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Fund-starved HP govt pins hopes on PM’s visit Board ‘erred’ in giving power availability certificates Executive Engineer
alleges assault Fall in number of vultures worries experts |
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DCC chiefs’ poll results stayed Three accused let off by police 2,000 lawyers hold dharna Security in place for Vajpayee
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Fund-starved HP govt pins hopes on PM’s visit Shimla, May 26 The government expects that Dr Manmohan Singh will follow in the footsteps of his predecessor, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who invariably obliged the state with financial assistance in one form or the other on every visit. Senior officers are busy giving shape to a financial package, which will be posed before the Prime Minster. According to sources, the state is likely to seek a special package of Rs 550 crore, mainly for providing basic amenities like drinking water and roads. While all census villages have been provided drinking water, as many as 6000 of the total over 30,000 habitations are yet to be covered. The government is keen on providing the facility to all left-out habitations by 2007. It will require over Rs 250 crore for the purpose. Similarly, the government is facing problems in providing road connectivity, as a large number of villages do not fulfil the norms under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) under which habitations with a minimum population of 250 are covered. The hill state is sparsely populated and there are villages with less than 100 inhabitants. The government will seek funds for providing road connectivity to villages, which could not be covered under the PMGSY. Besides, funds will be sought for improvement of basic infrastructure in urban areas. The government is also likely to take up the issue of generation tax, which has been hanging fire for the past over a decade. The state wants to impose a cess on hydropower generation at the rate of 10 paise per unit to raise additional resources. The cess can be levied only with the permission of the Centre. The state had four years ago passed a Bill in this regard, but the Centre did not give its mandatory ascent to it. Other states are opposing the cess on the grounds that it will make power more expensive. |
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PM to address Power Secys Shimla, May 26 As per the revised programme, the Prime Minister will arrive at Jhakri on May 28 and after dedicating the 1500-MW Nathpa Jhakri project to the nation, fly to Kalpa in the tribal Kinnaur district where he will stay for the night. |
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Board ‘erred’ in giving power availability certificates Shimla, May 26 The board was directed to undertake the study by the commission while restraining it from releasing connections to the 43 induction furnaces sanctioned by it. The commission asked it to first ascertain whether such load induced harmonic distortions in the system or caused any other destabilising impact on the gird. The board entrusted the study to ABB (Asea Brown Boveri ), a Bangalore-based agency, which submitted its report on April 25. However, the board for reasons best known to it withheld the report from the high court which vacated the stay order of the commission on a writ petition filed by M/s Jai Jwala Steels, one of the 43 parties, on May 9. Further, the board also failed to produce the report before the commission when the matter came up for hearing on May 18. Since the high court had allowed the plea of one of the parties, the commission vacated the stay to avoid discrimination with other applicants. However, it laid down that the board shall within three months of releasing the connection get the measurement of harmonic voltage and supply waveform by an independent agency and if the measurements did not conform to the standards set by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers the supply be disconnected without any notice. The report reveals that the existing induction furnace units were inducing harmonic distortions in the state power grid which not only had a destabilising effect on the system but could also damage expensive equipment and increase energy losses. The study, which covered five such units under the Kala Amb power substation, found that the harmonic distortions in voltage at the 132 kv, 33 kv and 11 kv was beyond acceptable limits. The total harmonic distortions (2.94 per cent) in voltage was found to be more in the HM Steel feeder and 5.26 per cent in the case of the Amba Shakti feeder which was beyond acceptable limits. The current harmonic distortion was also on the higher side in three out of the five units which was reflecting on the stability of the grid. The harmonics generated by these industrial units were disturbing the system and in turn becoming background harmonic for other users. It recommended that the five industrial units cover in the study should install harmonic filters to ensure that the harmonic generated by their inductive load did not reflect on the grid.
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Executive Engineer
alleges assault Solan, May 26 While charging NSUI activist Shamsher Singh of using abusive language after forcefully entering his office at Kasauli on May 12, the Executive Engineer said the former caught him by the neck and threatened him to release his payment. Shamsher had earlier executed some re-surfacing work on a stretch of 3 km on the Kasauli-Jangeshu road in October-November last year. The Executive Engineer said since the road surface had developed cracks he had directed Shamsher to repair the road after which his payment could be released. Peeved at the non-release of the payment Shamsher entered his office on May 12 and threatened him with dire consequences. Shamsher, on the other hand, alleged that the Executive Engineer had been pestering him to shell out an amount of Rs 1 lakh for release of the payment. He said the deal was finally struck at Rs 40,000. He then lodged a complaint with the DSP (vigilance) here on May 12. |
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Fall in number of vultures worries experts Palampur May 26 The information gathered by The Tribune from official sources revealed that the situation was quite alarming as only 1,800 vultures, which is 5 per cent of the total population, were left in this district . A recent survey conducted by the Wildlife Department revealed that the major cause for the death of vultures was attributed to a infectious disease “renal failure” which was infecting every third vulture in this region of the state. The reckless use of insecticides and pesticides by farmers is resulting in this disease and reducing its population day by day. Besides, the use of chemicals like forate and colorfast by the farmers is another factor responsible for the near extinction of vultures not only in Kangra but in the entire state. Dr Suresh Kumar, Chief Conservator (Wildlife), North Zone, while talking to The Tribune said that use of oxytocin, a mussels relaxant in milch cattle by the cattle breeders to extract more milk, was another reason for the fall in the population of vultures. He said this medicines had poisonous effects and when vulture ate such dead animals it acted as slow poison and ultimately result in the death of vultures. He disclosed that in 1997 the total population of vultures was 12,000 in the district but in past eight years, in 2004 it had come down to 1,800, which reflected that the situation was quite alarming. He said the state government was worried at the present circumstances and it had initiated measures for the breeding of vultures at Nalagarh. After breeding the vultures would be left in different forests in the state. The yearwise figures vulture population in Kangra District: 1. 1997 12000 2. 1998 11300 3. 1999 11000 4. 2000 9300 5. 2001 8700 6 2002 6200 7. 2003 2300 8. 2004 1800
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DCC chiefs’ poll results stayed Shimla, May 26 The party high command had received several complaints regarding irregularities in the conduct of elections to the two DCCs. While the Returning Officer for Hamirpur had first declared Mr Balak Ram as the district president and later changed the result and announced Mr Kanshi Ram as the president. In the case of Kangra district, where Mr Jagjivan Pal was delcred elected as president of the District Congress Committee, the complaint was that he was a delegate of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee and not of the DCC. As such he could not be a candidate for the district party president. |
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Three accused let off by police Jawali (Nurpur), May 26 According to information, the police has arrested Rekha Devi, wife of the deceased, Sat Pal, Ramesh Kumar, Prem Singh and Harnam Singh who were suspected for conspiring in the elimination of the deceased and kept them in police remand for further investigations of the case which was registered under Sections 302 and 120 (B) of the IPC on May 15. According to the police, the body of Ram Singh, who was having strained relations with his wife for her extra marital affairs, had been found hanging from the house ceiling after strangulation on the night of May 15. All the five accused were produced in the judicial court yesterday. The police submitted a report for letting off three accused, Satpal, Ramesh Kumar and Prem Singh, due to lack of evidence, whereas two others, Rekha Devi and Harnam Singh, were again remanded in the police custody till May 27.
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2,000 lawyers hold dharna Shimla, May 26 The protesters blocked traffic on the circular road for over three hours. They also held a rally at which the speakers criticised the government for unnecessarily burdening the advocates by imposing the professional tax. Mr D.R. Sharma, chairman of the joint action committee of the advocates, said there was no justification for taxing the advocates who were not provided any facilities by the government. Instead of levying such unjustified taxes, the government should curtail its own unproductive expenditure by reducing the size of the ministry. Mr Ravinder Thakur, vice-chairman of the State Bar Council, warned that the agitation would be intensified if the government failed to review it. |
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Security in place for Vajpayee
Mandi, May 26 Mr Vajpayee’s foster family has already reached Prini last week. He will stay at his favourite retreat in Manali till June 4.
— TNS |
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