Shimla, August 3
The two IAS officers, charge-sheeted for the grant of land lease to the HP Cricket Association (HPCA) for the construction of a hotel at Dharamsala, today sought the dropping of the action taken against them while claiming that neither had they violated any rule nor allowed commercial use of the land given for sports facility.

The two officers, Deepak Sanan, Additional Chief Secretary (Agriculture and Animal Husbandry), and RS Gupta, Commissioner, Inquiries, today filed their reply before Chief Secretary Sudripta Roy. The two had been asked to file their replies to the chargesheet issued to them on July 26 within 10 days’ time.

Sanan, who was the Principal Secretary (Revenue) when the permission was given to the HPCA for the commercial use of the land, is learnt to have stated in his reply that he only gave the no-objection certificate (NOC) and did not allow change of land use. He has also stated in his reply that it was well within his competence to grant a sub-lease for which he has cited Rule 13 of the Lease Rules. Sanan has been held guilty of the fact that he took a decision on the matter on his own rather than placing the matter before the Cabinet.

The two officers faced action as they were held guilty of allowing commercial use of land given for sports facility as a luxury hotel was constructed by the HPCA, which was initially proposed as a hostel facility for players. It is reliably learnt that there are a lot of lacunae in the chargesheet issued to the two officers and the charges mentioned in the show-cause notice and charge sheet too vary. A case has also been registered against the HPCA in this regard.

Gupta, who was at that time posted as Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, in his reply, has stated that neither did he issue the NOC nor allowed change of land use.

“I only forwarded the request of the HPCA sent to me for allowing the construction of the hotel to the state government and sought their guidance and clarification on the issue,” he stated in his reply.

He is learnt to have stated in his defence that the government never got back to him on the issue on which he had sought their clarification and issued a NOC on its own, for which he cannot be held responsible as he was nowhere in the picture. He has said he has not violated any rule in the grant of lease to the HPCA.

Hamirpur, August 3
The politics over the registration of an FIR against the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) for the alleged illegality in leasing out of government land for constructing a luxury hotel at Dharamsala by the previous BJP state government has hotted up as both the BJP and Congress leaders have trained their guns against each other on the issue.

While Congress leaders are terming the registration of an FIR as a correct and legal step, HPCA members and BJP leaders are terming it as an act of political vendetta by the Congress government.

Upping the ante against BJP MP and HPCA president Anurag Thakur, the Congress spokesman has demanded his resignation over the issue.

Raising this demand, state spokesman of the Congress Deepak Sharma said Anurag should immediately resign from the post of HPCA president to ensure a free and fair probe in the case.

The Congress leaders are also saying that the leasing out of government land to the HPCA was done in violation of the land leasing rules and this issue was also a part of the Congress chargesheet against the BJP government.

Reiterating the allegation of irregularity in leasing government land to the HPCA for constructing a luxury hotel at Dharamsala, they are raising issue of alleged registration of two organisations — the HPCA and Himalayan Players Cricket Association — registered as a company.

On the other hand, several BJP and HPCA leaders have come in support of the HPCA and its president.

While they are terming the registration of an FIR as an act of political vendetta, they are also saying that the Congress leaders are jealous of HPCA’s achievements.

HPCA office-bearers are also firm in their statements that no illegality has been done by the previous BJP government in leasing out the government land for the hotel at Dharamsala.

Dharamsala, August 3
National general secretary JP Nadda, former Chief Minister PK Dhumal and Rajya Sabha member Shanta Kumar today addressed party workers on the second day of the three-day state executive meet being held at Palampur.

Nadda while responding to queries of mediapersons said the party would take cognisance of the statements of party leader and Bollywood actor Shatrughan Sinha. Sinha had praised Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and said he would prove to be a better Prime Minister at a time when the BJP was projecting Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its Prime Ministerial candidate.

Nadda said suitable action would be taken against Sinha. He also alleged that the Congress was resorting to vote-bank politics by launching schemes such as the food security scheme at the fag end of its term. Such steps of the Congress were destroying the economy of the country, he alleged.

He said the situation in the country was alarming and only the BJP had the capacity to save the country from chaos.

Dhumal said so many scandals had rocked the country during the regime of the present government that people had lost faith in the system. He said there was a plethora of issues for the Opposition during the forthcoming parliamentary elections such as prise rise, corruption, deteriorating internal and external security of the country, increasing terrorism, unemployment and depreciating currency of the country.

He said though the present situation was in the favour of the BJP, party workers should keep a tab on sudden issues arising in elections in their respective areas.

Shanta Kumar said the corruption during the present UPA regime had increased to such an extent that international surveys had depicted India as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

He said Narendra Modi was an honest leader with proven administrative skills and vision for the country. 

Shimla, August 3
The ruling Congress today entrusted organisational responsibilities to its newly appointed office-bearers who have been made in charge of districts to gear up the party for the Lok Sabha elections.

Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) president Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu today assigned responsibility of all four Lok Sabha seats by making a vice-president in charge of every seat and making general secretaries in charge district wise.

The state office-bearers have also been assigned the task of activating various frontal organisations and cells of the party.

“Responsibilities have been entrusted to the office-bearers so that they galvanise the organisation and gear up party workers right up to the booth level in every segment,” said Naresh Chauhan, HPCC spokesperson.

He said the task of party men would include highlighting the achievements of the state government and more importantly making people aware of welfare schemes from which the common man could benefit.

“The office-bearers as well as the party spokesperson will also effectively counter the false propaganda by the BJP which is levelling a false and baseless campaign against the Congress government,” he said.

AN Vidyarthi, vice-president, will be the in charge of the Kangra Lok Sabha seat.

He will be assisted by general secretaries - Harbhajan Singh Bhajji and Sunder Thakur in Kangra district while Sunil Sharma has been given responsibility of Chamba district.

Harsh Mahajan, vice-president, HPCC, has been given the charge of the Mandi Lok Sabha seat. Ravi Thakur, general secretary, will be the in charge of Mandi, Kinnaur and Bharmour. Sunil Sharma has been given responsibility of Kullu district and Vinod Sultanpuri made the in charge of Lahaul-Spiti.

Chander Kumar, vice-president, has been made in charge of Hamirpur. Ram Lal Thakur, general secretary will be the in charge of Una while Ajay Mahajan will take care of Bilaspur and Hamirpur.

Gangu Ram Musafir, vice-president will be the in charge of the Shimla Lok Sabha seat while general secretaries Ram Lal Thakur, Harshwardhan Chauhan and Vinod Sultanpuri have been given the charge of Shimla, Solan and Sirmaur districts, respectively.

Harsh Mahajan and Harshwardhan Chauhan have been given responsibility of the Mahila Congress, the Youth Congress and the National Students Union of India. Responsibilities have also been allocated for publicity while the six spokespersons are Kuldeep Pathania, Subhash Manglet, Naresh Chauhan, Sanjay Singh Chauhan, Deepak Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Gaur.

Shimla, August 3
The declining strawberry cultivation in the state might finally pick up with the import of high-yielding varieties from California and Miami by Edge India Agrotech, which will set up the biggest nursery with five lakh saplings in the state. The company will also provide a buy-back arrangement to overcome marketing problems faced by growers.

Plagued with the problem of poor plant material and marketing, strawberry cultivation in the state has started declining even before it could catch the fancy of growers. The total area under strawberry cultivation in the state is a mere 54 hectares with a production of 348 metric tonnes. Incidentally, it is Sirmour district which is producing 99 per cent of the strawberries at 342 metric tonnes.

“We will be importing the two most suitable varieties of Albion and Whitney from California so that the quality and yield of strawberry increases,” said Bob Notellman from Ekland Marketing Company of California. He is closely associated with Agrotech and has given his expertise in strawberry cultivation across the world, including Indonesia, Iraq, Ethiopia, Ukraine, Turkey, Argentina and Ecuador.

“The climate in the foothills of the Himalayas compliments cultivation of all kind of berries, ensuring produce throughout the year with the help of day-neutral varieties which continue to bloom,” said Notellman. He says these varieties will also help enhance production from 250 gm per plant to almost 1.5 kg per plant.

Horticulture Minister Vidya Stokes and local MLA from Shimla (rural) Anirudh Singh stressed the need for providing quality plant material and buy-back arrangement to deal with problems of marketing and processing.

It is the vision exhibited by Mahesh Sood, owner of Edge India Agrotech, which can revolutionise the strawberry cultivation. “It is through extensive research and modules prepared for the farmers keeping in view the agro-climatic conditions that we encourage farmers to adopt new cultivation technology from California and Miami,” he said. He said the imported hybrid strawberry saplings would be provided and fresh graduates from Horticulture University would guide the growers by visiting their farms on a weekly basis.

He said there was a huge demand for strawberries. “Our endeavour is to encourage growers to adopt modern techniques and use the minimum possible pesticides and chemical fertilisers, which is better suited to the environment,” he said.

Baddi, August 3
The Health and Family Welfare Department will soon introduce an online licensing system for drug manufacturers in the state.

This was stated by Health and Family Welfare Minster Kaul Singh Thakur while addressing drug manufacturers at a seminar on industrial development in the state here today.

He said the state government was committed to boosting the industry and several steps in this regard had been taken. These included clearing permissions within 45 days to non-Himachalis under Section 118, HP Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, to buy land.

He said it was a matter of pride that the state had manufactured drugs worth Rs 25,000 crore, out of which drugs worth Rs 9,000 crore had been exported.

Kaul Singh said as an introductory step, online food licensing and registration system had been put in place and the sale of licences had also been made online since May. He said it was making the system efficient by cutting down on delays. He said a person applying for a sale licence was conveyed through an SMS about his inspection as well as grant of licence and this had reduced the time spent in the procedure.

The minister said a similar system would soon be introduced for pharmaceutical manufacturers. He said the state was known for manufacturing 70 per cent of the country’s drugs and so, it was important to make the system more efficient and transparent. He urged investors to lay stress on quality and welfare of employees. He said the investors could reduce their profit margins a little to spare sufficient funds for these aspects.

He said the state government was providing 325 drugs for patients in its hospitals and so, doctors should desist from prescribing costly drugs to patients.

He warned doctors serving in border areas to stay at their place of posting and provide services even during the night. The direction came due to reports that poor patients were suffering in the absence of any doctor during evenings and nights when their mobile phones were found to be switched off.

Investors from the Himachal Drug Manufacturers Association, Baddi Barotiwala Nalagarh Industreis Association and Laghu Udyog Bharti were also present on the occasion. 

Nurpur, August 3
Two bikers died on the spot and the third, a triple rider, was seriously injured, when their speeding motorcycle hit against a roadside parapet at Gagwal, on the Kandwal-Lodwan link road, near here, last evening.

The deceased bikers have been identified as Rinku (25), son of Bhuri Chand, and Parshotam (24), son of Lal Chand. Both the bikers were from Surajpur village. Bunty, the third seriously injured rider, also from the same village, was rushed to the local Civil Hospital. The accident victims were on way to Kandwal from their village. DSP Rajiv Atre said a case under Sections 279, 337 and 304 (A), IPC, was also registered.