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Saturday,
April 28, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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HP to get resin from Uttaranchal HP ministers blame Cong for fiscal mess POSTINGS/ TRANSFERS Karmapa keen to visit Rumtek monastery Govt treasuries to reopen today |
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Students rusticated for ragging Virbhadra flays govt for crisis Pepsi told to pay Rs 10,000 to consumer 160 cr spent on tribal uplift in HP
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HP to get resin from Uttaranchal Shimla, April 27 The state requires 1.12 lakh quintal of resin annually for its two processing factories at Nahan and Bilaspur. The government pine forests produce about 73,000 quintal of resin and until three years ago, the private forests produced about 40,000 quintal of the same which was sufficient for the two units. However, the situation changed after the lifting of restrictions on imports under the WTO agreement. Large-scale imports under the open general licence brought down the market price from Rs 2,700 to Rs 1,900 per quintal. The state Forest Corporation also reduced the procurement price accordingly and it came down to about Rs 1,600 from Rs 2,500 per quintal. The farmers found the price quite uneconomical and consequently, the number of resin-tapping blazes has come down from 16 to 6 lakh and the output has also declined to just 21,000 quintal. This has created a shortage of about 15,000 quintal which the government is now trying to procure from Uttaranchal. Mr Roop Singh Thakur, Himachal Forest Minister, visited Uttaranchal last week and met the Chief Minister and the Forest Minister of Uttaranchal in this connection. He was informed that Uttaranchal was producing about 75,000 quintal of resin annually and would be helping Himachal if surplus resin was available. The only problem being that at present the state policy was not to export raw resin. The Forest Minister was, however, assured that Uttaranchal would amend its policy and allow export in case a deal was finalised. The Himachal delegation asked for 15,000 quintal immediately, to make the Nahan processing factory operational, which is closed since March due to shortage of raw material. Tapping has begun in the state but resin would start reaching the factory only by the end of May. The State Forest Corporation offered to procure resin at Rs 1,725 per quintal, the rate being paid to farmers in the state. It would lift the entire quantity in four instalments in case Uttaranchal agrees to export its produce. The corporation has also taken steps to increase resin production from private forests. The procurement price for this season has been increased from Rs 1629 to Rs 1725 per quintal. |
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HP ministers blame Cong for fiscal mess Shimla, April 27 In a statement here today the ministers said that present government had brought out a White Paper on state finances in December, 1999, to highlight trends and causes of deterioration in state finances. The White Paper showed that period from 1994-95 to 1997-98 when the Congress was in power, was most harmful for the financial health of the state. In these four years, the government made unprecedented borrowings and allowed unproductive revenue expenditure to increase sharply. They said that in four years, over Rs 3318 crore was raised as loan by the Congress government, many of them at rates of interest and in a manner which not only placed a huge recurring burden on the state government but even raised questions about transparency of the transactions. They also said that the rate of interest on some of these loans was as high as 18.26 per cent and an amount of Rs 31.48 crore was doled out as service charge for even a temporary loan of Rs 258.30 crore repaid in a few months in 1994-95. In this period, the total debt of the state increased by 166 per cent from Rs 1870 crore at the end of 1993-94 to Rs 4966 crore at the end of 1997-98, they added. The ministers said that between 1994-95 and 1997-98 in a populist attempt to woo the electorate, the Congress government increased the number of salaried employees by over 25,000 compared to a more or less stable figure for many years before that. Even on the eve of elections, the Congress government threw all norms to the winds and opened more than three times the targeted number of educational and health institutions, creating more than 25,000 additional posts, they added. It was this difficult legacy that present state government inherited along with the requirement to meet the pay revision and pension revision arrears to a large number of employees and retirees. The Congress government added to the state’s interest burden more than Rs 400 crore annually, they added. They said that the additional salary commitments of new employees and posts passed on by them were over Rs 500 crore and added that on top of this was the need to meet salary and pension at higher rates after the revision of over Rs 500 crore annually. |
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POSTINGS/
TRANSFERS Shimla, April 27 Mr Prabodh Saxena, Deputy Commissioner, Mandi, has been shifted to Kangra in place of Mr R.C. Kapil, who has been appointed Managing Director of the HP State Cooperative Bank here. The rebel ministers and legislators of the Kangra district had been demanding removal of Mr Kapil following registration of an FIR against four of them. Mr Jagdish Sharma, Deputy Commissioner, has been sent to Mandi to head the district. Mr Bharat Bhushan, Managing Director of the State Cooperative Bank, has been appointed Deputy Commissioner of Chamba in place of Mr T.D. Negi, who has been shifted as Managing Director of the HP Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation. He will also head the Women Development Corporation, Solan. Mr J.S. Rana, Director, Urban Development, has been appointed Deputy Commissioner of Bilaspur. Mr V.K. Bansal, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Trainings and Foreign Assignments, has been appointed as Secretary, Technical Education. Mr A.R. Basu, Secretary, Lokayukata, has been appointed as Secretary, Trainings and Foreign Employment. Dr V.P. Gupta, Secretary, Manpower Planning, goes as Secretary, Lokayukata. Mr S.K.B.S Negi, Commissioner, Transport and Ms Manisha Nanda, Director Social and Women Welfare, swap places. Mr J.R. Gazta, Special Secretary, Revenue, has been appointed as Special Secretary, Irrigation and Public Health. Mr R.D. Nazim, Resident Commissioner, Pangi, has been appointed Director, Urban Development. Mr Manish Garg, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mandi, goes as Resident Commissioner, Pangi. Mr
Rajneesh, Sub-Divisional Officer, Manali, has been appointed ADC, Mandi. Mr P.S.
Kuthleria, Additional Excise Commissioner, has been appointed as Joint Secretary, Revenue. |
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Karmapa keen to visit Rumtek monastery Dharamsala, April 27 In his first ever interaction with the media, since his arrival in India on January 5, last year, the Karmapa, refrained from making any political statement against China, which could reflect adversely on Indo-China relations. Apart from issuing a cautiously worded statement he replied to the queries of the mediapersons in Tibetan. Underlying significance of the Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, he said that it was the keen desire of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan government, Buddhist community in India and his followers world over, that he be allowed to go to the main seat of the Karma Kagyu lineage. Sounding optimistic about his visit to Rumtek Monastery, he said that he had already submitted an application to the authorities concerned in this regard and was confident that he would soon be granted permission. However, to a query regarding the restrictions imposed by the Indian government on his movement in India, he said that it was baffling for him as far as the ban on his visit to the Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim and the Sherabling Monastery at Bhattu near Baijnath was concerned. Sherabling Monastery 70 km from here is the place set up by his Guru and a senior regent of the Kagyu sect, Tai Situ Rinpoche. When asked how long he intended to stay in India, he said that he had now been granted refugee status by the government and would return to Tibet, only when the Dalai Lama, decides to return home. When asked if China was grooming him to use him against the Dalai Lama, the Karmapa said that he was no doubt treated very special by the Chinese and taken on a tour of Beijing. “I do suspect that there might have been a plan to use me to separate people within Tibet from the Dalai Lama, who heads the exiled Tibetan government”, he exclaimed. When asked about the controversial issue of another Tibetan boy. Thaye Dorje, making claims of being the real Karmapa, he said that till date he has tried his level best to deal with the situation and not made any remark, to avoid the
situation from worsening. “The identity of the Karmapa is not decided by popular vote or debate between the
conflicting groups but through the prediction letter left behind by the previous Karmapa”, he said emphatically. When asked about the whereabouts of his parents the Karmpa, said that it was but natural to be concerned about them but he did not have precise details of their circumstances and prayed for their well
being. The Karmapa, said that Tibet was distinct from other countries and it was his duty to respect and preserve this. The Karmapa gave details of his flight from Tibet to
McLeodganj. |
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Govt treasuries to reopen today Shimla, April 27 The Union Finance Ministry today released in advance the state’s share in central taxes and grants which will become due on May 1. Besides, it also extended advance under the ways and means head to clear the overdraft of Rs 180 crore. The Central Account Office of the RBI at Nagpur will inform about the exact position of the state’s account after receiving the advances from the Centre at its head office in Mumbai. Thereafter the RBI will issue instructions to commercial banks to resume clearance of government cheques. The banks will get fresh instructions positively by tomorrow morning. The fund-starved state government had run into overdraft several times over the past one year, but it was for the first time that it could not clear it within the stipulated period. Under a scheme devised by the Union Finance Ministry to help the states, overdrafts are to be cleared within 12 days. However, the state government failed to do so leaving the RBI with no alternative but to stop clearance of its cheques. The state had been facing problems ever since the recommendations of the Ninth Finance Commission came into force in 1990. The Shanta
Kumar government did try to set things right by observing a strict financial discipline, but it remained in power only for a brief period. Mr Shanta Kumar took some harsh decisions and also made an attempt to raise the state’s own resources for which he had to pay a heavy political price. The situation started worsening after the Congress came to power in 1993 as it chose the easy option of raising loans instead of curbing the unproductive expenditure and mobilising
resources. Consequently, the annual interest liability of the state shot up from Rs 210 crore to over Rs 800 crore by 2000. During the current year, the state will have to shell out Rs 1,368 crore to meet the interest liability. Mr P.K. Dhumal, Chief Minister, feels that the state can’t do much at the present juncture. The indiscriminate loans raised by the Congress government had to be paid back. Similarly, hundreds of educational, health and other institutions opened by the previous government without any budgetary provision, staff and infrastructural facilities had to be made functional. The additional annual burden on this count alone was Rs 550 crore, he said. With a meagre population of 60 lakh, imposing taxes will not help as even for raising Rs 50 crore, the per capita burden would be Rs 100 which the poor hill people cannot afford. Only the Centre can come to the rescue of the state by extending a soft long-term loan of Rs 4,000 crore to Rs 5,000 crore so that it could clear the debt liability without increasing the interest burden any further and take steps to curtail the non-plan expenditure. For now the state has no option but to look towards the Centre for help whenever the financial situation becomes grim. |
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Students rusticated for ragging Kangra, April 27 Dr Gupta said the process of rustication was in progress. He said the management was constrained to take the decision as the names of the actual culprits involved in ragging and beating the freshers were not divulged by them. Dr Gupta said the decision was taken under Section 23-A of the university rules. He said the university authorities had directed the college management to take this action. Dr Gupta said the Secretary Health, who had visited the college on Tuesday, in a letter to him had directed that the senior students be asked to vacate hostels and not allowed to sit in the ensuing university examinations. The Health Secretary sought a detailed inquiry into the incident. The Secretary sought to know whether Dr Suresh Sankian, warden of the hostel, knew that freshers were forced to shave their heads and if he knew, whether he had informed the Principal about it. Meanwhile, the college authorities have informed the parents of the 33 students that their wards had indulged in a criminal act and have been asked not to attend classes and would not be allowed to sit in the university examinations. |
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Virbhadra flays govt for crisis Mandi, April 27 Addressing a press conference at the local Circuit House, he said the Congress Government had raised a loan of only Rs 800 crore. “We had utilised only Rs 500 crore when this government took over power. While in opposition the BJP had not only been opposing the loan taken by us, but it was also against the very concept of borrowing.” Mr Virbhadra Singh said: “Our borrowing limit was Rs 750 crore, the present government raised it first to Rs 1500 crore and then to Rs 2000 crore during a short span of three years of its ‘misrule’. |
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Pepsi told to pay Rs 10,000 to consumer Solan, April 27 The complaint was filed by Rajinder Singh of
Nauni, near here on May 6, 1998. He had stated that he had purchased a crate of Pepsi bottles from company’s local dealer. M/s Sehgal Enterprises for which he had obtained an invoice. He further stated that after taking the crate to his place at Nauni he found that one of the bottles
contained a lizard. Mr Rajinder Singh alleged that he had promptly lodged a complaint with the dealer seeking due compensation. However the dealer refused to look into the matter, forcing him to move the forum. |
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160 cr spent on tribal uplift in HP Shimla, April 27 Mr Dhumal said that to ensure that development in tribal areas of the state did not suffer for want of staff, the state government had set up a separate tribal and difficult areas sub-cadre. He said that the employees appointed under this sub-cadre would have to serve in these areas mandatorily for certain period. He said that employees belonging to tribal areas should volunteer to serve in these areas and added that the state government had decided to appoint local people under this cadre first. Mr Dhumal announced, amidst applause, that central government had approved 24 km long alternative road for Spiti valley which would save people of Spiti valley from the inconvenience which otherwise. They used to face due to Malling nullah
blockade in rainy seasons. He said that the Pangi valley had been linked by road from the Jammu-Kashmir side which had reduced a distance of 100 kms between Pangi and its headquarters Chamba. He said that the matter had been taken with the Director General Border Road for the improvement of this road between Sohal and Sansari Mallaha. The Chief Minister said that Rs 141 crore had been spent on relief,
restoration and repairs of damaged works that had been affected due to floods last rainy season and lauded the administration for doing good work and also thanked the local people for their co-operation in it. Mr Chet Ram Negi, Parliamentary Secretary, who also holds Tribal Portfolio, said that tribal, difficult and far-flung areas of the state were witnessing speedy development under the leadership of Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar
Dhumal. |
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