Shimla, September 30
With candidates for about 30 seats almost finalised, the Congress is likely to announce its nominees for all 68 seats by October 4, when the Central Election Committee is scheduled to meet.

The candidates who have been finalised include 19 of the 23 sitting MLAs. The sitting MLA from Rampur, Nand Lal, is being replaced by Visheshwar, though former minister Singhi Ram is also in the line.

The sitting MLA from Baijnath, Sudhir, whose seat has been reserved, is in the panel from Dharamsala, from where Jodhpur MP Chandresh Kumari is also an aspirant.

The fate of sitting MLAs Yog Raj and Sohan Lal, whose seats have been de-reserved, has been sealed. There are a number of other seats where there is no serious dispute.

In some seats like Shahpur and Dehra, no panels have been finalised. The State Election Committee has sent a panel to four candidates and the picture will be clear after the meeting of the Screening Committee, to be held on October 3.

In case of Chamba district, all names except Chamba have been finalised. For Chamba, the panel comprising Pawan Nayar, Neeraj Nayar (son of former minister Sagar Chand Nayar) and Raj Singh Thakur has been recommended.

The names of Asha Kumari (Dalhousie), Surinder Bhardwaj (Churah), Kuldeep Pathania (Bhatiyat) and Thakur Singh (Bharmour) are final.

In Bilaspur district, the names of Ram Lal Thakur (Naina Devi), Rajesh Dharmani (Ghumarwin) and Biru Ramk Kishore (Jhanduta) are final. There is panel of three candidates for Bilaspur.

In Hamirpur district, the names of Anita Verma (Sujanpur) and Sukhwinder (Nadaun) are final. The panel for Hamirpur has Kuldeep Pathnia and Narinder Thakur. The nominees for Badsar and Bhoranj will be decided from the panel.

In Solan district, the names of Lakhwinder Rana (Nalagarh) and Palak Ram Kashyap (Solan) are final. The panel for Doon has the names of Lajja Ram and Parmjit Singh Pammi.

The panel for Arki has the names of Kailash Prakash and Sanjay Thakur. The panel for Kasauli has the names of Vinod Sultanpuri and Namita.

In Sirmaur district, the party is backing the sitting legislators from Nahan, Shilai and Pacchad and Vijay Kumar has been renominated from Renuka. There is a panel of three candidates for Paonta Sahib.

In Mandi district, there is a panel for Sarkaghat. For the rest of the seats, those who contested elections in 2007 are likely to be renominated.

For the Kullu seat, Prem Lata (wife of former minister Satya Pal Thakur) and Sunder Thakur are in the panel. From Anni, the name of Khub Ram has been recommended.

Panels of two or more candidates have been recommended for most seats in Kangra and Una districts. Ticket allotment will be finalised by the Central Election Committee on October 4, after which only party president Sonia Gandhi may make a change or two, if required.

Shimla, September 30
Breaking its silence over the tragic incident in which two class-VI students lost their lives and the unsavoury incidents that followed, the management of the Convent and Jesus and Mary today demanded a judicial probe into the matter.

The Principal of the school, Sahima Josh, and the Provincial Councillor, Sister Janet, said here today that the inquiry should also cover the mob violence, apparently provoked by a particular party, during which damage was caused to the school building.

They maintained the management extended all possible support to investigating agencies and was keen that if there was any foul play behind the deaths, the culprit must be brought to book. They said the class teacher concerned would be on leave till the completion of investigations.

The management and the staff was fully behind the bereaved parents in their hour of grief. The management wanted the truth to come out and did not want to hide anything. This was the reason the class teacher was sent on long leave.

They denied that the parents were not informed about the incident. The management was in constant touch with the families and the school staff reached the IGMC immediately.

A messenger was sent to the residences of the parents to inform them. They also said music teacher Asur Wilson had resigned after the incident, but his resignation had not been accepted.

Action would be taken against the class teacher after she returned from leave. The chit on the basis of which the girls were punished had been given to the police. Anyone found guilty would be held accountable.

Meanwhile, two non-government organisations, The Voice and Ashadeep, took out two separate candlelight processions to pay homage to the girls. A large number of residents, besides staff and students of the school, participated in it.

Shimla, September 30
Blaming the BJP regime for the increasing fiscal deficit, state Congress president Virbhadra Singh today said the gross financial mismanagement over the last four years posed a serious threat to the future development of the state.

Citing figures, he said here that revenue receipts as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) had come down from 28.37 per cent in 2007-08 to 22.59 per cent in 2010-11.

At 28.37 per cent of current GDP of Rs 71,57,432 crore, revenue receipts should have been Rs 20,000 crore compared to Rs 12,357 crore shown in the 2010-11 budget.

There was clearly a leakage of Rs 5,000 crore of government revenue. Over a five-year period, the loss to the exchequer would exceed Rs 15,000 crore.

Capital expenditure on social sectors as a percentage of total expenditure had gone down from 25 per cent in 2006-07 to 11 per cent in 2010-11. In education, it plunged from 20 per cent in 2006-07 to merely 5 per cent in 2010-11, in health from 10 per cent to 8 per cent and in water supply and housing from 40 per cent to 30 per cent over the period.

He said the budget presented by the Congress government had a surplus Rs 191 crore in 2006-07 and Rs 850 crore in 2007-08. It turned into a revenue deficit of Rs 130 crore in 2008-09 after the BJP came to power and increased to Rs 519 crore in 2009-10 and further to Rs 1,235 crore in 2010-11.

The cumulative debt liability of the state increased in 2010-11 to Rs 26,415 crore from Rs 19,000 crore in 2007-08. Of Rs 19,000 crore, Rs 12,444 crore was the debt inherited by the Congress government from the BJP regime in 2003.

By the end of the current financial year the debt liability was likely to increase to Rs 30,000 crore. The BJP government spent Rs 154 crore less of capital expenditure in 2010-11 and Rs 136 crore less in 2009-10.

“Evidently less priority was given to social and economic services and this may have an adverse impact on the social and economic health of the state, as observed by the CAG in its audit report for the year 2010-11,” he said.

The diversion of loans of Rs 290 crore resulted in less funds being made available for the maintenance of schools and hospitals and filling vacancies. The fiscal deficit shot up from Rs 552 crore in 2007-08 to Rs 2,278 crore in 2008-09 and further to Rs 2,784 crore in 2009-10.

The revenue deficit resulted in declining expenditure on education, health and social sectors, evident from nearly 45,000 vacant posts in these sectors. The declining expenditure and, in turn, the downgrading of standards in school education was a matter of serious concern, he said.

Mandi, September 30
Even as the BJP has tried a new face, Inder Gandhi, former surveyor with the Irrigation and Public Health Department, from Balh and has fielded three current ministers and two former candidates, the party faces an uphill task in deciding candidates in Sundernagar, Nachan, Karsog and Sarkaghat.

The allotment of party ticket in five constituencies was on predictable lines. PWD Minister Gulab Singh Thakur (Jogindernagar), Rural Development Minister Jai Ram Thakur (Seraj) and Transport Minister Mohinder Thakur(Dharampur) were expected to be repeated.

The party has fielded Gandhi in place of Mahant Ram Chaudhary, formerly of the Congress who had joined the BJP during the last Assembly elections, but lost to Parkash Chaudhary of the Congress.

Party workers hailed the BJP decision of fielding Jawahar Thakur from Darang, who would face former state Congress president Kaul Singh Thakur for the second time. In the last Assembly elections, Kaul Singh had won by a narrow margin of 1,892 votes.

Though it will be challenging on the part of the Congress to declare candidates against BJP ministers, the ruling party is also facing a tough challenge in declaring candidates in Sundernagar, Nachan, Karsog and Sarkaghat, where there are more than three candidates each lobbying hard for the party ticket.

In Sundernagar, sitting BJP MLA Roop Singh Thakur is seeking the ticket for himself or his son Abhishek Thakur, but former state BJYM chief Rakesh Jamval and Ajay Rana, also a BJYM leader, are lobbying for the ticket. In Sarkaghat, sitting BJP MLA Inder Singh Thakur faces KK Thakur, a former forest officer, for the ticket, said party workers.

In Nachan (SC), the BJP fears a revolt from ticket seeker Damodar Das against sitting MLA Dile Ram, also the district president. In Karsog (SC), the BJP has accommodated Hira Lal, who had won the last election as an Independent as associate member, but Jagjivan Pal, a former MLA, has also staked his claim to the ticket.

In Kullu district, Kullu MLA Govind Thakur has been shifted to the new constituency Manali while Forest Minister Khimi Ram has been retained in Banjar and sitting MLA Kishori Lal in Ani (SC).

The BJP faces a tough task in Kullu as Himachal Lokhit Party chief Maheshwar Singh has not opened his cards in the district so far. There is talk that the BJP is trying to rope in his son Hiteshwar Singh, but Maheshwar Singh has termed it as a rumour.

Dharamsala, September 30
After being denied the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket again, Rakesh Pathania, the party rebel who won during the last Assembly elections from Nurpur as an Independent and remained as associate member of the BJP legislative group, may contest as an Independent again.

Sources told The Tribune that Pathania was planning a show of show of strength in Nurpur tomorrow. His supporters are planning a welcome for him from Pathankot to Nurpur, where he will address a political rally and announce his candidature as an Independent.

Though he was trying to secure the BJP ticket, Pathania had already been preparing to contest as an Independent, knowing well that the Shanta Kumar might not allow his entry into the party.

A few months back, he had raked up the issue of giving district status to the Nurpur subdivision. The sources said he defied his political mentor, Chief Minister PK Dhumal, while organising rallies to demand district status for Nurpur.

He had even organised a rally to demand district status for Nurpur in Dharamsala, the home constituency of Kishan Kapoor, Minister for Industries and Shanta Kumar’s confidant.

By doing so, Pathania has been positioning himself as a crusader for getting district status for the Nurpur subdivision, that is also likely to serve him as an election issue as an Independent this time.

After stiff resistance from Shanta Kumar, national vice-president of the BJP and Rajya Sabha member, the party has again denied the ticket to Pathania though he fitted the wining ability criteria.

Ranvir Nikka, a confidant of district unit president Ranjit Singh Pathania, has been given the ticket. Nikka was projected as party candidate by the Shanta Kumar group. He is said be a rich man owing to interests in stone-crushing business.

Last time, the BJP ticket from Nurpur was given to Malvika Pathania after Pathania’s candidature was opposed by Shanta Kumar. Pathania won as an Independent and remained closely associated with the government during the last five years.

Pathania’s supporters are alleging that injustice has been meted out to him. They are asking that if Rajan Sushant, the Kangra MP who carried out a campaign against Dhumal, can be adjusted in the party, why not Pathania. The BJP is likely to give the ticket from Jawali to Sushant’s wife Sudha Sushant.

Many believe that Pathania has paid price for his belligerence. At times, he crossed the limit while criticising his political opponents. He had spoken against Kapoor on the issue of mining on the floor of the House, giving an embarrassing time to the government and ammunition to the Congress.

Sundernagar, September 30
Annoyed over rumours of change of ticket of district president of the BJP and Nachan MLA Dile Ram, the block unit of the BJP convened a meeting at the Baggi Rest House, near here, today which was attended by around 300 workers. Workers of Nachan unit said Dile Ram was the best candidate of the BJP from Nachan Assembly segment who had been serving the party for more than 35 years.

When the first list of 45 BJP candidates was declared, names of candidates of six Assembly segments were declared. The names of none of the four sitting MLAs (including one associate member) of the BJP had figured in this list.

Yesterday some persons spread a rumour that ticket of the senior BJP leader had been changed. Some BJP workers were called to a meeting, but when they went there, it was found that it was just a rumour. When the matter was brought to the notice of Nachan unit of the BJP, the unit convened a meeting of workers at the IPH Rest House, Baggi.

Dile Ram, addressing the workers, appealed to them to beware of such rumours as some of miscreants were trying to weaken the party.

President of the Nachan block Manoj Sharma, general secretary Yashwant Chaman, along with other leaders of the block BJP unit, were present. 

Hamirpur, September 30
Though the BJP has decided to field old candidates in all five constituencies in Hamirpur district for the Assembly elections, but party still has the task of placating a few ticket aspirants.

The party has decided to field Chief Minister PK Dhumal from Hamirpur as his constituency Bamsan was discontinued in the last delimitation exercise.

It persuaded Hamirpur MLA Urmil Thakur, who was reluctant to shift to the newly created constituency Sujanpur, to contest from there.

Veteran BJP leader Ishwar Dass Dhiman, who had been elected five consecutive times from Mewa (now Bhoranj), has once been given the go-ahead to contest from Bhoranj.

There were some voices of dissent over fielding Baldev Sharma again from Badsar, who had won three consecutive times on the BJP ticket from Nadaunta (now Badsar), but the party put its weight behind him.

In Nadaun constituency, where Congress MLA Sukhvinder Singh had won the last two terms, the party again betted on Vijay Agnihotri despite strong claims by a few party leaders.

Though Dhumal and Education Minister Dhiman, who are well-entrenched in the district, will provide enough strength to other BJP candidates in Hamirpur district, the party will have to calm down a few aspirants.

The biggest problem for the party is Rajinder Rana, former chairman of the media advisory committee, who is determined to contest from Sujanpur as an Independent.

Bilaspur, September 30
A deputation, led by former Parliamentary Secretary Kashmir Singh Thakur, met Deputy Commissioner (DC) Ritesh Chauhan and Superintendent of Police (SP) Santosh Patial here yesterday and complained to him regarding an attack on Congress leader Anil Kumar Mintu, who was driving Kashmir Singh’s car (HP23-B-2607), by some youths near the Seer Khud bridge at Ghumarwin earlier night.

They also presented a memorandum to the DC and the SP urging him to take action against the culprits, whom they identified and said they were supporters of a Congress leader who was competing with Kashmir Singh for Congress ticket from Ghumarwin.

They said these youths stopped the car and searched for Kashmir Singh in it. Then they dragged its driver Anil Kumar out of it. They snatched the car keys from him and beat him up and warned him against supporting Kashmir Singh, failing which “you should be ready for the consequences”.

The deputation, which also included Congress party district spokesman Pravin Sharma and prominent leader Jagdev Thakur, urged that both Kashmir Singh and Anil Kumar be provided suitable protection.

Later talking to mediapersons here, Kashmir Singh said he had fought five elections from Ghumarwin and never had such incidents occurred.

He said he was denied Congress ticket last time and he had then withdrawn from the contest on Virbhadra Singh’s solemn assurance that he would certainly get this ticket “next time.”

Kashmir Singh said he would contest from this seat “ticket or no ticket”, in which case he would contest as an independent candidate. 

Mandi/Kullu, September 30
Six workers from the Lug valley were killed when a Sumo vehicle (HP 01K 2494) they were travelling in plunged into a 200-ft-deep gorge at Panchnala on the Kullu-Gadsa road in last night.

All the six occupants of the vehicle bled to death on the spot in the deep gorge as villagers came to know about the accident in the late evening hours.

Four bodies were retrieved from the steep gorge after their cries were heard by nearby villagers in the late night hours after a grueling effort. Two bodies were recovered in the morning today.

The ill-fated workers have been identified as Gopal Singh, driver, Khimi Ram, both from Telang village, Vijay, a resident of Shamti, Moti Ram and Boju, both from Mashana, Shayam Chand, a resident of Duinkhri in the Lug valley in Kullu district.

They were on their way to work in a timber span laid by the Forest Corporation, Shilagarh at Jorang in the Gadsa valley. The police has registered a case and started inquest proceedings.

The driver probably lost control over the vehicle as the road was in a bad shape. After postmortem conducted at the Regional Hospital in Kullu today, the police handed over the bodies to family members.

President, Block Development Committee, Megh Singh Thakur visited the next of kin of the accident victims and paid Rs 10,000 each as an immediate relief to them today.

Shimla, September 30
The Umang Foundation, a charitable trust pursuing disability related issues, has urged the government to review its decision to merge the Psychiatry Department of the Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) with the State Hospital for Mental Health in the interests of poor patients.

In a letter to the Chief Secretary, the Chairman of the foundation, Ajai Srivastava, pointed out that after the merger, the department would be shifted to the state hospital in Boilueganj, which meant that the OPD at the IGMC would be done away with, along with indoor admission facility for 30 persons with minor mental illness.

It was a welcome step to create a new institution of higher level in the area of mental health in the state, but simultaneously, the closing of the OPD of psychiatry and indoor admission facility at the IGMC would cost very dear to the poor, he stated.

As a social activist, he knew that a number of persons who went the IGMC had more than one ailment, including minor mental illness. All their medical requirements were met in one hospital.

Their mental health check-up was conducted and they got treatment for other ailments as well. If they were required to be admitted for a short period, 30 beds were available with the Psychiatry Department.

On an average, three or four emergency calls were received and between 12 and 18 patients referred from different OPDs and wards were attended to at the psychiatry OPD.

If the Psychiatry Department was shifted, the main casualty would be poor patients. They would have to go to the state hospital for mental health check-up and the IGMC for other ailments.

The proposal to shift the department from the IGMC to the state hospital was ill-conceived, which would have a negative impact on poor patients, including children, women and senior citizens, suffering from different ailments, including minor mental illness.

He cautioned that if the decision was not reversed, the foundation would approach the High Court to seek justice for the poor patients.

Una, September 30
Another FIR has been registered in the DAV Senior Secondary School case. The school has been mired in controversy since the present government took charge.

This time, an FIR has been registered on the complaint of former Principal SP Singh, whose services had been terminated by the unregistered society that is controlling the school.

The FIR has been registered under Section 420, IPC, against RC Seth, secretary, DAV Schools Managing Society, and Promod Kumar, school Principal. Many police complaints had been registered by rival parties trying to take control of two prominent schools of the town.

In the FIR, SP Singh has stated that the he was appointed by the DAV Central Management Committee, New Delhi, as principal in 1992. He has alleged that the accused, along with accomplices, have been manipulating documents and facts to take control over the school.

He has alleged that the DAV Schools Management Society is unregistered. As per records obtained under the RTI Act from the office of Deputy Commissioner-cum-Assistant Registrar, Cooperative Societies, no such society is registered, he has claimed.

He has alleged that the society was formed just on paper to take over control of the school from the local management committee, that was appointed by the Delhi-based DAV Central Management Committee.

He has claimed that despite an unregistered society, the accused received grant-in-aid from the government. He has alleged that they opened separate accounts in the name of the new society and received grant-in-aid from the government in the name of the unregistered society.

The fight to take control of DAV schools in Una has been going on between the local management committee appointed by the Delhi-based DAV Central Management Committee and the local DAV Schools Management Society.

At present, both bodies are in control of one school each. However, as per the present FIR, the state government has released grant-in-aid to an unregistered society, that can amount to a serious offence.

Nurpur, September 30
The Nurpur unit of the Himachal Pradesh Government Pensioners Association convened an emergency meeting to discuss the recent hike in their pension allowances for persons aged between 65 and 80 years.

It rejected the 5 per cent pension allowance hike announced by the state government.

SL Gupta, president of the association, who presided over the meeting, alleged that the government had played a cruel joke with senior citizens in the state as pension allowance hike was never the demand of pensioners. 

Solan, September 30
The Nagrik Kalyan Samiti, Paonta Sahib, has raised doubts over the execution of the mega beautification of the Yamunanagar-Panchkula-Paonta Sahib tourism circuit by the local Municipal Committee and has demanded posting of efficient staff to execute the Rs 1.47-crore project.

RM Ramoul, chairman of the samiti, said though Rs 75 lakh had been released to the committee for the project, they had neither the expertise nor any comprehensive perception to execute the same.

The samiti’s suggestion to get its master plan prepared from a reputed architect before initiating the action plan had also not been honoured, thus forcing them to take up the issue with the Deputy Commissioner.

Ramoul said they were now requesting the state government to post efficient staff in the local committee in public interest so that this prestigious project would be executed.

It also alleged that the working of the present staff was unsatisfactory and being a divided house, developmental works were suffering.

In a letter to Chief Minister PK Dhumal, they have stated that the executive officer (EO), who was shifted from here due to various reasons, managed to stay back due to his imminent retirement and his performance was far from satisfactory.

Though people had elected a young president in the hope of speedy developmental activities, he appears to be helpless due to little support from the EO. This situation had put a brake on the functioning of the committee.

Even the task of regular cleaning of the town has been adversely hit with the entire area being reduced to a virtual heap of dirt.

Ramoul added that even routine works suffered. The main bazaar was encroached upon by shops and there were no parking areas or assistance to regulate it and garbage of the town was dumped on the banks of the Yamuna. Despite samiti’s requests, streetlights on the Yamuna bridge remained out of order.

Chamba, September 30
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has identified Kolka as a “model village” where it will launch the Kaushal Vikas Yojana (KVY) for the livelihood of people.

The scheme will provide industrial training to rural people in the backward and hilly area of Kolka. It is yet to be started and will be implemented through the public-private-partnership mode.

Speaking at a function of tailoring and embroidery courses of rural girls at Kolka on Saturday, Deputy Divisional Manager, NABARD, Rahul Shashni said to generate self-employment among people of the area, NABARD had been imparting training in various self-employment generating courses.

It had taken an initiative to provide training in vocational trades and 20 girls in each trade had completed three months’ training in tailoring and embroidery recently in collaboration with the SBI and a local NGO, Arpana.

Shashni also interacted with trainees and inspected products displayed by them at the exhibition installed in the village. A cultural programme was also organised.

Solan, September 30
The online billing system introduced by HP State Electricity Board Limited (HPSEBL) appears to have added to the problems of consumers in various parts of the district with consumers receiving inflated bills owing to errors in the baseline date.

Residents of Taksal village near Parwanoo have lost sleep after receiving inflated bills which are nearly 200 times the actual amount. The villagers have stopped paying these bills being received over the past four-five months as they can not afford bills ranging from Rs 24,000 to Rs 56,000.

Pujan Sharma, a resident of Taksal village who had received inflated bills of Rs 56000, Rs 36,000 and Rs 24,000, after rectification received his respective bills for Rs 256, Rs 340 and Rs 214.

DC Sharma, an octagenrarian from Taksal village, said for the past four months he was trying to rectify his inflated bill by visiting the office of the HPSEBL at Parwanoo. But despite incurring hundreds of rupees on taxi fare, he was unable to get the needful done.

Worse still, in the absence of the non-payment of bills, the HPSEBL has disconnected power connections of these consumers.

JS Rana, Executive Engineer, said the faulty feeding of baseline data by the HCL, which was accorded the contract to execute on-line billing, had led to errors. All consumers had been requested to get the bills rectified after providing the correct data.

He added that data of more than 50 per cent consumers in Parwanoo has been fed while the remaining work was underway and the consumers were requested to visit the office to rectify the data.

Interestingly, the work to introduce on-line billing had been delayed by several years and since it was handed over without proper validation of the data from respective sub-divisions the error in data had led to this problem of overbilling. 

Solan, September 30
Rashtriya Military School (RMS), Chail, will host the XVIII Rashtriya Military Schools Pentangular meet from October 3 to 6 where five military schools from Dholpur, Ajmer, Bangalore and Belgaum, besides the host, will participate. A variety of events, including an English essay-writing, on-the-spot painting contests, quiz and a cultural programme, will be held.