Dharamsala, September 8
Congress MLA from Nagrota Bagwan and former minister GS Bali today formally launched his election campaign.

He gathered workers at Akshay Palace in Nagrota Bagwan today to show his strength in the constituency and announced start of his campaign.

He claimed that during the function, a large number of BJP workers joined the Congress. The programme was attended by hundreds of Congress workers from the Nagrota Bagwan Assembly seat.

Bali is a three-time MLA from Nagrota Bagwan. He has total control over the Congress organisation in the area. He has also started free ambulance service for residents of the area. However, in the recent past a former supporter of Bali, Kuka, raised a banner of revolt against him. Kuka is believed to have the support of HPCC president Virbhadra Singh.

Kuka had been participating in the rallies addressed by Virbhadra in the district along with his supporters despite the fact that he had been expelled from the primary membership of the party.

Kuka is preparing to contest the poll as an Independent from the Nagrota Bagwan seat on the OBC card.

Kullu, September 8
A Green Bench of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, headed by Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Sanjay Karol, has summoned the Deputy Commissioner, Kullu, Municipal Council, Kullu, member secretary, State Pollution Control Board, and Principal Secretary, Urban Development, to appear before the Bench and file their replies on the management of the solid waste management plant at Kullu and pollution in the Beas on September 14.

Though Abhishek Rai, who runs the Himalayan Environment Protection Society, Kullu, has already filed a public interest litigation in the high court on pollution in the Beas, the court also took cognisance of the report published in these columns on Friday.

Rai has pleaded that the untreated water, plastics and solid waste were flowing in the Beas and its tributary Servari, which is a source of potable water for residents in the town.

Even Tibetan refugees, who live near the Bhootnath temple in the town, have no toilet facilities.

Over 26 lakh tourists visited Kullu last year adding to the solid waste load in the town.

The court also took a suo motu notice of the mismanagement of the solid waste treatment plant and its hazardous impact on local residents and the Beas, Rai told The Tribune.

It has directed the executive officer of the Kullu Municipal Council to raise the 5-m wall around the solid waste treatment plant.

The height of the wall at present was 1 m, Rai said.

The Bench has observed that it is shocked from the pictures and videos presented on the solid waste ending up in the Beas.

Nothing would prevent the river from pollution as garbage and waste material were piling up near the riverside despite huge money being spent on solid waste management, it observed.

Villagers in Balh and Mohal panchayats have charged that the council was not managing the solid treatment plant properly and the stench and flies invade the area posing health hazards to residents.

The Bench has summoned the officials on September 14 on the mismanagement of the solid waste treatment plant and the steps taken to check pollution in the Beas, the petitioner said.

Shimla, September 8
Keen to have the Anandpur Sahib-Naina Devi ropeway project completed at the earliest, RITES, technical wing of the Indian Railways, will undertake the inspection of the project site next week.

RITES has been assigned the task of preparing the final survey for the project, which is expected to give a boost to religious tourism in both Himachal and Punjab.

The team of technical experts from RITES will inspect the lower, upper and intermediate site of the ropeway in the presence of representatives of Himachal and Punjab after September 11.

“Himachal as well as Punjab is keen to see the project being completed at the earliest so that the ropeway can facilitate thousands of pilgrims who visit the shrine of Naina Devi round the year,” said Himachal Chief Secretary Sudripta Roy.

He said Rs 150 had been fixed as the round fare, and for one side travel the charges would be Rs 100.

The two states had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on July 26 for executing the project that had been delayed for quite some time.

In fact, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal personally visited Shimla for the signing of the MoU along with a team of senior officials from the Tourism Department. The project is expected to raeduce traffic congestion and offer convenient mode of travel to the shrine, where the highest number of pilgrims come from Punjab.

The two states have already set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to jointly implement the project, which had been pending for over a decade. The project to be executed in a public-private partnership (PPP) mode will be implemented on a build-operate-transfer basis. The fare of Rs 150 for both way travel and Rs 100 for one way travel will be valid for a period of five years, before revision if undertaken with the two states sharing the profit and liability from the project.

The ropeway having a span of 2.5 km will have three terminal points - Rampur (lower), Toada (intermediate) and Naina Devi (upper).

The project is expected to reduce the traffic congestion on the land route connecting the two pilgrim centres with thousands of people from Punjab and Haryana making a beeline to the hilltop temple. The SPV will pay for the land acquisition and the compensation accruing to land owners. The rate of return of the project is estimated to be about 140 per cent, considering the volume of pilgrims that visit Naina Devi throughout the year.

Mandi/Keylong, September 8
Chief Minister PK Dhumal today blamed the Congress-led UPA government for the pitiable condition of the Manali-Keylong highway and Keylong-Udaipur road. Both the stretches are maintained by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO).

In a bid to woo people in the tribal belt ahead of the Assembly polls, the Chief Minister opted to travel by road on the Manali-Tandi-Udaipur stretch yesterday. He had to take his return trip on the Udaipur-Keylong-Rohtang-Manali road today as his helicopter could not fly due to bad weather.

The Chief Minister’s tour schedule to Kinnaur and Kaza was also cancelled due to bad weather. He had to come back to Manali late evening today.

The BRO had deputed extra personnel to keep the stretch at Rani Nullah open.

Dhumal took a dig at the Congress at Udairpur and Keylong public meetings. He said the credit for the 8.82 km-long Rohtang tunnel that links Lahaul-Spiti went to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who wished it to be open. He blamed the Centre for delaying it.

He upgraded two schools and assured an animal husbandry at an Udaipur village. The government would spend Rs 333 crore budget on the tribal area this year, he said.

The Chief Minister announced the opening of an HRTC sub-depot at Udaipur and also promised 50 per cent subsidy on fodder in a drought-like situation.

He upgraded the Trilokinath primary school to middle school and Kishori middle school to high school.

Dhumal also announced setting up of the Ropeways Corporations which would create new ropeways where roads connectivity was not available in the state.

He laid the foundation stone of the Police Lines building, a mini-secretariat building and inaugurated a Rs 70-lakh BDO building at Keylong and announced an ayurvedic dispensary at Gumrang village.

Dhumal also lauded the people of Lahaul-Spiti for taking a lead in gender ratio (1017 females against 1,000 males) which is one of the highest in the country.

BJP MLA Ram Lal Markandey and Chander Mohan Parshira had come with their supporters during the public meetings.

Shimla, September 8
Governor Urmila Singh today said education was closely linked to development, and an educated society could go a long way in contributing to the development of the nation. She was speaking on the occasion of the 46th International Literacy Day function held here today.

She said Himachal Pradesh was way ahead of other states in the field of education and the literacy rate of the state had considerably increased to 84 per cent. She said the literacy programme in Chamba district had improved and efforts of the State Literacy Mission, State Resource Centre and District Literacy Society were commendable.

Kuldeep Tanwar, vice-chairman, State Resource Centre, also spoke on the occasion.

Tikender Panwar, Deputy Mayor, Municipal Corporation, Shimla, and Dinkar Burathoki, Director, Higher Education, were present on the occasion.

Shimla, September 8
After a long battle, former curator and executive director of the International Roerich Memorial Trust (IRMT) Alena Adamkova finally handed over charge to Dr OC Handa, the newly appointed curator by the state government, today.

Though Alena had been removed last year in December from the post, she had managing the affairs of the IRMT till now. Dr Handa, who had been appointed curator from the Indian side, was handed over the charge of paintings, artefacts and other items with the Trust at Naggar today.

Alena had been continuing at the IRMT despite objections not just by the Himachal Government, but also by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

She was involved in controversies such as receiving foreign funds by the IRMT without following necessary procedures.

The team from the International Centre for Roerichs (ICR), Moscow, had also accused her of improper upkeep and maintenance of paintings and artefacts.

L Surgina, who is heading the visiting team from the ICR, has been nominated curator from the Russian side. She is currently at Naggar, engaged in cataloguing and making inventory of the stores of the IRMT for the past over two months.

Being an expert, the chief field of work of Surgina will be starting a book of records, forming and managing museum holdings, creating and maintaining the conditions necessary for their preservation, organising and fulfilling restoration works, holding exhibitions and performing other museum tasks.

Trustee, IRMT, Shakti Singh Chandel thanked Chief Minister PK Dhumal and Chief Secretary Sudripta Roy for the timely understanding of the issue that the IRMT had been facing for the past one decade and their decisive steps for the involvement of the International Centre for Roerichs, Moscow, for future cooperation with regard to the protection of cultural heritage of Roerichs at Naggar.

“This will further strengthen the Indo-Russian ties for which the Roerichs had been a great link between the two countries,” remarked Chandel.

A team of officials from Himachal, headed by the state Chi-ef Secretary, will be visiting the ICR, Moscow, on September 30. They will discuss issues like elaboration of future cooperation between the ICR and the IRMT and the revival of the Urusvati Himalayan Research Institute, and development of the IRMT territory and infrastructure.