Shimla, April 30
With electioneering reaching a feverish pitch in the last phase in Himachal, the BJP has sharpened its attack on Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and challenged him for a live debate on TV channels.

After BJP state president Satpal Singh Satti dared Virbhadra for an open debate, Anurag Thakur, sitting MP and party candidate from the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat, who is also the president of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA), today joined the issue by challenging Virbhadra Singh for a public debate.

"I challenge the Chief Minister and his wife Pratibha Singh, who remained members of the Lok Sabha for 18 years and six years, respectively, to choose the place and time for an open debate at any place in the Hamirpur constituency so that the balance sheet of achievements and failures can be discussed live and telecast on TV channels," said Anurag.

Pointing out that Virbhadra Singh had been a deputy minister, minister of state and a Cabinet minister at the Centre, the BJP MP said, "Let him come up with details of what he did for his Mandi parliamentary constituency and the state and his roll honour will be blank."

Raising the ante in the last leg of electioneering, Anurag said he received the Best Young Parliamentarian Award in just three years in 2011 and was recognised as the Young Global Leader 2014 by the World Economic Forum, Aaj Tak and Headlines Today, which rated him amongst India's Top 10 MPs.

Anurag said he recorded 85 per cent attendance in Parliament, participated in 72 debates and put 612 questions concerning interests of the state and the nation.

He claimed that the opening of a Central university, IIIT and four Central schools, sanction of Rs 3,300 crore for roads, speeding up work on the Nangal-Talwara rail link and starting of a number of trains from Una are some of his notable achievements.

The polling in all four Lok Sabha seats in Himachal is slated on May 7 and electioneering will close on May 5. With elections over in all the neighbouring states, prominent leaders of the BJP, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are set to descend on the state in the last phase of campaigning.

Chamba, April 30
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has appealed to people to vote for those who believe in secularism and ignore the cohorts of communalism.

Addressing an election rally in Chamba today, Virbhadra Singh said the Muslims were the second largest community out of which the majority believed in the Congress and its policies.

Virbhadra stated that people of Gujarat still remembered the Godhara episode of massacre.

Rebutting the claims of Narendra Modi about Gujarat being a model of development, Virbhadra stated that being the coastal state, industries operating there were set up wayback during the Congress regime.

Virbhadra regretted that there were instances of scarcity of drinking water in several rural areas in Gujarat, adding that even the wells dug up were having salted water.

“During my childhood, I used to listen about ‘Amritdhara’, which was a panacea for all ailments. Similarly, the BJP is propagating ‘Modidhara’.

“I have been in politics since the tenure of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, but have never witnessed such a scene when the name of only one man is being propagated on the media. I will give Rs 500 if anyone tells me the name of BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee anywhere,” said Virbhadra Singh. He said the credit went to the Congress governments for bringing about vast development, the pervious BJP government had reversed the pace of progress. 

Palampur, April 30
Shanta Kumar today claimed that the state had been getting a royalty of Rs 2,000 crore from power projects because of his efforts.

He said when he was the Chief Minister in 1991, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed with the Union Government and, thereafter, decks were cleared for the release of 12 per cent free power in lieu of royalty to the state from all Union Government power projects, being managed by the BBMB, NHPC and SJVNL.

Talking to mediapersons, he said when he raised this issue before the Union Government, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh discouraged him and termed it a joke and said how the Centre could give royalty on the water of state rivers utilised for the power projects since the flow of water was a regular process.

However, remained adamant on his stand, he convinced the Union Government and stressed that when it was paying royalty on coal, petroleum products and other minerals to Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam and West Bengal, why should Himachal not be given royalty on its water being used by the Union Government for hydel projects.

Shanta said later the matter was placed before the Union Cabinet and it approved the royalty in the shape of 12 per cent free power to the state. The total annual receipts from free power was over Rs 2,000 crore annually. 

Una, April 30
BJP candidate from Hamirpur Anurag Thakur said today that every district of the country would have got more than Rs 100 crore for the development of sports infrastructure if the Commonwealth Games (CWG) scam, estimated at Rs 76,000 crore, had not taken place during the UPA regime.

Addressing a face-to-face meeting with sportspersons and members of district sports associations, the BJP candidate said the annual sports budget of the country was merely Rs 800 crore and with more than 80 crore youth and children, the per capita expenditure in a year on sports was just Rs 10.

Anurag said after the formation of the Modi government, Una, Hamirpur and Bilaspur districts would have the best sporting infrastructure. He remarked that those who were playing politics in the name of cricket would be given a befitting reply.

Anurag called upon party workers to use the social media as a tool for campaigning during the elections. "Space in the contemporary media is limited, while there is unlimited space in the social media," he said.

He added that he had a following of more than four lakh persons on Facebook and 2.3 lakh on Twitter, which, he claimed, was the highest for any politician in the state. He appealed to party workers to "like" his posts and also use WhatsApp to propagate the BJP ideology.

Reiterating his commitment for setting up a war memorial and war heroes museum in Hamirpur, the BJP leader said this would not only give honour to the martyrs and war heroes, but also attract about 20 to 30 lakh tourists every year. Besides, the youth would also get employment opportunities.

BJP president Satpal Singh Satti, district president Balbir Bagga, state Yuva Morcha vice-president Sumit Sharma and member of the Indian Under-19 world cup winning cricket team Perry Goel who organised the meeting, were also present. Later, Anurag addressed election meetings in the Una sadar Vidhan Sabha segment. 

Shimla, April 30
Ex-servicemen and soldiers take BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s appeal invoking the 1999 Kargil war hero Capt Vikram Batra’s war cry, “Yeh dil maange more” as a political bid to score some brownie points against the Congress in Himachal for the forthcoming parliamentary poll.

There is no doubt that Modi tried to score some brownie points making appeal to the war cry to woo soldiers or ex-soldiers, but the comment is no objectionable as far as the Army is concerned, said Brig GS Khimta (retd), a city resident.

“Our advice to politicians is that they should think of soldiers fighting and protecting the country in the freezing Siachen glacier or in the submarines in a suffocating atmosphere and words of mouth should reflect their deeds,” he added.

“It is the peak time in the country and leaders have to say something,” says Brig Govind Sisodia (retd), who led the country’s elite NSG commando anti-terrorist 26/11 operation in Mumbai and hails from Chopal. Today, everybody was an intelligent voter and knew whom to vote, he added.

As a matter of fact, parents of Vikram Batra, a Paramvir Chakra winner who had used the “Yeh dil maange more” war cry while recapturing the Tiger hills in the Kargil war, took on Modi, who addressed three rallies at Palampur, Mandi and Solan yesterday saying that “Modi did not bother to visit them, despite being in Palampur during the Kargil war."

Modi should not politicise martyrdom and his appeal using the war cry of their son was aimed at getting electoral gains and smacks of his pseudo-patriotism jingoism to grab votes, slammed GL Batra, whose wife Kamal Kanta Batra is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Hamirpur.

Soldiers and ex-servicemen are a divided lot while reacting to “Yeh dil maange more” row raised in the run-up to the poll. Modi has targeted Batra’s war cry in his homeland at Palampur winning over the hearts of soldiers, a vote bank of over three lakh voters and over 56,000 service electors, who will cast their votes.

But the Army has neither made “Yeh dil maange more”, a trademark nor Batra’s family has patented the war cry. It was borrowed from a line of a soft drink advertisement popular among youngsters during the Kargil war, said some soldiers.

Modi has not insulted the Army or the family by using this during his speech at Palampur and Mandi, said Brig Kushal Thakur, another living Kargil War hero and president of the Indian Army League Movement, who had surrendered his medals and honours in protest against the failure of the UPA government to give one-rank, one-pension issue in the recent past.

He said they served the Army keeping all politics out and fought for the country. “Modi did no wrong if he recalled the war cry striking a chord with soldiers,” added Brigadier Thakur, who had sought the BJP ticket from Mandi, but instead the party preferred Ram Swaroop Sharma. 

Narag, April 30
About 250 villagers of Mohar village in the Pacchad constituency of Sirmaur district have decided to boycott the poll.

The villagers are resenting the apathy of the administration in failing to address their grievances on basic amenities, including roads, adequate drinking water, irregularities in developmental works etc.

A visit to the village by The Tribune revealed the sorry state of affairs where despite availability of adequate funds, the villagers have been deprived of basic facilities.

Interestingly, the village was brought under the Adarsh Gram Yojna, which makes available funds for Scheduled Caste-dominated villages and 50 solar lights were supposed to be installed here. A round of the village showed that barely three such lights were installed with none being functional.

Villagers Subhash Kumar, Kashmir Chand and others said despite taking up the matter at various levels nothing had been done.

Approachable from Narag, which is a well-developed village, Mohar not only lacks proper road but the callously strewn muck and boulders had made even walk an ordeal. Despite having a population of more than 250 it has not been connected by the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sarak Yojna as the villagers said the PWD was asking them to donate land.

The works such as laying of drains, roads, etc, have been completed on paper as has been indicated by the RTI while nothing was visible on the ground.

Villagers said they had to walk for long distances to fetch water and the youth could not complete even matriculation due to poverty. The state government’s much-hyped Skill Development Allowance seemed like alien terms to the youth.

With politicians only turning up around the poll, the villagers said they were fed up with empty promises and little improvement in their village and had decided to boycott the polls now.

Una, April 30
Leader of the Opposition Prem Kumar Dhumal today said the appeasement for vote by the Congress had weakened the country after Independence. Addressing public meetings in the Gagret Assembly segment, he said the Congress had divided people in the name of caste, region and religion.

Dhumal said the country’s borders were unsafe and troops Bangladesh and Pakistan were challenging Indian soldiers. Terrorism was at its peak in Kashmir, central India and the North-East, while Congress leaders and their other UPA constituents were eating into the coffers, he said.

The former CM said Narendra Modi, whom the Congress was trying hard to paint as communal, had brought harmony, peace and development in Gujarat and the state had emerged as a model during his tenure. He said the state had shown positive emerging statistics in all fields.

The former CM said Virbhadra Singh did not have even a single achievement to list during his present tenure. The IndianOil Corporation depot, sanctioned for Gagret during the BJP tenure was shifted to some other place by the government and there was no talk of the canteen stores department depot, sanctioned for Una district during the BJP regime.

Una, April 30
Industry Minister and Haroli MLA Mukesh Agnihotri today ridiculed the claims of state BJP president Satpal Singh Satti that the Swan river flood management project and the Indian Institute of Information Technology project for Una district were fruits of BJP’s hard work.

Addressing mediapersons, he said the BJP could not distort the facts. Accepting Satti’s challenge of an open debate on the two subjects, Agnihotri said there was enough documentary evidence to prove the facts. The minister charged that the Dhumal government had never succeeded in getting sanctioned the Rs 922-crore channelisation work of the 73 Swan tributaries or the IIIT project.

He said the incomplete documentation of the Swan project sent to the Centre during the BJP tenure was outrightly rejected.

Agnihotri said after the formation of the Virbhadra-led government in the state, the detailed project report (DPR) for the channelisation of the Swan tributaries was formulated in a record nine-month time. The case was vigorously followed by the Congress government and the sanction for Rs 922 crore was received.

Detailing on the dates, Agnihotri said the Central Power Research Station, Pune, submitted the DPR to the state government on March 15, 2013, and the state technical advisory committee gave the green signal for the project on April 10, while the Finance Department accorded the approval on June 20, 2013.

Agnihotri said the consultative committee of the Union Water Resources Ministry gave its approval on July 30, the Planning Commission approval came on September 20 and the state government accorded financial and administrative approval on October 3, after which the foundation stone was laid in October 23, 2013.

The minister said that on December 19, 2013, the inter-ministerial committee of the Union government approved funding for the project under the ‘Flood Protection works’ with 70 per cent Central and 30 per cent state funding. He added after this, the state gave its guarantee to the Centre for its share of Rs 276.75 crore.

Agnihotri said the BJP claims that during the fag end of Dhumal’s second tenure as the CM, he had hurriedly laid the foundation stone for the third phase of the project at Santoshgarh, estimated at Rs 48 crore. However, he said there has been no approval for this from the Centre and now, CM Virbhadra Singh has taken up the matter with the Centre.

On the issue of IIIT, the minister produced datewise correspondence with the Union Human Resource Ministry to justify the Congress claims that the project was initiated during the present tenure of the Congress. He charged that BJP leaders were trying to mislead people in the face of an eminent defeat of their Lok Sabha candidate from Hamirpur.

Shimla, April 30
The political stakes for Himachal Lokhit Party (HLP) president Maheshwar Singh are high in the Lok Sabha elections. He faces an organisational crisis as a bunch of pro-Shanta Kumar BJP men who had joined the HLP during the 2012 Assembly elections had rejoined the BJP and he is fighting a battle to keep his party intact.

The 66-year-old royal family descendant from Kullu who thrives on the politics of devis and devtas in the valley of gods, his home district, Maheshwar faces the main rivals, from the BJP and the Congress in his home borough. His critics nail him for not contesting the Lok Sabha polls as his talks of forming the non-Congress non-BJP third front alternative remains a pipe dream.

Maheshwar Singh is currently campaigning for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), but mostly in Kangra and sparingly in the Mandi Lok Sabha seat from where Pratibha Singh, wife of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, is seeking a re-election this time.

Maheshwar also faces flak as his critics in the BJP term HLP as Congress-B team. He was HLP's lone winner from Kullu Sadar and survived. He took pride that he acted as a "Leader of Opposition" in the last Budget session of the Assembly in Shimla as the BJP had boycotted the sessions.

He talks on a variety of issues that have come up in the LS polls and explains why the HLP, a breakaway group of BJP men, is supporting AAP in the Lok Sabha.

Q. Why did the HLP say no to merger with the BJP despite the fact that the BJP had sent feelers and quite a few BJP men rejoined it recently?

A. I met BJP leaders. But it was the collective decision of the HLP's core group not to merge the HLP with the BJP. It is unfortunate that some of the same people who rejoined the BJP should explain how they would face people in the near future.

Q. Why did the HLP not contest the LS polls this time? You had the Mandi Lok Sabha seat twice against the Congress candidates.

A. The HLP is looking at vision 2017 for the Assembly polls. The party has extended its merger with AAP, but did not get any response. The idea was to keep the non-Congress non-BJP votes intact in the state. In principle, we deserted the BJP on the issue of corruption and shared this issue with AAP.

Q. HLP's support to AAP is selective as you have not campaigned in Hamirpur, Mandi and Shimla so far.

A. We have sent our feelers to AAP candidates, but they lack coordination. I have covered many constituencies and the campaign against the BJP and the Congress is on. I campaigned in Rampur, Kinnaur and Anni and Kullu and in Kangra for AAP candidate Rajan Sushant.

Q. Is there Narendra Modi or Virbhadra Singh wave as BJP and Congressmen claim in Himachal?

A. There is no Modi wave as such in the country. The voters are disillusioned with both the BJP and the Congress.

Q. The HLP is being reduced to a one-man party, that is you, as most of the BJP men who were with you have rejoined the BJP - Khushi Ram Balnata, Dulo Ram, Naveen Dhiman and the like?

A. This is not true. We have leaders like Shyam Sharma, BR Mandyal and others. As many as 16 persons joined the HLP at Baijnath soon after Dulo Ram left the party. But the media does not report this. The HLP cadre will grow and is forming vision 2017 for the party. Efforts are on to strengthen the non-Congress and non-BJP third alternative in the state.

Q. The BJP accused the HLP of acting like Congress B team and downplaying corruption charges against Virbhadra Singh. You danced at Holy Lodge when Virbhadra Singh became Chief Minister?

A. It is a matter of pride for the HLP that we acted as the main Opposition in the Vidhan Sabha as the BJP role was negative. They boycotted the last budget session. Is it a crime or is there a ban on visiting MLAs or MPs of other parties?

Q. Your politics thrives on devis and devtas? Even you support cultivation of contraband crop or opium poppy in the state?

A. It is true that I have the blessings of devis and devtas. But it is dev sanskriti and we keep it away from politics. I will be finished once devtas take away their blessings. People in Malana, Manikaran and Chauhar valley need alternative cash crops. I oppose drug abuse. We raised the demand in Parliament, but we are told cultivation of opium in the state is meagre.

Dalhousie, April 30
Minority communities will decide electoral fortunes of Congress candidate Prof Chander Kumar and BJP candidate Shanta Kumar in the fray for the Kangra Lok Sabha constituency in Chamba. Though there are other candidates, the main contest is said to be between the Congress and the BJP.

The earlier history of Himachal politics reveals that the political party which was in the power sweeps all four seats; sometimes losing one of the four seats.

The minority communities, including Gujjars, Gorkhas, Buddhists, Sikhs, Christians and Jains, constitute electors number, roughly around 80,000 in the district. According to figures gathered from political observers, there are around 2.50 lakh voters in Himachal Pradesh.

In Chamba district, out of five, four Assembly constituencies --- Bhattiyat, Dalhousie, Churah (SC) and Chamba --- are a part of the Kangra Lok Sabha constituency, while the Bharmour Tribal Assembly segment falls in the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency.

The number of Muslims voters in Chamba district is the highest who are spread over the four Assembly constituencies of Bhattiyat, Dalhousie, Churah and Chamba and have been the traditional Congress vote bank since Independence.

But now it is due to this reason that there is awareness among Muslims who have alliances with other political parties.

The political observers say that the Dalhousie Assembly segment has a substantial number of Muslim voters. The most inhabited belts of these Muslims are Diur, Kihar, Bhandal and Salooni areas. While in the Chamba segment, they are concentrated in Rakh, Jadera, Shillaghrat and Sahoo belts. Bagheigarh, Kurangoo and Jyuni belts in Churah segment and in Bhattiyat, they are residing in Sinhuta pockets.

Gujjars, whose avocation is mainly rearing sheep and milch animals, have so far held the belief that no party other than the Congress can do them good. They say that it is the Congress that always has the “secular” agenda.

Meanwhile, the BJP was harping on the dynamic leadership of its proposed prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and failures of the UPA government while the Congress was cashing in on its one-year performance in the state and the landmark achievements of the UPA government.

Anyway, the Muslim voters will play a significant role in deciding the fortunes of Chander Kumar and Shanta Kumar.

Dharamsala, April 30
The issue of division of Kangra and creation of new districts have taken a backstage during the forthcoming parliamentary elections with both the BJP and the Congress downplaying the issue.

Both Shanta Kumar, BJP candidate from Kangra, and Chander Kumar, Congress candidate from Kangra, have not raked up the issue of the creation of new districts during their campaigning. The issue was raised only by AAP candidate Rajan Sushant initially, but now he has also not spoken over the division of Kangra.

The issue of the creation of new districts was a hot issue during the last Assembly elections held in December 2012. The then BJP government had proposed to create three new districts out of Kangra, including Nurpur, Palampur and Dehra. Since Dehra was a part of the Hamirpur parliamentary constituency, former CM Prem Kumar Dhumal was particularly keen on giving a district status to the area.

Rakesh Pathania, BJP rebel and former MLA, who re-entered the party in the recent past, had launched an agitation for the creation of Nurpur district out of Kangra.

However, BJP stalwart Shanta Kumar had maintained a stoic silence over the division of Kangra district. He was said to be against the division of Kangra district that was considered to be his strong hold. Though Shanta Kumar had maintained silence over the issue, ministers and MLAs of his faction, including former minister Kishan Kapoor, had openly raised their voice against the division of Kangra district.

The BJP lost the last Assembly elections and its defeat was particularly heavy in Kangra district where it lost 12 out of 15 Assembly segments. The state leadership of the BJP was of the view that in case Kangra was divided into small administrative units, the party’s performance in the area could have been much better.

Believing this to be a reason of its defeat, the BJP within its organisation, created four districts out of Kangra. The BJP now has four organisation districts, including Kangra, Palampur, Nurpur and Dehra.

With Shanta Kumar once again the party candidate from Kangra, the issue of the creation of new districts has taken a back stage.

The Congress was never keen to create new districts out of Kangra. The party during the last Assembly elections maintained ambiguous stand over the issue. It maintained that new districts should be created only after a proper deliberation over the issue.

After the Congress won with a thumping majority in Kangra in the last Assembly elections winning 10 out of 15 Assembly segments, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh maintained that there was no need for creating new districts in the state.

Chander Kumar had also been maintaining that the BJP had been raising the issue of the creation of new districts just for political benefits. He maintained that the BJP raked up the issue of the creation of new districts in 2003 and 2012 just after its term was coming to end in the state.

Congress leadership from the districts, including Minister for Food and Civil Supplies GS Bali, was also believed to be against the creation of new districts out of Kangra.

Dharamsala, April 30
Congress MLAs from Kangra got together to dispel the notion that the Virbhadra government will fall after the poll. BJP leaders have been giving statements that the Congress government will fall after the elections.

Former CM PK Dhumal has been maintaining that the government will be pulled down after the NDA government comes to power.

Shanta Kumar too has said the government will fall under its own weight.

After successful rallies of Narendra Modi yesterday, Congress leaders today got together under senior leader Vijai Singh Mankotia to dispel the notion that the government is going to fall in the state.

Mankotia, addressing newspersons, said Dhumal should go through the Constitution before claiming that the government would be pulled down. The Centre could only recommend the dissolution of the Assembly in a state if there was a breakdown of constitutional machinery. Even then the suggestion had to go to the President of India through the Governor to bring down the government. So Dhumal should not dream of bring down the government, he said.

Sudhir Sharma, Minister of Housing and Urban Development, said Dhumal was making statements regarding the fall of the government either to intimidate the officers investigating the charges against him in the HPCA case or misguide the electorate.

He said leaders such as Rajinder Rana who were earlier in the BJP had now joined the Congress. This illustrated that people were leaving the BJP.

Yadwinder Goma, a young Congress MLA from Jaisinghpur, criticised Baba Ramdev. He alleged that Ramdev had insulted the Dalits. Jagjivan Pal, MLA from Sulah, Ajay Mahajan, MLA from Nurpur, and Sanjay Rattan, MLA from Jwalamukhi, also spoke.

Mandi, April 30
It is virtually the royalty which has been dominating the elections in the Mandi parliamentary constituency of Himachal Pradesh.

Rani Amrit Kaur, erstwhile ruler of Patiala state, was elected on the Congress ticket in the first General Election held in the country in 1951, as this region comprised of Patiala then.

For the forthcoming elections, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh'?s wife Pratibha Singh, erstwhile ruler of Bushehar state, is contesting on the Congress ticket.

It was only during two elections when commoners were in the fray. In 1984 and 1996 when Congress candidate Sukh Ram won the seat against BJP’s Madhukar and Adan Singh, respectively, and no candidate from the royal family was in the fray.

The Mandi parliamentary constituency was also represented by members of the royal families, 11 times and five times by others. Janta party candidate Ganga Singh won the seat during the 1977 election under the anti-Congress wave in the country after the emergency.

Another commoner, Congress stalwart Sukh Ram, won four parliamentary elections from the Congress.

Joginder Sen, the erstwhile ruler of Mandi, won in 1957 and next two elections were won by Lalit Sen, the erstwhile ruler of Suket state.

CM Virbhadra Singh had also won the seat for the Congress in 1971, 1980 and in the last election held in 2009 and lost the election in 1977. His wife Pratibha Singh has also won two times from the Mandi constituency in 2004 and by-election held in 2013 and lost in 1998. Maheshwar Singh, the erstwhile rule of Rupi (Kullu), also won from here on the BJP ticket during 1989, 1998 and 1999 and lost two times. In the last election, he was defeated by Virbhadra. He has also been a traditional rival of Virbhadra Singh and Pratibha Singh from the Mandi constituency.

Palampur, April 30
Despite the state government's orders for repair, patchwork and black-coating work on roads damaged in the state last winter, work is yet to be taken up in Kangra district.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who also holds the portfolio of the Public Works Department (PWD), last month directed the state PWD to take up repairs of all rural roads and state and national highways on priority and complete the task in time-bound manner.

However, in most of the PWD divisions of Kangra district, no steps have been initiated to repair the potholed roads. Over 95 per cent public of the state is dependent on road transport in the absence of any rail network.

Bad roads in the state have become a major poll issue. BJP leaders, in their election meetings, often target the ruling party for poor maintenance of roads. Besides the condition of rural roads, that of state and national highways linking Kangra district with adjoining states has gone from bad to worse in the past six months.

The Palampur-Hamirpur, Pathankot-Mandi, Kangra-Shimla and Una-Kangra highways, which are considered arterial roads of this region, need the immediate attention of the authorities. These roads are full of potholes, making driving difficult.

A senior officer of the state PWD said on the Shimla-Kangra highway, widening of roads was in progress between Mattor and Nadaun, therefore, roads were bumpy at many points.

He said the work of relaying the Pathankot-Mandi national highway between Ghatta and Mandi was awarded to the contractor last year, but he left the job incomplete and the matter was pending in the High Court. The contractor had also managed to get partial payments for the job.

Sources said in both cases, the PWD was responsible for maintaining the road as traffic-worthy in accordance with terms and conditions of the agreement signed with the companies.

Sources said in the case of the Pathankot-Mandi highway, though the matter was pending in the High Court, no stay had been granted and the PWD was free to make an alternative arrangement. But in the past year, no steps had been initiated by the PWD to repair potholed roads.

Rekong Peo (Kinnaur), Apr 30
After 10 months of havoc wreaked by unseasonal and excessive rains in tribal Kinnaur district in June last year, people are agitated over the government's failure to provide enough relief to affected people and speed up restoration and rehabilitation.

They blame the government for not declaring the calamity a “national disaster”.

“The tragedy coincided with the Mandi Lok Sabha byelections and despite devastating rains, people participated in the poll and reposed faith in the tall promises made by the leaders to provide adequate relief and restore normalcy. But none of the leaders lived up to their promise after the polls and we are still suffering,” the tribal leaders lament.

The calamity was no less in magnitude as compared to Uttarakhand, but the state government did not declare it a “national disaster”, depriving the affected people of relief, while Uttarakhand received massive help for relief and rehabilitation as the state government declared the calamity a national disaster,” convener, Him Lok Jagriti Manch, RS Negi said.

The tribals are upset that the government, which declared the entire Kinnaur district “disaster hit” after heavy snowfall on February 6, did not consider the calamity in June 2013 as a “national disaster”.

“We apprehend that the government did not declare the tragedy in Kinnaur district as “national disaster” as it would have raised a question mark on mega hydropower projects coming up in the fragile hills,” they allege.

The tribals complained that the compensation given under the relief manual was too meagre, moratorium on recovery of bank loans did not help the farmers, lands were not allotted to people whose houses and fields were washed away and no minister visited the district during the past nine months to inspect the restoration work.

The Uttarakhand Government gave free electricity to affected people for 10 months, paid enhanced compensation to victims and got huge funds for restoration work, while Himachal Government has so far distributed only Rs 26 crore against the estimated loss of Rs 1,100 crore.

The normal traffic on national and state highways and link roads is yet to be restored and driving has become perilous.

Several houses and fields have been damaged and unless the government declares the calamity a “national disaster”, nothing will improve and there will be no end to the miseries of the people, Renu Negi, a local, said.

Solan, April 30
A day after BJP prime ministerial candidate addressed a well-attended gathering in Solan, the Congress is all set to welcome their vice-president Rahul Gandhi who is slated to address a rally here tomorrow.

Elaborate preparations are underway at the Police Ground here where the National Security Guards (NSG) in tandem with the HP Police and the CID has thoroughly cordoned off the ground a day before the rally.

About 600 men have been deployed in and around the ground and IG (South) GD Bhargava is himself overseeing the arrangements, along with CID sleuths, besides NSG men. 

Since Rahul Gandhi has been given the highest Z-plus security cover, the venue of tomorrow’s rally at the Police Ground is being thoroughly inspected from the security point of view.

Congressmen will leave no stone unturned to amass maximum strength as the rally will be compared to Narendra Modi’s rally which took place yesterday.

An estimated 12,000-15,000 persons came to Solan yesterday to hear Modi with the roads overflowing even half an hour after his departure. 

Dr Kailash Prashar, vice-president, and Harbhajan Singh, general secretary, Pradesh Congress Committee, said preparations were in full swing to ensure that the rally was successful.

Police officials are having a tough time in making arrangements for the VIPs with two rallies taking place within three days. Since the two leaders enjoy high-security covers, any laxity could prove dear. 

Security forces from outside have also been deputed to meet the security requirements. 

Kullu, April 30
A 15-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a person at Bhuntar, 10 km from here, on Sunday. The police said the girl had lodged a complaint regarding the crime yesterday. Police sources said the accused had been arrested and further investigation was being carried out.

Medical examinations reports were still awaited. A case under Section 4 of POSCO Act and Section 376 of the IPC had been registered at the Bhuntar police station. — OC

Panchkula, April 30
A report by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) at Madhuban in Karnal stated that no semen was found on the clothes of victim Jyoti.

Richa Mehta, a doctor from the CFSL, today deposed before the court and confirmed the examination done by her.

The case had come for hearing before the Special Crime against Women Court in Panchkula here today.

On the day of the murder, Jyoti's clothes and other samples were taken to detect whether she was physically abused by the accused or not.

Mehta told the court that the examination of the hair samples of Doon MLA Ram Kumar Chaudhary that were taken from the sweater of the victim was done by her. She confirmed to the court that the hair samples of the accused did not match with those strands found on the sweater of the victim.

The Doon MLA and four others have been accused of killing Jyoti, who hailed from Bhunga village in Hoshiarpur. The victim, who was found murdered on a road in Sector 21, Panchkula, was coming in the way of Chaudhary's political career, the chargesheet stated.

The accused first strangulated Jyoti and then a truck was run over her to show it as an accident case.

Nurpur, April 30
Aarti Devi (23), daughter of Ramesh Chand of Indpur under Indora police station, today sustained serious burn injuries when her clothes caught fire suddenly when she was lighting a chullah with kerosene.

She was rushed to the Community Health Centre, Indora, and referred to the Nurpur Civil Hospital, but succumbed to her injuries on the way. The Indora police handed over the body to the family after a postmortem examination and the case was registered under Section 174 of the CrPC. 

Kullu, April 30
Three youths were killed in a road accident when the Pulsar motorbike (HP-06A-1734) they were travelling on collided with the side wall inside a tunnel at Aut, 20 km from here, in the wee hours today.

The deceased, all aged around 21 years, were identified as Kamal Kishore and Viranjan Thakur, both from Shil village, and Chander Prakash from Pekhadi village of Banjar subdivision. The bodies were moved to the Zonal Hospital, Mandi, for post-mortem and their relatives had been informed, said the police.