Shimla, September 22
Former Union minister and state Congress chief Virbhadra Singh today said the Congress would honour only genuine announcements of the BJP if voted to power and the latter had gone berserk while resorting to election gimmickry.

With 731 ticket aspirants staking claim from the 68 Assembly segments, a stream of party leaders and their supporters made a beeline to the Congress office here today to meet Virbhadra Singh.

He will head the meeting of the State Election Committee in New Delhi on September 24. A majority of the party ticket are likely to be finalised by the end of the month.

“We will take a decision on fulfilling the announcements made by the present regime without any budgetary provision, depending on the justification and genuineness of the commitment, primarily being done to lure voters,” he remarked. He added that he met the Chief Election Commissioner in New Delhi two days back to bring to his notice the sops being announced by the BJP regime, which would cost over Rs 1,500 crore.

He added that as had been the stand of the Congress in the past, all announcements on benefits to employees would be fulfilled as Himachal Pradesh always gave Punjab scales to its employees. Citing an example, he said the opening of a primary health centre could not be announced by making a doctor sit in the 
Panchayat Bhavan.

He said the BJP regime did not open any school till now and, on the contrary, decided to close 300 primary and 1,500 middle schools for having inadequate student strength.

The state Congress chief expressed unhappiness over the fact that there were too many aspirants for the party ticket. “It is not a happy situation as it adds to the confusion, but unfortunately, some party leaders encouraged everyone to apply for the ticket,” he admitted.

With regard to ticket distribution, he said 21 Congress legislators, barring the two whose segments had been reserved and de-reserved, would be given party ticket.

“We will certainly follow some norms with regard to those who have forfeited their security deposits or lost consecutively in previous elections and, at the same time, give due representation to youth and women, though the capacity to win will remain the guiding principle,” he said. Virbhadra said the Congress would sail through in the Assembly elections on the strength of development work undertaken by its successive governments.

Kangra, September 22
With an eye on the upcoming elections, Chief Minister PK Dhumal is on an inauguration spree and even incomplete projects are being inaugurated to gain political mileage, former Parliamentary Secretary and former Congress legislator Surinder Kaku alleged here today.

Dhumal is scheduled to inaugurate the Mini-Secretariat here tomorrow, even though it is incomplete, he said. Officials said on the condition of anonymity that the state government was yet to provide Rs 1.5 crore for the Rs 6.01-crore project.

Facilities like parking, treasury strongroom, electricity supply and bathrooms were incomplete. The dilapidated tehsil office, the ADA office, the old treasury strongroom and the treasury office on the premises were yet to 
be dismantled.

The project was the brainchild of the previous Virbhadra Singh government, said Kaku. Himachal Pensioners Kalyan Sangh vice-president Hem Raj Chandel work on completing the project would have taken a few more months.

The Chief Minister will also inaugurate 18 Type-V quarters for faculty of Dr RP Government Medical College at Tanda, which is incomplete as well, said Kaku. Officials confirmed that six houses were yet to be completed.

He satirically suggested to the Chief Minister to inaugurate the long-pending Rs 14-crore sewerage scheme for the town. He added that an incomplete bridge was inaugurated in the Dehra subdivision recently amid protests by local residents.

Shimla, September 22
Diehard Shanta loyalist and BJP legislator from Rohru Khushi Ram Balnatah today fired a fresh salvo against Chief Minister PK Dhumal by accusing him of discriminating against certain areas in development on regional considerations, which leaves him with no moral authority to continue in office.

Balnatah, who has been served a notice by the party for seeking leadership change in Himachal, today hit out at Dhumal for ignoring needs of the people of Rohru. “The Chief Minister virtually turned a deaf ear to issues being faced by people of Rohru,” he said.

Balnatah said the Chief Minister had not fulfilled a single announcement that he made at the Himachal Day function at Rohru in 2010.

“The announcements made by him with regard to shifting of the Sabzi Mandi to a new site, completion of car parking, construction of the Rohru Bus Stand and a bridge at Bakhirna have yet to see the light of the day as work has not even been started in these projects,” he rued.

With Rohru Assembly segment that Balnatah won in a by-election being reserved for the Scheduled Caste under the recent delimitation process, there is a talk in political circles that the BJP MLA could contest from Kasumpti on the HLP ticket. With BJP unlikely to accommodate him from Kasumpti, Balnatah is weighing his options and is touring the constituency.

Hamirpur, September 22
Chief Minister PK Dhumal has criticised Prime Minister (PM) Manmohan Singh’s remarks in his address to the nation on Friday saying that “money does not grow on trees”.

Reacting to the PM’s statement while addressing a function organised by the District NGOs Federation yesterday night, Dhumal said: “It is true that money does not grow on trees but redressal of national issues is not possible with foreign money and the PM has to find solution to these issues within the country. But he has failed to solve the economic woes of the country.”

Addressing a public meeting after inaugurating a PHC at Sera in Nadaun today, Dhumal said: “Congress leaders are making false allegations that the state government has not provided land for a proposed spice park but the fact is the government has already identified land for the same and would hand it over whenever work starts on it.” Badsar MLA Baldev Sharma and BJP leader Vijay Agnihotri also spoke.

Shimla, September 22
The State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) has started tightening its noose around the mushrooming private universities violating environment norms in the state. All such institutes will now have to seek prior approval of the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA).

Following this latest directive by the SPCB, universities having a built-up area of more than 20,000 square metres will have to seek prior environmental clearance for all buildings and construction projects. For working out the total built-up area, roads, pavements, parking and other service areas will be included.

It has reliably been learnt that three private universities have applied for permission from the SEIAA to operate and a team of the SPCB has visited some of the universities to assess the extent of construction being 
undertaken.

The SPCB has asked all such universities, which are listed as Category-B projects, to seek the mandatory environment clearance from the SEIAA.

The SEIAA headed by former Chief Secretary Asha Swaroop had directed the SPCB to ensure that private universities adhered to the environmental norms.

The SEIAA had directed the SPCB to submit a status report to it to ascertain the violations with regard to Environment Impact Assessment notification, issued by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests in September, 2006.

It had been brought to the notice of the SEIAA that many university authorities were going ahead with their projects without bothering to get prior approval, especially with regard to environmental norms.

“These private universities are getting away with not following norms. Some of them had to be issued notices for improper disposal of debris due to construction,” said an official.

With some of these private universities being allowed to purchase several hundred acres, huge construction projects are likely to come up, though a majority are concentrated in Solan district.

The issue has also been raised in the Assembly time and again, with legislators accusing the BJP regime of being lenient towards these private universities and allowing them to wreak havoc on the environment at several places.

The Congress has been terming these universities as real estate projects in the garb of education. It has accused the BJP regime of sheltering the universities, some of which have indulged in serious land violations. 

Kangra, September 22
A 16-year-old girl of Plusdhar Chountra village died due to poisoning at the DRPGMCH in Tanda.

Shivani consumed some medicine overdose for headache by mistake and was rushed to an ayurvedic hospital at Paprola, from where she was referred to Tanda. The body was handed over to her parents after autopsy. — OC