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Monday,
October 1, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Plan approval respite for
CM Number of HIV-positive women rising in
HP Pvt sector lured into
sericulture
MC poll: Cong gears up to pin down
govt Karan sees no early end to J&K issue Chief of Staff takes
charge today
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Transfer of temple property
opposed
Gram sabhas to meet on Oct 7
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Plan approval respite for
CM Shimla, September 30 The Planning Commission approved the Plan on Friday after keeping the Himachal Pradesh Government on tenterhooks for almost six months. The Plan size is generally fixed well before the beginning of the financial year in April, but this time it got delayed reportedly because the state government could not come out with a concrete strategy for mobilising its own resources. The intervention of the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, in getting the Plan approved has come as a boon for the state. Mr Dhumal did not spare any efforts to convince Mr Vajpayee and the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Mr K.C. Pant, that mobilising resources in a hill state like Himachal Pradesh was an uphill task as the people particularly in the interior areas were not in a position to be burdened with additional taxation. The state government was earlier threatened with a cut of Rs 338 crore in the Plan size because of its failure to generate its own resources, but during his recent visit to Manali, Mr Vajpayee had assured Mr Dhumal that the proposed Plan size of Rs 1720 crore would be protected. It is worth mentioning that the Plan size has remained static at the level of the last year and, in normal conditions, it was generally expected to be increased at least by 10 per cent every year. However, because of the delay in fixation of the Plan, Mr Dhumal had to face much criticism from the Opposition which had also been accusing him of having failed to protect the Plan size. The financially starved state government made some half-hearted efforts to mobilise resources, but these yielded hardly any results. The move to cut expenditure on official vehicles got derailed under bureaucratic pressure and some senior-level posts abolished in the police department were restored. The Centre has been expressing concern over the ever-increasing debt burden and asked it to cut market borrowings. During the current year, the state government plans to borrow Rs 2318 crore to meet the budgetary commitments. Meanwhile, six ministers, Mr Kishori Lal, Mr J.P. Nadda, Mr Mansa Ram, Mr Narinder Bragta, Mr R.D. Kashyap and Mr Karan Singh, have hailed the approval of the annual Plan.
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Number of HIV-positive women rising in
HP Dharamsala, September 30 The most disturbing factor, which is coming to light, is that the number of HIV-affected women is constantly on the rise. The 17 HIV positive cases detected last year were all in women. Though the percentage of men and women affected by the HIV virus so far is 76 and 24, respectively, on the national level, the latest trends are causing immense concern as the fear of the dreaded disease being passed on from the mother to the child is almost certain. The State Programme Officer (AIDS) Dr C.D. Sharma, while speaking at the sensitisation workshop on (AIDS), stated that 80 per cent of the HIV positive cases in Himachal were in Hamirpur, Kangra, Shimla, Bilaspur and Mandi districts. There are a total of 318 HIV cases in the state, of which the highest number of 87 are from Hamirpur, 50 in Bilaspur, 41 in Mandi and 40 each in Kangra and Shimla districts. The total number of AIDS cases in the state so far is 91, with the highest number of 30 in Hamirpur, followed by 20 in Bilaspur and 11 each in Mandi and Shimla districts. Dr C.D. Sharma said there was only one blood testing centre at the Indira Gandhi Medical College in Shimla, where blood samples of 28,508 persons had been screened. However, so far only 7 children were found affected. The first AIDS case in Himachal was detected in 1992. Speaking on the occasion, the ADC, Kangra, Mr Rahul Anand, said there was an urgent need to launch a movement to create awareness among the people on AIDS. “Even today discussing sex-related issues is considered a social taboo, with the result that a vast majority of the population, especially in the rural areas is ignorant of its serious implications,” he observed. Dr C.D. Sharma added that the earlier notion that AIDS was restricted only to sex workers, truckers, migrant labour, hotel workers and professional blood donors, was changing as more and more cases were being detected in rural areas. He said as part of the prevention and awareness campaign being undertaken by the Health Department, project had been started for truckers at Ambuja in Bilaspur, for migrant labour at Kangra and Khaniara mines and for hotel workers at Manali. He said as part of this ongoing programme, 10 new projects would be launched next month. Apart from the nine projects as Barmana, Bilaspur-Baner highway, Paonta Sahib, Baspa in Kinnaur, Kala Amb in Sirmour, Chamera in Chama and Nathpa Jhakri Power Project, one will be held for jail inmates in the state. |
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Pvt
sector lured into
sericulture Shimla, September 30 Being a non-polluting occupation, sericulture requires no energy and minimum gestation period and least investment. It is ideally suited to rural areas and is an effective answer to the rural development and unemployment. Started in Kulu and Chamba during the Eighth Five-Year Plan, it is spread over 10 districts now. Bilaspur district is fast emerging as a silk producer with the setting up of a “Himachal Silk Udyog” at Matwana village of Gumarwin sub-division in the district with an initial investment of Rs 27 lakh. About 325 persons have been provided direct and indirect employment in this unit. Out of the 85 quintals of cocoon produced in the district this year, more than half has been purchased by this unit at the rate of Rs 300 per kg, which is Rs 50 higher than previous year. At present, about 7,000 families are supplementing their income through this industry in the state. A target of covering more than 10,000 families has been fixed by spreading the sericulture activities in rural areas. The state government had also sponsored 20 weavers for advance training at the CSTRI, Bangalore. These weavers would be provided handloom at nominal rates. As many as 25 lakh mulberry saplings would be distributed among the rearers and 2 lakh kg mulberry cocoons produced during 2001-2002. In the new industrial policy, sericulture-based industries have been declared as priority industry with special incentives provided for them.
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MC poll: Cong gears up to pin down
govt Shimla, September 30 The manner in which the government entrusted the work of the restoration of municipal roads dug up for laying sewerage and water pipes to the Irrigation and Public Health Department has provided it a potent issue to whip the government. The party is already armed with the report of the five-member committee headed by Mr Ashok Sood, which had termed the allotment of restoration work to the department as illegal and in violation of the Municipal Corporation Act. The councillors have now decided to involve the state leadership in the matter. Mr Ashok Sood said that the councillors would soon bring the issue to the notice of Ms Vidya Stokes, president of the Pradesh Congress Committee, and Mr Virbhadra Singh, leader of the Congress legislative party, and urge them to raise at the highest level to expose the state government. If need be Congress councillors could even resign and take the battle to the streets, he added. What hurt the Congress, which rules the corporation, most was that the Municipal Commissioner could not produce any written orders of the government entrusting the work to the department. The corporation had raised a bill for Rs 2.53 crore of the work, but the department deposited only Rs 1.09 crore with it. Instead of paying the full amount, it undertook the restoration work on its own on the instructions of the government. The corporation was not taken into confidence at all, Mr Sood alleged. He said this virtually amounted to “transferring” functions of the elected body to the government department and negated the very spirit of the 74th Constitutional Amendment by which more administrative and financial powers were delegated to the municipal bodies. Getting this done on verbal instructions was even a more serious issue. The corporation had been deprived of Rs 1.43 crore due to the non-payment of the bill by the department. This is despite the fact that the corporation reduced the digging charges from Rs 625 per square metre to Rs 425 per square metre to help the government. Mr Narinder Bragta, the local minister, was trying to
take credit for whatever works was being done. He had even inaugurated
the work to put patch work on the dug up roads, which was a routine
responsibility of the corporation, Mr Sood alleged. |
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Karan sees no early end to J&K issue Solan, September 30 The former Sadr-i-Riyasat of the strife-torn state of Jammu and Kashmir sounded pessimistic while addressing an impromptu press conference. He said, “I was there in the same room in Srinagar in which Maharaja Hari Singh signed the instrument of accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India. The instrument should have been treated as the final world on the future of Kashmir”. He said he had been watching actively the goings-on in Kashmir. “The Agra summit had raised high hopes amongst Kashmiris but it’s failure lead to the belief that the Kashmir problem was unlikely to be solved in the near future”. Dr Karan Singh, however, refused to pinpoint the blame for the failure of the summit on either Prime Minister Vajpayee or President Musharraf, saying that he had always shunned from blaming individuals in such cases. He expressed his party’s solidarity with the ruling NDA in dealing with terrorism. “The Congress views it as a national problem which requires a unified response from the country as a whole.” Replying to a question, he said the ban on SIMI would be totally justified if the government had concrete evidence of the involvement of the students’ body in any anti-national activity, adding that so far he had not seen any such evidence. Earlier, Dr Karan Singh inaugurated a three-day state-level political training camp of the HP Mahila Congress here. Speaking on the occasion, he lauded the role of the Indian National Congress in bringing the women of the country to the
forefront. |
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Chief
of Staff takes
charge today Shimla, September 30 The General hails from Himachal Pradesh. In his distinguished military career spanning more than 36 years he has held a number of prestigious instructional, command and staff appointments in India and abroad. Lieut-Gen B. S. Thakur, is a graduate of the Canadian Forces Command and staff college, Toronto Higher Command and the National Defence College. He is the colonel of the Central India Horse.
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Transfer of temple property
opposed Chamba, September 30 A deputation of senior citizens along with members of the District Temple Committee met the Deputy Commissioner, Mr S.C. Mehta, here yesterday and questioned the Revenue Department for transferring the properties owned and possessed by living deities. They said the move was illegal. They said there were nine ancient temples in the district which had been taken over by the ASI under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites Act, 1958, but the revenue authorities without observing any codal formalities had transferred the entire complexes of the temples in their records to the ASI recently. The DC assured the delegation that the transfer of remaining temples was being stayed till fresh directives were received from the Secretary (Revenue). The temples, which include Lakshmi Naryan, Bansi Gopal, Hari Rai, Shri Ram (Bangotu), Bejreshwari, Chamunda, Panvdev (Sarotha), Chhatradi and Bharmour are controlled by the ASI.
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Gram sabhas to meet on Oct 7 Shimla, September 30 Besides reviewing the progress of development schemes, the members will be able to discuss other matters with the ministers and officers without any reservation. A government spokesman said in case an officer of a department was not present at the meeting, the matters concerning that department could be sent by the gram panchayat through a resolution.
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