Dharamsala, October 20
Seemingly perturbed over the increased activities of dissidents in the state, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, for the first time, admitted to factionalism in the party.

Asked to comment on reports of factionalism in the state BJP, the Chief Minister said here today that factionalism was there in every party. Even the BJP had factionalism, which was unfortunate, he said.

Dhumal, however, refused to make further comments, stating that he did not want to discuss party matters in the media.

Though factionalism is prevalent in the BJP, the party is trying to project a united face during public functions. During the Chief Minister’s visit here today, BJP leaders of both the Dhumal and Shanta factions were accompanying him.

The Chief Minister said helping farmers get rid of the monkey menace was one of the poll promises of the party. As per the estimates of the Forest Department, there are about 3.25 lakh monkeys in the state. To check the population of monkeys, five sterilisation centres had already been made operational in different parts of the state. The state government had sanctioned another 24 such sterilisation centres to be set up across the state. Wildlife officials had been given a target of sterilising two lakh monkeys in the state, he said.

The Chief Minister said Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh had been urged to allow Himachal to construct pucca roads under the MNREGA in the state. He said the Union Government had allowed Sikkim to construct pucca roads under the MNREGA. Since Himachal was also a hill state like Sikkim, it should also be allowed to construct pucca roads in rural areas under the MNREGA. He said the state government had also requested the Union Government to allow it to employ people under the MNREGA to protect crops from wild animals and to guard forests from fires.

The Chief Minister flayed the opposition Congress for levelling baseless allegations regarding benami land transactions in the state.

Daroh (Dharamsala), October 20
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today presided over the 12th passing-out parade of 628 police constables, including 176 women, from the Police Training Centre, Daroh, in Kangra district.

As the Chief Minister was late by about an hour for today’s function, a woman constable, unable to bear the sun for a long time, fell unconscious while he was delivering the speech.

Speaking on the occasion, Dhumal said the government had recruited 4,361 police personnel during the past three years. Besides, 2,369 police personnel had been granted promotion during the current financial year.

He said the women police force strength had been raised to 601 with the induction of 176 women constables, who passed out today. The state government had set up an exclusive women’s battalion at Bassi near Naina Devi in Bilaspur district. Directions had been issued to fill 300 posts which had fallen vacant during the past three years in the state police. The state had succeeded in getting sanctioned three IRBs for Himachal during this period, the Chief Minister said.

Dhumal said the government had provided Rs 17.35 crore to create residential facilities for the police force during the current financial year. As many as 241 housing units would be constructed, which would include accommodation for 100 police personnel at the Police Training Centre, Daroh. A cyber crime lab would also be established at the centre at a cost of Rs 50 lakh, he said.

The Chief Minister honoured the recruits who had shown exceptional calibre during the training period.

Diljeet Singh Manhas, DGP, gave a clarion call to the new recruits to prove true to the oath they had been administered at the passing-out parade.

Sanjeev Gandhi, SP, Daroh centre, read out the annual report of the college. He requested the Chief Minister to get a library set up for the recruits.

Shimla, October 20
The basic rock salt mining being undertaken by Hindustan Salt Ltd in Mandi district is likely to be converted into a full-fledged Rs 250-crore solution mining project, making Himachal the only state in North India where edible salt will be produced at a mega scale.

The dispute over rock salt mining at three sites in the Darang area of Mandi district being undertaken by Hindustan Salt Ltd for the past several decades, was finally resolved today. The Chief Managing Director of the public undertaking, RK Tandon, today met Additional Chief Secretary (Industries) Harinder Hira to resolve the irritants, which had prevented the proper extraction of salt deposits in the area spread over 123 acres.

“The fact that the project will provide employment to over 400 people of the area, both at the mining site and the refinery, will be important for the economy of the area,” said Hira. She added that Hindustan Salt Ltd had agreed to pay the Rs 30 lakh pending dues and seek a fresh mining lease so that they could make it a profitable venture.

Till now mining of rock salt was being done for cattle consumption, but it was not being refined to be made fit for human consumption. “We have resolved all issues and subject to grant of various permissions, we will start the solution mining project and get into edible salt production, the only one in North India,” said Tandon.

The detailed project report of the unit, to be set up at a cost of Rs 250 crore, was almost ready. The environmental clearance, too, had been obtained and the moment the other necessary permissions from the Forest, Industry, Revenue and other departments were obtained, work would start on the project.

Tandon said efforts would be made to rope in a public sector undertaking to be a partner in the joint venture. “Our preference will be to have a public undertaking as out partner but if that does not come through, we will even join hands with a private investor to help us set up the project,” he said.

So far 75 per cent of the salt requirement of the country is met from Gujarat, followed by 12 per cent supply from Rajasthan. As such Himachal will be the first state up north to produce edible salt at a mega scale with the starting of solution mining in the Darang area.

The state government had issued notices to Hindustan Salt Ltd for illegally continuing mining in the Darang area ever after the expiry of its lease. Now with the dispute having been resolved, the unit can herald prosperity in the area.

Kullu, October 20
Even as state BJP president and Banjar MLA Khimi Ram has been pressed into some damage-control exercise by his mentor Chief Minister PK Dhumal from the day when pro-Shanta Kumar detractors started converging in Kullu-Manali for the anti-graft function, anti-Dhumal men have warned the party to either mend the powerful troika of “pro-Dhumal ministers and three chairmen “or face a vertical split ahead of the state Assembly elections”.

This bitter message has sent political jitters in the state BJP after “anti-Dhumal BJP men, including two Cabinet ministers and eight BJP MLAs from different segments, held a secret meeting in Kullu-Manali and made their anger known to BJP national vice-president Shanta Kumar.

Even the state CID and the district administration kept a close eye on this meeting.

According to party sources, the BJP men who have been working for the party since 1990 or earlier have been getting a raw deal, whereas “the non-BJP people are riding high in the present set up”.

Seizing a possible political fallout of the anti-graft rally attended by anti-Dhumal BJP men, Khimi
Ram and Govind Thakur absented themselves from the function.

Sources told The Tribune that anti-Dhumal detractors cited how Nahan BJP leader Shayama Sharma walked out from the CM’s function, how a Cabinet minister from Kangra felt insulted recently and how BJP leader from Kullu was sidelined in the Kullu Dasehra.

Shanta Kumar, in fact, had focused his 25-minute-long speech on corruption in the country, including BJP-ruled states. The function was organised by an NGO, run in proxy by Maheswar Singh, a Shanta Kumar supporter.

But Khimi Ram, who surfaced here today, said Shanta did not say anything wrong.

“But Sofat and KD Dharmani, who attended the function, were removed from the party earlier. It was not a party function and I was not invited for the same,” he added.

Shimla, October 20
Commuters will get respite form traffic jams caused by long queues of vehicles at inter-state tax barriers with the Excise and Taxation Department making e-declaration of goods being brought into the state mandatory from November 1 for most categories of dealers.

The switchover to e-declaration will enable the barrier staff to capture all data regarding goods being carried by scanning the printout of the e-declaration. The process will hardly take two minutes, as the data is bar-coded, as against one to two hours required at present to enter the challans of goods of various dealers being carried in a vehicle. The vehicles will be allowed to pass through as computer software has the capability to detect wrong declarations and physical checking will be necessitated in few cases.

The department has made it mandatory to file returns electronically from October 25 for all dealers having an annual turnover in excess of Rs 1 crore in 2010-11. The dealers having a turnover of less than this amount will also have the option of filing e-returns, but it will not be mandatory for them.

The e-declaration has been made mandatory for dealers conducting inter-state sales and exports, making inter-state purchases with a minimum annual turnover of Rs 1 crore, petroleum and cooking gas, auto, motor vehicles and two-wheelers, cement companies, courier companies, gold, precious metals and gems, distilleries and bottling plants and transport companies.

The switchover to e-declaration will help reduce congestion at inter-state barriers at Parwanoo, Baddi, Dherowal, Mehatpur, Gagreet, Kala Amb, Behral and Swarghat in the state.

Kullu/Udaipur, October 20
The MiG-29 crash in the highland region of the Neelkanth-Chokhang-Kugti Pass bordering Chamba and Lahaul-Spiti districts continued to be a mystery as the three rescue helicopters of the IAF suspended their search operations for the second day today without getting any hint of the wreckage site or the pilot after it lost link with the Adampur airbase on Tuesday at around 8.30 pm.

After getting inputs from locals and IAF surveillance system, the three helicopters searched for possible crash sites in the Neelkanth-Chongkhang region in Udaipur subdivision and the Kugti Pass region in Bharmour in Chamba district. However, the team could not locate the wreckage site or the pilot.

The IAF search operation has been hit further as the weather in the landlocked region turned bad in the evening and it can snow anytime in the higher snowbound region, say officials.

If it snows, it can bury clues to the wreckage site for months to come as the snow will melt only in the summer months, the officials add.

Lahaul-Spiti Deputy Commissioner Rajiv Shankar told The Tribune that three IAF helicopters had done a recce of the region today, but the search was abandoned as they could not locate the wreckage site or the pilot. The search would be resumed tomorrow if the weather permitted, he added.

Dharamsala, October 20
Itay Takserman of Israel today once again remained at the first spot on day four of the International Himalayan National Paragliding Championship. Gurpreet Singh Dhindsa from India and Denis Velikov of Russia remained at the second and third positions, respectively, according to the results declared today.

Dilip Kotecha and Raj Kumar were the two Indians who made their place in the first 10, remaining on fourth and ninth positions.

The foreign paragliders again dominated the competition today with three women paragliders, namely Anna Darchenkova, Karina Sharipova from Russia and Daniela Mladenova from Bulgaria figuring among the top positions. The final ratings will be done on the last day of the competition after calculating the total scores of the paragliders over the given five tasks on October 22.

Today the task of covering an air distance of 56.5 km over Mihara village, the dam site, the Utrala train station at Jogindernagar, the red-roof temple and finally the landing site at Bir was given to the participants.

Of the 201 paragliders who flew today, 51 glided in the professional category. Four women paragliders, including the sole Indian women paraglider Ringzing Doma Bhutia from Sikkim, also participated. As many as 150 pilots flew in the novice and tandem categories, including free fliers. The finals of the novice and tandem categories will be held tomorrow.

JR Katwal, Director, Youth Services and Sports, who is also the chairman of the organising committee of the paragliding championship, said the department had secured an insurance cover for 225 paragliders, from October 15 to 24 though the competition would be over on October 22. A Rs 34-crore insurance cover had been taken for the paragliders (Rs 15 lakh per paraglider for 225 paraglider) through National Insurance Company.

Shimla, October 20
The Himachal Junior Engineers’ Association has expressed solidarity with JEs and assistant engineers of Punjab, who are agitating for the removal of pay anomalies.

DC Bhardwaj, president of the association, said if the demand was accepted, it would benefit junior engineers of the state as their pay scales were linked to Punjab.

He said the association had also taken up the matter with the CM and urged him to pursue the case with Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who had in July promised to rectify the anomaly and grant the Rs 7,880-13,500 pay scale with effect from January 1, 1996. After the latest revision, the association was demanding a grade pay of Rs 3,800 with the pay scale of Rs 10,300-34,800 recommended by the Fifth Pay Commission.