Shimla, May 27
Ending the week-long speculation, Madhu Sood finally resigned today from the prestigious post of Mayor of the Shimla Municipal Corporation, though a final decision on her fate rests with HPCC chief Kaul Singh Thakur who will take the final decision after consulting councillors.

There is complete uncertainty whether Sood will be able to survive the storm that has risen due to the U-turn she took on her earlier allegations levelled against the Bemloe Builders housing project in Kanlog, which has been in the eye of a storm.

“I handed over my resignation to the HPCC chief in Chandigarh today and now it is for him to take a final decision though I have clarified that I did not defy or embarrass the party in any way,” she said. She also said she had taken the U-turn as she was under tremendous pressure to do so and would reveal the names of the persons at an appropriate time.

The HPCC chief had earlier said since Sood had become the Mayor with the support of the Congress councillors, it was the party which would take a decision on her resignation. He said a show-cause notice would be issued to her to explain her position.

The Congress has been opposing the housing project in Kanlog and demanded a CBI probe into it, alleging serious violations. The matter has been raised in the assembly and now the CPM has also joined the issue and forced the government to constitute a committee who will submit the report to the government.

The MC has a total of 15 Congress councillors in a House of 25 where the post of Mayor is reserved for woman. The BJP has eight councillors while two wards are with the CPM. The Congress had, however, expelled two of its councillors, Deputy Mayor Harish Janartha and Seema Sood, who had contested against Sood in the run-up to the election of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor.

Dharamsala, May 27
The Miss Tibet pageant which is an annual feature here will have six contestants this year. Organiser of the event Lobsang Wangyal said this year the 10th anniversary of the Miss Tibet Pageant would be celebrated. Six contestants from India, Australia, Switzerland and the US would participate in the event, he added.

He said, “The participants from India include Chemi Lhazom, Dolma Tsering and Tenzin Sangmo while Ngodupv Dolma is from Australia, Tenzin Yangkyi Switzerland and Tenzin Khecheo from the United States.”

Lobsang said, “As we mark our 10th anniversary here, monks and local Tibetans at and around Kirti Monastery in Amdo province of Tibet are undergoing great hardships and repression due to the Chinese crackdown since March. We hope and pray that the situation gets better in the coming days. We also salute the three brave and dedicated members of the Tibetan Youth Congress for their 25-day fast to protest the Chinese oppression in Kirti.”

He said, “The contestants will undergo training and grooming in the next seven days. The competition rounds will start from June 3 with the swimsuit round. There will be talk and talent rounds on June 4 and introduction, evening gown, traditional costume and interview rounds on the final night of June 5.”

Voting for Miss Photogenic will take place from June 1 to 3. The voting will be online at MissTibet.com.

A prize of Rs 1,00,000 to the winner is by far the largest prize money given away in any event held in the exile Tibetan society. The girl who takes second place receives Rs 50,000 and third winner gets Rs 25,000.

“The pageant is a 12-day programme in which the contestants are given orientation on Tibetan culture, philosophy, and current affairs. Activities include yoga, dance, modelling catwalk, personality development and excursions, with visits to the Tibetan government-in-exile, monasteries, schools, and NGOs,” Lobsang said.

Shimla, May 27
Unfavourable weather conditions, particularly snow, rain and unusually low temperature during the flowering period, may have hit the apple crop, but a lean crop does not mean poor returns to growers.

As per the preliminary estimates, the production during the coming season is likely to be around 2.50 crore boxes, without taking into account the expected fruit dropping during June. A normal trend in dropping will ensure an outturn of 2.25 crore boxes, almost 50 per cent of last years record production of 4.46 crore boxes.

However, it is much higher than the 1.40 crore boxes produced in 2009 when the state had a lean crop. As such, the prospects are not all that bleak, but appear to be so when compared to the record production of 2010, which was an unusual year by all accounts.

The previous highest production had been 2.97 crore boxes achieved in 2007.

If one takes the average production into account, the production will slightly below normal and as a lean crop invariably fetches higher prices and ensures smooth transportation of the produce to market.

“The production may be on the lower side, but the quality of fruit will be good as there is enough moisture in the soil as normal monsoon will ensure a good-sized fruit”, Director of Horticulture Gurdev Singh points out.

A leading grower and chairman of the Himalayan Apple Growers’ Society Rajeev Chauhan maintains that rain, hailstorm and overcast skies are not an unusual phenomenon. The fruit setting is good always in the properly managed orchards where the pollination aspect is taken care of.

A slight fall in production does not affect the net returns to growers as they have to spend much less on packaging and transportation and the market price stays high throughot the season.

Even otherwise, the production has showed an irregular pattern with 1999 being the lowest when the outturn failed to cross one crore boxes.

Dharamsala, May 27
Thousands of defence civilian pensioners from the region have demanded Canteen Smart Card (CSD) facility. They are alleging that despite serving the Army for their entire life, they are being denied the canteen facility after retirement.

Omkar Singh Riar, a civilian defence pensioner, who has been lobbying for the case of his community while talking to The Tribune, said lakhs of such pensioners served in Military Engineering Services (MES) and other wings of the Army. They were provided with the CSD facility during service. However, as soon as they retired, they were considered as outcastes and denied the CSD facility.

“In the last meeting, we were told that the Deputy Director General for the CSD committee had been communicated to take necessary action in the matter. However, till date no action has been taken, he said

RK Dhir, secretary of the Defense Civilian Retired Employees Association for the region, said the only logic for denying the CSD facility to their community was that they were not getting pension from the defence budget. However, the civilian employees, who serve the CSD canteens and Border Roads Organisation were being given the CSD facility after retirement.

TKK Joshi, national general secretary of the defence civilian employees, alleged that they were the only category of employees who despite serving the Army had no welfare department.

Nalagarh, May 27
In a bizarre incident some pages of Sri Guru Granth Sahib placed at the region’s oldest gurdwara at Manguwal in Nalagarh subdivision were found torn and strewn outside the main prayer area yesterday.

The incident came to light when a granthi visited the gurdwara to offer evening prayers. The police was informed about the incident and acting immediately a case under Section 295 of the IPC was registered. Investigations had begun and the police had stepped up security around other such religious places of the area.

SP Gurdev Chand Sharma also appealed to the people to remain calm and exercise restrain. He said they had stepped up security of other gurdwaras in the area and efforts were on to trace the culprits.

Since the gurdwara is located in an isolated place and does not receive many visitors in the day, little clue was available about the culprits. The incident has left the people aghast at this blasphemous act as no such incident has ever occurred in the subdivision ever.

Tirlochan Singh, jathedar, gurdwara committee from Anandpur Sahib, met Chief Minister PK Dhumal today and apprised him of this misdeed and demanded immediate action against the culprits.

A police complaint has been lodged by the Gurmut Prachar Trust Himachal Pradesh. Support also come forth from the Kanhiya Sewa Society who also condemned the incident.

In a memorandum send to the Chief Minister the state Akali Dal president Daljeet Singh Binder said it was a cruel act and the guilty should be punished.

The religious leaders appealed to the people to remain calm and maintain unity during this hour as it was an attempt to ignite religious passions.

Jagdish Saini, pradhan of Dhand Nihli panchayat, under whose area the incident took place, said throwing water over their religious book was a barbaric act and the manner in which other religious symbols had been strewn around had angered the people.

Shimla, May 27
The HP High Court today dismissed the appeal filed by promotee DSPs praying to count their ad hoc/officiating service as DSPs for the purpose of seniority.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Kuldip Singh passed this order on an appeal filed by the officials against the judgment passed of the single judge holding that the ad hoc/temporary/ officiating service as DSP would not count for the purpose of seniority.

While upholding the decision of the single Bench, the court observed that the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) only assessed the merit of candidates and unless the appointing authority accepted the recommendation of the DPC and issued order of appointment, the persons recommended by the DPC did not get any right of seniority based on that recommendation.

The court held that the promotees had not been appointed under the rules from the date of officiating/ad hoc service. Thus, it said the seniority had to be counted based on the date of appointment and that the ad hoc service followed by regular appointment could be counted for seniority only when the same is regularised.