Shimla, January 1
In a show of solidarity, the entire Cabinet today issued a hard-hitting statement, countering allegations levelled by senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley against Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

This is for the first time that a statement has been issued by the entire Cabinet, thereby sending a signal that all the ministers are backing Virbhadra at this critical juncture when he is under fire from the BJP in connection with corruption charges.

The statement on behalf of the entire Cabinet is probably also an attempt to show there is no dissidence or there are no differences in the party and all are rock-solid behind Virbhadra. Prior to this, statements were issued by one or more ministers defending the CM.

Rubbishing accusations as preposterous and politically motivated, the Cabinet said the BJP leaders were making unsubstantiated and personal attacks on Virbhadra in sheer desperation and frustration, resulting from the Vigilance probe into the "chargesheet" submitted by the Congress against the misrule and misdeeds of the previous BJP government.

“The allegations are false, frivolous and fabricated, with not even an iota of truth in them,” it was remarked.

They went a step ahead by alleging that Dhumal and his family was retaliating as serious charges had been levelled against them which were now at an advanced stage of investigation by the Vigilance Bureau.

The ministers said earlier, Arun Dhumal, son of PK Dhumal, held a series of press conferences in Shimla, targeting the Chief Minister personally on issues pertaining to his Income Tax returns, loans and shares taken by his family members. When he failed to evoke any public response, the services of national BJP leader Arun Jaitley were sought.

“Jaitley raised the same old issues in New Delhi, which he had levelled before the Assembly polls in December 2012,” he said.

They said they had full faith in the integrity and leadership of Virbhadra Singh and were confident that all "false accusations of the BJP will fall flat as there was no truth in them".

They urged the Congress high command to give a befitting reply to the BJP leadership, which was "conniving and conspiring" to "destabilise the popular Congress Government in the state". The ministers said the "ulterior motives of the BJP would not succeed and their evil designs will soon be exposed".

Kullu, January 1
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has falsified media reports, saying he was not summoned by Rahul Gandhi or the party high command to reply to the allegations levelled against him by BJP's Arun Jaitley.

Answering questions by mediapersons on his arrival here today to inaugurate the Manali winter carnival starting from tomorrow, he said he was on a personal visit to Delhi and did not have any meeting with Rahul Gandhi or Sonia Gandhi today.

Refuting allegations levelled against him by Jaitley, he said those were politically motivated and were intended to malign his image in the wake of the upcoming parliamentary elections. Sources have revealed the CM was in Delhi today and met Ambika Soni, the Congress in-charge for Himachal Pradesh, to explain his position.

The political rivalry between former Chief Minister PK Dhumal and Virbhadra Singh has, of late, seen a war of allegations including those revolving around alleged irregularities by Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA), alleged land allocation to private entrepreneurs during the BJP regime and the latest being the BJP taking up graft allegations against the CM to the Prime Minister.

Manali, January 1
A fresh spell of snowfall in the entire upper Manali areas and sun greeted tourists from across the country on the first day of the New Year here this morning.

Thousands of tourists who visited Manali to celebrate the New Year were delighted to see the hills covered under a white blanket of snow.

The snow-clad Pir Panjal ranges overlooking Manali, apple trees and deodar trees covered with snow and the Beas presented a picturesque view.

The famous ski slopes of the Solang valley, which has become a prime attraction for visitors nowadays, also experienced a fresh spell of snowfall.

Tourists made a beeline to see fresh snowfall in the Solang valley today, where a festive atmosphere prevailed as New Year revellers enjoyed fresh snow and had a gala time.

Tourists enjoyed the fresh snow in the morning and later visited hot water springs at Vashisht.

On the first day of the New Year, the tourists paid obeisance at the Hadimba Devi, Rishi Vashisht, Rama and Shiva temples.

Due to the fresh spell of snowfall in the upper Manali region, the day and night temperature dipped sharply as cold winds lashed upper ares this afternoon.

The entire higher reaches in the Kullu valley, including the 13,050-feet-high Rohtang Pass, the gateway to Lahaul valley, Pir Panjal ranges, Marhi, Gulaba, Kothi, Dhundi, Hamta ski slopes, Bhrighu meadows and Chandrekhani Pass also experienced moderate to heavy snowfall.

Dalhousie, January 1
Tourists hailing from adjoining states witnessed snow on Dalhousie hills on New Year's Eve. Meanwhile, officials had undertaken the restoration work on the Dalhousie-Khajjiar road to resume the vehicular traffic for the facility of tourists as early as possible, reports stated.

The highlands of Chamba district were still covered under a white layer of snow while snow on the mountain ranges of this region would melt during the summers, the report confirmed.

According to experts, the snowfall was stated to be very beneficial for a plentiful apple and other fruits crops besides vegetable crops of the region, the report further said.

Nurpur, January 1
A bio-control laboratory, which was inaugurated by then Horticulture Minister Narinder Bragta at the Regional Horticulture Research Station (RHRS), Jachh, near here, on December 20, 2009, is still non-functional. This laboratory was built under the Centrally sponsored Horticulture Technology Mission and aimed at benefiting growers and farmers of lower Kangra district.

This laboratory was built at a cost of Rs 1.25 crore and had to provide facility of soil testing, weather information and measures to check crop diseases under one roof. Horticulture scientists, entomologist and pathologist had to run this bio-laboratory. However, both these posts have been lying vacant ever since it was thrown open. There is a lot of resentment among fruit growers and farmers of the area due to non-functioning of the laboratory on account of vacant post of scientists, who had to render farm guidance to them. The vacant post of scientists in the laboratory has hit its functioning and virtually it has failed to serve fruit growers and farmers of the area.

The responsibility to run the laboratory project was entrusted with the state government, but it could not post requisite staff to run it even after four years of its inauguration.

The bio-laboratory consists of three sub units, Bio-control, Plant Health Clinic and Leaf Analysis Laboratory.

According to information, the bio-control laboratory had to assist in minimising the use of insecticides by using natural enemies (NEs) of dangerous pests. These NEs had to be produced in this laboratory and released in the fields for pest control. The Plant Health Clinic of the laboratory had to diagnose causal organisms of plant diseases and suggest effective remedial measures. The third unit Leaf Tissue Analysis in the laboratory had to facilitate nutrient status of fruit and vegetable crops and also to suggest measures to rectify nutrient deficiencies.

SS Rana, Associate Director, RHRS, admitted staff shortage and said when scientists would be posted here, the laboratory would be fully functional and benefit the growers of the area.

Kullu, January 1
Ravi Thakur, vice-president of the National Scheduled Tribe Commission and Legislature of Lahaul, has said the state government has approved a budget of Rs 3.2 crore to compensate the damages caused by natural and other disasters in Lahaul district.

To provide immediate relief and assistance and repair the damaged sewerage, drainage, bridges, roads and government buildings, the amount has been approved by  the state government under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).

Ravi Thakur said Rs 3.99 lakh had already been utilised in Udaipur and Spiti sub-division of Lahaul district, and Rs 3.97 lakh disbursed to the affected people to construct and repair damaged houses.

Shimla, January 1
Residents and tourists today woke up to a near communication breakdown on the first day of the New Year in the capital city after BSNL mobile connectivity crashed for nearly two hours in the morning between 9 am and 11 am as two power generators in the Central Telegraph Office (CTO) chocked after a sudden power cut.

The entire system collapsed as the two generators in the CTO failed to work when the electricity was snapped in the morning. “We could neither receive calls and messages nor send the same to greet our relatives and friends in the morning,” said Sumedh and Priyanka, tourists from Delhi, who had come here for the New year celebrations.

Sources in the BSNL said the two generators in the CTO building chocked soon after the electricity supply got snapped due to some load-shedding by the HP State Electricity Board in the morning.

“Most of the hotels were packed to capacity as New Year revellers went rollicking with DJs in hotel discs and halls putting extra demand on the main electricity feeders,” said engineers.

Apart from the breakdown of the BSNL communication system, residents in New Shimla, Kusumpati, Sanjauli and other places remained without electricity for about two hours in the morning.

The generation wing blamed the transmission and distribution wings for the unscheduled power cuts. “The power cuts resulted from the system constraints because there is no shortage of power in the generation system,” said engineers at the dispatch section of the HPSEB.

The BSNL must have had their own problem as they had 250 lakh units of electricity available with them as against the peak demand of about 245 lakh units per day, said the engineers.

The number of local consumers has gone up that in turn overloads the transformers that result in power cuts, they explained.

Pradeep Kumar, Chief General Manager, BSNL, said they had rectified the problem.

Kangra, January 1
BSNL mobile network crumbled today on the New Year day putting subscribers to a lot of inconvenience.

Mobile subscribers were caught in a web this morning from 8.30 am onwards when they neither received nor could send any message from their cellphones. It was at 11.45 am that the system was restored, but within few minutes it got disrupted again till 3.30 pm.

It caused a lot of inconvenience to subscribers and financial loss to the BSNL, said a BSNL officer on the condition of anonymity.

JC Menaria, General Manager, BSNL, said today that there was a trouble in the Mobile Switch Centre (MSC) at Shimla which affected the Nokia Base Trans-receiver System (BTS).

Menaria said mobiles connected through the erection system were not affected. He said the mobile system was not affected at Hamirpur, Sundernagar and Chamba.

He said the mobiles connected through Nokia BTS got affected in Kangra district and other places, adding that 3G connectivity was not affected. Mobile subscribers said following the network snag this morning, they neither could receive messages from their friends and relatives nor could send any and had to bank on private mobile networks for the purpose. 

Solan, January 1
The Forest Department has mooted two eco-tourism projects in the Solan Forest Division to encourage eco-friendly activities and promote tourism. These activities include developing mountain trails, camping sites and nature parks.

One such project is mooted from the Nagali bridge-Chewa-Barog railway station-Shamlech-Chilla- Manjholi, passing through the forests and government land of Barog and Sultanpur beats of the Dharampur Block in the Solan Forest Division. “Walking trails have been proposed along this track as it presents a vast stretch of bridle paths which can be explored for adventurous activities,” said Prem Mahajan, DFO, Solan.

The total length of the trail is about 8.6 km from the Nagali Bridge and it leads to the Barog railway station, Shamlech, Chilla, Manjholi and it comprises lush green, thick pine and oak forests, rich in flora and fauna and traversing this trail will offer a thrilling experience to a holiday reveller. This trail also connects the heritage railway track (Kalka-Shimla) at Barog railway station, thus offering a package of pollution-free ambiance in the lap of nature. As much as Rs 2 crore would be needed for the development of the existing trail and develop three camping sites and one nature park, besides beatification and undertaking soil and moisture conservation works.

The Karol Ka Tibba is another proposal mooted by officials, which offers a historical and religious sojourn to a holiday reveller. As many as 12 villages have developed around the periphery of Karol Ka Tibba and tourist can experience an adventurous journey while climbing to the hill top of Karol, which is full of deodar, kail, ban and other trees.

Having four peaks, it has various ancient temples and is perched 7,500 ft above the sea level. It has a religious significance dating back to the times of the Mahabharata and is a popular trek of local trekkers.

Many leading personalities have visited the place. Among eminent personalities who visited the trek include former President of India KR Narayanan. Hence keeping in view its significance, the project is being taken up for the development of trail from Dedgharat to Karol Ki Devi Temple (Shikhar temple) along with landscaping of temple around Karol cave / Karol Devi and illumination by solar energy conventional electricity construction of general toilets, and natural water sources conservation so that it could be developed as wholesome tourist destination.

An estimate of Rs 5.26 crore has been prepared to convert this trek into a tourist’s delight revealed Mahajan who said the project would take two years for completion. 

Shimla, January 1
The Agricultural Marketing Board (AMB) and Department of Horticulture have decided to make Permanent Account Number (PAN) and Aadhaar card mandatory for commission agents to get a licence to run ‘aarhat’ shop for apple season, banning roadside operation of shops.

Farmers have complained that certain commission agents, who are not registered with the AMB, have fled from the state without making payments to farmers for their produce sold to them in the last season. “Cheques are bouncing as commission agents have no funds in banks. Hundreds of farmers are visiting banks to release their payments, but to no avail,” said Rajinder Chauhan, a farmer from Kotkhai.

Farmers from other apple belts of Jubbal, Rohru, Chopal, Rampur, Kumarsain, Kullu and Mandi also complained the same.

“Roadside commission agents buy produce from farmers at higher rates to lure them, but many of them disappear once the season is over as the AMB has no mechanism to nab them. They not only cheat farmers, but also dupe the AMB as they pay no licence fee as well,” admitted AMB officials.

“From Rohru to Theog and Narkanda, fake commission agents set up their shops. They give minimum payment to farmers after produce is sold to them and issue cheques before they wind up shops once the season is over,” the farmers said.

“We have received many complaints from the farmers that commission agents are not paying for their produce,” said Horticulture Minister Vidya Stokes. “Now we have made their registration with the AMB mandatory. No commission agent will be allowed to run roadside shops. We will take criminal action against them if they do so in the coming season,” she said.

Stokes said the government would notify markets, monitor their operations and take strict action against roadside unregistered agents. “We will take help from the police to check the menace in the coming season,” she added.

HS Baweja, Managing Director, AMB, said commission agents must have to furnish their PAN and Aadhaar numbers for getting licence for running a shop in the state. “We impose fines and take punitive action if they cheat farmers,” he added.

Shimla, January 1
The Himachal Pradesh High Court today dismissed a petition alleging irregularities in the purchase of laptops for distribution among meritorious students in the state.

While dismissing the petition, a Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmed Mir and Justice Rajiv Sharma observed: “The jurisdiction of the high courts, by the medium of Public Interest Litigation (PIL), can be invoked when it is in the interest of public, is not motivated or is not on behalf of some other person”.

The court further observed: “It pains us to record that this petition became the cause of delay in supplying laptops/notebooks to needy/meritorious students of the state, which is against public interest and against the interest of students”.

The court passed this order on a PIL filed by Neeraj Chandel, secretary general, All-India Student Federation, alleging that the purchase of outdated 10-inch notebook would adversely affect the health of students, particularly their eyes, as the same were of small dimension. It further alleged that respondents with ulterior motives to favour a particular company were compromising with the standard specifications and quality in the purchase of laptops by completely ignoring the fact that the use of such substandard laptops would adversely affect students' health.

However, the state government had contended before the court that it had taken care of this fact and before issuing tender, it had constituted an expert committee. It was further contended that the petition was not a PIL, but motivated by some company.

Dharamsala, January 1
The state government is mooting a proposal to include villages around Dharamsala in the local Municipal Council.

The district administration has sought objections from locals regarding the inclusion of their villages in the Dharamsala Municipal Council.

The villages that are proposed to be included in the council include Ramnagar, Shamnagar, upper and lower Barol, Khaniara, Gulerian, Aprer, Panjlehar, Pat, Chelia, Sidhpur, Khatchat, Chakwan, Ladhri, Mahalli, Kand, Juhal, Dari, Nargota Kajlot, Rakkar and Thathri.

Deputy Commissioner Paul Rasu said after the notification in this regard was issued, the villagers would have to file their objections within six weeks. The objections would then be sent to the Minister of Urban Development who would take the final decision regarding the inclusion of villages in the Municipal Council.

Sources here said since Dharamsala was represented by Minister for Urban Development Sudhir Sharma, he wanted to expand the local council so that more benefits could be secured from the Union Government. At present, the population of Dharamsala town is less than 50,000.

Though a large number of adjoining villages have practically merged in Dharamsala and are dependent on the town for all kinds of amenities, on paper, they are still villages. Ramnagar and Shamnagar villages are just within Dharamsala, but still exist as villages on paper.

However, the sources here said the villagers might not opt for getting merged in the municipal council. The basic reason for resistance to merger in urban area is losing benefits for rural areas.

At present, the residents of rural areas are getting various benefits like lesser telephone and power tariffs. MNREGA is the most cherished scheme that is being implemented in rural areas. Under MNREGA, the unemployed in rural areas get employment of 180 days in a year. The residents of rural areas are also entitled to benefits under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).

In case the said villages are included in urban category, they are set to lose the benefits under MNREGA and NRHM.

Earlier, during the stint of the previous BJP government, efforts were made to increase the limits of the Palampur Municipal Council. However, the move had met strong resistance from the residents due to which it was dropped.

The residents of Yol Cantonment Board are also demanding that their area should be denotified and classified as rural area.

The villagers do not want to get included in urban areas as generally, the municipal councils are short of funds. Most of the funds available with municipal councils go into payment of employees' salaries. So if the villages are included in urban areas it is likely that the residents would lose benefits of schemes like MNREGA and NRHM and also not get the benefits of urban areas due to paucity of funds.

Palampur, January 1
Chaudhry Sarvan Kumar (CSK) Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University has decided to provide new facilities to farming community, students and staff in the New Year.

Dr KK Katoch, Vice-Chancellor, stated this while addressing the university community on the New Year eve here today.

He said the Indian Council of Agricultural Research had asked the state agriculture universities and other agriculture institutes to produce more agriculture graduates as the country needed 10,000 more farm graduates every year. At present, only 30,000 such graduates were produced. Even in the state, 400 farm graduates were required currently, he said. The university has initiated the process to open two new agriculture colleges at Bajaura and Dhaulkuan.

Dr Katoch said a proposal for establishing four 200-KW solar plants worth Rs 1.80 core had been submitted to HimUrja. After these plants start functioning, the university would be able to make huge savings on electricity bills, he added.

Dr Katoch urged the staff to give due respect to farmers and solve their problems on a priority basis. The university was examining the possibility to reserve some seats in BSc (Agriculture) for children of the farming community. He also announced to create a technical cell in his office and strengthen the media unit.

While appreciating research achievements, he said the university was ready to face new challenges posed by emerging protection-related issues in polyhouses, climate change, etc, and sought cooperation from the staff to strengthen outstations by volunteering to serve there.

Transfers should never be considered as a punishment and staff should be proactive to serve clients, he said.

He cautioned the staff to follow all rules and regulations and not to violate conduct rules, adding he would take appropriate action to maintain discipline on the campus.

Dr YS Paul, Director of Extension Education, and Ashwani Chaudhry, registrar, also expressed their views.

Kullu, January 1
It’s a festival of hurling choicest abuses at one another. Old-timers say it's a centuries old tradition that helps keep evil spirits at bay.

Diyali festival was celebrated yesterday at Naggar village, known for Russian painter and philosopher Nicholas Roerich's estate and 25 km from here, where locals participated.

"More than 2,000 villagers took out processions in the village last night with flames lit on pine and deodar twigs," local Sushil Sharma said. According to tradition, the festival, which marks invoking gods amid the beating of drums and blowing of trumpets, is celebrated on the night of new moon 'amavasya' in the ‘Poush’ month (December 16 to January 13).

It's mainly celebrated in villages located in the picturesque Kullu valley that are normally marooned in snow in winter. As per the tradition, the first torch is lit at the Jagti Pat temple, located at Naggar village, the erstwhile capital of Kullu rulers. From there, the locals take the flame lit on twigs to their village and home for lighting.

"The locals take out processions through the villages carrying a man on a pole with sheep horns adorning his head. During the procession, they sing abusive phrases. The abuses help warding off evil spirits," said octogenarian Dule Ram. The womenfolk are barred from participating in the procession. After the culmination of the procession at the Jagti Pat temple, the temple priest reads out the forecast of the year ahead.

The flames lit on pine and deodar twigs would continue to light their houses for next two-three days, the locals said. —IANS

Una, January 1
A voluntary organisation, Himotkarsh Parishad, today declared the National Integration and Himachal Shree awards to be presented at its annual function here on February 9. Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Speaker Brij Bihari Lal Butail will present the awards.

Chief Advisor of the parishad and Chairman of the selection committee Vinod Lakhanpal said those nominated for the awards included DN Chaudhary (posthumously), former Director-General of Income Tax for social service, Himachal Pradesh University Vice-Chancellor Dr ADN Bajpai for education, Girish Gurrani for journalism, Dr Manoranjan Sahu of Banaras Hindu University for promoting Indian systems of medicine and Capt Dinesh Chauhan from Jubbal for gallantry.

Besides, Baba Aya Singh, Diakri Women's College Trust, Tugalwalan, Punjab, has been selected for the women empowerment award, while
another organisation Theater Age from Chandigarh has been nominated
as the best voluntary organisation.

Lakhanpal said Ashray organisation, situated at Dehlan village of Una district, had been nominated to receive the Himachal Shree voluntary organisation award. The organisation has been working towards the welfare of elderly citizens.

Others who will receive the awards are Shalini Agnihotri from Una, topper of the 2013 IPS batch, for youth inspiration, SK Sharma, Deputy Commissioner of the Chandigarh-based Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Sangathan region for education, Dr Parvinder Kaushal of the HP Horticulture and Forestry University, Nauni, for agriculture research, Vinay Vashisth of Punjab Kesari at Palampur for journalism, OP Sharma, retired District and Sessions Court judge, for legal education and Kuldip Dayal, general secretary of the state Non-Government Employees Federation for public service.

Kangra, January 1
The Kangra Mandir railway station, which is barely 0.5 km from the main road, has no road connectivity, and passengers and local residents have to cross a 65-year-old foot bridge to reach it.

The railway station falls in the Bhatti panchayat on the outskirts of this temple town, which receives lakhs of pilgrims visiting the Bajjreshwari temple annually, but has no road connectivity. A 140-ft-span foot bridge which was constructed in 1948 was the only connectivity with the railway station and four other villages surrounding this station.

Ashwani Kumar, member, ward No. 4 of Arla Dehra, said he had approached the state authorities once through local MLA Pawan Kajal and later written directly to the

Deputy Commissioner for a viable alternative to the foot bridge which had grown 65 years old. He said India got independence 66 years back, but 2,500 residents of Bhatti, Tarsu, Sanani and Palwana villages were still living in a pre-Independence era. He said patients had to be taken on shoulders from these villages for medical treatment as ambulances could not reach these villages.

He said if there was some natural calamity in the area, neither a Fire Brigade nor a JCB and ambulance could reach these villages and the railway station. He said there was only one drinking water pipe laid and without permission no new connection of water supply was possible. Villagers could not get bore-well dug as the bore-well machine could not reach these villages for want of a bridge.

Ashwani demanded that a concrete bridge be constructed on the Banner khad to provide road connectivity to the railway station and four villages so that patients visiting the Tanda Medical College by train and pilgrims and locals got a basic amenity of road connectivity.

He said a road connecting the villages was left half way due to red tapism.

Chamba, January 1
“Indiscriminate, invalid and impractical demands under the RTI Act for the disclosure of all and sundry information will be counter productive as it will adversely affect the efficiency of the administration and result in the executive getting bogged down with unproductive work of collecting and preparing the information,” observes Sandeep Kumar, Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) of Chamba.

Sandeep Kumar, an 1997 batch HAS officer, has pioneered in disseminating knowledge about the implementation of the Right To Information (RTI) Act, 2005, among Public Information Officers (PIOs) as well as common citizens.

He also discusses other issues of the RTI Act such as the misuse of BPL certificates in collecting voluminous information and how to control it; applicant not coming to collect the information when it is ready; and of course the additional workload.

Recently, Sandeep held five RTI workshops in Chamba district with a view to bringing awareness about the RTI Act, which is citizen friendly. He has focused himself on training the PIOs, especially of the panchayati raj, welfare and education departments, who lack in the capability to work as quasi judicial functionaries. Sandeep has also worked as ADM, Kangra district, for two years. Even during that tenure he organised several RTI workshops with the active cooperation of the Himachal Institute of Public Administration in various parts of the district, besides being a regular faculty member in the District Institute of Education and Training, Kangra, and Panchayati Raj Training Institute, Baijnath.

He says: “The RTI Act provides for volunteer sou moto discloser of certain information whereas imposes some restrictions on disclosure under Sections 8 and 9 of the Act. The Act does not provide the disclosure of information in entirety. So PIOs are required to understand this thin demarcation prudently. The PIOs waste time in culling, reshaping, extracting and creating the information. Section 11 (i) of the Act is also imperative to digest as it pertains to a thirty party information." Taking into account the acumen and endeavours put in by Sandeep Kumar providing useful and handy information to PIOs and Assistant PIOs on various aspects of the Act, the State Information Commissioner has recommended his name as a "resource person" for RTI workshops in the state.

Kullu, January 1
While the Kullu valley is notorious for charas cultivation and trafficking, if the seizures made is any indication, it has recorded a decline in charas trafficking over the past three years. Data from the police department shows 78 kg charas was seized and around 3,000 bighas of cultivated cannabis was destroyed by the police in 2013.

While about 1.7 tonnes of charas was seized during the first decade of the 21st century from about 1,500 persons, including 200 foreign nationals, about 185 kg of charas has been seized during the first three years of the second decade.

Kullu SP Dr Vinod K Dhawan said the drive against charas cultivation, awareness programmes and higher conviction rate had helped check the charas menace. Though the police authorities claimed they had checked drug trafficking to a great extent, data from the police revealed the charas seizure has doubled since last year.

The focus of law enforcement agencies, including the police, prosecution and court, should be on checking big drug traffickers and kingpins operating in various guises as activities of suppliers of hybrid seeds to villagers. Operators of “drug couriers and carriers” need to be curbed to check the dangerous drug menace for which the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act needs to made more stringent for breaking the “money muscle” of drug mafia. The roots of the problem lie not just in the state and the country but elsewhere too.

The need of the hour is to have a comprehensive strategy involving all arms of the society including judicial officers, police, NCB, revenue and forest staff besides people of the area to curb the drug menace.

Bilaspur, January 1
A deputation of the Suharghat Beopar Mandal led by their president Mahender Singh met Ram Lal Thakur, Chairman of the State Planning Development and 20-Point Implementation Committee, at Suharghat and submitted a memorandum to him.

The delegation urged Ram Lal to help them in ensuring that they should not be uprooted due to the widening of the National Highway 21-A (Suharghat-Nalagarh).

The deputation said half of the Suharghat bazaar lies on the Suharghat-Nalagarh road and the road widening would destroy their shops and residences.

They demanded that a diversion should be constructed on the government land in such a way that they should continue to earn their livelihood. Ram Lal assured to take up the matter with the Chief Minister so that they get suitable relief in this regard. — OC