P R A D E S H
Saturday, August 1, 1998
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H I M A C H A L P R A D E S H |
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Saturday, August 1, 1998 |
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 Cong dissatisfied with Dhumal's reply SHIMLA, July 31 — The Opposition Congress today staged a walkout in the Himachal Vidhan Sabha, expressing dissatisfaction over the reply of the Chief Minister, Mr P.K Dhumal, on the four-hour debate on law and order and price rise. |
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Virbhadra obliged favourites, says
CM SHIMLA, July 31 — The previous Congress government gave extension in service in an arbitrary manner to benefit favourites. Stating this during question hour, Mr P.K. Dhumal, Chief Minister, said under the rules reasons were required to be recorded while granting extension in service to officers and employees. However, the Congress government extended the service of 93 officials. In all cases it was stated that the decision had been taken in public interest. Besides the government re-employed 18 persons. Sharp exchanges between the treasury benches and the Congress members ensured after Mr Virbhadra Singh charged the BJP-HVC combine with misleading the people by stating that extensions in service had been granted to hundreds of officials. He said it was a normal practice and all governments had been doing the same. Visibly
provoked by the charge, Mr Dhumal said there was no
public interest involved in the extensions granted by the
previous government and the sole objective was to oblige
favourites. Mr J.B.L. Khachi urged the Chief Minister to disclose the name of such beneficiaries. Mr Dhumal said the list begins with the former Chief Secretary who was not only given extension but his name was also considered for Congress ticket. He said the beneficiaries included drivers, Class IV employees, mechanics and teachers. Mr Kishori Lal told Mr Rakesh Pathania out of the 25,251 industrial units as many as 2054 were sick. These units owned Rs 177.69 crore to financial institutions. Replying to a supplementary, he said it was true that initially many entrepreneurs from outside the state set up industries only to misuse the incentive of 25 per cent capital subsidy. He said the process to recover the arrears was on. Mr Mohinder Singh PWD Minister, while replying to a supplementary, admitted that the alignment chosen for the Rampur bypass being constructed under the Nathpa-Jhakri project had resulted in excessive expenditure. There was no need for a bypass as Rampur was already on the national-highway and even if a bypass was to be built a short road up to 1 km ahead of the town would have sufficed. Interrupting Mr Virbhadra Singh said the alignment was finalised by the NJPC which gave fund for the road. In a written reply, the Chief Minister told Mr Gangu Ram that there was no proposal to create a new district in the state. In another written reply the Excise and Taxation Minister informed the House that the revenue from the auction of liquor vends had come down from Rs 151.09 crore in 1997-98 to Rs 109-61 crore for the current year. The House
also passed four Bills seeking to raise the salaries
allowances and pension of ministers, Speaker, Deputy
Speaker and legislators. |
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Dairy project helps double
income SOLAN, July 31 — An innovative dairy development project launched with a one-time central grant of Rs 2.2 crore under the Jawahar Rozgar Yojna in 1995-96 has already doubled the income from the sale of surplus milk of the district's farming community and promised to triple it by the end of current financial year. The district's farming community before this project earned an average income of Rs 9 crore from dairy related commercial activities. But by the end of last year this figure had risen to about Rs 19 crore and is likely to cross the Rs 27 crore-mark by March next. The project basically followed the wisdom of an old Himachali aphorism. "You provide a good cow to a farmer and he is self-employed the next very day" It concentrated on improving the breed of milch cattle; improving the availability of fodder, both quantitatively and qualitatively; setting up of a viable marketing infrastructure and training of the farmers in the latest dairy techniques with the active collaboration of the state's Animal Husbandry Department. Keeping in view the fact
that the per family holding of irrigated land was a
meagre 0.17 hectares in this district and also the fact
that 1,12,258 hectares out of a total land area of
1,80,547 hectares of the district was under forest cover,
grassland and wasteland but adaptable to pasteur raising,
the project planners decided that dairying provided a
ready made answer to the problem of ameliorating the lot
of the poor farmer. Since a large part of the district fell under the milkshed area of the state capital, it meant little difficulty in marketing of surplus production. Top priority was given to improving the breed of animals and introducing high yielding fodder and grass. A supporting infrastructure consisting of trained workers and provision of artificial insemination guns, thermos flasks, mini-refrigerators, etc in the chosen service areas was quickly established. Nurseries of high-yielding fodder plants were set up which supplied over two lakh saplings to the farmers in the first three years of the project. Also, 200 demonstration plots were created for training the farmers in the package of practices of the fodder plant species concerned which happened to be mostly exotic. Special emphasis was laid on providing healthcare cover to the milch cattle reared under the project. These efforts resulted in a record production of about 80,000 tonnes of milk last year. After deducting the quantities of milk consumed by the producers' families themselves, Rs 19 crore worth of milk was sold by the farmers which represented a two-fold increase in the income from the sale of milk for them. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Balram Sharma, who briefed newspersons about the achievement of the project here yesterday, said that the district administration now proposed to set up a 'Gau Sadan' for housing the infertile milch cattle. This would reduce the burden on scarce pasteur lands in the district. Efforts would also be made to bring more fellow land under suitable grasses to improve the availability of fodder round the year. He said that the project had selected only 4,900 out of a total of 56,044 farming families in the district so far. It was based on the accessibility and technical suitability of lands at their disposal. The project which was
expected to be producing a multiplying effect at least in
the areas of availability of improved breeds of cattle
and fodder, had the potential of ushering in a real white
revolution in the district and perhaps in the rest of the
state also. Himachal already ranked number four in per
capita consumption of milk in the country. |
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Cong dissatisfied with Dhumal's SHIMLA, July 31 — The Opposition Congress today staged a walkout in the Himachal Vidhan Sabha, expressing dissatisfaction over the reply of the Chief Minister, Mr P.K Dhumal, on the four-hour debate on law and order and price rise. Mr Kaul Singh, who raised the discussion and some other Congress members were on their legs as soon as Mr Dhumal finished his detailed reply and sought certain clarification. They walked out of the House in protest when their plea was turned down by the Chair. Mr Dhumal condemned the action of the Opposition, which had resorted such tactics on the last day only because it failed to raise any issue during the long monsoon session. The supporters of the party were thoroughly disappointed by its performance in the House. Although the issue was raised by Congress members, the party was at the receiving end most of the time. The ruling party members cited numerous glaring cases which took place over the past two decades to prove their point that the law and order situation was worse in the state during its long stint of Congress rule. Replying to the debate, Mr Dhumal said a plan was being mooted with the help of the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir Government to launch joint operations along the border of Doda district to flush out militants. He said he had already taken up the matter with Mr L.K Advani, Union Home Minister, and Mr Farooq Abdullah, Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Regarding the violent incident triggered due to ragging at a Shimla college, he said the government had issued instructions to all superintendents of police and deputy commissioners to take effective preventive steps. Quoting figures, Mr Dhumal rebutted the charge that law and order situation had deteriorated after the BJP-HVC came to power in the state. He said against the 3,809 cases of crime during April to June in 1997 3,569 took place in the same period during this year. He said it was ridiculous to compare figures for some chosen period to score points over each other and the legislature should focus its attention on finding ways and means to effectively tackle the situation. Referring to the demand of the Congress for enquiry by a sitting judge of the high court into the incident of alleged kidnapping of an Independent, Mr Ramesh Dhawala, on March 5,1998, Mr Dhumal declared that, if required he would not only order an enquiry by a high court judge but also order a CBI probe being demanded in various cases. He minced no words in criticising the Congress government which, he alleged, misused the police and state machinery to harass political opponents. The administration had become ineffective due to excessive political interference. Mr Ramesh Dhawala narrated
in detail how he was kidnapped by certain Congress
legislators armed with rods and swords and taken to Holy
Lodge, residence of Mr Virbhadra Singh. The police, which
was under pressure from the political bosses, remained a
silent spectator. |
Loan issue dominates session SHIMLA, July 31 — The controversial issue of payment of commission for raising loans from certain private financial institutions by the previous Congress government headed by Mr Virbhadra Singh dominated the month-long Budget session of the Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha which concluded here today. This is for the third consecutive year that the issue has haunted the proceedings of the House. The Congress members squatted in the well of the House and also staged a walkout on the issue which has now assumed political overtones. The HVC leader, Mr Sukh Ram, who is alliance partner of the BJP, urged the Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal,not to further delay a CBI probe against Mr Virbhadra Singh on the issue of raising loans and other matters which he has pointed out in a charge sheet against the Congress leader. The issue of loans was sparked by the written reply of the Chief Minister to a question on the matter in which it was stated that there was no question of initiating action against anyone because commission was paid as per the guidelines of the Reserve Bank for raising loans. However, the reply pertained to the commission paid for investments in SLR bonds and commitment charges to the HDFC. The Congress members maintained that the reply was comprehensive as details of all loans raised during the Congress regime between 1994 and 1998 were given in the first part of the question. The issue generated a lot
of heat on the subsequent days when the Congress members
led by Thakur Ram Lal walked out of the House, demanding
that Mr Dhumal tender an apology for having
"misled" the House and the people by claiming
that grave irregularities were committed while raising
loans through middlemen. They accused Mr Dhumal and his
BJP of having maligned the Congress by accusing its
government of having paid commission to certain
handpicked people for raising loans. Congress members staged a dharna in the well of the House the next day demanding that the CLP leader, Mr Virbhadra Singh, should be allowed to clarify his position on the issue. The Speaker, Thakur Gulab Singh, allowed him to speak only after a notice was moved as per the procedure. Mr Dhumal stated that a commission and service charges of Rs 7.30 crore were paid for raising loans by the previous government. The loans were raised through the HPSEB and Forest Corporation. An interest of Rs 990 crore will have to be paid on these loans of Rs 914 crore by the year 2005. On the other hand, Mr Virbhadra Singh said that there was nothing new in the statement of Mr Dhumal as he had himself stated these facts on payment of commission in the House when he was heading the Congress government in the state. Repayment of these loans was so scheduled keeping in mind the income which will be generated to the government with commissioning of the Nathpa Jhakri power project. He said that the Chief Minister was trying to "twist" the facts in order to wriggle out of the situation. It was a virtual anti-climax when the Congress members asked the BJP-HVC combine to make a commitment in the House that it will not divert the loans from boards and corporations for meeting its own requirements and no commission will be paid for raising such loans. Mr Dhumal refused to oblige the Congress members, but he made it clear that transparency will be maintained while raising such loans. The matter came up for debate in the house when the Chief Minister moved a motion seeking to raise the limit of loans of the HPSEB to Rs 1500 crore from the existing Rs.900 crore. This indicates that the
Dhumal government has virtually started following in the
footsteps of the previous Congress government after
criticising it for indiscriminately raising loans during
its regime. The limit of raising loans by the HPSEB was
raised many times during the Congress regime. The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India has again indicted the government of having violated the Constitution by raising loans to the tune of Rs 154 crore through non-SLR bonds of the Forest Corporation without the prior approval of the Centre.These loans were raised last year during the Congress regime. Mr Dhumal was again cornered by Mr J.B.L.Khachi(Cong) on the question whether the manifesto of Mr Sukh Ram’s HVC had been accepted by the government as a policy document along with that of the BJP. Mr Dhumal, however, said that the points in the HVC manifesto,which were common to those in the BJP election manifesto, will be made a part of the policy. On an earlier occasion, Mr Sukh Ram virtually expressed his annoyance over the delay in referring the charge sheet of the HVC against Mr Virbhadra Singh to the CBI. Another development worth taking note of this time was that no Congress MLA, except Mr Virbhadra Singh,spoke against Mr Sukh Ram in the House. Most of the Congress legislators tried to keep Mr Sukh Ram in good humour. Mr Virbhadra Singh and Mr Sukh Ram traded charges. This was for the first time that the committee system was put in operation to study the budgetary allocations. The system was never put in practice during the Congress regime. Mr Dhumal,who also holds
the finance portfolio,withdrew certain tax proposals
which he had initially suggested while laying the budget
for the year 1998-99.Taxes worth Rs 50 crore were
proposed in the Budget. |
Migrants weaning tourists away from
Kangra? DHARAMSALA: With the resumption of tourism in the Kashmir valley, after nine years of militancy, there has been a decline in tourists in the Kangra region. Disappointed by the lean tourist season, during the last two years, hoteliers had been expecting a major boom this year. However, the reopening of the Kashmir area for tourists, has had an effect on the tourist traffic in the Kangra and Chamba regions. A majority of the hoteliers point out that had it not been for Kashmir, it would have been an exceptionally good year for the tourism industry here. A major problem being faced by a large number of hoteliers was the whisking away of foreign tourists from McLeodganj and Dharamsala to Jammu and Kashmir by Kashmiri migrants residing here permanently. It has now become a regular feature for foreigners to suddenly cut short their stay here and move to Kashmir. Some of the migrants, who are running shops in McLeodganj, convince foreigners that conditions are normal in Kashmir and they can arrange a trip to the state. The owner of a hotel in
McLeodganj, Mr Parminder Bamba, said that whisking away
of tourists from here to Kashmir was on the increase and
the matter had already been brought to the notice of the
authorities. The illegal stay of foreigners in
unregistered guest houses and homes of people in the
Dharamkot and Bhagsu area was also affecting hoteliers,
he added. A number of hoteliers complained that despite
bringing the matter to the notice to the authorities time
and again, no action had been taken against such people. The people involved in the tourism trade here are already a worried lot, as they feel that if tourism picks up in Kashmir, Himachal is likely to be affected by it. "Unless the government takes major steps to boost tourism and develop more sites in the area, the tourism industry in Himachal could face a serious decline", comments a travel agent, who has just set up business here. A majority of the tourists, who come here, are disappointed that even civic amenities and basic infrastructure for tourism is lacking. Problems like water shortage, poor roads, no parking facility and absence of proper drainage continue to plague McLeodganj, which is being promoted as an international tourist destination. Though a number of projects have been cleared and money sanctioned, delay on the part of executing agency has hampered tourism. Over Rs 30 lakh have been given for construction of new rest houses at Salli and Boh and expansion of the existing ones at Triund and Kareri but the work is still not been done by the Forest Department. Despite getting the money, they have also not done the job of desilting the Dal Lake and landscaping of St John's Church in its area. Work on the Rs 80-lakh Club House in McLeodganj is going on at a snail's pace. The ambitious project of setting up ropeways between Dharamkot and Triund and between Neugal and Bandla in Palampur would go a long way in boosting tourism. Owing to an exceptionally hot summer this year, most of the hotels here had an occupancy of over 70 per cent during April, May and June. The increase in tourist traffic was mainly due to weekend tourists, from the neighbouring plains of Punjab and Jammu. About 55,600 Indian and 4,200 foreign tourists visited Kangra during the summer months. The delayed monsoon this year has proved to be a blessing for the tourism industry, as people are still coming here. People of this area are,
however, sore that very little has been done for
promoting tourism. The Pong Dam, which can be become an
ideal water sports centre has been neglected. Little has
been done to promote angling and hang-gliding, a major
attraction for tourists. Though there is immense tourism
potential in the Kangra valley, lack of vision and proper
planning has affected tourism. |
Tourists beaten in Chamunda DHARAMSALA, July 31 — Tension mounted in the pilgrimage centre of Chamunda, near here, following the beating up of tourists by local shopkeepers this morning. The incident took place when two youths from Fazilka, Kishan and Raja, were allegedly beaten up by a local shopkeeper, Bobby, and some others for trying to lift a camera from his shop. As word spread about the fight, a large number of tourists, blocked traffic on the highway. Shopkeepers and local villagers also assembled at Baroi. A near clash-like situation between the locals and outsiders prevailed as tempers ran high. A clash was averted due to the timely intervention of the district administration and the police. The ADM, Mr B.S. Jamwal, Additional SP Kapil Sharma and the SDM rushed to the spot. All shops in Chamunda remained closed till evening as the officials tried to defuse the situation. People running langer at about a dozen serais alleged that they, too, had been attacked by local residents. The vice-president of the Ludhiana serai, Mr Sanjeev Bassi, said he and his associates had been rendering services to the pilgrims for the past nine years, but they too were not spared by the locals. On the other hand the pradhan of Jadrangal panchayat, Mr Rakesh Kumar, and the president of the Bazar Committee, Mr Satish Walia, alleged that the manner in which the serais were being run was adding to the filth and pollution in the area. They demanded that steps be taken to regulate the running of these serais. Dur to Shravan Ashtmi, there is a rush of pilgrims in Chamunda these days. The ASP, Mr Venugopal,
said the police was investigating the matter and a case
had yet be registered. The two youths from Fazilka, who
received injuries, have been sent for a medical
examination and the police has been deployed in Chamunda. |
Special train to promote tourism
in Kangra valley DHARAMSALA, July 31 — In order to boost tourism in the Kangra valley, Northern Railway will soon introduce a special train on the lines of Shatabdi Express between Pathankot and Palampur. A team of senior railway officials from the Ferozepur Division visited Kangra to discuss the matter with the district administration and those involved in the tourism industry. The Divisional Manager, Mr N.K. Goel, personally met some of the local hoteliers and travel agents to assess the feasibility of the proposal. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Sushil Negi, said that the new train would cover a distance between Pathankot and Palampur in three hours, with only few halts. "With the train providing a much faster and comfortable journey, the tourism will get a big boost", he added. The train fare for this route is much lesser than the bus charges, which is likely to make it even more popular. After assessing the feasibility of the special train, the Northern Railway authorities are planning to start a luxury train on the Pathankot-Palampur route. A sum of Rs 1.50 crore will be incurred on starting the new special train. The estimate for making the present railway line, a broad gauge one, is also being prepared. The railway officials were, however, apprehensive whether there would be an assured rail traffic on this route throughout the year. There will be eight bogeys, with a capacity of 60 persons each in the new train. The District Tourism
Officer, Mr R.S. Rana, said that the special train would
give a boost to tourism in the Kulu-Manali,
Chamba-Dalhousie and Kangra region. |
HP Engineers' strike ends SHIMLA, July 31 — The work-to-rule strike of the HPSEB, Employees Union and the Project Engineers Association was withdrawn today. Mr Chander Singh Mandayal, general secretary of the HPSEB Employees Union, and Mr Ravi Uppal, general secretary, HPSEB Project Engineers Association, said the protest had been called off following a categorical assurance by Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal that their "genuine" demands would be taken up with the Centre. The Chief Minister
reportedly held a telephonic talk with the Union Minister
of Power on the matter, who assured him of an early
favourable settlement. |
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