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Friday,
March 30, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Resolution on power generation tax
rejected Resentment over water tax hike Central relief team visits Kangra Honour pact on power, Dhumal asks
Badal HP Governor
inaugurates fair Need for quake-proof
buildings stressed |
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Probe ordered into ‘monal’s death IT corridors identified Ministers to attend gram sabha meetings 30 primary schools may be
closed Notice to Health Secretary Nalwar fair concludes
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Resolution on power generation tax
rejected Shimla, March 29 The resolution was moved by Mr Kaul Singh (Congress), who said that imposition of the tax would come as a great help to the financially starved state. The Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, said he was already pursuing the matter with the Centre as the President had withheld his assent to the Bill for imposing the tax which was sent during the Congress regime in 1995. The Centre had informed the state government about the rejection of the Bill in October 1997 and a fresh Bill would be drafted after consultations with the Union Energy Ministry. The CLP leader, Mr Virbhadra Singh and the HVC chief, Mr Sukh Ram, said imposing tax was the constitutional right of the state government and took exception to the Energy Ministry raising objections on this account although the earlier Bill was approved by the Finance and Law ministeries. Mr Sukh Ram said an all-party delegation should go and meet the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, on the issue. Mr Dhumal said he had written a detailed letter to the Energy Ministry opposing the move to levy consumption tax on power instead of the generation tax which was already accepted at an earlier meeting. Small states with hydro potential would suffer in case the proposal for levying consumption tax was implemented by reversing the earlier decision. He said it was expected that the state would earn an annual revenue of Rs 202 crore out of the hydro power development cess which has been proposed by the Centre. The Chief Minister said Article 288(2) was included in the Constitution with the intention of helping the small states to raise their resources by levying generation tax. The Rangarajan Committee and the Eleventh Finance Commission had also supported the imposition of generation tax. He denied the allegation of Mr Kaul Singh that he was standing of false prestige on the issue. Earlier during question hour, the Industries Minister, Mr Kishori Lal, said that Messers Harish Chander had appealed to the Environment Ministry to review their decision of not allowing the setting up of their cement factory near Sundernagar in Mandi district. The ministry had set up a two-member committee to make an on-the-spot inspection of the area where it had earlier rejected the proposal of setting up the factory as the area was adjacent to Bandli Wildlife Sanctuary and near the town. The minister was replying to a question tabled by Mr Kaul Singh and Mr Gangu Ram Musafir (Cong) and Mr Tulsi Ram (BJP). Replying to supplementaries, the minister said Messers Vikrant Cements had been selected for setting up a cement factory at Alsindi for which the earlier MoU with the Kedia group had been cancelled. In a written reply to Mr Kaul Singh, Mr Rangila Ram Rao and Mr Singhi Ram (Cong), the Forest Minister informed that a loss of Rs 46.72 lakh was suffered due to forest fires this year and 188 cases were registered by the police in various parts of the state in this connection. The highest number of 48 cases was registered in the Shimla circle followed by 43 in Kulu and 36 in Rampur. |
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Resentment over water tax hike Chamba, March 29 The proposed increase in the water tax from Rs 10 to Rs 40 per month besides abnormal hike in water connection charges and other allied charges for the supply of water had hit the common man in this backward district and the entire state as well, the organisation said. In view of the resentment prevailing in the district over the hike, the state government should withdraw the hike in the larger interest of the people, the organisation demanded. Meanwhile, Mr Yog Raj
Sehgal, spokesman of the Chamba Welfare Association, threatened to launch an agitation if the hike was not withdrawn. |
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Central relief team visits Kangra Dharamsala, March 29 The four-member team from Delhi accompanied by the state Revenue Commissioner and the Deputy Commissioner,
Kangra, visited certain parts of the Changer area which is the worst affected. The authorities have also requested the Centre to provide a part of the amount as immediate relief. According to official sources, the damage to crops in the irrigated area has been assessed at 50 per cent while in other areas it is as high as 75 per cent. The Changer,
Dehra, Jwali, Jaisinghpur, Baroh and Khundian areas are the worst affected. The maximum loss to the tune of Rs 127.12 crore has been in the agriculture sector, while the horticulture sector has suffered a loss of Rs 6.26
crore. Apart from this, the Forest Department has suffered a loss of Rs 52 lakh due to the long dry spell. The Central relief team arrived here today after touring Chamba district. It will be reaching Shimla tomorrow after visiting Mandi district. The Central team comprises Mr Sudhir Kumar, MD, business consortium, Mr Vijay Singh, DC, Horticulture, Dr P.C.
Dass, Joint Commissioner, Animal Husbandry and Dr G.K. Chaudhary, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture. Mr
C.P. Pandey, State Revenue Commissioner, is also accompanying the team. |
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Honour pact on power, Dhumal asks
Badal Shimla, March 29 According to a spokesman for the HPSEB, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has written a letter to the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, seeking his intervention for the early settlement of the issue. Though the project started generating power in August 2000, Himachal Pradesh has not been given its due share of power by the PSEB on the ground that the HPSEB is yet to make arrangements for physical withdrawal. On the contrary, the HPSEB has been insisting that free power share should be allowed to it on the principle of displacement as per the regional energy account procedure in vogue for all constituent states of the northern regional electricity board. The spokesman said the HPSEB had already constructed an inter-state 220 KV Thein-Jassur line from the Ranjit Sagar Dam Project and the same had been back-charged from Jassur since March 26, 2001. Since power generation at the Ranjit Sagar Dam Project had been stopped due to poor water inflow in the reservoir, the transmission line was yet to be charged from the Thein end. The project is expected to restart generation by April 10, through this transmission line it would be possible for the HPSEB to physically start getting power without prejudice to the Himachal Government’s position regarding its share based on the principle of displacement. Himachal was being denied its due share of free power from certain other power projects of Punjab. It was being supplied only a meager ad hoc share of power from the Bhakra, Baira-Siul and other projects. |
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HP Governor
inaugurates fair Sundernagar, March 29 Addressing mediapersons, the Governor said Himachal was rightly known as ‘dev bhumi’, as the people here were hardworking, innocent, and religious. He said fairs reflected the cultural heritage of country and played significant role in uniting the nation. |
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Need for quake-proof
buildings stressed Chamba, March 29 Presiding over a workshop under the public awareness campaign launched by the department here yesterday, the Assistant Commissioner of Chamba, Ms Bhuvneshwari Vohra, said in her keynote address that the entire state of Himachal Pradesh fell in the seismic Zone-V, which was the most sensitive and quake-prone. It also affected Zone-IV (Jammu and Kashmir) and Zone-III (parts of Uttaranchal), she said. She said it was imperative to construct houses and other structures as advised by government housing agencies and top architects keeping in mind natural disasters. She stated that by taking safety measures, the losses caused by natural calamities such as earthquake, flood etc could be minimised. After an interaction between officers, inhabitants of the area and officials of the Himachal Pradesh Town and Country Planning Department, Mr P.P. Raina, Town Planner, Dharamsala region, answered queries put forth by the participants at the workshop. Mr Raina said the planning of any zone was a continuous process and it needed the cooperation of the people to make it a success. He said that to provide better housing conditions with basic amenities like roads, alley-ways, sewerage, drinking water supply, health services etc, the involvement of residents of various localities was essential. For this, Mr Raina said, it was important for everyone to abide by the provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act with a view to avoiding the threat to structures and life due to natural disasters. Earlier, Mr Surinder Pal Dhall, president of the Municipal Council, Chamba, welcomed the officers and participants at the workshop. He also threw light on the present housing scenario in Chamba town and its suburbs. |
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Probe ordered into ‘monal’s death Chamba, March 29 The Conservator of Forests, Chamba circle, has been asked to hold an inquiry and submit his report to the state government forthwith. According to residents of the Mani area the bird was found seriously injured on March 19 in the Chaloonj forest between and officials of the Wildlife Department were informed about it. The officials when contacted maintained that they sent injured monal to Shimla for treatment in a standard packing. But they observed that villagers were late in informing the Wildlife officials and it was difficult to save the bird. They said the autopsy report showed that the bird had died due to grievous wounds caused by predators in the forest. According to official information the monal population (as per the 1996 census) has started increasing. |
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IT corridors identified Shimla, March 29 Disclosing this at a function organised by World Expo and Conventions Management Ltd (Wecom) here today, the Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, said these corridors were proposed to be established between Kalka-Shimla, Shimla-Hamirpur, Dharamsala-Chamba and Dharamsala Jogindernagar. Mr Dhumal said information technology and biotechnology had enormous potential in the state and the state government would provide every possible support for promoting these sectors. The Chief Secretary, said bottlenecks in the promotion of these sectors had been cleared and the infrastructure had already been laid by the Telecommunication Department by laying optical fibre cable almost throughout the state. The Chief Ministry, Mr A.K Goswami, said many more corridors for information technology would be set up. The Secretary, Information Technology, Mr Ajay Tyagi, said the Information Technology Policy would be launched in the state in the first week of the next month. An e-governance project was being launched in the Hamirpur district. |
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Palampur IT offices open tomorrow Palampur, March 29 |
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Ministers to attend gram sabha meetings Shimla, March 29 The Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, will attend a meeting of gram sabha at his native town Samirpur and other ministers in their respective Assembly constituencies. The Chief Secretary, Secretaries and other senior officials will also attend the meetings of gram sabhas at different places on the same day. This will be for the first time that top functionaries of the government will be attending the meetings of the gram sabhas. The Chief Minister said his government was committed to accelerating the pace of development from the grassroots level and bridge the gap between a common man and the government and this decision was part of this strategy. Mr Dhumal said the government had strengthened the grassroots institutions of democracy by amending the Panchayati Raj Act and added that government was committed to strengthening these institutions further. |
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30 primary schools may be
closed Jaisinghpur, March 29 Though the decision might save the revenue of the government reeling under a financial crunch. It will adversely affect the studies of the children in spite of the scholarship amount offered to them to join schools farther from the present ones. The following is the list of schools facing closure along with their strength in the block. GPS Netru — 12; GPS Makkar — 12; GPS Amb 10; GPS Buli — 15; GPS Ksera — 15; GPS Jalari — 19; GPS Dandel — 15; GPS Saralpatt — 1; GPS Kelan — 20; GPS Buhala — 9; GPS Paprola — 15; GPS Upper Chula — 14; GPS Rirkal — 8; GPS Ambotu Ghatt — 18; GPS Lahar — 16; GPS Bhangolu Ghatt — 13; GPS Baloh — 18; GPS Chalah — 17; GPS Devi Phanger — 6; GPS Badratta — 4, GPS Samman — 10; GPS Malodan — 8; GPS Dagruaj — 10; GPS Umber — 18; GPS Dehru — 10, GPS Trind — 7, GPS Sayara Kudana — 17; GPS Kudela — 9; GPS Tamber — 15; GPS Gagred — 18.
Notice to Health Secretary Shimla, March 29 The notices were issued by Chief Justice C.K. Thakkar and Mr Justice L.S. Panta. The petitioners alleged that Maya Thakur and Veena Verma selected for the post were neither eligible nor qualified for the same since they lacked the essential qualification of 10 plus two (medical). The petitioner alleged that the respondent had obtained ten plus two (medical) certificates from a school in Lucknow (UP) which was not recognised.
Nalwar fair concludes Sundernagar, March 29 Addressing the gathering Mr Maheshwar Singh said in spite of the increase in agricultural products, farmers were not getting their due share of profit due to which some of them were leaving this profession. He also expressed concern over the growing trend of leaving the old animals unattended. The chief guest also distributed prizes. He also sanctioned Rs 1 lakh for the construction of a stage and Rs 4 lakh for a shelter for animals. |
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Lightning kills 2 kids Shimla, March 29 Reports said that the children studied in the school which was hit by lightning.
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