Dharamsala, March 28
The HPCA has demanded removal of the three retired IAS officers working in the office of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and a senior Vigilance official, citing violation of the model electoral code of conduct.

This apparently comes in retaliation to the state Vigilance seeking prosecution sanction against former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, HPCA president Anurag Thakur and others in the HPCA case.

HPCA spokesperson Sanjay Sharma, addressing a press conference here today, said they had complained to the Election Commission against three retired IAS officers working in the Chief Minister's office.

The officers including Subhash Ahluwalia, principal-cum-private secretary to CM and two OSDs, TG Negi and Trilok Janartha, were working in personal capacity in the CM's office. They were re-employed in the office after their retirement.

The HPCA, in a complaint to the Election Commission, a copy of which was made available to the media, alleged that in view of the forthcoming elections, the said officers were passing orders to tarnish the image of former CM Prem Kumar Dhumal and BJP candidate from Hamirpur, Anurag Thakur.

The complaint alleged that the said officers were busy seeking prosecution sanctions against HPCA officials. They were doing this to help the CM's wife, Pratibha Singh, who was contesting the election from Mandi, the complaint alleged.

The HPCA spokesperson alleged a senior Vigilance officer who was himself under the CBI radar in Virbhadra case, was unnecessarily trying to expedite the chargesheet in the HPCA case in view of the polls. He alleged that just because the CBI had questioned the Chief Minister in connection with the alleged money laundering charges during his stint as Union Minister for Steel, the state officials loyal to the CM wanted to expedite the chargesheet in the HPCA case.

Dharamsala, March 28
BJP candidate from Kangra parliamentary constituency, Shanta Kumar today campaigned in Dharamsala and addressed various small election meetings.

Talking to mediapersons, Kumar said in view of the CBI inquiry against him, CM Virbhadra Singh should resign. This would facilitate a fair and impartial inquiry into the charges levelled against him, said Kumar. Virbhadra has been maintaining that Shanta Kumar is a respected leader. He has also been stating that Shanta is demanding his resignation owing to political compulsions.

Kumar defended the HPCA and said the government move to expedite the chargesheet in the HPCA case with the elections approaching had political motives.

Shimla, March 28
The Bharatiya Janata Party today welcomed the decision of the Election Commission to hold simultaneous by-elections and Lok Sabha election for the vacant Sujanpur Assembly segment on May 7.

In a statement issued here today, state BJP spokesperson Ganesh Dutt said the Bharatiya Janata Party would not only win all four Lok Sabha seats, but also the bypoll for the Sujanpur Assembly segment.

He said state Bharatiya Janata Party president Satpal Singh Satti had written to the Election Commission, requesting simultaneous holding of Assembly bypoll and Lok Sabha poll so as to save expenditure and people from the inconvenience of coming to vote twice when the elections could be held on the same day.

“It will be a repeat of the 1977 situation when the Congress was completely wiped off,” Dutt went on to state.

Mandi, March 28
Ram Swaroop Sharma, BJP candidate from Mandi, started his campaign from Jogindernagar yesterday and organised road shows at different places.

Sharma, who was accompanied by senior party leaders and BJP workers, marched through the Mandi bazaar and paid obeisance at the Bhoot Nath temple. He later addressed party workers and thanked the BJP high command for giving him the opportunity to contest from the Mandi seat. He said: “The country is witnessing the Modi wave, as people are fed up with the corrupt regime of the Congress. But party workers will have to work overtime to bring the NDA government to power.” BJP MLAs Jai Ram Thakur, Inder Singh, Vinod Kumar and other party leaders were present. 

Shimla, March 28
Though the Aam Aadmi Party, the CPM and the BSP are trying to make their presence felt, the fight is between the ruling Congress and the Opposition BJP. Both have declared their candidates from the four Lok Sabha seats of Shimla, Mandi, Hamirpur and Kangra.

Another trend, which is conspicuous in Himachal, is that on most occasions, the party which is in power in the state fares better in the Lok Sabha poll. On three occasions when the Congress swept the parliamentary poll, it was in power in Himachal.

On the other hand, the BJP is yet to make a clean sweep in the parliamentary poll. Its best performance has been in 1999 when it won three seats and its alliance partner, the Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC), floated by Sukh Ram, one. However, the saffron party is yet to bag all four seats on its own. Rajan Sushant (Kangra), Anurag Thakur (Hamirpur) and Varinder Kashyap (Shimla) had won on the BJP ticket in 2009. The BJP has won three seats thrice in 1989, 1999 and 2009.

The BJP also did exceedingly well when it won three seats in the last poll in 2009 when it won Kangra, Hamirpur and the traditional Congress seat of Shimla. The Congress was able to retain only Mandi and that too with great difficulty as Virbhadra Singh won by a margin of over 14,000 votes. Later, Pratibha Singh won the Mandi seat again in the bypoll held in June 2013 by a huge margin of 1.37 lakh votes.

The Congress has swept the poll on three occasions but this feat seems a tall order for any party in the present scenario. Though some opinion polls had indicated that the BJP could win all four, but political analysts dismissed the prediction.

With still a lot of time for polling on May 7, the electioneering will gain momentum only after filing of nominations after April 12.

Mandi, March 28
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has criticised the BJP for allegedly denigrating the Hindu religion by raising slogans of “Har Har Modi”.

Addressing election meetings in favour of Pratibha Singh, the Congress candidate from Mandi, at Sangadi Bag, Karadsu, Jagat Sukh, Patli Kuhal and Banechi today, the Chief Minister said: “By chanting ‘Har Har Modi’ instead of ‘Har Har Mahadev’ the BJP is denigrating the Hindu religion. They are giving an impression as if Modi is the creator of the universe and going to build India.”

Singh accused the BJP of misusing religion for its political gains. He said: “Earlier, the BJP collected crores in the name of Ram Mandir about which there was no account and now the party is collecting money and doing politics in the name of Sardar Patel.” Talking about country’s self reliance in foodgrains, Virbhadra said: “Before Independence, India was not growing sufficient foodgrains and several articles were imported from foreign countries. But today the country has become self reliant in foodgrains and is exporting several articles.”

He said the credit for this goes to Congress governments, which ruled at the Centre for long.

Targeting the BJP, Singh said: “The divisive policies of the BJP will prove perilous for them, but this could put the unity and integrity of the country in danger as well.”

Criticising BJP’s effort to project development in Gujarat as extraordinary, Singh said: “Modi is making a false propaganda about development in Gujarat, when several other states have progressed and Himachal is one such state.”

Shimla, March 28
The Himalayan Committee for Action on Tibet (HCAT) today said India must redefine its foreign policy and clarify its stand on the Tibet issue. It is currently the centenary year of the drawing of the McMohan line between India and Tibet in Shimla on July 3, 1914.

Historians, members of the HCAT and Tibetan representatives gathered here at a seminar to discuss the changed scenario and the border dispute between India and China in sharp contrast to July 3, 1914, when the McMohan line was drawn.

It was here in Shimla that Sir Henry McMohan, the main negotiator of the agreement, along with others had drawn the McMahon line, demarcating the Indo-Sino border.

“To mark the centenary year of the McMohan line, historians and eminent people from all over the country will gather here in July and submit their recommendations to the Centre,” said Bhagat Singh Kinner, general secretary of the HCAT. He said though there was a dispute with China on the border issue, it was a historical fact that the line was drawn in the presence of representatives of the British Indian and Tibet at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies (IIAS) here.

He lamented that unfortunately, India had diluted its stand on the Tibet issue and made a mistake of accepting Tibet as a part of China whereas facts were contrary to this.

He said Tibet was always a buffer zone between India and China and had this situation continued, there would not have been unrest in the border states of the country. “India must vociferously raise the issue of Tibet at the international level and lend its support in the fight for freedom that the exiled Tibetans are waging,” participants at the seminar said.

Shimla, March 28
Keylong recorded 2 cm fresh snowfall while hailstorm lashed parts of Solan and Shimla district. As per Met officials, Manali received maximum rain while snow was reported at isolated places in the state. The weather will remain clear till April 1. Manali recorded 42 mm rain, while Rohtang Pass experienced snow. Saloni recorded 34 mm rain, Dalhousie 29 mm, Tissa 27 mm while Seobagh in Kullu received 20mm rain.

Solan, March 28
Even as greenhouse gas emissions from several cement plants in the state are registering an increase, there is no move to discourage setting up of more such plants.

The latest inventory of greenhouse gas emissions compiled by the Department of Environment, Science and Technology clearly states that the GHG emissions on account of cement plants have registered an increase from the earlier 5,170.30 Gigagrams registered in 2009 to 5,170.39 Gigagrams recorded in 2012-2013.

Though the increase was a mere 0.9 Gigagrams, it is supposed to have added immensely to the GHG emissions, confirm scientists in the Department of Environment. This was an alarming revelation as the state was reportedly going to be the cement bowl of the country with several new cement plants in the pipeline.

The state already has four big cement plants which include ACC at Barmana, Ambuja Cements Limited at Darlaghat, JP Cements at Bagha and CCI at Rajban, which have an aggregate capacity of 12.06 million tonnes.

The total cement and clinker production capacity of various cement plants in the state would touch 22.37 million tonnes by 2015 with commissioning of various units in the state.

The state contributes 0.53 per cent of the country’s GHG emissions while the cement industry emits 5.31 million tonnes carbon dioxide, a major component of GHG, and comprises 95.33 per cent carbon dioxide let out by all industries in Himachal. The emissions cover all the large, medium and mini cement grinding plants. Other industrial activities like glass production contribute 892.3 tonnes carbon dioxide. Despite such large-scale GHG, the state government is not keen to discourage pollution-emitting cement plants and five news plants which have failed to set up their plants in the stipulated period and were given an extension some months ago to set up their plants.

Even though the state government has received from the World Bank a soft loan of Rs 550 crore for pursuing use of green and clean technologies, it has not helped offset the impact of industrial pollution.

Dr SS Negi, Director, Department of Environment, when quizzed, said they were discouraging polluting industries and would ensure that modern technologies are put to use in the new cement plants whenever they approach the department for seeking environmental clearances.

With air pollution being a cause of constant concern in the existing cement plants located in the Darlaghat and Nalagarh areas, how much modern technologies help offset the impact of pollution remains to be seen.

Palampur, March 28
The state government is reeling under serious financial crises. It is evident from the fact that most of the development activities in the region have come to a standstill.

Most of the roads are in a bad shape, but the state government has no funds. The situation is no better in rural areas. Despite repeated requests of MLAs and ministers, the state government is yet to release funds for the maintenance of roads in many constituencies.

MLAs from the ruling party have admitted that their development projects were starving for funds. Even state and national highways were in a bad shape. The Pathankot-Mandi national highway, which is one of the important links between Pathankot and Mandi, is full of potholes. Likewise, another most significant road of the state, the Una-Amb-Kangra national highway, speaks volumes about official apathy.

Driving has become difficult between Ranital and Kangra as road is full of potholes at many points. There are regular traffic jams on the highway road, causing inconvenience to tourists. During the Assembly elections, the Chief Minister had promised to give a new look to roads and national highways within six months, but in past one year, things moved from bad to worse.

When the BJP was voted to power in 2007, the total loan liabilities were Rs 19,000 crore while the BJP government raised more loans to tune of Rs 9,000 crore in its five-year regime between 2007 and 2012. When it left the office in 2012, the loan liabilities increased to 28,000 crore.

The state government is paying an interest of Rs 4,000 crore annually on these loans.

In the current financial year, the total loan liabilities are likely to cross Rs 30,000 crore. Official sources said in the past one year, the state government made efforts to tide over the financial crises and maintain the development pace, but no financial allocation has been made by the Centre. The Chief Minister personally called on various leaders, including the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister, seeking financial package for the state, but in vain.

Shimla, March 28
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Executive Officer of Mandi Municipal Council and the State Pollution Control Board to take immediate steps to finalise the issue of installation of the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) plant.

The decision was taken after the MC failed to take any effective step in collecting and disposing of the MSW. Expressing dissatisfaction over Mandi MC’s working on the disposal of waste, the NGT further directed both authorities to complete mechanism of collection and disposal of MSW within a month and file a status report before the Tribunal.

It further directed the Mandi MC to provide sufficient containers and dustbins all over the town to ensure that no municipal waste was thrown on the roads, streets or at any other place.

While holding a circuit court sitting here, the NGT headed by Justice Swatantar Kumar further directed the Mandi MC to furnish a comprehensive and complete utilisation certificate to the Central Pollution Control Board showing clearly how Rs 1 crore, given to it by the CPCB, was spent by it for what purpose.

The Bench further directed the CPCB to release Rs 50 lakh within a week to Mandi MC. The bench made it clear that the amount would be spent only for the improvement of MSW plant and cautioned the MC for not spending it on any other expenditure head. The Tribunal passed the order on a public interest litigation filed in this regard.

Shimla, March 28
The votebank of over 1.2 lakh ex-servicemen and 1.3 lakh serving soldiers remains a divided house in the state as far as political loyalties are concerned. The ruling Congress, BJP and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are out to woo them ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in the state.

The BJP and the Congress have pressed into service their ex-servicemen cells, wooing ex-servicemen voters across the state. AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi chose to interact with ex-servicemen during his March 20 Dharamsala rally while the BJP staged Narendra Modi’s recent rally at Sujanpur, a nerve centre of ex-servicemen in the Hamirpur constituency to woo ex-soldiers and their families and serving soldiers.

Ex-servicemen expressed solidarity on issues such as one-rank, one-pay, war widows’ pension, their re-employment in the government or private setup, schemes for their welfare and state grants or wards for gallantry awardees and the like. But they remain a divided house when it comes to voting for a candidate.

"It is sad that frontal bodies of ex-servicemen have become politicised," said Brig (retd) DS Chajta. The office-bearers should take up issues that benefit them and serving soldiers rather than pursuing their own political agenda, he added.

No ex-servicemen vote as per diktats issued by representatives of bodies of ex-servicemen, said Lt (retd) BM Dogra (Indian Navy). “We go by what the party agenda is for faujis or how honest or capable the candidate is, not by any particular party line,” he added.

AAP has fielded Kamal Kanta Batra, mother of the 1999 Kargil war hero Capt Vikram Batra from Hamirpur, which has the largest number of ex-servicemen and serving soldiers in the state.

There are two parallel bodies of ex-servicemen, while the BJP and Congress have constituted two different party cells of ex-servicemen to woo the rest of the non-political ex-servicemen in the state. Both the cells take to party lines projecting them as real benefactors.

The Indian Ex-servicemen League is led by Major Vijay Singh Mankotia, a Congress leader who had switched sides in the recent past, embracing Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party.

"There are 250 bodies of ex-servicemen in the country, but the Indian Ex-servicemen League is the only non-political body recognised by the Government of India," said Major Vijay Singh Mankotia, president, Indian Ex-servicemen League, Himachal chapter.

In the state, the Indian Ex-servicemen Movement is led by Brig Khushal Thakur, a Kargil war hero, who was a BJP ticket contender for the Mandi Lok Sabha seat. The BJP rejected his candidature and gave ticket to an RSS man Ram Swarup Sharma, general secretary of the party.

Nurpur, March 28
The bereaved family of Lakhveer Singh, 52, who laid down his life for the nation during the Naxal ambush on March 11, accused the state government of ignoring the martyr’s sacrifice.

The family of Lakhveer of Buskwara village in Maira gram panchayat of Jawali subdivision regretted the fact that the state government neglected the sacrifice and failed to announce any financial support, notwithstanding his last rites, which took place on March 13 with full state honours.

The martyr, a CRPF personnel, was one of the 11 CRPF martyrs, who laid his life at Jeerum Ghati in Sukma district in Chhatisgarh on March 11. He was the lone martyr from Himachal Pradesh.

Lalita Devi, his wife, said the families of other CRPF martyrs were promised Rs 10 lakh each during the time of their cremations. “But here, our government has totally ignored my husband’s sacrifice, who laid his life for the nation.”

“Agriculture Minister Sujan Singh Pathania, former MP Chander Kumar (both from Jawali subdivision) attended my husband’s cremation. While local MLA Neeraj Bharti, Kangra Deputy Commissioner and Jawali SDM visited our house to condole the death. But none of them took up the issue of offering financial help with the state government. My husband was a lone bread earner in the family. My two children are still going to school,” she lamented.

Harnam Singh, father of the martyr, said the deceased was his eldest son, who after retiring from the army had joined the CRPF two-and-a-half years ago.

“My son was in the 10-Para (EME) Commando Force who displayed his valour in Sri Lanka, South Korea and even during the Kargil war,” he said. He regretted the indifference shown by the state government in announcing any financial aid to the family or naming any village place on his son’s name.

Meanwhile, residents from the victim’s village and those from the surrounding Sidhpur Ghat and Bharmar gram panchayats have passed separate resolutions demanding naming the government high school and village road of Buskwara leading to the martyr’s house after Lakhveer.

The pradhans of these gram panchayats have also asked the state government to extend financial support to the bereaved family. They have submitted copies of the resolution to the state government through local MLA and Chief Parliamentary Secretary (education) Neeraj Bharti.

Nurpur, March 28
The BJP is supposed to contest Lok Sabha elections in the state without the support of any political party.

This was stated by former Union Minister and BJP candidate for the Kangra parliamentary seat Shanta Kumar in a workers' meeting organised at Nurpur, Indora and Nagrota Surian in lower Kangra district.

He exhorted party workers to touch every polling booth during electioneering. He said these elections were not of ordinary nature as the outcome of elections would save the country from disasters like corruption, price rise, deteriorated law and order position in the country.

Shanta claimed that the BJP would emerge as the largest party in these elections and form the next government at the Centre. He said the BJP was the only hope for the electorate to elect the new government with a new era of good governance by Narendra Modi, whereas the Congress was fighting the final battle for its existence. He said AAP was not a serious political party. He said the party which could not rule Delhi was not capable of ruling the country.

Una, March 28
The Una Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) has projected a loss of Rs 35 lakh a year after the government decided to exempt the fruits and vegetables except apple from paying the market fee with effect from January 14, 2014.

The organisation is already facing shortage of funds for development of infrastructure and the government move to woo the consumers ahead of the General Election is expected to further weaken the farm produce marketing network.

The APMC collects one per cent on the sale of about 200 farm items, including fruits and vegetables, spices, food grains, pulses and other grocery items which are farm produce, timber and forest products, aromatic plants and Ayurveda herbs, diary products, poultry and meat, besides others.

Una APMC secretary Bhupinder Singh Thakur said the Una unit earned a market fee of about Rs 1 crore annually, while the annual expenditure was about 70 to 75 lakh, including administrative expenditure. It is learnt that the expenditure is on the lower side since a number of posts of hammer men and other staff were lying vacant.

After the notification number Agr-A(3)-5/2013-L dated January 14, the market fee on the sale of vegetables and fruits has been exempted.

Consequently, the Una APMC will loose Rs 35 lakh annually. This means the facility, created to provide farm produce marketing will be under funds constraints.

"Earlier, the Una unit had a surplus of Rs 20 to 25 lakh per year as earnings from Market fees, but now since this money will not be available, even the repair and maintenance of existing two APMC yards at Una and Santoshgarh in Una district will not be possible," an employee said.

While the successive state governments have announced opening new market yards in Amb, Bangana and Haroli blocks, these projects have yet to see the light of the day. "One percent market fee was a very meagre amount for consumers, but it had a big utility for the development of the much-needed marketing infrastructure for agriculturists," Bhagat Ram, a farmer said.

Solan, March 28
The HP Corporate Sector Employees Coordination Committee has decided to take up the issue of grant of defined pensioner benefits to about 7,000 employees of various public sector enterprises in the state.

A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting of the committee held in Shimla under the chairmanship of Govind Chatranta where it was decided to press for implementation of the December 19, 2013 High Court judgment which had issued directions to the Regional Provident Commissioner to transfer the entire corpus to the Secretary (Finance) of the Government of HP within two weeks, thus enabling it to implement the scheme within 12 weeks.

The fund pertains to employee share which has been contributed ever since the scheme was notified in April 1999. Chatranta said the HC had said that all defined pensioner benefits in accordance with the provision laid down in the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rule, 1972 and CCS (Commutation of Pension) Rules, 1981 as amended and adopted by the state government, should be applicable to employees.

This scheme was made applicable from April 1, 1999, but the state government delayed the process of implementation of the scheme on one pretext or another, allege the committee members.

The co-ordination committee had earlier agitated against the re-appealed notification of the state government which had remained operative for more than five years. The scheme was applied unilaterally by the state government in such a way that after 5 years 8 months, similarly placed employees have been divided into two classes in an arbitrary manner which defies all logic, rues Chatranta.

Since the SC had already dismissed Special Leave Petitions filed by the state government in this case, the employees had been looking forward to receiving its benefits, but they have been left high and dry. The state government has again decided to file an SLP against the High Court decision, claimed Chatranta. He said the committee would stage an agitation pressing for its demands.

He said despite repeated pursuance of implementation of this scheme by various delegations of Corporate Sector Employees with the Chief Minister, Cabinet Ministers, Chief Parliamentary Secretaries, Chairman, Vice Chairman of various board and corporations, no success had been achieved.

Shimla, March 28
The clamour to “cleanse” the controversial Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) today gained momentum here after the removal of Srinivasan as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief.

Deputy Mayor, Shimla, Tikender Singh Panwar, shot off a letter to the Chief Justice of India urging him to rid the state body of the control from the “BJP family” and make it more democratic and transparent.

Cricket fans hailed the apex court’s removal of Srinivisan as the BCCI chief. They said the court had taken a step in the direction of cleaning the sport that had become a hot bed for match fixing and corruption and a fund-raiser for certain corrupt politicians.

A Ranji star from the state requesting anonymity said: “The BCCI has become a fiefdom of the close-connected cricket mafia who eye the IPL and other matches as money spinners.”

Sunil Gavaskar appointment as the IPL chief will cleanse the sport, he added.

The state vigilance has submitted the chargesheet against the HPCA, including MP Anurag Thakur and former Chief Minister PK Dhumal, and sought government’s nod to initiate proceedings in the case.

Tikender in his letter claimed that HPCA was registered first as a society and was then changed into a company and later into a permanent fiefdom of one particular party when the BJP government was in power.

“HPCA initially a society, was registered as a company in Kanpur and its constitution was so replaced that life-term members were given full voting rights,” he said, adding that a majority of them were from outside the state.

Today, HPCA has become a fiefdom of one particular family, Panwar added. HPCA violated the democratic method of electing the office bearers through the district bodies. The father-son duo belongs to the same party, provided thousands of acres of village common land to the HPCA to promote cricket free of cost, but the cricket association instead constructed a five star hotel there, he added.

He said the IPL matches were money spinners and they hired retired cricketers as commentators, which encouraged fiefdom. The MPs and MLAs have a full time job of serving the people, they should be barred from entering the sports bodies, he urged. He said the constitution of state bodies should be reviewed to make them transparent and accountable.

Commenting on the letter, HPCA spokesperson Mohit Sud said: “The Deputy Mayor and the CPM wish to garner cheap publicity at the behest of some powers in the state. He is acting at the behest of Chief Minister as they are jealous of Anurag Thakur, who has brought laurels to the state through his hard work in creating cricket infrastructure in the state.”

Sundernagar, March 28
A two-day-long national seminar on "Recent Innovation and Advances in Textiles" began at Jawaharlal Nehru Govt Engineering College, Sundernagar, here today.

The seminar is being organised by the Department of Textile Engineering. Rajeshwar Goyal, Director, Technical Education, was the chief guest on the occasion.

Seminar coordinator Parveen Kumar said the seminar was being organised for the first time on the JN Govt Engineering college campus. Around 80 delegates, including professors, researchers, scholars and students, from various educational institutes across India were attending the seminar and would deliver lecture on various field related to textiles.

Four technical sessions were held during the first day. As per delegates, the seminar will be helpful in bridging gap between industries and academics.

Sundernagar, March 28
The seven-day-long state-level Nalwar fair, the biggest cattle fair of northern India, concluded here today.

Deputy Commissioner, Mandi, Devesh Kumar was the chief guest. He launched a souvenir on the occasion. He distributed prices to winners of different events held during the seven-day-long fair. As per official information, cattle around one crore were sold in the fair.

Wrestling competitions was also organised on the occasion. "Chhinj" was the most popular event of the Nalwar fair and people enjoyed wrestling bouts at Nagaun khud.

Chamba, March 28
The police have seized 15,000 millilitres of countrymade liquor from two shops at two different locations falling under the Chowari police station in the Bhattiyat sub-division of Chamba district during the past 24 hours.

According to a report, the police party on a patrol inspected one shop at Sahla and recovered 12,000 millilitre "Lal Kila" liquor and 3,000 millilitres of Una No. 1 liquor at Tundi in Chamba district.

Cases against two shopkeepers had been registered at the Chowari police station, the report said, adding that further investigation in these cases were underway.

Una, March 28
Bilaspur Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Aman Sood lost his mother Indu Mati Sood (70) in a road accident that took place in the Amb subdivision of Una district.

The accident took place when a car she was travelling in with two other persons reportedly collided with a Himachal Road Transport Corporation bus travelling from Uhal to Delhi at Lagyana village.

Two other occupants of the car, Ved Parkash Sood, hailing from Rakkar in Kangra district and car driver, Dinesh, suffered serious injuries.

Ved Parkash has been referred to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh for treatment.

Superintendent of Police Anupam Sharma said the body of the deceased had been handed over to family members and a case of negligent driving had been registered against the driver.