The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Himachal Pradesh Edition

Manali-Rohtang road closed due to fresh snow
M.C. Thakur

Manali, December 17
The 13,050 ft high Rohtang Pass, the gateway to Lahaul-Spiti experienced heavy snow, and snapping the road link between Manali and Lahaul valley last evening.

The Manali-Rohtang road was motorable up till Gulaba. Due to fresh snow at the Rohtang Pass, Rahni Nullah, Marhi and Beas Nullah, all taxis and tourists buses had to stop at Gulaba, about 21 km from here.

Meanwhile, most of the tourists rushed to Gulaba to see the snow. The fresh snow brought cheers and smiles on the faces of taxi operators, luxury bus operators and local hoteliers. They felt the snow would boost the tourism in Kullu-Manali.

S.K.Doon , commander of the 38 Task Force, (GREF), said that the Manali-Rohtang road was officially closed for vehicular traffic from November 15 by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) , but keeping in view the dry weather conditions in the region the Manali-Keylong road up to Darcha, was kept open for vehicular traffic. Due to fresh snow at Rohtang pass widening and surfacing work between Marhi and Rohtang Pass was also hampered and the BRO now stopping further roadwork.

Due to fresh snow on the higher reaches of the Pir Panjal ranges, including Marhi, Gulaba slopes, Dhundi, Brighu slopes, Chanderkhani Pass and Hamta Pass the entire upper Manali region remained in the grip of severe cold wave.

According to the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports sources, two rescue posts -one at Marhi and the other at Koksar-in Lahaul-Spiti district which were set up from November 15, to help and monitor the safety of pedestrians crossing the Rohtang Pass, and to meet any eventuality due to bad weather would be continued till December 31.

Moser Baer bags 5 hydel projects
Rakesh Lohumi
Tribune News Service

Shimla, December 17
Moser Baer has bagged five out of the 14 hydroelectric projects with aggregate generation capacity of 1,652 MW, which were offered through global biding route based on free-power for the first time in the state. Jindal Steel and Power Limited secured three projects, while the DCM Sriram Infrastructure got two.

The highest free power 26.1 per cent, over and above the mandatory 12 per cent (for the first 12 years), 18 per cent (next 18 years) and 30 per cent (remaining 12 years), was quoted for the 7.5 MW Kilhi Bahl in Kangra bagged by the Delhi-based ANS Construction Company. The maximum number of 10 bids each was received for 13 MW Suil project in Chamba and 268 MW Reoli Dugli in Lahual-Sipti.

The average additional free power for all 14 projects worked out 15.5 per cent which means that competitive bidding route will almost double the revenue of the state over the 40 years period as compared to the MoU route. In additionm, the state will get Rs 330 crore as upfront premium at the rate of Rs 20 per megawatt.

In all 102 bids were received and 86 bidders remained in race after evaluation of technical bids.

The Moser Baer got the Reoli Dugli (420 MW) with free power bid of 14.4 per cent, Seli (320 MW) with 14.41 per cent, Teling (69 MW) with 3.34 per cent, Miyar (90 MW) 18.03 per cent and Sach Khas (149 MW) with 13.13 per cent. The total aggregate capacity comes to 1148 MW.

Jindal Steel and Power Limited secured the Lara (40 MW) with a bid of 16.2 per cent, Kuling Lara (40 MW) with 15.3 per cent and Mane Nadang (70 MW) with 21.90 per cent. The DCM Sriram Infrastructure got 90 MW Khoksar with a bid 16.26 per cent and the 81 MW Tinget with 17.26 per cent. Patel Engineering Limited bagged the Dugar (236MW) in Chamba with the bid of 20.12 per cent.

Leading power companies like Tata Power, Essar Power, GMR, Bhilawara Group, Larson and Tubro, which had participated in the bid, drew a blank. The HP Power Corporation, which was also in race also failed to bag any project.

Bids were invited for both small and big projects after the BJP government changed the policy and decided to allot all projects of more than 5 MW capacities through competitive bidding. The average free power bid of 15.5 per cent was remarkable considering the fact that all, except two, projects were located in the land locked tribal area of Lahual-Spiti.

Pathankot-Jogindernagar Track
Broad-gauge plan dropped
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, December 17
The proposal mooted by the state government to covert the Pathankot-Jogindernagar track into a broad-gauge track has been turned down by the Railways.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said the Railways had instead suggested that the track should be protected as a heritage track. The Railways had declined the idea of converting it into a broad-gauge track as it was not economically feasible, he added. Railway officials were of the view that the existing infrastructure would be of no use if a broad-gauge track was laid. He said this while responding to a query from Nurpur MLA Rakesh Pathania.

Instead, the Railways had said that the proposed Bhanupali-Bilaspur railway line would be extended to Leh via Mandi and Manali. The Railways had taken up the reconnaissance engineering-cum-traffic survey work from the Bilaspur-Leh track.

The work of laying track from Bhanupali to Bilaspur was expected to be over by 2015 at a cost of Rs 1,046 crore out of which the state government would contribute about Rs 250 crore in a phased manner, the CM said.

Regarding the Chandigarh-Baddi railway line, he said the Chandigarh administration had objected to the survey being carried out for the project.

The matter would be taken up with the Chandigarh administration, he said.

The Railways had made a budgetary provision of Rs 5 crore for the Chandigarh-Baddi railway line for the current financial year. However, no budgetary provision had been made for the Bhanupali-Bilaspur railway line in the current financial year, he said.

He said the state government was vigorously pursuing the said projects with the Ministry of Railways.

Rs 67-cr Water Scheme
Tender process under scanner
Lalit Mohan
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, December 17
The government was caught on the wrong foot while trying to corner the opposition on the tendering process for the Bamsan-Lagwalati drinking water project in the House today.

BJP MLA from Una Satpal Satti asked whether the work for said the project was allotted against single tender and whether the company to which the project was allotted was registered under the company law.

Minister for public health and irrigation Ravinder Ravi said the company to which the Rs 67.47-crore project was allotted by the previous government was not registered under the company act. He said seven companies, including multinational companies like L&T, Kirloskar and Gammon, had purchased tenders forms for the project. Out these, five companies submitted the tenders. The minister said an inquiry was initiated into the tendering process and the report had been received.

To this, HPCC president and former minister for irrigation and public health Kaul Singh asked if the scheme was functioning properly. He also asked if the tender was allotted to the lowest bidder or someone else. Kaul Singh said the previous government wanted to allot the project to L&T, but its bid was very high.

Former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said the government was launching propaganda over the issue without going through the inquiry report. It amounted to misleading the House.

The minister concerned admitted that the scheme was functioning well. He said the department authorities had allowed two bidders to pool, but failed to tell if the tender was allotted to the lowest bidder or not.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said though the scheme was functional, certain discrepancies were found in the quality of the material used for the project.

Cement Plant
Bandh almost total but peaceful
Our Correspondent

Sundernagar, December 17
Various markets in the town and on its outskirts remained closed on a call given by the Sundernagar Sangharsh Samiti.

The samiti had given the call for the bandh demanding shifting of proposed cement plant from the Chambi area to a far of place.

Although the Beopar Mandal, Sundernagar, had refused to issue any appeal to shopkeepers favouring bandh, even then more than 70 per cent of shopkeepers did not open their business establishments today morning.

Afterwards, delegates of the samiti visited various markets and appealed to the shopkeepers for cooperation. Accepting their appeal the shopkeepers closed their establishments.

Earlier, the volunteers of various organisations started gathering at the Jawahar Park and took out a procession from various markets of Sundernagar and outskirts of the town, raising slogans against the setting up of the cement plant.

Amar Singh Raghwa, president of the sangharsh samiti who is nowadays admitted at Fortis Hospital, Chandigarh, and has undergone bypass surgery recently thanked the public for making the bandh successful. Interestingly, some of the persons who belonged to various organisations of the BJP and the Congress were also seen requesting the shopkeepers for closing their shops.

The volunteers of the samiti while dispersing thanked the representatives of the mandal for their cooperation extended during the bandh.

No untoward incident was reported during the bandh and it remained peaceful according to the police.

Joginder Thakur, general secretary of the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (Himachal unit), has also appealed to the government to shift the cement plant.

HIMFED Functioning
One office releases payment, another refuses
Ambika Sharma

Solan, December 17
The manner in which the Himachal Pradesh State Co-operative Marketing and Consumer Federation (HIMFED) is releasing payments to a contractor on mere duplicate goods receipt (GR) has put a question mark over the departmental procedures.

The fact that the same contractor had failed to lift the fertilisers sent on time by the Union Ministry from Chandigarh a few days back made the Chief Minister to intervene and it was interesting to note why the federation was showing extraordinary favour to the contractor.

Sources in the HIMFED said the Solan office had refused to release payments on his duplicate GRs and a letter had been dispatched to him today directing him to furnish the original GRs. It was learnt that he had furnished a duplicate GR number 2663 dated November 11, 2008, against truck number HP11-2025 seeking payment from the Solan office.

This was not the lone case where a duplicate GR was furnished by the contractor and similar bills were produced at other HIMFED offices at Nagrota Bagwan, Una, etc.

Sources said payment of Rs 4.50 lakh was released yesterday from the Nagrota Bagwan office and another sum of Rs 63,890 vide cheque no. 567158 was released from the Una office against duplicate GRs.

The Solan office had, however, refused to release the payment on duplicate GRs. Officials rued that they were being forced to release payments by the senior officials. They said while release of payment under such circumstances was against the norms it could lead to double release of payment as the same could be claimed on original bills too. Ideally a duplicate GR is accepted only if the contractor furnishes an affidavit stating that the original GR had been lost and that he would not claim the same payment again. But since no such affidavit had been attached it was clearly a violation of the norms.

The managing director was not available for comments. When contacted his office conveyed that he had gone to the secretariat while official sources confirmed that he was very much in his office. Interestingly, the same official was not even available to the Chief Minister when the latter wanted to inquire about delay in lifting the fertilisers.

The Shimla-based contractor, Rajnish Enterprises, was entrusted the task of transporting and supplying fertilisers from Chandigarh to all HIMFED godowns across the state.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal when contacted said an appropriate action would be initiated against the erring officials if any irregularity was detected in this case.

Lone BSP MLA joins BJP
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, December 17
The lone BSP MLA in the state, Sanjay Chaudhary, joined the BJP at the floor of the House today. With this, the BJP’s total strength in the House has gone up to 42. The move was allowed by Speaker Tulsi Ram.

Sanjay Chaudhary was BSP MLA from the Kangra constituency. He is considered a close confidant of BSP convener Major Vijay Singh Mankotia (retd), who quit active politics recently.

Meanwhile, on the last day of winter session today, MLA from Kinnaur Tejwant Singh wanted to know how much amount had been spent on various offices of the Food and Civil Supplies Corporation. Food and civil supplies minister Ramesh Dhawala admitted that funds had been misused at certain offices. He said an area manager of the corporation had been chargesheeted.

Replying to a query from Kutlehar MLA Varinder Kanwar, health minister Rajiv Bindal said there were 409 vacancies of nurses and 1,695 of paramedical staff in various health institutions in the state. The minister said all trained nurses registered with the Health Department had been appointed. There were 1,168 villages in the state that do not have health staff. The government was planning to appoint gram panchayat health workers in such villages. Process had been initiated to recruit 258 health workers.

Congress MLAs Mohinder Singh and Kaul Singh had listed a question on number of PTA teachers ousted by the present government. The question, however, could not come up for discussion.

Plea to enact law on madarsas
Tribune News Service

Shimla, December 17
Chairperson of the Minority Welfare Council Syed Naseer Ahmed Gelani has urged the Dhumal government to enact a legislation to regulate the functioning of “madarsas” in the state.

Addressing a press conference here today, he said the state had over 100 madarsas. Out of these, only six were registered. Modern education was being imparted in accordance with the curriculum of the state board of school education in only these six madarsas. He said any law to be enacted in that regard should have sufficient provisions to ensure that no undesirable activity could go on in these institutions and that these also imparted modern education so that those getting education there could also secure employment.

The registration of madarsas should be made mandatory and there should also be a provision for appointment of “maulvis” after proper verification of antecedents. The sources of their funding should also be known, he added.

He said lack of transparency in the functioning of madarsas was the main reason for which these institutions were being seen with suspicion and there were valid reasons for it. The NDA government had started a programme for modernisation of madarsas under which over 3,000 such institutions were provided computers so that these could also impart modern education along with Islamic religious education. Only four madarsas have been modernised so far in the state, he added.

Gelani, who is in the hit list of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, lamented that the people from Jammu and Kashmir who came to Himachal Pradesh to escape militancy, were not receiving any financial help from the government. In Punjab, Chandigarh, Delhi and other states, such families were being provided Rs 15, 000 per month for subsistence. He called for similar dispensation for the families that had shifted to the state.

CM inaugurates police complex
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, December 17
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today inaugurated the police complex constructed at a cost of Rs 61.50 lakh.

He also presided over a programme organised by the Kangra district non-government organisations federation at Tanda.

While speaking on the occasion the Chief Minister said the present government was committed to the welfare of employees.

The present government after taking over had extended benefits worth Rs 1,000 crore to the employees of the state.

He also appealed to the employees to contribute to speedy development of the state.

The government is aiming to fill 28,000 vacancies in the state by the end of current financial year.

Dhumal also released the economic census of Himachal Pradesh, 2005.

Dalai Lama visits Vidhan Sabha
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, December 17
The Dalai Lama visited the Himachal Vidhan Sabha at Tapovan, about 9 km from Dharamsala, today. He was received by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and CLP chief Vidya Stokes.

The Dalai Lama said he was impressed with Indian democracy. “In India, everybody has the right to express himself and elect representatives of his choice. India has been tolerant to all religions since ages. It is the time when it should take lead and teach tolerance to the rest of the world. Since I have spent most of my life in Himachal, I feel like a resident of the state,” he added.

The Dalai Lama was accompanied by the prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile. Later, the Dalai Lama inaugurated a cricket match between the CM-XI and the Governor-XI at the Dharamsala international cricket stadium. He also hosted a lunch at the stadium for elected representatives of the Himachal Vidhan Sabha.

Row over woman’s death
Our Correspondent

Kangra, December 17
Tension gripped Dr RP Government Medical College, Tanda, this evening following the death of a 22-year-old woman, Reeta Devi. She had allegedly died after blood of an unmatched group was administered to her by the hospital staff. Former transport minister and sitting MLA from Nagrota Bagwan G.S. Bali has demanded a criminal action against the guilty.

Reeta’s father Preetam Chand said his daughter, a resident of Masal village, was admitted to the hospital this morning. She delivered a girl child there. The doctors said there was a need to administer blood to her. She died after blood was administered to her. Relatives alleged it was due to the administering of mismatched blood. They raised slogans against the hospital authorities and demanded stringent action against the guilty for the negligence.

Medical superintendent of the hospital Dr Bhano Awasthi admitted that it was a case of mismatch blood transfusion. The government had ordered an inquiry into the case, Bhano said.

Power board staff discuss unbundling
Our Correspondent

Nurpur, December 17
The Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB) employees union organised its central executive meeting here today in the backdrop of denial of extension by the Centre to continue the state power board in unbundled form until March 31, 2009.

As many as 900 delegates from all over the state attended the meeting. The state union leaders apprehended that the power consumers and board employees would experience repercussions if the power board would trifurcate as it happened in other states.

It was pleaded that geographical condition of the hill state was different and it was a power generating state. The trifurcation would endanger social security of the board employees and burden electricity consumers.

Plea to take eco-safeguards at cement plant
Tribune News Service

Shimla, December 17
Former member of the Human Rights Commission I.D. Bali has urged the government to ensure all required environmental safeguards were taken while setting up the proposed cement plant in Sunni tehsil.

He said the project would serve as an engine for economic growth and bring prosperity to the people of the area, but the government should see to it that the latest pollution control devices were installed at the plant to keep emissions at the minimum. As the project also involved mining of limestone, a proper environment management plan should be formulated and implemented so that water sources were not affected.

BJP lambasted
Tribune News Service

Shimla, December 17
State convener of the BSP Vijay Joshi has lambasted the ruling BJP for engineering defection of its lone legislator Sanjay Chaudhary and asserted that the party would force him to resign from the Assembly. He said Chaudhary was elected on the BSP ticket and by defecting to the BJP he had no right to remain the member of the House. He should quit and seek fresh mandate as the electorate had made the BSP victorious by voting against the BJP and the Congress.

Stokes not happy with media coverage
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, December 17
Congress legislative party (CLP) leader Vidya Stokes here today said that the media had been “miser in giving coverage to the Congress”. She said this during the thanksgiving address at the end of the winter session. Obviously, she was referring to the coverage of the present winter session.

Interestingly, Stokes did not raise any issue in all five sessions of the House held here over the past seven days. She only delivered a thanksgiving address at the end of the session today and during that she commented on the role of media.

Protest by postal staff
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, December 17
Postal employees from the entire region today organised a protest rally against the sixth wage board here. The employees of various postal employee unions gathered at Shaheed Park today. Later, carrying placard displaying messages against the union government they marched to mini secretariat and handed over a memorandum of their demands to the district administration.

The postal employees alleged that they had been discriminated against in the sixth wage commission. If the government fails to rectify its mistakes they would have to launch an agitation across the country.