P R A D E S H
Friday, August 7, 1998
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H I M A C H A L P R A D E S H |
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Friday, August 7, 1998 |
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Dhumal insists on cess |
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 Drive against corruption SHIMLA, Aug 6 — In a special drive against corruption the Enforcement Department detected 13 cases of illicit felling, fraud embezzlement and other irregularities involving property worth over Rs 86 lakh over the past fortnight. |
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Low prices upset apple growers |
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Dhumal insists on cess SHIMLA, Aug 6 — The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has decided to refer back the proposal to take out hydroelectric projects from the purview of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977, to the standing committee of Parliament. The decision was taken after the Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal along with Mr Shanta Kumar, Mr Suresh Chandel and Mr Maheswar Singh, met Mr Suresh Prabhu, Minister for Environment and Forest at Delhi yesterday and pleaded the state's case for dropping the proposal. The Chief Minister impressed upon Mr Prabhu that the move to exclude hydroeletric projects from the list of specific industries which utilised water covered under the Act would have an adverse effect on the resources of the fund-starved states and it would put a brake on the efforts of the state of combat the overall ecological deterioration. The decision to bring hydel power generation under the Act was taken in April, 1993, after carefully considering their impact on environment. The main objective was to help augment the resources of the state pollution control boards so that they could take effective measures to mitigate the adverse effects of these projects. In fact, the State Pollution Control Board was in the process of imposing the cess when the Centre informed that hydel projects were being excluded from the purview of the Act on the recommendation of the related standing committee of Parliament. Mr Dhumal further pointed out that the standing committee never consulted the state government or the State Pollution Control Board on the issue before making a recommendation for deleting hydel projects from the list of specified industries on which water cess was leviable under the Act. He pointed out that on the one hand the Centre proposed to hike the rate of cess from four paise to 15 paise per kilolitre and on the other hand it was excluding hydel generation from its purview altogether. He said the government should increase the rate of cess only marginally but keep the hydel projects under the purview of the Act. The team officials accompanying the Chief Minister made a computerised presentation supported by video clippings to show the adverse impact of hydel projects on the environment. Initially the Centre
proposed to introduce the relevant Bill to amend the Act
during monsoon. However, it agreed to hold it in abeyance
on the plea of the Himachal Government which wanted to
discuss the entire gamut of issue concerning the
environmentally fragile hill states before arriving at a
final conclusion. Subsequently Mr Prabhu convened a
meeting of Chief Ministers of hydro states to discuss the
matter. However, the meeting could not mature but
decision to refer back the Bill was taken after the
meeting with the state Chief Minister. |
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Baijnath seat a flashpoint in ties SHIMLA, Aug 6 —The honeymoon between the ruling BJP-HVC combine in Himachal Pradesh is on the rocks with the latter hurling a three-week ultimatum on Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal, for the acceptance of its demands. Differences have occurred in the ruling combine within four months of Mr Dhumal forming his government in the state with the support of the HVC led by former Communications Minister, Sukh Ram. The decision of the state executive of the HVC to give three weeks' time to Mr Dhumal to accept the party’s demands indicates the growing annoyance of Mr Sukh Ram with Mr Dhumal over the delay in seeking a CBI probe into the allegations of misuse of office by former Chief Minister, Virbhadra Singh. A CBI inquiry against Mr Virbhadra Singh was one of the main issues on which Mr Sukh Ram had extended support to the BJP in forming the government. The HVC has submitted a charge sheet against Mr Virbhadra Singh to the Chief Minister. The general impression is that both parties have been drifting apart ever since the BJP bagged three of the four Assembly seats for which elections were held recently. Certain BJP circles believe that with the party now having its own strength of 33 in the 68-member assembly, the party’s dependence on the scam-tainted Sukh Ram no more mattered. The fresh trouble within the alliance is over the question of contesting the by-election for the Baijnath seat which has fallen vacant due to the death of Sant Ram of the Congress. The HVC has staked its claim, whereas the BJP leadership has already made up its mind to give the ticket to its own candidate, Mr Dulo Ram. The latter narrowly lost to the deceased Congress leader. Political circles feel Mr Sukh Ram is keen that the BJP should allow the HVC to contest the Baijnath seat because he wants to retain the balance of power in his hands.The HVC activists believe that the status of the king-maker will slip out of the hands of their leader once the BJP further improves its strength by winning the Baijnath seat. There was some bitterness between the alliance partners when the HVC candidate refused to retire in favour of the BJP nominee in the tribal constituency of Kinnaur. Now Mr Sukh Ram has appointed an expelled leader of the BJP, Mr Bhagat Ram Chauhan, as president of the HVC for Shimla district. Accompanied by Mr Mansa Ram, Mr Prakash Chand (both ministers in the Dhumal cabinet) and other HVC leaders, Mr Sukh Ram will visit the apple areas of the district this week apparently to demonstrate his strength to Mr Dhumal. Both Mr Mansa Ram and Mr Prakash Chand had won on the HVC ticket, but were later made to join the BJP by Mr Sukh Ram as part of political strategy. However, Mr Sukh Ram has openly said on many occasions that the heart and soul of both these ministers is with the HVC. The strains in the
alliance came out in the open recently when Mr Sukh Ram
remarked that at times it appeared as if the HVC was not
being treated as a coalition partner by Mr Dhumal. The HVC leadership is also annoyed over the denial of representation in various boards and corporations. The leadership says that Mr Dhumal did not accept the recommendation of Mr Sukh Ram to appoint Mr Kewal Ram Chauhan, general secretary of the HVC, as Director of the influential H.P. State Cooperative Bank. Contrary to his recommendation, Mr Kanhaiya Lal, who had contested the assembly election as a BJP candidate against Mr Sukh Ram from Mandi, was nominated as director of the bank. A communist leader, Mr K.K. Kaushal, who joined the BJP just before the assembly elections, was made its Chairman — the post that Mr Chauhan had been eyeing. Mr Dhumal has also not yet implemented the demand of his HVC partners to appoint a coordination committee of both parties for smooth functioning of the alliance. On the other hand, there has been much heart-burning in the rank and file of the BJP following assignment of plum portfolios by Mr Dhumal to ministers belonging to the HVC. The BJP activists point out that legislators of the HVC have been made ministers and now Mr Sukh Ram is lobbying for a cabinet berth for Mr Markanda. The latter recently won the election from the tribal segment of Lahaul-Spiti. Many BJP MLAs are getting restive over the delay in expansion of the ministry in which they were expecting a berth. They have expressed resentment over the Rajya Sabha seat having been given to Mr Anil Sharma, son of Mr Sukh Ram. The attempt of the HVC to
overthrow the Chairman of the Zila Parishad of Mandi
failed recently as the BJP members of the parishad kept
away from the meeting at which a no-confidence motion
against the chairman belonging to the Congress party was
to be moved. |
Drive against corruption SHIMLA, Aug 6 — In a special drive against corruption the Enforcement Department detected 13 cases of illicit felling, fraud embezzlement and other irregularities involving property worth over Rs 86 lakh over the past fortnight. As many as 30 persons, including a block development officer, a junior engineer, a panchayat pradhan and six forest officials, have been booked in these cases. The six cases of illicit felling pertained to Keet and Khmri villages in Theog, Dogri Dhar in Nankheri and Sabathu. In all illicit felling of 150 trees had been detected and 20 persons had been booked. In one case an industrialist of Barotiwala swindled Rs 27 lakh in connivance with officials of the Himachal Pradesh State Finance Corporation. He was sanctioned a loan for purchasing fabrics manufacturing machinery. The amount was to be released to the supplier of the machinery but the officials of the corporation handed over the cheques to him. He opened a fake account in the name of Amar Singh Plastics, Ludhiana, and deposited two of the three cheques in it to swindle Rs 18 lakh. Since the machinery was never purchased the corporation suffered a loss of Rs 27 lakh. While a pradhan of Kashi Path in Rampur was booked for embezzlement of Rs 1.20 lakh given by the government for development works, a junior engineer of the PWD in Theog, was found to have made wrong entries in the measurement book to embezzle Rs 2 lakh. A block development official of Rampur booked for giving grants under the Gandhi Kuteer Yozna to ineligible persons who were neither houseless nor poor. The Enforcement Department also detected two cases in which two students procured fake matriculation and plus two certificates of the State Board of School Education. Mr V.K. Malik, Additional
Director-General of Police, said the cases were detected
on the basis of information given by people and other
sources. The department was trying to encourage the
people to supply such information by giving them handsome
rewards. |
Low prices upset apple growers KULU: Trees in most orchards are laden with apples in the valley but growers are a worried lot. Their fears that a bumper crop may not fetch good returns appear to be coming true. The prices in the wholesale market at Delhi, where about 80 p.c. of the state's apple produce is disposed of, have crashed at the very outset of the harvesting season. Normally when the crop is good, prices come down towards the middle of the season as the market is flooded with fruit. But low prices at the beginning of the season are rather unusual. Superior varieties of apple, which fetched between Rs 600 and Rs 800 per box last year, are being sold at Rs 300 to Rs 500. The average price for inferior grade of fruit has crashed to around Rs 200, almost half the price at this time of the season last year. Despite premature droppings of fruit due to the continuous dry spell in many pockets of the apple belt, the state is having the biggest crop since 1989, when over four crore boxes of apples were produced. Initial estimates of the Horticulture Department indicated an output of 2.57 crore boxes. However, the weather conditions, which remained extremely favourable all through, worsened last month. There has been very little
rain in the middle and upper hills despite the onset of
monsoon in the region. Drought-like conditions prevail in
some pockets and it has taken a heavy toll in the form of
premature droppings. Even then the production is likely
to be around 2.25 crore boxes, more than double last
year's outturn of 1.10 crore boxes. The Kulu valley, which accounts for about one-third of the state's produce is likely to turn out about 75 lakh boxes as against last year's production of 35 lakh boxes. The crop is heavy in upper valley, particularly the Manali area, but not so in the lower area where hailstorms in March and April affected fruit. In other areas the apple has not grown to its full size for want of adequate rain. Farm scientists had advised growers to delay harvesting by a fortnight but it has largely gone unheeded. Heavy arrivals of under-size fruit has been mainly responsible for the low prices in the Delhi market. Whenever there is bumper crop, the arhtiyas (commission agents) take advantage of it, says Mr Narinder Bragta, the Horticulture Minister, who is also a leading apple grower of upper Shimla. However, this year reports in the media regarding crop prospects seemed to have worsened matters. He said unlike previous years the government took all steps to handle the bumper crop in advance so that growers did not face any problem in marketing but it had no control on market trends. The support price of Rs 3.75 per kg was announced more than a month ago and as many as 172 procurement centres were opened by July 20 throughout the state. In order to keep roads in a traffic -worthy condition during the harvesting season, which coincides with monsoon, repair and restoration work was undertaken on a war-footing during May and June, he added. The Horticulture Department has now decided to open 30 more procurement centres which would become functional by August 15. Besides, the target for procurement of the culled fruit had been raised to 40,000 tonnes, which was more than double last year's procurement of 17,000 tonnes. The production of apple cartons had been stepped up at the Pragatinagar factory of Agro-Packaging India Limited. It was likely to supply about 64 lakh cartons, while another 51 lakh would come from outside the state. The department is providing transport subsidy for getting 1.23 crore wooden packing cases from Punjab and Haryana. In all 51 centres have been set up for distribution of cartons. While growers are
concerned about unfavourable market trends, they are
pleased to note that the problem of premature defoliation
of apple trees, which affected most orchards during the
past three years, has been contained. Only stray cases of
premature leaf-fall have been reported so far this
season. The extent to which the disease had been
contained will be known only by the end of the season. |
Students hold rally on HPU campus SHIMLA, Aug 6 — A big rally was held today on the HP University campus by the Students Federation of India. About 3000 students from all over the state participated in it, demanding, among other things, the holding of elections in the university and all affiliated colleges. Some of the other demands are free travel for students for up to 25 km, starting regional centres of HPU in Mandi, Una and Dharamsala and restoration of university autonomy. The rally, which started at 1.15 p.m., was also attended by other students, teachers and employees. About 10 speakers addressed the rally. Prominent among them were the first elected president of HPU, Mr Rakesh Shinga, president of Punjab, SFI state unit, Mr Rishi and HPU SFI leaders Khushal Bhardwaj and Tekender Panwar. Most of the student leaders challenged other student organisations to face them in any type of student elections. They claimed the total number of votes polled by the SFI in the last elections, three years ago, was more than the combined votes polled by the NSUI and the ABVP. They criticised the privatisation and self-financing of education, where only rich students could come up. A demand of 30 per cent budget on education, and starting of LLB and other professional courses in all districts was also raised. They took an oath against
nuclear tests and disarmament. |
Minister visits hospital KANGRA, Aug 6 — The Health Minister, Mr J.P. Nadda, today made a surprise visit to Kangra sub-divisional hospital and interacted with doctors and patients. Mr Nadda entered the kitchen and had lunch with patients. He visited some wards and asked the patients the problems they were facing. The 50-bed hospital had been suffering for want of adequate staff as some posts of doctors and paramedical staff were lying vacant. The hospital treats 500
patients daily but facilities to face such rush were
lacking. The minister was satisfied with the working of
the hospital. SFI holds rally SHIMLA, Aug 6 — Members of the Students Federation of India (SFI) here today held a rally in support of its demand for holding of elections to the central students associations in the Himachal Pradesh University and affiliated colleges. The federation threatened to set up its own election commission and conduct poll to elect representatives of students if the university failed to do so. The other demands of the association include opening of regional study centres of the university at Dharamsala, Una and Mandi, free travel facility of students up to 25 km, end to privatisation and self-financing schemes in education and allocation of 30 per cent budget for education. The federation charged the
BJP government with making political appointments to
important posts in the university. It gave a call for
"education bandh" on August 12 in the state. |
Panic grips Chamba town CHAMBA, Aug 6 — There was panic in the town as a 60-year-old woman suffered pellet injuries, while she was cutting grass, in Banu village, across Sahu khud. As news of Jamna Devi getting hurt spread in the morning, people become apprehensive of attack by militants. According to the DSP, Chamba, Mr Rajinder Bhatia, a case has been registered under Section 307 of the IPC. Jamna Devi has been admitted to hospital and she is learnt to have told the police that she did not know how she got injured. Mr Bhatia said the woman could have been hit by a stone, or pellets shot by some hunters. He said three reserves of the police combed the entire area for three hours but nothing was found.
Cycle expedition crosses
Khardungla SHIMLA, Aug 6 — A five-member cycle expedition of local students today crossed the Khardungla (5,602 metres) in the Ladakh area of Jammu and Kashmir. The expedition members will go up to the base camp of the Siachen glacier. They have so far covered a distance of about 1000 km after starting from here on July 17. The members of the
expedition are Vikrant Singh Rana, Chander Shekhar,
Devkant Parkash, Rajesh Jhingta and Arun Sharma. |
ASI suspended for beating
couple HAMIRPUR, Aug 6 — Mr Jagjit Kumar Gupta, SP, has suspended Mr Partap Chand, ASI, Sujanpurtira for allegedly beating up a Dalit couple yesterday. He has also been ordered to go to the police lines. A group of about 50 persons blocked the road at Sujanpurtira for about three hours in protest against the police action. The DSP, Mr Mohinder Singh, visited the site and held talks with strikers. Mr Gupta said here today
that an inquiry was being conducted into the incident. |
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