Summer is when Himachal Pradesh beckons tourists from all over the country. But this summer season, it is hot in Himachal's hills. The woods are no more" lovely, dark and deep" as Nehru, on a holiday in Manali, quoted Robert Frost. But dark, many hotels are.
The police in the picturesque district of Kangra are now ensuring their own protection first, and then venturing out to do their work, which district police chief Santosh Patial feels could be fraught with danger.
They are now part of the government team taking action against hoteliers for whom the Himachal Pradesh High Court has ordered disconnection of power and water supply connections. The court, in January, took suo motu cognisance of rampant power theft.
To protect these teams, Patial has directed that all hoteliers in the Dharamshala region deposit their licensed weapons in the police stations. He has also written to the deputy commissioner of Kangra to be in touch with the police before teams of government officials go to take action against hotels under a legal cloud.
There are apprehensions that errant hoteliers may end up behaving like Vijay Singh, the Kasauli hotelier who killed Shail Bala Sharma, an assistant town and country planning officer on May 1. She was supervising the demolition of illegal and unauthorised construction at the premises, under orders of the court, when Singh fired at her.
Appalled by the theft of electricity in a state that typically never had power cuts or electricity woes, the Himachal Pradesh High Court ordered disconnection for those consumers who had not paid up and were operating without valid connections.
On May 8, the HC bench directed that action be taken against officers, “guilty/negligent of allowing the misuse or theft of electricity through electric connections installed in various premises within the state of Himachal Pradesh.” A monitoring committee was also constituted towards this.
In fact, the court had restrained J.P. Kalta, the managing director of the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board, from withdrawing his salary from his bank account, without leave of the court.
It was only on May 25, when informed that about Rs 92 lakh of power dues had been recovered, the judges observed, “Evidently, at least now certain steps for taking action against the erring officers/officials of the board are taken.” The bench then modified its order regarding Kalta's salary, and directed him to file a fresh status report in four weeks on the board's follow-up action on power thefts.
Patial's team of police are among the government officials who are acting on the court's directive to end power theft. Power and water supply to 140 illegal buildings in Kangra district has been disconnected.