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Exotic vegetables fail to benefit Kangra farmers
‘Adopt mediation for resolving dispute’
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‘UPA indulging in Muslim appeasement’
NHAI wasting funds on less busy roads: RTI paper
Accident-prone region lacks trauma services
Oldest forensic lab loses identity
NGO for mechanism to check cattle sale
Problems galore for apple growers
Kangra Coop Bank to be online soon
Delayed letter costs candidate dear
Takniki Sahayaks call off strike
Interns seek double stipend
Equipment to purify potable water
Court asks chief secy for concrete plan
Insurance firm told to pay relief
Green house owners’ panel rues govt apathy
‘Adopt mediation for resolving dispute’
MoU signed
Fish production raises eyebrows
Navratra fair ends
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Exotic vegetables fail to benefit Kangra farmers
Dharamsala, August 21 Last year, farmers who had diversified to growing coloured capsicum had fetched price ranging from Rs 100 to Rs 150 per kg. With many more farmers joining the bandwagon, the market price fell last year and farmers had to incur heavy losses. When contacted, a few farmers who had been growing exotic vegetables successfully, said coloured capsicum had market in just high-end hotels and its demand was limited. It was also found that many farmers burnt their fingers trying to grow broccoli, another exotic vegetable, and cut flowers in Kangra district. Both the crops fetch good price during off-season. In case of broccoli, its price varies between Rs 600 per kg to Rs 10 per kg, depending on demand. Farmers in the state who went for cultivation of the said crops without any guidance had to suffer losses, said Shiv Paul Singh, a farmer who has been growing exotic vegetables and flowers for more than a decade now. According to him, till the state government raises infrastructure for exotic crops at par with that of apple, experimentation would only lead to loss for farmers. The state government has to create cells at block or at least tehsil-level to guide farmers regarding market conditions for growing exotic crops. Experts should be hired by the state government to guide farmers in the matter, he added. Infrastructure for transporting exotic crops to markets where they can fetch maximum price is another challenging task as most of the poor farmers cannot afford to do so. Meanwhile, progressive farmers are apprehensive about the recent endeavour of the Kangra district administration to promote floriculture. They alleged that a similar kind of project was started by the state government in Kangra in 2000. A Mumbai-based company had duped farmers then. A few of them are still reeling under the loans they had taken at the assurance that the company would buy their produce.
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‘Adopt mediation for resolving dispute’
Shimla, August 21 He was speaking at the one-day workshop on Mediation and Training for Referral Judges and Mediators organised by the HP State Legal Service Authority and Mediation Committee of the HP High Court, here today. Justice Kabir said mediation was a voluntary negotiation where a third party assisted the litigating parties to amicably resolve disputes through proper communication and negotiation techniques. “Negotiation parties in mediation proceedings are free to agree for an amicable settlement even ignoring their legal entitlement or liabilities,” he explained. He said mediation saved precious time, energy and money of parties. “It has been seen that mediation often works well in resolving prolonged litigation pending in courts for several years,” he said. Mediation centres had been set up in all high courts to help litigants for early redressal of disputes, he added. Justice RB Raveendran, chairman, Supreme Court Legal Services Committee, said Section 89 had not been implemented in the manner it should have been. “Alternative methods of justice have to be evolved even though Lok Adalats had also helped in solving long-pending cases,” he said. He added that mediation centres had helped litigants improve relationship, both personal or commercial, and also reduced unnecessary tension, harassment and litigation cost. Himachal High Court Chief Justice Kurian Joseph said at present 45,000 cases were pending in the high court whereas the pendency in the 106 subordinate courts had touched 1.57 lakh. “Efforts are being made to popularise the mediation system by educating people right upto grassroots level for which trained mediators are being involved,” he said. Justice RB Misra, HP High Court Judge and chairman, HP Legal Services Authority, said Legal Services Authority intended to create awareness about the procedure of mediation as it helped in bringing about quick, responsive and economic redressal of disputes. He, however, added that in order to bring about negotiation, the mediator should be humble, polite, vigilant and unbiased. Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Sarveen Chaudhari, Advocate General RK Bawa and Bar Council chairman Naresh Sud also spoke on the occasion.
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‘UPA indulging in Muslim appeasement’
Shimla, August 21 Mishra, a Rajya Sabha MP who has been made in charge of BJP affairs in Himachal, arrived here today to hold talks with senior party leaders. “All political parties indulge in vote bank politics but certainly not the BJP, especially when the unity and integrity of the nation is concerned,” he said. Mishra said such policy of appeasement of the minorities by the UPA regime would only embolden the separatist forces like Naxals, Maoists and the ISI which was fast spreading its tentacles in India. “The BJP is opposed to any such forces, be it Hindu or Muslim who are traitors and a threat to the unity and integrity of the country,” he clarified. The BJP leader said his party has assured the UPA regime of full cooperation on all issues concerning national interest but the government had failed to take effective steps to check separatist forces. “What is even more strange is the fact UPA ministers have been giving conflicting statements and now even the Prime Minister has gone to the extent of saying that there should be a debate on the question of autonomy in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said. In reply to a query he said the abolition of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and construction of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya were very much on the agenda of the BJP. He said the BJP regime in Himachal had been performing well and all basic facilities like water, electricity, schools and health centres had been provided in all the villages.
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NHAI wasting funds on less busy roads: RTI paper
Shimla, August 21 An internal document of the Planning Commission, obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) by Dev Ashish Bhattacharya, an RTI activist, reveals that the NHAI is wasting public funds by building over-capacity roads. The report “sub-prime highways” by Gajendra Haldia, infrastructure adviser to Deputy Chairman of the commission, contains several such instances. The samples included in the report reveal that in two sectors covering 280 km length of National Highways-14 and 76 alone, Rs 1,770 crore has been squandered away. The first case pertains to four-laning of the 120 km Swaroop Ganj-Udaipur section in Rajasthan on which Rs 1,070 crore was spent. The volume of traffic was only 2,034 passenger car units (PCU), equivalent to 1,020 vehicles per day, whereas a four-lane is built only for traffic of 40,000 PCU and more. Similarly, the four-laning of 160.5 km of the Chittorgarh-Kota section costing Rs 1,260 crore, including 43 km of service lane, a rail overbridge and a flyover, was not required as traffic on the road was only 4348 pcu (2150 vehicles). A two-lane road would have been sufficed for over 30 years. The NHAI will argue that it was a Cabinet decision. Moreover, it has not implemented a three-year old Cabinet decision for six-laning of the Golden Quadrilateral on the plea that traffic on some of its sections was inadequate (75 per cent) but it builds four-lane highways where the traffic is not even 25 per cent of the capacity of a two-lane carriageway.
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Accident-prone region lacks trauma services
Mandi, August 21 Most of the casualty cases are referred to Mandi Zonal Hospital. However, all proposals to start the trauma services at the zonal hospital here are only on papers. According to a survey, in every 100 accidents on roads in Himachal, as many as 30 persons are killed and another 150 are injured. They, in turn, suffer deformities in many cases. In 1999, as many as 693 persons were killed and over 3,400 passengers injured in 2,043 road accidents in the state, most of them in central region. The fatalities rose to 848 injuring 4,200 others in 2,756 road mishaps in 2008. Also, more than 60 per cent of victims die after vehicles roll down into gorges, observed the study. However, trauma services remain inadequate and violations like overloading and misuse of vehicle for transporting people, bad roads, fitness of drivers and vehicles remain unchecked, according to experts. On the other hand, only the IGMC, Shimla, have neurosurgery facilities for accident victims. The Mandi zonal hospital had proposed a dedicated casualty staff of doctors and nurses, a minor operation theatre, portable X-ray, ECG and other facilities to meet the need of emergency patients. The Leda truck mishap that killed 39 persons and injured 36 others on August 18 brought to fore the poor casualty services at the hospital. Eight patients were referred to the PGI, Chandigarh, or the IGMC as the hospital had no permanent surgeon, leave alone a neurosurgeon. Even the trauma services proposed at Kullu regional hospital and Bilaspur district hospital on the NH-21 are yet to see the light of the day even after four years. Dr Vinod Pathak, director, health services, said, “The work on trauma centres at Kullu and Bilaspur have been expedited. We have released Rs 60 lakh for the Kullu centre building and are trying to recruit more doctors in the central region.” Dr Pathak said the department would strengthen the casualty services at Mandi hospital and a surgeon would join them soon.
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Oldest forensic lab loses identity
Shimla, August 21 There have been several moves in the past to shift the institution set up by the Britishers in 1904 primarily to censor letters and identification of handwritings on subversive literature to nail the freedom fighters because of its historical importance. Many modern forensic laboratories were set up across the country but the GQED was retained as an independent entity keeping in view its significance in the development of forensic science in the country. In fact, successive chief ministers had taken up the issue with the Centre to ensure that the institutions remained in Shimla. However, according to the latest orders passed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the laboratory has been merged and put under the administrative control of the CFSL, Chandigarh. Regarded as one of the best in the field of forensics, it was virtually the mother institution because of the significant contribution towards the training of experts for almost all central and state forensic laboratories. It played a key role in solving many important cases, including the hawala case, multi-crore securities scam, the case of alleged bribes paid to Jharkahnd Mukti Morcha MPs and forgery of the signatures of Prime Minister. The development was unexpected as the Union Home Minister has, while addressing the All-India Forensic Science Conference held at Jaipur last year, announced that three more GEQDs would be set up in the country. The merger of the institution will mark the end of the road as far as future scope for development is concerned. There is also a lurking fear that it may be eventually shifted to Chandigarh.
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NGO for mechanism to check cattle sale
Shimla, August 21 Appreciating the amendment to the Prohibitionof Cow Slaughter Act to regulate transportation of cattle, convener of the NWI Rajeshwar Negisaid the step would go a long way in checkingthe dumping of abandoned cattle. He said there was need to take measures for effective implementation of the law and suggested the creation of designated police check posts at the state borders and setting up of flying squads to keep a watch on vehicles transporting animals. The government should also set up go-sadans and animal shelters in both urban and rural areas for abandoned, injured and diseased animals and also impose sever penalty on those indulging in cruelty to animals. A sustained campaign should be launched tocreate awareness among the people about importance of animals andneed to maintain ecological balance and take steps to reduce animal-human conflict. There was an urgent need to effectively tackle the stray cattle menace and wild animal nuisance and this could be done by giving priority to dairy farming and preventing deforestation.
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Private buses go off roads
Shimla, August 21 Even though the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) had made alternate arrangements to avoid any inconvenience to the public but with private buses outnumbering government vehicles, people faced a lot of problem. Office-goers and school children were hit as the private buses remained off the road not just in the state capital but also in other parts of the district. However, the only respite being that there were practically no traffic jams in the town on account of over 300 private buses remaining off the road. The private bus operators had decided to observe strike today to draw the attention of the government towards the deplorable road conditions, which in many cases was responsible for fatal accidents. They said it had been noticed that in most of the mishaps that took place during the past few days, the bad road condition was mainly responsible for the accident. The private bus operators demanded that the government must initiate steps to improve road conditions after the monsoons.They said even though the monsoons this year had been very severe but the substandard work undertaken in the road construction was the main reason for the poor condition of roads.
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Problems galore for apple growers
Shimla, August 21 It said the growers were facing lots of problems in transporting their produce on account of bad roads, shortage of trucks and exorbitant freight. In a statement issued here today, Ravinder Chauhan, president of the association, said despite the government’s assurance to growers about arrangements for apple transportation, there was an acute shortage of trucks. “In the absence of truck availability from the control rooms, we have no option but to hire trucks on higher freights than fixed by the administration,” he said. Chauhan said the condition of the roads was so deplorable that operators were reluctant to send their trucks to the apple belt. “There is a shortage of packaging material for which the growers are being overcharged and if this is not solved, there will be major crisis when the apple season is in full swing,” he said. He urged the government to direct the PWD authorities to maintain the roads. “With problem in transportation due to bad roads, there is delay in sending the fruit to the markets, resulting in decay of the fruit during transportation,” he said. Congress leader Devender Bushairi also lashed out at the failure of the government in ensuring smooth transportation of apple. “There is no justification in the government’s explanation that it is on account of monsoon that problem is being faced as apple season is always at this time of the year,” he said.
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Kangra Coop Bank to be online soon
Kullu, August 21 He said the bank had been given licence by the RBI recently though the bank had been working for the past 90 years. The bank would instal ATMs, initially at all subdivisional levels and later in other towns. He said the bank had signed MoU with HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank for issuing demand drafts on their stationery to facilitate its customers so that the cheques were accepted in all cities of India. The bank had also signed agreements with the National Insurance and Kodak Mahindra for insurance business. He further revealed that the board of the bank had offered bilateral business offer to the management of the state cooperative bank for opening branches in each other’s area of operation. Talking about the shortage of staff and new appointments in the bank, Mankotia agreed that the staff shortage by more than 500 employees was there but the bank had constraints for inviting applications for new recruitment due to the SC orders.
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Delayed letter costs candidate dear
Bilaspur, August 21 Noteworthy, a bus journey between these two destinations does not take more than 12 hours. According to reports, the letter addressed to an unemployed youth Kewal Krishan, son of Amar Singh Kapoor of Talai, was posted from Station Headquarters, Dalhousie Cantonment, on July 31 for interview of post of switch board operator. However, it reached the addressee on August 14 while he was summoned for the interview at 9 am on August 11. The father of the youth has demanded a high-level inquiry into this serious lapse by the postal department and exemplary punishment so that such a thing is not repeated in future.
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Takniki Sahayaks call off strike
Shimla, August 21 Representatives of the association met the minister here last evening and put forth their demands, mainly concerning with terms and conditions of their appointments. They demanded that the present rules of appointment of Takniki Sahayaks should be changed as there were lot of technical hindrances. After receiving the assurance from the minister, most of the Takniki Sahayaks resumed their duties today. |
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Interns seek double stipend
Kangra, August 21 Gulab Saroha, spokesman of the interns, yesterday said stipend paid to the interns at Tanda college was Rs 4,999 per month which was far less than what was being paid to interns in the neighbouring states. They said they had approached the state government time and again without any response. Recently, they approached Health Minister Rajeev Bindal but to no avail. — OC |
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Equipment to purify potable water
Hamirpur, August 21 Concerned over complaints of supply of muddy drinking water through the taps of the department, the department has sought the help of water purifier companies for inviting modern techniques of water purifying and supply equipment for this purpose. To supply clean and pollution-free drinking water is quite a problem as the mud level in various drinking water supply schemes of the department increases to a great extent during rainy season or even during other times followed by the rain. Since most of the drinking water schemes are based on major rivers of the state, the water drawn for supply of potable water contains huge silt, requiring great effort to remove the silt and purify the water. Supplying clean and pollution-free water becomes a serious problem for the IPH Department after the rains as mud level in water supply is also quite high since despite chlorination and filtration the water supplied remains muddy. Even addition of alum in the drinking water helps to only some extent in removing mud content from the water but its colour still remains muddy. To make the chlorination process more scientific the department has already started gas chlorination process instead of using traditional method of adding bleaching powder in storage tanks. IPH Minister Ravinder Ravi said, “We had already introduced gas chlorination in big drinking water schemes.” He said, “in our earnest to supply pure and pollution-free drinking water to people in the state, we are finding a solution to make potable water pure and remove all impurities and have held talks with a few companies manufacturing and supplying such equipment and would install these equipment after testing their efficacy, to supply more cleanly potable water to public.”
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Effluent treatment plant
Shimla, August 21 A meeting of Principal Secretaries of industries, urban development, irrigation and public health, town and country planning, forest department and member secretary of the state pollution control board has been convened in this regard on or before September 8. Taking serious note of environment degradation in the industrial belt, Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Sanjay Karol said the meeting would consider how many common effluent treatment plants were required to be set up. It was informed to the court that the Union Ministry of Commerce had already agreed to pay Rs 70 crore for setting up of this plant. Therefore, there could not be any shortage of fund to at least start the construction work at the earliest. If further funds were required, the state could make suitable arrangement, they added. The court further stated that the committee would also consider setting up of a municipal solid waste management plant to deal with waste generated in the area by Baddi-Barotiwala and Nalagarh Development Authority. To check defaulters, the court directed the Pollution Control Board to take random samples of effluents from at least 50 industries within 45 days from yesterday and place the same before the court. The next hearing in the matter is scheduled for September 10.
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Insurance firm told to pay relief
Shimla, August 21 The commission, headed by Justice Arun Kumar Goel (retd), passed this order on an appeal filed by the complainant against the order of the Mandi Consumer Forum vide which it had dismissed the complaint. According to the complainant, his vehicle was insured with the company for Rs 7,13,000. However, it met with an accident on May 28, 2008. After receipt of intimation regarding the accident, the insurance company appointed a surveyor. The claim of the appellant was repudiated by the company on the ground that the vehicle involved in the accident was a medium commercial vehicle, whereas the driver who was at the wheel at the time of the accident, was licensed to drive a Light Transport Vehicle (LTV). Both these pleas were seriously contested and resisted by the company.
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Green house owners’ panel rues govt apathy
Bilaspur, August 21 A meeting was held here today in this regard which was presided over by Vinay Bhandari, a progressive farmer, and attended by about 60 others. Bhandari said earlier, these green houses were set up under the guidance, supervision and control of the Horticulture Department and they were given only 20 to 30 per cent subsidy by the government. However, now the government was giving subsidy from 80 to 90 per cent for the same green houses under the name of poly houses. Most of those who had set up green houses earlier have gone bankrupt due to several reasons, including little marketing experience, lack of fool-proof arrangements for proper marketing of their produce and exploitation by commission agents at various markets. They demanded that the policy of 80 to 90 per cent subsidy should be made applicable in their cases also to bail them out of their present financial crunch. The association has decided to meet Chief Minister PK Dhumal next week to seek his intervention in the matter.
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‘Adopt mediation for resolving dispute’
Shimla, August 21 He was speaking at the one-day workshop on Mediation and Training for Referral Judges and Mediators organised by the HP State Legal Service Authority and Mediation Committee of the HP High Court, here today. Justice Kabir said mediation was a voluntary negotiation where a third party assisted the litigating parties to amicably resolve disputes through proper communication and negotiation techniques. “Negotiation parties in mediation proceedings are free to agree for an amicable settlement even ignoring their legal entitlement or liabilities,” he explained. He said mediation saved precious time, energy and money of parties. “It has been seen that mediation often works well in resolving prolonged litigation pending in courts for several years,” he said. Mediation centres had been set up in all high courts to help litigants for early redressal of disputes, he added. Justice RB Raveendran, chairman, Supreme Court Legal Services Committee, said Section 89 had not been implemented in the manner it should have been. “Alternative methods of justice have to be evolved even though Lok Adalats had also helped in solving long-pending cases,” he said. He added that mediation centres had helped litigants improve relationship, both personal or commercial, and also reduced unnecessary tension, harassment and litigation cost. Himachal High Court Chief Justice Kurian Joseph said at present 45,000 cases were pending in the high court whereas the pendency in the 106 subordinate courts had touched 1.57 lakh. “Efforts are being made to popularise the mediation system by educating people right upto grassroots level for which trained mediators are being involved,” he said. Justice RB Misra, HP High Court Judge and chairman, HP Legal Services Authority, said Legal Services Authority intended to create awareness about the procedure of mediation as it helped in bringing about quick, responsive and economic redressal of disputes. He, however, added that in order to bring about negotiation, the mediator should be humble, polite, vigilant and unbiased. Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Sarveen Chaudhari, Advocate General RK Bawa and Bar Council chairman Naresh Sud also spoke on the occasion.
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MoU signed
Shimla, August 21 Additional Chief Secretary, Industries, Harinder Hira signed the MoU on behalf of the state and chief financial officer Rahul Kumar on behalf of the Jaypee Group in the presence of Industries Minister Krishan Kapoor. —
TNS
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Fish production raises eyebrows
Bilaspur, August 21 According to inputs gathered by The Tribune from fishermen and officials, fish production should have crossed 12,000 tonnes from 70 lakh fish seed introduced in the main fishing grounds in Bhakhra and Pong. The department claims that they introduce, on an average, over 35 lakh fingerlings each in Bhakhra and Pong dams and produces 1,515 tonnes fish worth Rs 8.42 crore last year. The survival rate is over 90 per cent and average fish size of the catch is more than 2 kg, the department claims. However, according to experts, the size of fish catch varies from 4 kg to 20 kg. “Even if it is believed that average size is 2 kg, 70 lakh fingerlings should produce more than 12,000 tonnes of fish each year at the survival rate of 90 per cent,” they add. The fisheries officials claim that fish production in Bhakhra has turned out to be 100 kg per hectare, which is one of the highest in the country. However, fishermen reveal that poaching is rampant as “fish catch” is unreported. BD Sharma, director, Fisheries Department, said they introduced fish seed close to one crore this year in Pong and Bhakhra dams in the presence of fishermen. “We have introduced 35 lakh fingerlings each in the Bhakhra and Pong dam this year and survival rate is 90 per cent,” he claimed. He added that fish production was satisfactory if they went by the national average. “However, poaching, silt problems and preying migratory birds eat up a major chunk of fish,” he added. |
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Navratra fair ends
Bilaspur, August 21 Deputy Commissioner-cum Shri Naina Devi Temple Trust commissioner Nandita Gupta said here today that about 7,57,000 devotees visited the 10-day fair and paid obeisance to the deity. — OC
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Justice Altamas Kabir, Supreme Court Judge and Executive Chairman, National Legal Service Authority, today stressed the need for adopting “mediation” as an alternate dispute redressal mechanism to avoid delays, loss of time and money.
