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Monday,
September 24, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Expulsions irk Virbhadra camp Decision on Plan size on Sept 28
UK to fund forest project HP Akalis press for Punjabi in schools Dhumal inaugurates
fountain |
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Employees differ on transfer policy Three-fold rise in milk production Beating of farmers: 4 cops
transferred
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Expulsions irk Virbhadra camp
Shimla, September 23 These legislators are expected to meet Mrs Gandhi tomorrow morning. Mr Virbhadra Singh is already camping in Delhi and it is not clear whether he would accompany his loyalist MLAs to meet Mrs Gandhi. The supporters of Mr Virbhadra Singh are annoyed not only over the expulsion, but also because of the delay being caused by the central leadership of the party in settling the disputes arising out of the alleged rigging of organisational polls of last year. The Virbhadra Singh group has filed petitions against the election results of at least 23 DCCs and blocks. The latest provocation for them was the expulsion of four activists of Solan district from the Congress and the earlier termination of Mr Manoj Kumar, a sitting councillor and former mayor of the Shimla Municipal Corporation, for a period of six years. Although the Stokes faction claims that the expulsions were ordered as a disciplinary action and failure of some partymen to withdraw the election petitions from the court,but the other camp visualises these actions as a step to demoralise the loyalists of Mr Virbhadra Singh. The efforts to unite the warring factions have proved futile and Mr Virbhadra Singh and Mrs Stokes shared the dais only during the recent anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi in the PCC headquarters and once earlier when the Delhi Chief Minister, Mrs Sheila Dikshit, had come here for a function. The ordinary partymen appeared relieved when Mr Virbhadra Singh visited the party office to participate in the anniversary function and were expecting that the Stokes faction would also reciprocate. Whatever might be the outcome of the rivalry between the two factions, the Congress is bound to suffer because of these developments. Party activists accuse Mrs Stokes and her supporters of functioning like a “B” team of the BJP-HVC ruling alliance by rarely coming out against certain actions of the government which have hit the common man. On the other hand, Mr Virbhadra Singh has been organising largely attended public meetings for the past few months and has been targeting the Dhumal government. The Stokes faction has boycotted all these rallies and even office bearers of the local district Congress committees stayed away from these meetings. The ruling BJP is relishing the fight within the Congress and is expecting to gain out of it in the next assembly elections and also the coming polls for the prestigious Shimla Municipal Corporation. |
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Decision on Plan size on Sept 28 Shimla Although the extent to which the Centre will help the state will be known only after a meeting between Mr P.K. Dhumal, Chief Minister, and the Planning Commission scheduled for September 28 at which the Plan size will be finalised, the state has pinned high hopes on the assurance given by the Prime Minister. The Chief Minister has made it clear to the Centre that the fund-starved state is in a position to raise additional resources and it should provide the requisite assistance to bridge the resource gap. The government has taken all necessary steps to curtail expenditure and also mobilised resources. There is little scope for raising resources in the hill-state and the government has presented a true picture of state’s financial position before the Centre. The projections worked out by the Finance Department say the state will become self-reliant only by 2010 when most hydel power projects on which work has been started by the present government will be completed. Till that time, the Centre will have to take care of it. Mr Dhumal has impressed upon the Centre that the only way out is that it gives a special package or a long-term soft loan to end the financial woes of the state. Otherwise, the state has no opton but to raise more loans to repay old ones, which will only make things worse. The state government wants to make the most of the Prime Minister’s assurance. However, the Centre has asked the state to take corrective measures to improve its financial position. These include compressing of expenditure, downsizing of the administration, raising of additional resources and bringing down the level of market borrowing to around Rs 500 crore. The Budget estimates for the current year had indicated that it will have to raise loans to the tune of Rs 2318 crore to bridge the deficit. These included non-SLR borrowings of over 1300 crore. Later, the state agreed to bring down the level of market borrowing to around Rs 1000 crore, but the Centre maintained that it was too high and unsustainable. Mr Dhumal asserts that the Centre must have special consideration for the state in view of the injustice perpetrated on it by not giving it due share in the inter-state hydel power projects. The state is entitled to a power share of 7.19 per cent in the BBMB projects under the Punjab State Reorganisation Act, but it gets only an ad hoc share of 2.5 per cent in the Bhakra project, 15 mw in the 1000 mw BSL project and nothing in the 360 mw Pong Dam project.The arrears of its share under the Act along with 12 per cent free power as royalty has now swelled to around Rs 4000 crore. Yet the state has to plead for funds. |
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UK to fund forest project Shimla, September 23 A government spokesman said the British department was funding the project because of the good performance of state in implementing the forestry project from 1994 to 2001 in Kulu and Mandi districts under which participatory forest management was introduced. The new project would help consolidate the gains of the earlier scheme. The project will focus on rural livelihood strategy through sustainable forest management with increased emphasis on poverty eradication. A cost effective model for empowering the poor forest-dependent women and men and strengthening government and non-government institutions, to enable them to provide forestry-based livelihood support mechanisms and increased employment opportunities will be the main objective of the project. Cross sectoral linkages and strengthening of panchayati raj institutions are the key highlight of the project. The project will also lead to the formulation of a new forest policy and legislative changes. The project will be implemented on 100 sites throughout the state. The village micro plans will have a livelihood focus reflecting the needs of the user groups, poorest men and women by providing linkage with panchayat raj institutions. The project will also support the strengthening of the forestry training institutions at Chail and Sundernagar to impart professional trainings to staff and community members in natural resource management. Market research in non-timber forest products and activities to support the communities for enhancing their income and employment opportunities by developing appropriate marketing mechanisms through increased production of medicinal herbs will also be encouraged. To develop inter-sector linkages at the government level a high powered policy and planning unit under the Chairmanship of the Chief Secretary will be set up. A novel feature of the project is to set up “ Good Ideas Fund” to provide support to non governmental organisations and community based organization undertake civic education, empowerment of communities and forest users groups to enable them to undertake income generating activities.
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HP Akalis press for Punjabi in
schools Mandi, September 23 Mr Paramjit Singh Chanana, general secretary of the state dal, lamented that while Tamil and Telugu were being taught in the state as optional languages, Punjabi the language of the adjoining state, had been given a stepmotherly treatment in Himachal Pradesh, in which large parts of Punjab were merged during the reorganisation of states in November 1966. Col Ajit Singh (retd), vice-president of state dal, from Solan demanded that many historic monuments associated with Guru Gobind Singh were lying abandoned in various parts of Himachal Pradesh and they should be preserved. He said Guru Gobind Singh spent a long time in Himachal and exhorted the rulers of the hilly states to unite against the Mughals. “Sikhs, therefore, deserve a respectful place in Himachal in all spheres of life,” he said. He said the Akali Dal had pleaded with the Chief Minister to give an alternative place for the buildings of Surindra Club and primary school at Nahan which were located adjacent to the gurdwara. Smoking and drinking near the gurdwara hurt the sentiments of Sikhs. He said Guru Gobind Singh had persuaded the Rajas of Nahan and Garhwal to enter into a compromise and the place where their meeting was held stood the gurdwara. The Raja of Garhwal was powerful and could usurp Nahan state. But the Guru advised them to fight the big enemy — Aurangzeb. He claimed that at that time, the Raja had given 500 bighas of land to the Sikhs, all of which had been encroached upon with the passage of time. Sardar Kartar Singh Takkar, general secretary, Paonta Sahib Gurdwara, said for Sikhs, religion and politics were inseparable. But he lamented that things were deteriorating as the politicians today were divorcing ethics for narrow political ends. The Akali Dal demanded reservation in various services for the Sikhs who were a minority community in the state, adding that at present their share in the services was negligible and that there was no Sikh on any key post. It also pointed out that no Sikh had been nominated as vice-chairman of any board or corporation or a Member of Rajya Sabha since the creation of Himachal Pradesh.
The conference also demanded that Sikhs living in the state for the past 15 years or more should be allowed to purchase land for residential purposes. The conference also drew the attention of the state and Central governments towards the difficulties being faced by the Sikhs in getting identity letters while getting recruitment in the armed forces. It also demanded representation in various non-government committees. Over 300 delegates from all parts of the state participated in the conference.
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Dhumal inaugurates
fountain Shimla, September 23 This was stated by the Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, while inaugurating a fountain developed near Oak under the beautification plan of the local municipal corporation, here last evening. He reiterated that the government’s resolve for maintaining the natural splendour of Shimla. At least 18 projects in various places of Shimla and its suburbs had been started he added. Mr Dhumal directed the corporation to ensure that all buildings on the Mall are blanded well with hill architecture. He said that possibility was also being explored to install a tubewell in Shimla town to end the problem of the water scarcity. The Minister of State for Horticulture, Mr Narinder Bragta, thanked the Chief Minister for evincing keen interest in development of Shimla town. Mr H.N. Kashyap, Commissioner of the corporation, while welcoming the Chief Minister said that all on going projects under the “Shimla beautification scheme” would be completed by March 31 next. The fountain has been designed by Mr Sanjay Thakur, architect. |
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Employees differ on transfer policy SHIMLA: Rival factions of the non-gazetted employees are divided on the issue of transfer policy and scrapping of the state Administrative Tribunal. While Mr Ganga Singh, President of the State Non-Gazetted Services Federation, claimed the setting up of a high-powered committee to finalise the transfer policy as a major achievement, Mr Gopal Das Verma, a pro-Congress employee leader and former president of the federation, said there was no need for committee as the Swamy Committee had already carried out this exercise way back in 1979. Mr Ganga Singh, however, said that there were problems in the implementation of the Swamy Committee report. The committee to be headed by Mr Kishori Lal, the Industries Minister, would recommend the necessary changes in the report to evolve a enforceable transfer policy. Similarly, the Verma group opposed the demand for scrapping of the Administrative Tribunal. The assurance handed out by Mr Dhumal to the Ganga Singh faction, Mr Verma asserts, were meaningless. The state was not competent to take a decision in the matter and the BJP-led government at the Centre did not have the required two-thirds majority to do so. He said the Shanta Kumar regime had taken up the matter with the Centre but without success. He said employees were in favour of the Administrative Tribunal. Mr Ganga Singh, however, said there was no need of tribunal as it had now been downgraded to the level of the district court. Moreover, thousands of cases had been pending with the tribunal and there had been many instances of legal infirmities in the orders passed by it. To ensure speedy justice the government should scrap the tribunal and set up a special Bench in the high court to deal with service matters. Mr Ganga Singh claimed that since the past two years the federation had managed to get as many as 43 out of its total 58 demands accepted. The change in the formula for the repayment of house building loan, agreed by the government during the joint consultative committee meeting yesterday was a major respite for the employees as it would reduce the instalment amount considerably. Instead of the present equated monthly instalments for 15 years, under the new formula the principal amount would be recovered in 12 years and the interest in five years. Mr Verma on the other hand ridiculed the Chief Minister for announcing the release of 2 per cent additional dearness allowance in the meeting and said it was a routine matter. Moreover, no one should try to take credit for giving the employees their due. He said the government had failed to accept the major demands like house rent to both husband and wife on the Punjab pattern, enhancement in compensatory allowance, tribal allowance and capital allowance and an agitation would be launched. He said a state action committee would be constituted on October 1 to finalise the agitation programme. |
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Three-fold rise in milk production Shimla, September 23 The productivity of the livestock has been low as small farmers mostly rear cattle to meet their own needs. The annual milk production was a meagre 29.36 lakh litres in 1983. However, the various schemes launched by the government to improve the genetic stock and encourage farmers to take up dairy farming as a commercial venture increased it to 88 lakh litres by the turn of the century. Consequently, the per capita availability of milk in the state shot up to 333 gm, which is higher than the national average. The initiatives taken by the government has made dairy farming the mainstay of the peasants in the hill state where agriculture is uneconomical because of small land-holdings. After upgradation of the genetic stock and strengthening the infrastructure to provide adequate veterinary care for the livestock, the government is now focussing on marketing to ensure remunerative returns to farmers. A Rs 8.05-crore integrated daily development project is being implemented with central assistance to strengthen the marketing network. Under this, milk procurement, chilling and processing management will be improved. As many as 183 village dairy cooperatives have been established throughout the state to provide marketing facilities to 22,000 milk producers who the members of these societies. At present, 35000 litres of milk is being procured by the Cooperative Milk Producers Federation from these village milk cooperatives daily without the involvement of middleman. A sum of Rs 80 to 85 lakh per month is being paid in for the milk procured from the members living in far-flung areas. A remarkable feature is that 30 cooperatives are completely women-oriented having 5500 members. Milk processing plants with a capacity of 4000 litres per day are functioning at Totu (Shimla), Chakkar (Mandi) and Dagwar (Hamirpur). Emphasis is being laid on the development and expansion of artificial insemination network and improving its efficiency and effectiveness by modernising and strengthening of bull stations, frozen semen banks and artificial insemination centres. Artificial insemination is being provided through 1095 veterinary institutions and three semen processing laboratories. Three semen banks are functioning in the state. In all, about 5 lakh semen straws are being produced every year. Besides, five animal husbandry centres have been established to rear bulls for semen processing laboratories. At present, 1936 veterinary institutions are providing healthcare. The government has decided to provide a veterinary institution for every two panchayats. More than 20 per cent milch cattle have been crossbreed with high-yielding breeds. About 500 quintals of fodder seed and 10 lakh roots of grass are being distributed to farmers every year. So far 6543 quintals of balanced cattlefeed has been distributed among cattle rearers. Steps are afoot to install “bulk cooler” in milk cooperative societies for the safe transportation of milk to the milk processing centres. Animal feed and improved fodder seed is also being made available to the farmers through these societies. |
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Beating of farmers: 4 cops
transferred Solan, September 23 He also ordered an inquiry into the incident. It has been entrusted to the Additional SP, Mr Sunder Lal. The latter has been asked to submit his report within a week. Earlier, a delegation of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) had submitted a written complaint to the Director-General of Police at Shimla. It said certain farmers of Shimla district were taking their produce of fresh vegetables to Chandigarh in a hired truck. As the truck reached the “naka” in front of the Dharampur police station, it was signalled to stop. The driver could only manage to stop the truck a little distance away from the “naka”, which infuriated members of the police party, some of whom were allegedly drunk. One of the cops smashed the windscreen of the truck and beat up two of its occupants. The police party allegedly demanded Rs 1,000 for letting them off. When the farmers refused to pay the bribe, the truck owner was challaned and a case was registered under Section 186 of the IPC. The DYFI delegation demanded action against the policemen. They reinforced their charges by producing the two farmers who had been roughed up before the DGP. The back of one of them bore deep lashes that could have been made by cane or lathi blows. |
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