H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

Centre’s nod to HP water project
Shimla, January 16
The Ministry of Urban Development has sanctioned a project for the augmentation of a water supply scheme for Hamirpur at an estimated cost of Rs 6.66 crore under the Accelerated Urban Water Supply Programme (AUWSP).

National parks converted into societies
Shimla, January 16
In a bid to reduce its expenditure and encourage participation of locals in the promotion of eco-tourism, the Himachal Pradesh Government has converted the lion safari at Renuka and Great Himalayan National Park at Kufri in to independent societies.

MC owes 12 cr to PH Department
Shimla, January 16
The Shimla Municipal Corporation owes Rs 12 crore to the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department as water bill. The tap water is being supplied at subsidised rates to the residents of the town. The payment has been due for many years.

CM asks youths to abstain from drugs
Solan, January 16
Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal today cautioned the youth against drug addiction, by saying that certain anti-national forces had of late started ensnaring the younger section of society in drug addiction.

Transfer orders modified
Shimla, January 16
In partial modification of the transfer orders of Himachal Administrative Services officers issued last week, the government today posted Mr Rajeev Sharma, Director, District Primary Education Project, Shimla, as Additional District Magistrate, Shimla.

One-way traffic in  Nurpur from today
Nurpur, January 16
The District Magistrate, Kangra, following the recommendation of the local Municipal Council has issued a notification to enforce one-way traffic in the town.

• Stokes, Virbhadra factions join hands

Three die due to suffocation
Kumarhatti, January 16
Three persons died due to suffocation in the two different incidents on the intervening night of January 14 and 15. According to the police, two persons were suffocated to death at Jabli, 15 km from here, as the room in which they were sleeping got engulfed with fumes caused by a burning quilt that accidentally caught fire after getting in touch with a switch on a heater.

• 2 killed, 8 hurt in bus mishap

• Work on Parbati project from March

Centre’s nod to HP water project
Tribune Reporters

Shimla, January 16
The Ministry of Urban Development has sanctioned a project for the augmentation of a water supply scheme for Hamirpur at an estimated cost of Rs 6.66 crore under the Accelerated Urban Water Supply Programme (AUWSP).

Under this programme, 50 per cent of the amount shall be made available to the state as a grant. This grant will help the state government to complete the project within a short period so that the scarcity of water in Hamirpur is overcome.

An official spokesman said Hamirpur town was facing an acute shortage of water for the past decade due to increase in population, and development activities. Scanty rain and a drought-like situation during the past two years have aggravated the problem.

The spokesman said the state government had prepared a scheme to lift water from the Beas for a population of 47,986.

The matter of financing the project, with limited resources at the state’s disposal, was causing problems to the government. The matter was taken up with the Centre, which agreed to fund the project, the spokesman added.

HAMIRPUR: The Himachal Government plans to install magnetic meters on the premises of those having private water connections. Once the augmentation of all water supply schemes of the district is completed the meters would be installed. With their installation, water pilferage would be curbed, said Ms Anuradha Thakur, Deputy Commissioner.

Stating this at a press conference here on Wednesday, she promised that there would be no water shortage in Hamirpur town during the next summer season. The Department of Irrigation and Public Health was busy in the augmentation of the town’s water supply scheme and it would be dedicated to the people by summer, she said. She said 65 per cent work on the scheme was in progress had been completed.

She said the work of augmentation of the Sujanpurtira town water supply scheme was in progress. Mr P.S. Verma, Executive Engineer of the district IPH Department, also attended the press conference.

Ms Thakur said work on the Hamirpur town sewerage scheme was on and the connections for ‘zone one” area would be released by December, 2002. The 11th Finance Commission had sanctioned Rs 12 crore for the project and Rs 1.75 crore would be spent by March 31, 2002, she said.

The Deputy Commissioner said the state government had cleared the Rs 7.35 crore sewerage scheme at Sujanpurtira. The sewerage scheme for Nadaun town of the district would also be undertaken shortly as the Central Government had given its clearance for the project, she said.

Ms Thakur said 35 drinking water supply and irrigation schemes were introduced in the district during the current fiscal year. The IPH Department was spending over Rs 10 crore on various water supply and irrigation schemes in the district during the year.

National parks converted into societies
S. P. Sharma
Tribune News Service

Shimla, January 16
In a bid to reduce its expenditure and encourage participation of locals in the promotion of eco-tourism, the Himachal Pradesh Government has converted the lion safari at Renuka and Great Himalayan National Park at Kufri in to independent societies.

It is learnt that the famous tourist destination of Khajjiar in Chamba district, Manikaran and Banjar valleys in Kulu and the Chansel ski slopes in the Rohru area of Shimla district are also being converted into societies. This has been done close on the heel of conversion of hospitals into societies.

These steps are being taken to make these tourist destinations self-sustainable without funds from the government. Employees will, however, continue to be on the rolls of the government.

The forest minister, Thakur Roop Singh, confirmed the creation of the societies and hoped the step would promote eco-tourism. There are three zoos, 29 wildlife sanctuaries and three Himalayan national parks in the state.

The government had recently decided to place the infrastructure of the Forest Department in the places of tourist interest at the disposal of these societies.

These societies have started charging entry fee and various other levies from tourists. Separate charges have been fixed for foreign tourists at some of the places. The picturesque nature park at Manali has also been converted into a society.

Steps are being taken to regulate trekking routes in the Manikaran and Banjar valleys which are frequented by a large number of tourists. Some violent incidents, including murders, have been reported in the remote areas of these routes.

The locals of these areas will be involved in the exercise as they will be partners in developing the infrastructure for the tourists.

The government had sometime ago decided to convert the Manali-based mountaineering institute into a society and generate its own resources by organising courses in winter and water sports, besides other activities.

MC owes 12 cr to PH Department
Our Correspondent

Shimla, January 16
The Shimla Municipal Corporation owes Rs 12 crore to the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department as water bill. The tap water is being supplied at subsidised rates to the residents of the town. The payment has been due for many years.

The corporation has repeatedly asked the government to grant special aid so that the arrears could be cleared. But the government has turned a blind eye to it so far.

The corporation has been facing financial crunch for past many years and is unable to pay the water bills to the Irrigation Department.

The annual bill of the IPH Department for supplying water to the corporation is about Rs 1.75 crore.

Sources say that during 1995-96 and 1997-98 the government had given special aid of Rs 1 crore to the corporation. In the period of 1999-2000 the amount was reduced to Rs 34.55 lakh by the government and in 2000-2001 no aid was given.

The total earning of the corporation is about 12 crore annually. But only a sum of Rs 3 crore to Rs 4 crore is spent on the development works of the town, which is not sufficient. Rest of the money is given as salaries to the corporation employees.

The issue of releasing grant from the government has been raised number of times in the meeting of the corporation. Even the House had passed resolution that the government should release the grant.

According to the Deputy Mayor, Mr Shashi Shaker, no financial aid has been given by the government since 1998.

CM asks youths to abstain from drugs
Our Correspondent

Solan, January 16
Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal today cautioned the youth against drug addiction, by saying that certain anti-national forces had of late started ensnaring the younger section of society in drug addiction.

Mr Dhumal, who was the chief guest at a state-level general knowledge competition, organised by the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad, Himachal Pradesh, here today, said he hoped that the youth would see through the evil designs of the anti-national forces and would not fall into their trap.

The Chief Minister told students that the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development had undertaken the task of amending history textbooks.

Dr Rajiv Bindal, local MLA and Chairman, of the State Pollution Control Board, and Mr Ramesh Pappa, national general secretary of the ABVP, also spoke.

Others who graced the occasion included the Minister of State for Technical Education, Mr Ravinder Ravi, the Excise and Taxation Minister, Mr Parveen Sharma, and the Chairman of the HP State Marketing Board, Mr Virendra Kashyap.

The Chief Minister also released a souvenir brought out by the ABVP.

Ankush of Kangra district, Abishek Gupta of Shimla district and Brij Lal Tunang of Mandi district bagged the first, second and third prizes, respectively, in the competition.

Transfer orders modified
Tribune News Service

Shimla, January 16
In partial modification of the transfer orders of Himachal Administrative Services officers issued last week, the government today posted Mr Rajeev Sharma, Director, District Primary Education Project, Shimla, as Additional District Magistrate, Shimla.

Mr J.R. Katwal, Additional District Magistrate, Shimla, goes as Additional Secretary, Home and Tribal Development.

Mr Sanjay Sharma, Assistant Commissioner to the Deputy Commissioner, Solan, has been posted as Subdivisional Officer (Civil), Paonta Sahib.

Mr Hans Raj Sharma, Subdivisional Officer (Civil), Jaisinghpur, who was under transfer as SDO (Civil), Paonta Sahib, goes to Sarkaghat in the same capacity. Mr Baldev Thakur, SDO (Civil), Hamirpur, who was under transfer as SDO (Civil), Sarkaghat, now takes over as SDO (Civil), Sundernagar.

One-way traffic in Nurpur from today
Our Correspondent

Nurpur, January 16
The District Magistrate, Kangra, following the recommendation of the local Municipal Council has issued a notification to enforce one-way traffic in the town.

According to a press note issued by the Subdivisional Magistrate, Nurpur, the one-way traffic would be enforced from tomorrow.

Vehicle owners have been directed to enter the town from the Chougan side and go out from Niazpur Brij Swami temple road. Due to the increase in vehicular traffic and frequent jams in the markets of the town, the Municipal Council had passed a resolution in this connection last year.

Stokes, Virbhadra factions join hands
Our Correspondent

Kangra, January 16
In a bid of cement the differences at the grass-root level between the factions of the Congress led by former Chief Minister and CLP Leader Virbhadra Singh and HP Congress Committee chief Vidya Stokes, supporters of both leaders today addressed a joint Press conference here, saying that the Congress was united against the BJP for its failure on the administrative and political front. Mr Haresh Mahajan, PCC general secretary, said the Congress would hold a rally here on January 21.

Three die due to suffocation
Our correspondent

Kumarhatti, January 16
Three persons died due to suffocation in the two different incidents on the intervening night of January 14 and 15.

According to the police, two persons were suffocated to death at Jabli, 15 km from here, as the room in which they were sleeping got engulfed with fumes caused by a burning quilt that accidentally caught fire after getting in touch with a switch on a heater.

The deceased have been identified as Udmi Ram of Shahi village, near Jabli, and Harnam Singh, a resident of Paonta Sahib who was working at Jabli in Horticulture Processing Marketing Corporation (HPMC).

In the second incident Gopi Ram, a PWD chowkidar, was found dead in a room of the PWD rest house, Sultanpur, near here, yesterday morning when another chowkidar went to the rest house to relieve him from duty.

2 killed, 8 hurt in bus mishap
Our Correspondent

Jawali (Nurpur), January 16
Two passengers died on the spot and eight others injured, five of them seriously, when a private bus met with an accident at Doog-Bakshian village in Jawali subdivision today. According to the information the driver of the bus HP-38-3937 lost control over the vehicle which fell in the courtyard of a nearby house killing two passengers. The deceased have been identified as Tarsem Lal of Rajpalwan village and Dhian Singh of Rey village. Those seriously injured have been shifted to Talwara hospital. The SDM, Jawali, gave Rs 5000 each to next of kin of the deceased, as ex gratia.

Work on Parbati project from March
Our Correspondent

Chamba, January 16
The NHPC has decided to undertake work on the 800 MW (stage-II) Parbati project in Kulu district in March for which a sum of Rs 225 crore has been allocated during the current financial year. This was stated by Mr A.K. Gangapadhaya, Director (Projects) of the NHPC, while talking to reporters here today.