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Parechu: CM asks PM to intervene
Nathpa engineers to visit China
Buses continue to ply on risky roads
Eco-battalion to be raised
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BJP flays ‘full moon party’
Students election on Aug 29
Vijay Kumar is Principal Secy, Home
2 succumb to injuries
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Parechu: CM asks PM to intervene
Shimla, August 22 In a letter to Dr Manmohan Singh he pointed out that the threat of flash floods in the Sutlej still loomed large as much water was entrapped in the Parechu lake. A substantial part of the water impounded due to blockade of Parechu river due to landslides drained off when the natural dam breached on June 26 causing extensive damage to private and public property. As the blockade breached only partially the remaining volume of water in the lake could still cause devastating floods in the Sutlej. He said hydrographic studies conducted by the Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) corroborate this and water could still flow out suddenly from the residual water body. He requested the Prime Minister to take up the matter for carrying out pre-announced controlled blasting for removing the blockade completely with the Chinese authorities so that the problem was resolved. Mr Virbhadra Singh further said that to know the ground reality the National Remote Sensing Agency should be asked to provide satellite images of the lake regularly so that exact information could be gathered about it. Meanwhile, the latest satellite imageries show that there had been no change in the size of the lake since the June 26 breach when its size came down from 210 hectares to 95 hectares. The size had more or less remained the same. The pictures reveal that the blockade point had shifted downstream indicating a significant lowering in the height of the blockade. However, the exact depth of water could not be worked out from the pictures. The hydrographic studies conducted by the SJVN on the basis of the June 26 flood reveal that over 45 million cubic metres of water flowed out from the lake due to breach of the blockade. It is estimated that about 20 to 30 per cent of the water was still entrapped which could cause flash floods. |
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Nathpa engineers to visit China
Shimla, August 22 The 1500 MW project has been in doldrums as the nigam has been finding it difficult to run even two of its six 250 MW units during the current monsoon, which is the peak generation season, because of high silt content. The project is designed for a maximum silt level of 5,000 ppm and as per the project report there, the level could go beyond the permissible limits for only four days in a year. However, this year the level has been constantly above the maximum limit since June 24. The fast flowing river is bringing over 1.50 lakh cubic metre of silt into the Nathpa dam every day. The small reservoir gets choked up with silt every fourth or fifth day forcing closure of the project. The reservoir is flushed to drain out the silt up to the bed level to make the project operational again, which takes a lot of time. Despite that only two or three units are be made functional as the level of silt remains high. Consequently, there has been a huge shortfall of generation, to the tune of 1,350 million units, during the current financial year so far. The target for the year is 6,950 million units and as things stand today the nigam will not be able to achieve even 60 per cent of it. Chairman-cum-Managing Director H.K. Sharma said as the problem of silt was unknown in western countries, the nigam had decided to send its engineers to China where the silt in some of the rivers like the Yellow River was quite high. The strategy for harnessing the untapped hydroelectric potential of the Sutlej would have to be reviewed. The plan was to have a series of small dams, which could provide a head of 60 m to 80 m for generation, without any tunnelling. The nigam would soon come out with a technical paper in this regard. |
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Buses continue to ply on risky roads
Reckong Peo, (Kinnaur) August 22 The worst part is that the buses plying on these damaged roads, which are being repaired, are in bad shape. Most of the buses in Reckong Peo district are old and have outlived their utility for plying on hilly terrains. Talking to The Tribune, Jagat Ram, a driver of the HRTC, said every time they left from Reckong Peo or Karcham on the way back, the offered prayers to reach the destination safely. The road from Reckong Peo to the transit point near Karcham was not safe for plying of heavy vehicles, he said. The state government and the district administration have turned a blind eye to this problem that may claim lives of commuters any time, alleged Mr B.S. Negi, a local resident. He said, “The district administration should stop plying heavy vehicles on the vulnerable roads,” he said. Landslides are occurring continuously along both sides of the roads along the Sutlej. Interestingly, trucks have been stopped from plying on these vulnerable roads under reconstruction. The movement of heavy vehicles belonging to the armed forces has also been stopped temporarily keeping in view of the deplorable condition of roads. Instead, helicopters are being put to use daily by the armed forces to transport essential commodities to the upper Himalayan regions along the Indo-Tibet border. The casual attitude of the authorities towards the people who travel on the already declared ‘danger roads’ should change in order to avoid any casualty,” Krishan Kumar, a driver of HRTC, said. |
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Eco-battalion to be raised
Shimla, August 22 Inaugurating the Civil and Military Liaison Conference here today, he said that such a force would go a long way in rehabilitation of the ecologically fragile mountain ranges. He stressed the need for greater co-ordination between civil and Army authorities, especially for disaster management, in which the military invariably had a vital role to play. He said Himachal Pradesh and the adjoining areas fell under seismic zone 5 and was prone to earthquakes. The Chief Minister said that Himachal Pradesh was one of the most progressive states of the country and had many firsts to its credit. He said Army, civil administration, paramilitary forces and police should function in close coordination to ensure speedy development of the state. Himachal Pradesh had been contributing tremendously to the armed forces and there were over 1.20 lakh serving soldiers from the state and it also had over 92,000 ex-servicemen. He said that the valiant soldiers from this state has made supreme sacrifices during Kargil aggression and also post Kargil operations that had been carried to defend the frontiers of the country. He said 15 per cent posts had been reserved for ex-servicemen in government services in the state and 135 exservicemen would be re-employed soon. Lt. General S. Pattabhiraman, GOC-in-C, Western Command, thanked the Chief Minister for announcing the up-gradation of the Kasauli cantonment primary school to middle standard, keeping CSD out of the preview of VAT, sanctioning water supply scheme for the army garrisons at Pooh, Namgia and Khar and giving monitoring benefits to the war widows. He said that an eco-battalion would soon be raised in the state which would provide re-employment to the ex-servicemen. He said that there was a need for early restoration of roads in Kinnaur and the Army had already established high capacity ropeways in the area which could be utilized by the general public. Underlining the need for providing employment to ex-servicemen in the state, he suggested formulation of a joint plan to look into re-employment of ex-servicmen. Mr S.S, Parmar, Chief Secretary, said that the annual Civil Military Liaison Conference had proved gainful and mutually beneficial in resolving various issues of interests. He stressed the need for holding such conferences at lower levers to review the progress periodically. Mr Ajit Narain, Director General of Police, gave a resume of internal security situation of the state. |
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Lahaulis remember the ‘potato man’
Keylong (Lahaul), August 22 It was in 1965 that he took the initiative to sow the seeds of potato in this tribal “mulkila”, a fortress of snow, and transformed the area. He is Mr. K S Bains. The former DC of Lahoul was here as the guest of honour at the 39th general house meeting of the Lahoul Potato Society (LPS). His photographs find a pride of place on the walls of over 500 households in this landlocked valley. The seed potato has metamorphosed snowbound Lahoul into what can be a model for the rest of the tribal belts in the country. Lahoul has over 15 IAS officers, dozens of engineers, doctors and hundreds of progressive farmers who have benefited from the seed potatoes. As a result, the Lahoulis own more orchards, hotels and resorts in Kulu-Manali than the native Kulu people. Mr Bains brought the seed potato from Jalandhar in I965-66. He teamed up with the then BDO, Mr Devi Singh Thakur, who later became forest minister. “They taught us how to grow the disease-free seed potatoes”, said Mr Norbu, Barongpa, chairman, Lahoul Potato Society (LPS), and a grower from Lepchnag village. Mr Bains, who retired from the IAS, and Mr Thakur are virtually worshipped here. How did this magic happen? When Mr Bains was posted here in June 1965, he found that the landlocked Lahoul can be the most ideal place in India to produce disease-free seed potatoes. It could cater to the needs of the farmers in Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur, India’s potato hub. In popularising the cultivation of the seed potatos, Mr Bains could kill two birds with one stone. “Lahoul’s 1,700 people began growing a new cash crop, which provided excellent yields. In the process, the farmers in Punjab, West Bengal, Gujarat and Maharashtra got very good disease-free seed potatoes from Lahoul”, recalled Mr. Bains. The potato man was ecstatic when he met the farmers: “Lahaul has changed a lot. The concrete houses, link roads, PCOs, hotels, DTH antennas, computers, mobile phones, all that has ended Lahoul’s isolation and poverty”. To top it all, the crop area is now more than ten times what it was 40 years ago. Today Lahoul’s Gompathang village has beaten Holland, producing 26 bags per bag of seed, said Mr. Chetan Singh, director, LPS, who hails from Stingri village. How did the Lahoulis hit the seed potato jackpot? Answers Mr Bains: “The valley has snow barriers to stop the disease-causing virus. The soil here is best suited for the crop”. He is now chairman of the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Trust. Initially, Mr Bains would visit village after village and hold camps to teach the farmers how to make ridges to sow and irrigate potato. Then came another challenge: how to sell the 200 bags that the farmers produced and give them an assured market. “I took nine progressive farmers from Jalandhar to Lahoul and convinced the villagers that they would buy their produce”, recalled Mr. Bains. He founded in 1966 what turned out to be India’s second largest primary cooperative society — the Lahoul Potato Society, which today has 2117 members, who in the 1980-1990 period produced a record 3 lakh bags of seeds. The ‘Uptodate’ potato variety that Mr Bains’ team introduced in the valley has been replaced by the Chandramukhi and Kufri Joyti types. The variety now popular with the farmers is Shafordi from Canada. The Lahoulis now cultivate disease-free peas also. “Peas along with potatoes have made Lahoul valley one of the top districts of the country in terms of per capita income. Mr Bains is now advising them to switch over to organic farming. The farmers recall that during the 1962 India-China war, they were the ones hit most by the war. All that is past. Now, on an average, a family earns over Rs. 50,000 from peas and Rs 50,000 to Rs. 70,000 from potato very year. Now, the Lahoulis have a real challenge: how to maintain the area’s unique purity of the seed potato and the existence of the LPS. “The vested interests have crept in here, so is the greed to earn more”, rued Mr. Devi Chand, a farmer from
Sissu. |
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BJP flays ‘full moon party’
Kulu, August 22 It may be noted that the practice of “full moon parties” in this district by foreigners has been going on for the past one decade. These parties were mostly organised in interior parts, which are rather inaccessible to vehicles. This time, however, a party of this kind was organised at Himachal Tourism Complex in Raison on the Kulu-Manali National Highway. As many as 700 couples from Israel, Italy, Britain and other countries living in Himachal Pradesh participated in the party. Sources in the HPTDC here said that the organiser had sought proper permission from the district authorities to organise the party. |
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Students election on Aug 29
Shimla, August 22
Announcing the election schedule, here today, Dr L.R. Verma said that the maximum age limit for eligibility
for participation in the election was 29 years as on August 10. He said there was no need to take the matter to the executive council, which had already decided the mode of elections. It would be direct election like the past. The voters list will be displayed on August 24 and objections could be filed on the same day. Nomination paper will be filed on August 25 and scrutinised the same day. The final list of contestants will also be displayed on August 25. Voting will take place on August 29 and the result will be announced the same evening. |
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Vijay Kumar is Principal Secy, Home
Shimla, August 22 Mr S. Vijay Kumar, on his return from Central deputation, takes over as Principal Secretary Home and Vigilance, relieving Mr J.P. Negi of the charge. |
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2 succumb to injuries
Nahan, August 22 Subhash and Kamlesh had received burn injuries on August 11 at Majra under Paonta subdivision at about 8.30 pm when newly built petrol station caught fire. It is reported that on the occasion of inauguration of the petrol station, a havan was being performed on its compound due to which a pumping system caught fire. |
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Farmer commits suicide
Nahan, August 22 Police sources said today that farmer Ram Krishan went to his fields with a gun and shoot himself yesterday morning. His body was located by local residents and his family members in the evening. |
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