New Delhi, January 20
The Supreme Court today extended the deadline for implementing the ban on the sale of 25 food articles packed in polythene sheets in HP till February 14 .

A Bench comprising Justices RM Lodha and SK Singh passed the order on petitions filed by the Himachal Pradesh Vyapar Mandal and three others challenging the December 26, 2013, order of the HP High Court.

The apex court advised the petitioners to sit together and come out with alternative suggestions taking into account the need to protect the environment and the interests of the business community and consumers.

The other petitioners are the Haroli Block Industrial Association, Sanyukt Vyapar Mandal and Retailers Association of India.

The High Court had directed the state government to enforce its June 26, 2013, notification banning the sale of polythene-packed food items such as potato chips, cookies, candies, chewing gum, ice cream, chocolates and noodles. The court had exempted drinking water, milk and vegetable oils from the purview of the ban which was to come into effect on January 26.

Arguing for one of the petitioners, senior advocate Harish Salve said the disposal of plastic waste was a national problem and not restricted to Himachal alone. Some of the food items could be packed only in non-porous material like polythene sheets to preserve quality, he contended.

The Bench clarified that it had an open mind on the issue without compromising on environmental protection.

Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi sought a stay on the HC order as retail shopkeepers and traders would be liable to be arrested for violating the ban.

The apex court asked the state government to respond to the petitioners’ pleas within three weeks. The petitions would be heard again on February 10.

Shimla, January 20
Expelled BJP leaders awaiting re-entry into the BJP today met national BJP president Rajnath Singh and the party's national secretary JP Nadda. This assumes significance in the backdrop of the coming Lok Sabha elections.

About a dozen former BJP leaders, including six-time MLA and former minister Roop Singh Thakur (Sundernagar), two-time former MLA Rakesh Pathania (Nurpur), HN Kashyap (Solan), Kamla Patyal (Dharamsala), Sanjay Guleria (Guler) and Ravi Dhiman (Jaisinghpur), were present at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi to meet Rajnath.

Senior BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy was also present during the meeting. Party sources said Rajnath had asked Nadda and Balbir Punj, national BJP vice-president and in-charge of BJP affairs in Himachal, to expedite the re-entry of these expelled leaders into the party.

A majority of these leaders from Mandi, Kangra, Chamba, Solan and Shimla had been expelled after they contested the Assembly elections in December 2012 against the party’s official nominee.

“We have already discussed the issue of their re-entry into the party at the state BJP core group’s meeting at Baddi in Solan and the BJP high command has asked us to take back these leaders,” confirmed state BJP president Satpal Singh Satti.

He added that the process to recall them had already been initiated and the BJP mandals concerned were also being taken into confidence as each case would be taken up based on amerit.

There is also a possibility that former CM PK Dhumal and Rajya Sabha MP Shanta Kumar would be consulted before making the formal announcement for entry of these rebels back into the party fold. Consultations with the two leaders are likely to be held in the coming days as the party is keen that these leaders are admitted back into the party well before the Lok Sabha polls.

New Delhi, January 20
A day after Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh alleged that BJP leaders had hacked his bank accounts, Anurag Thakur, president of the BJP’s youth wing, said today that the BJP didn’t hack any account. The people gave them documents against the CM, he added.

Anurag said being a Lok Sabha MP from Hamirpur, people gave him documents against the CM. In an interview to The Tribune, Virbhadra yesterday alleged that his bank accounts had been hacked at the instance of BJP leaders. They illegally procured his cheque details for circulation in public. He had, through those banks, sent notices to former CM of the state Prem Kumar Dhumal and his sons, Anurag and Arun Dhumal.

The CM had also stated this in the defamation suit filed against the three along with BJP leader Arun Jaitley. Anurag has been in the forefront of attacks on Virbhadra who had been accused of accepting bribes from a hydropower firm owner in lieu of a favour granted to his firm.

Anurag said the CM was “beating around the bush by avoiding the main query of the BJP”. “We have asked him to answer some simple questions. We want to know how much money and shares he took from Venture Energy and Technologyand whether he received those shares free or paid for these. We want to know the value of those shares,” he said.

On Virbhadra’s defence that he took loans from the firm because he was ineligible for bank loans due to his age, Anurag said, “What is the message the CM is sending? If he can’t get a bank loan against securities and assets, who can?”

About Virbhadra’s assertion that no one accepts bribes by cheques, Anurag pointed to Section 20 of the Prevention of Corruption Act which bars public officials from accepting any kind of gratification or benefit.

Hitting out at the CM for saying that Dhumal wanted to target him to eliminate competition in the state, Anurag said, “Is the CM saying the Congress in Himachal is leaderless in his absence?”

Shimla, January 20
The microchip to be implanted in cattle will not only curb the stray cattle menace by tracking their owners, but also check insurance frauds arising on account of loss of livestock due to natural calamities.

“No animal can be used twice for loan as the chip will serve as the Unique ID of each animal containing data pertaining to the owner of animal, loan amount, tenure and bank name,” says Dr Sushil Sharma, president, HP State Veterinary Officer’s Association, who proposed the project.

The GPS-enabled chip will help track cattle with pin-point accuracy and check their entry into other states. The Vet Department will also keep a record of the number of animals entering and leaving the state for sale and purchase in trade fairs.

The record of animal health, vaccination, production and reproduction will also be entered in this database and the chip will also help handle disease outbreaks as the affected animals can be tracked, using the GPS with accurate location details, where the outbreak occurs.

Sharma disclosed that the department was geared up to go ahead with the project and once the go-ahead was received, all animals would be microchipped over a period of two years. The estimated expenditure of the project is Rs 33.37 crore.

The chip could also curb theft of animals reported recently. It would procure data on weight gain of each animal on a weekly and monthly basis and increase in length and thickness of wool fibre, he added.

The system will also pave the way for streamlining all activities of the department and monitor these anytime anywhere through a software.

Moreover, the monitoring and implementation of all state and Central schemes will be effectively done using this database. It is the most reliable method of identifying the animal and the microchip lasts the life span of the animal.

Shimla, January 20
A model stat-of-the-art facility would be set up at the state-run Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) here for the disposal of biomedical waste. A proposal has been sent by the Health Department to the Department of Environment and Science and Technology to address environmenta-lists' concerns.

“We have received a proposal from the Health Department and will soon take steps to set up the model state-of-the-art facility and make it operational in six months,” Director Environment,” Dr SS Negi said, adding that the facility would cost about Rs 2 crore and land for this purpose would be provided by the institution.

He said the problem of scientific disposal of biomedical waste in Himachal was a major challenge as 60 per cent of about 3,000 kg biomedical waste generated every day by health institutions in the state was buried deep in the soil while only 40 per cent waste was being incinerated.

Clear guidelines have been issued in the Biomedical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998, for the disposal of biomedical waste and identification of various kinds of biomedical waste as per degree of infection and toxicity and their segregation is important.

The quantum of biomedical waste generated every day is on the rise due to increase in population of patients and health care facilities (HCF). The biomedical waste, which was 1,278 kg per day in 2009, has increased to 2,858 kg per day in 2012 and the number of HCFs has gone up from 538 to 570 during this period.

There is an urgent need for improvement in biomedical waste management by enhancing the capacity of the agencies engaged in segregation, collection, packaging, transportation and storage of the waste.

Environment experts have stressed on regular monitoring and quality assessment of BMW, colour coding and labelling of infectious waste for segregation, collection and transportation, safety of handlers, use of robust and leak-proof containers and proper treatment and disposal of waste.

Palampur, January 20
The Kangra Valley Travel Agent and Hoteliers’ Association has opposed the proposed hike in the luxury tax. They also condemned the government, wherein it has made luxury tax applicable on other services provided by hotels, marriage palaces and resorts.

Briefing mediapersons, a spokesman of the association, said: “The tourism industry is already going through a crisis and if the luxury tax is enhanced, it will be a major setback to the industry.”

He asked the government to withdraw the proposed amendment made in the law in this regard. He said instead of extending concessions and incentives to the hotel industry on par with adjoining states of Uttarakhand, J&K and Haryana, the state government had proposed to add more burden on the dying hotel industry in the state.

He said it was on record that during the winter season, fewer tourists visited the state as compared to the previous year. Besides, the entire state too registered fewer footfall of foreign tourists, he added.

He said if the government really wanted to make tourism a major source of revenue, it should make efforts for the expansion of three airports in the state so that bigger planes could land here. Besides, passenger and the rail transport system should also be improved, he added. a“Because of high tax, lack of air connectivity, poor passenger transport services and bad roads, travel agencies are making bookings for Kashmir, which is a better and cheaper destination as compared to Himachal,” he said.

Chamba, January 20
An ace rafting instructor from Chamba trained as many as 300 water sports enthusiasts at a camp organised at Hatkoti in Shimla district. Luxmi Thakur trained the National Service Scheme (NSS) students from Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Gujarat and Orissa during the camp.

They were imparted training on river rafting, boating, rowing, canoeing, kayaking among other things. The camp was organised by the state’s Regional Water Sports Centre, Pong Dam, from December 18 to January 10.

Swaran Deepak Raina, founder and director of a Chamba-based NGO, Sarvagya Sarvahitkari Manch, said: “Luxmi was chosen from a group of 31 participants, which included 15 girls and 16 boys, from the Janwas area of a remote Churah subdivision of Chamba district by the manch in 2007. After this, they were sent to the centre at Pong Dam for water sports training.”

He said Luxmi had been honoured twice on the Republic Day. He added that Luxmi and her colleagues were now employed at the Water Sports Centre, Taleru, a privately-owned venture of Chamera Reservoir near Dalhousie.

Shimla, January 20
The grim power scenario seems to be finally looking up, with at least half a dozen states queuing up to Himachal to buy power even as the total hydro-power generation has declined to almost 30 per cent with reduced glacial melting as is the case in winters.

Several states, including West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and the Union Territory of Chandigarh, are already in touch with the Directorate of Energy to negotiate purchase of power from Himachal in the coming days.

“Negotiations are being held with Andhra Pradesh, which is keen to purchase about 300 MW power on a long-term basis of four to five years,” confirmed officials.

The power for Andhra is likely to be tied up with the 412-MW Rampur power project, likely to be commissioned this year. Fortunately, the power rates in the power exchange have started improving from the abysmally low rate of less than Rs 2 per unit last year.

Some state power boards have also floated tenders for purchasing power, including Noida, which wants to purchase 110-MW power.

“Some states are in touch with the Directorate of Energy to enter into an agreement for the purchase of power. We are hopeful that we will be able to sell power at good rates,” said Sushil Negi, Principal Secretary, Power and Personnel. He admitted that as compared to a rate of less than Rs 2 last year, the rate per unit had touched almost Rs 3.50.

Even though the power generation is down to almost 30 per cent due to reduced snow melting in winters, even now, the state has a surplus of about 1 million units. As is the case in winters, the power generation these days is almost 15 lakh unit per day as compared to 50 lakh units during summers.

With improvement in the rates of power in the market and some states, especially those going to the polls shortly, evincing interest in purchasing power, revenue from the power sector, which has been reporting a decline, might also start improving. The revenue being earned from the power sector to the state exchequer during 2013-14 has been far less than Himachal’s anticipation; this has been a major cause for concern.

The Himachal Government has 910 MW of equity power and free power available as royalty from various hydro-power projects located in the state. The quantum of power is likely to go up during the year as some major projects are slated for completion, including 520 MW Parbati, 800 MW Kol Dam, 412 MW Rampur, 150 MW Sorang and 65 MW Kashang project.

The state will get 12 per cent free power as royalty from these projects and in case of Rampur, it will get an additional 30 per cent on account of equity share.

Mandi, January 20
The issuance of Income Tax (IT) Department notices to several Ayurveda doctors regarding the depositing of their income tax with penalty for the past several years, despite deduction of tax by the department, has stirred panic among them.

Several Ayurveda doctors working in Mandi district were recently served notices by the IT Department to deposit their tax liability, along with penalty for the last four years.

Interestingly, the department had been deducting their income tax from their salaries every month, including tax liability for their arrears payment too.

The department had also issued them Form 16-A to clarify deduction of their tax liabilities, which they had attached with their I-T returns.

The income was being deducted every year, but several doctors have been issued notices by the IT Department to pay the tax liability from 2010-11 onwards.

Nearly Rs 1.5 lakh is said to have been deducted from the salary of each doctor every year towards income tax deduction, which has not been accounted for with the I-T department.

Now, the doctors have been asked to pay year-wise penalty for the pending income tax of about Rs 10,000 each.

The I-T department had asked the doctors to deposit the tax along with the penalty by January 20, which has created an awkward situation for the doctors.

The doctors have written to the District Ayurveda Officer seeking clarification besides seeking legal advice.

District Ayurveda Officer, Mandi, Hira Lal Thakur said, “We have received letters from the doctors seeking clarification in this regard; I can’t say why this has happened, but we will investigate the matter.”

Una, January 20
The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) today launched a khadi fair at the Una district headquarters, in which units from Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh, besides host Himachal Pradesh, participated. The fest will conclude on February 4.

Industry Minister Mukesh Agnihotri inaugurated the fair and inspected the displayed products.

Speaking on the occasion, he said various schemes under the khadi movement were aimed at making youth self-employed and the country self-reliant. He appealed to the youth to take benefit of the schemes initiated by the KVIC.

Agnihotri said Rs 80 crore was being spent during the current financial year in Himachal Pradesh to promote khadi sector. He said Rs 20 crore was earmarked under the Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme, through which youth were motivated to start their own units, while the KVIC contributed subsidy in term loan.

Des Raj Gautam, member, North Zone, KVIC, said youth could approach the offices of the District Industries Centre and State Khadi Board offices situated at all district headquarters and the KVIC state office in Shimla. He said a similar fair would be held at Bilaspur.

Shimla, January 20
After two days of respite from rain and snow in Himachal, the Met office today issued a fresh warning of heavy snowfall at isolated places in the state on January 21 and 22, even as the weather remained clear and chilly winds swept the region.

A western disturbance as an upper air trough in mid-tropospheric levels will lay over North Pakistan and adjoining Jammu & Kashmir during the next 24 hours. An upper air cyclonic circulation lies over South Rajasthan and the adjoining Gujarat region. Under the influence of these atmospheric weather systems, rain/snow will occur at many places over Himachal Pradesh on January 21 and 22, a warning issued by the Met office said.

The minimum temperature showed marginal fluctuation and tribal areas reeled under arctic conditions, with Bharmaur and Keylong recording a low of minus 11.1°C and minus 10.8°C while Kalpa and Manali recoded a low of -2.5°C .

Sundernagar and Bhuntar froze at 0.6°C while the minimum temperature was much below normal, at 2°C and 2.2°C at Solan and Una, while Shimla and Palampur recorded a minimum temperature of 4.1°C and 5.5°C, followed by Dharamsala, 6°C and Nahan, 6.4°C.

Una recorded a maximum of 20.9°C while Nahan and Solan recorded a high of 19.7°C and 19.6°C . Bhunter recorded a high of 17.6°C, Shimla 15.6°C and Dharamsala 15.2°C .

Meanwhile, 20 persons, including a 13-year-old ailing girl waiting for the helicopter for the past two weeks in snowbound tribal Lahaul and Spiti district, were airlifted by the state chopper. Twelve persons were airlifted from Udaipur while eight persons were evacuated from Tingret.

Thirty tribals from Udaipur who were stranded in tribal Pangi valley were not fortunate enough as a helicopter sortie could not take place due to the inclement weather. Their fate hangs in balance in view of the warning of a heavy snowfall during the next 48 hours.

Shimla, January 20
Industries Minister Mukesh Agnihotri on Friday condemned the outbursts of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal for opposing the revival of special industrial package to Himachal Pradesh.

He said Punjab and other states would suffer no adverse impact due to the package.

Agnihotri said it was due to efforts of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh that the industrial package had been extended till 2017.

He said it was unfortunate that Punjab had been opposing the demand of Himachal Pradesh to extend the industrial package till 2020. Earlier, it was due to the pressure of the neighbouring states that the special industrial package to Himachal Pradesh was taken back by the Government of India who thought that the availability of these incentives was adversely affecting the industrial growth in other states.

The minister said Himachal was a small hill state where encouraging industrialisation was an uphill task. Moreover, due to lack of railway network, roads were the only mode of transportation which accounted for a high transportation cost of raw material for the industries.

Agnihotri said the state was given the special industrial package on the pattern of North-East states and neighbouring hill states like Jammu & Kashmir and Sikkim.

He said during the industrial package period, the state got registered about 16,500 units in small, medium and large-scale sectors, with the proposed investment of Rs 48,830 crore having an employment potential of 5,42,580 people.

However, of these approved units, only 9,353 units with the investment of Rs14,557 crore, having employment potential of 1,20,602 people, were actually set up in the state, he said.

The curtailment of industrial package period slowed down the investment, besides adversely affecting the industrial growth and employment opportunities in the state.

He said former Chief Minister PK Dhumal remained silent on issue raised by Punjab.

Palampur, January 20
Former BJP MP Rajan Sushant criticised senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar for possessing double standards on the issue of corruption. Sushant, who recently resigned from the party, was addressing the media at the PWD rest house here on Saturday.

He said on the one hand the senior BJP leader was claiming zero tolerance towards corruption, but on the other, he was protecting corrupt leaders.

Sushant said leaders of both the BJP as well as the Congress, who were facing corruption charges, should be shown the door by top leadership if they really wanted to clean politics.

He said corruption charges against Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh were being investigated and keeping in view the high moral political values, the CM should quit until he was exonerated by the court of law or the CBI.

Sushant also made a scathing attack on former CM PK Dhumal and his family members. He said the father-son duo had virtually hijacked the BJP in the state and whosoever raised a voice against them was either expelled from the party or reduced to zero.

Sushant said in 2009, when the BJP was in power in the state, he had levelled serious corruption charges against ministers and MLAs of the Dhumal government.

He said he even submitted documentary evidences against the leaders to the central BJP leadership, but instead of initiating any action against corrupt minister and MLAs, he was expelled from the party. 

Chamba, January 20
To redress public grievances at doorsteps, a district-level Prashasan Janta Ke Dwar was held under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner (DC) Kadam Sandeep Vasant at Sillagharat village of Chamba district on Saturday.

As many as 131 public grievances pertaining to government departments were put up before the DC and most of them were disposed of on the spot.

Some of the applications were referred to the departments concerned with the directions to redress them in a time-bound manner.

The DC said more such Janta Ke Dwars would be organised in the district so that people could be benefited.

Present among others included Sub-Divisional Magistrate Bachan Singh, Assistant Commissioner Deepti Kapoor, District Rural Development Agency Project Officer RP Sharma, District Public Relations Officer Ravi Verma, DSP Jitender Chaudhary, Regional Transport Officer Onkar Singh.

Bilaspur, January 20
Frayed tempers of agitated oustees and affected families of 26 villages of four-lane Express highway came to the fore as they met DC Ajay Sharma. The construction is on from Kainchi-Mode to Ner Chowk in Mandi.

The DC invited leaders of an action committee for talks. Action committee president Ram Singh said work of construction (which was stopped for several days by oustees) would only begin at places where pucca signs would be marked for acquired land for construction of the road. — OC

Kangra, January 20
Manish, a teacher of the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Technical College, Ferozepur, Punjab, was arrested by the Kangra police this evening for allegedly harassing women and indulging in eve-teasing in a drunken condition at the Tehsil Chowk.

Station House Officer (SHO) Kangra Mohinder Singh Manhas said a group of students of the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Technical College Ferozepur were on an educational tour to this temple town when one of the teachers of the group indulged in drunken nuisance at the Tehsil Chowk in the town, and allegedly eve-teased and harassed women passing through the busy chowk this evening.

He said he personally visited the spot and found the teacher drunk, who was arrested under Section 114 of the Police Act. The arrested teacher was sent for medical examination.

The SHO said when the other teachers and students had gone to the Bajjreshwari temple to pay obeisance, the accused created a ruckus at the Tehsil Chowk. SHO MS Manhas denied he was assaulted by the said teacher or any other person of the group while nabbing him. He described the rumour of assault as baseless, malicious and concocted.