Shimla, July 18
The Himachal Pradesh Government proposes to combine its ambitious Shimla-Chandigarh Express Highway project with the scheme for the four-laning of the highway prepared by the National Highway Authority of India in order to bring down cost and to avoid duplicity.

The Union Ministry of Surface Transport has formulated a Rs 867 crore project for the four-laning of the Shimla-Kalka highway but the government is keen on having an express highway to reduce the travel time between Shimla and Chandigarh by one-and-a-half hours. An express highway will cost about Rs 2,200 crore which was a huge amount. However, if the two projects are combined the objective could be achieved at much less investment. The state government will be required to spend only about Rs 600 crore in addition to the amount to be provided by the Union Ministry for the four-laning project.

The government has also decided to engage consultants to study the feasibility and to prepare a detailed project report. The state Infrastructure Development Board (IDB) has already invited “expression of interest” (EOI) for engaging consultants and the offers were being evaluated.

The four-laning project involves boring of 11 tunnels between Maliana (Shimla) and Kothi to help reduce the distance by 19 km. The total length of the tunnel will be 9.5 km. The two longest tunnels will be of 2.27 km each between Taradevi and Shogi and Kandaghat and Solan. The state government wants that the highway be realigned and include more tunnels to reduce the distance by another 20 km. The emphasis will be on reducing the travel time.

As per a preliminary survey the road is to be realigned after Kothi by constructing a 3.5 km tunnel under the Kasuali hill and join the existing highway bypassing Kalka and Pinjore. In the four-laning project there is no tunnel under Kasauli hill and the highway passes through the existing Parwanoo-Kalka-Pinjore route. The new alignment will also provide a shorter link to the Baddi industrial area. Besides, the length of tunnel proposed under Barog hills will be increased to 6 km to make the road shorter. The third long tunnel will be constructed under the Tara Devi hill.

The IDB will get the detailed project report prepared and take care of the project development stage. Thereafter, it would be assigned to private sector for implementation on develop, finance, build, operate and transfer basis. In case it was found that the imposition of toll is not enough to recover the investment, the system of viability gap funding will be adopted under which the government would provide necessary funds to ensure viability.

Mandi, July 18
The newly constituted Board of Administrators (BoA) of the Mandi Urban Cooperative Bank Ltd (MUCBL) has tightened its grip over the bank’s over 200 defaulters, including some directors of the now defunct Board of Directors, by attaching properties in over 40 cases.

The Administrators revealed that they have attached the property of the defaulters in 40 cases which have no documents attached earlier. “They also include some former directors as well. Now they can even auction the attached property if the defaulters fail to repay their loans under the Cooperative act “, they said. But the depositors remain apprehensive as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has not relaxed its restrictions on the normal transaction in bank, and plead for strict time-bound action against the defaulters. Sounding an optimistic note, the spokesperson for the depositors’ action committee, MrT.L. Vaidya , said that the defaulters now deserve a strong action from the state government. “The defaulters now know that they will have to repay the loans as they can not cheat the public like this”, he asserted.

The Board of Administrators, Mr Ramesh Malta, and Mr Ram Prakash informed that the bank had finalized over 40 cases worth Rs 1.67 crore for speedy execution, while 193 cases amounting to Rs 4.39 crore had been finalized for speedy arbitration. The Registrar Cooperatives, Mr R.D. Dhiman , said that the NPA has come down to 35 percent ever since the Board of Administrators took over the control of the bank after the RBI put restriction on August 27, 2004. Criminal proceedings have been initiated against the bank’s two managers and the two inspectors of the department in this case”, he added.

“We are doing the speedy trials of defaulters cases at Shimla, which has yielded some good results as the defaulters are coming forward to clear their repayments”, he added. Mr Dhiman said that the under the much-abused one time settlement (OTS), the bank has recovered Rs 7.77 lakh so far, an amount which was waved off. In all, the bank has recovered Rs.3.5 crore under the NPA since the RBI restricted banks daily business, he added. The officials informed that the Deputy Registrars, Mandi, Shimla, and Dharamshala have been given special power of the collectors under the Cooperative Act for the speedy trial of the cases.

Dharamsala, July 18
The Dr Rajendra Prasad Zonal Hospital here is ailing. Come rains and leaking roofs welcome patients while the staff scurry for cover. Rainwater oozing from the roofs and in the labour room is giving a hard time to gynaecologists, besides affecting the functioning of a host of other departments, including the operation theatres.

“What to talk of patients, even the doctors have to virtually wade through water that collects all over the wards whenever there is a brief shower,” rued Dr O.P.Dogra, Medical Superintendent.

The situation was particularly bad in the ENT and Eye Departments located on the first floor when water could be seen seeping from different places in the wards because of the downpour during the past one week.

Dr Praladh Duggal of the ENT Department, who is also the president of the Resident Doctors Association, said the issue had been taken up with the authorities and both the patients and doctors were waiting for steps. “Strangely, the building is not more than a decade-old but its roofs are leaking from all over like a mud house,” he said.

After the leakage in the labour room, the hospital authorities planned to shift to it room no 802, which also started leaking in no time. Patients could be seen moving around the wards with shoes and slippers in their hands.

“Things will not be this bad even in a health centre. The zonal hospital caters to the medical needs of thousands of people across the district. Even my mother was referred here from a Community Health Centre in Dehra but the situation seems to be worse here,” said an attendant.

Senior doctors in the hospital said things were not so bad last year and the situation could worsen as the monsoon had just begun. “At some places, it seems the tin sheets have got rusted and damaged, allowing the rainwater to seep into the wards,” said a doctor.

Dr Dogra said they had given several reminders to the Public Works Department in this regard, with an estimate of nearly Rs 10 lakh for the repair and maintenance of the building, but to no avail.

MANDI: Growers in low-altitude areas in the Mandi-Kulu-Shimla-Solan apple belt are all set to harvest a good crop this season.

In the lower belt of Jenjheli, Gohar, Pangana, Churag and Mahunag in Mandi district, growers say the crop is good. The rains have helped develop the appropriate size, shape and colour of the fruit.

Rejecting reports of the core rot disease hitting orchards in Gohar and Karsog, farmers say they expect remunerative prices in markets in Chandigarh and Delhi. The first consignment of the fruit fetched a lucrative price.

Mr Ram Lal Sharma, an orchard owner from Sakhnot in Karsog subdivision, says: “We have followed a proper spray schedule and there are no diseases like scab and core rot and other problems this time,” he says, adding that only a negligible quantity of the fruit is affected by disease.

“We will start the season soon. We are waiting for the sky to clear”, says Mr O.N. Hazri, an orchardist in Charkri, near Pangana, in Karsog block. “The only problem is that truckers and arhtiyas fleece small growers”, he adds.

Mr Harish Janartha from Kshaini in Rohru says the government has already announced the support price.

“The small markets in Roru, Dhali, Kulu and Mandi in the state will benefit small growers, who are otherwise fleeced by commission agents. Private manufactures have almost flooded the apple belt with cartons. There is no shortage of trucks and packaging cases”, he says.

The president of the HP Fruit Growers and Vegetable Growers Association, Mr Lekh Raj, says: “The early varieties have already been despatched to markets from this belt. The quality of apple is good this year due to timely snow and rain.”

The Deputy Director, Horticulture, Mr K.C. Chambial, says: “We have advised growers to follow a strict spray schedule where the core rot disease has hit orchards. But the problem is insignificant. We have sent a team to the Gohar and Karsog areas to help tackle the problem.”

Shimla, July 18
The irrigation and public Health Department will construct structures to find a permanent solution to the problem of excessive silt during rains which has been affecting water supply to the state capital.

The decision was taken at a meeting convened by Mr Kaul Singh, Irrigation and Health Minister, here today, to review the situation in the wake of the water crisis caused due to silting. He also underlined the need to undertake afforestation and other measures to check erosion in the catchments areas.

He directed the department to make arrangements for removal of debris from the flooded water sources so that water supply was not affected again and the people were supplied clean water.

He also asked the state urban development authority to make rain water harvesting mandatory in all the private buildings so that rain water could be stored and utilised.

He directed the department to complete the new water supply scheme for Shimla by March 31,2007 and that of Solan within the next two years. He also asked the department and the Shimla Municipal Corporation to convene frequent meetings to review the situation and also take steps to plug leakages in the pipeline.

Sundernagar, July 18
The Mandi police has started keeping records of migrant labourers who are working in the district in order to know their antecedents. Their record would be further got verified from their native police stations, said Mr Ajay Yadav, SP, Mandi, here today.

Mr Yadav said it was noticed that sometimes criminals come here and later on indulged in criminal activities. He said he had issued directions to different police stations to maintain records pertaining to these persons. The record will contain name, permanent address, present address, occupation, photograph and identity card and finger prints of the persons.

He further said the police would further verify the record of labourers from their respective police stations. He said this type of database was a preventive step in order to check crime spread by the outside labourers in Himachal Pradesh.

Sources said the police had started the drive and in the past labourers from outside the state indulged in criminal activities and some of them tried to disturb the peace of state.

Shimla, July 18
The Himachal Pradesh High Court has upheld the judgement passed by the Sessions judge, Solan, in a rape case, whereby the trial court awarded 10-year rigorous imprisonment to the accused Sukhdev Anand, who raped her daughter.

While upholding the verdict of a trial court, a Division Bench comprising Mr Justice Arun Kumar Goel and Mr Justice K.C. Sood observed that the victim had to bear trauma which left permanent scars on her mind.

Prouncing the verdict on behalf of the Bench, Mr Justice Goel further observed that the sentence has to be an eye-opener, so as to deter others from committing such crimes.

According to the victim, the accused raped her in May 2000. And after this incident he threatened her that in case she disclosed this to anyone, she will also be done to death like her mother. On June 27, 2001 she complained about this to the Mahila Mandal Pradhan, Taksal. The matter was registered in police station, Parwanoo.

Shimla, July 18
Mr H.K. Sharma has been appointed Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the public sector Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam, (SJVN) which has implemented the country’s largest underground 1500-MW Nathpa-Jhakri hydroelectric project.

He assumed charge of the new assignment here today. The post had fallen vacant following Mr Y.N. Apparao’s superannuation on May 31. Mr Tarun Kapoor, Director (Personnel), had been holding additional charge of this post since then.

Mr Sharma hails from Nahan in Sirmaur district. He is a 1976-batch civil engineer from Panjab University, Chandigarh. He has 28 years of experience in the implementation of many hydroelectric projects of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation like Baira Siul, Chamera (Himachal Pradesh), Ranjit (Sikkim) and Parbati (Himachal Pradesh) in various capacities.

He joined the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam on deputation from the NHPC in July, 2001, as Chief Engineer and later became General Manager of the project. 

Shimla, July 18
Mr Mangat Ram Singhal, Labour and Industry Minister of Delhi, inaugurated a Holiday Home for Industrial Workers of Delhi here today.

Mr Singhal said that the Delhi Government had three holiday homes for industrial workers at Hardwar, Mussourie and Allahabad and the fourth was inaugurated today. He said that such facility would also be provided at Nainital.

The Delhi Government was striving to provide better facilities to labourers who played a vital role in the development of the country. It was committed to the welfare of the working class and it had constituted a Labour Welfare Board which undertook several measures for the benefit of workers like running vocational training centres and rehabilitation scheme for migrant workers. The board had also set up a “sharmik” referral centre for providing medical facilities for the workers and it was running three free legal aid centres in collaboration the Legal Service Authority.

Mr Raj Krishan Gaur, Himachal Agriculture and Labour Minister, appreciated the Delhi Government for providing Labour Holiday Home facility in Shimla and at other places

He said efforts would be made to open a hospital in Shimla for workers. He said that hydel project workers would also be brought under the labour insurance scheme.

Shimla, July 18
Activists of the BJP today staged a protest against the failure of the local municipal corporation to ensure regular water supply to the city.

Carrying empty buckets the protestors held a demonstration in front of the corporation’s office. They demanded resignation of the Irrigation and Public Health Minister, the mayor and the local legislator.

Mr Ganesh Dut, a senior BJP leader, alleged that the water crisis had been created due to the lack of coordination between the Irrigation and Public Health Department and the corporation authorities. It was for the first time that residents in many localities had to go without water for nine days.

Shimla, July 18
The Himachal Pradesh Financial Corporation Employees Union has urged the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, to appoint a regular director for the corporation.

The union brought to his notice that the corporation was without a regular Managing Director since May when as an interim arrangement, the government had given the additional charge to Mrs Upma Chaudhary, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Urban Development.

It was not feasible for a Managing Director holding the additional charge to pay full attention to the corporation as it was a full-time job.

Moreover, the State Financial Corporations Act, 1951, only had a provision for a regular Managing Director.

Kumarhatti, July 18
An army man was killed and another was injured when an army vehicle carrying them rolled down into 150 ft deep gorge near Jabli, about 13 km from here, today.

The driver of the vehicle, Dalip Singh, was died on spot while Joginder was admitted to Military Hospital, Kasauli, after being given first aid at community health centre, Dharampur. The vehicle of 2nd Bihar Regiment was on its way from Kasauli to Chandigarh to fetch vegetables. The overspeed appeared to be reason behind the accident, said police. — OC