Bilaspur, August 6
The famous Shravan Ashtami Navratra fair began at the hill top shrine of Mata Naina Devi today. The fair would continue till August 16.

Deputy Commissioner cum Mela Management Committee Chairman and Temple Commissioner Ajay Sharma said all the arrangements have been made for smooth, peaceful and orderly conduct of the fair.

He said the District Magistrate has issued notifications, prohibiting carrying and keeping all types of weapons and explosives including arms, ammunition and sharp edged weapons in the Kot police station area during the fair.

The order has been passed under Section 144 IPC with a view to maintain total peace and human safety during the fair.

Under the notifications, offering of 'Haluwa', 'Prasad' and coconuts to the deity is banned. Use of microphones and loud speakers are also banned during the fair.

All announcements regarding lost and found shall be made from the official loud speakers, fixed the by department of Information and Public Relations at suitable places for helping the pilgrims.

Another notification issued under Section 115 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, bans plying of trucks, tempos, large vehicles, tractors and canters on road-tract from Toba to Naina Devi. Only taxis, cars and small buses shall be allowed on this tract with a view to ensure safety and to avoid traffic jams.

Mandi/Kullu, August 6
A team of Child Line (1098), a children's helpline, on Saturday rescued three children, Ranjit (12), Guddu (14) and Suraj (15), who were working as bonded labourers at a sweets shop in Sundernagar.

The shop owner was booked for violation of the Labour Act, Minimum Wages Act and Juvenile Justice Act. The children were produced before the Judicial Child Welfare Committee, Mandi, which sent them to Dehar Children Home till Monday. Gopal Gautam, Mandi coordinator for the Child Line, said the children were bonded labourers and forced to work from 6 am to 10 pm in the shop. They were beaten up if they refused. They wanted to go back to their families, he added.

Ranjit and Guddu are brothers, while Suraj is an orphan, all from Uttar Pradesh. Both the brothers had been working in the shop for the last one year, while Suraj was there for the past two months, the investigation said.

Gautam said the owner had violated the Labour Act, the Minimum Wages Act and the Juvenile Justice Act as they were being paid less than Rs 4,500 per month and were forced to work for 16 hours daily, while the Act forbids work exceeding four hours for children. However, the Child Line is yet to bring certain hoteliers, restaurant owners, farm owners and orchardists in Kullu-Manali, Lahaul-Spiti, Shimla, Mandi and Kangra under the scanner of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). A NCPCR team that visited the state on July 31 found 39,000 cases of child labour and child rights violations in the state. The visit follows after a Kullu-based NGO, Himalayan Environment Protection Society (HEPS), lodged a complaint with the NCPCR in 2010 and later pointing out the cases of child rights violations under the RTE, Act.

Nurpur, August 6
Up in arms against the increasing cases of flesh trade in most of the hotels in Nurpur, a gateway of the Kangra valley, former local MLA, Rakesh Pathania, has given one month’s ultimatum to the Kangra district police administration to check the menace; otherwise the next line of action will be planned in consultation with the local residents.

Talking to mediapersons here, he alleged that the local hotels had become a safe heaven for prostitution in connivance with the police administration and under political patronage to flesh racketeers in the area during the past seven months after coming of the Congress government into power.

“This area was known by the historical name of Wazir Ram Singh Pathania, the first freedom fighter of the country, and former minister and Congress stalwart Sat Mahajan, but now it seems that people will acknowledge it as a den of rampant prostitution,” he rued. He alleged that there was no check on trafficking girls from the neighbouring Punjab to some local hotels where immoral trafficking was on the rise nowadays, bringing shame to our Dev Bhoomi.

“All development activities have come to astandstill during the past seven months and the local MLA, Ajay Mahajan, is trying to appropriate credit for the works which had been started by me during the reign of the Dhumal government. The blood-storage centre and the ultrasound machine in the local Civil Hospital have become non-functional. The ICU status has been de-graded,” he said.

Shimla, August 6
The threat of flash-floods in Himachal Pradesh from a high-altitude lake in China has receded as the alarming accumulation of water in the lake eased with the natural clearing of blockades, a senior official said recently.

“The water level had increased alarmingly in the Parechu Lake (in Tibet) in June mainly due to blockades along the main stream channel,” Chief Secretary Sudripta Roy said.

“There was a threat that the lake would breach its banks. But now the water outflow has started receding naturally. The threat has subsided,” he said.

But the government is constantly monitoring the outflow from the lake through satellite images, the Chief Secretary said.

The Parechu river, a tributary of the Spiti river, originates in Tibet and joins the Spiti river at Sumdoh, 350 km from here, in Kinnaur district.

The Spiti river is the major tributary of the Satluj river basin. It joins the Satluj at Khab, also in Kinnaur district. The sudden increase in the outflow in the Parechu river posed a grave threat to life and property on the Indian side.

Scientific Officer SS Randhawa of the State Council for Science, Technology and Environment said impounding of water in the Parechu Lake was due to huge accumulation of debris.

He said debris had caused partial blockade of the outflow, causing accumulation of the water in the lake depression.

“The water accumulation was first noticed June 22. The blockades were cleared naturally on July 5, and the water started discharging normally.

“By July 15, we noticed there was slight change in the water level (in comparison to July 5). The water had again started accumulating in the depression,” he said.

“Although accumulated water is there, the outflow now seems to be normal,” he added.

Regional Director P. Gyamba Dorje of the Central Water Commission said the water spread of the Parechu river had increased to 100 hectares, from the original 43 hectares.

He said the National Remote Sensing Agency in Hyderabad had been informed about the development, and it had been monitoring the lake on a day-to-day basis.

“Some blockages are still there. The inflow from the lake has exceeded the outflow. But there is no need for panic,” Dorje added.

Himachal Pradesh experienced flash-floods in 2005, as the Parechu Lake breached its banks. — IANS

Baddi, August 6
With no exemption from the high interest rate to the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector, the ever rising cost of operations was adversely affecting the health of this crucial sector that was a major employment provider.

Arun Rawat, who is running a MSME unit in Baddi for the past 20 years, while terming this as a major factor having slowed the growth of the MSME sector, said the problem was compounded by the fact that cost of operations and cost of running an enterprise had increased manifold in the past several years while no relief was available from financial institutions in interest rates.

Having begun his career from a small unit in 1993, Rawat has successfully managed to foray into the engineering and the pharmaceutical sectors in these 20 years where he has seen the state’s industrial hub of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) develop as a pharmaceutical hub of the country housing almost 70 per cent of the country’s drug manufacturers.

Highlighting the issues faced by the MSME sector, he said various charges like infrastructure developmental charges, consent fee, power tariff and cost of employing manpower had increased manifold in the past few years while the profit margins had been shrunk on account of the general recession in the economy.

“It has become difficult for the MSME industry to survive, but those running on loans are finding it more difficult to cope with the high interest rates” said Rawat.

“Power tariff has almost doubled in the past few years while the minimum wages, which were around Rs 2,800 per month some years ago, are now at Rs 4,500 per month and the declining labour availability has further increased the cost of retaining labour,” he said.

Facing a grim situation in the light of these facts, the MSME sector was demanding interest subvention so that they could offset the impact of recession and declining profit margins, said Rawat, who has been vociferously raising this issue at various platforms.

Having headed the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh Industries Association and at present being the vice-chairman of the CII’s Himachal chapter, Rawat was also played a key role in setting up the Laghu Udyog Bharti in the state.

With the MSME sector contributing the lion’s share of 75 per cent to employment and being the backbone of the industry, some relaxations could go a long way in promoting their cause, asserts Rawat, who believes that training unemployed youth in skills which were unavailable could help enhance employment opportunities to the local youth, who in the absence of desired skills fail to be gainfully employed.

Palampur, August 6
The 300-year-old Kirpal Chand Kuhal, which is considered the lifeline of over one lakh residents of hundred of villages of the Palampur region, is fast turning into a big garbage dump.

Tonnes of garbage, including polythene, animal carcasses, empty gunny bags and other waste material, is thrown into the kuhal daily.

Since there is no garbage disposal facility in panchayat areas, villagers residing on its bank between Bundla and Bhawarna have been dumping their entire waste into the kuhal.

In many localities residents have also thrown open sewerage into the kuhal.

Till recently its water was used for drinking purpose. But now the water is highly polluted and contaminated and not fit even for washing clothes and feeding animals.

The situation is worse between Aima and Maranada town where people have been using the prestigious water sources as a garbage dump.

Though the Irrigation and Public Health Department, that maintains this water channel, knows that the “heritage asset” of the public has turned into a garbage dump, it has failed to serve even a simple notice to defaulters.

Various environmentalist groups of the region have expressed concern over the failure of the IPH Department in protecting the kuhal and allowing the dumping of garbage into it.

However, a senior engineer of the IPH Department told this correspondent that over 30 labourers had been deployed between Palampur and Bhawarna to flush out the garbage from the kuhal.

He said in the absence of legal provisions, he was helpless to punish the defaulters.

Nurpur, August 6
The veterinary hospital premises of the Animal Husbandry Department in the town is in a poor condition. It is being run in a dilapidated and unsafe structure.

The hospital staff is under risk to sit in the building round the year in general and rainy season in particular. The residential quarters of the hospital staff on the premises of the hospital are also in bad shape. They were even declared unsafe by the Public Works Department (PWD).

Three out of five rooms of the hospital are in dilapidated condition and are on the verge of sudden collapse. The hospital staff is under constant threat of any mishap.

With the initiative of local former MLA Rakesh Pathania, the previous BJP state government had proposed to demolish the whole hospital building structure and to build a bus stand instead.

The land of the state Animal Husbandry Department was even transferred in the name of the Transport Department.

The then government had also proposed to shift premises of the veterinary hospital at Matholli village and earmarked Rs 24 lakh for new hospital building.

The construction of the hospital building was stayed by the court in the wake of litigation. The department was forced to run its veterinary hospital in the dilapidated building in the town.

The Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry Department, Dharamsala, RR Khazuria, said the stay orders by the court has been vacated. The local authorities of the PWD has been asked to prepare revised estimate for the construction of the proposed hospital building at Matholli village.

Khazuria added that the foundation stone of the new hospital building had been laid before the court’s stay order.

Heavy rain failed to dampen the spirits of college girls and volunteers who enthusiastically took part in a tree-plantation drive organised by Ashadeep, a non-government organisation, in collaboration with the NSS wing of the Rajkiya Kanya Maha Vidyalaya,Shimla.

They planted as many as 300 saplings of chestnut, deodar, hydrangea and rose shrubs and other ornamental species on the sides of the road from Boileauganj to Tavi, undeterred by a heavy downpour.

The tree-plantation programme was organised under the aegis of the State Bank of India, Main Branch, and Shimla, in which 60 girls of the NSS wing of the college and 15 volunteers of Ashadeep took part. Assistant General Manager (AGM), Main Branch, Chander Gupta, said the bank encouraged and supported such activities as a part of its corporate social responsibility. It had been organising plantation campaigns in the larger interest of society by involving non-government organisation like the Asshadeep.

Deputy Mayor of the Shimla Municipal Corporation Tikender Panwar, who was the chief guest, said involving youth in such constructive social activity was important for building a harmonious and responsible society. A youth learned much more about environment and the need to preserve green by becoming part of an afforestation campaign. The Shimla Municipal Corporation was encouraging people to come forward and be a part of the tree-plantation drive.

President of Ashadeep Sushil Tanwar emphasised the need for promoting and preserving a green and healthy environment by creating awareness among the youth. Such initiatives by local action groups were needed to involve the young generation in green campaigns.

Bilaspur, August 6
A prominent NGO leader and State NGOs Federation Ram Singh, retired from the government service as Head Draughtsman from the HP PWD Department, after 36 years of service, here recently.

Chief Minister Virbhdra Singh sent a message of congratulations and good wishes to Ram Singh on his superannuation.

The Chief Minister has said the employees are the back bone of the government and it is through their cooperation and hard work that the government schemes and programmes reach the people.

Former Chief Ministers Shanta Kumar and Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal also extended their good wishes to Ram Sigh on his retirement.

Farewell community lunch which was organised in honour of Ram Singh, was attended by hundreds of employees at Dholera Temple complex here. Prominent among those who attended and appreciated constructive, selfless and fearless role of Ram Singh in interests of employees and his services to trade union movement in state included top former leaders of HP state Employees Federation, Gopal Dass Varma, Subhash Sharma, VK Kaul, Adan Singh Thakur, OP Goyal, Chaman Sharma, Sita Ram Dhiman, Kesh Pathania, Lekh Ram Kaundal and Mast Ram Varma.

Chamba, August 6
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh inaugurated the 39th ATM of the Himachal Pradesh State Cooperative Bank (HPSCB) at Chamba on Sunday.

The Chief Minister also inaugurated the newly constructed Gramin Vikas Parisar at Hardaspur and performed the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the building of the HP State Pollution Control Board at Sultanpur in the town. He also inspected an ongoing construction work of the government postgraduate college building there.

He also laid the foundation stone of 11-km-long Mehla to Baghiar-Huraid road, including two bridges to be constructed at a cost of about Rs 4 crore. The road after completion would provide connectivity to the people of Behgla, Chadhi, Chalotra, Sundhel, Buhred and Baghiar villages.

Earlier, on his arrival at Chamba, the Chief Minister was accorded a rousing reception. It was his first visit to Chamba town after becoming the Chief Minister.

Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri, MLA Asha Kumari, HP Pollution Control Board chairman Kuldeep Singh Pathania, HP State Forest Corporation vice-chairman Kewal Singh Pathania, former MLA Surinder Bhardwaj, Adviser to Chief Minister TG Negi and other dignitaries were present.

Harsh Mahajan, Chairman, HP State Cooperative Bank, conveyed greetings to the people of the region.ba on Sunday.