Shimla, July 31
The Congress high command is learnt to have sent a communication to former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh ahead of an informal meeting of his supporters here tomorrow.

He is expected to meet central leaders again after his return to Delhi on August 3 to sort out issues which he has been raising rather aggressively for quite sometime now, sources close to the veteran leader said.

Virbhadra Singh, who was being marginalised ever since the party lost the Assembly poll in 2007, has been constantly building pressure on the high command for the past one year. He has further stepped up the war of words and yesterday launched a scathing attack against some senior state leaders, accusing them of hobnobbing with Chief Minister PK Dhumal, while interacting with mediapersons at Una. He did not even spare in charge of the party affairs in Himachal Birender Singh.

However, his tone was different today and he said there was no formal meeting. Shimla was his home and he had come here for Raksha Bandhan. He reiterated that for ensuring the party’s victory, the ticket must be allotted to candidates with good winning prospects.

However, his supporters were busy preparing for the luncheon meeting, which a large number of MLAs, former MLAs, state and district-level leaders and current and former office-bearers of frontal organisations are likely to attend.

During the informal get-together, Virbhadra Singh will apprise his supporters of the issues he discussed with the high command and its response. The future strategy will be decided after holding talks with them.

As the high command has already got in touch with Virbhadra Singh, no drastic outcome is expected from tomorrow’s meeting. It will provide some indication about the future course of action he is likely to adopt.

Shimla, July 31
Prompted by the paucity of IAS officers at its disposal, the state government has decided not to allow any officer to proceed on Central or inter-state deputation before completing nine years of service with the home cadre and return immediately after completing tenure at the Centre.

Though there is a norm that no IAS officer can leave the parent cadre before completing nine years of service, there have been examples of relaxation and officers being allowed to leave.

At least three woman IAS officers and some others have been allowed to proceed on Central deputation before completing nine years of service.

There are some others who are seeking the extension of Central deputation on one pretext or the other despite the staff shortage.

“Keeping in view the shortage of officers, we have decided to strictly enforce the nine-year service condition before allowing anyone to leave the state,” said Chief Secretary Sudripta Roy.

He added that those nearing the completion of their Central deputation would be directed to return
without seeking any further extension.

At least 35 of the cadre of 129 officers were on Central deputation, study leave or foreign assignment at present. The government had sought the enhancement of its cadre by eight.

The matter was pending with the Ministry of Department and Personnel. Principal Secretary Mansiha Nanda was pursuing the matter.

Finding it difficult to find enough officers to head important departments, several officers, including the Chief Secretary, were looking after many departments.

The move of the state government to get the 30 officers of Himachali origin serving other cadres to come to their home state on deputation had not got an encouraging response.

Of the 31 states and union territories approached by state government, seven had expressed their unwillingness to spare officers.

Those were facing the same problem themselves. The hill state would have to wait for cadre enhancement as it might take some time.

There had been a cadre review of the Indian Forest Service officers and their strength had been increased from 110 to 119.

Around 10 of them had been posted against posts normally held by IAS officers. There had also been a cadre enhancement of Himachal Administrative Service officers recently.

Shimla, July 31
Chief Minister PK Dhumal today announced the opening of a sub-tehsil at Nithar in the Ani Assembly segment of Kullu district to provide villagers of the area revenue and administrative-related services on their doorstep.

He was addressing a gathering at Ani after inaugurating the Government Degree College complex in Haripur. The Chief Minister said with the opening of the sub-tehsil, a long-pending demand of villagers of the Nithar area had been fulfilled. He also announced Rs 25 lakh for the construction of a playground at the degree college, Haripur, and Rs 8 lakh for the purchase of furniture for the college.

He assured the people that science and commerce classes would also be started in the college in a phased manner. “The state government is spending 19 per cent of its budgetary provision on the education sector while the Government of India is spending only 4.85 per cent,” he said.

He expressed happiness over the increasing number of girls in colleges as was the case in the degree college, Ani, where of the total strength of 411 students, 271 were girls.

Dhumal said the state government was committed to constructing a tunnel under the Jalori Pass to connect Ani subdivision with the district headquarters of Kullu throughout the year. He said the government had succeeded in getting the Sainj-Luhri-Ani-Aut road declared as a national highway. Khimi Ram, Forest Minister, highlighted the developmental activities of the area.

Mandi, July 31
Frequent trippings and the collapse of the northern grid pose a threat to power projects in the state if the required “frequency band” in the grid system is not maintained, warns an expert.

Talking to The Tribune, Dr Bharat Rajpurohit, assistant professor at the School of Electrical Engineering, IIT, Mandi, said frequent trippings and the collapse of the northern grid, probably due to the imbalance caused by the overdrawal of power from the grid, could harm power projects if their operations were not stopped during the outage. He said grid discipline had to be observed by all users to save the system from collapsing.

Dr Bharat said “a frequency band of 49.62 on the lower side and 50.2 on the higher side” had to be maintained at the grid.

The failure of the northern grid for the second time today resulted in a blackout in the power-surplus state as commercial transactions were hit in establishments, including banks, from noon till the supply was restored around 5.30 pm.

Shimla, July 31
Terming the power crisis and repeated failure of the northern grid as a complete failure of governance, the ruling BJP today sought an apology from the Centre for causing inconvenience to the public.

In a statement issued here today, state BJP spokesperson Ganesh Dutt said barely 24 hours had elapsed since the government constituted a committee to look into the reasons for the grid failure and once again the entire region was hit by a power failure. “The fact is that the UPA regime is not taking the matter seriously and does not understand the serious repercussions that the issue could have for the industry,” he said.

The BJP leader said the people had the right to know who was responsible for this power failure and what action had been taken against them. “Does the government realise how badly the power failure has hit the industry, which is suffering losses worth crores, and impacted infrastructure development,” he said.

He said the UPA regime must explain to the people the reason for such long-lasting power failures as it was badly hitting the economy.

Mandi, July 31
The District Football Association, in collaboration with the state football body, organised a seven-day fitness-cum-training camp which concluded at Paddal Maidan on Sunday.

As many as 50 players from different parts of the district received tips from Nigerian coach Omo Laza from Prayag Football Club, Kolkata.

The participants said it was for the first time that they had got training from a foreign coach. It would go a long way to inspire them to play in national or international events if coaching was provided to them from time to time, they said.

The state has great potential for the game of soccer, but lacked in providing professional training for youngsters, the players rued.

Vice-president, HP Football Association, CP Kaushal, said the aim behind the camp was to inculcate the spirit of professionalism among the players. “We have formulated a plan to promote football as players from the state are proving their worth in various competitions,” he added.

He said the association would organise a state-level club championship at Mandi, in collaboration with the District Football Association, between October 11 and 14.

“The champion team will take part in different national tournaments organised by the Indian Football Association,” he added.

SP, Mandi, Abhishek Dular, who was the chief guest, lauded the initiative to promote soccer. He also gave away certificates and prizes to the participants.

Bilaspur, July 31
Former Forest Minister and state Congress general secretary Ram Lal Thakur has got five others vying with him for the party ticket from the Naina Devi constituency this time if the proceedings of a Congress meeting held in the presence of central party observer Kamal Kant Sharma at Swarghat, 42 km from here, on Sunday are any indication.

Reports said zila parishad member and former district party president Hoshiar Singh Thakur was the first one to stake his claim to the party ticket at the meeting. He claimed that the observer was here to recommend three names from each constituency for the party ticket.

Soon after, Babu Ram Thakur from the thickly populated Jukhala valley, who is a former chairman of the Bilaspur Sadar block development committee and zila parishad member from this area, Shailender Bhadole, a prominent Congress worker and social activist of the Jukhala area, Narendra Billoria, state Mahila Congress vice-president, and Puran Chand Bhatia, president of the Jukhala panchayat, also staked their claim to the party ticket.

However, several leaders pleaded for the candidature of Ram Lal Thakur, who, they said, was the only leader who had a huge following and influence in the constituency.

Party observer Kamal Kant Sharma said the Congress was a democratic party and difference of opinion on issues was bound to be there. 

Shimla, July 31
The ongoing spell of heavy rain lashing the entire state is likely to continue for the next four days with warning of heavy showers during the next 48 hours being issued by the local Meteorological Centre.

Director of the local Meteorological Centre Manmohan Singh said the easterly winds were prevailing over the western Himalayan region, while the upper air cyclonic circulation over southwest Punjab and adjoining northwest Rajasthan in lower levels was still persisting. This would bring in more rain over the next four to five days, he added.

Most parts of the state have been lashed with persistent rain since morning, resulting in a chill in the air in the state capital. The maximum temperature in Shimla was recorded at 16.7°C.

Mandi/Batal, July 31
The recent expedition of mountaineers from Manali has rekindled the hopes of families of the 102 victims of the air crash of the Antonov-12 aircraft, Bravo Lima, of the Indian Air Force’s 25 Squadron.

The team spotted the wreckage site and brought back an identity card of Arjun Singh, one of the victims. The Manali SDM handed it over to the Army commander at the Palchan camp today.

SDM Balbir Thakur said only the name Arjun Singh was readable as the paper had withered. “We handed it over at the Army camp. The team spotted the wreckage site as well,” he added.

Last week, the team of the North Adventure School at Kalath in Manali scaled the 20,600-foot-high Chandrabhaga-13 peak in the Pir Panjal range in Lahaul, facing the Chandratal lake, and found the wreckage exposed in a glacier there.

A 22-member Army expedition, the Punaruthan-IV, led by the Dogra scouts, had returned empty handed from the glacier in August, 2009.

It had failed to retrieve the mortal remains of the 98 Army personnel and the black box of the aircraft. The IAF did not know the exact cause of the mishap, that took place on February 7, 1968.

The expedition was launched after climbers of Atal Bihari Institute of Mountaineering and Adventure Sports at Manali spotted the wreckage site in August, 2003.

A previous expedition had spotted the wreckage site in August, 1987. It had reported the matter to the Defence Ministry, but an expedition was not launched then.