H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

Fiscal crisis handled properly: CM
SHIMLA, March 8 — The Himachal Assembly today passed the motion of thanks on Governor's Address rejecting all amendments moved by the Congress.

Excise duty on IMFL cut
SHIMLA, March 8 — Reduction in excise duty and export duty enhancement of slae tax on Indian made foreign liquor and country liquor and incentives to fruit-based wineries are the main features of the new excise policy of Himachal Government which also proposes to close down 163 liquor vends and open 83 new ones in the next financial year.

Rohtang may be opened by mid-May
SHIMLA, March 8 — The Border Roads Organisation has launched a four-pronged strategy to clear the snow from the strategic Manali-Leh road and reopen it by mid-May. Four teams of men and machines have been deployed to clear the thick layer of snow from the highway. The road played a key role during the Kargil conflict with Pakistan when it played a crucial role for carrying Army supplies while the Srinagar-Leh road was under constant artillery attack by the enemy.

Fire Brigade office housed in shops
HAMIRPUR, March 8 — The Fire Brigade office here is without its on building. It is located on the Hamirpur-Palampur highway, just a stone's throw away from the Mini Secretariat here in three shops.

Woman's body found buried in forest
SOLAN, March 8 — The police recovered a body, subsequently identified as that of a 40 years old woman, Ram Asri of Shamdowal village, from a secluded spot in the nearby forests yesterday.

Fiscal crisis handled properly: CM
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, March 8 — The Himachal Assembly today passed the motion of thanks on Governor's Address rejecting all amendments moved by the Congress.

Replying to the debate on the motion, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, refuted the Congress charge that financial health of the state had worsened over the past two years and asserted that his government had handled the "dismal situation" quite effectively, to not only maintain the pace of development but also clear the liabilities of over Rs 500 crore handed down by the previous regime. He said besides releasing the outstanding amount of Rs 110 crore to the Nathpa Jhakri Power Corporation, it had also cleared the unpaid electricity bills of the Irrigation and Public Health Department amounting to Rs 60 crore. The arrears of salaries and pensions totalling Rs 290 crore were also paid. It was also paying over Rs 800 crore as interest on loans raised during the Congress rule.

He said the government could tackle the crisis largely due to the special assistance of Rs 700 crore given by the Centre. It was strange that the party which left the finances of the state in a mess was asking for a White Paper on the utilisation of the Central assistance. The state's total Budget increased from Rs 3400 crore last year to Rs 4700 crore this year. Whereas the income increased only by Rs 140 crore. The rest was managed through Central assistance as by raising loans.

Mr Dhumal reiterated that the state was in no position to find a permanent solution to the financial crisis. It could be tackled only if the Central gave a handsome package or an agency like the World Bank provided loan for executing various projects.

His government had to raise loans but unlike the previous regime it did so in a transparent manner and paid negligible service charges. While Congress Government paid Rs 13.69 crore as service charge on a loan of Rs 913 crore, his government raised Rs 450 crore paying only Rs 61 lakh as service charge.

The fact that the financial crisis had not been allowed to affect the pace of development was clear from the fact that the size of the annual plan had increased from Rs 1220 crore to Rs 1660 crore over the past two years. This was achieved by forcing stringent economy measures which cut down the non-plan expenditure by 30 per cent.

Referring to the slogan "pracharak wapas jao" raised against the Governor by the Congress on the opening day of the session, Mr Dhumal said Mr Vishnu Kant Shastri who remained Professor in Calcutta University for 41 years, was an intellectual and academician of the highest rank and the Congress had not acted in a dignified manner. If the President of India, Mr K.R. Narayanan could publicly give his opinion on constitutional amendment, the Governor could also do so. He ridiculed the Congress for opposing review of the Constitution as it had been amended more than 80 times mostly by various Congress governments.

He denied the charge that Panchayati Raj institutions were being deprived of funds and gave details of the amount released over the past three years. The vigilance committees were being set up as per the provisions of the Panchayat Raj Act passed during the Congress rule and there were not parallel pancyayats as alleged by the Opposition.

Referring to the pending pension cases he said the Centre had agreed to sanction 13,672 new cases. However, the government would also look into the genuineness of the 86,839 existing pensioners.

The government had conducted as many as nine helicopter flights to Pangi during January and February and not four as stated by some Congress members.

The issue of allowing import of apples under the Ogl had also been taken up with the Centre and the Union Ministry of Commerce had recommended to the Finance Ministry to increase the import duty to maximum permissible 50 per cent to safeguard the interests of growers. He said along with surcharge the total duty would go up to 57 per cent which would centainly help discourage imports if it was not possible to delete apple from the OGL list.

Earlier, Congress members staged a walkout when Mr Baldev Sharma of the BJP participating in the debate made some uncharitable remarks, which were expunged by the Chair. Besides Mr Sharma, Kuldeep Kumar, Mrs Asha Kumari and Mr Vipin Parmar also spoke.

Excise duty on IMFL cut
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, March 8 — Reduction in excise duty and export duty enhancement of slae tax on Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) and country liquor and incentives to fruit-based wineries are the main features of the new excise policy of Himachal Government which also proposes to close down 163 liquor vends and open 83 new ones in the next financial year.

Presenting the policy in the Vidhan Sabha today Mr Mohinder Singh PWD Minister who also holds the Excise and Taxation portfolio, said the excise duty had been lowered from Rs 39 to Rs 27 per proof litre on IMFL and from Rs 19 to Rs 10 per proof litre on country liquor.

Simultaneously, the sales tax on both types of liquor had been enhanced to 20 per cent in consonance with the national consensus on uniform taxation. The excise duty on beer, had, however, been marginally enhanced by 50 paise per bottle but at the same time the import fee had been reduced by 75 paise per bottle. Besides all L-14 and 14 A vends would henceforth be allowed to sell IMFL.

He said to encourage local destillaries and bonded warehouses to increase their capacity utilisation and competitiveness in the market, the export duty on IMFL and beer had been reduced by 50 per cent. The export duty on country liquor and rectified spirit and also been reduced substantially.

Similarly, to promote indigenous fruit-based industry, the excise duty on cider and wine had been slashed by 50 per cent and the sales tax on Indian made wine had been reduced from 30 per cent to 8 per cent.

Recognising the importance of hotels and tourism industry in the overall economic development of the state, the fee for bar licences had been reduced and the categorisation of rooms was also to be rationalised. The policy allows the supply of draught beer directly from manufacturer to the bar licence holders on the payment of assessed fee.

The fee for L-1 licence had been increased from Rs 2.25 lakh to Rs 2.50 lakh and the minimum fee for L-1 B (L-1 B) licence had been reduced from Rs 50,000 to Rs 25,000.

The basic quota for country liquor for the year had been enhanced by 15 per cent to 86.50 lakh proof litres.

The policy, he hoped, would help mobilise additional revenue of Rs 11.00 crore from the auction of vends, excise duties, sales tax and other levies on alcohol and other exciseable articles.

Rohtang may be opened by mid-May
From S.P. Sharma
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, March 8 — The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has launched a four-pronged strategy to clear the snow from the strategic Manali-Leh road and reopen it by mid-May.

Four teams of men and machines have been deployed to clear the thick layer of snow from the highway.

The road played a key role during the Kargil conflict with Pakistan when it played a crucial role for carrying Army supplies while the Srinagar-Leh road was under constant artillery attack by the enemy. The Manali-Leh road has now become an alternate route to the frontier areas of Ladakh.

For the first time, sophisticated Austria-made Steyr machines have been deployed to clear the snow. The project is assigned the job of maintaining the 222-km stretch between Manali to Upshi on the 420-km long highway.

The Chief Engineer of the project, Brig B.M. Bakshi, told the TNS that four teams had started clearing snow between Manali and Rohtang, Stingri and Leh. Stingri and Rohtang as well as Stingri and Udaipur. The wok has been divided so that it can begin simultaneously from four sides and the road reopened about two months early. The road is generally reopened around mid-July, except last year when it was cleared in June because of the Kargil conflict.

Brig Bakshi said work was progressing satisfactorily and the 21-km stretch between Manali to Gulaba had been cleared of snow. On the other side, a 35-km stretch between Stingri and Leh had also been cleared.

He said German manufactured Schmidt machines had also been deployed to clear the snow.

He said avalanches were posing a threat to the men engaged in snow clearing. The number of avalanches was higher this time because of late snowfall. The engineers would resort to artificial triggering of avalanches to allow uninterrupted work.

Keeping in view the insurgency in Kashmir, about 50 per cent of the army supplies are expected to be carried through the Manali-Leh-road to the Ladakh area.

In winter, Ladakh gets totally landlord due to snow on the Srinagar-Leh and the Manali-Leh roads.

Brig. Bakshi said the three passes on the Manali Marg-Leh route were covered these days under 14 to 16 ft. of snow. These include the Rohtang pass (13,000 ft) and the Baralacha-La (16,600 ft). All this snow shall have to be cut to reach the road. Pole markings are made before the onset of winter to identify the road.

The Srinagar-Leh road passes through the Zojila.

He pointed out that as compared to the past two years, Rohtang had a heavier snowfall this time. Unpredictable weather was interrupting snow-clearing operation. It was snowing almost every day in the high altitudes.

Brig. Bakshi said reinstallation of bridges would be speeded up this time as instead of delaunching them, only their decking was removed before the road closure.

He expected that by the tourist season begins, snow would be cleared up to Marhi.

Fire Brigade office housed in shops
From Our Correspondent

HAMIRPUR, March 8 — The Fire Brigade office here is without its on building. It is located on the Hamirpur-Palampur highway, just a stone's throw away from the Mini Secretariat here in three shops.

The sub Fire Brigade office was set up here on April 18, 1987 and is being run by two Deputy Fire Officers, three Chief Firemen, fight firemen and six drivers. Besides, three Chief Firemen, eight firemen and one driver are on deputation from the Department of Home Guards, Himachal Pradesh. There is no full-fledged Fire Officer posted here.

In the absence of its own building, its vehicles including three fire tenders and a fire extinguishing jeep is parked in an open area outside the sub jail here. The state government has sanctioned five kanals for the proposed building of the Fire Brigade at Hathli Khad near the local Police Lines but no funds had so far been sanctioned for the construction of the building.

According to Mr Rakesh Kumar, Deputy Fire Officer, 1999 was one of worst years as far as fires were concerned. In all, 231 fire incidents were reported in the district during the last year out of which 162 were forest fires.

He was, however, sore to point out that the Fire Brigade staff had to work without the facilities of fire hydrants not only in rural areas of the district but also in Hamirpur town. There are only four fire hydrants in Hamirpur town and their condition is deplorable. Only one of them works but there is no pressure of water in that too. He wants over 40 fire hydrants in the town.

The Fire Brigade personnel fetech water from nearby khuds. During last summer season, entire Fire Brigade staff rendered 24 hour duties and creating a new records he said.

People of the district are all praise for the dedication of the Fire Brigade staff. They want sanctioning of more staff and funds to upgrade the office to district level.

Woman's body found buried in forest
From Our Correspondent

SOLAN, March 8 — The police recovered a body, subsequently identified as that of a 40 years old woman, Ram Asri of Shamdowal village, from a secluded spot in the nearby forests yesterday.

The body, which bore several injuries of the type normally caused by sharp edged weapons, was found burid under a layer of freshly dug earth.

The S.P., Mr Rakesh Aggarwal told newspersons here today that as per investigations conducted so far, the deceased Ram Asri, accompanied by a fellow villager, Shiksha Devi had gone to fetch fodder from the forests at about 8 a.m. on Monday but Shiksha Devi returned home alone in the afternoon.

Ram Asri's family started searching for her when she did not return home till late in the evening. The case was brought to the notice of the police by Ms Chameli Devi, a ward member of the Nalagarh civic body yesterday.

Upon interrogation, Shiksha Devi said two persons had grabbed of Ram Asri while the two of them were cutting grass in the forest. She said she herself fled and managed to reach home safely. The lead provided by Shiksha Devi finally lead to the recovery of the body.

Following this, the husband of the deceased, Man Singh lodged an FIR with the Nalagarh police who registered cases under Section 302 and 201 IPC. Shiksha Devi was formally arrested today. The motive of the murder is not known.

Plea to provide security
From Our Correspondent

JAWALAMUKHI, March 8 —Swami Krishna Nand, President of the All-India Hindu Maha Sangh and founder of Shri Naina Devi Gufa, has urged the state government to provide security around the ‘gufa’ as he fears threat to his life.

He said even a constable, who was on duty for the past three years, was withdrawn by the then SP, Mr Anurag Garg, in August 1999.He said he had met Mr T R Mahajan, DGP, Himachal, who ordered the Bilaspur police to provide security immediately, but no security had been provided so far.