Dharamsala, February 23
US Ambassador to India Timothy J. Roemer arrived at Dharamsala this afternoon. Sources told The Tribune that the US Ambassador was here on a two-day visit along with his wife. He was scheduled to meet the Dalai Lama tomorrow at his official residence in McLeodganj.

The Himachal government has declared the visiting US Ambassador a state guest.

As per the official schedule, the US Ambassador will meet the children in upper and lower Tibetan Children Villages (TCV). The children of Tibetan refugees studying in these residential schools receive liberal grants from foreign countries, including the US. Many western people have also adopted children from these schools.

The US envoy’s official programme also includes inauguration of a reception centre for newly arrived Tibetan refugees in lower Dharamsala.

However, his audience with the Dalai Lama tomorrow is the most significant event on his itinerary. The authorities here are tightlipped about the likely agenda of the meeting.

Top officials of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, including Tibetan Prime Minister Samdhong Rinpoche and officials of the Kangra district administration, accorded a ceremonial welcome to the US Ambassador on his arrival at Gaggal airport.

This will be the third visit of high-level US officials to Dharamsala since March 2008, when US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi came to meet the Tibetan leader amid protests in Tibet, just before the Beijing Olympics.

In September 2009, a high-level group led by White House adviser Valerie Jarrett, accompanied by US State Department Under Secretary Maria Otero, visited Dharamsala. Earlier this month, Otero, who is also the US government's special coordinator for Tibetan issues, visited India, Nepal and Bhutan, and met Tibetan officials as part of an effort to review the problems faced by Tibetans in the region.

The visit is also being given significance due to the recent controversy surrounding the Tibetan Lama, the 17th Karmapa who was labelled as a Chinese agent by a section of the media.

During the recent visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao to the US, President Barack Obama had urged him to continue talks with the envoy of the Dalai Lama. The talks had been discontinued after the Beijing Olympics during which there was reported unrest in Tibet. During his meeting with the Dalai Lama, Roemer is also expected to discuss issues relating to Tibetan exile.

Dharamsala, February 23
The Himachal government is finally considering bringing out a policy for cancellation of inordinately delayed micro-hydel projects in the state. The policy will also include imposition of penalty in case a project gets delayed. Secretary power, Deepak Shanan gave this information while talking to The Tribune.

He said the policy of imposing a fine on big projects being delayed had already been implemented. Now, the projects that were not completed within a stipulated time would have to pay Rs 10,000 per MW per month to the Himachal government. The policy would now be implemented on micro-hydel projects also.

The government had adopted a policy to allot micro-hydel projects up to 5 MW to residents of the state. As per the policy, about 624 micro-hydel projects had been allotted in the past 10 to 15 years. However, out of these, just 24 had been completed. The construction of some projects had not even taken off as yet.

Earlier, there was no policy for cancellation of such micro-hydel projects. The government faced criticism from many quarters due to lack of policy to cancel micro-hydel projects. Many MLAs even raised the issue in the Vidhan Sabha.

They were of the view that the state was losing revenue worth crores in terms of 12 per cent royalty that was to be imposed on those projects by the state government.

The basic reason for failure of locals to implement the projects was unavailability of finance and maze of permissions. An average cost of bringing up a micro-hydel project is about Rs 8 crore to 10 crore depending on the terrain. The amount is out of reach for most of the Himachal residents. The government also did not allow the people to sell these further to outsiders.

Deepak Shanan also said the government would approach the PowerGrid Corporation for evacuation of power from the tribal areas. He said as per the policy adopted by the union government, the corporation would have to arrange for power evacuation in case anyone generated 250 MW power.

“We have asked the people coming up with power projects in the tribal areas of Lahaul and Spiti, Bharmour and Pangi areas in Chamba district to apply to PowerGrid Corporation for evacuation of power. As per project report being submitted to PowerGrid Corporation, we have proposed two lines for evacuation of power from the tribal areas. One line would go directly to Jammu and Kashmir while other would come through the areas surrounding Rohtang tunnel”, he said.

Palampur, February 23
For the first time in the state, a successful vulture conservation operation has been carried out jointly by Dr RS Kishtwaria, livestock and wildLife expert of the Department of Animal Sciences and Veterinary College, HP Agriculture University, here in collaboration with the state Forest Department.

This operation was executed in Pong wetland in the Kangra valley, 60 km from here.

The population of vultures has dwindled from 3 crore in early nineties to 11,000 today. Although conservation biologists all over the world are making all out efforts to save the vultures, their survival still remains a million-dollar question. The Asian continent, once considered to be rich in vulture biodiversity, is getting poorer day by day.

Dr Kistwaria told The Tribune that a herd of semi-wild stray cattle, locally known as bhootar, had threatened the ecology of Rancer island, situated in the Pong wetland. So, the cattle were captured by using tranquilliser and transported on boats to nearby vulture breeding areas to help vultures breed naturally which showed encouraging results with hatching of chicks in their nests.

He said it was a coincidence that the stray cattle population had acquired an alarming proportion which need to be addressed on priority and it could prove blessing in disguise.

The vulture breeding natural habitats could also be marked as the stray cattle shelter area where the carcasses of the cattle dying of natural death could be consumed by the vultures, while bones, hides and other parts could be utilised commercially or left to add biomass to the soil of that forest area, he added.

Ever-growing human population, change in lifestyle and land use pattern were contributing factors for degradation of their habitat.

The establishment of Vulture Rescue and Captive Breeding Centre at Pinjore and other parts of India has taken up on priority to save the vultures from extinction. It may help understand their biology and captive behaviour but could not cope with the fast declining population.

Still there are so many natural vulture breeding sites all over the country in general and the Dhauladhar and Shivalik ranges in particular which need specific attention like protection of high thick green and dried up trees which vultures prefer for making nests and perching. A few such sites have been observed at Parour and Gopalpur near Palampur, Lunj and Nagrota Surian areas in Kangra district.

Hamirpur, February 23
The four-day north zone regional agriculture fair began today on the National Institute of Technology (NIT) campus here. The fair was inaugurated by Education Minister ID Dhiman by lighting a lamp.

The fair is being organised from February 23 to 26 for farmers of seven states and union territories of the North India by Dr Yashwant Singh Pramar Horticulture and Forestry University, Nauni.

Thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and Chandigarh, besides Himachal Pradesh are attending the fair. Addressing the audience, the minister urged farmers to make use of the new technology in farming, besides bringing diversity in agriculture to become prosperous.

He said: “Though such fairs had been organised in the past also, it is for the first time that this fair is organised on such a large scale and farmers of many states have been invited to learn new techniques, interact with the scientists and share their experiences with each other.”

The minister also exhorted scientists to work in the direction of taking the agricultural research to fields so that maximum farmers could take the benefits.

Talking about the schemes launched by the state government for farmers, he said: “The government has launched the Rs 353-crore Pundit Deen Dayal Kissan Bagwan Samridhi Yojana, through which 16,500 poly houses have been erected in the state by farmers for which 80 per cent subsidy has been provided by the government.”

Earlier, in his welcome address Vice-Chancellor of the university Dr KR Dhiman assured that through this fair scientists of the university would try to answer queries raised by farmers and guide them in adopting the new technology.

The fruits and vegetable exhibitions and stalls by publicity departments have also been put in this fair.

Solan, February 23
Health and Ayurveda Minister Dr Rajiv Bindal today laid the foundation stone of Rs 1.21 crore community health centre (CHC) at Dharampur which will enhance the in-house bed capacity from the existing 6 to 30 beds.

With the existing building of the CHC, which was located on the NH-22, coming under the purview of land acquisition for fourlaning the highway, the government had been forced to construct a new building to accommodate the hospital.

He said infrastructural facilities in the health sector were being enhanced with a focus on quality and timely completion of work. Sufficient budgetary provision had been made for such works in the last three years and as against the sanctioned amount of Rs 29 crore for district Solan, Rs 22 crore had already been released.

He said 20 new initiatives were taken by the government to improve health services that gave a new dimension to the health sector.

Institutional deliveries had risen from 52 per cent to 60 per cent and they expected to enhance this percentage to 80 per cent by the next year.

He also launched a mobile ayurvedic hospital van for Nurpur.

The van was donated by Punit Jain.

Shimla, February 23
In a bid to thwart attempts by various militant outfits to reorganise themselves, the police of the various northern states has decided to have a fast intelligence sharing system in place, which will help maintain constant surveillance against their activities through integrated efforts.

It was at an inter-state meeting on intelligence and security attended by Army intelligence officials and top police brass from northern states of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal and Chandigarh that the issue came up for discussion. It is the recent incidents involving Babbar Khalsa activists in various places, including Mandi, Bilaspur and Paonta Sahib and the arrest of two dreaded Hizbul Mujahideen militants from Kangra which have put the Himachal Police on alert.

Even though a proper intelligence sharing system exists between the neighbouring states, it has been reduced to a mere formality confined to customary routine meetings. Police official admit that most states are found to be lacking in providing information in specific cases at a short notice.

I.D. Bhandari, additional director general police (CID) said various issues, including terrorism and security of VIPs, and various vital installations in various states were also discussed. He added deliberations were also held on issues relating to narcotics, spying net, cyber crime, arms smuggling, human trafficking and flesh.

Bhandari admitted that the drug menace was a serious issue, especially in the Himalayan belt falling in Kullu, Mandi, Chamba and Shimla districts and the police would step up campaign at the time of sowing and harvesting.

Shimla, February 22
With over 32,000 Nepalese nationals working in various parts of the state, the recent incidents involving Maoist activists and their sympathisers in the state has put the Himachal Police on alert.

They are also wanted in 300 police cases, including heinous crimes committed in the state. The entire apple belt in Shimla, Kullu, Kinnaur and Sirmuar districts is dependent on the Nepalese workforce.

The arrest of a Nepalese national, Sher Singh alias Mintoo, for allegedly making extortion calls to a prominent Kullu contactor, Dinesh Sharma, a fortnight ago has exposed the vulnerability of the state to Maoist threat. Several Nepalese settled in the state have married locals, but at the same time they maintain close links with the people back home in Nepal.

“We have always been on guard against any suspected activities by Maoist sympathisers but there is no denying that we need to watch against any build up by them in the state,” admitted ID Bhandari, ADGP (CID).

He said the Centre was trying to have an extradition treaty with Nepal as this would help in solving several cases.

“We have sent a list of Nepalese, who have been declared proclaimed offenders in various crimes in the state, to Nepal but they have never responded,” said Bhandari.“We had earlier kept a close watch on the activities of organisations like Nepali Ekta Samaj and now there are fresh reports that they are once again active in Himachal Pradesh,” admitted police officials.

He added that they had even collected money from the Nepalese residing in the state, which indicated their intentions of having a network here.

Intelligence agencies too admit that the presence of a sizeable Nepalese population in the state could prove to be an ideal breeding ground for Maoist activities.

The officials added that the state was vulnerable to the threat of Maoists and as such the police and the intelligence agencies must watch against the increase of their influence.

Shimla, February 23
The High Court has sentenced Surinder Kumar of Chatra village in Una district to life imprisonment for killing his three-year-old son by throwing him in a well.

While setting aside the acquittal order of the Sessions Judge, Una, the court directed the accused to undergo the sentence. A Division Bench comprising Justice RB Mishra and Justice Sanjay Karol observed that though all witnesses have resiled from their statements in the trial court, circumstances of the case warrant the conviction of the accused for committing such a crime.

The Sessions Judge had acquitted the accused on the grounds that prosecution has miserably failed to prove its case.

According to prosecution, Telu Ram, a local villager, lodged a complaint with the police that the accused Surinder Kumar has thrown his son in the well. He ran away from the spot after committing the crime.

Ram stated that after this, he raised hue and cry and as soon the child was brought out of the well, he was found dead. It was alleged that the accused had thrown the child due to some squabble with his wife. The police arrested the accused and filed a challan in the sessions court.

During the trial, most of the witnesses were turned hostile, therefore, the trial court acquitted the accused.

It has set aside the judgment of trial court and convicted the accused for the offence under Section 302, IPC, and sentenced him to undergo life imprisonment. While setting aside the acquittal order of the trial court, the bench observed: “In a natural course why would the accused not take prompt action for rescuing his son, who had fallen into the well? Presence of the accused at relevant time on the spot is not in dispute, but escaping from the spot of occurrence, sufficient circumstantial evidence indicates to prove guilt against him.

Solan, February 23
A case of kidnapping of a 24-year-old girl, who was working with a pharmaceutical unit, in the state’s industrial hub of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh, came to light last evening.

The girl, Nirmala, hailing from Dehan village in Bilaspur, had reportedly gone to her native village and had returned on February 21 to Baddi.

Police officials said after coming back, she informed her friends that some youths were following her in an Alto car on Sai Road, near Shrikant Hospital.

She was, thereafter, became untraceable and her cellphone was found switched off. Her parents came to Baddi to search the girl, but failed to find her even in her Basanti Bagh-based rental accommodation last evening. They then lodged a complaint with the police.

SP Baddi, Chander Shekhar Pandit, said the police was inquiring into the matter and a team had been sent to Ambala as per the last location traced by them.

He said they were hopeful of tracing her. He added that it was surprising as how she could have been kidnapped from the busy Sai Road. A case of abduction had been registered.