H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

Shimla, February 5 The “Queen of Hills” may have lost much of its scenic charm but Mr Brad Coll, Mayor of Carbodel city in the South Illionis state of the USA, still finds the erstwhile summer capital of India quite fascinating.

Mr Sohan Lal, Mayor of Shimla, shake hands with Mr Brad Coll, Mayor of Carbodel city in the South Illionis state of the USA, in Shimla on Saturday. — PTI photo

Himachal to conduct economic census
Shimla, February 5
The fifth economic census will be conducted this year to ascertain the strength in the organised and unorganised sectors in the state.

HRTC to introduce more de luxe buses
Dharamsala, February 5
As many as 25 de luxe buses would soon be introduced on routes within and outside the state. This was decided at a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation held here today.

Mayor from USA apprised of MC working
Tribune News Service

Shimla, February 5
The “Queen of Hills” may have lost much of its scenic charm but Mr Brad Coll, Mayor of Carbodel city in the South Illionis state of the USA, still finds the erstwhile summer capital of India quite fascinating.

On his maiden visit to the country Mr Coll visited Shimla to see the functioning of the second oldest municipality in the country. “The city is beautiful, the climate exhilarating and the community nice”, he said during a function organised by the local Municipal Corporation in his honour. While Mr Sohan Lal, Mayor, apprised him of the working of the corporation. Mr Coll spoke at length about the powers and functions of the local body that he headed.

He said the municipal bodies in the USA took care of everything, including the maintenance of law and order and policing. The Mayor and the councillors were directly elected by the people and they fully paid for the job.

While the Mayor laid down the policies, the commissioner functioned as the city manager heading the local administration. The local body created and maintained various facilities for the local residents like swimming pools, resting places of the aged, playfields, squash courts, libraries and reading rooms. The municipality was responsible for all functions like maintaining power supply, water supply, sanitation and garbage disposal

He said Carbodel had a population of about 50,000 and the local municipal corporation had a budget of $6 million. Sales tax and education cess were the main sources of revenue, though the corporation also received grants from the state and the federal government. Such grants accounted for 15 to 20 per cent of the budget. He said he had abolished property tax after taking over as the Mayor.

Law was enforced strictly and anyone guilty of felling trees was promptly sent to jail. Trees could be cut only with the permission of the judge. There was no restriction on the number of storeys and the highest building in the city had 17 storeys. However, haphazard construction was not allowed at any cost.

He disclosed that there were about 200 Indian families in the city and it was also one the reasons for his visit to the country.

Himachal to conduct economic census
Tribune News Service

Shimla, February 5
The fifth economic census will be conducted this year to ascertain the strength in the organised and unorganised sectors in the state.

Stating this while presiding over meeting of state-level monitoring committee on economic census, here yesterday, Mr S.S. Parmar, Chief Secretary, said last census conducted in 1998 revealed 2.25 lakh enterprises in the organised and unorganised sectors with a total employment of 5.77 lakh.

He said economic census was important for assessing the level of economic development and related activities being carried out in the state. He said all entrepreneurial activities associated with the production and distribution of goods and services within the state would be covered under the census. Mr Parmar said the census would help reveal employment generation in these sectors with infrastructure provided by the government.

Mr Yogesh Khanna, Additional Chief Secretary, Finance, said 12.22 lakh households in the state would be covered through population and economic census by house to house approach. He said the state would be divided into 10,930 enumeration units with 1,821 supervisory units and 7,500 enumerators would be deployed from April to June for conducting the field work.

HRTC to introduce more de luxe buses
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, February 5
As many as 25 de luxe buses would soon be introduced on routes within and outside the state. This was decided at a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation held here today.

The board agreed in principle to allow voluntary retirement to officials of the corporation. It was also decided to allow instalment of dearness allowance to employees with effect from February, 2004, which will entail an additional burden of Rs 8 lakh per month on the corporation.

The board resolved that it would be the responsibility of officials of the corporation to ensure cleanliness of buses and bus stands. Action would be taken against defaulters. Uniforms would be provided to drivers and conductors appointed on a contract basis.

Further, in all genuine cases, employment would be under the kith and kin policy.

The meeting was chaired by Transport Minister G.S. Bali and attended by the Secretary, Transport and MD, HRTC, among others.

CM promises locals jobs in power projects

Nurpur, February 5
Himachal Pradesh has decided to ensure at least 70 per cent employment to Himachalis in new hydro power projects in the state.

This was stated by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh while addressing a public meeting at Fatehpur in Jawali subdivision today.

He said Himachal Pradesh had a potential to generate 21,000 mw of electricity, but at present only 10,000 mw power was being produced.

He said the government had invested Rs 8,000 crore in industry during the past two years of its regime, which would create about one lakh job opportunities in the state. — OC