Shimla, January 27
Patriotic fervour and gaiety marked the 64th Republic Day celebrations in the state. Governor Urmila Singh unfurled the National Flag and took the salute at a march-past by the contingents of the Army Regiments, ITBP, SSB, Police, Home Guards, NCC and ex-servicemen, Scouts and NSS at a state-level function on the historic Ridge Maidan in Shimla.

Major Parjodh Singh Cheema of the 20-Sikh Regiment commanded the parade. Colourful tableaux showcasing achievements of various departments were taken out after the march-past. Cultural programmes were presented by various troupes from across the state.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, Chief Parliamentary Secretaries Rajesh Dharmani and Vinay Kumar, MLAs Suresh Bhardwaj, Anirudh Singh, Mohan Lal Brakta and Balbir Singh Verma, Chandreshwar Prasad, chairman, Zila Parishad, Shimla, Kuldeep Singh Pathania, chairman, Pollution Control Board, Sanjay Chauhan and Tikender Panwar, Mayor and Deputy Mayor, respectively, of the Shimla Municipal Corporation, Chief Secretary S Roy, Director General of Police ID Bhandari, and Vice-Chancellor, Himachal Pradesh University, ADN Bajpai, Dinesh Malhotra, Deputy Commissioner, chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of various boards and corporations and prominent citizens were present at the function.

Republic Day was celebrated with enthusiasm in the tribal areas which have been cut off due to heavy snow. Chief Parliamentary Secretary Neeraj Bharati presided over a district-level function at Rekong Peo in Kinnaur district.

Addressing a gathering, he said Rs 52.58 crore was being spent under a tribal sub-plan during the current year. The government had adopted the election manifesto of the Congress as a policy document and all the promises would be fulfilled in a phased manner, he said.

The government was committed to providing health care facilities to the people of the far-flung tribal areas by strengthening health institutions and catering to the needs of the people in the district, he added.

Local MLA Jagat Singh Negi, Monica Bharati, president, State Youth Congress, and senior officials were present on the occasion. Deputy Commissioner SS Guleria presided over a district-level function at Keylong in Lahaul & Spiti district.

Solan, January 27
Irrigation and Public Health Minister Vidya Stokes unfurled the National Flag on the occasion of Republic Day here yesterday. While addressing a gathering at Thodo Ground here, she said problems of rural people would be solved on a priority basis and new irrigation schemes would be laid to improve irrigation facilities for agrarian community.

She said effective implementation of cash subsidy scheme would be ensured and out of total 68 lakh people, 54 lakh had been provided Aadhar cards in the state.

She said the state government would provide safe drinking water to every household and a target of providing 70 litres drinking water per person per day had been fixed.

The left out 10,725 habitations out of total 53,201 habitations would be provided safe drinking water during the next five years, she added.

Sheela Kumari, chairperson, Zila Parishad, Kul Rakesh Pant, chairman, Nagar Parishad, councillors and officials of the state government were among those present on the occasion.

Thakur Singh Bharmouri, Forest Minister, while presiding over the Republic Day function at Nahan, said the government had decided to frame a new policy for regularisation of PTAs and PAT teachers. He said this decision would benefit thousands of teachers serving in the state.

He said the state had a rich cultural tradition and efforts would be made to promote rural, tribal and culture tourism. The state government would provide training to 5,000 youth who could work as guide and they would be appointed at the village level. “This will strengthen the rural economy, besides highlighting and preserving the rural culture,” he added.

MLAs Dr Rajiv Bindal, Baldev Tomar, Suresh Kashyap, former MLAs Kush Parmar, Harshwardhan Chauhan Ajay Bahadur, freedom fighters and prominent people of the area were also present on the occasion.

Hamirpur, January 27
Brij Bihari Butail, Speaker, Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha, unfurled the National Flag and took the salute from the marching contingents of the police, Home Guards, NCC and students at a Republic Day function here yesterday.

Greeting people on the occasion, Butail said providing drinking water in every household was the top priority of the state government and it would ensure giving 70 litres water to every person.

He said a Rs 64-crore Centrally sponsored drinking water scheme had been approved for the town which would be augmented soon and provide 135 litres water per person daily till 2044.

The students of various schools presented a cultural programme on the occasion.

Bilaspur, January 27
All shortcomings in health services in the state will be removed at the earliest. This was stated by Health, Revenue and Law Minister Kaul Singh Thakur while unfurling the National Flag at a district-level Republic Day function here yesterday.

Thakur said no leaders’ name would be connected with the “108 free 24 hour ambulance service”, adding that 35 more such ambulances would be added soon. He said all the poor IRDP families would be provided medicines free of cost from health institutions and shortage of doctors and other staff in hospitals would be removed at the earliest. He said a trauma centre building would be started soon.

He said a responsive, transparent and clean administration would be given by the government and there would be zero tolerance towards corruption in the state.

He said concrete steps would be taken to save farmers from crop losses due to monkey menace, adding that only pollution-free industries would be allowed and all 187 closed schools would be re-started.

Local MLA Bambar Thakur and Jhandutta MLA Rikhi Ram Kaundal were present. Kaul Singh gave away prizes to seven meritorious students of various schools of the district.

Dharamsala, January 27
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh arrived here this afternoon for the one-day international between India and England. He presided over the presentation ceremony.

The Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) had invited him to be the chief guest for the first one-day international at this stadium. Sources said his office was not happy with the manner of extending the invitation.

They said protocol for inviting a high-ranked dignitary had not been followed as low-ranked HPCA officials had been deputed for extending the invitation.

The sources said the impasse ended after HPCA president Anurag Thakur invited the Chief Minister over the telephone. The HPCA then received a call from the Chief Minister’s office that he would attend the match.

The HPCA had been one of the targets of the Congress during elections. Five of the 50 charges levelled against the previous government in the Congress charge sheet submitted to the President pertained to the HPCA.

The Congress would have to order a probe into the charges lest the Bharatiya Janata Party accused it of false propaganda during elections, the sources said. Due to this, a reported lobby was trying to prevent the Chief Minister from attending the match, but he overruled it.

Minister for Irrigation and Public Health Vidya Stokes, Minister for Housing and Urban Development Sudhir Sharma and Minister for Agriculture Sujjan Singh Pathania were present.

Leader of Opposition PK Dhumal and former ministers Ravinder Singh Ravi and Sarveen Chaudhary were also present. Leaders of the opposition and the ruling party sat in separate lounges.

Anurag Thakur said it was an honour for Himachal Pradesh to host a one-day international. He said this would bring the state on the world sports tourism map.

He said they had tried to give Dharamsala the status of the sports town of Himachal Pradesh. He said other sports facilities had also been set up for the youth.

Many tourists arrived in Dharamsala and most hotels in lower Dharamsala were packed to capacity. Tourists who came without advance booking were facing in problems in finding accommodation.

It was a good time for the tourism industry in the town, which had been facing recession for the last two months as the Dalai Lama had cancelled teaching here.

Shimla, January 27
The closure of the 1,000-MW Karcham Wangtu hydroelectricity project due to profuse water leakage from the surge shaft and the water-conducting system has again raised concerns about the safety of hydroelectricity projects being constructed in the private sector.

It has also underlined the need for putting in place an effective mechanism for the proper monitoring of projects during the course of construction.

The project was closed for urgent repairs last month after the Directorate of Energy issued a notice to the Jaypee Company to rectify the defect as continuous leakage would not only aggravate the problem, but could cause damage in the areas downhill as well.

A team of engineers noticed the heavy leakage during an inspection on December 21 and issued a notice to the company to stop operation of the project.

The quantum of leakage was between 5 cumecs and 9 cumecs, which was quite huge, and could easily trigger landslides, an official said.

As the water-conducting system required major repairs, the head race tunnel, the reservoir and the surge shaft had to be emptied to carry out the work. The project has been closed for six weeks and the completion of the work will take a few more weeks.

Riki Sharma, the local representative of the company, said the problem was not serious and was a part of teething troubles as hydroelectricity projects took a couple of years to stabilise, adding that the project would be made operational next month.

This is not the first time a private-sector project has run into a problem. The Malana-II project remained closed for over five months for the rectification of defects which led to leakage from the surge shaft and the pen stock.

The Malana-I and Baspa projects had problems in the reservoir wall. All four major projects in the private sector have been beset with technical problems.

The hydroelectricity power policy framed in 2006 provided for project safety and a monitoring authority, but no such body was set up so far.

The quality of construction is suspect and a matter of concern as projects executed in the build-operate-transfer mode have to revert to the government after 40 years.

SKBS Negi, Principal Secretary for Power, said the government would take all steps required to ensure the proper monitoring of projects so that such problems did not arise in other projects under execution.

The department has engaged 13 consultants so far so that teams can be sent for periodic inspection to ensure quality of construction.

The government will take the matter up with the Central Electricity Authority, which is the regulatory body, to work out an effective monitoring system.

Jogindernagar, January 27
The 100-MW Uhal-III hydroelectricity project here may miss another deadline, December 2013, as the engineers and contractor of the Beas Valley Power Corporation (BVPC) are facing water ingress in the 8.5-km tunnel, of which about a 65-metre stretch is yet to be excavated.

The delay has pushed up the cost of the project to about Rs 1,000 crore, making it the second most expensive project executed by state-run corporations after the 126-MW Larji project.

According to the BVPC engineers, the water ingress and lack of ventilation inside the tunnel have become major problems. The ingress is flowing at 200 litres per second, posing a hazard to workers, they say.

Project in charge Harish Malhotra said they were de-watering the tunnel on a reverse slope, that added to the problem. “The diameter of the tunnel is 4.75 metres, which has made ventilation at the excavation site a problem,” he added.

He said the ingress delayed the progress of the excavation in the remaining 65-metre stretch. “We are excavating 2 metres per day and completing the boring may take another 40 days,” he added.

The reported wrong selection of contractors for the construction of the tunnel has also delayed the completion of the project by more than four years. The BVPC rescinded the tunnel contract twice in the recent past as the contractors could not show progress, engineers said.

The project cost doubled from Rs 431 crore to Rs 1,000 crore, as estimated by the BVPC. The cost of electricity would come to around Rs 10 crore per megawatt, the engineers said.

The BVPC blamed the delay on the water ingress and the delay in settling the land acquisition process as the project acquired 500 bigha of private cultivable land between Machial a nd Khuddar.

Malhotra expressed the hope that the first unit would be commissioned this December if all went well and the other two units completed by March next year. The power house, the surge shaft and the transmission line were ready, he added.

Dharamsala, January 27
The green cover in the McLeodganj area of Dharamsala is being threatened by illegal dumping of solid waste along hill slopes. People carrying out construction are scarring the hills with the material of dismantled buildings. Many such constructions are coming up in tourist places of the McLeodganj and Bhagsunag area.

Those carrying out construction are filling the waste in cement bags.

The bags are carried in trucks on the 2-km road stretch between McLeodganj and Bhagsunag and dumped along the hillside. When asked, they say they have been directed by contractors to dump the material there.

Experts are of the view that construction waste has the tendency to settle down. If it does, fresh undergrowth in the forest area cannot survive. It will scar the natural beauty and damage the ecology of the area.

As per rules, it is the duty of the municipal council and the district administration to stop the spread of solid waste. A solid waste dumping site has been established in Dharamsala as per Supreme Court directions, which say solid waste generated from construction should be used as filler in low-lying areas where construction is to take place.

Proper management is required to make it practical. The authorities have to keep a check on ongoing construction and solid waste being generated. People carrying out construction should be forced to deposit waste at places marked for the purpose.

The waste can then be used by government departments during construction of roads or as filler in basements of buildings. Enquiries from various departments have revealed that no one has been fined or booked for depositing waste along the hills.

When asked, the authorities concerned say that they have not received any complaint in the matter.

It is surprising that the authorities are waiting for complaints from private persons to act. Private persons will complaint only if solid waste is dumped in their areas.

It has generally been found that the town and country planning authorities limit themselves to issuing notices to offenders in case of illegal construction to save their skin in case of an inquiry. No action is taken to stop the practice.

Shimla, January 27
The BJP has condemned the registration of FIR against its workers who were staging a peaceful protest in Solan against the statement of Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and urged the government to withdraw the “politically motivated” case.

In a joint statement here today, senior leaders of the party Chander Mohan, vice-president, Ram Swaroop, general secretary, and spokesperson Ganesh Dutt alleged that the case was registered on a false complaint lodged by a Congress supporter who alleged that he faced problems due to the protest from 11.00 am to 11.00 pm on January 24.

However, the fact was that the BJP staged a protest at 1.30 pm on that day. It was an attempt to curb the democratic right of the Opposition, they said.

They alleged that the Congress had been intolerant towards public protests and even during its earlier term, it resorted to a lathicharge when BJP leaders were staging a silent protest to mark the anniversary of emergency in front of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi on the Ridge.

They said no action was being taken against those indulging in anti-national activities and burning the National Flag in Hyderabad and Srinagar, while nationalist organisations like the RSS were being branded as militant outfits for “political convenience”. 

Chamba, January 27
Six persons, including four women, were killed and eight others injured seriously when a pick-up van swerved off the road near Machhetar in the Bharmour subdivision last evening, according to official reports received here today.

The ill-fated vehicle carrying 14 persons was on its way from Sinyur to Holi. When the vehicle neared Machhetar, the driver lost control over the vehicle. The van rolled down the hillside and fell on the bank of the Ravi.

Superintendent of Police BM Sharma, other police officials and residents of the area reached the spot. Sharma supervised relief and rescue operations. The officials and others extricated the bodies.

The four women were killed on the spot while two persons succumbed to their injuries on way to the Chamba hospital. The deceased were identified as Pavna, Seshna, Krishna, Champa Devi, Rato Devi and Gurmit of nearby areas.

Four of the injured were referred to Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College at Tanda in Kangra district in a critical condition. The rest were undergoing treatment at the Regional Hospital in Chamba.

The bodies were handed to the next of kin of the deceased after post-mortem examination. A case of rash and negligent driving was registered by the police.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri expressed grief over the incident. They directed officials to provide all possible help to the injured and the next of kin of the deceased.

Hamirpur, January 27
The decision of the Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB) to close down its decade-old projects regarding women and child welfare throughout the country since December 2012, including a few projects in the state, has left a large number of workers working under these projects distressed.

The project was started by the Central Government during the 60s to support child and women development activities through NGOs with 75 per cent Central government financial aid and 25 per cent State government funding released through the CSWB and state social welfare boards.

Thousands of women workers are working under this project and carrying women and child development programmes through craft and childcare centres.

The Central government after running the project for 50 years stopped it abruptly leaving thousands of workers out of work despite women and child development activities being a top priority of the Central and the state governments.

While closing down the project, the CSWB had asked state governments to absorb workers engaged in the project in similar projects being run by the state government. However, the Himachal Pradesh state government has not taken any decision as mandarins in the state government and the State Social Welfare Board consider them a “liability” instead of being sympathetic to them.

Lamenting their plight, a worker said, “We have devoted our lives working for the welfare of women and children for a paltry remuneration and have now come on the road with people at the helm of affairs being unconcerned”.

“A large number of workers have already retired without getting many benefits and out of 22 workers left, a majority are also on the verge of retirement,” she added.

The workers have pinned their hopes on Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to take this matter in the state Cabinet, as a policy decision can only help them.