Shimla, June 6
The senile but healthy plants in old apple orchards will be rejuvenated under a new Centrally aided project to be launched soon in the state.

Ageing has severely affected the productivity of old orchards planted in the 60s, which accounts for about 15 per cent of 1,03,000 hectare area under apple in the state. Thus, orchards over 15,000 hectare require rejuvenation. Out of these, only about 50 per cent of healthy plants showing good vegetative growth can be rejuvenated by cutting the trees at suitable height to pave for new scaffold branches. The rest of the trees, which have become weak due to disease or other reasons, will have to be replaced completely. A Rs 85-crore project for the replacement of old plants is already under implementation.

The new project will take care of the old healthy trees, which can be rejuvenated at one-third of the cost incurred in the total replacement. A high-powered Central team headed by Horticulture Commissioner Dr Gorakh Singh visited the apple growing areas of Shimla yesterday and interacted with farmers and senior officials to help formulate an effective strategy for their rejuvenation. The team also held discussion with Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister VC Pharaka.

ID Gupta, project director, Horticulture Mission, said the Centre would provide 50 per cent of the cost of rejuvenation as subsidy and the rest would be borne by the beneficiary. The plan was to start with the rejuvenation of 1,000 hectare and cover more and more area every year. Rejuvenation was much easier than replacement as the old trees were quite huge and grown to a height of 20 ft to 25 ft. Their roots were deep and it would take a lot of effort to uproot these.

For rejuvenation, the trees will have to be cut at a height of not less than 10 ft to 12 ft to pave way for the growth of new scaffold branches. Cutting at a lower height increases the risk of the trees getting inflicted by disease like canker.

Rejuvenation would be undertaken in phases so that the grower was not deprived of income. The new branches grow quickly and the tree starts bearing fruit after two years whereas in case of replacement of old trees it could take six to seven years. These trees would have good bearing over the next two decades or even more. The cost of rejuvenation would be around Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 per hectare as against over 75,000 per hectare for replacement, he added.

Shimla, June 6
The five-day International Shimla Summer Festival concluded with an electrifying performance by well-known Punjabi singer Daler Mehndi here last evening.

It was easily the best show of the festival during which Daler Mehndi regaled a packed house with non-stop foot-tapping numbers. Mixing his original Punjabi songs with Bollywood numbers, he came out with a series of medleys on fast beat. He was ably supported by his team in chorus. He rendered most of his popular numbers, though in an abridged form. Nonetheless, the crowd enjoyed the performance.

He also apprised the audience about his green drive to combat global warming under which he had set a target of planting 20 crore saplings. He also presented a sapling to Governor Urmila Singh, who was the chief guest on the concluding day of the festival, to mark World Environment Day.

The Governor lauded the efforts of the organisers of the Summer Festival and said cultural nites attracted local people as well as tourists. It provided the summer visitors a source of entertainment.

She also felicitated Daler Mehndi, who was the star attraction of the cultural nite. She also gave away prizes to winners of a painting competition on the theme “My Shimla - Past, Present and Future” organised by the Tourism Department and the local Municipal Corporation.

Deputy Commissioner Dinesh Malhotra honoured the Governor with a shawl and a memento. Mayor Sanjay Chauhan, Deputy Mayor Tikender Panwar, Vice-Chancellor of Himachal Pradesh University ADN Bajpai and other officers were present on the occasion.

Dharamsala, June 6
A consolidated campus of Central University Himachal Pradesh (CUHP) may finally come up at Dharamsala. The moves made by the state government in the recent past are a clear indication to the fact.

Sources here said the state government had proposed to give an additional 120 hectare land for the CUHP at Dharamsala. The previous government had proposed to give just about 60 hectare land for the Central university campus at Dharamsala, while the remaining 300 hectare was proposed at Dehra.

This means that now about 180 hectare land would be available for constructing the university campus at Dharamsala. The sources here said this amount of land would be enough for the consolidated university campus.

The university had initially demanded 600 to 700-acre land for the construction of its campus in Kangra district. The previous government had offered land at two places in Kangra district, including Dharamsala and Dehra, on the plea that such a huge chunk of land was not available at one place in Kangra.

The proposal of setting up two campuses of the university at Dehra and Dharamsala was accepted by the site selection committee formed by the Union Ministry of Human Resources. The case, however, struck with the Ministry of Environment and Forests as the entire land offered for the university campus was forest land. It also had about 1 lakh trees on it as per the report prepared by the Forest Department for the diversion of the land.

The sources said the Ministry of Environment and Forests had raised certain objections to the proposal sent earlier in which about 700-acre land was offered by the state government for setting up two campuses of the university. The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests had asked Central university to rationalise its demand for land and had also asked the state government to look for some alternative land so that the diversion of such a huge chunk of forest land for other purposes could be avoided.

When asked if the consolidated campus of the institution would now come up at Dharamsala, Vice-Chancellor of the Central university Furqan Qumar said the decision regarding it would be taken by the site selection committee. 

Janjheli (Mandi), June 6
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today accused the BJP of not using Rs 8 crore, which he claimed was still laying with the PWD.

Addressing four rallies in support of Congress candidate Pratibha Singh in Seraj, the bastion of BJP candidate and four-time local legislator Jai Ram Thakur, Virbhadra said the government would hold a probe into the case.

He attacked the Dhumal government saying they needed an explanation as to why the Central government funds were not spent on development activities in Seraj. He accused Jai Ram of bringing all the development work to a standstill in Seraj.

Virbhadra addressed public meetings at Bakshiad, Thunag and Janjheli. Local Congress leaders Vir Singh Chauhan, Chet Ram Thakur, Shiv Lal Sharma, Tara Thakur and others claimed that the Congress would win the seat by a huge margin and the Chief Minister would initiate development works in Seraj.

Industry Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, Power Minister Sujan Singh Pathania and vice-chairman of the State Pollution Control Board Kuldeep Panthania also accompanied the Chief Minister.

However, Jai Ram claimed that it was during the previous BJP regimes that Seraj, Bakshaid, Thunag and Janjheli witnessed development.

He said he was ready to face any probe.

Hamirpur, June 6
Deepak Sharma, spokesperson, Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC), has demanded an immediate takeover of a hotel owned by the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) at Dharamsala.

He demanded this keeping in view a "security threat" after the exposure of the involvement of the underworld in match fixing during the IPL matches. He also demanded a CBI probe into the affairs of the hotel.

Talking to mediapersons here today, Sharma said there was a suspicion that the hotel owned by the HPCA might have investment from unknown persons through another cricket association allegedly registered as the Himalayan Players Association, which was later converted into a private company at Chandigarh.

He said, “The HPCA president should clarify why this association was allegedly turned into a company and whose money had been invested in the hotel”.

Talking about recent developments in the Board of Cricket Control for India (BCCI) after the exposure of an alleged involvement of a few players in match fixing during the IPL matches, the Congress leader said the role of BJP leaders Arun Jaitly and Anurag Thakur, who are both important members of the BCCI, had become suspicious.

Anurag Thakur, HPCA president and MP, said, “These allegations have been levelled by a person just to remain in news and really do not deserve a reply”.

However, clarifying his position, he said, “The Congress is heading governments at the Centre, in Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh and their leaders instead of levelling allegations should impress upon their governments to conduct a thorough probe in all these allegations”.

Chamba, June 6
Heavy-to-intermittent rainfall in the past 24 hours in most parts of Chamba district has brought relief from the scorching sun. The rain is attributed to the arrival of pre-monsoon this month.

Kangra, June 6
SpiceJet airlines will start its services from Delhi to Kangra from tomorrow. The flight from Kangra to Delhi will be flagged off from the Kangra Airport by Transport and Technical Education Minister GS Bali.

SpiceJet CEO Neil Mills said today that the airlines was offering a direct flight from Delhi to Dharamsala with an inaugural one-way fare of Rs 2,999 from tomorrow.

He said, “We are excited to finally start services on the Delhi-Dharamsala route. With our network from Delhi, travellers from Dharamsala can easily plan their travel to both international and domestic destinations now”.

He said the airlines would deploy its Bombardier Q400 Aircraft on this route. The Bombardier Q400 Next-Gen Turboprop Aircraft could accommodate 78 passengers and was widely accepted as the best short-haul aircraft, he added.

Sumant P Rautela, regional manager, Airport Services, North and Central India, said SpiceJet had been able to successfully provide low-cost travel to people.

SpiceJet would be the second regular flight after Air India and would boost tourism in the region.

Jagmohan Gupta and Deepak Diman, both travel agency owners, expressed happiness over the low-fare air services launched by the airlines.

Dharamsala, June 6
Ajay Manikaro Khanwilkar, Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court, who was on a two-day visit to Dharamsala town, met the Dalai Lama at his residence today.

He was accompanied by Kangra DC C Palrasu, SDM Harish Gajju and SP Balbir Thakur.

Kalon for the Department of Home of the exiled Tibetan government, Dolma Gayri of the Central Tibetan Administration welcomed the Chief Justice.

A cultural show featuring the "Thank You India" song was presented on the occasion by artistes of the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA).

His visit was co-ordinated by the Tibetan settlement office of Dharamsala.

The Chief Justice also presided over the concluding ceremony of the 16th All-India Lawyers Cricket Tournament that concluded at the stadium of Dharamsala this evening.

The teams of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Delhi High Court were declared joint winners of the tournament as the final match got washed out due to heavy rain. Six teams participated in the six-day tournament and 12 matches were played.

The Chief Justice presided over the concluding ceremony and gave away prizes to the joint winners, participants and organisers of the tournament.

Anurag Thakur, president, Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association, was the guest of honour on the occasion.

In his brief address to the gathering, Justice Khanwilkar said he was interested to play at least one match if the tournament was held in Shimla.

Later, he took part in a tree plantation drive organised by the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) under its Flower City campaign.

Dagshai, June 6
Lt Gen Sandeep Singh, GOC, 2 Corps, today exhorted students to carve a niche for themselves in society by excelling in various fields.

Appreciating the mentor system existing in residential schools like Army Public School, Dagshai, he said it helped inculcate high values among children who grew up to become confident and successful citizens.

While addressing students, staff and parents on the occasion of 27th Founder’s Day here, he said children should pick up positive virtues in life.

Earlier, Dr Vijay Dutta, Principal of the school, while addressing the gathering, stressed on the need to develop young minds to the optimum.

Yashmi Singh, president, AWWA, 2 Corps, was the guest of honour. Among others who were present on the occasion were AG Kundalkar, SM, Commandant, 14 GTC, Subathu, and chairman of the school.

Children presented cultural events, including folk dances, songs and orchestra with an English play, “The Dumb Wife”.

The All-Round Best Student Award was bagged by Vaishali Sharma, while Akhileshwari Kanwar won the Honesty Award.