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| Tuesday, January 2, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Illegal felling of trees detected Anonymous letter targets officials Antyodaya scheme to start in 2 months Heritage status a boon for Pragpur DCC observes foundation day 1 killed, 24 hurt as bus falls into gorge |
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| HP reshuffles 8 IAS officers Bijni sub-station commissioned NJPC staff notice to management Parishad members’ swearing-in on Jan 3 Beggar dies of cold 2 shops gutted
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| Illegal felling of trees detected CHAMBA, Jan 1 — The Forest Department has detected a large-scale illegal felling of 1,283 trees of deodar, fir, spruce, ban, oak and certain other species in different forest areas of the forest division in the district during the past six years, worth Rs 2 crore. Giving details over the telephone today, an official spokesman of the Forest Department disclosed that in fact cases of illegal felling had surfaced recently under a campaign against the illegal felling of trees in the district for the past about four months. The spokesman pointed out that a team headed by Mr D.P. Chaudhary, Assistant Conservator of Forests, detected that 687 trees of various species, mostly of deodar, were illegally cut in the lower Chamba forest range, amounting to Rs 42.66 lakh. He said the case had been referred to the higher authorities to proceed further in the matter. Some timber had also been recovered from the inhabitants of the area, he added. He categorically stated that in September a raiding party detected illicit felling of 38 stumps in the Kiri beat of lower Chamba range in the district amounting to Rs 6.15 lakh. A case in this connection had been lodged with the enforcement authorities, Dharamsala. He said the inspecting party had suspended the operations in the forest. During the inspection 29 deodar trees and 48 fir trees were found illegally cut from the Sano beat of the lower Chamba range worth Rs 26.41 lakh. He added that 347 scants of timber had been recovered from the area. |
| Anonymous letter targets officials DHARAMSALA, Jan 1 — Anonymous letters levelling serious charges against senior politicians is dominating the Himachal Pradesh politics and the office of the Union Consumer Affairs Minister, Mr Shanta Kumar, is the latest victim of this trend. In an anonymous letter circulated to some newspaper offices, corruption charges have been levelled against an officer in Mr Shanta Kumar’s staff and another senior Food Corporation of India official. The Union Minister, when contacted at Palampur, refused to comment on the charges till he had gone through the facts. Political observers point out that this trend of circulating anonymous letters containing charges is the outcome of the tussle going on between the two rival factions in the state BJP, headed by the Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal and the Union Minister, Mr Shanta Kumar. Only three days ago the Minister for Excise and Taxation, Mr Praveen Sharma, had offered his resignation after a letter levelling corruption charges against him had been circulated in Shimla. The Chief Minister, Mr Dhumal, turned down his resignation and ordered an inquiry into the alleged charges against Mr Sharma. “Mr Praveen Sharma, is a close confidante of Mr Dhumal, and the entire resignation drama, was part of a planned strategy to nail down ministers belonging to the Shanta camp,” commented a Shanta loyalist. A similar latter was circulated against the IPH minister, Mr Ramesh Chaudhary. The latest letter has come as a surprise as it is the Union Minister who had given a call for zero tolerance for corruption. In fact, these statements had led to a lot of discomfiture for the state government as the Congress leaders interpreted it as a comment on the functioning of the BJP government in the state. The crisis resulting out of the letter written by the six dissident legislators to the Chief Minister just having been resolved, the anonymous letter has again rocked the crowns. Antyodaya scheme to start in 2 months JAWALAMUKHI, Jan 1 — Mr Shanta Kumar, Union Consumer Affair and Public Distribution Minister, said here today that the Antyodaya scheme announced by the Prime Minister for providing food at cheaper rates to the poor would start functioning within two months. While talking to mediapersons, Mr Shanta Kumar said his ministry had already asked the state government to identify 1 crore families that figured among the poorest. He said the families would be issued special ration cards entitling them to 25 kg of foodgrains. Wheat would be provided at the rate of Rs 2 per kg while rice would be available at Rs 3 per kg, he said. The total offtake of foodgrains under the scheme would be around 30 lakh tonnes and the subsidy bill would amount to Rs 2,300 crore. The government would be saving Rs 661 crore on the carrying costs of the foodgrains he said. The Antyodaya scheme had not been introduced merely because the government had excess foodgrains stocks but under a policy to work for a hunger-free India, he added. He said the percentage of the poorest families falling in each state had already been estimated and now the state governments would start the process of identification. Revenue officials and gram sabhas would be involved in the exercise. Food would be distributed through the network of fair-price shops. The minister said a meeting of Food and Civil Supplies Ministers of all states would be held next week to discuss the issue. Mr Shanta Kumar said the foodgrain stocks had now touched the 525 lakh tonne mark and were expected to cross 600 lakh tonnes in April. |
| Heritage status a boon for Pragpur SHIMLA, Jan 1 — The decision of the government to preserve and promote Pragpur in Kangra district as a “heritage” village has proved a boon for the little known hamlet. The small village, located in the foothills of the Dhauladhar ranges, was especially selected as it was not only well laid-out but had also retained much of its medieval ambience and a rich eco-system. The village has become major tourist attraction and centre of cultural activities. The restoration of the dressed cobbled stone paved streets of the village, upgrading and renovation of the facade of public buildings by the Department of Tourism, beautification of the core heritage area and the installation of benches at strategic places, provision of the village street lighting system and illumination of the heritage area, has added to old charm. Besides this, improvement in sanitation with the installation of garbage collection bins has also improved the quality of life. Residents contribute funds for scavenging of the village the cost of which is met out of the interest earned on a corpus. Giving details of future plans an official spokesman said the forthcoming development projects included schemes for rainwater harvesting, development of a public park and the creation of additional tourist facilities in the village. The government of the Federal Republic of Germany granted more than Rs 3 lakh for a system to clean the village pond besides providing the only fire fighting system in the area. He said the Public Health and Irrigation Department was augmenting the water supply and relaying the pipe system in the heritage zone. The Telecom Department had upgraded the Pragpur exchange with a more modern and larger automatic system, he added. The electricity board had started work on the construction of a 33 kv substation. The local hospital had, too been upgraded. Official spokesman said the private sector had also entered the scene and India’s foremost hotel chain, the ITC Welcome Group, had extended its operations to include Pragpur and its local hotel as a part of the Welcome Heritage link. Moreover the tiny hamlet has spread out in cyber space and a search on the Internet quickly brings one to Pragpur. Most travel agents of repute around the world today include Pragpur in their itinerary. Pragpur has found a place on the international map of tourism and interest in village tourism is growing official spokesman further added. Due to good response residents of adjoining villages like Garli, possessing similar heritage products have also shown interest and in next few years more villages are likely to follow the suit. He said one family had donated Rs 1 lakh for the corpus to further utilise its interest for improving sanitation in Pragpur. He lamented that some people had a feeling that the conferment of heritage status would improve the civic amenities. He said that heritage status was recognisation of certain architectural and cultural values which the people should try to preserve and revive. He said the improvement of civic services was a continuous process which was possible only with the interest of local residents with the state playing the role of facilitator and helper. He said the Rural Development Department planned to take up 10 such villages in the state for encouraging heritage tourism in the state. He said the experiment of declaring heritage villages had given new direction to tourism in the state and had been deeply appreciated by foreign consultants of the World Tourism Organisation. He said the Kangra Heritage Fair, Pragpur would be organised in a big way this year on January 13 and January 14 depicting the heritage of the erstwhile Kangra district. |
| DCC observes foundation day UNA, Jan 1 — A meeting of the District Congress Committee, was held here yesterday under the Chairmanship of Mr Varinder Dharmana, president, DCC, where it observed foundation day of the Congress. The DCC condemned the imposition of the entry tax on four-wheelers from January 1 in various municipal limits of the district and demanded the immediate withdrawal of it. The DCC demanded CBI enquiry into the allegations levelled against, Mr Praveen Sharma, Excise Minister, in an anonymous letter. They also demanded a CBI enquiry into the charges levelled against the government by three BJP ministers and three BJP MLAs. 1 killed, 24 hurt as bus falls into gorge NAHAN, Jan 1 — One person was killed and 24 others injured when a private bus on its way from Paonta Sahib to Shillai fell into a 70-feet deep gorge near Tillore Dhar today. The deceased has been identified as Anjana Rani, a teacher posted at Jajli. Mr S.P. Singh, Superintendent of Police, said 20 of the injured have been admitted to the subdivisional hospital at Paonta Sahib and 4 persons who received serious injuries have been referred to the Civil Hospital, Nahan. The cause of accident was being investigated. Senior police and administrative officials alongwith teams of doctors immediately left for the spot and carried out rescue operations. |
| HP reshuffles 8 IAS officers SHIMLA, Jan 1 — The Himachal Pradesh Government today ordered the transfer and reshuffle of eight senior IAS officers. Mrs Rajendra Bhatacharya, Financial Commissioner (Labour and Transport), has been given charge of Labour, Employment, Youth Services, Printing and Stationery Departments. Mr Kanwar Shamsher Singh, Financial Commissioner (Irrigation and Public Health), has been given charge of the Transport Department. Mr S. Roy, Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, has been appointed Secretary, Education and Technical Education. Mr S.K. Dash, Managing Director, HRTC, goes as Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj. Mr T.G. Negi, Secretary, Power, has been given charge of general administration and special administration in the Secretariat in place of Mr C.P. Pandey, who goes as Secretary, Revenue. Mr B.S. Chauhan, Managing Director, Small Industries Development Corporation, has been given additional charge of the financial corporation. Mr R.D. Dhiman, Registrar, Cooperatives, has been given additional charge of HRTC. |
| Bijni sub-station commissioned MANDI, Jan 1 — With the commissioning of 132/33 KVA sub-station at Bijni today the HPSEB has claimed to have achieved yet another milestone. According to a spokesperson of the HPSEB, the problem of low voltage in and around Mandi would be solved. The sub-station has been set up under a World Bank-aided scheme at the cost of Rs 13.64 crore. The sub-station has been linked with 220 KV Kangoo sub-station through 19.5 km 132 KV transmission line from Pandoh to Bijni. Mandi and its suburbs were so far being fed by the 66/33 Bijni sub-station set up by the BBMB at the time of the construction of the Beas-Sutlej Link Project which had outlived its life and could collapse any time. The gravity of the problem had been underlined in the columns of The Tribune in February, 1997. The then Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, had ordered the setting up of the upgraded 132 KVA sub-station. The HPSEB, however, took about three years to do this work. |
| NJPC staff notice to management SHIMLA, Jan 1 — Staff of the HPSEB working on secondment in the Nathpa Jhakri Power Project (NJPC) have served a three-week notice to the management to implement the agreement of last year in which they were to be treated as deputationists. Mr J.L. Damalu, Secretary-General, and Mr Inder Singh Dhiman, General Secretary, of the HPSEB Seconded Employees Joint Coordination Committees, alleged today that the seconded staff had been facing humiliation since 1991 in the NJPC due to the imbalance in their service conditions as compared to their counterparts in the NJPC. After much efforts, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, succeeded in formulating a package. Subsequently, a notification was issued by the authorities in this direction and the NJPC started the process of treating them as deputationists. Parishad members’ swearing-in on Jan 3 HAMIRPUR, Jan 1 — Eleven newly elected members of the local nagar parishad will be administered oath on January 3. Mr B.S. Thakur, local SDM, will preside over the function. Mr Raj Krishan Sharma, Executive Officer of the parishad, said here today that the election of the president and vice-president of the parishad would also be held on the same day. Ms Roshni Devi and Ms Veena Chandel are in the race for the post of president. |
| Beggar dies of cold SOLAN, Jan 1 — An unidentified beggar was found dead in the corridors of a hotel situated on The Mall here this morning. He had used the corridors as a shelter. He apparently died of severe cold due to heavy overnight rain and snow in the higher reaches. The beggar, not a local, had reportedly stayed on here as the weather was sunny and bright till yesterday. The beggars normally migrated to the plains before the onset of winter. 2 shops gutted CHAMBA, Jan 1 — A liquor shop and an auto spare part shop were gutted at Bhattinala in Sultanpur, within the Chamba Municipal limits, yesterday. A fire brigade doused the flames and saved a nearby petrol station. According to unofficial reports, a loss of about Rs 5 lakh has been assessed. However, revenue officials are assessing the loss. A case has been registered. Polythene bags banned CHAMBA, Jan 1 —The District Magistrate, Mr T.D. Negi, has imposed a ban on the use of polythene bags here. He appealed to residents to keep the town clean to save the environment. |
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