The anti-corruption baton

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal began his current stint at the helm of the state with the slogan of zero-tolerance against corruption

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal began his current stint at the helm of the state with the slogan of zero-tolerance against corruption this being BJPs principal charge against the previous Congress government. Starting with a bang,the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau set a record of sorts,arresting 44 officers including a 1988-batch IAS officer,an Additional SP-rank officer,a State Drug Controller,a Himachal Administrative Services HAS officer,among others. However,soon the government chose to go soft and quietly reinstated the officers and began dragging its feet on granting prosecution sanctions. The High Court has now stepped in where the government left off and has asked Chief Secretary Rajwant Sandhu to supply full details of officers facing corruption charges and file an affidavit on whether the government had fully applied its mind while reinstating those controversial officers.

Back to basics

With over two years to go for the next Assembly election,the BJP,the party in power in the state,is not taking any chances. The party is kicking off month-long training camps for its cadres,office-bearers of all ranks and state executive members next week. Top party leaders,both from the Centre and the state,including Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal,will conduct training sessions. Dhumal has already initiated the Mandal Milan sammelans with party workers from constituencies where BJP lost to the Congress in 23 segments,out of total 68 Assembly constituencies. The sammelans cover a wide range of issues including expanding the party base,increasing public motivational skills and fighting the dreaded anti-incumbency factor.

Taming the Ragging bull

The death of Aman Kachroo,a first-year MBBS student at Dr Rajendra Prasad Medical College,Tanda Kangra after ragging by his seniors last year triggered a nation-wide campaign against the menace. Recently,when four accused in the Kachroo case were granted bail by a Fast Track court at Dharamsala,the Himachal High Court quickly intervened and cancelled the bail. Only last week,a court at Dharamsala convicted four youths under section 304 2 of the IPC in another seven-year old ragging-related case of death,and sentenced them to seven years in jail along with a fine of Rs 25,000 each. It was in 2003 that the youths had stabbed Amit Thakur,a first year BA student of Shaheed Captain Vikram Batra college,Palampur, when he tried to stop them from ragging his class-mate in the college. Eminent educational institutions have come forward to join hands with the judiciary in its public campaign against ragging at the initative of Himachal Chief Justice Kurian Joseph.

Himachal govts power blues

With just 6500 MW of the total power potential of over 21,000 MW being exploited so far,the state government is looking to tap the power sector as a major source of revenue. In fact,the revenue from the power sector has already gone upto Rs 1,300 crores per annum. However,a committee set-up by the High Court has come out with strong recommendations,terming some of the projects environmentally hazardous. The one-man committee headed by Avay Shukla,Additional Chief Secretary Forest,has submitted its report to the Court. It says that the hydro-power projects have been sanctioned in the fragile mountain valleys and river basins without any thought for the impact on the environment and livelihood of the locals.The Court is awaiting the governments response on major recommendations of the committee,including the scrapping of some projects.