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Wednesday,
July 17, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Notice on encroachment policy Acute
water shortage in Jaisinghpur Farmers
hold ‘yajna’ for rain DISTRICT DIARY |
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Stone laid
for two bridges Solan
trader dupes residents Sangla
to have helipad 
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Notice
on encroachment policy Shimla, July 16 Taking a Suo motu action on a letter of Mr
S. N. Dhawan (70) of Chautra village in Mandi district urging the court to quash the policy which would help only a handful of influential persons and demoralise the law-abiding citizens. He pointed out that a poor person could not dare encroach such big chunks of land. Further in states like Delhi stern action was being taken against encroachers and they were being evicted from the encroached land. He said the cut-off dates for the consideration of revenue land for regularisation used to be 10 to 15 years so that long-pending cases could be settled. But now the government had fixed the date as late as by December 2000. One could simply fill a form and apply. “This means anybody can just manipulate and walk away with the piece of government land,” he added. He had mentioned that a poor man in the state would neither have the tendency to encroach upon such a large chunk of government land nor would he be in a position to pay even half the market price for the land encroached, as required from the economically poor category. He alleged that there were hundreds of influential people who had encroached upon the land allotted to landless people long ago. As the government did not take any action against them all these years and the landless people dropped their fight in disappointment, this policy would eventually help such violators to get the same regularised. He also mentioned the High Court had earlier quashed such a policy. Notices were issued to the Chief Secretary, the Secretary, Revenue, and Deputy Commissioner of Mandi. They were given six weeks to file reply. The court appointed Mr
D. D. Sood, a senior advocate, as the amicus curiae. |
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Acute water shortage in Jaisinghpur Jaisinghpur, July 16 Neither was a new drinking water scheme sanctioned nor the existing one augmented to meet the increased demand. Jaisinghpur and the adjoining villages — Netru, Haler, Bijapur, Bagkuljan, Gajrehar, Kachhal Jaggian, Kachhal Bhandarian, Kutahan, Tikkari, Dalu and Dabla — are all dependent on the old scheme, “Kakoru da gharat”, which was made operational in 1978-79. According to sources in the Irrigation and Public Health Department, this scheme was then envisaged for a population of 2000 in 12 villages and had a provision for 60 water connections, mostly public taps. However the scheme is at present catering to 8,000 and the number of water connections has neared 2000. According to the criterion on laid down by the department, a person requires 70 litres per day and thus a population of 8000 should get 5.60 lakh litres everyday. However, the present scheme has been supplying only 2.59 lakh litres of water. An acute shortage of water is being faced by Jaisinghpur, Kutahan, Dabi, Haler and Netru villages for the past over five years. Although the Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, had laid the stone for a drinking water scheme for Jaisinghpur in October, 2000, the scheme has not progressed. When this reporter contacted XEN the concerned of the Department, Mr Mukul, at Thural, he said work on the Jaisinghpur drinking water scheme had started. He said the scheme would provide 6 lakh litres of water which would cater to the needs of residents of Jaisinghpur and the surrounding villages. |
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Farmers
hold ‘yajna’ for rain Hamirpur, July 16 The Department of Agriculture has sent a detailed report to the state government regarding the failure of the kharif crops in the district. Dr H.R. Sharma , Deputy Director, Agriculture, Hamirpur told The Tribune here today that the sowing of kharif crops in the district was delayed by 15 to 20 days and the sowing was done only in the first week of July. He said the delayed sowing had affected crop prospects as there has been no rain for the past 12 days. Dr Sharma said the department had supplied seeds, fertiliser and other material to the farmers. However, without water nothing was possible to save the crops from the drought-like conditions prevailing in the district. Mr Narendra Singh of the Bamsan area said he had not seen such a situation during the monsoon in the past one decade. He said if there was further delay in rain, maize crops would be completely damaged. Mrs Basanti Devi of the Mewa area was in tears when this reporter met her in her field. She was weeding out waste grass from her fields. She said that the failure of the rain was due to annoyance of rain-gods. Meanwhile, people in various parts of the district have started holding yajnas to appease rain-gods. |
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DISTRICT DIARY Mandi Later, the Punjab Government stopped paying the compensation on the plea that half of it should be paid by Himachal, which was the owner of the Bassi power house. As Himachal did not agree the Punjab Government too stopped it. Consequently, the entire catchment area which was once covered with thick forests has been ravaged by massive grazing. Dense forests have dwindled to open forests and open forests were turning into scrub-land. A British forest officer had recommended in the project report before the execution of the Shanan power house that grazing in the catchment belt should be totally stopped and the scanty population in the valley should be migrated to the plains of Jogindernagar to ensure the regular flow of water in Uhl. Unfortunately his warnings and suggestions fell on deaf ears after Independence. No wonder, the discharge of water in the Uhl river has gone down and floods and cloud-bursts have become a regular feature wrecking havoc. * * * Mandi district has emerged as a pioneer in implementing the concept of joint forest management. The state of forests report, 1999, published by the Forest Survey of India has revealed that the forest cover of the district has increased by 224 sq km. This has happened for the first time in the past 53 years. While the country’s forest cover has shrunk by 5,500 sq km, Himachal has made a breakthrough in enhancing its forest cover by 561 sq km. Of this, Mandi and Chamba districts have contributed 464 sq km. Mandi town this year suffered the worst-ever drinking water shortage due to alleged apathy of the government which did not provide a sum of Rs 2.5 crore to complete the Rs 9.41 crore drinking water augmentation project. The work remained held up for about an year. At last the government directed the IPH authorities to raise a loan of Rs 2.5 crore from HUDCO when the summer was approaching. Experts say that the only lasting solution to Mandi’s drinking water problem is to draw the water of the Uhl river through a gravity mainline. Uhl water is clean and unpolluted. On the other hand, the Beas water, which is currently lifted is most polluted as sewage right from Manali downwards is thrown into the Beas without treatment. It is, therefore, imperative to draw the Uhl water at the earliest which would cost about Rs 23 crore only, experts point out. * * * A target of constituting 10,000 self-help groups in the district has been set for helping unemployed youths adopt gainful self-employment in a big way, says Mr Jagdish Chander Sharma, Deputy Commissioner. The performance of 1552 self-help groups presently functioning in the district has been commendable, he claims. Mr Sharma says a Rs 13.85-crore project for rural development through mixed farming and diversification of agricultural activities has been sanctioned for the district by the Central Government Experts, including those from the Bharat Agro-Industrial Foundation, Pune and the Central Sericulture Institute, Dehradun, had recently imparted training to progressive farmers in the latest modern techniques of agriculture, production of herbs, horticulture, sericulture, animal husbandry, floriculture etc. |
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Stone laid for two bridges Shimla, July 16 Addressing the gathering, he said the Public Works Department had spent Rs 28 crore on the construction of roads in the district during the past four years. He said the bridge at Tapri would be completed by the next year and on the Ramni bridge by the year 2003. He said another bridge at Yula was being constructed at a cost of Rs 1.50 crore. Besides, Rs 12 crore would be spent on the construction of the 18-km-long Wangtu-Chhlotu-Kilba road, which would provide an alternate route to the area. He said a bus stand at Tapri would be constructed soon and the government would ensure that local people got employment in the Wangtu hydroelectric project. Mr Dhumal said the government had made special arrangements for the restoration of roads and other facilities in Kinnaur which witnessed floods two years ago. He said Rs 8 crore was spent on the construction of link roads in the area and apple was purchased at a rate of Rs 10 per kg so that the people did not suffer. He said Rs 5 crore were given for providing transport subsidy. The Chief Minister also laid the foundation stone for the bridge on the Baspa at Shong to be constructed at a cost of Rs 1.10 crore. Mr Chet Ram Negi, Parliamentary Secretary, said 22 bridges had been constructed in the district and work was in progress on three. He said Rs 100 crore would be spent on five projects in the area under the catchment area treatment plan. |
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Solan trader dupes residents Solan, July 16 Manikandan of Madurai, had recently started advertising that he would be delivering household goods and cars to prospective buyers within a few days of a one-time cash deposit equivalent to the one-third of the MRP. Hundreds of gullible citizens, despite police warnings and appeals issued through handbills and press statements, made a beeline for the shop and deposited their hard-earned cash against orders for items like cars and other costly household items. Even those intending buyers who initially heeded the police advice, also made payments after Manikandan started making deliveries of goods. Most of them felt dismayed and reported the matter to the police after they found the shop closed today. It was feared that Manikandan had disappeared with over Rs 50 lakh deposited by the customers. However, the exact amount involved in this alleged cheating case will be known only after the police breaks open the locks of the shop tomorrow. The SP, Mr
S. Z. H. Zaidi, after sending search parties to trace Manikandan got in touch with his counterpart at Madurai who confirmed that the address given by Manikandan to the police was correct. Mr Zaidi said the police suspicion had been aroused the moment Manikandan’s handbills came to their notice. In fact Manikandan had been summoned to the police station several times, but no action could be taken for want of requisite evidence. |
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Sangla to
have helipad Shimla, July 16 Addressing a rally at Sangla he also announced a grant of Rs 80 lakh for the twin projects. He said the Rituran-Baning-Saring road would be constructed under Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojna at a cost of Rs 1.10 crore and a jeepable road to connect Sangla with Kand would also be constructed on priority. Mr Jai Kishan Sharma, the state BJP President, said that the state had succeeded in securing Central assistance to the tune of Rs 1200 crore for speeding up development in the tribal belt during the past four years. Mr Dhumal also inaugurated Gyabang Bridge and a primary health centre building at Gyabang. |
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Muslim leader asks Farooq to quit Shimla, July 16 The leader, who is president of the Tanzeem-e-Aimma (an organisation of Imams) of Himachal, Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh, held Pakistan responsible for all such activities and asked its government to stop cross-border terrorism. Alleging the BJP’s failure in every sphere, the Moulana also held the Centre responsible for its failure to save the lives of innocent people in the country.
UNI |
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PM’s resignation demanded Kangra, July 16 The state president of the All-India Hindu Mahasabha, Mr Nalinder Gautam, raised the demand while talking to mediapersons here today. He said the Central Government was a mute spectator to the whole thing. |
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Cops search for
suspected ultras Nurpur, July 16 According to information, Pratap Chand of Gujjarnala noticed three armed youths, suspected to be militants, wandering near his house late on Sunday night. When he switched on the light, they fled, causing panic in the area. |
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