Sundernagar, March 11
Thousands of residents of Mahadev village adjoining Sundernagar town are not getting water supply for the past seven days as the main and branch lines of water supply were damaged by a contractor while laying a main pipeline on March 5. Around 100 telephones in the area also remained out of order for five days due to damage caused to BSNL optical fibre line. The residents have demanded a high-level inquiry into the matter.

The work to lay a 700-metre water supply line was awarded many months ago. According to the terms of the agreement, the work was to be done manually as the supply line passes through thickly populated area. However, the contractor started digging the main road with a JCB machine and damaged the pipes and cables of BSNL.

BSNL officials tried to lodge an FIR at BSL police station colony, but the police did not lodge it. On the intervention of higher police officials, the contractor gave an undertaking that he would not do the work with a JCB machine.

Though the residents of Mahadev village have not been getting water supply, the contractor has not been booked so far for damaging public property. The contractor is stated to be an influential person having links with leaders of the ruling party.

The residents were forced to purchase water from tankers as no arrangement was made by the I&PH Department. The damaged road was also causing hindrance to vehicular traffic.

BSNL officials said they had asked the contractor to pay Rs 12,000 for damaging the communication cable.

When the matter was brought to the notice of Executive Engineer, PWD, he said the contractor would be penalised as per the norms.

Shimla, March 11
After giving him a long rope, the BJP high command today cracked the whip on the irrepressible Lok Sabha MP from Kangra Rajan Sushant by suspending him from the parliamentary board and the primary membership of the party.

The decision was taken by the Central Parliamentary Board, headed by LK Advani, after taking cognisance of his anti-party activities. The then state party president, Khimi Ram, had lodged a complaint with the high command in this regard last year. He was removed from the state executive in May last and the state leadership had been pressing for his removal from the party.

The party high command seems to be in a dilemma as the action is mild. Sushant continues to be a member of the party and also the parliamentary board. It is a typical case of “willing to wound, but afraid to strike”. By only suspending him from the parliamentary board, the high command has ensured that he has to abide by the whip.

However, Sushant has virtually forced his exit from the party. There has been no change in his attitude and activities even after his removal from the state executive and he has been availing of every opportunity to embarrass the Dhumal government by raising the issue of corruption, land deals and the functioning of the state cricket association.

His attack on the government only became sharper and more frequent after fellow rebels deserted the BJP and floated a new political outfit, the Himachal Lokhit Party (HLP). In fact, he left no possibility of a rapprochement by sending his son Dhairya to the HLP and the latter now heads its youth wing. Known for his indomitable spirit, Sushant is likely to create more problems for the BJP government in the state.

The development does not augur well for the BJP in the election year. With veteran leader Shanta Kumar disassociating himself from the affairs of the state BJP for more or less the same reasons which Sushant has been raising, the writing is on the wall for the BJP, particularly in Kangra, the largest and politically most important district.

The party is in a no-win situation as by taking action against those raising the issue of corruption, it can no longer occupy the moral high ground. It not only causes embarrassment to the party, but also allow rebels to come out openly against it.

Bilaspur, March 11
Though there are two Congress ministers from the state at the Centre, they have failed to bring any project for their state. Rather they are obstructing some of the already sanctioned projects so that the BJP does not take credit for the same. This was stated by Anurag Thakur, MP and national president, All-India Janata Yuva Morcha, while addressing a series of public meetings in the Ghumarwin constituency, including at Bamm and Bharadi, about 65 km from here, yesterday.

Anurag said, despite this, the BJP government led by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal had made Himachal Pradesh one of the foremost states in the country in terms of development and progress. The state had won 58 national awards in various fields of development during these four years of the BJP rule.

Anurag alleged that he had got sanctioned Rs 350 crore for the Bhanuppali-Bilaspur-Berry railway line, but these Congress leaders of HP were obstructing the construction of this project so that the BJP did not take credit for its implementation.

Anurag reminded the people that former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Bajpayee had given special industrial package for 10 years to Himachal, but as soon as the Congress came to power at the Centre, it reduced that period to four years. It was after great efforts that the Chief Minister could get it extended to seven years. This reduction of the period by three years had cost the state dear as it had prevented it from getting benefits of hundreds of crores from the Central Government, apart from depriving the state of a huge income which it was to receive in the future.

He said earlier he had given a grant of Rs 48 lakh to the Ghumarwin constituency from his MPLAD funds and he would now give a grant of Rs 35 lakh for implementing various development works at the gram panchayat level.

Shimla, March 11
Blaming politicians for the murky happenings in sports bodies, the CPM today called for a national debate to address issues pertaining to their control and management in the wake of the multi-crore scam in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association.

Member of the party’s state secretariat Tikender Panwar said the scam had corroborated its allegation that powerful politicians had transformed sports bodies into dens of corruption. These bodies were being patronised and used to serve vested interests, some of whom were closely linked to the land mafia. The party had been maintaining that the BJP and the Congress were in hand in glove, particularly as far as cricket affairs were concerned, and it was not surprising that both of these were silent despite such a major scam having come to light.

Intriguingly, the BJP government in the state had opposed the proposed legislation to regulate sports bodies, which seeks to put a limit to the terms of the functionaries. The situation was worse in Himachal where sports bodies were being hijacked by BJP leaders and with no transparency these bodies were hardly made accountable to the people. Life members were being made unilaterally with voting rights and there was no transparency in the award of contracts for various kinds of sports purchases and construction activities.

Sports bodies were generating enormous wealth for the functionaries and it was hardly surprising that leaders from a wide political spectrum blocked all efforts to democratise the functioning of these bodies. Both the Congress and the BJP considered it as their legitimate right to use sports bodies for the propagation of their political ends and generating wealth.

The party called for a national debate on whether political leaders should be allowed to head sports bodies and on other issues regarding the control and management of sports bodies and the term of the functionaries. 

Shimla, March 11
The district unit of the CPM has lambasted the Dhumal government and the Congress-ruled Shimla Municipal Corporation (MC) for their failure to utilise the funds sanctioned by the Centre under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNURM).

Secretary of the Shimla District Committee of the party, Sanjay Chauhan, said an amount of Rs 34 crore sanctioned for various development schemes for the Shimla city under the mission could not be utilised due to the their callous attitude towards the Scheduled Castes and the urban poor. Even the funds allocated under various Central schemes like housing for urban poor have not been utilised on the one pretext or other. The schemes for Shimla included Rs 9.99 crore under Ashiana I (252 houses) and Rs 14 crore under Ashiana II (384 houses) for the homeless urban poor. The funds were given to HIMUDA five years ago but no headway was made in the implementation of the projects.

Instead, the government crossed all limits and exposed its anti-poor face by illegally diverting Rs 9.99 crore out of the amount to other towns, despite court orders, thereby defeating the very purpose of the scheme.

Even the Director of National Building Organisation in the Ministry of Urban Development had resented the failure to utilise the funds and asked the government to surrender the amount. On the one hand, the government and the municipal corporation had been crying for funds while on the other hand they were unable to make use of the funds sanctioned to benefit the poor. The government could not find land for housing project but gave land to a private party to construct a slaughterhouse in main heartland in Krishna Nagar and dog huts in Baag area in Tutikandi and also allowed felling of hundreds of trees.

Similarly, the builders in the Shimla town were allowed to encroach upon forest and other land and the civic body instead of checking illegal activities, granted permission to them.

The party demanded that land for the housing scheme should be made available and houses constructed immediately. They also demanded that a policy be framed to regularise shelters (dharas) constructed by poor people in Shimla.

Solan, March 11
District BJP president and Kasauli MLA Rajiv Sehzal yesterday lambasted Himachal Lokhit Party spokesman MN Sofat for pursuing vendetta politics by targeting Health Minister Rajiv Bindal.

Addressing mediapersons here, he said it was improper to target Bindal, who was a known social worker and belonged to a family which had been paying income tax since the 1930s.

He said it was surprising why Sofat sat silent for four years and started targeting Bindal only now. This proved that he wanted to tarnish his image before the coming Assembly elections.

Sehzal advised Sofat to present his case to the Lokayukta as Bindal had received the mandate of the people thrice and this showed his acceptance among the masses.

Such baseless statements were given by him to vitiate the BJP image before the masses as the government under the leadership of Chief Minister PK Dhumal was sure to capture power for the second consecutive term, he said.

Sehzal said Sofat had forgotten how Bindal had helped him when he had shifted from the Kasauli constituency to Solan and Sofat’s image had been sullied by the charges of corruption following which he had lost an election by a huge margin.

He said people had rejected him while Bindal had been chosen thrice by the masses.

Sehzal said the Congress, which had received a humiliating defeat in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, was deliberately targeting Bindal in a bid to divert the attention of people from their own failures.

Shimla, March 11
The state unit of the Congress has lambasted the state BJP government for its anti-Scheduled Castes (SC) bias and accused it of harassing them. The party has decided to raise the issue with the Governor.

The Scheduled Caste Department of the party, which met under the chairmanship of its president Kuldeep Kumar here yesterday, expressed deep resentment over the raw deal being meted out to the community. It had been denied due representation in the government and various boards and corporations and despite the court orders, the 85th Constitutional Amendment was not being implemented in the state.

As many as 10 reserved posts were also not being filled and panchayat pradhans from the community were being harassed by the government. The party would soon submit a memorandum to the Governor in this regard.

Kuldeep Kumar said it would also organise a state-level Dalit sammelan at Una on April 14, the birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar.

Solan, March 11
The Wildlife Department has spotted as many as 103 species of birds in the Renuka wetland area, according to a latest survey report comprising an ensemble of both terrestrial and water birds. About one-fourth of the total species found in the state have been recorded in the Renuka Wildlife Sanctuary.

“Owing to the small size, spreading over 4 sq km, and its narrow oblong shape, not many birds come here during the winters. However, 19 species of migratory birds have been recorded. These often come from Assan Barrage,” said Sarita Dwivedi, DFO, Wildlife.

Various species of birds found in Renuka include cormorants, herons and egrets, geese and ducks, old world vulture, kites, eagles, crakes, moorhens, cranes, lapwings, sandpipers, pigeons, parakeets, coucals, owls, kingfisher, hornbills, barbets, woodpeckers, larks, swallows and martins, barn swallow, wagtails, minivets, bulbuls, thrushes, robins, babblers, tailorbirds, warbler, flycatcher and various types of fantails.

“The survey, which was conducted with the help of an educational group, will help educate people about the various species found in this wetland as it is a subject of interest among the bird watchers. It will also help in preparing documentation of various species of birds which will prove handy in future in case some projects are planned in the vicinity,” said Principal Chief Conservator, Forests (Wildlife), RK Sood.

The data could also be analysed to establish if new species had been visiting this wetland or whether the existing ones had faced some decline in their population. This could further help the department to take up projects to protect the species facing decline in their population if any such facts emerged, Sood added.

The Renuka wetland has been facing various problems due to silting, pollution and growth of weeds over the years and its total area covered by water has drastically reduced. Rapid urbanisation and development activities around the Renuka Lake have also put tremendous pressure on it.

Chamba, March 11
The recent unprecedented downpour and heavy snowfall have given rise to soil erosion and landslips in the unstable fragile hill slopes in remote parts of the district, thereby causing fissures in houses and cultivable land.

The reports reaching the district headquarters revealed that some houses, including a government primary school in the Thalli area of the district, had developed cracks which had posed a threat to other houses of the area.

Residents of the area had apprised the administration to take preventive measures to combat the situation and allocate funds for the restoration work of the school building and retaining walls, besides providing relief to the affected families, the reports added.

Another report said about three rooms of a government primary school building at Kanchela in Churah subdivision of the district had also been damaged by the recent heavy rains and snowfall.

Palampur, March 11
Large-scale sale of tea gardens in the Kangra valley has become a cause for concern as in the past three years, over 1,000-kanal area under tea has been sold allegedly in gross violation of the rules.

The “back-door sale” of tea gardens has caused widespread resentment among residents here. The sale of tea gardens in the Kangra valley has virtually turned into a big scam. It has posed a threat to the existence of the tea industry.

Despite a ban on the sale of tea gardens, the government is liberally allowing people, even outsiders, to buy tea gardens in the valley for non-tea cultivation use. The Himachal Pradesh Land Revenue Act prohibits the sale of tea gardens in the state, but the government has granted permission for the sale of tea gardens in many cases.

According to the law, tea gardens or land attached to these cannot be sold. However, the government is granting permission for the sale of tea gardens every month, giving the norms the go-by. A number of middlemen are involved in this business and ensure that official files move faster in the state secretariat.

Outsiders, including Tibetans, have succeeded in buying tea gardens and other property in the region through benami land deals. Residents of Palampur, Bir, Baijnath, Gopalpur and Dharamsala are worried over these recent developments. The laxity on the part of the government has also posed a serious threat to the environment of this hill region as most of the tea gardens of this area are being converted into concrete jungles. Prior to 2000, the government never granted permission for the sale of such big tea gardens in the valley, that too to outsiders. 

Dharamsala, March 11
The Palampur police has booked 22 persons in connection with an alleged illegal sale deed of a tea garden in the Gopalpur area of Kangra district.

Those booked include the then Deputy Commissioner of Kangra, Prabodh Saxena, the Divisional Commissioner, Kangra (2003-05), the SDM, Palampur (2002-05), RD Harnot, the then naib tehsildar, Palampur, the patwari of Gopalpur, the Financial Commissioner, Revenue (2002-11), the Deputy Secretary, Revenue (2002-11), the kanungo from Palampur (2002-08), the DSP, Palampur (2002-05), the DRO, Dharamsala (2002), the SHO, Palampur (2002) and his entire staff, the DSP, Patiala (July 2002), ASI Satnam Singh, posted in the Urban Estate police station of Patiala in 2002, and advocates and the notary public from Patiala, Palampur and Delhi, who were involved in the land deal.

The accused have been booked on the directions of the CJM, Kangra, who passed an order in this regard on a plea of Anup Dutta, who has been challenging the land deal since it was executed in 2002.

Sources said the complainant had alleged that the then Deputy Commissioner, Revenue, had given permission to buy 4 acres of land to a resident of Delhi, Fiaz Ali, in 2002. However, the then government later gave Fiaz Ali permission to buy 1,056 kanals (approximately 105 acres) tea garden land.

Rajan Sushant was the Revenue Minister when the government gave permission to Fiaz Ali to buy the said tea garden land. The sources said the decision to allow the land deal was given by the Cabinet.

Fiaz Ali has been managing the tea garden land as Zen Tea Estate. It is one of the most well maintained tea gardens of Palampur.

The complainant has alleged that since Fiaz Ali is not a bona fide resident of the state, he cannot be allowed to buy such a huge chunk of land in Himachal. He has alleged that the land deal is illegal and the accused hatched a criminal conspiracy to allow the deal.

The court has ordered the police to register a case and investigate the matter.

The police has registered a case.

A police official dealing with the case said there were so many Sections in the case that even their computer software did not pick them up.

Zen Tea Estate is not the only case in which tea garden land has been sold to non-residents of Himachal. A large number of institutions and private properties have come up on tea garden land in and around Palampur.

According to the revenue laws of Himachal, the “nature of tea garden land” cannot be changed without the permission of the state government. The provision was made in the law to preserve the tea gardens of Kangra district. However, despite such a strict provision, the land under tea gardens has been decreasing over the years.

Shimla, March 11
Taking a serious note on the issue of non-payment of licence or permit tax by transporters to the state authorities, the state high court recently directed the Director-General of Police and the Director of Transport to check all vehicles plying in the state if they are operating without licence, permit, insurance coverage or paying the road tax.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Dharam Chand Chaudhary passed these orders on a petition of Ram Partap from Solan, whose bus was impounded for not paying road tax on time. In his petition, he had alleged that action was taken only against his vehicle by the Regional Transport Officer, Solan, in connivance with other private bus operators as he had complained against violation of time tables by owners of some buses, while other operators were plying their vehicles without paying any taxes with impunity.

The court expressed shock after the Director of Transport informed through affidavit that more than Rs 2 crore was pending as arrears of tax. The court said the arrears could not have mounted to such an amount if the recovery was made by the authorities regularly. In its earlier orders, the court had directed him to inform about the arrears of tax and that no salary be paid to the officers for a month, who were negligent in collection of taxes. The Director of Transport assured in an affidavit that such officers shall not be paid salary for the month in case there is any lapse on their part.

The court also directed the DGP and the Director of Transport to file an affidavit within six weeks as to the factual position with respect to the vehicles, particularly trucks, taxis and private vehicles plying on the roads in the state without paying the tax, valid permit or without complying the mandatory provisions regarding insurance of vehicles. It also directed the Director of Transport to clarify the action taken to recover taxes worth Rs 885.11 lakh from off road buses and to give time bound direction to impound those vehicles and dispose of the same initially and thereafter steps be taken for recovery.

The court also directed in case petitioner deposits Rs 50,000 within a week and balance in three instalments, he be permitted to operate his vehicle.

Dharamsala, March 11
Shortage of patwaris is hitting revenue work in Kangra, the biggest and most populated district of Himachal.

In Kangra district alone, about 100 posts of patwari are lying vacant. There is a sanctioned strength of 500 patwaris in Kangra district. Sources said 40 patwaris would retire in the next three months.

According to estimates by senior officials in the district, if the government does not recruit patwaris, in the next three years 40 per cent posts of patwari are going to be vacant.

The government has recently allowed the recruitment of 240 patwaris across the state, of which 40 will be allocated to Kangra district. However, the recruitment process of patwaris is likely to extend up to one year. After that the newly recruited patwaris will have to undergo a training of two years before they can be posted in the field.

Even though work for the computerisation of land records is under way in the state, patwaris have an important role to play in the complex revenue system in the state. The government has empowered Lok Mitra Kendras, opened up in all villages of the state, to issude “farad”, ownership certificate of land to the owners.

However, the work for demarcation of land and mutation still lies with the patwaris. Due to the shortage of patwaris, many people have been waiting for years for the demarcation or mutation of their land. The division of ancestral property is another area where people of the state are suffering. Even where partners are ready to mutually distribute their ancestral land, cases for demarcation have been lingering on for years due to shortage of lower revenue staff that work in the field.

Besides, lower revenue staff, including patwaris, are also involved in works of the Department of Social Empowerment. In many social schemes like the old or widow pension and benefits under the National Rural Health Mission, the beneficiaries have to get the basic certificate from the patwari.

At present, due to the shortage of staff, a patwari is looking after the revenue work of two or three villages. Due to this, patwaris are generally not available to villagers in their respective areas. This shortage of staff also leaves scope for exploitation on the part of the service providers. The Vigilance Department has arrested many patwaris on graft charges in the district.

Kangra, March 11
The Medical Council of India (MCI) yesterday refused to conduct inspection for granting approval for an additional seat for a postgraduate (PG) course in the Department of Bio-Chemistry at DRPGMC, Tanda, as Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) had denied granting its affiliation this year for the same despite the fact that the HPU had granted its affiliation last year and one student was studying in the PG course here.

The MCI in a communication had refused the inspection despite the fact that the state government had granted Essential Certificate, but the HPU denied giving a certificate of affiliation for this department. Sources said last year when the HPU had granted affiliation to this department and one student was already admitted to the PG seat, why a denial this year.

The sources said due to the attitude of the HPU, the fate of the PG student studying in this department was hanging in fire.

The MCI team had completed its inspection during the past week in several departments and for 100 MBBS seats, but raised certain objections, the sources said.

The sources added that the government had stopped appointment of the Senior Residents (SRs) through walk-in interviews in this college, besides appointment as SRs of doctors in service was also stopped resulting in the crisis.

Three doctors had to seek intervention of the state high court to take examination on March 2 last for the SR posts for this college. The MCI team had also raised objection over the non-availability of the gas pipeline in the hospital for which funds were available, but approval by the government was awaited.

Dr Santanu Tripathi from Kolkata inspected the Department of Pharmology. The MCI inspection will continue next week for three more departments, for granting approval to additional PG seats.