Shimla, June 26
Freak rains and unseasonal snow have severely undermined the geological stability of the fragile hill strata in the cold desert areas of the tribal Kinnaur district, posing serious threat to a number of villages.

According to latest reports from the rain and snow-ravaged areas, not only Skiba but some other villages are also sinking as the fragile sand-like strata has been completely saturated with water in the cold desert area of Pooh, which normally does not receive any rain. Chuling, Hango and Shele villages have also been affected by landslides. Out of 120 houses in the three villages, over 80 are in the danger zone and more than a dozen houses have already collapsed. The rest have developed cracks. In Skiba village, there are over 450 houses and about 150 of these are in the danger zone and thus one-third of the population has been affected.

Suraj Mani, panchayat pradhan of Chuling and Hango, said in Chuling, 20 out of 30 houses had been damaged due to sinking of land. In Hango, too, over 50 out of the total 80 houses had suffered damages. As these areas do not normally receive any rain and only experience snow during the winter, people here have been traditionally building houses with mud and stones covered with thatched roofs. Most of these structures have suffered an extensive damage due to freak rain and snow at peak summer.

“With the strata becoming saturated with water, the hills started sinking and this is the main reason that a majority of orchards have suffered an extensive damage,” P Dorje, director, State Office, Central Eater Commission, said. “Waterlogging in orchards led to uprooting of trees and it will have a long-term implication for the people. Maintenance of roads in sinking areas will be a huge challenge,” he said.

“Residents of the affected villages are not only demanding assistance for building houses but also safe and stable land,” he said. “The tribals may have to give up the traditional architecture and adopt modern building design and material which can withstand rain,” he added.

Meanwhile, a state chopper today airlifted people within the district and there were no stranded tourists or outsiders. It also dropped essential supplies like diesel in the areas still cut off.

Nurpur, June 26
The flash flood in the Chakki rivulet following rain washed away protection steps of six pillars of the Chakki railway bridge on the Pathankot-Jogindernagar narrow gauge railway line, near here, this morning. These cemented steps had been built by the Railway Department by spending lakhs of rupees a few months ago to render protection cover to all 22 supporting pillars of the Chakki bridge.

Pillar number 4 of this bridge was washed way in August 2011 and pillars numbers 5, 6 and 10 were partially damaged in flash floods in the Chakki rivulet. The railway traffic on this line remained suspended for about a year. Mining in the Chakki riverbed was considered to be a major cause of pillar damage in the past. Fourteen trains (up and down) have been providing economical traffic facility to thousands of commuters daily on this railway route connecting Pathankot (Punjab) with the Kangra valley.

Manjeet Goyal, Assistant Engineer, Railway, admitted that due to a cloud burst in Chamba district and a flash flood in the Chakki rivulet, protection steps of pillars (5 to 7) of the Chakki bridge had been washed away today and these would be constructed or repaired soon.

Shimla, June 26
The India Climate Justice Collective has blamed chaotic process of ‘development’ being pursued in the ecologically fragile Himalayan region for the unprecedented catastrophe in Uttarakhand and parts Himachal. It called upon the government to take long term corrective policy measures to prevent such calamities in future.

An apex body of various non-government organisations and individuals pursuing environment-related issues met under the aegis of the Himalaya Niti Abhiyan to discuss the issue today. It said extensive deforestation of mountain tracts first by the state and more recently due to ‘development’ projects led to soil erosion and high water run-off, which in turn destabilised mountain slopes and contributed to more intense and frequent landslides and floods. Unregulated tourism resulting in huge growth of vehicular traffic and sand mining along the river banks were some of the factors accentuating the impact of such calamities, it said.

“The construction of power projects have destabilised an already fragile ecosystem and threatened biodiversity. A staggering 680 hydroelectric project with dams are in various stages of planning or construction in Uttarakhand and 650 projects in Himachal,” it said.

“These dams have a direct connection to the extent of damage that can be caused in such flooding events and excavation for tunnelling in run-of-the-river projects cause huge and unregulated dumping of excavated debris into river basins, leading to increased siltation and in turn aggravating the flood situation,” it added.

Manali, June 26
Hit by rains and negative publicity, the summer tourist season in the Kullu-Manali-Lahaul-Kinnaur tourist circuit is wrapping up on a sad note. The occupancy here has dipped from cent percent from June 17 to June 22 to 30 per cent recorded for the last three days.

Though hoteliers in Kinnaur are the worst hit, hoteliers in Manali also reported a drastic drop in tourist inflow, which has affected them adversely.

The rain-ravaged Kinnaur, where the national highway-22 remained breached beyond Recong Peo, had hit tourism not only in Kinnaur but also in Lahaul-Spiti, said Bijay Negi, a hotelier from Nako.

Now, tourists take the Manali-Spiti-Pooh-Sangla route to go to Shimla, he added.

“The arrival of foreigners, mainly Europeans, is less as compared to the last year. We expect it will pick up in July when trekking season begins,” Tashi Deleg, a hotelier form Keylong, said.

“The scale of disaster in Uttarakhand and floods in Kinnaur has given a negative publicity due to which tourists are scared to come to Manali, though everything is okay here,” said AR Thakur, president of the Manali Hoteliers Association.

Dharamsala, June 26
Heavy rainfall in the month of June in the lower areas of the state is a harbinger of flash floods. Kangra and Una districts have a large number of rivulets that cause flash floods almost every year. These rivulets might cause a disaster in July and August when both the areas receive heavy rainfall.

The Swan river that has its genesis in the Shivalik hills of the region was referred to as the ‘Sorrow of Una’ due to flash floods caused by the river almost every year. Though the river has now been channelised, the rivulets that feed the Swan have the potential to cause flash floods. Last year, many rivulets in Una district breached their banks and inundated fields and houses.

Most of the rivulets in the district have been encroached upon by people for the construction of houses. In Una district, many illegal colonisers have raised colonies on river beds and diverted their course. The authorities are not taking action on encroachments on the plea that the land of river beds belong to private land owners.

In Kangra district also, about 8,000 villagers were evacuated after the water was released in the Beas bed from the Pong Dam two years ago. The Chaki river also causes damage to agriculture lands during monsoons in the Nurpur and Indora areas of Kangra district. The rampant mining in the Chaki has changed the course of the river due to which it has started eroding agriculture lands, especially during the monsoons.

However, inquiries by The Tribune revealed that no department had funds for flood damage prevention in the state. Funds were only provided by the government for post-disaster management or relief.

Parvez Akhtar, Chief Engineer, Irrigation and Public Health, said the department had no funds for flood damage prevention. He said only the Deputy Commissioner had funds under various schemes to prevent flood damage in case a village made an appeal in this regard.

Paul Rasu, Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, said directions were given to officials concerned in case any appeal comes from villagers regarding flood threat. However, there was no dedicated fund to prevent flood damage, he added.

Sources here said every district in the state now had disaster management authority that was headed by the Deputy Commissioner. However, there was no dedicated fund to study the areas that were prone to disasters, especially during the monsoons, they said.

The entire activity of the disaster management authorities in districts was limited to holding meetings or at the most organising seminars to educate people to cope with disaster situations, the sources said.

Shimla, June 26
Having given a nod to the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau for the registration of an FIR in the alleged phone tapping done during the BJP regime, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said today that crime of this magnitude would not have been possible without the connivance of top police officials.

Interacting with mediapersons here, Virbhadra said he had directed the Vigilance Bureau to register an FIR and start investigations to fix the responsibility. “Taking the law in their hands, phones of people were tapped with impunity during the BJP regime and all those responsible for it will not be spared,” he said.

He said he had been a victim of phone tapping as attempts were made to place a bugging device in his room. “Action will be taken against all those who were behind this illegal act which violated the privacy of people,” he said.

He added that there was every possibility that telephones of his family members, too, were tapped during this period. Virbhadra, who had all along been accusing the BJP regime of tapping the telephones of Congress leaders, had ordered seizure of all the computers of the CID and Vigilance Bureau. Based on the report of forensic experts and an inquiry by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau, an FIR will be lodged under the Indian Telegraph Act and the Information Technology Act.

The Chief Minister said he would plead the case of the state for liberal financial assistance to undertake rescue and relief operation in Kinnaur, which had suffered huge losses due to unprecedented rains.

“Our sympathies are with the people of Uttarakhand where thousands of precious lives have been lost and hundreds of villages wiped off but at the same time the losses in Himachal should not get overshadowed by this and we must too get our due,” he said.

He said he would request UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister to provide some immediate interim relief so that the rescue and restoration work in Kinnaur could be speeded up. “Apple orchards have suffered huge losses, standing crops have been destroyed and the entire infrastructure of roads, power projects and irrigation schemes have been damaged for which we require Central assistance and liberal funding,” he said.

He added that he would seek restoration and better maintenance of the old Hindustan-Tibet road as an alternate route.

Shimla, June 26
The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau today registered a case in the alleged phone tapping issue after the Home Department gave a nod for the formal registration of a case.

The case has been registered by the Vigilance Bureau under Section 26 of the Indian Telegraph Act for alleged phone tapping during the previous BJP regime. Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Vigilance, Prthivi Raj, confirmed that a case was registered today after getting a nod from the Home Department. He said based on the inquiry report by the Vigilance Bureau, a case had been registered under Section 26 of the Indian Telegraph Act and the Information Technology Act.

Sources said the FIR does not mention any individual and it was only after the investigation was over that responsibility would be fixed and those allegedly involved in it would be named. They added that the Vigilance Bureau was likely to question all those who had manned the Technical Cell of the CID through which the surveillance was being done. Some of the police officers who were posted in the CID could also be questioned with regard to the alleged phone tapping.

The Vigilance Bureau in its 12-page report said there had been violation of the Indian Telegraph and Information Technology Act and interceptions were made on flimsy grounds which would not qualify as valid reasons for surveillance. The other issue raised by the Vigilance in its report was that there were instances where certain telephone numbers interceptions were carried on beyond the authorisation period. The inquiry into the phone taping is likely to be speeded up in the coming days.

Dharamsala, June 26
The only college in Baroh, a remote area in Kangra district, is facing closure. The decision of the management to shut down the college due to “paucity of funds” has not gone down well with the staff and the locals, who have threatened a massive agitation over the issue.

The Baroh college, spread over 35 kanals, was started by the Changer Shiksha Evam Samaj Kalyan Parishad, headed by Bali Ram Sharma, a philanthropist, in 1995. The institute has managed to create a good infrastructure which is on par and even better than most government colleges in the state. Currently, there were around 400 students in the college in BA, BSc and BCom streams.

In February, citing fund crunch, the college management obtained a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the state government to close down the institute. The government has given a conditional approval to the management to shut down the college in a phased manner so that the interests of the students in the college were protected. The staff of the college, however, claims that the reason given by the management to shut down the college isn’t genuine.

“As per our information, the management has sufficient funds to run the institute. We want that the management should make the accounts of the institute public,” said Ashwani Sharma, a lecturer at the college. The college staff is now planning to launch an agitation, along with the locals, against the closure of the college.

The staff is alleging that only the executive management committee of the college, that was formed in 2008 and includes the Deputy Commissioner and the local MLA, was competent enough to shut down the college. The management committee that has established the college has no right to close it down, they claimed.

The students of the remote Changar area will be hit the most if the college is closed. “This is the only institute of higher education in our area. It will be a huge loss to us if the college is closed,” said a local student. The staff of the college has appealed to the state government to take over the college.

Bali Ram Sharma said he was not in a position to run the institution. Sharma said he would be glad if the government takes over the college. "I would be more than willing to hand over the college to the government," he said. He also said the staff of the college was informed well in advance that the institute would be closed down.

Palampur, June 26
Urban Development Minister Sudhir Sharma today said the Town and Country Planning Act in the state would be enforced strictly to avoid tragedies like the one in Uttarakhand.

Talking to mediapersons here, he said Himachal Pradesh was among the first five disaster-prone states of the country to natural hazards like earthquakes, flash floods, cloudbursts, landslides, avalanches and forest fires. Therefore, the state government had decided to discourage all unplanned construction activities going on in tourist places like Shimla, Manali, Kulu, Dharamsala, McLeodganj, Dalhousie and Palampur.

He expressed concern over the coming up of concrete jungles in important towns of the state. Besides, slums had also grown in small towns, in the absence of proper planning. He said when such constructions were started, government machinery should have acted immediately. In many cases the matter had become sub judice and the government could not initiate action, he added.

He said all high-rise buildings constructed in violation of rules were already under scanner and the final decision on the future of these buildings would be taken soon.

He cautioned the official machinery, particularly Deputy Commissioners and SDMs, to come forward and educate people and also initiate action.

Bilaspur, June 26
Anurag, a Class IV student of Government Primary School, Dagdahan, under Suharghat education block here, was injured when a loose piece of plaster from a wall of the school fell on his head on Monday.

Reports said the incident occurred during the mid-day meal period when students were playing. Anurag was rushed to a private clinic by teachers and given medical aid and was said to be out of danger. There were only two rooms for some 40 students of five classes. Parents said despite repeated requests to the authorities, nobody had bothered to repair the school building.

Devi Ram Thakur, president, gram panchayat and Vijay Pal, former vice-president, also sought action in the matter. — OC

Kangra, June 26
Three students of Tibetan Children Village School, Gopalpura, under Dhroti panchayat, were admitted to the DRPGMC, Tanda, with cholera symptoms and one of them tested positive.

Stating this here, Dr Dinesh Sood, Medical Superintendent, DRPGMC, Tanda, said one of them was discharged. He said the other two students Kesang (18), who had tested positive for cholera, and Tesering (17) were still under treatment at the hospital.

Dr Sood said the Chief Medical Officer, Kangra, had been informed about the breakout as it was a notifiable disease.

Dr Depender Saxena, District Health Officer (DHO), along with a team of doctors, and Dr Anuradha, NRHM Programme Officer, rushed to the school after receiving information.

The DHO said investigations had revealed that the three students had consumed some food and water from the school canteen following which they had acute diarrhoea.

He said 178 students had suffered from diarrhoea from June 14 to 22 in the school and 20 of them had been admitted locally. He said three of them were referred to the DRPGMC, Tanda, where Kesang tested positive.

He said water samples of the canteen were collected for testing and the local panchayat and other NGOs were asked to get the water sources chlorinated.

The advanced monsoon has caught different departments unawares, but now these were gearing up due to cholera detection.

Mandi, June 26
The district administration has set up three satellite phones at Jhangi, Gyabung and Pooh and seven clusters in the flood-hit Kinnaur for the second phase of polls for the Mandi Parliamentary bypoll tomorrow. However, over 52,345 voters there are yet to come to terms with the disaster that had killed 18 people, damaged apple orchards, houses, irrigation schemes and destroyed link roads and breached the Hindustan Tibet-highway.

Electronic voting machines (EVMs) have been airlifted to 34 polling stations in the Pooh and Moorang areas. The Deputy Commissioner-cum-returning officer for Kinnaur, JM Pathania, said parties had reached polling stations.

“The three satellite phones will provide connectivity in the Pooh block. The EVMs will be airlifted to Recong Peo on June 28 for the counting to be done on June 30,” he added.

“In case this plan does not work due to bad weather, they have set up seven clusters at key locations in the constituency where counting will be done on June 30,” Pathania added.

“Freak snowfalls in Pooh, Nako, Chango, Spillo, Jhangi and Ropa valley have damaged apple orchards,” said Panum Negi from Ropa valley. “There is a little interest in the election due to the losses incurred to orchards. But voters will come out and vote for the candidate of their choice,” said Surender, a resident from Sangla.

Kinnaur MLA Jagat Singh Negi and former BJP MLA Tejwant Negi have been camping in the area and have tried to reach out to flood-hit victims for the last seven days on foot.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had met flood victims at Nako, Gayabung and Recong Peo during an aerial survey of Kinnaur to assess the losses. He released an immediate relief and expedited the restoration work there.

Besides, Congress candidate Pratibha Singh, Bharatiya Yuva Morcha chief Anurag Thakur and BJP candidate Jai Ram Thakur toured some areas in the lower Kinnaur to woo voters and expressed sympathy with the victims.

Kangra, June 26
The Department of Psychiatry of the DRPGMC, Tanda, today observed International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking-2013. This year’s theme was "Make health your new high in life, not drugs" and different competitions were organised on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr (Major) Sukhjit Singh, HoD, Psychiatry Department, said drug abuse caused cirrhosis of liver, cancer, TB, impotency and death and also resulted in social and family complications like divorce, domestic violence and occupational complications.

He said the treatment of drug addiction included complete abstinence, detoxification, rehabilitation, regular follow-up and strong social and family support.

He said the objectives when dealing with drug addicts should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time bound (SMART) .

He said 765 drug addicts were treated in the Psychiatry Department and it ran Drug De-addiction Special Clinic every Tuesday and Tobacco Cessation Clinic (TCC) every Wednesday.

The function, inaugurated by Dr Dinesh Sood, Senior Medical Superintendent of the college, was organised to create awareness among the general public.

A poster and rangoli-making competition was organised for nursing students and on-the-spot quiz competition for MBBS students.

Shimla, June 26
The Agriculture Department is organising three-day Organic Fair and Food Festival at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex here from June 28.

JC Rana, Director of Agriculture, said the event was being organised in collaboration with the International Centre for Organic Agriculture and the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC).

An official spokesperson said the objective of the fair was to create awareness regarding organic farming and products amongst farmers and people. The main attractions would be the Organic Food Court of Himachali cuisine by the HPTDC, exhibitions displaying organic products by different farmer groups and organisations, workshops, seminars and exposure visits of farmers of the state.

He said national and international companies engaged in the marketing of organic produce and certification would also take part. The CSK Agriculture University, Palampur, would also set up stalls.

He said 25,729 farmers had been registered for organic farming.

Shimla, June 26
In a case pertaining to illegal appointments made in various departments by the state authorities from 1993 to 1998, the HP High Court has directed the Investigation Officer (IO) of the case to remain present in the court on July 1 with the record of the case.

The court has also directed the state government to keep ready the chart indicating the nature of investigation done in this case from November 7, 2005.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice Kuldip Singh passed this order yesterday on an application filed by SM Katwal, former Chairman, HP Subordinate Services Selection Board, alleging that despite registering FIR No. 1/2006 at the Vigilance police station, Shimla, on the directions issued by this court on November 7, 2005, no investigation was being done in the alleged illegal recruitments case and no progress was made in the case after the court stopped monitoring it.

On November 7, 2005, the court had directed the Vigilance Department to probe the scam to identify the persons who had been instrumental or at whose instance the appointments were made.

The court had passed the order on a petition filed by Katwal wherein he alleged that the state government had given appointments to their close ones by violating norms from 1993 to 1998.

The court had directed the Vigilance Department to probe the case and disposed of the matter on May 22, 2008, in view of the investigation order passed by it.

Katwal again approached the High Court with a plea that no investigation was being done in the alleged illegal recruitments case and no progress was made in the case after the court had stopped monitoring it, having disposed of the petition.

Now the court has again taken a cognizance on Katwal's application and directed the Investigation Officer to produce the record of the case before it and listed the matter for further hearing on July 1.

The state government in 1998 had ordered an inquiry by setting up two committees in the matter of recruitments/appointments made from December 1993 to Februray 1998 in various departments/ boards/corporations/universities. The inquiry was entrusted to Avay Shukla, the then MD, HPMC, and Harsh Gupta, the then Financial Commissioner-cum-Secretary (Industries). In the submitted reports, irregularities in the matter of recruitments were pointed out and the court had directed the Vigilance to probe in the case.