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Tuesday,
June 24, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Drought: govt ‘playing politics’ BJP walkout in
House Kol Dam project to generate 800 MW Move to impose
house tax opposed 2 killed, 4 hurt
in accident |
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Labourers observe
strike No fresh case
against suspended HPSSSB chief Virbhadra turns 69
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Drought: govt ‘playing politics’ Shimla, June 23 Addressing a press conference after the walkout in the Vidhan Sabha by the BJP group, he said the government was not aware of the ground reality and instead of providing succour to the suffering people, it was indulging in politics. He said the sites of handpumps had been changed to benefit individuals and employees of the departments concerned had been transferred en-masse to make things worse. Farmers were being forced to procure fodder at Rs 400 to Rs 500 per quintal because of the failure of the government to provide subsidy on its transportation. He said his government last year ensured the supply of fodder at Rs 75 to Rs 90 per quintal. The extent to which the areas represented by Opposition members were discriminated against could be judged from the fact that the government refused to give a guarantee for a loan of Rs 52 crore sanctioned by HUDCO for the execution the Bamsen-Lagwatti water supply scheme. The scheme would have benefited the people of Bamsen, which he represented along with the Mewa, Dharamput and Gopalpur assembly constituencies. He alleged that even the available water was being distributed on political considerations and villages which voted for the BJP were denied a just share. Tenders for the supply of water through tankers had been awarded to Congress supporters who were not in a position to do so. He cited the example of Mandi district in this regard where the tender was not cancelled even though the contractor failed to start the supply of water for four weeks. The result was that in places like Shikari Devi people were forced to purchase water at Rs 30 per bucket. It was for such reasons that the Congress was avoiding a discussion in the House on the issue. His party members had given notices for discussion and an adjournment motion well in time but these were not taken up. Many water supply schemes would have been completed during the summer if the Congress government had not cancelled the tenders awarded earlier. As the process for calling fresh tenders was time consuming, the execution of schemes had been unnecessarily delayed. |
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BJP walkout in
House Shimla, June 23 The BJP members led by Mr Karm Dev Dharmani raised the issue immediately after question hour. They demanded a discussion on the alarming drought situation, which had caused an acute scarcity of fodder and water. However, Mr Gangu Ram Musafir, Speaker, maintained that a discussion could not be allowed as the minister concerned was making a statement to apprise the House of the situation. As Mr Kaul Singh, Irrigation and Public Health Minister, started reading out his statement, the BJP members started raising slogans and his voice was drowned in the din. The efforts of the Speaker to pacify the slogan-shouting members proved futile. Mr P.K. Dhumal, leader of the BJP group, alleged that the opposition was being denied its democratic right to raise such an important issue concerning the people. He claimed that BJP members had given notices for a discussion on drought and an adjournment motion on the fodder shortage. Mr Musafir intervened immediately and said he had not received any notice and urged the protesting members to allow the minister to make the statement. He said there could be no discussion without a proper notice as per the rules. Enraged over the ruling of the Speaker, the BJP members walked out of the House. Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, said that the behaviour of the BJP members only reflected their disappointment over the poll result in the three tribal segments recently. Mr Kaul Singh said he had given notice for making a statement four days ago and under the rules the minister could make a suo motu statement in an emergency situation. In his statement he said that out of the total of 7142 water supply schemes in the state 2,452 had been hit because of scanty precipitation. While 346 schemes had almost dried up, the availability of water in 735 schemes had come down by up to 25 per cent. Besides, 787 schemes had been affected between 25 and 50 per cent and 584 schemes between 50 and 70 per cent. The maximum number of 740 schemes had been hit in Mandi district, followed by 408 in Shimla, 282 in Sirmaur, 231` in Solan and 224 in Chamba. He said he had been monitoring the situation since March and holding regular meetings with officials of the department. The Deputy Commissioners were asked to submit fortnightly reports. Water tankers were pressed into service as the situation worsened. As many as 437 tankers and trucks had been deployed as on June 17. The department had installed 301 handpumps since April 1, 2003. He said an action plan involving an expenditure of Rs 45.45 crore had been submitted to the Centre for taking long and short-term measures like installation of hand pumps, linking of traditional sources, deployment of tankers and augmentation of urban water supply schemes. Mr Kaul Singh said drought had affected many states in the country but because of timely and apt handling of the situation by the government the problem had been contained. He said the leave of the field staff had been cancelled and nodal officers had been appointed at the zonal and circle levels to monitor the situation. Emphasis was being laid on chlorination and testing of water. A close watch was being kept to check the misuse and wastage of water. Special attention was being paid to Shimla town for which the water availability had come down by 25 to 30 per cent. The situation would have been worse if the department had not sunk four tubewells to augment the supply by 10 lakh gallons per day. The farmers in the catchment of the Gummah Khad, the main source, had been asked not to irrigate their fields for which they would be compensated. Besides 43 handpumps had been installed in the town. Work on the augmentation of the Nauti Khad scheme was being completed on priority to add another 10 lakh gallons to the daily supply. The department had formulated a Rs 55.34 crore hydrology project to collect, compile and analyse data on the availability of ground water, surface water, snow and rain water. It had been submitted to the Centre for World Bank funding. The Chief Minister released Rs 3.10 crore to Deputy Commissioners and Rs 1 crore to the department for the supply of water through tankers and augmentation of water supply schemes. Mr Sukh Ram of the HVC said the problem had been compounded due to the transfer of employees. Many posts in the field were vacant. Mr Kuldeep Pathania (Independent) appreciated the effort of the government in dealing with the situation. Earlier, the three newly elected members, Mr Raghubir Singh, Mr Jagat Singh Negi and Mr Thakur Singh were administered the oath by the Speaker. |
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Kol Dam project to generate 800 MW Bilaspur, June 23 Addressing media persons during an on-site visit organised by the NTPC, Mr K. Dube, Executive Director, Hydro, NTPC announced that the 800 MW capacity Koldam project which will cost Rs 45,000 crore is slated to be commissioned in 2009 is on schedule and will be generating over 3000 million units of electricity every year, providing the much needed peaking capacity to the northern grid. Himachal Pradesh will be the most benefited from the project with 27 per cent of the total share of electricity produced going to the State. According to the agreement signed by the NTPC with the Himachal Pradesh Government and the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board, while 12 per cent of the total generation will be free of cost to the state, 15 per cent will be charged on a Bus bar tariff. Punjab will be getting 111 MW of power out of the total 800 MW capacity followed by Haryana which will get 43 MW. Chandigarh will be getting 6 MW of power from this dam. The project took off in 2000 and within three years the NTPC has managed to keep to its milestone dates with its two river diversion tunnels in place on June 8 this year. The diversion of the river will take place in December after which the actual construction of the dam will begin. The dam, 163 metres in height will be the second largest rock and gravel filled dam in the country (the largest being the Tehri dam). The site of the dam on river Sutlej is about 4 kilometres upstream of Slapper bridge on the national highway in Bilaspur. With an installed capacity of 800 MW, the Koldam project has led to sudden spurt in the economy of the area. Initially identified during the mid sixties as a major hydroelectric power development scheme of the river Sutlej, just upstream of the Bhakra reservoir. The original project was of 600 MW capacity and was submitted to the central electricity authority in 1976. The scheme had a limited storage area and the reservoir life span of about 18 years. Due to this limitation concept of the project changed from a storage scheme to a run of the river scheme. A revised project plan was submitted in May 1987 and the techno-economic clearance accorded in 1988. NTPC took up the project in 2000 following a tripartite agreement signed with the government of Himachal Pradesh and the HPSEB. Now, a run-of-the-river scheme, the project envisages utilising a drop of about 140 metres by constructing a 163 metres high rock and gravel filled dam with impervious central clay core and having surface power station at the toe of the dam housing four turbines of 200 MWs each. The reservoir submergence is about 40 km upstream of the dam axis covering over 1500 hectares of land in four districts of Himachal including Mandi, Solan and Shimla. |
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Move to impose
house tax opposed Bilaspur, June 23 Reports say the Nagar Parishad has been against the imposition of the tax right from 1997 when the former Congress government led by Mr Virbhadra Singh imposed the tax on all towns of the state. Then the Nagar Parishad was controlled by the Congress and a deputation of prominent organisations led by Nagar Parishad President Tulsiram Tadu had met Mr Virbhadra Singh and pleaded exemption from the tax on the plea that the town was being constructed for the rehabilitation of the oustees of the Bhakra Dam. The Chief Minister had agreed to their plea. During the five-year BJP rule in the state, the government did not insist on imposing the tax on the town but once again the government led by Mr Virbhadra Singh has ordered that the tax be imposed and arrears be paid with effect from 1997. This has united the town and all leaders, including five municipal councillors of the Congress are opposing the move. |
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2 killed, 4 hurt
in accident Dharamsala, June 23 According to the SP, Kangra, Mr S.Z.H. Zaidi, the van was carrying members of a marriage party returning to Hamirpur from Samirpur. The vehicle fell into the gorge while the driver was reversing it near Barotu. Anit Pathania (25), a resident of Bhadiada village and Navneet Manhas (24) of Samirpur died on the spot. A seriously injured person was shifted to the Regional Hospital, Hamirpur, while three other victims were admitted to the Sujanpur hospital. |
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Labourers observe
strike Bilaspur, June 23 CITU district convener Lakhan Pal Sharma said here today that Ashok Kumar was the president of the Parvati Hydro Power Project Works Union and was allegedly assaulted by some anti-social elements at the instance of those who were at the receiving end of his trade union activities. Mr Sharma said the call for the strike was given by the HP State CITU Committee last night and consequently all affiliated unions of CITU in all projects in the state, including Parvati, Nathpa-Jhakri, Larji, Malana and Kol Dam, were on strike and no work was being done in any of these projects. |
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No fresh case
against suspended HPSSSB chief Shimla, June 23 Taking into account a news item published in an English daily regarding the registration of a fresh case against him, Mr Katwal approached the high court for a pre-arrest bail. Mr Justice K.C. Sood, on the basis of the statement of the
prosecution, rejected the bail plea today. It was alleged in the bail petition that he was being falsely implicated in criminal cases after the changed political scenario. |
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Virbhadra turns 69 Shimla, June 23 Mr Virbhadra Singh thanked his well-wishers for love and affection and said that his endeavour would always be to serve people of the state. |
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After
the BJP, the Congress gears up to go into a "Chintan
Shivir" in Himachal Pradesh to evolve its strategy for
the forthcoming Assembly elections.
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