Shimla, Dec 31: Congress stormed back to power, cloudbursts struck the state with a vengeance and orchards brimmed with apples in Himachal Pradesh in the year gone by which also saw taxes touching a new high and BJP's image hitting the nadir with defeat, dissidence and disks. Tasting its first defeat after the Gujarat victory, BJP lost the Himalayan state to the Congress in March paving the way for party heavyweight Virbhadra Singh to assume charge as Chief Minister for the fifth time overcoming hiccups raised by state party chief Vidya Stokes and others.
Asserting the people had given mandate to the Congress party to root out corruption, the government initiated a number of vigilance and enforcement inquiries into the actions of the previous governments.
The offices of the subordinate services selection board were raided a day after the new government assumed office, the board chairman S M Katwal was suspended and several cases were registered against him pertaining to alleged irregularities in selections.
The data retrieved from the hard disks of the computers in the Chief Minister's office by Forensic Science Laboratory, Hyderabad, came handy to the government in support of its charge that the selection process was virtually hijacked by Chief Minister P K Dhumal's office during the BJP regime.
The ruling Congress also faced some embarrassing moments when audio-tapes purportedly containing conversation of Katwal with some Congress leaders including the Chief Minister and some of his cabinet colleagues rocked the state.
Himachal University vice chancellor S D Sharma resigned nine months after his indictment by two inquiries instituted by state Governor V K Kokje.
The government reviewed the 17 Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) signed by the previous regime during 2000-2001 as promised in the election manifesto and set up a high power committee and a cabinet sub-committee for the purpose. The two committees recommended cancellation and re-advertisement of some of the MoUs.
The state government also decided to restart the state lotteries after five years, revived the offices of divisional commissioners abolished by the BJP government, amended some of the clauses of the revenue act and reverted the user charges in the government hospitals to March 1998 level.
The bus fares were hiked by 25 per cent, water charges were revised upwards in Shimla Municipal Corporation area and fresh taxes to the tune of Rs 50 crore were imposed in the budget but there was no hike in power tariff during the year.
The year also saw as many as 26,000 persons getting the benefit of old age, widow and handicapped pension, raising of daily wages to Rs 65, the first unit of 250 mw of prestigious Nathpa-Jhakri power project commencing commercial production and the state registering a record apple production of 2.50 crore boxes.
Cloudbursts and flash floods in Kullu and Shimla districts claimed about 100 lives while 104 persons were killed in fatal road accidents during the year.
More than 35 persons died in cloudburst at Pulia Nallah in Kullu district while 34 persons lost their lives in a recent bus accident near Bharmaur in Chamba district.
The bitter election campaign during the assembly elections and charges of corruption levelled against the former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal by Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amrinder Singh, Moti Lal Vora and Anand Sharma prompted Dhumal to file defamation case against them. The court later framed charges in the case.
Chief Minister Singh also filed a defamation case against state BJP spokesman Baldev Sharma for levelling false allegations against him.
The defeat of the BJP in the assembly polls further aggravated the infighting in the party leading to exit of senior party leader Shanta Kumar from the Union Cabinet.