Shimla, May 28
Even though Congress councillors are sore over the fact that their opinion was not taken before deciding about the Mayor’s resignation, state Congress chief Kaul Singh Thakur asked Madhu Sood to continue holding the office.

Some of the councillors said it was a wrong move on part of the HPCC chief to reject the resignation of the Mayor without consulting them.

Meanwhile, HPCC chief Kaul Singh Thakur clarified that he was satisfied with the reply of Sood and had asked her to continue in the interest of the party. “She has admitted that the statement was issued by her under tremendous pressure from the government and that she fully endorsed the party stand on the Bemloe housing project,” he said.

On the issue of the councillors not being consulted, he said he did not feel the need for it as the senior party leaders, including Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Vidya Stokes, was consulted for the same. He added that four councillors, who had met him here today, had supported the continuation of Sood as the Mayor.

Though it is now certain that Sood will continue holding the office of the Mayor, her stand in the Bemloe housing project case remains to be seen. Considering the tough stand that the Congress has adopted against this high-cost housing project, the Mayor will have to do a tightrope walk to keep all the factions happy.

Though there are 15 Congress councillors in the MC, Deputy Mayor Harish Janartha and Seema Chauhan had been expelled from the party following their contesting election against the party nominees for the post of the Mayor and his deputy. The BJP has eight councillors and two belong to the CPM.

Kangra, May 28
The Tibetan community feels the pinch of the trauma Kashmiri Pandits have been undergoing while scattered all over in their own country. This was stated by Prime Minister of the Tibetan Government in exile Prof Samdong Rinpoche during a meeting with a delegation of the All-India Kashmiri Samaj (AIKS) headed by its president Moti Kaul at Dharamsala on Thursday.

Moti Kaul told the Tibetan leader that Kashmiri Pandits and Tibetans were facing the same problem of exile, but Tibetans had been recognised as refugees, while Kashmiri Pandits were refugees in their own country without a refugee status. He told Rinpoche that Kashmiri Pandits were not averse to their return to the Valley, but asked who stood guarantee that another exodus would not be repeated. Kaul said both the state and Centre must come out with a blue print for the permanent settlement of the Kashmiri Pandits.

Rimpoche said, “Kashmiri scholars had visited Tibet several times. Kalchakra and other scriptures were translated from Sanskrit by them and many of the Kashmiri manuscripts were translated in Tibetan language by Tibetan scholars during their visits to Kashmir.

He said the Tibet movement remained consistent because of people’s support at the grassroots level. He made an appeal to the younger generation of the Kashmiri Pandit community to remain connected with their culture.

Shimla, May 28
State Congress chief Kaul Singh Thakur today suspended eight party workers for their rowdy behaviour during the state office-bearers meeting here on May 15 in the presence of party in-charge Birender Singh.

Thakur suspended these workers, all supporters of Union Minister and senior Congress leader Virbhadra Singh, as they had created a noisy scene during the meeting. This was the first meeting addressed by party in-charge Birender Singh and attended by senior leaders, including Virbhadra Singh, Anand Sharma, Vidya Stokes and Kaul Singh Thakur.

Out of the eight party workers who had been issued a show-cause notice, Husan Ali, Atul Sharma, Akash Saini, Dharampal Thakur and Pratap Kaundal had sent in their reply, while the remaining three Harsh Sharma, Ram Ratan Sharma and Udai Chand chose not to explain their position.

“I am not satisfied with the their explanation and have decided to suspend all eight,” said HPCC chief. — TNS

Mandi, May 28
In lieu of the extensive damage to the apple crop by the recent hailstorms, farmers here have sought waiver on crop loans and compensation for the loss.

“The fresh hail has damaged fruits in Khanag in Ani Tehsil, parts of Kotgarh, Anu and Chirgaon in the Kullu-Mandi-Shimla belt and the produce is expected to be not more than 30 per cent this year,” said the farmers.

Convener of the HP Apple Growers Association, Mandi, Ram Lal said, “Already the produce of the apple crop was expected to be less in Mandi district this time as the bloom was hit by the chill and then followed by three spells of hailstorms in the entire Karsog tehsil of the Mandi district”.

He said the state government should waive the crop loan availed by the farmers through kisan credit cards or directly from the banks.

“The link roads, Seri Banglo-Dhamun, Mahunag-Sratiala, Karsog-Parlog, Chindi-Dhachain, should be made pliable for traffic before the fruit season. We pay Rs 25 to Rs 30 per box cartage charge to transport the fruits to the road head,” they added.

“There is no sabzi mandi at Karsog. Small and marginal farmers are exploited by commission agents outside the mandis. The government should provide 90 per cent subsidies on hail nets and packaging materials and also set up cold stores in remote areas to promote the horticulture industry that has been the mainstay of the villages' economy,” said the farmers.

“We have not received payments for over 1.11 lakh metric tonne fruit that the HPMC had procured under the market intervention scheme last year,” said the farmers.

Nurpur, May 28
A larger number of investors from Nurpur and surrounding areas, who have invested lakhs of rupees by taking memberships of Singapore-based Speak Asia Company, are in shock after hearing the news of sealing of the company’s bank accounts in India and Singapore. A news channel on Friday morning flashed a detailed story about the suspicious credentials of the company and sealing of its bank accounts sounded alarm bell among investors here as they had invested lakhs of rupees in the company.

The investors fell prey to the lure of minting money overnight and invested hard-earned money without verifying the company’s credentials.

This company was undertaking product survey of companies through these investors who had to submit a survey report through Internet to the company. In lieu of that, they were promised to get handsome remuneration.

The investors were assured credit of remuneration money in their bank accounts. Moreover, after becoming member-cum-agent of the company by transferring money in the account of the company’s bank account, he could further enrol more members for which he was assured Rs 1,000 as commission for each investor. With this chain of networking, a large number of poor investors had deposited thousands of rupees.

But with the news of sealing of the company’s bank account, these investors are uncertain about their invested money. Interestingly, there was no documentary proof or the company’s policy document with these investors.

Shimla, May 28
The two accused in the fake HC judgment case, engineer Kuldeep Rao and lawyer Haresh Sood, were released on bail here today.

They were arrested after the district police had registered a case against them for allegedly preparing a fake judgment, which ordered the quashing of the FIR in the CPMT paper leak case. The two were produced in court today after remaining in judicial custody.

Rao, an engineer in the Public Works Department, had used the fake HC judgment for seeking service benefits for the period when he was suspended when he was named as one of the accused in the PMT paper leak case. — TNS