Shimla, November 27
The formal notice for the acquisition of the heritage building, Bantony, was served on the owners of the prime property by Collector, Land Acquisition, here today. The acquisition of the summer palace of the erstwhile Maharaja of Sirmaur could once again be embroiled in a legal battle with landowners not willing to part with the main portion.

The notices for acquisition under Section 4, Land Acquisition Act, were served today to five of the 10 co-owners of the Bantony Estate by Collector, Land Acquisition, GC Negi, who is SDM (Urban), Shimla. The notices mentioned that about 5 bighas and 3 biswas land of the estate was to be acquired for setting up of the State Museum.

Negi said the notices to all the co-owners would be served after which the procedure of general publication in a newspaper would also be followed. “One month’s time will be given for the filing of objections by co-owners or others after which they will be examined and accordingly addressed,” he said. In case the government decides to go ahead with the acquisition process, a fresh notification will be issued under Sections 6 and 7 of the Land Acquisition Act for final acquisition.

One of the co-owners of Bantony, Vishwanath Sood, who too was served the notice today, said in case the offer from the government was genuine, he would not mind accepting it. “I have apprehension about the government acquiring the main portion of the property, measuring a little over 3,400 sq m and leaving out rest of the 15,500 sq m as its value will be nothing with the main part being acquired,” he lamented.

Sood asserted that either the government should acquire the entire Bantony Estate or compensate the owners for the remaining land.

“Rather than acquiring only one-fourth of the property, it will be better for the government to acquire the entire land as it can be developed as a natural habitat and several facilities can be created, right in the heart of the town,” he said.

The acquisition of the Bantony, where a very dilapidated wooden structure stands, had figured prominently in the Congress chargesheet against the BJP regime. It had been pointed out that the Congress would acquire and conserve this as a heritage property.

In 2011, a London-based businessman, Ranjay Trehan, had submitted a proposal to the State Tourism Department for setting up of a resort and a spa at Bantony. He had sought essentiality certificate (EC) from the Tourism authorities on the ground that he had entered into a sale agreement with the owners of the property in November 2011.

He had claimed that he had signed the agreement with the owners for the sale of the property for a sum of Rs 45 crore.

Dharamsala, November 27
The Kangra Deputy Commissioner’s office at Dharamsala is being shifted to a new building. Almost all the district-level offices are being shifted to the new building. The shifting procedure is likely to be completed within the next three days.

Sources here said the General Administration Department (GAD) is likely to take over the old secretariat building.

Paul Rasu, Deputy Commissioner (DC), Kangra, said, “GAD had been writing to us regarding the takeover of the old building”.

After the shifting of all the offices, the old building would just have the offices of the Chief Minister, Chief Secretary, his personal staff and offices of three ministers from Kangra, including Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, Transport and Technical Education GS Bali, Minister for Housing and Urban Development Sudhir Sharma and Minister for Agriculture and Power Sujjan Singh Pathania.

The lower portions of the building are likely to house the offices of all the ministers of the state Cabinet, the winter sojourn of the state government in December.

Presently, the office of the Chief Minister in the old secretariat is occupied only during the short winter sojourn of the government to Dharamsala or whenever the Chief Minister is on a tour to the area.

Till now, the Kangra DC's office was maintaining the offices of the Chief Minister and the ministers here. However, now that the office of the Kangra DC will be shifted to the new building, provision for special funds for the maintenance of the old building is required. The old secretariat building was brought up in 2002.

Sources in the office of the Kangra DC said GAD was in the process of completing formalities regarding the takeover of the old building.

The previous BJP government got the new secretariat building at Dharamsala constructed with an idea that the offices of all the ministers would be brought up here that they could occupy during the winter sojourn of the government.

However, for that, the building would have to be transferred to GAD of the state government that maintains the secretariats of the government in Shimla.

Shimla, November 27
Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir assumed the charge of the office of the Acting Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court today. He was administered the oath of office by Governor Urmila Singh at Raj Bhawan in Shimla.

P Mitra, Officiating Chief Secretary, conducted the proceedings and read out the warrant of appointment.

Justice Mir was born on April 25, 1955, at Rajpora village in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir. He did his LLB in 1978 and joined the Higher Judicial Services in 1992. He also remained Principal District and Sessions Judge of Anantnag, Budgam and Srinagar. He was sworn in as an Additional Judge of the J&K HC on January 31, 2005, and appointed a Permanent Judge of the J&K HC on July 7, 2007.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, Judges of the HP HC, including Justice DD Sud, Justice Sanjay Karol, Justice Kuldip Singh, Justice Rajiv Sharma, Justice VK Sharma and Justice DC Chaudhary, IPH Minister Vidya Stokes, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister GS Bali, Industries Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, Lokayukta LS Panta, Leader of the Opposition PK Dhumal, MLA Sharwan Dogra, Advocate General, judges of lower courts, Principal Secretaries, Secretaries, members of Bar Council, advocates and senior officials of the state government were present on the occasion.

After the oath ceremony, Justice Mir said his top priority would be providing speedy justice to the poor section of society. 

Palampur, November 27
Illegal mining in Kangra has posed a threat to over 100 irrigation and drinking water supply schemes which get water from small rivers of this district.

The Kirpal Chand kuhal supplying water to over 30 panchayats comprising 100 villages of Palampur, Bhawarans and Daroh blocks and Charnamati and lower Baijnath kuhals feeding 15 panchayats of Baijnath block are in danger because of continuous mining in catchment areas of Neugal and Binwa rivers.

The water level in Neugal and other khuds, Binwa, Gaj, Baner, Awa, Bhattoo, Mol and Bhiral has gone down in over five years. During this summer, people of the region had experienced the worst-ever drinking water crisis as most of these khuds had gone dry in April and May.

Since all these khuds are the tributaries of the Beas, the BBMB has written to the government for checking of illicit felling, grazing, mining, dumping of debris and quarrying in catchments areas of the tributaries of the Beas falling in Kangra and Mandi, but no serious steps have been initiated.

The illegal mining has resulted in a large-scale deforestation, landslides and flash floods. Over 25,000 hectares of land has been affected by the mining.

A senior officer of the state Mining Department said in the absence adequate field staff, it was not possible to check illegal mining in Kangra. He said there were over 200 sites which were prone to illegal mining in Kangra district while it had only six mining inspectors. He said the government should provide more manpower. 

Manali, November 27
Vice-chairperson of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) and Lahaul-Spiti MLA Ravi Thakur has said efforts would be made to modernise agriculture techniques in tribal areas of the country as tribals are dependent on agriculture and horticulture for their livelihood.

Ravi Thakur, who returned to Manali after taking charge as NCST vice-chairman, while talking to mediapersons here yesterday said his efforts would be to develop tribal areas of the state by strengthening the infrastructure therein. He said 50 per cent of the forest land of Lahaul-Spiti would be used for the cultivation of sea-buckthorn which would generate income sources for residents.

Ravi, who recently was at an international seminar on sea-buckthorn in Germany where 29 countries participated, said experts from many other countries would provide India technical help in its cultivation. He said the international seminar on sea-buckthorn in 2015 would be organised in India.

He added that efforts were being made to get Bhoti language, which was prominently used among Himalayan Buddhists, added to the eighth schedule of the Indian Constitution.

He said Lahaul-Spiti had a capacity to produce 7,000 MW electricity by setting up hydro-electricity projects and a detailed project report had already been prepared to produce 3,000 MW electricity. He added that they had a clear vision for projects: None of the projects would be set up at the cost of the environment.

Ravi emphasised on building a new road, maintenance of the Manali-Kaza highway, better medical services, transportation on all possible routes and promotion of tourism. He said helicopter was the lifeline for residents of tribal areas of Himachal during winter months when all road links got blocked after a heavy snowfall. He said unlike previous years when people had to face problems when helicopter was not available due to maintenance, this year, his effort would be to have another standby helicopter for emergency use. He said a plan was being made to strike a balance for quality tourism in the Lahaul valley after the Rohtang tunnel was ready for vehicular traffic.

Shimla, November 27
Taxi operators’ unions and the state Transport and Taxation Departments are on a collision course over the proposed passenger tax hike from Rs 1,350 per annum to Rs 15,000 per annum. The state government is eyeing a hike in passenger tax to double its collection of tax not revised since 1999.

The Transport Department has proposed the hike as per its new policy initiative to review the prevailing tax and fee structure in the state by modifying “taxes and fees to bring them on a par with the neighbouring states”. The department is promoting revenue generation and equity by plugging possible pilferage and evasion in the collection of the taxes, said the officials.

On the other hand, as many as a dozen taxi unions and commercial vehicles' operators have joined hands, declaring they will resort to hunger strike if the state Transport Department does not address their demand.

“We are launching an agitation and hunger strike from November 30 as the department is going ahead with the hike, which is huge. We pay VAT on each item and accessories we buy,” said Harvinder Thakur, spokesperson, Joint Action Committee. The fares have not been revised while the prices of diesel and petrol have gone up manifold in recent times, he claimed.

The Excise and Taxation Department claims the passenger tax is levied by the state Transport Department though they collect the tax from the operators. There are as many as 3,000 taxis in the capital. There are more than 2,000 taxis in Manali and the number could go up to 10,000, revealed officials.

The passenger tax collection remains Rs 50 crore as it has not been revised since 1999. “The passenger and goods tax and additional goods tax collection was just Rs 101 crore last year,” said the officials.

There was only a slight revision in terms of capacity of the engine.

The passenger taxi (four-seater) with 1000 cc engine pays Rs 1,350 per annum, the one with 1000-1500 cc engine pays Rs 2,400-Rs 2,800 is the highest limit fixed for the taxis that run in the state, said taxation officials.

Director, Transport, Ritesh Chauhan said the passenger tax was levied and collected by the Excise and Taxation Department, which had no role in this regard as the rates were revised at the government level.

Transport Minister GS Bali said, “Taxes are mandate of the tax department. But the government has not revised the taxes for the last many years. We are revamping the transport system and no illegally operated maxi cabs and other private vehicles will be allowed to ply. If the unions have problems, they should give a representation to the government as we are committed to starting 1,000 new buses in the state to provide cheap public transport soon."

Nurpur, November 27
The ongoing row between the Nurpur Tehsil Carriage-cum-Construction Cooperative Transport Society and the New Truck Operators Union at Jassur has been intensified with the threatening of the former to stage a dharna if the administration failed to stop the latter from operating in the area within one week.

Rakesh Kohli, president of the transport society, gave a memorandum to the local Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) here today, claiming that the truck operators union was not registered either under the Society Act or Trade Act and operating illegally.

The society, in its memorandum, alleged that the union was misleading traders at Jassur and issuing transport slips and collecting money from truck operators for transporting goods.

He claimed that the transport society, Jassur, was duly registered in April 1980 and was operating in Nurpur tehsil since then.

The society has given one-week ultimatum to the local administration to stop the unauthorised operating New Truck Operator Union in the area.

Solan, November 27
The Industries Department will soon hold a meeting of stakeholders engaged in various horticultural and agricultural pursuits to discuss the recommendation of the vision document prepared for the centrally-sponsored National Mission on Food Processing (NMFP).

The vision document has been prepared by global consultant Grant Thornton. The food market in Himachal Pradesh was estimated to be worth Rs 86 billion in 2012 and is expected to grow to Rs 363 billion in 2023. Of this, the packaged food is estimated to grow to Rs 60 billion.

The consultant had prepared a diagnostic report, a copy of which was available with the Tribune, on the food processing sector in the state and has suggested measures like promoting diversification and transition to a demand-driven agri-production model, increase in brand recognition and penetration of processed food from Himachal Pradesh, enhancement of raw material availability and facilitating procurement by food processors and growth of the identified segments in food processing through improved ecosystem and provision of infrastructure.

Other major recommendations include that for developing Himachal as a research and development and knowledge centre of food processing with high awareness in all stakeholders. A final document of activities to be undertaken through this mission will be prepared, said Dr Rajinder Chauha, Advisor, Industries.

The Centre had provided funds for this project under the 12th Five-Year Plan and Himachal is among the states where the project is being implemented.

While the Union Ministry of Food Processing will provide 75 per cent of the budget, the remaining 25 per cent will be pooled in by the state.

Bilaspur, November 27
The Cricket Association of Bilaspur (CAB), headed by Anurag Thakur, state president of HPCA, has challenged the statement of Congress general secretary Ram Lal Thakur that he, as Sports Minister, had spent more than Rs 1.13 crore on Luhnu Cricket Stadium in 2006.

Talking to mediapersons here on Wednesday, CAB district finance secretary RK Raghu and other district office-bearers Anujpal Dass, Vijay Soni, Brajesh Sharma, Manish Chandel and Ashish Kapil said it would be better if Ram Lal did not dabble in cricket matters as it would save him from any “exposure” in the eyes of the public. They said he should not introduce “his politics” into the stadium “in interest of cricket, its players and people here”.

The district executive members said Ram Lal should recall whether in 2006 he had spent Rs 1.13 crore on this stadium or at some other place.

They said people knew that till 2007, nothing existed here on the “stadium ground’ and the actual exercise of converting it into a stadium started in July, 2008, when its foundation stone was laid by former Chief Minister PK Dhumal, in the presence of Anurag and local minister JP Nanda.

They said Thakur did not remember that in 2009, Gobind Sagar water was released into the ground, after which the HPCA had constructed a three-side wall around it to control the flow of water. Then the work of constructing the stadium and the pavilion started, which continued till 2010-2011. 

Bilaspur, November 27
District and Sessions Judge Rajiv Bhardwaj said the National Lok Adalat held under the aegis of the National Legal Services Authority and the State Legal Services Authority settled 1,493 cases out of the total 2,427 cases.

Bhardwaj, who is also the Chairman of the District Legal Services Authority, said here today that three Benches were constituted at Ghumarwin and four Benches at Bilaspur town. He said these Benches made recovery of fines or loans totalling Rs 2,57,24,357 during the National Lok Adalat recently.

Manali, November 27
The five-day-long winter carnival will be celebrated in the tourist town of Manali between January 2 and 6 and arrangements are being made for its successful execution.

Kullu Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Kanwar called a review meeting to take stock of the preparations here yesterday.

Kanwar said the motive of organising the winter carnival is to boost tourism in Kullu-Manali during winter season. He said efforts would be made to acquaint tourists with Himachali art and culture. “We will try to ensure participation of tourists in various folk programmes and other activities so that they could become a part of this celebration. Not only will this entertain tourists but also this will facilitate cultural exchange,” he said.

Carnival celebrations will kick off from Hadimba temple with cultural processions from Dhungri village to Manali town. This year, only one mahila mandal from each panchayat will be allowed to participate in the procession.

The Deputy Commissioner said all necessary arrangements are being made for successful organisation of the carnival.

Chamba, November 27
To strengthen forest administration, create better infrastructure facilities and facilitate effective protection from smugglers, Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri laid the foundation stones of various buildings, including the forest block office-cum-residence at Batot and the forest fire gang hut at Lylh in upper Chamba range, both remote villages in Dharwala and Denali of Chamba district.

The area is prone to fire during summers. There are 92 beats which are declared sensitive from the fire point of view.

Bharmouri said the entire infrastructure, including forest rest houses, would be renovated in the state. More than 70 buildings in Chamba circle had been repaired in the past 11 months.

Recently, the forest rest house at Gharolla had been thrown open to public. It was repaired at an estimated cost of Rs 15 lakh.

Both the buildings are being constructed at a cost of Rs 20 lakh. He said four fire gang huts would be constructed at strategic locations in the forest circle, including Raakh, Lylh, Baniket and Mindhal in the Pangi valley. 

Sundernagar, November 27
Authorities at the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMS) today stopped the work of laying cables by the side of the Balancing Reservoir which was continuing for the past two days.

As per information, a company of the Reliance group started laying cables by the side of the Balancing Reservoir, Sundernagar, on the National Highway (NH) No. 21 without taking any permission from the BBMB authorities.

The BBMB authorities said the unscientific digging could have caused danger to the reservoir.

BBMB Chief Engineer SK Sharma said the work was immediately stopped and an inquiry had been initiated in this regard.

New Delhi, November 27
The Delhi High Court (HC) today sought a status report from the CBI on the action taken by it regarding corruption allegations against Himachal Pradesh CM Virbhadra Singh after the agency said it was conducting an inquiry.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justice Manmohan asked the CBI to file its report by February 12 on a PIL accusing the Chief Minister of corruption, money laundering, amassing disproportionate assets and criminal misconduct during his tenure as the Union Steel Minister. "Now the CBI is seized with the matter. So let’s call for the status report. Let them file their response by February 12,” the Bench said.

The Bench said now everything was on record so there was no chance of destroying anything. The PIL filed by NGO Common Cause has sought direction to the CBI and the DG, Income Tax (Investigations), to initiate an investigation against Virbhadra under the supervision of the Court and/or the CVC.

The PIL has alleged Virbhadra made a large amount of money through dubious sources and showed it as agricultural income to gain exemption from income tax and despite complaints to the Centre, the CBI and the CVC, no action has been taken so far. — PTI

Dharamsala, November 27
The Food Corporation of India (FCI) will allocate 18,400 metric tonnes free rice quota to Himachal Pradesh for running midday meal programme for Classes I to VIII in all state-owned schools.

Chief Parliamentary Secretary (Food) Neeraj Bharati said this while presiding over the Bharat Nirman campaign programme at Jaisinghpur today. He said the state government was committed to ensuring high-quality and nourishing food to all students studying in primary and upper primary classes.

Scholarships are being directly remitted to 80 per cent students directly in their bank account under direct benefit transfer scheme to be expanded to left-out students too, it was stated.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan district coordinator Nikhil Sharma said a toll free number would be installed in all the schools to help parents to lodge their complaints with the school authorities. Sharma said complaints could be lodged between 10.30 am to 3.30 pm every day on toll-free number 18001808007.

Shimla, November 27
The Students’ Council Association (SCA) today launched a signature campaign against the university authorities on pending demands and facilities like the allotment of hostels and a full-time Controller of Examination (COE). The association termed the handing over of the COE's charge to SS Chauhan, Dean, Students Welfare (DSW), as a face-saving exercise, which came too late.

The SCA called the Vice-Chancellor’s decision to hand over the COE's charge as a short-cut and face-saving exercise, saying the damage to the students had been done. The COE remained on long leave amid the examinations conducted on the pattern of the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), which was introduced for the first time in the state, the students said.

SS Chauhan, COE in charge-cum-DSW, said priority would be given to sorting out problems being faced by the students in terms of delays in getting roll numbers and forms. “The examinations will be held on time and delays in the declaration of results will be avoided; problems related to hostels' allotments will be taken up with the authorities,” he added.

SCA president Rajan Harta said they had launched the signature campaign on the campus as the present Vice-Chancellor was resorting to short-cuts; no full-time COE had been appointed and hostels were not being allotted in time.

The work on the new girls’ hostel should be expedited, the SCA said. The medical examination room should be opened at the girls’ hostel, it further stated.

The SCA condemned the lodging of an FIR against 10 students, including SCA officer-bearers, in connection with an incident on Monday. “We demand that the FIR should be cancelled as the students had no option other than entering the VC office main gate. It was locked as if raising demands is an offence,” said Harta.

Kangra, November 27
Students of DAV Public School, Dehra, emerged champions at the DAV National Sports-2013 Athletics meet that concluded at Sundernagar on Sunday.

Principal GK Bhatnagar said a state-level athletics meet was held for two days in which 11 students of the school participated and won 20 medals.

He said the overall winner trophy was bagged by girls and the runners-up trophy by boys of the school.

Bhatnagar said seven students were selected for the national athletics meet which would be held at Sahibabad (Haryana) and DAV University, Jalandhar, next month.

He said Regional Director P Sofat, Manager RK Ohri and school staff congratulated the participants. 

Solan, November 27
The Solan branch of the State Bank of India (SBI) was declared an all-women branch today. It was inaugurated by Dinesh Pruthi, SBI Regional Manager, RBO-III Shimla.

The branch has five staff members, including Branch Manager Vandana Sharma, and it targets to draw maximum women customers. It is the lone women’s bank in the three districts of Solan, Sirmaur and Bilaspur.