H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

Wine not to flow from HP for now
Shimla, March 22
Work on the twin wineries has not resume even after Himachal Indage, the principal promoter, has agreed to execute the prestigious project in the private sector instead of joint sector as planned.

Land shortage hits industry growth as plots remain unused
Parwanoo, March 22
Even as the scarcity of land has come up as a major hurdle in the expansion of industrial activities here certain industrial plots have been lying unused for a long time. Around 56.45 bigha of prime land of four industrial plots in Sector 2 has been lying unused for quite some time.

Himachal police to have specialised battalion
Shimla, March 22
The police is geared up to have a specialised battalion so as to deliver effectively in extraordinary situations like disaster management, communal riots, VIP duty and protecting vital installations.

Need for quake-resistant houses stressed
Dharamsala, March 22
A two-day workshop on earth-quake-resistant houses organised by the district administration in collaboration with the State Council for Science, Technology and Environment, began at the MC community hall here today.

Councillor creates ruckus in House
Solan, March 22
In an apparent embarrassment to the local municipal committee, eunuch councillor Ratni not only entered the general house meeting held here last evening in an inebriated condition but also blatantly abused other members of the committee.

Minister inaugurates Nalwar cattle fair
Sundernagar, March 22
The state-level Nalwar fair, the biggest cattle mela in northern India, was declared open by Mr Kaul Singh, Irrigation and Public Health Minister, here today.

HPUTA splits
Shimla, March 22
The Himachal Pradesh University Teachers Association today formally split with the 70 -odd members, who had resigned in protest against the inaction of the body in the wake of termination of services of three teachers, forming a new outfit.

Screening test results
Shimla, March 22
The Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission has declared the results of the screening test held on March 6 for filling three posts of principal of Industrial Training Institute.

Stairs of ancient shrine collapse
Chamba, March 22
The heavy downpour over the past three days led to the collapse of old stairs leading to the ancient Suhi Mata shrine today.

Wine not to flow from HP for now
Rakesh Lohumi
Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 22
Work on the twin wineries has not resume even after Himachal Indage, the principal promoter, has agreed to execute the prestigious project in the private sector instead of joint sector as planned.

The Rs 40-crore project under which wineries were to be set up at Pragatinagar in Shimla and Nagwain in Kulu has been virtually grounded due to inordinate delay on the part of the government in sorting out vital issues like equity participation and transfer of land. Work on the project, which was to be completed by 2003, has been at a standstill for the past more than two years. As the fund-starved government did not seem serious about equity participation, the principal promoter recently offered to implement the project as a private venture.

As per the proposal submitted by the company, the state-owned HPMC will procure fruit and also market the products. The state Horticulture Department will distribute planting material to the farmers. The company, has also sought the views of the government regarding contract farming. The company had requested the government to give response to the proposal within three weeks., However, more than a month has passed but the terms and conditions for execution of the project has not been finalised.

It is learnt that the HPMC and the Horticulture Department are both keen to associate with the company for procurement of fruits, distribution of planting material and marketing of products. The matter has been held up because of delay at the government level.

The state government had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Champagne India, a private company, to set up wineries in the joint sector in 2001. As per the MoU the company was to have 60 per cent equity, the HPMC and the state government 10 per cent each and the rest 20 per cent was to be contributed by the growers from whom fruits were to be procured. An apple-based winery was to be set up at Pragatinagar in the first phase and in second phase a grape-based winery was to be established at Nagwain in Kulu. The two units were to have a capacity to process about 15,000 tonnes of fruit annually.

The project was a major step towards diversification from apple to grapes. The imported varieties of grapes introduced under the project for trial have been successful even in the lower hill areas of Bilaspur, Mandi and Solan. As such the project would be beneficial for not only the apple belt comprising Shimla, Kulu and Kinnaur but also for the lower hills.

Land shortage hits industry growth as plots
remain unused
Our Correspondent

Parwanoo, March 22
Even as the scarcity of land has come up as a major hurdle in the expansion of industrial activities here certain industrial plots have been lying unused for a long time. Around 56.45 bigha of prime land of four industrial plots in Sector 2 has been lying unused for quite some time.

The plots have been lying unused for one or the other reason. In most of the cases plots allotted on lease hold basis to public undertakings had not been surrendered to the HP Housing and Urban Development Authority (HIMUDA) even after the closing down of business. A plot measuring over 16,500 square metres (21.94 bighas) allotted to Him Process, a public sector undertaking, has not shown any industrial activities since 1976, the year when the plot was leased out. Similarly, a 16,150 square metres (21.50 bighas) plot, allotted to Small Scale Industries Corporation (SSIC) in 1976, is also lying unused for the past 15 years. As a result the prime land that supposed to be used for industrial activities is now being used by migrant labourers to “develop” slums or is being used as a parking lot for trucks. The vacant plots are also causing loss to the government as fresh lease of these plots could earn crores of rupees for the state exchequer in the form of excise duty and other taxes.

Several new units seeking benefits of incentives under Central Governments package announced in January 2003 have made a beeline for the town. However, land shortage has come as a major hurdle in the way of accommodating the new units. Moreover, the state government has restricted the subletting of the allotted plots by the lessee to only one unit. “We can only recommend HIMUDA for leasing or cancelling the lease of plots,” maintained a top official of Industries Department based in Shimla. The HIMUDA was unable to take legal action against the violators due to a policy of the state government of not suing public undertakings, pointed a top official of HIMUDA. Meanwhile, the local Industries Department, in order to improve the situation, had forwarded a proposal to the higher authorities to resume the surplus land allotted to leading industries here. But the proposal has fallen flat. Inquiries revealed that the most of land allotted to these industries has not been fully utilised. Hardly 12 to 25 per cent portion of the land allotted to these industries has been used for industry purpose while on the rest the companies have developed gardens. Out of the total 1,75,742 square metre land allotted to these industries only 37,296 square metres are being used for industrial purpose.

Himachal police to have specialised battalion
Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 22
The police is geared up to have a specialised battalion so as to deliver effectively in extraordinary situations like disaster management, communal riots, VIP duty and protecting vital installations.

It is learnt that the existing force with India Reserve Battalion (IRB), at Junga, near here, will be given special training to handle emergency situations. The police authorities are considering to have the headquarters of the proposed III IRB at Junga.

A proposal has been chalked out to have three companies with 60 trained police personnel each and three special units. “This force, including a Rapid Action Force, will be trained to handle VIP duty, protect vital installations like AIR, Doordarshan and for the Chief Minister’s and Governor’s residential guard,” informed a senior official.

With large parts of the state falling under the earthquake-prone area, it is being felt that the forces can be trained to deal with natural calamities like floods. Police personnel, constituting the Rapid Action Force, will be trained to tackle law and order problems and communal riots.

“We will be sending our forces for specialised training to centres outside the state to learn skills and expertise required for each situation,” officials said. The specialized battalion would be provided with specific equipment and gadgetry required in these situations.

With money being a problem in the fund-starved state, it is being proposed to have this battalion under Central assistance.

“For a specialised force, physical fitness is the most important criterion, whereas in this case the personnel with IRB are mostly above 40 years of age and not in the best of physical fitness,” point out officials. It is being felt that gradually younger and more physically fit people can be recruited and the existing personnel can be put through rigorous fitness schedule.

Earlier, there was a proposal to disband IRB as it is left with merely 30 per cent of its strength as other posts have been lying vacant.

Need for quake-resistant houses stressed
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, March 22
A two-day workshop on earth-quake-resistant houses organised by the district administration in collaboration with the State Council for Science, Technology and Environment, began at the MC community hall here today.

Researchers and engineers from various institutes and government departments, besides local contractors and masons, are taking part.

Inaugurating the workshop, Mr B.B. Butail, political adviser to the Chief Minister, highlighted the need for including earthquake-resistant features in houses. Drawing a comparison with the earthquake that hit Japan, he said the amount of loss of property and lives would be mammoth if tremors of that intensity had hit this part of the world.

Dr S.K. Aggarwal from the Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee, listed out the lessons that engineers and architects should learn from the quake that hit Bhuj in 2001. “The incident was an eye-opener and there was unprecedented loss, especially of engineering structures, which are set up after considerable amount of planning,” he said.

The reasons, he said, were bad designs, poor construction and disregard to building codes and use of traditional construction practices.

Prof D.K. Paul, Head of the Department of Earth Engineering, IIT, Roorkee spoke on earthquake provisions for masonry building and ductile details of RCC buildings.

Since Kangra district fell in zone V of seismic activity, there was need to make houses earthquake resistant, the experts said.

Councillor creates ruckus in House
Our Correspondent

Solan, March 22
In an apparent embarrassment to the local municipal committee, eunuch councillor Ratni not only entered the general house meeting held here last evening in an inebriated condition but also blatantly abused other members of the committee. Shocked at utter disregard of the constitutional body, the councillors unanimously passed a resolution to dismiss Ratni. A letter in this regard was sent to the director and the Deputy Commissioner here today.

The councillors had to seek police help to take Ratni away. A medical examination confirmed consumption of alcohol.

The councillor had also created ruckus elsewhere in the market, the police said. A case under Section 34 of the HP Police Act was registered by the police today. The councillor was arrested and later let off after furnishing a surety.

Condemning the incident, the local MLA, Dr Rajiv Bindal, said it was an unfortunate incident that had brought disrepute to the house. All councillors who condemned the incident said never had such a shameful incident occurred in the history of any civic body.

Minister inaugurates Nalwar cattle fair
Our Correspondent

Sundernagar, March 22
The state-level Nalwar fair, the biggest cattle mela in northern India, was declared open by Mr Kaul Singh, Irrigation and Public Health Minister, here today.

During the seven-day fair, thousands head of cattle from Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttaranchal and Haryana are brought here for sale or exchange and the transactions run into crores of rupees.

The Congress government during its previous tenure declared it as a state-level fair. At present the fair is organised under the chairmanship of the SDM.

The fair starts with the worship of bullocks and by putting the “khundi” in the ground. Thereafter the transaction of cattle begins.

The cattle fair is held in the Nagaun khud, while the shops are set up in and around Jawahar Park. Besides sale of cattle and other products, wrestling bouts are the other main attractions of the fair.

HPUTA splits
Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 22
The Himachal Pradesh University Teachers Association (HPUTA) today formally split with the 70 -odd members, who had resigned in protest against the inaction of the body in the wake of termination of services of three teachers, forming a new outfit.

Headed by Prof H.S.Banyal, the newly floated Himachal University Teachers Association (HUTA) , swung into action straightaway and staged a dharna in front of the Vice-Chancellor’s office to demand reversal of the decision of the executive council to terminate the services of the teachers. The association pointed out that the decision was illegal and taken on politician considerations. All the three teachers fulfilled the eligibility criteria as per the norms laid down by the University Grants Commission and were recruited after following proper procedure.

Moreover, no proper inquiry was conducted before taking such a drastic action. The Kaul committee, on the basis of which the services of the teachers were terminated, had carried out only a fact-finding inquiry. The association alleged that the Kaul panel report was a political document full of glaring factual mistakes.

The concerned teachers were not given any opportunity to explain their position.

Prof N.K. Sharda, a former Pro-Vice-Chancellor, said the new body would not only fight for the cause of teachers but also work for raising the academic standards of the university. It was a non-political organisation.

The other office-bearers of the association are Prof Suresh Kapoor (vice-president), Dr Kamaljit Singh (secretary), Dr S.P. Bansal (joint-secretary) and Prof J.C. Sharma (treasurer).

Screening test results
Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 22
The Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission has declared the results of the screening test held on March 6 for filling three posts of principal of Industrial Training Institute.

The candidates with roll numbers 109, 130, 134, 170, 172, 175 and 214 have been declared successful in the general category.

In the Scheduled Tribe category roll numbers 112 and 213 and in the general ex-service man category roll numbers 101, 103, 104, 108, 169 and 218 have qualified the test.

Stairs of ancient shrine collapse
Our Correspondent

Chamba, March 22
The heavy downpour over the past three days led to the collapse of old stairs leading to the ancient Suhi Mata shrine today. There is apprehension that the rainy conditions might trigger further landslide which could damage the arch-shaped gate of the temple, where cracks have already developed.

The 1,000-year-old palanquin-shaped shrine of Suhi Mata was erected in memory of Queen Sunayana, known as Suhi Mata. But the stone steps were constructed by Rani Sarda, queen of Raja Ajit Singh (1794-1808, A.D.). The shrine is located on a hillock above the legendary town of Chamba.

Mr Dev Barotra, an art and heritage lover, blamed the road authorities for the reckless cutting of the hillock for the construction of a road beneath the gate and the Suhi Mata temple, which had led to the collapse of stairs.