Shimla, April 12
The boom of the anti-hail guns has triggered off political reverberations in the apple belt as the very first spell of hailstorm caused extensive damage to the crop in the Jubbal-Kotkhai area, with the Opposition Congress again questioning the efficacy of the technology.

Lightning as seen over the Jubbar Hatti airport in Shimla on Wednesday night. Photo: Amit Kanwar

The repeated hailing over the past 36 hours bruised and battered the dense apple orchards in the area which account for almost 60 per cent of the state’s total apple production.

Coming down at a tremendous speed, hailstones struck plants with new shoots with great force, stripping these of the new shoots and leaving a thick carpet of flowers and leaves on the ground

This is expected to severely impact the fruit setting and in turn production during the ensuing season.

According to reports reaching here, crop in almost 20 out of the total 24 panchayats in Kotkhai and 17 out of 24 panchayats in the Jubbal area have been affected. Nagan, Kalbog, Ramnagar, Prem Nagar, Kathasu, Barthata and Khaneti were among the worst-hit.

Some areas like Rohru nad Tikker were also hit. Balanand of Nagan said anti-hail guns installed in the area were fired several times but to little effect.

Spokesperson for the District Congress Committee Laik Ram Austa blamed the BJP government for the woes of apple growers and alleged that they were paying for the irrational decision to install anti-hail guns without any scientific evaluation. As per norms, any new technology had to be tested for three years before introducing the same in farmers’ fields.

In the instant case, three guns were set up straightaway just to gain political mileage. While guns proved totally ineffective in warding off hailstorms, growers felt that the intensity of hailing had increased in the adjoining areas. They apprehended that foreign companies were taking the government for a ride and selling obsolete technology to the state.

The anti-hail guns should have been first installed in the orchard of Horticulture University for scientific evaluation. Secretary of the Congress Rohit Thakur said anti-hail nets should be made available to growers on 80 per cent subsidy and they should be provided compensation for damage caused to the crop due to hailstorms.

Dharamsala, April 12
Anurag Thakur, BJP MP from Kangra and president of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA), has resorted to cricket diplomacy. He has invited British and Indian MPs to play a T-20 match at the Dharamsala international cricket stadium tomorrow.

The MPs reached Dharamsala this afternoon in a chartered plane arranged by the HPCA. The contingent comprised 18 Indian MPs and 19 British MPs. Later, they were also taken to McLeodganj by the board for sightseeing.

Anurag Thakur said he had organised this event to have interactions between the British and Indian MPs. They are here on my special invitation.

“Besides playing, we will also be holding discussions on how to strengthen bilateral and trade relations between India and England. We are also trying to make this event an annual affair. The British MPs will return on April 15,” he said.

Vijay Inder Singla, Congress MP from Punjab, said the event was being organised due to Anurag’s efforts. He also praised the cricket stadium that had been brought up in the backdrop of the snow-clad Dhauladhar mountain ranges.

Chief Minister PK Dhumal is scheduled to visit Dharamsala tomorrow evening to preside over the concluding ceremony of the cricket match which will begin in the morning.

The visiting Indian MPs include Rajiv Pratap Ruddy, Kailash Singh Deo, Dushyant Singh, Neeraj Shakhar, Kuldeep Singh Bishnoi, Vijay Inder Singla, Mohd Azharuddin, Gaddam Vivekanand, Mausam Noor, Mirza Kayesh Begg, Nishikant Dubay, Jiya Raj Singh, Kamlesh Paswan, Satyavrat Chaturvedi, Madhu Goud Yakshi, Rajgopal Lagadapati and Santosh K Joy.

The visiting British delegation includes, Rennei Paul and Olivia from the British High commission, Nicholas King, Alexander Jackman, John March, Lord Edward Peter, Andrew Russell, Anthony Ashton, Graham Charles Stuart, Oliver Newton Adams, Nigel Adams, Benjamin James, Graham Peter Jones, Baroness Sandip Verma, Ashok Kumar, Baroness Bonham.

The district police has deployed about 250 police officials for the event.

Solan, April 12
With western disturbances causing rain and high-velocity winds in the area, the stone fruit crop had been partially damaged in the Rajgarh, Kandaghat and Deothi areas of Solan and Sirmaur districts.

The hailstones that accompanied the rain last night have damaged crops of plum, peach and apricot as they were in a developing stage.

Dr Jitender Chauhan, a scientist from the Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, said since the fruits had already assumed large size, the hail had damaged it. Apart from decline in the yield, the quality of fruits will also suffer, thus causing direct loss to growers.

It was the steep decline in the minimum temperature from the earlier 18°C to around 8 to 10°C observed in the past two days that was affecting the fruit setting.

Dr Satish Bhardwaj, Professor and Head, Department of Environmental Sciences at Nauni university, said more rains could follow till April 15 due to the prevailing western disturbances.

The rains, however, would help fulfil the moisture requirements of these fruits and help enhance its quality, said Dr SP Bhardwaj, a scientist.

With fruits being in an early stage of development, the recovery would be quick if there was no more hail. Scientists opined that farmers would be able to cover up their losses if weather remained fine in the coming weeks.

Yogesh Kumar, a farmer from Rajgarh area, said some damage to the fruit was visible due to hailstones.

He added that at least 15 to 20 per cent damage had been incurred to the crop due to this freak weather.

He added that stone fruits had ceased to be a profitable option of livelihood with even the last year’s crop being lean due to the vagaries of weather.

Shimla, April 12
The State Infrastructure Development Board has invited bids for undertaking pre-feasibility study of the proposed aerial transportation system, aimed at facilitating the to and fro movement of apple, vegetable and other goods in the upper parts of Shimla district to save time, money and keep the roads free from traffic congestion.

The board has invited bids by the end of this month for undertaking the pre-feasibility study, on the basis of which the state will take further action. The state Cabinet had last year granted approval to the project, envisaged by the PWD. In case the project is found to be feasible, then the detailed project report would be prepared.

Sources said the span of the proposed aerial ropeway would be about 50 km and it would cover the entire apple belt and extend right up to Kala Amb, the border area of the state adjoining Haryana in Sirmaur district.

It is felt that the ropeway that could cost anywhere up to Rs 1,000 crore would not only ensure smooth transportation of the apple crop from Shimla district to different markets, but would also ferry other goods like cement and food grain to rural areas.

The project is expected to bring down the transportation cost considerably.

The fact that heavy rains, landslides, snow and other such natural calamities inhibit smooth movement of apple and other goods, the transportation system would help overcome such roadblocks.

The sources said though the primary objective was to ensure smooth movement of apple, it will help in facilitating the to and fro movement of goods, including fruits, vegetables and other heavy goods.

The pressure on roads resulting from the movement of apple-laden trucks through the main apple growing belts in Jubbal, Rohru, Kotgarh, Kotkhai, Rampur and Chopal adds to the woes of commuters who get stuck in traffic jams for several hours.

This system of transportation is extensively used in countries like Jamaica, South America and other North West European countries. Though a very elementary form of this ropeway transportation system exists in our states, especially in hilly parts of Shimla and Kullu districts, this would be a mega, modern and sophisticated system that will help reduce traffic congestion as well as the transportation cost.

Palampur, April 12
The Sobha Singh Art Gallery at Andretta, 11 km from here, has been thrown open to the public after conducting a critical appraisal and restoration work on some of the paintings by famous artist late Sobha Singh. International art restorers Ian Barrand and Bhajan Hunjan spent two weeks to critically access, restore and re-arrange the paintings as per the standard practice in international museums.

Ian Barrand, with an experience of over three and half decades in various museums in Europe, came specially from the Yorkshire museum on the request of fans of Sobha Singh, who also sponsored his visit with Bhajan Hunjan, a well-known artist from London.

Ian said due to less space in the art gallery it was not advisable to display more than required works. He has asked the family to rotate paintings annually so that visitors during each visit may find something new and some of the paintings also get rest from stress factors like dust, humidity, light etc.

Since the region is located in a high rainfall area, both experts have suggested to use all modern gadgets to control humidity and take steps to keep the building safe from moisture. Some architectural changes surrounding the main building have also been suggested.

Ian, who worked hard along with Hunjan, to paint the museum, restore frames and paintings before displaying the works, also worked on arranging the paintings on major themes.

Main themes on which Sobha Singh worked included romantic tales, national heroes, portraits, landscapes and religious paintings. Oldest available painting of first president of India Dr Rajender Parsad has also been displayed for the first time, along with portraits of Lal Bahadur Shastri, Mahatma Gandhi and Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh. The experts also worked on the paintings of “Sohni-in-Heaven” and “Snake Charmer”.

Mandi/Sarkaghat, April 12
Union Minister and veteran Congress leader Virbhadra Singh hit out at the present Dhumal regime terming it as “the most corrupt and inefficient government engaged in personal vendetta against political opponents and dividing people of the state along regional and caste lines for the past four years”.

Addressing a well-attended public meeting of Sarkaghat and Dharampur constituencies at Sarkaghat today, Virbhadra Singh said the BJP had unleashed a reign of personal vendetta against its opponents, whereas the Congress had set up milestones in development, uniting the state into a single entity whenever it came to power.

Virbhadra got a rousing reception and was accompanied by leaders, including former minister from Sarkaghat Rangila Ram Rao, Dharampur leader Chander Shakher, Balh MLA Parkash Chaudhary, Tek Chand Dogra (Nachan), former Forest Minister Ram Lal Thakur, Biru Ram Kishore, Kashmir Thakur (Bilaspur), Mast Ram (Karsog) and other leaders.

The BJP government shifted the IPH and PWD divisions from Sarkaghat to Hamirpur, home district of Dhumal. “The Congress government will restore these back as people of Sarkaghat subdivision have been cheated,” he stated.

Virbhadra charged the BJP government as the most corrupt government as it ministers were busy in minting commission from contractors. “The violation of Section 118 as the Dhumal government is allotting land to outsiders and his sons are among the buyers, selling interests to outsiders,” he alleged, without naming them.

Virbhadra drew a parallel between Dhumal and Shanta Kumar and described “Kumar as a man of principles, who never entertained any thought of vendetta against his political opponents during his the two regimes”.

He said the EHCS poly clinic had become operational from April 1 at Sarkaghat and the Defence Minister would come here to inaugurate it formally. “We are trying to set up a Sainik Bhawan and a Central school here soon,” he added.

Rallying behind Virbhadra, Rao said the BJP government’s days were numbered and the Congress would form the next government.

“The Dhumal government is the most corrupt and his sons are involved in land purchase at Dharamsala,” Ram Lal Thakur alleged naming them and dared them to file a case against him. Dharampur leader Chander Sekhar said people of Sarkaghat were being discriminated against by shifting IPH and PWD division with Hamirpur. Parkash Chaudhary, Tek Chand Dogra and Mast Ram also spoke. 

Mandi/Sarkaghat, April 12
The absence of state Congress president Kaul Singh Thakur and his supporters, including district Congress president Puran Chand, former Sundernagar MLA Sohan Lal and Mandi Sadar MLA Anil Sharma, from the first rally of Mandi MP and Union Minister Virbhadra Singh at Sarkaghat today has only widened the divide in the Congress in the central region of the state.

Addressing a well-attended public meeting, Virbhadra cautioned party workers saying his only objective here was to bring the party back to power. He did not hanker for the post of Chief Minister, which is an issue to be decided by the party high command. “I am a Congressman first and will serve the party. But I can not be a stooge of anybody,” he added.

Standing behind Virbhadra at Sarkaghat today included former Sarkaghat MLA and former Excise and Taxation Minister Rangila Ram Rao, former Forest Minister Ram Lal Thakur, former Nachan MLA Tek Chand Dogra, former Karsog MLA Mast Ram, Dharampur Congress leader Chander Shekhar, former Gerhwin MLA Biru Ram Kishore, Kashmir Thakur (Ghumarwin), Chet Ram (Seraj) and other local leaders.

Mandi Sadar MLA Anil Sharma, son of Sukh Ram, who has been in the town for the past three days, have been presenting a “neural posturing” like Leader of the Opposition Vidya Stokes. Both had absented from Virbhadra’s Holy Lodge luncheon and Union Minister’s tea board function at Palampur on Tuesday.

Una, April 12
Fuming at the allegations levelled against him and his family members in the recent past, Chief Minister PK Dhumal today launched a vitriolic counterattack on Virbhadra Singh, Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

Dhumal while talking to mediapersons at Una said today that the Union Minister had hit him below the belt by levelling baseless allegations.

He said Virbhadra was frustrated at being ignored by his own party. Virbhadra had called up all the MLAs of the Congress to Shimla to sabotage the programme of Union Minister for Industry, Commerce and Textiles Anand Sharma at Palampur. However, in that programme he levelled baseless allegations against me and my family.

Dhumal said his son bought a piece of land in Dharamsala from a person. The seller had given an affidavit to revenue officials that he was not going to be landless after selling the particular land. Besides, he bought a house after selling the land in question. The seller was ill and died a natural death about one year after selling the land. The person who had filed a case in the court in the matter was himself an interested buyer of the land in question.

However, Virbhadra twisted the facts to sensationalise the issue. “I am ready to face any kind of probe in the case,” Dhumal said.

Regarding the mistake in his PAN number that was declared while filing the nominations for the Assembly elections, he said, “It was a clerical mistake. I had later informed Election Commission officials about the same. Intelligence agencies had probed the issue and given me a clean chit in the matter,” the Chief Minister said.

When asked about the allegations being levelled by the Congress that the Central funds were not being used by the state government, Dhumal said Congress leaders seemed to be in a paradox. On the one side the UPA-led Central Government had given many awards to Himachal for good governance and utilisation of Central funds, and on the other Congress leaders were alleging that funds were not being used.

They should seek clarification from their own government in the Centre regarding the performance of the state government, he said.

He also laid the foundation stone of the third phase of the Swan River Channelisation Project. The project that is worth Rs 50 crore involves channelisation of river from Santokhgarh to tail end till the boundary of Punjab.

Hamirpur, April 12
Two passengers died and 29 were injured in a bus accident near Hamirpur when a private bus plunged into a gorge this evening.

The mishap occurred at about 4.30 pm, when a private bus (HP 68- 7775), belonging to New Prem Bus Service, on its way from Shimla to Dharamsala, fell into a gorge at Dugha, near Sai hospital, 4 km from here.

The deceased have been identified as Shushila (70) from Chauki Jamwala and Prem Chand (50) of Bilaspur.

Most of the injured were taken to the Regional Hospital here and the condition of five was stated to be serious.

SP, Hamirpur, Kuldeep Sharma said, “According to preliminary information, the driver of the bus lost control on the bus on seeing another vehicle coming from the opposite direction on a narrow bridge.”

He said, “A police team having a training session nearby immediately swung into action and pulled out the injured and the dead.”

One-and-half month infant Seem had a miraculous escape as after being trapped under the steering and covered under a blanket remained safe from the battery acid, which had overturned on him.”

Chief Minister PK Dhumal has expressed grief over the loss of lives and asked the district administration to provide every help to the injured.

DC Rajinder Singh, after visiting the accident site, announced immediate relief of Rs 25,000 each to the families of the victims and Rs 10,000 each to those injured. 

Dharamsala, April 12
Four passengers of a Dharamsala-bound Punjab Roadways bus (PB-12-J-8103) of Rupnagar bus depot were killed on the spot while 15 others were seriously injured as the bus fell in a 60-ft-deep ditch near Dhaliara on the Una-Dharamsala highway this evening.

Sources said from preliminary observation it seems that the brakes of the bus failed due to which the driver lost control over it and the vehicle overturned and fell into a ditch.

The bus was coming from Ropar in Punjab and was going to Dharamsala.

SP, Kangra, Diljeet Thakur, said two of those killed have identified as Charu and Khushal of Tripal village, near Ranital.

One of the killed seems to be a Tibetan exile, but he is yet to be identified.

Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, RS Gupta, announced a relief of Rs 1 lakh for immediate medical aid to the injured. He said about seven injured persons had been shifted to the Tanda medical college.

An injured girl whose arm got amputated was shifted to PGI, Chandigarh.

Officials available at the spot had been directed to shift the injured to nearest medical centres.

Mandi, April 12
The parents of Bhima Devi, 35, who had allegedly poisoned herself and her son Aditya, 5, to death at her native Kutera village on Tuesday, accused her husband and his family of torturing her due to which she took the drastic step.

SP, Mandi, Abhishek Dular said the police had lodged a case of cruelty by the husband and his relatives under Sections 498-A, 306 and 34, IPC, at Jogindernagar police station on a complaint lodged by Bhima’s father Gur Singh of Sambal, Pandoh. He charged that her husband Dinesh Kumar and her in-laws had been torturing and beating her since her marriage in 2007.

He alleged that his daughter took some poisonous substance and administered it to her son Aditya and 5-month-old daughter Aditi. Bhima and Aditya died, while Aditi was struggling for life the Civil Hospital, Jogindernagar. 

Hamirpur, April 12
A large number of candidates who had applied for the posts of panchayat assistant under the Bijahd Block Development Office (BDO) and their parents on Monday raised slogans against the local administration and Naduanta MLA Baldev Sharma for alleged discrimination in the selection of panchayat assistants.

Unsuccessful candidates and their parents assembled in the BDO, Bijahd, during the day and started raising slogans.

Rajesh, Munish, Satish and Lucky, who had applied for the posts among others, said: “The BDO, Bijahd, had selected close relatives of MLA Baldev Sharma and Mandal BJP president Subhash Banyal allegedly ignoring merit for the eight posts of panchayat assistant, advertised some time ago.”

They said: “A total of 647 candidates had applied for the eight posts of panchayat assistant for different categories, but mostly close relatives of MLA Baldev Sharma and son of BJP leader Subhash Banyal, have been selected for the same.”

The candidates also removed the selection list pasted on the notice board and demanded the cancellation of the appointments and threatened to challenge the same in court.

Meanwhile, state spokesman for the state Congress Sewa Dal Naresh Lakhanpal has criticised the appointment of panchayat assistants for political consideration and alleged: “All these appointments have been made under political consideration to appease the MLA and BJP leaders, and meritorious candidates have been discriminated against and we are soon going to file a PIL in the high court in this regard.”

However, BDO, Bijahd, HR Joshi said: “There has been no discrimination in the selection of panchayat assistants and a committee headed by SDM, Badsar, has made the selection on merit.”

Shimla, April 12
The state high court yesterday sought a response from the state Election Commission (EC) on a petition alleging that it had deleted the names of around 30,000 voters from the electoral list prepared for the forthcoming election of the Shimla Municipal Corporation (MC) without adopting a proper procedure.

After hearing the matter, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice DC Chaudhary posted the matter for April 18.

Petitioners have alleged that the names of around 30,000 electors have been deleted from the electoral rolls for elections 
to the Shimla Municipal Corporation.

The draft electoral rolls were published in the Office of the DC, Shimla, as well as the MC, Shimla, along with a notice inviting objections before April 4 from aggrieved electors, whose names had been deleted.

The petitioners alleged that they had made a representation to the DC as well as the state EC to make electoral rolls of 2007 as the basis for maintaining/updating the electoral rolls or to extend the time for inviting objections, but to no avail.

The matter was raised by Maheshwar Chauhan and Sudhir Azad, present councillors of the MC, Anil Chauhan and Meera by filing petitions before the court.

It was further alleged that the total number of voters eligible to cast their vote for the MC election held in 2007 was 1,11,702.

However, as per the booth-wise summary prepared on the basis of the draft of electoral rolls as published on March 28, 2012, about 80,848 persons from the MC area have been found to be eligible for exercising their franchises for the coming election.

Nurpur, April 12
Up in arms against the forcible collection under the pretext of royalty, tractor-trolley owners started parking their tractors in the Chogan ground here today. They have also submitted a written complaint to the local police against the alleged highhandedness of musclemen of mining contractors who are stopping their tractor-trolleys on the roads or in the rivulets which had not been leased out by the Mining Department.

In the police complaint they rued that the musclemen were also collecting money from tractor owners who were lifting sand and gravel from private lands at Harar Bridge, Khazan, Harnora Ghat, Letri, Makorjamman, Bhadwar and Tika Nagrota areas.

Gulbant Pappi, Chairman, Tractor Owners Sangharsh Samiti, said the Mining Department had only leased out Ganhi-Lagor, Chhatrolli and Maira-Batrah rivulets, but musclemen of the contractors were forcibly collecting money by issuing royalty receipts from other mining leases of rivulets in Kangra district. He said if the administration did not stop forcible collection and highhandedness of the musclemen within the next two days 1,000 tractor owners would block traffic on the national highway. 

Chamba, April 12
The three-day legendary Suhi fair in the historic town of Chamba concluded this evening with the singing of songs in praise and elegy of Rani Sunayana, who sacrificed herself for the cause of her subject.

SDM, Chamba, Rohit Rathour said a large number of people, mostly women and children, had witnessed the fair.

The fair is celebrated every year on the premises of a palanquin-shaped Suhi temple, located on a hillock above Chamba town. The fair also symbolises the “foundation year” of the erstwhile Chamba state.

The over 1,000-year-old Suhi Mata shrine at Chamba is an inseparable part of the Chamba’s cultural heritage. The temple was erected in the memory of the Rani Sunayana.

Meanwhile, Chamba Welfare Association president RK Mahajan and District Progressive Council president Hari Ram Puri have jointly urged Chief Minister PK Dhumal to declare the Suhi fair as a district-level event.