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Panel to check flash-floods in
BBMB blamed for flood in Suketi Khud
Cloudburst destroys crops in Sundernagar
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Manali-Leh road opened
Centre clears 3 tourism projects
Teachers flay HP varsity functioning
Miss India for setting up home for street children
Youth drowned in channel
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Panel to check flash-floods in Sutlej set up
Shimla, July 16 The decision to set up a panel comprising engineers and scientists was taken at a high-level meeting convened by Union Power Secretary R. V. Sahi at New Delhi yesterday. The panel, in consultation with the engineers of the Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam, will suggest long-term and short-term measures to ensure smooth operation of the project. Power generation at the project has been severely affected due to excessive silt in the river. It was decided at the meeting that immediate measures be taken to ensure that the project remained functional at least partially even when the silt in the river is more than the maximum permissible limit of 5000 ppm (parts per million). The measure include the modification of the intake at Nathpa Dam to ensure that water is drawn from the top of reservoir as the silt content increases with the depth, the construction of a diversion tunnel at the tail end of the reservoir so that during rains, when discharge is high, flow of the river could be diverted and raising the height of the dam at the earliest as it will increase the
length of the reservoir by about 3 km and thus help in arresting the silt. The studies conducted by the engineers of the nigam revealed that the desilting chambers were functioning properly as per the design and almost 97 per cent of coarse particles greater in size than .2mm (point 2mm) were removed. However, the damage to the turbines was being caused by the medium (between .075 mm and .22 mm) and
fine (less than .075 mm) silt particles. It was found that when the level of coarse particles was 8,000 ppm at the intake after desilting it came down to 4,000 ppm. However, in case of the fine and medium particles there was hardly any reduction and the level marginally declined
from 3,500 ppm at the intake to 3,200 ppm after desilting. The long-term measures into which the panel would look include the construction of dams on the Sutlej at Powari, Khab and Spiti in a phased manner. Measures for the rehabilitation of the degraded catchment of the tributaries which are bringing excessive silt will also be carried out. Meanwhile, the second unit of the Nathpa Jhakri project started generation today. A spokesman for the nigam said the remaining four units would be made operational only when the level of silt in the river came down. |
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BBMB blamed for flood in Suketi Khud
Sundernagar, July 16 Many residents living in Magwain Muhalla of Mandi were afraid after seeing the rising water level. Similarly in the Balh valley, farmers on the both sides of Suketi Khud could not save their crops. Suketi Khud is the most fertile valley in Himachal Pradesh. However, it has been experiencing floods for the past many years. According to farmers, the flood in Suketi is caused by silt thrown by the BBMB authorities into Suketi Khud, as the BBMB authorities controlling the 990-MW Beas-Sutlej Project throw silt into Suketi Khud through an ejector and through dredging operations. As a result, the depth of Suketi Khud has been decreasing and now it is completely filled with silt. In the monsoons, the Suketi is flooded and the adjoining land upto 24 km is affected every year. This year the situation deteriorated as the BBMB authorities purchased a dredger whose capacity is double than that of other dredgers. Now two dredgers are throwing silt round the clock posing danger to thousands of farmers in the Balh valley and residents of Mandi town. The Silt Hatao Samiti has decided to take up the matter with the Prime Minister in the near future. According to its president, Mr Om Parkash, the BBMB is earning crores per day due to the Beas Sutlej Link Project but it was not serious in solving the problem of Balh valley farmers. The Balh Kishan Union has urged the state government to provide relief to farmers whose crop was washed and whose land was damaged due to flood.
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Cloudburst destroys crops in Sundernagar
Mandi, July 16 According to the landowner, Hukam Chand, a cloudburst washed away his maize crop, which he had cultivated in 10 bigahs of land. The SDO (Civil), Sundernagar, Mr Pankaj Rai, said he had directed the revenue officials to get the field report and the farmer would be paid as per relief manual. “No other damage in the area was reported,” he added. |
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Manali-Leh road opened
Kulu, July 16 The Border Road Organisation (BRO) has employed additional men and machinery to make the road fit for heavy vehicles by tomorrow. Mr. K.B. Raju, Commander, 38 Border Road Task Force, said his men were working to clear debris following a landslide at the 31-km point from Manali. |
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Centre clears 3 tourism projects
Kulu, July 16 He said the government had already submitted 10 projects to the Union Government for the development of tourism and the Central Government had cleared three projects. These projects were Mandi-Bilaspur circuit,
Chanihar-Rohru circuit and Chamba circuit. He said Rs 20 crore would be spent on these projects. The ropeways at Jhakhu (Shimla), ISBT-The Mall (Shimla) and Dharamsala-McLeodganj would be constructed soon to have an additional attraction for the tourists. In reply to a question about the alternative road to extend the Pathankot-Mandi National Highway-20 to Bajaura in Kulu for the Mandi-Kulu stretch of the National Highway-21, he said the Surface Transport Minister of the Central Government would visit the state soon and the matter would be taken up with him. Earlier, Mr Bali was the chief guest at a state-level function of the HRTC Employees Federation (INTUC) at the Baba Balak Nath Mandir community hall where he lauded the achievements of the state government. He said he had ordered the transfer of the local Motor Vehicle Inspector (MVI) to the Shimla head office after listening to the grievances of transporters here. He assured that a new MVI would join soon at Kulu. |
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Teachers flay HP varsity functioning
Shimla, July 16 The association, which held a meeting under the chairmanship of its president C. L. Gupta here today, demanded immediate reinstatement of three teachers — Mr Ajay Srivastav, Ms Mamta Sharma and Mr Kuldeep Agnihotri — whose services were allegedly terminated by the university authorities on political considerations. The meeting said the university should stop victimisation of teachers as in the case of chairperson of the Computer Science Department. It also opposed the transfers of teachers from ICDEOL and the centre for evening studies to PG centre which were against the university ordinances and statues. The interest rate on the employees provident fund should be raised and brought on a par with the government. The house allotment should be made transparent and as per rules and the retirement age of teachers be increased from 60 to 62 years as per the UGC guidelines, the meeting demanded.
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Miss India for setting up home for street children
Dharamsala, July 16 She was here today for the launch of jewellery design professional and vocational courses of the National Institute of Fashion Design
(NIFD,) in collaboration with the ATR Institute of Jewellery and Designing, Dharamsala. She said she would not suggest to the students to move out to Mumbai and Delhi as the general trend is. “They can make a name for themselves in Himachal itself in case they promote themselves well,” she said. About her plans to join Bollywood, she said she would wait for the right offer after her present contracts were over. But, she added, it was not necessary for all Miss Indias to dabble into films and one could do significant things even while staying away from the tinsel town. About her belief in fate, she said: “Things do happen for a definite reason and minor backsliding should not disillusion us, but at the same time one also makes one’s own fate and good things would not happen if we keep sitting at home.” She urged parents of students planning to join the fashion industry to be more supportive. “If a student is confident of himself, he would surely make it big,” she
said. Sindhura, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, said she was already working for an NGO, which was running a cottage school for street
children. Sindhura, who has working as a news reader in New Zealand, said she was a big fan of both Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan and would love to have a one-on-one with the Big-B someday. |
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Youth drowned in channel
Dharamsala, July 16 According to the police, no foul play is suspected in the case and the possibility of a murder or suicide had been ruled out after the preliminary investigations. The post-mortem examination conducted at Dr Rajendra Prasad Medical College and Hospital revealed that there were no external injuries on the body and drowning was the cause of death. No case was, therefore, registered. Sagar Rana was an accused in the murder case of Renu Sood, Principal of Dhauladhar International School, Dharamsala, in 2003, but was later acquitted. He was scheduled to get married later this month.
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