House adopts resolution by voice vote
SHIMLA, Dec 9 — The Himachal assembly today adopted a resolution to thank the Centre, particularly the Prime Minister and the Union Energy Minister, for taking up the 2051 MW Parbati hydel project. The Congress opposed the resolution which was passed by voice vote after Mr P.K. Dhumal's reply to the debate. He said it was the best agreement till date which entitled the state to 30 per cent power without any investment.

Going soft on ‘benami’ serais
DHARAMSALA, Dec 9 — While the government has cracked the whip on benami land transactions and unauthorised constructions in some parts of the state, no action has so far been taken against serais, near the Chamunda shrine, which have been declared "benami".

An ill-equipped fire station
SOLAN: The local Fire Station, besides being ill-equipped and understaffed, is perhaps one of its kind which does not have even the basic facility of a hydrant installed on its premises or anywhere else in its service area.

Judicial probe sought into lathi charge
SHIMLA, Dec 9 — The Youth Congress and the National Students Union of India have demanded a judicial enquiry into yesterday’s lathi charge on their peaceful demonstration outside the Vidhan Sabha here.

House adopts resolution by voice vote
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 9 — The Himachal assembly today adopted a resolution to thank the Centre, particularly the Prime Minister and the Union Energy Minister, for taking up the 2051 MW Parbati hydel project.

The Congress opposed the resolution which was passed by voice vote after Mr P.K. Dhumal's reply to the debate. He said it was the best agreement till date which entitled the state to 30 per cent power without any investment. He expressed surprise that Mr Virbhadra Singh, leader of the Opposition, who failed to do anything in the matter during his four-year rule, was criticising the agreement and claiming that the accord for the execution of the Nathpa-Jhakri project signed by his government was better.

He said the cost of the Nathpa-Jhakri project which was Rs 1620 crore in 1985 escalated to Rs 4300 crore in 1993 while work was under way. Now, as per revised estimates, it had again increased to Rs 7217 crore and was likely to go up further by the time the project was completed in 2001.

Alleging the fear of the Congress members that without the state entering a partnership with the NHPC, it would not have any control over the execution of the project, he said there was a provision in the agreement for setting up a joint committee to supervise and monitor the project progress.

Earlier, opposing the resolution Mr Virbhadra Singh said the government had erred by not taking up the project as a joint venture by the Centre and the state as in the case of the Nathpa-Jhakri project. He said his government had made a new beginning by persuading the Centre to enter joint ventures with states. This principle should have been pursued further. He said assigning the project to the National Hydel Power Corporation (NHPC) might not be wise as the corporation had a dismal record be it the Dulhasti project or similar schemes in Manipur.

He said though the agreement was an improvement on the one signed by the Shanta Kumar government, but it fell short of the expectations of the people. The state could not afford to fritter away its resources in such a manner. His party could not support such a resolution.

Mr Nadda, who moved the resolution, termed the agreement as historic as it would not only bring Rs 400 crore as royalty annually, but also make power available to the state during the winter season.

Going soft on ‘benami’ serais
From Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service

DHARAMSALA, Dec 9 — While the government has cracked the whip on benami land transactions and unauthorised constructions in some parts of the state, no action has so far been taken against serais, near the Chamunda shrine, which have been declared "benami".

Two of the numerous serais, which have mushroomed around Chamunda near here, were declared benami by the Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, last year. It is reliably learnt that political pressure is now being mounted to regularise these structures. Cases of five other serais in the area are also under the consideration of the government. The DC had ordered the takeover of the two serais, known as the Muktsar serai and the Faridkot serai.

The proceedings for the takeover initiated by the government had rung alarm bells for the other serais, which had either come up or were still under construction. The locals feel that in case the benami serais are regularised, the others too will go ahead with their constructions on benami land.

It was on the basis of numerous complaints, received by the district administration that the government probed the matter of benami serais in the Chamunda area, which were becoming a problem for the locals. The then Deputy Commissioner, Mr Sushil Negi, had said that though these serais were set up as charitable trusts, there were allegations that they had been charging money from the pilgrims. At that time, he had stated that after the one month limitation period is over the properties would be invested in the name of the Himachal Pradesh Government.

There are seven serais being run around Chamunda, while two are under construction and one of them is non functional. Although the serais are given religious names, they are better known by the names of towns in Punjab, from where these are financed and managed. The total investment made in these serais is worth crores of rupees.

The district administration had taken action against the serais as there were complaints against them. However, the trusts running these serais refute allegations that they charge money from the pilgrims and evade the payment of tax. They claim that it is only the donation that the pilgrims give of their own free will that is accepted. They allege that the serai being run by the Chamunda Temple Trust, is in a bad shape and pilgrims on their own came to their serais. "It is we people who stepped in to provide facilities to the pilgrims when no other place was available, and if these too are taken over by the government, their condition will deteriorate," they contest.

The government declared the two serais benami, last year, as the outsiders were not permitted to buy land in Himachal, and a few Himachalis, having agricultural land here, had been included in the trust to enable the setting up of the serai. Since the law prohibits such purchases, the two serais were declared benami.

The locals who had opposed the haphazard construction of these serais, allege that with the change of the government and the close links of some of the trustees with top BJP leaders, the campaign launched by the district administration might be abandoned. In case the administration adopts a lenient attitude towards these serais, people in other pilgrim centres of Kangra district will not hesitate to raise such structures in violation of rules and regulations.

An ill-equipped fire station
From Romesh Dutt

SOLAN: The local Fire Station, besides being ill-equipped and understaffed, is perhaps one of its kind which does not have even the basic facility of a hydrant installed on its premises or anywhere else in its service area.

This town has large pine forests in its periphery and within the municipal limits. Even as the beneficial aspects of the forest-aided environment cannot be disputed, the fact of huge quantities of highly inflammable pine needles lying on forest floors can also not be ignored.

This was amply highlighted when famed India-born British author Salman Rushdie's ancestral villa here was threatened with a wild pine forest floor fire in June, 1995. The heritage building was saved only after the district administration pitched in and provided the needed manpower supplement to the local fire fighters by commandeering voluntary help from the people of the area. It is a moot point whether such quality help will be available to a commoner faced with similar threats.

The Fire Station continues to be as ill-equipped, ill-housed and grossly understaffed today as it was in 1995. It has three fire engines, one foam tender and a jeep-mounted portable pump.

These machines, aged between 10 and 20, are parked in the open for want of proper garages and look weather-beaten. The hinges of some of the doors of lockers and cupboards built into the sides of the water tanks for housing fire-fighting equipment have become sticky and often get jammed. While trying to open one of the lockers in an emergency, a fireman sometime back fell flat on the ground after the handle gave way instead of the door.

All these fire engines were built on seven-tonne truck chassis on the pattern of the ones obtainable in the plains. This severely limited their usefulness in narrow lanes of this town. Such areas are normally serviced through fire hydrants that can be tapped through portable pumps and flexible hoses in times of need. Unfortunately, there is currently not a single fire hydrant in the whole of the town. The few that existed till 1972 have long been buried under numerous road resurfacing layers.

The IPH Department, which was entrusted with the job of relaying the town's water distribution lines three years ago, did provide hydrant points but without consulting the Fire Services Department. These were said to have been laid at places and angles considered impractical, and hence useless, by fire experts.

No map showing the location of fire hydrants was provided to the Fire Station. There are allegations that the IPH-laid hydrants have "mysteriously" vanished under the road surfacing layers, necessitated by frequent digging by the telephones and other departments.

Even the Fire Station itself is without a fire hydrant. The fire engines are sent to natural water sources situated at distances of up to 8 km for refilling.

The guidelines of the Fire Advisory Council of the Union Government are observed more in breach than in compliance. Against a stipulated strength of 20 firemen, eight drivers and four leading firemen, the station has 12 firemen, two drivers and three leading firemen. The under-staffing is sought to be met temporarily deputing Home Guards. None of whom ever had any formal training in fire-fighting operations. Being paid on a daily basis, these jawans cannot be held accountable for any service lapse. This ultimately has affected the overall efficiency of the Fire Station.

Fire personnel trace most of the ills to the fact of their department being headed by the Director-General of Home Guards "on an additional charge basis".

It is alleged that till date, none of the Directors-General has had anything to do with fire fighting except by way of functioning as figure-heads of their department.

Successive Himachal Governments have shown apathy towards the need for keeping Fire Services in a proper form. A Fire Act was enacted sometime in 1978 but has not been enforced.

Judicial probe sought into lathi charge
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 9 — The Youth Congress and the National Students Union of India (NSUI) have demanded a judicial enquiry into yesterday’s lathi charge on their peaceful demonstration outside the Vidhan Sabha here.

Mr Sukhwinder Singh, president, state Youth Congress and Mr Atul Sharma, president, NSUI, held a press conference here today in the presence of the PCC chief, Mr Sat Mahajan, to criticise the BJP-HVC combine government for having allegedly let loose a reign of terror on party activists.

Mr Sukhwinder Singh alleged that the activists of the two parties arrested yesterday were tortured by the police.

The two youth leaders said that they would meet the Governor and submit a memorandum demanding judicial enquiry into the atrocities on them.

Mr Mahajan said that the Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, should have spared some time for the Youth Congress and NSUI demonstrators and listened to their demands, which was required in a democratic set-up.