Shimla, August 21
Fireworks are expected during the eight-day monsoon session of the Himachal Vidhan Sabha, commencing on August 23, with the opposition Congress all set to grill the Dhumal government, both inside and outside the House.

With the Assembly poll just a year away, the Congress has decided to adopt an aggressive posture and its three-day “padyatra” will take off on the eve of the session from Solan and terminate in a rally in front of the Vidhan Sabha on August 24.

The strategy is clear; party leaders and workers will raise issues outside while MLAs will take on the government on the floor of the House. The party has been building its campaign around the “Himachal on sale” slogan to highlight the issue of corruption, land deals, abuse of Section 118, private universities and permissions to private builders.

All these issues and some more like irregularities in eco-tourism projects, bad condition of roads, problems of apple growers and alleged victimisation of Congress supporters on political consideration will also be highlighted. Leader of the Opposition Vidya Stokes has been pursuing the matter for a hike in the import duty on apple to protect the interests of domestic growers and the party will raise it in the House.

Anna Hazare’s arrest and his campaign against the UPA government will come in handy for the ruling BJP to counter the charge of corruption. Regarding the misuse of Section 118 of the Land Reforms and Tenancy Act and shady land deals, the party will urge the Congress to file complaints with the one-man commission set up to probe benami land deals.

There will be six sittings in all and one day has been earmarked for private members’ business. Much legislative business will be transacted during the short session and the government has already approved some Bills to be introduced.

They include the Public Services Guarantee Bill, the Special Court Bill to include attachment of disputed property of the accused acquired through corrupt means, the Taxation (on Certain Goods Carried by Road) (Amendment) Bill, the Passengers and Goods Taxation (Amendment) Bill and the Tax on Luxuries (in Hotels and Lodging Houses) Bill.

Solan, August 21
BJP’s state co-in charge Shyam Jhaju today said the party candidate for the Nalagarh byelection would be finalised after following due procedure by the state election committee and no candidate had been given the go-ahead by the party as yet.

Addressing mediapersons here today, he said party activists who were declaring themselves as the party nominee were doing so on their own as the party was yet to take any decision on this issue as several strong candidates were available.

This has put to rest the claims of various candidates from Nalagarh who had been releasing press statements about their candidature having been approved for the byelection.

On the issue of action against Kangra MP Rajan Shushant, he said the issue had taken a back seat as Anna Hazare’s campaign had changed their priorities and other issues had become secondary.

He, however, reiterated the party’s stand that action would soon be taken against him as the issue was already before the central disciplinary committee. He said the party was now beginning a week-long “bharastachar hatao, loktantar bachao” campaign under which rallies would be held across the nation to sensitise the masses against corruption.

He said the BJP had appealed to all political parties to sink their differences and unite on Anna Hazare’s cause to save democracy.

Mandi/Dharampur, August 21
In the absence of protection and soil conservation work in this area, which was battered by a cloudburst two years ago, over six villages and cultivated land in the Sanskran gram panchayat have turned into a sinking zone, threatening over 35 families in these villages in Dharampur block.

Fear stalks residents of Rau, Rakhera, Saroli, Sapri,

Kusri and Gantralu villages as big cracks have appeared all over the area in cultivated fields, which are sinking towards the Saun khad that flows into the Beas.

While three house and several cowsheds have been damaged, over 28 katcha houses are in similar danger, said Nirmal Singh, a resident.

“Cracks have appeared in many houses and the land in Rakhera, Sapri, Saroli, Rau, Kusri and Gantralu villages is sinking,” said Raj Kumar, whose house has been damaged. The Dharampur-Sar Rekhera road has been damaged at several places. It has hit traffic in the area.

Villagers alleged that the Hamirpur-Dharampur-Mandi highway had blocked the passage of the Malaun-Banerdi nullah that was hit by a cloudburst two years ago.

The road debris was dumped into the nullah and the PWD has failed to build proper culverts at many places that has worsened the situation, the villagers resented.

Three houses were damaged at Brang while three cowsheds were washed away at Saklana village three days ago, said Chander Shekhar, a

Congress leader from Dharamur. He demanded that the administration should assess the total loss and distribute relief to the affected villagers in the entire block.

Meanwhile, accompanied by officials, Dharampur MLA and Transport Minister Mohinder Singh Thakur inspected the affected villages and directed them to take protection work and rehabilitate the villagers at safer places. He gave between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000 as immediate relief to the villagers.

Shimla, August 21
Despite being predominantly a tourism state with over 1.32 crore tourists visiting the state, the contribution of tourism to the state economy is much less than the national level.

The contribution of tourism to country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is over 12 per cent. However, in the case of the state tourism, its contribution is less than 8 per cent to the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), which is far less, raising doubts about the authenticity of the data. The government has, now, decided to conduct a comprehensive survey to have authentic quantitative and qualitative data regarding the tourism industry, particularly the number of tourists visiting the state annually and their contribution to the local economy.

At present, the volume of tourist traffic is being estimated on the basis of information supplied by hotels and other tourism units. There is no cross-checking of the information and there is every possibility of double counting as a tourists stay at various places during the visit. As such only the figures pertaining to foreign tourists regarding whom information has been provided to the police.

In all 1.32 crore tourists, including 4.54 lakh foreigners , thronged the state last year and during the current year the number had crossed 78 lakh by June.

However, Director of Tourism Arun Sharma said the present system was not scientific and there was no cross-checking of the information provided by hotels and guest houses. The proposed survey would be conducted on scientific lines and besides the volume of traffic, it would also generate information regarding their spending habits, preferences and other such relevant data.

Sharma added that given the huge potential for tourism, its contribution to the growth GSDP could be raised to 15 per cent over a short period. All that was needed was to extend the average stay of 2.5 to 3 days by another day. It would increase the average spending per tourists from the current Rs 865 to Rs 1,800.

Seo Bagh (Kullu), August 21
Over 110 bicyclists, all women, including Kimi of the “Chak De India” fame from Mizoram, a tribal sportswoman from Orissa, embarked upon the 473-km Manali to Leh Himalayan bicycling expedition, flagged off here yesterday by Justice Anil K Dave, a Supreme Court Judge.

The first all-women bicycle expedition is scheduled to conclude on September 1 so that participants can participate in the Ladakh festival.

Talking to The Tribune, participants said they were participating in the bicycling expedition because this would help create a spirit of adventure among women, who were generally underestimated because of their limited stamina.

“We have come from Mizoram discovering adventure in the cold desert of Himalayas,” says Kimi, who played the role of a hockey player in the Hindi movie, “Chak De India”.

“The Himalayas are the crown of India and the best way to discover these is through eco-friendly adventure like this on bicycles,” said Suzain, a computer engineer from Tamil Nadu.

The expedition is managed by women, they added.

It also includes five girl students, five physiotherapists, two yoga teachers and three doctors.

The expedition is organised by the Youth Hostels Association of India (YHAI) and monitored by its national chairman, Dr HK Saxena, who accompanied Justice Dave.

He said tents had been pitched for the participants at all camping sites on the way from Solang Nullah to Leh for the journey.

Dr Saxena was also accompanied by PN Dave, national vice-president; Manoj Johri, national vice-president; and Simit Srimony, co-vice president of the YHAI.

Dharamsala, August 21
Another government in Himachal has completed more than three years in office. However, residents of Lal Singhi, a small village in Una district, have failed to get any relief.

Himachal was carved out of Punjab in 1966. Una district, that was a tehsil of Hoshiarpur district in joint Punjab, was included in Himachal. However, Lal Singhi village in Una, that is located just 1 km from the district headquarters, is still part of Hoshiarpur district in the revenue records even after so many years of the formation of the state.

As per the “farad” (revenue paper indicating the ownership of land) issued to villagers by revenue officials, Lal Singhi is still located in Hoshiarpur district in Punjab.

Residents of Lal Singhi village have not been able to sell their land as the original record of the village was lost after Una was merged in Himachal. The residents have not been able to either divide their land or get it demarcated.

In the recent past, the government allowed registry of land in the village. However, the mutation of the sold land has not come into effect as the original record is not available. Since land has not been divided among families, frequent disputes occur, which mar the development of the area.

After the villagers raised hue and cry over the matter, the previous government made efforts to locate the record. Teams of revenue officials were sent to Hoshiarpur district to locate the record. However, the record could not be located. Therefter a new record was prepared. However, the new record was not accepted.

The present government also issued directions to prepare a record of the village as per “actual occupation”.

However, officials of the settlement office apprehend that this may also not solve the problem.

They said the actual possession was already disputed in the village. It is necessary to take the consent of the residents before making the “ground possession” permanent, pending which litigation regarding land will only pile up.

Despite work in progress, it is unfortunate that the Himachal government or officials of the Revenue Department have not been able to prepare a new record of just 3,600 hectares in the village to settle the problem of the residents permanently.

Settlement officials blamed the first Deputy Commissioner of Una for failing to procure the record of the village from Hoshiarpur.

Una DC KR Bharti said the new record had to be prepared by the settlement office. He said the record had been prepared twice, but had been rejected both times.

Shimla, August 21
Thousands of farmers will march to the Vidhan Sabha on August 26 to highlight the demands of vegetable growers under the banner of the Himachal Kisan Sabha.

President of the sabha Kuldeep Tanwar said more families were involved in vegetable cultivation than agriculture or horticulture, but they were not being provided any facilities or benefits by the government. The state had 9,13,634 land holdings in all as per the latest data, whereas the number of farmers engaged in vegetable cultivation was over 7 lakh. The main reason for it was that the average size of holdings was 0.6 hectare and it was not a viable proposition to grow agriculture crops in them.

However, with no support price for vegetables and lack of infrastructure, vegetable growers were not getting remunerative returns. Moreover, farmers were not able to avail themselves of the benefits available for vegetable growers under the National Horticulture Mission. The sabha is demanding shifting of vegetables from the Agriculture Department to the Horticulture Department and bringing vegetables under the market intervention scheme and the crop insurance scheme.

Shimla, August 21
Terming the Congress padyatra against the Dhumal government as a sham, BJP spokesperson Ganesh Dut today alleged the party was responsible for mega scandals like the ones pertaining to the Commonwealth Games and 2G, and it had no locus standi to point an accusing finger at the BJP.

He said the UPA regime had arrested an old Gandhian who wanted to observe a fast in support of his demand for a strong Lokpal Bill and it had to retract after there was an upsurge in public support in his favour.

Instead of taking out a padyatra against the BJP government, the party should highlight the scams and also explain the action of the UPA regime in putting Anna behind the bars and denying him permission to hold a protest.

The Congress should also raise its voice against the stepmotherly treatment being meted out to the state by the UPA regime, the alleged discriminatory recommendations of the 13th Finance Commission and the reduction in the quota of foodgrains, kerosene and other items supplied through the public distribution system.

He accused Congress of unnecessarily politicising the issue of Section 118 and advised its leaders to file their complaints with the one-man commission set up by the government to probe benami land deals.

Shimla, August 21
Accusing the Dhumal regime of patronising the land mafia, state Congress president Kaul Singh today promised that on coming to power, his party government would review the permission granted to private universities under Section 118 of the Land Reforms and Tenancy Act for acquiring land and take back the excess land.

Addressing a press conference here, he said the government had made a mockery of higher education by allowing a large number of private universities to be set up in the state for which there was no justification.

The real motive was to give away the state’s precious land to outsiders as was evident from the fact that most of the universities were located in Solan district. While Himachal Pradesh University, which was in existence for the past five decades, had only 50 bighas of land, the private universities had been allowed hundreds of bighas without assessing the requirement. The land would be given back to the owners, he promised.

As the universities were opened without need, most of these were financially unviable and it was time that the government itself allowed the closure of such institutions by returning the endowment fund of Rs 5 crore to the sponsoring trusts. The Congress would not allow any change of land use and ensure that the universities functioned for at least 50 years.

He charged Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal with backing out on the assurance given by him in the House that work on the controversial housing project being constructed by Bemloe Developers would be stopped and that the State Apartment and Property (Regulation) Act would be repealed. The work on the project was not stopped and rather it had been speeded up and instead of repealing the Act, a select committee of the House had been set up to examine the issue.

Kaul Singh alleged that the Dhumal government was only interested in selling the precious resources of the state to outsiders and the Congress would highlight this during the “jan chetna abhiyan”, commencing from Solan on August 22.