Shimla, June 7
The fund-starved state electricity board is being deprived of the much-needed revenue due to the failure of its field staff to maintain a proper record of assets, issue bills to all consumers and take action against defaulters.

The pilot project under which asset mapping and evaluation exercise is being undertaken in five electrical divisions, a transmission division and a generation division under the Shimla circle has indeed revealed a messy state of affairs. A sizeable number of consumers are not being billed.

There is no proper record of several transmission lines, distribution lines and other assets and in a majority of cases works have not been closed.

Even in case of recorded assets, details like prices of conductor, poles and other items used have not been mentioned.

In the Theog division, a number of illegal connections were detected in Shakra,
Palu and Ghoond villages. In some cases, “kundis” were used to draw power
directly from the line.

Even in Shimla, a large number of consumers were not being issued bills. Such cases have also come to light in Dhalli, Jama Masjid and suburban areas.

Out of total 90 feeders, mapping in respect of 37 has been completed and the data reveals an increase in asset base ranging from 7 to 10 per cent and increase in number of consumers from 5 to 7 per cent.

The board’s current asset base of Rs 3,500 crore will be, thus, increased by about Rs 250 crore, which will help in securing higher tariffs from the regulator.

The switchover to e-billing in five subdivision of Shimla has revealed that 6,800 out of total 52,000 consumers have not paid any bill since December, 2008, and power supply has not been disconnected even in a single case.

In the city and Shimla-1 divisions, 1,455 consumers, had an outstanding amount of Rs 1,45, 05,165. These include including 49 government connections.

Once the digitisation of assets is complete, a geographical information system (GIS) will be put in place using satellite imageries and global positioning system (GPS) that will enable engineers to plan projects for expansion of transmission and distribution networks sitting in their office.

The GIS will provide complete mapping of network from generation plant to consumers and also provide complete information about the terrain. Field visits will be required only for fine-tuning in the final phase.

The 18 lakh consumers will be indexed category-wise and all information like energy consumed and outstanding bills will be available on a click of mouse.

The state electricity regulatory commission had directed the board to carry out asset mapping in 2002, but it started the exercise after almost seven years. It speaks volumes of the attitude and efficiency with which the board functions.

Sundernagar, June 7
Eleven green trees were axed by the staff of Government Senior Secondary School, Bharari (Sajupiplu), in Sarkaghat subdivision of Mandi district on World Environment Day. The act was committed despite protests by students.

While five trees were completely felled, six were heavily lopped. According to school Principal Sher Singh, this was done to accumulate fuel wood for use during a tournament to be held in September.

He denied felling of trees, but admitted that branches of some trees were lopped-off. According to the school staff, such activities had taken place in the past also, but there had been no objection by anybody so far.

Residents of Sajupiplu said no action would be taken against the guilty as they enjoyed political patronage.

The field staff of the Forest Department confirmed that some trees were felled while branches of a few others were lopped-off on the school compound.

Conservator of Forests, Mandi, BD Suyal said he had already ordered an inquiry into the matter and deputed officials from the Sundernagar forest division to visit the spot immediately. Legal action would be initiated against the guilty as per provisions of various laws, he said.

Dharamsala, June 7
Developing technology to cap emissions can provide an opportunity for the Indian industry to fight global recession and generate employment.

Though emissions in India are much below China or the US, it has to recognise climate change crisis as a business opportunity.

However, India would need technology from the western countries for capping emissions. “For instance, our agriculture waste of 600 million tonne can produce 80,000 mega watts of electricity (i.e. over 60 per cent of our installed capacity), but we need technology to turn it into cellulosic ethanol,” said Dr Madhav Mehra, president World Council for Corporate Governance.

“A comprehensive global climate change agreement replacing the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012, is essential. If well designed, it will ensure long-term competitiveness of Indian business. A robust agreement will create a market for low-carbon technologies that can be worth $1 trillion in the first five years of its implementation,” Mehra added.

“India has a crippling energy deficit. Studies by the IPCC show that coal-fired power generation is the most inefficient technology. It is very harmful to environment. There is no way India can meet its energy requirement through conventional sources. Our only sensible and viable alternative is to go aggressively for solar technology and give incentives to each youth willing to harvest it,” he added.

“Colossal advances are being made in R&D in solar energy worldwide. Despite the cash constipation, huge funds are available for renewable energy resources. India, despite its specific advantage in solar energy, figures nowhere in the big league of solar power players. China is far ahead,” he added.

“In this context, PROACTIVATE, an 11-point model of growth developed, discussed and filtered at various workshops and conferences organised by the UK-based World Council for Corporate Governance and World Environment Foundation, has found universal support. The model was launched at Bangalore on June 5. It will now be followed by a global chain in Palampur on June 12,” Mehra said.

Mandi, June 7
In a move to appease its “inefficient employees”, 14 officials of the state government-run Milkfed corporation, which has been in the red, would “enjoy freebie worth Rs 61,600” as a reward for their poor track record.

The government has decided to fund their dairy technology diploma courses from Indira Gandhi National Open University from this year.

Though Milkfed has kept this under wraps since January 23, this reward for its
“inefficient employees” was revealed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act,
raising a question mark on the ways employees are recruited without the required
technical know-how.

In fact, Milkfed has decided in its board meeting on January 23, 2009, to fund the dairy development IGNOU courses for free for 14 officials this year, the RTI revealed.

Earlier, the Milkfed used to fund 50 per cent of the daily technology courses, while 50 per cent of the expenditure was paid by the employee himself.

RTI Bureau activist Kamaldev Saini has sought this information from the Milkfed.
The total cost of the course is stated to Rs 61,600, raising questions about the
way employees in the Milkfed are recruited without required degrees and diplomas,
the RTI revealed.

RTI Bureau, Mandi, president Lawan Thakur said the Milkfed was rewarding its inefficient employees while the milk producers in the state are not getting optimum price for their products from the federation.

On the other hand, chairman, Milkfed, Mohan Joshi admitted that the RTI information must be correct, but he had no exact figure on the Milkfed’s profit and losses.

“But it must be an old case and technology courses are need of the hour to increase its efficiency,” he added.

Mandi, June 7
The Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department is slapping water bills on almost half of its population at “its whims and fancy”, raising the ire of residents in which tenants are the actual victims as the department has not installed water meters for its over 7,000 water-connection owners in the town.

Even the IPH has no system of proper meter reading in the town as a meter reader actually comes and read meters to issue bills to the consumers, residents said.

“In fact most of the meters do not function properly and I have never seen an IPH meter reader recording my reading,” rued a senior resident.

The IPH not only slaps it bills at its whims and fancy, but also calculate its sewerage connection bill roughly at half of his/her water bills with consumers, mainly tenants ending up paying more than the average consumer.

Most house owners, who actually use more water, charge or distribute the bills among their tenants. However, tenants are the actual victims of the IPH Department’s police of adhocism, rued tenants.

According to information, the IPH has about 14,500 water connections out of which only 7,500 consumers are metered for the water supply in this town having a population of over 50,000.

But about 7,000 water connections have no meters, sources added. The residents resented that the IPH Department has been slapping bills on the un-metered consumers on the basis of its “whims and fancy and on an ad hoc basis”.

In fact, it is charging Rs 53 per un-metered water connection per month as per its latest notification.

There are house owners who are not paying a single penny as they are getting water supply for free.

There are also over 300 commercial consumers in the town who consume most of the supply, revealed sources.

The IPH charges double the water charges fixed for domestic consumers and the consumer ends up paying more than the average charges while they consume less than 200 litres of water.

There is no shortage of portable water in the town as the IPH is supplying more than over 8 million litres of water daily against the need of 8 million litres.

Executive engineer, IPH, Devesh Bhardwaj said the IPH was in process of installing meters for all connections in the town.

Bills are calculated on the average consumption charging Rs 53 per water connection per month as fixed by the department.

Hamirpur, June 7
The state government’s reported move to give extension to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Himachal Pradesh Urban Housing Development Authority (HIMUDA), who superannuated from his service on April 30, is not only being considered against the set policy of the government but also causing concern among other officers.

There are reports that the government is planning to give extension to the officer despite a broader policy agreement by the government to the contrary.

Immediately after coming to power in the state, the BJP government had retired several officers, including Engineer in Chief of the PWD, from their posts, who had been given extension by the previous Congress government.

Sources in HIMUDA said, “The move of the government to give extension to the CEO is even confirmed by the fact that he is still using some of the facilities provided to him as the CEO.”

The main concern of the HIMUDA officers is that the extension to the CEO will not only block their avenues of promotion but also impinge on the whole hierarchy.

“Our officers are facing stagnation and sitting on the same posts for decades. This extension will further block our chances,” they said.

The CEO’s retirement is likely to benefit at least six officers from rank of assistant engineer to chief engineer as they will get promotion to the next higher rank.

Minister for Housing and Urban Development Kishan Kapoor avoided comments
on the issue.

On being asked if the state government was planning to give extension to the CEO of HIMUDA, he said, “I cannot say anything on the issue at the moment.”

Nurpur, June 7
Students of Government Middle School at Doog Bakshian in Riyali gram panchayat (Jawali subdivision) are attending classes in open, thanks to the apathy of the Education Department which has upgraded the school from primary to middle standard in 2000, but failed to arrange even a single classroom.

Sixty students from this remote rural area have taken admission into this school. This government school has neither any building nor playground.

As a sequel, the students are forced to sit under shady trees in the village in
the scorching heat and there mid-day meal is being cooked in the nearby mahila
mandal bhawan.

However, during rainy season the classes are being run in houses of the locals.

Intriguingly, the government is spending funds to the tune of crores annually under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan for raising infrastructure in government schools.

But here this centrally sponsored programme has failed to deliver goods to the
rural children.

Pradhan of Riyali gram panchayat Nanak Chand rued that he had taken up the issue of allotment of government land to the school with the Kangra DC many times, but due to non availability of ‘shamlat’ land in the village the same could not be allotted.

“Villagers are also not interested in donating their private land for this social
cause,” he added.

However, he has also appealed to the state government to provide shelter to
these schoolchildren.

Deputy Director, Elementary Education, Ram Lata could not be contacted as she was on an official tour to the state capital.

Shimla, June 7
The 2010 Commonwealth Games are turning out to be a boon for the country’s leading crockery maker Hitkari Ceramics which is setting up Asia’s most sophisticated eco-friendly manufacturing plant to cater to the needs of the mega hotels coming up in and around New Delhi.

It will be only the sixth plant of its kind in the world and the first in Asia with the commissioning of which the capacity of the company will be more than doubled.

The current turnover of the company is Rs 50 crore and the facility being set up at Babrala in Uttar Pradesh will raise to Rs 110 crore by the end of next year.

The existing two diesel-based manufacturing facilities are located at Bahadurgarh
and Faridabad.

It will also mark switchover to clean development mechanism as the new plant will use natural gas as fuel in place diesel.

The fully-automatic plant will not only help save fuel but also manpower, employing only about 1,000 workers as against over 3,600 working in the existing plants.

Chairman-cum-managing director of the company M. Zahid revealed that already tied up with 92 of the 252 hotels slated for completion over the next one year, negotiations were on with the rest.

It has also entered an arrangement with the Delhi government for providing crockery with the logo for the games.

Further, Seven Wonder International, the entertainment business arm of the company, also hopes to gain from the event to substantially increase is turnover from the existing Rs 20 crore.

It has managed some major events in Dubai, Singapore and Mumbai. Zahid was here in connection with the Shimla Summer Festival the stage for which s being managed by his Seven Wonders International.

In the city famous for the Shimla-Kalka heritage track, a toy train was created on the stage from which the main star performer emerged every evening for the show.

Chamba, June 7
The National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), which is executing the Chamera hydroelectric project stage-III on the Ravi river in the district, has taken a strong exception to the worsening condition of about 44 km Jarangla to Kharamukh on the Chamba-Bharmour highway, pointing out to the lapse on the part of Himachal Pradesh Public Works Department (HPPWD) this week.

The NHPC authorities have complained to the state government about the inordinate delay by the PWD in adhering to the MoU signed between them with an outlay of Rs 16.67 crore on November 25, 2006, for the improvement and widening of road and amount deposited at the same time.

The work of extension of bridges on this road was to be executed and completed by December 2008.

The construction of another new road from Dakhog-Tarela-Farelu is being carried out in a haphazard manner, which besides jeopardising the safety of human life, the project machinery has been causing obstruction in the dam works for the past more than 15 days. Despite repeated reminders, the PWD authorities did not resort to work, they lamented.

Another MoU with an outlay of Rs 7.93 crore was signed between the NHPC and the HPPWD for widening and improvement of a 30 km Goli to Chamba patch on the Chamba-Pathankot highway, the only lifeline of the district and an amount of Rs 6.3 crore has been released. The road is facing the same situation.

Utilisation certificate received till date was for Rs 8.93 crore against Rs 22.97 crore released by the NHPC expressed astonishment.

Meanwhile, the PWD officials said the reasons for delay in the formation of road was to give sufficient time required for crossing regular traffic on the highway and being inhabited areas along the highway basting works were taken at fixed hours.

Expressing surprise over the fresh estimates submitted by the PWD for remaining works recently, the NHPC had described these estimates as “unilateral” without involving the NHPC, which were of “enormous increase in cost” too.

Residents of Bharmour tribal sub-division have also railed at the authorities for the poor condition of road leading to the famous Manimahesh.

Dalhousie, June 7
The eight-day international students joint camp organised by the International Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) of the Union Ministry of External Affairs concluded at the Youth Hostel, Dalhousie.

On the last day of the camp, the students travelled in open mini-trucks to Kohladi village passing through the deep forest area.

“We were surprised to see such heavy stones grinding maize using the force of water as power to run them,” said Delgermaa Purevdorj from Mangolia. She added that the scenic beauty of Kohladi village was simply awesome.

The students also played friendly football and basketball matches with students of Dalhousie Hill Top School. The Hilltop school team won the basketball match and the ICCR team won the football match.

Bhanu Pratap Pant, Principal of Hill Top School, distributed prizes and medals to the winners and runners up of both the matches. He said it was a good exposure for students of his school to get this rare opportunity of interacting with international students from 14 countries.

The students and teachers of the school and also foreign students presented
cultural programmes.

Liaison Officer of the ICCR Rattan Lal said the foreign students had thoroughly
enjoyed the different programmes, which had helped them to have a look at the
countryside of Himachal Pradesh.

He hoped that the participants would share their thrilling experience of Indian culture and civilisation with their compatriots.

Kullu, June 7
The association of parents and guardians of the PMT students, pradhans of various panchayats in Kullu, elected members of the Panchayati Raj Institutions like zila parishad, panchayat samitis and political leaders demanded increase in seats in the medical colleges of the state from the current session.

Devi Chand, president of the association of the parents and guardians of the students who appeared for the PMT test in the state, alleged the indifference of all state governments since Himachal’s statehood in 1971 in getting increase in the seats in the government medical colleges.

He said it had not only compelled the Himachalis to spend huge sums to get their wards seats in private colleges in other states but also forced them to either mortgage their properties or sell them to raise funds for completion of MBBS and MD.

Devi Chand said the state had 115 seats for its two colleges out of which only 93 seats were for Himachalis while 16 seats were open for all-India students, four for NRIs and two for Tibetan and Kashmiri refugees. Out of the total of 93 only 53 seats were available for general category students, he added.

The association demanded that at least 100 seats each in IGMC, Shimla, and Dr RP Government Medical College, Tanda, be allocated from the current session as faculty and infrastructure was available in both the institutions.

Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker Khimi Ram Sharma also supported the demand of the people for increase in seats of the medical colleges and urged the Chief Minister to take up the matter on priority.