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Monday,
October
20, 2003,
Chandigarh, India
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Ministers covering up for CM must quit, says BJP Dhumal for
one man, one post formula Power board reprimanded for not following orders Constables get more promotion chances |
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Human cost of saving the wild NHPC mission to lighten each house Submerged temples to be shifted Cop beats up
dhaba owner, residents gherao police post Set up Tibetan varsity, Mann asks PM Gazetted
holidays Governor opens Red Cross fair Paragliding contest Sodomy charge against constable being probed Labourer
buried alive
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Ministers
covering up for CM must quit, says BJP Shimla, October 19 Addressing a press conference here today, he said the two ministers had violated the constitutional oath of discharging their duties without fear and favour and were functioning not as colleagues of Mr Virbhadra Singh, but as his subordinates. He claimed 80 bighas, illegally retained by Mr Virbhadra Singh, was recently vested in the government by the Financial Commissioner on the basis of the action initiated in the matter by the previous BJP regime and not on his application, as claimed by the Congress ministers. He said the Deputy Commissioner, Shimla, had filed an affidavit in the High Court that in 1955 Mr Virbhadra Singh had only 14.17 bighas under personal cultivation and the rest of the land should have been vested in the government automatically. However, this did not happen. He alleged that Mr Virbhadra Singh used political influence to illegally retain land, which should have been vested in the government following the implementation of land reforms in the state in 1972. |
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Dhumal for
one man, one post formula Chandigarh, October 19 The election of the Himachal BJP President is being delayed due to serious differences between the Dhumal and Shanta camps in the state BJP. About the statement made by the Punjab Chief Minister that the Centre was trying to destabilise the Congress governments, he said: “Those fabricating false corruption cases against us should be ready to face the consequences of Congress leaders’ involvement in corruption”. Mr Dhumal said during the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, corruption in the Virbhadra Government and poor development in the state would be the main poll planks. He alleged that in the khair tree case the involvement of Congress Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh was quite evident even though the final verdict would be given by the court. He castigated the Virbhadra Government for the JBT teachers’ recruitment scam. |
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Power board reprimanded for not following orders Shimla, October 19 While fixing liability for imposition of penalty for not carrying out seven such directions, for which show-cause notices were issued, the commission has, in its order issued yesterday, given a final opportunity to the management of the board to represent its case before the announcement of the quantum of penalty. The Chairman and members of the board could make a representation before the commission by November 15,2003, if they so desired, the order said. Under the Electricity Act, 2003, a penalty amounting to Rs 1 lakh could be imposed for each contravention. Besides, in case of continuing contraventions, penalty at the rate of Rs 6000 per day could be imposed. The commission had directed the board to take steps to build a credible database with unbundled costs of generation, transmission and distribution to provide a rational basis for determination of tariff, get a study conducted on its total financial management so as to determine the optimal capital structure, including key financial parameters, carry out verification of its physical assets by an independent agency and make available a fixed assets register with circle-wise details, provide detailed information on voltage-wise assets, costs and sales and frame policies for providing service to customers and for distribution and planning with a view to improving the quality of service and revenue, besides reducing transmission and distribution losses. But the board had not taken any steps to implement the directions over the past two years. Not only that, it had also not filed a tariff application, an annual requirement, for the past two years. The board had not only been reluctant to comply with the directions of the commission but had also illegally rolled back the power tariff hike before the last Assembly election. However, with the new Electricity Act, 2003, which has transferred most of the functions of the government to the commission, it remains to be seen what action the board takes to escape the impending penalties. |
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Constables
get more promotion chances Dharamsala, October 19 Presiding over the concluding function of the 43rd HP Police Sports and Duty Meet here, he said the step had been taken following representations made by the Class III Police Employees Association. The Chief Minister, while declining the request of the DGP, Mr A.K. Puri, for exempting the police force from the ban on recruitment, announced that whenever needed posts would be sanctioned to ensure the smooth functioning of the department. He announced that 12 band men will be recruited soon. Mr Virbhadra Singh said every year an amount of Rs 13.14 crore was sanctioned for the modernisation of the police force and he would ensure that in the future the amount was released in full. He also announced that the teaching allowance of instructors in the Police Department, which had been slashed to 4 per cent, would be restored to the previous level of 15 per cent. Having a dig at obese police officials, the Chief Minister said a training course would be started at Daroh, where all policemen identified as fat would be sent for shedding weight. Earlier, the DGP welcomed the chief guest. He said police officials, who brought laurels to the state in sports, should be granted an out-of-turn promotion. The four-day sports and duty meet was inaugurated by the Himachal Pradesh Governor, Mr
V.S. Kokje on October 16. The best athlete award once again went to Harish Kumar, who has been winning this honour for the past four years. For the first time, women also participated and Suresh Kumari was declared the best woman athlete. The Central unit was declared the overall champions with 848 points while Central Range was runners up with 749 points. Mr
R.M. Sharma, Commandant, IRB, was adjudged the best shooter while Manoj Kumar was declared the best boxer. Dharam Pal won the best revolver shot prize and Southern Range was the winner of team event in rifle shooting. The Chief Minister took the salute at the concluding march past by the athletes. |
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Human cost of saving the wild Gushaini (Kulu): The Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) was formed to preserve the unique flora and fauna of the western Himalayas. But four years after the area located in the four valleys of Tirthan, Sainj, Jiwa and Parvati in the Kulu region was declared out of bounds for human habitation, the marauding of wild life continues. Poaching of musk deer brown bear and ghoral (goat-antelope) and looting medicinal plants like vallerina (Nainu), pichroriza (Kauru) aconitum (Patish) and incense (Dhoop) continue unabated. Birds like monal and western tragopan are on the verge of extinction due to hunting banned in Himachal Pradesh since 1982. The magnitude of the problem can be gauged from the fact that not a single case of poaching or stealing has been registered in the known history of the region. Monal happens to be Himachal’s state bird, while musk deer is the state animal. Estimates put the number of musk deer killed in a year in this area to about 50 and ghorals to around 100. For the past five years, the forest guards posted in the region have officially abandoned routine patrols in the area because they feel that it is a futile exercise in trying to catch people who will never be convicted due to the state’s lacking will to implement the existing law. There has been not a single conviction in Himachal during the past five years for violating the Wild Life Act. No wonder that the 349 families who have received Rs 1.56 crore in compensation for surrendering various rights in areas falling under GNHP continue to ingress the park, thereby defeating the very purpose for which it was formed. The GHNP has over 900 types of medicinal plants, about 500 types of butterflies plants such as gucchi that fetch about Rs 5 to 7,000 per kg, taxol, a plant known to retard growth of cancer cells whose oil sells for as much as $ 10,000 for 4 millilitres. According to Mr Ses Ram, a senior guide to the GHNP, during a search operation in 2001 the raiding party came across 108 traps for animals in four days. “It is not possible to scan each and every corner of the jungle, especially when the GHNP is spread over an area of 754.5 odd square km. Director of the GHNP, Mr Sanjeeva Pandey, during one of his treks in the area confiscated about 20 quintals of dhoop dug out by one single team of medicinal plant mafia. “Since, we did not have enough men to carry the dhoop back with us, I ordered my men to set it on fire so that it would act as a deterrent to mafia”, Mr Pandey said, while adding that the only way to curb the menace of poaching and theft is to educate the people living in the area rather than using force, which he feels is not possible given the vast area in question. In one year, comprising two seasons for the extraction of medicinal plants, mainly May-June and October-November, one family is able to collect around 2 to 3 quintals of plants that fetch them about Rs 15,000 in the market. The poachers are able to sell a musk deer for anything between Rs 8,000 and Rs 10,000. The black bear is hunted for its bile that is used in making medicines. Mr Pandey admits that killing of animals and theft of plants continues, but adds that the past few years have witnessed a downward trend in these activities. A local NGO, Society for Scientific Advancement of Hill and Rural Areas (SAHARA) is using street theatre to spread awareness among the hill people for preserving nature, he says. However, many locals are adamant and say, “killing may be bad, but it is our right to extract and sell medicinal plants”. Mr Ram Singh (name changed), a porter from Kauncha village adds “almosts all families from my village go for picking of medicinal plants, the government has thrown us out of our homes notifying it as a national park, but till we are provided alternative avenues of livelihood, how does the government expect us to survive”. Similar views are expressed by residents of villages like Dingcha located on the periphery of the park. An employee of the GHNP, who does not wish to be identified, says “the state government is just not committed to the cause of nature and wild life otherwise the GHNP would not have remained without the grant of a single paise from the time the park was created in 1999 to 2000. The only money that came to the park was the salary of the workers. After 2001, the GHNP receive something between Rs 15 lakh to Rs 20 lakh annually for the maintenance and running of the vast area. There is a growing demand among the conservationists in the area for separating the Forest Department from the Wild Life Department as it has been done in some states, including neighbouring Haryana. Since, wildlife is a Central government driven issue and states hardly have any role to perform, environmentalists and nature lovers who work in scores of NGOs in the region want the wild life protection projects to be funded directly by the Central Government. |
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NHPC mission to lighten each house
Chamba, October 19 Announcing this in an official communique here today, Mr Yogendra Prasad, Chairman and Managingh-Director (CMD) of the NHPC, said the thrust towards hydropower development in the past about five years by policy-makers’ had started producing results from this year. Now, whereas all central public sector undertakings would jointly add a generation of 3,000 mw of hydropower during the current fiscal year, the NHPC alone shall be adding more than 1000 mw during this year itself. The CMD claimed that in terms of investment, the NHPC had become one of the top 10 public sector corporations in the country. He further claimed that the corporation had emerged as the single larget hydropower corporation across the country, achieving a distinction of eight successive ‘excellent’ ratings by the Union Ministry of Power. Mr Prasad sent the 300 mw Chamera hydro-electric project (stage-1) in Himachal, the 390 mw Dulhasti hydroelectic project in Jammu and Kashmir and the Indira Sagar hydro-electrict project in Madhya Pradesh would start adding to the power generation capacity very shortly. — UNI
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Submerged temples to be shifted
Bilaspur, October 19 The Bhakra-Nangal dam was constructed in November 1963 and the Gobind Sagar reservoir, a man-made lake came into existence over the Sutlej. However, in the process, the old town of Bilaspur housing several ancient temples and sati stones, dating as far back as the ninth century, got submerged. The government later built a new township of Bilaspur on the banks of Gobind Sagar which became the first planned town in Himachal Pradesh. Among the submerged temples is the ninth century Lord Shiva Ranganath shrine. According to records available, the carvings of this temple are of the Pahari school of art and the Gupta period. Near the Ranganath temple is the Hanuman temple and another smaller one that perhaps was built during the Mughal period. Both these temples are also under the Sutlej waters. Other famous temple lying under the Gobind Sagar is the Gopal-ka-Mandir which was once adorned with murals of Krishna-Leela legend. The murals were removed by the erstwhile Raja of the Bilaspur princely state before the temple sank and are now believed to be in the possession of the rani. The seventh-century Shanmukheshwara mandir, which is a rare structure of Kartikeya, the warrior and first son of Shiva, had also got submerged. Close to this structure lies the Dhanduti temple. In the past, historical monuments in the country have been shifted but no effort was made to shift these submerged temples. Only a few pillars and image of goddess Nandi from the Ranganath temple were shifted. — UNI
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Cop beats up
dhaba owner, residents Nahan, October 19 The residents demanded stern action against the Head Constable. After the intervention of senior police officials, the matter was resolved in the evening. The Head Constable was transferred to the police lines and an inquiry against him was ordered. After receiving a fact-finding report, legal action would be taken. Mr Amrit Lal Garg, president of the local Beopar Mandal, said a delegation of the mandal would meet senior administrative officers and police officials to demand protection against excesses by officials in uniform and control on ‘goonda’ elements from neighbouring states. The police registered a case under Sections 341 and 323 of the IPC against the dhaba owner, Mr Inder Mohan, on the report of Mr Jaibir Singh of Gudan village in Rohtak district. According to eyewitnesses, trouble started when the dhaba owner asked some youths, who had come here for recruitment in the Army, to make the payment for their lunch, which they refused. One youth received injury in the clash. According to sources, some youths from Haryana also refused to pay the bus fare to a Haryana Roadways bus conductor when the bus was stopped at Do Sarka here. They paid the bus fare after the intervention of the police. |
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Set up Tibetan varsity, Mann asks PM Shimla, October 19 In a letter to the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he has suggested that the institution be located partly in the foothills of Dalhousie in Himachal Pradesh and party in the adjoining Dunera area in Gurdaspur district of Punjab. He said it was the duty of the country to save the Tibetan civilisation, particularly in view of the fact that Tibetans had great respect for the founder of the Sikh faith, Guru Nanak, and they flocked the Golden Temple every winter. The people of the holy city had trade links with them, and now that there was a thaw in the Indo-Chinese ties, the trade links should be revived by opening the border points in Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh. He has also written to the Union Agriculture Minister, Mr Rajnath Singh, urging him to take immediate steps to save the trout and the mahseer, the two famous game fish in Himachal Pradesh, which are facing extinction. He said the trout had been infected by some deadly virus, which threatened to wipe out the species from the streams in the hill state. He expressed the hope that the Centre would seek the assistance of Norwegian experts to cope with the infection. He pointed out the mahseer had been endangered due to laxity in the implementation of environmental laws. It was not only a game fish but also a scavenger and any harm to the species would add to pollution in the rivers. He has sent copies of both the letters to Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, and has urged him to take up the issue of setting up a Tibetan university and the protection of mahseer and the trout with the Centre. He has also sent a letter to the Norwegian ambassador in India, seeking the help of experts from his country for saving the trout. A letter regarding the Tibetan university has been sent to Mr Michel Callouet, head of the delegation of the European Commission in New Delhi.
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Gazetted
holidays Shimla, October 19 The restricted holidays will be on January 1 (New Year), January 14 (Lohri), January 15 (Makra Sankaranti), February 6 (Ravi Dass Jayanti), February 15 (Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati Jayanti), March 2 (Muharram), March 6 (Holi), April 13 (Baisakhi), May 2 (Milad-un-Nabi), June 3 (Kabir Jayanti), August 29 (Raksha Bandhan), August 30 (Hazrat Ali’s birth anniversary), October 20 (Dasehra), October 21 (Maha Ashtmi), November 11 (Divali), November 13 (Goverdhan Pooja), November 14 (Bhai Dooj), November 24 (Guru Teg Bhadur’s martyrdom day) and December 24 (Christmas). |
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Governor
opens Red Cross fair Mandi, October 19 Speaking on the occasion, he lauded the role of the Mandi District Red Cross Society. He said the International Red Cross Society had been founded way back in 1863 for mitigating the suffering of the people in times of war and disaster. Its area of operation had now been extended to peace times as well for providing care to the ailing, the aged and the disabled. Welcoming the Governor, Parliamentary Affairs and IPH Minister, Thakur Kaul Singh, said over the past five years the District Red Cross Society had made a significant contribution towards augmenting infrastructure in health institutions, including the local Regional Hospital
where the Red Cross had set up a Rs 18 lakh intensive care unit. |
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Paragliding
contest Shimla, October 19 Already 29 international pilots, including four women, have confirmed their participation in the event being organised by the Paragliding World Cup Association in collaboration with the Department of Tourism, the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Manali, and the Union Ministry of Sports. The prominent pilots include Nikolay of Russia, Jassop of England, Olexina Maria of Russia and Hiraki Keko of Japan. The finally tally of the participants is likely to be around 35. The national paragliding championship will also be held simultaneously for which 18 entries have been received so far. The
venue is a dream destination for paragliders with its unique topography. |
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Sodomy
charge against constable being probed Paonta Sahib, October 19 According to sources, the incident took place on October 10. On October 14, the grandfather of the boy reported the matter to the SDM, Paonta Sahib. According to DSP Bhagat Singh Thakur, the clothes of the victim have been taken into custody and are being sent to Shimla for chemical analysis. The victim has narrated the incident and investigations are on. |
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Labourer
buried alive Nahan, October 19 They were rushed to the district hospital.
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Chandigarh, October 19
