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Monday,
June 2, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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BJP blames govt for ‘lawlessness’ Administration partial, allege BJP leaders Protecting people from wild animals Co-op societies transform lives Need to diversify agriculture stressed |
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Water crisis in Shimla Minister’s emergency step to end water shortage
Youngsters exhorted to join Army Residents for IRB, HAP in place of ITBP
More funds sought for SCs’ uplift Three held, ‘stolen’ wheat seized
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BJP blames govt for ‘lawlessness’ Shimla, June 1 Mr Ganesh Dut, party spokesperson, said that it was not the only incident, over the past few days there had been a spurt in the incidence of crime in the state. Several murders had been committed and a petrol station was looted near the barrier, here. He said the Congress government was misusing the law and order machinery to harass supporters of the BJP by implicating them in false cases. Mr Dut said a campaign had been launched to defame BJP leaders and workers to divert the attention of the people from the election promises made by the Congress. He alleged that official machinery was being misused for campaigning for Congress candidates in the tribal areas. The Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, had been moving in the state helicopter and in one instance even the Congress candidate accompanied him. He urged the Election Commission to ensure that the expenditure on the helicopter was paid by the Congress. |
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Administration partial, allege BJP leaders Shimla, June 1 The party in its complaint, alleged that rooms in various rest houses had been occupied by Congress ministers and workers. The status of leaders was also not being taken into account while allotting accommodation. For instance, ordinary rooms were being allotted to former Chief Minister even though VIP rooms were available at the rest house. The party also alleged that official vehicles were being misused for campaigning. It demanded that the vehicles of the ministers be retained at the state headquarters until the elections were over. The party also drew attention to the fact that Congress candidate from Bharmour seat travelled in state helicopter with Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, and demanded action in the matter. |
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Protecting people from wild animals Shimla, June 1 To begin with, the focus will be on controlling the monkey menace and protecting the villagers and livestock from predators like leopards and bears, which frequently venture into human settlements in search of prey. Some species monkeys (Rhesus macaques) and langurs have become a nuisance for the people not only in villages but also towns. They have adapted rather well to the “human environment” and flourished. The shrinking and fragmentation of forests due to increasing human activities have destroyed the natural wildlife habitats, making such species as leopards “ecological dislocates” over the years. They are making frequent forays into human settlements and taking a heavy toll of human lives and livestock. Troops of monkeys are creating problems for even motorists on highways. The habit of the people to feed monkeys with bread, biscuits and other eatables is a part of the problem. The simians have become addicted to fast food and they no longer search for their natural food in the wild. The strategy will be to wean the monkeys away from “fast food” and rehabilitate them in the wild, says Mr
A.K. Gulati, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Wildlife. A two-pronged strategy will be adopted. While the people will be prevented from feeding the monkeys, an effort will be made to create habitats complete with water holes and enough to eat in the forests a few hundred metres from the highway. In cases where it is not feasible to have such a habitat, the entire troop will be translocated to some suitable forest area, he explains. The long-term measures include sterilisation of animals, which is an expensive affair. For reducing conflict with animals like leopards, the department proposes to urge the government to come out with a programme for the construction of sanitary latrines in every village household. This is essential to prevent the people from venturing into jungles at odd hours. Studies have indicated that maximum number of persons, particularly children, have been killed when they had gone to the jungles for
answering the call of nature. The people will also be educated about the other ways to reduce conflict with leopards. After almost every killing, the villagers trace the carcass and destroy it. As a result, the leopard hardly gets anything to eat. In frustration, it kills more animals. Thus, the people will be advised to leave the carcass for the predator once an animal has been killed to prevent more fatal attacks. There is also a proposal to rationalise the boundaries of wildlife sanctuaries to ensure large contiguous stretches of protected forest areas for the wildlife to flourish. An elaborate exercise will be undertaken to exclude the areas with too much human activity. There is also a proposal to link the Great Himalayan National Park of Kulu with the Pin Valley Park by declaring the entire stretch between the two parks a protected wildlife area. This will make available over 4000 sq km of unfragmented forest area free from human interference. |
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Co-op societies transform lives Shimla, June 1 Today there are 4368 cooperative societies in the state and whole population has been brought into the cooperative fold. Cooperatives in the state at present have 12.60 lakh members with Rs 128.18 crore investment as share capital and Rs 4869.02 crores as working capital. The cooperative sector has contributed significantly to the upliftment of weaker sections of the society by providing credit facilities for agriculture, horticulture and other purposes. Three co-operative banks, — the Kangra central co-operative bank, the Jogindra co-operative bank, Solan and the Apex state co-operative bank are meeting credit needs of farmers. These banks together, have 302 branches and 24 extension counters in the state. The Apex bank has deposit of Rs 1490 crore. Besides, the state Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank is providing long-term loans to members in eight districts of the state through 22 branches and subsidiaries and the Kangra Primary Cooperative Agricultural Rural Developmental Bank is catering to the needs of other four districts through 16 branches. The Co-operative societies supply agriculture farm inputs — insecticides, fertilisers and better seeds to the farmers. In addition consumer goods worth Rs 221.45 crore were distributed through cooperatives in the state through 2674 fair price shops to the consumers in 2001-02. The Integrated Co-operative Development Projects launched by the National Co-operative Development Corporation in Bilaspur, Sirmaur, Hamirpur, Kangra, Shimla, Kulu, Chamba districts of Himachal have been completed. Similar projects in Solan and Una are under progress and in 2002-03 one more project has been sanctioned by the NCDC for the Mandi district. Handloom industry is another area where cooperatives have helped. To bring women in the mainstream of handloom production, a project. “Support to training and Employment Programme” (STEP) was introduced with the financial assistance from the Department of Women and Child Development Ministry of Human Resources, Government of India with a total cost of Rs 207 lakh. The project is being implemented by the Apex Weavers Federation, Kulu. The state government is also providing financial assistance to cooperatives in the form of share capital, managerial subsidy, price fluctuation fund, interest subsidy, and enrolment subsidy, to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe and IRDP families. The cooperatives entered the new area of education with the setting up of the Himachal Pradesh Cooperative Advancement of Professional Education Society at Badhera in Una. The society has been given permission by the state government and the Himachal University to start three year-degree course in law from the ensuing academic session. |
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Need to diversify agriculture stressed Chamba, June 1 This was stated by Dr Suhag while presiding over meeting of the extension management committee of the Extension Education Institute, Nilokheri, of Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar, in collaboration with Dr Y.S. Parmar, University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan, held at the local Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) today. Dr R.N. Prasad, Director, Extension, Union Ministry of Agriculture, critically evaluated the programmes of the institute and suggested new programmes for the welfare of the farming community. The meeting was attended by scientists from various universities, including, Chowdhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University, Palampur, officials from the Departments of Horticulture and Forest of Himachal, Haryana and Delhi. The committee finalised various programmes on extension education in north India. Dr R.S. Hudda, Principal, Extension Education Institute, Nilokheri, presented the report of activities to be undertaken vis-a-vis the budget allocation for the current fiscal year. Dr Gian Thakur, Associate Director, Dr Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan, said such meetings needed to be organised for creating awareness among the farming rural sector regarding the adoption of latest scientific technology to boost yield potential of fruits, vegetables and other allied crops in their respective zones. |
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Water crisis in Shimla Shimla, June 1 Taps in many areas of Sanjauli, New Shimla, Lower Kaithu, Chakkar, the Institute of Advanced Study, and Bharari remained dry for the second consecutive day today. The people are feeling the pinch all the more due to soaring mercury and uneven distribution of available water. There are reports of influential people securing water at the cost of others allegedly with the connivance of the field staff of the Municipal Corporation. Mrs Vimla Nagar, a resident of New Shimla, informed The Tribune that many houses in Sector 4 had not received any water for the past three days as the corporation staff had block one pipe line to enable others to have adequate supply. The BJP has criticised the administration for its failure to ensure adequate and regular supply of water to the residents. It has demanded that schools, colleges and other educational institutions should be closed down if adequate supply could not be ensured. The Democratic Youth Federation of India has demanded a long-term strategy to tap water from perennial sources such as the Beas, the Satluj and the Pabbar. The administration maintained that shortage of water was due to lack of snowfall and inadequate rain over the past few years in the region as a result of which the natural sources had either dried up or the discharge had drastically reduced. An official spokesman said that three tubewells had been sunk in the Gummah and Ashwini khuds which were pumping nine lakh gallons of additional water every day. While the demand had gone up to 70 lakh gallons per day, due to a tourist rush the availability had come down to 52 lakh gallons per day. |
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Minister’s emergency step to end water shortage Mandi, June 1 Referring to the situation in Mandi district the minister said 143 tankers in Sarkaghat, 32 in Mandi Sadar, 18 in Sundernagar, eight in Jogindernagar and one each in Gohar and Karsog subdivisions had been pressed into service. He said more tankers would be made available if the situation warranted it. He said Sarkaghat subdivision and Lad Bharol areas of the district — the most vulnerable parts were getting special attention. The minister informed 82 hand pumps had been sunk in the past one month and the S.E concerned told to
examine if more hand pumps could be had in the worst hit areas. Rupees one crore had been provided for this purpose. He asked Forest and Rural Development department to coordinate with the Public Health department to deal with the situation. Later the minister said posts of the Executive Engineer and other staff were being filled immediately. He said water supply situation in Mandi town had improved after the release of additional 25 lakh litres of water every day. He said there was some problem due to faulty distribution lines, but water was a plenty. The minister said in the main town, Jawaharnagar and Jail Road areas water supply situation had improved after the release of additional water. |
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Shimla summer
festival begins
Shimla, June 1 It was the second time that Udit Narayan gave a performance in the “queen of hills”. He started off with his popular number, “Papa kehte hain” from the film “Quayamat Se Quayamat Tak”. It was followed by recent hits like “Mitwa o mitwa” from “Lagaan” and “Ek more aya” from “Gadder”. He also sang some duets with his wife, Deepa, who is also an accomplished singer. Earlier, Nivedita Parthasarthy impressed the audience with her Bharatnatyam. The programme began with the presentation of Himachali folk dances by cultural troupes from Hamirpur and Chamba. The Governor, Mr Vishnu Sadashiv Kokje, inaugurated the festival. |
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Youngsters exhorted to join Army Solan, June 1 A decision regarding one’s career was of utmost importance and a hasty decision could cause incalculable inconvenience to an individual, he remarked while addressing students on the occasion. Applauding the students for the cultural show he said the overall physical and intellectual development of a student could mould them into good citizens. Earlier, the students presented a cultural programme for over two hours marked by folk dances, plays, a western dance, kathak presentation with a young Lord Krishna dancing amidst “gopis”, a group song and presentation of the school report by the Principal, Col N.S. Rawat. The chief guest, Lieut Gen B.S. Thakur later gave away the prizes to the meritorious students. Puneet Bhullar bagged the gold medal for all round best student while Patel House won the Cock House Trophy. Earlier, the chief guest also inaugurated a computer lab and inspected a science exhibition. While talking to The Tribune Lieut Gen B.S. Thakur said efforts would be made to ensure that students who passed out of the army schools received specialised training to compete in defence services examinations and agreed that there was need for more work to fulfil the aspirations of the students and parents who specially send their students to the army schools. The need was to build up army schools as grooming ground for NDA aspirants, he added. |
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Residents for IRB, HAP in place of ITBP Chamba, June 1 Annoyed at the recent incident of beating up and threatening of border villagers of the Mangli belt by jawans of the ITBP, these residents have submitted their memorandum to the Centre as well as the state governments and especially requested the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Mr Virbhadra Singh, to shift and replace the ITBP with the IRB and HAP so that they could take over the checkpoints in this border belt and guard it in a better way. Mr Surinder Bhardwaj, a local MLA, also took up the issue with the state government. At present, nine checkpoints were being manned by the ITBP on the borders of the district in Himachal Pradesh adjacent to Jammu and Kashmir while 26 checkpoints set up on a 265-km-long borderline were being handled by the Himachal Armed Police and the Indian Reserve Battalion. |
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Colony sans basic amenities Parwanoo, June 1 Situated about 4 km from the main town on the Kalka-Shimla highway, it was built about 10 year back. It has still not been handed over for the regular maintenance and development of the sector to the local nagar parishad. According to Mr Ish Kapoor, a resident, garbage bins have been damaged garbage is scattered all over the area. Due to the non-availability of dustbins, the residents throw garbage packed in polythene bags and a large number of polythene bags are lying on unused land. Colonel Mohiyal, another resident, says the main road and lanes have developed deep potholes. The roads are in a pitiable condition and accidents have occurred in the area. He says the streetlights have not been functioning properly. The residents have difficulty in going out after sunset. Captain Sood, who also resides in the colony says for want of a proper drainage system, rain water damages roads in the area. Children and the aged are scared of walking alone on roads as monkeys snatch eatables from them, he adds. Mr O.P. Sharma says stray animals create problems in the sector and cowdung remains scattered in the area. The unchecked growth of congress grass is causing allergies, he adds. Mr Nakul is concerned at the non-existence of a proper park for children to play. Ms Kanta Kapoor says no local bus is being plied by the HRTC on this route and long-route buses do not stop here. According to the Executive Engineer of the board, a proposal to hand over the sector to the local nagar parishad, has been sent. Official of the nagar parishad say it has been decided to take over the sector for maintenance and further development. |
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More funds sought for SCs’ uplift Kumarhatti, June 1 Mr K.D. Sultanpuri, elected Co-Chairman of the All India Congress Committee, SC cell, stated this here yesterday. Mr Sultanpuri who hails from a nearby village of Sultanpur had been MP from Shimla Parliamentary seat from 1981 to 1999 demanded more funds for the uplift 7 the downtroddens. He said on June 11 a meeting of the AICC (SC cell) would be held at New Delhi to plan how to improve the lot of SCs and STs. On encroachment on government land he said that those who had encroached on the land should be punished and fined irrespective of economic status. However, the surplus land in state should be distributed among landless farmers, he pointed. He criticised the previous BJP government for its decision to hand over the land to original owners from Punjab. |
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Three held, ‘stolen’ wheat seized Solan, June 1 |
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