Shimla, May 16
Assertions of Union Minister for Legal Affairs Veerappa Moily notwithstanding, the government is not keen to carry out reforms in the judiciary as recommended by the Law Commission in its 230th report. This is quite evident from the information obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act from various agencies concerned.

Nirmal Singh, Central Public Information officer (CPIO), Union Department of Legal Affairs, in response to an application filed by RTI activist Dev Ashish Bhattacharya on February 5 early this year, said the report was presented in the Lok Sabha on December 10 and the Rajya Sabha on December 14, last year. Copies of the report were forwarded to the Department of Justice and the Bar Council of India in August 2009 for consideration and implementation. He had sought information on the implementation of the entitled “Reforms in Judiciary---Some Suggestions”, particularly with regard to transfers of “uncle judges”.

Further, as per information provided by SK Srivastava, CPIO, Department of Justice, “the central government does not maintain any list of so called honourable uncle judges”. No references have been received from the state governments for transfer of uncle judges. The Supreme Court had also not referred to the said 230th report of the Law Commission. However, this report is separately under examination”.

The response of Raj Pal Arora, Additional Registrar and CPIO, Supreme Court, was, “I write to inform you that as no information is available in the Supreme Court, the same is not held by or under the control of CPIO or the Supreme court and, thus, cannot be provided under the RTI Act”.

The response of various authorities concerned, asserts Bhattacharya, clearly indicates that despite loud talk of about reforms, no one was seriously interested in ensuring “transparency” and “good governance” in judiciary.

Worse, no state government had bothered to even to consider the report, let alone its implementation, he added.

Bhattacharya points out that as per the commission, “Uncle Judges” covered not only those who had relatives practising in the same court, but all those elevated to the high court from the bar or the judicial service.

Shimla, May 16
Failure to stop work of painting of streetlight poles in the state capital after scrapping of the scheme under which funds were to be provided by private companies is likely to create problems for the state electricity board.

The board scrapped the scheme after irregularities in award of painting contract came to notice and, accordingly, it was decided that the amount of Rs 12 lakh already deposited by the three cement companies will be returned and the work stopped immediately. The payment for the work was to be made by the companies. However, the authorities failed to ensure compliance of the decision and, as a result, the contractor carried out much more work than the amount provided by the companies.

The amount made available by the companies was sufficient for painting 1,090 poles at the rate of Rs 1,100 per pole. However, about 4,000 poles have been painted which means that the total payment due will be almost four times the amount provided.

Chairman of the board Subhash Negi, however, asserted that the board was not liable to ensure payment for work carried out by the contractor in excess of the amount deposited by the cement companies in the first instance. As the scheme had been scrapped altogether due to procedural lapses in award of contract, the board had no authority to create further liabilities on companies and if excess work had been executed, it would be the personal responsibility of officials concerned, he added.

Similarly, under no circumstances the contractor could create financial liability on the companies by carrying out work in excess of the amount initially deposited by them.

Negi also clarified that the move to allow companies to use the street light poles for the purpose of displaying advertisements was only a proposal and was not approved by the board.

Regarding irregularities in the award of contract and the charge that the approved rate was higher, he said a vigilance probe was already underway. Further action in the matter would depend on the findings of the inquiry.

Solan, May 16
The manner in which liquor distilleries located in various parts of the state have been polluting the environment habitually proves their lack of concern for the environment and the local community.

In the latest case involving Sabbacheus Distillery located at Jhiriwala village near Nalagarh, the board acted after a day-long protest by villagers. Fed up by drones of mosquitoes and flies emanating from the unhygienic disposal of effluents and sludge spread in about 10 villages, the peeved locals had to agitate for a whole day in the sweltering heat before the senior officials of the board from Shimla directed installation of a decanter and suspension of its operations.

Though the locals, led by an environment society, were demanding disconnection of power, no such order was issued by the board.

Balkrishen Sharma, society’s general secretary, while decrying this partisan attitude of the board, said it was lamentable that senior officials were not concerned about the woes of thousands of locals and deliberately turned a deaf ear to the laxities of these units.

In yet another case, Mohan Mekin Brewery, located near Kasauli, was so brazen in disobeying the law that it openly dumped untreated effluents into a nullah which contaminated a drinking water source. Despite laboratory tests conducted by the board’s own lab at Parwanoo proving that the water had been rendered unfit for drinking, the unit faced no suspension of operations at any stage.

The lax attitude of the State Pollution Control Board was also clear when Rangad Distillery at Mehatpur in Una district was found violating all norms and had let out their effluent treatment pipe into a nullah which joined the Swan river, thus openly polluting the water body.

Instead of ordering disconnection of power in all these cases as was required under the norms, only cursory action was ordered by the board.

Different yardsticks seem to be adopted by the board which had disconnected the power of one Sarvotham Care whose effluent treatment plant was found inappropriately functioning with effluents flowing into a nullah while these distilleries seem to be spared despite letting loose pollution of much larger dimension. Intriguingly, the power disconnection of this unit too came after a delay of five days, giving time to the unit management to plead their case before the authorities at Shimla.

Instead of acting strict after adverse pollution ratings by a central agency, the board officials fail to treat such cases with sensitivity.

Mandi, May 16
The High Court “green bench”, headed by Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Sanjay Karol, has constituted a five-member high-powered committee under the chairmanship of Srikant Baldi, managing director, Transmission Corporation, chief engineers, transmission corporation and Power grid Corporation, Mandi DC and Mandi Forest Conservator to spot-examine the present site at Banala and Falana across the Beas river for the construction of the 400 KV “pooling station” and 237-km-long transmission line to be constructed by the Powergrid Corporation of India.

The five-member committee would submit the report within three weeks’ time. The committee has been asked to examine both sites at Banala and Falana for the “pooling station”.

Soon after passing of the order, members of the Banala Mahila Mandal gathered at the spot and drove away workers employed by the contractor of the forest corporation who were engaged in cutting of trees. The villagers claimed that the Forest Department was illegally clearing the trees.

Counsel for the petitioner Anand Sharma told The Tribune that the green bench, hearing the petition filed by Gokul Chand vs Union government of India, did not pass the interim order. The committee would submit the report within three weeks’ time and the green bench had fixed the next hearing in the case for June 4.

The petitioners had challenged the approval given to the pooling station on the ground that thousands of trees would be axed for the station. They had suggested that an alternate barren site at Falana was available on the left bank of the Beas.

The power grid claimed that the Rs 350 crore 400 KV pooling substation had been approved by the MOEF. “The work on the 237-km-long Banala-Kamand-Hamirpur-Amrisar transmission line will be completed by December 2010, before the 2,051 MW Parbati project and 800 mw Kol Dam projects are commissioned,” officials claimed.

They said the corporation had paid Rs 5.5 crore as land compensation for private land and Rs 55 lakh to the Forest Department.

Meanwhile, Mandi Forest Conservator BD Suyal said the final approval had been given by the MOEF for the diversion of the forest land for construction of the pooling station at Banala.

Dharamsala, May 16
Rare deodar trees along side the McLeodganj-Dharamkot road are threatened due to encroachments made for constructing illegal shops and rest houses.

Encroachers have been carrying out a systematic procedure to do away with deodar forest for raising illegal buildings in the area. They remove earth from the edges of hill, especially in this season when heavy rain is expected to strike the region. This makes the deodar trees standing on the edge of hill weak, which ultimately leads to their felling.

According to sources, in many cases trees are felled at night and swindled by culprits. These trees are being felled despite a total ban by the Forest Department. This has also reduced the width of road on many stretches.

At the initial end of the road from McLeodganj, Tibetans have raised high buildings. In some of them, trees have been trapped inside the construction illegally. Almost all buildings are allegedly illegal and have been raised on reserve forest area. However, the authorities have failed to act in the matter.

Respective departments have issued notices to encroachers and legal activity to get the land vacated has been going on at a tardy pace for the past many years, the sources added. Complacent attitude of the authorities concerned is further encouraging encroachers who are taking control of government forest at the cost of rare trees.

The Tibetan government-in-exile had taken up the matter of encroachment with the state government. They are for transfer of land in the name of the Dalai Lama society so that it can further be given on lease to Tibetans living in exile.

The previous Congress government had decided to give special relaxation under Section 118 of the Land Tenancy Act to regularise encroachments by Tibetans. However, the present government has not taken any decision in the matter.

Meanwhile, Forest officials were not available for comments on the matter. For raising any construction on the said road, the person concerned has to take permission from the local municipal council and the Town and Country Planning Department and no-objection certificates (NOC) from the Forest Department and the PWD.

Paplah Brahmna (Hamirpur), May 16
Chief Minister PK Dhumal said self-reliance of farmers was the priority of the state government and different schemes over Rs 1,000 crore had been launched to benefit them.

He said this while addressing a public meeting before redressing grievances in the Prashashan Janta Ke Dwar programme here today.

Dhumal said the state government was according top priority to redressal of public grievances and Prashashan Janta Ke Dwar programmes were being organised at all levels by authorities with a view to provide instant relief to people by solving their problems. Dhumal also asked officials concerned to find solutions to people’s grievances in a time-bound manner and said the government was solving public grievances through e-Samadhan too.

He said there were vast opportunities for farmers in floriculture and the state had already got orders for supplying flowers worth Rs 30 crore during the coming Commonwealth Games at New Delhi.

Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur and local MLA Baldev Sharma also addressed the public meeting.

Bilaspur, May 16
State Congress president Kaul Singh Thakur has criticised the BJP government’s policy of setting up highly polluting cement plants and thus causing ecological imbalance in the state.

He said when the Congress would come into power, it would ensure that no more cement factories were set up here and the damage done to the ecology of the hills was restored at the entire cost of those who were responsible for the devastation.

He said this while addressing mediapersons at the Circuit House here today. Kaul Singh said on one hand the Chief Minister talked of developing tourism potential of the state and was also swearing regarding number of projects launched to make state pollution free, but on the other, his government had decided to give go ahead to as many as six more cement plants in the state.

Kaul Singh said the government swore to protect the sanctity, spirit and objective of Section 118 of the HP Land Reforms Act, but on the other hand it was signing highly objectionable agreements with outside industrial houses to start as many as 18 universities in various fields under the garb of making state an education hub.

He said a case was registered when a CD was released against Congress leader Virbhadra Singh but the same was not followed when another CD appeared against BJP leader Virender Kashyap.

The Congress president said the BJP leaders have lost their credibility and the government had lost confidence of people of the state within this short span of two-and-a-half years.

Shimla, May 16
The government has decided to implement the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (Rashtriya Krishi Bima Yojna) during the kharif season for maize, paddy, potato crops and ginger on pilot basis.

The decision has been taken on the recommendation of the State-Level Coordination Committee on Crop Insurance, which met recently under the chairmanship of the secretary, agriculture. Agriculture Insurance Company of India Limited will be the implementing agency for the scheme as decided by the Government of India. Risks covered under the scheme include natural fire and lightning, storm, hailstorm, cyclone, typhoon, hurricane, tornado, drought, dry spells and pest diseases.

The scheme is open to all farmers growing maize, paddy, potato and ginger crops. It will be on compulsory basis to farmers availing seasonal agricultural operation loans from financial institutions. For farmers not availing loan the scheme is optional. The indemnity level for maize, a paddy, potato and ginger crop has been kept at 80 per cent of the average yield. The small and marginal farmers are eligible for 50 per cent subsidy on total premium.

Hamirpur, May 16
Several forests caught fire today, causing a huge loss to flora and fauna in various parts of Hamirpur district.

The devastating forest fire was witnessed by a team of journalists returning from the Chief Minister’s programme at Budhana village under the Kangu forest range where thousands of pine trees and other forest wealth was engulfed. It was a matter of chance that most of the forest officials were busy with the Chief Minister’s tour programme in Nadaun assembly segments. Meanwhile, a team of forest officials and fire tenders were rushed to the spot.

A few villagers tried to douse the flames. However, it spread from one area to other.

According to villagers, the fire had reportedly started near Masankad rest house and engulfed an area of about 2 km. Though the rest house and other houses remain unscathed, a large forest wealth has been destroyed near Budhana and Malag villages. According to estimates, about 2,000 pine trees, a large number of shrubs, other plants and a large number of wild animals and birds have been reportedly destroyed in this fire. Vijay Katoch, president, Van Vikas Samiti, Budhana, termed the incident as unfortunate. Forest Conservator Sanjay Sood said the actual reports about the loss would be available by tomorrow.

Shimla, May 16
The roll out of citizen-centric IT (Information Technology)-enabled services and switchover to e-governance will go a long way in improving efficiency and bringing transparency in the day-to-day functioning of the government.

The government has taken a number of initiatives and launched a host of services to ensure SMART (simple, moral, accountable, responsive and transparent) governance in the state. A bouquet of IT-enabled services like Sugam (integrated service centres), Hospital Management Information System (HMIS), Common Services Centres (CSCs), State Data Centre (SDC), AGRISNET, e-procurement, Content Service Provider (CSP) and e-Samadhan have already been introduced in the state and some more services are in the pipeline.

The government is establishing 3,366 e-governance centres known as Lok Mitra Kendras at panchayat-level to help provide people private and social sector services at their doorsteps. So far, 2,185 kendras have been set up and in first phase of the project and services such as voter registration, voter identity cards, electricity bill payment, telephone and mobile bills, police complaint registration and examination being conducted by the public service commission are being made available. In the second phase, information regarding status of passport application, results of school education and registration in employment offices will be provided through these centres.

Besides Lok Mitra Kendras, Sugam centres have also been set up at all tehsils, subtehsils and subdivisions. District centres are being opened in municipal areas to provide one-stop resource centres for all citizen-centric services and information. These centres are taking care of vehicle registration, driving licence, bus booking and time table, voter registration, voter ID cards, e-praman certificates pertaining to caste, domicile, senior citizen, income, backward area, land record forms and hotel reservation, tourism information and other services.

Shimla, May 16
Tourists will be able to relish traditional delicacies of various parts of Himachal, in addition to the typical Kinnauri cuisine, during the third Sangla Valley Household Tourism Festival being held from May 21 to 23.

Besides rich and unique tribal culture, cuisines and handicrafts, the festival will also provide an opportunity to local people to interact with experts from Palampur Agriculture University and the Himalayan Research Group (HRG), who have joined hands to promote agri-tourism to enhance sustainable livelihood in the picturesque but ecologically fragile valley.

Vice-Chancellor of the university Dr Tej Pratap, who made Sangla valley the testing ground for the new concept of agri-based household tourism on the pattern of Switzerland, said the experiment was a success as evident from the fact that out of total 242 units registered under the home-stay scheme, 20 per cent were in a small stretch of about 40 km in the valley from Karcham to Chitkul.

He said the first and second festivals were able to drive home the point that tourism ventures in the valley could be operated in existing living houses with local food and human resource and linked to agriculture practices as an independent enterprise. At present, 50 households, with a total strength of about 150 rooms, were registered under the scheme.