Chamba, August 10
At least 12 persons, including two women, were killed, one was critically injured and four others were reported missing after a minibus carrying them failed to negotiate a curve at the Tissa bridge and fell into a gorge at Seri village, 45 km from Chamba, today.

The bus was on its way from Tissa to Dalhousie when the accident occurred.

On receiving the information, Chamba Deputy Commissioner Sharab Negi, SP Madhu Sudan Sharma, along with a team of doctors, reached the spot to supervise the relief and rescue operations.

The police, along with other officials, took out the bodies from the wrecked bus with the help of the local residents.

The deceased have been identified as Jaipal, Des Raj, Chuni Lal, Kishan Chand, Ajay Verma, Dhani Ram, Anek Ram, Karam Singh, Kamlesh Kumar, Ram, Balo and Mamta. The bodies of the two women have been handed over to their kin after postmortem.

The administration had made all the arrangements for transporting the bodies to their native villages, the Deputy Commissioner said.

One injured was rushed to the nearby Regional Hospital, he said, adding that the four passengers, whose bodies were reported to be missing, were yet to be recovered.

He said the police had launched a search operation to trace the missing persons.

An immediate relief of Rs 20,000 each to the next of kin of the deceased had been disbursed, while the injured would be given relief as per the relief manual, the Deputy Commissioner said.

Meanwhile, a case of rash and negligent driving under various Sections of the IPC has been registered and investigations are on.

Shimla, August 10
The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau is enquiring into the alleged irregularities in Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) Doctors Cooperative Housing Society Ltd located at Panthaghatti for violations which have become a norm of the day in various such societies.

The Vigilance has ordered an inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the housing society as there were complaints that there had been violations of the Cooperative Societies Act in the project, which was conceived about three years ago.

There are allegations that despite it being a society of IGMC doctors, several other persons, including engineers, lecturers and MBS, had also been made its members.

“We are enquiring into the complaint of irregularities in the society and in case there are any violations, we will take stern action as per the law,” said KC Sadyal, ADGP, Vigilance.

Even though IGMC doctors have not taken land from the government on lease and purchased private land, but it has been alleged that they have violated the norms under the Cooperatives Societies Act.

“How can someone who is not a doctor become a member of the society even if he is a relative of a doctor?” asked an official.

There are also allegations that most of the doctors, who are members of the society, already own houses in Shimla and as such they do not qualify to be members of a housing society registered under the Cooperative Societies Act.

One of the members of the society on condition of anonymity said there were 56 members in the society and all the by-laws had been strictly adhered to.

“Since the eligibility for membership is graduation, the membership is open to anyone though it is a different matter that it has primarily been formed by IGMC doctors,” he said.

He added that the society had never got any concessions from the government on any account.

A senior official on condition of anonymity said there were a lot of irregularities in housing societies, which must be probed thoroughly.

“The irony is that most of these violations are committed in connivance of the Cooperative Department and it is only a thorough probe which will expose wrongdoings in these societies,” he added.

Shimla, August 10
On the plight of the health services in the state, the HP High Court has directed the Principal Secretary (Health) to inform the court about the number of hospitals and the public health centres (PHCs) established by the state at various levels and institution-wise vacancies with regard to medical officers and other staff.

The court has also asked for the need for recognition and approval of private health institutions, within and outside the state for the purpose of reimbursement of medical expenses by its employees and inform it about the number of such institutions, along with their names, and the amounts paid to them in the past one or two years.

While passing these directions, the Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Sanjay Karol further directed him to file his personal affidavit furnishing all the details in it within four weeks.

The Bench passed this order on a news report, which was treated as a public interest litigation wherein it was alleged that patients were suffering on account of lack of proper infrastructure, deployment of staff, including doctors, and poor maintenance of the hospital at Rohru. It was brought to the notice of the court that a large number of vacancies, particularly those of medical officers, still remained unfilled not only in the hospital in question, but also throughout the state and which was also admitted by the Principal Secretary (Health).

“How the state proposes to fill up unfilled vacancies is a question which has to be seriously addressed by the government. Reluctance could also be for the reason that service rules are being tailor-made to suit particular individuals. It also cannot be disputed that doctors of repute and skill have left the services of the state,” it said.

Shimla, August 10
Elections for the Students Central Association (SCA) of Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) and over 150 colleges affiliated to it across the state will be held on August 20 as per the recommendations of the Lyngdoh Committee.

With incidents of violence taking place in boys’ hostels and other colleges on and off, and on the campus, it will be a difficult task for the university authorities and the police to maintain law and order.

The police, along with HPU security staff, has been checking the entry of outsiders, especially in the boys’ hostels from where violence erupts.Even this morning there was a clash between activists of the SFI and ABVP at the Summer Hill Chowk in which three ABVP activists have been injured. No police case has been registered so far in this regard.

The Vice-Chancellor of the HPU, ADN Bajpai today urged students to maintain peace on the campus and not vitiate the academic atmosphere. “The students must not take the law in their hands as those involved in stone pelting or violent acts will be appropriately dealt,” he assured.

He said strict action would be taken against anti-social elements, who try to disrupt classes or cause damage to public property. He said the student polls must be held peacefully. Over 3,000 students had cast their vote last year during the elections on August 27, 2010.

The final voter lists will be displayed on August 17 and nomination papers will be filed on August 18, with scrutiny and withdrawal on the same day. Voting will take place on August 20 and the counting will be done the same day and the results will be announced later in the evening.

The university authorities said polls would be held in strict accordance with the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations. This includes banning of all printed pamphlets and publicity material, not allowing pasting of posters anywhere except the designated places. Canvassing will be allowed only after classes and nobody would be allowed to disturb studies.

Shimla, August 10
The CPM has demanded a CBI inquiry into the alleged benami land deal involving 1,000 bighas of land in the Rampur Keonthal area below Totu, on the outskirts of the town.

Addressing a press meet here today, CPM leaders Tikender Panwar and Sanjay Chauhan alleged that the land had been bought by a businessman of Punjab with the help of a Solan-based person in whose name the General Power of Attorney (GPA) was obtained.

“In case the government does not order an inquiry into the case, we will knock the doors of the court as the cost of the land is almost Rs 800 crore and it has been bought for a paltry sum of Rs 20 crore,” they said. Panwar said it would not be difficult for the government to get the facts of the case as the payments have been made through cheques and drafts.

“The government should try to ascertain the economic strength of the person in whose name the GPA has been taken to find out if he is in a position to generate money for such a big project,” Panwar said.

They accused the government of adopting a lenient view towards reports of such benami deals. “Violations in the name of housing societies have been done by legislators, bureaucrats and others which the government must probe,” they demanded.

They said there was no justification in appointing an inquiry commission to probe benami land deals as the credulity of the government on this account was doubtful, adding that the BJP and the Congress regimes are to be equally blamed for violation of Section 118 of the HP Tenancy and Land Reform Act as prime agricultural lands had been bought by outsiders putting the state virtually on sale.

Shimla, August 10
The installation of high-capacity generating machines at the country’s largest private sector Karcham Wangtu Hydroelectric Project has triggered a controversy as it has virtually raised the installed capacity of the plant from the approved 1,000 MW to 1,200 MW.

The Central Electricity Authority (CEA), which had granted the techno-economic clearance (TEC) for a 1,000-MW plant with four turbines of 250 MW each, has sent a letter to the state government regarding the over-designed project.

Jaiprakash Power Ventures, which has built the project, has installed four 300-MW generating machines, out of which two units have been commissioned and the third is on a trial run. The company had planned to commission the project by August 15, but it will be delayed now.

The government has further written to the company to ascertain its views on issues raised by the CEA. While the state stands to gain as increase in the capacity of the project will only hike the quantum of 12 per cent free power available as royalty, the issue before the CEA is whether a company could be allowed to unilaterally raise the approved installed capacity.

The state will also have some issues as besides royalty, the power companies are also required to pay an upfront premium at the rate of Rs 20 lakh power MW under the new policy.

In case the project is over-designed and the installed capacity exceeds the TEC, the company will have to pay 3 per cent more free power as royalty throughout.

The CEA allows overloading of the machines to the extent of 10 per cent which means that a 1,000-MW project can generate up to 1,100 MW, but in the instant case the installed capacity itself had been raised and that too by 20 per cent. The company maintains that it had installed higher capacity turbines to ensure that its generation was not hit due to high silt and it is in a position to generate full power even if one of the machines breaks down during the peak generating season. Further, the machines could not be overloaded as their rating was 302 MW.

Kasauli, August 10
Peeved at the absence of direct recruitment for the post of Deputy Assistant Director (Non-medical) for the past 25 years, the Central Research Institute (CRI) Employees Association, Assistant Technical Officers (ATOs) and Technical Supervisors (TS) gheraoed the institute Director at Kasauli yesterday.

The employees contended that the last direct recruitment for the post was held in 1986 and since then no regular Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) had been conducted.

The employees demanded the scrapping up of 21 appointments of the senior officer-level post created on contractual basis recently.

Association secretary Tara Chand Dhiman said they would not allow these officers to join the institute.

He said it belied logic that on the one hand the Director General Health Services (DGHS) was providing Rs 50 crore for the upgrade of a laboratory and on the other hand contractual appointments were being made which promoted ad hocism.

The Director later assured the employees that the matter was being taken up with the higher authorities and all the posts on contractual basis would not be filled.

Association president Mohan Lal said the stagnation of TS and ATOs was causing frustration among the staff.

Nurpur, August 10
Accepting the challenge of state Congress general secretary Ajay Mahajan to come out with a White Paper on the Finna Singh Irrigation Project of the Nurpur area, the local MLA and confidant of the Chief Minister, Rakesh Pathania, released a documentary record prepared by him to mediapersons at a press conference here recently.

While releasing the documentary evidence, he claimed that the credit for the approval of this Rs 204.51-crore project went to the Dhumal government, which had made concerted efforts for its nod from the Union Water Resources Ministry.

He accused Mahajan of misleading people of the area by distorting facts on the pretext of the RTI information obtained by him.

He said he would also distribute booklets containing facts and efforts to inhabitants of 14 gram panchayats being benefited by the project.

Pathania asserted that the project was first mooted by ex-serviceman Finna Singh of Niari village, who during 1954-1966 had written several letters to the department concerned suggesting construction of an irrigation canal.

Solan, August 10
Health and Ayurveda Minister Rajeev Bindal today condemned the police action on peaceful Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morch (BJYM) activists and termed it as an undemocratic and suppressive move.

He said policies of the Central government were anti-people and this was leading to corruption and price rise in the country. The demonstration of the BJYM was aimed at highlighting the critical issues facing the nation by means of satyagrah. He alleged that the government tried to suppress the protest march in which 71 youths were injured. Two youths from Himachal too had suffered multiple fractures.