Shimla, February 9
Even as former Chief Minister Shanta Kumar has decided to keep himself aloof from the government and party affairs in Himachal, BJP chief Nitin Gadkari has deputed senior party leaders to visit the state next week to interact with party functionaries to take stock of the situation.

Gadkari held a meeting at his residence in New Delhi late last night with Chief Minister PK Dhumal and Rajya Sabha MP and party national vice-president Shanta Kumar in the presence of party leaders Shyam Jaju and JP Nadda.

Even as the talks remained inconclusive and Shanta Kumar left at around 1.30 am to be able to catch the morning flight to Bangkok, Gadkari decided to depute Nadda and Jaju, co-in charge of the party affairs in Himachal, to visit Shimla on February 12, 13 and 14 to interact with senior party leaders, MLAs and ministers and seek their opinion on the party affairs.

Jaju met Shanta Kumar at his residence to convey the decision about his and Nadda’s visit to Shimla on February 12.

“Nadda and Jaju will visit Shimla next week to meet party leaders,” said Dhumal, adding that he would be happy if the breakaway group returned back to the party fold though this would totally be their decision.

Nadda, too, confirmed that he, along with Jaju, would hold consultations with Dhumal, Shanta, ministers, MLAs and senior party men to ensure better coordination between the party and the government.

“This being an election year, we need to galvanise the party cadres for which we will seek everyone’s suggestions and opinion,” he said.

Party sources said Shanta Kumar had made it clear in no uncertain terms that he would stay away from the party organisation in Himachal, as had been the case for the past two years owing to rampant corruption, nepotism and ignoring of senior party men. He is also learnt to have said that it was now too late to hold any talks with the breakaway group led by Maheshwar as they had left the BJP and formed their own political party.

Shanta also expressed displeasure over the failure of the state government in getting the Vivekenand Hospital project at Palampur, his hometown, completed despite making a commitment.

Dhumal is learnt to have accused Shanta and his loyalists of trying to destabilise his government right from day one.

Despite Gadkari’s personal intervention to resolve the crisis and infighting in Himachal, it appears that not much has been achieved in last night’s meeting. In the coming days, the infighting in the party could further intensify and other Shanta loyalists, including ministers and MLAs, could also harden their stand. Two ministers and four MLAs have in the past stayed away from BJP state executive meetings for being sidelined.

Shimla, February 9
The latest spell of snow has brought the ice-skating season at Asia’s oldest natural ice-skating rink here to an abrupt end.

There has been no skating for the past four days and with the rink covered with heaps of snow, the Shimla Ice Skating Club has officially announced the closure of the season. In all only 56 ice-skating sessions were held during the season and there has been no regular skating ever since the heavy snow lashed the city in the second week of January. The repeated spell of snow and cloudy weather brought cheer to farmers and fruit growers, but it played spoilsport for ice-skating enthusiasts.

Normally, ice skating commences around November 25 with trial sessions, but this season a protracted dry spell and high temperatures made it impossible for water to freeze naturally. The season could take off only in December but thereafter it was a smooth affair and barring a few cloudy days ice skating continued both in the morning and evening until January 7, making a total of 45 sessions. However, since then only 11 more sessions were possible.

“The second half of January was indeed disappointing; otherwise 80 to 90 sessions would have been possible despite the delay in the commencement of the season. Last year the city experienced a snow-less winter, but the clear weather provided ideal conditions for ice skating and there were 86 sessions in all. The 2009-10 season was also good with 77 sessions,” said Bhavnesh Banga, Secretary of the Shimla Ice Skating Club.

However, the club was able to host the national ice-skating championship during the season. Besides, the annual carnival and gymkhana, the two main attractions of the ice-skating season, were also held with the usual gaiety.

The short duration and growing uncertainty over the season due to changing weather has again underlined the need for installation of a refrigeration plant which could extend the season up to five months. The club had submitted a proposal to the government in this regard in 2001 but it has not made any headway. There was a time when over 150 sessions were held but the scenario has changed due rising ambient temperature, a result of rapid degradation of the micro-environment being caused due to deforestation, unregulated and excessive construction and sharp rise in population.

Shimla, February 9
People across the state reeled under extreme cold as mercury dipped to the lowest in the current season providing no respite even though the weather had cleared after 48 hours of snow and rain.

Shimla and Manali experienced the coldest night of the season. The mercury plummeted to -7.4°C at Manali, 6.2°C below normal, while Shimla had a low of -3.8°C, 5°C below normal.

Solan recorded a minimum of -2.0°C, 6°C below normal, and Palampur 0°C.

Sundernagar (0.5°C) shivered under freezing conditions and Una (1.8°C) and Dharamsala (2.2°C) were no less cold.

Mandi (5.1°C) and Nahan (5.8°C) also recorded minimum temperature much below normal.

As usual, Keylong in the tribal Lahaul and Spiti district was the coldest with a minimum of -17.8°C and Kalpa in the adjoining tribal district of Kinnaur was also freezing with a low of -10.8°C, 8°C below normal. Kalpa recorded 20 cm of fresh snow and Narkanda and Sarahan, Jubbal, Kharapatthar and Chopal recorded 20cm to 50cm of snow over the past 24 hours, while Rajgarh in the lower hills also experienced a rare snowfall.

The sub-zero temperatures caused water pipes to burst due to freezing of water and as a result a large number of families in Manali, Shimla, Solan and other places had to go without water. Slippery road conditions affected the movement of vehicles in the morning and many commuters were stranded.

Shimla, February 9
RK Pachauri, Director-General of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and head of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), today suggested the formation of a global union of mountain states so that they could in one voice raise their 
problems on the radar screen of the international community.

Pachauri, who laid the foundation stone of the State Centre on Climate Change here today, announced that TERI would set up its regional centre in the state capital here to provide technical guidance to the state government in the area of climate change and environment protection.

Lauding the initiatives taken by Himachal in this area, he said TERI was more than happy to tie up with Himachal in setting up its regional centre here.

Pachauri said though Himachal had already shown its commitment in finding local solutions to the adverse impact of climate change, being a hill state, its fragile ecosystem was highly vulnerable. He added that it was for this very reason that all mountain states the world over must come together on one platform so that their voice was heard by the international community.

“Before several species become extinct, glaciers start melting at a rapid pace and there are floods and droughts, we need to develop an adaptation response by revamping our infrastructure,” he said. He said all this would not only impact the flaura and fauna, agriculture, horticulture but also the health of human beings.

He said it was to combat such negative effects that 830 top scientists in the world were preparing a report for the IPCC.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister PK Dhumal lamented that the most developed countries which had higher emission levels were today talking of climate change and global warming. “Since their contribution is the highest, these are the ones which should contribute towards research and development to mitigate the climate change impact,” he said.

Dhumal said land had already been identified for the setting up of a regional centre of TERI so that there could be collaboration in areas like climate change, energy efficiency, agriculture, horticulture, bio-technology and modelling sustainable development. “Hill states will be the worst sufferers of climate change; so we need to take all possible steps to lessen its impact,” he said.

He said there was need for exploring the possibility of harnessing wind and solar energy as clean energy resources. Additional Chief Secretary (Forest and Environment) Sudipto Roy spoke about the various initiatives taken by Himachal in reducing its carbon footprint and moving towards becoming the first carbon-neutral state in the country.

Dharamsala, February 9
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Laureate, will visit Dharamsala tomorrow to meet his old friend, the Dalai Lama.

Archbishop Tutu is currently on a five-day visit to India as part of The Elders, a group of independent global leaders brought together by former South African President Nelson Mandela in 2007 to create awareness on an initiative, “Girls Not Brides”, a global partnership to end child marriage.

The South African anti-apartheid leader is expected to arrive tomorrow morning and will hold a press conference along with the Dalai Lama.

The two internationally renowned peace figures were scheduled to meet in October last in South Africa. However, the Dalai Lama had to call off his trip due to the denial of visa by the South African government.

The South African government’s visa denial to the Dalai Lama had sparked an outrage among his supporters and the Archbishop, who flayed their government for buckling under China’s pressure.

Archbishop Tutu, who had invited fellow Nobel Peace Laureate to attend his 80th birthday celebrations in Cape Town, criticised his government for giving in to Chinese pressure. Archbishop Tutu is among the most vocal supporters of the Dalai Lama in South Africa.

The visit of Archbishop Tutu is coming at a time when Tibetan leaders are holding mass protest to highlight the plight of those who have committed self-immolation in Tibet. Meanwhile, accordign to reports reaching here, another Tibetan set himself on fire today. Sources said the self-immolation incident took place at a primary school in the besieged Ngaba town of eastern Tibet.

According to the sources, the Tibetan is believed to be a monk but his name and place could not be ascertained.

He was taken away immediately by soldiers and the police, and his present condition and whereabouts are not known, the sources said.

Shimla, February 9
The government has constituted a Media Advisory Committee under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister PK Dhumal.

Dr Ashok Kapatia (Shimla) will be the Vice-Chairman of the committee which will have Sanjay Sharma, (Dharamsala), Praveen Sharma, (Mandi), HO Bhanot (Una) and VP Singh (Hamirpur), as its members.

The Principal Secretary, Information and Public Relations, will be the official member and the Director, Information and Public Relations, the member secretary.

Solan, February 9
As many as seven petsons were killed in two accidents which took place in Sirmaur district since last night.

While in the first accident five persons, including a husband-wife duo, were killed on the spot when a utility pick-up vehicle (HP-71-1311) rolled down a 300-m-deep gorge on the Katiyan-Sangarah road around 10.30 am today.

Driver Hari Chand (40) was grievously injured in the accident. He was admitted to a Dadahu hospital. A case of negligence has been registered against him.

Additional SP Sanjeev Lakhanpal said the exact cause of the accident could not be ascertained till now, though it appeared to have been caused by the driver’s negligence.

Those killed included Virender (22), Rajiv (22), Virender (55), Arun (26) and his wife Santa (23). The two were married barely a year ago.

Residents from nearby villages rushed to help the accident victims and helped lift the bodies from the gorge.

In another accident, a tractor-trailor, which was transporting cement bags, turned turtle near Kolawala Bhood around 12.30 pm last night killing its two occupants and leaving the driver injured.

Those killed included Lalit Kumar, a resident of village Kaniyari and Pritam Singh of village Borli. A case of negligence has been registered against driver Naresh Kumar.

Shimla, February 9
The Shimla NCC Group Headquarters has been adjudged the Best NCC Group out of the eight groups under the NCC Directorate of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh.

It has won the Additional Director General’s “Banner” for the current training year for promoting the NCC activities in the state.

The group excelled in all the NCC activities in which about 25,000 NCC cadets participated. The year saw the group emerging victorious in the Thal Sainik Camps, inter-group competitions and cadets came out with superlative performances during the National Integration Camp held at Shimla and during the Prime Minister’s Rally in New Delhi.

Director General’s NCC commendation cards, coveted medals and certificates of appreciation have also been presented to Associated NCC Officer Rahul Dev Kaushal from Dalhousie for the training of Republic Day contingent and NCC cadet Mamta Devi from Government College, Mandi, for the mountaineering expedition that successfully scaled the 19,000 ft Thelu Peak in Uttarakhand.

Hamirpur, February 9
The Himachal Pradesh State Services Selection Board (HPSSSB), Hamirpur, has expressed its disinclination to conduct the Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET) in the future.

The board, which selects candidates for different categories of government jobs in the state, was entrusted the task of conducting the TET, being held for the first time in the state this year.

Since the TET has been made a prerequisite for all candidates interested in joining teaching jobs in government schools, the test will be conducted every year.

The test was taken by over 90,000 candidates in two phases throughout the state.

The board has shown its disinclination to conduct the TET in the future as this is going to be a regular affair.

While lack of manpower is stated to be one of the main reasons for the board’s reluctance to hold this test in the future, the board authorities are also worried that its normal work of selection of candidates for different categories of jobs would suffer.

The board conducts screening tests for hundreds of posts advertised by the state government, besides holding personal interviews of the candidates for making the final selection for the jobs.

After conducting the TET this year, the board authorities and staff members feel that conducting the TET along with carrying on with its routine selection work will be quite difficult for them unless additional staff and infrastructure are provided to the board.

Though the board authorities are not making any public comment on the the issue, sources said the issue was recently taken up with the state government and the practical difficulties of the board were also explained to find alternatives.

Shimla, February 9
The Himachal Pradesh Pensioners’ Welfare Association has expresses resentment over the decision of the government to deposit 50 per cent arrears on account of pay pension revision in the GPF instead of making cash payment.

President and secretary of the association Jiwananda and Hari Chand Gupta, respectively, said the decision clearly reflected that the government was not concerned about the welfare of senior citizens who needed the benefits in cash.

Pensioners were hoping that they would be granted increase of 5, 10 and 15 per cent in the pension with the increase in age and one-month pension as travel concession on the pattern of Punjab but they had been left disappointed.

They said if the government was really concerned about pensioners it should increase the medical allowance from Rs 100 to Rs 500 per month and settle their other demands without delay.

They lamented that the government was including the increase in the pension following pay revision, which was the right of pensioners in the financial benefits extended to employees during its term of office. The government was not able to pay the dues of employees in time and it had still not released the instalment of additional dearness allowance that became due from July 2011.

Nurpur, February 9
The state government has approved the Rs 4.83-crore cluster project for promoting sericulture which will uplift silkworm rearers.

This was stated by Industry Minister Kishan Kapoor while addressing mediapersons after reviewing the efforts initiated by the Industry Department to revive the sick silk-producing unit, Nurpur Silk Mill, here last evening.

He said the proposed project would benefit around 400 silkworm rearers of Kangra and Bilaspur districts.

He said, “The silk produce of this unit once had international recognition and the state government is trying its best to revive its old glory. The management of the unit has been asked to generate silk products as per the market demand and taste so that it can cope up with the market competition.”

“To restore the silk reeling unit in the mill with reduced input cost, the department recently set up a modern boiler in which firewood is being used as fuel for producing silk thread that had been stopped in 2000,” he claimed.

To make employees and officials of the mill accountable, LR Sharma, General Manager, SGIC, had been directed to monitor the daily performance of the mill.

Earlier, Kapoor convened a meeting of industrialists at the Sansarpur Terrace Industrial Area and sought their suggestions for the proposed environment-friendly industrial policy of the state government.

He also assured them to redress their issues. He also visited the under-construction steel producing plant of the Steel Authority of India at Kandrori in this subdivision.