Hamirpur, August 14
Three persons, including an Army man, were drowned in the surging waters of the Seer khud as the bailey bridge on the rivulet was swept away following a downpour that lashed the Jahu area of Hamiprur district, this morning.

The mishap occurred at 7 am when three persons, who were crossing the Seer khud, were washed away as the gushing waters swept away the bridge. While one body has been recovered, two are still untraceable.

The concrete bridge had also been washed away in 2007 and a bailey bridge had been installed to facilitate the connectivity between Hamipur and Mandi districts.

Eyewitnesses said three persons, including Subedar Ashok Kumar, were crossing the bridge when the waters of the Seer khud, which were already touching the bridge, engulfed the bridge. They said they ignored warnings by the locals not to cross the bridge, resulting in their death.

In another incident, a 32-year-old lady, Maya, was buried under a massive landslide at Nongi village in Dharampur of Mandi. Heavy rain damaged maize and tomato crops. The national highway between Mandi and Kullu remained blocked near Pandoh.

The body of Subedar Ashok Kumar was identified after his identity card was recovered from his pocket. The police found a wedding card in the pocket of Ashok, a resident of Pantihiri village in Una district, as he had come to attend the wedding of his colleague’s son in Sarkaghat of Mandi district.

The concrete bridge on the Seer khud had been washed away in 2007 and a new bridge is under construction. The SDM and DSP, Bhoranj, reached the spot and monitored search operation to locate the two missing persons.

In another incident, 45-year-old Umesh Baitha, an employee of the ITI, Samirpur, died after being buried under a landslide which hit his room. His son had a miraculous escape as he had gone to fetch water.

Baddi, August 14
A few industrial units today released untreated toxic effluents into the Ratta river lying on the NH-21A highway leading to a large quantity of froth on water surface.

Since the Ratta river confluences into the Sarsa river, this toxic untreated water would not only contaminate the other water body, but would also harm the aquatic flora and fauna.

A visit to the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) industrial belt revealed that a large stretch of the Ratta river, which has its origin in the Thana industrial area, was found smeared with white froth. Besides, a large quantity of untreated effluent was found in the river water, thus changing its colour.

Since rainy showers lashed the BBN area this morning, erring industrial units took advantage of the situation and let out untreated effluents directly into the river water without treating them in the effluent treatment plants (ETPs).

Since treating the effluents is an exercise involving monetary expenses, industrial units at times shy away from operating the ETPs. This tendency is more prevalent during the rainy season and such incidents have led to fish mortality in the past.

Fish mortality was reported from the Sarsa river last week. Though officials of the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) had collected samples, an action was still awaited against the erring units.

SPCB member secretary Vineet Kumar said the incident relating to froth in the Ratta river had come to his notice and he had sent a team, led by the SDO Baddi, to collect water samples from the river as well as industrial units located in the periphery so that strict action could be initiated against the erring unit for causing water pollution.

Shimla, August 14
Aimed at ensuring collective decision-making and transparent functioning in three government medical colleges in Shimla and Kangra, Himachal will become the first state to introduce a collegium system, envisaged by IIM- Ahmedabad for being implemented in the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

The Cabinet gave the nod for adopting the collegium model at its meeting held here yesterday. The collegium model had been recommended by IIM-Ahmedabad for being implemented at AIIMS, Delhi. Even though the governing body of AIIMS gave its nod, due to reservations in some quarters it never got implemented.

Himachal has now adopted this system as the government is trying to keep the senior faculty at its medical colleges in good humour. The Cabinet also approved time-bound promotions of the teaching faculty to ensure there is no stagnation as the system of rotational headship was non-existent at the three medical colleges.

The decisions have been taken to address the growing sense of frustration among over 300 members of the teaching faculty of medical colleges. With the Centre approving three new government medical colleges for Chamba, Sirmour and Hamirpur, the strength of the medical teaching faculty is likely to be doubled.

The Cabinet decision will now enable an assistant professor to become an associate professor on the completion of four years and a professor in the next three years. “This will not entitle the teaching faculty member to any financial upgrade but will give him a higher designation and remove the frustration,” said Vineet Chawdhry, Additional Chief Secretary (Health).

Henceforth, each department at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) and Government Dental College at Shimla and Dr Rajendra Prasad Medical College, Tanda, will have a collegium headed by the head of the department (HOD) and two seniormost faculty members. All important decisions concerning the department will be taken jointly by the collegium rather than the HOD having a monopoly.

“We have categorised various works under six broad groups and the HOD can head two of these while the two other members of the collegium will head two groups each,” said Chawdhry. He revealed that the six heads would be administration, finance, patientcare, research, academics and corporate activity.

The decisions have been taken only after holding due consultations with the teaching faculty both in Shimla and Tanda. Moreover, the relatively important and sensitive issues, which often led to a lot of bickering among teachers like allocation of work, assigning operation theatres and bringing in new technology, will be decided jointly by the HOD and the two senior most faculty members who will be part of the collegium.

Shimla, August 14
Incessant heavy rain wreaked havoc in Mandi, Hamirpur and parts of Kangra district triggering landslides, washing away lands and blocking highways. The rain caused colossal damage to roads and 256 roads were blocked in the state. As many as 130 roads were blocked in Mandi and 105 in Hamirpur.

The Public Works Department has assessed the loss to roads at Rs 26 crore, which included Rs 8.43 crore in Hamirpur, Rs 8.21 crore in Mandi, Rs 4.29 crore in Shimla and Rs 4.74 crore in Kangra, PWD officials said.

About 90 roads would be opened today while all state and national highways would be opened to traffic by tomorrow, he added.

A car was swept away in strong currents of the Suket khud as the surging water entered showrooms of automobile companies, causing damge to property.

Water also entered some houses and shops at Ner Chowk and adjoining places and NH-22 was blocked at many places due to landslides.

The heavy incessant rain triggered landslides at numerous places and vehicular traffic was disrupted. No bus from Kullu and Mandi reached Shimla this morning due to blockades, HRTC control room in-charge said.

Normal life was paralysed in Mandi, Kullu, Kangra and Hamirpur as massive landslides occurred at numerous places and uprooted trees. The attendance in most of the primary schools in Hamirpur district was very thin as students could not reach schools due to rain. The local Met office has predicted heavy rain over the next three days.

Shimla, August 14
Ridiculing the move of Congress ministers to meet the Governor and shift the blame on the BJP for disruption of proceedings of the House, the BJP today said the decision of the ruling party to adjourn the House sine die to avoid discussions was deliberate and premeditated.

“The BJP has rejected the charges of the Congress as the responsibility to ensure smooth running of the House and proper floor management lies with the ruling party. But, instead of resolving the impasse, it opted for adjournment of the House sine die,” said Suresh Bharadwaj, Chief Whip of the BJP legislature party.

He said the BJP had taken a serious view of premature adjournment of the House and the Congress blame. The party would meet shortly to decide the future course of action if there was no response to memorandum submitted by it which demanded dissolution of the Assembly. — TNS

Shimla, August 14
In a shocking incident, a woman employee of Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) was stabbed by her male colleague near the dispensary on the campus here today.

The accused, Hari Dutt, allegedly stabbed the victim, Shelly Chauhan, twice in the stomach and head and roughed her up, banged her against the wall before stabbing. The victim was employed in the conduct branch of the examination wing on the compassionate grounds, while the accused was a contractual employee in the secrecy branch in the university.

A large number of students gathered as Shelly cried for help and the accused fled from the spot. He was chased by students who overpowered him and handed him over to the police.

A profusely bleeding Shelly was rushed to the IGMC and she is stated to be out of danger. The university authorities said it was one-sided love of the accused towards the victim, which led to the incident.

SP DW Negi said Hari was in the police custody and a case of attempt to murder under Section 307 of the IPC had been registered against him. Both Hari and Shelly, in their early 30s, were known to each other as both were university employees.

A preliminary inquiry revealed that they had an altercation last evening also, sources said.

Shimla, August 14
To protect the environment of the Rohtang Pass, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) constituted a four-member commission/panel.

The NGT further directed the commission to visit Manali, Rohtang Pass, Vashishta, Mandi Khothi and report to the Tribunal as to whether its order relating to CNG vehicles and prohibition of vehicles going up to the Rohtang Pass was complied with.

The NGT, headed by Justice Swatantar Kumar, asked the state authorities to provide all assistance to the panel for facilitating the inspection by them. The District Commissioner and the SP, Kullu, were specifically directed to provide police aid and other helps to execute the Commission in its proper respect.

The Tribunal further clarified in its order that it was the discretion of the state to give permit to the permanent residence of the area. Further all vehicles will have to pay except state transport, Army/forces vehicles and the vehicles which are carrying essential goods to the area across the Rohtang Pass.

Shimla, August 14
The Himachal Pradesh High Court today granted two months to the Municipal Corporation, Shimla, to complete the process of finalising the bylaws with regard to collection of house tax from residents and make the same operational by the next date of hearing.

A division Bench comprising Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir and Justice Dharam Chand Chaudhary passed these orders on a petition by the Court on a news item regarding non-realisation of house tax by the Municipal Corporation, Shimla.

During the course of hearing, the Municipal Corporation informed the court that it has made recoveries on more than half of the due amount from defaulters. The Municipal Commissioner submitted in its report that Rs 5.50 crore was due from 2,205 defaulters till March 31, 2012. Now an amount of Rs 2.44 crore is due from the remaining 730 defaulters, which include an amount of Rs 53 lakh due from the government departments. Of the remaining 730 cases, 87 have been transferred to the Tehsildar (recovery).

The corporation also told the court that the General House of the corporation after detailed deliberation on the issue has finalised the draft bylaws and these bylaws need no approval of the govermnment as per an Amendment carried out in Section 397 of the HPMC Act, 1994. It also told that the corporation has invited objections in terms of Section 397 of the HP Municipal Corporation Act, 1994, in order to complete the process of framing bylaws.

The court also directed the corporation and tehsildar (recovery) to file a status report before the next date of hearing. The court posted the matter for October 16.

Una, August 14
A middle-aged man was found dead at the main bus stand here this afternoon.

As per police sources, the deceased had been identified as Sita Ram of Deehar village in Bangana block here. The body was found lying in the bus stand by locals who informed the police about it. The body had been sent for a postmortem, said Additional Superintendent of Police Virender Singh.

Una, August 14
To celebrate the 67th Independence Day, students of DAV Centenary Public School organised cultural programmes and competitions here today.

Atul Mahajan, Principal of DAV Centenary Public School, said students were briefed about the importance of Independence Day.

The principal said skits, group songs, group dance, essay writing and drawing competitions were organised on the occasion.