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Sunday,
July 14, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Pact on
Rampur power project finalised Plan to
harness 10,000 MW Water shortage
in Shimla ONGC team
to cap leakage from well |
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HC sets
aside conviction of 2 Accused
attempts suicide in custody Notices to
DC, Revenue Secy on acquired land ICAR
award for scientists’ team Youth
‘murdered’ in Bilaspur
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Pact on Rampur power project finalised Shimla, July 13 Although the project will be executed by the Nathpa Jhakri Power Corporation, a joint venture of the state and the Centre, the terms and conditions are totally different from that of the 1500 MW Nathpa Jhakri Project which is nearing completion. The debt equity ratio in the Rampur project will be 70: 30 as against 50:50 in the case of the Nathpa Jhakri Project. The Centre and state will have 75 per cent and 25 per cent equity participation, respectively, on the pattern of the Nathpa Jhakri Project. The agreement was finalised at a high-level meeting between teams of officials of the Union Ministry of Power and the state, headed by Mr R.V. Sahi, Secretary, Power, Government of India, and Mr Harsh Gupta, Chief Secretary, respectively, in Delhi recently. The agreement is likely to be approved by the state Cabinet shortly. The failure to arrive at an agreement for the execution of the project had delayed work by almost two years. The corporation will take 40 per cent manpower from the state electricity board for the execution of the project on deputation. The Centre did not accept the state’s proposal to have 60 per cent manpower from the board, but agreed to set up a committee at the state level to monitor and review the progress of the project. The committee will be headed by the Chief Secretary. The need for such a committee was felt time and again during the execution of the Nathpa Jhakri Project, which was delayed by about four years. The delay has more than doubled the cost. The Centre also did not agree to the state’s proposal to have a permanent Director on the Board of Directors of the NJPC. It expressed its helpless in the matter as the posts of directors in public sector undertakings are filled by the Public Sector Enterprises Board. The project had been hanging fire for over six years. Although the NJPC was to exploit the hydel power potential of the Sutlej basin, the state has been reluctant in handing over the Rampur project to it in view of its bitter experience in the Nathpa Jhakri Corporation. The unending disputes between direct recruits of the corporation and deputationists from the board, improper execution of works, and workers unrest hampered work. The state used the Rampur project to pressure the corporation into settling issues pertaining to the service conditions of deputationists and also to get its equity for Nathpa Jhakri, which it was unable to pay, arranged clear that it would charge interest on the amount from the state at the rate applicable to central loans. The state has so far paid Rs 659 crore against its equity share of Rs 958 crore on the unrevised cost of Rs 7666 crore. The Centre has contributed Rs 30.82 crore which is Rs 207 crore more than its share. However, the cost of the projects has been revised to Rs 9,669 crore and accordingly the state’s share will go up to Rs 1,146 crore. The state will thus have to arrange about Rs 500 crore to meet its share. |
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Plan to harness 10,000 MW Shimla, July 13 He said the state had an identified potential of 21000 MW, but no effort had been made to harness it. The government had formulated an ambitious plan to harness 10,000 MW by the end of the decade which would fetch an annual income of Rs 1800 crore to the state. He said work on projects with an aggregate capacity of 7155 MW had already been started during the period and some of these were nearing completion. Mr Kishori Lal said industrial development had also been given a big boost with the objective of creating employment opportunities and economic development on a sustainable basis. He said eco-friendly industries based on local raw material were being encouraged in a big way. Under the new industrial policy, the thrust was on setting up units in the interiors of the state so that the local people got employment. He said the revenue administration had been made transparent and responsive by making amendments to the obsolete old revenue laws. He also said that to save the farmers from costly litigation, a new concept of revenue courts had been introduced. The social services sector had also been given priority and social security pension had been enhanced from Rs 100 to Rs 200 per month. Daily wages had been enhanced from Rs 45.75 to Rs 60. |
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Water shortage
in Shimla Shimla, July 13 The state had normal pre-monsoon showers in the last week of June, but the monsoon did not really arrive. There has been virtually no rain since the past fortnight. Consequently, a summer-like situation persists with significant reduction in discharge in the
Gumma, Chehr, Churat and Ashwini khuds, the main water sources, catering to the city. Many areas had to go without water supply today. These included
Sanjauli, The Mall, Cemetery, Lakkar Bazar and Longwood as water level in the storage tanks at Sanjauli and The Ridge fell much below the required level. The water level at The Ridge dipped to 4.5 ft, as against the normal 8 ft. The authorities were forced to operate four pumps instead of five at Gumma as adequate water was not available for pumping. In all, the daily availability has come down from lakh gallans to around 52 lakh gallons. Mr
A. N. Sharma, Municipal Commissioner, visited all sources to take stock of situation. He said a booster pump had been installed below the Gumma headworks to lift additional water. He said there would be no rationing and regular supply would be maintained to all areas. He said if need be, tankers would be pressed into service. |
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ONGC team
to cap leakage from well Kangra, July 13 Mr
D. K. Panday, General Manager, Frontier Basin, ONGC, who is heading the inspection team, today told this correspondent that gas was spewing and saline hot water was gushing out of the well which was good from the geological point of view. He said a crisis management team comprising a safety officer, drilling officer, surveyor, geologist and a fire officer had been formed. The team would stay at the site for a couple of days to oversee the progress of the first phase of work. He said there was no need to panic and the residents need not migrant from Baggi and other villages. Mr Panday said, “We are pumping out saline water from the pit of the well to assess the damage so that a specialised team can be deputed to control the situation.” When asked that wells at Lunj (Nurpur-I) and the Baggi (Jawalamukhi) were reportedly alive with enormous gas pressure when the ONGC decided to pack up nearly a decade ago, Mr Panday said, “I don’t know why these were abandoned, whether the data was poor or there was some other reason, but this well was never tested by the ONGC”. He said there was a hot saline water source beneath but further assessment would help in sorting out the problem. A decade ago, the ONGC decided to wind up operations and drilling work was brought to a halt at three sites, including Baggi, selected by geological experts in and around Jawalamukhi in the district. This provoked a public protest against this ONGC decision and the Sangharsh Samiti, Jawalamukhi spearheaded an agitation, against the closure of the ONGC work. Mr Ramesh Sharma, president of the Sangarsh Samiti, claimed that the ONGC had earlier proposed to supply gas for household use and industrial consumption from the Baggi well if declare Baggi and Lunj wells inactive remained a mystery. |
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HC sets aside conviction of 2 Shimla, July 13 The prosecution had alleged that on April 3, 1999 the Superintendent of Police (SP), Una, received information about the large-scale smuggling of opium by a gang in the villages of the district. After receiving the information, the SP constituted a party which raided the house of accused Avtar Singh and recovered opium from one plastic and six raxin bags. The raiding party also recovered Rs 2,16,683 from his house. Avtar Singh and Rajesh Kumar were arrested and a challan was presented in the court. The prosecution produced 14 witnesses and was able to secure the conviction of the accused from the trial court. Setting aside the conviction by the Sessions Judge, Una, a Division Bench of the Himachal High Court, comprising Mr Justice R.L. Khurana and Mr Justice M.R. Verma, observed that the mandatory provision of Section 42 of the NDPS Act had not been complied by the police. Hence, the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. The Bench directed the authorities to release the accused forthwith if they were not required in any other cases. |
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Accused
attempts suicide in custody Nurpur, July 13 According to the information available, the police was taking him to the scene of the crime to collect evidence when he gave a slip to the police and escaped. After an eight-hour search, the police nabbed the accused with the assistance of the local people at Dankua. The accused tried to commit suicide but the police foiled his attempt. Later he was admitted to the local Civil Hospital as he was injured during his attempt to commit
suicide. The police has registered another case under Sections 309 and 224 of the IPC for an attempt to commit suicide and escape from police custody. The police produced the accused before the judicial court yesterday and took further police remand. A land dispute between two brothers led to the murder of one of them last Saturday. In this connection Baksheesh Ram was arrested. His son Pawan Kumar had been absconding who later surrendered before the police. |
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Notices
to DC, Revenue Secy on acquired land Shimla, July 12 According to the petitioner, at the time of Partition, 18 members of his family were killed in riots. Only his father and his wife survived. The Government of India under the Evacuee Property Act, 1950, took the custody of the land of the petitioner measuring 91 bighas and a custodian was appointed to look after it. Under the Act, if any person left India the Central Government would be the owner of his property. In this case, however, the petitioner did not go to Pakistan. The petitioner approached the high court, seeking the return of the property. |
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ICAR award for scientists’ team Shimla, July 13 The award will be conferred on the team, led by Dr H.C. Sharma, Head, Division of Social Sciences, by Union Agriculture Minister Ajit Singh at New Delhi on July 16. The other members of the team are Dr Shiv Kumar, Dr V.K. Chandla, Dr N.K. Pandey and Dr Anil Kumar. The award, given once in two years, carries Rs 100,000 and a citation. The team has done excellent work done in the past five years in Cheog, Bani and Deorighat panchayats during 1996-1999 and in Rampuri and Baghi panchayats in Himachal Pradesh during 1999-2000 under the institute-village linkage programme. Dr S.M. Paul Khurana, Director of the institute, said the institute had identified an inter-disciplinary team of scientists fully devoted to the programme and would soon be launching an agriculture technology information centre to provide a single window system for delivering agricultural technologies to farmers.
UNI |
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Youth ‘murdered’ in Bilaspur Bilaspur, July 13 Vishal was running a gift emporium in NGO’s Bhavan at Changer Sector in town. A brand new scooter without any damage was also found near his body of Vishal. The scooter was without any number. According to people mouth of the youth was allegedly muffled with a cloth and he had bled from his nose and ears while several toes of his both
feet were missing. It is suspected that the murderers have attempted to mislead the police by making it look like a case of “hit and run” accident during the night. |
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Tibetan
women hold protest Dharamsala, July 13 The rally which started from McLeodganj concluded at Kachheri Adda where a protest meeting was held. More than 1,500 Tibetan women, men, children and their supporters, including some foreigners, participated in the meeting. |
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Drivers
call off strike Shimla, July 13 The president and the general secretary of the association said in a statement that the strike had been called off unconditionally in the public interest and for maintaining cordial relations with the government. Drivers and conductors of government and semi-government departments in the state had gone on strike on July 8 demanding parity in special pay with secretariat drivers, regularisation of the services of daily wage earners and more promotional avenues.
PTI |
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Murthi EC
observer for presidential poll Shimla, July 13 The Observer will be present in the polling station to oversee the dispatch of ballot boxes to the Returning Officer in New Delhi. |
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