NJPC stir may spread to engineers
SHIMLA, March 1 — The Himachal Power Engineers Association has expressed apprehension that the prestigious Nathpa Jhakri project might not be commissioned even by the revised deadline of 2001 if the management of NJPC failed to resolve the issues concerning employees and engineers of the state power board, currently on secondment with the corporation.

Biggest liquor haul in HP
SHIMLA, March 1 — The state excise authorities have made the biggest ever haul of illicit liquor, comprising 24,406 bottles of whisky and beer from Kala Amb.

Govt bows to pressure
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, March 1 — The BJP-HVC combine government of Mr P.K. Dhumal seems to have succumbed to the pressure of the officialdom by not curtailing the fleet of vehicles which has become a burden on the exchequer of the cash stripped state.

The issue reportedly came up for discussion during the recent meeting of the Cabinet when the government virtually gave in to the pressure of the bureaucracy.

The Cabinet is learnt to have ordered a cut of 16 vehicles in various departments against the proposal for reducing the fleet strength by 34. None of the major departments has been touched.

Soon after coming to power, the BJP government had set up a high-level committee to cut the fleet size and also recommend measures to rationalise the allotment of vehicles so as to cut expenditure on the account.

Although all officers were ordered to retain only one official vehicle, but this is being observed more in defiance. Many senior bureaucrats and heads of department have refused to surrender their additional vehicles and the departmental work is suffering because of lack of transport.

There were reports that certain senior officers were enjoying the luxury of not only one vehicle from the secretariat, but also additional cars from the boards and corporations under their control.

Sources said the high-level committee consisting of top bureaucrats had taken almost 10 months to submit its half-baked report for checking the misuse of vehicles. Interestingly, nothing had been suggested to check the misuse of vehicles at the higher level.

Nothing had been recommended to cut the fleet strength in the departments of Health, Irrigation, PWD, Police, Excise and Taxation and Tourism.

Moreover, the committee had failed to touch even the boards, corporations and autonomous bodies where the misuse of vehicles was more than other departments. The Cabinet had asked the committee to submit its report in this respect within a week.

The Cabinet is learnt to have axed only the departmental advisers who would no more have an attached vehicle. They would contend with a requisitioned vehicle from the pool whenever they go on tour.

The sources said against the proposal of reducing the fleet strength by 10 in each of the Forests and General Administration Department, the Cabinet ordered a cut of five and six vehicles, respectively. A cut of two vehicles in the Agriculture Department headquarters had been ordered against the proposal of surrendering five vehicles. A cut of seven vehicles was proposed in the Primary Education Department, but the Cabinet allowed the reduction of only two vehicles and one vehicle had been reduced in the Industries Department against the proposal for two.

The extraordinarily large fleet of vehicles in various departments has become a burden on the finances of the state. Efforts of the previous Congress government to check the menace had also proved futile.

Interestingly, while the government itself set up the committee to suggest measures to cut expenditure on vehicles, a brand new fleet of cars was purchased for the ministers who apparently refused to sit in the cars earlier used by the ministers of the previous Congress government.

BJP leaders resign
From Our Correspondent

HAMIRPUR, March 1 — Crisis deepened in the Hamirpur mandal unit of the BJP when a number of party leaders resigned from their posts in protest against the uncooperative attitude of the local MLA and the HP Parliamentary Secretary, Mrs Urmila Thakur. Those who resigned included Mr Lekh Ram Thakur and Mr Sohan Singh, the members of the mandal unit of the party, Mr Mohinder Pal Sharma, the president of the mandal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and many leaders of the Shakti Kendra of Patlander, the home ward of Mrs Thakur.

Insiders told The Tribune here today that the rift surfaced at the Poong khad function on Saturday when local leaders were not allowed to address the function in which the Chief Minister, Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal, was the chief guest. These leaders and workers have, however, expressed their full confidence in the leadership of the Chief Minister.

Interestingly the Hamirpur mandal unit of the party had remained a hot bed of controversies since the last elections when Mr Thakur was given ticket by ignoring the claim of Mr Narendra Thakur, the son of late Mr Jagdev Chand Thakur, a senior party leader and former Transport minister of the state.

Mrs Thakur refused to comment on the new happenings.

Meanwhile, the state leadership of the party is upset over the latest happenings. Since Hamirpur mandal falls in the home district of the Chief Minister, this situation may become a big problem for the party at a time when it is going to observe March 5 as the Black Day. It was on March 5 last year that the Congress formed its government in the state by resorting to questionable means and people from Hamirpur, Una, Mandi and Kangra districts were allegedly manhandled and their vehicles broken.

NGO rebels elect leaders
From Our Correspondent

BILASPUR, March 1 — Mr Ganga Singh Thakur of Shimla was unanimously elected president and Mr Prem Singh Bharmoria secretary-general of HP Non-Gazetted Officers Federation here in Kisan Bhavan on Saturday evening in front of 296 ‘delegates’ and several hundred local employees.

The previous federation president, Mr Gopal Dass Varma had "postponed" the elections to April 21 and 22 instead of February 26 and 27. But many leaders who had already declared that they would contest the election, defied the orders of Mr Varma and organised a so-called ‘general house’ to hold elections.

Mr Ganga Singh Thakur is a supporter of prominent Congress leader and former PWD Minister, Mr J.B.L. Khachi and has been dubbed ‘pro-Congress and pro-Virbhadra’ while Mr Prem Singh Bharmoria is of the RSS cadre and RSS-men supported him for the post.

Mr Sangroli, who is secretary-general of ‘Varma NGO faction’ disappeared from the venue after he was heckled by the audience (most of them supporters of Thakur of Bharmoria). His exit paved the way for the opposing leaders to strike an agreement on polling.

After that everything went smoothly as five vice-presidents were declared unanimously elected while there was a contest for senior vice-president. Mr N.R. Thakur of Nandi was eventually declared elected defeating Ved Prakash by 132 to 91 votes.

Bypass delay causes holdups
From Ravinder K. Sood

PALAMPUR: Road traffic in this important town of Himachal Pradesh has gone from bad to worse over the past few months since the Public Works Department has failed to make the bypass of the town operational. In the absence of any bypass, the narrow Mandi-Pathankot national highway passing through the town has become a major traffic hazard. There has been manifold increase in the number of vehicles in the town but the width of most roads has remained the same as it was 20 years ago. In the peak hours, particularly in the morning and evening, there is always a traffic jam in many parts of the town. The bypass for this town has been under construction for the past 10 years, despite public pressure the PWD had failed to complete it for reasons best known to them.

Palampur town has witnessed all-round development in the past few years. The population of the town has gone up from 5,000 to 30,000. Many new housing colonies have come up in and outside the town but the state government had failed to initiate any new plans for the development of this town. No efforts were made for widening roads and for the construction of parking places, rather old parking places were converted into new markets causing a lot of inconvenience to the common man. At present it has even become difficult to move in the narrow markets of the town. Many times pedestrians are hit by vehicles.

It is a sad state of affairs that lakhs of rupees had been spent on the two proposed bypasses for the town but even now these are not traffic worthy. Senior BJP and Congress leaders hail from this town but none of them has bothered to solve the traffic problems of this town. The road pattern of this town suffers from inadequate and irregular road width, causing traffic bottlenecks and dead-ends. The condition of most roads is deplorable. There is a general complaint that the roads are not repaired in accordance with the specification laid down, which result in early damage.

There is no parking place for the vehicles in the town causing harassment to tourists and other people who come to the town throughout the year. Many times the vehicles are challaned and impounded by the police for wrong parking in the absence of owners as the administration has not specified any parking place in the town. In such situation the traffic police finds a free hand to harass vehicle owners.

Though there is a Municipal Council in the town but it has been facing a lot of difficulties in handling the situation in the absence of adequate funds. In the past no additional funds were allocated to the council for the construction of parking places.

Thakur Balwant Singh, president of Municipal Council, says that over 100 vehicles are added to the town every month, and it was not possible for the council to provide parking places without financial assistance from the state government.

It is alleged that the political parties who ruled the state in past completely ignored the development of this town. A major portion of the budget was always spent on the rural areas. It is irony of the fate that 80 per cent of the town is still outside the municipal limits, crying for the necessities like street lights, metalled roads and cleanliness. No efforts were made to extend the municipal limits of town in past ten years. Haphazard growth of new colonies have been turning the town into slums day by day.

The new BJP Government has assumed the office about 11 months ago but the visit of Chief Minister, Prem Kumar Dhumal is still awaited. Sharp political differences between Chief Minister, Prem Kumar Dhumal and Shanta Kumar have further affected the development of this town because Palampur is the latter's home town.

NJPC stir may spread to engineers
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, March 1 — The Himachal Power Engineers Association has expressed apprehension that the prestigious Nathpa Jhakri project might not be commissioned even by the revised deadline of 2001 if the management of NJPC failed to resolve the issues concerning employees and engineers of the state power board, currently on secondment with the corporation.

Extending its full support to the agitation of seconded employees, the association has threatened that its members working in the NJPC would start a work-to-rule stir from March 16.

It lamented that the issue of equivalence of seconded staff and the direct recruits of NJPC had not been resolved despite the intervention of Mr P.K. Dhumal, the Chief Minister who took up the matter with the Union Energy Minister, Mr P.R. Kumarmanglam.

The issue was almost clinched but subsequent mishandling by the state power board thwarted the final settlement.

Consequently, the seconded staff had been forced to revive their agitation.

In such a situation the cost of the project, which had already shot up from 1600 crores to Rs 7500 crores due to time overruns was likely to increase further as the project might not be completed even by 2003.

Biggest liquor haul in HP
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, March 1 — The state excise authorities have made the biggest ever haul of illicit liquor, comprising 24,406 bottles of whisky and beer from Kala Amb.

The liquor, which was unauthorisedly stocked in a store adjoining the retail outlet, was detected during a surprise raid conducted by a team led by Mr Sekhar Gupta, Additional Excise Taxation Commissioner, four days ago. While no one owned the stock, subsequent investigations by the department revealed that the liquor was manufactured at Gwalior Distilleries, one of the four breweries of Madhya Pradesh, from which the government had suspended supplies in September following reports that liquor was being smuggled into the state unauthorisedly. Besides excise duty, sale tax and permit fee totalling Rs 7.50 lakh had not been paid.

The department had decided to register a case against the liquor contractor and the owner of the building.

A senior officer said that such a huge quantity of liquor could be stocked only by a wholesaler but no such licence had been issued for the area from where the liquor was recovered. He also denied that the registration of case was delayed due to political pressure. Much time was taken in verifying the stock and its owner, he explained.