Shimla, August 11
The fatal bus mishap that claimed 52 innocent lives in Chamba today has raised serious concerns regarding road safety and indiscriminate privatisation of passenger transport services in the state where accidents claim more lives than crime.

The data on crime reveals that on an average 140 to 150 murders are committed every year, but a whopping 1,000 to 1,150 persons die in road accidents in the state.

The incidence of road accidents, over 3,100, is relatively on the lower side, but the narrow serpentine roads on precipitous hill slopes ininterior areas of the state ensure that most mishaps and casualties are on the higher side.

Even national highways are not safe, and as per the police records they account for 42 per cent of road traffic accidents (RTAs), 37 per cent of total deaths and 39.11 per cent of injuries, though they constitute only 8 per cent of the total road length.

Besides the phenomenal increase in the number of vehicles, rapid expansion of the road network, deficient geometry, indifferent maintenance of roads and blatant violations of traffic rules and indiscriminate privatisation of passenger transport services is emerging as the main factor behind increasing accidents.

A decade ago only 30 per cent routes were with private operators and the rest were operated by the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC). Today, the corporation has a fleet of 2,018 buses and the number of private buses has gone up to 3,400.

As privatisation has been carried out without any traffic survey, it is leading to unhealthy competition. Politically influential private transporters have secured profitable routes and as a result the occupancy of HRTC buses has come down from 72 per cent to 58 per cent over the past seven years and the accumulated losses to Rs 576 crore despite the increase in the government grant from Rs 102 crore to Rs 135 crore.

The occupancy is declining even on long routes because of “irrational privatisation” and on the other hand passengers travelling on roofs of buses is a common sight.

Usually private buses are packed to capacity and they even give discount in fare to regular passengers. However, out of the 2,450 routes being operated by the corporation, over 1,100 routes are uneconomical and even the operational cost is not being recovered.

Deficient road geometry, with sharp curves, improper banking, inadequate width and steep gradient along with lack of proper maintenance also make roads prone to accidents.

The cost of maintenance of roads in hills is high, but in recent years the emphasis has been on construction of new roads and not much attention is being paid to the upkeep of the existing ones.

Drivers lack the requisite skills to safely ply vehicles on the narrow winding hill roads and drivers of tourist vehicles from the plains, who have no experience of driving on hill roads, add to the risk.

It is surprising that human failure is one of the main factors responsible for accidents and only a small percentage of mishaps are caused due to mechanical failure.

Director-General of Police ID Bhandari said it was a serious issue and the Police, Transport and the Public Works Departments would have to work in tandem to ensure adequate safety. Such a huge loss of life in road accidents was indeed a matter of concern. The police had been carrying out a regular review, but more was required to be done in collaboration with other agencies concerned to prevent the loss of life.

2011

August 10: A dozen passengers killed, 7 injured as the bus falls off Tissa bridge, Chamba

October 24: 27 die as a bus plunges into a deep gorge near Danoh, Bilaspur

2010

July 27: 12 killed, 15 injured as a bus falls into a khad at Bathera, Shimla

August 18: 24 killed in Theog as the bus driver loses control. The vehicle falls into a stream

2012

Aug 11: At least 52 die as an overcrowded bus rolls down a steep slope at Rajera, Chamba

Jan 12: 15 die, 11 injured as a bus falls into a gorge at Faidapul, Chopal, Shimla

April 12: 8 killed when a Delhi-bound bus skids off road near Dehra in Kangra

Hamirpur, August 11
National vice-president of the BJP and former Chief Minister of UP Rajnath Singh while addressing the Yuva Sankalp rally here today asked the Centre to check infiltration of migrants from Bangladesh and issue work permits to immigrants only coming from there.

Addressing the rally at the ground of Government Senior Secondary School, Hamirpur, he said: “Infiltration of migrants from Banlgadesh is a serious issue and the Centre should take up the matter with the Bangladesh Government and issue work permits to immigrants only.”

He said: “Since the Indian Government has failed to protest the Chinese claim on our territory and issuance of attached visas to people of Arunanchal Pradesh by the Chinese government, it should also issue similar visas to people coming to India from Tibet.”

Launching an attack against the policies of the UPA government, the BJP leader said: “The Central Government has failed to check the inflation due to its wrong policies and corruption. The national growth rate which was 8.4 per cent during the NDA regime has come down to 6 per cent,” he added.

He also criticised the UPA government for “discriminating against people of the state.”

Praising the Dhumal government, he said: “The state government has done a commendable job by implementing its election manifesto in totality and appealed voters to repeat the government by reposing their faith in the BJP, which would pave the way for change of the Central Government.”

Addressing the rally, Chief Minister PK Dhumal said the Central government was discriminating against the state.

He appealed to people to vote for the BJP government in return for the good work done by it.

National vice-president of the BJP Shanta Kumar talked about various steps taken by BJP governments in the state during its 15-year rule and asked people to compare it with the works undertaken by Congress governments in 50 years.

General secretary of the BJP JP Nadda, state BJP president Sat Pal Singh and Hamirpur MP and BJYM chief Anurag Thakur also talked about the Central Government’s failures and achievements of the state government.

Several Cabinet ministers, MLAs and other leaders were among those present.

Dharamsala, August 11
The revenue process of demarcating and division of private lands is a bane for people of Kangra.

A large number of people have been waiting for years to get their lands demarcated. Ram Murti Sharma, a resident of Kanol in the Dhaliara area, has been waiting for division of his ancestral land for the past seven years.

While talking to The Tribune, he said the case for demarcation of his land began in 2005.

“After five years, the tehsildar of the area came and visited the land. It has been two years now, but nothing has been done in this regard. We have been waiting for his decision since then,” he said.

Thousands of families are waiting for division of their ancestral land for years and they are facing problems in the district due to the delay.

Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, KR Bharti admitted that the problem existed and the issue was pertaining due to the shortage of revenue staff (patwaris).

The government has not recruited patwaris since long. Besides, whatever meagre staff the revenue department has is also involved in various other activities like survey of loss of crops due to climatic reasons.

He, however, added that directions had been issued to the revenue staff to dispose of division and demarcation applications within the stipulated period of time.

Experts said revenue officials should use the GPRS system for demarcating and dividing land. The system can be used where the land records have been computerised. The Department of Forest is already using the same to demarcate its lands.

Some of the people affected due to the delay in demarcations of their land are now thinking of using the provisions of the Public Service Guarantee Act.

However, it can only be implemented in the state, after the rules for its implementation are framed.

The sources here said the government had not included the partition of land cases in the Public Service Guarantee Act till date. Earlier, the Revenue Department issued directions to its officials to dispose of partition cases within six months. The government had also re cently issued directions to its officials to reduce pendency of revenue cases to at least two years.

The applicants said the government should make the exercise of demarcation, division and mutation of land time-bound. Once a person had moved an application, officials should be made liable for acting with a time-bound manner. Even if the exercise cannot be completed due to a court case, the applicant should be given a reply for the same in writing. The use of information technology in the registration of applications could also help improve the system.

Shimla, August 11
Alleging that former Haryana Minister Gopal Kanda had a share in a private university in Himachal Pradesh, the CPM today demanded a CBI inquiry into the assets of the minister in the state.

It also demanded that his connections with state leaders also be probed thoroughly.

The meteoric rise of this businessman-turned- politician from running a shop to opening an airline provided enough indication of the strong nexus between politicians and big entrepreneurs.

The party asserted that the government should make public the details of his entry into the state and also the politicians who facilitated him be exposed.

It claimed that its principled stand with regard to private universities had been vindicated. A Large number of these universities were run by those who did not have even one iota of knowledge about education and “were de facto a ploy to invest black money in the state”. These entrepreneurs were acquiring land at throwaway prices and it was not surprising that the land mafia was flourishing in the state.

The Gopal Kanda episode had exposed the strong nexus between politicians and large business houses. The BJP, the main facilitator, had become synonymous with the land mafia and even the Congress stood exposed in the entire gameplan as Kanda was a minister in the Congress government in Haryana. The two parties were involved in the “loot of resources” of the state.

The CPM would campaign against the BJP and the Congress for selling the interests of the state.

Nurpur, August 11
BJP MLA Rakesh Pathania yesterday organised a workers’ training camp at Bodh.

Pathania said he would not beg for a ticket in the forthcoming Assembly poll. If the party high command deemed him to be a suitable candidate, the party ticket would come to his doorstep.

Addressing workers, he said he was a real BJP soldier, but before that he was a dedicated soldier of the people of the Nurpur area.

“I have worked restlessly in undertaking development works without any political bias in the area during the past four-and-a-half years,” he said.

“Moreover, Nurpur has proved to be a role model in building metalled roads under the MNREGA scheme and setting up gyms in gram panchayats in the area and the state government has adopted the same projects across the state,” he said.

Pathania said he would continue his fight for seeking a district status for Nurpur and hoped that the government might take some positive decision in the days to come.

Those who were present on the occasion were zila parishad members Sat Pal and Sardar Singh, local Block Development Committee’s chairperson Abhilasha Chib and vice-chairman Rita Thakur and elected representatives of gram panchayats.

Shimla, August 11
Demanding an inquiry into alleged financial irregularities in Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) during the 16-month tenure of the present Vice-Chancellor (VC), the CPM on Thursday demanded that the Vice-Chancellor be sent on a long leave to put an end to the agenda of “ saffronisation” being implemented by him.

In a statement here, secretary of the Shimla District Committee of the CPM Onkar Shad sought the intervention of the Governor, who is also the Chancellor of the HPU, to ensure that elections of student bodies were held.

He criticised the VC for his “attempts to snatch” the democratic rights of the students in the name of curbing violence and improving academic atmosphere on the campus.

“The HPU is being run in an autocratic manner by the VC who is not just pushing the agenda of saffronisation but also giving out of turn benefits to those who are close to him ideologically and politically,” Shad said.

He said the VC was trying to curb the voice of students in a dictatorial way. “Both the VC as well as the BJP regime know that since the results of the student polls will go against them because of their anti-education and anti-student decisions, they want to curb the democratic process,” he said.

“Not holding SCA elections will not only amount to denial of democratic rights to students, but also will be violation of the recommendations of the Lyngdoh committee,” he said.

New Delhi, August 11
Ahead of the Assembly elections due in the state later this year, Congress president Sonia Gandhi tonight approved the proposal for constituting the Publicity and Publication Committee of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee with former state Congress chief Viplove Thakur as its chairperson. Ajay Bahadur Singh, a Congress leader from Sirmaur, has been appointed convener of the panel.

The Publicity and Publication Committee has 19 other members who are: Adarsh Sood, Chander Sen, Devi Lal, Goldy Kapila, Gulzar Mohn Bharati, Harender Sen, Joginder Kanwar, Kunjana Singh, Munish Sharma, Narender Thakur, Naresh Chauhan, Paramjit Pummy, Prakash Kared, Prernlata Chauhan, Ravi Thakur, Sanjay Chauhan, Sanjay Rattan, Tarun Pathak and Vishal Thakur.

Though the Congress high command formally announced the constitution of the Publicity and Publication Committee late this evening, the panel has reportedly held two meetings and was earlier part of the umbrella HP Congress Committee’s Media Panel.

It has now been segregated for the purpose of better coordination of publicity material during the run up to the Assembly elections in the state.

The Publicity and Publication Committee will take care of the publicity material, including posters and campaign literature, which will drive the canvassing of the state Congress ahead of the elections.

Bilaspur, August 11
The Himachal Pradesh State NGOs Federation has condemned the attack on former state president of the Himachal Employees Federation Gopal Dass Varma a few days ago while he was driving his car at Mohali where he had gone to see his son.

Federation president Ram Singh yesterday said this was the second attack on Varma at Mohali as he was also attacked by an assailant at Mohali on May 8, 2011, with a revolver.

Seriously injured Varma was rushed to the PGI, Chandigarh, where a bullet was extracted from his arm after an operation.

Ram said this time also four persons armed with lathis and iron rods accosted his car and tried to stop him forcibly at a lonely place during night hours. The miscreants then attacked him and damaged his car. However, he managed to escape in his car from the scene, he added.

Ram Singh said Varma had been an eyesore of several politicians of the state due to his activities as leader of the employees federation and probably one of them must be hounding him even today to settle old scores with him.

Ram urged Chief Minister of Punjab Parkash Singh Badal to ensure that these attackers were traced and punished and he and his family, which at present resides at Mohali, be given security and police protection. Ram also urged Chief Minster PK Dhumal to take up the matter with his Punjab counterpart.

Palampur, August 11
Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee president Thakur Kaul Singh has urged the Chief Election Commissioner of India to make a model code of conduct for free and fair Assembly elections in the state.

While talking to mediapersons here last evening, he said Prem Kumar Dhumal’s government had made every possible effort for its survival by announcing large-scale sops to state employees. The BJP could not succeed in its efforts as people of the state had already made up their minds to oust the corrupt BJP government from power.

He said, “The decision to grant additional benefits to employees was taken at a moment when the Assembly elections in the state were round the corner. If the BJP government was so serious, it should have taken such decisions two years ago. Now, the Election Commission (EC) will do justice and stop the BJP government.”

The PCC president said the Congress would give a united fight to the BJP in the upcoming Assembly elections and oust it from power. He said the BJP had shattered the economy of the state and brought it on the verge of liquidation as the figures of loan were raised by the state government.

Kaul said there was rampant corruption in public life during the BJP regime which had made common man’s life a living hell. Below poverty line (BPL) families in the state were the worst affected as they hadn’t received any free health insurance cover for past one year. Besides, there was an acute shortage of ration at public distribution shops in the state.

He said during the BJP’s regime, over 2,000 benami deals were reported in which non-Himachal residents were involved.

He said the appointment of one-man commission by the state government to look into benami land deals in the state was a mere eye-wash as the commission did not touch the cases which were reported in the past four-year of BJP regime and only looked into the cases which were reported during 2003-2008, when the Congress was in power.

He said Virbhadra Singh was a senior leader of the party and his importance in the coming Assembly poll could not be under estimated. 

Hamirpur, August 11
London Olympics Games silver medal winner shooter Subedar Vijay Kumar was given a rousing welcome by the district administration, his relatives and local residents on his arrival at his native Harsour village today from London.

Vijay Kumar won a silver medal in 25-m rapid fire shooting event of the
London Olympics.

SDM and DSP, Badsar, OP Thakur, and Madan Kant Sharma, respectively, and his family members received Vijay on the border of Hamirpur district at Galu and escorted him to his village.

On reaching home, the ace shooter was given a traditional reception by a local band and musicians.

People had also raised welcome gates on the road to welcome him.

Vijay’s delighted family members were happy to receive him back home and had organised a pahari dham (traditional feast) for people in his honour.

DC, Hamirpur, Rajinder Singh Thakur and SP Madhusudan went to Harsour to welcome Vijay and offered him a bouquet on the behalf of the district administration.

Vijay thanked the district administration, people of the state and local residents for rendering him support and encouragement.

Refuting rumours of his quitting the Army, he said: “There is no substance in such rumours and there is no question of my quitting the service since the Army has played a significant role in shaping my shooting career and my successes in this game and whatever I have achieved in shooting has been done while remaining in the Army. The credit of my success definitely goes to the Army.”

He also thanked the Army authorities for their continuous support.

He said, “I will try to train youth of the state for shooting competitions and make efforts to promote shooting in the state. He also urged the government to open a well-equipped shooting range in the state.”

Bilaspur, August 11
Jai Dev Sharma (89), freedom fighter of the Praja Mandal Movement started by people for getting freedom from the despotic rule of rajas and ranas of princely states in these hills before Independence under the guidance of Mahatma Gandhi and Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru, died after a brief illness at his home at Panjgaain village, near here, last evening.

He was cremated on the bank of the Sutlej at the village cremation ghat across Dehar with full state honours. The police presented the salute, reversed the arms and then sounded the Last Post before firing five rounds in the air.

The state government and the district administration were represented by Assistant Commissioner to Deputy Commissioner ML Mehta who laid a wreath on the body as a large number of Congress party representatives, including former MLA Babu Ram Gauttam and gram panchayat presidents, vice-presidents, members and villagers were present to pay last respects.

Congress MLA Rajesh Dharmani, former minister Ram Lal Thakur, Zila Parishad member Hoshiar Singh Thakur and district Congress president Santosh Dhiman were those who expressed condolence.

The deceased was a teacher when he was punished by Raja Anand Chand for his part in the Praja Mandal Movement and turned out of the state after dismissing him from service. He was also elected gram panchayat president, a post which he held for several years.

Kangra, August 11
An outbreak of German measles was confirmed clinically, epidemiologically and serologically in the unvaccinated districts of northern Himachal. The affected areas include eight villages of Chamba and Kangra districts.

Dr Surender N Gupta, senior epidemiologist and faculty member of Regional Health and Family Welfare Training Centre, Chebb, said here today that no supplementary immunisation to the susceptible was provided in the affected areas.

He said the surveillance system was weak and medical human resource available was untrained with inadequate logistics support and supply.

Dr Gupta said traditional beliefs and barriers were the main hindrance during the treatment. He said 116 cases were identified in eight villages, out of which 112 cases were reported clinically and four through laboratories. The overall attack rate was 11 per cent.

Dr Gupta recommended that on the basis of investigation there was a need to vaccinate the susceptible, identify outreach strategies to cover slum and remote villages and ensure the conduct of IEC activities aggressively on all fronts, especially for pregnant women.

Bilaspur, August 11
A truck operator of Sandoli village, Kuldip Kumar (33), committed suicide by shooting himself, using his father’s gun, last night.

According to reports, Kuldip shot himself in the neck and died on the spot.

Superintendent of Police Santosh Patial and Additional Superintendent of Police Bhagmal Thakur rushed to the spot. The gun was taken into possession and the body was sent for post-mortem.

Later, a forensic team led by an expert also visited the spot.