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Record apple crop in
HP
50 Rajindra medical college graduates face bleak future
Dhumal wants voters to beware of Congress
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Boost for tourism industry
Rules thrown to wind in transporter raj
Downsizing has hit banks’ working: officers
Dagshai school celebrates founder’s day
Hamir utsav concludes
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Record apple crop in
HP
Shimla, October 7 With the apple
season in the Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti and Bharmour areas still being on it
is expected that the exports this year will cross the last year’s
figure of 2.27 crore cartons. With the best quality apples in the
country from the Chango, Ribba and Namgiya valley of Kinnaur and Hurling
in the Spiti subdivision, yet to reach the market it is being expected
that another 15 lakh more cartons will be exported. “Surprisingly we
have had a bumper crop for the second consecutive year and the prices
remained more or less stable, giving good returns to the growers,”
informed Mr C.R. B. Lalit. Managing Director, HP Horticultural Produce
Marketing and Processing Corporation (HPMC). He informed that apples
from the lower parts of Kinnaur were fetching about Rs 1,000 in Delhi
and Rs 920 in Chandigarh. The Director, Horticulture, Dr R.P. Sharma, said generally the delicious variety of apple grown in most parts of Himachal required real temperate conditions which were not there in the state but owning to the high altitude advantage, good quality apple was being grown successfully. Dr
Sharma, informed that though about 2.27 crore apple cartons were sent
out of the state but after including the internal consumption and the
fruit used in production the total figure last year was 2.52 crore. “Though
following a month long dry spell in June, we were not really expecting
such a good crop but now we are sure to cross last year’s figure,
which will be an all time high,” explained Dr Sharma. The HPMC, on
its part has repaired and renovated all its cold storages at Delhi,
Mumbai, Chennai, Gumma, Kotkahi, Rohru, Jarol-Tikka, Oddi and Patlikuhl
in Kulu district. “Apple growers from Kashmir have got in touch with
us for keeping their produce at our cold storage in Delhi, which is
already full to capacity of 3,500 metric tonnes,” informed Mr Lalit. The
growers on their part say that adoption of scientific means and
conducive climatic conditions are mainly responsible for a bumper crop
for the second year, as it is generally believed that apple is an
alternate bearing fruit. “Had it not been for the drought in June and
the truckers strike, our production would have gone up considerably as
compared to last year,” says a grower from Jubbal. The HPMC has
so far collected 21,000 metric tonnes of apple under the market
intervention scheme (MIS). “Out of this 3,500 metric tonnes has been
used for making apple concentrate and the rest sold to petty sellers
from Bihar, UP, Punjab and Haryana,” said Mr Lalit. The conducive climatic conditions providing ample chilling at the time of flowering and enough moisture during winters has given a bumper crop for the second consecutive year. |
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50 Rajindra medical college graduates
Tanda (Kangra), October 7 These doctors, who have only their plus-two certificate to boast of, are fighting a losing battle. They have sent memorandums to the President of India and the MCI to bail them out. It has been a tale of woes for these doctors ever since they took admission in the college in January, 1998, as its first batch. “Due to a tussle between the MCI and the state government, we were made to sit for the first year examinations all over again. So, the MBBS course, which is normally for five-and-half year duration, was extended to seven years in our case,” says one of the pass-outs. “The non-compliance of conditions laid down by the MCI by the college authorities has cost us dear. Our batch was admitted in 1997 after the state government got approval from the High Court. However, later, the Supreme Court directed the MCI to reconduct inspection of the college and the MCI gave permission to the college with effect from January, 1999, and the time we spent in the college prior to that date went waste,” said another pass-out. Numerous requests by these doctors to the state health authorities have fallen on deaf ears. “We have given memorandums to officials of the Ministry of Health, but to no avail. Our future continues to hang in the balance even though we were admitted on merit after clearing the Pre-Medical Test (PMT) held in 1997 by the Himachal Pradesh University,” she adds. “Even after having spent nearly seven years to complete the MBBS course, we are not allowed to prescribe medicines. The MCI kept giving permission for running the course on temporary basis annually, but now our degree is not recognised by the council,” says another pass-out. When contacted, Mr P.C. Kapoor, Secretary, (Health), said the Ministry of Health was taking up the issue of MCI recognition for the college very seriously. Asked if the recognition would be applicable with retrospective effect, he said that was the prerogative of the council. He said the government had already constituted State Medical Council and a policy decision on whether or not these students be allowed to appear for the postgraduate test, to be conducted by the council in April next year, would be taken soon. “As far as the Himachal Government is concerned we duly recognise their MBBS degrees and we will make all efforts to save their interests,” he said. The doctors, however, said the Registrar of the State Medical Council had already told them unofficially that there was no plan to register them, making them eligible for the postgraduate test. |
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Dhumal wants voters to beware of Congress
Shimla, October 7 In a statement issued here today, he said the way the Congress had suddenly changed its slogan from “Congress ka haath garib ke saath” to “Congress ka haath aam admi ke saath”, it appears that for them poverty no longer existed. “The only people for whom poverty has been removed is the families of Congress leaders and their near and dear ones as they have been given jobs, by ignoring merit and capability,” he alleged. Mr Dhumal said the election promise made by the Congress about weeding out corruption, seemed to be a forgotten thing as Congress leaders were busy getting the cases against them settled. He said only those who were close to Congress circles had been selected as conductors, pharmacists and para-teachers. The BJP leader also lashed out at Mr Virbhadra Singh for politicising the issue of MoU on fiscal reforms. He said with the implementation of the MoU, the subsidies would be phased out gradually and the user charges and passenger charges would be increased.
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BJP has upper hand in Guler, says Shanta
Una, October 7 He said the discrimination in respect of pace of development works in Kangra district was the main issue in Guler Assembly byelection. He said the Congress had adopted dynasty tradition by giving ticket to a son of former minister, which was not good for the democratic set-up of the country. He said he had returned from his foreign tour to campaign on the demand of party workers. Few BJP workers were present at the PWD rest house here to welcome him. Later, he proceeded to Guler constituency for campaigning in favour of BJP candidate, Mr Harbans Rana.
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Charas joint in forest land busted Mandi, October 7 The team also booked five villagers as they had cultivated cannabis on their private land. Tosh village has emerged as a charas haven in the Manikaran valley, 90 km from this divisional headquarters. Sources said the team led by Mr O.P. Shama, Superintendent, NCB, and Mr Kushal Sharma, Deputy Superintendent, Manali , raided the village in the early hours yesterday and arrested the 20 Nepalis from the cannabis growing village pasture. Mr Sharma raided a house built by Bob Jan, believed to be a British national, and seized packaging material, three laptops, and compressors used for charas packaging. Video cameras, 50 gm of charas and seeds of cannabis were found from the house. Investigations revealed that the house was a major joint for tourists and smugglers in the forest land, 5 km from the village, where the 2051 mw hydropower project is coming up. Mr O.P. Sharma, when contacted, told The Tribune that Tosh had emerged as a major charas producing area in the Manikaran valley where villagers, Nepalis and labourers from Jharkhand and Orissa were engaged in the contraband trade. Before the entire force could converge on the scene, the labourers ran away to their hutments at the Parbati project, and so did Israelis and Italian tourists. A Nepali smuggler had hired the labourers. The arrest of 20 Nepalis following that of two Austrians has baffled the police which had no clue that the charas trade had gained deep roots not only in Malana but in Tosh and Malander forest areas, located at a height of 12, 500 ft, too. The NCB had got the permission from the Zonal Director, NCB, Chandigarh, before the team decided to raid the village on a tip-off, said Mr Sharma. The team destroyed over 500 bighas of cannabis in Tosh village and surrounding forests. It would resume the anti-cannabis drive in
Malander, Rasol and other areas in the Parbati valley tomorrow. The joint team is reported to have destroyed over 1700 bighas of cannabis in the Malana, Magic,
Waraichin, Belang and Tosh village in the Manikaran valley in the past nine days.
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Boost for tourism industry
Shimla, October 7 A communication from the Centre in this regard was received early this week. As per the notification issued by the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, building will be considered as part of plant and machinery in case of hotels, resorts and guest houses. Items like filtration plant for swimming pool, water purification plant, kitchen and room heating equipment, laundry, water softening plant, refrigeration equipment, bakery and sewage plant, telephone exchange, fire-fighting equipment, safe deposit lockers, goods carrier, lighting and conference hall equipment and adventure sport gears will also be considered while computing subsidy. Tourism was included as one of the thrust areas in the package of incentives granted by the Centre in January, 2003, to promote industrialisation in the state. However, the state could not take benefit of it because the packaging was basically for the manufacturing industry and it had not been clearly defined which items would be eligible for capital subsidy. The tourism industry is vastly different from the manufacturing industry and most of the items on which subsidy was available had no relevance to it. For instance, under the package, 15 per cent subsidy was available on plant and machinery. But it did not have any relevance for the tourism industry. Similarly, the exemption in excise duty and income tax did not have much significance for the tourism industry. The major investment in tourism units is in the building. The state government had taken up the matter with the Centre and urged it to clearly specify the items that were eligible for subsidy in the Tourism industry and also pleaded for including building in the definition of plant and machinery for the purpose of subsidy. The tourism units will now be able to avail subsidy up to a maximum of Rs 30 lakh on capital investment. Industrialisation in the state has received a major boost ever since the package was announced and big industrial houses and companies have been making beeline to set up units here. In all, 3,375 new units, including 357 large and medium-scale industries, involving investment of over Rs 7,200 crore, have been approved. With the tourism industry becoming eligible for subsidy on capital investment the state was likely to attract much more investment. The proposals will be cleared by the Tourism Department and the subsidy will be released after approval by the committee set up by the government for the purpose. |
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Rules thrown to wind in transporter raj
Solan, October 7 The fact that the district has seen as many as 10 RTAs in a short span of 8 years speaks volumes about the influence the transporters wield in successive governments. The RTAs are transferred with impunity as soon as they try to discipline the erring transporters. The transporters, on their part, endeavour to ensure that an official holds only an additional charge for the post. The additional charge gives the officer concerned little time to carry out surprise field inspections while the transporters have a field day bending rules. The need for a regular RTA can be gauged from the fact that as many as 17 persons have lost their lives and many others injured in a spate of accidents involving private buses in the past two months here. The Assistant Commissioner is now holding the additional charge of the RTA after the latter was transferred earlier this month. With the power to compound offences under the Motor Vehicles Act being vested only with the
RTA, other officials feel handicapped in instilling discipline among the erring transporters. The Transport Minister, Mr
G.S. Bali, however, has tried to shrug off the responsibility by maintaining that a regular RTA would be posted soon after the Guler byelections, as the model code of conduct has come into effect. This belies all logic as the byelection is being held in Kangra district. The district, where revenue ranging from Rs 20,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh is collected every month by the field inspections, has recorded a decline in its revenue from Rs 35,500 in July to Rs 10,500 in August to nil in September! A section of transporters owing political allegiance to the ruling Congress are habitual defaulters. They not only manage to get away by not paying their Special Road Tax SRT on time but brow beat the officials when directed to pay. Throwing departmental norms to the winds this clan of transporters has become a headache for the officials. An unhealthy competition among the private transporters has made the mockery of time tables. Playing blaring music in the buses, despite a ban by the High Court, the private transporters often connive with the HRTC buses for plying buses at will. Despite the much-hyped new transport policy of the department, little appears to be translated into action to bring the offenders to book. Intriguingly, the ill-fated bus of Chauhan Travels, which fell into a gorge near
Oochaghat, killing six persons yesterday was not just defaulting on taxes but its fitness certificate had expired long ago. It was running without the required route permit. The Deputy Commissioner has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident. |
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Downsizing has hit banks’ working: officers
Shimla, October 7 The association, which met here yesterday, pointed out that shortage of staff had affected it regulatory and supervisory functions and functions like inspection of banks and financial institutions stood diluted. Change in the norms of inspections from the micro to macro level, reduction in periodicity of inspection and reduction in the number of officers in the inspection team had resulted in the failure of a number of urban co-operative banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and private commercial banks. With the reduction in staff officers, cash departments in the RBI were being closed down, denying the people fresh currency notes in exchange for soiled ones. The department of currency management had thrown all safety norms to the wind while insisting on maximising the output. This, apart from exposing officers of the RBI to risks, had also endangered the currency system in the country. Such laxity, of late, had led to circulation of counterfeit notes. The decision to do away with retail banking by the RBI had affected customer service. The picture on the foreign exchange front was also not a happy one. Although globalisation had a tremendous affect on foreign exchange reserves,
continuous rise in foreign exchange reserves without real growth in the country’s assets was worrisome. |
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Dagshai school celebrates founder’s day
Kumarhatti, October 7 He said children should fulfil the expectation of parents who wish to see them as good human beings. The DGP said to instil moral and spiritual values in children there was a need to create healthy environment in educational institutions. He also inaugurated an exhibition put up by students on the occasion. The function was a low-key affair following the death of Ravinder Singh (56), who was an active member of the school governing council. Mr Amarjit Singh, managing member of the school, lauded the efforts of the students and read out the condolence message. The Principal of the school, Mr Tejinderjit Singh, welcomed the chief guest. He highlighted the role and achievements of the school. The wife of the DGP, Ms Shashilekha Puri, gave away prizes to students. The trophy for best house of the year went to Fateh House. The students also presented a colourful cultural programme on the occasion.
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Hamir utsav concludes
Hamirpur, October 7 The Minister for Irrigation-cum-Public Health Department, Mr Kaul Singh Thakur was the guest of honour at the closing function. Mr Devesh Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, Hamirpur, honoured the minister with a Kulu cap and a shawl. Congress MLAs Anita Verma and Sukhvinder Singh Sukhoo were also present at the function. However, BJP MLAs and other leaders were conspicuous by their absence. They alleged that neither they were invited nor BJP was given adequate representation in the utsav committee. While addressing the audience, Mr Thakur reiterated the government’s resolve to develop all parts of the state on equal basis.
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All set for Pulse Polio programme
Chamba, October 7 Speaking to mediapersons here today, Dr R.K. Choudhary, Chief Medical Officer, Chamba, said that out of 542 polio booths, 525 had been set up in rural areas and 17 in urban areas. These booths would be manned by 2,300 workers. The special sport for the programme would be extended by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation, the Rotary Club and the Red Cross, the CMO added. Detailing about the major achievement made under the AIDS programme in the district, the CMO said that the district had surpassed other districts in the matter of family welfare scheme.
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Jailed for 10 years
Chamba, October 7 According to the judgment, the convict, Mohd Ramzan, was arrested on March 12 last year when charas weighing 800 gm was recovered from his possession and a case was registered under Section 20 of the NDPS Act.
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