Manali, July 22
Over 122 workers, who had a close shave with death in the devastating Fingri Nullah flash flood that killed eight of their co-workers Thursday-Friday night near here, have been roughing it out barefoot as neither the district administration nor the Rohtang tunnel project authorities and its contractor, Garg and Garg Company, provided any immediate relief to them even after two days.

“We lost everything in the flash flood,” rued the barefoot workers. “We have got nothing as relief from the company and project authorities so far,” they resented.

The site manager of the Garg and Garg Company, Bajinder Singh, said remaining 122 workers had been shifted to a hotel near Manali today as their sheds had been washed away.

“Three workers are still under treatment at the Mission Hospital, Manali, and are safe,” he added.

Sahdev Sharma, partner of the company, said they would give Rs 40,000 as an immediate relief to the next of kin of eight workers killed in the flood. “We have given free food and lodging and have ordered clothes and shoes for all of them,” he claimed.

Bajinder Singh said the administration did not give anything help to the workers and company was bearing all the cost. All workers would get free treatment at the hospital, he added.

The chief engineer, Rohtang tunnel project, PK Mahajan, said they were on the job and their first concern was health and safety of workers. The workers would get all benefits under the terms and conditions of the agreement and relief manual, he added.

Solang Nullah (Manali), July 22
A high-level team of experts from the Snow and Avalanche Establishment (SASE) will inspect the flood-ravaged 120-metre-long snow gallery at the Fingri Nullah near here and suggest remedial measures to deal with the flash flood.

The high-intensity flash flood on Thursday-Friday night blocked the main natural course of the nullah, thus exposing chinks in the snow gallery. The diverted flood washed away eight labourers and devastated the sheds and machineries, dumping the debris and boulders on the stretch of the approach road to south portal of the 8.82-km-long Rohtang tunnel.

Though the Rohtang tunnel road has been restored for traffic, but the tunnel project authorities remained clueless about the intensity of the flash flood triggered by the cloudburst somewhere in the “mountain of seven sister peaks” at the base of Hanuman Tibba in the Dhauladhar range.

The boulders and debris have blocked the passage of the snow gallery exposing chinks in its design. The SASE has designed the snow gallery for controlling the avalanches in winter and it was caught unawares by the high-intensity flash flood.

The chief engineer, Rohtang tunnel project, PK Mahajan, said the gallery was designed by the high-tech committee of experts to take care of both flash flood and avalanches. “But gallery is yet to be completed and it has enough passage for the safe exit of the debris and flash flood,” he claimed.

Mahajan said a high-level team from the SASE is coming here and would suggest remedial measures. “The snow gallery is intact and it saved lives of labourers. The debris was dumped on the diversion road,” he said.

The conservator of forests, Kullu, PK Sharma, who visited the Fingri spot, observed that the snow gallery had blocked the main natural course of the nullah.

“Its flow has turned side ways and washed away the sheds and machineries. The natural course should be maintained as cloud bursts and flash floods are common in the monsoons,” Sharma said.

Shimla, July 22
The apple season has commenced on a high note with the initial consignments fetching almost double the last year’s prices in the Delhi market, raising hopes of good returns for the growers, whose crop has suffered extensive damage due to unfavourable weather conditions, particularly frequent spells of hailstorm.

The superior grade of the royal delicious variety is being sold at Rs 2,300 per standard box as against Rs 1,100 per box during the same period last season. The prices are bound to go up further as so far the fruit is being harvested only in lower hills which are not known for high-quality fruit. The best apple grows in the middle and high hills which will start reaching the market from the first week of August.

However, the crop is quite lean compared to the last year’s record production of 4.46 crore boxes. This season the production is likely to be around 2 crore boxes. However, things are not all that bad as in 2009 only 1.40 crore boxes were produced but the market stayed high all through, ensuring reasonable returns despite a poor crop. The growers are hoping that the market will stay high and they would get good returns despite low production.

Till yesterday, 1.25 lakh boxes had been sent to various markets from the state as compared to 1.65 lakh last year and 58,000 in 2009. So far 277 trucks of apple have been sent to other states. As many as 160 collection centres have been opened in lower hill areas for the procurement of the fruit under the market intervention scheme. In all 259 centres are to be opened by August 15 when harvesting will be at its peak.

Last year the Theog-Hatkoti highway, through which almost 60 per cent of the state’s produce is carried, was in bad shape and the growers faced unending problems in transporting the fruit to the market due to frequent blockades and traffic jams.

This year the region is likely to have a moderate monsoon and the growers are hoping that the roads will remain traffic-worthy during the season and that they will be able to sent their produce to the 
market in time.

Shimla, July 22
A former Additional Chief Secretary, Sarojini Ganju Thakur, will be the first chairperson of the newly set up Himachal Pradesh Private Educational Institutions (Regulatory) Commission to oversee the functioning of institutions of higher education, particularly universities.

A 1977 batch IAS officer, Sarojini Thakur retired from service in April this year. She was selected by a search committee comprising the Chief Secretary (chairman), Principal Secretary, Technical Education, and the Principal Secretary (Higher Education). With her appointment, the three-member commission will become functional. The process is on for the appointment of two more members.

The commission has been vested with vast powers to ensure that private institutions follow the regulations and that admissions are carried out on merit. It will also protect the interests of the students of private institutions. It can impose heavy penalties on erring private institutions and the maximum penalty can be up to Rs 5 crore. Penalties have been prescribed for serious irregularities like a university awarding a fake degree (without conducting examination) or running a distance education course without the specific permission of the regulatory bodies. The minimum penalty for the award of a fake degree will be Rs 25 lakh and for an unapproved distance course Rs 10 lakh per month.

In case any university carries out admissions in violation of the prescribed rules, the penalty will be double the admission fee. Similarly, if an institution charges more than the prescribed fee, the minimum penalty will be three times the prescribed fee. The failure to provide requisite infrastructure and qualified faculty will also attract heavy penalties, to be charged on a monthly basis.

The penalty for the lack of infrastructure will be Rs 2 lakh per month. For each unqualified teacher the minimum penalty will Rs 20,000 per teacher per month and shortage of faculty will also attract the same quantum of penalty.

Solan, July 22
With 38 cases of diarrhoea surfacing in Sanawar village in the past two days, the health authorities today visited the village to take stock of the situation.

Since villagers depend on a natural source of water that was left open and had neither been disinfected nor were its tanks cleaned, they had contracted the water-borne disease.

Medical Superintendent Dr NK Gupta, who visited the village, said use of unsafe water for drinking had led to the outbreak of the disease.

He said chlorine tablets had been distributed among villagers and they had been directed to clean all tanks within two days. Bleaching powder had also been made available to disinfect the water, besides directing the people to use boiled water.

Dr Gupta said the 28 
persons, who were hospitalised yesterday, were stable and 10 others had come to seek treatment at the local Regional Hospital today.

In addition to this, out of the five other patients admitted to the Community Health Centre, Dharampur, only one was referred to Solan while four others were stable.

Since the people had been using unsafe water, at least 25 per cent of the people could contract typhoid and 5 to 10 per cent could suffer from jaundice as these were water-borne diseases.

He added that the Sanawar based sub-centre had been activated with the health worker being asked to monitor the situation and the people had been directed to seek immediate medical aid at Dharampur in case of any problem.

The village was not supplied water by the Irrigation and Public Health Department.

Shimla, July 22
The Himachal Pradesh High Court has directed the Municipal Corporation, Shimla, to verify the actual situation and identification of the hawkers here.The Division Bench comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Surender Singh directed the Special Magistrate, MC, Shimla, to videograph both the roads leading from Shahi Cinema to ISBT and local bus stand.

The court directed him to point out places where upon private individuals had allowed hawkers to sit and also submit details of the authorised hawkers.

The court directed the hawkers, who had filed an application in the court, to submit their identity cards or any other document to prove their identity.

The court passed this order while dealing with a contention that the hawkers had encroached upon the municipal roads and it had become difficult to pass through the roads like Ram Bazaar, lower Bazaar etc. It was urged before the court that the alleged hawkers had installed their permanent shops and had covered major portion of the roads.

The MC supported the claim of the petitioner and prayed for issuing appropriate directions to remove the encroachments.

The court observed that after ascertaining the actual position, further orders would be passed in this regard. It directed the MC to comply this order before September 14.

Shimla, July 22
Police investigations into the illegal use of high-end luxury vehicles by Tibetans has brought to fore the fact that the two vehicles bearing the same number were registered in the name of the Queen of Bhutan, even though the veracity of the claim is yet to be ascertained from Bhutan by the state police.

So far, the police has seized five high-end luxury vehicles, including a Land Cruiser, Land Rover and Isuzu Trooper, being used by various Tibetan monasteries in the Baijnath area of Kangra, Kullu and Mandi districts.

Police sources said during the investigation Tibetans produced documents, which indicated that the 1975 model Land Rover, bearing No. BHT-27 was registered in the name of the Queen of Bhutan who has been referred to as the “Royal Grandmother of Bhutan”.

However, this vehicle was not in a good condition and was not much in use and the same No. BHT-27 was being used on the Land Cruiser, which did not have separate documents.

The police is yet to ascertain from the Bhutanese Embassy or authorities in Bhutan whether the documents in possession of the Tibetans are forged or genuine. The two vehicles have been bearing a red number plate, which is permissible only for Embassy vehicles.

The police has to verify how these vehicles entered India and whether any import duty was paid on them or not. Moreover, barring the embassies no one else is allowed to use such number plates.

“We will check the authenticity of the documents being produced by them and act accordingly,” said police officials.