Shimla, March 1
After cancelling the land lease given to Ramdev’s Patanjali Yogapeeth Trust and taking over possession of the property, the government has indicated its willingness for an amicable settlement to the dispute.

“The lease had been cancelled as the allotment of land was illegal. The government was not averse to an out-of-court settlement if the trust takes an initiative,” Revenue Minister Kaul Singh Thakur said here today.

The yogpeeth had moved court and any initiative of an out-of-court settlement had to come from it, he said. The government had no prejudice against Ramdev or the yogpeeth and it was open to an amicable settlement, he added.

The land had to be vacated so that the government could set up a park and other facilities for children for which it was donated by the ruler of the erstwhile princely state of Patiala, he said.

Talking about the demand of the trust that the government return the money invested by it on the project, Kaul Singh said these issues would be considered in case the trust came forward for an out-of-court settlement.

The trust was making certain claims and the government would have to get the value of assets evaluated by its experts, but it was premature to talk about such matters, he said.

The government was taking up land-related issues, which were a part of it election agenda, one by one and the land deal of Prashant Bhushan was under scrutiny, he said.

An 11-point questionnaire had been sent to the Kangra Deputy Commissioner to get full details of the deal and further action would be taken after receiving the information, he added.

The land allotted to the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association for setting up a five-star hotel was also under scrutiny as it was village common land and could not be allotted for the benefit of only a few local people, he said.

The previous government had given the land to a private entity and allowed it to set up a commercial venture in violation of the law, he said. He added that the indiscriminate sale of land and other resources was the main election issue.

He said the Congress had made ‘Himachal on sale’ its main slogan against the PK Dhumal regime. People had given their mandate and the government would do everything to honour it, he added. 

Solan, March 1
Residents of Dharampur have protested against the proposal of the National Highway Authority of India to raze the bazaar to facilitate four-laning of the highway.

Members of the Save Dharampur Bazaar Association claimed that the authorities had agreed to exclude the bazaar and construct a bypass after they had raised objections, but the decision had been reversed.

They filed objections in writing before the Solan Subdivisional Magistrate, who had invited objections to the four-laning of the stretch.

Association members Anil Kumar, Sunil Goel, Narinder Kumar and Ashok Goel contended that the move would lead to the razing of several structures, including shops and houses. Association members said the road passing via Government Senior Secondary School could be connected to the highway and a bypass constructed.

They said this alternative would ensure minimum displacement with only five or six families being affected and those displaced could be provided land at an alternative site. They said the proposal had been discussed with the authorities in November 2010 and it was strange that the same problem had cropped up again.

Hamirpur, March 1
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has again proved his sway in appointment to various boards and corporations by appointing his loyalists to the posts.

He sprung a surprise by appointing former Member of Parliament Maj-Gen (retd) Bikram Singh Katoch as the Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the Himachal Pradesh Ex-Servicemen Corporation.

He also nominated his old loyalist from Hamirpur Anil Verma as the Director of the Kangra Central Cooperative Bank. Many Congress leaders were lobbying for these posts.

The appointment of the corporation chairman had been hanging fire for quite some time. The appointment of Col (retd) Uday Chand Katoch was withheld soon after it was done.

Another strong contender, Col (retd) BC Lagwal, chairman of the ex-servicemen wing of the state Congress, had been lobbying in New Delhi for the post.

There were talks of the appointment of former MLA Kuldeep Singh Pathania as the bank director and he was lobbying to get the post. The appointments made it clear again that Virbhadra Singh was the deciding authority.

Certain leaders of the rival camp had been impressing on Central leaders to maintain a balance in appointments by giving them an equal share.

Shimla, March 1
The controversy triggered by the move of the PK Dhumal regime to take over Annandale has been set to rest with Deputy Commissioner Bharat Khera allowing the application of the state government seeking withdrawal of arbitration proceedings instituted for evicting the Army from the ground.

In the application filed by the Deputy Commissioner, the state sought withdrawal of arbitration proceedings against the Ministry of Defence (MoD) without foregoing its right to the ownership of the land. With the counsel for the MoD having no objection, Khera allowed the application and closed arbitration proceedings instituted more than a year ago.

As a result, the green dale spread over 122 bigha will remain under the control of the Army and it will continue to use it as before for strategic purposes of national security. The ownership will rest with the government.

The ground was on lease with the Army, but there was no renewal of lease since 1982 even though the state continued to accept the lease money till 2002. The issue reached a flash point after a campaign backed by the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) was launched for its transfer to the state for setting up a cricket stadium.

The previous government pursued the matter vigorously and ended up confronting the Army authorities which caused much embarrassment to it as the HPCA is headed by former Dhumal’s son Anurag Thakur.

The Congress and the CPM had disapproved of the move and alleged that the objective behind the plan to construct a stadium was to promote the interests of realtors. Local people were also opposed to it and the CPM, which led the counter-campaign, won the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor in municipal elections.

It was also a part of the election agenda of the Congress which had also included the issue in its charge sheet. Virbhadra Singh lost no time in dropping the move and in his first meeting with General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (Western Command) Lt-Gen Sanjiv Chachra assured him that the government would allow the Army to use it as before.

Virbhadra Singh maintains that apart from its strategic importance, Annandale is one of the few unspoilt green patches in the erstwhile British summer capital and was an indispensable natural asset from the point of view of the environment which deserved to be preserved as a natural heritage.

Kangra, March 1
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh’s winter sojourn for the region would start on March 3, Sunday. Virbhadra had earlier scheduled the winter sojourn for February 25 to 28. But it was postponed for some administrative reasons, including his Delhi tour to meet the Congress high command to discuss the cabinet expansion.

Chief Minister would reach Dharamsala on Sunday, March 3 at 10.15 am by helicopter and would see public at Dharamsala secretariat.

The next day, he would be available for public at HPPWD Rest house at Old Kangra at 9.30 am and redress their grievances.

He would meet public at PWD Rest house, Palampur, the same day at 3.00 pm.

Virbhadra would meet public at HPPWD Rest House at Nurpur at 11.30 am and at 3.00 pm he would meet people at HPWD Jawali.

On March 6, the first phase of the winter sojourn would culminate and he would come back to Shimla from Nurpur in the morning.

This year the second phase of the winter sojourn would be scheduled in the later end of this month, sources said.

Manali, March 1
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has launched a snow-clearing operation on the 475-km-long Manali-Leh highway. Col Yogesh Nair, Commander, 38 BRTF, GREF, said efforts were on to open the 13,050-ft-high Rohtang Pass by the second week of April, if weather conditions remained dry.

He said efforts were on to open the Manali-Leh highway from the other side of the Rohtang Pass in Lahaul valley.

He said four independent snow-clearing teams were deployed for the opening of the 222-km-long Manali-Sarchu section of the road.

The first team from Manali was clearing snow on the road from Gulaba today, while the second team was clearing snow from Sisu and the third team from Darcha towards the Baralacha Pass, he said.

Shimla, March 1
The Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department and the local Municipal Corporation (MC) will jointly take steps to prevent the spread of jaundice in the city.

Irrigation and Public Health Minister Vidya Stokes said the government was concerned over the increasing cases of jaundice and had convened a meeting of officers of the concerned departments to review the situation.

She said directions had been issued to the departments to take necessary action in this regard, particularly, in the areas where drinking water was being supplied from the Ashwani Khad. The officers had been asked to devise short-term and long-term measures to check the water quality at the user end and that of Malyana Sewerage Treatment Plant.

She directed the IPH Department to ensure proper functioning of the treatment plant and the Ashwani Khad water supply scheme.

Stokes underlined the need to identify all the polluted water sources in the vicinity of Shimla town and tap the alternate sources for water supply. The MC would also undertake a drive to connect all houses falling in the catchment with sewerage system besides disconnecting water connections to the houses which did not have sewer connections. A decision was also taken to constitute two teams comprising of IPH, MC and Health officials for collecting random samples from Malyana sewerage plant and Ashwani khad.

The Minister said MC would identify and rectify the missing links sewerage project in Ashwani khad catchment area under Jawaharlal Lal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission on priority. She also asked the corporation to ensure scientific disposal of construction debris so that the water supply and sewerage lines were not damaged, besides enforcing the regulation for mandatory Water Harvesting systems in new buildings.

She expressed concern over the release of the septic tank effluents during rains in to the local nallahs. She directed the MC to identify such areas and connect them to sewerage system.

Deputy Mayor Tikender Panwar said the sewerage treatment plant was not functioning properly and this could be the possible reason for the spread of jaundice.

Engineer-in-Chief, IPH, RK Sharma, and other senior officers of the development and MC were also present in the meeting.

Shimla, March 1
The government today placed Des Raj, an employee of the department of Preventive and Social Medicine in the IGMC under suspension, following a complaint by a lady doctor doing internship.

Health and Family Welfare Minister Kaul Singh Thakur today held a meeting with Principal Secretary of Health and other officials to discuss the issue. “On the basis of the complaint received from the lady doctor, the employee has been suspended and an inquiry ordered into the matter,” he said.

The IGMC Resident Doctors’ Association today boycotted the OPDs in the hospital and demanded strict action against him. The doctor had alleged that the employee was seeking undue favours from her to change her absence to presence in the attendance record.

The doctor is said to have recorded the conversation with the employee and given it as a proof of his indecent behaviour. Police said a case had also been registered against the employee. 

Kangra, March 1
A controversy has cropped up within the Congress following the induction of local MLA Pawan Kajal as associate member of the party recently. The Block Congress Committee (BCC), Kangra, in a meeting here yesterday resolved that Kajal had nothing to do with the Congress party. The Kangra BCC meeting was chaired by Kewal Choudary and former Chief Parliamentary Secretary Surender Kaku was the chief guest.

Criticising Kajal, the BCC said the sitting MLA of Kangra was trying take refuge in the Congress. The BCC meeting said Kajal was elected to the Zila Parishad as a BJP candidate, but he allegedly got the BJP divided and was now aiming at dividing the Congress.

The BCC warned Kajal that he should not mislead Congress workers, otherwise he would be given a befitting reply. The Congress asked Kajal to fulfil the poll promise of appointing 5,000 youth in jobs and set up industries in the area.

Kajal said Virbhadra Singh had made him the associate member of the Congress party.

Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sukhvinder Singh said he had no information about any such meeting. When asked that Raj Kumar Jaswal too was claiming that he was president of the BCC instead of Kewal Choudary.

Shimla, March 1
The forensic report on the hard disc of computers seized from the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau has indicated that about 500 telephones of government employees had been put under surveillance during the last six months of the previous BJP regime in 2012.

The three-member team from the State Forensic Science Laboratory at Junga today submitted its report to Chief Secretary Sudripta Roy.

The call details of the Vigilance Bureau pertained only to the last six months of 2012.

“The report indicates that about 500 telephones of mostly government employees had been intercepted, but there was no record of the telephone of any politician or journalist having been put on surveillance,” Roy disclosed.

It is expected that with the report on computers of the Vigilance Bureau having been received today, the matter is likely to be placed before the Cabinet, which will meet here tomorrow.

The government may order the registration of an FIR against the police and Home Department officials concerned who were responsible for ensuring that proper procedure and norms are followed.

Roy said further action in the case would be taken after a thorough investigation into the matter to ascertain as to who were responsible for the illegal act of intercepting telephones.

“A special investigation team can be entrusted the task of probing the matter and the opinion of the Advocate-General and the Secretary for Law will be sought,” he said. He confirmed that the Vigilance Bureau did not intercept telephones on its own and this was done through the CID wing.