Shimla: In an embarrassing turn for Operation Rahat in Himachal Pradesh, rescue helicopters deployed in Kinnaur to airlift stranded tourists are themselves stranded due to lack of fuel. Three days after the rains wreaked havoc in Himachal Pradesh, air sorties haven't started.
The two helicopters that were sent by the Centre, two days ago are standing idle. "We have fuel and we are ready to supply it. But they aren't taking it. They are saying they will be getting their own fuel. I do not know if that fuel belongs to the Army or the government," said Viresh Kumar, In-charge, Disaster Management Force.
Around 500 people were stranded in rain-ravaged Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday even as 77 people were evacuated from Sangla, Rekong Peo and Kaza while four more bodies were recovered from Pooh, raising the death toll to 14 in the state.
(With additional information from PTI)...
more
08:31 AM, Jun 20, 2013
Hardwar: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna on Wednesday reiterated that the administration was facing no shortage of funds or resources in carrying out relief and rescue operations in the flood and landslide ravaged areas of the state. Even as the death toll crossed 100, Bahuguna said that he was not in a situation to give the exact estimate of the people killed in the calamity. Speaking on the wide scale...
05:29 PM, Jun 19, 2013
New Delhi: Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday directed the chief ministers of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh to provide immediate relief to the flood affected areas of their states. The Congress President also spoke to Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde about the situation. In Uttarakhand, 58 people have lost their lives and close to 60,000 tourists and pilgrims are stranded at various locations due to floods and landslides. The worst hit is...
06:56 PM, Jun 18, 2013
New Delhi: North India is bracing for yet another major power crisis following the sudden heavy onset of monsoon. The country's biggest hydropower plant, the Nathpa Jhakri power project, in Himachal Pradesh was forced to shut down following torrential rains and heavy silting in the Sutlej river. The power plant generated the highest amount of electricity this season and supplies electricity to most of North India, including Delhi, Punjab and...
08:20 AM, Jun 18, 2013
At least 50 people have died in heavy rains that have lashed several parts of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Thirty people perished in the monsoon mayhem in Uttarakhand alone while many more are still missing. ...
09:10 PM, Jun 17, 2013
Uttarakhand/Himachal Pradesh: At least 50 people have died in heavy rains that have lashed several parts of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Thirty people perished in the monsoon mayhem in Uttarakhand alone while many more are still missing. It has been raining for over 48 hours and among the worst hit districts are Uttarkashi, Tehri, Haridwar and Dehradun in Uttarakhand. Telecom lines are down and the Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border...
08:24 PM, Jun 17, 2013
Shimla: A video CD portraying a senior Congress leader from Himachal Pradesh's Mandi with a woman is in circulation in the district ahead of the Mandi Lok Sabha by-poll June 23, police officials said on Friday, adding a case will be filed. "We have received a complaint on circulation of a CD. We are going to register an FIR (first information report)," said a senior police official. Sources said the...
05:10 AM, Jun 15, 2013
Shimla: The Himachal Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau is expected to submit its report On Saturday in the phone tapping case during the previous BJP government. "The probe has been completed and final report is being prepared for submitting it to the government," highly placed sources said. Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau was entrusted the probe in March and related documents which included the list of the telephone numbers retrieved by the...
01:36 AM, Jun 15, 2013
Shimla: State Congress leaders have dared former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and his MP son Anurag Thakur to declare their assets and sources of income. Himachal Pradesh Chief Parliamentary Secretaries Rakesh Kalia, Sohan Lal Thakur, Inderdutt Lakhanpal and Ajay Mahajan, all MLAs, issued a joint statement on Thursday defending HPCC president Sukhvinder Singh Thakur against whom BJP had made charges of not declaring assets. They said the HPCC president...
12:46 AM, Jun 14, 2013
Shimla: There is a need to formulate long-term strategies for the sustainable growth of the apple industry, keeping in view the effects of climate change, Horticulture Minister Vidya Stokes said said. Inaugurating a conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the National Institute of Agricultural Marketing (NIAM) in Shimla, she said that the Himachal Pradesh government is committed to strengthen apple marketing and post-harvest infrastructure in the...
02:42 AM, Jun 08, 2013
Manali: The vehicle in which a US national was allegedly gangraped in Manali has been traced, the police said on Wednesday. "The tipper has been traced... the identity of the accused would be established soon," a police official said. The victim was allegedly raped Monday night by the occupants of the tipper who offered her a lift back to Manali from Vashisth where she had gone to visit some friends....
11:34 PM, Jun 05, 2013
Manali: A 31-year-old American tourist was allegedly gangraped by three truckers in Manali late on Monday night. The medical examination of the survivor has been done and the report is awaited. The survivor, who reached Manali on Monday, had gone to old Vashisth area to meet some friends. She was allegedly raped by the persons who had given her lift in a tipper on her way back to Manali, the...
03:09 PM, Jun 04, 2013
Shimla: A 12-year-old girl, daughter of a migrant labourer from Jharkhand, was allegedly raped by a youth at Bandla near Palampur in Kangra district on Friday. The survivor was allegedly dragged by the accused Varun (24) to a semi-constructed abandoned house, where he committed the crime, police said. Varun, working as cook with a tent house, hails from Baijnath but was residing near Bandla for past one year. The accused...
09:38 PM, May 31, 2013
Shimla: Heavy showers lashed most parts of Himachal Pradesh on Monday while high-altitude tribal areas received another spell of snowfall, providing the much needed relief to people from the scorching sun. The mercury, which was running six to eight degrees above normal for the past two weeks, plummeted after rains and thunderstorm, which also extinguished forest fires in the lower and mid-hills. In the state capital Shimla, heavy rains and...
05:41 PM, May 27, 2013
Shimla: The literacy rate in Himachal Pradesh, with a population of over 68 lakh, has registered an increase of 6.3 per cent over a decade, says a Census report. The literacy rate has increased to 82.8 in 2011 from 76.5 in 2001, with male literacy rate increasing by 4.2 per cent and female by 8.5 per cent, said the final Census report for 2011 released here recently. Census Joint Director...
11:50 AM, May 26, 2013
Shimla: In a setback to the previous Prem Kumar Dhumal-led BJP government in the state, the Himachal Pradesh High Court on Friday quashed appointments of 480 teachers made in 2011 as these were not in accordance with law. Delivering the judgment, Justice Rajiv Sharma said the appointments of postgraduate teachers under the Postgraduate Teacher Class III (non-gazetted) Recruitment and Promotion Rules of 2011, which have not been published, are illegal....
04:25 AM, May 25, 2013
Shimla: Ending over five months of speculation after the recovery of a wireless transmitter close to India-China border in Himachal Pradesh, the state police on Saturday said it was used by trekkers for communication and posed no security threat. "The equipment found December 4 near Jangi vilage in Kinnaur district by forest officials of Moorang were examined by communication experts and it was revealed that the equipments doesn't pose any...
05:14 AM, May 19, 2013
Kozhikode: Kerala and Himachal Pradesh on Saturday announced they will strengthen implementation of their rural development projects by sharing information about feasible models and best practices. Ministers and senior government officials from the two Congress-ruled states met here to discuss ongoing projects and ways to enhance cooperation. Kerala's Panchayats and Social Welfare Minister MK Muneer gave details about local self governance in the state, community farming and the Kudumbashree programme...
05:04 AM, May 19, 2013
Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh will on Monday expand his team with the induction of five chief parliamentary secretaries and one parliamentary secretary, officials said In Shimla. Rohit Thakur, Nand Lal, Jagjivan Pal, Sohan Lal and Rakesh Kalia are likely to be inducted as chief parliamentary secretaries, a government official said on Sunday. The chief minister would administer the oath of office and secrecy to them at a...
04:27 AM, May 13, 2013
Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh BJP, which has been opposing FDI in retail, on Saturday said it would not allow foreign stores like Walmart into the state "Foreign chains like Walmart and Metro Cash and Carry will not be allowed to enter Himachal and the interests of small traders will be fully safeguarded," state BJP president Satpal Singh Satti said. He was reacting to Civil Supplies minister GS Bali's announcement to...
01:53 AM, May 12, 2013
