Mandi Shivratri festival concludes

The weeklong Shivratri festival concluded at Mandi on Friday. Himachal Pradesh Governor Urmila Singh presided over the ceremony. She appreciated the efforts of the organising committee in smoothly conducting the event. Singh said such fairs should also be taken as an opportunity to extend financial support to the women self help groups by giving them a chance to market the goods produced by them. Earlier,she paid obeisance at Madhorai and Bhootnath temples and participated in the Jaleb procession.

World Bank team to visit HP in March
A team of the World Bank will visit Himachal in March to discuss the second phase of the watershed project. In a message to the government,the World Bank has informed that its director and sector manager will be in the state from March 9 to 11. Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal recently met the World Bank authorities at Washington during his visit last week. The bank has given in-principle nod to sanction a policy loan of $450 million for sustainable environmental growth.