Congress MLA from Solan unseated by Supreme Court
SHIMLA, Oct 26 — The Congress party has suffered yet another blow in Himachal Pradesh with the unseating of its MLA, Ms Krishna Mohini, from the Solan Assembly seat by the Supreme Court.

DAV College students go on strike
KANGRA, Oct 26 — Students of the degree classes of the MCM DAV College here today went on an indefinite strike in protest against holding of the first terminal examinations by the college management after a gap of six years .

"Border along Chamba district free of militants"
CHAMBA, Oct 26 — The Indo-Tibet Border Police has claimed to have flushed out the militants from hide-outs along the border of Chamba district in Himachal Pradesh joining Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir in the past over one year since when the ITBP was deployed soon after the Kalaban-Satrundi massacre in the border region of Chamba district.

‘Technocrat should head HPSEB’
SHIMLA, Oct 26 — Power engineers in Himachal Pradesh are up in arms against the IAS occupying the post of Chairman of the HPSEB and have urged the Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, to appoint some technocrat to head the board to give a thrust to the ongoing schemes.

1 dies as truck rolls into gorge
CHAMBA, Oct 26 — One person was killed and 11 were injured when a private truck veered off the road and fell into a 100 metre deep gorge at Baat, 8 km from Chamba, on the Chamba-Jhumar road last night.

• Students' gesture to war widow
• Suicide by 2 youths

Congress MLA from Solan unseated by Supreme Court
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Oct 26 — The Congress party has suffered yet another blow in Himachal Pradesh with the unseating of its MLA, Ms Krishna Mohini, from the Solan Assembly seat by the Supreme Court.

Ms Mohini was today unseated by the Supreme Court which upheld the order of the state high court setting aside her election which was challenged by Mr Mohinder Nath Sofat of the BJP.

With her unseating, strength of the Congress party in the 68 member Assembly has been reduced to 28.

The new development is being seen as a shot in the arm of the ruling BJP which has been on a winning spree in the elections in the state during the past about 20 months.

Strength of the Congress has been decreasing gradually after the last year's assembly elections in February when it got 31 seats. The party lost two seats soon after the elections. One of these seats was vacated due to death of Mr Sant Ram and the other with Mr Gulab Singh becoming Speaker with the support of the BJP-HVC combine.

Unseating of Ms Krishna Mohini has further consolidated the position of the BJP whose strength was 34 even without support of three legislators of the Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC).

The BJP got a boost when two of the HVC MLAs who were made to go to the BJP by Mr Sukh Ram as his strategy were confirmed as BJP legislators by the Speaker.

The Congress party, which considered itself to be strong in the tribal areas, failed to win even a single seat out of the three in these areas for which polling was held in June last year.

The recent Lok Sabha elections have also come as a setback to the Congress which miserably lost on all the four seats.

Work on Parvati project soon: CM
From Our Correspondent

KULU, Oct 26 —Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, today announced that the work on the 2051 mw Parvati hydro-electric project would be started before winter.

He said he would request the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, to perform its foundation stone laying ceremony. He said this project was the second biggest in Asia and would usher in an era of prosperity in the state, besides meeting the power requirement of the entire northern region.

The Chief Minister, who was speaking at the concluding function of the seven-day-long historic and international-level "Kulu Dasehra", said that Himachal Pradesh had a total identified hydro-electric potential of over 21000 mw, which was one-fourth of the total potential of the country. The government had given special priority to harnessing its hydro-electric potential and had cleared projects having total capacity of over 4000 mw during the past one-and-half year.

The 86 mw Malana hydel project would be completed within two-and-a-half years, which could be a record in itself. The government would adopt such parameter for the Parvati and other hydel projects in the state by giving efficiency-linked incentives.

Work on the Kulu and Bhunter sewerage schemes would be completed at the earliest. He claimed that the present government had succeeded in getting Rs 14.70 crore from the Central Government. He criticised the previous Congress government for laying the foundation stone of the Kulu sewerage scheme without providing funds for it.

Emphasising the need for early completion of all development works to avoid cost escalation, Mr Dhumal said that the government had decided in principle that only those works would be taken up for which adequate funds were provided in the budget.

He claimed that the present government had taken up 12272 works from April 1, 1998 to July 31, 1999, out of which over 3000 had been completed. In Kulu district alone, 1203 works had been started, out of which 407 had been completed and the remaining would be completed by March, 31 next.

The development works in the area would be speeded up keeping in view its tourism and cultural importance. He said that the Shirad-Beasar road and Sainj-Railla roads would be constructed under NABARD at a cost of Rs 5.50 crore and Rs 2.50 crore, respectively. He sanctioned Rs 10 lakh for expediting the work on the Shill-Bhadhani road and added that Rs 75 lakh would be spent on the construction of Banjar bridge. Work on Tapu bridge would also be taken up.

Stressing the need for preserving the rich cultural heritage of the state, Mr Dhumal announced opening of a training institute for local musical instruments and dances in Kulu district.

He also announced enhancement of in ‘najrana’ of ‘devata’s’ to 20 per cent out of which 10 per cent had been increased last year. Compensation for land would also be given to all ‘devatas’ in a phased manner.

The Chief Minister also gave away prizes to the winners of various events organised during Dasehra festival.

Mr Karn Singh, Minister of State for Primary Education, said that one circle of state electricity board, one zonal hospital, three senior secondary schools, four high schools, 14 middle schools, 42 primary schools, 8 veterinary dispensaries and eight Ayurvedic dispensaries had been opened in this district during the past one-and-a-half year.

The highlight of this year’s Dasehra was that about a dozen devatas from outer Seraj participated in the festival after several years.

Mr Chandersen, MLA also spoke.

Ms Sheela Dhumal, wife of the Chief Minister, Mr Gulab Singh, Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha, Mr Narender Bragata, Minister of State for Horticulture, Mr Rikhi Ram Koundal, Minister of State for Cooperation, Mr Jai Ram Thakur, MLA, Mr Alam Chand, Chairman, Zila Parishad, Mr Sumer Nath, President, Nagar Parishad, Mr Kunj Lal, former minister, were among those present.

Earlier, the Chief Minister released a souvenir brought out on the occasion of Dasehra.

Later, the rath yatra of Lord Raghunathji, the chief Deity of this district, started from the camp temple at the Dhalpur ground and reached the west end of the ground, locally known as ‘Lanka baker’, where the final rituals were performed by the descendants of the former ruler. The colourful procession then returned to the starting point of the seven-day festival and Lord Raghunathji was taken to Raghunathpur along with many local deities.

"Border along Chamba district free of militants"
From Our Correspondent

CHAMBA, Oct 26 — The Indo-Tibet Border Police (ITBP) has claimed to have flushed out the militants from hide-outs along the border of Chamba district in Himachal Pradesh joining Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir in the past over one year since when the ITBP was deployed soon after the Kalaban-Satrundi massacre in the border region of Chamba district.

Denying reports in a section of the press that there were militants operating from hide-outs in the hills in the border belts, Mr H.S. Goraya, Commandant 15th Battalion of the ITBP asserted that the pickets of the ITBP in coordination with other para-military forces like India Reserve Battalion (IRB) camping on the high altitudes were on the offensive and combing the border line round-the-clock.

Mr Goraya said that the ITBP equipped with night vision devices, sophisticated weapons and explosives and modern telecommunication systems had stepped up the vigil.

Mr Goraya said that the entire border stretching 230 km along the J&K timberlines was under strict vigil and night patrolling of the jawans of the ITBP and the other para-military forces camping in check-points in the high altitude alpine regions at Khundi Mural, Langera, Luj, Mansa, Tarela and Kalaban-Satrundi ranging at an altitude from 2000 metres to 4500 metres and added that hunt was on to sniff terrorists’ activities.

Mr Goraya added that the forces were keeping an eye on the strangers and allowing entry from across the border into Chamba district after proper verification on the check-points set up in the highlands.

Mr Goraya asserted that during the past one year the forces maintained normalcy and created confidence among the residents of border villages in the region but also revived the tourists inflow to this region as the vast tourism potential of this hilly region remained to be exploited.

Mr Goraya stated that owing to the presence of the ITBP the designs of militants were being foiled and as a sequel to this, no incident of any kind relating to militant activities had occurred in the border villages of Chamba district in Himachal since the deployment of the ITBP after the Kalaban-Satrundi massacre.

Mr Goraya stated that reports appearing in a section of the press had hit tourists visiting the place from home and abroad to this region thereby causing a great loss to the tourism industry of Chamba region of Himachal.

On the strategy to be adopted by the ITBP during winter, the ITBP chief informed that the ITBP would continue its anti-insurgency operation even across the border in coordination with the new strategy launched by the first Battalion on the ITBP already deployed for this purpose in J&K side with good results.

Mr Goraya added that to assist the ITBP and other forces in battle against terrorism and to build confidence among the local people, so far 165 Village Defence Committees (VDCs) has been set up and 440 special police officers (SPOs) appointed. These SPOs had been recruited from among the local youths of the border villages who were conversant with the local culture and languages and aware of the strategic points of the infiltrators, he added.

DAV College students go on strike
From Our Correspondent

KANGRA, Oct 26 — Students of the degree classes of the MCM DAV College here today went on an indefinite strike in protest against holding of the first terminal examinations by the college management after a gap of six years and held demonstration outside the college, took out procession and raised anti-college, anti-management slogans, on second day of the strike.

Two thousand students of the Degree classes of the college today came to attend their regular classes as the college management had yesterday following student protest decided to postpone the examinations and the regular class work would start from today but the students left the college today in protest following the announcement by the Principal that the examination would be held as scheduled from October 28.

The protesting students held demonstration outside the college premises and took out procession in protest against holding of the "untimely" examinations. They raised anti-Principal and anti-management slogans.

The student leaders today said that the strike would continue till the management decided to cancel the examinations. When contacted the Principal, Mr S.K. Sharma said that the college management would hold the examinations as scheduled as it was in the interests of the students. He said that if the students behave like this he would call the meeting of their parents to discuss the issue. Meanwhile college has been closed for tomorrow.

The protesting students alleged that despite hike in the college fees there were little facilities for the students in the college. They demanded that an adequate number of books be made available in the college library in view of the much higher number of the students in the classes. They demanded that a canteen be opened in the college which the Principal decided to open today. Meanwhile the college management was trying to sort out the issue with the student leaders across the table.

‘Technocrat should head HPSEB’
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Oct 26 — Power engineers in Himachal Pradesh are up in arms against the IAS occupying the post of Chairman of the HPSEB and have urged the Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, to appoint some technocrat to head the board to give a thrust to the ongoing schemes.

Mr Suneel Grover, general secretary of the Himachal Power Engineers Association, in a statement today said that the ongoing projects could be completed within the schedule only with a full-time technocrat holding the post of the Chairman.

He said unless technocrats were given due recognition and involved in policy planning and decision making process, the development activities would not pick up.

He urged the Chief Minister to professionalise management of the technical institutions.

1 dies as truck rolls into gorge
From Our Correspondent

CHAMBA, Oct 26 — One person was killed and 11 were injured when a private truck veered off the road and fell into a 100 metre deep gorge at Baat, 8 km from Chamba, on the Chamba-Jhumar road last night.

According to an official information, the deceased has been identified as Sarbo, a resident of Badka village. The injured have been admitted to the District Hospital, here.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr K. Sanjaymurthy, has directed the revenue authorities to provide relief to the next of kin of the deceased and injured as per relief manual. The police has registered a case.

Students' gesture to war widow

DALHOUSIE, Oct 26 (UNI) —Students of Sacred Heart Convent School, here, in a big gesture, have donated Rs 27,000 to Mrs Nirmala Devi, widow of martyr Lance Naik Amar Singh of 10 Dogra Regiment, who made supreme sacrifice while defending country's frontiers a few days ago.

Jawans of the regiment too have donated Rs 5,000 to the war widow.

The amount was presented to Mrs Nirmala Devi by Mrs Hema Verma, wife of Col J. Verma, Commanding Officer of the regiment, as a gesture of assistance for her rehabilitation.

Suicide by 2 youths

DHARAMSALA (HP), Oct 26 (UNI) — Two youths allegedly committed suicide and another person’s wife was admitted in a serious condition after consuming poison in three different incidents in Kangra sub-division today.

The police said that the youths belonging to Takipur and Bandi villages, died in the Kangra sub-divisional hospital after they consumed poison.

In another incident, one person took poison at Kangra town and was battling for life at the hospital.

The police has registered cases in these connections and was investigating.