Dharamsala, December 26
The first day of the winter session of the Vidhan Sabha was adjourned for the day minutes after question hour when the opposition came to the well of the house, creating noisy scenes, as the speaker did not allow an adjournment motion, moved to discuss the issue of corruption in the government, with particular reference to ADGP B.S. Thind.

As soon as question hour ended, leader of the opposition Prem Kumar Dhumal stood up and demanded that the adjournment motion moved by the opposition be allowed.

Speaker Gangu Ram Musafir said the application for the motion was under consideration and requested the leader of the opposition to give him some time to decide on it.

Members of the opposition, along with independent MLA Naveen Dhiman, stood up one by one and started raising slogans against the government, particularly the chief minister, for shielding corrupt politicians and bureaucrats.

Opposition members demanded that the government reveal the name of the alleged godfather of the ADGP.

The speaker stood up and requested them to sit down and pay attention to proceedings of the house.

Chief minister Virbhadra Singh and parliamentary affairs minister Kaul Singh Thakur tried to pacify opposition members, but in vain.

The unrelenting opposition members came to the well of the house and raised slogans against the government.

Amid the din, Kinnaur MLA Jagat Singh Negi sought the attention of the house on the protest of tribal residents against the 1000-MW Karcham-Wangtoo hydroelectricity project for discussion, but it could not be discussed as the opposition did not allow the treasury benches’ members to speak on the issue.

A few members, including power minister Vidya Stokes, tried to speak, but were forced to sit down because nothing was audible in the din created by opposition members.

The speaker said the reply of the power minister be considered as read.

Mr Virbhadra Singh tabled the government’s work schedule for the week.

Reports of various committees of the Vidhan Sabha, along with certain reports of various departments, were also tabled in the house in a hurried manner.

When it appeared that the opposition would not allow the house to carry on business in a smooth manner, the speaker adjourned the house for the day.

Kangra, December 26
Himachal’s trained graduate unemployed youths today threatened an agitation if their appointments on batch-wise basis and through the commission were not made to fill more 6000 TGT posts in the Education Department.

Mr Vikrant Singh, state’s vice-president of the Himachal Pradesh Unemployed Trained Teachers Union stated this at a press conference here yesterday. He alleged the government had been adopting double standards and misleading the unemployed youths and the opposition.

He alleged the government had been announcing after every Cabinet meeting that TGT posts had been sanctioned. On April 22, 2006 the Cabinet sanctioned 252 TGT posts, in May 2006 292, on July 26, 2006 1183, in September 1778 and in December this year 2931 posts were sanctioned.

He said the sanctioning of total 6436 TGT posts during the current year by the Cabinet was eyewash as an advertisement of none of these posts was made by the government till date. He said nearly 50,000 unemployed trained graduates were waiting for adjustments and the introduction of Elementary System of Education in the state was a ray of hope, as under this system services of the trained graduate teachers were required to teach primary classes.

He said for quality education the elementary system of education was good but due to wrong policies of the Virbhadra Singh government this system of education was not being implemented. He said there were 47 B.Ed colleges in the state and every year 6000 trained teachers were joining the number of 50,000 already unemployed TGT.

He alleged that the Chief Minister knew if the TGTs were appointed on batch- wise basis it would benefit unemployed youths of lower Himachal so he was delaying it. The government had given an affidavit to the court that PTA was a temporary arrangement and at the time of appointments of the TGTs PTA posts would be filled by the TGTs. He said the government saw nothing such in practice.

He alleged those 2200 Para teachers on contract for three years were appointed against TGT posts and period of three years completed but they still continued to work.

An unemployed trained teacher told reporter he had passed his B.Ed. in 1984 and was stilling waiting for a job as he had no political influence.

Dharamsala, December 26
Lashing out at chief minister Virbhadra Singh, leader of the opposition Prem Kumar Dhumal today said the Congress government had totally failed on all fronts.

He said the way in which the government had convened the winter session of the Vidhan Sabha in a hurried manner, without waiting for the completion of construction work on the building, strengthened rumours of the possibility of early elections, possibly early next year, along with a few other states.

Mr Dhumal was talking to mediapersons in the house lobby soon after the speaker adjourned proceedings of the house for the day.

He said the state government was escaping to talk on corruption, rising unemployment, losing standards of education and deteriorating medical facilities. He said the adjournment of the house was an indication that the ruling party had run away from the house to evade discussion on these issues.

He said in case of an early poll, the BJP was prepared for elections. He said the people were eagerly waiting to show the Congress the door.

Kangra, December 26
The poorest of the poor will be given top priority in various employment recruitment being carried out in government departments as vacancies are being created.

This was stated by chief minister Virbhadra Singh while addressing a public meeting at Tapovan in the district. He said the government was putting in efforts to create vast employment avenues in departments of the government.

He said the process of recruitment to about 11,000 new anganwari centres was in progress and priority was being given to candidates who had no family member in government service or as public sector undertaking employee.

He added that poor and deserving candidates were being given added preference in employment at anganwari centres.

He stated that at least 22,000 village women were bound to get employment nearer their homes.

The chief minister said religion was a private affair of every individual and did not deserve to be enforced.

Palampur, December 26
At least one person was killed and 16 others were injured when a private bus belonging to Sagrika Transport met with an accident near Daroh, 20 km from here, last night.

According to reports received here, the bus was on its way from Palampur to Sujanpur when the driver lost control over it and the bus overturned in a nearby field, killing a woman who was working in her field.

The deceased has been identified as Nirmla Devi, whose husband is serving in the Army. She left behind two small children.

Mr Sanjiv Chauhan, SHO, Palampur, said a case had been registered against the driver of the bus under Section 304-A of the IPC. He said the body of Nirmla was handed over to her family members after a post-mortem examination.

Meanwhile, the administration has sanctioned an ex-gratia paayment of Rs 10,000 to next of kin.

Shimla, December 26
Intermittent snowflakes this morning brought delight to thousands of tourists who descended on the 'Queen of Hills' in the hope of celebrating a white Christmas.

Tourists on The Ridge and The Mall were thrilled as snowflakes came down intermittently in the upper parts of the town. With the nearby areas of Kufri, Fagu, Narkanda and Mahasu Peak also getting a light snowfall in the morning, tourists made a beeline to these areas to enjoy the snow.

While the sky remained overcast in the morning, there was bright sunshine in the afternoon with no chance of snowfall. Though the temperature has come down considerably, meteorological officials ruled out snow in the immediate future.

The cold wave sweeping the state further intensified as there was a fresh snowfall on the higher reaches and a heavy rain in some parts of the state. The higher reaches of Lahaul and Spiti, Kinnaur, Pangi, Rohtang and Dhauladhar ranges in Kangra had been experiencing intermittent snowfall since morning, while the mid and higher hills experienced rain.

Over 5 cm of snowfall was recorded in Kalpa and Keylong, while Udaipur and Dhundi had over 8 cm of snowfall. The minimum temperature dipped to 1.6 degree in Sundernagar, 0.4 in Bhuntar, -1.8 in Kalpa and 5.7 degrees in Shimla.