Shimla, November 10
The government today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for availing $ 800-million loan for the execution of four major hydroelectric projects under the Clean Energy Development Programme.

This is the highest amount of loan granted for harnessing hydroelectric potential in the country so far. The main agreement was signed by Govind Mohan, director (infrastructure), Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, on behalf of the Government of India and Tadashi Kondo, country director of the Indian Resident Mission of the Asian Development Bank. The project agreement was inked on behalf of the state by principal secretary, power, Ajay Mital, managing director, state power corporation Tarun Kapoor and member (finance and accounts), state electricity board, Jagdish Sharma in New Delhi today.

Chief Minister P.K.Dhumal said the state government had been pursuing the case at different stages with the Centre so that the execution of the proposed projects could be started on priority. He said the loan agreement would ensure construction of the Sawra-Kuddu (111-MW); Kashang-I, II and III (195-MW), Sainj (100-MW) and the Shongtong-Karchham Project (402-MW), which had been assigned to the state power corporation.

The annual generation from the projects would be to the order of 3,434 million units and the total estimated cost of the proposed projects was about Rs 7,500 crore out of which the ADB had agreed to give about Rs 3,800 crore in the form of a multi-tranche financing facility. The loan would be cover 53.3 per cent cost of the projects and for the remaining amount, funding would be arranged from equity and other financial institutions. He said it had been the biggest achievement for the state as 90 per cent of the amount would come as grant from the Centre and only 10 per cent would have to be repaid over a period of 25 years.

The sanctioned loan also included $ 12 million for design and implementation of a capacity development programme for state power corporation and $ 9 million for information management system, especially financial management and accountability, and project engineering construction with a particular focus on harnessing benefits from the clean development mechanism (CDM) and public-private sector cooperation.

Besides, $ 3 million would be provided for acquisition of an enterprise resource solution for the board to cover its future computer, accounting and management information system requirements together with related software, hardware, training and initial system maintenance.

The first loan tranche of $ 147 million would be provided for civil and electro-mechanical works of the 111-MW Sawra-Kuddu hydroelectric project on the Pabbar river and civil works for the 65-MW, Kashang-I hydroelectric project located in Kinnaur district. Other tranches would follow on the basis of the readiness of the projects, he said.

Shimla, November 10
The state government has drawn up a multi-pronged strategy, comprising formulation of a master plan, higher investments, crop diversification, switchover to organic farming and popularising drip irrigation and protracted poly-house cultivation to help improve productivity and make the small land holdings economically viable.

Outlining the overall plan at a press conference here today principal secretary, agriculture, P.C.Kapoor said that the average size of holding was a meagre 1.10 hectares with small and marginal farmers accounting for 86.4 per cent of the peasants making traditional agriculture an uneconomical proposition. The only way to improve returns was to diversify to cash crops, encourage poly-house cultivation, and rainwater harvesting and drip irrigation in a big but planned way. Accordingly, a state master plan and district plans were being prepared under which the total plan investment over five-year period would be raised from the existing Rs 80 crore to over Rs 1000 crore in a phased manner. The next four years would see and investment of over Rs 350 crore.

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) had already sanctioned Rs 154.92 crore for poly house project under which 14.70 lakh sq m would be brought under protected vegetable cultivation and 12,320 sprinklers installed over a period of three years. Subsidy would be provided to the extent of 80 per cent on these programmes. Besides, 2650 tank and wells would also be constructed on 50 per cent subsidy. The project would generate employment for over 10,000 persons and increase vegetable production in the state by 4 to 10 times.

A separate Rs 146 crore project ‘crop diversification through drip and sprinkler irrigation’ had been submitted to NABARD for funding. It would help bring 20,000 hectares under drip and sprinkler irrigation over a period of four years. The government had decided to provide soil health card to all the 9.14 lakh farmers in the state and complete switchover to organic farming by the end of the 11th Plan. Over 10,000 farmers had been registered under organic farming so far.

The state was preparing a master plan for crop diversification with the help of Japanese Agency for International Development. It was also preparing a Rs 500 crore diversification project to be implemented with the Japanese financial assistance.

Regarding the problems of ginger cultivate Kapoor said that high quality fibreless planting material was not available. The seed brought from other north-east and other states failed as it developed fibres after the first year. Efforts were on to develop suitable varieties for the purpose. Ginger had been brought under the crop insurance scheme.

Shimla, November 10
The police today arrested the owner of a bakery and confectionary shop located near the Telegraph Office after 16 persons suffered food poisoning after consuming burgers and cheese rolls at the shop.

A case has been registered at Sadar police station by one of the persons who got stomach infection after consuming eatables from the said shop. The 16 persons who had consumed the burgers on November 6 and 7 had suffered from food poisoning and had to seek medical aid.

The case has been registered under Section 270 of the IPC for causing infection to people.

It is following this incident that the police today arrested the shop owner Ravinder Singh but later released him on bail. Samples of various eatables like burgers and ketchup were collected from his shop and sent for examination to the laboratory located at Kandaghat.

Out of the total number of 16 persons who suffered food poisoning, 13 are local residents while three were visiting the town from Mandi. After complaining of severe stomach ache, vomiting, high grade fever and dehydration, all of them had to be hospitalised at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital.

The incident has exposed the unhygienic conditions in which the bakeries of some of the shops are run in an old building near the Lift. With hardly any checking from the municipal officials the owners do not bother for cleanliness or hygiene in these bakeries.

The MC officials said when the bakeries were checked during inspection, the hygiene and cleanliness were found to be satisfactory but now it would be ensured that regular checking was undertaken from time to time.

Shimla, November 10
For the first time, a comprehensive vehicle census will be held in the state to ascertain the total number of vehicles registered in the state and those coming from outside.

The Railway, Tourism and Traffic (RTT) has asked all district police chiefs to undertake a census of vehicles registered in the areas falling under their jurisdiction. They have also been directed to collect record of all vehicles that came to the state on a floating basis during different times of the year.

“It is for the first time that such an exercise is being undertaken in the state so that we have a database about the exact number of vehicles in the state and the volume of traffic,” revealed J.R. Thakur, DIG (RTT).

Special performa’s have already been dispatched to all SPs and they have been directed to assign the task to beat constables. The census will be undertaken during November (lean tourist period) and in May (the peak tourist season).

Besides tourist vehicles, there are several vehicles within the state that are here on a a permanent basis but are registered outside the state. A large number of such vehicles are being used by various hydropower, cement and other industrial units being run by big industrial houses.

The database will be passed on to the government so that planning for road network expansion, upgrading of road facilities and creation of parking areas can be done accordingly. “Once we have accomplished the basic task, we can keep updating the data every year so that a fair idea of the increase in the number of vehicles can be made,” said DIG Thakur.

Police officials maintain that the vehicle census will help agencies like the municipal bodies and the Town and Country Planning Department to have a fair idea of the parking provision that has to be made for a particular township. This will also help them in future planning as they will get a fair idea of the annual increase in the number of vehicles.

Solan, November 10
The proposal of Ambuja Cements Limited to install a conveyor belt to transport clinker from their Darlaghat-based plant to Ropar has set alarm bells ringing for the five truck unions that fear losing their business.

Though sources said no concrete plan had as yet been chalked out to install the mechanism, the willingness of the unit had been conveyed to the state government.

At present, the unit manufactures about 2.2 million tonne cement annually and another plant with almost similar capacity would become operational in the near future.

The unit has provided employment to about 3,000 truck operators most of whom are the persons who had surrendered their land for the plant. Though the requisite land had been acquired for the plant, problems were being faced at the mining site of Mangoo where the villagers were demanding a hefty compensation in lieu of their land.

The unit had earlier dispensed compensation ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh while the residents were now demanding anything between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh. This had adversely hit the land acquisition.

Vice-president of the Solan District Truck Operators Union Naresh Gupta said they had convened a meeting on December 14 to deliberate on the situation. This news had also created panic among petrol pump operators. Yogesh Kumar, an operator, said there were 11 petrol pump uptil Brampukhar. These were totally dependent on this cement unit. Any such decision would hit them adversely, he averred.

Interestingly, since no such information had been conveyed to the truck operators by the unit management nor was any such planning underway in the unit, one wondered how such a decision could take place abruptly. Sources, however, said this could be a ploy to pressurise landowners at Mangoo as they were not ready to part with their land for a lesser compensation.

Vice-president Manoj Karnawat, however, confirmed the news and said the arrangement would be operational for the second unit that was still under construction. It would become operational by 2009-2010. The truck operators would not be thrown out of job since they had been associated with the unit since long and were also its stakeholders, he added.

Hamirpur, November 10
After strong protests from opposition parties against setting up a medical college in the private sector and attaching Mandi zonal hospital with it, the opposition parties in Hamirpur have come out against a similar proposal at Hamirpur also.

Though the state government had issued a notification a few months ago to initiate the process of setting up three medical colleges under the Green Fields Project, the Congress, the CPM, the CPI, the BSP and few other parties have now started gearing up to oppose the move of attaching the district hospital, Hamirpur, with the proposed medical college here.

While these parties had announced to oppose the move jointly, they have come now out with an agitation programme, too.

Telling about the future strategy of these parties, district secretary of the CPM Kashmir Singh says, “We will launch an agitation on the issue and hold a joint convention on December 13 and approach Congress leaders to join in.”

Congress leaders have also opposed the move. Former Congress MLA from Hamirpur Anita Verma and other leaders have appealed to every section of society to come forward in opposing the move.

All these parties have been agitating on a similar issue at Mandi for the past around six months.

The main contention of the organisations and political parties opposing the move is “this is being done to help private parties setting up medical colleges at the cost of public health since it is mandatory to have a hospital with the medical college.”

They are also claiming “if private parties want to open medical colleges, they should also establish their own hospitals since handing over government hospitals to them will deprive the common man of the medical facilities by making the treatment costly”.

Mandi, November 10
Congress president Kaul Singh Thakur and the Mandi Medical College Sangharsh Samiti (MMCSS) today rejected BJP president Jai Ram Thakur’s suggestion of withdrawing the chain fast that the samiti had been continuing to press for its demand of setting up a government medical college here. They would continue the agitation till the government restored the notification for setting up a government medical college at Mandi, they said.

Thakur said Dhumal was misleading the people on the issue. It was a cabinet decision of the Virbhadra Singh government to set up a government medical college at Mandi and a notification was issued for it in October last year. The details about the cabinet decision could be obtained under the RTI Act, he said. The Congress would support the agitation till that notification was restored by the government, he said.

He claimed that the 50-seat ESIC medical college-cum-300-bedded hospital at Ner Chowk was an achievement of the Congress-led UPA government. The Dhumal government could not claim any credit for it. All Congress MPs and he had taken up the matter with labour minister George Fernadis, who would come here for laying the foundation stone for the project, he claimed.

He alleged Dhumal was claiming undue credit for the Mandi IIT, the central university, the left bank Balh irrigation scheme, the Kol dam water scheme, the Rs 3,600-crore Asian Development Bank loan and now the ESIC medical college etc. All these projects were the achievements of the Congress-led UPA government, he claimed.

Rejecting BJP state BJP president Jai Ram Thakur’s pleas for ending the fast, he said it had been decided to continue the fast till the government restored the notification for the medical college in the government sector. It would be a major issue for the Lok Sabha elections and the BJP would have to pay the price for it, he added.

He alleged the PDS system had collapsed in the state and the poor were not getting subsidised ration. Schools were without teachers as PTA teachers had been removed, he said.

MMCSS spokesperson Bhupender Singh said a meeting of the samiti was held here today. It was presided over by president of Citizens’ Council, Mandi, Y.N. Vaidya. It was decided that the samiti would continue fast till the notification for the college was restored and the July 15 notification for attaching the zonal hospital with the private college was withdrawn.

Shimla, November 10
The burden of combating global warming is no longer restricted to developed countries alone. Developing countries like India and China will have to follow the suit and move swiftly towards a more sustainable, low-carbon economy, asserts SP Gon Chaudhary, national coordinator for the all-India coordinated programme on energy and a member of a subcommittee on climate change.

“No doubt the per capita level of carbon emissions for a country like the USA was 21 times that of India and 14 times that of China. However, if one takes into account the population of the courtiers and works out the total emissions, they are no far behind,” Chaudhary, who was in the city in connection with a workshop on fabrication of highly energy-efficient LED (light emitting diode) lights told The Tribune in an interview.

The fossil fuel-based energy would have to be phased out with clean energy. The country’s total coal reserves could provide a maximum of 3,00,000 MW electricity, the total hydroelectric potential of the country was 1,50,000 MW, gas-based plants could produce another 50,000 MW, wind and biomass 66,000 MW and the nuclear energy could at best generate about 10 per cent of the requirement. Thus, the main sources of energy could together help generate only about 650,000 MW.

The gap of 1,50,000 MW could be bridged only by harnessing solar energy, Chaudhary said.

Shimla, November 10
The categorical announcement by union minister of state for railways R. Velu for securing world heritage site status for the Pathankot-Jogindernagar rail section notwithstanding, the state government has not given up hope for conversion of the track into a broad-gauge track.

An official spokesperson said today that the Ministry of Railways had sanctioned Rs 22.68 lakh for updating the survey at a gradient of 1 is to 60 for 189 km Pathankot-Jogindernagar gauge conversion on September 24. As such it would be wrong to say that there was no plan to convert the rail line into a broad-gauge track.

The survey would be conducted for conversion of the rail line into a broad-gauge line. The spokesperson said the sanction was accorded with the concurrence of finance directorate of Ministry of Railways.

It is worth mentioning that the Railways had conducted a survey earlier and found the gauge conversion an unviable proposition.

Kangra, November 10
Thousands of pilgrims from all over the state and outside had been visiting the Jayanti Mata temple in this town in connection with the five-day festival of Panch Bhishm, which started here yesterday.

The festival commemorates the marriage of Tulsi and Saligram and is being celebrated here to remember the great warrior and guru of the Pandav’s, Bhishm Pitamaha of Mahabharta.

The famous Kangra Fort, which witnessed the great victories and defeats during the Muslim rule was on one side of the Manji river and on the other side was the ancient temple of Mata Jayanti.

This temple had a history dated back to Mahabharata and the festival attracts a large number of devotees to pay obeisance to Guru Bhishm Pitamaha.

The centuries old temple was the centre of faith for people of all walks of life within the country and outside, which results in high turnout of pilgrims during the Panch Bhishm.

Long queues of pilgrims were being seen today on the entire route from Purana Kangra to the temple site on the second day of the festival.

Shimla, November 10
Himachal Pradesh has been given the national award for being the most progressive state in IT (information technology) administration in the country by the India Tech Foundation.

The award had been given for the implementation of the HIMSWAN (Himachal state wide area network) project in the state. It was the first state to do so.

Chief Minister P.K.Dhumal said that HIMSWAN was providing connectivity to over 450 offices across the state and the IT department had set a target of bringing 2,500 offices under the operational activities through the network.

The state government had decided to set up citizen-centric Common Service Centres (CSC) for the benefit of the people in the rural areas so that they could avail of various facilities through I- enabled modes. In all 3,366 CSC?s would be set up all over the state to cover 3,243 gram panchayats. Through these centres services like downloading of various application forms pertaining to various departments would be possible.

The government was also working to create a state-level data centre at Shimla which would host all types of information pertaining to various departments and help do away with the hardware requirements at the departmental level.

Dhumal said that Agrinet (Agriculture Resources Information System) project was also being started in the state which would deal with the departments of agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry and fisheries. He said through the project, farmers and other people would be able to access information through a portal being created for the purpose.

Computerisation of colleges and schools had already been started in the state and 41 colleges and 50 schools were being covered in the first phase. A court case monitoring system was also being evolved by the IT Department of the State detailing the information about the court cases all over the country. 

Solan, November 10
Emphasising the need to work in unison to solve inter-state problems between Haryana, Punjab and Himachal, the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh Industries Association (BBNIA) has urged the chief ministers of these states to devise a suitable strategy to fight recession.

Association president Rajinder Guleria, adviser Deepak Bhandari and general secretary Arun Rawat put forth these suggestions before the three CMs at Chandigarh.

The association felt since Punjab and Haryana were the granaries of the northern region and Himachal was the fruit bowl of the region, it was crucial for them to coordinate and solve problems being faced by each other.

Thanking Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal for committing to construct the Baddi-Chandigarh road via Siswan by June, 2009, and Haryana CM Bhupender Singh Hooda for extending an assurance to repair the Pinjore-Marranwala (Baddi) portion of the National Highway No. 21A in a month, the association requested them to maintain the Chandigarh-Baddi link Road via Jayantimajri-Kaunna and the Basolan (Haryana)-Prempura-Nayagram-Chandigarh link road under the central funding for their better maintenance.

Sundernagar, November 10
Various social organisations under the banner of Sundernagar Sangarsh Samiti will observe “Sundernagar Bandh” on December 17 against the decision of the government to set up a cement plant near here and demand shifting of this polluting industry to a far away place.

A meeting of representatives of various social organisations was held here yesterday and it was decided to observe bandh. Amar Singh Raghwa of the samiti said volunteers of the samiti had already started meeting representatives of various organisations to make the bandh successful.