Hamirpur, August 31
The state government has restored the power of deputy commissioners (DCs) to give permission for felling of trees in urban areas.

This power was put on hold about a year ago after the Supreme Court took a serious note of allowing felling of trees in the MC limits of Shimla.

The power granted to the DCs to give permission to fell trees outside forest land was also put on hold.

This had resulted in the piling up of thousands of applications seeking permission to allow felling of trees which were endangering life and property and also for development purposes.

After putting the power of the DCs on hold, the permission seekers were supposed to apply to the state government through the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF).

The government order issued by the Additional Chief Secretary (Forests) has now clarified: “No such matter is to be referred to either his office or the office of the PCCF since the HP High Court has passed an order whereby the DCs are competent to allow felling of trees in the municipal/NAC areas in the state, except the MC limits of Shimla.”

The high court had issued these directions on finding the DCs and the Law Department sending the permission cases to the high court without acting on such applications.

Now, the DCs have been asked to use their judgement and permit the felling of trees which pose danger to life and property or are required for development activities within the city limits. In case of rural areas, in all non-forest land, the permission will be granted by the Conservator of Forests of the area.

The permission is given on the recommendation of a committee comprising the SDM and a representative each from the Revenue and Forest departments.

Confirming the orders, Hamirpur DC Rajinder Singh Thakur said, “The power of the DCs to permit felling of trees has been restored and we have already given permission in a few cases and all pending applications will be decided accordingly.” 

Shimla, August 31
The Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Employees Union has demanded an immediate review of the decision vide which the management of the State Power Corporation has declared some staff surplus in violation of the orders issued by the government regarding personnel planning.

It warned that the decision had caused resentment amongst employees and engineers of the board and may lead to an agitation. HL Verma, general-secretary of the union, said a statewide “mass awareness” campaign against the unilateral decision had already been started.

The union pointed out that the Pabbar Valley Power Corporation and the Kinner Kailash Power Corporation, which were the subsidiaries of the erstwhile board, were merged in the State Power Corporation with an understanding that all the staff would remain with it either on secondment basis or absorbed suitably. In all, 956 posts along with incumbents were transferred to the corporation but now the strength of board’s employees had been reduced to 600.

The government had issued instructions with regard to service conditions of board’s employees and clearly directed that the first preference had to be given to board’s employees in deployment of staff in the corporation. But the management violated the instructions. On the other hand, around 234 employees of the board had been declared surplus and proposed to be repatriated.

The union has urged the government to ensure adjustment of 956 employees in the corporation or transfer the Sainj, Kashang & Sawara Kuddu projects back to the board.

Shimla, August 31
The state Finance Department has issued instructions to all concerned to ensure that all payments involving an amount of Rs 10,000 or more are made through e-transactions using the core banking facility.

The instructions follow directives issued by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal last week at a meeting of senior officers on August 19 to streamline the procurement system, ensure e-payments, enforce discipline and transparency in the functioning of the government. The department also directed that all regular, contract and daily wage employees be paid directly through e-transactions by crediting the amount to their bank accounts.

The Chief Secretary is herself monitoring the implementation of the directives and had issued instructions to the departments to ensure that all the decisions were implemented in letter and spirit and in a time-bound manner.

Senior officers of all departments have been directed to carry out regular inspections of subordinate offices by making an annual schedule, besides conducting surprise checks. The deputy commissioners have been made responsible to ensure efficient working of branches dealing with the registration of vehicles, the issuance of licences and also to exercise a check on revenue officers responsible for mutation, partition cases and the registration of documents. There will be no pendency beyond the time period fixed for the disposal of such matters.

The departments have been asked to update and check cash books regularly and amounts collected must be deposited promptly in banks to prevent defalcation of funds. Block development officers have been directed to carry out regular checks of works being executed under the MNREGA. The PWD and other departments have been asked to ensure that buildings, roads and other works are completed within the time period prescribed in the contract and to ensure that contractual conditions are fulfilled.

Procurement should take place only on quarterly, half-yearly and yearly requirements of stores by adopting due procedure and for departments which spend huge amount on procurement, inventory management should be computerised in a time-bound manner. They have also been asked to ensure the rotation of staff handling sensitive seats in the offices. The staff at various barriers and industrial areas should not remain posted at a place for more than two to three years.

Directives have been issued to all officers to enforce discipline and punctuality in offices and to ensure that transfer orders are complied with at once by relieving the officials concerned forthwith.

Dharamsala, August 31
The revenue process of demarcating and division of private lands is a bane for people of Kangra. A large number of people have been waiting for years to get their lands demarcated. Similarly, thousands of families are waiting for the division of their ancestral land for years.

Des Ranjan Sharma had bought an 18-kanal piece of land near Palampur two years ago. He wanted to lead a village life after his retirement.

However, the land he had purchased using his retirement money has taken away his peace of mind. He has been doing rounds of offices of various revenue officials to get the land purchased by him demarcated for over two years.

Talking to The Tribune, he said, “Without demarcation I cannot do anything, as I do not know about its boundaries.”

Ram Murti Sharma is another resident of Kanol in the Dhaliara area who has been waiting for the division of his ancestral land for the past seven years.

While talking to The Tribune, he said the tehsildar of the area visited his land about 10 months ago. “We have been waiting for his decision since then,” he said.

Thousands of people are facing problems in the district due to the delayed revenue process of demarcation and divisions of lands.

Kangra Deputy Commissioner RS Gupta admitted that the problem was pertaining due to the shortage of revenue staff as patwaris. The government had not recruited patwaris for long. Besides, whatever meagre staff the Revenue Department had was also involved in various other activities.

He, however, added that still direction had been issued to the revenue staff to dispose of demarcation applications within the stipulated period of time.

Experts said the revenue officials should use modern technology for demarcating and dividing lands. The Department of Forest was already using the modern technology to demarcate its lands.

Some of the people affected due to the delay in the demarcation of their land are now thinking of using the provisions of the Right of Service Act. The Act has been passed by the state Assembly in the current session.

However, it can only be implemented in the state, after the rules for its implementation are framed.

The aggrieved applicants said the government should make the exercise of demarcation, division and mutation of land in a time-bound manner.

Once a person has moved an application, the officials should be made liable for not acting within a timeframe. Even if the exercise cannot be completed due to a court case, the applicant should be given a reply for the same in writing.

The use of information technology in the registration of applications can also help improve the system.

Sources said due to lack of a system to process the applications for revenue works, people were left at the mercy of low-ranking revenue officials.

The lack of transparency has also led to flourishing of agents, who fleece people for petty works.

Shimla, August 31
The non-inclusion of arrears on account of the pay revision in the aggregate revenue requirement (ARR) by the State Electricity Regulatory Commission may have spared consumers a “tariff shock”, but it will create a serious financial crunch for the fund-starved state power utility, unless the government provides it grant-in-aid to bridge the revenue gap.

The commission worked out the total arrears from January 1, 2006, to November 30, 2009, at Rs 394 crore and it has already allowed an amount of Rs 98.59 crore in its tariff order up to last year. The remaining liability, which has to be cleared in three years, comes to about Rs 295 crore. The commission compared the impact of the employee cost (per unit sale) for the HPSEB with that of the Punjab, Haryana and Uttarakhand distribution companies and found that it was the highest at Rs 1.15 per unit even though the Fifth Pay Commission arrears were not part of the approved employee cost.

“The gross employee cost of Rs 752.77 crore approved for 2011 will increase to Rs 868 crore in 2012, a hike of Rs 115.23 crore and the inclusion of the arrears will lead to a tariff shock for the consumers. Further, if the commission considers the remaining arrears of Rs 295 crore also, the gross employee expenses will increase by approximately Rs 411 crore over the approved employee expenses for 2011, which will be difficult to recover from the consumers. Since these payments of arrears are not in the control of the HPSEB, the state government is requested to consider a one-time grant-in-aid to the company,” the commission observed.

The commission allowed an additional revenue of only Rs 227 crore through the tariff hike. Thus, the government will have to provide around Rs 90 crore every year to the HPSEB, which is quite an amount. Otherwise, the company will have no option but to raise more loans. The debt liability, including long-term and short-term loans and overdraft, has already crossed Rs 3,400 crore. Principal Secretary, Power, Deepak Sanan said the government was aware of it and efforts would be made to help out the board. Some long-term measures were also required to ensure its viability. 

Shimla, August 31
Though much delayed, the Sino-Indian trade across Shipki La in Kinnaur district this year is likely to take off next week with the first batch of traders all set to embark on a journey across the border into China with intelligence agencies finally clearing the grant of trade permits to them.

The trade, which starts from April and carries on till September across Shipki La in the tribal district of Kinnaur, could not start this year as the process of issuing of trade permits was made strict by intelligence agencies in the backdrop of the red sander wood smuggling case which took place in Lepcha sector in Kinnaur last year.

Trade permits since 2004, when trade was resumed between the two neighbours, were issued by the Subdivisional Magistrate (SDM). It was after the smuggling of red sander wood last year that the intelligence agencies decided to verify the credentials of the persons who had applied for a trade permit. Even though officials of the SDM’s office, Pooh, kept sending applications to the office of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) in Shimla, it was only this week that these were approved and sent back.

“We have received the clearance in case of 26 traders from the intelligence agencies and tomorrow we will issue the permits after which the first batch of traders is likely to set off for Shipki village next week,” said an official. He said the approval from the IB was still awaited as over 35 applications had been sent.

The traders, mostly hailing from Kinnaur, are ready with their stocks of spices, oil, gur, tea leaves, utensils, sugar and rice, which are the main requirement of the Tibetans in Shipki and the adjoining villages in China. As per the trade pact between the two nations, only 29 items can be traded without attracting the customs duty.

The traders, mostly those hailing from villages in and around Shipki La, carry their stocks on mules across the border. A majority of them have been going across since the trade was resumed in 2004 and carry goods as per the demand of the Tibetans. They return with items like jackets, shoes, crockery, flasks, goats and Chumurthi horses, suited for the rugged terrain of the area.

Even though both China and India were to set up trade marts in their territory, that has not happened and the trade has not really picked up the manner in which it should have. As such the resumption of trade on the old Hindustan-Tibet road has been more of a formality even though some locals whose families have age-old ties with people across the border look forward to the visit. 

Shimla, August 31
In a respite for Dr Liaq Ram Verma, former Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Dr YS Parmar Horticulture and Forestry University, Nauni (Solan), the Himachal Pradesh High Court has set aside the order of the Special Judge, Solan, vide which he had framed the charges against the former in a corruption-related case.

While setting aside the order of the trial court, Justice Kuldip Singh also discharged him for want of requisite sanction for prosecuting him in the case. Apart from the former Vice-Chancellor, the court also discharged Pratap Singh Kutlehria, former registrar of the university, and another person, Sharmila Devi, in the case.

The court passed this order on the petitions filed by these three against the order of the Special Judge, Solan, wherein he framed the charges against them under Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 7 of the Employment Exchange (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act.

According to the prosecution, Sharmila Devi on July 25, 1997, submitted an application for the post of librarian to the Vice-Chancellor.

This application was marked to the Registrar for further action. On this, Pratap Singh Kutlehria, the then Registrar, requested the Vice-Chancellor for appointing her on daily wages for six months.

The VC granted permission. Thereafter, she further sought extension for some period and was given undue benefit from time to time by the authorities.

The petitioner, Dr Verma, challenged the order of the Special Judge on the grounds that the VC is competent to make appointment for a short term under provisions of the HP Universities of Agriculture, Horticulture and Forestry Act.

And, moreover, sanctions have not been obtained to prosecute the petitioners.

Dharamsala, August 31
Responding to the problem of stray cattle, eight cow shelters, with a capacity of 2,000 animals, will be run with the help of private organisations all over the district. As per official information, six out of eight shelters have been attached with different temple trusts which will meet fodder and other requirements of cattle in these shelters.

A shelter with a capacity of 600 cows has been constructed in Nurpur which has been given to a private body, the Association of Farmer Federation Society, for five years. Apart from that, a shelter near Sarah panchayat is under construction at a cost of Rs 45 lakh which will be attached with the Sri Chamunda Nadikeshwar Dham Trust.

Similarly, another shelter is being constructed at Kangra at a cost of Rs 25 lakh which will go to the Brajeshwari Temple Trust.

Shelters to be opened in the other parts of the district have also been attached to the temple trusts of the area orNGOs.

Deputy Commissioner RS Gupta has stated that the Animal Welfare Board has provided Rs 7 lakh for fodder. Two trucks full of fodder will be provided to each shelter bought with the money given by the Board. The DC also requested the public to be generous and help these stray, sick and abandoned cattle in cash or kind.

There had been a serious problem of stray animals and cattle in the town. Abandoned cattle were the reason behind many road accidents, besides causing trouble to traffic and projecting a bad picture to tourists. But now these shelters will manage the menace to a great extent and also provide home and care to these animals.

Solan, August 31
A case of blatant misuse of red beacon on a vehicle has come to light with the Dharampur police arresting five youths hailing from Punjab for rioting and extortion outside a private hotel on the Dharampur-Kasauli road.

The vehicle belonged to a youth, who is the brother of an SAD MLA from Punjab and kin of the OSD to the Chief Minister of Punjab. The youth is the son of a former Information Commissioner of Punjab, who was also an employee of the Electricity Department.

While none of the youths was authorised to drive a vehicle bearing a red beacon, the white Chevrolet Cruze ( PB-11-X-0009) has been impounded by the police and its red beacon taken into custody.

The five youths, hailing from Punjab and Chandigarh, have been remanded in police custody by a Kasauli court after the police arrested them on charges of rioting, extortion and under the Arms Act. Those arrested are Harjeet Pal, Gurmail Singh, Gurpreet Singh, his namesake Gurpreet Singh and Ravinder Kumar.

Subdivisional police officer, Parwanoo, Rajesh Kumar said the youth got into an altercation with a canter driver who was allegedly assaulted by the youths in an inebriated state on Sunday evening. They would again be produced before the court tomorrow.

This is not the first case in which youngsters from Punjab belonging to influential families have created ruckus in the district using a red beacon vehicle. Police officials said they had stepped up their drive to check such offenders.

Hamirpur, August 31
Deputy Commissioner (DC), Hamirpur, Rajinder Singh Thakur said today that the district administration had made elaborate arrangements to celebrate the three-day Hamir Utsav starting tomorrow on the 40th anniversary of the formation of Hamirpur district this year.

Talking to mediapersons here, he said Chief Minister PK Dhumal, who would inaugurate the function, would also inaugurate the state Institute of Hotel Management, lay foundation stones of the HPTU administrative block and a girls hostel of Horticulture Extension Centre at Neri.

The DC said the Hamir Utsav would begin with a shobha yatra and the Chief Minister would later inaugurate exhibitions and evening cultural programmes.

He said cultural programmes would be organised in the evenings in which many star and local artistes would perform, and sports competitions would be held during the day, besides other activities.