Dharamsala, September 24
Many villages in Pragpur block of Kangra district have been without power and drinking water supply ever since a storm hit the area on September 15. The Power Department hasn’t been able to restore the electricity supply to all villages in Pragpur.

Manohar Lal, a resident of Sakrala village, said the entire area had been cut off from the rest of the state. The non-availability of power had hit the drinking water supply too. People were also not able to communicate, as batteries of mobiles were discharged and there was no power to charge them. The BSNL telephones in the area were also dead, he added.

Ravi Dutt, another villager, said the Power Department did not have enough staff to cope with the situation. Villagers were themselves assisting the department in restoration of power lines. It might take the department a few days more to restore the power supply to their village.

The worst-affected villages are Nahan Nagrota, Sakrala, Chamba Pattan, Kathiara, Bani, Sadma, Plat, Saleti, Sil and Seri. A population of about 8,000 in these villages has been without basic amenities for the past 10 days.

Pragpur Block Development Officer Lalit Jain the power lines in the entire area got snapped due to a storm. The power supply in Pragpur was restored after about five days. Efforts were being made to provide drinking water to people in the affected areas. Power Department officials had also been directed to deploy more manpower for early restoration of the power supply in remote areas, he said. Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Executive Engineer PK Dhiman said they had been able to restore the power supply in 90 per cent area of the Pragpur block. However, about 10 per cent remote area was still without power. In these affected areas, the entire old power line had been damaged. It was a tough task to remove the entire old line and install the new line. The power board has deployed more labourers to expedite the work, he said.

Keeping in view the damage caused to the overhead power transmission lines by a middle-range storm, the power board should consider underground transmission lines, as they have lesser chances of getting damaged due to natural calamities.

Dhiman, however, said the underground power transmission lines were costly and more viable for thickly populated areas of towns. 

Shimla, September 24
American and Norweigian wildlife experts will help the Forest Department in mapping the sites where leopard attacks have been common. This will enable the department to prepare a baseline data on man-animal conflict.

The Wildlife wing of the department will undertake a five-year study (2013-2018) in collaboration with experts from the Wildlife Conservation Society of India, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research and the Large Carnivore Conservation Laboratory, Washington State University.

The recent killing of locals and livestock by leopards in Mandi district has brought the issue of man-animal conflict into focus.

The major highlights of the study will be to undertake camera trappings to assess the density of leopards in Himachal, radio collaring of 10 trans-located leopards and their DNA and diet analysis.

The intensive study, which will help prepare a baseline data, will cost about Rs 91 lakh. “Based on the attack on livestock in the past two years and on humans in the past 10 years, the researchers will visit the sites of conflict and obtain GPS locations and other parameters that results into conflict,” informed Tarun Sridhar, Principal Secretary, Forest.

He said based on data like location, time of attack and age of the victim, an intensive study of the conflict would be undertaken at both low conflict as well as high conflict sites to assess the density of leopards.

As part of the in-depth study, 10 leopards captured by the Wildlife Department will be tranquilised and inserted with a microchip and GPS-GSM collar to monitor their movement and behaviour.

“The study also includes camera trappings to assess the density of leopards and areas with high concentration along with seat collection from the trails and its DNA analysis at National Centre for Biological Science,” said AK Gulati, Principal Chief Conservator Forest (PCCF), Wildlife.

During the study, local educational institutions and NGOs will be involved so as to increase awareness among the locals. Pamphlets and literature in the local language will be distributed to local villagers to increase awareness, especially in the affected areas.

It was in June, 2004 that a survey had been undertaken to assess the leopard population in the state which turned out to be 785, including 24 animals in captivity. A total of 35 snow leopards were also reported.

Considering the frequent attacks by leopards, wildlife experts feel there could have been an apparent increase in their number, which would be known exactly only through their estimation, which hasn’t been done so far.

Shimla, September 24
Early snow in upper reaches of tribal areas over the past three days and early withdrawal of monsoon have affected the hydropower generation in the state.

The snow has lowered water level in the upper catchment areas of the rivers. Consequently, most rivers, particularly in Sutlej and Ravi basins, are not carrying enough water, leading to a sharp fall in power generation.

The water level in rivers right now is normally witnessed in the first week of October, indicating the onset of wintry conditions a fortnight ahead of normal.

The State Electricity Board projects are the worst affected with the total generation falling from 102 lakh units to 55 lakh units. The decline in generation is more in projects located in the Sutlej basin. The discharge at Nathpa has come down to 264 cumecs (cubic metre per second).

The daily generation in the country’s largest 1,500-MW Nathpa Jhakri project, which was producing around 39 million units till last month, has plummeted to 24.5 million units. The discharge in the river has declined from 500 cusecs to 264 cumecs.

Last year, it was daily generating 36 million units in the same period. Similarly, in the Karcham Wangtu project located upstream, the generation has declined from 26.5 million units to 16 million units.

In case of the 300 MW Baspa project, located on a tributary of the Sutlej, the generation has come down from 79 lakh units to 45 lakh units. The generation in Chamera-I and II projects on the Ravi has come down from 20 million units to 12 million units.

Besides snow, the withdrawal of monsoon eight days before the normal date of September 25 has also affected the discharge in the river, particularly in the project located in lower elevations.

The widespread rain in the northern region over the past one week has also led to a decline in demand. As a result, the rates of power in Energy Exchange of India, which had increased to Rs 3.27 per unit last week, have again come down to Rs 2.75 per unit. 

Shimla, September 24
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today raised the issue of the expansion and modernisation of all the airports in the state with Union Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh in New Delhi.

He urged the minister for increasing the length of the runway of the Shimla airport by another 600 ft so as to facilitate the landing of bigger aircraft. He also demanded grant of adequate budget to the Airport Authority of India (AAI) for restoring the original length of the runway in a time-bound manner so that normal flights could be resumed before the winter season.

The Chief Minister apprised the Union Minister that the length of the Shimla airport runway had been effectively reduced to 3,800 ft from the original length of 4,100 ft due to soil erosion. He said at present, aircraft could not take-off with full load.

The AAI had prepared a plan to restore the original length of the runway which would mitigate load factor problem, he said.

The Chief Minister sought expansion of the Kullu airport, stating that a feasibility study conducted by the IIT, Roorkee, had indicated that Kullu airport could be further expanded.

Virbhadra sought an allocation of adequate funds for the expansion plan of the Kullu airport.

Besides funds for the project, he said the authorities should provide modern equipment with advanced technology at Shimla, Kangra and Kullu airports so that bigger aircraft could be operated in an all-weather condition.

Ajit Singh told the Chief Minister that top officials of the Civil Aviation Ministry would hold detailed discussions with Himachal government officials on the expansion and modernisation of all the airports in the state. 

Chamba, September 24
The CID wing of the Chamba police has confiscated two truckloads of ration meant for Public Distribution Shops (PDS), which was being smuggled into Punjab. Sources here said the police confiscated 226 bags of wheat weighing 10,500 kg on a tip-off. The trucks were intercepted in the Nannikhad area on the Chamba-Pathankot road, 60 km from the district headquarters.

The sources said the culprits in the crime had shifted the wheat from the bags bearing stamps of the Himachal Pradesh PDS Department to bags bearing stamps of the Punjab government. The cops have recovered the bags bearing stamps of the Himachal Pradesh PDS Department. The drivers of the trucks, in which the wheat was being transferred, also could not produce valid papers.

This is the third incident this year in which PDS ration being smuggled to outer states has been confiscated

Earlier, the Chamba police had seized wheat and rice meant for public distribution system which was being transported illegally to outer states from the remote Tissa and Salooni areas of the district.

The police has arrested the drivers of the two vehicles identified as Anoop Kumar and Rajkumar and a case has been registered against them at Bharari police station under relevant sections of the IPC and the HP State Essential Commodities Act.

The police was now investigating the case further to look for perpetrators in the crime.

The sources said the ration confiscated was meant for Above the Poverty Line (APL) families. APL families are generally not picking up wheat grains from PDS shops. The They get wheat grains at PDS shops at about Rs 8 per kg whereas the rates of wheat in the open market is about Rs 14 per kg. Due to the difference in rates, wheat flour mill owners in adjoining states buy wheat from PDS shop owners at rates there are cheaper than market price.

In the recent past, a similar scam was unearthed in Punjab where eight truckloads of wheat meant for APL families was being sold in the open market.

The sources said if the police verified the records of PDS shop owners from the real beneficiaries, many culprits could get trapped.

Mandi, September 24
Health and Revenue Minister Kaul Singh Thakur launched the National Rural Health Mission 108 ambulance service in the remote Shiva Badar area in the Drang constituency today.

Addressing a gathering on the occasion, Kaul Singh said the state government was strengthening health services and infrastructure by spending Rs 1,187 crore in the health sector in the current financial year. The ambulance service had helped ferrying over 3.12 lakh patients to various hospitals and more remote areas would be covered under the service in the state, he added.

The Minister said 171 ambulances were also catering to the police and fire emergency cases in the state. As many as 57,562 pregnant women were shifted to hospitals, out of whom 2,440 delivered their babies safely in the ambulance itself, he added. He said in rural areas, 200 doctors had been posted so far.

Besides health services, backward areas would be connected by roads to speed up the pace of development, he added. Kaul Singh said the work on the Dhar-Jabali road would be started soon and the roads damaged by the monsoon would be repaired. He added that the Nablai-Dhran water drinking scheme worth Rs 2 crore, the Deori drinking water scheme worth Rs 50.60 lakh and the Banau lift water scheme worth Rs 70 lakh would be started soon, he added. He announced Rs 2 lakh for the construction of a panchayat hall and Rs 1.5

lakh for repairing the road to the Primary Health Centre, Shiva Badar.

Dharamsala, September 24
Members of the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress, the Students for a Free Tibet and the Regional Tibetan Women’s Association held a demonstration at McLeodganj today. They were protesting against the alleged secret cremation of Karma Ngedon Gyatso (38), a monk who had self-immolated at the Boudha stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal, on August 6, by the Nepalese government.

The protesters alleged that the Nepalese government had rejected repeated pleas made by the Tibetan community in Kathmandu requesting the release of the body of the deceased monk for proper Buddhist cremation rituals.

This was the second self-immolation committed by a Tibetan in exile in Nepal this year. Earlier, Drupchen Tsering, a monk, had set himself on fire on February 13 and was secretly cremated without any Buddhist rituals by the Nepalese government that turned a deaf ear to all their appeals, the protestors alleged.

Earlier in the morning, a prayer and butter lamp offer session was held at the Dalai Lama temple to mark the 49th day of Gyatso’s death which is an important part of the Buddhist rituals.

“This is the second time that the Nepalese government has committed such a heinous and cowardly act. Denying Gyatso his final Buddhist cremation rites is utterly saddening and outrageous,” said Jigdal, Program Director, Students for a Free Tibet, India. “Nepal should not forget its relations with Tibet by coming under the Chinese government's political pressure today. Our gratitude for asylum cannot condone Nepal's ongoing repression of Tibetan refugees living there," said Tenzin Tsundue of the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress.

Solan, September 24
Manufacturers of packaged drinking water have demanded the abolition of additional good tax (AGT) on packed drinking water on the plea that it was enhancing their manufacturing cost and making the product costlier.

The state government has imposed an AGT of 75 paisa per litre on packaged drinking water bottled in Himachal and exported to the other states. This enhances the manufacturing cost by as much as 10 per cent and since this tax is not applicable in any other state, it is making their product costlier in the other states.

The manufacturers under the banner of Paonta Sahib Chamber of Commerce and Industry brought the issue to the notice of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh recently during his interaction with the investors.

Satish Goyal, president, Paonta Sahib Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the AGT was making it difficult for them to compete with the same product manufactured in the neighbouring states where there was no such tax and since the profit margin was minimal in this business, they were incurring losses.

He added that the water packaging industries of the state were striving for survival due to competition from the industries of the neighbouring states and demanded abolition of the tax.

Investors also pleaded that the enhancement in the Central Sales Tax for the existing units from 1 per cent to 1.5 per cent was adding to their problems while for new units it was merely 1 per cent. They urged the government that the tax should be reduced to 1 per cent for the existing units also so that they could reduce their manufacturing cost.

Shimla, September 24
In a special drive to curb illegal mining, the police challaned 981 vehicles under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, during the last one month and realised a fine of Rs 48.38 lakh.

SR Ojha, Inspector General of Police, Administration and Welfare, said out of the 981 challans from August 15 to September 15, a total of 687 had been compounded. In the remaining 294 cases, challans had been sent to court. He said a special drive had been launched from September 20 to October 20 for registration and verification of migrant labourers and domestic workers.

He said a total of 2,223 complaints had been received through SMS till now this year. “Out of this, 1,223 had been disposed of while 1,000 were under process and 33 FIRs had been registered based on these SMSs,” he said.

The highest number of complaints, 1,061 pertained to harassment of women and 315 of harassment of men. 

Shimla, September 24
The Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) has lambasted BJP MP and President of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) Anurag Thakur for passing a resolution against the government. The HPCC said such tactics would not help him to wriggle out of murky affairs of the sports body, which were under investigation of the Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau.

Party spokesperson Naresh Chauhan said the government was determined to expose the irregularities committed by the association under Anurag, who had “commercialised the sport of cricket”. He had no right to cry foul after committing such glaring irregularities, he said and added that the government was only trying to clean the mess created by the BJP regime

Chauhan said the manner in which the HPCA was converted into a company from a society throwing all rules and regulations to the winds and after securing land from the government was a big scam. The Vigilance was investigating the entire case to ascertain whether the body registered by Anurag was a society or a company.

People of the state wanted to know the truth behind the issue. A body was registered as a company in Kanpur, but later it was transferred to Chandigarh. Further, it was not yet clear whether it was a company or a still a society on whose name land was allotted in Dharamsala. The sports body ended up constructing a five-star hotel, flouting the rules and regulations, the party spokesperson alleged.

He further blamed Anurag for serving the interests of outsiders. The vigilance inquiry had revealed the wrongdoings committed by the HPCA and a FIR had been filed on its basis and it was natural for Anurag to give it a political colour to hide his misdeeds, he alleged. 

Bilaspur, September 24
Leaders had to face a “stormy House“ in the Jhandutta Mandal Congress Committee meeting, presided over by mandal president Capt Om Parkash Chandel in the presence of mandal in charge Dr Babu Ram Gauttam, held at the Rest House, Barthin, 40 km from here, on Sunday.

Reports said as the meeting started for the next Parliamentary election preparations, several leaders, including Karam Chand, Vijay Kaushal, Tulsi Ram, Anil Kumar, Shanti Devi, Manender Singh Chandel, Vinod Kumar, Ranvir Singh, Chaman Sharma and Shatish Chandel, got up to say that such meetings were futile and would carry no meaning till top leaders rose above their own petty differences and took party workers into confidence and gave them recognition.

They said workers should not be taken for granted and be ever ready “to serve self-serving leaders” who did not bother for them after they had made use of them in the election.

This raised furore and pandemonium in the House as several members started speaking and hurling accusations against one another.

Those raising issues were adamant to get replies from those they thought were guilty before any decisions were taken and they were once again asked to go to the field to work for the party.

Some of them even doubted if the party could score better this time if no amends were made and leaders did not change their attitude.

There were repeated interventions of former MLA D Biru Ram Kishore and Dr Gauttam that order was restored and some proceedings started.

Dr Kishore appealed for magnanimity and for forgetting past mistakes and that all should unitedly work hard for victory of party candidates in the next election.

Dr Gauttam said meetings were held to know workers' views and take their help for solving problems. He urged them to forget the past and take to the field with only one objective of winning this election.

Prominent among those present were District Market Committee Chairman Vivek Kumar, Prem Lal Nadda, KD Gauttam, Paramjeet, Kuldip Singh, Jitender Kumar, Nikka Ram, Shamsher Singh, Om Parkash Gauttam, Mukesh Chandel, Subhash Chand, Prince Gauttam and Yash Pal Chandel. 

Hamirpur, September 24
Himachal Pradesh Technical University (HPTU) is mulling over imposing penalty on six private engineering colleges for not submitting details of students admitted by them to it for verification.

The university had asked all private engineering colleges to submit by September 15 complete details of the students admitted in various courses in the current session. While many colleges submitted the details along with admission forms, some of them have yet not supplied the required information to the university.

HPTU has already rejected a large number of registration forms of students who haven’t fulfilled the minimum eligibility criteria fixed by the state government for admission to various courses.

The state government had allowed admissions in B Tech courses to students who had cleared the joint entrance exams (JEE) conducted at the national level or secured at least 65 per cent marks in Class XII.

Similarly, admissions to M Tech course was to be made on the basis of GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering), admissions in B Pharmacy, M Pharmacy and MBA courses was to be made on the basis of entrance tests.

Many private engineering colleges had admitted students under management quotas, relaxing the minimum eligibility. HPTU had rejected their registration forms after scrutiny.

Since many colleges had admitted students to B Tech course without following the laid down norms despite repeated instructions, the HPTU is taking a serious view in this regard.

HPTU authorities said the classes for the courses had begun about two months ago and scrutiny of forms couldn’t be delayed any further.

HPTU Registrar Manoj Kumar said, “As many private engineering colleges have failed to submit details regarding admissions made by them to various courses despite several reminders, we are contemplating imposing penalty on them. The final decision in this regard will be taken in the meeting of the Board of Governors on October 1.” 

Mandi, September 24
Mandi Lok Sabha MP Pratibha Singh, wife of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, today laid the foundation stone of the Rs 10-lakh Rajiv Seva Kendra at Saroha and announced funds for links roads, 'sarais' and a mahila mandal bhawan in Seraj.

Addressing a gathering at Saroha, Pratibha said the MNREGA scheme was strengthening the economy of rural areas, mainly women, whose participation was more than 80 per cent.

The UPA Government’s national ambulance service was also providing health services in the remote rural areas. The RTI Act had increased efficiency in official work which had helped the common man, she added.

Under the PM Gramin Sarak Yojna, Rs 17.45 crore and under NABARD, Rs 18,45 crore was spent in the Seraj area on road projects. A building construction project worth Rs 12.64 crore was in progress in the Seraj area, she added.

She announced Rs 1 lakh for Kalni serai, Rs 1.50 lakh for Phatikri-Khoondhar road, Rs 1.50 lakh for Shetinag serai, Rs 2 lakh for Mazhvar Sarai, Rs 1.50 lakh for Bara link road, Rs 1 lakh each for Jhot Sarai, Kashmiri Mata sarai and Tarwara temple and Rs 25,000 each for Mahila Mandal, Kandi and Chalag under the MPLAD fund. Seraj Congress leader Chet Ram Thakur thanked the MP for the development works in Seraj. 

Kangra, September 24
A mock drill was conducted at the Kangra airport today to know about the preparedness of various anti-hijacking agencies. KK Sharma, Director, Kangra airport, said the mock drill culminated successfully. During the mock drill, a message from the Kangra airport was flashed at 10.20 am that an aircraft with 40 passengers on board on its scheduled flight from Delhi to Jammu was reportedly hijacked and it would land at the Kangra airport at 10.45 am.

The airport Director said after receiving the message an alert was sounded. He said members of the Anti-Hijacking Committee were informed about the situation.

He said Himachal Pradesh Police Anti-Hijacking commandos arrived at the airport within 18 minutes from Sakho and members of the AAI, Airport Security Unit in charge, district police authorities, sub-divisional police authorities, district administration, assistant director, Central Intelligence Bureau, and commandant 2nd IRB, arrived at the airport soon after they received the message.

Sharma said after an hour-long exercise, the team of the commandos led by Chandan Katoch overpowered the hijackers and the operation was over. Thereafter, Sharma told the Anti-Hijacking Committee that it was a mock drill.

However, C Paulrasu, Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, and Ajit Bhardwaj, SDM, Kangra, could not make it to the airport. 

Bilaspur, September 24
The Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) has condemned the “false propaganda campaign” by top Congress leaders against BJP leaders, particularly former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and yuva morcha national president Anurag Thakur.

This was stated by yuva morcha state president Suneel Thakur in presence of state general secretary Mahender Rana and other state morcha leaders at the Circuit House here today.

Accompanied by district president Brij Lal Thakur and state Kisan Morcha spokesperson Roshan Thakur, Suneel said the morcha was considering similar campaigns against top Congress leaders to “expose them” in front of the masses.

He claimed that the Congress had promised to give Rs 1,000 and 1,500 as unemployment allowance to all the youth who had passed matriculation and degree examinations, but 10 months had passed and no Congress leader was talking of the allowance.

Hamirpur, September 24
A local court has sent three accused to three-day police custody on the charge of murdering a hermit at Chakmoh yesterday. The hermit was found murdered near his hut by the police. A team of forensic experts has visited the spot and collected some clues.

Rajesh Kumar, Assistant Director of Forensic Laboratory, Mandi, said, “We have gathered some important pieces of evidence like hair on a stone with which the victim was hit, blood stains on the spot and torn pieces of clothes of the hermit etc.”