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| Thursday, February 1, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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HP to take anti-quake steps Quake to hit tourist inflow HP Govt accused of being anti-labour
Nabard loan for HP projects Petitions filed against MC
poll results No winter capital at
Dharamsala |
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Cong leader elected ZP chief National Defence College team
visits Kangra Lepers seek aid to build houses
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HP to take anti-quake steps SHIMLA, Jan 31 — The Himachal Pradesh Government is considering making quake-resistant features mandatory for all buildings to prevent a Gujarat-like disaster in the hill state, which falls in the active seismic belt. Stating this while formally launching the campaign for beautification of Shimla here today, Mr P.K. Dhumal, the Chief Minister, said since most parts of state were prone to severe earthquakes, necessary safeguards would have to be taken to prevent heavy loss of life and property. He said technology was now available to build quake-resistant structures and all that was needed was to ensure its use on a mass scale. Quake-resistant features were already being incorporated in government buildings in the highly tremor-prone Kangra region. It was high time that private buildings also followed suit. He said the government would come out with suitable legal provisions to ensure this. The Chief Minister said that the government had already made rain water harvesting structures compulsory for all buildings to ensure maximum utilisation of rain water. The country must learn from the experience of Gujarat and take all necessary measures to deal with such situations in future. In this regard, the state government had decided to provide land to the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), which had much expertise in quake relief operations, for setting up a self-equipped centre for taking up immediate relief and rescue measures if and when such a disaster befell the state. Expressing concern over the ongoing environmental degradation, Mr Dhumal said the weather pattern had already changed considerably and even the ‘queen of hills’ had not remained unaffected by it. Since everybody had contributed in disfiguring the beautiful erstwhile summer capital of India, and “we must do our bit in restoring its past glory.” The government, he said, was trying its best to beautify Shimla and provide parking spaces and other facilities for tourists. Earlier, Mr Dhumal unveiled a plaque on which a brief history of the town has been written for the benefit of tourists. Mr H.N. Kashyap, Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation, giving details of the beautification plan said that in the first phase, the areas along the main road from Chhota Shimla to the State Bank of India would be beautified with help of banks, oil companies and other organisations. In the second phase, beautification works would be taken up in every ward. He said efforts were on to ensure proper disposal of municipal waste. A Rs 4.5 crore waste management plant was coming up at Lalpani and an incinerator was also being installed for disposal of medical waste. The officers of the corporation handed over a cheque for Rs 21,000 to Mr Dhumal for the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund and the employees Rs 1.11 lakh. |
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Quake to hit tourist inflow SHIMLA, Jan 31 — The Gujarat earthquake disaster is likely to severely hit the tourism industry in Himachal Pradesh during the ensuing tourist season. The affluent Gujarati community not only accounts for about 30 per cent of the domestic tourist traffic to the state but also constitutes a majority of the high-spending tourists from the state, who start arriving as early as April and the flow peaks in May. The hill state receives maximum visitors from Gujarat during the April-May and September-October period. The hotel industry, particularly in places like Manali, Shimla, Dharamsala and Dalhousie, which have a high bed capacity, is totally dependent on Gujarati tour operators, who have been sending tourists in groups almost round the year. Normally, hotel bookings for the summer season are confirmed during February and March. Hotel staff and travel agents even visit states like Gujarat and Maharashtra for marketing. However, this year the devastating earthquake has thrown everything haywire. With death and destruction everywhere, a visit to a tourist place is the last thing on the minds of the Gujaratis. Moreover, with communication lines completely snapped, there is no possibility of confirmation of bookings even if some people may want to escape to the hills, for a respite from the misery in Gujarat. Mr Dhyan Chand, president of the Himachal Hotel Association, said that ever since the quake struck, the hotel industry has lost contact with the state. “In the prevailing situation, we do not expect any confirmation of bookings and nor have any been received after the disaster”, he said. In fact, for marketing their properties or hotels, members of the association were planning to visit the beleaguered state for lending a helping hand in relief and rehabilitation. He said while the flow of tourists during April-May would be severely affected, the fate of the September-October season would depend on how quickly Gujarat recovers from the disaster. Although the tourism industry has picked up rather well over the past decade, with the flow of tourists shooting up from 19.42 lakh to 43.42 lakh, including 83,000 foreigners, in 1999, the state expected to cross the 50-lakh mark this year after the quake. The figure may come down substantially from last year. Besides the hotel industry, those conducting adventure activities like para-sailing, mountaineering and river rafting will also be hit as Gujaratis not only had the money to spend on these expensive pasttimes, but also had a liking for these. Despite the overall increase in tourist traffic, the tourism industry has been dogged with uncertainty with natural calamities like flash floods and cloudbursts affecting one part or the other of the state during the peak season. In 1995, flash floods struck the Kulu-Manali valley, while in 1997, it was the turn of Rohru and Kinnaur areas. In between, repeated elections to the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha and the Kargil conflict also affected the tourism industry. Now when things had again started looking up, the earthquake has devastated a state that brought in a major part of tourists. In a state where over 1250 hotels, with an aggregate bed capacity of about 30,000 have come up over a short period, every tourist counts. The hoteliers are fervently hoping that the situation in Gujarat normalises over the next six months so that normal tourist traffic resumes in the September-October season. |
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HP Govt accused of being anti-labour DHARAMSALA, Jan 31 — The former president of the PCC and senior Congress leader, Mr Sat Mahajan, today said the state government was adopting anti-labour stance as it was not only resorting to retrenchment but had decided to undertake transfers of daily wage employees also. Mr Mahajan said with a mearge daily wage of Rs 51, it was just not possible for the employees to survive away from home. “Today the BJP Government in Himachal Pradesh stands unmasked as despite promising to increase the daily wage from Rs 51 to Rs 60, it had failed to do so,” he said. Mr Mahajan criticised the government for undertaking retrenchment, especially at a time when the entire state was facing severe drought. He said the promise of the government that daily wage workers who had put in five years of service would be regularised had also not been fulfilled. He added that during the tenure of the Congress, all daily wagers who had put in 10 years of service were automatically regularised. Mr Mahajan said the decision of the government to undertake transfers of daily wagers would only be used as a political instrument to harass people. He further accused the government of trying to oblige their own partymen by deciding to get work done through contractors rather than by the daily wage government employees. Mr Mahajan said all these decisions only reflected that the government was anti-labour as it was taking decisions which were against the interests of such people. SHIMLA, Jan 31 — Nabard has sanctioned a loan of Rs 39.82 crore to the Himachal Government for the construction of 20 roads and 12 bridges projects spread over eight districts of the state. The projects were sanctioned during the recent meeting of the sanctioning Committee on Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) held at Mumbai. So far the bank has sanctioned Rs 391 crore under six phases of the RIDF. Mr A.K. Garg, General Manager, of the bank, said besides roads and bridge projects, which continue to be a major investment under the RIDF, projects relating to construction of primary schools, citizen information centres based on information technology, irrigation and flood control schemes had also been sanctioned. Projects relating to drinking water supply, e-governance, software technology park, rural haat by panchayati raj institution, small projects in decentralised sector under vikas mein jan Sahayog, construction of veterinary hospitals, cattle breed improvement projects of animal husbandry, pasteurized compost making units for promotion of mushroom cultivation and system improvement in power sector had also been proposed by the state government and they were under consideration for sanction. |
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Petitions filed against MC
poll results NURPUR, Jan 31 — Two BJP-supported candidates yesterday filed election petitions against the results of ward No 1 and ward No 9 of the local Municipal Council, elections to which were held last month. Earlier, Mr Parkash Chand, Congress candidate from ward No 8 who had lost to the
BJP candidate, Mr Chandershwar Mahajan, had filed a petition against the poll result. Mr Tilak Raj,
BJP candidate from ward No 1, who had lost to the Congress candidate, Mr Manohar Lal, filed the petition under Section 284 of the Municipal Act, 1994, before the Subdivisional Officer (Civil) against the poll result by alleging that the winning candidate had encroached upon government land and built shops without the approval of the MC. In the other petition filed by Ms Anup Panjolia of ward No 8 who retired from the poll fray in favour of the BJP candidate, Ms Manju Sharma, during the
campaign, it was alleged that her name was misprinted on the ballot paper as Anup Najolia. |
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No winter capital at
Dharamsala SHIMLA, Jan 31 — The Himachal Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, categorically said there was no move to set up a winter capital at Dharamsala. Talking to newspersons here, he said he had been going to the Kangra region on extended tours during winters which was being termed as an annual winter move. Even otherwise he had been extensively touring the state and as such there was nothing special about the winter move. However, a mini secretariat was being built at Dharamsala in which rooms for ministers were also being set apart so that they could function conveniently during tours of the region. He hailed the verdict of the Delhi High Court discharging Mr Sukh Ram, HVC chief, in the corruption case filed by the CBI against him but avoided a reply when asked whether he would be taken back into the ministry. He said a decision would be taken at an appropriate time. Regarding the alleged irregularities in purchases made by the Health Department, he said the government had instituted vigilance inquiries and ordered special audits whenever complaints of irregularities had been received. He said the matter would be taken to its logical conclusion and those responsible for the irregularities would be punished.
Cong leader elected ZP chief SOLAN, Jan 31 — A veteran Congress leader, Mr Amba Dutt Sharma, was today elected Chairman of the zila parishad while a BJP leader, Mr Bhim Dutt, was elected the Vice-Chairman in the fourth meeting of the newly elected body. The earlier three consecutive meetings called for this purpose had to be postponed on one count or the other mainly due to infighting among both the Congress and the BJP groups over the issue of nominations. Even today’s elections were decided by draw of lots after both the Congress and BJP candidates secured eight votes each in the 17-member House with one vote being declared invalid in both cases. The issue of each party’s nominees for the two posts was also decided by draw of lots. While two other Congress members besides Mr Amba Dutt Sharma had actually filed their nominations for the post of chairman, the BJP sorted out the issue at a meeting held before the parishad meeting reportedly by draw of lots which went in favour of Mr Daulat Ram. The two rivals of Mr Amba Dutt Sharma within his own party withdrew their candidature after draw of lots went in favour of Mr Amba Dutt Sharma. Both the contestants for the post of chairman entered the fray claiming solid support of nine members each. However, cross-voting and declaration of one vote as invalid resulted in a tie. The district returning officer, Mr K. Sunjay Murthi, who presided over today’s meeting announced that the election result would be announced after the draw of lots as per the stipulations of the Panchayati Raj Act. The same scenario, emerged after counting of the votes cast for the vice-chairman’s post. The lucky draw favoured BJP candidate Mr Bhim Dutt for this post. Interestingly a woman parishad member, Ms Tara Devi from Jukhari (Nalagarh) was brought in an ambulance for casting her vote for today’s elections. She had given birth to a daughter on Sunday.
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National Defence College team
visits Kangra DHARAMSALA, Jan 31 — A high level delegation of the National Defence College, including officers serving in foreign armies, today held a meeting with senior district officials to apprise themselves of the socio-political scenario and various developmental activities in the state. The 16-member delegation, comprised a number of officers serving in the British, Nepalese, Ghana and Tanzanian armies. The delegation was headed by Maj-Gen R. Subramaniam and included officers from the Army, Air Force and Navy. The delegation was informed about the various development schemes being undertaken in the area and the functioning of the local administration, the blocks and the various panchayati raj institutions. The members of the delegation also interacted with representatives from various NGOs including the Chinmaya Tapovan Trust. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr R.C. Kapil, informed the members that despite 95 per cent of the population of Kangra district in the villages, it had an exceptionally high literacy percentage of 80 per cent. |
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Lepers seek aid to build houses SHIMLA, Jan 31 — Inmates of the Vishal Himachal Lepers Home have urged the government to grant them financial assistance under the Gandhi Kuteer Yozna for building houses. In a memorandum to Mr J.P. Nadda Health Minister, they demanded pension should be raised to Rs 500 as most of them were dependent on pension, earmarking of beds in hospitals so that they could be treated in isolation, free travel facility in buses and the provision of streetlights in the lepers colony. |
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