Shimla, November 27
With the latest expulsions creating bad blood in the Congress, the party high command today constituted a three-member committee to look into all poll-related complaints and stayed the expulsions ordered by Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) chief Virbhadra Singh after polling on November 4.

The three-member committee comprising Congress Legislature Party leader Vidya Stokes and former ministers Viplove Thakur and Kuldeep Kumar was constituted by All-India Congress Committee general secretary and state affairs in charge Birender Singh.

The committee was directed to report back after looking into all complaints received by the party within three weeks. All three members are former HPCC presidents.

Birender Singh also put on hold all 28 expulsions ordered by Virbhadra Singh on November 19 and 20. The main grounds for the stay on the expulsions were that those who were shown the door were neither issued a show-cause notice, nor was the proper procedure as per the party constitution followed.

“The committee has been constituted to look into the genuineness of the complaints and ensure that everyone gets a fair deal and nobody is victimised if not guilty,” Birender Singh said.

He put a stay on all suspensions, expulsions and removal from party posts ordered before November 4. A number of expelled leaders had met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Union minister Anand Sharma and Birender Singh. Former HPCC chief Kaul Singh Thakur raised the issue of expulsions with Sonia when he met her in New Delhi last evening.

Virbhadra Singh had expelled 28 persons, including former minister Singhi Ram, Shimla (Urban) district Congress committee general secretary Sanjeev Kuthiala and his wife Sushma Kuthiala, also a Shimla Municipal Corporation councillor. The expulsions mainly pertained to Rampur, Dharamsala, Sulah and Bharmour constituencies.

The decision to expel these leaders without issuing a show-cause notice to them had taken everyone by surprise. The timing of the action had also drawn criticism as the results would be known only on December 20. Kaul Singh had said the principle of natural justice should have been followed and those expelled should have been given the opportunity to present their viewpoint.

Many leaders had also pointed out that the expulsions were done selectively, only in constituencies where the contesting candidates were close to Virbhadra Singh. They pointed out that no action had been taken in constituencies like Ghumarwin, Kasumpti, Nurpur, Baijnath, Arki and Kangra.

Shimla, November 27
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillors today staged a walkout from the Municipal Corporation (MC) House over the issuance of ration cards by the MC in violation of norms of the Food and Civil Supplies Department.

Enraged BJP councillors stalled proceedings of the House as they accused Mayor Sanjay Chauhan of adopting a policy of pick and choose in issuing ration cards. They insisted that ration cards could be issued only on the basis of the submission of residency affidavits.

BJP councillor Saroj Thakur rued that some residents of her ward had not been issued ration cards despite the completion of formalities and the submission of documents. She demanded transparency in the issuance of ration cards and the uniform application of the same yardstick.

The record on the issuance of ration cards by the Mayor was examined to validate the BJP accusation. The Mayor admitted that a mistake had been committed unknowingly and assured that corrective action would be taken.

Local BJP legislator Suresh Bhardwaj, who was present in the meeting, demanded a censure motion against the Mayor for favouring certain individuals. It was also decided during the meeting to convene a special MC House to discuss the pending issue of imposition of property tax with the unit area method.

Shimla, November 27
Employees of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) have called off their work-to-rule agitation following an assurance by the state government that most of their demands will be met.

The decision to call off the stir was taken after members of the joint consultative committee of the HRTC had a meeting with Principal Secretary for Transport PC Dhiman last evening.

The decision will come as a big relief to commuters all over the state who have been facing inconvenience as service on several bus routes has been affected.

The government agreed to regularise the services of 715 contractual employees after seeking prior approval of the Election Commission (EC) as the model code of conduct would remain in force till December 24.

HRTC employees were assured that a request would be sent to the EC by November 30, seeking its approval for the regularisation of service of contractual employees. They were assured that once the nod from the EC was received, the employees would be regularised.

The government also agreed to cancel the deduction in night allowance. Another major demand of the employees that their accumulated weekly offs be carried forward to the next year was accepted.

The government also assured the employees that committees would be constituted under Regional Managers to regularise the service of employees under the Motor Vehicle Act.

It was pointed out that a meeting of the Board of Directors could be held only after the enforcement of the model code of conduct was over.

Solan, November 27
The move to register private security agencies in the state by the police appears to have met a dismal response as barely 35 agencies have been registered till now.

The state Police Department had notified the Himachal Pradesh Private Security Agencies Regulation Rules on April 1 making registration mandatory for all security agencies.

According to an estimate, there were about 2,500 such agencies operating in the state.

This notification has made registration compulsory and a licence will be issued after due verification of the agency head.

The agency will also be required to conduct verification of its entire staff and issue a character certificate thereafter.

This certificate will be applicable for three years. Failure to seek a licence would attract a penalty of Rs 25,000 or imprisonment of one year or both.

The move to regulate their working assumes significance as the Supreme Court has recently sought a reply from the Union Home Ministry to explain its stand on the legal regulatory framework under which these agencies operate, norms for issue of firearm license, guidelines governing them and their rights and duties after a shootout in Delhi where a liquor baron and his brother were killed.

ADGP (law and order) KC Sadiyal when quizzed said they were in the process of registering such agencies and had already trained the first batch of security guards for two weeks at the Police Training Centre, Daroh.

The training for the second batch of 51 security guards would begin on December 1 and the agencies had been directed to send their employees for the same.

It was learnt that a majority of these agencies operate from Chandigarh and the state government had no check on their working.

The police had now made it mandatory for these agencies to open an office in Himachal.

Though initially two months’ time had been given to seek registration, no action has been initiated against those having failed to even apply for this procedure.

This amply proved the seriousness of the authorities in implementing this Act.

License had been refused in many cases where no local office was found at the address mentioned, claimed SP (law and Order) Anand Dhiman and added that letters had been written to all Superintendents of Police in districts to identify erring agencies and issue notices to them for failing to seek registration.

Chamba, November 27
The 4,423m high Saach Pass has been officially closed to vehicular traffic and pedestrians as the formation of ice on the pass and its environs has begun.

This is notwithstanding the fact that there has not been heavy snowfall on the mountainous ranges in Chamba district due to the ongoing dry winter.

Official sources have confirmed that it is now perilous to cross the pass and therefore, the Chamba-Killar highway, linking the Pangi valley with Chamba via the pass, had been closed to transport.

The sources have said the pass will be reopened in May or June next after snow melts and the Public Works Department clears the snow on the highway.

During winter, residents of the Pangi valley will have to travel via Jammu and Kashmir, covering a distance of over 500 km, to reach Chamba.

Shimla, November 27
With the absence of regular flights to Himachal Pradesh affecting tourist flow to the state, worried hoteliers in Shimla, Manali and Dharamsala have decided to knock at the doors of the Union Civil Aviation Ministry as repeated pleas of the state government have failed to yield a result.

Though the state government has written to the Union ministry to restart flights to the state, there has not been a positive response so far. The Manali Hoteliers Association has written to the Union Tourism Secretary, seeking air connectivity to the state.

“Representatives of hotelier associations of Shimla, Manali and Dharamsala will meet the Union Civil Aviation Minister and senior officials to seek the resumption of flights,” said Anup Thakur, president of the Manali Hoteliers Association.

In a letter to the Union Civil Aviation Secretary, he urged that Air India, which provided service between Kullu and Delhi in the past, be asked to restart flights immediately, he said.

He added that Air India should press its carriers into service that if no private airline was wiling to operate in Himachal Pradesh. “Business in Manali is less by almost 50 per cent. In cases flights are not restarted, the tourism industry will suffer huge losses,” he said. Manali has 620 hotels and these draw crowds for Christmas and New Year celebrations.

Shimla Hoteliers Association president Harman Kukreja said representatives of hoteliers would meet the Civil Aviation Minister and officials as there was no positive response. The tourism industry in Dharamsala is likely to be hit as several disciples of the Dalai Lama come here during winter to seek his blessings and listen to his teachings.

Thakur said the government should give incentives and relief to the tourism industry as it was severely hit by the return of normalcy in the Kashmir valley. “The government should halve the 10 per cent luxury tax as we have to pay 7.4 per cent central service tax,” he said.

With Kingfisher suspending its operations, air link to the state has been completely disrupted. It was the only airline operating in Himachal Pradesh. As such, the airports at Bhuntar in Kullu, Gaggal in Kangra and Jubbarhatti in Shimla have not had any flight for almost four months.

Tourism and Civil Aviation Director Arun Sharma said the issue of providing air connectivity had been taken up with the Centre. Some hotel owners admitted that they had started getting telephone calls for the cancellation of bookings for Christmas-New Year celebrations due to the absence of flights.

Shimla, November 27
Up in arms against the hike in examination fee and price of forms, the Students Federation of India (SFI) has launched a signature campaign to oppose the move.

The SFI warned the Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) authorities that in case the move to hike the examination fee was not taken back, they would be forced to launch an agitation.

SFI activists undertook the campaign at Rajkiya Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Courtshera College and Sanskrit College.

The SFI has decided to make a representation before the Vice-Chancellor, urging him not to enhance the examination fee and price of forms.

They said in case the HPU authorities did not relent, they would launch a statewide agitation.

Meanwhile, the controversy over the running of hostel messes in the HPU has also been resolved after a month-long stalemate. The authorities today decided to run the messes in various hostels even during the winter holidays when classes are not held.

Solan, November 27
Dr PC Kapoor, Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Industry, has stressed the need to rid the industrial area of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) of jhuggis and introduce a sense of green and clean environs.

Kapoor, who visited the area yesterday, assessed the progress of various projects and instructed the field staff, including the CEO, Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh Development Authority (BBNDA), and Deputy Director (Industries), to take up the issue of procuring funds from the State Pollution Control Board collected in lieu of mitigating pollution and using them to green the area.

Since fee worth crores was collected and lying unused with the board, the ACS said it could be put to good use by introducing measures to green the environment.

The ACS said the industrial area should be free of slums and jhuggis, which had cropped up all across the BBN. These should be removed at the earliest.

The poor hygienic condition of jhuggi dwellers was creating health issues where the spread of contagious disease had become a recurring feature.

Acting on his directions, Deputy Director, Industries, Tilak Raj Sharma today issued notices to various land owners to vacate jhuggis within a time-bound manner or face action.

The Deputy Director was also directed to prepare a project for introducing vocational courses in at least two new skill development centres for locations in the state where knowledge of commonly used trades could be imparted to youth. Industry associations, including the BBN Industries Association, would also help. Kapoor said the focus of the government was to sustain the existing industry and attract new investment so as to enhance availability of jobs to unemployed youth in the state.

He also directed officials to ensure speedy completion of land transfer in Nalagarh where the department was creating a land bank of 4,000 bighas for easy availability to investors.

Hamirpur, November 27
A large number of electricity consumers in the town and surrounding areas have resented inflated bills for this month from the Electricity Department.

They are surprised to get heavy electricity bills this month. Many consumers are complaining that they have received heavy electricity bills compared to those received in the last few months.

The average monthly bill of domestic consumers, which is in the range of Rs 300 to Rs 500, has increased substantially in many areas. In certain cases, the bill is in thousands.

Consumers are blaming faulty reading and wrong calculation. Ram Dass Thakur of Annu says, “My average bill is around Rs 300, but it is Rs 1,100 this month.”

Subhash Chand says, “My bill is over Rs 900 this month.” Rakesh Kumar Verma, a local shopkeeper, accuses the Electricity Department of making wrong calculations.

A number of consumers say, “While the units of electricity consumed shown in the bills are less, we have been charged higher amounts.”

Electricity board Assistant Engineer RK Sharma says, “Consumers have been given bills as per their meter readings and the units of electricity consumed by them.”

He adds, “Since electricity consumption increases in winter, bills are higher. We are correcting bills if discrepancies are reported in Electricity Department offices.”

Bilaspur, November 27
Led by gram panchayats presidents Rakesh Chandel (Jhandutta) and vice-president Sohan Singh, Prakasho Devi (Behana Brahammana) and vice-president Subhash Minhas, Babu Ram (Balghaad) and vice-president Vijay Kumar, Block Development Committee (BDC) member Raseel Singh, Beopar Mandal president, Jhandutta, Anil Dhiman, former Beopar Mandal president Kuldip Singh, Rohal panchayat vice-president Kamlesh Kumar and ward member Subhash Kumar, a large number of village leaders have urged the government to consider their demand for opening the office of Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM-civil) at Jhandutta.

They said this would solve their issues as this was essential to help thousands of villagers who faced inconvenience to get their revenue and other works as they had to go to Ghumarwin for the same after travelling 20 to 60 km.

They said they had been demanding this facility since the past 10 years but nothing had been done till now.

They added that the required facilities and land were available at Jhandutta and this step would help usher a new era of faster development in this thickly populated but backward area of the district.

Nurpur, November 27
The Jawali police arrested Budhi Singh, husband of complainant Neha, and his brother Vijay Kumar of Bharmara village last evening for allegedly thrashing and harassing her. DSP Sanjay Sharma said the accused had married to Neha Devi, daughter of Des Raj of Darkati village, on October 24 last and had been torturing her demanding more dowry. Her husband was also demanding a vehicle from her parents.

She was allegedly confined to her room on Sunday night and thrashed by her husband.

The DSP said after reporting the case, the medical examination of the dowry victim was conducted on Monday. She was referred to the Tanda Medical College for CT scan and a radiologist’s opinion as she had received head injuries during the beating. The accused were produced in the court this evening and remanded till November 29 in police custody.