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Saturday,
August 18, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Foodstocks
airdropped in Baijnath areas Virbhadra stays
away from DCC’s dharna Statewide protest
by Congressmen Ministers criticise
Virbhadra’s statement Roads wait for
additional funds |
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Field soil tests to
boost income: CM Subsidy on hops
extended for 2 years Growers being
fleeced, says HP minister Rs 16 cr spent on medical
college at Tanda: Sharma Minister claims rise in
forest area Landslip hits rail
traffic DISTRICT DIARY HP to launch farm project for
women President’s medal for ADGP
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Foodstocks airdropped in Baijnath
areas Dharamsala, August 17 Due to bad weather, the district administration could undertake only two sorties for air dropping foodstocks in the flood affected area of Baijnath. A team of officials sent to the area a few days ago had reported that the gaddis and gujjars in the area would have no foodstocks after the 20th of this month. The people in these areas have been totally cut off as the foot bridges were washed off. Five quintals of foodstocks and essential commodities were air dropped in the Bara Bhangal area after efforts to land in the area failed. Over 300 persons had assembled to receive the foodgrains as prior information had been given. The local MLA, Mr Dulo Ram, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Prabodh Saxena, and the SDM, Baijnath, visited the area during the first sorti by the state helicopter to the area. According to district officials, five quintals of foodstocks had been sent to the Bara Bhangal area on 50 mules as these tracks these had been revived. Foodstocks were also dropped in the Jalsoo area during the second sorti as there were reports that the people here were also running short of foodgrains. The third sorti to the Parei Dhar area could not be undertaken due to inclement weather conditions. Work on at least five foot bridges in the flood-affected areas was being undertaken on a warfooting as till this was not complete, the gaddis and gujjars, who had gone to the higher reaches with their cattle could not come down. Mr Dulo Ram said work was in full swing on Plashak bridge which connects Bara Bhanbgal, Goona bridge connecting Bhareri and the bridge at Pareri, connecting Jaisoo. Though the district administration had intended to undertake five sorties but this could not be possible due to bad weather. The Civil Supplies Department had stocked up food items at Palashak, about 40 km from Baijnath, so that supply to the cut off areas could be maintained. Local patwaris and school teachers had been assigned the task of distributing the foodstocks sent to the area on mules. Extensive damage had been caused to the Deol, Utrala and Binawa areas in the Baijnath area following flashfloods on July 30. About a dozen gaddis, living in their deras in the higher reaches had been washed off. There had been a damage of over Rs 2 crore to the Binwa power project. |
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Virbhadra
stays away from DCC’s
dharna Shimla, August 17 The Congress had organised such demonstrations at all district headquarters in Himachal Pradesh today, to protest against the decisions of the BJP governments at the Centre and the state. Neither Mr Virbhadra Singh and nor his confidant Mr Singhi Ram, who represents the Rampur Assembly constituency, were present in the demonstration. It is learnt that Mr Virbhadra Singh had expressed reservations about the manner in which the demonstration was organised by the DCC which had failed to give an impressive show. His supporters said Shimla being the capital of the state, a large number of Congress activists should have been collected and a big demonstration organised here to make an impact on the people instead of restricting it to the level of district. Moreover, they said that the memorandum against the BJP government should have been submitted to the Governor and not to the Deputy
Commissioner. Mrs Stokes was accompanied by four MLAs, including Thakur Ram
Lal, Mr J.B.L. Khachi, Mr G.S. Bali and Mr Harsh Mahajan. The Secretary of the
PCC, Mr Kuldeep Singh Rathore, and the Youth Congress chief, Mr Sukhwinder Singh, were among others who participated in the demonstration. They first took out a procession from the Congress office via Mall and the Lower Bazaar to the Deputy Commissioner’s office where they sat on dharna and later a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner was submitted by the DCC (Urban) president, Mr Harbhajan Singh Bhajee and the DCC (Rural) chief, Mr Sudhir
Bhaik. The memorandum demanded the withdrawal of users charges which have been imposed in the hospitals in the state, steps to remove unemployment and investigations into Rs 1.50 crore scam in the Health Department. It urged the government to review the decision to grant interest-free loan to the Solan brewery while the government was itself facing a financial crisis and was in debt trap. The memorandum demanded a fair probe into the UTI scam which has hit about two crore investors. |
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Statewide
protest by
Congressmen Dharamsala, August 17 Party workers led by the DCC president, Mr M.R. Goma, and MLA Viplove Thakur took out a procession from the zila parishad hall to the Deputy Commissioner’s Office and submitted a memorandum to him. The Congress is observing August 17 as protest day all over the state. Mr Goma said the BJP-HVC government had lost the moral right to continue in office and must seek a fresh mandate. He said despite getting a financial help of Rs 900 crore from the Centre, burden of Rs 2300 crore had been put on people of the state in the form of loans. He said in spite of allegations of corruption and nepotism against the Chief Minister by his own ministerial colleagues, they were reinducted into the Cabinet as part of a compromise formula. He said there was the problem of rising unemployment, increased power
tariff and unavailability of subsidised food grain, among other
things. NAHAN: As many as 50 Congress workers led by three MLAs
took out a procession from the Congress office to the Deputy Commissioner’s office on Friday. They sat on a dharna and submitted a memorandum to the Governor through the District Magistrate, demanding the dismissal of the Dhumal government. Those who took part in the procession include Mr Harsh Chauhan, MLA (Shillai), Mr Rattan Singh, MLA (Paonta), Mr Ajay Bahadur Singh, former MLA, and Mr Nain Singh Tomar, former district president of the Sirmour Congress Committee. Una: Congressmen observed a protest day in front of the mini secretariat here on Friday and presented a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner for onward transmission to the Chief Minister and Governor. The Congressmen are demanding the resignation of the BJP-HVC government in Himachal and BJP-led-government at the Centre. The memorandum alleged the failure of the state and Central governments on all fronts. It said the UTI scam caused a loss to several lakhs of the poor. It alleged that the state government had turned government hospitals into shops by imposing user charges. |
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Ministers
criticise Virbhadra’s statement
Kangra, August 17 The statement alleged that it was during Mr Virbhadra Singh’s rule that the district was discriminated and development works had come a standstill and it was during the Dhumal government that the gap between the new and the old Himachal bridged. They said during the past three years, 341,205 km new roads were constructed in t he district whereas cast design for 382.360 km road area was completed. They said 30 bridges were constructed and 40 villages connected by roads during this period. They claimed that 443.129 km road were metalled and 18 roads named after Kargil martyrs. They said 30 new primary schools were opened under the Swarsati Bal Vidya Sankalap Yojna, 124 rooms constructed, besides 109 primary schools, upgraded to middle level, 11 middle schools to high level and 28 high schools were upgraded to senior secondary level in the district. |
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Roads wait for additional
funds Shimla, August 17 In fact, the much-publicised scheme will halt work on hundreds of roads already under construction. The main reason is that the Centre is not providing any additional funds to the states under the scheme. It has merely diverted the funds meant for the Basic Minimum Services (BMS) programme, which has been wound up to give way to the new scheme. In fact the flow funds from the Centre had declined after the launching of the scheme, making things worse for the fund-starved state. Until last year the entire rural road construction programme was funded under the BMS programme. At present over 3000 roads are under various stages of construction. During 1999-2000 the state received Rs 90 crore under the programme, but last year it got only Rs 60 crore under the scheme. The state Public Works Department identified 796 such roads to be taken up under the PMGSY. However, the Centre included only 127 roads and allocated Rs 60 crore. With the BMS programme already wounded up the state has no funds to carry on with the work on the remaining roads. The only funds at the disposal of the Public Works Department are those provided by NABARD for selected roads. The bank has given loan for the consolidation of the existing roads by
metalling and providing cross drainage, and as such it will not help in improving rural connectivity. The legislators are quite upset as with just 127 roads under the PMGSY and a similar number under the rural infrastructure development programme of NABARD, work on only three to four roads could be taken up in a constituency. At present 20 to 25 roads are under construction in each constituency. There are in all 16,997 villages in the state, of which only 5,877 have been connected with roads so far. The state will require Rs 1,482 crore to construct roads to these villages by 2007 as envisaged under the scheme. For covering all feasible villages over Rs 4000 crore will be needed. As such an allocation of Rs 250 crore to Rs 300 crore will be essential for achieving the rural road connectivity target set for 2007. The Centre seems to be in no position to spare such huge amount for the scheme. Moreover, despite the modification in norms problems in implementing the scheme in the hill areas still remains. The state had sought minimum three years for the completion of roads in view of the difficult topography and short working periods in hills but the Centre agreed to increase it from one to two years only. The Centre also insisted that the
metalling and cross drainage work should be entrusted to contractors on five-years maintenance guarantee. In the treacherous hill terrain, where big bridges are washed away by heavy rain, no contractor is willing to undertake five-year maintenance guarantee. The department will have real problems in implementing the scheme, which has been finalised without taking the ground realities into consideration. |
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Field soil tests to boost income:
CM Kulu, August 17 The Chief Minister who was talking to mediapersons at Sarabai, about 12 km from here, last evening, urged the farmers to go for commercial crops instead of growing traditional crops. He said there was a big scope of growing medicinal herbs and flowers which could yield a handsome income . He said that it had been found that a herb grown in China and could get an income of Rs 1 lakh per acre, could also be grown in the snow-bound areas of the state . Prof Dhumal said to ensure remunerative prices for horticulture produce in the state, fruit processing units were being encouraged. Answering a question regarding the employment to Himachalis in the hydel projects which were coming up in the private and public sectors in the state, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, said the government has got it incorporated in the agreement that 70 per cent of the employees in the Class-III and Class-IV would be recruited from the state especially from the areas where the projects are located. He said they have been asked to place the requisition in the local employment exchange and in case candidates were not available at the local level then requisition would be made at the state employment. He said the NHPC authorities had been asked to hold the test or inter view for junior engineers for these projects in the state so that youths of the state could get employment. He said the 86 mw Malana hydel project had been completed in a record time and thanked the people of Kulu for their support and cooperation. Prof Dhumal claimed that for the first time sincere efforts had been taken to exploit the immence hydel potential of the state. He said the people would get electricity at cheaper rates when the hydel potential was fully exploited. Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal said the Civil Aviation Department has agreed to spend Rs 30 crore for the expansion of Kulu airport by channelising the Beas river which would help attract more tourists to the area. The Chief Minister said that the zonal hospital here would be strengthened by providing better facilities to facilitate the people. |
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Subsidy
on hops extended for 2
years Shimla, August 17 Mr Dhumal, who was addressing a public meeting at Keylong, the district headquarters of Lahaul-Spiti, said that his government had waived the loan of Rs 1 crore given to hops growers and had set up a hops palletisation plant at Baddi to ensure remunerative prices to the growers. He expressed happiness that its pallets had been found the best in the country. The Chief Minister said that government was also seized of the problem of potato growers of Lahaul and had given a Rs 20-lakh grant to the Lahaul Potato Growers Society. He said that sprinkle irrigation scheme would be given added attention and announced that the state government would give subsidy on water storage tanks. The Chief Minister said that Billing Nalla Subnam — Tandi irrigation Kuhal to be constructed at a cost of Rs 3 crore would be projected to the Centre under the watershed project. He also announced Rs 40 lakh for providing subsidy on insecticides, pesticides and other horticulture, agriculture and animal husbandry activities in the Lahaul area. He sanctioned Rs 3 lakh for the construction a serai at Gondla Gompa. Mr Dhumal reiterated his government’s resolve for speedy development of tribal areas and said that Rs 495 crore was being spent under Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002), out of which Rs 151 crore was being spent during the current year. He said in the Lahaul area, Rs 23 crore was being spent under the tribal sub-plan this year to accelerate the pace of development. He said that construction of roads had been given added priority in the area, keeping in view their importance in the economy of the people. He said that Thorang-Golndla and Goshal roads were being constructed under Prime Minister’s Gram Sadak Yojana at a cost of Rs 19 lakh and Rs 16 lakh, respectively. The budget of the Public Works Department has been raised from Rs 10.27 crore in 1997-98 to Rs 20.26 crore in 2001-2002 which amply speak about government priority for it. |
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Growers being
fleeced, says HP minister New Delhi, August 17 The HP Minister of State for Horticulture, Mr Narender Bragta, who met the Delhi Agriculture Minister, Mr Yoga Nand Shastri, here yesterday, told him that fruit and vegetable growers were being charged 8 per cent commission instead of 6 per cent fixed by the Delhi Government. He said 2 per cent additional commission being charged was shown as “other charges’’ which was illegal. He requested the Delhi Government to scrap the practice of charging commission from growers and instead levy it on commission agents. Mr Bragta disclosed that an amendment had already been made to APMC bylaws which stipulated charging of commission from traders instead of growers. However, it had not been implemented so far, he said.  |
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Rs 16 cr spent on medical
college at Tanda: Sharma Shimla, August 17 In a statement issued here yesterday, he said no development took place in Kangra district during the Congress regime. It was due to this discrimination that the Congress lost Assembly elections and people gave a massive mandate to the BJP. Mr Sharma said during past three years, 341 km of new roads were constructed in Kangra district, cross-drainage works were completed in 382 km area and 29 roads funded by Nabard were under construction at a total cost of Rs 45.47 crore. He said Rs 16 crore was being spent on the construction of Tanda Medical College, Rs 6.5 crore project had been sanctioned by European Commission for Kangra district, Rs 60 crore hospital was coming up at Tanda and a 50-bedded community health centre was opened at Thural and a PHC at Daroh. He said Rs 3 crore National Agriculture Technology project had been sanctioned for Kangra district and Rs 1 crore agriculture research station was coming up at Cheeb near Kangra. Mr Sharma said Rs 30 crore polytechnic was coming up at Talwar near Jaisinghpur besides Rs 4.95 crore integrated watershed development project at Kangra. He said Rs 17 crore sewerage project was underway for Dharamsala, Rs 144 crore Shah Nahar project had been launched, Rs 9 crore sewerage project had been launched for Jawalamukhi and 550 villages/hamlets had been covered under water supply scheme during past three years. |
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Minister
claims rise in forest
area Mandi, August 17 He said so far 81,000 hectare of land in the state had been brought under forests and plantation would be done in another 15,000 hectare during the current year. In the Mandi forest circle plantation would be done in 2612 hectare of land during the current year. The minister called upon the people, particularly the women, to extend maximum cooperation in the plantation task. He said broad leaves trees were being planted near villages to meet the requirement of fodder. He said forests were needed for promotion of tourism and to ensure permanent supply of water in rivers for the generation of hydel power. He said the work on various hydel power projects with installed capacity of 7800 mw had been taken up by this government for the first time. The Forest Minister said the concept of community farming was being implemented in Himachal in a big way and it had evoked tremendous response from the people. The minister disclosed that a sum of Rs 169 crore would be spent on the second phase of the Kandi Project while another Rs 30 crore would be spent in the second phase of Changar project being financed by the German Government. The minister gave a sum of Rs 1 lakh for constructing a check dam on the Behna Khud. Earlier, he alongwith Minister of State for Rural Development participated in the plantation. |
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Landslip hits rail
traffic Kumarhatti, August 17 It may be recalled traffic on the Kalka-Shimla section had been affected on Tuesday and Wednesday due to landslides triggered by heavy rains. |
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DISTRICT
DIARY Chamba Instances are not lacking where schools, mainly in the rural and far-flung areas, are badly understaffed whereas those in various urban areas are overstaffed. The norms relating to the pupil-teacher ratio, class sections and the total number of periods per week, as defined in the education code, are flouted merely to “accommodate” teachers who have political patronage. This has resulted in corruption besides leading to frustration among teachers who are adversely affected. Residents say the government is playing havoc with the careers of students, particularly in the far-flung areas.
* * * The Chamba Citizens Progressive Council has expressed concern over the traffic situation in the town. Scooterists and motorcyclists often drive rashly, in many cases without licences. Besides, sometimes one can see three persons riding two-wheelers in violation of the rules. The use of helmets is rare. The president of the council, Mr D.N. Pardesi, says cars and taxis are usually parked haphazardly. He is of the opinion that law-breakers should not be encouraged. One-way traffic from Baloo Bridge on the circular road below the heliport and fisheries complex needs to be regulated in view of the increase in the number of vehicles.
* * * The Himachal Pradesh Department of Tourism has completed the Anarkali railing and Manjari Garden schemes. According to Mr Kishori Lal Mastana, Assistant Tourism Development Officer, the Rs 33 lakh Anarkali railing scheme around the historic Chowgan in Chamba has been completed. The Manjari Garden scheme, costing Rs 22 lakh, has been implemented on the right bank of the Ravi, displaying Chamba’s traditional musical instruments carved on rocks. Manjari Garden is the point where the historic Minjar carnival concludes with the immersion of the traditional “minjars” in the river. Both schemes have added to the beauty of the hill town. |
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HP to launch farm project
for women Shimla, August 17 The project will be extended to the entire state except Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur districts, after its success in the Theog, Rampur and Mashobra blocks of Shimla district where it was introduced on an experimental basis. Dr J.C. Rana, Director of Agriculture, said the object is to create awareness among women in the latest agricultural technologies, including production, post-harvest processing, marketing and value addition. |
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President’s medal
for ADGP Shimla, August 17 Mr Mohan Lal, Inspector, CID, has been awarded the President’s medal for best performance. |
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