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HPSEB seeks more time for restructuring process
Hardware development crucial for nation’s growth: Premji
Palampur’s green cover under serious threat |
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‘Patent ordinance will stunt pharma industry’
Undertrial escapes as his ‘friends’ attack cops
Village pradhan sacked
Spare a thought for rural banking in state
Production of trout picks up in Himachal
HP to set up public tariff commission
Book on folk theatre released
New India Insurance penalised
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HPSEB seeks more time for restructuring process
Shimla, February 6 The board has written to the government that Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), which was appointed as consultant for preparing the restructuring plan, has not as yet submitted its report. The process of restructuring was already underway under the existing set-up. While the generation wing has been made independent with the setting up of two subsidiaries, the Pabbar Valley Power Corporation and The Himachal Jal Vidyut Vikas Nigam, the accounts of transmission and distribution have been separated. In a hill state where 90 per cent consumers are in rural areas, the private sector may not come forward to take up distribution. If segregated areas were assigned to private sector, the board would end up servicing unviable difficult areas. It has further asserted that generation had already been privatised, as a number of projects had already been assigned to Independent power producers. It is learnt that the board had already received the interim report of the ASCI and had set up a committee of chief engineers to examine it. Instead of unbundling the board, the proposal is to have subsidiaries with board as the holding company which would defeat the vary purpose of restructuring. Mr J.P. Negi, Principal Secretary, Power, confirmed that the board had sought a year’s extension and said the government would take decision only after studying the new power policy of the government of India approved last week. As per the Electricity Act which came into force on June 10, 2003, the state power utilities were to be unbundled within a year. However, the Government of India allowed one year’s extension on the request of some states which had not done out the necessary ground work to carry out the exercise. With the new power policy in place, it is very unlikely that the Centre will allow the board to continue for another year in the present form. |
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Hardware development crucial for nation’s
Baddi, February 6 The IT company’s facility will cater to the growing needs of customers in India and the Asia-Pacific region. Urging the need for rapid growth in hardware manufacturing, Wipro Chairman Azim Premji said a nation could not be self-sufficient in strategic sectors like defence, nuclear energy and space technologies without domestic capabilities in hardware development and manufacturing. “India is an emerging force in IT hardware design and manufacturing. India has the potential to be a global electronics hardware manufacturer and cost-effective supplier for IT products,” he quipped. The Bangalore-based IT major has a major stake in this company. Talking to TNS, Mr Ram N. Agarwal, MD and CEO of the company, said the Rs 20-crore new unit would be engaged in the manufacture of printers, UPS, consumables, networking products and printing services. “We have already started to export printers to China, which only shows the potential India holds in IT products exports,” he added. “The company already has 7,00,000 customers and the facility will only help increase our proximity with them.” The state-of-the-art manufacturing facility will have a production capacity of one million IT products, said Mr Ranbir Singh, general manager (North zone). The investment in the first phase would be Rs 5 crore, including the cost incurred on buying 12 acres of land and the building. The existing facility in Nalagarh (HP) will also be added to this once it gets operational within a year, he added. Outsourcing is no longer a choice but an absolute strategic necessity, Premji said. “The tremendous economic growth that China has witnessed in the recent decade has been fuelled to a large extent by the growth in the hardware industry there,” he opined. Meanwhile, Neha, a student of Asha Deep Vidya Niketan, handed over a cheque for Rs 5,000 to the Chief Minister as students’ contribution to the tsunami relief fund. |
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Palampur’s green cover under serious threat
Palampur: The green cover in this picturesque town of Himachal Pradesh is under serious threat, especially within the municipal limits and adjoining panchayat areas, where there is no check on the felling of trees. The deodar trees, which were the beauty of the
town, are dying day by day. In the past 10 years over 100 deodar trees have either been axed or have dried up. There were dozens of deodar trees near the old bus stand and Pragati Maidan, but today no deodars are seen there.
It is a matter of serious concern that none in the administration is bothered to preserve the greenery of the town. No efforts have been made to plant new trees in the town. Every year Van Mahotsava is celebrated in the town. VVIPs are called to plant new saplings. Big functions are held. Lunches and dinners are hosted, but no trees are seen on the land. There is no post-plantation care. A few years ago the HP Forest Minister planted trees near the PWD Rest House, but today no trees can be seen on the land, which is covered with thick bushes. If no serious efforts are made, Palampur will soon lose its charm and there will be no green tree in the town. For the past few years various government and semi-government departments have taken forest laws lightly and a number of precious deodar trees have either been cut without the valid permission from the authorities. In many areas of the
town government buildings have come up by cutting trees. Recently two 70-year-old trees were axed in the town. Nobody in the administration knew who granted the permission to cut these trees. There are many other such instances where the deodar trees have been axed overnight without any permission. Meanwhile, various voluntary organisations and environmentalists have lodged a serious protest with the authorities against the reckless felling of the deodar and other trees. The Palampur Welfare and Environment and Protection Forum has urged the state government to register cases under the HP Forest Act against the culprits. |
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‘Patent ordinance will stunt pharma industry’
Shimla, February 6 Addressing a press conference here he said the fact that protests were being stages in the USA, Europe and Africa against the ordinance promulgated by the Government of India to enforce the new patent regime indicated the gravity of the situation. Even the Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) had written to India to frame a patent law that would ensure the availability of essential drugs. The new patent regime would stifle the growth of Indian pharmaceutical industry which had broken the monopoly of multinationals and made essential drugs available at very reasonable rates. The price of the medicines produced by multinational companies was 30 to 60 times higher than that of Indian products. The new patent law would increase the prices of medicines produced in the country manifold. He said the government had framed the new law under pressure from the USA and had gone beyond what was agreed to in the trade related intellectual property rights (TRIPS) under the WTO accord. While several beneficial clauses of the TRIPS had been ignored, most of the harsh conditions had been incorporated in the new law. The Left would launch a country wide drive against the new law to put pressure on the government to relax the harsh conditions and to safeguard the national interests when the Bill was brought in the Parliament to replace the ordinance. |
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Undertrial escapes as his ‘friends’ attack cops
Nahan, February 6 The policemen escorting the undertrial, Harjit, were attacked by some miscreants, armed with a country-made pistol and some other weapons, who got him freed. The miscreants injured the constables and fled in a car which collided with a truck coming from the opposite direction. The miscreants then attacked the driver and owner of the truck and fled towards Haryana in the same truck. The truck was abandoned near Kala Amb. The Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Mr R.L. Sood, said car of the miscreants crossed through the barrier at Kala Amb but could not be intercepted in spite of intimation at the barrier. He said the Head Constable Manjit Singh, who was on duty, had been placed under suspension and departmental inquiry initiated against him. Mr Sood said the police had recovered the car from Raipur Rani in Haryana and its driver, Ashok, a resident of Solan, had been arrested. The owners of the car had been identified and the police teams had been dispatched to nab them. The miscreants had been identified and some of them were relatives of Harjit. The Superintendent of Police, Sirmaur, Mr S.R. Sharma, said Harjit was a notorious person involved in many cases registered in Haryana and was arrested in Rajgarh area last year . |
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Village pradhan sacked
Chamba, February 6 In an order issued here today under the provisions of the Himachal Pradesh Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, the DC has directed Dhandev to deposit all the documents and assets pertaining to the panchayat with the panchayat office. The DC said that Ms Balo Devi of Jakhral village had filed a complaint alleging that Dhandev had contested the election to the post of panchayat pradhan by obtaining the Scheduled Tribes certificate unfairly, adding the woman had also sought a probe into the fake certificate by filing a petition before the Subdivisional Magistrate (SDM) of Churah subdivision in 2001. In the judgement delivered by the SDM, Churah, it was found that the Scheduled Tribe certificate which Dhandev had got from the office The Scheduled Tribe certificate issued by the Bharmour tehsil office with serial number 82 was of Mr Vinay Sharma, son of Mr Jagdish Sharma, and not of Dhandev, the DC said. Upholding the decision of the SDM, Churah, the DC announced the post of Kilod panchayat pradhan as vacant by dismissing Dhandev from the post of pradhan with immediate effect. |
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Spare a thought for rural banking in state
Mandi: Village-based small and marginal farmers and pensioners in rural areas across the country continue to be victims of town-based middlemen and pickpockets as they carry cash with them from markets as the Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) provide no draft and pension facilities in rural areas. The proposal to start these in banks is hanging fire with the Board of Directors, Priority Sector and Lead Bank division, Punjab National Bank, New Delhi, reveal bankers.
Not only have the RRBs failed in serving the purpose for which they were created, they themselves are losing in the competitive banking markets. They do not enjoy the level playing field as none of the country’s 196 RRBs have these facilities, the bankers disclosed. This issue of rural banking assumes significance as the committee comprising the banking officials from the nine-member Board of Directors from the RBI, NABARD and Punjab National Bank (PNB), which constitute the country’s top banking decision-making body called the PS and LB division, New Delhi, is visiting the state to explore the possibilities in rural banking in the state. The farmers have to go to towns to avail draft and pension facilities, spending Rs 25 as bus fare and pay collection charges to the town-based commercial banks. ‘’We get money after seven days” rued Mr Kheem Singh, chief volunteer, Kisan Club, Kheel Dharmor in Mandi district. “The small farmers first pay commission to the agents in Delhi to get cash after waiting for seven days in Delhi or Chandigarh. Many farmers who have no knowledge about the cities become victims of pick-pockets or robbers while traveling in night buses”, rued Mr Sant Ram, an apple farmer and chief
volunteer, Chamanpur Farmers Club in Mandi district. Pointing out farmers’ problems in the villages, Mr Lekh Raj, president, Himachal Pradesh Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association, said the rural banking still eluded small-time farmers as the banks were focusing on urban customers, opening ATMs and other facilities in the cities and big towns. The farmers revealed that ATMs, liberal house and consumer mela loans and other loans had flooded the cities in the country, but the village-based small-time farmers and pensioners had no access even to encash a draft that they carried after selling
their produce in the Azadpur Sabji Mandi, New Delhi, and Chandigarh. The General Manager, Himachal Gramin Bank, who heads the four regional rural banks in the state, Mr RB Thakur, said that the proposal to start the draft facilities in the rural bank awaited clearance from the Board of Directors. “The high-powered committee is visiting Himachal in early February.” |
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Production of trout picks up in Himachal
Shimla, February 6 The production of trout again started picking up last year as over 50 tonne of table-size rainbow trout was marketed out of the state. The department had to destroy the entire stock in its farms as well as in rivers of the state to get rid of the infection. In less than a year as many as 15 trout farming units were set up in different areas of the state and the concept of village raceway was also popularised in a big way. Inputs in form of fish seed and feed were provided to the farmers on no-loss-no-profit basis. Himachal Pradesh has some of the world’s best streams for trout in
Trithan, Sainj, Pabbar, Uhl, Baspa and the Ravi spread over 600 km. The Indo-Norwegian Trout Farming Project was launched to exploit the fisheries potential of these rivers. Under the project, a modern trout farm, including a hatchery with a capacity to raise trout fingerlings to produce 20 tonnes of trout was established. The “eyed ova” of rainbow trout were initially imported from Norway but later its breeding was carried out in the farm with the imported stock. Recently, the Government of India has sanctioned Rs 4 crore project for the promotion and development of cold water aquaculture in the country which will be implemented in the hill states of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim and Uttaranchal. Himachal Pradesh is the first state in the country to establish Fish Pathological Laboratory to investigate disease of cold water fisheries. Steps have been taken for the identification, enumeration and cataloguing of various diseases breaking out in the trout hatcheries and raceways for diagnostic service. The successful implementation of Norwegian-assisted trout farming projects had given a distinct status to “Kulu Valley” in the national map of
pisciculture. |
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HP to set up public tariff commission
Shimla, February 6 The proposed commission will be a multi-member body on the pattern of state electricity regulatory commission. It will determine the real cost of various public services and gradually take the state towards a regime where the entire cost was recovered from the users. The main objective of the commission is to put in place a mechanism for determining the tariff of services in an objective manner. At present the decisions are taken at political level and there is no system to regulate the expenditure and quality of services. As the regulatory authority does not take into consideration redundant expenditure and only takes into account the actual cost of service while determining the service this step will promote efficiency. The setting up of the commission will also help provide a level playing field to the private sector. Besides, the functioning of service providers like the state road transport corporation and municipal bodies will come under a close scrutiny. Since tariff is determined after hearing the service provider, the government and the public, the quality of services is also expected to improve. The regulator can also lay down guaranteed standards of service as had already been done by the state electricity regulatory commission. To ensure that the interest of the public is not adversely affected, the government will have the power to overrule the tariff order of the commission for at least two years. The proposed commission will also take care of passenger bus fare, water charges, health charges and fee charged by educational institutions. A large number of health and educational institutions are coming up and there is no system for rational determination of fees and other charges. |
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Book on folk theatre released
Mandi, February 6 Murari Sharma, author of the book, said “Banthra” had staged a comeback. “Health officials and NGOs have tapped this powerful folk medium to spread awareness about AIDS, literacy and social evils and corruption”, he said. “Banthra” has no script, no designed stage and no fixed characters. “It all starts on a pun or a joke in Mandyali language that draws the attention of the audience instantly”, said Murari Sharma, who has traced its origins right from the time of the erstwhile Raja of the Mandi state, when “Banthra” began about 200 years ago. “The artistes have a natural flavour to expose what happened in the corridors of kingdom, including corruption by the king’s officials, new trends and fashions. The rajas would also come to know what is happening in the kingdom.” “The artistes convey the bad and good things in a powerful and humourous manner. They convey the message, be it bitter or sweet, without annoying the king or the public”, he said. Mr M.R. Thakur, former secretary, HP Art, Language and Culture Academy, who released the book, said three kinds of “Banthra” schools had emerged — Sundernagar, Pangna and Mandi. |
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New India Insurance penalised
Sundernagar, February 6 The forum ordered that the amount be deposited within two months failing which the insurance company has to pay 6 per cent interest annum from the date of filing of the complaint till the amount is realised. This award is the highest award passed till date by the Mandi consumer forum. The mother of the complainant had died in an helicopter crash. The helicopter was owned by Himalayan Heli Services, Madangir, New Delhi, and every passenger on board was insured with the New India Assurance Company for Rs 10 lakh. The complainant along with his father applied for the insured amount but was not paid to them. The complainant and his father then filed a complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act for seeking direction to the insurance company to pay the claim. |
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