Shimla, January 10
Life is limping back to normal in the town. However, vehicular traffic has still not been restored to normal and power supply in some areas continues to be erratic.

With the minimum temperature being recorded at minus 2.1°C in the town, the cold wave conditions continued for the fourth consecutive day today. Vehicular movement in the town has still not been restored due to icy layers being formed in areas where snow has not been cleared. Some of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) buses did ply, but traffic in the town has mostly been confined to the bypass as there was little snow, which has almost melted.

According to the weather forecast by the local meteorological centre, the sky will remain partly cloudy with possibility of rain and snow during the next 24 hours. The sky will mainly remain dry on January 12 and 13, but there are chances of rain and thunderstorm in lower hills and snow in higher reaches again on January 14.

Traffic to upper parts of Shimla district could not be restored on account of heavy snowfall at several places. Many HRTC buses still remained stranded in various parts of the district due to slippery road conditions and heavy snowfall. A large number of tourists still continued to pour into the town to enjoy snow. Barring the tribal districts of Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti, other parts did not experience fresh snowfall.

The supply of essential commodities like milk, bread and newspapers was normal in most parts as vehicles from outside could reach the state capital on time. The Public Works Department and the municipal corporation continued the road clearance work with the help of JCB machines and labourers even though many areas still remain to be cleared. Though main roads have been cleared, walking in most other areas is risky and people trudged to offices with great difficulty.

The minimum temperature at various places in the state was: Shimla minus 2.1°C , Sundernagar 0.1°C, Bhuntar 0.9°C, Kalpa minus 9.3°C, Dharamsala 2.1°C, Una 2.4°C, Mandi 4°C, Nahan 5.6°C, Keylong minus 10.4°C, Solan minus 2.5°C and Manali minus 7°C.

Dharamsala, January 10
The recent spell of snow in Kangra district has exposed the disaster preparedness in the area. Kangra district falls in zone 5 category of seismic probability which makes it as one of the most earthquake prone areas of the country. The earthquake that struck the area in 1905 lead to the death of about 80,000 people and destroyed almost the entire infrastructure in Kangra district.

Kangra is struck by earthquakes of mild intensity almost every two to three months. Last year 16 earthquakes of mild intensity hit the area though no loss of life or property was reported. Cracks in most houses in Kangra are an illustration to the fact that the area is seismically still very live.

The local administration carries out regular exercises to maintain preparedness regarding any kind of natural disaster in the area.

However, after the recent spell of snow in the district, the preparedness of the Electricity Department was exposed. In large parts of the district, the power supply was disrupted after the area received just about 45 cm of snowfall. In Dharamsala town, poles supporting electricity wires fell and wires got snapped. The maximum damage to electricity poles was caused in the road leading from the martyrs’ park to the circuit house.

So massive was the damage to the power network that the power supply in some areas remained disrupted for three days. Sources said the electricity poles fell as the foundations were weak.

The awareness level among locals in tackling a disaster situation was also exposed. Roads got choked and the traffic came to a standstill in Dharamsala town with just a few inches snow on the road. People left their vehicles on the road and the administration could not do anything to restore traffic for many hours.

The situation in McLeodganj and the surrounding areas was worse, as the traffic on the roads leading to the hill station remained suspended for about two days.

Meanwhile, Congress leaders have demanded that the state government should give some kind of relief to people in rural areas who are facing “unprecedented weather”.

Nikhil Rajour, Congress MLA from Jaswan, said people in lower areas like Chintpurni, Jaswan and Pragpur were facing unprecedented cold weather. Power supply to many villages had still not been restored. Without power it was difficult for the villagers to sustain themselves in this extreme cold weather. The government should provide them coal to counter the situation being caused due to lack of power, he said.

Meanwhile, the sources said the district administration had decided to asses the damage caused to personal and private property due to recent spell of snow in the district.

Manali/Dhundi, January 10
Braving the freezing Himalayan winter chill, workers and engineers engaged in the construction of the strategic 8.82-km-long Rohtang tunnel in the mighty freezing Rohtang mountains, are an unfazed lot, carrying on work day and night to meet the 2014 target of linking the south and north portals.

The temperature at the Dhundi south portal site, about 25 km from Manali, has dipped to minus 18°C this time, the lowest recorded so far.

However, the only solace for the workers and the engineers is that the temperature inside the tunnel is about five to six degrees higher than outside. The day temperature goes up to 3°C, said a project engineer, adding that the engineers were also braving bone-chilling winds to complete the project on time.

Over 300 workers coming from different parts of the country, including the state, have been roughing it out day and night to meet the target. “This work is our source of livelihood. We get facilities from the project authorities. Besides, it isn’t that cold inside the tunnel,” said a worker.

Dhundi has recorded over 1.2 m of snow. The project authorities have put up portable insulated camps for workers at the portal site and provide them with an internal heating system, said PK Mahajan, Chief Engineer, Rohtang Tunnel project, who has been camping at the Solang camp office to monitor the work.

Mahajan said they had constructed about 2.5-km-long tunnel so far - 1,761 m at the south portal from the Manali side and 755 m at the north portal from Sissu in the Lahaul valley. The work was going on day and night at the south portal, but the work on the Sissu side had been closed on December 8 after the Rohtang Pass was closed, he added.

“We are confident of meeting the 2014 deadline of linking both portals if work goes on as planned,” he added.

Bilaspur, January 10
Uneasy calm prevails at Shalughat on the main gate of JP Cement factory, 50 km from here, as the strike by all five truck unions of Bilaspur and Solan districts, doing loading work at this factory, entered the 10th day today.

The talks held between leaders of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the truck unions and the factory management, in the presence of the district administrations of Bilaspur and Solan districts and two MLAs Randhir Sharma (Naina Deviji constituency) and Gobind Sharma (Arki constituency), ended without any agreement at the Bachat Bhawan here last evening.

JAC Chief Advisor Daulat Singh Thakur told mediapersons here today that the JAC was insisting that the management must stick to the written agreement which it had signed on August 27, 2010, at Peterhoff in Shimla in the presence of the above government officers and public representatives.

This agreement envisaged that apart from increase in freight charges, the management would also ensure that the truckers would get load on their return journey (locally called ‘vaapsi’), at 40 per cent freight of the 
usual journey.

He said as this condition was not being respected by the management and it had given this loading job to a private contractor, truckers were at a great financial loss.

The JAC has decided to wait for some more days before it decides to take another suitable action in this matter. In last night’s talks, Management Director and chief representative KP Sharma had shown his inability to give ‘vaapsi’ to truckers.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Ritesh Chauhan, who was also present with Solan district Deputy Commissioner Palrasu, said they were hopeful of arriving at an agreed solution soon.

He said another round of talks was scheduled for tomorrow at Shimla.

Shimla, January 10
The ruling BJP today lashed out at the Congress for failing to take any effective steps to check the exorbitant prices of cement while it was in power when the three cement factories in the state came into production.

Addressing a press conference here today, state BJP spokesperson Ganesh Dutt said today that the Congress had no moral right to speak on the issue of the cement prices in the state.

“If their concern was genuine, they could have taken steps long back when they were in power by reducing the prices of cement, which is probably the highest in Himachal,” he said.

Dutt also criticised the CPM for having a tacit understanding with the Congress and only hitting out at the BJP to get political mileage.

“The CPM is the B-team of the Congress and they speak in unison with the party, rarely criticising them on any issue,” he said.

He said surprisingly, the CPM never raised the issue of cement prices when the Congress was in power.

Dutt also took Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Vidya Stokes to task for accusing the government of failing to restore normality after the heavy snowfall.

“She must not forget the time under the Congress rule when for days together there was no power, water and road connectivity to most parts of the Upper Shimla and other areas of the state,” he said. The BJP leader claimed that bus service in Shimla and most other parts had been restored on the second day itself.

“Power supply position is also satisfactory as compared to the days during the Congress regime when several areas had to go without electricity for several days during winters,” he said.

Dutt added that the Congress and the CPM were levelling baseless allegations only to gain political mileage, but people could not be misled as they had seen unprecedented development during the BJP regime.

Nurpur, January 10
Local SDM Rakesh Verma, after hearing the petitions filed against two winning representatives of Panchayati Raj institutions in this sub-division, set aside their elections on Tuesday.

According to information, rival candidate Chaman Lal, who was declared defeated for the post of pradhan of the Chaloh gram panchayat in the Indora development block, had filed a petition in the court of the SDM against the winning candidate, Kewal Singh, alleging bogus voting in the polling.

In another judgment, the SDM declared the election of block development committee member Urmila Devi from Ladori-Chowki ward in the Nurpur development block null and void, which had been challenged by a local resident, Dev Raj.

The allegation of the petitioner that the winning candidate had encroached upon government land was found correct.

Mandi/Kullu, January 10
On a mission to identify party’s “non-performers”, BJP observer for Mandi and Kullu Ram Vilas Sharma urged MLAs and ministers to come up to the expectations of the public before staking their claims for party ticket in 2012 as BJP chief Nitin Gadkari had warned the partymen in the state to perform or perish.

Sharma, a former Haryana BJP president, who is a member of the national executive, is on tour of Mandi and Kullu to get feedback from the each segment for the BJP high command.

Gadkari during his address at the Kullu rally on December 30 had told the rally crowd that the party would do an independent survey on the performance of each MLA, minister, chairman and parliamentary secretaries before they decided on the allotment of tickets for the state Assembly elections due in 2012 end.

Sharma today held a series of meeting in Mandi in which PWD Minister Gulab Singh Thakur, district president Dile Ram, Sarkaghat MLA Col Inder Singh, Milkfed Chairman Mohan Joshi, BJP spokesperson Ram Swarup, former Mandi Sadar MLAs DD Thakur and Kanahiya Lal were present.

But Jai Ram Thakur, Rural Development Minister, Roop Singh Thakur, Sundernagar MLA, Transport Minister, Mohinder Singh Thakur and Karsog MLA Hira Lal were conspicuous by their absence. They could not come as they were out of station, claimed party spokesperson.

Ram Vilas Sharma will hold similar meetings at Kullu tomorrow.

Solan, January 10
The authorities of the Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, in a late evening exercise has issued orders appointing Director (Extension) and other officials last evening. As per the notification, Dr NB Singh, who is the Head and Professor of Agro Forestry, has been appointed Director (Extension). Since the interviews could not be conducted for these posts, the authorities had undertaken a cursory exercise of granting dual charge of this crucial post.

This post was lying vacant after the last incumbent had retired in December 2011. Dr RC Sharma has been appointed Joint Director (Extension) and Dr KS Verma has been appointed as OSD-cum-Director College of Environmental Sciences, Neri.

The Tribune has highlighted the issue of inordinate delay in the appointment of various statutory officials despite advertising their posts more than a year ago in these columns today.

While the posts of Dean, College of Forestry, and Director (Research) are being held on an additional basis, the key post of Director (Extension) was lying vacant since December 2011 and the authorities had failed to make any appointment after December 31.

Since dual charges act as a handicap in discharging two responsibilities simultaneously, the university had advertised the posts of independent statutory officers, but despite the lapse of a year the university had failed to conduct interviews for the same.

Palampur, January 10
Electrical and electronic equipment worth Rs 20 lakh was destroyed when lightning struck a mobile tower at the Sulaha and Nanon area of Palampur subdivision last night. It is reported that at 11.30 pm last night a mobile tower and its equipment installed in the village was completely destroyed when lightning struck the tower. Besides, electric wiring of several houses in the area was also damaged. However, no loss of life was reported. The caretaker of the mobile tower was on leave when the incident happened.

Neetu Parmar, a cable operator of the Sulaha area, said he had suffered a loss of Rs 3 lakh as his entire cable unit burnt due to lightning.

Local residents complained that the mobile tower was installed in the heart of the village despite stiff opposition from the local residents.

On the other hand, the HPSEB authorities blamed the mobile company and said the incident took place because of the fault of the company, which had not done proper earthing of the tower.

Residents of the area called on local MLA Bipan Parmar today and demanded action against the mobile company.

They also demanded immediate shifting of the tower from the village to some other place. Parmar assured them that the government would ask the company to pay damages to affected villagers.

Meanwhile, Madan Kumar, a representative of the mobile company, refused to compensate affected villagers as the company treated it a natural calamity and the company was not at fault.