Shimla, May 16
While there is complete uncertainty over whether Union Minister Virbhadra Singh will campaign for the Shimla Municipal Corporation (MC) poll, the BJP is going all out to wrest control of the prestigious body from the Congress with even Chief Minister PK Dhumal likely to address a few big rallies close to the polling day.

Bigwigs of the BJP, including Dhumal, state party chief Satpal Singh Satti, in charge of the BJP affairs in Himachal Kalraj Mishra and national BJP secretary and co-in charge Shyam Jaju held discussions with senior party functionaries, ministers and legislators at a meeting here late last night. Senior leader Shanta Kumar did not attend the meeting. As part of the party’s strategy, Shimla has been divided into five zones having five wards each, with a minister in charge for overall coordination.

In sharp contrast to the BJP, the Congress is still awaiting and banking on the charisma of Union Minister Virbhadra Singh, who till now has not evinced keen interest in campaigning for the party nominees. Though state party chief Kaul Singh Thakur and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Vidya Stokes will personally oversee the management of the MC elections, they, too, have conveyed to the high command that Virbhadra Singh must also devote some time for seeking votes for the candidates.

On the other hand, the BJP, keen on breaking the Congress hegemony in the Shimla MC since 1986, is likely to rope in Dhumal, who is likely to address three or four rallies close to May 27, when polling will take place. The Congress chief has entrusted duties to all party legislators and senior leaders, who are already campaigning. With some of the former councillors and party leaders not too happy with the selection of candidates, the Congress is likely to be confronted with the problem of undercutting.

Though each of the 25 wards will have a minister as in charge and two or three legislators for campaigning in favour of the party nominee, Health Minister Rajeev Bindal, Transport Minister Mahinder Singh, Horticulture Minister Narender Bragta, Rural Development Minister Jai Ram Thakur and Irrigation and Public Health Minister Ravinder Singh Ravi have been given the reins of the party campaign in the five zones.

With the Congress maintaining its hold over the Shimla MC since 1986, it is keen on ensuring that it retains the control of the prestigious body. This becomes all the more important in view of the fact that the Assembly poll is to be held by the end of this year.

Similarly, the ruling party, too, is not leaving any stone unturned to woo the voters as by winning the Shimla MC poll it wants to send a signal that it is on a “mission repeat” and will form the next government too.

Shimla, May 16
The Congress today rebutted the claim of the BJP government that it did not grant any consent to the thermal plant of Jaypee Associates Limited (JAL) and pointed out that it not only granted permission but facilitated regularisation of the common land in the name of the company by first transferring it to the Industries Department.

General secretary of the party Kuldeep Rathore said here that the “consent” was accorded to the company in February 2009. The Revenue Department transferred the land to the Industries Department on November 29, 2008, and the transfer of land to JAL was regularised on February 25, 2012.

The BJP government took all steps to make the JAL cement plant operational. The previous Congress government had on July 16, 2007, decided to withdraw all no-objection certificates granted for the thermal plant. However, the Dhumal government on November 10, 2008, reversed the earlier decision and decided to permit setting up of thermal plants.

He asked the BJP to explain the reasons and considerations for taking such a mala fide decision to benefit the company. JAL submitted a proposal for a 60 MW thermal plant on the very day the government reversed the policy decision to allow thermal plants. Obviously, the company new about the decision well in advance and readily submitted the proposal, providing ample proof of its nexus with the government.

Referring to the statement of BJP spokesperson Ganesh Dutt that the Centre could order a CBI probe into the matter, as demanded by the Congress, Rathore said BJP leaders must be well aware that the agency could be entrusted the inquiry only on the request of the state government. If the government had not done anything wrong, it should not shy away from a CBI probe to bring out the truth.

Hamirpur, May 16
The miserable performance of BTech students in the annual examinations has exposed the poor teaching facilities in engineering colleges in the state and the non-serious approach of the students in pursing courses.

In BTech results announced recently by Himachal Pradesh Technical University (HPTU), Hamirpur, the pass percentage of students is just 14.18 per cent.

Of the 11 private and one government engineering college running BTech courses in the state, the results of which were announced, only 272 students have passed this year from among 1,918 students who appeared in the examinations.

The overall result has been discouraging. The highest pass percentage is 23.44 per cent in case of students of Green Hill Engineering College, Kumarhatti, where 83 students have passed from among the 355 who took the examinations. The result is 0 per cent in case of the HIT, Paonta Sahib, where all 32 students who appeared in the BTech examination, have failed.

In Himalyan Institute, Kala Amb, of the 166 students, only one student has managed to get through.

The pass percentage of students in most private colleges is poor. In MG Engineering College, Badu (Mandi), of the 64 students, only four managed to pass the BTech examination.

The pass percentage of students of the IITT, Kala Amb, is dismal with only three of the 123 students having passed the examination.

Similarly, only 27 of the 208 students of Shiva Engineering College, Bilaspur, have passed. In MIT Engineering College, Bani (Hamirpur), from among 237 BTech students, only 42 have passed.

In Sai Ram Engineering College, Hamirpur, only three of the 25 students have passed.

However, students of JLGC, Sundernagar, have performed slightly better and 56 students of the 244 have passed.

In Shirda Engineering College, Sundernagar, 14 of the 81, LR Engineering College, Solan, 32 of the 253 and in KC Engineering College, Una, seven of the 131 students have passed.

Shimla, May 16
The government will seek the cooperation of big corporate houses, hoteliers and industrialists to beautify the “Queen of Hills” by asking them to develop and maintain parks, walking trails, amphitheatre, camping sites and other such sites to promote tourism and create activities for visitors as well as local residents.

The decision to rope in the corporate houses and hoteliers to beautify the state capital and create tourism-related sites was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Sudripta Roy here today. The meeting was attended by officers from the municipal corporation (MC), Tourism, Forest and Urban Development departments.

It was decided that the PHD Chamber of Commerce, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Industrialists Association, hoteliers, big hydro-power companies and other such corporate houses would be approached. Like other cities, including Chandigarh, where corporate houses and other associations develop and maintain parks and other spots, the MC will hold talks with such parties which can also get publicity by putting up their boards.

The cash-strapped local MC has prepared a Shimla Beautification Development Plan, but with no funds at its disposal, it has not been able to execute its project. The MC has already identified about 60 sites, which can be developed into ideal tourism-related sites and a detailed project report (DPR) has also been prepared.

It has been decided that to begin with only about a dozen sites of the 60 will be developed as thrust will be on creating quality infrastructure. Roy, too, emphasised the need for having a few but quality sites which can emerge as hot spots for tourists as well as local residents.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) has already approved a project for the beautification of the Mall from the Lift to the Telegraph Office and restoration of the century-old historic Town Hall building.

The MC, which does not have money to even foot the bills for the supply of water and electricity to it by the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department and the state electricity board, has no money to undertake the beautification project. It was felt that rather than seeking funding from some external agency, industrial houses and hoteliers should be involved in the task as the “Queen of Hills” is a popular tourist destination, thronged by people from all over the world.

Mandi, May 16
Even as the high court today reserved an order on a petition seeking a stay on the demolition drive in this temple town, the Mandi Municipal Council (MMC) today continued the drive and demolished two more structures on government land in the Samkhetar ward that houses ancestral residences of former Telecom Minister Sukh Ram and his son Mandi Sadar Congress MLA Anil Sharma and MMC president Sushila Sonkhla.

The council claimed that the two structures located on government land were raised by Suraj Parkash and Girohotra. The drive was slow as even the two JCB machines failed to demolish pillars of the structures.

The council has deployed 18 persons, including PWD labourers, to demolish these structures to carry out the high court order that had sought compliance and action report on 47 encroachment cases on government land in this town.

As many as eight petitioners have sought a stay on the demolition on the grounds that they are in possession of the land even before the Municipal Act and the Town and Country Planning Act were enacted in this town.

The petitioners contended that the council before starting the drive had not invoked the arbitration clause of the Nazul Property Alienation Rules, 1971.

On the other hand, other affected house owners claimed that they were “poor people and the government has not regularised their houses after Himachal became a separate state in 1971”.

The government was launching the Indira Awas Yojna and now the Atal Awas Yojna spending crores, but nothing for poor like them who had built houses from their hard-earned money in the town on government land, they said.

They claimed that the fault lies with the government which did nothing when they had raised their structures about 30-50 years ago.

Executive officer, MMC, Urvashi Walia said the council could continue to carry out the high court order and demolish all 47 encroachments on government land.

“We need cutters to cut pillars. The driving is costing Rs 60,000 per day and the cost will be charged from persons involved as the council has no funds,” she added.

Shimla, May 16
The government will take up the issue of linking historic Sikh gurdwaras in the state under the “Spiritual Journey to the Guru’s Abode” to facilitate easy journey to these shrines.

Stating this while presiding over a meeting here today, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said the state was famous as the abode of gods and goddesses and it had a number of prominent religious shrines, including gurdwaras. As Una, which had a famous Sikh shrine, had been connected with a broad- gauge railway line, the proposed train to the Golden Temple in Amritsar could be routed through Una to enable devotees to pay obeisance at one more gurdwara.

He said if the proposed special train, popularly named as “Panj Takht Yatra” for Sikh devotees, on the analogy of the “Char Dham Yatra”, was routed through the state, devotees would benefit. Linking of Sikh shrines in Himachal through a special train would help attract international tourists. He said the possibility of connecting the historic Sikh shrine at Paonta Sahib also needed to be explored by extending the railway line from Ambala and onwards to Dehradun.

Tourism Director Arun Sharma said the initiatives taken during the past four years had yielded the desired outcome and the state had won a record number of awards.

Mandi, May 16
An eight-member team of the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (SVACB) has arrested Arvind Sharma, an Intelligence Officer of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) posted at its sub-zonal office, Mandi, under the Prevention of Corruption Act after he was caught red-handed accepting a bribe of Rs 1.20 lakh from Jai Singh, who was allegedly involved in a charas seizure case on December 27, 2011.

The arrest of the NCB officer came after the Mumbai police had booked the then NCB Zonal Director, Saji Mohan (IPS), a few years ago in Mumbai, allegedly recovering a huge quantity of contraband drug worth crores from him.

Arvind, who hails from Ghaziabad, was caught in his office after the Vigilance team led by two DSPs, Vigilance, Varinder Kalia and Rajinder Sharma, raided his office here in the late hours and searched it for hours.

The team recovered Rs 1.20 lakh which Arvind allegedly had accepted as a bribe to settle the case of Jai Singh of Paddar in Mandi district, the team members said.

The NCB claimed that the team under Arvind had seized 2 kg charas from Kaltu Ram and arrested him under the NDPS Act on December 27, 2011. What is shocking is that the NCB had shown the seizure to be 2 kg, but it “was almost double the quantity”.

The NCB traced supplier Jai Singh, but he was never arrested. Rather the officer allegedly offered him a deal to settle the case for Rs 1.20 lakh in his favour, the investigation said.

There were also complaints against the accused as he allegedly used to visit villages notorious for growing illegal cannabis and opium poppy cultivation in his bid to entrench a network of smugglers and conduit, sources said.

The police and NCB seizures indicated that the source or suppliers of the drug consignments were never caught.

“It is only the poor couriers who are arrested and bear the brunt of the NDPS Act,” commented enforcement officials.

SP, Vigilance, Central range, Virender Sharma said it was a joint operation with the special investigation unit, Shimla, after they received a complaint against the NCB officer.

He was produced before the Judge today who sent him in a three-day police remand. NCB, Zonal Director, Chandigarh, Rohit Katyal, who rushed here today, told The Tribune that Kaltu was arrested by the NCB and it had seized 2 kg charas from him and traced the source to main supplier Jai Singh.

“We have pasted a notice at Jai Singh’s house yesterday under Section 67, NDPS Act,” he said.

They have put Arvind under suspension. “We are also investigating the whole episode of December 27 charas seizure and there was no one defending the accused in the case,” he added.

Shimla, May 16
An expedition of the local Bishop Cotton School (BCS) has scaled the 6,317-m-high Bandarpunch peak in the Garhwal Himalayas.

The 10-member team, led by Rohit Vyas and Viresh Dogra as his deputy, started from here on May 1 and after climbing the summit on May 10 returned today.

The team, along with technical experts, faced extreme weather conditions after they left the base camp on the morning of May 8. After walking for about four hours on a hazardous terrain, full of rocks and snow, the climbers reached Camp-1.

However, the team was caught in difficult snow conditions on the way to the summit camp. The path was full of crevices, which had to be carefully negotiated. The summit team also comprised Surya Uday Minoch, Titiksh Saluja, Yudhveer Janartha, Naunihal S Punia and Vanlal Vansons.

On reaching the summit camp, it was decided that only three boys would move further up along with technical experts to ensure that the expedition was a success.

During the final assault on the steep mount Bandarpunch, the climbers encountered hidden crevices and after crossing half the way, had to face extreme chill and windy conditions along with powder snow.

The team thanked Headmaster RC Robinson for his support and encouragement, which made the expedition possible.

Hamirpur, May 16
The Jaypee company, which had been under attack recently by political leaders and environmentalists, after scraping of its thermal plant at Bagheri and imposition of Rs 100 crore fine by the Green Bench of the state high court, has now been accused of allegedly constructing an ITI at Samirpur in Hamirpur district on the land owned by a temple, by a Congress leader.

The allegations in this regard were levelled by former MLA and district Congress leader Kuldeep Singh Pathania, while talking to mediapersons here today.

Pathania alleged: “The ITI constructed by the Jaypee company at Samirpur, in the ancestral village of Chief Minister PK Dhumal, has been built on the temple land in an illegal manner.”

He said: “As per the land revenue records, this piece of land had been vested with the Shiva Temple as per declaration made in 1871 by the then Governor of Punjab Hill States, thus neither could it be gifted nor leased to any body as per law. Then how was it transferred to the JP company.

The former MLA accused that “this is a big scandal since a person from 
Dhumal’s family is the life chairman of the ITI, Samirpur and needs a thorough probe.”

Kangra, May 16
More than 130 sweepers and laundry personnel resorted to a lightning strike at the DRPGMC Tanda this morning. They held a silent protest on the lawns of the college opposite the administrative block demanding salary, which was delayed by one and half month.

Work suffered in the 500-bedded DRPGMC Hospital when Class IV sweepers abstained from work leaving the sanitation of the hospital in a mess.

Rajni, president, DRPGMC, Tanda, CITU unit, alleged that they were working with a contractor who had not paid them their salary for the past one and half month. She said 117 sweepers and 13 laundry personnel had been demanding their salary through this protest.

Rajni further said the government had increased the daily wages from Rs 120 to Rs 130, but the workers were paid Rs 120 only. She said the contractor was not providing them with shoes and gloves well in time. She alleged that they had not even been paid their arrears and not provided with their identity cards too.

Omkar Chand, another union leader, said they were also deprived of holidays. He said they were fed up with working under a contractor.

The protesting sweepers called off their strike at 1 pm when contractor Susheel Kumar disbursed their salary.

Dr Dinesh Sood, Medical Superintendent, said the college management had outsourced sanitation activities of the medical college and were disbursing Rs 7,17,708 every month to the contractor for disbursement among 117 sweepers.

Principal of the college Anil Chauhan immediately circulated a notice that the Himachal Pradesh High Court had prohibited holding of gate and general body meetings etc in medical colleges and hospitals within 500 m parameter from these institutions. 

Shimla, May 16
The state government is spending Rs 2,052 crore during the current financial year on the maintenance and construction of roads and bridges in the state, which is 15 per cent more than the amount spent during the previous year.

This was stated by Gulab Singh, PWD Minister, while reviewing the progress in the periodic renewal of all national highways and major roads in the state. He said a target of renewal tarring of 1,450-km roads had been fixed for the current financial year, out of which over 260-km road length had been provided with renewal coating.

He said during the present tenure of the BJP regime, 3,605-km new motorable roads and 260 bridges had been constructed besides cross drainage had been provided on the 6,006-km road length.

The minister said 6,012-km roads had been provided renewal tarring and 1,020 villages had been connected with motorable roads.

He said high priority was being accorded to the development and maintenance of roads in the state. Gulab Singh said the development of important sectors such as agriculture, horticulture, industries, and forestry depended upon an efficient road network.

He said today the state could boast of having a road density of 58 km per 100 sq km, which is the highest amongst hilly states of the country, adding that 3,000 panchayats, out of the total 3,243 panchayats were connected by roads.

Dalhousie, May 16
Expeditions and nature study camps teach us and enhance our skill in interacting with interstate people, do things on our own, cope with issues and overcome fear and risk.

This was stated by Superintending Engineer (SE), HPSEB, Dalhousie Circle, DR Niryal while presiding over the valedictory function of the fifth batch of the National Himalayan Trekking-cum-Nature Study Expedition organised at the youth hostel, Dalhousie, today.

The SE said: “Such treks and tours enhance knowledge in children more than books and also instill awareness towards nature and environment into them.”

He praised participants for their paintings which covered various burning issues of the day and showed awareness in our young generation towards nature and ecology of the surrounding area.

Later, the SE distributed certificates and prizes among participants. Nishal D Sevak was the master of ceremony. Dr Preet Patel, an escort of Vadodara group, proposed the vote of thanks.

As many as 135 participants from Gujarat, including 25 girls, were in the fifth batch of the expedition. They also participated in various activities like rock climbing, river crossing, birdwatching, drawing competition and trekking to various rugged mountainous terrains of the Dalhousie-Chamba tourist circuit of the state.

Bilaspur, May 16
A day-long district-level Prashashan Janata ke Dwar camp was organised by the district administration at Jagat Khana (Talli) in the Naina Deviji constituency, 45 km from here, yesterday.

Presiding over the camp, local constituency MLA and BJP state spokesman Randhir Sharma said these camps were proving very useful to villagers to get their problems and difficulties solved at their doorstep.

He said the BJP government had taken this step to solve difficulties of people’s repeated visits to various offices long distances of the district, sub-divisional or tehsil offices after spending money and wasting time and effort. The non-availability of some officers in their offices due to their other prior engagements proved very frustrating to them.

Now these camps were pre-announced and all officers of the district had to be present to solve their problems then and there.

Additional District Magistrate Darshan Kalia said out of total 229 cases presented by people, 102 cases were settled on the spot, while the remaining 127 cases referred to officers for proper investigation and solution within a timeframe with information to the Deputy Commissioner’s office and the petitioners.

He said, apart from this, 10 certificates, six wills, 11 affidavits and 22 land ownership entries were also done or attested or given on the spot.

Randhir Sharma also distributed Rs 23,100 among six very poor families.

Shimla, May 16
The Himachal Government has urged the Centre to accord the special product status to apple to protect the growers from the onslaught of imported fruit which has flooded domestic markets at present.

Horticulture Minister Narinder Bragta met officials of the Union Commerce Ministry in New Delhi recently and discussed the issue in detail. He urged them to find out ways and means to protect the interests of the growers and seek further scope for export in the international market.

He said apple alone generated an economy of around Rs 2,500 crore per annum in the state and it was the main cash crop of the state. In fact, Himachal was known as the apple bowl of the country and the produce was marketed across the country.

He raised the issue of increasing the custom duty on the import of apple from the present 50 to 80 per cent. The custom duty was raised from 30 to 50 per cent during the NDA regime and it benefited small apple growers the maximum.

Bragta said he had briefed the MPs from the state on the issue and requested them to pursue the matter at various levels in the Central Government and also raise the issue in Parliament.

Solan, May 16
With a view to reducing human-animal conflict in cases where leopards have been found inflicting damage to livestock and human beings, the wildlife wing of the state Forest Department has distributed nine tranquiliser guns among various forest divisions in the state.

This will help provide relief both to leopards and other animals which either die during a conflict or leave human beings or animals dead and injured.

Though a few such guns were already available at a few places in some wildlife areas, lack of adequate number of guns often delayed timely action, thus increasing the animal’s agony while being captured and taken away from the site of the conflict.

Figures of such conflicts over the past three years proves that the number has been increasing rapidly. As against 28 cases of human-leopard conflict in 2009-10, 48 cases were witnessed in 2010-11 and 21 have been witnessed this year till March. Four deaths each in 2009-10 and 2010-11 and two this year so far have been reported. The number of human beings injured in such cases has also increases with 24, 48 and 21 human beings having being injured in 2009-10, 2010-11 and this year so far, respectively.

The loss to livestock too has witnessed a sharp increase with 1,213 head of cattle having been killed in 492 cases in 2010, 1,454 in 514 cases in 2011 and 123 in 30 cases this year so far.

Tranquiliser guns have now been provided at nine places across the state, including two with the Conservator of Forests, Hamirpur, one each in conservator circles at Nahan, Rampur, Mandi, Chamba, Wildlife (North), Dharamsala, and Wildlife (South), Shimla.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife)-cum-Chief Wildlife Warden RK Sood said the availability of these guns at various places would help reduce the response time in case such conflicts were reported. More guns would be made available if required as the number of such cases was rising and this would help reduce the trauma of the animal as it provided a safe rescue to the animal.