Shimla, March 22
The government will come out with a comprehensive policy for systematic and sustainable exploitation of medicinal plants to cover more herbs in view of their growing commercial value.

Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri stated this in the Assembly today while replying to a question of Himachal Lokhit Party legislator Maheshwar Singh. Bharmouri said there were over 800 herbs and the government had given panchayats the power to issue export permit for 37 herbs.

He said the Forest Department had identified 90 important herbs for which a policy would be framed after holding consultations with experts and stakeholders to facilitate sustainable exploitation.

He said ‘nag chhatri’ was in the extended list and a committee under the Principal Secretary for Forests had been set up to investigate the status of the herb and its commercial use and value so that rational export fee rates could be fixed.

He said no royalty was charged on ‘nag chhatri’ and an export permit was granted after charging fee. He said its exploitation in the state had been started by the Nepalese who were aware of its medicinal properties. Bharmouri said it had wide-ranging applications in the drug industry and was being used as an aphrodisiac as well. He stated that the Forest Department had seized 81.71 quintals of the herb in the last three years.

He elaborated that 51.32 quintals of it was in the custody of the department, 9.9 quintals was with the police, 13.33 quintals was auctioned after courts issued release orders, 3.2 quintals was released after charging compounding fee and 3.34 quintals was stolen.

Replying to a question of Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Ravinder Singh Ravi, Bharmouri said the concept note on the carbon credit project was approved by the World Bank in 2006 and the agreement on carbon credit sale was signed in May 2011. He said the amount which beneficiaries would receive would be decided on the basis of growth of saplings planted under the project for which verification was yet to be carried out.

Answering a joint question of Congress legislators Nand Lal and Sohan Lal, Revenue Minister Kaul Singh Thakur told the House that 513 of the 2,450 posts of patwari were vacant.

He said the government had decided to fill 500 posts by selecting candidates who would be provided two-year training before appointment.

In response to another question, he said X-ray computed tomography scan machines were being installed at district hospitals in the first phase.

He said the only constraint was that the machines could be operated by radiologists. He added the machines would be installed at more institutions once radiologists who were undergoing training at present were available.

Shimla, March 22
Speaker Brij Bihari Lal Butail today allayed apprehensions of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members regarding improper recording of House proceedings.

He asserted that no one was authorised to change the minutes and those had to be recorded verbatim. He said members could go through the minutes if they had doubt and report to him if they found any discrepancy.

He assured them that he would not only get the record rectified, but take action against the person responsible as well. He added that minutes of proceedings of the day would be posted on the website at the earliest.

Referring to the reported walkout yesterday, Butail maintained that technically it was not a walkout as BJP members were in the House after he adjourned the sitting. He said there was noise and he left after adjourning the House while BJP members left after him.

BJP member Suresh Bhardwaj raised the issue of minutes claiming that those were not being recorded verbatim and changes were being made therein. He said proceedings were recorded verbatim in the past and only portions which were expunged by the Speaker were left out.

He disapproved of the Speaker’s statement that the BJP did not stage a walkout yesterday. He said the ruling party could have its view but the Assembly Secretariat should not get involved in it.

Joining the issue, Leader of Opposition PK Dhumal said everything was recorded in proceedings earlier when Congress members trooped to the well of the House and raised slogans.

He alleged that names of panchayats mentioned by members had been changed in the minutes. He said audio recordings should be examined to ascertain whether the adjournment or the walkout took place first.

He said it did not matter whether or not the report on the walkout was carried in the media but it was important to ensure that the sanctity of the House was maintained.

Butail said neither he nor the Secretariat issued any statement on the issue but some journalists contacted him. He added that he told them what he said earlier and there was nothing more to it.

Shimla, March 22
With the Law Department giving adverse opinion on reverting 25 Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers promoted by the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime, the move could benefit seven other officers who were denied promotion despite being due for promotion to the post Chief Conservator Forest.

The government had sought the opinion of the Law Department on the issue so that a final decision could be taken on reverting them to posts held by them earlier. While in the opposition, the Congress had been critical of the promotions terming those as an undue favour which had huge financial implications for the cash-strapped state.

The matter is still under consideration of the government and could be placed before the Cabinet for a final decision. It has been reliably learnt that as per the legal opinion, all 25 IFS officers who got promotion had completed 25 years of service, mandatory for being made Additional Principal Chief Conservator Forest (APCCF).

The Principal Secretary Forest had given her opinion in favour of the promotions as well. She had justified the move stating that there was no illegality of any sort besides drawing a parallel with their counterparts in the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service.

Other arguments supporting the promotions include comparison with batch-mates in eight other states, majority of whom had been promoted to APCCF. “Since the opinion of the Law Department and the Principal Secretary Forest is the same, it is doubtful that the move can be reverted,” said an official.

Now the second option the state government can consider is granting their due to the seven IFS officers who are posted on the rank of Conservator Forests at present. Four of them are serving in the Forest Department while the other three are posted outside.

They were due for promotion last year but the previous regime had given preference to their seniors, notwithstanding the fact that the number of officers on the post of APCCF would be 32, an all-time high. The BJP regime had promoted 25 officers in two batches in a span of one month in July-August last year.

After the latest cadre review, the Centre had approved a strength of 114 officers for the Himachal IFS cadre. This included two posts of Principal Chief Conservator Forest and seven of APCCF. As such, the manner of cadre management had led to widespread criticism.

Shimla, March 22
The Himachal Pradesh High Court (HC) has held that any amendment, modification or corrigendum in any policy by the government should be brought to the notice of employees concerned by publishing or posting it on the official website.

This was decided by Justice Rajiv Sharma while hearing a petition of an employee who had been denied medical reimbursement on the basis of some change in the medical reimbursement policy.

Allowing the petition, Justice Sharma directed the state government to reimburse the medical claim of its employee Kirpal Singh of Shimla and restrict it to charges at the PGI in Chandigarh and AIIMS in New Delhi.

The court passed the order on a petition filed by Kirpal Singh who had complained that his wife was admitted to the emergency at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi for bilateral total knee replacement on December 17, 2010.

He had further stated that he filled in a medical reimbursement form claiming Rs 4,30,790 spent on her treatment but the department rejected the claim on March 27, 2012, on the grounds that she was operated upon at a hospital which was not empanelled.

The petitioner had claimed that he was under the impression that the hospital was recognised for hip and knee transplant according to notification issued on November 1, 2007.

He had also alleged that he was never apprised of the change in policy promulgated on June 21, 2008, whereby the previous policy was superseded.

Shimla, March 22
Taking a serious note of house tax collection methodology in Shimla, the Himachal Pradesh High Court (HC) today directed the municipal corporation (MC) to collect the tax according to the old system.

The HC said property owners could deposit tax according to the old system subject to the determination of a new system of levying it and the tax paid would be adjusted if there was a change in method.

The HC directed the Urban Secretary to hold a meeting with the Urban Director, the Mayor and the MC Commissioner and inform it by filing a status report.

Mandi, March 22
Naib subedar Bhupinder Singh of the 11 Dogra Regiment at Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh, who had been missing for eight months, on Tuesday returned from Jamnagar in Gujarat to his hometown sporting the saffron attire of a ‘sadhu’.

He changed his clothes as soon as he got off the toy train at Jogindernagar with a ‘sadhu’ and came to the town. He had suffered memory loss and could not recall what had happened to him.

Hailing from Majhwar village in Mandi district, had gone missing from Lucknow. The police took him and the ‘sadhu’ to Superintendent of Police (SP) RS Negi’s office, where he did not recognise cousin Dinesh Kumar and maternal uncle.

The ‘sadhu’ said he had spotted Bhupinder begging in front of a temple at Jamnagar and brought him here. The ‘sadhu’ said he had found out that Bhupinder was a victim of poisoning and had lost his memory.

“He told me that he was from Mandi and I decided to bring him here,” the ‘sadhu’ added. Bhupinder faintly recalled that he had food at a ‘dhaba’ in Lucknow. “Somebody looted him of cash, mobile phone and belongings there,” Negi said.

The ‘sadhu’ said he had Bhupinder wear a saffron robe so that the Railways did not charge them. Negi said Bhupinder, who had complained of bleeding from the mouth in Lucknow, was sent for examination to the zonal hospital here. Bhupinder was going to report back at Faizabad after holidays at his native village before he went missing, Dinesh said. Bhupinder had talked to his brother from his mobile phone in Lucknow and had lost contact since, Dinesh added.

Dharamsala, March 22
In one of most gruelling match of the 61st All-India Police Games of volleyball cluster that concluded here today, the CRPF defeated favourites Punjab Police in four sets.

In the final held here today, the CRPF won the first set from the Punjab Police 32-30. The Punjab Police team bounced back winning the second set by 27-25. However, the CRPF team took the next two matches by 25-23, 27-25 and emerged as champions in the event. The weak defence of the Punjab Police team during the initial part of the game gave CRPF team an edge. The volleyball match attracted a large crowd from the local area.

In basketball, Punjab Police dominated and defeated the Haryana Police by 95-54. For the third position, the BSF defeated the CRPF 82-60.

In the handball final, Punjab defeated the home team Himachal Police in a keenly fought contest (26-24). For the third spot, the CRPF defeated Uttarakhand (41-25). It was for the first time that the Himachal Police team won a position in the All-India Police Games.

The Chief Minister announced promotion for each member of the handball team of the Himachal Police that bagged the second position during the tournament. He also announced Rs 50 lakh for the development of the police ground in Dharamsala.

In Kabaddi, the CISF emerged champion by defeating Haryana 32-30.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who arrived here this evening, distributed prizes among the winners.

He was accompanied by Minister for Food and Civil Supplies GS Bali, Minister for Housing and Urban Development Sudhir Sharma, Minister for Forests Thakur Singh Bharmouri, former MP Chander Kumar and Jwalamukhi MLA Sanjay Rattan.

The Chief Minister said better sports infrastructure would be developed in the state.

DGP Himachal Police, B Kamal Kumar congratulated the local police authorities for the successful organisation of the volleyball cluster of the All-India Police Games.

Sundernagar, March 22
The Himalayan Forest Research Institute, Shimla, organised a training seminar on ‘Application of technological and research interventions for enhancing forest productivity' at Forest Training Institute and Rangers College, Sundernagar, yesterday for officers and field functionaries of the state Forest Department.

The-one day seminar was attended by 35 officials of the Forest Department. It was inaugurated by Surender Kumar, IFS, Director, Forest Training Institute and Rangers College, Sundernagar.

During the inaugural address, he stressed upon the need of such trainings by research organisations which help in improvement of field staff during various interventions in field activities.

TilakRaj Sharma, Joint Director CL Joshi, Dy Director, also spoke.

Scientists from HFRI, Shimla, Dr KS Kapoor, Dr Rajesh Sharma, Dr A Rajasekaran and Dr Pawan Rana acquainted participants with their expertise which can help in overall improvement during interventions in nursery and forest management. Dr KS Kapoor, senior scientist of the institute delivered his talk on how natural flora of the area can help in rehabilitation of the degraded and mined- out areas.

Dr A Rajasekaran acquainted the staff with GPS and GIS application in forestry sector. Dr Pawan Rana said minimum use of insecticides should be encouraged during nursery/plantation raising. In his concluding remarks, the Director, FTI, Sundernagar, praised the efforts of the HFRI, Shimla, and requested to conduct such trainings on a regular basis to benefit the Forest Department.

Palampur, March 22
Tension prevails in Darang and Paror villages following the removal of encroachments from forest land. A team of Forest and Revenue officials along with the police today removed half a dozen encroachments from the forest land. In most of the cases, the houses constructed on the forest land were razed.

The Forest Department had geared up to vacate the unauthorised occupation from the forest land in this part of the state on the directions of the Himachal Pradesh High Court. The high court had set March 31 as the deadline for clearing these encroachments. In the last fortnight in the Kangra district, over 100 encroachments were removed. All the encroachers had been served prior notices as per the directions of the high court.

At Paror and Darang, the residents lodged a strong protest over the removal of the encroachments and tried to stop the team of officials. However, with the help of the police, the Forest Department succeeded in evicting all the encroachers.

Later talking to mediapersons, local residents termed the action of the forest officials as illegal and uncalled for. They said all the affected villagers were landless and this land was given on the directions of the state government about 40 years ago. However, the government failed to legalise the allotment of land despite their repeated requests. They urged the government to allot them alternative land so that they could construct houses. Every affected person had suffered a loss of between Rs 2 and 3 lakh. Besides, their household goods were also damaged. 

Bilaspur, March 22
The Gobind Sagar Ghats Sudhar Sabha has urged Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to order linking of Khairiyan near Bilaspur with Berry Dadollan across the Gobind Sagar so that the bridge over the Gobind Sagar serves maximum number of people. It said its linking at Khairiyan would save residents of Badole Dhar from travelling 5 km to the town.

Sabha general secretary Vijender Chandel said at a meeting presided over by president Ram Singh here today that the Berry Dadolllan bridge should not be linked with Talwaad as this would be far for all those who reach town on foot. He said it would increase distance by another 3 km.

The sabha said the entire utility of this bridge to people of Bilaspur Sadar and Jhandutta depended on the fact that all people had to reach town to avail of facilities of the Regional Hospital, government offices, main bus stand , courts, bazaars, DC office, schools, colleges and employment centres.

The sabha also challenged the cost of Rs 152 crore assessed for this bridge by the PWD. It said this cost was exaggerated and also included construction of several piers in the mid-stream while only a couple of piers would fall in the mid-stream and others would be constructed on both banks and dry land on both ends of the bridge.

It said the PWD had also included exaggerated cost of land and construction of approach roads to both sides of the bridge in the bridge cost.

Kangra, March 22
Resentment prevails among HIV and AIDS patients and NGOs working for their welfare over the decision of the National Aids Control Programme (NACO) to close down the NGO-run Community Care Centre, which was working outside the DRPGMC, Tanda.

District-level HIV NGO representatives Sureshta Devi, Kuldeep and Krishen said today that Gunjan, an NGO, was organising this centre at Tanda where during the last one and half years, 1,600 HIV patients were provided shelter, food and medicines, and at present six patients were there. The needs of HIV and AIDS patients of four districts of Kangra, Chamba, Una and Mandi were being met.

According to official sources, there were 6,000 HIV Positive and 1,600 AIDS patients in the state and 25 per cent of these patients were in this region making Kangra a maximum-HIV Positive burden zone.

According to reports, there were three such centres in the state, one each at Shimla, Hamirpur and Tanda. Of these, the one at Tanda was to be closed from March 31.

State Aids Control Programme officer Udit said under the NACO programme, these centres were being converted to care-support centres under the policy change. He said from April 1, these centres would be outsourced to Alliance India, an NGO by NACO, directly.

District-level HIV sources said there must be an HIV network shelter home for HIV patients here when they came for testing. They said the closing down of the Tanda centre would put thousands of HIV patients visiting here in the dock. They have sought the Chief Minister’s intervention in this regard.

Solan, March 22
Illegal mining appears to be an unending problem in the industrial belt of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN).

The gravity of this illegal activity can be gauged from the fact that mining officials have collected as much as Rs 19 lakh by compounding vehicles which were found indulging in this illicit trade from January 1 to March 15 this year in the district. The BBN area contributes about 90 per cent of this amount. Not only this, the officials also generated an additional revenue worth Rs 30 lakh by auctioning illegally stacked quarry material in BBN alone in March itself.

Though illegal quarrying has been going on for decades in the BBN area, the trade picked up momentum after mining was banned in neighbouring states about a year ago. With a plethora of housing and commercial complexes coming up in Zirakpur, Mohali and areas surrounding Panchkula, the demand for cut stones and quarry material has gone up sharply.

With transporters earning a quick buck through this trade, the fear of being challaned has failed to act as a deterrent. Even after being caught, truckers continue to indulge in this trade.

The situation in the bordering areas of Kala Amb and Paonta Sahib is even more grim where there are reports of truckers being provided armed escorts during late evenings to indulge in this illegal trade. The situation can aggravate into a major law and order problem if corrective steps are not taken, say locals.

Chamba, March 22
Security on the border of Chamba district in Himachal Pradesh adjacent to Jammu and Kashmir had been intensified apprehending an influx of militants into Himachal Pradesh during summers when the snow starts melting, Superintendent of Police (SP), Chamba, BM Sharma stated while addressing mediapersons here yesterday.

The SP said security personnel of the Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) had been deputed along the inter-state border stretch of about 216 km in the difficult mountainous terrains keeping round the clock surveillance on the activities of militants and strangers.

Directions regarding the strategy to be adopted in view of the melting of snow in the summers had been given to the security officers, the SP said. The security personnel had also been put on a high alert to thwart any possibility of anti-national elements entering the borderland of Chamba district from the J&K side.

The SP said three companies of the 6th IRB had been deployed in these sectors and three control headquarters along with 12 border checkpoints had been set up along the borders in Khairi, Kihar and Tissa sectors. The 4th IRB had been positioned in the Pangi sector totaling to a strength of 290 security personnel.

In addition to the security personnel, the services of 467 special police officer (SPOs) and 1,437 village defence committee members recruited from the local people as civil militia were also being utilised for gathering intelligence inputs, the SP said.

The long-range area domination patrolling and joint operation were also being carried out along the borderline on a regular basis, the SP added.

Sundernagar, March 22
The state-level Nalwari fair started here today with the worship of bullocks. Sohan Lal Thakur, MLA, Sundernagar, was the chief guest on the occasion. The Nalwari fair was the biggest cattle fair in the North India.

Cattle from Himachal, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir are brought here for sale or exchange by farmers and this trade worth crores is increasing every year.

A traditional procession was taken out from the PWD rest house to Nagaun khad, where the MLA performed the worship of bullocks and formally opened the seven-day Nalwari fair.

While addressing the gathering, he said that fair and festivals reflect the rich cultural heritage of the state and the government was committed to preserve the same. He was accompanied by local Congress workers and officials.

Seeing the importance of the fair it was declared a state-level event and since then every year the Chief Minister used to attend its inaugural function. However, this year the Chief Minister failed to attend the same.

Sohan Lal Thakur said the Chief Minister could not inaugurate the function as he was busy in the Assembly session but his statement failed to convince the public.

Hamirpur, March 22
Kultar Singh, a resident of Putrial, has demanded the removal of Putrial panchayat president from her post after her indictment in an encroachment case.

Kultar, who belongs to Adarsh Nagar village under Putrial panchayat, had taken up the matter with the Hamirpur Deputy Commissioner recently.

He said: “The court of Tehsildar, Nadaun, in a judgment delivered on February 28, 2013, had found Vikram Singh and his family members guilty of encroaching upon the government land in Putrial village and has also passed ejection orders against them.”

Kultar said: “Under the panchayat election rules any person found guilty of encroaching upon the state government land is debarred from contesting any panchayat election or holding any post.”

He added that "Sarita Devi had concealed the fact about the encroachment upon the government land by her husband at the time of her election, but after the judgment of the Tehsildar the encroachment by the family had been authenticated disqualifying her from holding the present post of president of the Putrial panchayat.”

In a representation submitted to the DC, the applicant has demanded the removal of the panchayat president and conducting of fresh poll.

District panchayat officer Manoj Kumar said: “We have not received the copy of the order passed by the Tehsildar till now and would take appropriate action in the matter.”

He added that “any encroachment upon the government land by the candidate or his family member contesting panchayat election is disqualified from contesting the poll and holding the elected post.”

Solan, March 22
The Darlaghat police registered a case under the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act against six Punjab residents, including a husband-wife duo, and rescued five girls after raiding a private flat at Zirakpur on Wednesday.

DSP, Darlaghat, Vinod Dhiman said the case came to light when they arrested two Darlaghat residents Brij Lal and Sohan Lal and a girl from Shalaghat during a routine naka on Monday evening. The girl was supposedly brought here in exchange for money.

Their interrogation led to the revelation of a call girl racket being operated by these four. A private flat in Zirakpur was raided where four persons, including the couple, were arrested and five girls, who also hail from Punjab, were rescued.

The case has brought to light how flesh trade was being operated with impunity in border areas of Himachal with national highways being hot spots of such nefarious activities.

Further investigations were underway.