Shimla, June 17
The HP High Court today granted anticipatory bail to Baldev Sharma, former BJP MLA from Badsar constituency in Hamirpur district, in an alleged case of sexual harassment.

During the course of hearing, it was informed to the court that the investigation was complete and now the challan stands filed in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Shimla, on June 16, 2014.

While granting the pre-arrest bail, Justice Sanjay Karol observed that “Taking into account the entire attending circumstances emanating from the record, including the nature and the date of offence and the time of reporting the matter to the authorities, as also the fact that the accused has fully cooperated and no recovery is to be effected, I am of the considered view that petitioner has made out a case for confirmation of the interim order.”

It is pertinent to mention here that a case of sexual assault was registered against him on April 1 with the Shimla West police station after recording the statement of the victim, who belongs to his constituency.

The victim, in her complaint made on March 5, 2014, had alleged that the accused had sexually assaulted her on March 25, 2012, at his residence in the Vidhan Sabha complex in Shimla.

The victim had alleged that when she had approached the MLA for her husband’s transfer, the MLA called her for attaching a note and sexually assaulted her at his residence.

However, in his bail application, Baldev Sharma contended before the court that he has been falsely implicated in the case and he was innocent.

Shimla, June 17
The Centre has given the state the Kol Dam lift water supply project as the option to supply water to Shimla. The Himachal Pradesh Government was stressing for the Pabbar gravity water supply project for this purpose.

The Centre had rejected the Rs 1,307 crore project as it was unviable on the grounds that the cost was too high, the source did not have a perennial snow cover, large forest areas were involved, getting environment clearance was an issue and the pipeline to bring water to Shimla was too long (about 45 km).

A maintenance road through the forests would have to be carved out requiring felling of a large number of trees, which the Union Ministry of Forest and Environment may not agree to. However, the state Irrigation and Public Health Minister Vidya Stokes insisted on pushing the project and the Cabinet put its seal on the project, overruling the objections of the Centre.

The matter was again taken up with then Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram for World Bank funding but there was no assurance as the UPA Government was on its way out.

The Centre shot another letter to the state reiterating that for “augmentation of the Shimla water supply scheme, the Kol Dam project is the best option” but instead of sending the detailed project report of the Kol Dam scheme, estimated to cost about Rs 400 crore, Vidya Stokes has again come out in defence of the Pabbar project and counted the “alleged disadvantages” of the Kol Dam water supply project and stated that it was prone to floods and landslides.

She also claimed that the cost of power for pumping of water would be about Rs 100 crore. Stokes said till now the matter was discussed at the secretary level and she would apprise the new Union minister about the comparative merits of the two projects to quench the thirst of people of Shimla.

“The Pabbar project is a better and viable project as compared to the Sutlej lift water supply project as it will become more costly with the passage of time and hike in power traffic will push the operational cost”, she said.

Trashing the argument that the project was unviable as the source did not have a perennial snow cover, she said it was the biggest perennial source of water and the project was best-suited. 

Shimla, June 17
The Community Health Centre (CHC) at Kaza will be upgraded to 50-bed hospital equipped with latest equipment and machinery and adequate staff and specialist doctors be provided. This was stated by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh while addressing a public meeting at Kaza in tribal Lahaul and Spiti district today.

He said the residential accommodation for doctors would be ensured in the vicinity of the hospital campus so that they might be available round the clock for the people and willingly opt for serving the tribal and far-flung areas of the state.

“I am well aware of every nook and corner of the tribal areas of the state as well as the customs, culture and traditions of the tribal people, besides problems and hardships being faced by them,” Virbhadra said, adding that overall development of the tribal areas and welfare of its welfare had always been his priority.

He said the state government had time and again taken up the issue for the construction of the airport for Kaza at Rangreek and also for the expansion of other airstrips in the state.

“I am personally going to pursue the matter pertaining to the construction of Rangreek airstrip with the Union Government so that the Kaza airport could be made more viable, both economically and technically, so as to boost tourism, he added.

The Chief Minister stressed upon exploring avenues for employment and self-employment for the youth of tribal areas. He said the government would provide uninterrupted 180-day employment to labourers working for the PWD and IPH without break, which was 100 days earlier.

He also announced upgrade of High School, Guling, to Senior Secondary School. The Chief Minister also announced to provide ‘Nautour’ land to the landless for the construction of houses for themselves in the valley.

Earlier, while addressing a public meeting at Kungri Monastery in the Pin valley, the Chief Minister stressed for the conservation of ancient monasteries and seats of religious importance. He said our religion focus on personal spiritual development and deep insight into the true nature of life which had to be preserved.

The Chief Minister said the Mudh-Bhawa road would soon be constructed which would be a short route for Shimla for the people of the Pin valley. He also announced the construction of Tangti and Kitnala bridges in the valley.

Dharamsala, June 17
In the counselling held by the Technical Education Department yesterday, polytechnic colleges got just 80 students against 7,500 seats.

RK Sharma, chairman of the admission committee of the state technical education board, said in the first counselling held yesterday at Sundernagar, about 1,880 students appeared. Out of these, 1,800 opted for government polytechnic colleges and just 80 for private colleges, he said.

In Himachal, there are 15 government polytechnic colleges that have around 2,000 seats and 18 private polytechnic colleges have around 7,500 seats. After the first counselling, about 200 seats even in the government polytechnic colleges have remained vacant.

Private polytechnic colleges have been able to fill just about 1 per cent of the total seats.

RK Sharma said about 13,000 students appeared in the PAT entrance test conducted by Himachal Pradesh State Technical Education Board this year. However, just 2,000 turned out in the first counselling. There seems to be decline in the trend toward polytechnic training in the state, RK Sharma said.

He, however, expressed hope that the numbers of students would increase in second and third rounds of counselling.

The managements of private polytechnic colleges are, however, alleging that students do not want to take admissions.

Chairman of the HIETs, a polytechnic institute in Kangra, Narinder Rana alleged that the policies of the state government were dissuading students from taking admissions in Himachal.

He alleged that in 2013-14, the state technical education board adopted a policy that the students, who did not clear 50 per cent of their theory papers, would not be allowed to take admissions in further semesters.

Thousands of students of polytechnic colleges had to move court to get this condition waived. About 500 students of government polytechnic colleges lost one academic year. To avoid such hassles, the students were now taking admissions in polytechnic colleges of Punjab, he said.

The state government is allowing admission in polytechnic colleges to those students only who have appeared in PAT.

RK Sharma said no cut-off had been fixed for those who wanted to take admissions in polytechnic colleges. This meant that any students, who appeared in PAT and got zero marks, was eligible for admission. However, a student who has not appeared in the test was not eligible even if he had got good marks in 10th or 10+2 examinations.

The state government is enforcing the condition for maintaining quality in technical education. However, by not keeping minimum cut-off marks in PAT, the quality gets diluted.

Private polytechnic colleges are hopeful that the government would allow these to admit students if their seats remain vacant after counselling by the board. However, if that does not happen, many private polytechnic colleges might have to close down due to lack of viability.

Shimla, June 17
Pre-monsoon showers lashed most parts of the state for the second day today, but there was no significant change in the mercury as it remained steady across the state.

The state capital Shimla was lashed by showers towards the evening and the town recorded 8 mm of rain within 30 minutes. Dark clouds overcast the sky reducing the visibility considerably, forcing tourists to rush indoors.

Nagrota Suriyan in Kangra district was wettest in the state with 36 mm rain while Guler recorded 23 mm rain, followed by Bangana 10 mm, Palampur and Pandoh 9 mm each, Sundernagar, Sunnibajji and Theog 6 mm each, while Manali and Mandi received 5 mm rain.

The maximum temperature showed marginal fluctuations and Una was the hottest in the region with a high of 42°C while Bhunter and Sundernagar recorded maximum temperature at 36.4°C and 36°C, followed by Nahan 33.2°C, Solan 33°C, Dharamsala 32.2°C, Shimla 28.2°C, Kalpa 26.4°C and Manali 26°C.

However, the minimum temperature remained two to five degree above normal and Una was warmest during the night also with a low of 25.6°C while Sundernagar and Bhuntar recorded a minimum of 22.9°C and 22.5°C, followed by Dharamsala 22.4°C, Palampur 21°C, Shimla 20.5°C and Solan 20°C.

Kalpa and Keylong in tribal Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti district recorded minimum temperature at 14.4°C and 11.9°C while Manali recorded a low of 15.2°C.

The local Met office said widespread pre-monsoon rain across the state was likely to continue for the next six days, may be till the onset of the monsoons expected by end of June.

Shimla, June 17
The Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) has expressed its desire for a tie-up with the Netherlands for the transfer of technology of segregating city’s problematic biodegradable garbage which constitutes about 60 per cent of solid waste.

The SMC today gave its presentation to the three-member team, led by the Ambassador to India, Alphonsus Stoelinga, on how the SMC was managing its solid waste in the city.

The Ambassador appreciated the door-to-door collection of solid waste through the SMC’s saheb society.

“We have asked the Netherlands to transfer the technology on how to segregate and dispose of the biodegradable waste,” said Sanjay Chauhan, Shimla Mayor, and Tikender Panwar, deputy Mayor. The waste management plant has a life of 25 years and the biodegradable garbage segregation at source remains a problem in the city, they added.

Shimla produces about 70 metric tonnes of waste every day. Almost 20 per cent of the solid waste ends up in the surrounding nullahs while the rest is collected from the door-to-door collection through the Saheb society, the SMC staff informed.

The Netherlands team today interacted with the SMC after the Ambassador expressed his willingness to meet the city administration.

He has expressed his willingness to transfer the technology to segregate the biodegradable waste with the SMC. But the problem is the state government was yet to sign the MoU with the Netherlands government for which the Ministry of External Affairs had to take the lead, Panwar said.

He said the SMC seeks green technology to manage the waste at source as they have limited sources. “We want a technology that can make compose, produce energy and waste is easy to manage,” Panwar added. 

Kangra, June 17
Five persons, including a woman, died of poisoning in different incidents at the DRPGMC, Tanda, the police said here today.

Police said Raj Kumar, 40, a resident of Abota village of Palampur tehsil, had consumed some poisonous substance at his residence. When his condition deteriorated, he was rushed to the DRPGMC, Tanda.

Additional SHO, Palampur, Kuldeep Sharma said he died this morning and the body after conducting a post-mortem examination was handed over to his relatives. The police was investigating the case under Section 174 of the CrPC.

In another incident, Baldev Rana, 31, a resident of Mandal Sunaid village falling under the Nagrota Bagwan police station, had consumed some poisonous substance and was rushed to the DRPGMC, Tanda, where he died this morning. The body after conducting the post-mortem examination was handed over to his relatives. The police was investigating the case under Section 174 of the CrPC.

The police said Surender Kumar, 31, consumed pesticides in his room and was rushed to the DRPGMC, Tanda, where he died. The body after the postmortem was handed over to his relatives.

The police said in another case, Ashwani Kumar, 26, a resident of Ambari, was under depression after the death of his father and he consumed some poisonous substance at his residence. When his condition deteriorated, he was rushed to the DRPGMC, Tanda, where he died.

Vinta Devi (26), and mother of 5-year-old girl, consumed poison at her residence in Rakkar village. She was first rushed to the Civil Hospital, Palampur. Later, doctors referred her to the DRPGMC, Tanda where she died.

Vipin Kumar, brother of the victim, complained before the police that Vinta was tortured by her in-laws and she was forced to commit suicide.

The police arrested Bishan Dass and Vimla Devi, father-in-law and mother-in-law of the victim, respectively, under Section 498 A and 306, IPC, for demanding dowry, torturing and abetment to suicide. The police handed over the body to her relatives after the postmortem. 

Nahan, June 17
The death toll in the yesterday’s bus accident at Madharaghat near Renuka Jee today rose to 13, while the count of injured persons was confirmed at 43 from 25 and four seriously injured persons had been referred to the PGI, Chandigarh.

The district administration, led by Deputy Commissioner Vikas Labroo, carried out relief and rescue operations till 3 am this morning.

The driver of the ill-fated bus (UP-33-AP-0178), which was returning to Saharanpur from Renuka Jee around 7 pm, had mistakenly taken the Panjahal-Nahan route and after enquiring from a tea vendor, the driver put the bus into reverse to take the road leading to Paonta Sahib, but it fell into a 250-foot gorge. The driver fled the spot after the accident and was yet to be traced. There were 63 passengers on board the bus.

SDM Jyoti Rana said as the darkness had descended, the rescue operation had become difficult to carry out and bodies were pulled out with the help of youths from Paonta Sahib, led by Parminder Singh, till 3 am this morning. With four bodies remaining stuck below the bus, it took a lot of effort to extricate them and a headless body of a woman was also recovered late in the evening, while her head was found early this morning.

Those who were killed included six women and two children. They were residents of Saharanpur. The deceased were identified as Mahender Pal (72), Balbiri Devi (60), Kashmiri Devi (70), Neelam Sukheja (48), Raghav Mogra (10), Kishen Bhardwaj (21), Praveen Mehta (62), Rajinder Sharma (63), Sumitra Devi (65), Kavita Devi (60), Bhanupriya (23), Ashish Mehra (11) and Raju Sharma (55).

The four seriously injured persons are Lila Devi, Kamlesh Devi, Rakesh and Himanshu.

Solan, June 17
With a majority of ATMs in the town lacking proper security, transacting cash has become a risky proposition as vagabonds who are on the look-out to snatch cash from vulnerable customers are seen roaming fearlessly around such places.

Interestingly, though all banks are supposed to deploy security guards to ensure risk-free cash transactions, this norm was either not followed or there was utter negligence in its implementation.

The ATM room of the Bank of Baroda on the busy Mall and just below the bank appears to be most vulnerable as a woman who was making cash transaction yesterday barely escaped theft when a vagabond entered the ATM room and pressed the keys. The woman somehow managed to get him out of the room.

The manager of the bank and the police were informed about the happening later and the vagabond was also rounded up.

When quizzed, the manager of the Bank of Baroda said they had received information about this incident from the police and the security guard had been questioned about this laxity.

He said since there was no provision of locking the ATMs from inside and their security had been outsourced, they would inform the agency concerned about this laxity in case a written complaint was received.

The incident has exposed the lack of security arrangement in the ATMs. Since cases of chain and cash snatching have become a routine affair, people arefearful of carrying cash, especially after visiting any bank or an ATM.

Vagabonds are seen roaming in the deserted areas lying across the railway line in the Saproon area of the town where cases of women being harassed by them have also been reported.

Additional Superintendent of Police Padam Chand said all banks had been directed to ensure security of their clients and install CCTV cameras. He said the bank had also been informed not to leave their ATM rooms unmanned so that customers felt safe to make transactions. 

Palampur, June 17
Despite specific orders of the state government, the Mining Department or other agencies of the state government are yet to dismantle the escape routes (illegal roads) developed by mining mafia for illegal mining in rivers of the Kangra district.

It may be recalled that last week, the state government had ordered to close or dismantle all illegal roads constructed by the mining mafia in the state.

In fact, 24 students of Hyderabad who were washed away in the Beas had also followed the illegal road constructed by the mining mafia to reach the riverbed.

After the incident, the state government had initiated various steps for the safety and security of tourists which also included dismantling of illegal roads.

The government has to file a detailed report in this regard in the HP High Court on June 19.

In Kangra district, over 24 illegal roads have been constructed by the mining mafia to reach the riverbeds of different rivers for the extraction of stone, sand and other building material.

In most of the cases, roads have been constructed through the forest land. Though the divisional forest officers of Kangra are well-versed with the situation, no action has been initiated in this regard.

There are over 12 small and big rivers where illegal mining has been going unabated. Palampur, Baijnath and Jaisinghpur sub-divisions are worst affected where large scale mining is going on in the Beas, Neugal, Binwa, Awa, Bhiral and Mol.

Illegal and unscientific mining quarrying in the Kangra valley has resulted in large scale deforestation, landslides and flash floods.

Over 20,000 hectares of land has been affected by mining, quarrying and other construction activities in this region, resulting in drastic reshaping of landscape.

Several NGOs have already cautioned the state machinery to initiate steps for the safety of tourists, but officials of the state government are yet to respond.

The issue relating to illegal mining in the Kangra valley is already under consideration in the HP High Court. 

Palampur June 17
The state government will spend Rs 1,325 crore for the welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, other back ward classes, widows and old-age pensions in the state during the current financial year.

This was disclosed by Brij Behari Lal Butail, Speaker of the state Assembly, while addressing mediapersons at the PWD rest house here yesterday.

He said the state government had laid special stress to help the poor by allocating one-fourth of the budget. He said the state government was committed for the uplift of the downtrodden.

The Speaker said till date, over 45 crore had been spent under the SC/ ST component plan for extending assistance to 57,000 persons in Kangra district. Besides, Rs 29 crore were spent to extend social security cover to 39,000 eligible persons and nine crore were also incurred to pay pensions to 16,000 widows.

He said Himachal had emerged as the best state in the country as for the proper utilisation of state and the Central government grants in proper and transparent manners by extending benefits to the needy.

While lauding efforts of the state government, he said because of best polices and planning of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, Himachal had been adjudged best state among hill states of the country.

Earlier, Butail also listened to public grievances in Khula Darbar organised by local SDM Bhupider Attari. 

Una, June 17
The Una police have begun investigations into the death of Nisha Devi, a resident of Singan village in Haroli block, whose semi-burnt body was found in the forest area near the village late Monday evening.

Superintendent of Police Anupam Sharma said a case under Section 302, IPC, had been registered and forensic advice solicited.

The SP said the nude body of the woman also bore injury marks, which appeared to have been inflicted with some sharp-edged weapon. He said the police suspects that after killing the victim, the body was burnt to conceal her identity. He informed that a forensic team, headed by Dr Ajay Sehgal, visited the spot and collected evidences. Meanwhile, the body has been taken to Dharamsala for forensic examination, he said.

Anupam Sharma said Nisha was married for the second time, but was living with her parents in Singan village for the past four years. He informed that as per victim’s parents, Nisha was missing from home since Saturday and her body was recovered on Monday evening. The body was recognised by deceased’s brother Rajiv.

He said some evidences have come to light and investigation had been initiated. 

Dalhousie, June 17
Residents of far-flung Junas, Guila and Thaneikothi areas falling in the remote Churah subdivision of the district have to tread a long distance to reach Kuthed and Badhora to fetch their quota of ration from depots.

Residents said they had to pass through the undulating path in the rugged hills for getting the ration for their families. But in case the ration is not available in the depots, they have to come back to their homes ‘disappointed’. The issue of opening of more depots at the accessible places in these areas was raised by local MLA Hans Raj with the authorities, but the efforts resulted in failure and the problem remains the same.

Residents have urged the state government to set up more depots at the convenient points so that poor people of these areas could get their quota of ration without delay and wasting of time. 

Shimla, June 17
Expressing concern over the steep rise in the inflation rate, vice-president of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) Harsh Mahajan said it was apparent that “good days “ promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi were “good” only for him and his party as the common man felt betrayed.

In a statement issued here today, he said the rising prices of essential food items had burdened the people like never before and inflation had gone up to five-month high of 6.01 per cent in May. — TNS