P R A D E S H
Sunday, March 28, 1999
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H I M A C H A L P R A D E S H |
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Sunday, March 28, 1999 |
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Centre's notice to HP
Government State
BJP chief assails Cong men |
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Govt 'neglecting'
minorities Non-gazetted
panel chief opposes govt move DoT
plan to link JK, HP border areas |
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Violation of forest law SHIMLA, March 27 — The populist decision of the Dhumal government to transfer ownership rights of trees standing on private lands to the individual owners has received a set back with the Union Ministry of Environment declaring the step as violative of the Forest Conservation Act. The Chandigarh-based regional office of the Environment Ministry has declared the step of the BJP-HVC combine government as contrary to the Forest Conservation Act within 10 days of the state government issuing a notification to confer ownership of the trees to landowners. The notification was issued by the state government on March 11. The Environment Ministry yesterday served a notice to the state government and also to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Mr S.K. Pandey, seeking an explanation on the decision which was taken without prior permission of the Centre. They have been asked to reply within 30 days failing which prosecution would be initiated against them under the Forest Conservation Act. It is estimated that over 35 lakh green trees in Kangra, Hamirpur and Una districts might face the axe on the basis of the decision of the state government which had, however, made it clear that no felling would be allowed without proper permission. The officers concerned are tight-lipped over the development because of the political implications. However, they indicate that political bosses hurried through the matter without obtaining prior permission of the Centre. The Supreme Court had also ordered that all wastelands in the country should be treated as protected forests. The peculiar position of the land owners having no right over the trees standing thereon was given the nomenclature of "khudro darakhtan malkiyat sarkar" far back in 1919 during the British regime when entries as such were made in the revenue records. It relates to trees grown spontaneously on the land. The Revenue Minister, Mr Rajan Sushant, when contacted claimed that the government had not violated the Forest Conservation Act by issuing the notification. Only the entries in the revenue record would be transferred to individual land owners who would continue to be governed by the forest laws. No change was made on the nature of the land. Interestingly, it is learnt that the state government did not bother to respond to the two notices which were reportedly earlier sent by the Environment Ministry seeking information regarding the much publicised scheme which was mooted soon after the Dhumal government came to power. Certain officers claimed that transfer of entries in the revenue records was within the competence of the state government. The previous Congress government had also initiated a move to remove the anomaly under which the land owners of only three districts were the sufferers whereas in other areas people enjoyed the rights over the trees standing on their lands. Soon after coming to power, the BJP-HVC combine government set up a committee headed by the Revenue Minister to find a way out to remove the anomaly and also meet the election manifesto of the BJP. The notification of the
government came on the basis of the recommendations of
the committee reportedly ignoring the objections pointed
out by the forest officials. |
State BJP chief assails Cong men SHIMLA, March 27 — Mr Suresh Chandel, president of the state BJP, yesterday said that Congress leaders who had been unnerved by the stability of Dhumal government, were spreading rumours that the government may collapse to boost the sagging morale of Congressmen. Reacting sharply to a statement of Mr Virbhadra Singh, leader of the Congress legislative group, that coalition's one-year rule was an "unmitigated disaster", he said loss of political power had unsettled the Congressmen who were turning a blind eye to all-round development taking place in every nook and corner of the state. Mr Chandel said that successive defeats in the assembly and Parliament, particularly the personal defeat of Mr Virbhadra Singh in Mandi, had unsettled the party and its leaders were yet to recover from the rude shock of those electoral defeats. The BJP chief claimed that
the coalition government had turned every failure of
Virbhadra government into a success. He cited a few
instances like the 300 crore special economic package by
Prime Minister Vajpayee, grant of recognition to Tanda
Medical College and Dental College, Shimla; signing of
agreement for the construction of Parbati project,
extension of broad-gauge line up to Parwanoo, extending
ownership of Khudrao Drakhtan (self-grown trees) to the
owners of private lands, restarting of air service to
Shimla-Kulu stopped during the Virbhadra regime and the
second phase of Chamera project, work on which would
start next month. |
Bus stand project in limbo JAWALAMUKHI: Bureaucratic redtapism and political inertia have led to avoidable delay in the execution of the multi-crore project for a modern bus stand here. The project was approved by the state government in 1992 and land was acquired for it. Since the then adviser to the Governor, Mr P.P. Srivastva, took keen a interest in the town's development sufficient funds were earmarked for the project. The foundation stone was laid in 1993 by Ms Manisha Shridhar, the then Deputy Commissioner, Kangra. It was announced that the bus stand would be completed within two years. So long as President's rule was in force, special attention was paid for the completion of this project. Land was levelled and the old bus stand shifted to the new site without providing any facility for passengers. The old primary school building was also demolished and the school shifted to another place. The building and site development plan were approved immediately. A retiring room, a cloak room and a guest house along with a green belt on one side were planned for the bus stand. The then Adviser, announced that the bus stand would be the biggest and one of the most modern in the state. As per the blueprint of the project prepared by the government, the multi-storey building was to have a basement parking for buses, cars and scooters. The upper two storeys would be utilised the HRTC offices, a bank and a guest house. Another important feature of this project was a shopping complex with 100 shops which would be rented out of generate income for the bus stand's maintenance. In 1992-93, during central rule in the state, more than Rs 6 lakh was spent on development of the site, demolition of old school building and levelling the ground. Besides Rs 16 lakh was also spent by the state government to purchase a portion of the bus stand for the block samiti office. At that time, the land was in the possession of the Dehra block samiti. A dispute over the possession was solved by the state government by purchasing the land from the block samiti. But after the change of government, the succeeding Congress Government virtually closed down this project and failed to provide funds, despite the local legislator, Mr Kewal Singh Pathania, being a minister. However, in 1995, the then Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, visited Jawalamukhi and announced that work on the bus stand would be speeded up. The Public Works Department was authorised to construct the bus stand as soon as possible. Unfortunately, this step failed to yield any fruitful result in the absence of funds. The state government provided only Rs 7 lakh for the multi-crore project. As soon as funds were exhausted the construction of bus stand was left incomplete. Even metalling of the bus stand compound could not be completed. At a present, the compound is open leading to the accumulation of dust, which keeps visitors away. Families living in the vicinity of the bus stand find it difficult to open their doors and windows owing to pollution. The PWD, which has been entrusted with the execution of this project, needs more than Rs 4 lakh for levelling and metalling the compound. Besides, another Rs 10 lakh is required for putting up a boundary wall around the bus stand. At present a small portion of the bus stand is being used for parking buses and the bulk of it lies vacant since it has not been levelled. The portion is still used by the local Nagar Panchayat for parking of light vehicles and thousands of rupees collected monthly by the authority but nobody bothers to improve things. Being the main terminal,
thousands of passenger pass through Jawalamukhi to board
buses for various destinations in Himachal and outside
everyday. In the rainy season, the bus stand turns into a
pool, which makes it difficult for passengers to reach
booking windows. |
Govt 'neglecting' minorities NURPUR, March 27 — The Himachal Pradesh Muslim Development Council (MDC) has charged the P.K. Dhumal government with ignoring minorities in the state. Mr K.D. Himachali, President of the council, talking to newspersons here today said that the government had been taking anti-minorities decisions. All minorities' welfare programmes launched by the previous Virbhadra Singh government had come to a halt during the regime of the present government. He alleged that the State Minorities Finance and Development Corporation, the State Haz Committee and the Gujjar Welfare Board had become defunct owing to the "apathy" of the Dhumal government. He said the state
government had failed to raise the long-standing issue of
according tribal status to the Gaddis and Gujjars of the
merged areas with the Union Government. |
Non-gazetted panel chief
opposes govt move SHIMLA, March 27 — Mr Gopal Dass Verma, president of the Non-Gazetted Services Federation, has opposed the move to fill the posts of fire officer through the state public service commission. In a statement here yesterday he said the decision would affect the promotional avenues of 600 employees of the state fire services. He said the previous Congress regime had refused to fill the post of Chief Fire Officer through the commission. He said the government had
also not fully implemented the decision to open a fire
station at Kangra and it had only deputed ad hoc staff at
the station. |
DoT plan to link JK, HP border
areas CHAMBA, March 27 — The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has drawn a plan to link border areas of the district to the adjoining border areas of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) by satellite system with a view to strengthening the communication network in the border belt through alpine regions of the state in the near future. This was stated by Mr O.P. Sikka, General Manager, Telecom, Dharamsala, while presiding over a meeting of the telecom advisory committee held at Dharamsala yesterday. He said the border belts included Tissa, Bhanjraru, Bairagarh, Devikothi, Bhandal, Kihar and Salooni which were proposed to be linked by satellite. This would help the administration and the residents to deal with the prevailing disturbed conditions on the border areas. Mr Sikka disclosed that
the Union Telecom Ministry had recently decided to
abandon the licence fee of Rs 10,000 per annum deposited
with the DoT before the use of fax facility was availed
by the STD PCO holders on commercial basis with a view to
extend this facility to a larger number of people. |
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