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Nod to raise Nathpa dam height by 5 metres
Govt ‘shielding’ dowry-seeker OSD
Roerich’s centenary celebrations begin on Oct 30
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Adopt latest farming techniques, says CM
Scholars oppose tampering with textbooks
Celebrations begin at Dalhousie
Former HP High Court judge dead
6 kg of charas seized; one held
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Nod to raise Nathpa dam height by 5 metres
Shimla, October 28 The issue had been hanging fire for the past three years as the state electricity board has been opposing any increase in the dam height on the ground that the reservoir thus created will inundate its 126 MW Bhabha project located upstream. The government allowed to raise the dam height from the existing 57.50 m to 62.50 m after the nigam agreed to construct a 1,500 m long protection wall and a 1.20 km long-tail race tunnel to prevent the back flow of river water into the underground power house. The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission has, on the basis of the design, categorised the 1500 MW project as a partial storage scheme while determining interim power tariff. As such, the project is required to provide at least three hours of peaking power to the national power grid. Failure to fulfil the peaking requirement attracts penalty in the form of a lower power tariff. A minimum of 85 per cent capacity utilisation has to be ensured to avoid penalty. The project will have three hours of peaking capacity only after raising the dam height. The nigam is not in a position to supply peaking power as it will take at least two years to construct the protection wall and the drainage tunnel. Its present peaking capacity is just one and a half hours. However, sources reveal that more than that the nigam is worried about the damage caused to turbines due to repeated shutdown and starting for meeting the peaking requirement. The 250 MW generating units have been installed for the first time in the country and while designing the project the engineers had no idea of the such problems. Thus, the nigam is now keen on changing the status of the project from partial storage to run-of-the-river scheme. However, for such projects the peaking power requirement has to be met up to 90 per cent to avoid penalty. |
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Govt ‘shielding’ dowry-seeker OSD
Solan, October 28 While addressing mediapersons here today, he said the said official, Dr Dinesh Sharma, who enjoyed a considerable clout in the Chief Minister’s office had been given the plum posting of an OSD despite faring 476 in the state seniority list of 1,000. He said that a Punjab police party, which had come to investigate the case, had visited Shimla to arrest Dr Dinesh. They visited Chamba, his native place, to recover the dowry items, including gold
jewellery, and finally took him to Rajpura. But it was intriguing that despite being booked under a non-bailable section of the IPC, he was not suspended by the state government, Dr Bindal said. All this pointed to the government’s undue support to him to settle the case, alleged Dr Bindal. Not only this, the junior officer was made a member of the crucial purchase council of the Ayurveda Department and he wielded considerable influence in the transfer and postings of officials of his department. He charged Dr Sharma of effecting the maximum transfers in the department in a short span of one and a half years. The quantum of his influence could be gauged from the fact that as many as six district ayurveda officers had been appointed in Himachal Pradesh on an ad hoc basis surpassing the senior officers. Besides bossing over his seniors, Dr Dinesh, alleged Dr Bindal, was inspecting the working of his senior officers in the department which was causing resentment among the officers. While expressing concern at the high-handedness of this officer, Dr Bindal furnished details of an FIR lodged against him by his wife, accusing him and his family of inflicting cruelty to her. The wife, Dr Sadhana Aggarwal, who was married to Dr Dinesh on November 11, 1999 has levelled allegations of harassment by her in-laws. The hapless women was physically and mentally tortured for meeting their repeated demands of cash and
jewellery. Unable to meet their increasing demands a shattered Sadhana returned to her parental home in Rajpura and lodged a complaint with the police there against her in-laws on September 28. It was a demand of Rs 3 lakh which her parents could not meet that led her husband to threaten for the
worse. |
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Roerich’s centenary celebrations begin on Oct 30
Manali, October 28 According to sources, the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadhra Singh will be the chief guest on the occasion. He will hoist the Indian and Russian National Flags, to pay tribute to Nicholas Roerich’s samadhi at the estate and also inaugurate a memorial. He will also release a book on the famous Russian painter’s art. Nicholas Roerich visited India in 1923, for the first time. Falling in love with the mesmerising beauty of the Himalayas he painted a number of mountain landscapes on canvas, which were admired for their haunting quality. Nicholas Roerich was taken in by the enchanting environment of the Kulu valley, and in 1929 bought a house in Naggar, known as the Hall Estate. He lived there till his death in December 1947. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi had visited Roerich at Naggar in May 1942. Svetoslav died at his Bangalore estate in 1993. It was at this time that Devika Rani donated the Hall Estate to the International Roerich Memorial Trust. The place now known as Roerich Art Gallery displays a large number of the painter’s work. According to Dr Alena Adakova the curator of the art gallery the Central Government had sanctioned about Rs 1 crore for the Roerich International College of Fine Arts (RICFA). While talking to the correspondent, she revealed that an art college had started functioning from April 1, 2003. The college has four departments. The college teaches Indian classical music, Indian classical dance, folk drama and painting. The students here come from all over India. The centenary celebrations will go on for 2 days. On the first day there will be a cultural programme — ‘Yarmanka’ performed by a Russian folk group from Altai, Russia, followed by an Indian classical and folk troupe. A painting exhibition will also be inaugurated. The students of the Helena Roerich Art College will perform in concert. Children’s painting competition will also be held. There be a presentation of the Commemorative Svetoslav Roerich Medal at a special dinner at Naggar Castle. On October 31, there will be a seminar on the life and art of Svetoslav Roerich which will be followed by a cultural programme. |
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Adopt latest farming techniques, says CM
Dharamsala, October 28 He said that more than 90 per cent population of the state was dependent on agriculture and pressure on the farming sector was increasing. The need of the hour, he said, was to focus on research as well as extension in such a way as farmers, especially those in far-flung areas, got the
benefits. He further said that the state government had resolved to safeguard the interests of farmers. He said that agriculture and horticulture development had been given special attention by the government. A provision of Rs 121 crore had been made during the current financial year for agriculture and allied activities,” he said. Transport Minister G.S. Bali suggested that a mobile exhibition could be started for the benefit of small farmers. Speaking on the occasion, the Vice-Chancellor Dr Jagmohan Singh, said that Rs 19 crore was being spent by the university on various schemes during the current financial year and another proposal for Rs 59 crore was pending with the
Centre. |
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Scholars oppose tampering with textbooks
Shimla, October 28 Majority of the eminent philosophers, historians and sociologists attending the three-day seminar on “India in the 21st century and the idea of peace” at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies here, feel that changes in history books should not be made on political considerations but only if they are recommended by historians and academicians. “In a multiparty system, change is inevitable with change of government, but heavy dose of induction of political programme of a party is undesirable as it leads to highlighted dissonance,” feels Prof D.P. Chattopadhyaya, an eminent scholar and a former Union Minister. He says institutions like the Central Advisory Board on Education should have been kept functional. |
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Celebrations begin at Dalhousie
Dalhousie, October 28 Ms Asha Kumari, Himachal Pradesh Education Minister laid the foundation stone of a Red Cross laboratory, inaugurated the rain shelter at the general post office and gave away prizes to participants in various events. Situated at the northern end of the Dhauladhars, the Dalhousie hills was conceived as a sanatorium in dense deodar and oak trees. Dalhousie celebrated its centenary in 1954, when Jawaharlal Nehru attended the celebrations. Dalhousie has its own share of history. Rabindranath Tagore visited this hill station in 1878, along with his father. The natural surroundings of “Snowdon” in Upper Bakrota, where he stayed, are believed to have inspired him to write his first poem. Later in 1937, Netaji Subhash Chandra, Bose stayed at “Kynance” near the GPO for convalescing his health for some months. |
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Former HP High Court judge dead
Shimla, October 28 Sharma (63) was suffering from cancer. Elevated from the Bar as High Court judge in September, 1990, Justice Sharma retired last year. She was running an ashram for orphans and destitute girls at Rampuri, about 20 km from here. She will be cremated in the vicinity of the ashram tomorrow.
— PTI |
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6 kg of charas seized; one held
Solan, October 28 A case under the NDPS Act was registered against him and he was arrested.
— OC |
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