Shimla, January 18
Incessant snow and rain in the higher reaches of Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti, Pangi and Bharmour paralysed life today, with water and power supply and vehicular movement coming to a standstill. Heavy snow and rain continued to lash most parts of the state for the second consecutive day.

There were reports of almost four feet of snow in Kalpa and Sangla in Kinnaur district and power and water supply were snapped. In Spiti, there was no power supply, with Keylong recording almost seven feet of snow.

An unidentified body was found between Theog and Narkanda. He died due to the cold while trying to walk through the snow. Jakhu and the higher parts of Shimla recorded over one foot of snow, with precipitation continuing till the time of filing of this report.

With news of snow in Shimla, a large number of tourists flocked the town, much to the delight of hoteliers. Intermittent rain and snow continued throughout the day, bringing traffic to a halt by the evening. About 50 vehicles carrying tourists were stranded between Shoghi and Tara Devi.

Hundreds of Himachal Road Transport Corporation buses were stranded at various locations, especially in the higher reaches. Heavy snow was reported from Narkanda, Khara Patthar, Mashobra and Kufri, hampering vehicular movement.

Most parts of the state were lashed by continuous rain. According to the local meteorological centre, there would be heavy rain and snow at a few places in Chamba, Lahaul-Spiti, Kullu, Kangra, Kinnaur and Shimla districts during the next 24 hours.

The minimum temperature in Shimla was 1.0 degree Celsius, Sundernagar 6.1 degree Celsius, Bhuntar 3.0 degree Celsius, Kalpa -3.6 degree Celsius, Dharamsala 5.4 degree Celsius, Una 7.2 degree Celsius, Saluni -1.5 degree Celsius, Nahan 4.9 degree Celsius, Keylong -3.4 degree Celsius, Palampur 6.5 degree Celsius, Solan 4.0 degree Celsius and Manali -1.0 degree Celsius.

Manali: Life was thrown out of gear as the upper Kullu valley received moderate-to-heavy snowfall for the second consecutive day on Friday. There were cold wave conditions in the Manali region.

Most local residents remained indoors. Residents of the upper Manali area were seen clearing snow from rooftops. Power supply to the upper Kullu valley was disrupted.

Traffic on the Kullu-Manali highway was disrupted between Manali and Patlikulh. All long-route buses had to be halted near Patlikulh. Only jeeps were being plied between Patlikulh and Manali. Local buses were halted on the Manali-Naggar and Manali-Solang roads.

Mandi: Bus routes to Barot, Karsog, Janjheli, Chatri and Panjain-Thatchi in Mandi district and Manikaran, Lug valley, Tirthan, Banjar, Jhibhi and Anni in Kullu district were blocked on Friday due to heavy snowfall.

The Lahaul-Spiti district administration declared Saturday a holiday as between three and four feet of snow was received till Friday afternoon. All routes in the valley remained blocked, cutting off Keylong from the rest of the world.

The 13,050-feet-high Rohtang Pass recorded more than six feet of snow and Solang four feet. The local administration sounded tourists not to venture beyond Nehru kund as the upper area could be lashed by snowstorms and avalanches.

Karsog and upper Gohar subdivisions remained cut off from the district headquarters. Shikari Devi, Kamru Nag, Chauhar valley, Barot and Parashar lake received between two and three feet of snow.

All routes were blocked in Banjar, Manikaran and Anni since Thursday night due to heavy snowfall. The Jalori Pass recorded over four feet of snow and the Aut-Jalori-Anni route was closed to traffic.

Water and electricity supply were hit in several areas. No report of any mishap due to snowfall was reported till the filing of this report. People travelling to upward destinations cancelled their trips.

Nurpur: The incessant rain since Wednesday night brought relief to farmers in the lower Kangra area as it ended the long dry spell. They had been awaiting rainfall to provide fertilisers after sowing wheat.

SS Rana, Associate Director, Regional Horticulture Research Station, said this rain reduced the danger of frost. He said the rain would ensure timely flowering and fruit setting and good quality yield.

The rain brought down the temperature in the region, forcing people to remain indoors. Local markets wore a deserted look on Friday.

Kangra: Life in the Kangra valley was disrupted on Friday following heavy snowfall on the Dhauldhar ranges and its foothills and rain in the valley. The temperature fell considerably and a cold wave gripped the valley. Roads and markets wore a deserted look.

Snowfall was reported from Naddi. Tourists waiting for snowfall in McLeodganj and Bagsu Nag were disappointed. Reports of rain were received from Dehra, Ranital, Jwalamukhi, Nagrota Bagwan, Mallan, Gaggal, Shahpur, Dharman, Dharamsala and McLeodganj.

Shimla, January 18
Keen to take the case registered by the Vigilance Bureau six years ago against sitting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator and former minister Rajeev Bindal to its logical conclusion, the government is getting the case legally reexamined so that it can be put up in court after granting permission to prosecute him.

The request for sanction to prosecute him was sent to the Speaker in October last against the advice of prosecution officers in the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau. The then Speaker, Tulsi Ram, had turned down the plea.

Giving his opinion, the prosecution officer had clearly stated that there was no need to seek the Speaker’s permission to prosecute Bindal. He had also remarked that the Speaker’s refusal to grant the sanction would not have any bearing on the case and its putting up in court.

The decision on granting the sanction was kept pending by the PK Dhumal regime, but it granted the sanction to prosecute two officials with the Solan municipal council. The officials, Subhash Kalsotra and Purshottam Singh, were executive officers with the municipal council when Bindal was heading it.

The case against Bindal, a Dhumal confidante, pertains to certain appointments to the municipal council when he was heading it. The case was registered on December 1, 2006, under Sections 420, 468, 471 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code and Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Despite the Vigilance Bureau sending Bindal’s case to the Home Department to seek prosecution sanction during the previous regime, the matter was kept pending.

Bindal was one of the most controversial ministers in the previous regime and had drawn flak from the Congress. He had resigned from the Cabinet due to tremendous pressure, from not just from the Opposition, but also from BJP dissidents.

When contacted, Bindal said, “Since neither have I received any official communication, nor am I aware of any new development in the case, it will not be appropriate for me to comment.”

Panchkula, January 18
The police remand of Doon MLA Ram Kumar Chaudhary was further extended by two days by a local court here today.

As the recovery of a SIM card has to be made from Rampur in Himachal Pradesh and his aides, who were arrested yesterday, have to be cross-examined, the police had sought further remand.

On the other hand, the defence counsel moved an application requesting the court to allow Chaudhary take the oath. After the end of his further remand period of four days, Chaudhary was produced before Duty Magistrate Kanwal Kumar today.

Gurmeet and Dharampal helped Chuadhary in executing the crime. Also, the SIM card has to be recovered, which Chadhaury had hidden at his friend’s house in Rampur.

The defence counsel said the police had already taken a remand of 10 days and there was no point of asking for a further remand. However, the court ordered to extend the police remand for two more days.

The MLA will be produced in court on January 20 and the decision on taking the oath will also be taken therein. The police had already recovered the truck that was used to run over the victim to make the incident look like an accident.

‘I am innocent’

“I am innocent, that’s all I can say,” Chaudhary said while talking to mediapersons in the court. He alleged that he was being grilled and was made to sign on a blank paper by the police.

Seven-minute struggle for Jyoti

In a horrific revelation, it was a seven-minute struggle for Jyoti, who was actually fighting for life at that moment with the four accused.

According to police sources, Chaudhary held her legs, his two nephews placed their knees on her stomach while Paramjeet was busy strangulating her. Also, it was told that though she was half dead, she could see a truck coming towards her, but was helpless.

Solan, January 18
In a bid to attract investment after the expiry of the Central industrial package, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has now written to the Prime Minister, Finance Minister and Industry and Commerce Minister to extend the package for Himachal.

Since the package had been curtailed by three years in Himachal, the state government had now sought its extension in view of the fact that a similar package continued to exist in the north-eastern states and in Jammu and Kashmir and untimely curtailment of the package had adversely affected investment and subsequent employment in the state.

The Capital Investment Subsidy (CIS), which was available for a period of 10 years, also expired on January 6 this year and this was the last benefit available to the industry under the Central package after the Central excise exemption and income tax holiday had come to an end in March 2010.

All new units were eligible for the CIS at the rate of 15 per cent of their investment in plant and machinery subject to a ceiling of Rs 30 lakh. Even the existing units had availed this subsidy after undertaking a substantial expansion.

The Union Government had not only curtailed the package period from 10 to seven years but also enhanced the CIS to 30 per cent for Jammu and Kashmir, thus ‘discriminating’ against Himachal, while the package continued for its full 10-year period in other states.

According to figures available from the Department of Industries, investment had suffered adversely after a lapse of the Central package as only 15 and 20 new units were approved in 2010-11 and 2011-12, respectively.

This figure was as high as 284, 225, 224, 145 and 28, respectively, in 2003-2004, 2004-2005, 2005-2006, 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 for the first five years of the package period.

With limited employment opportunities available in the public sector, the youth of the state were dependent on the industries for employment and withdrawal of the package had dealt a severe blow to employment generation.

The expiry of the package had led industries to focus more on export-oriented products and quite a few industries had shifted their high value low volume products to their sister concerns in other incentive states to reap optimum benefits. This had drastically curtailed employment opportunities in the industries. 

Solan, January 18
Investors in the state, wanting to connect the state’s industrial areas by railways, have seen a ray of hope, with the Union Railways Minister, Pawan Kumar Bansal, assuring a delegation of industrialists that if the state government provided land for laying the track they would expedite the work.

The officials of the railways ministry, however, suggested that the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh area could be connected with railways from the proposed Bhanupali-Beri-Bilaspur line via Bharatgarh-Nalagarh-Baddi, provided the state government provided free-of-cost land for the venture.

The minister, while viewing this as a workable proposal, spoke to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and a written proposal for the same would now be sent to the Ministry of Railways to explore its feasibility.

A delegation of the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh Industries Association, led by its president Arun Rawat, also impressed upon the minister the need of railway connectivity for the industrial area and the potential of prospect-ive revenue to the  railways through freight carriage besides the passenger movement. 

Kangra, January 18
Students of the School of Business Management, Department of MBA, Government Postgraduate College, Dharamsala, returned from a 12-day industrial tour of Bangalore and Goa recently.

Satish Chander, Director-cum-Principal of the college, said a group of 34 students, led by Dr NN Sharma, coordinator of the MBA Department, had gone on an industrial tour from January 5 to 16.

Dr Sharma said during the 12-day tour, the students attended a seminar on placement avenues in multinational companies organised by a leading financial service company.

He said students also visited Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Centre, Bangalore, where another seminar was organised, where a spiritual teacher, Angesh, gave tips on how to manage stress and develop positive personality.

In Goa, the students visited the Hindustan Coca Cola Verna Industrial Estate. They were given information on manufacturing process, quality control, safety management techniques and market potential by Liza Paes and L Ramankrishnan, both officials of the company. Faculty members Sunil Rana, Akhil Gautam, Shweta Sharma and Sahil Mahajan accompanied the students during the tour. 

Sundernagar, January 18
A team of Income Tax officials raided the premises of two brick kilns and an educational institution yesterday.

According to officials of the Income Tax Department, the brick kilns were earning more, but were showing less in their accounts and their income tax returns. The officials also recorded the statements of employees, who were on the spot.

JK Brick Kiln, NR Son Brick Kiln and Sirda College of Engineering were inspected and their account books were taken into possession by the department. Officials said action would be initiated if an evasion of tax was found.

Kangra, January 18
One person was killed when he was hit by a tractor at Kamlah village.

The victim, Ashok Kumar, 46, a resident of Bhasala village, was rushed to Nadun Hospital, where from he was referred to Dr RP Government Medical College Hospital at Tanda, where he succumbed to his injuries on Thursday, police said here today.

Police said the victim was moving on the road side when he was hit by the tractor.

Police registered a case under various section of the IPC in this connection.