H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

Shanta reiterates fight against corruption
DHARAMSALA, Aug 5 — While reiterating his fight against corruption, the Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Mr Shanta Kumar, today said if there were charges against ministers in the state government, they should be looked into and appropriate action be taken against the guilty.

Nathpa project fails to withstand flood fury
SHIMLA, Aug 5 — Scientific investigations, meticulous planning and technical expertise, which go into the making of big projects, are of no consequence when mother nature chooses to assert its supremacy. This has been amply demonstrated by the recent flash floods in the Sutlej which caused extensive damage to the prestigious Nathpa-Jhakri project.

Shastri donates Rs 1 lakh
SHIMLA, Aug 5 — The Governor, Mr Vishnu Kant Shastri, has given Rs 1 lakh from his discretionary fund to the Red Cross Society for providing assistance to the flood-affected persons.

Seva Dal to launch stir
SHIMLA, Aug 5 — The state unit of the Congress Seva Dal will launch a ‘jail bharo’ stir to protest against rampant corruption, discrimination and harassment of the Congress workers by the BJP-led government from the third week of October.

Advani to attend Kalchakra
SHIMLA, Aug 5  — Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, Union Home Minister L.K. Advani and Himachal Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal will on August 11 attend the 26th Kalchakra ceremony, which began yesterday at the historic Kei Monastery in the Spiti valley of the state.

ABVP threatens to intensify stir
DHARAMSALA, Aug 5 — The activists of the Akhil Bharitya Vidyarthi Parishad,  today continued their dharna outside the office of the Director, Regional Centre, in support of their demands.

Minor to marry disabled groom
NURPUR, Aug 5 — Fifteen-year-old Pinky studies in class VII at Government Primary School, Danni, near here. She is a brilliant student but is ignorant of the fact that on August 8 she is going to be married to a handicapped person.

Accused gets bail in rape case
SHIMLA, Aug 5 — A Single Bench of the Himachal Pradesh High Court comprising Mr Justice M.R. Verma has granted bail to Hem Raj, an accused in minor’s rape case.

Shanta reiterates fight against corruption
Tribune News Service

DHARAMSALA, Aug 5 — While reiterating his fight against corruption, the Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Mr Shanta Kumar, today said if there were charges against ministers in the state government, they should be looked into and appropriate action be taken against the guilty.

"Even today I reiterate my stand of "zero tolerance" against corruption, which applies to ministers in the state government as well as to all those who are in public life," he emphasised. He assured that in case there were charges against any minister in the state would be looked into.

Taking a dig at the Congress leaders in the state for having misinterpreted his statement, he said they were the ones who needed self introspection as they had misruled the country for the last 40 years.

Mr Shanta Kumar, said there was a misconception about the NDA government that it was focussing more on globalisation, information technology and industry at the cost of the needs of the common man. "In order to keep pace with the other developed nations, we cannot afford to ignore these sectors but at the same time we have introduced a number of welfare schemes for the poor and needy," he clarified.

He disclosed that the "Annapurna" scheme of the government would provide free ration to those who had no dependants, like the old and widows. On the other hand the "Sarvpriya" scheme would provide subsidised ration to the poorest of poor to achieve the dream of a hunger free India. "To provide more relief to the poor, we have introduced 11 new items of daily use, to be sold on a subsidised rate through the 4.50 lakh fair price shops in the country," he disclosed. He added that this scheme would put to additional burden on the Central Government apart from making the fair price shops more viable.

The Union Minister, said with an expected record production of sugar, India would be exporting sugar to other nations. "We hope to export 10 lakh tonnes of sugar, with an indirect subsidy being given to those all owners, who will export it," he said.

Mr Shanta Kumar, said it was not feasible to have a public distribution system for a population of 100 crores and felt the people above the poverty line should not avail these service. The godowns of the Food Corporation of India (FCI), were overflowing with 440 lakh tonnes of stock, and due to this buffer stock there was no storage place for the October produce, he said.

While making an appeal to the people of the state to extend help to these who have been affected by the cloud burst and natural calamity that have hit parts of Himachal Pradesh, he said all the agencies including the Army and the Border Road Organisation (BRO) had been directed to undertake relief measures on a war footing.

Earlier, Mr Shanta Kumar, inaugurated a new Internet C-III node of Ericsson, costing Rs 8,00,000, which would cater to the demands of all the Internet subscribers in the districts of Kangra and Chamba. He disclosed that the Department of Telecom, proposes to take the Internet facility right up to the block level. He assured that the emphasis would not only be on expansion but also on consolidation of existing services.

Nathpa project fails to withstand flood fury
From Rakesh Lohumi
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Aug 5 — Scientific investigations, meticulous planning and technical expertise, which go into the making of big projects, are of no consequence when mother nature chooses to assert its supremacy. This has been amply demonstrated by the recent flash floods in the Sutlej which caused extensive damage to the prestigious Nathpa-Jhakri project.

Normally hydro-electric projects are designed for the highest flood probability of one in 100 years to one in 1000 years. However, keeping in view the turbulent nature of the Sutlej and the fact that most of its catchment area falls in the seismic zone, the design for the Nathpa-Jhakri project was based on flood probability of one in 10,000 years. The highest discharge in the river during such an eventuality was calculated to be 5650 cumecs (cubic metre per second).

Unfortunately, the extra care taken by the technocrats in designing the project did not help as the flood, the probability of which was estimated to be one in 61,000 years, has highlighted the inadequacy of the project even before it was commissioned. The highest discharge during the flood was as high as 6500 cumecs, over 850 cumecs more than the discharge for which the project was designed. Much damage was caused to the various works under execution by the fast flowing water which swept away roads, bridges and even the heavy construction machinery.

While the underground power house, which was inundated, is still under 120 ft of water, the dam site at Nathpa has become inaccessible due to washing away of roads and bridges. The crushing unit at Piwa has been totally damaged and the batching plant located on the right bank is not approachable. The flood water has also clogged with silt the desilting chambers. With the destruction of infrastructure work on the project has virtually come to a standstill.

According to Mr Arun Gupta, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the Nathpa-Jhakri Power Corporation (NJPC), it will take quite some time to resume work and the commissioning of the project may be delayed by at least 15 months. The vital infrastructure, like roads and bridges, will have to be restored first. Besides new machinery will have to be acquired. Since basic construction material like steel and cement cannot be carried to the project area until road links are restored, the concreting of the 27 km head race tunnel can also not be taken up. The excavation of the tunnel was completed only yesterday with the final blast at Rattanpur.

Mr Gupta flew to Jhakri and inspected the damaged works. He said the loss on account of damage to roads and bridges and washing away of machinery was estimated at Rs 150 crore. The loss due to damage to electro-mechanical equipment at the power house would be known only after dewatering of the cavern. Work on the installation of six generating units, worth Rs 240 crore, was in progress when the flood struck.

He said while 20 workers were killed in floods, about 100 escaped from the underground power house before it was inundated. He said while it would take some time to calculate the escalation in cost of the Rs 8,000 crore project, the loss of generation due to delay in completion would be about Rs 2250 crore.

He said that in his opinion, floods of this magnitude could not be caused by a cloudburst. The probability of a river getting blocked by a sliding glacier or a landslip was more. The flood data for the past 40 years reveals that maximum discharge of 3053 cumecs was recorded in 1963 and 2740 cumecs in 1979. The discharge during the recent flood was almost double of these figures.

Shastri donates Rs 1 lakh
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Aug 5 — The Governor, Mr Vishnu Kant Shastri, has given Rs 1 lakh from his discretionary fund to the Red Cross Society for providing assistance to the flood-affected persons.

He presented a cheque to Mr Sheela Dhumal, Chairperson of the State Red Cross Hospital Welfare Branch here today. The Governor also contributed Rs 11,000 towards the Chief Minister’s relief fund.

Mr Shastri called upon the Red Cross workers to visit the flood-affected areas and help the calamity-hit people. He said the government was providing all possible assistance to the affected people but for carrying out restoration and rehabilitation services, voluntary organisations were of utmost importance.

Mr Shastri said the National Red Cross had sent relief material worth Rs 4 lakh, which included 1,000 blankets, clothes, two tonnes of rice, stoves, utencils and other essential commodities. The Red Cross has decided to adopt 75 children who were orphaned due to the floods and it would bring up and provide education, housing, food and clothes to these children till they are 18 years. He also asked the Deputy Commissioners to identify such children and send their names to the Red Cross Society. He said initiatives had also been taken to look after the aged who had been affected by the floods. They would be given shelter in the old age ashrams, he said.

Seva Dal to launch stir
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Aug 5 — The state unit of the Congress Seva Dal will launch a ‘jail bharo’ stir to protest against rampant corruption, discrimination and harassment of the Congress workers by the BJP-led government from the third week of October.

Stating this at a joint press conference here today, Mr Prahlad Yadav, chief organiser of the All-India Congress Seva Dal, Mr Satya Prakash Thakur, President of the Himachal Seva Dal, said they had been forced to launch an agitation due to the indifferent attitude of the government, which had not taken any action on the issues raised by the opposition or the media. They termed the bandh call by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the RSS and other saffron organisations against killings in Kashmir as a farce as they had not said a word about the BJP-led government at the Centre to restore peace in the state. They demanded a judicial inquiry into the killings of Amarnath yatris so that responsibility for the lapse could be fixed.

Mr Yadav said the Seva Dal would organise national level camps at Guwahati, Panchmari and Mount Abu to raise trained cadres.

He alleged that the SAD-BJP government was shielding the alleged killer of Kapil Saluja inside a police station and threatened to start a stir to get them arrested.

Advani to attend Kalchakra

SHIMLA, Aug 5 (PTI) — Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, Union Home Minister L.K. Advani and Himachal Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal will on August 11 attend the 26th Kalchakra ceremony, which began yesterday at the historic Kei Monastery in the Spiti valley of the state.

Thousands of Buddhist pilgrims and devotees are expected to visit the 600-year-old monastery located at an altitude of 12,600 feet to participate in the Kalchakra ritual considered to be an essential part of Vajranayana Buddhism and believed to have been first preached some 2500 years ago by Lord Buddha himself.

The actual ceremonies started on Thursday and the devotees from all over the country and abroad have started converging at Kei Monastery and the rituals and celebrations will continue till August 16.

ABVP threatens to intensify stir
Tribune News Service

DHARAMSALA, Aug 5 — The activists of the Akhil Bharitya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), today continued their dharna outside the office of the Director, Regional Centre, in support of their demands.

The ABVP activists warned if their demands are not accepted by the authorities, they would be forced to give a state-level call for a bandh, intensifying their agitation. The students have been protesting against the fee hike in educational institutions.

Minor to marry disabled groom
From Our Correspondent

NURPUR, Aug 5 — Fifteen-year-old Pinky studies in class VII at Government Primary School, Danni, near here. She is a brilliant student but is ignorant of the fact that on August 8 she is going to be married to a handicapped person. Her father is hell-bent on marrying her notwithstanding the opposition from the local gram panchayat and his relatives. The family is busy making preparations for the marriage.

The family of the girl belongs to the Scheduled Caste. According to Mr Gorkh Ram, Vice-President of the panchayat, when the father of the girl was approached by villagers in this connection he refused to change his decision. Enquiries reveal that the family of the bridegroom is very rich which apparently has lured the girl’s father.

Meanwhile, the local police has been informed in this connection.

Accused gets bail in rape case
From Our Legal Correspondent

SHIMLA, Aug 5 — A Single Bench of the Himachal Pradesh High Court comprising Mr Justice M.R. Verma has granted bail to Hem Raj, an accused in minor’s rape case.

The prosecution contended that about eight months ago the accused had come to their home and raped the girl.

While granting the bail, the judge observed that there could not be any dispute that there had been an inordinate delay in reporting the commission of the crime to the police. This factor must weigh in favour of granting the bail.