Shimla, November 6
Apple production in the state has failed to touch the two crore boxes mark during the current harvesting season, which officially came to a close on October 31.

A total of 1.77 crore boxes have been transported out of the state during the season. If one takes domestic consumption into account, which is officially pegged at 10 per cent, the total production is not likely to touch 2 crore boxes.

The actual production is about 25 per cent less. A redeeming feature was that prices remained high compared to last year, when the state had very lean crop, even though the fruit did not attain normal size due to inadequate rain.

The rates hovered from Rs 3,300 to Rs 1,100 per standard box, but the average returns were good.

The protracted dry spell, followed by incessant rain, affected the crop. The fruit size did not increase due to inadequate moisture in the soil because of the delayed monsoon.

Continuous heavy rain during the second half of the monsoon caused heavy premature dropping of fruit. The smaller-sized fruit was mostly supplied to government procurement agencies.

As a result, 11,700 tonne of apple was procured under the market intervention scheme during the season compared to 3,600 tonne last year. The HPMC could process less than half of it as the season started late and ended abruptly.

In all, it produced 411 tonne of apple juice concentrate during the season compared to 352 tonne last year. Its capacity is 12 trucks per day. The season was shortened as plucking was delayed due to the erratic monsoon.

The crop has been better than last year, when the state produced only 1.37 crore boxes. However, it is below normal and almost 55 per cent less than the record production of 4.46 crore boxes, achieved in 2010.

Data for the last four years indicates that the apple crop continues to be erratic, with wide fluctuation in production. The production shot up from 2.8 lakh tonne in 2009 to a record 8.92 lakh tonne in 2010 and plunged to 2.74 lakh tonne last year. This year, it will touch 4 lakh tonne.

In contrast, agriculture production is stabilising, evident from the fact that the state had four consecutive bumper crops in 2010-11 and 2012, achieving a record foodgrain output of 14.94 lakh tonne and 16.10 lakh tonne, respectively.

Barmana (Bilaspur), November 6
Residents here have been living like refugees in a “virtual hell of hazards of nano-toxicants” and the round-the-clock noise pollution wreaked by the Gagal cement plant.

Politicians used to come here for seeking votes and then disappear for five years. They have failed to provide any relief to these residents.

Initially, they had decided to boycott the elections this time. But they were giving a last chance to the government for shifting them from this site permanently and rehabilitating them at a safer place, residents said.

“Earlier, there was a move to shift them and relocate them elsewhere, but certain officials in connivance with the company never allowed this proposal to see the light of the day,” resented residents of Barmana panchayat.

They said the Gagal cement plant was a constant source of dust, noise and environmental pollution here.

“No guest can stay in our houses here during night as the plant operates round-the-clock,” said a retired teacher, who lives near the plant.

The dust entering the houses is inhaled by children and adults and is causing various ailments like asthma, bronchitis, skin allergies to them.

Crops were also destroyed due to the dust and coal emission, but no compensation was paid to them, they resented. The traditional water sources near the plant have dried up.

Though the company claimed that they had put filter technology to arrest the pollutants, the villagers said they suffer from anxiety and restlessness, besides serious ailments like bronchitis and asthma due to the same.

“We are ready to leave our ancestral land to get rid of these miseries forever,” villagers said.

These dust and nano-particle emissions were life-threatening hazards as these could cause asthma, bronchitis, skin allergies, cancer and eye flu, doctors said.

There is no regular monitoring of dust and emission of gaseous by the state pollution control board.

“We have not seen any pollution board official ever since the plant started its operation three decades ago. They come and enjoy company’s hospitality in its guest house and disappear as there is a complete nexus between them,” they said.

The cement plant employs over 560 persons, including 168 from the state. It operates over 2,500 trucks that give indirect employment to over 5,000 persons, said officials. The online monitoring was done by the company and the board and action was taken on complaints, they added.

Shimla, November 6
As per the final report received from the State Election Commission, the poll percentage in the 68 Assembly constituencies in the state has been registered at 73.92 per cent.

Though the percentage on the day of polling was being pegged at about 75 per cent, the exact polling figure has now been put at 73.92 per cent.

In Chamba district, 75.63 per cent polling has been recorded. The highest polling in the district was reported from the Churah (SC) Assembly constituency at 78.71 per cent.

In Kangra district, 71.80 per cent polling has been recorded. The highest polling has been recorded in the Nurpur Assembly constituency, which has registered 78.25 per cent polling.

In Hamirpur district, 69.23 per cent polling has been registered with the highest turnout being in Sujanpur at 71.84 per cent.

In Una district, 73.87 per cent polling has been registered with Una segment touching the highest at 75.03 per cent out of the total five constituencies.

In Bilaspur district, 73.25 per cent polling has been registered with the highest turnout in the Naina Devi constituency at 82.36 per cent.

In Shimla district, 69.10 per cent polling has been registered. The Jubbal-Kotkhai Assembly segment is at the top with 78.79 per cent.

In Lahaul-Spiti (ST), 74.97 per cent polling has been recorded. In Kinnaur constituency, 73.55 per cent polling has been registered.

In Mandi district, the poll percentage is 75.59 with the highest polling in Seraj segment at an all-time high of 84.77 per cent.

In Solan district, there has been a 77.65 per cent polling with Doon topping the list with a high of 89.54 per cent.

In Sirmaur district, which too witnessed a high voter turnout, the polling was recorded at 79.86 per cent with the Paonta Sahib constituency having the highest percentage at 82.15 per cent.

The poll percentage in Kullu was 78.86 with Manali segment topping with 80.21 per cent.

Chamba, November 6
Soon after the state Assembly elections on November 4, which went off peacefully in Chamba district, the electronic voting machines (EVMs) of 572 polling stations of the district have been stored at their prescribed respective places where the paramilitary forces are having a close watch round-the-clock.

Deputy Commissioner, Chamba, Sunil Choudhary, who is also the district election officer, said the EVMs of the Chamba and Bharmour (ST) Assembly constituencies had been stored on the premises of Government Postgraduate College in Chamba town.

He said the EVMs pertaining to the Dalhousie and the Churah (SC) constituencies had been stored on the premises of Government Millennium Polytechnic College at Sarol, near here.

The EVMs of the Bhattiyat constituency had been stored at the block samiti guesthouse on the premises of the BDO office at Chowari in Bhattiyat subdivision of the district, the DC added.

The counting of votes would take place on December 20 as per the schedule of the Election Commission.

Shimla, November 6
With traffic snarls becoming an everyday affair in the Queen of Hills, the government will undertake a survey to assess the carrying capacity of roads in the town with five new vehicles being added daily to the already huge number of vehicles.

The district administration has approached the Shimla Municipal Corporation (MC) to get a survey of the carrying capacity of roads done from some agency having expertise in public transport.

With the town being plagued with traffic jams during school and office hours, efforts would be made to encourage use of public transport, especially by schoolchildren and office-goers.

The MC on its part has decided to seek the help of Delhi-based consultants, who have prepared the City Mobility Plan (CMP) for the town in undertaking this survey.

“The Deputy Commissioner wrote to us some time ago to undertake a carrying capacity survey of roads, but since we do not have expertise, we have decided to rope in the consultant who is already working on the CMP,” said MP Sood, Commissioner. Municipal Corporation.

Though no proper surveys has been undertaken to assess the total number of vehicles, as per the data collected from the office of Deputy Commissioner, there are an estimated 60,000 small vehicles in Shimla.

In fact, the district administration alone has issued 5,000 permits to vehicles for plying on the restricted routes in the town.

Another aspect which has come to light is that while two third of the total vehicles in the town are parked along narrow roads, one third of the roads are gobbled up by idle parking. With a few houses having a garage or parking facility, the already narrow roads are used for the purpose.

“If people continue buying new vehicles at the present pace, in another two years roads would be choked with little scope for widening,” said officials.

However, with roads in the town being managed by different agencies like the MC, PWD and the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), assessing the carrying capacity of roads would be an exhaustive task. Another limitation in easy mobility in the town is total dependence on the Circular Road, which goes around the town.

Since hardly any efforts have been made to develop alternate roads in different areas to take some load off the circular Road, the pressure is totally on the Cart Road.

Shimla, November 6
The Government of India has appointed Rakesh Kumar Bansal as Director (Electrical) of Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) Limited.

He was earlier holding the charge of Executive Director of the 1,500-MW Nathpa Jhakri Hydro Power Station owned and operated by the SJVN.

Bansal obtained his mechanical engineering degree from the Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad, and did his MBA in marketing, production and development studies from the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkota.

He started his career with BHEL, Hardwar, and after working for 13 years, joined the SJVN in 1997. After heading the Corporate Planning and Monitoring Division, he later set up and headed the SJVN’s Commercial Department.

He also headed the Quality Assurance and Inspection Department during which the SJVN won the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award - Best of All (amongst all companies of India) as well as SCOPE’s Gold Trophy for Excellence and Outstanding Contribution to the public sector.

Nurpur, November 6
After playing havoc with stranded crops of maize and paddy in rural areas of this subdivision, monkeys have started haunting people.

Residents of Ganhi Lagor panchayat have been living under constant fear of monkey bite for the past few days.

A notorious monkey has reportedly bitten around 12 women and children of the panchayat. The women are feared to move alone in the village and school-going children are also being accompanied with elders.

Babli Devi, pradhan of the panchayat, said villagers had submitted a memorandum to the local divisional forest officer (DFO) seeking the Forest Department’s assistance to capture the monkey.

She said the victims of monkey bite were paying for the costly anti-rabies injections and treatment.

Meanwhile, DFO Sanjay Sen said the affected villagers had met him in this regard.

“However, the department cannot eliminate or kill monkeys in the wake of high court direction but a cage is being kept in the village to capture notorious monkeys,” he added.

Solan, November 6
A case of embezzlement, cheating and forgery has been registered against officials with Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry in Nauni. The case relates to the fraudulent purchase of farmyard manure by the Department of Floriculture and Landscaping.

University officials prepared quotations and Kishori Lal, son of a university gardener, who had one cow or two, was given the order to supply tonnes of farmyard manure since 2007. Alleged fraudulent paperwork with discrepancies and tampering was procured under the RTI Act. It pointed to the embezzlement of Rs 45,000 in 2010.

Though an inquiry had been conducted by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau after the issue was highlighted in these columns in September last year, it failed to point out the embezzlement.

Peeved at the lack of action, advocate Chaman Negi filed a public interest litigation in the high court, presenting facts collected under the RTI Act, and pleaded for action in this case. The high court directed the police to register a case and investigate the matter.

According to the petitioner, quotations were invited in 2010 for the purchase of 500 quintal of farmyard manure for trial activities in research and production of flowers. The lowest rate of Rs 90 per quintal was quoted by Kishori Lal and his tender was approved.

He was given orders to supply 100 quintal of farmyard manure for Rs 9,000, 200 quintal for Rs 18,000 and 200 quintal for Rs 18,000. Bills for Rs 45,000 were issued to the department for clearance. The bills were presented before audit for clearance, but it raised three objections and returned the bills.

The manure was supposedly transported in a truck (HP14-2098) in 13 trips to the university. According to the complainant, a checkpoint at the main entry to the university, where security guards maintained a record of vehicles entering the university, had no mention of this truck.

Though the administration of the university constituted an inquiry to look into the matter, it remained inconclusive even though the head of the department was removed from the post recently. The case put a question mark over the functioning of the university.

Bilaspur, November 6
Gold ornaments worth several lakhs of Sunita Devi of Awari village under the Bakroa gram panchayat, near here, have been stolen from the village on the National Highway No. 103 (Shimla-Kangra) today.

Reports said there was no occupant in the house when the theft took place.

When Sunita returned to her house she found the lock of the front door of the house broken and all her gold jewellery kept in the inner room was missing.

She had used the jewellery only a few days ago on the occasion of Karva Chauth. A case has been registered. The actual loss in money is being assessed.