Shimla, May 30
The cash-strapped Shimla Municipal Corporation (MC) will have to wait for some more time before it starts getting revenue from the green tax which was to be imposed on all outside vehicles entering Shimla as clearance from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is still awaited.

Finding it hard to even generate resources for disbursing salary to its 1,250 employees, the MC would have got Rs 50 lakh per month from the imposition of the green tax as the contract has been awarded to a Patiala-based company for Rs 12.02 crore for a period of two years. The tax, on the analogy of Manali, would have raked in the much-needed funds for the MC and was to be introduced from June 1.

Sources said the green tax could not be enforced from June 1, as decided earlier, as clearance from the NHAI was still awaited. “The NHAI has sought some details from the MC with regard to charging of the green tax and it is only after the completion of these formalities that a formal agreement will be signed,” said a senior official of the Urban Development Department. He added that a nominal amount would also go into the kitty of the NHAI as per the pattern followed by it all over the country for such toll taxes.

The company which has been awarded the contract has also not put up the mechanised barriers at the four entry points into the state capital. The four entry points where the green tax will be charged are Tara Devi, Totu, Dhalli and Mahli.

The delay in the completion of the formalities will put on hold the income of Rs 50 lakh that would have accrued to the MC from June onwards.

To tide over the immediate problem of financial crisis, the previous members at their last meeting held yesterday decided to rely on a fixed deposit of Rs 2.50 crore so that the employees got their salary on time. MC sources pointed out that almost Rs 90 lakh went towards the payment of salaries to 450 employees entrusted with the task of cleanliness of the town.

The salary burden of Rs 2.50 crore does not include the payment being made to 400 workers who have been engaged by the Shimla Environment Heritage Committee and Beautification Society for garbage collection.

It was after much delay that the MC proposal for the imposition of the green tax got the nod from the government. Now, it remains to be seen how long the NHAI will take to give clearance.

Shimla, May 30
The financial position of the cash-starved state electricity board may improve with the exclusion of power-intensive consumers with a load of more than 1 MW from the regulated tariff regime from 2013-14, which will help contain the ever-growing power purchase cost (PPC).

Under the Centre’s new policy, consumers requiring more than 1 MW of power have been notified as deemed “open-access” consumers and as such they will be required to draw power from sources other than their local distribution company. If this is not possible, the rate for the power supply will have to be negotiated with the existing distribution company. As such, the regulator will not be required to determine the tariff for retail supply in respect of such consumers. The commission will determine only wheeling tariff and cross-subsidy surcharge, including additional surcharge, if any.

There are only 236 bulk consumers in the state with a loss of 871 MVA and an annual consumption of over 4,000 million units, which is almost 50 per cent of the total annual demand of 8,200 million units. With open access out of the regulated regime, the board will not have to procure costly power to meet the growing demand, which will help in bringing down the procurement cost. However, the reduction in power purchase cost will be to a large extent offset by the increase in per unit employee cost due to a decrease in the quantum of supply. However, in the long run, the domestic consumers will be largely insulated from the impact of the high PPC.

Chairman of the commission Subhash Negi said the road map had been chalked out to ensure that the required systems to provide open access to the bulk consumers were in place well before March 31, 2013, so that they had adequate time for sourcing power. The tariff petition for 2013-14 would be in two parts, one pertaining to the aggregate revenue requirement (ARR) for determining the retail supply tariff for consumers requiring power up to 1 MW and standby supply to open-access consumers and the other for wheeling charges and cross-subsidy surcharge.

Besides metering arrangements and wheeling agreements, the capacity of the state load dispatch centre (SLDC) would be enhanced to handle the additional work of open access. The commission would have to prematurely close down the current control period (2012-14) for multi-year tariff and introduce a new control period (2013-15).

Shimla, May 30
Of the 76 units of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC), only 15 have been constructed on its own land and the rest have come up on land belonging to various other government agencies.

Information obtained by RTI activist Dev Ashish Bhattacharya in this regard reveals that seven hotels are on forest land. They include Hotel Mamleshwar in Chindi, Manali and Hamta log huts, Hadimba Cottage, Tourist Lodge, Hotel Beas and Hotel Chandertal in Kullu districts. The Ashiana restaurant in Shimla is on the premises rented from the municipal corporation, while Hotel Spiti in Kaza and the marketing office, Kullu, are on land belonging to the Deputy Commissioner.

Surprisingly, the HPTDC did not have any estate officer till the time it received this RTI application and it appointed CS Rangta on the post after his RTI application reached the HPTDC, Bhattacharya said.

Surprisingly, the corporation did not have any information regarding the date of transfer of each property to it form the Department of Tourism.

He wanted to know why all 76 properties had not yet got transferred in the name of the HPTDC and who paid the property-related levies of the 61 properties which were on the land belonging to various government agencies.

Shimla, May 30
In a middle-rung administrative reshuffle ahead of the Assembly poll, the government today shifted nine officers, including four deputy commissioners and the Principal Private Secretary to the Chief Minister.

Arun Kumar Sharma, Special Secretary-cum-Principal Private Secretary to the Chief Minister, takes over as Deputy Commissioner, Shimla, vice Maneesh Garg, who goes as Secretary, Finance. Sharma will also hold the additional charge of Director, Tourism and Civil Aviation.

Ram Swaroop Gupta, Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, will be the new Principal Private Secretary to the Chief Minister. He will also hold the additional charge of the posts of Special Secretary, Monitoring and Coordination, in the Chief Minister's Office and Director, Youth Services and Sports.

Jeet Ram Katwal, Special Secretary (GAD) and Director, Hospitality and Protocol, has been posted as Deputy Commissioner, Una, vice Kanshi Ram Bharti, who takes over as Deputy Commissioner, Kangra.

Amitabh Awasthi, Special Secretary, Finance, who also holds the additional charge of the post of Mission Director, NRHM, goes as Deputy Commissioner, Kullu, vice Priyatu Mandai, who takes over as Special Secretary, Finance, and Examiner, Local Audit Department.

Rakesh Kanwar, Director, Language, Art and Culture, will also hold the additional charge of the post of Mission Director, NRHM.

Gopal Sharma, Additional Secretary (Secretariat Administration), will also hold the additional charge of Additional Secretary (GAD) and Director, Hospitality and Protocol.

Solan, May 30
Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, will soon sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Faculty of Natural Resource Management, Lakehead University, Canada, for which a principal agreement has been reached between the two universities.

This will facilitate the expansion of a plethora of activities, including a student exchange programme in natural resource management courses, from the academic session, informed Vice-Chancellor KR Dhiman.

Four students would be sent by each university, along with a faculty member, for this exchange programme spread across four weeks. A review would also be conducted at the end of this exchange programme to include other features like a degree exchange programme, faculty exchange programme, joint collaborative research, distributed learning programme for course delivery, application of geomatics etc.

The Canadian team was represented by ULF Runnesson, Dean of Faculty of Natural Research Management, and Dr Chander K Shahi, Professor and Chair HBSCF Programme.

Dr SD Kashyap, Dean, College of Forestry, informed that the memorandum of understanding would be valid for one year, but could be extended further after gauging the initial response.

A mentor will be assigned at the host institution for each student to help him and he will be required to submit a weekly progress report of his ward to the host university. This will, besides facilitating the student, also ensure daily progress and apt use of the opportunity.

The students will get international exposure in natural resource management at no extra cost as per this MoU. They will also be graded as per their performance by the host institution, thus providing them a competitive streak to work hard and use the opportunity to its best.

Besides this, a likely extension for mid-career professionals, exploring the possibility of funding for joint research projects, including consultancy and development and revision of curriculum, can also be taken up after the end of this pilot phase. 

Shimla, May 30
Bus services on over 120 routes of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) were affected as the “work to rule” stir of employees entered the second day today.

Employees are strictly observing the eight-hour duty schedule as a result of which some of the services on short local routes are being affected. So far employees are not observing it in case of long route services but they have given a call for a complete strike on June 5.

The management held a meeting with representatives of employees during which it was agreed that all the Class IV staff will be paid full arrears on account of pay revision and the other regular staff 75 per cent arrears on the pattern of the government.

Retirees will be paid 85 per cent of the arrears and the balance amount in respect of all the employees will be deposited in the provident fund account subsequently.

However, employees refused to withdraw the stir and insisted that their demand for regularisation of the contract staff after completion of three years of service and converting the corporation into state roadways to protect the pension benefits be accepted.

They also demanded that privatisation of bus routes should be stopped forthwith.

General manager of the corporation Raghubir Chaudhary said the management had accepted all the genuine demands but policy issues like changing of the regularisation process, converting the corporation into roadways and end to privatisation of routes were beyond its ambit and a decision could only be taken by the government. The policy of regularisation after eight years was applicable to all the public sector undertakings and only the government could review the privatisation policy.

Bilaspur, May 30
The Himachal Pradesh Green Growers’ Kisan Union has served an ultimatum to the government that if its demands charter is not accepted within 10 days, it will be constrained to start an agitation in the shape of dharnas, demonstrations and chain fasts here as a mark of protest against the government.

Talking to mediapersons after the meeting of their state executive committee here yesterday, state president of the union Baldev Thakur, accompanied by some 12 leaders from across the state, said they had taken loans from various banks 4-5 years ago under a government poly houses scheme.

Since these loans were of high interest rates, a majority of them had failed to repay their loan instalments as there were little returns from the poly house activity.

Now, their lands were on the verge of being auctioned by banks as these were bound against loan payments.

Thakur added that despite their repeated representations to the government, they had not got any relief in this regard.

They said if their loans were not waived off by June 8, they would start an agitation outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner here, which would later take the shape of indefinite chain fasts.

The meeting urged the government and Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal to solve their issues on a priority basis and ensure that they were not deprived of their lands due to these bank loans.

Bilaspur, May 30
The controversy between journalists and some officers of the HP Sports Department was settled amicably here today. District Youth Services and Sports Officer Arun Sharma and a coach Pradeep Kalia appeared at a meeting of local journalists at the Circuit House and extended their unconditional apology for their highly objectionable conduct against journalist Abhishek Mishra and another photo journalist of his daily newspaper.

The meeting was fixed today to decide a further course of action by journalists of the district as they had earlier served three-day ultimatum to the police either to take action against attackers according to the FIR got registered by journalists on May 14 night just after the incident or face agitation from journalists against this “favouritism”.

It was agreed that both parties would withdraw their FIRs against each other and all cameras, video camera and mobile phones etc snatched by some sports hostel students from these journalists would be safely returned to them.

It would be recalled that trainees of Government Sports Hostel here who had been carried by sports officials to a tantric to get a “khel-afflicted girl treated” from him at Shikroha were ordered by these officials to snatch their cameras etc from them to destroy all evidence of their presence in this ritual.

Later in an attempt to justify their assault on journalists, the sports officials also got registered an FIR against journalists alleging their attempt to tease girl trainees, which they said had resulted in this scuffle.

Nurpur, May 30
The demand to grant district status to Nurpur spearheaded by local MLA Rakesh Pathania got impetus when hundreds of employees from the Non-Gazetted Officers’ (NGO) Federation, Nurpur subdivision, today came in open support of the MLA on the issue.

The federation submitted a signed memorandum to Chief Minister PK Dhumal through Pathania demanding the declaration of Nurpur district forthwith.

It also submitted another memorandum demanding benefits of 4-9-14 in employees’ time scale on the pattern of the Punjab Government.

Earlier too, the local municipal council, block development committee, bar association, press club and various organisations have submitted memorandums in support of the demand to the CM.

Later, addressing NGOs from Nurpur and Indora blocks here at the PWD rest house, Pathania thanked government employees for extending support.

Supporting the cause of 4-9-14 time-scale benefits to employees, he assured that he would hand over the memorandum to the Chief Minister on Thursday.

“So far, benefits to the tune of Rs 600 crore have been accorded to employees during the past over four years and the government is also examining 4-9-14 demand of employees,” he claimed.

Ghian Thakur, president of the federation, said employees in the subdivision were satisfied over the cordial dealing of the MLA with government employees.

Kangra, May 30
The Department of Psychiatry of Dr Rajendra Prashad Government Medical College, Tanda, today organised a Tambaku Mukti Shivir (tobacco cessation camp) in the Psychiatry OPD from 9:30 am to 4 pm in connection with a two-day programme organised in connection with World No Smoking Day.

Dr Munish Saroch, spokesman, DRPGMC, Tanda, today said the camp was inaugurated by Medical Superintendent of the institute Dinesh Sood. The camp was aimed at creating awareness about the dreaded impact of smoking on both smokers and non-smokers.

He said the documentary movie on the evils of tobacco were also screened for patients and their attendants. Patients were given education about ill effects of smoking and tobacco.

Dr (Major) Sukhjit Singh, HOD, Psychiatry, Dr Abhijit Rozatkar, Dr Preeti Sharma, Dr Ulhas N Mugal, Dr Kanica, Dr Anjana, Binod Pandey spoke on the occasion.

More than 108 patients benefited from today’s camp, Munish added.

Dr (Major) Sukhjit Singh said World No Tobacco Day was observed around the world every year on May 31.

He said the member states of the World Health Organisation (WHO) created World No Tobacco Day in 1987.

Dr Sukhijit said India, with 120 million smokers, had one of the highest rates of tobacco consumption in the world. 

Shimla, May 30
Expressing concern over the shortage of medical physicists and physicist technicians in the Regional Cancer Centre at Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital (IGMCH), the Himachal Pradesh High Court today directed the state to file a reply as to why theses posts have not been filled.

Passing this order, the court observed: “It will also be noted that only on account of a delay in the appointment of such persons, the telecobalt unit-II has not been made functional despite a dire need for it.”

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Dharam Chand Chaudhary passed this order during the hearing of a writ petition filed by Namita Maniktala against the state for not implementing the provisions of the National Cancer Control Programme throughout the state.

She alleged in the petition that the National Cancer Control Programme was not being implemented in the state in letter and spirit. She has also made a reference to the telecobalt unit-II at the Regional Cancer Center, Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital, Shimla, which is lying idle due to vacant posts of medical physicist and technician. The petitioner has also requested to increase the number of beds in the hospital keeping in view the increasing number of patients and to provide separate ambulance facility and medical store on the premises of the Regional Cancer Center.

The Himachal Pradesh High Court further directed the state to clarify as to weather any assessment regarding the need for increasing the number of beds has been made. It ordered the state to clarify in the affidavit that what steps had been taken to implement the National Cancer Control Programme in the state. The court directed the state to file the reply within a month. The matter will be listed before the court on July 11 for further hearing.

Shimla, May 30
The auditorium of Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) reverberated with old melodies of legendary Bollywood singers Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi during a musical evening featuring well-known local artiste Bhupinder Negi.

A Deputy Superintendent of Police, Negi, who has been pursuing music as a hobby, organised the programme for university students to generate interest of youth in the soulful music of the past.

He regaled the audience with hit numbers like “Roop Tera Mastana”, “Sama Hai Suhana Suhana”, “Pukarta Chala Hoon Mein”, “Chhalkaye Jam” and “Dard-e-Dil Dard-e-Jigar”.

He also rendered some numbers of Bollywood singer Kumar Sanu.

Students of the Music Department of the university were specially invited to the programme in which Superintendent of Police Sonal Agnihotri was the chief guest.

Negi’s singing talent has been recognised by the Police Department and has also rendered the “police anthem” for it.

Negi said he wanted to move to a bigger stage by organising a series of such programmes, the basic purpose of which was to promote good music.