Opposition fails to pin down govt
SHIMLA, April 15 — It was a smooth sailing for the BJP-HVC coalition during the six-week Budget session of the Himachal Vidhan Sabha as the Opposition Congress failed to pin down the government on any major issue.

Resin tapping turns beneficial
CHAMBA: Of late, the Himachal Pradesh State Forest Corporation, the sole agency for resin tapping in Himachal Pradesh, has switched over to a modern technique called rill method developed by the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun. This method is less injurious to trees and, at the same time, enhances resin production.

Opposition fails to pin down govt
From Rakesh Lohumi
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, April 15 — It was a smooth sailing for the BJP-HVC coalition during the six-week Budget session of the Himachal Vidhan Sabha as the Opposition Congress failed to pin down the government on any major issue.

The three walkouts by the Congress notwithstanding, the session which was expected to be a stormy one, turned out to be a routine affair. The party did raise some inconvenient issues like saffronisation of educational institutions, the killing of a child at Sarkaghat and illicit felling of forest trees, but its attack lacked the sting on the law and order situation the Opposition had to eat a humble pie when Mr P.K. Dhumal, the Chief Minister, rattled of crime figures for the previous four years when the Congress was in power.

The session commenced on a lively note with the Congress staging a walkout on the opening day in protest against the failure of the government in tackling issues like power tariff hike and law and order situation in the Governor's Address. However, there were hardly any fireworks subsequently. The party did stage two more walkouts. The first to express dissatisfaction over the Chief Minister's reply to the Budget debate. The Second over the failure of the government to supply the copy of the new industrial policy to the members after it was laid on the table of the House.

The HVC functioned in complete tandem with the BJP and its leaders refrained from expressing their difference of opinion on certain issues within the House.

While Mr Virbhadra Singh, the Leader of the Opposition, criticised the Governor's Address and the Budget on merits, Mr Sukh Ram, the President of the Himachal Vikas Congress, used the two debates to make political speeches. The HVC supreme lost no opportunity to attack his arch rival, Mr Virbhadra Singh, and the recent Supreme Court judgement on the Kutlehar forest came in handy for the purpose.

Interestingly, it was not Mr Virbhadra Singh, but Mr J.B.L. Khachi, a senior Congress leader, who launched a counter attack on the HVC leader. The rest of the members refrained from indulging in acrimonious exchanges and accusations.

The inexperience of ministers showed up too often and Mr Dhumal had to intervene time and again. He handled difficult situations tactfully and never allowed the Opposition to gain an upper hand.

Apart from Mr Virbhadra Singh, Mr Kaul Singh, Mrs Asha Kumari and Mr Ram Lal were among the more vocal attackers on the government. Mr Jai Kishan, Mr Chander Sen and Mr Babu Ram Mandyal did a good job for the ruling formation.

Besides about a dozen Bills, the House also passed two government resolutions, cutting across party lines the members supported the resolution urging the Centre to grant state's full share of power from the BBMB projects and 12 per cent free power as royalty in all the inter-state projects located in the state. The second resolution sought Scheduled Caste status of the "Tarkhan" community.

The committee system was followed for the second time for scrutinising the Budget proposals. The exercise was carried out by the related departmental committees during the eight-day recess from March 18 to 25.

The state made a beginning toward regulating the functioning of non-banking financial companies by passing a Bill which would empower the government to take action against defaulting companies. The Electricity (Supply) Amendment Bill paving way for appointments of MPs and MLAs as members of the state power board, was also passed during the session in the face of stiff opposition from the Congress which termed it as a retrograde an politically move.

The new industrial policy and transport policy were also tabled in the House. The House also discussed several important issues like the misuse of timber distribution rules and illicit felling of trees and the spectre of drought over the state.

HP to lead in power generation
From Tribune Reporters

RAJGARH (Nahan), April 15 — Presiding over the 51st ‘Himachal Day’ state-level function here today, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal paid tributes to first Chief Minister of the state, Dr Y.S. Parmar, and said it was to pay his respects to the great ‘son of hills’ that the state-level function was being held at Rajgarh, where the late leader was born and brought up.

After unfurling the National Flag and receiving salute from an impressive march past by jawans of the police, the Home Guards and NCC cadets, the Chief Minister addressed a large gathering.

The Chief Minister said the state government would achieve its goal of generating 21,000 MW hydroelectric power and would lead the country in tapping its potential of hydroelectric power generation. He said the state government would involve public, private and joint sectors in this task. He said this would be a giant step towards making Himachal financially self reliant.

The Chief Minister launched the Rs 126 crore "Saraswati bal vidya sankalp yojana" at a nearby village of Miyog. Under the scheme 13,612 new rooms would be built for primary schools throughout state by 2002 AD. He congratulated people of the state for making Himachal the second highest literate state (77 per cent literacy) after Kerala and hoped that Himachal would soon become the highest literate state in the country.

Mr Dhumal announced benefits for classical and vernacular (C&V) teachers w.e.f. April 1, 1999, giving them three special increments to compensate for non-opportunity of promotion as Headmaster.

The Chief Minister also launched the "apni beti apna dhan yojana" to be run by the HP Small Saving Board. Under the scheme 205 prizes worth Rs 3.38 lakh would be given on lucky coupons given to parents who invested a minimum of Rs 6000 per year in the name of their unmarried daughters below 18 years age.

Reiterating his government’s resolve of ensuring speedy and equal development of all areas. Mr Dhumal said special attention had been given to the development of the rural areas thereby strengthening the economy of the farmers. He said support prices of fruits had been enhanced by the government. He said efforts were afoot to bring more area under irrigation. He said the target of bringing one lakh hectare of area under irrigate by 2020 had been fixed for which 5,000 hectare would be provided irrigational facility every year.

Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal said his government had also given special attention to the construction of roads and budget for it had been enhanced from Rs 90 crore to Rs 205 crore within a period of one year.

The Chief Minister said efforts were being made to bring qualitative improvement in education. He said the government had decided to set up a state institute of management and training for which a budget provision of Rs 3 crore had been made this year. He said 10 per cent of the total budget would be spent on education this year.

Paying tributes to Dr Y.S. Parmar, Mr Dhumal said as a mark of respect the government had decided to start "Yashwant gurukul awas yojna" from this year in the state under which combined semi-finished accommodation having a minimum of nine rooms would be constructed in the tribal and difficult areas of the state in high and senior secondary schools.

He said last year the government had introduced the Ambedkar Meritorious Scholarship Scheme in the state in the honour of Dr B.R. Ambedkar.

The Chief Minister said the government was exploring the possibility of setting up a model satellite town near Rajgarh. He also announced the opening of an industrial institute at Rajgarh to enable the students of the area to get technical and professional training.

The Chief Minister sanctioned ultra sound X-Ray machine and ambulance for Civil Hospital, Rajgarh, a senior secondary school at Bharohli and middle schools at Kulath and Ulakh Katoga and primary schools at Kanech and Gagal Shaken. He also sanctioned Rs 5 lakh for the improvement of stadium at Rajgarh.

Mr I.D. Dhiman, Education Minister, Dr Ram Lal Markendey, Minister of State for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Mr Parveen Sharma, Minister of State for Sports and Youth Welfare, Peter F. Walker Canadian High Commissioner, Mr Gangu Ram Musafir, Mr Harshvardhan and Dr Prem Singh all MLAs, Ms Shyama Sharma,Vice-Chairperson, State Planning Board were also present at the function.

Resin tapping turns beneficial
From Balkrishan Prashar

CHAMBA: Of late, the Himachal Pradesh State Forest Corporation, the sole agency for resin tapping in Himachal Pradesh, has switched over to a modern technique called rill method developed by the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun. This method is less injurious to trees and, at the same time, enhances resin production.

Earlier, resin tapping was done by the cup and lip method but as channels were made deeper than permissible limits, it had an adverse effect on the health of trees.

All coniferous trees contain resin but the quantity of resin which is produced by them varies depending on the species. Resin is found in very small tube-like structures called resin ducts. When these ducts are cut, resin comes out. In Himachal Pradesh, resin is extracted from chir pine (Pinus roxbrghie) commonly known as chil. Pine forests are found in the temperate zones of Himachal Pradesh.

According to an official information, the H.P. State Forest Corporation also bought resin obtained from private trees. A huge quantity of resin was recently imported. The imported resin is quite cheap. This had resulted in an adverse situation for the Forest Corporation because production costs have increased due to hike in wages and its sale at lower rates.

The same is the situation with timber. A huge quantity of imported timber is available in the market at low rates as compared to indigenous timber. The imported timber is knot-free and looks neat by which the customer is attracted but they are not aware of the fact that the quality and durability of Indian timber is much better.

Engineers for rollback of electricity Bill
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, April 15 — The Northern India Power Engineers Federation has urged the government to withdraw the Himachal Pradesh Electricity (Supply) Amendment Bill which, it warned would spell disaster for the state electricity board, already under severe criticism for its malfunctioning due to bureaucratic and political interference.

Reacting sharply to the amendment, Mr Suneel Grover, Vice-President of the Federation, said it was shocking that the move to facilitate appointment of members of Parliament and legislators as members and chairperson of the board had come at a time efforts were being made to free the power sector from political and bureaucratic meddling.

He alleged that inclusion of politicians in the management of the board would be in total contradiction to the main objective of the Electricity Regulatory Act and objective of the proposed reforms in the power sector which aimed to provide full autonomy to such sectors.

On the one hand the government was proposing to set up a state electricity regulatory commission to stop the political interference on the other hand it was proposing inclusion of politicians in the board.

He demanded appointment of professionals in the management of the board in accordance with the Act which laid down that the members and the chairman of the board should be experts in administration, finance and power engineering. He alleged that the basic spirit of The Electricity (Supply) Act to provide autonomous status to the board be totally defeated with this amendment.

In case the state government failed to withdraw the Bill immediately the federation would take up the matter with the Union Minister of Power and the President of India and urge them not to give assent to the Bill which has neither in the interest of state for the country, he added.