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121 trees felled illegally in Rohru, ranger suspended  
Shimla, May 3
The illicit felling case in the remote Jakhnuti area of Khasdar range in Rohru division is turning out to be a mega scandal with the forest flying squad confirming that 121 conifer trees have been axed and their number may go up.

Sundernagar forest institute to be upgraded
Shimla, May 3
Forest staff from across the country will be provided training at the Forest Training Institute at Sundernagar with the Government of India granting approval to upgrade the same to a forestry college. A communication from the Centre was received by the Forest Department in this regard yesterday.

HRTC staff for judicial probe into high losses
Mandi, May 3
With cumulative losses of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation touching Rs 572 crore, the joint action committee(JAC) of HRTC drivers, conductors and mechanics today demanded a judicial probe into the losses by a retired high court judge.

Global warming hits rainfall in Solan
Solan, May 3
Global warming appears to have had a serious impact on the total rainfall in Solan with the Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, registering a decline of 88.31 mm, 25 mm, 115.23 mm in the past 30 years in the spring, winter and summer months, respectively.


YOUR TOWN
Shimla


EARLIER STORIES



Players in action during the 15th All-India Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar Memorial Volleyball Championship at the ice skating rink in Shimla
Players in action during the 15th All-India Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar Memorial Volleyball Championship at the ice skating rink in Shimla 
on Thursday. Photo: Amit Kanwar

Traffic blocked over poor road
Palampur, May 3
Villagers blocked vehicular traffic on the Paproal-Andreta highway for four hours today in protest against the PWD failure to maintain the 8-km road serving over 100 villages in Palampur and Baijnath subdivisions. This road is in bad shape and needs immediate repairs.

Shimla MC Poll
6-member Cong panel formed

Shimla, May 3
PCC chief Kaul Singh has set up a six-member committee in consultation with AICC General Secretary Birender Singh for the coming Shimla Municipal Corporation elections.

Rajgir BJP MLA gheraoed
Palampur, May 3
Captain Atma Ram, BJP MLA from Rajgir, was gheraoed by agitated villagers at Kailashpur, about 30 km from here, last evening. The MLA, who had gone to the village to inaugurate a building of Ayurvedic Bhavan, was

Proposed Sites for International Airport
AAI seeks meteorological data to undertake study

Shimla, May 3
The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has sought meteorological data for the past five consecutive years for the two proposed sites in Kangra and Solan district for setting up of an international airport for which it will be undertaking a pre-feasibility study.

220 co-op bank pensioners await benefits
Kangra, May 3
Nearly 220 pensioners of the Kangra Central Cooperative Bank (KCCB), which included 45 widows, had been moving from pillar to post to get their pension as the contributory pension scheme was disbanded under the pretext of non-availability of adequate funds.

Encroachments
Mandi MC seeks help from Revenue Dept

Mandi, May 3
The 18-member Mandi Municipal Council (MMC) took up 47 cases of encroachment and unauthorised constructions in the town, but asked the revenue authorities to take action in the matter since the council had no land in its name in the town. The house, however, decided to issue notices to owners of unauthorised houses.

Vet team to check cattle disease
Chamba, May 3
Consequent upon reports of breaking out a mysterious disease among livestock of the distant Kilod area in Salooni tehsil of Chamba district, a team of veterinarians and the allied staff of the Department of Animal Husbandry have rushed to the affected site.

Rojgar Mela today
Hamirpur, May 3
Rajinder Singh Thakur,Deputy Commissioner, Hamirpur, has appealed to all unemployed persons to participate in a Rojgar Mela being organised by the Labour and Employment Department in the local Townhall on May 4.

Jobs on fake degrees
HC hands over case to CBI 

Shimla , May 3
The HP High Court has handed over the inquiry into the case of jobs on fake degrees to the CBI.

Ex-panchayat chief booked for embezzlement
Nurpur, May 3
Following the order of the judicial court here, the police lodged a criminal case of embezzlement of public funds and breach of trust last evening against Janda Singh and Swaran Singh, the former pradhan and the then panchayat secretary (2007-2011), respectively, of the nearby Bhadwar panchayat.

2 children burnt alive
Solan, May 3
The remnants of a burnt jhuggi along the Barotiwala-Baddi road Two children, Kaif (3) and Sana (5), were burnt alive when a jhuggi they were sleeping in, along with their elder sister, suddenly caught fire at Lakkar Depot on the Barotiwala-Baddi road this afternoon. Their sister, however, had a miraculous escape.





The remnants of a burnt jhuggi along the Barotiwala-Baddi road. A Tribune photograph

12 hurt as bus tyre bursts
Bilaspur, May 3
Twelve passengers of a private bus, which was on its way from Bilaspur to Ghumarwin, were injured after it turned turtle as its right rear wheel suddenly burst near Government Senior Secondary School, Kandraur, about 8 km from here, this afternoon.





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121 trees felled illegally in Rohru, ranger suspended  
Rakesh Lohumi
Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 3
The illicit felling case in the remote Jakhnuti area of Khasdar range in Rohru division is turning out to be a mega scandal with the forest flying squad confirming that 121 conifer trees have been axed and their number may go up.

The Forest Department today suspended range officer Mohan Singh, the third official to face action in the case after forest guard Vidya Sagar and forest worker Sunag Ram.

So far illicit felling of 98 deodar, 19 kail and 4 spruce trees has been confirmed and as the trees were felled selectively at five to six places spread over a large area not connected by road, their number could go up. The actual felling took place during peak winter before snowfall and the matter came to light recently when some persons informed the department that trees had been illegal axed in connivance with local forest staff.

RK Gupta, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, said the flying squad was specially deputed from the headquarters to probe the felling after the melting of snow.

The felling had taken place over a period of time and as per the preliminary report, trees worth over Rs 1 crore had been axed by local people for their own use and there was no commercial angle.

Already 34 cubic metre of timber, worth Rs 20 lakh, had been seized and more recoveries were possible after the area was accessible.

He said the role of a woman employee was also being investigated. The department had takenstrict action in the matter. Besides conducting its own inquiry, it had also filed an FIR in the case, given the magnitude of the offence.

Plunder of forest wealth

n Illicit felling of 98 deodar, 19 kail and 4 spruce trees has been confirmed and as the trees were felled selectively at five to six places spread over a large area not connected by road, their number can go up

n Already 34 cubic metre of timber, worth Rs 20 lakh, had been seized

n Range officer Mohan Singh is the third official to be suspended in the case after forest guard Vidya Sagar and forest worker Sunag Ram 

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Sundernagar forest institute to be upgraded
Rakesh Lohumi
Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 3
Forest staff from across the country will be provided training at the Forest Training Institute at Sundernagar with the Government of India granting approval to upgrade the same to a forestry college. A communication from the Centre was received by the Forest Department in this regard yesterday.

The Indian Council of Forestry Research, Dehradun, had already cleared the proposal. Established in 1993, so far the institute has been functioning as a forest school imparting training to forest guards and deputy rangers. However, with its upgrade, it will become a centre for providing training to forest rangers recruited by various states and seats will be allotted by the ICFRE and the Centre.

To begin with, the college will have 25 seats and the training of the first batch will commence later in the year. Each batch will undergo training for a period of 18 months. The number of seats will be raised to 40 subsequently. It will be the fifth forest college in the country, the other four are located at centre Haldwani (Uttarakhand), Kurseong (West Bengal), Balighat (Madhya Pradesh) and Chandpur (Maharashtra).

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests RK Gupta said the Centre selected the institute for upgrade as it had the entire required physical infrastructure. The department would only have to make some administrative changes and post a Chief Conservator of Forests in place of the Divisional Forest Officer as its head and some other staff.

The existing training courses for forest guard and deputy rangers will be shifted to the oldest forest training school of the state at Chail.

If required the forest training centre at Kuther in Kangra will be converted into a forest school.

The school at Chail, which was set up in 1968, has been functioning at a smaller scale after the second school was set up at Sundernagar.

With the shifting of existing courses from Sundernagar, training activities will get a boost in Chail which was located in the thickly forested area.

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HRTC staff for judicial probe into high losses
Kuldeep Chauhan
Tribune News Service

Mandi, May 3
With cumulative losses of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation touching Rs 572 crore, the joint action committee(JAC) of HRTC drivers, conductors and mechanics today demanded a judicial probe into the losses by a retired high court judge.

They also demand immediate filling of over “2800 posts of driver, conductor and mechanic and declaring the HRTC as roadways to save it from sinking”.

Narrating their tales of woes to The Tribune here today, JAC members said “each manager costs the top-heavy HRTC Rs 1 lakh a month”.

The plight of drivers, conductors and mechanics, is miserable as they have to work overtime, get no holiday and have not got their arrears since 2006, rued Jagdish Guleria, Mandi JAC president, Devraj Thakur (Shimla) and Sukh Ram (Nahan).

More than 1,000 vacancies of mechanic, 900 of driver and 900 of conductor had lying vacant in the corporation that needed to be filled on priority.

Dhruv Vashisht MD, HRTC, said: “We welcome the JAC demand for a probe into the losses. We have been filling vacant posts from time to time ”.

JAC members claimed they had been holding gate meetings since May 1 (Labour Day) and planned to hold a state-level dharna at Shimla on May 8.

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Global warming hits rainfall in Solan
Ambika Sharma

Solan, May 3
Global warming appears to have had a serious impact on the total rainfall in Solan with the Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, registering a decline of 88.31 mm, 25 mm, 115.23 mm in the past 30 years in the spring, winter and summer months, respectively.

The only appreciable increase has been registered in the autumn months where 195.04 mm of rainfall was recorded in 2001-2011 as against 175.82 mm in 1991-2000 and 141.67 mm in 1971-1990.

The season-wise rainy days distribution has also slightly changed, though not much variation was noticeable.

Not only this maximum temperature in winters has been increasing sharply from 17.43°C in 1971-1990 to 20.54°C in 2001-2011 in the winters and from 27.23°C to 28.80 in spring in the same period.

In summers too, the maximum temperature has shown an increase from 27.23°C in 1971-1990 to 28.80°C in 2001-2011.

The maximum temperature, which was 29.23°C in 1971-1990, has now increased to 29.48°C.

Similar trend has carried forward in the autumn months where the maximum temperature has risen from 25.47°C to 26.57°C though it has slightly declined to 25.46°C in 1991-2000.

The minimum temperature, however, has not shown any appreciable increase in the past three decades with little variation only.

Dr Satish Bhardwaj, head, Department of Environmental Sciences, said the sharp decrease in the total rainfall and maximum temperature in the past three decades indicated how global warming was having an impact on the climate of Solan.

He said the influx of industries and the gases let-out by them, the vehicular emissions and the declining green cover contributed to global warming and this necessitated the need for adapting changes and devising suitable strategies.

Illustrating his point, Dr Bhardwaj said the changing weather in Kullu district had forced orchardists to switch over to vegetable cultivation and various strategies like use of poly houses for vegetable cultivation and floriculture should be adopted to help offset the impact of such climatic changes.

With Solan emerging as a fast-growing town of the state and registering a growth of nearly 57 per cent, the increase in maximum temperature and decline in rainfall were worrisome as they would adversely affect the groundwater level and availability of adequate water in the years to come. This was especially so as water availability suffered during the summers.

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Traffic blocked over poor road
Our Correspondent

Palampur, May 3
Villagers blocked vehicular traffic on the Paproal-Andreta highway for four hours today in protest against the PWD failure to maintain the 8-km road serving over 100 villages in Palampur and Baijnath subdivisions. This road is in bad shape and needs immediate repairs.

Villagers started traffic blockade at Mehjarna village at 9 am, supported by residents of adjoining villages and 24 elected representatives of 10 panchayats . Long queues of vehicles were seen from Paprola to Mahjerna. Later, the police diverted traffic via Banuri.

Addressing the gathering at Mahjerna, Beas Dev, president of the “Sarak Bachao Sangarsh Samiti”, said villagers had approached every government office in the past four months for proper maintenance of the road but to no avail . They also submitted memorandums to Executive Engineer, PWD, Baijnath; Kangra DC and the Baijnath SDM but all in vain. Agitating villagers threatened to block the Pathankot- Mandi national highway if their demands were not accepted by May 7. 

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Shimla MC Poll
6-member Cong panel formed

Shimla, May 3
PCC chief Kaul Singh has set up a six-member committee in consultation with AICC General Secretary Birender Singh for the coming Shimla Municipal Corporation elections.

Besides Kaul Singh, Leader of the Opposition Vidya Stokes, Union Ministers Virbhadra Singh and Anand Sharma, MLA from Kusumpti Sohan Lal and former MLA Harbhajan Singh are members of the committee.

Apprehending a large number of rebels entering the fray, the party has asked the committee to ensure that this did not happen. The party would maintain a record of candidates being backed by various leaders and it would be their responsibility to ensure that they did not contest as independents after being denied the party ticket.

General Secretary of the party Kuldeep Rathore said the committee would finalise the candidates for 25 wards and the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor for which direct election was being held for the first time, by May 6. The process of shortlisting the candidates was already under way. The main criterion for selection was ”winnability”. — TNS

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Rajgir BJP MLA gheraoed
Our Correspondent

Palampur, May 3
Captain Atma Ram, BJP MLA from Rajgir, was gheraoed by agitated villagers at Kailashpur, about 30 km from here, last evening. The MLA, who had gone to the village to inaugurate a building of Ayurvedic Bhavan, was

shown black flags amidst slogans shouting. The villagers got the buliding inaugurated by an old man of the village who had donated land for the building.

The police rushed to the village and got the buliding inaugurated by the MLA.

The villagers were protesting against the poor condition of roads , shortage of LPG, non-availability of drinking water, erratic bus service, deteriorating law and order situation, rise in cases of theft, among others. They said they had elected Atma Ram MLA for five times from the area but he had failed to deliver goods as far as development was concerned.

The villagers alleged that Ayurvedic Bhavan inaugurated by the MLA had neither electricity nor water connection.

Meanwhile, Captain Atma Ram has blamed the Congress for his gherao. 

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Proposed Sites for International Airport
AAI seeks meteorological data to undertake study
Pratibha Chauhan/TNS

Shimla, May 3
The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has sought meteorological data for the past five consecutive years for the two proposed sites in Kangra and Solan district for setting up of an international airport for which it will be undertaking a pre-feasibility study.

With the meteorological data for the past five years not being available with the local meteorological centre, the information is being sought from the Pune office so that the study can be started by the AAI at the earliest.

Though the state has identified two chunks of land in the Chamukha-Ranital area on the border of Kangra-Hamirpur and the other in the Birni area of Solan, non-availability of the meteorological data is delaying the pre-feasibility study.

“We have even made monetary provision for the study to be undertaken by the AAI but we cannot proceed further till the date sought by the AAI is not made available,” said Arun Sharma, Director, Tourism and Civil Aviation.

He added the meteorological centre here was getting the information from their Pune office. The AAI has asked for the latest meteorological data for the two sites, along with the wind rose diagram.

The 1,121 bighas of land falling in the Birni and Bisha patwar circle of Kandaghat in Solan district will be surveyed by the AAI, along with the 250 bighas on the border of Kangra and Hamirpur.

With limited air connectivity at the three airports at Gaggal in Kangra, Bhuntar in Kullu and Jubbar Hatti near Shimla, the government is keen to have an international airport.

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220 co-op bank pensioners await benefits
Our Correspondent

Kangra, May 3
Nearly 220 pensioners of the Kangra Central Cooperative Bank (KCCB), which included 45 widows, had been moving from pillar to post to get their pension as the contributory pension scheme was disbanded under the pretext of non-availability of adequate funds.

Vasudev Dhiman, former DGM, and Prakash Chand Choudary, former AGM, who retired from the KCCB head office, Dharamsala and here, respectively, said today that KCCB employees had contributed for 15 to 22 years for the pension fund with a hope to get pension at the fag end of their lives, adding that the worst sufferers were those who retired after March 31, 2010.

They said on January 1, 1998, a pension scheme was framed with the approval of the Registrar, Cooperative, Himachal Pradesh.

They claimed that the information gathered through RTI indicated that there was Rs 19.17 crore in the Employees Welfare Fund, Rs 8.44 crore in the Pension Fund Corpus as on April 21, 2010, when the scheme was disbanded.

They further alleged that the bank had an earning of Rs 15 crore out of the Welfare Employees Fund through its investment but such earnings had not been credited in this account of WEF.

They alleged that in spite of availability of sufficient funds for granting pension to these pensioners in WEF and PFC accounts, the scheme was disbanded.

Autar Kaushal, retired AGM from Dhaulatpur chowk, alleged that pensioners had no information from the KCCB authorities about the developments in the pension scheme.

He said during the service time the earnings were utilised on different non- earning projects by employees as they were certain to get the pension after their retirement.

The pensioners have sought intervention of Chief Minister PK Dhumal in the matter.

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Encroachments
Mandi MC seeks help from Revenue Dept
Tribune News Service

Mandi, May 3
The 18-member Mandi Municipal Council (MMC) took up 47 cases of encroachment and unauthorised constructions in the town, but asked the revenue authorities to take action in the matter since the council had no land in its name in the town. The house, however, decided to issue notices to owners of unauthorised houses.

The house met here under chairmanship of Sushila Sonkhla to take up encroachment cases on directions from the high court to report action taken thereon.

Sonkhla said since the council had no land in the town, it needed help of the Revenue Department to get the encroachments vacated. 

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Vet team to check cattle disease
Our Correspondent

Chamba, May 3
Consequent upon reports of breaking out a mysterious disease among livestock of the distant Kilod area in Salooni tehsil of Chamba district, a team of veterinarians and the allied staff of the Department of Animal Husbandry have rushed to the affected site.

Reports said the team would also ascertain the cause of deaths of about 12 livestock in the area as had been informed by residents of the area.

The team was also carrying necessary equipment and medicines along with it while leaving for the Kilod area from where the incidence of spreading a mysterious disease among cattle had come in, the reports said, adding that after taking stock of the situation, it would submit the details to the authorities concerned.

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Rojgar Mela today
Tribune News Service

Hamirpur, May 3
Rajinder Singh Thakur,Deputy Commissioner, Hamirpur, has appealed to all unemployed persons to participate in a Rojgar Mela being organised by the Labour and Employment Department in the local Townhall on May 4.

As many as 25 companies would recruit about 1,500 youths in this fair, the DC said. Youths with formal and technical education, both skilled and non-skilled, should bring testimonials and three passport size photographs to participate in the fair. 

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Jobs on fake degrees
HC hands over case to CBI 
Vijay Arora

Shimla , May 3
The HP High Court has handed over the inquiry into the case of jobs on fake degrees to the CBI.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Dharam Chand Chaudhary passed these orders on a petition filed by a retired Principal VP Ahluwalia, wherein he had alleged that Rajesh Thakur, Director, Thakur College of Education, Dhaliara, had used fake documents to get recognition for educational courses from the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) and that HP University and the NCTE were not taking any action on his complaints. He had also alleged that Rajesh Thakur’s siblings had used fake degrees to get government jobs.

Disposing of the petition after perusal of the affidavit filed by KC Sadyal, ADGP, Vigilance, the court transferred investigation into the case to the CBI.

The court also directed the ADGP, State Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau, to hand over the entire material collectedin FIR No. 11/2011 on their file to the SP, CBI, Shimla, within two weeks. The court directed the SP, CBI, to take appropriate action in accordance with law within three months as far as this case was concerned.

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Ex-panchayat chief booked for embezzlement
Our Correspondent

Nurpur, May 3
Following the order of the judicial court here, the police lodged a criminal case of embezzlement of public funds and breach of trust last evening against Janda Singh and Swaran Singh, the former pradhan and the then panchayat secretary (2007-2011), respectively, of the nearby Bhadwar panchayat.

Jai Ram Sharma, a resident of Garniaru village of the same panchayat, in his complaint alleged that the duo had hatched a criminal conspiracy to misappropriate public money by showing the construction of a storage water tank twice in the name of the accused panchayat pradhan.

In the construction of a storage tank, complainant’s son Ajay Kumar had supplied construction material, but its payment was fraudulently released in the name of Tirath Ram of Bhatolli village.

Even his signatures were forged on the payment vouchers. The complainant also alleged that his son had also executed the construction of a crate wall in the panchayat but the accused had released Rs 20,000 to Narinder Singh, nephew of the former panchayat pradhan by illegally showing him recipient of that money.

The complainant who has procured documentary evidences in support of his allegations under the RTI Act has levelled more charges of embezzlement of funds of Rs 9,850 and 6,250 in executing different development activities in the panchayat.

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2 children burnt alive
Our Correspondent

Solan, May 3
Two children, Kaif (3) and Sana (5), were burnt alive when a jhuggi they were sleeping in, along with their elder sister, suddenly caught fire at Lakkar Depot on the Barotiwala-Baddi road this afternoon. Their sister, however, had a miraculous escape.

Ishtiqar, father of the children, and their mother were away to work at an industrial unit managed by Wipro at the time of the incident.

The elder daughter managed to come out but failed to save her brother and sister.

Another adjoining jhuggi also caught fire but the administration managed to prevent the fire from spreading. DSP Amit Sharma said preliminary investigations were on to know the cause of fire.

Vikas Shukla, Tehsildar, Baddi, who visited the spot, said an immediate aid of Rs 5,000 had been extended to the bereaved family while other modalities as per the state’s relief manual were being worked out.

He said since this private land was let out for a petty sum to jhuggi dwellers without providing any basic safety measures, such incidents were becoming common these days. Shukla added that they were contemplating to act tough against such land owners.

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12 hurt as bus tyre bursts
Our Correspondent

Bilaspur, May 3
Twelve passengers of a private bus, which was on its way from Bilaspur to Ghumarwin, were injured after it turned turtle as its right rear wheel suddenly burst near Government Senior Secondary School, Kandraur, about 8 km from here, this afternoon.

SP Santosh Patial said the police in collaboration with locals immediately rushed all injured to the Regional Hospital here.

While six of them were released after first aid, the rest were under treatment there.

The bus driver had been booked. 

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