Shimla, August 13
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today urged the 14th Finance Commission to provide a special grant of Rs 12,466 crore to the state, while seeking permission to levy generation tax on hydropower produced in the state to help it recover from increasing debt and liabilities.

While placing the state’s case before the five-member Commission, led by Chairman Dr Y Venugopal Reddy, he sought a grant of Rs 4,750 crore as compensation for protecting the forest wealth. He also sought a grant of Rs 1,430 crore for management of forest wealth, Rs 2,521 crore for disaster management, Rs 1,425 crore for local bodies and Rs 2,340 crore for state-specific grants.

Virbhadra Singh said the debt liabilities of the state were 39.18 per cent of the GSDP and almost double of all states average of 20.55 per cent. He requested the Commission to consider the state's debt stress and bail the state out of its financial situation.

In a deviation from the past practice of projecting the prospective deficit for the next five years, the government did not place a consolidated figure before the Commission. It placed the entire balance sheet depicting the expenditure, income and other committed liabilities before the Commission.

"The intangible benefits from forests need to be quantified as the entire cost of conservation of the forests was being borne by the state, while benefit were accruing to the nation as whole,” he said.

The Chief minister further said the indirect benefits from the forest wealth of Himachal were about Rs 99,000 crore and the revenue foregone for being unable to remove forest as per the working plan was over Rs 22,900 crore for a six-year period.

He said over 95 per cent of the total 23,000 MW exploitable hydropower capacity available in the state had been allocated. “The decline in the per unit sale rate of power Rs 7 to about Rs 2 to 3 has dampened the interest of independent power producers, who have been allotted power projects,” he stated.

He urged the Commission to recommend to the Centre to permit Himachal to levy generation tax on hydropower produced within the state. He said the bill in this regard has already been passed by the Assembly and was awaiting Presidential assent.

He said while the withdrawal of industrial package by the Centre before the expiry date had significantly reduced the tax and non-tax base, the conventional taxes had reached a saturation level.

He said the salary, pension and interest payments were major components of revenue expenditure and reduction in these committed liabilities was possible only over a long term.

Shimla, August 13
Various political parties, including the Congress, BJP and CPM, today pleaded the state’s case for special financial assistance, besides agrant of Rs 4,200 crore as power arrears due to it from the neighbouring states.

Representatives of all three main political parties met the Chairman and members of the 14th Finance Commission, here today. State Congress president Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu sought liberal funding for improvement in road infrastructure, construction of tunnels and better rail connectivity.

“With tourism being a major industry, it is only by having an international airport, four-laning of roads and better connectivity that we can attract more visitors,” he said.

Sukhu was accompanied by other senior leaders, including Gangu Ram Musafir, Harsh Mahajan and Harbhajan Singh Bhajji.

BJP leaders, led by Shimla MLA and state BJP general secretary Suresh Bhardwaj, sought a grant of Rs 4,200 crore as power arrears due from Punjab and Haryana on account of the power projects executed by the Bhakra Beas Management Board. He also sought compensation for the complete ban on green felling adhered to by the state.

“The norm of expenditure on employees should be relaxed to cover the existing strength as Himachal has geographical constraints and services have to be provided to a scattered population,” he remarked. He also sought special grant for Panchayati Raj institutions and local bodies to be able to develop infrastructural facilities. Bhardwaj was accompanied by other BJP leaders, including Randhir Sharma and CL Gupta.

The CPM sought a special grant of Rs 1,000 crore to Himachal as compensation for protecting its forest wealth. “The pace of development has slowed down and revenue resources from the forest wealth have diminished considerably after the enactment of the Forest Conservation Act,” said Rakesh Singha, state secretary, CPM.

The CPM also sought Rs 500 crore as special grant for the 12.5 per cent revenue generated from hydel-projects constructed prior to 1990.

Shimla, August 13
With the student elections at Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) and 108 colleges in the state due on August 17, candidates are slogging it out to seek support of over two lakh voters.

The panels of all three main student organisations, the Students Federation of India (SFI), Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and National Students Union of India (NSUI) today filed their nomination papers. There are a total of 3,158 voters, including 1,770 girl voters, at HPU. All three outfits have fielded girls for the post of secretary in the university.

With the final voter list at HPU and other places being finalised, campaigning has picked up. The candidates are going from one department to another, seeking support. The campaigning is not just confined to the HPU campus; in the evening, the candidates go to day scholars' homes to seek their support. Security has been beefed up both on the campus as well as hostels to prohibit the entry of outsiders and ensure violence free polls.

HPU has been the citadel of the CPM-backed SFI, which has lost to the ABVP only once in 2001. Even though the ABVP and the NSUI invariably perform better in colleges in various parts of the state, they have not been able to make a dent into the dedicated cadres of the SFI in HPU. Moreover, this time, the CPM also holds the post of Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the Shimla Municipal Corporation.

The ABVP, which is the student outfit of the BJP, could not win the student elections in the university even when the saffron party was in power during the past five years. It remains to be seen whether the NSUI, whose performance has been very dismal, can improve its standing with the Congress being in power.

Besides HPU, it is the local Rajkiya Kanya Maha-vidyalaya, Evening College and Post Graduation Centre, Dharamsala, which are among the prestigious
and bigger colleges where the parties want to have their stronghold.

With the HPU authorities ensuring strict adherence to the recommendations of the Lyngdoh Committee for student polls, students cannot raise slogans or paste posters all over the campus. There are designated places to put up limited posters and that too handwritten ones, as printed ones are not allowed. 

Hamirpur, August 13
The electioneering for student elections in various colleges of Hamirpur district today gained momentum after the finalisation of contestants for different post of the Central Student’s Association (CSA). The elections will be held on August 17.

At Netaji Subhash Chander Bose Memorial Post Graduate Government College, Hamirpur, the Students Federation of India (SFI), the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the National Students Union of India (NSUI) have fielded their panel of candidates for four major posts and the class representatives to be elected for the formation of the CSA.

The students’ organisations are focusing on local issues like the creation of infrastructure and amenities in the college. The SFI and the ABVP have been opposing the introduction of a new system of education in the colleges under the Rashtriya Uchatar Siksha Abhiyan (RUSA) and, therefore, have made it an election issue.

SFI district vice-president Sandeep Thakur said, “The SFI is raising various demands like starting MBA and MCA courses, allotment of newly constructed boys hostel, construction of a new library and creation of more facilities in the college.”

“RUSA is an important issue in the election as this system has disturbed a large number of students and is not being implemented properly,” he added.

The ABVP’s main thrust is on RUSA and their leaders have made this a major election issue, besides raising local issues like allotment of boys hostel, creation of parking facility and starting new courses in the college.

ABVP college unit president Ten Singh said, “After RUSA’s introduction, seats in colleges have been limited and many students shifted to distant colleges. Besides, the system has been implemented without creating the required infrastructure and teachers.”

“The NSUI is focusing on the local demands like starting MBA and MCA courses, construction of new library and indoor stadium and maintaining academic atmosphere in the colleges,” said Saurabh Katoch, district president, NSUI.

Solan, August 13
Brothers of a 26-year-old girl, who had eloped with her paramour, set him afire at their Ramshehar-based residence this morning.

Neeraj Malvia (20), who hails from Sihur village in Madhya Pradesh, sustained serious injuries in the incident. He was referred to the PGI, Chandigarh, after receiving preliminary treatment at a hospital in Nalagarh.

The duo had come to meet the girl's parents yesterday. The girl's brothers, Gaurav and Saurav, dragged him to their kitchen this morning, opened the pipe of the LPG cylinder and pushed him in front of it after setting it afire. The youth received severe burn injuries on his legs. It was only when the girl raised a hue and cry some neighbours came forward to his rescue.

The girl, who was appearing for MA examinations, had eloped with the youth on June 10. Though he is yet to attain the legal age of marriage, the duo had got married at an Arya Samaj temple in Bhopal on August 7 and were living together.

The duo had come across each other on a social networking site and eventually decided to tie the knot.

Baddi Superintendent of Police S Arul Kumar said they had arrested the girl's brothers after registering a case under Section 307, IPC, against them.

Thunag (Mandi), August 13
Conservationists and wildlife lovers today flayed Nawab Shafat Ali Khan, a sharp shooter hired at the behest of state Chief Wildlife Warden AK Gulati, as he "faces cases of animal poaching and supply of illegal arms to naxals in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in 2011 and is still under the lens of the state forest police departments there".

Despite the fresh row, terror-stricken villagers here said they would not allow the sharp shooter to move from the area till all the man-eaters were killed or trapped.

Reports related to the allegations, which are in the possession of The Tribune, and copies of letters addressed to the state Chief Wildlife Warden reveal that the nawab had shot dead an “innocent, healthy male leopard last Sunday at 4 am".

"We had also encountered innocent leopards during our combing operations in the three affected beats of Thunag, Rahkot and Nihari in July and August and had cautioned DFO Nachan about this,” stated Ashish Dasgupta, a sharp shooter and a member of the state Wildlife Board.

The nawab was accused to have taken out the nails of the leopard he had shot dead at Lah Gala. The leopard's postmortem had revealed that it had eaten only dog meat.

The conservationists cited reports published from Bangalore on March 19, 2011, stating, “Many cases were registered against Shafat Ali Khan in both Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu police stations for illegally supplying automatic weapons to naxalite leader Patel Sudhakar Reddy and also for animal poaching.”

The nawab also ran a private luxury resort in Bokapuram, 10 km from the Bandipur Tiger Reserve, the report revealed.

"The CID Forest Cell and the police of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh has been keeping a close watch on his activities since 2011,” said a source.

However, Nawab S Ali Khan rubbished the allegations here and said these were canards spread by the shooters who could not shoot the man-eater. “I run a resort there but I dare them to show me a case of conviction or any case pending against me in any court in the country. I carry an all-India licence with me. I am volunteering my services to the department,” he claimed.

Meanwhile, conservationists claimed that there were two more leopards in Thunag and Rahkot beats who were innocent.

PD Dogra, DFO, Nachan, said the sharpshooter had been hired by the Chief Wildlife Warden. AK Gulati said the shooters had been hired by the DFO concerned, he added.

Palampur, August 13
The Palampur region has experienced heavy rain in the past 48 hours, disrupting normal life. Upper areas like Bundla, Deol, Utrala, Bir, Gunehar and Chogan have received the heaviest rainfall of the season. Lower areas like Panchrukhi, Chadhiar and Jaisinghpur have been lashed by heavy showers.

At least 12 incidents of landslides have been reported from different parts of the region. Vehicular traffic on various roads has come to a standstill as huge boulders and rocks have blocked the roads. Most roads in Chhota Bhangal have been closed for traffic because of heavy rain.

At Deol village, landslides and muck coming down from the hills have caused heavy damage to many houses. A forest adjoining the village is sinking because of reckless cutting of hills by a power company, posing a serious threat to many houses. Most residents are spending sleepless nights in the village and taking shelter under hill rocks when it rains.

The Beas is flowing above the danger mark at many points and all its tributaries are in spate. People residing near the river have been advised by the administration not to go near it, as the level of water can go up any moment because of heavy rain in its catchment areas. Besides, the BBMB is likely to release more water from the Pandoh Dam in the next 48 hours.

The Public Works Department has made adequate arrangements to deal with the situation. JCB machines have been kept on standby at all strategic points.