Briefly Region

4 die in accident near Shimla
Four persons died and 18 others were injured when the tempo they they were travelling in skidded off the road and fell into a gorge at Sanan on the Shimla bypass road late Wednesday night. The injured include 15 women and three children,all of whom were admitted in Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital in Shimla. The dead were identified as Rajender Singh,Anita,Rajmani and Dil Kumar,said the police. The tempo was going from Dhalli towards Mehli,with 24 people on board,most of them loaded on to the luggage carrier at the rear of the vehicle. All were labourers employed with a local construction contractor and the vehicle also belonged to the him. After the accident,the driver fled the spot. As per the police,the survivors have said that the vehicle was moving at high speed and the driver lost control at a curve.

‘HP turning into paradise for opium cultivation’
On the first day of a two-day conference of deputy commissioners and superintendents of police,Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal seriously viewed the threat of Himachal turning into a “paradise” of charas and opium cultivation,especially the Kullu valley and parts of Chamba district. State Director General of Police D S Manhas and Additional Director General of Police (CID) I D Bhandari reported to the CM at the conference that despite all steps,the cultivation of these crops in interiors was very much on.

HP is ‘India’s best summer destination’
The state has been adjudged as the best summer destination for tourists in the country by a leading media group,which presented a trophy to Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal here on Thursday. The state had seen a record 1.14 crore tourists during the previous financial year 2009-10,which was 17 per cent more than the tourists who visited Himachal during 2008-09. “The state is expecting 23 per cent more tourists during this year,” the CM said. The government is planning to conduct a survey based on tourists’ feedback to adjudge the cleanest towns in the state,he added. Himachal’s rating as best summer destination is based on the annual Traveler readers’ survey and online voting,said a spokesperson of the government.