H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

Place for all-season tourists
Shimla, April 13
Efforts being made to sell Himachal as an all -year destination seem to have borne fruit as tourist inflow to the state has increased considerably with unexplored areas like Kinnaur and Lahaul Spiti becoming more popular. As compared to 2003 when a total of 57.11 lakh tourists visited Himachal, the number of arrivals in 2004 has gone up to 65.49 lakh.

Seepage from septic tanks spells doom for Riwalsar lake
Riwalsar, April 13
Himachal Pradesh’s third wetland — Riwalsar lake sanctuary — is dieing a slow death as the seepage from the private septic tanks has contaminated the natural water that flows into the lake, spelling doom for the fish there.

Common pool of anaesthetists sought
Shimla, April 13
Alleging discriminatory approach by the authorities in assigning duties, the Indira Gandhi Medical College Resident Doctors Association has demanded constitution of a common pool of anaesthetists.

Save channel from drying up, say farmers
Kangra, April 13
At least 35,000 agriculturists of nine villages of this district have threatened to resort to an agitation if their demand concerning irrigation water was not accepted.

Lahaul plunges into darkness
Mandi, April 13
The snowbound Lahaul valley has been plunged into darkness for the past four days. A landslide has washed away the water channel of the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board-run 4.5-MW Thraot project.

HPMC enhances production
Parwanoo, April 13
With the introduction of an imported TVA-9 packing machine, the HPMC has doubled its capacity from 3,000 packs per day to 6,000 packs.

Regulatory panel gets notice on Larji project
Shimla, April 13
The HP High Court yesterday issued notice to the HP State Electricity Regulatory Commission on the petition of the HP State Electricity Board challenging the decision of the commission to order inquiry into the time and cost overrun in the 126-mw Larji project.

Man beaten to death
Kumarhatti, April 13
A man was allegedly beaten to death by two persons at his house at Dumeher village under Akri police station on Monday night. The police was informed by the deceased’s brother, Narpat Singh, from Shimla about the murder.

Beating up of cop: role of police flayed
Sundernagar, April 13
Two drunken youths here thrashed a traffic police head constable on Monday in full public view. Passers-by overcame one of the youths and handed him over to the police while the other youth fled.

Place for all-season tourists
Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 13
Efforts being made to sell Himachal as an all -year destination seem to have borne fruit as tourist inflow to the state has increased considerably with unexplored areas like Kinnaur and Lahaul Spiti becoming more popular.

As compared to 2003 when a total of 57.11 lakh tourists visited Himachal, the number of arrivals in 2004 has gone up to 65.49 lakh. Even though the world famous hill stations of Shimla and Kulu-Manali attracted the highest number of tourists, the tribal belt of Kinnaur and Lahaul Spiti are emerging as the new favourite destinations.

“Holding of events at various places in the state to attract tourists even during the lean season has brought about the desired results and this would continue to be one of the focus areas of the tourism policy, which is being formulated,” informed an official. Once the tourism policy is finalised, there would be special thrust on rural tourism as there is a clear shift in the choice of destination by people who prefer quieter and less commercialised areas than the crowded bustling hill stations, he added.

A number of events like First India Rafting Cup, Shimla-Lahore Golf Tournament at Nadler, Pakistani Food Festival, Paragliding Pre-World Cup and Tourism Conclave have been organised through the year, as a result of which the tourist inflow during the lean season was a little better. A record number of 10.16 lakh tourists visited the state in June last year, out of which 3.62 preferred Shimla, the “Queen of Hills” over other places. Apart from good business during the winter months, there was heavy inflow of tourists in April last year when 7.55 lakh tourists visited the state.

With frequent spells of snow during the winters the arrivals during the winter months has also shot up considerably. As compared to 2.78 lakh tourists who visited the state during January in 2004, the arrivals this year crossed 3.48 lakh in one month’s time. Similarly as compared to 3.35 lakh tourists visiting the state in December 2003, the arrivals went up to 3.87 lakh during the same period in 2004.

The Sangla valley in Kinnaur district and Tabo in Lahaul Spiti are no longer the favourite haunts of only foreigners as large number of domestic tourists, especially from Gujarat, Maharashtra and West Bengal are making a beeline to these virgin tribal belts.

Tourism officials point out that once the tourism policy is finalised, thrust would be on developing new destinations, which are relatively less known and would be preferred by people who are more into adventure tourism. Picturesque places like Shoja in Kulu and Jhatingri in Mandi district have already been identified as the new destinations.

Seepage from septic tanks spells doom for
Riwalsar lake
Kuldeep Chauhan
Tribune News Service

Riwalsar, April 13
Himachal Pradesh’s third wetland — Riwalsar lake sanctuary — is dieing a slow death as the seepage from the private septic tanks has contaminated the natural water that flows into the lake, spelling doom for the fish there.

The water from the hand pump installed here by the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department has been declared unfit for human consumption. The IPH supply line remains the only source of water in this pilgrimage centre of the Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs.

Residents say that they have demanded a sewer line for the town, but neither the IPH nor the religious trusts here are ready to shell out funds to save this land of second Buddha from the environmental disaster shaping up under the nose of the Riwalsar Nagar Panchayat (RNP) and the IPH Department.

Though the funds are flooding the Tibetan-controlled Zigar Drukpa Kargyud Institute of Buddhist Studies and Meditation (ZDKIBSM), Riwalsar, for a statue complex of the second Buddha worth crores of rupees, nobody is willing to contribute to provide the sewer line, say the residents.

They complain that the pilgrims continue to feed atta and eatables to fish in the lake. “The fish die every week due to shortage of oxygen,” reveals a local resident. “The seepage from septic tanks and private lines is leaking into the lake and threatening the fish life,” observes Dr Subhash Gupta, a senior scientist at the State Council for Science, Technology and Environment.

The Chief Engineer, IPH, Mandi Division, Mr S.K. Malhotra, says that the water from the hand pump is unfit for human consumption as the seepage from the sewerage tanks has contaminated the natural water there. “The sewerage line will cost about Rs 5 crore. We have asked the RNP to contribute at least 10 per cent of the cost for the line,” he added.

Mr Surinder Singh, chairman, RNP, says that they have no funds and have submitted a fresh proposal to the state government. “If the government has set up lines in other towns, it should do the same here as well,” he added.

On feeding of fish by the pilgrims, Mr Singh claims that they have appointed a chowkidar to check the feeding of fish.

Common pool of anaesthetists sought
Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 13
Alleging discriminatory approach by the authorities in assigning duties, the Indira Gandhi Medical College Resident Doctors Association has demanded constitution of a common pool of anaesthetists.

In a statement issued here today, the association said despite the IGMC authorities agreeing to constitute a common pool of anaesthetists at the meeting held on April 5, there was no progress on the issue. As against 10 sanctioned posts of anaesthetists only three Registrars are working day and night and giving 24-hour emergency duties, said Dr Manish Sharma, president of the association.

He said there was gross disproportion in the sharing of workload as two anaesthetists, currently with the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and at Kamla Nehru Hospital had been exempted from emergency duty for the past five years. This, he said, was having very demoralising effect on the rest of the doctors who were on duty for almost 80 hours per week, resulting in stress-related disorders.

“The association is strictly opposed to preferential treatment to any doctor so that a common pool of anaesthetists should be constituted at the earliest to put an end to the resentment on this account,” said Dr Sharma. He added that if common pool was not constituted immediately, the association would be left with no option but to seek legal recourse.

Save channel from drying up, say farmers
Ashok Raina

Kangra, April 13
At least 35,000 agriculturists of nine villages of this district have threatened to resort to an agitation if their demand concerning irrigation water was not accepted .They have said the Chadul channel, which originates from the Ickoo khud and irrigates thousands of the acres of the agriculture land was likely to dry up following the coming up of a one-mega watt hydro electric project being installed at the Ickoo khud.

In a letter addressed to the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh ,routed through the Deputy Commissioner which has been signed by the office-bearers of the Kangra Kisan Sabha and pradhans of the nine village panchayats, they demanded his intervention to save the Chadul Channel from drying up. They urged him to get the site of the hydro- project shifted to upstream of Kuhal Chadul from the present site so that the flow of the water in the Chadul was not affected .

Mr Mehar Chand and Mr Krishen Chand, President and Secretary of the Kangra Kisan Saba, respectively, said the Chadul Channel which originates from Ickoo khud serves nine villages during its course through Daroon khud and irrigates thousands of acres of agriculture land of 35000 small and marginal farmers. They said that a one -mw hydro power project would be installed on the Ickoo khud coming through Kuhal Chadul by diverting its course to Tang village which would ultimately fall into the Ickoo khud down below the stream as such the present course of the Chudal channel would get dry.

They said that the agriculturists of Narvana, Upper Tangroti, Dhaloon, Patialkar, Serathana, Ronkhar, Jassour, Kaled, Rajiana, Saddarpur, Kholi and Tanda would be affected by the drying up of this channal.

The villagers said that they had been protesting since long against the diverting a part of the Ickoo waters upstream of Kuhal Chadul to Yol Camp and had been demanding that the surplus water should be diverted to Daroon Khad instead of Nod Khad to meet the requirements of the agriculturists of these villages. They said instead of accepting the demand , the project was being installed which would cause the drying up of the Chadul Khud.. They demanded that the state govt. should rise to the occasion and save these farmers. 

Lahaul plunges into darkness
Tribune News Service

Mandi, April 13
The snowbound Lahaul valley has been plunged into darkness for the past four days. A landslide has washed away the water channel of the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board-run 4.5-MW Thraot project.

Reports from the district revealed that patients were worst hit. “The only petrol pump and the HRTC-run bus service came to a halt. The telephone exchange is heading for a lockout as it is being run on a generator,” the reports said.

Talking to The Tribune on the phone, residents rued that private taxi operators were charging high fare. “The HRTC today operated two buses, but the diesel supply is running out of stock,” they complained.

The electricity board has only one generator which is supplying power to the town in shifts for two hours. “But it would be rendered useless as it has a limited diesel stock,” an operator said.

HPSEB engineers said the landslide washed away the project pipeline a few days ago. “A team from Shimla will inspect the project soon”, they added.

Even the state-owned chopper has suspended flights from Kulu to Keylong, the headquarters of Lahaul and Spiti district, for the past one week. “It is unlikely to resume flight to send essential supplies to the valley as it has been sent to Mumbai for service,” said sources.

The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Puspender Rajput, today visited the project site. “It is difficult to say when the supply would be restored,” he said.

HPMC enhances production
Ambika Sharma

Parwanoo, April 13
With the introduction of an imported TVA-9 packing machine, the HPMC has doubled its capacity from 3,000 packs per day to 6,000 packs. The machine, imported from the USA, has enabled the corporation to introduce various fruit juices from the hitherto rectangular to tetra packs. Besides being more attractive, the slim pack is designed to cater to the needs of the changing market, said Mr T.R Chauhan, manager of the corporation.

The corporation has now introduced fruit-based products of kiwi and strawberry apart from the usual apple, lemon and litchi. The officials, however, rued the lack of cold storage chain facilities which could ensure fruit availability throughout the year. The orchards could also get benefit as more fruits could be procured from the state.

The officials also lamented non-availability of fresh fruits which was of prime importance for the preparation of various products.

A study was, however, underway in the state to identify problems related to such plants through the horticulture mission which would chalk out strategies to tackle these problems.

With little parking space, the truck loads of apples were forced to remain parked on the roadside along the National Highway number 22. Besides creating traffic chaos, it also added to the problems of residents of the area as rotten fruits were often dumped nearby. 

Regulatory panel gets notice on Larji project
Legal Correspondent

Shimla, April 13
The HP High Court yesterday issued notice to the HP State Electricity Regulatory Commission on the petition of the HP State Electricity Board challenging the decision of the commission to order inquiry into the time and cost overrun in the 126-mw Larji project.

In its petition the board had contested the commission’s power to order the probe the board demanded that the two-member inquiry committee set up by the commission should be quashed.

Man beaten to death
Our Correspondent

Kumarhatti, April 13
A man was allegedly beaten to death by two persons at his house at Dumeher village under Akri police station on Monday night. The police was informed by the deceased’s brother, Narpat Singh, from Shimla about the murder.

A police party, led by the SHO, rushed to the spot and found Krishan Kumar lying dead on bed inside his house. The deceased was reportedly engaged into some duel with Gurdial Singh and Sunil of the same village.

During a scuffle, Krishan Kumar and Gurdial Singh fell from the first floor. The deceased sustained serious injuries. On seeing him badly injured, Gurdial Singh and Sunil brought him inside the house, beat him up and fled after dumping him on a bed.

Krishan Kumar was living alone after his wife had left him due to strained relations.

The accused have been arrested. A case under Sections 304 and 201, IPC, has been registered.

Beating up of cop: role of police flayed
Our Correspondent

Sundernagar, April 13
Two drunken youths here thrashed a traffic police head constable on Monday in full public view. Passers-by overcame one of the youths and handed him over to the police while the other youth fled. When the accused was being taken for a medical check-up to the Civil Hospital, he escaped from the custody of the police. The police has not registered a case in this connection so far for the reasons best known to it.

According to eyewitnesses, Head Constable Ghanshyam was busy checking vehicles at around 5 p.m. on Monday near Punjab National Bank at Bhojpur Bazar. Two youths, who were heavily drunk, came there and started misbehaving with the policeman. Then they started beating him up. Passers-by overpowered one of the youths. Meanwhile, policemen reached there and took the youth into custody who was identified as Parkash, resident of Nehra village, Sundernagar.

A case was registered under Sections 353 and 332 of the IPC. Since the accused was drunk, the police personnel thought it proper to get him medically examined. Two constables were deputed for this purpose. When these constables took the accused to the Civil Hospital, he managed to escape from police custody.

The police claimed initially that one of the accused was arrested but when he ran away from police custody next day the version of the police was that the accused did not run away from police custody as he was not arrested at all. Some police officials even said that no case was registered.