Shimla, February 4
The failure of pilot primate park project notwithstanding, the state forest department has decided to set up two more such parks after removing the shortcomings of the scheme.

Under the innovative initiative to combat monkey menace, a primate protection park at Tara Devi, near here, was set up over 232 hectares of forests where sterilised simians were to be released. However, the project failed within weeks as most of the monkeys escaped to nearby villages in Shoghi and Kandaghat, creating more problems for the local population. The park had to be wound up ultimately.

However, the department has not given up the plan and decided to set up two primate parks in secluded forests, far away from human habitations. These parks will not only provide natural habitat for the monkeys, but also serve as observatories for studying changes, if any, in their behaviour after sterilisation.

The department is tying up with the Wildlife Institute of India and various universities so that research scholars could take up study projects for their thesis.

Forest Minister JP Nadda admitted that the pilot scheme was a failure but said the main reason was that the area was not big enough and it was surrounded by habitations. The proposed parks would be set up in deep forests and spread over a larger area. Both the parks will be set up in the Shivaliks, the natural abode of monkeys.

The first park is proposed to be established in Phalset forests close to the Gobindsagar in Bilaspur. The park will be spread over an area of more than 300 hectares. The project will involve an expenditure of Rs 3 crore spread over a period of three years. It will have a capacity for 500 monkeys. The department has already submitted a project to the government of India for funding. The main expenditure of about Rs 2 crore will be on monkey feed and it will be a recurring feature.

The department has already sterilised about 15,000 monkeys over the past three years and it has set a target of 20,000 sterilisations for the next financial year.

While the local Tuti Kandi sterilisation centre, which pioneered the programme, will serve as a national training institute, two more centres have been set up at Gopalpur in Kangra and Sastar in Hamirpur and the fourth is coming up in Una.

Dharamsala, February 4
Chasm between Army authorities and locals in Yol is widening. Villagers and traders living around the Yol cantonment are continuously levelling allegations against the Army authorities.

Members of 11 panchayats staying around the Yol cantonment today met Kangra Deputy Commissioner RS Gupta. The district administration had to intervene as the villagers were not allowing the Army authorities to lay water supply lines from the Eko rivulet in the area.

The Army authorities are laying pipelines for water supply to cantonment area. The villagers alleged that the Army authorities would utilise all water.

So furious were the villagers that they demanded that the Army should give them royalty for water being used from their village. They alleged that the Army was charging Rs 5 as toll fee from their commercial vehicle coming to their village from Yol and hence free water supply was out of question. The Army officials, who were also called by the DC, however, said they required water for growing strength and establishment at Rising Star Corps headquarters at Yol. The DC directed Dharamsala SDM to visit the spot and resolve the issue.

Another group of locals, who expressed strong resentment against Army authorities, were shopkeepers of Brigade market. They alleged that they were doing business in the cantonment since decades. Now the Army authorities wanted to evict them. They have given unofficial orders to all Army personnel in the cantonment against buying anything from shopkeepers of the bazaar.

The shopkeepers alleged that they were being forced to evict shops by illegal means despite the fact that they had got status quo from the court in the matter.

Meanwhile, the Army authorities denied the charges. They maintained that the shopkeepers were given the offer to get their shops regularised at standard rent of Rs 300 per month or Rs 7 per sq metre. The shopkeepers, however, said they had not been given any such offer.

Residents of Nirwana village alleged that they had established a dairy taking grant under the mid-Himalayan project. The dairy produces 150 litres milk per day. However, the Army authorities were not allowing them to sell milk in the cantonment area.

The Army officials maintained that they get the milk supply from their own farm.

The villagers also alleged that the 800 NREGA accounts were being operated from the SBI branch in the cantonment. However, the Army authorities were not allowing locals to go into the cantonment area to operate their accounts. The DC urged the Army officials to settle the issues with the locals.

Dharamsala, February 4
Kangra district has been given the ‘Award for excellence in NREGA’. The national-level award has been given to the district for successful implementation of NREGA for the year 2008-09.

Kangra ADC Sandeep Bhatnagar received the award on behalf of the district administration of Kangra at Delhi on February 2.

Kangra Deputy Commissioner RS Gupta said during the year 2008-09 Rs 100 crore was spent under NREGA scheme in the district. Out of the said amount Rs 59 crore was distributed as labour payment. The administration issued 1,02,112 job cards under the scheme out which 1,14,666 people were given jobs.

In the last one year 56 lakh employment days were generated in the district and 12,404 development works were completed.

The most important aspect of the NREGA implementation in the district was that 70 per cent beneficiaries of the scheme were women.

He said a committee was established by the Chief Secretary of Himachal to evaluate the performance of the district under NREGA on 18 points.

After initial scrutiny, 50 districts from 18 states were shortlisted for the award. Later, 24 districts, which were found fit under the 18 parameters set for the awards, were selected for the award.

The DC also told that in future stress would be laid on using NREGA funds for afforestation and water conservation.

Besides the present administration, former district officials, including former DC KK Pant and ADC Mamta Chaudhary, have also contributed towards successful implementation of the scheme in the district.

Mandi, February 4
Chief Minister PK Dhumal would be giving away “Nirmal Puraskar” to 253 gram panchayats, with 125 panchayats from Mandi district, here tomorrow. However, fact remains that the respective deputy commissioners across the state, who are chairmen of the district sanitation committees, have yet to take the total sanitation campaign in most districts on a war footing as it has been the case in Mandi district.

The success of the Mandi total sanitation campaign lies in the fact the then Deputy Commissioner Subhashish Panda adopted a proactive approach and involved the Himachal Gyan Vigyan Samiti, an NGO, which roped in villagers, motivated them that in turn made them stakeholders in sanitation and helped achieve the targets.

On the other hand, though certain panchayats are emulating the Mandi experiment, many lack the initiative and motive to make each panchayat open defecation-free, said sanitation experts.

Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Jai Ram Thakur said as many as 253 panchyats had been selected for the award out of which 125 panchayats belonged to Mandi district.

He said sanitation campaign in Kangra (29 puraskars), Hamirpur (25 puraskars), Shimla (23 puraskar) and Sirmour (13 puraskars), Solan (15 puraskars), Bilaspur (8 puraskars) and Kullu(3) was picking up. In the tribal Lauhaul and Spiti and Kinnaur, the apparatus is being geared up to make the campaign a success, he added.

Hamirpur, February 4
Hamirpur Member of Parliament Anurag Thakur said the purpose of organising annual prize distribution functions in educational institutions was not only to give prizes to meritorious students but also to encourage and motivate them for future competitions.

He stated this while addressing students of Girl’s Senior Secondary School after presiding over the annual prize distribution function here today.

Stressing the need of building self-confidence among students, he said efforts should be made to generate self-confidence through motivation as self-confidence plays a very important role in life.

He said with the increasing competition every day in all spheres each student should be given more and more opportunities to compete.

The MP said the state government was making every effort to create facilities in educational institutions to provide quality education and today no government school was without a principal or a headmaster.

Expressing concern over the declining strength of students in government school, he said since the state government was making efforts to provide various facilities for quality education the parents should also give a thought to this problem.

Thakur urged teachers to provide maximum opportunities to students by organising different competitions to prove their skills.

He said today girls were excelling in every field of life and there was an urgent need to combat social evils like female infanticide.

Thakur said this was for the first time that IPL cricket matches were being organised at Dharamsala and indoor games were held in the state.

The MP also gave away prizes to meritorious students. A cultural function was also organised on the occasion.

Earlier, Thakur also presided over the annual prize distribution function of Adarsh Vidya Public School at Bhota.

Shimla, February 4
The protracted dry spell, which has been giving sleepless nights to both farmers and fruit growers, may be broken if the weather gods oblige with heavy snow has been forecast by the local met office today.

In fact, the met office has issued a warning of heavy snow and hailstorm from February 7 to 9. In charge of the office Manmohan Singh said a strong western disturbance was likely to approach the state on February 6 and its impact was likely to last till February 9. Under its influence, parts of the state would start experiencing rain and snow on February 6.

According to the forecast, heavy snowfall, over 70 cm, will occur at isolated places, especially in the districts of Chamba, Kullu, Lahaul and Spiti, Kinnaur and higher reaches of Shimla. Isolated hailstorms are also likely to occur during the period.

Tourists have been advised not to travel to high altitudes and remote areas of the state in view of the expected heavy snowfall.

Farmers will be relieved if the forecast comes true and all areas receive adequate snow. There hardly has been any precipitation and the situation has been so bad that even the winter plantation programme of the department has not taken off. December went completely dry and the state received only token rain and snow, hardly enough to ensure a good rabi crop, during January. The overall deficiency in precipitation during January was 84 per cent.

Shimla, February 4
The newly elected state BJP chief Khimi Ram said today that preparing the party for the panchayati raj elections would be his first and foremost priority.

In a statement issued here today, the BJP chief said the party would reach out to people in all parts of the state to highlight the failure of the Congress-led UPA regime in controlling price rise. He added that the BJP would highlight the failure of the UPA regime on various fronts and try to reach out to people at the grassroot level.

“The BJP workers need to highlight the anti-people decisions of the UPA regime as a result of which the common man was finding it difficult to make ends meet,” he said.

Khimi Ram said the party would hold demonstrations all over the state, right from the mandal-level, against the unprecedented price rise.

The BJP chief said as per the directives of the central leadership, party workers would be encouraged to take part in social activities and other charitable tasks.

Sundernagar, February 4
In the absence of any clear-cut policy thousands of water bodies in the hill state are either highly polluted or losing its character.

The lack of awareness on the subject is further proving fatal, as it has been observed that at village-level water bodies are being destroyed, as residents consider them as unproductive and fill it with debris.

According to the government record, there are 94 wetlands in the state (out of which seven wetlands are man-made and 84 natural lakes) covering an area of 54,766 hectares. However, facts on thousands of water bodies which are smaller in size and situated on common sites are not available with the government due to lack of coordination between different departments. Interestingly, the study was available only with regard to big water bodies (wetlands) and till date no study with regard to small water bodies was available with any department in the state.

According to studies conducted by different agencies, big water bodies in the state were facing problems due to silting and pollution. Even area of some of the wetlands was decreasing due to encroachments.

The studies conducted by different groups revealed that wetlands like Renuka Lake, Chandertal, Rewalsar Lake, Manimahesh Lake, Kamrunag Lake, Prashar Lake, Nako Lake and Khajjiar Lake were facing problems due to pollution and silting which was an outcome of human intervention.

On the other hand, small water bodies which are large in number and considered less important by the public are filled with debris and afterwards these sites are used for construction of buildings. Most of the time the filling work was undertaken by panchayats and was funded by the Deputy Commissioner of the concerned district. Interestingly, the government had been talking much about water harvesting but the state at present had no policy to save the number of water bodies which were decreasing at a rapid rate. Head of State Council for Science and Technology Dr RK Sood said at present the government was not having any policy to save the water bodies which was the need of hour. He further said it would be formulated soon.

Kangra, February 4
A 32-year-old man, accused of murdering his 28-year-old wife, today sought euthanasia (pardon death). He had attempted suicide by jumping off a hillock after committing the crime and was left with a hip fracture. He was abandoned by his family members and was undergoing mental and physical trauma.

Ved Prakash Sharma, a resident of Bandroh Dameta village, had married Vandna of Margoni village on November 25, 2003. They were childhood friends and fell in love with each other which resulted in their marriage. They had two children, 5-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son.

Ved Prakash today told The Tribune that his economic condition after marriage resulted in differences between the couple.

The differences reached an acme and on January 27 he allegedly killed his wife in a fit of rage with a sharp-edged weapon and then tried to commit suicide by jumping off a 1,000-ft-high hillock.

Ved Prakash was lying on a bed at the Tanda Medical College with no one to help him. He had been abandoned by family members for committing the heinous crime. He said there was none to help him and be given pardon death. “My appeal through the media should reach the President of India,” he said.

Dr Bhano Awasthi, HoD, orthopaedic department and medical superintendent of DRPGMC, Tanda, said Ved Prakash needed surgery for his hip fracture but they needed somebody to attend to him during his post-operative period.

“I had approached his father and brother to come forward now and let the law take its course later. However, they refused to even acknowledge him,” he said.

The plate with leftover food was full of cockroaches by his bedside when the reporter visited the hospital today with no one to take care of him. A police personnel was on duty as he was in the police custody. However, the accused has no will to live longer.

Mandi, February 4
As rash driving remains unbridled in the town, a senior doctor and state general secretary of the HP Medical Officers’ Association Dr Jiwa Nand Chauhan was injured when a speeding motorbike (HP32 1344), rashly driven by one Naresh Kumar, a resident of Tharzon village, Chachiot, hit him in the town today.

Though the victim was reported to be safe at the hospital, the incident has incurred the wrath of residents as rash driving remains unchecked in the town while traffic cops prefer to look the other way.

The traffic cops have been found wanting in checking rash driving in the town mainly involving youngsters where roads are clogged with traffic and pedestrians, residents rued. The can be seen taking rounds of girls’ schools, rushing through congested bazaars, they added.

Meanwhile, the police has registered a case under Aections 279, 337 of the IPC at the Mandi Sadar police station on the statement of an eyewitness Surinder Kumar. He stated that the motor cycle, driven by Naresh Kumar, came from Mandi Bazaar side and hit Dr Chauhan.

The traffic cops set their eyes on soft targets, challaning vehicles coming from outside for the so-called wrong parking on the post office road.

“It has been observed that traffic cops are on toes as and when the SP or DIG or DC or any other VIP visit the town and forget the traffic hazards faced by the pedestrians,” rued senior citizens.

“A few youngters drive at a breakneck speed even during peak hours and can be seen rarely wearing helmets, exposing themselves and pedestrians to hit-and-run hazards,” they said.

Meanwhile, traffic cops admitted that they had to be more alert in case of a VIP’s visit. “But we do challan rash drivers off and on,” they claimed.

Shimla, February 4
The Himachal Kisan Sabha (HKS) today demanded that the government should regularise encroachments of farmers in the state having upto 25 bighas of land and should withdraw the notification of appointment of three special DFOs to remove these encroachments.

In a statement issued here today, Bihari Sevagi, state president of the HKS, demanded that according to its promise made to the farmers in 2002, the BJP regime should regularise all encroachments of farmers having 25 bighas of land, including their own and the one encroached by them.

“The notification of appointment of the three special DFOs at Shimla, Rampur and Kullu must be withdrawn so that the farmers can get relief,” he demanded. He said the HKS would hold meetings on the issue at Rampur, Nankehri, Nirmand, Ani and Bhavanagar on February 10 and at Rohru on February 22 with party workers.

Sevagi said the HKS was also strictly opposed to the decsion of the government to sell off the Gumma carton factory.