 |
Saturday,
May 17, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
Chamera oustees hold protest, seek package Encroachments on forest land to go Viral disease kills trout Another case against HPSSSB chief ‘Form panel for upkeep of Khajjiar’ |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Verma
sworn in Additional Judge
Non-recovery of payments hits projects No-parking zones notified
|
|
Chamera oustees hold protest, seek package Chamba, May 16 The members of the ousted families raised slogans against the NHPC management demanding their financial package to be paid to them forthwith. The District Magistrate of Chamba, Mr Rahul Anand, claimed that the agitation by the ousted families was peaceful and there was no hindrance in the way of construction of the project, which was going on round-the-clock and nearing commissioning. However, he was waiting for the directions of the state government in this regard, he added. As a precautionary measure, the DM had issued warning in this regard. The Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP), Chamba, Mr N.D. Sharma, was on the spot to handle the situation. Meanwhile, when contacted the General Manager of the Chamera project stage-II, Mr Parminder Singh, said the NHPC had already approved the financial package of Rs 8.76 crore to about 312 families affected by the Chamera Hydroelectric Project, Stages-I and II in the district on the recommendations of a high-powered committee constituted by the state government. He said that as a goodwill gesture towards the local people and state government, the NHPC had accorded sanction, subject to the Himachal government’s undertaking that any such further claimant on account of land shall be taken care of by the state government and the NHPC was prepared to pay the money against the financial package subject to the undertaking. He said the NHPC had agreed to pay financial package to 192 land oustees of the Chamera Stage-I and 120 land oustees of the Chamera Stage-II. He said that the high powered committee of the Himachal Pradesh Government had recommended Rs 3 lakh each family to 192 land oustees of Chamera Stage-I in two instalments and Rs 2.5 lakh each family to 120 land oustees of Chamera Stage-II in Karian village in one instalment. He claimed that the oustees of Karian village in Chamera Stage-II were paid Rs 40,000 per bigha at the negotiated rate, irrespective of the kind of land being acquired by the project, which was four times higher than the prevailing land rates at that time under the land acquisition provisions. |
|
Encroachments on forest land to go Shimla, May 16 A high-level meeting of forest officers held under the chairmanship of Mr Chander Kumar, the Himachal Forest Minister, here yesterday, decided that immediate action should be initiated to evict those who have applied for the regularisation of encroachments under a policy of the previous Dhumal government as it violated the Forest Conservation Act. It was decided that special teams having officers of the Forest and the Enforcement Departments, be formed to remove encroachments under a campaign. The department has been asked to act against those who had encroached on bigger chunks. The Chief Minister and the Forest Minister have assured that there would be no political interference and that the officers would be given free hand in the matter. Field officials, who allegedly were hand-in glove with the encroachers took advantage of their political connections. Encroachments in forest areas have been rampant and the situation has been becoming worse due to the indifferent attitude of the Forest Department. The previous government’s policy led to encroachments by 41,083 which were illegal and applied for
regularisation. This happened despite the fact that the divisional forest officers had powers of collector for removing unauthorised occupants from the forest land. Thus, the number of officially recorded encroachments has gone up to 44,938 and the total forest land under illegal occupation is 8,168.81 hectares. The actual magnitude of the encroachments is many times more as the number of unreported cases was much larger. The maximum number of encroachments is in the alpine zone where villagers have transformed forests into apple orchards. The forests close to the habitations and private land are more prone to encroachments. Besides political patronage some other factors like defective settlement records, non-existence of clearly demarcated forest boundaries and shortage of staff also hinder the functioning of the department. Moreover, the field staff also did not have requisite knowledge of land records and demarcation procedures. There is an acute shortage of staff as evident from the fact that there were only 1853 forest guards as against the sanctioned strength of 2687. Similarly, there was a shortage of 33 assistant conservators of forests, 94 range officers, 35 deputy range officers, two tehsildars, eight kanungos and 30 patwaris. Further the prosecution machinery was also weak and there was no law officer in the department. In fact, the department has proposed the setting up of a prosecution cell which has not been accepted by the government so far. The rate of compensation provided under the Forest Act for encroachment was vary meagre and ranged between Rs 50 and Rs 500 per hectare which needs to be increased to Rs 5,000 per hectare. |
|
Viral disease kills trout Mandi, May 16 Trout fish stock in trout hatcheries at Barot, Patli Kuhl, Nagni and Sangla has perished by a mysterious disease which has become an epidemic. Barot hatchery in this district once having trout in abundance presented deserted look. New seedling imported from Norway at Barot are not growing rapidly like the rainbow trout. Fish hatchery was upgraded at Patli Kuhl in Kulu district under the Indo-Norwegian collaboration. The project started in 1986, was completed in 1996. Aquaculture and fish farming has undergone revolutionary development in Denmark and Norway in the past few decades and these two countries are rated as technology leaders in the world. They have failed to develop medicines to deal with this viral infection which spread to all hatcheries in the state. It is astonishing that private trout farms at various places in the state have not been affected by the disease. Trout fish population at Patli Kuhl hatchery in which the latest technology has been transferred from Norway has also been totally destroyed by the viral disease. The Norwegian scientists have reported that the fatal disease which has taken toll of entire trout fish has been caused by the irrido virus which is uncontrollable. On their suggestion the stock was disposed of in the state and disease free-eggs and fingerlings were imported. The viral disease has dealt a setback to the fisheries. The growth of the new imported variety of trout is stated to be very slow. The department which had invested crores for developing trout in the state. Trout is a clean and cold water fish and a delicacy. |
|
Another case against HPSSSB chief Shimla, May 16 Mr Katwal was placed under interim suspension after a case was registered against him regarding various irregularities in the selection of Vidya Upasaks for the Karsog subdivision. In the second case, he has been charged with cheating, forgery and tampering with selections record, including interview results and answersheets of written examination. A case has been registered under Sections 420, 466, 468, 471 and 120 B of the IPC and Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. During investigations of the case, the police came across instances of overwriting and tampering of record allegedly to ensure the selection of some candidates. Marks in the answersheets were tampered with allegedly to ensure the selection of certain candidates. |
|
‘Form panel for upkeep of Khajjiar’ Khajjiar (Chamba), May 16 The members also expressed resentment over the functioning of the forest department which, they alleged created hurdles in the development of the resort by not using the funds provided by the Department of Tourism properly. These issues were raised by the members of various local bodies, including mahila and yuva mandals and representatives from the tourism industry, at a meeting held under the chairmanship of the Additional District Magistrate of Chamba, Capt J.M. Pathania, yesterday. Tourism Development Officer K.L. Mastana was also present at the meeting. They said there was a need to constitute a single nodal agency or local committee under the chairmanship of some competent authority of the state government so that the funds means for Khajjiar’s development could be utilised through this committee. Members of gram panchayat, yuva and mahila mandals, representatives of the hotel and restaurants’ associations, horse owners, outdoor photographers and organisations related to the tourism industry of the area should be included in the committee. The members also demanded probe into the utilisation of funds deposited with various departments for the development of the Khajjiar lake. They opined that the revenue fetched from the tourists visiting Khajjiar should be spent on the development and beautification of the lake and its surroundings. Later, the authorities launched a cleanliness drive along with the local people around the lake. |
|
Verma sworn in
Additional Judge Shimla, May 16 Mr Sat Mahajan, Rural Development Minister, Mr Justice L.S. Panta, Mr Justice A.K. Goel, Mr Justice R.L. Khurana and Mr Justice K.C. Sood, senior civil and police officers and judicial officers were among those present. |
|
Pine trees destroyed in forest fire Hamirpur, May 16 This is third time that a portion of the NIT forest had caught fire. The forest fire this time completely burnt a number of huge pine trees. Many huge pine trees were still in grip of fire as the fire had entered inside them due to the excessive exploitation of resin from them. Meanwhile, people here are facing problem of smoke pollution due to the burning of the forests in the area. |
|
Non-recovery of payments hits projects Kumarhatti, May 16 Investigations revealed that the amount that runs into lakhs had been outstanding since long and major defaulters had left the scene without informing the panchayat. The monthly rent revenue of the panchayat was amounted to Rs 50,000 and played a vital role to carry out development activities. The non-recovery of the dues has put the panchayat in tight position. Even salaries of panchayat workers have been affected, rued a panchayat worker. An amount of nearly Rs 3.50 lakh has been pending since the tenure of previous panchayat and at present the panchayat has started to collect advance rent payment, said a panchayat member. To collect the backlog, the panchayat has filed cases against the defaulters, he said. Even the panchayat is planning to get the outstanding money through the guarantors, he maintained. Meanwhile, no action has been taken on a resolution that was submitted by the panchayat about one year ago to provide a regular secretary. The present secretary has to handle another two far-flung panchayats along with Dharampur that adversely affected the administrative work. |
|
No-parking zones notified Shimla, May 16 The portion of road between Engine Ghar and St. Bede’s College Chowk on Circular Cart Road has been declared as the place on which light motor vehicles should be allowed to be parked with immediate effect. The entire Circular Cart Road has been declared as no-parking zone for all types of vehicles. All heavy and medium passenger and goods vehicles would be allowed to be parked only on the bypass road between Bhatakuffar and Khalini and Tutikandi at zones/points to be notified by the District Magistrate, Shimla. |
|
Budh Poornima celebrated Shimla, May 16 A large number of people took holy bath. A colourful cultural programme was presented by schoolchildren and a local mahila
mandal. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
