Shimla, May 23
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said Congress president Sonia Gandhi had asked him to continue in office.

Notwithstanding dissidence by a handful of people, he enjoys the support of a majority of the Congress and five Independent MLAs, said Virbhadra.

“I cannot stop personal ambitions of people but my government enjoys full support of Congress MLAs and all Independent legislators,” he said while talking to mediapersons here today. Virbhadra had met Sonia and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi in Delhi on Thursday. ‘

He said the state government plans to appoint some chairmen and vice-chairmen of boards and corporations. There are no plans to appoint Chief Parliamentary Secretaries as of now, he added.

“There is a possibility of a reshuffle in the state Cabinet,” Virbhadra said.

The final decision on the resignation of Chief Parliamentary Secretary will be taken by the party high command, he said. “There is little I can do to address his grievance as the powers of the CPS have been defined, he added.

Commenting on the statement of Himachal Lokhit Party (HLP) MLA Maheshwar Singh, Virbhadra said 99.9 per cent of his works had been done. “I don’t know what he is referring to,” he told reporters.

The CM said the Congress lost due to a wave in favour of Modi and not the BJP.

Virbhadra said efforts would be made to implement the policies and programmes of the government with vigour and speed. “All our plans are well thought out and these are fully funded, but there is a need to have better inter-departmental cooperation,” he added.

He rued the adverse and unfavourable award by the 13th Finance Commission and added that efforts were being made to rectify it with the 14th Finance Commission.

Simla, May 23
Not happy with the move of state Congress chief to seek Lok Sabha report card of the ministers, MLAs and other senior functionaries, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said he wished the party had shown this over-activism before the elections.

“I do not see any motive in this initiative by state Congress chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, who is probably being defensive. The party would have benefited had so much of trouble been taken before the elections,” remarked Virbhadra.

He said nobody was blaming Sukhu for the defeat and this whole exercise was uncalled. The details of votes polled for the Congress in every segment is available on the Election Commission website.

Following the worst-ever drubbing, the blame game has begun between the party and the government. The Congress led only in nine of the 68 Assembly segments with BJP getting massive lead in segments of nine ministers and almost all Congress MLAs.

“Rather than seeking a report to check booth wise performance of ministers, MLAs, chairmen of boards and corporations and party functionaries, it would have been better if he chose to look into the shortcomings and ways to overcome it,” the CM said.

State Congress president Sukhu had yesterday held a meeting and asked all District Congress Committee chiefs to send details of the Congress performance in Lok Sabha elections in the Assembly segments and booths of all government and party functionaries.

Virbhadra did not mince words in stating that it was a wrong precedent to have a nominated party president. “If the party wants to strengthen its organisation, there must be elected state presidents,” he said. He added that he has been the Pradesh Congress Committee Chief on four occasions, being elected thrice, and is very well aware about the functioning of the organisation.

“Rather than holding fort in the state Congress office, office-bearers of the HPCC should have been in their respective areas to muster support for the party candidates. Nobody except God is perfect and human beings will obviously err, so there is no need of a post-mortem of a defeat which can be attributed to the Modi wave, courtesy the high-pitched campaign in his favour,” added Virbhadra.

Shimla, May 23
Landslides have hit normal life in Kinnaur and this has caused resentment among locals who have been rendered homeless and tourists who have been stranded at Tapri since the past three days.

Landslides and boulders falling on the highway have created panic among commuters and have halted restoration work as well. The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) oversees the Wangtoo-Powari-Kaurik stretch of the highway.

A massive landslide occurred at Neugal Seri on Wednesday killing one Gopal and forcing other villagers to run for safety, while another at Nanapa village had rendered 13 families homeless. Three other landslides blocked the 7-km Tapri-Choling stretch of national highway-22 at Tapri, where several tourists have been stranded since past three days.

The Neugal Seri landslide, however, was cleared and the road was restored for traffic today.

The Nathpa Jhakhri Visthapit Kalyan Samiti (NJPS) and Him Lok Jagriti Manch, Kinnaur, have accused Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVNL) and Jaypee company of wreaking an eco-terror in the Nathpa-Wangtoo-Karcham region.

The SJVNL runs a 1,500 mW Nathpa Jhakhri Power project while Jaypee runs the 1,000 mW Karcham-Wangtoo project in the region.

The district administration was successful in restoring the Urni-Yula link road to Reckong Peo for small vehicles today, but the bus service could not be restored, thereby hitting the movement of locals and tourists to Kalpa, Sangla, Nako and Spiti.

SDM Nichar, Vivek Bhatia, who was monitoring the restoration work, said: “The landslides at Neugul Seri have been cleared and traffic was resumed today, but boulders falling from steep hillsides continue to hit the restoration of landslide-prone 5 km narrow stretch between Tapri and Choling on NH-22.”

Ranjit Negi, convener, Him Lok Jagriti Manch said: “The landslides and cracks in the houses have become a recurring problem in Ponda, Sungra, Taranda, Neugul Seri and Chauri villages, where water sources have dried up ever since the Nathpa-Jhakhri tunnel was constructed by the SJVNL 15 years ago.”

The NGOs would protest against the ecological disaster due to the hydropower projects in the Kinnaur district on the World Environment Day (June 5) at Reckong Peo to attract the attention of environment conscious communities, he said.

Negi said: “It never rains in May and June in Kinnaur, as has been happening these days. The area lies in the rain-shadow region, but large-scale construction of projects and roads have triggered climatic changes, making life miserable for residents.”

The freak snowfall in June 2012 ruined apple orchards. Now, this year, untimely rains have triggered landslides, making ravelling on NH-22 a life hazard, he said.

Bhatia said: “The victim’s family was compensated, while 13 families, whose houses were damaged or partially damaged at Neugal Seri and Nanapo, have been shifted to the panchayat ghar. He said the BRO and JP dozers were working on the highway. The Nathpa-Jhakhri tunnel runs under dozens of villages in Nichar and Rampur subdivisions.

“We are taking up the matter with SJVNL and JP,” he added. Members of Nathpa Jhakhri Visthapit Kalyan Samiti said SJVNL managers were never available at their offices and never gave their contact details.

SJVNL General Manager (administration and personnel), AK Mukherji, said he had not received any report from the field over landslides and cracks in the houses at the villages located over the tunnel of the project.

Dharamsala, May 23
Raids conducted during the past one week at various hotels and restaurants at McLeodganj and Bhagsu Nag have reduced the inflow of tourists during peak season, claim hoteliers.

The number of foreign tourists visiting McLeodganj and Bhagsu Nag have reduced by about 80 per cent in the past one week, they said, alleging that the police scare tourists, due to which they don’t turn up.

Naresh Nehra, a local who runs a small restaurant at Bhagsu Nag, while talking to The Tribune said: “All kinds of district authorities have raided the hotels and restaurants in the Bhagsu Nag area in the past week.”

He said initially the tourism authorities came and checked the records of hotels and restaurants, which caused panic among tourists and then excise officials paid a visit and stopped people from having drinks as well. To make things worse, the police too have become proactive, he added.

“Nearly 15 policemen carrying sticks marched through the Bhagsu market two days ago. The presence of police and other authorities acting proactively during the peak tourist season scare tourists as a result, the tourist influx has reduced by about 80 per cent,” he said.

Raju, another restaurant owner, alleged that the police in McLeodganj even objected to ash trays lying on tables of their restaurants. The police told them to close the restaurants by 10 pm, whereas most of the foreign tourists love sitting till late at night.

Vikas, a tour operator at McLeodganj, alleged that after a sluggish season last year, the McLeodganj tourist circuit was witnessing a surge in the arrival of foreign tourists to the area this time. But, after some harsh measures taken up by the authorities, most of the foreign tourists have left to Kasol in Kullu district or to Manali, he said.

He added that since most of the foreign tourists were in touch with each other through twitter or Facebook, they caution others not to visit Dharamsala.

Those in the tourism industry said McLeodganj Tourist Circuit has only two to three months’ peak tourist season starting from May till June. After that the tourist arrival slows down due to heavy monsoon.

They resented the action taken up by various government departments during the peak tourist season.

However, the officials of various government departments involved in carrying out raids at various tourists places, justified their action. District Tourism Officer Prabhat Chaudhary said: “The schedule for carrying out raids was set by the department and the raids have been carried out as per the schedule.”

ASP, Kangra, Mohit Chawla, said: “The raid in Bhagsu Nag was conducted on a tip off. However, the police did not find anything in the raid.”

Local Congress MLA and Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Sudhir Sharma, however, said: “The matter has come to my notice only now. It is inappropriate to disturb tourists. In case the authorities have some information, they should carry out the activities in such a discreet manner that the tourists are not disturbed or harassed. I will pass the necessary directions to the authorities concerned.”

Shimla, May 23
Experts from the National Primate Research Centre, University of California, today visited monkey sterilisation centres in Hamirpur and at Gopalpur in Kangra to suggest measures to combat the monkey menace that has been plaguing the state.

Dr Rob Atwill and Dr Brenda arrived here yesterday and held detailed discussions with chief wildlife warden Lalit Mohan and other senior functionaries of the department. Officials gave a detailed presentation about the problem and its fallout, including the damage being caused to crops and fruits.

The monkey census undertaken in June 2013 had put the number of simians around 2.26 lakh, while their population as per the 2004 Census stood at 3.19 lakh.

A total of 84,000 monkeys have been sterilised at the four centres set up by the state government in Shimla, Gopalpur, Una and Hamirpur. Three more centres will come up at Paonta Sahib, Sundernagar and Chamba while two new sites have been identified near Una and Bilaspur.

“We had sought help from experts of the National Primate Research Centre, University of California, and now, they are visiting the state to suggest ways and means to curb the menace,” informed Tarun Sridhar, Principal Secretary, Forest and Revenue.

He said as per the suggestions by veterinary experts, steps would be taken to put a check on the growing number of monkeys.

The Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, and the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) have entered into an agreement with the California National Primate Research Centre to check the menace in North India, particularly Uttarakhand, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Assam and Uttar Pradesh.

Veterinary experts will hold a meeting with senior officials here tomorrow. “They visited the Jakhoo temple in Shimla and other places in Hamirpur and Kangra to get an idea about the gravity of the problem and methods which will be most suitable to check the problem,” informed officials. They are likely to undertake a survey before proposing a strategy suited for the hill state.

Officials of the Wildlife Department said as per figures provided by the Horticulture Department, monkeys caused a loss of over Rs 150 crore annually while the damage to agricultural crops had been pegged at over Rs 180 crore.

The team is learnt to have appreciated the initiatives taken by the Himachal Pradesh Government to combat the problem and indicated that the results of sterilisation in containing the increasing number of monkeys would become visible only after five years.

Shimla, May 23
Chief Secretary Sudripta Roy was today appointed Adviser to the Himachal Government and P Mitra was made the Chief Secretary following a clean chit by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau.

Sudripta Roy

P Mitra

“We appointed Mitra as the Chief Secretary after the Vigilance gave him a clean chit,” said CM Virbhadra Singh. He said following some allegations levelled against Mitra by former DGP ID Bhandari, the Vigilance Bureau had been asked to look into these. Principal Secretary SKBS Negi submitted a report to the CM stating that there was neither any case nor any complaint against Mitra pending with the VB. As Roy suffered a brain stroke on October 11, 2013, Mitra had assumed charge as Additional Chief Secretary.

Both Roy and Mitra belong to the 1978 IAS batch.

Bharat Kehra was appointed Secretary-General of the Administration Department, relieving RD Nazeem. Nazeem has now been given the additional charge of Secretary, Urban Development.

Amandeep Garg has been given the charge of Director, Energy, Managing Director, Civil Supplies Corporation. Garg is also holding the post of Special Secretary, Finance. — TNS

Dharamsala, May 23
The internal rivalry among Congressmen in the state has led to circulation of a tweet targeting former Union Minister of Culture Chandresh Kumari.

The tweet was sent through an email by Hemanshu Mishra, BJP spokesperson from Kangra, and carried a "letter" from the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) allegedly written on May 9.

In the letter written to Chandresh Kumari, the CAG maintained that rare artifacts that were part of the national heritage were gifted to 43 editors of national dailies and news channels.

Hemanshu Mishra said he received the letter from the Twitter account of Chetan Bragta, who seems to be a Congress leader. “Initially, I thought it was a genuine letter against Chandresh Kumari, so circulated it to newspapers. Later, even I got suspicious. I think the letter might have been generated due to an internal rivalry of Congress workers in the state,” he said.

As per the letter, a copy of which is available with The Tribune, CAG Shashi Kant Sharma had stated that numerous artifacts, jewellery, rare decorative ornaments, oil paintings, murals, statues, busts and art installations were missing from both the National Museum as well as the National Gallery of Modern Art.

From the entry and exit register of both the institutions, it was discovered that the said artifacts, including the priceless Harappan dancing girl, reclining Lord Vishnu and 3rd Century bronze bust of Lord Manu, were gifted to 43 editors of national dailies and news channels, the CAG stated in the letter.

The CAG has asked the minister to get the missing artifacts tabulated, procure them back from editors and restore them to the National Museum and National Gallery as soon as possible.

In the letter, it has also been stated that the Prime Minister of Netherlands, who was scheduled to visit India in the third week of May, had expressed keen interest in seeing the Harappan dancing girl. The CAG said in case said artifacts were not restored, it shall be forced to register an FIR against the minister to get them back.

Chandresh Kumari, when contacted, said she has no knowledge about the said letter of the CAG. When asked if she had the knowledge that rare artifacts from the National Museum and National Gallery of Modern Art had been gifted, she said she had no knowledge. She also told The Tribune that she had not received any letter from the CAG. She threatened to sue people who conspired to defame her.

Brahm Kumar, official at the National Museum, said the original Harappan dancing girl was available at the museum. He said we sell the replicas of the dancing girl and other artifacts at the museum.

Kangra, May 23
Rain accompanied with strong winds lashed Kangra valley, while Dhauladhar range experienced fresh snowfall today causing a considerable dip in temperature.

The sky was overcast since morning and the valley experienced cold wave like conditions leaving life out of gear.

Dhauladhar range experienced fresh snowfall thereby considerably dropping the temperature.

The air connectivity was also disrupted as only one flight operated here today.

KK Sharma, director Kangra Airport, said: “A Spice Jet flight landed and took off in the afternoon, but the Air India flight failed to take off from Delhi due to bad weather.” Showers were also experienced at Shahpur, Mallan, Palampur, Nagrota Bagwan, Icchhi, Gaggal, Ranital.

Dhraman, Jawalamukhi, Dehra, McLeodganj, Bhagsu Nag, Naddi and Dharamsala.

Shimla, May 23
Keen to explore the possibility of sandalwood cultivation in lower parts of Himachal, the state government is seeking inputs from Karnataka and the Centre on the policy for protection and technical know-how to encourage growers to take to its commercial cultivation.

With the lower parts of Himachal, including areas in Bilaspur and Jwalamukhi in Kangra, having sandalwood trees, the state Forest Department is keen on exploring the possibility of its commercial cultivation.

Principal Chief Conservator RK Gupta said: “It is only after studying the whole economics and agro-climatic conditions required for chandan cultivation that we can ask farmers to take to its cultivation.”

He said besides seeking all relevant information from Karnataka, officers would be sent there to study all aspects concerning sandalwood cultivation.

With reports of illicit felling of sandalwood in Jwalamukhi coming to light, the matter was raised with the government. “We have undertaken fencing of chandan plantation on the forestland so that there can be no illicit felling,” he said, adding that the protection policy for sandalwood was being sought from the Government of India.

Treading a cautious approach before motivating farmers, the department is also examining the suitability of the species which can be planted in lower parts of Himachal.

Sandalwood plants have a very slow growth and it is only after 15-20 years that the returns can be expected.

Gupta said the species which give essential oil would have to be identified so that farmers got good returns. He said one could not take risk till the economics of it were worked out properly.

A preliminary survey and investigation indicates that around 300 sandalwood trees can be grown on an acre which can fetch up to Rs 10 crore after 15 to 20 years, as its international market value is Rs 10,000 per kg.

It was being felt that if sandalwood cultivation became successful, it would transform the socio-economic status of those living in lower areas.

There was a proposal to provide sandalwood saplings free of cost to growers after procuring these from South India as well. Also farmers were to be imparted the knowhow about sandalwood cultivation.

Shimla, May 23
With a view to bringing standardisation in the apple marketing trade and preventing fruit growers from exploitation by middlemen, the state government is contemplating amending the Himachal Pradesh Agriculture and Horticulture Produce Marketing (Development and Regulation) Act, 2005, and Himachal Pradesh Agriculture and Horticulture Produce Marketing (General) Amendment Rules, 2006.

This was stated by Horticulture Minister Vidya Stokes here yesterday. She said the weight and counts of apple for different packs would be clearly specified and the weight of apple inclusive of packaging should not be more than 22.5 kg for bigger packs and 11 kg for smaller packs.

Calling upon fruit growers to adhere to specified norms for better returns and fruit wholesale traders to support this cause for bringing about uniformity in the trade, she informed that the Horticulture Department would propagate this policy among farmers by holding special camps in fruit growing areas.

The government also decided that the processing grade fruit being procured under the market intervention scheme in 60 kg would be procured in 18-kg bags. The procuring agencies, HPMC and Himfed, would make timely arrangements for procuring the bags and ensure the availability of thses at their centres well before the onset of the apple season so that there was no shortage of bags to bring about the change, she added.

Stokes said ethral spray would be completely banned in a phased manner and directions had been given to the Dr YS Parmar University for Horticulture and Forestry to find out an alternate.

Nurpur, May 23
Recently, the World Health Assembly (WHA), WHO’s highest decision-making authority, had approved the "Post-2015 Global Strategy and Targets For Tuberculosis Prevention, Care and Control”. The vision for the post-2015 TB strategy is to make the world free of the disease.

This was stated by Dr S Parida, central TB division project consultant for the involvement of private medical practitioners in TB control, during his recent visit to lower Kangra areas bordering Punjab.

He said a special campaign had been launched to visit private practitioners and update them on the latest guidelines of the National TB Control Mission, including drug resistant TB.

He said under the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP), patients were given free treatment. Patients were also given free clinical examination, post-treatment supervision and drugs. The same facilities could also be made available at private hospitals and PMPs, he asserted

RK Sood, District TB officer claimed that PMPs were being motivated to get TB patients notified and their treatment must be supervised as per the RNTCP guidelines. — OC

Kangra, May 23
An Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) study has been conducted by medical experts of Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College (DRPGMC), Tanda, regarding the prevalence of diabetes mellitus and its risk factors among tribals in Bharmour and urban areas of Dharamsala.

The study found the incidence of diabetes mellitus to be 8.5 per cent and that of hypertension 28 per cent among Gaddis of Dharamsala. The incidence of diabetes mellitus was found to be 4.1 per cent and of hypertension, 11 per cent among Bharmouri Gaddis.

Stating this here on Wednesday, Dr Dhiraj Kapoor, HoD, Medicine Department, DRPGMC, Tanda, and principal investigator of the study, said the incidence of the two diseases were found to be significantly more in Dharamsala than in tribals of Bharmour and was at par with the incidence in other parts of the country.

He said the investigation was aimed at studying the effect of urban environment on incidence of diabetes mellitus and its risk factors. He said in this study, 8,000 individuals of the Gaddi community, 4,000 each in Bharmour and in Dharamsala, were screened for diabetes mellitus and its risk factors.This was the largest study conducted in Himachal and one of the largest studies in this part of the country.

Kapoor said in tribal urban Dharamsala, diabetes mellitus was found in 8.5 per cent and hypertension in 28 per cent of the tested population. The prevalence of diabetes in tribals of Bharmour was found to be 4.1 per cent and hypertension 11 per cent.

He said the study was funded by the ICMR and was carried on for two and a half years. Dr A Bhardwaj, HoD, Community Medicine, DRPGMC, Tanda, was the co-principal investigator. He reached the conclusion that rapid urbanisation and lifestyle changes had resulted in increased incidence of diabetes and hypertension in the Gaddi community in Dharamsala. But people in Bharmour had a lower incidence. He said the reason for the difference could be physical activity undertaken in these people.

Nurpur, May 23
Residents of Kamnala and Bhaleta gram panchayats today thronged the office of IPH executive engineer to protest erratic water supply.

They also submitted a memorandum to the department and threatened to stage a dharna in front of the office, in case their demand was not met within a fortnight.

Mahila Mandal president Gulshan Devi, who was accompanying the villagers, rued that villagers were forced to use contaminated water.

She said IPH department’s field staff had given water connections to some favourites by puncturing the main water supply pipeline whereas a large number of persons who had applied for water connections over six months back were ignored by the department.

Rajesh Kaka, ex-pradhan of Kamnala panchayat, sought an immediate solution of the problem with requisition of water supply tankers in the affected areas.

IPH Department executive engineer PK Sharma said the work for new water supply scheme was in progress and Rs 107 lakh had been spent on it.

“The IPH Department has deposited money with the state electricity board for the release of power supply to run pump houses. The scheme will commence as soon as it gets power connection and it will cater to the piped water needs of residents of 11 villages,” he asserted.

Mandi, May 23
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mandi, will organise an ‘open house’ on its premises tomorrow.

BTech students will exhibit their projects undertaken as part of Design and Innovation Practicum.

Course coordinators Rajiv Kumar and Venkata Krishnan said in the Design Practicum (DP), second-year students would display their products prepared for the society from scratch.

In inter-disciplinary Socio-Technical Practicum (ISTP), third-year students have undertaken various socio-technical projects in groups. For ISTP projects, students have developed the projects after interactions with different sections of the society to understand their problems and propose technical solutions to their problems. — OC

Una, May 23
Residents of Dulehar panchayat of Haroli block today protested in front of the district mini-secretariat and blocked the road in front of the Haroli police station demanding the arrest of persons responsible for the death of 26-year-old Aarzu Rana.

Rana reportedly died due to drug overdose two days ago.

Rana’s father Pargat Singh led the protest. He was accompanied by zila parishad member Amandeep ‘Moni’, panchayat samiti member Ravinder Joshi, Dulehar panchayat vice-chief Randev Singh and mahila mandal president Asha Kaushal.

Pargat alleged that his son was drugged and killed by the drug mafia.

Pargat alleged that sons of the drug trade kingpin were seen throwing water on unconscious Aarzoo on 21 May.

He said Aarzoo had taken an overdose of smack. He said a murder case registered against the suspects.

The protesters alleged that the Beet area was a haven for drug peddlers. They said the police had failed to check drug trade in the area.

The protesters later met Superintendent of Police Anupam Sharma and demanded immediate arrest of the accused. They also held a dharna in front of the Haroli police station and blocked traffic for some time.

The SP said a case had been registered and investigations were on. He said the police had recovered 225 kilograms of poppy husk in the past four months.

Shimla, May 23
Former Director General of Police (DGP) ID Bhandari has withdrawn his petition from the HP High Court filed by him for seeking quashing of memorandum issued to him by the state government for the charges of invading in to the privacy of then Union Minister for Steel Virbhadra Singh.

The counsel for the former DGP prayed before a division Bench comprising Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Sureshwar Thakur that the petitioner wants to withdraw his petition and the same was allowed by the Bench.

Bhandari had challenged the memorandum issued to him by the state government on April 17, 2014. The memorandum issued by the state government levelled two charges against the petitioner. As per charges, Bhandari while posted as the ADGP, CID, from January, 2008, to August, 2012, got implanted a bugging device (micro recorder) in a room where Virbhadra Singh, the then Union Minister for Steel, had to stay at Himachal Bhawan, Chandigarh, in September, 2010, with an intention to breach privacy.

The second charge relates to directions given by the petitioner to a police officer, Mukesh Kumar, to depute two officials of the CID to visit Chandigarh for placing the bugging devices in the room. It was alleged that after copying the recorded date in a computer, the petitioner recorded it in a pen drive and directed the police officer to delete the recording from the computer.

The state government said these two charges reflect that the petitioner had failed to maintain discipline and devotion to duty and acted in a manner of unbecoming of a responsible officer. It was alleged that the petitioner had contravened the rules of All-India Service.

Chamba, May 23
Sessions Judge, Chamba, RK Sharma today sentenced Varinder Singh, alias Bindu, of Shadalu village in Chamba for truing outrage the modesty of a minor.

Varinder was sentenced to one-year imprisonment under Section 354, IPC, one year under Section 354-A, six months under Section 506, and three years under Section 8 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. All the sentences will run concurrently.

HS Dhiman, District Attorney, said on November 3, 2013, the victim, along with her sister, was sent by her father to the shop of Sukhdev to purchase ‘bidi’ and a matchbox.

Varinder followed them and when they reached near an orchard, he gave one of the girls Rs 50 for buying sweets. In the meantime, the accused took the victim to the orchard and tried to rape her.

But some passers-by heard her screams and the accused fled. The case was registered at Chamba police station.

Kullu, May 23
Additional District and Sessions Judge, Kullu, Pawanjeet Singh awarded life imprisonment to Prem Tamang of Nepal in a murder case yesterday.

The accused had killed Ravi in 2012. Mahesh Sen, district attorney, said a fine of ~20,000 had also been imposed on him and in case of non-payment of the fine, he would have to undergo additional two years’ rigorous imprisonment. — OC