Shimla, June 24
The Himachal Government has provided further relief to the consumers by bringing a large number of items which earlier attracted VAT at the rate of 12.5 per cent in the 4 per cent tax bracket.

As per the notification issued in this regard, the items on which VAT will be imposed at the rate of 4 per cent instead of 12.5 per cent are bedsheets, pillow covers, quilts, blankets, towels, cycle tyres and tubes, biomass briquettes, candles, cups and glasses made of paper and plastic , vaccines, syringes and dressing, medicated ointment, light liquid paraffin, devices and implants, feeding bottles and nipples, fly ash, hardware of iron and steel, asafoetida, honey, rice bran, food items and drinks prepared and sold by dealers running eating shops, paper, paper board, computer stationery, hawai chappals and straps, sand and grit, sports goods including gym equipment and tamarind, including seed and powder.

Further, husk of pulses, wheat bran, additives and deoiled cakes, maps, charts and globes, bio-fertiliser and micronutrients, earthenware, gur and jaggery, papad and rakhi have been exempted from VAT.

Shimla, June 24
Mr V.S. Kokje, Governor, underlined the need to encourage various forms of arts as artistic activities played a vital role in keeping alive the culture of the country.

Speaking at the Balraj Sahani national award distribution function organised by the All-India Artist Association, here Mr Kokje said artistic activities provided a good medium to earn. He lauded the efforts of the association in promoting performing arts and said such activities should also be organised in other parts of the country.

About 15 persons were honoured for their contribution in various fields. Prominent among them were Mr Singhi Ram (social service), Mr Satya Parkash Thakur and his wife for strengthening the cooperative movement, Mr Ratish Babuji for arts, Dr Sardar Anjum for literature, Mr Ramesh Chander Mishra and Mrs Archana Mishra for environment, Ms Usha R. Sharma for poetry, Dr Manoj Gupta for health services, Mr U.S. Rawat for social awareness and Ms Chitra Sukumaram for dance.

Shimla, June 24
While most of the northern states are reeling under a severe power crisis, Himachal Pradesh is selling electricity worth over Rs 3.5 crore every day. It is also helping in stabilising the northern grid, which is coming under increasing strain due to overdrawals by deficit states, by way of underdrawal.

Indeed, the increase in hydel generation because of good snow fall during the winter is proving a boon to Himachal Pradesh during the summer. Against a daily requirement of the 120 lakh units, the availability ranges from 240 to 245 lakh units. Various projects of the state electricity board are generating 15 per cent more power.

The board is selling 100 lakh units to Delhi at the rate of Rs 2.90 per unit. It is providing another 10 lakh units to the neighbouring Punjab under a banking arrangement. Punjab will return the power during the winter when the hill state faces deficit. The remaining 10 lakh unit goes in the grid and fetches a higher rate of Rs 5.70 per unit.

Last year, the board sold 1,629 million units of electricity to various state. If the region receives normal precipitation during the monsoon, the overall sales could be higher by 10 to 15 per cent.

The Nathpa Jhakri project is also generating 10 per cent more power than last year. The project which was shut down for a day because of high silt content in the Sutlej again achieved its full generation of 36 million units today. It was operating at 1555 MW until excessive silt forced a shutdown.

Mr J.K.Sharma, General Manager of the project, said the level of silt was 4100 ppm and the overloading beyond 1500 MW would be resorted to only after it came down to 3000 ppm. Overloading when the silt level was high caused damage to turbines.

Solan, June 24
Dismissing plea of the state electricity board to allow domestic consumers the relaxation of providing free installation of new power connections, the Himachal Pradesh Regulatory Commission has issued orders to charge them for it. As per new orders the new domestic consumers would have to bear expenditure even for the first 30 meters. These charges were hitherto borne by the board.

The board had presented its case before the commission after issue of these regulations by the commission on April 1. The case was however rejected on Tuesday. The board’s plea that it would burden the poor consumers failed to cut ice with the commission. The commission has further issued directions to charge 100 per cent infrastructure charges from the investors in key industrial areas where further augmentation was required to be done.

The matter which had been hanging fire for the past several months had delayed the erection of infrastructure for power augmentation schemes in various industrial areas. With Excise benefit being curtailed till March 2007 the government was keen to undertake power augmentation at the earliest.

As per the new instructions an investor requiring a fresh connection would have to deposit 100 per cent payment on notice of demand before the commencement of the work. The board will be required to annually submit to the commission a cost data book for approval by December 31 each year and also publish the approved cost data book by April 1 of each year.

This shall form the basis of making the initial estimate of electric line and other works in order to provide supply to the applicant. A demand notice valid for 90 days stipulating all conditions of these regulations shall be required to be sent to the applicant by the board within a time-bound period.

The commission has further stated that till the cost data book is published the published rates of the Rural Electrification Corporation and Power Finance Corporation in respect of works of 33 kv shall be used for a period of six months from the date of issue of these regulations.

Giving the applicants an option in the new regulations the commission has stated that they could either pay the cost of works or for the service line, electrical plant or 11 kv, 22kv or LT line in lumpsum or pay the same along with an annual 8 per cent compound interest. This could be further paid in easy instalments in 10 years. All works erected for providing supply shall be maintained by the board sand it would be free to supply power to any other prospective applicant as well.

In case of temporary supplies the service lines shall be laid by the board while the actual cost shall be borne by the applicant. In addition to the expenditure recovered under these regulations the applicant shall have to pay the departmental charges for the supply of power at the rate of 11 per cent of the estimated cost.

The Baddi Barotiwala Nalagarh Industries Association (BBNIA) suggested the board to avail loans from financial institutions to erect a 66 kv line at Nalagarh. The president of the association, Mr R.S. Guleria, said that the loan could be later recovered from the investors in a phased manner as the industry was not keen to invest in a lumpsum manner now. Highly placed officials of the board said since availing loans was a time consuming process consensus would now have to be evolved between the investors and the board about raising loans for putting in place the required infrastructure. 

Shimla, June 24
The next time you find a cop in the khakis bestride a yellow motor cycle chasing you on the busy Shimla-Kalka highway, don’t get scared. He is not there to check your documents or harass you but to assist you and give tips on safe driving on hill roads.

Cops have been given this new role under the innovative highway assistance scheme launched by the state CID to reduce accidents and ensure smooth flow of traffic on the state’s busiest highway during the peak tourist season. The 80-km stretch from Shimla to Parwanoo has been divided into eight sections of 10 km each for patrolling. Each section will be patrolled by a motor cycle-ridden policeman from 9 am to 9 pm. Besides, the Dharampur-Kasauli and Shimla- Kufri roads have also been covered under the scheme.

The CID has specially picked up smart young cops who have the ability to communicate in English and willing to play the new role. They have been assigned 10 specific duties to maintain order on the highway. Each cop will continuously patrol the 10-km stretch of his beat and keep a constant watch on motorists, particularly the tourists, who require guidance for driving on hill roads.

They will spot those indulging in overspeeding or reckless driving and intercept them but only politely to tell them that it can prove fatal. Wrong overtaking or wrong parking will also attract similar attention. The cops will also keep an eye on eve-teasers and ensure that young couples were not targeted by anti-social elements.

The cops will have no power to check documents or challan the motorists, says Mr B.S.Thind, Additional Director General of Police, the man behind the innovative scheme. In case they find that some motorist was not heeding to their advice and violating traffic laws they will inform the near by police post. In no case they will be allowed to check documents or challan the errant motorists.

He said the police will also distribute pamphlets to educate the tourists about the dos and don’ts of hill driving and give them tips on safe driving. The police will welcome suggestions from the public to make the new service most useful for the motorists. 

Palampur, June 24
The Himachal Pradesh State Marketing Board will construct a subzi mandi complex in the town at a cost of Rs 2 crore. This was disclosed by Mr Sudesh Kumar, member of the state marketing board, while addressing media persons here today.

He said the marketing board had already acquired over 11 kanals of land on the Palampur-Mandi National Highway for the project. He said the project would be completed in the next two years.

Mr Sudesh Kumar said Chief Minister Virbhadara Singh was taking keen interest in the project and the marketing board had got transferred this land in its name and received funds. He said the Chief Minister had announced that there would be no shortage of funds for this project.

The subzi mandi was earnestly needed in the town as the present subzi mandi had failed to meet the requirements and had also become a major traffic hazard causing inconvenience to the local people.

He said, besides housing the shops of wholesale vegetables and fruit dealers, the complex will have the office of the marketing board, rest rooms for the farmers and other people coming from far flung areas to sell their produce.