Shimla, September 1
The model suggested by the joint front of employees for restructuring of the state power utility, if implemented, will be an unmitigated financial disaster with the state losing revenue from sale of electricity to the tune of hundreds of crores perpetually.

According to the front’s model, which is under consideration of the government, the provisions of the Electricity Act 2003 are to be complied with without unbundling of the state utility.

The board will be incorporated as a company, carrying all the three functions of generation, transmission and distribution.

Since a transmission company cannot carry out trading of power, the front has suggested that trading should be assigned to a newly created energy directorate or a trading company be set up for the purpose.

However, if the government accepts this model, the entire surplus power available with the board will have to be traded as per norms laid down by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), which has allowed a profit margin of just 4 paise per unit.

A perusal of the data pertaining to the sale of power for the past two years reveals under the proposed model, the board would lose a revenue of over Rs 1,500 crore.

As per the audited accounts, the board sold 1,198 million units of electricity to earn a revenue of Rs 617 crore in 2007-08, whereas the quantum of power sold through an independent trading company would have fetched just Rs 4.80 crore at a margin of 4 paise per unit.

Similarly, last year sale of 1,500 million units yielded Rs 927 crore as against a meagre Rs 6 crore a trading company would have earned. The quantum of loss will increase progressively as more power will be available for sale.

Moreover, the trading company will not have stakes in the sale as it gets a fixed margin of 4 paise per unit, irrespective of the sale rate.

Trading is inbuilt in a distribution company but an unbundled entity cannot carry out trading. The financial loss apart, it will face problems in day-to-day functioning without trading.

The engineers in the board and experts in the state regulatory commission are aware of it, but they are silent as they have not found the government very receptive to sane advice. In fact, the government has been virtually following the dictates of employees’ unions.

There is utter confusion and it seems those at the helm are not clear if the restructuring exercise was being carried out to bring efficiency in the power sector or for the benefit of employees.

Shimla, September 1
To regulate traffic and tide over the problem of haphazard parking, the government is mulling over the creation of an urban transport authority under the local municipal corporation (MC) so that the city’s mobility plan can be implemented effectively.

With the MC failing to implement the condition of having a mandatory parking floor in all constructions being undertaken in the town, vehicles parked along the roads are adding to the traffic woes and restricting free mobility of vehicles all over the town.

There is now a proposal to create an urban transport authority, which will regulate urban transport --- whether it is buses, taxis or other public transport.

The issue came up for discussion at a recent meeting of senior functionaries of the Urban Development, Town and Country Planning Department, MC, Transport, Police and HIMUDA.

It was observed that despite creation of a separate parking floor being made mandatory in the rules of the Town and Country Planning Department, most house owners were avoiding it.

“The MC is the agency which has to check whether a separate parking floor has been created or not and only then the completion certificate should be issued,” said a senior official.

Sources said it was basically opposition from the councillors that was making it difficult for the MC to implement strictly the condition of having a parking floor.

“Even though the TCP Rules clearly say a parking floor has to be there, but MC, in violation of these rules, is issuing completion certificates,” admitted a senior official.

The issue of plying of 75 new buses in Shimla was discussed and it was decided
that it must be done in a manner in which the routes integrate with the existing
fleet with the transport.

With private vehicles parked along the narrow roads all over the town, traffic jams have become a constant feature.

The problem is that in most of the houses that have been constructed, there is no provision for creating parking space; as a result vehicles are parked on the roads next to the buildings.

The problem becomes even worse during the summer months when the town is flooded with tourists.

The existing parking slots in the town are inadequate to take entire load as a result of which the vehicles have to be parked along roads, leading to traffic congestion.

Shimla, September 1
The Himachal Pradesh High Court today extended interim anticipatory bail to suspended IAS officer Sanjay Gupta till September 2 in the disproportionate assets case registered against him by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau.

While extending the interim bail, Justice Kuldip Singh listed the bail plea of the suspended bureaucrat for tomorrow for further orders.

Today, the vigilance bureau produced the record of the case and sought custodial interrogation of the officer. Counsel for the suspended officer contended before the court since the bureau was already in possession of his income tax returns, there was no need for his custodial interrogation.

It is pertinent to mention here that earlier on August 20 the Special Judge (Forests) had rejected the bail plea of Gupta.

Gupta came in the vigilance net for the second time in his career when he was allegedly nabbed by the bureau which recovered a sum of Rs 2 lakh from him in Parwanoo. The matter will come up for further hearing now on September 2.

Dharamsala, September 1
Despite its war against Taliban on its own soil, Pakistan is not relenting on promoting terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

There are about 50 to 60 terrorists in various locations opposite Jammu and Samba-Kathua border who are watching for an opportune time to infiltrate.

GOC Rising Star Corps Lt-Gen GM Nair gave this information while addressing a press conference at Yol today.

He said the Army was keeping a close watch and any attempt of infiltration would be foiled. “We have information that many Indian terrorists in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) now want to give up arms and surrender. However, the Pakistan army is not allowing them to do so,” he added.

When asked if the Army was ready give safe passage to the said terrorists who want to surrender, Nair said there was an explicit policy of the state for such terrorists who want to give up arms.

He also claimed that Pakistan was encouraging agencies to subvert some of our unsuspecting people.

They were exploiting the telecom networks, including cell phones, to acquire military information. Pakistan intelligence agencies have got their agents to reconnoitre some of our cantonments for gathering military intelligence.

Nair justified the raising of walls around their cantonment areas, despite resentment by locals on the plea that it would help in controlling spying activities of the Pakistan intelligence agencies.

He said the fact that a Pakistan spy was arrested from Dharamsala further justified the raising of walls. He urged locals to bear with the inconvenience being caused due to the Army barriers.

While responding to a query, the Lt-General said the reported strengthening of border posts by the Pakistan army as a regular exercise. There was nothing to be alarmed about the move.

He informed that the Army would carry out recruit rally in Chamba and Una districts from October 3 to 9 and in the Sunjwan area of Jammu from October 20 to 28.

A pension adalat would also be organised at Yol from September 11 to 12 for ex-servicemen. Meanwhile, the Rising Star with its headquarters at Yol celebrated its fourth Raising Day here today.

On the occasion, corps remembered the sacrifice of Major Somnath Sharma, Maj GS Salaria, Capt Vikram Batra and Lt Saurav Kalia. A trekking expedition through the Dhauladhar mountains was also flagged off on the occasion.

Hamirpur, September 1
The joint action committee (JAC) of employees’ associations of the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti has decided to hold nationwide protests on Teacher’s Day (September 5) to highlight their demand of GPF-cum- pension scheme for the staff of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV).

The decision had been taken by the joint action committee of the All-India JNV Principals’ forum, All-India JNV Staff Association, JNV Samito Employees’ Welfare Association and JNV Catering Assistants Association on August 9.

Talking about the nationwide protest, members of the JAC said, “On Teacher’s Day, the Navodaya staff members will not strike work, but they will observe a fast.”

They said, “We have adopted the Gandhian way of protest on September 5 to draw the attention of the authorities towards introduction of the GPF-cum-pension scheme to all those employees who had joined prior to January 1, 2004.”

Pleading their case, JAC members say, “After the formation of JNVs in 1985, the Ministry of HRD had written thrice to then director of Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti to introduce the provision of Central Civil Services Rule 1972, but no action was taken by the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti to implement the GPF-cum-pension rules. While various government committees have recommended implementation of this scheme for JNV employees, but the samiti has not done so.”

Bilaspur, September 1
A central team of officers and experts for assessing losses due to drought would visit the state from September 2 to 5.

This was said by deputy commissioner Nandita Gupta while addressing a district- level meeting of revenue officers of the district here today.

She said the district had been under the grip of persistent drought during the past two main crops this year successively.

It had lost crops worth Rs 44.23 crore during the rabi season and sustained a loss of more than Rs 35 crore during the kharif crop season, she stated.

The team would visit Bilaspur town on September 4. She said the team would also visit some interior areas of the district on September 4.

Shimla, September 1
A weak monsoon this year is proving a boon for the country’s largest 1,500-MW Nathpa Jhakri Hydropower Station, which has achieved record generation for three consecutive months.

The project generated more than 1,000 million units of electricity every month during the past three months.

It produced 1,069 million units in June, 1,144 million units in July and 1,071 million units in August.

In all 3,284 million units were generated during these three months as against the target of 2,974 million units set by the Union Ministry of Power.

The total generation from the plant during the five months of the current financial year April to August, 2009, aggregated 4,370 million units, achieving more than two- third of its annual target of producing 6,500 million units for current financial year.

Scanty rains ensured that discharge in the Sutlej remained within manageable limits and there was no shutdown due to excessive silt, common feature during monsoon.

The silt level had remained below the 4,000 ppm (parts per million) so far. Raising the dam height by 10 m had also helped in sedimentation.

General manager and project head NC Bansal said achievement was due to excellent management of silt, water and machines in terms of operation and maintenance.

Shimla, September 1
State BJP chief Khimi Ram today said that in view of increased activity by the Chinese army along the border, the Centre must immediately grant approval for the execution of the Bilaspur-Manali-Leh rail line.

In a statement issued here today, the BJP chief said the rail line had become a necessity in view of the increased threat from China and India must not lose time in going ahead with the project.

“The Manali-Leh rail line is important for the country from strategic point of view and would go a long way in promoting tourism in Himachal,” he said.

He said that work of the Rohtang tunnel had also been delayed for the past five years because of the indifferent attitude of the Centre.

He regretted that the Centre was ignoring the interests of the hill states. “At a time when unemployment has already become a major problem, the unprecedented price rise has added to the woes of the jobless and the common man who are finding it difficult to make ends meet,” he said.

Shimla, September 1
Putting in their bit for revival of majestic deodar trees in the “Queen of Hills”, high court judges today planted deodar trees at upcoming judicial complex in Chakkar.

The judges led by Acting Chief Justice RB Mishra undertook the plantation of the tress as part of the “Deodar Revival” campaign launched by the Forest Department in the state capital. Over 250 deodar trees were planted at the judicial complex.

Justice Mishra highlighted the importance of planting trees, which had been an integral part of our ancient Indian culture and tradition.

Additional Principal Chief Conservator AK Gulati said, “It is essential for us to start planting deodar trees, as majestic trees have always added to beauty of the town.”

DFO Rajesh Sharma said the active participation and interest taken by the members of the judiciary in the campaign would go a long way in promoting this campaign.