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Directive on power projects assailed
Pheasant breeding project suffers setback
Rain wreaks havoc in region
Move to classify Tibetans
Move on bulk purchase of books
Judicial courts to be computerised
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FM radio eyes Rs 4 crore earning from ads
Chhota Bhangal emerges as vegetable bowl
Sair festival low-key affair
Ayurvedic officers’ union splits
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Directive on power projects assailed
Shimla, September 18 Mr R.L. Justa, convener of the forum, said the HIMURJA was basically an agency for popularising non-conventional sources of energy like solar photovoltaic energy system and did not have technical expertise for tendering the projects of more than 5 MW capacity. The agency was headed by an officer of the Indian Forest Service and had only one superintending engineer, two executive engineers, 15 assistant engineers and 30 junior engineers. On the other hand, the board which had 15 chief engineers, 55 superintending engineers and 200 executive engineers with requisite expertise, whose services were being grossly underutilised. He said if projects up to 10 MW were to be assigned through the HIMURJA it should be strengthened by deputing at least one chief engineer, two superintending engineers and 15 executive of civil and electrical cadre from the board. Moreover, the agency should be headed by a chief engineer. Mr Justa urged the government to implement its decision to allot projects up to 1 MW to Himachalis and up to 2 MW to local cooperative societies by cancelling the MoUs in respect of the already awarded projects in which no work had been carried out. He said as many as 264 projects with an aggregate capacity of 476 MW had been allotted since 1994-95 but no work had been done in over 100 projects. The allottees, instead of executing the projects, trying to sell them at a premium. The HIMURJA had recently returned the earnest money in respect of 195 projects but the applications had not been cancelled so far. He urged the government to cancel the applications immediately and invite fresh applications for awarding these projects to Himachalis. In future all the self-identified sites should be exclusively reserved for Himachalis. |
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Pheasant breeding project suffers setback
Shimla: The prestigious project for breeding of the highly endangered western tragopan species suffered a further setback when another chick died at the Sarhan pheasantry on Friday.
With this three of the four chicks bred for the first time at the pheasantry have died. All chicks were born to the same pair in two clutches. While Mr B.L. Negi, the Divisional Forest Officer (Wildlife), Sarhan, refused to confirm or deny the death of the chick, sources in the department said that the chick, which sustained an injury on one of its legs last month, had died. Over the past two months four birds have died. Besides three chicks, an adult pheasant also expired but it had completed the average life span. It is a project of global importance as Sarahan pheasantry is the only one of its kind in the world having the rare birds in captivity. “Tragopan melanocephalus” for the zoologists, the rare pheasant is placed high on the Red Data Book of the International Union for Nature Conservation (IUCN) listing the highly endangered species. The survival of the species depends on success of the breeding programme being pursued by the department since 1991. It took 15 years to have a successful breeding, thanks to the guidance of Mr John Corder, conservation breeding expert from the World Pheasants Association, who had been making regular visits to monitor the programme. However, it appears that the department lacks the requisite expertise in captive rearing which is as much a specialised as breeding. The success of the Rs 4.93 crore breeding project is very much in doubt now. Besides the lone surviving chick, the pheasantry still has three pairs of the rare bird but the breeding programme is in doldrums. The department will have to have fresh look at the programme and ensure that trained staff was deployed for such projects. Failure of the project could deprive the state of similar projects which are in the pipeline. A core group under the Principal Secretary, Forests, was set up to oversee the conservation breeding programme but apparently the lack of expertise had undone the success achieved in breeding the pheasant. |
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Rain wreaks havoc in region
Mandi, September 18 The rain has damaged nine houses and two shops and washed away two foot bridges and five animals in the subdivision. Though the revenue officials have yet to assess the loss, sources said the farmers were in tears as a large tract of the standing paddy crop was flattened by the rain. The non-stop rains have flattened over 80-90 per cent of paddy crop mainly in the villages of Baterh, Santhan, Kohra, Bara Dhanagarh, Chakli, Barna, and the entire lower Chauntra. “The rains have destroyed over 80-90 per cent of paddy crops in the villages in the entire Chauntra block,” said Mr Shesh Ram, a farmer from Batherh village in the Chauntra block “We have nothing to fall back upon as the paddy was the only source of livelihood for small farmers in the areas. “The pockets where the farmers have sown the hybrid seeds, have fortunately survived the rain,” said the farmers. “Even the bajra and maize crops have been damaged by the rain,” they added. Apart from the damage to paddy, the rain has washed away three houses, one each at Bakshaid, Mabali, and Matra villages and five houses at Pangna, and also two foot bridges across the Rana Ropa khud in the Jogindernagar subdivision. The villagers are taking shelter in houses of their relative, revealed reports here. The link road to the Chuhar valley in the Drang constituency remained breached at several places due to landslides. The two shops had been washed away at Tikar in the valley. The Sub-Divisional Officer (Civil), Jogindernagar, Mr P.C. Ekla said the administration had provided tents to the affected villagers. “Revenue officials have been asked to assess paddy crop damage in the Chauntra block within few days”, he added. The National Highway, which remained disrupted for a few hours at Guma yesterday, was restored for traffic today, informed the officials. Chandigarh: Heavy rain continued to pound many places in north India for the third consecutive day today, affecting normal life. Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pardesh received incessant rains and its attended woes continued to hamper life in most parts of the region. The city beautiful had recorded 36.9 mm rainfall by this morning, the Meteorological Department said here. The low-lying areas were water-logged and many of the city’s roundabouts were left flooded, hampering vehicular traffic. In Haryana, Karnal (34.9 mm) received the maximum rainfall, followed by Panchkula (20 mm) and Kalka (23mm) while in Punjab, Patiala (66.1mm) and Amritsar (4.2) were among the cities that received heavy downpours. Rain brought havoc and ushered in wintry condition in Himachal Pardesh where Shimla recorded 17.3 mm of rain. Continued rain is being rued by cotton farmers whose crops could be affected in Punjab and Haryana. The Met Department has attributed the current spell of rain in the region to an Upper Air Cyclonic Circulation (UASC) over Haryana and adjoining western Uttar Pradesh. Another UASC lay over Central Pakistan and adjoining Punjab while there was a low pressure area over south-west Rajasthan and neighbourhood. The department has issued heavy-to-very-heavy rain warning at isolated places in Himachal while possibility of heavy rain is there at isolated places in Punjab and Haryana over the next two days. — PTI
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Move to classify Tibetans
Dharamsala, September 18 The new guidelines have been issued after the Foreigner Registration Office in Dharamsala pointed out confusion regarding the status of Tibetans who have come from Tibet in recent years and in case of children turning majors here. Mr S.P. Singh, Foreigner Registration Officer, said new guidelines communicated to them by the Ministry would ensure that there are no free-floating Tibetans in McLeodganj, who are not registered with his office. Instructions have been issued to the Welfare Office and the Security Department of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) to ask all unregistered Tibetans to complete formalities as per new norms. From now on, all Tibetans will have to specify whether they had come here for time bound academic or religious assignment or for long-term stay as refugees. Consequently, says Mr SP Singh, it would be possible to carry out drives to ensure that no Tibetan is illegally staying here beyond the specified period. “Such drives are carried out for other foreigners and now Tibetans would also be checked,” he said. Consequently, says Mr SP Singh, it would be possible to carry out drives to ensure that no Tibetan is illegally staying here beyond the specified period. “Such drives are carried out for other foreigners and now Tibetans would also be checked,” he said. “Although now the special entry permits issued by the Indian Embassy in Nepal specify the purpose of visit of Tibetans, there was widespread confusion about those who came after the initial migration in the 1960s and before the introduction of the permit system in 2002. Many had not got themselves registered and not all of them could be classified as refugees,’ he said. Not all new Tibetans migrating into McLeodganj can be called refugees and it is important to classify their nature of visit here. and in case it is supposed be time-bound, it needs to be ensured that they stick to the deadline. A Tibetan official confided that nearly 5,000 Tibetans come to McLeodganj from Tibet, via China, during winters and most of them continue to stay here as refugees without getting themselves registered. Mr Sonam, Welfare Officer of CTA, said that all Tibetans definitely need either to have the Special Entry Permit issued in Nepal or should get themselves registered on their arrival in McLeodganj. “The actual number of unregistered Tibetans in McLeodganj would come to light only after they begin to complete the formalities,” said Mr SP Singh.
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Move on bulk purchase of books
Shimla, September 18 Stating this while addressing litterateurs, theatre artistes and writers assembled on the occasion of the foundation day celebration of the Creative Writers Forum here today, Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, said that the government was committed to promote the literary and various forms of art and culture activities to preserve the rich heritage of the state. He said that there was no dearth of talented people in the state which had excelled in different forms of art and brought laurels to the state. The government would consider bulk purchase of books with a view to encouraging creative artistic pursuits. He said that the Education Department and Academy of Language, Art and Culture would soon come up with appropriate proposal for the revival of the scheme so that the writers were given due honour and recognition for their works. The Chief Minister said that prominent artistes like late K.L. Sehgal, Prithvi Raj Kapoor, Balraj Sahni and Manohar Singh to the present era of Mr Anupam Kher and many others had brought laurels to the state. He said that the famous Gaiety Theatre at state capital was being restored to its original structure by spending Rs 7 crore for cultural activities. He said that the Language, Art and Culture Academy would soon be come out with a directory of litterateurs and artistes of the state. Mr Virbhadra Singh stressed the need for the simplification of literary language so that it could be understood by less educated people also. The Chief Minister also released literary magazine brought out by the forum. Dr Kailash Ahluwalia, a prominent theatre Director spoke on the changing form of Hindi theatre tracing history of theatre from emergence of the theatrical activities to the present day. |
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Judicial courts to be computerised
Kangra, September 18 He was in the town to lay the foundation stone of the Judicial Court Complex building. While talking to the mediapersons at the local PWD Rest House, Justice Sood said the process of computerisation would be carried out in a phased manner. The HP High Court was already computerised and now it was the turn of the District and Sessions courts. He said one of the District and Sessions courts would be picked up soon for computerisation Justice Sood said it was after that the Chief Judicial Magistrate and Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrates ’courts would be computerised so that any person can log on and know about the dates and the details of
judgments easily. He said as many as 4,000 cases were pending before the two ADJMs of Kangra and so there was a need to have more judges here. When asked as to how many more judges were required in the Kangra courts for speedy justice, said ideally a judge should be handling 500 cases. He, however, refused to give the exact number of judges required. He said modern techniques would be adopted to improve the system. Earlier, Justice Sood laid the foundation stone of the judicial court complex building here. He said to redress the problems of the litigants, lawyers and the court staff a new Judicial court complex would be constructed at the cost of Rs 247.88 lakh. The state government had raised a loan of Rs 25 crore from HUDCO for the construction of various judicial complexes in the state. A four-storeyed building would be constructed near Tehsil Chowk with three court rooms, one each on the first, second and third floor, besides there will be a Bar room and a canteen on the first floor. There would be two litigant halls in the building. The complex would have parking facility too. The District and Sessions Judge Kangra, Mr
R.L. Raghu, welcomed Justice Sood on the occasion and Kangra Bar Association honoured him by offering a cap and a shawl through its President Mr
B.D. Choudary. |
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FM radio eyes Rs 4 crore earning from ads Parwanoo , September 18 The Chandigarh FM programmes as well as programmess of Vividh Bharti and National Channel can now be listened with quality services beyond Ludhiana and Jalandhar, Karnal, Saharanpur and Roorkee. The vast coverage has attracted more advertisements. The commercial earnings can go beyond Rs 3 to 4 crore annually, pointed Mr. M.S. Duhan, Station Engineer of Kasauli Doordarshan Kendra. The total revenue was around Rs 1 crore till programme was transmitted only from Chandigarh, he said. The decision of transmission from Kasauli has proved a major success due to location of tower at a height. At present the Kasauli tower was transmitting programmes between 6 am and 12 noon. The transmission has proved a blessing in disguise for cellular players in the region also. The transmission from Kasauli can get further boost as the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has already decided to allow the private players to use the strategic TV towers in different locations to broadcast their own programmes, said Mr Duhan. The decision was taken after success of the broadcasting of private programme like Radio Mirchi and Times FM. Under arrangement, it was planned to give tower on rental basis to private players at competitive rates, Mr Duhan said .
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Chhota Bhangal emerges as vegetable bowl
Shimla, September 18 While the vegetable cultivation in lower areas of Kangra district comes to a close with receding of monsoon, Chhota Bhangal, located on a higher altitude continues to provides off- season vegetables. The produce not only meets the demand of Kangra but also marketed to Pathankot and other towns of Punjab. The area remains snow bound for almost six months in a year. Earlier, farmers only used to grow a single cereal crop of maize or wheat in a year, besides cultivation of rajmas, potato and barley, they have now diversified to off-season vegetables as these fetch remunerative prices. The Chhota Bhangal comprises the twins valleys of Kothi Swar and Kothi-Kohar. While Kothi Swar has three panchayats, namely Swar, Luwai and polling, Kothi-Kohar valley consist of Muthan, Dharman, Kothi-Kohar and Badagran. Until five years back, the area under vegetables cultivation was negligible and limited to household growing only. Today, the vegetables are being grown over an area of 120 hectares. Some of the notable varieties of vegetables being grown include cabbage, cauliflower, followed by radish and cauliflower. The Department of Agriculture has been instrumental in bringing about the change in doping pattern. The farmers have been imparted training under various crop diversification programmes. Besides, various inputs like fertilizers, plant protection equipments and pesticides are being supplied at a subsidised rates. A subsidy of 25 per cent is being provided on sprinkler sets and irrigation pipes. |
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Sair festival low-key affair
Mandi, September 18 It is yet to be tapped by the state Tourism, Language and Culture Department. In Shimla district, the villagers place a stone slab on the lump of earth and Joob grass on the margins of verandah to burn dry oily wood on this. The villagers climb the temple top with “wooden torches to light the specially-made fire places there. Raising a war cry “Shanshekhti ye” they shun evil spirits to ring in prosperity for the village. In Mandi district, the villagers gift nuts to the elders and welcome devis and devats. The women pick up paddy plants, and maize ears of “minjars” from the field. Before selling, they offer these to devis and devtas. Sair also marks the time when the monsoon is over and devis and devtas return to the temple treasuries for the winter. The young present the plants and nuts to their elders and seek their blessing for good in life and rich harvest of paddy and maize crops. The villagers eat fried Pahari meals like “Malpuras, Bhalas, Baras” and gift nuts and other dry fruits to one another. After the festival, the farmers harvest paddy and maize crops and stock firewoods and fodder for the winter. |
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Ayurvedic officers’ union splits
Nahan, September 18 Later Dr Manish addressed a press conference and claimed that the executive body headed by him was the real union. He claimed that the executive body headed by him would support the present policy of the state government on ayurveda. The body headed by Dr Choudhry also claimed full support of ayurvedic officers and said they were not against the state government. |
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