34 YC office-bearers dropped
SHIMLA, Dec 29 — Mr Sukhwinder Singh, president of the state Youth Congress (YC), today started the exercise for revamping the organisational set up by reconstituting the team of state office-bearers in the wake of the Congress party's unprecedented defeat in the Lok Sabha poll.

52,000 stolen detonators recovered
SHIMLA, Dec 29 — The police today recovered nearly 52,000 of the 68,400 detonators stolen from the explosives depot of the Public Works Department at Karcham in Kinnaur district two days ago.

HP panchayat poll in Nov, 2000
CHAMBA, Dec 29 — The Himachal Pradesh Government has decided to conduct elections to 2000 panchayats in the state in November 2000 in which 33 per cent of the seats would be reserved for women.

HC rejects CE's bail plea
SHIMLA, Dec 29 — Mr Justice M.R. Verma of the Himachal Pradesh High Court today rejected the anticipatory bail application of Mr S.K. Sikand, Chief Engineer (Central Zone), PWD, in connection with the bitumen emulsion purchase scam.

Panel to prepare Vision 2010 plan
SHIMLA, Dec 29 — Mr Suresh Chandel, President of the state BJP, has constituted a nine-member committee for preparing Vision 2010, a comprehensive document to put the fund-starved state on the path of economic self-reliance over the next 10 years.

HP to promote religious tourism
JAWALAMUKHI, Dec 29 — The Himachal Pradesh Government has decided in principle to promote religious tourism and provide elaborate facilities in all religious sanctuaries, the Transport Minister, Mr Krishan Kapoor told mediapersons here yesterday.

• Mahajan, Virbhadra postpone tour
• Docs flay decision on Registrars
• 3 held for carrying illicit liquor
• Governor visits Naina Devi

Tourists make beeline for Shimla
From Rakesh Lohumi
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 29 — The bleak prospects for a "white" new year notwithstanding, tourists from the adjoining plains are making a beeline to the "Queen of Hills" to ring in the new millennium.

Snow eluded the winter revellers on Christmas and if the clear skies, with the sun shining brightly, is any indication, the weather god seems to be in no mood to oblige them. Snow or no snow the revellers are converging on Shimla and various other destinations in the state to herald the new millennium. Over the years it has become a trend among the people from the plains to celebrate New Year in hill stations. But the winter visitors mainly thronged Shimla, Manali, Dalhousie and other hill destinations in the state to experience the thrill of a snowfall which virtually transforms the hill scape into a fairy land.

The millennium hype in the media has indeed influenced the mind of the people who are coming to the state in greater numbers. Inquiries reveal that all big hotels have been booked to capacity for the next four days.

The unending stream of revellers, who started converging on the state capital on Christmas eve, is continuing.

The hotel industry and the administration are gearing up to handle the heavy rush which may double this year.

Last year over 25,000 tourists thronged the town on the New Year eve and this year the number, the police estimates, is likely to be between 35,000 to 40,000. Similarly, the number of tourists vehicles is likely to go up from 4,000 to around 8,000. The road from Kennedy House to Boileauganj has been opened for parking. A portion of the Sanjauli — Lakkar Bazar restricted road has also been thrown open to enable the tourists to park vehicles. The traffic police will be deployed right from Shogi to Kufri covering about 50 km of road length in and around Shimla. Special arrangements have been made to ensure uninterrupted supply of power and water and keep the roads open in the event of snowfall.

For maintaining law and order, the town has been divided into nine sectors. In all, 400 constables and 100 Home Guards will be deployed and a gazetted police officer will be made in charge of each sector. The force will be in position from December 30 to January 1. Policemen will also be deployed around various big hotels which are arranging "gala" nites on the millennium eve. Intense patrolling will continue on The Ridge and The Mall to prevent eve-teasing and hooliganism during the three-day period.

All hotels of the HP Tourism Development Corporation in Shimla, Manali, Barog, Chail and Dharamsala have good bookings. Private hotels, which have come out with special three-day four-nights packages ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 57,000 have also evoked a good response.

The corporation is also organising aerial sight-seeing flights for tourists to "Kinner Kailash" and joy helicopter rides in and around the town. The flights will continue as long as the tourist rush lasts.

However, the cultural programmes planned by the district administration in collaboration with the Tourism and Language Art and Culture Departments have been cancelled due to the death of former President S.D. Sharma. The "Vande Mataram" programme will take place as planned but its venue has been shifted from The Ridge to "Oakover", the official residence of the Chief Minister.

The district administration has heaved a sigh of relief due to the shifting of the venue as there was a possibility of a clash between "Vande Matram" volunteers and millennium revellers on The Ridge.

Changes in Panchayati Raj institutions sought
From Our Correspondent

MANDI, Dec 29 — The three-day state-level workshop of the Panchayati Raj institutions and non-government organisations, which concluded here today, called upon the government to make fundamental changes in the structure of the Panchayati Raj institutions to ensure active participation of the people at grassroots level.

The workshop had been organised by Zila Parishad, Mandi, Navrachna, Palampur, Rural Development and Technology Centre, Rajgarh, Sutra Jagjitnagar, Solan, Himachal Gyan Vigyan Samiti, Himachal Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Department and Indo-German Changar Project, Kangra.

Stress was laid on the active involvement of panchayats, samitis and zila parishads for making microplans and their implementation.

The delegates observed that it had become imperative to introduce structural changes in the functioning of the Panchayati Raj institutions in the wake of the 73rd amendment of Constitution.

The fact that vested interests were creating hurdles in transferring powers to the democratic institutions was lamented.

It was suggested that the Panchayati Raj Act should be amended to cope with the present day requirements and to fulfil the aspirations of the people.

Delegates suggested that microplanning should be initiated at ward-level and routed through panchayat samitis and zila parishads. The funds should also be allocated accordingly.

The Zila Parishad chiefs of Mandi, Kangra, Chamba and Bilaspur participated in the workshop.

HVC stakes claim to Solan seat
From Our Correspondent

CHAMBA, Dec 29 — The Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC) will stake its claim to the Solan assembly seat if and when their coalition partner the BJP invites them for a dialogue.

Talking to mediapersons here last night, Dr R.L. Markanday, Minister of State for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj said it would be in the interest of the BJP to vacate the Solan Assembly seat for the HVC candidate and added that the HVC would certainly win the seat. He however, clarified that there had not been any talk with the BJP on this issue.

The Solan seat of the Vidhan Sabha had fallen vacant following the unseating of MLA Maj Krishana Mohini. The by-election was scheduled to be held in the near future, he added.

Replying to a query made by a correspondent, whether the HVC President, Mr Sukh Ram, intended to be a Chief Minister or a Deputy Chief Minister, Mr Markanday said Sukh Ram's desire had been that if the people of the state would give his party a thumping mandate independently, only then he would like to became the Chief Minister, otherwise, there was no question of aspiring for the Chief Ministership, he stated.

He said to launch a mobilisation drive with a view to strengthen the party, a meeting was held here yesterday. He asked leaders and workers of the party to enrol 5,000 members in each constituency.

Mr Markanday also advised HVC leaders not to speak to the press on their own. Mr K.L. Shah had been appointed as a spokesman of the district unit of the HVC, he added.

Financial crunch dogs rink

SHIMLA, Dec 29 (ANI) — A financial crunch and inadequate sports facilities are threatening the existence of South Asia's only open- air natural skating rink in the hill resort of Shimla.

Members of the rink say they do not have adequate funds to provide proper sports kits to players for the coming national winter games beginning January 4, 2000.

The rink hosts a variety of winter sports, ranging from skating to hockey.

"The government should provide the players with proper kits for playing; said Ashish Kumar, member of the state hockey team

"The situation here is really bad. We do not have good hockey sticks. The ones that are available are mostly for left handers and it is difficult to play with them", he said. Ashish Kumar said they could not buy the kits from their pockets because of high costs. The price of a single kit was at least $200.

Members of the rink said they had repeatedly sought financial assistance from the government.

The government had promised last year to implant a scientific apparatus for freezing ice at the rink. The apparatus could be utilised in case there was no snowfall. But the plan was still to be implemented.

State Sports Minister Praveen Sharma said the government had plans to modernise the rink and make it resourceful.

"We are going to spend Rs 10 million, of this Rs 6.5 million will be spent on polyice making machine. We are arranging for the money from the Centre. We want to upgrade the rink, "Mr Praveen Sharma.

He further said the state government was planning to from a new sports policy under which it plans to have another rink.

34 YC office-bearers dropped
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 29 — Mr Sukhwinder Singh, president of the state Youth Congress (YC), today started the exercise for revamping the organisational set up by reconstituting the team of state office-bearers in the wake of the Congress party's unprecedented defeat in the Lok Sabha poll.

Only 28 office-bearers of the 62-member body, which was dissolved after the results of the Lok Sabha poll were declared, have been retained in the reconstituted body. The eight-month-old body was dissolved in view of the reports that some members did not campaign for the party candidates, particularly in the Shimla and Mandi seats, during the Lok Sabha poll.

Mr Sukhwinder Singh said the office-bearers were replaced for their non-performance and failure to attend the meetings of the Youth Congress. He said it was only the first phase of the exercise and in the second phase some district and block chiefs would be replaced.

Prominent youth leaders who have been dropped include Mr Kamal Dhaulta (Shimla), Mr Ramesh Thakur (Mandi) and Ms Nisha Gupta (Shimla), all general secretaries, Mr Manjit Thakur (Rohru), vice-president, and Mr Tej Singh (Mandi), secretary.

The new faces included in the body are Mr Ajay Solanki, Mr Rajesh Dhiman, Mr Ajay Verma, Mr Jai Kumar Azad and Mr Rajesh Prasher.

Kangra, the biggest and politically most important district of the state, has been given greater representations in the new body. There are nine members as against six in the dissolved body from the district.

The following is the complete list of state office-bearers:

Vice-presidents — Mr Sunder Thakur (Kulu), Mr Deva Nand Verma (Shimla), Mr Hoshiar Singh Thakur (Bilaspur), Mr Mahesh Chander Puri (Chamba), Mr Mohinder Chauhan (Shimla), Mr Prithvi Vikram Sen (Shimla), Mr Ajay Kumar (Una), Mr Rajinder Verma (Shimla), Mr Vineet Vij (Chamba), Mr Varinder Sood (Mandi), Mr Aninder Singh Naughty (Sirmour), Mr Sandeep Dogra (Kangra), Mr Rajesh Rocky (Kangra), Mr Rajesh Parashar (Una), Ms Urmila Sharma (Una), Mr Gautam Thakur (Lahaul-Spiti) and Mr Kanwar Aukta (Shimla).

General secretaries — Mr Kanwar Joginder Singh (Shimla), Mr Rajesh Dharmani (Bilaspur), Mr Nitin Sharma (Hamirpur), Mr Sudhir Sharma (Kangra), Mr Vikram Sharma (Una), Mr Yogesh Mahajan (Kangra), Mr Sudhir Azad (Shimla), Mr Sanjay Awasthi (Solan), Ms Namita Roshan Lal (Solan), Ms Meenakshi Pathania (Chamba), Mr Jai Kumar Azad (Mandi), Mr Sandeep Sharma (Shimla), Mr Aishwary Katoch (Kangra) and Mr Manoj Mehta (Kangra).

Organising sercretary — Mr Subnnet Singh Chauhan (Shimla).

Secretaries — Ms Seema Bhushan (Sirmour), Mr Laxmi Singh Thakur (Mandi), Mr Ajay Solankey (Sirmour), Mr Rakesh Kalia (Una), Mr Nardev Kanwar (Hamirpur), Mr Pradeep Chaudhary (Kangra), Ms Rajni (Kangra), Mr Harinder Parwana (Kangra), Mr Jitender Chandel (Bilaspur), Mr Ajay Verma (Kangra), Mr Gagan Kapoor (Shimla) and Ms Sumita Thakur (Mandi).

52,000 stolen detonators recovered
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 29 — The police today recovered nearly 52,000 of the 68,400 detonators stolen from the explosives depot of the Public Works Department at Karcham in Kinnaur district two days ago.

The detonators were recovered in the combing operation carried out by the police by involving local labour in the area. The detonators were hidden in rock crevices and bushes over a large area at a distance of 500 metres to 1 km from the depot.

Mr K.C. Rana, Deputy Inspector-General (southern range), said the involvement of terrorists in the theft had been ruled out after the preliminary investigations. The chowkidar of the depot had retracted from his earlier statement that he was beaten up and tied up by the culprits.

The police was now looking into the possible involvement of employees of the department. Detonators were required by private contractors engaged in the construction of roads and other projects.

HP panchayat poll in Nov, 2000
From Our Correspondent

CHAMBA, Dec 29 — The Himachal Pradesh Government has decided to conduct elections to 2000 panchayats in the state in November 2000 in which 33 per cent of the seats would be reserved for women.

This was stated by Mr R.L. Markanday, Minister of State for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, here today. He said the delimitation of panchayats would be completed soon in the state.

The minister said 1461 assistant secretaries would be posted shortly and the panchayat pradhans had been empowered to appoint them.

He stated that the state government had sanctioned 252 posts of panchayat secretaries which would be appointed by the State Public Service Commission. He said 30 junior engineers would be appointed in the Rural Development Department in the state shortly.

Mr Markanday said Rs 101 crore had been earmarked to be spent on the development of panchayats in the state.

The minister said in Chamba district 1203 houses under the Gandhi Kutir Yojna and 246 under the Indira Awas Yojna would be constituted during the current fiscal year.

HC rejects CE's bail plea
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 29 — Mr Justice M.R. Verma of the Himachal Pradesh High Court today rejected the anticipatory bail application of Mr S.K. Sikand, Chief Engineer (Central Zone), PWD, in connection with the bitumen emulsion purchase scam.

The Vigilance Department had registered a case against Mr Sikand under the Prevention of Corruption Act on December 26 on the basis of the report of the Divisional Commissioner, who probed the scam. The officer, who was suspended last week, had been charged with making excess purchases for pecuniary gains and causing a wrongful loss to the government. As per the report Mr Sikand had ordered the purchase of bitumen, rope, survey instruments, paints and other items worth over Rs 3.5 crore.

The court accepted the plea of Advocate General Sanjay Karol that the accused, being a top officer of the department, could tamper with evidence and influence the witnesses. This, in turn, could hamper investigations, which were at a preliminary stage.

The court, however, granted anticipatory bail to the accused in the second case registered by the Vigilance department in which he has been charged with amassing assets disproportionate to his sources of income. The court observed that since it was an old case, anticipatory bail could be granted.

The police arrested Mr Sikand from Mandi as soon as his bail plea was rejected by the court.

Panel to prepare Vision 2010 plan
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 29 — Mr Suresh Chandel, President of the state BJP, has constituted a nine-member committee for preparing Vision 2010, a comprehensive document to put the fund-starved state on the path of economic self-reliance over the next 10 years.

Headed by Mr Maheshwar Singh, M.P., the committee will have Mr Khushi Ram Balnath, Mr Kripal Parmar, Mr J.P. Nadda, Mr Praveen Sharma, Ms Shyama Sharma, Mr Vipin Parmar, Mr Jai Ram Thakur and Mr Ashok Kapadia as members.

The document will provide a blueprint for the all-round development of the state by making education job-oriented and redefining the role of government as a catalyst in the execution of developmental schemes.

HP to promote religious tourism
From Our Correspondent

JAWALAMUKHI, Dec 29 — The Himachal Pradesh Government has decided in principle to promote religious tourism and provide elaborate facilities in all religious sanctuaries, the Transport Minister, Mr Krishan Kapoor told mediapersons here yesterday.

He said the Transport Department was committed to provide the required infrastructure in the state. Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) authorities were right in saying that the HRTC would construct a bus stand only if the local Nagar Panchayat provides the land needed for the purpose. He admitted that the space provided to the present bus stand was not adequate enough.

Mr Kapoor said construction could not be undertaken because of ownership dispute over present bus stand. Unless mutation of the land in question was done in favour of the HRTC, it would not be possible to go ahead with the project, he added.

According to him the state government was looking for another piece of land to construct a bus stand, as with the increase in the numbers of pilgrims, it has become a necessity.

Docs flay decision on Registrars
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 29 — The Resident Doctors Association of the local Indira Gandhi Medical College has criticised the decision of the government not to allow the newly selected Registrars to join duty.

The association said the decision was not in the interests of the institution and the public at large. These residents form the backbone of any medical institutions and their absence would severely hit the functioning of the college and the hospital. It urged the government to review the decision and allow the Registrars to join duty.

Mahajan, Virbhadra postpone tour
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 29 — Mr Sat Mahajan, the pradesh Congress committee chief, and Mr Virbhadra Singh, Leader of the Legislature Congress Party, have postponed their programme to jointly tour Solan and Sirmaur districts from December 29 in view of the demise of Mr Shankar Dayal Sharma, a former President. The meetings of Presidents of the district and block Congress committees, frontal organisations, legislators and workers from all Assembly segments of Solan district will be held on January 6, 2000, at Solan and that of Sirmaur district on January 7 at Nahan.

The two leaders will address these meetings and discuss organisational matters.

3 held for carrying illicit liquor
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 29 — The local police has arrested three persons who were carrying illicit liquor.

Eighteen bottles of Indian-made foreign liquor and 330 pouches of country-made liquor were recovered from them. A case under the Excise Act has been registered.

In another case forest officials seized 52 bags of illicit charcoal which was being taken from Wadiara to Rohru. The tractor in which the charcoal was being transported was released by court on a bond of Rs 2 lakh.

Governor visits Naina Devi
From Our Correspondent

BILASPUR, Dec 29 — The Himachal Governor, Mr Vishnukant Shashtri, today visited the shrine of Shri Naina Devi 75 kms. from here.

Earlier, he was received by district officers and a large number of residents led by President of the Nainadevi Nagar Parishad.