Shimla, September 26
With by-elections in the Nalagarh Assembly segment due anytime by the end of the year, party functionaries today sought fulfilment of demands made by MLA Hari Naraian Saini before his demise and declaring his widow Gurnam Kaur as the party candidate at the earliest.

A delegation of office-bearers and prominent workers from Nalagarh, led by BJP Mandal chief Baldev Thakur, met Chief Minister PK Dhumal at his residence here today. Gurnam Kaur and Avtar Singh, brother of Saini, were also present.

With the candidature of Gurnam Kaur being a foregone conclusion, BJP workers also made it clear that there was no question of considering anyone else as before his death he had declared her as his political heir.

“The Nalagarh BJP Mandal will pass a one-line resolution, seeking the party ticket for Gurnam Kaur as there is no conflict among the party leaders or workers on the issue and we urged the CM to make this clear at the earliest,” said Thakur. The Chief Minister has assured the leaders that Saini’s wishes as well as the demands of the people would be fulfilled.

With Saini having won the Nalagarh seat on three occasions in 1998, 2003 and 2007, it is essential for the BJP to retain the seat.

In case the BJP fields Saini’s wife, the party stands a good chance of winning as the BJP legislator was popular among the electorate and was known for being forthright with excellent public dealing.

The BJP mandal placed their main demands before Dhumal and sought its fulfilment before the constituency goes to elections.

Their demands includes improvement in the condition of the Nalagarh-Swarghat National Highway and the Nalagarh-Ram Shahar road via Naerli, filling of vacancies in schools and the Nalagarh hospital, construction of the Sirsa-Majhauli ropeway bridge, an engineering college or polytechnic at Ram Shahar, Regional Transport Office (RTO) and opening and upgrade of four primary, six high and three senior secondary schools.

Solan, September 26
With the by-poll to the Nalagarh Vidhan Sabha seat on the anvil, both the BJP and the Congress are gearing up to romp home this seat.

Though the BJP is confident of recapturing this seat owing to the sympathy factor prevailing due to the untimely death of former MLA HN Saini, since his wife and probable candidate Gurnam Kaur is yet to make her presence felt among the masses, winning the election will not be a cake walk for her.

The BJP is yet to declare Gurnam Kaur as the official nominee and a decision is likely to be taken after the BJP’s crucial constituency meeting at Nalagarh on September 27. The party is also awaiting the official notification for the by-election before declaring its nominee.

Congress’ Lakhwinder Rana, who has been unsuccessfully contesting from this seat, is gearing up for the poll. He is also banking on the sympathy factor, having lost two elections, and is strongly campaigning in the constituency.

Moreover, the BJP’s main poll plank of seeking votes on the basis of developmental works undertaken by the state government is slated to hit back as Saini had on several occasions taken up the issue of lack of development in his constituency with Chief Minister PK Dhumal.

While the Congress is all set to capitalise on this issue where BJP’s own MLA had raised a banner of protest against the lack of developmental activities in his constituency, it will be a tough task for the BJP to harp on developmental activities.

New Delhi, September 26
The Supreme Court (SC) will deliver its judgment tomorrow on the original suit filed by Himachal Pradesh, claiming 12 per cent free power from the Bhakra and Beas hydro-power projects on the basis of location and another 7.19 per cent on the basis of the transferred population.

During the arguments before a Bench comprising Justices RV Raveendran and AK Patnaik, the Centre, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Chandigarh had opposed the plea of Himachal. The 12 per cent free power scheme was meant for only Central projects commissioned after September 7, 1990, while the funds for the BBMB projects had been arranged by Punjab and Haryana, they had maintained.

Himachal’s senior counsel JS Attri had, however, contended that though Punjab and Haryana had taken the initiative to put up these projects, the funds had mainly come from the Centre.

Rajasthan had suggested that the case be referred to a water disputes tribunal under Article 262 of the Constitution. Himachal, however, argued that the dispute related to sharing energy generated from water.

Himachal had charged the Central government with failing to decide the issue under Section 78 of the Punjab Re-organisation Act and that the state had come to the SC 15 years ago as it could no longer wait for getting its due. Additional Solicitor General Mohan Jain had, however, made it clear that the Centre had “no further role to play and the parties are free to enter into a fresh agreement and revise the share of power from the project.”

Shimla, September 26
The issue of capacity enhancement of the country’s largest private sector Karcham Wangtu Hydroelectric Project to 1,200 MW will be decided by the government taking into consideration the precedents and the hydropower policy.

A controversy was triggered when four 300-MW generating machines were installed at the project in place of 250 MW each as approved by the Central Electricity Authority(CEA) while granting techno-economic clearance for 1,000 MW.

Thus, the project had been over-designed and as a result its capacity had been raised to 1,200 MW.

According to the MoU signed in 1993, the original capacity of the project at the time of allotment was 900 MW. However, in the implementation agreement singed in 1998, the capacity was enhanced to 1,000 MW.

The government took notice of the matter after the CEA sent a letter bringing to its notice that the project had been over-designed.

According to the policy, the power companies are also required to pay an upfront premium at the rate of Rs 20 lakh power MW for the increase and 3 per cent additional free power as royalty if the enhancement is over 20 per cent.

If the government goes by the MoU, the original allotment is 900 MW and accordingly the increase is 300 MW, about 33 per cent. The company will have to pay Rs 24 crore as upfront premium for the 120 MW capacity for increase in excess of 20 per cent.

More importantly, it will have to give free power as royalty at the rate of 15 per cent (in place of 12 per cent) for the first 12 years and 21 per cent (in place of 18 per cent) for the remaining 28 years.

The company is urging the government to go by the implementation agreement as per which the capacity was 1,000 MW and the increase of 200 MW came to only 20 per cent and as such it was not required to pay any additional royalty or upfront premium.

Principal Secretary, Power, Deepak Sanan, said a final decision would be taken soon after taking the precedents and keeping the latest hydropower policy in view.

Jaiprakash Power Ventures had fully commissioned the project last month but at present only three machines are generating power because of reduction in discharge.

Shimla, September 26
Sunita Narayan, Director, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), has assured the state all help in preserving the fragile hill environment, particularly the impact of hydropower projects.

The matter came up during her meeting with Chief Minister PK Dhumal here today.

She expressed happiness over the consciousness about the environment amongst the youth of the state and said she would soon be visiting the sites of hydel projects to assess the impact on the environment.

She assured all guidance and help to the state in protection of the environment.

While appreciating the initiatives of the government, Narayan said she had been quoting the efforts of the state on environmental front at national and international conferences and seminars.

She said the state had vast forest wealth, which could be exploited for income generation and substituted by compensatory plantations.

Dhumal said the government had taken a number of initiatives, which included a complete ban on green felling, use of recycled and plastic bags and highly polluting industrial units. Further, plastic cups and plates would be banned from October 2, 2011.

He said the state was making optimum use of plastic waste by using it for surfacing of roads.

The government had decided to provide garbage bags in every HRTC bus to collect the peelings and other waste material.

He thanked industrialists for donating bags for the purpose. A “Congress Ghas Hatao - Charagah Bachao” scheme had been launched to save the fertile land from invasion of weeds.

He said it had scientifically been proved that the aged trees were consuming oxygen instead of releasing, hence, more emphasis had to be laid on the plantation of new trees.

He expressed concern over the increase in cooking gas prices, which would hamper the initiatives of saving forests in the state as people would revert to wood for cooking.

Dharamsala, September 26
The Tibetan Parliament-in-exile expressed sadness over the alleged self-immolation of two monks in north-eastern Tibet today. In a statement issued here, it urged the international community to press the Chinese government to end its repressive policies in Tibet.

The two monks, Lobsang Kelsang and Lobsang Kunchok, aged 18 and 19 years, belonging to the Kirti Monastery in Ngaba district in Tibet's Amdo province, allegedly self-immolated themselves in China today. Before setting themselves on fire, they raised slogans against the wrong policies of the Chinese government in Tibet and the continued repression on the Kirti Monastery.

Lobsang Kelsang is the younger brother and roommate of Phuntsok, who had set himself on fire in the same monastery in March this year.

Nurpur, September 26
Hundreds of Congress workers of the local unit of the party, led by the state Congress general secretary Ajay Mahajan, today came on roads to protest against the alleged step-motherly treatment being meted out to the Congress-supported elected gram panchayats in releasing funds to undertake development works and victimisation of the party supported panchayat representatives in the area.

Raising slogans and holding placards, the workers assembled on the premises of the office of the block development office and held a protest demonstration.

They rued over the direct interference of the local MLA in ignoring resolutions passed by gram sabhas in development works being undertaken under MNREGA.

Addressing workers, Baldev Pappi, president, Nurpur Block Congress Committee, cautioned officials of the development block to amend their style of functioning and not to dance on the whims of the local MLA.

Earlier, they also staged a dharna on the premises of the local civil hospital to protest against its present state of affairs.

Addressing the workers, Mahajan, who had also contested the last assembly election from Nurpur, criticised the state government for de-notifying the notification of the upgrade of the civil hospital for 100-bed capacity issued by the previous Congress government.

Dharamsala, September 26
The state government has planned to launch the Pasture Development Scheme to solve the fodder programme in lower areas of the state. The scheme is initially being launched in three districts, including, Kangra, Hamirpur and Mandi.

Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, RS Gupta gave this information while talking to The Tribune here today.

Though the state government is encouraging farmers to adopt dairy farming, it had not achieved much success. The farmers are generally not taking up dairy farming due to shortage of fodder. In case they take up dairy farming, the fodder has to be procured from adjoining state Punjab. The high cost of fodder makes dairy farming unviable in lower areas of Himachal.

The fact that the farmers are not adopting the government schemes for the promotion of dairy farming is illustrated from the data collected from the Department of Animal Husbandry. In the past one year, just 490 families in Kangra had availed the subsidy being provided for dairy farming. The state government under the Doodh Ganga Yojna is providing an attractive subsidy of 25 per cent for farmers who take up dairy farming. In case of SC/ST categories, the subsidy goes up to 35 per cent.

The DC said under the Pasture Development Scheme, farmers would be taught techniques to convert dry grass collected during monsoon into silage that was rich in vitamins and could be used during the period when there was shortage of fodder. Besides, they would be given seeds of various fodder crops free of cost. The farmers would be encouraged to develop 2.5 kanal patches in their fields for growing fodder, he said.

The DC also said in view of the growing problem of stray cattle, the administration had decided to involve temple trusts in their management. Though the gosadans (community cow sheds) had been developed by the government, nobody was ready to bear the recurring expenditure of providing fodder to stray cattle housed there.

So now various temple trusts in the district would provide fodder to the cattle in community cow sheds. The Jawalamukhi Temple Trust had already made a provision of Rs 5 lakh to the community cow shed of their area, he said.

The district administration was also pressing the local municipal committee and panchayats to tackle the problem of stray cattle.

Though the panchayats had been empowered to impose a fine of Rs 500 on the person who left his animal stray, it had never been put to use by the authorities concerned.

Shimla, September 26
Governor Urmila Singh and Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal felicitated Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on his 79th birthday today.

The Governor prayed for his long and healthy life to help the country achieve new heights in developmental spheres under his dynamic and sober leadership. She said Dr Manmohan Singh was a versatile personality and the country required his guidance to build a strong and mighty nation.

Dhumal also wished him a healthy and long life.

Chamba, September 26
The Himachal Pradesh PTA Teachers Association has warned the state government to clear their pending payments with the increased honorarium forthwith, otherwise they will be forced to oppose the ruling BJP government in the Assembly elections due next year.

Association state vice-president Pankaj Kumar and Chamba unit president Vijay Kumar today appealed to the teachers to be united and fight against the victimisation being meted to them by the government.

The PTA leaders lamented that the teachers were being dismissed from services under a preplanned conspiracy.

They alleged that the PTA teachers were neither being regularised nor being given legitimate salaries. They demanded the formulation of a tangible policy with regard to the regularisation of PTA teachers.