Solan, August 23
Three persons, including the driver of a truck (Pb-13-W-9625), were injured, when the 110-year-old bridge collapsed today at Sadhupul near Kandaghat.

The truck, loaded with 20 tonne apples, was on its way to Hyderabad. It was coming from Luri in Shimla district and had taken a shorter route through Kufri and Chail.

DSP Hemant Kumar said a case under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984, had been registered against the driver and investigations were on.

An onlooker said a private bus, en route Chail-Kalka, was plying ahead of the truck and had a miraculous escape, as it had halted a few metres away from the bridge minutes before the mishap.

Traffic on the Chail-Sadhupul route came to a halt though workers of the Public Works Department (PWD) managed to carve out a temporary path for utility vehicles through the riverbed by the evening.

Superintending Engineer, PWD, Suresh Ganju, who visited the site along with the chief engineer soon after the accident, said they had erected caution boards on both sides of the bridge informing motorists not to carry more than 9 tonne weight over the bridge as it was a 110-year-old structure constructed during the British Raj, which could not carry heavy load.

He said the bridge was not considered vulnerable and no report of any damage to the bridge had been received.

Ganju said the new path would be improved tomorrow, adding that a new bridge would be constructed.

He said first a bailey bridge would be put in place to ease the movement of vehicles.

He said the vehicle while trying to cross the bridge hit against its railing due to which the bridge collapsed owing to the weight of nearly 700-800 apple boxes.

Those injured include driver Sukh Chain, cleaner Gurdeep, both from Sangrur, and a local person Ram Swaroop, who had taken a lift from them at Sadhupul itself.

Sukh Chain suffered severe injuries and was referred to the the IGMC, while the other two were admitted to the Regional Hospital in Solan.

Deputy Commissioner Madan Chauhan, who visited the spot, appealed to the people to take detour through the Ashwani Khud, Gaura and Junga to go to Chail and other places located en route for the time being. 

Shimla, August 23
The state government is contemplating banning the plying of multi-axel big trucks having higher load capacity on all roads except national highways, as there were nearly 100 bailey bridges having a weight limit all over the state.

The proposal to ban the plying of these bigger trucks (traulas) has been under consideration in the past as well, but the need for the ban is being felt even more owing to the manner in which the bridge at Sadhupul in Solan collapsed under an apple-laden overloaded truck today.

Despite there being a warning signal indicating that trucks above 9 tonne should not cross, the apple-laden truck having 18-tonne capacity tried to cross it, resulting in the mishap.

“We are contemplating banning the plying of multi-axel trucks on all roads except national highways and that too up to a particular point,” said Narender Chauhan, Principal Secretary, Public Works Department (PWD).

He said the matter would be placed before the Cabinet which would take the final decision. Chauhan said even though a motorable road had been made to facilitate the movement of small vehicles, material was being transported from various locations in the state to ensure that a bailey bridge was constructed at the earliest.

“Orders have already been issued to move the construction material from Subathu in Solan and Jubbal in Shimla to Sadhupul so that a bailey bridge is constructed at the earliest and plying of bigger vehicles can be restored,” he said.

PWD officials have already set the ball rolling so that particular points could be identified, beyond which the bigger trucks would not be allowed to ply.

They admitted that there were over 100 bailey bridges, especially in the districts of Kinnaur, Shimla, Sirmaur, Mandi and Kullu, which were meant to be temporary, but had now been there for ages as permanent bridges had failed to come up.

“Considering geographical constraints and difficult terrain in most parts of the state, it has become mandatory for us to ban these bigger trucks on narrow state highways,” an engineer in the PWD said.

The movement of these trucks is likely to be restricted up till Narkanda and Barmana in Bilaspur.

These trucks which have a capacity up to 20 tonne are a big nuisance especially during the apple season.

These trucks not only choke roads, but often get stranded on narrow roads in the apple-growing belts, bringing the entire vehicular traffic to a standstill causing inconvenience to tourists as well as local commuters. 

Shimla, August 23
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said a malicious propaganda was being launched against him and his family members to defame them.

In a press statement here today, Virbhadra said he and his family members were being subjected to a malicious media trial by false and baseless stories about their Income Tax matter.

He said it appeared that some vested interests and political opponents were running biased personal investigations into the matters of his family and were behaving like reckless complainants, prosecutors and judges.

Stating that the matter pertaining to their IT returns were sub judice and being looked into by the authorities, he said it was surprising that some people were claiming access to the ongoing internal proceedings and classified documents of the IT Department, which if true was against the norms of secrecy and governance.

Claiming that the news reports published in a section of the media were biased, politically motivated and with an ulterior objective of spreading misinformation and misleading people at large, he said unnecessary hype was being created in the media by suppressing, fabricating and distorting facts to malign his image and influence the ongoing proceedings in the matter.

“Everybody is aware that false and fabricated cases were framed against me in the past also and a lot of adverse publicity was carried out against me, but I have come out clean from the courts every time,” he said.

The CM said he had been in public life for the past 53 years and tarnishing his impeccable image on the basis of nebulous material which was at an investigation stage was highly objectionable.

He said unlike his detractors, he had full faith in the rule of the law and was always ready and willing to subject himself to the process of law.

Shimla, August 23
The HP High Court today adjourned the hearing on the application filed by former IAS officer SM Katwal for condoning the delay in filing his appeal against the acquittal order of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh in an alleged CD case by the Special Judge, Shimla.

After hearing the parties, Justice DC Chaudhary adjourned the matter for September 10. There is a delay of 96 days in filing the appeal.

Katwal in his application pleaded that the technicalities of law cannot be made applicable strictly to the extent of snatching away the right to appeal earned by the victim. He said he was made to search for the relevant record for preparing appeal and in this process some delay had occurred which was beyond his control.

The CM and his wife were acquitted by the Special Judge, Shimla, on December 24, 2012, and Katwal had approached the HC to seek leave to file appeal against the acquittal order. Almost three years ago, Katwal had moved the HC to seek inquiry from the CBI. Katwal said the state government had not filed an appeal against the orders as it was headed by Virbhadra Singh himself.

Shimla, August 23
The state BJP criticised the Congress government, led by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, for withdrawing cases against corrupt elements.

It urged the High Court to turn down all requests of the government in this regard and monitor the investigations of the cases.

“The Virbhadra Singh government came to power claiming to fight corruption, but now it is compromising with corruption and withdrawing cases by filing cancellation reports; we urge the High Court to take a serious view of it,” state BJP general secretaries Randhir Sharma and Rajiv Bindal and party spokesman Ganesh Dutt said in a statement.

They asked the CM why the case of disproportionate assets against a member of his personal staff was being withdrawn. The BJP leaders alleged that the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau had become “puppets” in the hands of the government and were trying to portray corrupt people as honest and vice versa.— TNS

Dharamsala, August 23
The district administration has finally ordered the survey for the expansion of the Gaggal airport.

Deputy Commissioner (DC), Kangra, C Paulrasu has written to the SDM, Kangra, for completing the formalities for conducting the survey, which was being conducted after the state Tourism Department and the Ministry of Civil Aviation gave their nod to the plan.

The DC said the SDM would get in touch with officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to complete technical formalities for the expansion of the airport.

The proposal was mooted so that the airport could accommodate international flights as well. During IPL matches the airport had received up to nine chartered flights.

In case the airport becomes capable of receiving international flights, it can boost tourism in the area.

Most of the teaching sessions of the Dalai Lama have been shifted out of Dharamsala on the plea that the area does not have good air connectivity.

The teachings are attended by international tourists who generally prefer to come in direct flights.

Apart from the expansion of the airport, other basic facilities are also required. The airport does not have refuelling facilities. Due to it, the planes that go back from the Gaggal airport and cannot carry passengers to their capacity.

Generally the airport receives 70-seater planes. On the way back, the planes carry only about 50 to 55 passengers as ample fuel is not available to carry full load of passengers. The airline authorities charge more from passengers in absence of refuelling facilities.

AAI officials maintain that no company had come forward to set up refuelling facilities at the airport.

The expansion would also involve the acquisition of land. Sources said the plan includes 50 per cent equity participation by the state government and the rest by the AAI.

The state government would put its equity in the form of providing land for the expansion of the airport.

In case the airport is expanded it can become the first and the only airport in Himachal capable of receiving international flights.

Points to know The Gaggal airport is the busiest airport of the state The domestic airport receives two flights every day The air traffic to the region is the highest in Himachal and the flights are generally packed to capacity The airfare from Dharamsala to Delhi is among the costliest in the region, as two-hour flight ticket ranges from Rs 8,000 to Rs 12,000

Mandi, August 23
BJP MP from Hamirpur and national president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha Anurag Thakur today visited disaster-hit areas in the Dharampur Assembly segment of the district.

He said he would request the Union Home Minister to send a Central team to take stock of the situation here so that adequate compensation could be given to the affected people.

Condemning the state government, he said neither the CM nor any state minister had visited the area to take stock of the ground realities.

“There are three Cabinet ministers from the district, but none of them have visited the affected areas,” he said, adding that the CM was busy protecting his chair in Delhi.

He said nine panchayats had suffered heavy losses and the government should make a special provision in the Budget so that affected people could be compensated adequately. He said people were still facing shortage of potable water and the government should restore water supply in the affected areas at the earliest.

Nurpur, August 23
Transport Minister GS Bali inspected a site proposed for the local bus stand in the Chogan area today. The PK Dhumal government had proposed the construction of a bus stand on the premises of a dilapidated veterinary hospital and transferred its land from the Animal Husbandry Department to the State Transport Department.

While inspecting the site, Bali told the mediapersons that the government had planned to construct a multi-storey bus halt-cum-commercial complex with parking lots as the existing land would fall short for a proper bus stand.

He said the local SDM had been directed to find 10 to 15 bighas of land in Nurpur, in consultation with the local MLA, so that a proper bus stand could be built to meet the requirements of the Nurpur area. He said the bus halt-cum-commercial complex would be built under the Build Operate Transfer (BOT) policy and its blue print was being prepared.

“Expression of Interest for this project has been invited and soon tenders will be floated for its construction,” he added.

The minister said the government had prepared draft proposals of new transport policy for the state and soon it would be placed before the Cabinet for its final nod. Under the new policy, halting of buses on national highways would be restrained for smooth flow of traffic, he said. 

Sundernagar, August 23
The Dador bridge, situated on National Highway-21, was opened to traffic today.

A large number of heavy vehicles were stranded on both sides of the bridge as no traffic was allowed since yesterday morning after a cavity appeared on the approach road.

Engineers deputed on the spot said the bridge was opened for traffic around 10 am today, while it was opened for motorbikes and light vehicles around 6:30 pm last evening.

BJP workers from the district unit of Sundernagar have appealed to Union Surface and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari to initiate action against officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) as the officials were responsible for the bad condition of the road and the bridge since the control of the National Highway-21, from Garamora to Nagchal, was handed over to the NHAI last year. Since then, no maintenance of the road was done, they alleged.

Shimla, August 23
The construction of roads in rural areas, under the Prime Minister Gramin Sarak Yojana (PMGSY), has helped the state reach 95 per cent road connectivity. At the same time, it has become a headache for Transport Minister GS Bali, who has been flooded with requests to start Himachal Roadways Transport Corporation (HRTC) bus services on newly-constructed roads.

“Hundreds of requests for plying HRTC buses are pending, but we have neither the adequate number of buses nor funds to meet the demand. I have requested Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to modify the PMGSY and provide for ‘inbuilt’ subsidy for providing public transport facility in rural areas,” Bali said.

New bus services in rural areas incur heavy losses for the first five years and the burden on the state exchequer increases. But there are no funds to sustain the highly subsidised transport services in rural and remote areas, he added.

Bali said the government had already requested Union Minister for Shipping and Surface Transport Nitin Gadkari to erect crash barriers on all roads above elevation of 4,000 feet to avoid accidents.

Private operators are wary of plying buses on newly-constructed rural roads as it involves higher operational cost and risk and the HRTC can take up the responsibility only if the Centre provided subsidy to offset the recurring losses, he said.

The state has a road network of 32,410 km, including 12,558-km unmetalled roads. Further, 2019 road projects, with an estimated expenditure of Rs 2,278.66 crore, have been sanctioned under PMGSY. The World Bank projects for construction of 10,118 km roads have also been sanctioned, out of which 7,616 km roads have been constructed up to March 31, 2012. The HRTC has a fleet of 2,000 buses, covering about 4-lakh km distance daily out of which over 2.20 lakh km is in rural and remote areas.

Shimla, August 23
The 10th edition of Hero MTB Himalaya, the oldest mountain biking race in India, is being organised by the Hero Cycles and Himachal Adventure Sports and Tourism Promotion Association (HASTPA) from September 27.

The eight-day race, starting and concluding in Shimla, will cover the interiors of the Himalayas, with the highlights being a climb of the Jalori Pass and the ride up to the gateway of the Great Himalayan National Park.

The race covers 500 km with a total elevation gain of 12,500 m. The prize money for winners of 16 categories has been increased to Rs 10 lakh.

“The race has reached its 10th year and it is a proud moment for all of us. What started with only 20 riders in 2005 has now reached a stage where top international riders are willing to participate and compete,” said Mohit Sood, founder president of HASTPA.