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| Saturday, February
24, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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HP to introduce power reforms Ministers to lodge protest on
FIR Shift Kangra DC, SP: MLA Minister’s assurance to
drought-hit A hospital in need of
treatment Dulo Ram’s demand unfair: HPCC
Secy |
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VC: develop hybrid vegetable
crops Ecologists threaten
to go on strike Turpentine
factory closed 5 killed as jeep falls into Sutlej
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HP to introduce power reforms Shimla, February 23 Unlike other states the board has opted for internal restructuring instead of carving out three independent corporations to look after generation, transmission and distribution. As such it will not be easy for it to raise the efficiency of employees from the present 8 to 100 per cent over the next five years. The board has a total of 32,500 employees which serve about 14 lakh consumers. In short one employee looks after only 45 consumers which was far below the international standard of 350 to 400 consumers. As per the draft MoU to be signed between the board and the Union Power Ministry, the employee-consumer ratio has to be raised to 1 is to 300 which is a tall order. The efficiency has to be increased to 50 per cent in the first year and to 100 per cent over the next five years. Since the number of consumers grows only marginally every year, the board will have to reduce the strength of employees. Given the attitude of employees even the voluntary retirement scheme may not help much in this respect. Similarly, the transmission and distribution losses are to be brought down from the present 27 per cent to 12 per cent over the next 10 years which will require major improvements in the power infrastructure. The board will have to do a lot of groundwork over the next few months to file an application with the State Electricity Regulatory Commission for determination of power tariff. The commission is likely to notify the guidelines for revenue and tariff filing in a day or two. The application has to be filed within three months of the notification. The board has to supply detailed information regarding fixed assets (separately for generation, transmission and distribution), cost of operation and maintenance, income, energy generated, energy required and also specify the quantum to be purchased from outside. The commission takes into account only the assets and costs which are useful and measurable and only allows it to purchase only that much energy as specified in the application. As such the board will have no option but to ensure maximum capacity utilisation of its hydel projects. Once the application is filed hearing could take six to eight months which means that determination of power tariff will not be possible before October. The draft MoU finalised after prolonged negotiations by the officers of the board and the Union Power Ministry was likely to be approved by the Cabinet which is meeting tomorrow. |
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Ministers to lodge protest on
FIR Shimla, February 23 The FIR was recently registered against the three ministers — Mr K.K. Kapoor, Mr Ramesh Dhwala and Mr Ravinder Singh Ravi. Mr Kapoor and Mr Dhwala are considered staunch supporters of the Union Minister, Mr Shanta Kumar. A visibly upset Mr Kapoor today said that he knew at whose behest the FIR was registered by the police and would not take things lying down. He alleged that the district administration of Kangra was playing to the tunes of a Congress MLA, Mr G.S. Bali. (It is being said here that the police could not have dared to register the case without a prior nod from the Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal). While the Kangra police easily registered the FIR against the three ministers, it refused to register a complaint of a former BJP MLA, Mr Ram Chand Bhatia, who had accused Mr Bali of having misbehaved with him in
Nagrota. |
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Shift Kangra DC, SP: MLA Dharamsala, February 23 It is for the first time today that the Shanta camp, whose three Ministers and an MLA, have been booked for allegedly kidnapping of two women Zila Parishad members retaliated, by terming the entire abduction drama, as a face-saving move by the Congress MLA, Mr G.S. Bali. The district BJP chief, Mr Dulo Ram, today said that it was Mr Bali, who himself kept his two Zila Parishad members, in custody on the day of the election, as the candidate fielded by the Congress for the post of President, was not of his choice. “When the drama enacted by Mr Bali, was exposed he decided to drag the name of BJP ministers, so that his image in the party did not get tarnished,” alleged Mr Dulo Ram. Not only did Mr Bali, keep the two women Zila Parishad members away from the election, but he also called up one of the BJP legislator to come and take another member. Mr Rakesh Chaudhary, as the candidate fielded by the Congress was the choice of Mr Vijay Mankotia, rival of Mr Bali. Mr Dulo Ram, claimed that it was near Kala Pul, that Rakesh Chaudhary was handed over to the BJP, and he entered the election hall with the BJP members. Mr Dulo Ram, alleged that even the DC and the SP, had gone out of their way to help the Congress. “On January 30, the DC initially said that he would go by the signatures of the members but after Congress leader, Vikram Katoch, spoke to him, he said that he needed the head count,” alleged Mr Dulo Ram. The BJP chief said tha tin the first place only it was wrong to allow anyone other than the members in the election hall. He said that even on the day of the election of Nagrota Block Samiti the police and administration did not make adequate arrangements, despite being intimated by Mr Kishan Kapoor, as a result of which Mr Bali, forcibly took away one of the BJP member. The demand of the transfer of the DC and the SP, made by an MLA from the ruling party, is a clear indication of the friction between the Dhumal and the Shanta camp increasing. It is the Transport Minister, Mr Kishan Kapoor, IPH Minister, Ramesh Chaudhary, Technical Education Minister, Mr Ravinder Ravi and Mr Dulo Ram, who have been booked for the alleged kidnapping of the two women Zila Parishad members from Nagrota. The Shanta camp, is learnt to be unhappy with the Chief Minister for a case having been registered against the three ministers and an MLA, Mr Dulo Ram, also said that he was unhappy with the delayed and unsatisfactory move of the party chief, Mr Jaikishen Sharma, to include some more people in the State Executive. |
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Minister’s assurance to
drought-hit Hamirpur, February 23 Mr Dhiman, while presiding over a district-level meeting of the grievances committee here yesterday, said the state government was aware of the situation and steps in this direction had already been taken. Water sources were being cleaned. The gram panchayats were being asked to provide the district administration a list of the villages that were affected by the water and fodder shortage crises, he said. The continuous drought condition, unabated mining going on in khuds, nullahas and rivers and exploitation of hill resources to extract stones were discussed at the meeting. Members said water sources had either dried up or were being dried. The minister announced 33 more handpumps were being dug in the district by the end of the current financial year. Handpumps would be installed in the areas where there were underground sources of water. He asked people to use water judiciously. Water had now become a rare commodity and steps would be taken for its proper use and conservation, he said. Mr Dhiman took a serious note of quarrying of khuds and rivers by some persons for minting money. The minister instructed the district officers and the SDMs concerned to ensure that there was no shortage of fodder. He asked officers to evolve effective strategy for redressal of public grievances and provide them justice at their doorstep. Mr Pyere Lal, Chairman of Hamirpur Zila Parishad, members of zila parishad and other district officers also attended the meeting. |
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A hospital in need of
treatment Palampur: The Palampur subdivisional hospital, which caters to the needs of a large section of the population of Kangra district, is in a state of neglect. The hospital faces an acute shortage of accommodation. The general wards remain overcrowded and patients have to be adjusted on beds placed in corridors and verandahs. The frequent transfer of doctors has made matters worse. A few years ago the state government has installed an ultrasound scanning unit here at a cost of over Rs 10 lakh, but it has been gathering dust for quite some time because there is no radiologist to operate it. The radiologist was shifted from the hospital in 1998 and since then the post has been vacant. Patients are advised to get ultrasound scanning done from private establishments. Recently, the state government shifted an anaesthetist and a gynaecologist to a rural hospital. No specific reasons have been given for their mid-term transfers. The local MLA, Mr Brij Butail, has written a number of letters to the Health Minister, Mr J.P. Nadda, regarding the pathetic condition of the hospital but to no avail. Although the state government has been spending crores of rupees on the health services in the state, people still have to rush to adjoining states even for surgeries like the removal of stones and cysts. Major emergencies are rarely attended to here and patients are referred to the PGI, Chandigarh, or the CMC, Ludhiana, which not only causes inconvenience but also proves costly for the common man. It is also reported that adequate funds are not available with the hospital authorities for whitewashing the building and carrying out the necessary repairs after the last rainy season. |
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Dulo Ram’s demand unfair: HPCC
Secy Kangra, February 23 He was addressing a press conference here today. Mr Bali alleged that people were feeling suffocated following the harassment of senior police and civil officers by the ministers and the BJP district chief. He said: “By asking for the transfer of the Deputy Commissioner and district police chief they are terrorising the junior officers and the investigating agency so that no case is made against them”. He said the inquiry in this case would get affected by such statements and demanded judicial inquiry by a sitting high court judge in the case. He sought the intervention of the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court suomotu in the case, in which women members were deprived of their right of franchise on February 5, 2001, zila parishad chairman poll. The district police chief, Mr Prathviraj, when contacted refused to comment on the issue. When asked about the delay in the investigation of the case the SSP said the investigating officer, Mr A.P. Singh was busy with the recruitment of police constables at Sakoh and now he was at Chamba in connection with the recruitment so the case has not made much progress. |
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VC: develop hybrid vegetable
crops Kasauli, February 23 Our country produces a mere 12 per cent of vegetables of the total world production whereas China produces 40 per cent of the total share. This was stated by Prof R.P. Awasthi, Vice-Chancellor, Dr Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, while in-augurating a three-week national training on advancement in vegetable production at Nauni near Solan yesterday. The training organised by the Centre of Advance Studies in Horticulture and Vegetables will be attended by 23 participants from various states, including IARI, New Delhi and universities of HPKV, Palampur. The Vice-Chancellor said that in the past, production was the main target but now more stress would be laid on the quality. The need of the hour was to develop high yielding and better shelf-life hybrids of vegetable crops within the reach of common growers, he said. He advised scientists to develop a suitable technology for rainwater harvesting from house tops. A technology to minimise the post-harvest losses, which at present is 30-40 per cent, was also required. Cultivation of exotic vegetables should be taken up for meeting the growing demands in the domestic as well as foreign markets. Professor Awasthi also released a bulletin on storage of seed ginger, a practical guide written by Dr N.P. Dohroo and Dr U.K. Kohli. |
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Ecologists threaten
to go on strike Chamba, February 23 Speaking to reporters here today, Col Ravi Vaid and Mr Dev Barotra, both members of the Voluntary Environmental Coordination Committee of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) flayed the lackadaisical approach of the state government in the execution of the plan which had been approved by the NHPC. These members said two years had passed and it was the complex procedure of the government in funding the Forest Department due to which the implementation of the plan had so far been impeded. Though Rs 60 lakh had already been funded to the Himachal Pradesh Government under Rs 10.72 crore treatment plan of the NHPC, they added. They observed that the implementation of the treatment plan for the stage II project had been considerably delayed. The nurseries raised by the Forest Department for the purpose of the treatment plan was going to dry up causing a loss of lakhs of rupees, they alleged. |
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Turpentine
factory closed Nahan, February 23 The factory was established in the state by the then Maharaja of Sirmour, in 1940. It is the second occasion in the history of the factory when it has been closed for such a long period, although it it closed every year for a few days before the new resin season begins. According to official sources, the receipt of the raw material last year through the Forest Corporation was much less than its capacity. The capacity of the factory is 37,000 quintals of resin per year, while last year 30,000 quintals were received. |
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5 killed as jeep falls into Sutlej Shimla, February 23 The ill-fated jeep was on its way from here to Pandoha. The deceased havebeen identified as Roop Lal (45), his son Som Ram (22), Heera Singh (driver), Des Raj Sharma and Hem Raj, all residents of Pandoha. |
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