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Sunday,
August 12, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Centre lauds HP for watershed schemes
Dhumal opens power
sub-centre Shimla MC owes Rs 12 cr to IPH Dept Brewery at Nagwain soon: Bragta |
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50,000 hit by cloudburst Akali Dal revamped,
Shimla chief removed Farmers asked to fight for
rights Army officer accused
of encroachment ABVP sweeps HPU
poll Stir threat by OBCs’
body Oberoi group seeks nod to use
helipad Mobile
phone service for Shimla soon Credit card scheme launched Union factions’ tussle hits trade 2 killed as jeep veers off into Ravi
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Centre lauds HP for watershed schemes Shimla, August 11 The Union Minister who was reviewing the implementation and progress of various rural development programme in the state here yesterday with senior officers of the state government and senior officers of Ministry of Rural Development, said these points included awareness, transparency, participation of people and the involvement of gram sabhas in the rural development programmes. He further said that holding of gram sabhas meetings every quarter had also been made mandatory in which the beneficiaries of various poverty allevation programmes and other welfare schemes could be selected. This had been done to ensure the right selection of the beneficiaries and also transparency. Mr Naidu stressed for the timely and proper utilisation of funds so that the objective of the speedy development of the rural areas as envisaged by the present government could be achieved. He said though hundreds of crores of rupees had been spent on the rural development and poverty alleviation programme in the country in the past, yet it was unfortunate that their benefits did not percolate to the needy and deserving. The Union Minister said the present government at the Centre had given maximum gross budgetary support to the rural development programmes in the country after defence for ensuring drinking water to people, road connectivity, health, sanitation and other basic infrastructure for the speedy development of the rural areas. He said on the suggestion and request of the Himachal Government, the Centre had relaxed the condition for the completion of roads in one working season to two working seasons under the Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yogna and also the number of village population from 1000 to 250 keeping in view the difficult terrain and limited working season in the state. He appreciated the state government for doing good work in the field of watershed development and the Government of India would give new allocation for covering 75,000 hectares to the state. He said as per the request of the state government, the Centre had agreed in principle to give funds of Rs 6,000 per hectare for watershed improvement in the hilly areas as compared to Rs 440 per hectare being given at present. The Chief Minister earlier thanked the Union Minister and the team of officials of the Rural Development Ministry for visiting the state to take stock of the situation regarding the implementation of the rural development schemes. |
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More rural roads in Himachal soon Baddi, August 11 The Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, presided over the function. He said the present central government had given top priority to the development of rural areas. Sixty per cent of the total budget has been earmarked for agriculture and rural development to benefit the rural population and added that various schemes like crop insurance, and Kisan Credit Card had been started in the recent past to strengthen the economy of the farmers. He said setting up of the fruit processing units to produce value added products was being given priority so that farmers could get remunerative prices of their produce. Mr Venkaiah Naidu said endeavour of the government was to reduce disparity between the urban and rural areas and a number of schemes had been started to achieve the objective. The poverty alleviation programme had also been given special attention. He said though thousands of crores of rupees were being spent on rural development and poverty alleviation, yet a large number of villages in the country did not have basic amenities like power, water supply, roads, telephones, etc. The Union Minister also presided over a function to lay the foundation stone of the Indo Farm Equipment Plant at Baddi which would manufacture tractors. He said the plant being set up in collaboration with URSUS of Poland would be an epitome of quality products and would go a long way to benefit the farming community. Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal said the state government has decided to link every village by road in next three years and the launching of the PMGSY, would go a long way in achieving the objective. He thanked the Centre Government for considering the problems of the state in the implementation of the scheme and thus relaxing the norms on the request of the state government. Mr Dhumal said to strengthen the agrarian economy, the state government would encourage setting up of such industrial units in the state which would benefit the farmers. He added that Indo Farm Tractor Plant being set up at Baddi was a stepping stone in this direction. The Chief Minister said to encourage the private entrepreneurs to set up industrial units in the state the government has formulated a new industrial policy which provided a package of incentives to them, especially, for environment friendly and local raw material based industries. Mr Dhumal said transport subsidy for industrialists in the state had been extended upto 2007. The Indo Farm unit plans to produce 12,000 tractors per annum. The company has been allotted a plot of 34 acres in the Export Promotion Industrial Park here. The new plant would be functional within a period of six months. With this new project which would be achieved within two years in a phased manner, local industry, vendors and a large number of ancillary units would come up in the area. It is estimated that direct and indirect employment would be generated for 800 and 5000 persons, respectively. At present, the company has 55 dealerships all over India.
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Dhumal opens power
sub-centre Hamirpur, August 11 The load despatch sub-centre at Hamirpur and Kuhinar are part of a unified scheme of the
northern region unit of Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL). Talking to this reporter here today, Mr H.K. Bhatia, Chief Engineer of the HPSEB, looking after the communications wing, said sub-centre would give directions and exercise supervision and control for ensuring integrated grid operations and for achieving maximum economy and efficiency in the power sector. The sub-centre would also enforce the decisions of the regional electricity boards from time to time, He added. He said while Rs 10 crore was spent by the HPSEB, Rs 40 crore was spent by the PGCIL, funded by the World Bank. He said one of the objectives of the sub-centre to provide reliable and uninterrupted power to the consumers in the state. Mr Bhatia said the Hamirpur load despatch sub-centre would be connected with eight remote terminal units located at Jassore, Mattansidh, Kangoo, Kangra, Dehra, Anu, Mandi and the Bassi power house. It would help in providing uninterrupted power supply, communication and emergency lighting systems in the Hamirpur, Mandi and Kangra region. |
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Shimla MC owes Rs 12 cr to IPH Dept Shimla, August 11 The corporation is facing financial crunch for the past many years and is unable to pay the water bills. The payment has been due for past many years. The corporation has repeatedly asked the government to give special aid so that the arrears could be cleared, but the government has so far not come to its rescue. The annual bill of the IPH for supplying water to the municipal corporation is about Rs 1.75 crore. Sources say that during the periods 1995-96 and 1997-98 the government had given special aid of Rs 1 core to corporation. In the period 1999-2000 the amount was reduced to 34.55 lakh by the government and in 2000-2001 no aid was given. The issue has been raised many times at the meeting of the corporation. Even the House had passed resolution that the government should release the payments. The financial and planning committees of the municipal corporation had asked for an aid of Rs 11 crore from the Urban Development Department to tide over the crisis, but in vain. According to Deputy Mayor Shashi Shakher no financial grant has been given by the government since 1997. |
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Brewery at Nagwain soon: Bragta Mandi, August 11 Mr Bragta, who inaugurated the horticulture office at Nagwain, said the proposed brewery would produce top class varieties of wine and liquor, which would not only meet the domestic demand, but would also be exported. He said the Chief Minister would soon lay the foundation stone of the plant and work on the project would be taken up shortly. He said with its completion the farmers would get remunerative price for their produce, besides generating employment. Mr Bragta announced that a special cell was being set up at Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar Horticulture University, Solan, which would provide telephonic guidance to the fruit growers in the state on Mondays and Thursdays. The telephone numbers would be made public shortly. The minister further said the fruit processing plant set up under the Indo-German agriculture project would be upgraded so as to use the pulp of the fruit left after processing liquor or wine. Many states have expressed their willingness to purchase liquor made of fruit pulp, he said. Mr Bragta said Rs 2 crore were being spent on horticulture development in Mandi district and over three lakh fruit plants would be distributed among farmers during the current year. As many as 6,000 farmers had already been imparted training in modern techniques of horticulture in the district. He said, 31,588 hectares were presently under horticulture in Mandi district and the department had planned to bring 1,000 hectares under fruit cultivation every year. He advised farmers to grow different types of fruits in the state, which could fetch good returns. He admitted that the marketing of fruits and vegetables still posed a big problem and the middlemen were exploiting the growers, but added that the government was seriously working to evolve a system whereby they would get remunerative price for their produce. |
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50,000 hit by cloudburst Nahan, August 11 The sources said preliminary reports had put the loss at more than Rs 5.50 crore to private and public property. They said 17,000 hectares of agricultural land had been damaged while crops in 5,000 hectares had been washed away, causing a loss of over Rs 1.50 crore to farmers in the area. In villages around Nahan 150 houses have been found damaged so far and the loss has been estimated at Rs 7.50 lakh. The damage caused to public utilities has been estimated at Rs 4 crore. Although the sources denied having any information regarding loss of cattle, it is learnt that some goats were washed away at Cheela village and four cows were killed near Ladu village when a cowshed perished due to the heavy rain. Residents of the Kala Amb area said a factory situated on the bank of the Markanda river had been washed away and a small flour mill at Cheela village was swallowed by the flood. Residents of Chabaan village told this correspondent that a new road constructed at Sain Ki Sair village had almost disappeared due to landslips and the water supply scheme to their village had been damaged. Nearly a 100-year-old garden, Bhajju ka Bag, near the turpentine factory, had disappeared and three big mango gardens in Bhariwala village and one of the bank of the Markanda had also been washed away. It is learnt that the Markanda has washed away more then 1,000 bighas of agricultural land gardens in the Shambhu Wala and Khadar ka Bag areas. |
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Akali Dal revamped,
Shimla chief removed Paonta Sahib, August 11 A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the State unit held under the chairmanship of Mr Harbhajan Singh here today. According to Mr Paramjit Singh Chanana, General Secretary of the State unit, Mr Bhupinder Singh and Mr Parminder Singh have been appointed new Jathedar and senior Vice-President respectively of the of Shimla unit while the previous incumbents have been expelled for six years each for anti-party activities. Mr Chanana said that today’s meeting was attended among others by Col (retd) Ajit Singh Sidhu (Solan), Jathedar Jagir Singh (Una), Jathedar Ravinder Singh (Nalagarh), Jathedar Devinderpal Singh Bedi (Mandi) and Mr Harpreet Singh Tiwana (President, Youth Akali Dal, Himachal). Mr Chanana said that Mr Harjit Singh, Mr Ravinder Singh and Mr Inder Singh have been appointed new Jathedars of Dharamsala, Solan and Nalagarh, respectively while Mr Tarlochan Singh of Paonta Sahib has been made adviser to the Dal. Mr Chanana said that the meeting also reviewed the discussions a deputation of the Dal had with the State Chief Minister, Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal, at Shimla early this week where at least three of the nine demands were immediately accepted by the Government. The demands accepted by Professor Dhumal are: Representation to Sikhs on various committees, allotment of land in Shimla for a Khalsa school and implementation of earlier decision of the State Government on the introduction of Punjabi in schools of the State. Mr Chanana clarified that demand for the removal of liquor shops from the periphery of a gurdwara was about Nahan and not Paonta Sahib as reported in a section of Press. |
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Farmers asked to fight for
rights Kangra, August 11 Mr Takwalay, who was here in connection with a three-day state-level Bharatiya Kisan Sangh convention, was addressing mediapersons at Gupt Ganga here today. He said, “I am pained to see the problems the Indian farmer is facing and there is no other option with him but to fight for his rights.” He said the WTO agreement had done great harm to the farmers and according to the agreement the quantitative restrictions on the import of 1,429 agricultural items were scrapped. Consequently, cheap foreign agricultural produce flooded the Indian markets and adversely affected the sale of the agriculture produce of the Indian farmers. He said the G-8 countries were giving subsidies to their farmers on the export of their agricultural produce. Consequently, it was cheaper than the produce of the Indian farmers. He said the Indian farmers had no customers for their produce now. He said the Centre had adopted a new policy and directed the state governments to purchase the produce of the farmers, but the state governments did not guarantee the purchase of the farmers’ produce because of their poor financial condition. He criticised the government for encouraging the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides which, he said, reduced the fertility of the soil and had an adverse affect on the health of the people. He suggested that the use of “swadeshi manure and pesticides” would save an expenditure of Rs 35,000 crore annually on chemical fertilisers and pesticides. |
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Army officer accused
of encroachment Kasauli, August 11 In the complaint, the villagers, including the panchayat pradhan, have sought the help of the Executive Magistrate in resolving the matter. According to them, their requests to the Army officer have not yielded any result. The passage joins their village, Shillar, to the town of Sanawar. It is used by students and office-goers, besides the locals to fetch their daily requirements from nearby places. The state government had granted five bighas to Basant Ram, adjoining this public path, about 25 years ago and this piece of land was sold by him to an Army officer. Now the Army officer was allegedly trying to encroach upon the path, the villagers said. They said he was also attempting to encroach upon the adjoining land belonging to other villagers. They have urged the Revenue Department to demarcate the land. The police has been asked to look into the matter by the Revenue Department. The Army officer was not available for comments. |
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ABVP sweeps HPU
poll Shimla, August 11 However, in all three colleges — the RKMV, Government College, Sanjauli, and Government College, Kotshira — the Students Federation of India (SFI) bagged all posts for the student organisations. In HPU, Narender Attri was elected president, Surdarshan Sharma vice-president, Vikram Banshtu general secretary and Shashi Kant joint secretary. In Government College, Sanjauli, the SFI won three seats while the HIMSU got one seat. Robin Verma was elected president, Ujjval Mehta vice-president, Kulbhushan Sharma general secretary and Suresh Chand joint secretary. In the RKMV and Government College Kotshira, the SFI made a clean sweep by winning all posts. In the RKMV, Anju was elected president, Anju Negi vice-president, Prakriti Mohan general secretary, and Reena Sharma joint secretary. In Government College, Kotshira, Pankaj Sharma was elected president, Sanjeev Kumar vice-president, Kamal Chauhan general secretary and Kapil Dev joint secretary. |
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Stir threat by OBCs’
body Kangra, August 11 Mr Choudary was addressing a press conference here on Thursday evening at the conclusion of a protest rally organised by the organisation in support of their demand. He said the OBC community had lost faith in the leadership of Mr Vidiaya Sagar, Agriculture Minister, Mr Krishen Kapoor, Transport Minister, Mr Ramesh Dhawuala, IPH Minister, and Ms Sarween Choudary, Parliamentary Secretary, who all belonged to the OBC community, because they were “befooling” the community on the reservation issue. Mr Choudary, who was accompanied by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) state chief, Mr Balwant Singh, said the OBCs, SCs and STs would form a joint front to demand 27 per cent reservation. He alleged that the posts of Vidiya Upasak, Assistant Gram Adhikari and Technical Assistant in Panchayats were filled by the government on political considerations. He demanded that these posts be filled through an open notification, with 27 per cent reservation for OBCs. He demanded 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in the Assembly poll. He said liaison officers should be appointed in all departments and two members be appointed in the public service commission and the subordinate service selection board to safeguard the interests of the OBCs. |
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Oberoi group seeks nod to use
helipad Charabra (Shimla), August 11 The Wildflower Hall (8,250 ft high), which was the official residence of Lord Kitchner, Commander-in-Chief of the army during the British rule, was gutted in 1993 when it was being run as a hotel by the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC). It has been rebuilt by the Oberois with 25 per cent equity of the HPTDC. The General Manager, Mr Andrew Saldanha, said the hotel had built its own clientele with a good occupancy. He said the Wildflower Hall was not merely another upscale addition to the Oberois’ portfolio, but was designed to sit alongside the company’s extraordinary vilas collection, currently comprising Rajvilas and
Amarvilas. |
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Mobile phone service for Shimla soon Shimla, August 11 Announcing this at a meeting of the Telephone Advisory Committee here yesterday, the General Manager, Mr B.R. Kashyap, said 13 more new exchanges would be added in the network. Mr Kashyap said 15,000 new telephone connections would be provided and all villages would be covered in Shimla telecom district, including Kinnaur, Spiti, Ani and Nirmand, in the coming year. Six more satellite systems would be installed and those at Kaza and Sangla would be upgraded. There was no waiting list in the entire telecom district, which has as many as 179 telephone exchanges, he added. |
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Credit card scheme launched Shimla, August 11 As many as 37,337 credit cards have been issued by the bank against which credit limit of Rs 85.57 crore has been sanctioned. About 50,000 farmers are proposed to be covered by the end of the financial year. Mr Naidu said 1.40 crore credit cards had been distributed to farmers in the country. |
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Union factions’ tussle hits trade Nurpur, August 11 In view of the ongoing fued the Deputy Commissioner had held meetings with both factions on August 6 and allowed them to function separately. The compromise to run parallel unions ended the next day. Enquiries reveal that the money collected by the Truck Operators’ Union through issuance of slips is the main reason for the ongoing tussle. In view of the prevailing tension at the Damtal trading centre, a minister from Pathankot subdivision has reportedly asked the traders to shift their business to Nangal Bhur in Sujanpur assembly segment of Punjab. |
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2 killed as jeep veers off into Ravi Chamba, August 11 Meanwhile, the Superintendent of Police, Chamba, Mr Sanjay Kundu, said a search operation had been launched to trace the bodies of the deceased. The Chamera authorities had also been contacted to assist in tracing the bodies in the reservoir of the Chamera projected, he said.
A case has been registered in this connection. |
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