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Monday,
May 14, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Dhumal
suggests hill division to Centre Acute
water shortage in 24 Changer villages Stir
threat on water shortage ‘Golden
Quadrilateral’ by 2003 Forgo
benefits, Urao tells STs HP to
spend Rs 169 cr to increase forest cover |
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Fodder
scheme a failure: Mahajan ‘Cong
may be behind Tehelka’ Disabled
employee’s transfer stayed HP to
spend 30 cr on airports Education
Dept trying to make amends: Dhiman
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Dhumal suggests hill division to Centre Shimla, May 13 Inaugurating the 162nd meeting of the Indian Road Congress here today, he said the norms evolved on an All-India basis were not workable in the context of hill-states and a lot of time was wasted in modifying these. He suggested that 50 per cent of officers for this division should be taken from hill-states for evolving a realistic programme for road development in the hills. Referring the “gram sadak yojna” launched recently, the Chief Minister said it was a highly laudable step, but some of the guidelines for implementation of the programme required modifications in the context of hill-states. Due to the climatic conditions, the period of nine to 12 months for completion of work was insufficient in case of hill areas. He said the state had referred these problems to the Government of India and urged for evolving guidelines appropriate to the needs of hill-states and for utilisation of local labour to the maximum. Mr Dhumal said India had thrown open its doors to the private sector and had offered a number of incentives. As a result, a large number of projects had been taken up under the BOT basis by various states and the National Highway Authority of India. So far, Himachal Pradesh has lagged behind in this direction, primarily because of the high cost of road construction. He said keeping in view of this fact, the Centre would have to evolve a suitable policy framework to encourage private investment in hill-states. This could be in the shape of one-time capital grant for a project to make it economically and financially viable, thereby commercially attractive. He urged the participants to discuss this vital issue. The Chief Minister said the Himachal Pradesh Government was concerned about proper maintenance and upkeep of roads developed so far and proposed to enact a special legislation titled “protection of road infrastructure Act” for the purpose. The draft Bill for this enactment was in the final stage. He hoped this would go a long way in checking the menace of encroachments. It aimed to effectively deal with unauthorised constructions along roads, damage and defacement of roads, bridges, tunnels ancillary structures and blocking of roadside drains by dumping material. Mr Dhumal said road density in the state today was 38.70 km per sq km against the all-India average of more than 60 km. Only 46 per cent out of the total 16,997 villages of the state had been connected so far. For connecting the remaining villages, an additional road length of about 18,000 km would be required which involved an additional expenditure of about Rs 4000 crore. Further 87 per cent of the road length in the state comprised single lanes, 48 per cent length had cross-drainage and about 45 per cent of the total road network were tarred. In order to carry out tarring and providing cross-drainage work as well as removing formation deficiencies in the existing road network in the state sector, an investment of about Rs 1300 crore was required. To mobilise this kind of investment, joint efforts by the Centre and state government would be needed. Presiding over the function, Maj-Gen B.C. Khanduri said efforts were on to create a network of national highways across the country so that no area was more than 50 km away from the highway. Mr A.B. Pawar, president of the Indian Road Congress, called for an attitudinal change towards the construction industry, besides bringing in quality and professional management. |
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Acute water shortage in
24 Changer villages Palampur, May 13 Besides, in many areas the villagers have shifted their cattle to river beds as they have no water for drinking. The reporters who visited a few affected villages yesterday morning found that water sources in Sakoh, Ropri, Tinbar, Chadiar and Ashapuri areas had dried up or water level had gone down, the IPH Department has failed to meet water requirement of people. In these areas women were seen carrying water from far-off places. Likewise, six villages in Thural division of the IPH were the worst hit where people gathered early hours every day to fetch water from IPH taps. It is revealed that these villages fall in the
tail end of water supply schemes, therefore people in these villages do not get regular water supply. The decade old water pipes were one of the reasons for water shortage here. Several panchayat pardhan told newsmen that IPH Department had failed to maintain the supply of drinking water as no senior officer of the department was concerned with the problem. They said senior officers come to the villages once in a while and not listen basic problems faced by them. They said in past the department had been supplying the drinking water through water tankers also but this year no water tankers had been detailed so far causing great inconvenience to public. A junior officer of the department talking to media persons at Purbha village said that all efforts were being made to provide drinking water at least once a day, but low pressure in water supply lines was a major hurdle resulting in acute water shortage at the tailend villages. He said summer and severe drought in the winter were reasons for water shortage and drying up of water sources. No senior officer of the IPH Department or district administration was available either at Palampur or Thural for comments. However, official sources confirmed that adequate budget provisions had been made to meet the current situation but the department was yet to gear up machinery to alleviate people’s inconvenience. Meanwhile Mr Brij Butail, a senior Congress leader and Congress MLA in a statement asked the government to deploy water tankers to deal with shortage of water particularly in the Changer area. He said the government should give top priority to the supply of drinking water and adequate funds be made available. |
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Stir threat on water shortage Shimla, May 13 The society lamented that while some areas of the town were getting regular water supply, particularly the VIP colonies, the remaining areas were being subjected to severe water rationing. Most of the areas were not getting water even on alternate days as promised by the corporation. The residents were willing to put up with the shortage of water, but the corporation should ensure even distribution to all areas, the society said. |
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‘Golden Quadrilateral’ by 2003 Shimla, May 13 Stating this at a press conference here today, Major-Gen B.C. Khanduri, Minister for Road Transport and National Highways, said after the initial teething problems, the Rs 2700-crore project for constructing 5952 km of highways to connect Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai was progressing smoothly. He said contracts for all works would be awarded over the next two months to various foreign and domestic companies. The upgradation of highways would be completed over the next 30 months. He said the North-South and East-West corridor project under which 7300 km of highways were being upgraded to link Srinagar with Kanyakumari and Silchar with Porbandar would be completed by 2007. Besides, 1,000 km of highways were being four-laned to provide express road link to major ports at a cost of Rs 4000 crore. The Vajpayee government, he said, had accorded top priority to roads and launched the Prime Minister’s Rural Road Programme to provide connectivity to remote villages. While Rs 60,000 crore was being spent on the upgradation of 14,300 km of highways, Rs 2,500 crore was being allocated for rural roads annually. The Centre had taken the decision to impose a cess of Re 1 per litre on diesel and petrol to raise funds for the road projects. This had helped the government raise an additional Rs 5,900 crore last year. The government was also encouraging privatisation in this area and had awarded projects involving an expenditure of Rs 1760 crore on a Build-operate-and-transfer (BOT) basis. In order to encourage domestic companies to compete with foreign builders, the government had exempted heavy construction machinery from customs duty and also granted the companies exemption from income tax for 10 years. The conditions on financial capability and work experience laid down by the World Bank earlier had been relaxed considerably to help the domestic construction companies secure maximum work. He urged the India Road Congress to do its bit by coming out with suitable designs for express highways, keeping the safety aspect, comfort and cost factor into account. He said rural roads should be properly designed and conform to specifications. These should be free from technical flaws. Referring to the quality aspect, he said a riding quality project had been started under which emphasis would be on improving the surface of existing roads. To a question, he said there was a need for separate plans and norms for construction of roads in hill areas. The government had laid down broad parameters for the country which would be suitably altered, keeping in view the ground realities of different areas in due course. General Khanduri admitted that inordinate delay in securing forest clearance was the main hurdle in executing road projects in the hills. He said he along with the Chief Ministers of hill-states would take up the matter with the Centre to find a permanent solution to the problem. |
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Forgo benefits, Urao tells STs Solan, May 13 Mr Urao, who was the chief guest at the annual function of Him Giri Kalyan Ashram at Shilly, near here, said the Scheduled Tribes must keep in mind that the policy of reservation had been accepted by the Indian masses as a necessity for correcting certain historical imbalances in the socio-economic structure of the polity. The Scheduled Tribes would do well to remember that this policy could not be continued forever as society paid a huge cost for providing reservation-related perks to the beneficiaries. Producing an engineer cost the nation about Rs 15 lakh and a doctor Rs 25 lakh. Mr Urao, however, stressed upon the need for concerted efforts at bringing the vast tribal masses into the national mainstream. The Scheduled Tribes, who numbered about 10 crore, might be representing a bare 10 per cent of the total population, but occupied 30 to 40 per cent of the total geographical area of the country. Some tribes, like the ones in the Andamans and Nicobar Islands, were on the verge of extinction. Many led a woeful existence. Others had remained cut off from modern civilisation for ages. He said the present Union Government had been seized of the matter and had specially created a ministry under him to ameliorate the lot of tribesmen. The Tribal Welfare Ministry had started with a budget of Rs 600 crore three years ago. This stood at Rs 1000 crore today. He, however, said government efforts alone would not be sufficient. In fact, there was an urgent need for creating a political climate in this connection and the NGOs could play a vital role in this important national task. Mr Jagdev Urao, president of Akhil Bhartiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, a national-level organisation working for the welfare of tribesmen, laid stress on the empowerment of Scheduled Tribes for proper use of government welfare schemes. He said any effort at improving the lot of Scheduled Tribes must not be made to look at the cost of their self-esteem. The local MLA, who is also a founder-member of Him Giri Kalyan Ashram, said the ashram started in 1985 with a batch of four ST students. Today there were over 60. He said the ashram had recently opened branches at Shimla and Tisa in Chamba district. All three units were playing a meaningful role in bridging the age-old chasm between tribesmen and the rest. |
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HP to spend Rs 169 cr to increase forest cover Mandi, May 13 The minister, who was speaking at a seminar organised under the auspices of the Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehra Dun at Sundernagar near here claimed that 66 per cent of the geographical area of Himachal was under green cover and efforts were on to increase it. It had been envisaged to convert all barren hills into green valleys, he added. He expressed gratitude to the nations launching forestry projects in the state for the plantation and conservation of forests. He said under the second phase of Kandi project now under operation in Himachal, Rs 169 crore would be spent and the World Bank had recognised it as a nodal project. The minister called upon forest scientists to ensure that the fruits of their research in the sphere of modern forest technology should be implemented in the field and help fast growth of forests in the country. It would be unfortunate if the research work remained confined to research institutes and universities only. The Forest Minister said Himachal would make all efforts to implement modern forest technology in the field and encourage forest farming on the basis of research done by the Forest Research Institute, Dehra Dun. He said obsolete ways of forest farming were no more relevant in the modern context and in the wake of fast changing technology. Mr Rajinder Paul Singh of the FRI, Dehra Dun and Forest officials and scientists from Himachal also expressed views on preservation and expansion of green cover in the country particularly in the hill regions and catchment areas to check floods and droughts. |
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Fodder scheme a failure: Mahajan Dharamsala, May 13 Mr Mahajan, said fodder scheme of the government had turned out to be a failure as it involved cumbersome formalities, difficult for the farmers to undertake. “Seeing the acute fodder shortage, it is high time the Chief Minister personally monitors the scheme, to solve the problem of the people”, he demanded. He said instead of farmers moving from one agency to another, it would be better if the revenue officials took the requirement of fodder from every panchayat and then place the order. The Chief Minister should talk to his Punjab counterpart and also seek the help of the Union Minister for Food and Consumer Affairs, Mr Shanta Kumar, he said. Mr Mahajan said even under the Antyodaya Scheme people were being discriminated against on political considerations. “When the government claims that our granaries are overflowing, it would be wiser to let the poor people get food rather than let it decay and dumping it”. He further said people were getting foodgrains in Punjab on less rates than in Himachal, with the difference being almost Rs 125 per quintal. The government had turned a blind eye to the acute water shortage being faced by the people in Changer and other parts of Kangra district. The hand pumps and machines were lying out of order and the government had made no provisions to provide water through tankers, he alleged. |
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‘Cong
may be behind Tehelka’ Dharamsala, May 13 Talking to mediapersons here today, he said the conspiracy to eliminate Tarun Tejpal, hinted that there could be external forces like the ISI, behind the entire drama. “With the name of a Congress leader figuring in the investigations, one cannot rule out the possibility of the Congress party being behind the whole expose,” he said. Mr Chandel said instead of issue-based politics, the Congress had stooped down to cheap and petty politics. “The Congress in Himachal Pradesh is
virtually on the verge of a split, with the two rival factions in the party holding parallel rallies to pull each other down. The BJP was fully geared to meet any challenge from the Congress, which was faction-ridden, he said and blamed the Congress for the present financial crisis being faced by the state government. Mr Chandel was here to participate in a meeting for Aajeevan Sahyog Nidhi being launched in the state. It is a party programme involving life membership drive with collection of Rs 1,000 or more from the members. He said about 50 per cent of the target of Rs 40,000 from every constituency had been achieved and was hopeful of achieving the complete target soon. The Transport Minister, Mr Kishan Kapoor, and the Chairman, Housing Board Corporation, Mr Ganesh Dutt, were also present at the meeting. |
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Disabled
employee’s transfer stayed Bilaspur, May 13 In his petition, Mr Chandel had said that he was 40 per cent disabled and his wife and mother were also 60 per cent and 90 per cent disabled respectively and the department ordered his transfer in violation of rules, which provide that handicapped persons should be posted nearest to their home village. The Bench directed the Himachal, Director of Education to treat the petition of Amar Singh Chandel as representation and further directed him to personally listen to Mr Chandel and also consider the medical certificate attached with this, representation and decide the case within period of six weeks. The Bench further said that if the applicant was not satisfied with the decision of the Director of Education, he was at liberty to approach the tribunal again for any belief. |
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HP to spend 30 cr on airports Dalhousie, May 13 Giving this information here today, Mrs Renu Chadha, BJP leader, said tarmacs of these airports would be strengthened so that more aircraft could land at the airports. Mrs Chadha said the government of India had agreed to construct a new civil enclave at Pathankot for civil flights on the request of the state government. Work on the Kalka-Parwanoo and Una-Talwara line had also begun to facilitate tourists from western parts of the country. She also said that Maharana Pratap Sagar was being developed into a major tourist
destination with emphasis on water sports. |
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Education
Dept trying to make amends: Dhiman Mandi, May 13 He said the BJP government was trying to set the house in order and added that the government would implement recommendations of the conference. He lamented that the previous
Congress government had opened 146 senior secondary schools in the state without buildings, staff and other basic infrastructure required to run these. He said the present government had to pay heavily for providing building, staff and other infrastructure. As many as 8,000 new posts had been created. The total expenditure was Rs 923 crore. As many as 6,000 rooms had been constructed under the Bal Vidya Sankalp Yojna, he added. |
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