Dhumal for expanding highway network
SHIMLA, Sept 20 — The Himachal Pradesh Government has urged the Centre to expand the national highway network in the state and submitted a proposal for the upgradation of three important state roads into national highways.
Dhawan to reach
Shimla on Sept 24
SHIMLA, Sept 20 — The AICC general secretary, Mr R.K. Dhawan, will reach here on Thursday to calm down the warring groups of the Pradesh Congress chief, Mr Sat Mahajan and the party secretary, Mr G.S. Bali, who have accused each other of leaking information about party matters to Mr P.K. Dhumal, who heads the BJP-HVC government in the state.

Dhumal for expanding highway network
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Sept 20 — The Himachal Pradesh Government has urged the Centre to expand the national highway network in the state and submitted a proposal for the upgradation of three important state roads into national highways.

Stating this while inaugurating a week-long Gramshree Meal organised by Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology (CAPART) and Indcare, a voluntary organisation, here today, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, said roads were the lifeline of the hill state where the rail network was negligible. He said at present there were only three national highways in the state which covered only a small area.

The government had taken up the case of the Jalandhar-Amb-Hamirpur-Sarkaghat-Mandi state road for upgradation into a national highway. Besides, it had also urged the Union Surface Transport Ministry to connect the GT Road from Ambala to National Highway 22 at Kumarhatti via Kala Amb and Nahan and also link the Chandigarh-Manali National Highway with the Hindustan-Tibet Road by upgrading the Swarghat-Pinjore road into a national highway.

Mr Dhumal said he was personally pursuing the matter with the Union Minister of Surface Transport. The state would insist on the upgradation of these roads into national highways during the Ninth Plan and he was hopeful of some positive developments in this direction during the scheduled visit of Planning Commission members to Shimla on September 25.

Underlining the role of voluntary organisation in supplementing the efforts of the government on the development front, he said much could be achieved if the funds placed at their disposal were properly utilised. While genuine voluntary bodies helped in ensuring people's participation, those floated by vested interests became an extension of the government set-up.

He said CAPART, which promoted rural technology, could play a significant role in encouraging self-employment schemes in villages. Besides providing funds and upgrading the skills of village artisans, the council should also strengthen the marketing network.

Mr Mohinder Singh, Minister for Rural Development, urged CAPART to help the state in the implementation of the rural sanitation programme. To begin with, it should adopt one or two districts for the purpose.

He said the government would try to involve voluntary organisations in the implementation of the wasteland development programme to ensure people's participation, without which no scheme could be successful.

Mr Ashok Thakur, Deputy Director General of CAPART, said the council had appointed nearly 500 supervisors to monitor the activities of voluntary organisations and ensure that funds released by it were not misutilised.

Mr Thakur said the council, which functioned under the Rural Development Minister, had so far sanctioned Rs 447 crore to fund 16,697 projects through 6,370 voluntary organisations.

He said CAPART would implement a scheme through Sulabh International to provide latrines in important tourist areas, particularly along the main highways, in the state.

He said the purpose of the mela was to provide marketing outlets for the products of rural artisans and create mass awareness about development issues concerning the rural areas.

Dhawan to reach Shimla on Sept 24
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Sept 20 — The AICC general secretary, Mr R.K. Dhawan, will reach here on Thursday to calm down the warring groups of the Pradesh Congress chief, Mr Sat Mahajan and the party secretary, Mr G.S. Bali, who have accused each other of leaking information about party matters to Mr P.K. Dhumal, who heads the BJP-HVC government in the state.

The fighting between the two groups is heading for an ugly turn with supporters of Mr Mahajan asking the disciplinary committee to take action against Mr Bali. A close lieutenant of Mr Mahajan told TNS on the telephone this morning from Baijnath, where the PCC chief is on tour, that the matter pertaining to the allegations levelled by Mr Bali against Mr.Mahajan at a news conference here yesterday would be referred to the disciplinary committee headed by Mrs Vidya Stokes.

On the other hand,the other group has alleged that Mr Mahajan is trying to settle personal scores with Mr Bali by accusing him of having leaked a letter of the Congress to Chief Minister Dhumal.

Supporters of Mr Bali allege that Mr Mahajan had a series of midnight meetings with Mr Dhumal in the recent past and he might have himself leaked the contents of the letter to the Chief Minister.They allege that Mr Mahajan has the habit of creating controversies whenever he holds some office. Mr Dhawan is scheduled to address the first meeting of the newly constituted PCC here on September 24.

The previous stint of Mr Mahajan as PCC chief was also full of controversies. Supporters of Mr Virbhadra Singh, who was the Chief Minister at that time,had refused to recognise him as the PCC chief and had time and again demanded his removal.

This time also the Virbhadra Singh camp does not appear to be satisfied over the manner in which the PCC has been reconstituted.There were reports that Mr Virbhadra Singh was not taken into confidence either by the party high command or Mr Mahajan before the nomination of the PCC. However, Virbhadra Singh loyalists have been given greater representation in the PCC because of the compulsion that most of the sitting legislators were his men.

A sitting MLA and supporter of Mr Mahajan said that the two leaders should try to understand the gameplan of Mr Dhumal who was making the Virbhadra Singh camp and Mr Mahajan fight so as to weaken the Congress.
It is being said that in an attempt to prepare the ground for the removal of Mr Virbhadra Singh from the leadership of the CLP, Mr Mahajan had allegedly held a meeting with Mr Dhumal to ask him to ensure that the CBI registered cases against Mr Virbhadra Singh on the basis of the charges levelled by Mr Sukh Ram, who is himself being tried for alleged corruption.

It is also being alleged that Mr Mahajan is trying to weaken Mr Virbhadra Singh by weaning some of his supporters.

Mulayam blames Hindutva forces for Partition
From Our Correspondent

KANGRA, Sept 20 — Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav today blamed forces supporting Hindutva for the Partition of the country and creation of Pakistan and Mr Jinnah was in no way responsible for dividing the country.

Mr Yadav was addressing a press conference at Dard this morning during his two-day tour to the district. He accused the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) of being an informers of British rulers in the country before independence. Mr Yadav described the BJP as a united militant group which demolished the Babri masjid and Home Minister L.K. Advani was an accused in the case.

When asked why he asked for Rs 2000 crore financial help to Pakistan, Mr Yadav said this was to strengthen friendship between the two countries. He said the Atal Behari Vajpayee and the Nawaz Sharif governments were taking suicidal steps by indulging in nuclear arms race which led to economic crisis and price rise in both countries.

He blamed the BJP for trying to break the nation under its hidden agenda. He said Mr Nelson Mandela did not tender an apology for his recent remarks on Kashmir but the BJP conveyed to people that Mr Mandela apologised which he actually did not. Mr Yadav criticised Bihar Governor's role, who he alleged was dancing to the tunes of the central Government and sack the Rabri Devi Government. He said they would agitate peacefully and would move the apex court against the misuse of Article 356 if Bihar Government was dismissed. Mrs Rabri Devi was enjoying majority support but the BJP was conspiring to sack her duly elected government.

He said there was no law and order situation or constitutional break-down in Bihar where law and order was worse affected in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi and the BJP never thinks of imposing President's rule in those states. He said crime was at the peak in UP where 25 ministers had allegedly criminal records and corruption was rampant. Still the central Government was hesitant to use Article 356 there.

He warned the BJP-led central Government against sacking the Rabri Devi government. Regarding Uttaranchal, he said Udham Singh Nagar district should be part of UP as Hardwar has been kept in it.

Regarding the signing of the CTBT, Mr Yadav said India should not sign it till five nuclear powers of the world surrendered their nuclear weapons.

He said the leaders who tried to expose the BJP were dubbed as anti-national. He said, his United Front Government had developed better relations with China and Pakistan. He said Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee was treating India as his fiefdom. He did not even feel it necessary to take Parliament into confidence on international issues.

Ms Phoolan Devi, MP also joined the press conference said if the BJP failed to understand common man's language we can resort to other means too. She said she was in favour of 33 per cent reservation for women on caste basis.

Later Mr Yadav addressed a public meeting at Nagrota Bagwan. Phoolan Devi, Choudhary Hardayal, state SP, chief also spoke. Dharam Chand Permi was announced as party's candidate for Baijnath byelections. Mr Yadav later returned to Delhi.

1990 industrial policy to be revived
From Our Correspondent

MANDI, Sept 20 — Himachal Pradesh Industry Minister Kishori Lal Vaidya said here today that the industrial policy formulated by the BJP government in 1990 would be revived and implemented.

He said emphasis was being laid on promoting small-scale and cottage industries in rural areas to provide employment to villagers.

Three big cement plants at Alsindhi, Sudernagar and Chamba would be set up. All formalities would be completed by March next year and work by the private parties would start in June.

The minister admitted large-scale revenue leakage in the allotment of mines. He cited the "formidable leakage" of revenue in Giri Bata rivers and rivulets where mines had been given for Rs 20 lakh. "When I ordered auction, if fetched Rs 2.70 crore". Such favours had cost the exchequer crores of rupees, he remarked. He had ordered drastic measures to check illegal mining.

Mr Kishori Lal, who was addressing a news conference at the local Circuit House, said the government had enhanced the size of this year's plan to Rs 1,425 crore from last year's Rs 1,008 crore.

Concerted efforts were being made to achieve self-sufficiency and make the state economy "viable". An ambitious plan had been drawn up to harness 4000 MW of hydel power within five years.

Projects up to an installed capacity of 25 MW would be taken up by the HPSEB. Big projects would be taken up as joint ventures with the private and corporate sectors.

Replying to a question the minister said the Rs 30 crore fruit processing plant at Maigal, the foundation stone of which was laid by former Chief Minister Shanta Kumar in December, 1993, had been "throttled" by the Congress government. The industrialist who suffered a loss in the venture was no more interested in the project. He said any other party interested in setting up a fruit processing unit in Mandi would be welcomed.

Shanta sees hope in writers
From Our Correspondent

KANGRA, Sept 20 — Mr Shanta Kumar, MP, today gave a call to literary persons to launch a struggle to bring out the Indian masses out of the clutches of mental slavery which was leading them to cultural degradation.

Mr Shanta Kumar was speaking at the inaugural function of the two-day conference of the Akhil Bharatiya Sahitya Parishad held at Dharamshala in the Board of School Education complex last night.

He asked the writers, poets and pressmen to muster strength to speak the truth. He said politicians have turned ‘impotent’ as they hanker after the vote bank and common people were chasing the note bank that has brought the nation to the present state of degradation.

He beseeched literary persons to lead the society even if that means going against the current.

Dr C.L. Gupta, Chairman, Board of School Education, stressed on bringing Hindi language at least on a par with English in the country.

Dr Pretish Guleri and Mr Anil Soni, Editor Divya Himachal, asked the state government to make Hindi a state language in letter and spirit.

A ‘Kavi goshthi’ was held yesterday. A seminar on different aspects of literature was held today.

At least 200 delegates from all over the state participated in the two-day conference which was the first of its kind in the state.

SPOs deployed in Chamba
From Our Correspondent

CHAMBA, Sept 20 — The Himachal Pradesh Government has set about deploying militia like special police officers (SPOs) in the sensitive belt of Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh adjoining Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir with a view to combating militancy.

Giving this information here today, the District Magistrate of Chamba, Mr Tarun Kapoor, said 70 special police officers had been imparted training as soldiers to reinforce the regular security forces in the defence of border regions of Himachal Pradesh.

The District Magistrate stated that the SPOs were youths selected from identified sensitive border villages and belonged to different castes and communities. This move would boost the morale of the local people in fighting terrorism.

In the first round, more than 140 village defence committees (VDCs), had been set up on the borderline stretching out for about 167 km, adjoining Jammu and Kashmir which had now started their operation in consonance with the plans of the security forces. More VDCs would be formed in the second round, the DM added.

He said the district administration had so far received about 4,000 applications from border residents for gun licences, and the process of issuing these to them had commenced. This decision had been taken by the state government for the self-defence of the inhabitants of the border areas, he added.

Neglect may lead to green cover loss
From Ravinder Sood

PALAMPUR: The Himachal Pradesh Government spends just Rs 90 crore on the development and protection of forests per year in the state, whereas the state is exploiting forests and gets Rs 760 crore by way of timber, fuel, fodder and herbs. If these figures released by the government last year are taken as true, then the situation is alarming. Forestry experts say that if no effective measures are adopted soon, the state may lose the forest cover soon.

On paper the area under forests totals 37,591 sq km, of which only 11,780 sq km is under tree plantation — less than the one-third of the state's total area. The state's forest wealth is put at Rs 39,000 crore. It appears that the state government is not in touch with the situation hence the state's drive for plantation of more trees failed to gain momentum in the past 10 years. Even the survival percentage of saplings has come down. In a number of areas the survival percentage was recorded 30 to 50 p.c., which is very low. Though the state government has launched a number of World Bank and foreign-aided new forestry and soil conservation projects, barring one or two the remaining have failed to pick up and crores of rupees wasted.

It is revealed that a World Bank project in the Shivalik hills, comprising Solan, Una and Kangra districts, remained embroiled in controversy and crores of rupees were siphoned off. Though the state government ordered a high level probe into the irregularities committed nothing fruitful came out and officials responsible were rewarded with promotions and given key postings.

If past records are taken into consideration, there has been a manifold increase in the fuelwood requirement of the state: over two lakh tonnes of fuelwood valued at Rs 160 crore is being taken out from forests every year. Likewise, grazing material worth Rs 500 crore is also being exploiting. The annual requirement of grass is over 100 lakh tonnes in the state, of which 75 lakh tonnes is being met from forests.

According to the state government's forest policy, the forests are no more a source of revenue and supply of raw material. However, the government is laying emphasis on the protection and conservation of forests. The state government has imposed a complete ban on the felling of the trees and during the period when Sant Ram was Forest Minister, various new measures were taken up to stop illicit felling of trees and forest officials were empowered to deal with smugglers and other anti-social elements involved in felling. The state government has allowed only the removal of dead, diseased or decaying trees and has salvaged lots from the forests to meet the requirements of the masses. The extraction of herbs has been allowed on a selective basis in specified forests.

The timber distribution system, also known as TD, caused a huge loss to forests in the past 10 years. This is a customary right of the people to get timber from the forests for personal use. But it is on record that 70 per cent of the timber sanctioned under TD is either smuggled outside the state or sold in the open market in gross violation of the allotment norms laid down. In the past three years 90 per cent of the timber seized by forest officials or enforcement staff was sanctioned to TD right holders, which was later sold in the open market.

The state government instead of providing trees under this system should give logs from its depots to the TD right holders keeping in view their genuine requirements. This could help the government in saving forests and this step would further minimise the access of the smugglers to forests.

Only forests and large-scale plantation can save the state from floods and land erosion which has posed a serious threat to the eco-system. Besides, the Union Government should also help hill states in extending the forest cover. Most of the major rivers of the country have their catchment areas in the Himalayas and the watershed system is exclusively dependent on these rivers.

Sirmaur Consumer Forum issues
arrest warrant
From Our Correspondent

NAHAN, Sept 20 — The Sirmaur District Consumers Disputes Redressal Forum has issued an arrest warrant against the Secretary of the Himachal Technical Education Board, Dharamsala, Sunil Chaudhry, for his failure to appear before the forum on September 15 in connection with a complaint filed by Joginder Singh of Ludhiana village in the district.

Joginder Singh contended that he had passed the third semester examination of civil engineering (diploma course) conducted by the Board in May-June, 1990, with 63 per cent marks. But the Board had erroneously showed him absent in the exam and refused to issue him the diploma certificate.

He filed a suit before the Senior Sub Judge, Nahan. Even a court decree in his favour failed to move the Board to issue the certificate and amend the marks sheet.

Joginder Singh then filed a complaint with the consumer forum, claiming Rs 4 lakh as compensation from the Board.

The forum had directed the Secretary of the Board to appear in person with relevant records on September 15.

The president of the forum, Mr Mrigaindra Singh, has asked the SP of Nahan to ensure the compliance of the warrant orders.

HP asked to set up apex body
on blood banks
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Sept 20 — Ashadeep, a voluntary health organisation, has urged the government to set up an apex body to monitor the functioning of blood banks in the state and create awareness about voluntary blood donation and diseases transmitted through blood.

Addressing a Press conference here today, Mr Sushil Tanwar and Mr Adarsh Vashishth, president and general secretary of the organisation, respectively, said a representative of non-government bodies should be included in the apex body. At present there was an abject lack of awareness about blood donation and most people were not even aware of their blood group. Blood was given to needy patients in exchange which at times delayed surgeries as the attendants had to run around in search of donors, who were not easy to find.

They said the total annual requirement of blood in Shimla town, where the state’s biggest hospital was located, was around 9,000 units, which could be easily met by encouraging voluntary donation. Ashadeep had decided to launch an awareness campaign under which it would organise children’s rallies, declamation contests and slogan-writing competitions on the theme of blood donation, AIDS and other related issues.

The campaign would be launched here by Mrs V.S. Rama Devi, Governor, by flagging off a rally of school children from the historic Ridge Maidan on September 24.

Mr Tanwar urged the government to set up a special paraplegic unit at Indira Gandhi Medical College Hospital for those with spinal injuries.

Bank offers HP 25 cr housing loan
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Sept 20 — The Corporation Bank has offered a housing loan of Rs 25 crore to the Himachal Pradesh Government.

Stating this here yesterday, the Chairman of the bank, Mr R.S. Hugar, told newsmen that a regional office of the bank would be opened at Chandigarh on September 23. It would look after the branches of the bank in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Union Territory of Chandigarh.

He said the bank had 80 branches in the northern states and planned to increase the number to 120 by March next. The new branches would be opened mainly in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, UP and MP.

A branch of the bank would also be opened in Jammu before March next, he added.