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Govt to dole out crores for
Dalai Lama’s birthday celebrated
Renovate heritage buildings: INTACH
7 women held for flesh trade
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Pahari programmes may
be replaced
BJP wants Patil to resign
Chamera power station shut down
Record power generation at Ravi projects
Early snowfall in Kinnaur
Sarahan pheasantry’s rare feat
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Govt to dole out crores for ‘costly’ HPSEB
Shimla, July 6 With the government dithering on the issue of unbundling, the financial health of the board has been worsening. Despite all the talk of downsizing and steps like ban on fresh recruitment and introduction of voluntary retirement scheme, the employee cost has been increasing. It works out to Rs 1.34 per unit, the highest in the country, for the 2005-06. The employee cost was 22 paise in Andhra Pradesh, 27 paise in Karnataka and Gujarat and 55 paise in the neighbouring state of Punjab. Further, in states like Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat where reforms had been carried out in the right earnest, the employees cost accounted for less than seven per cent of total annual revenue requirement (ARR) of the state utilities. However, in case of the Himachal State Electricity Board, the employee cost was as high as 30.6 percent of the ARR, the highest in the country. While in the case of the Punjab State Electricity Board, it constituted 19.3 percent of the ARR. The board was not only over staffed but its employees were also the highest paid in the country. The state was committed to follow the Punjab pattern of pay scales, but several category of employees were being paid more than their counterparts in the PSEB. As a result of high employee cost, the average cost of supply has increased to Rs 3.10 per unit during 2005-06. As per the national power policy, the subsidised categories of consumers will be required to pay at lest 50 per cent of the average cost of supply. Thus, the electricity tariff even for the poorest of the poor Antyodaya families has increased from 70 paise per unit to Rs 1.55 per unit. It is a queer situation as the government wants to supply power to the poor at 70 paise per unit but the employee cost alone works out to Rs 1.34 per unit. The tariff for the other consumers of domestic category had also increased significantly. The government will have to pay a subsidy of Rs 125 crore to the board to maintain the electricity charges for domestic consumers at the existing level. According to sources, the government is willing to pay about Rs 100 crore as subsidy, which means that some high-end domestic consumers will have to pay more. Even this was a huge amount as it will increase the deficit of the state and in turn violate the Financial Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act that lays down that the ratio of revenue deficit to the total receipts, which stands at 40 per cent at the close of the last financial year, is to be brought down by two per cent every year. In real terms, it will mean reducing the deficit by Rs 90 to Rs 100 crore annually. The state is seeking debt mitigation facility to reduce its burden on account of outstanding loans amounting to over Rs 17,000 crore. Failure to adhere to the provision of the FRBM Act could deny the state such facility. The only way out for is to carry out reforms to reduce the employees cost, but it will require political will and courage which seems to be missing. |
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Dalai Lama’s birthday celebrated
Dharamsala, July 6 “If you really consider me your friend, then in your daily life, give more importance to inner values. No doubt, material facilities are important but that is not sufficient. We have much more inside. In case of disagreement or conflict with family and friends, a calm mind will made things much easier. With a lot of frustration and anger in mind, one always finds wrong,” he said. Replying to questions after the celebrations, he said although he had tried his best to find a solution to the Tibet problem, it was for the people to judge how successful he had been. “I always believe that it’s important to utilise each day properly. Every morning, everything is fresh, a new day starts and I try to give myself positive motivation so that the rest of the day is utilised in a meaningful way. So, in a way, everyday is a birthday,” he said. “I think life is like a big lunch party and each person has a different taste and everyone in enjoying the food. Just like that there are so many different religions and traditions but the purpose is to strengthen basic human values and all traditions have the same potential. Real meaning of God is infinite love,” he said. Scores of Tibetans from different countries came all the way to attend the long-life prayer ceremony. A book titled “Mahatma Gandhi and His Holiness Dalai Lama on Non-Violence and Compassion” by a Bangalore-based writer, Dr Satish Inamghar, and the biography of Tibetan leader Tulku Delek, panned by an organisation, White Crane, was released by the Dalai Lama. The first copy of Yang Kelin’s book “Dalai Lama and Tibet” was also presented to him.
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Renovate heritage buildings: INTACH
Chamba, July 6 In this letter written to Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, who is also the Chairman of the state-level Chamba Millennium Committee, Mr Harish Chandra Sharma, convener, Chamba Chapter of the INTACH, has suggested the repair, restoration and preservation work of all the historically and culturally important buildings which were constructed in the Moghul and colonial style of architecture in 19th and early 20th centuries in this historic hill town. It was early in the eighties that a state-level committee under the chairmanship of Mr Virbhadra Singh was formed for the preservation of heritage and monumental buildings of Chamba and Shimla towns. Consequent upon the report prepared by experts and historians, the committee listed as many as 26 buildings of historical significance in Chamba town and some steps were taken for the repair and restoration works of the select main buildings but the lackadaisical and unprofessional approach of the Public Works Department (PWD) could not yield good results. Regrettably, the buildings were later allowed to decay. Besides ancient temples dating back the 10th and 11th centuries, there are more than 15 heritage buildings left in Chamba town all of which need repair and restoration works. The INTACH’s Chamba chapter has urged the government to repair the facades with bay and cusped corridors of Rang Mehal, Akhand Chandi Palace, Sham Singh Hospital and round pillared stylised buildings of the District Collectorate, offices of Treasury, Public Relations, Excise and Taxation, State Bank of India and City police post, Circuit House, Ravi View, Snow View, Chowgan Gate and military barracks.
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7 women held for flesh trade
Solan, July 6 The CIA team which raided the hotel on a tip-off around 1 am yesterday created panic among occupants of the hotel. In a bid to evade police arrest three men, identified as Pramod, Rajkumar and Rahul, managed to flee while Harish, a resident of Sangrur jumped from the third floor of the hotel. He was, however, injured and later succumbed to his injuries. His body was later taken to Dharampur hospital for post mortem. Police officials revealed that Harish and Pramod were reportedly the main kingpins of the gang who ran this flesh trade. They were assisted by their wives who looked after the arrangements while the bookings were done by the men. The women arrested included Nepalese girl Chanda Thapa (18) and her mother Khema Thapa, Rekha (19) from Aligarh, Anjali ( 19) from Lucknow, Aastha (27) from Delhi accompanied by a small child and Sunita and Amita from Chandigarh. The arrested persons were Vikas from Delhi, Arun Kumar from Una and Vijay Kumar from Chandigarh. A case under Sections 3,4 and 5 of the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act, 1956, has been registered against them. Inquiries revealed that Harish had been frequently coming to this place with customers. Hotel receptionist Gurjinder Singh has also been booked for his involvement in the case. The Police officials said reports of flesh trade being operated from various hotels on the highway had been received for quite some time. A cellphone, belonging to deceased Harish which was confiscated by the police, was constantly ringing and customers made inquiries about the availability of girls, particularly Kajaal. They also insisted that the girls could be made available to them at their houses and money in thousands was agreed to be paid by the customers. A white Maruti car ( CH-01-Q-7159), bearing a Press sticker, was also impounded in the case. This was reportedly used by the accused. |
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Pahari programmes may
be replaced
Kumarhatti, July 6 Well-placed sources in Doordarshan, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said in the proposal the plea was taken to expand the network area of Punjabi programmes. The proposal sought to show Punjabi programmes between 5 p.m. and 7.30 p.m. At present, the Kasauli centre is airing Himachali regional programmes during that time. The transmission of the “pahari” programmes has vast coverage area due to the location and height of the Kasauli TV tower. The signal from the tower can easily be caught in remote areas of the state. The transmitter at Shimla, airing the same programmes has limited coverage area. |
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BJP wants Patil to resign
Shimla, July 6 Mr Suesh Bhardwaj, state BJP chief, led the protest in Shimla. The protesters went in a procession to the Deputy Commissioner’s office and held a rally. They raised slogans, demanding the resignation of the Union Home Minister, Mr Shiraj Patil, for the failure to protect the most revered shrine of the Hindus. Addressing the gathering, Mr Bhardwaj blamed the soft policies of the UPA government which was out to appease the militants. He also came down heavily on Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, Chief Minster of Uttar Pradesh, for the security lapse at Ayodhya. |
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BJP questions functioning of HPU
Shimla, July 6 He said it was shocking that the university first declared the result and then convened a meeting of a committee of teachers to finalise the answer key on the basis of which a second result was declared. The university could have fixed the answer key earlier, he said. The Congress government recently regularised the services of some doctors appointed on a contract basis and granted promotions to them ignoring seniority, he alleged. |
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Chamera power station shut down
Chamba, July 6 Mr, M.K. Raina, Executive Director (Region-II) of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) said over the phone that the water flow in the flooded Ravi had been constantly increasing and had gone beyond 7000 particle per second (PPS), adding that as a precautionary measure taken by the NHPC authorities to save the power house from any damage to the components of its three power generating units of 100 MW each, it had been decided to shut down the power house till the water level came down. |
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Record power generation at Ravi projects
Chamba, July 6 Giving this information over the phone here today, Mr M.K. Raina, Executive Director (Region-II) National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), said that the Chamera (Stage-I) project was generating 13 million units, Chamera (Stage-II) more than 7 million units and Baira-Siul was generating 4 million units which was the record power generation on these projects as compared to previous years. “The surplus water is being allowed to be discharged through the radial gates of the dams of the projects which have already been opened as precautionary measures, thereby helping the projects to flush out the silt, Mr Raina said. |
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Early snowfall in Kinnaur
Shimla, July 6 According to the Meteorological Department, Pitso in Lahaul recoded 5 cm of snow while the higher areas had more. The snow has come early this year. Normally areas like Pitso experience first snowfall of the season in August. Rampur has 105 mm of rain over the past 24 hours, Shimla 118 mm, Sunni 105 mm, Kasol 84 mm, Dhundi 110 cm and Solang Nullah 80 mm.
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Sarahan pheasantry’s rare feat
Shimla, July 6 Earlier, two chicks were bred. They are one month old now and quite healthy, feeding on special feed from the forest. The second clutch of four eggs was also laid by the same pair after 17 days and one egg was broken by the female while another egg was very small, not up to the size. The remaining two eggs were set under broody hen for hatching after female Tragopan failed to hatch it. Mr
B.L. Negi, Divisional Forest Officer, revealed that the same pair had laid another egg, besides a second pair also laid an egg. There could be two more chicks in August. He said rare achievement was made possibly by providing better pheasantry environment, improved diet like apples, grapes, tomato, carrot, pomegranate
palak, and hard-boiled eggs. |
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Youth killed in accident
Baddi, July 6
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Virbhadra inaugurates jewellery section
Shimla, July 6 He lauded the efforts of the Language Department in collecting traditional jewellery of the state and hoped it would attract more visitors to the museum. He also inspected the art gallery being constructed. |
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