Mandi, August 15
The Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, today announced an Independence Day populist bonanza for daily-wage workers, class IV employees, Home Guards and weaker sections, including widows and other pensioners. He has hiked daily wages from Rs 65 to 70 with immediate effect from today.

Announcing this at the 59th Independence Day function held at Paddal stadium here today, Mr Virbhadra Singh said the hike would put extra burden of Rs 10 crore on the state’s exchequer. “The daily wages would be further hiked to Rs 75 soon and those who have completed 10 years will be regularised soon. The Home Guards will get daily wages of Rs 100 from Rs 75,” he said.

Mr Virbhadra Singh said over 39,000 class IV employees of PWD (22,000) and IPH (17,000) Departments would also be regularised. “These employees will get their wages or salaries on the first of every month”, he added.

For Mandi district, he announced that the engineering college will start functioning at Sundernagar in the hired building till the college has its own campus. “The B Ed classes will start this session, while the law college will start from next session at Government Paddal College,” he said. Mr Virbhadra Singh said Rs 500 crore would be spent on over 6,000 villages in two years for providing potable water.

Of the Rs 4,000 cr Central package, Mr Virbhadra Singh said Rs 306 crore had been earmarked to link the remaining 255 panchayats, which have no link road with the tehsil headquarters.

Mr Virbhardra Singh clarified that the nominal professional tax of Rs 50 to maximum limit of Rs 200 would be imposed on all those non-villagers who have an annual income of over Rs 1.04 lakh.

He announced that over 15,000 eligible pensioners, including 10,000 aged persons and 5,000 widows, would get a monthly pension of Rs 200 per month “In all, over 2.10 lakh pensioners will benefit. This will put a burden of Rs 50 crore on the state exchequer”, he added.

Present on the occasion were IPH Minister Kaul Singh Thakur, Excise and Taxation Minister Rangila Ram Rao, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Tek Chand Dogra, Former Telecom Minister Sukh Ram, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Mukesh Agnihotri and other Congress MLAs from Mandi district. Chief Secretary S.S. Parmar and DGP Ajit Narayan were also present.

SHIMLA: Himachal Governor V.S. Kokje, his wife Leena Kokje, Secretary to the Governor P.C. Kapoor unfurled the National Flag on Independence Day at Raj Bhavan on Monday.

He gave away the prizes to children who participated in the cultural programme.

Meanwhile, in Shimla, Speaker Gangu Ram Musafir took the salute and unfurled the National Flag.

He honoured Krishna Khingra for bravery, Ranjita Kalyan, kabaddi player who won gold medal, Arvind Digvijay Negi, DSP, for solving various crime cases and NCC officer Sunder Lal Chauhan for distinguished service. Similar function were held at Chamba, Una, Kulu, Nahan, Solan and Hamirpur.

Mandi, August 15
The Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, today took the rival Balh Congress leaders, Mr Parkash Chaudhary, Mr Mahent Ram and Mr Kashmir Singh, to task for changing tracks as and when it suited them.

Presiding over the meeting of the active party workers after the Independence Day function at Gandhi Bhavan here today, Mr Virbhadra Singh cautioned the party workers, hinting at the trio that Balh Congressmen changed their political colours as and when it suited them.

“The history of Balh Congressmen has been that they call themselves Congressmen, but they change tracks as and when they want to”, he pointed out at the meeting attended by over 300 party workers from Mandi district.

Referring to Mr Sukh Ram, Mandi Sadar MLA and the then HVC supremo, who was also present at the meeting, Mr Virbhadra Singh told the party workers that the BJP had dumped and humiliated Mr Sukh Ram, although he was instrumental in forming the BJP-HVC combine government in the state that time. “The Congress rewards its dedicated workers as Mr Sukh Ram is back in the Congress”, he said.

Mr Chaudhary, Mr Kashmir Singh and Mr Mehant Ram are rivals, fighting for supremacy in the Balh reserved constituency and they claimed to be Mr Singh’s loyalists.

Though the IPH Minister, Mr Kaul Singh Thakur, came late to the meeting, the Mandi MP and Mr Singh’s wife, Ms Pratibha Singh, Mr Rangila Ram Rao, Taxation Minister, Mr Tek Chand Dogra and three Congress MLAs from Mandi district were present in the meeting.

Shimla, August 15
With silt level in the Sutlej decreasing to 5500 ppm (parts per million) three of the six units of the Nathpa Jhakri project resumed power generation today.

While two units of the 1500 MW project were made operational at 6.50 am today the third unit started generation at 3 pm. The maximum permissible limit of silt is 5,000 ppm but engineers made three units functional. Engineers of the Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam carrying out experiments to deal with the problem of excessive silt observed that if the water is drawn slowly from the reservoir lesser amount of silt finds way into the headrace tunnel. If two or three units are operated the intake of water is less and it enters the tunnel slowly as a result the project can be made partially functional even if the level of silt is higher then the permissible limit up to 7,000 ppm.

Meanwhile, the Nigam celebrated the Independence Day at its headquarters, here. Presiding over the function Mr H.K. Sharma, Chairman -cum-Managing Director, said that excessive silt in Sutlej had resulted in frequent closure of the project leading to a shortfall of 1250 million units in the current year.

He said the protective coatings on the turbines carried out last year had made them erosion resistant to a great extent. These could now withstand higher level of silt. He said certain modification in the project design were being planned to ensure that it could function at much higher levels of silt.

Shahpur, August 15
Highlighting the uneven socio-economic development in the state, senior Congress leader Major Vijai Singh Mankotia said here today he would take up the matter with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to seek creation of a Rapid Development Authority to intensify the pace of development in the neglected regions, including Kangra district.

He demanded that 70 per cent of the special financial package recently received from the centre should be set aside for the districts that were at the bottom of the per capita income scale. These include Kangra, Chamba, Mandi, Hamirpur, Una and Sirmaur.

He questioned the rationale behind limiting the Special Economic Development Zone only to Baddi and not extending the same incentives for attracting industrial investments to Kangra and the other economically backward districts that had low per capita income. He said that Sirmaur was also facing the same problem of inadequate resources as Kangra.

“And I am saying this on the basis of facts and figures provided by the government departments. The reason for the uneven socio-economic development is the lack of opportunities to the people of these backward districts, which also has an alarming levels of unemployment,” he said.

Major Mankotia said that the neglect of agriculture sector by not providing adequate irrigation facilities, the absence of proper industrial infrastructure and lack of proper land and rail connectivity were the key factors that had contributed to the poor socio-economic development in these areas.

“The industrial infrastructure is concentrated on the foothills of Shimla as all the major industries are based there. Even though Kangra district boasts of 5,027 industrial units on paper, most of these are only cottage industries. The big players dealing in IT, electronics and commercial goods continue to elude Kangra, leading to widespread unemployment,” he said.

He demanded that the five socio-economically districts of the state should also be included in the Rural Guarantee Employment Scheme announced by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Major Mankotia said that he would soon give a comprehensive memorandum to Congress president Sonia Gandhi in this regard and demand that a Rapid Development Authority be notified in consultation with the state government so that the pace of development could be intensified in the economically backward areas.

On the issue of delimitation, he said that he would be conveying the apprehensions regarding the proposed changes to the commission so that the social and traditional links of the population should not be overlooked.

Earlier, ex-servicemen and widows of martyrs were honoured by Major Mankotia at the Independence Day function organised in Shahpur. He urged people of his constituency to launch a fight against the corrupt so that the fundamental rights that the constitution provides them could be protected.

Kumarhatti, August 15
Innovative housing scheme mooted by CII to enhance housing at Baddi has run into rough weather following state government’s reluctant attitude to accept the plea to waive stamp duty involved in the implementation of the scheme. No decision has so far been taken in the matter despite a number of pleas in this regard made by the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh Industries Association (BBNIA).

Even the Chief Minister Mr Virbhadra Singh, was approached by the BBNIA to look into matter during his visits to Baddi.

Under the scheme it was planned to construct 3,000 dwellings with each covering an area of 200-250 sq.ft on agriculture land available in and around Baddi. The total investment required for the scheme was around Rs 30 cr. The housing would eventually be owned by agriculturists.

Monthly installment (EMI) payments would be made by user unit to bank till full repayment of loan against each dwelling during the lease period was proposed to be undertaken by the lessee unit. The unit would come into a tripartite lease of 10 years agreement with agriculturist and financing bank.

Last week CII HP State Council sent a letter to Mr. Anil Khachi Secretary Housing, Town and Country Planning and Labour Employment, seeking intervention in the on matter. The plea was made to waive stamp duty lease deed process. The stamp duty for coming into registered mortgage with bank getting loan to lease the housing complex was quite high. Those who have sale deed would have not to pay stamp duty while getting loan from bank. The agriculturists providing their land have also to pay registration charges while reaching rent deed agreement with units. The removal of these charges would attract agriculturists of the area to provide their land to construct housing complexes, he maintained. Despite efforts Mr Khachi could not be contacted.

Kumarhatti, August 15
Industrialists of Parwanoo are upset over the delay in implementation of new regulations framed by state electricity regulatory commission (HPERC) over new or extended power load. The regulations had made effective from current fiscal but have not yet been implemented.

The department has not implemented the regulations for want of a written communique on the matter from its authorities based at Shimla, it is learnt. The department was continuing to charge Rs. 9400 per 10 kw as augmentation charges from consumers for new or extended load. This amount was non refundable. Ironically nowhere in new regulations the recovery of augmentation charges has been allowed.

The electricity board had decided to levy augmentation charges on Parwanoo consumers after the power load in local sub station was enhanced about 8 years back. The load up gradation had proved a loss-making affair for board following closure of a number of furnace units . Out of total losses the board had decided to recover losses amounted to Rs. 186 lakh from consumers in form of augmentation charges. Initially Rs 4.70 lakh was fixed as augmentation charges on base slab of 500 kw load. However, load slab was reduced to 10 kw following local industrialists made hue and cry over the matter. The new security deposit regulation clearly specified that the rates of initial security would be demanded on the basis of contract demand , said Mr Rakesh Bansal, general secretary of Parwanoo Industries Association. However the board was not accepting the security on the basis of contract demand in cases where contract demand has been declared by the consumers , he maintained. Rather the board was insisting that the security should be paid on connected load instead, which was always bound to be higher, he pointed .

Owing to this, sanctions were not being accorded to the cases where security has already been paid on the basis of contract demand, asserted Mr Bansal.

Solan, August 15
An helicopter service to facilitate industrialists in the fast-developing industrial areas of Baddi-Barotiwala was being planned from Chandigarh. Its periodicity would depend on the available traffic and passengers would be required to book both to and fro destinations, Mr G.S Bali, Tourism and Transport Minister, said in an interaction with The Tribune here today.

The existing helipad, at Nalagarh would be used for this purpose and the department would be saved of the burden of investing on its development.

He said the Central Government had already accorded its consent and a Cabinet clearance for plying helicopter services between Chandigarh and Shimla had also been sought. Further course of action was now being chalked out, he said. To make Himachal the number one destination for tourists, he said more heliports would be set up throughout the state. He said the tribal areas had been accorded top priority in this sector.

He said the volvo buses which had been launched last year had earned a profit of Rs 82 lakh. He said a volvo bus presently plying from Parwanoo to Delhi would now ply from Solan by September 1. He said the state was drawing a major investment and an MoU had already been signed between the state government and Ford Motors Company for a project in Himachal Pradesh.