baddi-Shalghat with total length of 495 km.

He maintained that with the concerted efforts of the government almost every area of the state had now been connected with national highways.

The Chief Minister said three major road projects worth Rs 165 crore are likely to be sanctioned in the near future. These include 25-km road stretch from Nurpur-Kotla, to be constructed at a cost Rs 9.88 crore, 16-km Shahpur-Matour road costing Rs 55 crore and 55 km Matour to Ghatta stretch worth Rs 100 crore.

IPH Minister Ravinder Ravi, Industries Minister Kishan Kapoor, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Sarveen Chaudhary, Lok Sabha MP Dr Rajan Sushant, Nurpur MLA Rakesh Pathania and former MLA Harbans Rana were present on the occasion.

Mandi/Keylong, February 12
The tribal villages in snow-bound Lahaul valley have been cut off from the district headquarters of Keylong due to severe snow this year. The villages have also been cut off from one another and the residents have urged the Borders Roads Organisation (BRO) to restore the internal roads in the valley. The Gondla-Sissu-Koksar belt, which has a population of 15,000 people, has been cut off from district heaquaters since December 27. The Udaipur and Lahaul sub-divisions have been cut off from each other since December 28.

The tribals say that even the Public Works Department (PWD), which maintains the Keylong-Udaipur road, has not done anything to restore the roads..

Both BRO and PWD engineers blame the continuous snow spell for disruption of internal transport in Lahaul-Udiapur region. “We move our machineries as and 
when the weather permits”, they added.

SDO, PWD, Keylong, CL Thakur said that this year, Lahaul has received over five feet of snow this year. It has been snowing here constantly, giving no time to restore the roads, he added. However they are hopeful that restoration work would start by 
February 25.

Shimla, February 12
In complete disregard of its own policy of having separate cadres for the two medical colleges at Shimla and Kangra, the government is all set to favour two doctors whose selections were made for the Tanda Medical College. Decks are being cleared for their absorption at the Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC).

The government has already sought the opinion of the Law Department on the issue while the comments from the State Public Service Commission are still awaited. The matter is likely to be placed before the cabinet shortly so that the two doctors could finally shift from Tanda to IGMC, despite the creation of a nonflexible separate cadre for the two medical colleges last year.

The two doctors, Dr Rama Thakur and Dr Sanjay Mahajan from the departments of Gynaeocology and Medicine, respectively, were specifically selected as Assistant Professor for the Tanda Medical College. The two have already been posted here at the IGMC on secondment basis and now decks are being cleared for their absorption at the IGMC permanently.

A notification had been issued almost a year back allowing cadre change of Dr Rama Thakur to IGMC as her husband was posted here but was withdrawn within 24 hours as the department realised its folly. Since the post had specifically been advertised for Tanda, it was felt that transferring her to the IGMC could lead to legal hassles. Now efforts are afoot to find a detour to facilitate her and Dr Mahajan’s posting.

Interestingly, all this is being done at a time when the government itself admits that there is shortage of doctors willing to join at Tanda as most prefer the IGMC. The proposed move to allow cadre change of two doctors selected specifically for Tanda is causing a lot of heartburn among doctors who despite being senior to them did not get a promotion as they had declined to move to Tanda.

Doctors point out that the government cannot bestow special favour on these two doctors when separate cadres had been created and the two posts had been specifically advertised for Tanda.

The government has itself been bragging that it is trying to create the best possible facilities at the two medical colleges by having separate cadres so that the Tanda Medical college does not suffer as has been the case in the past. The move allowing cadre change of the two doctors would be a complete volte-face by the government.

Sihunta (Chamba), February 12
The Himachal Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal gave a clarion-call to the people of the state to contribute actively to protect and preserve the environment for the sake of future generations while addressing a mammoth public meeting today at Sihunta, in a remote area of Chamba district. He was laying the foundation stone of a tribal multipurpose community building to be constructed at a cost of Rs 33 lakh.

Dhumal said that plastic and polythene bags had caused immense damage to the ecology worldwide. The initiative to ban the use of polythene had been appreciated by environment-conscious and eco-friendly organisations, at the national as well as international level. He appealed to the people to help in making the state plastic-free.

The Chief Minister said he had been meeting people, listening to their grievances and finding solutions. He said that the Prashashan Janta Ke Dwar programme provided those in the rural and remote areas of the state an opportunity to express their grievances in person to him, thereby saving them time and money spent while approaching the authorities concerned at district and state levels. The HP Vidhan Sabha Speaker Tulsi Ram, IPH Minister Ravinder Ravi, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Sarveen Chaudhary, MP Lok Sabha Dr Rajan Sushant besides MLAs of Chamba district were also preset on the occasion.

Hamirpur, February 12
One woman, Rama Devi (37), died and six others were injured when a tractor-trailer overturned this afternoon near Jandadu under the Sujanpur subdivision.The police said 11 persons from Bir Bagehda village had boarded the the vehicle to take fodder in this tractor-trailer to their village but it overturned on the way.

Six persons have been injured in the incident, who were later admitted to the government hospital at Sujanpur. — TNS

Kullu, February 12
Kullu Valley is under the threat of ecological degradation due to the haphazard quarrying and mining on the riverbeds of Beas, Parbati, and their tributaries. Thich has remained uncheked for the past 15 years. Mining along the Kullu-Manali airport has created a threat for the airport runway.

The present pace of extraction of stones and sand from the riverbed would make way for the water to flow along the boundary wall of the airport in the rainy season when the water level increases by about ten to twenty feet.

P K Guleria, Mining Officer, Mandi who is also in-charge of the Kullu district said that all the mining being done in the district is illegal. Licences for mining have not been issued since 2000, after the amendment in the Forest Conservation Act as the riverbeds fall under third class forest land, he added. Guleria said that his department has employed a total of four mining guards in the district, including the areas of Ani, Nirmand and the areas touching Shimla district and Sutlej River. They have been doing a good job as they are booking approximately 50 to 60 cases of illegal extraction every month. He said that all the forest guards, police posts in-charge, junior engineers of PWD and Irrigation and Public Health (IPH), block development officers, ACFs, SHOs and DSPs have been given powers to check the illegal mining and challan the offenders but these authorities hardly do one or two challans each month.

He lamented that the departments of P.W.D. and IPH were the biggest violators as their contractors who were widening of roads dig out the stones from the nearest possible spot and add to the desolation of riverbed.

Shimla, February 12
The state government yesterday directed Chinese Long Jiang construction company to expedite the work to ensure that it was complete before the coming monsoon season.

Narinder Bragta, Horticulture Minister, reviewed the progress of the widening and repair work of Theog-Hatkoti-Rohru road at a meeting held here yesterday. Work on the road project had been delayed and the Chinese construction company had already sought more time from the government for completing the work.

Bragta said the road was damaged due to heavy rains and snowfall and added that the work should be completed soon. The movement of apple crop last year had been badly affected due to the poor road condition, which resulted in road blockage and constant traffic jams.

Shimla, February 12
Residents of the Chirgaon area bid a tearful adieu to slain Kabaddi player Manisha Devi, who was shot dead by a CRPF personnel in Patna. The body of the Kabaddi player reached her native village Jhalwari late last night. Her father, Yash Pal, along with some relatives and 10 personnel from Railways, brought the body from Patna.

The last rites of the girl, who had managed to secure a job in the Railways in Patna due to her impressive performance, were performed at the cremation site. People from Jhalwari and adjoining villages took part in the ceremony.

Bilaspur, February 12
The week-long first phase of the district-level “Youth Leadership and Personality Development Programme” sponsored by the Central Government, Department of Youth Services and Sports, under the aegis of the district Nehru Yuva Kendra concluded at youth hostel Jabbali, near here, this evening.

District youth co-ordinator Som Dutt Zard said here today that 35 youths, including women, drawn from various yuvak mandals and mahila mandals drawn from across the district were given training in various subjects by resource persons, subject specialists and experts of various fields, departments and organisations.

Their speeches, inter-session discussions and orations covered subjects like better health, happy and successful life, developing self-confidence and qualities of leadership.

Those who interacted with campers included Dr Subhash Gupta, Principal, Postgraduate College, Dr Suresh Kumar Soni; Prof Ashok Thakur, Dr PL Bhatia, Prof BB Sankhyayan, Dr JR Sharma and spokespersons of the Gayatri Parivar and the Prajapita Brahama Kumari Ishwariya Vishwavidyalaya.