10-yr maid found murdered
 KULU, Oct 1 — Anju the 10-year-old daughter of Dukber Bahadur was murdered in broad daylight yesterday at Kutiya Aage village near Bhuntar, about 13 km from here. The girl was working as a maid and looking after a two-and-half-year-old daughter of Mr Kushal Singh and Ms Kanta Devi.

Woman burnt to death
KANGRA, Oct 1 — A 24 -year old woman, Sunita Bibi, of Malot village was today burnt to death in the field by her two sisters-in-law for want of dowry, victim said in her dying statement.

Country liquor seized
SOLAN, Oct 1 — The Arki police seized 584 pouches of country liquor valued at Rs 47,000 from a Maruti car during a nakabandi near Gumber Bridge under Arki police station, about 35 km from here, yesterday.

Providential escape for bus passengers
MANDI, Oct 1 — About 20 persons travelling in the Manali bound bus of Haryana Roadways had providential escape when the bus rolled back and fell into the Beas at Hanogi temple near Aut around 6 p.m. yesterday.

NSUI appointments quashed
SHIMLA, Oct 1 — The General Secretary of the National Students Union of India, Mr Rizwan Arshad, has cancelled all appointments of office-bearers done by Mr Kewal Singh Pathania, President of the Himachal unit of the organisation.

• Colony facing water shortage
• Sharma is president of bar association

HP to set up more blood banks
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Oct 1 — The Himachal Government will set up blood banks up to the subdivisional level in the state in a phased manner.

This was stated by Mr J.P. Nadda, Health Minister, while flagging of a rally of school students organised by the State AIDS Society and Ashadeep, a non-government organisation, in connection with the voluntary blood donation day, here today.

Mr Nadda said that at present 11 blood banks were functioning at district level and efforts were on to have these in the tribal areas.

The government also proposed to set up mobile blood banks to meet the requirement of interior areas.

However, he said its efforts would be worth while only if the youth came forward in a big way to donate blood. It was thus essential to make blood donation a mass movement in the state and voluntary organisations like Ashadeep could play a vital role in achieving this objective.

Mr Nadda honoured women blood donors and those belonging to the rare negative blood groups on the occasion.

Over 2500 students participated in the rally. A slogan-writing competition and on-the-spot painting competition on the theme of blood donation were also held on the occasion.

Mining aggravates floods
From Ravinder Sood

PALAMPUR: Though, the rainy season is over here, it has left an unbearable tale of disaster, sorrows and has rendered thousands of people homeless. Besides, hundreds of acres of fertile land has been ravaged by the floods. The state government has suffered heavy losses. In Kangra district alone over 100 link roads were damaged and yet to be restored. A number of other roads are adversely hit by landslides. The total loss suffered by the state has been estimated at Rs 500 crore.

Experts feel that if no effective measures are adopted and sincere efforts made, the fury of floods will continue to hit the ecology of the state year after year. The reckless, unscientific mining and quarrying in the state have been attributed to be a major cause for the repeated flashfloods in this region. It is revealed that illegal mining and quarrying here has taken a new turn in the past few years. It seems that the state government has no check on those exploiting the natural resources of the state. The lukewarm attitude of the state government, slackness on the part of the Mining Department, political patronage to those involved in this illegal trade and absence of any stringent law to deal with the offenders have further aggravated the situation.

In Kangra, the largest district of the state, over 500 points are there for illegal mining and quarrying spread over various tributaries of the Beas and other rivers. Sandstone and other materials valued at Rs 5 lakh are being extracted from khuds and quarries causing a huge loss to the state exchequer.

Political interference in the functioning of Forest and Mining Departments had worsened matters. In a number of cases where the officials initiate action against the defaulters, local political leaders come to their rescue and force officers not to proceed against them. It is on record that in many cases the ministers and MLAs have advised the Mining Department to compound the cases registered against the defaulters. The situation has gone from bad to worse in Palampur and Nurpur subdivisions where half a dozen murders had taken place between the parties involved in this trade over the control of these khuds and quarries.

The auctions for these quarries and khuds conducted by the state government have proved eyewash and the general public was fooled. This drama was enacted only to accommodate the henchmen of the politicians. Over 200 tractor-trolleys are engaged in illegal mining and quarrying . Most of these tractor-trolleys are registered for farm use but are actually being used for mining and carrying the material to nearby markets bordering Punjab, evading goods tax also causing a loss to the government. Though the state traffic police is well conversant with the situation but they never challan the owners of these tractors for reasons best known to them.

The water level of the Neugal, Binwa, Baner, Gaj, Bathu, Mol and Bhiral have gone down in the past five years because of regular extraction of sand and stones. Though the district administration is aware of this alarming situation, it has failed to call a meeting of the mining, forest and revenue departments which grant temporary permits for mining. In Palampur town people had witnessed the worst rainy season this year which had claimed two lives. In addition over 300 houses were damaged and floodwaters entered houses.

An old man remarked that he had not seen such heavy rains in 50 years. He blamed the government for deforestation and unscientific mining.

Review panel constituted
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Oct 1 — The Himachal Pradesh Government has constituted a state-level review committee under the chairmanship of the Director-cum-Special Secretary, Panchayati Raj, for monitoring the implementation of the recommendation of the state Finance Commission.

The Deputy Controller (Audit) will be its member while the Deputy Director (Departmental) will be its member secretary.

The government has issued a notification under Section 94 of the Himachal Pradesh Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, to entrust the review to monitor the implementation of the recommendations of the First State Finance Commission to the finance, audit and planning committee of the zila parishads constituted under Section 95 of the Act.

The quarterly report regarding reviewing of the implementation of the recommendations of the state Finance Commission will be submitted to the Director and Special Secretary (Panchayati Raj).

1 dead, 19 hurt as bus falls into gorge
From Our Correspondent

SOLAN, Oct 1 — One person died on the spot and 19 (26 according to UNI) were injured, eight of them seriously, when a private mini bus (HP-07-4300) rolled down into a deep gorge near Kath-ka-pul on the Subathu-Haripur road, about 40 km from here last evening.

The dead had been identified as a 19-year-old school student of Mamlig village of the Kandaghat sub division. The bus was on its way from Subathu to Mamlig and most of the passengers were students returning home from schools.

The C.M.O. along with a team of doctors rushed to the site immediately while another team led by the Medical Superintendent, Dr R.P. Sahni assembled at the district hospital.

Three persons with minor injuries were taken to the Primary Health Centre at Kunihar while 16 were shifted to the district hospital. Eight were discharged today morning while the other eight who suffered multiple fractures were under treatment at the surgical and orthopaedic wards.

Sub Divisional Magistrate Rakesh Dhiman has disbursed Rs 3,000 each to seriously injured, Rs 1,000 to each injured and Rs 500 to those with minor injuries as an immediate relief.

10-yr maid found murdered
 From Our Correspondent

KULU, Oct 1 — Anju the 10-year-old daughter of Dukber Bahadur was murdered in broad daylight yesterday at Kutiya Aage village near Bhuntar, about 13 km from here. The girl was working as a maid and looking after a two-and-half-year-old daughter of Mr Kushal Singh and Ms Kanta Devi. The couple is in government service.

The murderer tried to kill the child also but luckily she was alive when her mother reached home at 3 p.m. The motive behind the incident is believed to be theft as the house was ransacked and seven totals of gold and cash worth Rs 1500 were stolen after breaking open the bedroom lock.

A case has been registered. The Additional Superintendent of Police said that 25 persons have been rounded up for interrogation, but no arrest had been made so far.

Woman burnt to death
From Our Correspondent

KANGRA, Oct 1 — A 24 -year old woman, Sunita Bibi, of Malot village was today burnt to death in the field by her two sisters-in-law for want of dowry, victim said in her dying statement.

The district police chief, Mr K.C. Sadiyal, today said Sunita Bibi, who had gone to the fields in the morning, was sprinkled kerosin oil by her two sisters-in-law, Maqbool and Jai. She received serious injuries and later on died in the Primary Health Centre, Indora, he added.

He said the police had arrested the accused women and registered a case under sections 498, 304 B.

The Kangra police today arrested a Punjabi youth and seized fake currency notes of Rs 500 denomination from his possession.

The district police chief said a Nakodar resident Ram Murli was arrested by the police at Chintpurni for allegedly giving a Rs 500 fake note to a shopkeeper. He was interrogated and later on 23 such notes were seized from his possession. His house at Nokodar was also raided but no recovery was made.

In another case a woman, Sudha, died of stove burst in Nandpur Batoli village of Nagrota Surian today.

Country liquor seized
From Our Correspondent

SOLAN, Oct 1 — The Arki police seized 584 pouches of country liquor valued at Rs 47,000 from a Maruti car during a nakabandi near Gumber Bridge under Arki police station, about 35 km from here, yesterday. Chander Mohan of Kakkar Hatti, Subathu, and Hari Singh of Kalaun, Subathu, were arrested on the spot in this connection.

In a similar operation, the Dharampur police seized 1,100 pouches of country liquor valued at Rs 35,000 from a Maruti van near Kumar Hatti, about 9 km from here, on Wednesday. Sanjeev Kumar and Sandeep Kumar, of both from Chandigarh, were taken into custody under the Excise Act, according to Superintendent of Police Rakesh Aggarwal.

Providential escape for bus passengers
From Our Correspondent

MANDI, Oct 1 — About 20 persons travelling in the Manali bound bus of Haryana Roadways had providential escape when the bus rolled back and fell into the Beas at Hanogi temple near Aut around 6 p.m. yesterday.

An eyewitness Manohar Lal, who was distributing 'prasad' in the bus when it stopped near the temple, told this reporter that he and many passengers jumped out of the bus when it suddenly started rolling back on the steep road. "The bus (HR-37-1582) is still inside the river.

It could not be confirmed whether all the occupants had jumped out of the bus when it fell into the river. The driver, the conductor and passengers had left for the Aut police post when this report was sent.

NSUI appointments quashed
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Oct 1 — The General Secretary of the National Students Union of India (NSUI), Mr Rizwan Arshad, has cancelled all appointments of office-bearers done by Mr Kewal Singh Pathania, President of the Himachal unit of the organisation.

Mr Pathania had made these appointments without approval of the National leadership of the NSUI.

A communication from the NSUI headquarters said Mr Arshad has sought explanation from Mr Pathania for appointing the state committee without approval of the national secretariat.

Certain activists of the NSUI from here had met leaders of the party at Delhi and lodged a protest against the alleged arbitrary appointments made by Mr Pathania.

Colony facing water shortage
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Oct 1 — Residents of the newly constructed colony at Mehli near here are facing acute shortage of water supply.

They have complained that although water was being supplied in the area for about a hour daily by the Municipal Corporation, the pressure was so low that they could get only two to three buckets of water.

They were fetching water from a natural source about a kilometre away.

They alleged that the water supplied to them was contaminated.

Sharma is president of bar association
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Oct 1 — Mr M.V. Sharma has been elected president of the Himachal Pradesh High Court Bar Association here.

Others elected are, Mr Ashwani Pathak (vice-president), Mr Chirag Bhanu Singh (general secretary) and Mr Vikas Rathore (treasurer).