Dharamsala, September 9
The state Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau has filed a fresh chargesheet against HPCA president and BJP MP from Hamirpur Anurag Thakur and five others in the case registered against them for illegal felling of trees from the land allotted to them for the construction of the Pavilion hotel near Dharamsala.

The chargesheet was filed in the court of DK Sharma, District and Sessions Judge, Kangra, at Dharamsala.

Other accused in the case include HPCA honorary secretary Vishal Marwah, spokesperson Sanjay Sharma, the then Range Officer of the Forest Department Bidhi Chand, then tehsildhar Dharamsala Jagdish Ram and field kanoongo Kuldeep Kumar.

This is the second chargesheet filed by the state Vigilance in the case.

In the earlier chargesheet that pertained to conversion of the HPCA society to company, 18 persons, including former CM Prem Kumar Dhumal, his sons Anurag Thakur and Arun Thakur, and two senior IAS officers were accused.

The court recently issued summons to 16 accused in the case filed earlier.

The FIR was lodged by the Vigilance Bureau on November 29, 2013.

Anurag, two office-bearers of the HPCA and forest and revenue officials have been charged under Section 406 (criminal breach of trust), 447 (criminal trespass), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The Vigilance accused the HPCA of illegally felling a large number of pine trees on the land allotted on lease for the Pavilion hotel.

The land was allotted in 2009 when the BJP government, headed by Dhumal, was in power.

The investigating agency charged that the forest and revenue officials connived with the HPCA, giving wrong information in the NOC given to it.

In the NOC, the forest officials had stated that there were no trees on the land. However, the vigilance, after inquiry, has alleged that even now there were 2,023 trees. The probe also alleged that the trees are at least 30 years old.

Inconsistencies were alleged in the records of the Forest and Revenue Department during investigation which hinted that the trees were felled illegally.

“We have strong evidence that hundreds of trees were felled for the hotel came up,” said a vigilance official.

The Vigilance Bureau has also sought satellite images of the land to ascertain how many trees were illegally felled.

Hamirpur, September 9
The outbreak of viral fever in the district has exposed the inadequate health facilities in the zonal hospital, with patients being forced to share beds in the absence of sufficient wards.

With a large number of patients pouring in, the hospital is finding it impossible to accommodate them in the wards. Some cases of suspected scrub typhus were also reported at the hospital, but so far all of them have been found negative. Still, inmates in the zonal hospital are facing a tough time as in some cases two or more patients were being made to adjust on one bed.

Apart from this, some patients can be seen lying on the beds in the waiting area or along the corridor of the main building.

It was reliably learnt that the children’s ward was vacated for restruction by a private company, but even after the completion of the work it was not handed over to the hospital administration, thus depriving the hospital of 20 beds.

Notably, the zonal hospital has a capacity of 200 beds, including 20 beds in the children’s ward. The hospital has over 210 patients in the wards and corridors, worsening the situation.

“We are trying to accommodate maximum patients, but in view of the viral outbreak, we cannot admit more patients. We have apprised the higher authorities and hope for relief soon,” said Senior Medical Officer (SMO) Ramesh Chauhan.

Shimla, September 9
Himachal Pradesh University (HPU), Shimla, has extended the last date for admission in BEd course for the session 2014-15, against the vacant seats in various colleges up till September 30.

Disclosing this today, Prof SS Chauhan, Chairman, BEd Counselling Committee, said the university had authorised the colleges concerned to fill the vacant seats at their own level.

As per the guidelines, first preference shall be given to those HP bona fide candidates who have qualified the BEd Entrance Test-2014 and second preference to those HP bona fide candidates who have appeared in BEd Entrance Test-2014, on the basis of merit of qualifying examination, subject to fulfilment of the prescribed eligibility criteria of prospectus.

He further said if the seats still remained vacant after observing the procedure, these would be filled on the basis of merit of qualifying examinations from the candidates who fulfilled the minimum eligibility criteria as per NCTE norms as well as prospectus of the university in order of merit, irrespective of HP bona fide. Likewise, unfilled seats of medical and non-medical might be filled from the arts stream as per the decision of the High Court, he added.

Nurpur, September 9
The local Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) convicted four Punjab police personnel in a kidnapping case registered by the Nurpur police on July 19, 1996, and awarded seven years’ imprisonment to each convict. They were also fined Rs 11,000.

According to Assistant District Attorney, Nurpur, Jarnail Singh Jaryal, all four were declared guilty in the kidnapping case by ACJM Dr Abira Basu last evening.

He said a case under Sections 365, 330, 342 and 34 of the IPC was registered against Punjab police Sub-Inspector Jogga Singh, Assistant Sub-Inspector Tarsem Lal and constables Surinder Pal and Jarnail Singh hailing from Gurdaspur and Pathankot districts for abducting Ram Prashad, a resident of Ganoh village, from his clinic at Bhadwar on the Pathankot-Mandi national highway near here on July 18, 1996.

As per the information, the victim’s wife Champa Devi went to her husband’s clinic in the morning when he did not return. Local shopkeepers told her that the four cops came to her husband’s clinic and forcibly took him in a Maruti van (HP-02-3410) and fled towards Pathankot.

She then approached the local police and registered a case. After that the police swung into action and rushed to Pathankot police station and recovered Ram Prashad from the captivity of the accused, who had forcibly taken him away without informing the local police. 

Una, September 9
A 50-year-old resident of Bhaira village drowned in the Swan river near Panjawar village here last evening. Another person, who was also washed away in the river, managed to reach the shore safely.

The body of the deceased, identified as Hoshiar Singh, was recovered this morning from the riverbed at Ghaluwal village, 7 km from the place where he fell into the river. Bhaira village resident Balwinder Singh (42), who narrowly escaped drowning, immediately informed the police about the incident.

Balwinder told the police that after work, the two as usual were crossing the river to reach their village when a strong current of water threw them off balance. While he managed to swim to safety, Hoshiar was washed away, he said. — OC

New Delhi, September 9
The government today urged the Centre to enhance its power to give approval for diversion of forest land up to five hectares instead of one hectare for non-forestry development purposes for certain specific activities.

It has urged that roads and educational institutions should be included in the ambit of 13 specified purposes. He reasoned that roads were the lifeline of the hilly state where air and rail links were meagre.

These were among the issues raised by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh with Union Minister for Environment and Forest Prakash Javadekar during his meeting with him here.

According to a functionary of the Himachal Government, during his discussions with the minister on enhancement of the state’s power, Virbhadra said: “It is important to grant permission to intensify the pace of development in the state.”

He also urged for relaxation of rules to enable the state to allow extraction of minor sand mining from any riverbed/water body up to five hectares. Presently, its power to grant environmental clearance for extraction of minor minerals (sand mining) is limited to one hectare.

He informed the minister that due to the restrictions of the ministry, the people were facing a lot of problems. This has had adverse impact on the overall development of the state, he added.

Shimla, September 9
Himachal Pradesh today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the launch of the 102 ambulance service under the Janani Shishu Suraksha Yojana, aimed at improving the infant and maternal mortality rate in the state.

The MoU was signed between Hans Raj Sharma, Director, National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and K Krishnam Raju, Director, GVK EMRI, in the presence of Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur today.

This service will be launched on Children’s Day, ie November 14, 2014, and be available on toll free number 102.

Kaul Singh said the state government had decided to provide free drop-back facility to pregnant women. Under this scheme, 125 such ambulances would provide the facility to pregnant women, even after delivery, and to sick children up to the age of one year.

He said one vehicle each would be stationed at all the 116 identified delivery points in the state and additional nine vehicles would be deployed at delivery points with heavy load, as per the need. “This free service would promote institutional deliveries, which at present stand at 80 per cent and would in turn go a long way in further reducing the maternal and infant mortality rate in the state,” he said.

The already operational National Ambulance service 108, had been providing emergency services to the people of the state and with the introduction of 102 drop-back service, a new feather had been added to the health sector, Kaul Singh added.

The Health Minister said the state government was committed towards development of comprehensive medical response system. All efforts were being made to achieve cent-percent institutional delivery rate.

Kaul Singh said efforts were being made to recruit specialists, MBBS doctors and other paramedical staff so that people could get quality health services at their door step.

“We are going to open three new medical colleges at Nahan, Chamba and Hamripur at a cost of Rs 190 crore each, two tertiary care cancer hospitals in Shimla and Mandi for Rs 45 crore each, two advanced trauma care centres at Kullu and Bilaspur and an advanced renal centre in Shimla at a cost of Rs 3.37 crore,” he said. 

Nurpur, September 9
The Irrigation-cum-Public Health (IPH) Department is all set to recover outstanding water bill payments from defaulters in urban and rural areas here.

As per official information, the department has asked its field staff to serve a seven-day notice to the defaulters with an ultimatum that their water connection will be suspended if they fail to pay their pending dues within a week.

The defaulters owe an outstanding liability to the tune of Rs 15 lakh to the department. — OC

Una, September 9
During the first eight months of the current year, the Una police challaned 624 vehicles involved in illegal mining and collected Rs 44.71 lakh fine from them. Besides, Rs 82 lakh fine was collected by challaning 20,548 traffic violators, under various sections of the Motor Vehicle Act.

This was disclosed by Superintendent of Police (SP) Anupam Sharma, while presiding over a district-level Crime and Joint Consultative Committee meeting, at the Jhalera Police Lines today.

Reiterating the commitment of the police to check the use of narcotic substances, the SP said 330.22 kg poppy husk, 1.17 kg charas, 10 gm smack, 3 gm heroin, besides about 9,000 tablets and capsules of illicit medicines were recovered. He said 32 accused were arrested in a total of 25 cases pertaining to the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Anupam Sharma said 1,142 persons were challaned for smoking in public places and Rs 1.25 lakh fine was recovered from them during the last eight months. Also, 14 proclaimed offenders (POs) were arrested during the year in Una district.

The SP directed the police to perform their duties diligently and truthfully. He expressed the need to increase night patrolling in view of instances of theft reported of late from different parts of the district. He said the pendency of cases in all the police stations of the district was as low as 19.24 per cent, which was satisfactory.

He, however, asked the investigating officers to speed up the process of investigations and put the cases in court.

Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Virender Singh, Una DSP Surender Sharma and Amb DSP Jitender Kumar were also present, besides the in charges of police stations and police posts. 

Kangra, September 9
Lawyers of the Kangra Bar Association today boycotted their work on the second day against the HP High Court move to withdraw the temporary Circuit Court.

Kuldeep Choudary, president, Kangra Bar Association, said the lawyers boycotted the courts on the second day and decided to continue their strike till September 12.

Kuldeep said the members of the association held a meeting and decided to extend the striking period till September 12 and further it was decided to call on Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court Mansoor Ahmed Mir at Palampur during his visit this weekend. He said the Bar further decided that the future course of action of the agitation would be chalked out only after the meeting with the Chief Justice. 

Kangra, September 9
Fate of 64 students of five-year BA LLB (Hons) course, who had appeared in the final examination conducted by the Himachal Pradesh University in June and July, is hanging fire as the HPU has failed to declare the results within the stipulated 45 days. Due to this delay, the students could not apply for admission in LL M programme in various universities, including HPU, as the last date of submitting the admission forms has already expired.

The students and parents, led by Dr KS Thakur, a senior agriculture scientist, said the last paper of BA LL B (Hons) was conducted on July 4. As per the University norms, the results were scheduled to be declared within 45 days of the examination, which the university failed to adhere to.

The agonised parents said the last date to apply for LL M admission in HPU was September 5 and in the other Universities also, including Punjab University, Chandigarh, admissions had closed. Dr K S Thakur said a year of the students was lost in the mismanagement of the examination department of the HPU.

Expressing strong resentment, the students and parents demanded immediate declaration of results and that the reasons for the delay be addressed by the authorities so that future students do not face a similar situation.

When contacted, Prof SL Kaushal, Controller of Examination, HPU, said shortage of staff and infrastructure had resulted in delay in declaration of results. However, the results will be declared shortly, he assured.

He said the students could have applied for admission in the LLM course in HPU, mentioning ‘results awaited’ in the result column and the marks card could be produced at the time of counselling.

He said in case of further delay, the university had provision of reserving seats in the masters course for students who had appeared in bachelors from HPU. If they fall within the merit criteria, they get admission.

Shimla, September 9
Concerned over the low sex ratio in borders areas, especially Una district, Himachal has requested Punjab to check the functioning of illegal ultrasound machines in its fringes which was adversely affecting Himachal.

Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur said this while talking to mediapersons here today. He said Gagret block had the lowest sex ratio in the entire state and even in Una district.

“In Himachal we are being very stringent about the illegal functioning of ultrasound machines and we have asked Punjab to take similar steps so that our sex ratio does not get affected,” he said.

He said there were 253 registered ultrasound machines in HP and action had been taken against two machines functioning in Kullu.

“We have made it mandatory that an ultrasound machine can function only if there is a radiologist and a gynaeocologist,” he said.

The minister said it had come to his notice that the easy availability of ultrasound machines in towns bordering Punjab, including Nangal and Hoshiarpur, was leading to low sex ratio in the border areas.

In fact, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to the Himachal Government for very low sex ration in Una district.

Kaul Singh said the issue of deciding the venue of an AIIMS-like institute in Himachal was still open.

“I received a letter from Union Health Minister Dr Harshwardhan yesterday, where he said an AIIMS-like institute would not be set at any existing medical colleges or hospitals,” he said.

He said he had written a letter to the Union Health Minister to send a team of experts to decide the venue for AIIMS keeping in view various considerations.

He said he had met the Union Labour Minister asking him for handing over the ESI hospital in Mandi for which over Rs 700 crore had been invested.

“I told him that if it is transferred free of cost, the HP Government will be more than happy to run it and the possibility of setting up an AIIMS-like institute there will also be open,” he said. 

Hamirpur, September 9
State Congress president Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu today said there was no threat to the government led by Virbhadra Singh and the Congress regime would complete its five years.

Talking to mediapersons here, he said the BJP leadership was a confused lot and was making irresponsible statements to mislead the people.

“Those who have committed any offence or done anything wrong must be brought to book,” he said, refusing to comment on the demand of some Congress leaders that Dhumal and his MP son Anurag Thakur must resign on moral grounds.

“Bringing administrative relief to the doorstep of the people was the first and foremost priority of the Congress government and as per our poll promise, we have taken several welfare measures,” he said. He also addressed public grievances at Sera Rest House in the Nadaun constituency. A team of officers along with the SDM (Civil), Nadaun, was with him to settle the issues on the spot.

He said the government was reviewing its decision to bring villages and rural areas under the Town and Country Planning Act as there was resentment among the villagers adjoining various towns. 

Nurpur, September 9
Savitri Devi, who had been declared a proclaimed offender (PO) by the local court, was arrested by Rehan police chowki officials, led by constable Daljeet Singh, at Nagrota Bagwan in Kangra this morning. She was an undertrial and a case under the Excise Act had been registered against her in 2004 by the Nurpur police.

Nurpur DSP Manoj Joshi said Savitri had earlier been arrested from Dehri Kutkana village near Rehan where she was living with her family. He said during court proceedings, she left the village and evaded court hearings. Finally, she was declared a PO in 2012.

Following a tip-off, the Rehan chowki police nabbed her from the sabzi mandi at Nagrota Bagwan and produced her in the court this afternoon. The court remanded her in judicial custody till September 15. 

Shimla, September 9
The Forest Department and the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) are seeking the help of corporate houses executing power projects and running industries in the state to help in the beautification and greening of the state capital as well as its suburbs.

The SMC has identified 27 points in the town which will be beautified by undertaking plantation with the help of the Horticulture Department.

Later, the corporate houses will be asked to take the responsibility for the maintenance of these points at various places within the municipal limits.

Similarly, the Forest Department too has approached big companies executing power projects to provide them with concrete tree guards for the tall tree plantation that it intends to undertake on the 50-km stretch from Kufri to Shilaru.

The Forest Department intends to plant trees of tall species along the highway, and tree guards will be fixed to ensure their survival and protection.

“We are approaching companies executing power projects in various parts of the state to help us in the beautification and planting of trees, as it is only by fixing concrete tree guards that the plants can be protected,” said Sanjay Sood, Conservator of Forests, Shimla.

He said the species to be planted include deodar and oak, adding that the nursery of the Forest Department at Sainj had about 6 to 8-foot-tall plants, whose survival was almost 100 per cent.

MC Deputy Mayor Tikender Panwar said talks had already been held with Horticulture officials for providing flowers and other ornamental plants to beautify the state capital. “We are undertaking a Shimla beautification plan with the help of funding from the Asian Development Bank which involves the Mall and the Town Hall. So it is imperative that we beautify the town with flowers so that there is a lot of greenery,” he stressed.

Panwar said the MC would be roping in corporate houses and voluntary organisations to help in the maintenance of these parks and gardens.

“SAGES has already agreed to help maintain three such points for us ,” he said.

Sundernagar, September 9
Parnav Nath, a local youth and an aerospace engineer, has been selected for the Dr Satish Dhawan endowed fellowship for master of science in space engineering at the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories at Caltech (GALCIT) of the California Institute of Technology (CIT), Pasadena, California.

Parnav completed his B Tech this year in aerospace engineering programme from the Indian Institute of Space Science Technology, Thiruvananthapuram.

Started by the Indian Space Reserch Organisation (ISRO) last year, one aerospace engineering graduate is selected per year for the fellowship.

Pranav’s father Dr Surinder Nath, a lecturer at MLSM Degree College, Sundernagar, said the classes would be starting from September 29 and soon he would attend the institute as per programme.

Palampur, September 9
A team of scientists from HP Agriculture University (HPAU), who had gone to Kashmir last week to purchase saffron seeds to be grown in tribal areas of the state have reportedly gone missing in the Valley.

A spokesman of the university said here today: “Till Sunday, university officials were in touch with the six-member team. But later they could not be contacted because of the failure of mobile network in the Kashmir Valley and parts of Jammu region.”

He said the team comprised three senior scientists, two junior employees and two drivers.

Vice-Chancellor Dr KK Katoch requested the district administration to help the university in tracing the team.

The VC said the last mobile location of the team was intercepted at Ramban. However, later all mobile phones were switch off.

The team included a scientist of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Bajura, in Kullu district, while two scientists were from HPAU, Palampur.

Meanwhile, families of missing scientists and university officials have been spending sleepless nights and have urged the state government to help them in tracing their family heads. 

Una, September 9
The Una district unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today resolved to extend support to the flood victims of Jammu and Kashmir. President of Una district BJP unit Balbir Bagga in a press release said the block and booth-level party units have been directed to collect clothing, foodgrains, edible oil and other household items for the victims.

Bagga said directions had also been received from the party high command. He said workers have been asked to send the material to the party’s district office on September 13 and 14.

He appealed to all frontal organisations of the BJP to contribute generously and also seek the support of the general public for the cause.

Una, September 9
BD Sharma, Chairman of the Himachal Pradesh Chapter of Public Relations Society and former Director of the HP Information and Public Relations Department, today said women were playing lead roles in all walks of life.

He was presiding over a function ‘Social Responsibilities of Youth’, at the Himotkarsh Women’s College, Kotla Khurd village.

About 30 students, from 15 different colleges of the state, participated in a declamation contest organised on the theme. Participants from Law College, Badheda, bagged the first prize, while the hosts were adjudged the runners up. Himotkarsh president Kanwar Hari Singh and college Principal BK Sharma were also present.