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| Wednesday, February
7, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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2001 ‘cross drainage year’ in
HP Mahseer faces extinction Cong charges of corruption ‘baseless’ No check on unplanned
construction Admn silent as
loudspeakers blow |
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Goswami: take steps to deal
with drought Kol dam to uproot 800
families
3 tribesmen held for killing wild boar
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2001 ‘cross drainage year’ in
HP HAMIRPUR, Feb 6 — The Himachal Pradesh Government has decided to observe 2001 as “cross drainage year.” While road construction would continue, the cross drainage work would also be taken on a war-footing. The HP Chief Minister, Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal, said this while addressing a conference of engineers of the Public Works Department here today. Professor Dhumal said the road network in the state had suffered much for want of cross drainage facility. The Chief Minister asked the engineers to develop new techniques for the upkeep of old roads and the construction of new ones. He said the main aim of the state government was to link villages with pucca roads by 2003. He stressed the need for holding of such conferences in all parts of the state. He announced that priority for road construction would be given at all such places where the local people would provide land without any disputes. He said no such land where a minor dispute existed would be taken for the road construction. He said it was the duty of the local people to ensure that they settled their own disputes, if any, on their own before handing over the site to the government for road construction. The Chief Minister said road conditions were good in the state as compared to other parts of India. The government was doing its best to maintain old roads and to construct new ones. He appreciated the work of the Public Works Department for their role in constructing roads in the interiors and inaccessible areas of the state. He added, that the government would honour good workers but would not hesitate to punish those shirking work. He announced that the persons inventing new techniques in the department would be given a prize of Rs 25,000. He also announced two prizes of Rs 25,000 each to two junior engineers of the state who would complete their works in time. He said that best junior engineer in each circle would get a prize of Rs 15,000 and Rs 5000 at divisional level. Similarly, any engineer whose paper will be published in any international paper will be get a prize of Rs 50,000 and for the national-level publication he would get Rs 25,000 from the state government. He said the best mason would also get a prize of Rs 15,000 at the divisional level. Professor Dhumal said complete transparency would be maintained in the road construction and allied works in the state. The people of the local areas would be responsible for the upkeep of their roads. The Chief Minister lashed out at the Congress leaders for trying to mislead the people of the state regarding development. He announced that the Engineer-in-Chief would be given the status of the Commissioner in future. Mr S.K. Sood, Secretary-cum Commissioner, Public Works Department, stressed the need for changes in the lifestyle of the people and the working of the department. Mr S.S. Juneja, Engineer-in-Chief of the PWD also addressed the gathering. |
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Mahseer faces extinction DHARAMSALA, Feb 6 — Mahseer, rated as one of the best game fish in the world, is today an endangered species, undergoing slow extinction, as the construction of dams, has further threatened its survival. Expressing concern over the lackadaisical approach of the state government, the Himachal Angling Association has demanded that the Rs 4 crore Mahaseer Fish Farm, to be set up at Sidhpur, near Sarkaghat, may be examined afresh, at the highest level, so that the basic issue be looked into seriously, before any financial allocation is made. The secretary general of the association, Mr K.B. Ralhan, said since its inception in 1978, their association, had been pressing upon the State Fisheries Department, to evolve a technology for the controlled breeding of golden Mahseer, which is the native of the Sutlej and the Beas and replenish the dwindling stock of the fish. Mr Ralhan, said Mahseer breeders raised in farm ponds from fingerlings collected from the river did not become gravid and mature to enable them to be stripped for fertilisation and incubation of the eggs in the hatchery. “As long as this handicap is not overcome all claims of the government to solve the problem of production of seed of this fish, by constructing a farm, cannot be believed” he opined. He added that crores of rupees had been spent to develop this technology, under different projects, over the past two decades, but with little success. Mr Ralhan regretted that in the absence of any aqua engineering expert to handle the fish project, the site earmarked for the project had been declared unsuitable by the PWD as it was thought to be susceptible to floods. The members of the association regretted that the protection, propagation and development of fisheries, seemed to be least on the mind of the government as all suggestions given by the Angling Association, had simply been gathering dust. They said proper technology was required to raise breeders in farm ponds which become mature and gravid for egg-taking and develop a suitable design of farm ponds for proper rearing of the progeny. They stressed that there was a need to develop suitable designs of fish ladders for free migration of fish to overcome the barriers being constructed for hydel power generation and make the provision for such fish ladders and fish passes compulsory while constructing dams. Moreover, the fish ladders available in Punjab and UP, were for salmon design and they serve as death traps for the indigenous fish. |
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Cong charges of corruption ‘baseless’ SHIMLA, Feb 6 — Four BJP ministers have ridiculed the statements of Mrs Vidya Stokes, the Himachal PCC chief and Mr Virbhadra Singh, the Congress Legislature Party leader, accusing the Dhumal government of “corruption and
favouritism” in the matter of recruitment and said that the Congress leaders were making such baseless allegations to divert the attention of the people from the party’s humiliating defeat in the recent panchayat polls. The ministers, Mr Narinder
Bragta, Mr Karan Singh, Mr Mohan Lal and Mr Praveen Sharma, in a joint statement here yesterday said the fact was that corruption was rampant during the Congress regime as evident from the inquiry reports of the Harsh Gupta committee and the Shukla committee which revealed that 2090 persons were appointed in gross violation of rules and procedures in various departments. In the Police Departments a large number of police personnels were transferred from Shimla district to other districts to create a large number of vacancies and recruitments made to fill the posts, which deprived youths of other districts of employment opportunities. Similarly, a special audit of the accounts of the Agro Packaging India Ltd. had pointed out a number of irregularities which exposed the deeds of previous Congress government. Similar was the position in respect of various other departments, the CBI was also looking into the complaints filed against former Chief Minister, Virbhadra Singh into alleged charges of corruption. Referring to the action taken on the charge sheet submitted by the Congress, the ministers said that a number of charge sheets were given by the BJP, since 1988 while the Congress was in power but no action was taken on them. The ministers held previous Congress governments responsible for the perennial financial crisis plaguing the state and said that it was Mr Virbhadra Singh who had concealed the real deficit before the 9th Finance Commission as a result of which state had to suffer. They said that the previous Congress government had opened a number of health and education institutions in the state without any provision of staff and Budget on the eve of election and present government had to spend crores of rupees to make these functional. They said that the interest liabilities of the state had gone up from Rs 455.71 crore in 1997-98 to 1050 crore during current year because of indiscriminate loans raised by the Congress government. The salary bill of the state which was Rs 987.79 crore, had also shot up to Rs 1500 crore over this period. The pension liabilities had gone up from Rs 161 crore to Rs 460 crore. The ministers said that the present government had speeded up pace of development in the state by arranging resources and including a special central assistance of Rs 700 crore in a period of two years, besides project specific assistance of crores of rupees, which was a record. They took Mr Virbhadra Singh to task for accusing the present government of selling of interests of the state in assigning hydel projects and added that having been failed to exploit the immense hydel potential of the state. The former Chief Minister should appreciate that the present government had started work on hydel projects having generation capacity of 6100 mw including 2051 mw Parbati hydel project which had been hanging fire for the past so many years. They said that the development in other sectors had also been speeded up. A record 1664 km roads had been constructed in the state during last three years as against 19000 km during the past 50 years. The ministers advised the Congress leaders to set their house in order first instead of giving misleading statements. |
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No check on unplanned
construction PALAMPUR, Feb 6 — Despite the fact that this town falls in zone five of the earthquake prone areas of the country, the haphazard and unplanned construction of residential houses, commercial complexes and other buildings is on the increase. To regulate the construction activities the state government has also extended the limit of Town and Country Planning Department to this town.
Hundreds of multi-storeyed houses and commercial complexes have come up here without prior approval of the town and country planning authorities in past few years. It seems that there is none to check such illegal construction which is extending invitation for a major disaster like Gujarat. Even in municipal areas of the town dozens of shops and other buildings are under construction, violating all norms fixed under the town and country planning Act. A senior officer of the state Public Works Department said the buildings constructed in past or which were under construction had not been following the guidelines laid down by experts of the Department of Seismology of Roorkee University who had recommended earthquake proof construction for entire Dhaulardhar ranges which fall in zone five. The state government had announced that it would follow measures suggested by experts and would encourage earthquake proof construction. Later these experts also imparted training to engineers of the state government in this regard. Special workshops were also organised at Shimla and Dharamsala which were attended by Chief Engineers and other senior officers of the state government. Meanwhile, the Palampur Municipal Council had served a legal notice on two private cellular telephone companies to remove their towers which were constructed without its approval. Both the companies have raised their huge towers on private buildings which could collapse at any time since these structures were not in position to bear load of these towers. It is learnt that Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, Mr R.C. Kapil, has taken serious note of the haphazard and illegal construction of these towers. He had directed the executive officer of the municipal council to deal strictly with defaulters. |
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Admn silent as
loudspeakers blow UNA, Feb 6 — Unauthorised use of loudspeakers in the town on religious functions and on marriages is causing great resentment among students and their parents. Most of the time loudspeakers are used in violation of rules and without permission. According to rules, loudspeaker horns must not be placed outside but nobody bothers about rules. Many parents voiced their problem keeping in view the approaching final examinations. A local doctor said his nursing home was in the vicinity of a marriage palace where loudspeaker horns were put up in the direction of the road which disturbed not only patients but students as well. Loudspeaker’s use continued till late midnight, he added. The police and district administration have failed to check misuse of loudspeaker. No action has been taken even as the offence is cognigable which means police can take action without any complaint of its own. |
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Goswami: take steps to deal
with drought SHIMLA, Feb 6 — Mr A.K. Goswami, Chief Secretary, has stressed on the need to gear up the field agencies to take up immediate relief measures to deal with situation arising out of drought in the state. Reviewing the situation in the state the Chief Secretary said long-term action plans should be formulated to tackle the situation. He directed Deputy Commissioners to send fortnightly reports on drought in the field and the assistance being provided. The matter regarding grant of relief by the Government of India will be followed more vigorously, he added. The Animal Husbandry Department should operationalise distribution of 5,000 tonnes of cattle feed allocated by the Government of India free of cost. Mr Goswami asked the Rural Development Department to ensure cleaning up of about 6,000 traditional water sources owned by the individuals and community as a whole, identified by the IPH Department by mobilising welfare agencies. The Director, Welfare, will provide manpower support through non-government organisation and the Health Department will provide disinfectants to ensure that water was safe for drinking. He further informed that IPH Department would augment water supply scheme at Dharamsala by drawing water from Bhagsunag temple and installing 15 new hand pumps. Besides, about 400 hand pumps would be installed in the state and Rs 2.50 crore would be provided to the department. The IPH Department would also energise hand pumps by installing motors pipes at 100 to 150 places, he added. It was decided in the meeting that all construction works should be banned and no new water connections be sanctioned till the situation improved. It was also decided that planning department should take up the matter regarding energising of 40 drilled tubewells for funding with the NABARD on priority. |
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Kol dam to uproot 800
families MANDI, Feb 6 — As many as 800 families of Mandi, Bilaspur and Solan districts which would be affected or displaced by the construction of 800-MW Kol Dam Hydel Project the preliminary work on which has been initiated, are feeling panicky these days when the land acquisition proceedings have been taken up. The agitated people last week stalled the acquisition work, but later allowed it to continue on the assurance of the authorities that the project would usher in prosperity and generate employment in the area. The prime cause of apprehension of the people is the nightmarish experience which the oustees of Bhakra and Pong Dams and other projects underwent over the past four decades. The alleged callous manner in which the BBMB and the three beneficiary states had dealt with the people of Himachal who sacrificed their homes and hearths for the gigantic projects is the root cause which is breeding suspicion among the people who would be affected by the Kol Dam Project the foundation stone of which had been laid by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in June last year. The villagers demand that government should undertake responsibility of their rehabilitation and compensation with assurance of employment to at least one member of each affected family. Villagers also feel that the project authorities are not appearing to be considerate and sympathetic towards the poor who would suffer for the project. They told reporters that the Chief Minister should ensure that the affected persons should not be ditched as had been done in the past.
SOLAN, Feb 6 — Following a tip-off, Forest Department officials raided the shelter of a family of nomadic tribesmen, situated near the Sirsa bridge on the
Nalagarh-Ropar road and arrested three persons, including a young woman on a charge of having unlawfully killed a wild boar from the nearby jungles on Saturday. The arrested persons had been identified as Sardara Singh, Sham Lal and Ms
Roonali. The Divisional Forest Officer, Mr Ajay Shrivastava said that he had long suspected that the nomads were habitual poachers. Accordingly, he had planted an informer in the vicinity of their shelter. He raided their shelter as soon as he received information that the family of three arrested persons had trapped a wild boar by using an iron gadget locally called “karakkee” on Friday night. The “karakkee” is the kind of gadget that is laid on the route normally taken by wild animals for fixed destinations like a water source. |
New OSD to
HP CM SHIMLA, Feb 6 — Mr Karam Vir Verma, chairman of the state Sales Tax Tribunal, has been appointed officer on special duty in the Chief Minister’s secretariat.
Mr Verma replaces Mr Onkar Thakur, who had resigned in the wake of revolt by six Shanta loyalists against Mr
P.K. Dhumal, Chief Minister, two months ago.
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