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Panel to take up dam oustee issues
Pong Dam home to migratory birds
Apple growers getting spurious manure
Casual approach to fiscal reforms cost
Rs 270 crore
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Virbhadra to tour Hamirpur from Jan 20
Booklet on MoU: Dhumal to consult legal experts
Block offices to be strengthened
DGP asks people to be vigilant against criminals
Irregularities in fertiliser purchase alleged
Bridge with a difference
Govt to spend Rs 110 cr on Uhl (stage III) project
Now, upper Shimla region faces simian menace
Panel formed to coordinate health plans
Court orders demolition of structure
Gang of criminals busted
Shanta, Dhumal to campaign in Haryana
Snow in Narkanda, Sarahan
Rs 6.5 cr generated in plot auction
Encroachments removed
from markets
Folk shows held for tsunami victims
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Panel to take up dam oustee issues
Kangra, January 16 An official spokesman said here today that Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, revealed it while presiding over the state-level Pong Dam Oustees Rehabilitation and Advisory Committee meeting here yesterday. He said while constituting the committee the affected people and the Government of Rajasthan would be taken into confidence. He said the interests of the oustees, while constructing hydro-electric projects, would be safeguarded at all costs. Mr Virbhadra Singh said during the current financial year as many as 111 oustees had been provided land in Rajasthan and 50 additional cases of land transfer had been settled. He said the Pong Dam Fund had been constituted for the welfare of the oustees’ families. The Chief Minister said more than 20,722 families had made sacrifices for the construction of Pong Dam. He said the state was aware of their sacrifices and would ensure their rehabilitation. He said the state government had taken up matter of giving all due benefits to the SC and OBC oustee families of HP, settled in Rajasthan with the Rajasthan Government. He said the state government had also requested the Rajasthan Government to provide basic facilities to Ramgarh and Mohangarh tehsils where a majority of oustees had settled. He said due to the repeated requests made by the state government, the Rajasthan Government agreed to provide each oustee families 15 acre but due to harsh rules made by it, most allotments to the oustee families were cancelled by the Rajasthan Government. He said the state government had again taken up the matter with the Rajasthan Government as per the direction passed by the Supreme Court. Mr Sat Mahajan, Revenue Minister, speaking on the occasion, said the government had provided compensation of Rs 4,10,10,855 to the 3,711 oustee families during the current financial year. He said as many as 6,539 compensation cases had also been settled by the state government during this period which showed its commitment to ensure the rehabilitation of the oustees. The Revenue Minister said the Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, had been asked to probe into the matter regarding the use of substandard material in the maintenance of “Sarans” in Rajasthan for the oustees. He said it had also been decided that a committee would also be constituted for management of these “Sarans”.
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Pong Dam home to migratory birds
Shimla, January 16 On an average about 1.20 lakh birds descend on the sprawling water body, the only one to be accorded the status of a Ramsar site in the state, for the winter sojourn. The bird count during the current season revealed the presence of 1,35,958 birds in the lake. They start arriving around the last week of November and return by the first week of April. However, over the past few years a new phenomenon has come to notice . Some of the birds stay put at the lake even during the summer, an indication that it is becoming a permanent home for some seasonal visitors. Last year about 1,500 birds preferred to stay back. They included common pochards, coots, cormorants, bar-headed geese, grey herons, pintails and common teals. It was the result of the efforts made by the government to develop the wetland as an ideal habitat for birds. Over the past decade a variety of trees, shrubs, climbers and grasses have been planted to provide food and nesting sites for a wide range of birds. The lake supports more than 220 species of birds from as many as 54 families of the total 77 families found in India. The first sighting of red-necked grebe in India was also reported from the Pong Dam lake. This year demoiselle cranes have been sighted for the first time and that too in the off season. The wetland abounds in fish such as mahseer, catla, mirror carp, rohu and singhara. In all 27 species are found and as many as 1,500 fishermen earn their livelihood from the lake. A bird-watchers’ paradise, the water body has also started attracting tourists of late. Over 5,000 tourists thronged the lake over the past year. |
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Apple growers getting spurious manure
Shimla, January 16 Some growers of the Jubbal area, known for its delicious apples, found polythene scrap and other municipal refuse in the organic fertiliser. Mr Rajiv Chauhan, a leading apple grower from Jubbal, said filth from the plains was being marketed as fertiliser in the hills. All this was happening because there was no system to monitor the quality of organic fertilisers. The samples of chemical fertilisers were being regularly sent for testing but no such system had been put in place for organic manures. He said even the state-owned HPMC , which was the nodal agency for supplying farm inputs to growers ,was distributing substandard products. A number of samples of the chemical fertilisers failed recently which helped the farmers in making a choice. Similar practice should be introduced for the organic manures and the HPMC should ensure that only manures of proven quality were supplied to growers. More so, because the growers who sold their produce to the agency were supplied inputs in lieu of making cash payments. Mr Balwant Dutta of Rohru wanted the government to set up an agency for the certification of organic manures so that growers were not cheated by the unscrupulous suppliers. Mr C.R.B. Lalit, Managing Director of the HPMC, said it had come to his notice that a number of new brands of organic manures had surfaced in the rural markets in the apple belt and many of these were being sold without analysis by any technical authority in the state. These could pose a serious threat to plants, he said adding that the corporation had decided to supply the manures recommended by the scientists of the Dr Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry only. He said some of the recommended brands of organic manures were Growmore, Krishna, Nimala, Ramban and Som. These brands had been found acceptable for apple orchards. The rate of these, at the branch offices of the corporation, had been fixed at Rs 238 for the 50 kg bag. He said the growers should avail the barter facility and take quality manures for the apple supplied to the corporation under the market intervention scheme.
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Casual approach to fiscal reforms cost
Rs 270 crore
Shimla, January 16 According to sources, the Union Ministry of Finance has informed the state that it did not fulfil the criteria for the release of revenue deficit grants for the two years for which it had filed the claim. The state, it pointed out, had failed to bring down the revenue deficit by 5 per cent of the total revenue receipts and also not been able to achieve 3 per cent increase over the normal trend growth rate in tax revenue during these years. The process of fiscal reforms to improve the financial position was started by the Dhumal government on a sincere note. It took a number of decisions like setting up of the Electricity Regulatory Commission, suspension of leave travelling allowance facility, imposition of user charges in hospitals, freezing of grants to the universities and other institutions, ban on the recruitment and abolition of vacant posts as part of the downsizing as a result of which it managed to secure the revenue deficit grant for 2000-01. However, subsequently as the elections drew near it developed cold feet and during its last 18 months in office even reversed several decisions which led to further deterioration in fiscal indicators. The result is that the state has been denied the revenue deficit grant. The present Congress government tried to make amends by renegotiating the MoU and got the revenue deficit grant amounting to Rs 152 crore for the year 2003-04 released. It had also filed the claims for the preceding two years which were rejected. The government is hopeful of securing the revenue deficit grant amounting to about Rs 110 crore for the current year but it will have to carry out the measures like enactment of the fiscal responsibility Act to limit its borrowings and the regulation of appointments Act to provide for punitive measures against the officers guilty of making recruitments in violation of the ban. All the required steps will have to be taken before March 31,2005, after which it will be in a position to field claim for the release of grant for the year. The state is keen for the grant as the twelfth Finance Commission , which submitted its report recently , has recommended scrapping of the reform-linked revenue deficit grant facility for the 2005-10 period. |
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Virbhadra to tour Hamirpur from Jan 20
Hamirpur, January 16 He will also take part in a district level grievances-cum-development review committee meeting of the district on January 24. During the tour, the Chief Minister will visit all five Assembly constituencies of the district and address public meetings. An official spokesman said here today on all five days the Chief Minister would halt at Hamirpur and interact with the local people as well as the media. The five-day tour of the Chief Minister is seen an effort to provide moral support to the party cadre, divided into two factions. Moreover, it is demoralised due to its shock defeat in the last Lok Sabha elections. The party had lost to the BJP in four of the five Assembly constituencies in the Lok Sabha elections. The Chief Minister may also talk to all party leaders including former MLAs and those of its organisational wing. He may try to sort out differences among them in view of coming organisational elections of the party. Two of Chief Minister loyalists, Manjit Dogra and Kuldip Singh Pathania, both former MLAs, are quite optimistic that this tour by the Chief Minister will help the party and usher in an era of development in the district. While, the Congress and the district administration is all set to make the coming tour a successful one, Mr Rajendra Rana, the HP BJP joint media in charge, in a statement today asked from the Chief Minister to clarify what he had done for the district since March, 2003, when the Congress party had taken over reigns in the state. Rana alleged that the Congress had ignored the district as a result all developmental works had come to a near standstill. He said that no new projects had been sanctioned or completed in the district and the Chief Minister would inaugurate only those projects which had been sanctioned and started during the previous BJP regime. The BJP leader appealed to the people to be united under the banner of the BJP for their our
well-being and development. |
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Tanda hospital to start by next year: CM
Kangra, January 16 The permanent recognition for this medical college had been hanging fire for over a number of years. Recently through efforts of the Transport Minister, Mr G.S. Bali, temporary recognition was granted to the first batch of the students of this college. He said that this medical college would be the best in Northern India equipped with latest medical equipment and teaching aids. He said that this college would cater the needs of patients of other states including Jammu and Kashmir when completed. He criticised the BJP that they had created stumbling blocks in the way of completing this medical college. Mr G.S. Bali who represents Nagrota Bagwan constituency in which the medical college falls, thanked the Chief Minister for this medical college in Tanda. Revenue Minister Sat Mahajan, Chief
Parliamentary Secretary Mukesh Agnihotri, MLA Sudhir Sharma and NSUI state president K.S. Pathania were also present on the occasion. Later the Chief Minister also addressed a public meeting at Massal falling in this subdivision in Nagrota Bagwan constituency and announced a veterinary Hospital for Massal besides three tube wells for the area.
— OC
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Booklet on MoU: Dhumal to consult legal experts
Bijheri (Hamirpur), January 16 Addressing a sammelan of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, Nadaunta Mandal, Mr Dhumal said the state government was giving contradictory statements regarding the signing of the MoU and now it had come out with a booklet clarifying its position on the MoU. He reiterated that the BJP had never signed the MoU. Mr Dhumal said after consulting legal experts, the party would file cases against all those responsible for blaming the BJP on the issue. The BJP leader said the Congress had failed on all fronts and was trying to put its blame on the Opposition. He alleged that the Congress-led UPA had failed to check the spiralling rise in the prices of essential commodities, especially sugar. Mr Dhumal blasted the state government for resorting to wasteful expenses at a time when the state was passing through one of the worst fiscal crisis. He said while the common man was suffering, the Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues were busy in stone-laying functions. He said that as per CAG report, the BJP government had taken loans to the tune of Rs 5,433 crore during 1998-2003, the Congress government had taken loans to the tune of Rs 7,000 crore in the past two years. This, he said, proved that the Congress was running the state with the help of loans only. The former Chief Minister appealed to the people to be united for an agitation against the state government for its failure to fulfil its election promises and to deliver the goods. He said the party would go to the masses and expose the real face of the Congress to them. Mr Dhumal honoured 80 party workers at this function at Hamirpur recently. Ishwar Dass Dhiman, MLA and former Education Minister, Baldev Sharma, MLA, Ajay Rana, general secretary of the state BJYM and other district level leaders of the party were also present at the function.
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Block offices to be strengthened
Dharamsala, January 16 He was presiding over the meeting of the state-level watershed committee held at Dharamsala yesterday. He said the BDOs were the main institution responsible for the execution of developmental works of the government, which aimed at speedy development of the rural areas as well as betterment of people living in the rural areas. He asked the Rural Development Department to come forward by formulating a scheme aimed at achieving this objective so that rural development programmes could be implemented more effectively. He further directed Deputy Commissioners in the state to identity and revive traditional sources of water. He said a plan would be formulated to recharge the traditional water sources, besides creating more to meet the increasing demand of water. Mr Sat Mahajan, Rural Development Minister, said project directors of watersheds would now have to keep the Deputy Commissioners informed about their latest achievements. Mr Deepak Sanan and Mr J.P. Singh, Secretary and Director of Rural Development, informed that 66 out of the 75 blocks now had 1,312 watersheds. Mr S.S. Parmar, Chief Secretary, Mr Yogesh Khanna, Additional Chief Secretary, Mr T.G. Negi, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Mr Desh Deepak, Divisional Commissioner of Kangra, and Mr Sanjeev Gupta, Secretary, IT, were also present at the meeting.
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DGP asks people to be vigilant against criminals
Mandi, January 16 “Even the migrant workers working in various industries and hydro-projects in the state have their share of criminal elements, shooting the crime graph up in the state”, said Mr Puri. Mr Puri, who inspected a farewell march past at Paddal maidan here yesterday said that extremists across the border had been trying to find soft targets in Chamba district as there was no local support for them in the state. “The state has to shell out resources to keep a constant tab on their activity in the near future as well”, he observed, saying that most challenging time he faced during his tenure was in 1998 when J & K terrorists gunned down 37 persons at Satrundi in Chamba district. When asked about the emerging trends in crime in the state, Mr. Puri said the police faced a surge in crime against women in the state as locals were being influenced by the culture of greed and consumerism. “The police has started a women cell under a lady police constable to listen to the grievances of women in each district”, he said. On the people- friendly community policing that he introduced to bridge the gap between people and the police in the state, he said he would leave it to the people to judge schemes like Vishwas, Samartha, Suvidha and Sanrakshan For this the entire police training and courses were fine-tuned to change the mindset, Mr Puri said. On cyber crime, Mr. Puri said policemen were being trained to deal with the crime.
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Irregularities in fertiliser purchase alleged
Mandi, January 16 Talking to mediapersons here today, he said the Director Agriculture had rejected the sample of the fertiliser of the same firm earlier, but the Chairman of HIMFED bought the same inferior quality fertiliser, which is adulterated with white clay. “The HIMFED authorities have cheated the farmers as the fertiliser was distributed to them,” he alleged. “Not only this, the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund is also being misused for other purposes as the CM has distributed money ranging from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 each to over 250 benami families in Rampur, Rohru and Guler during the last byelection,” he said. He said Red Cross funds were also being misused by Mandi MP Pratibha Singh. |
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Bridge with a difference
Nurpur, January 16 This bridge connects Punjab and Himachal Pradesh on the Makor
Jammun-Chakki road which leads to the Dhar block of Gurdaspur district and Chamba district in Himachal Pradesh, thus reducing at least 15 km distance between the two states, besides providing an alternative approach to the Nurpur subdivision of Kangra district, Chamba district and Dhar block of Gurdaspur district in Punjab. Earlier, the people used to travel by road via Dunera to reach either the Dhar block or Nurpur subdivision. This bridge will benefit tourists going from Dalhousie to Dharamsala or vice versa as they can now cross this bridge to approach tourists’ spots in less time. The inter-state bridge has been built with a cost of Rs. 188.75 lakh which was funded by
Nabard. Its foundation was laid in January, 2002, by the then local MLA and former Chairman of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development during the BJP regime. It was completed in a record period of two years. This bridge is expected to give an impetus to the economic development of the border areas of both states. There is a demand for starting regular bus service by the Punjab as well as Himachal Pradesh Governments on this route linking both states. |
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Govt to spend Rs 110 cr on Uhl (stage III) project
Mandi, January 16 Inaugurating the Rs. 75 lakh office of the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam yesterday at Jogindernagar, Ms Pratibha Singh said the state had tapped over 6058 MW of its 21,000 MW hydro-power potential so far while the rest was being tapped on a priority basis. Ms Pratibha Singh, who also laid the foundation stone of the Rs. 42. 40 lakh Chatra-Masuli irrigation scheme said the Uhl stage III project would become operational by 2008. The IPH Minister, Thakur Kaul Singh, said the state government had provided drinking water to over 1551 "bastis" in the state last year and installed over 1057 handpumps in the water-deficient areas of the state. Mr Thakur said the
government was installing 600 new transformers in the district this year. |
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Now, upper Shimla region faces simian menace
Shimla, January 16 According to reports reaching from interior pockets, several troops of monkeys have surfaced in Ghurma, Deothi and Bagri panchayats over the past one month. They ransack houses, indulge in shoplifting and charge menacingly on passers-by, creating fear among the people. Worse, these animals are not scared of even dogs, specially kept to guard cattle and crops. About 20 villages of the area, mostly on the periphery of forests, have been affected by monkey menace. While most of these keep moving from village to village, some of these have settled in Deha, Shivpuri and a temple in Katharna. The shopkeepers in Deha spend most of the day chasing away simians who take away whatever they find worth eating. The villagers suspect that the monkeys trapped from Shimla and released into deep forests have found their way into these villages. Mr Surinder Chauhan, an apple grower of Shivpuri, has no doubt that these animals were the ones translocated from Shimla and other areas. He said some villagers had seen a truckload of monkeys being released across the nullah near the range office. The behaviour of these animals confirmed that they were the urbanised simians that boldly ventured into houses, shops and even charged on dogs and human beings when challenged. Wild monkeys never entered houses or shops and were easily scared away by dogs. The local panchayat functionaries have taken up the matter with the local forest officials, but they took the plea that the matter pertained to the wildlife wing. The matter has also been brought to the notice of Mr A.K. Gulati, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, who is the in charge of the wildlife wing. The refusal of the department to disclose the locations where monkeys were released strengthens the suspicion of the villagers that they had been translocated in their area. Mr Gulati, however, maintained the department had taken due care that trapped monkeys were not released near human habitations. He said he would check up from the local staff if monkeys had been released in the area and also ascertain if there had been any abnormal rise in the monkey population. He said monkeys moving to villages from forests in search of food during winters was not uncommon. The department had trapped 3,407 monkeys from Shimla, Rampur and various locations along the Shimla-Kalka National Highway over the past three months and released these in deep forests.
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Panel formed to coordinate health plans
Shimla, January 16 Dr Mahanta said the objective of the committee was to have expert advice and suggestions for effective implementation of Centre-sponsored health programmes for which a huge budget was available through the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other donor agencies. He said the committee would guide the department in drawing strategies for carrying out awareness campaigns to educate people regarding issues like AIDS, reproductive child health, revised tuberculosis control programme and leprosy. |
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Court orders demolition of structure
Una, January 16 The same court had passed an order for demolition of the structure on December 28, but the police in a report stated that a large number of women were present on the site on the day of demolition and hence the order could not be implemented due to shortage of women police. The court today passed the order to demolish the structure on January 22 and asked for submission of a demolition report by January 24. The court has directed the SP to provide adequate police force to court officials to implement the order on the day of demolition. The next date of hearing has been fixed for January 24.
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Gang of criminals busted
Shimla, January 16 The Superintendent of Police, said special investigation team headed by Mr Arvind Negi, Deputy Superintendent of Police, had rounded up six persons and also recovered some stolen jewellery. He said the gang was involved in four cases of theft and robbery, besides the murder of Mani Devi. He said teams had been sent to various places and more recoveries were expected. The members of the gang rounded up by the SIT were Jaswant, alias Banti, and Rajinder, alias Raju Rana, both of Katiyar, Pushp Chand, alias Dimple, of Taksal and Naresh Sharma, alias Nishu, of
Bhuvnoli. Bhum Bahadur and Rajesh, both taxi drivers, had also been detained for interrogation. He said their involvement was suspected in some more cases. |
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Shanta, Dhumal to campaign in Haryana
Shimla, January 16 Mr J.P. Nadda, a former Health Minister who is coordinating the programme with the Haryana unit of the party, said BJP leaders and workers from Himachal Pradesh would campaign in Chhachhroli, Kalka, Jagdhari,Yamunanagar, Naraingarh and Sadhaura Assembly segments. Mr Shanta Kumar will address election meetings on Janaury 26 and 27. The programme of other leaders will be finalised shortly.
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Snow in Narkanda, Sarahan
Shimla, January 16 As the minimum temperature has dipped by four degrees in Shimla for the past two days to stand at 1.5° Celsius, the upper areas of the town reeled under sub-zero temperature, resulting in freezing of water pipes. The key tourist resort of Narkanda and Sarahan in Shimla experienced mild snowfall last evening, further aggravating the cold wave conditions in the adjoining areas. The sky remained overcast for greater part of the day and strong winds continued to sweep the region. The tribal valleys of Lahaul and Spiti and Pangi in Chamba district shivered under Arctic conditions as minimum temperature stayed between -15 and - 26 degrees Celsius. The higher reaches in the tribal areas had another spell of fresh snowfall while the weather remained mainly dry in the lower areas. All natural lakes, springs and perennial streams and parts of the Chandrabhaga river had been frozen for the past over a month due to extreme low temperatures, causing sharp decrease in the discharge of water in the snowfed Ravi, Beas and Sutlej rivers. The Met office predicts scattered rain or snow in mid and high hills during the next 48 hours.
— PTI |
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Rs 6.5 cr generated in plot auction
Kumarhatti, January 16 However, the auction was below the estimates of the authority. As against 28 plots put under the hammer, only 18 could be auctioned. The rest would be auctioned later. The auction was done under the chairmanship of Mr Y.R. Sharma, chief executive officer-cum-secretary of the authority. Plot No. 51 sold at the highest value of Rs 2,670 per sq mtr, while plot No. 60 went cheapest at Rs 1,475 per sq
mtr. It may be mentioned that HIMUDA as well the state government had initiated its efforts to enhance the housing facilities at Baddi after The Tribune carried a report in these column on November 5 on the lack of proper housing there. Meanwhile, the Baddi, Barotiwala and Nalagarh Industries Association (BBNIA) in a demand charter to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has sought development of Baddi on the pattern of Chandigarh. |
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Encroachments removed
from markets
Chamba, January 16 The local Citizens Progressive Council has appreciated steps taken by the district administration to remove unauthorised encroachments on public places. Major S.C. Nayyar, senior vice-president of the council urged the district authorities to allow only permit holders to carry out with their business at places earmarked for them. Mr Harsh Mahajan, Housing and Animal Husbandry Minister, the state government had taken a serious view of the increasing illegal encroachments.
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Folk shows held for tsunami victims
Nahan, January 16 A sum of Rs 51,000 collected by forest employees of Rajgarh division, was also presented to the Speaker. Artistes of the following organisations participated in the shows: Pahari Kalakar Sangh, Habban, Chudeshwar Lok Nartya Dal, Shargaon, Mandal Patarkar Sangh Rajgarh, Nitika Sur Sangam, Saraswati Kala Manch. Sarvodya Natya Dal, Pajhota Swatantra Senani Smaj Kalyan Samiti, Suchna avam Jan Sampark Vibhag, Rashtriya Sharda Yuva Kala Manch, Prem Kala Manch, Pooja Kala Manch and Shakti Sankirtan
Mandali. |
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