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Thakur’s expulsion from BJP revoked
Nathpa Jhakri: new coating helps check turbines’ erosion
Govt urged to release 3 DA instalments
Pensioners seek removal of anomaly
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Hardships multiply for cannabis growers
Restore ecological balance: experts
Vintage car rally to be flagged off tomorrow
Army, Kinnaur Admn at loggerheads
Parents of dead lovers claim bodies
Gujjar girl crushed to death
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Thakur’s expulsion from BJP revoked Shimla, October 5 The decision assumes political significance as Mr Thakur had spearheaded the dissident campaign against the former chief minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, under the banner of “Mitra Mandal” all over the state. Even though many other dissident leaders had been taken back in the party fold, Mr Thakur’s case had been pending as there was strong opposition on his reentry into the party from the Dhumal camp. After being denied the party ticket from Hamirpur, Mr Thakur had contested as an Independent candidate against his sister-in-law, Ms Urmil Thakur, who was a staunch loyalist of Mr Dhumal. A total of 23 other dissidents from the Mitra Mandal had contested against the official BJP candidates all over the state. Mr Thakur’s readmission into the party has come at a time when the national BJP chief, Mr L.K. Advani, is scheduled to visit Palampur on October 9. The party is observing anniversary of the adoption of the resolution on Ayodhya at Palampur in 1989. Even the state BJP chief, Mr Suresh Bhardwaj, had come in for criticism for adopting a lenient view and readmitting dissidents belonging to the Dhumal camp, even as the case of Mr Thakur remained pending. “The matter came up for discussion at the highest party-level meeting of RSS and BJP leaders, which finally paved the way for return of Mr Thakur into the party,” said a senior leader. The decision on Mr Thakur might cause heartburn in the Dhumal camp as Mr Thakur is considered close to former Union Minister and Dhumal rival, Mr Shanta Kumar. However, the party is likely to be strengthened with his return into the BJP as he has a good hold in the district and also happens to be the son of former transport minister, Mr Jagdev Thakur. Mr Thakur had extended support and even campaigned for Mr Suresh Chandel, who contested the Lok Sabha elections from the Hamirpur parliamentary seat. “He should have been taken back much earlier as it is because of the support extended by Mr Thakur that Mr Chandel was able to retain the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat by a slender margin of 1,500 votes,”said another BJP MLA.
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Nathpa Jhakri: new coating helps check turbines’ erosion
Shimla, October 5 The engineers of the Sultej Jal Vidyut Nigam have been trying various measures to protect the turbines against erosion due to the high silt content in the Sutlej. After almost two years of trial and error they found that protective coating of tungsten carbide-based material was quite effective in slowing down the rate of erosion. Studies conduced by engineers revealed that experimental coating increased the life of parts vulnerable to damage due to silt by 60 to 70 per cent. The two turbines , which were coated with tungsten carbide-based material at the start of the year, withstood the impact of silt up to a great extent. While the uncoated machines could withstand only about five lakh tonnes of silt, the coated ones were in a good shape even after passing eight lakh tonnes of silt. Mr H.K. Sharma, Chairman -cum-Managing Director of the nigam, said that all turbines would be coated before the next season to ensure that the project operated at full capacity during peak season. Fortunately, facilities for coating, which was a high precision job carried out with the help of a robotic arm, were available within the country. The cost of coating for a single turbine came to about Rs 2 crore, which was not a big amount as it generated over 1150 million units of electricity worth Rs 260 crore annually. The nigam had decided to replace the damaged runners, which had groves and could not be coated, by pre-coated runners, he added. The country’s largest hydroelectric project ran into rough weather within months of its commissioning as the high silt content in the Sutlej forced repeated shutdowns. The problem was not only the high level of silt but also its composition. Almost 80 per cent of it comprised of quartz, one of the hardest substance. Further, the head of 425 m was the highest for any project in the country, which caused the silt particles to hit the turbines with a velocity of 70 m per second. In case of the Bhakra dam, the second largest hydroelectric venture after the Nathpa Jhakri project, the velocity came to only about 40 m per second. Thus, the quantity of silt particles passing through the turbine per second would be six times more. The high velocity silt particles created deep cavities on cheek plates, runners, guide vanes and other parts forcing repeated shutdowns. The situation had been worse during the current year and the Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam had already suffered a loss of over Rs 600 crore due to shortfall in generation till the end of September. As against the target of 5250 million units only 2900 million units had been generated so far. Meanwhile, at least one unit of the project, which had been shutdown following the bursting of labyrinth pipe on September 4, is likely to start generation by October 15. The engineers of the nigam plan to carry out a dry of the unit later this week. After 10 days of the dry run it will be made operational to resume generation. |
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Govt urged to release 3 DA instalments
Shimla, October 5 Mr Gopal Das Verma, president of the committee, claimed that the government was forced to withdraw the professional tax because of the pressure mounted by the employees’ bodies and the intervention of the Congress president, Ms Sonia Gandhi, who asked the Chief Minister , Mr Virbhadra Singh ,to review the unpopular decision. He said the joint action committee had submitted a chargesheet against Mr Virbhadra Singh to Ms Gandhi and Ms Ambika Soni, party general secretary, and pleaded for the withdrawal of anti-people measures like the professional tax. He said the Chief Minister was on a weak wicket and he had no option but to reverse the anti-people decisions. He said a deputation of 51 employee leaders would meet Ms Gandhi on November 7 to demand the removal of Mr Virbhadra Singh. He said the employees would oppose the Congress-supported candidates in the panchayat poll if the government failed to release the three instalment of the dearness allowance and reverse the decisions of banning the recruitment of Class IV and Class III employees, abolition of 35,000 posts and reduction of 5,000 employees under the memorandum of understanding on fiscal reforms signed with the Centre. Mr Verma said the Chief Minister had made a false claim that appointments had been made on compensatory grounds and the fact was that as many as 2,527 such cases were pending. Further, medical bills of employees amounting to over Rs 8 crore were pending and unlike Punjab the benefit of merger of 50 per cent dearness allowance with the basic salary was not given in respect of the house rent. |
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Pensioners seek removal of anomaly
Shimla, October 5 A deputation of the association headed by their president Mr Jiwanand Jiwan met the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, here today and requested that the practice of releasing dearness allowance of the employees first and making the pensioners wait indefinitely must be done away with. They also demanded that the employees who retired before January 1, 1996 were not getting pension equivalent to 50 per cent of the basic pay of the revised pay scale like other Central government pensioners. They requested that this anomaly must be removed as even the neighbouring state of Punjab was following the same practice. The pensioners also placed before the Chief Minister the demand for enhancement of the present medical allowance of Rs 40 per month. “Even Punjab has revised the medical allowance to its pensioners to Rs 250 and also given them the option to either choose a fixed medical allowance or open reimbursement of their medical bills,” said Jiwan. They also requested the Chief Minister to consider making an increase of 5 and 10 per cent in the basic pension of those attaining the age of 65 and 75, respectively. They said this practice was being followed in Punjab.
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Hardships multiply for cannabis growers
Glincha (Kulu), October 5 Like Mina, Lata and Rajni, there are over 40 students from Glincha, Bashiar,
Kamerah and Majhali, the remotest villages in the Tirthan valley in Kulu district, who are leaving studies because “their parents cannot afford their studies and middle and high school remain too away from the villages”. There is not even a proper mule trek, leave alone a link road for them! No telephones and no LPG fuel supply. The electricity bulbs shine here rarely due to a poor load and an erratic supply. For children schooling is a daily ordeal. They walk 14 km uphill and downhill on foot daily through a zigzag hazardous trek to the Government High School, Bathahad, in the Banjar subdivision. The villagers have planted apple trees, but carriage costs Rs 50 per box up to a road head. The villagers carry not only goods, but patients on their backs to and from Bathahad, the last point on the Banjar-Bathahad road-head. In the eyes of the Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB) and the Kulu police, as many six panchayats of Bashiar, Toong, Shili, Nehand, Shindi and Kandidhar four panchayats in the Manikaran-Malana valley and four in Thachi areas in Mandi district have emerged as a major charas-producing area over the years. But, in fact, the villagers are victims of the city-centric anti-villager law and rabid political apathy. The mafias and politicians alike have exploited the villagers’ poverty and a relative isolation from the mainstream life over the years. The town-based MLAs and MPs come here during election time and forget them thereafter, the villagers rued. The Banjar-Bathahad road was constructed in the 1970s by a local MLA, but the successive MPs and MLAs left the villagers at the mercy of the NDPS and the Forest acts literally. A visit to the villages by this correspondent was an eye-opener. The villagers have not cultivated the cannabis on their cultivated land, but the cannabis plants were scattered in the villages. Most of the crop was found in the forest land to avoid the police action. “The government has declared our traditional sources of survival as illegal”, rued Mr Shawnu Ram, Kardar of the Shesh Nag, a presiding deity of the village. “We can not collect herbs or “jari-butis”, a traditional source of income from our forests, which we have preserved. We can’t grow cannabis, the traditional source of handicrafts and staple food. Our ancestors have survived on these two sources of livelihood down the centuries”, added Mr Mand Das, a ward member of the panchayat. “We used to collect dhoop, garhu, nujni and other herbs from the forests, now banned. We can not collect even the firewood to cook our food as the area falls in the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP)”, complained the villagers. “Even the girdwari of 1960s mentioned that the cannabis is cultivated here for local fiber for pulas (snow shoes), ropes and the seeds for local dish and medicine for domestic animals”, said villagers. “We can not wear pulas, as its fiber comes from cannabis. The gun-toting NCB-Police team have been coming here every year to destroy the cannabis crop as, they say, it is illegal”, they pleaded. The forest officials and the NCB officials on the spot have no convincing answers. For the NCB-HP police team, the anti-cannabis drive has turned out to be something of a ritual under the Narcotic, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS). But the real victims are the poor villagers, whose hardships have been multiplying every year. “The flood in the Tirthan river washed away bridges linking Bashiar to Glincha this year, the villagers said. The Trithan Forest Ranger, GHNP, Mr Rup Singh, said that the villagers are not allowed to collect the firedwood, herbs from the forest areas of the park. “No human activity is allowed in the park”, he added. The NCB superintendent, Mr O.P. Sharma, said that the villagers need an alternative as the cannabis cultivation has reduced by over 80 per cent in the cannabis belt of Malana-Maikaran and Banjar ever since the team launched the campaigns in 2001. “There is provision under the NDPS Act that provides for legalisation of the cannabis for the fiber based handicrafts, he informed. |
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Restore ecological balance: experts
Shimla, October 5 This was the consensus that emerged at the seminar organised by the Himachal Gian Vigyan Samiti with an objective to bring experts and the suffering rural people on a common platform. While the Dr Suishil Sood and other experts of the forest department maintained that mass sterilisation of monkeys could help solve the problem to a great extent, Dr Raj Kumar from the Himalayan Forestry Research Institute felt that it was not a workable solution as there were over 3.17 lakh monkeys and over 53,000 langurs in the state. Such a large number of animal could not be dealt surgically. The progressive farmers attending the seminar also agreed with this view. Dr U.K. Banerji, Conservator of Forests, said sterilisation could be a part of a comprehensive management plan required to ensure peaceful coexistence of human being a and animals. Long term and short term measures were required to deal with the monkey menace. Dr Gurdev from the Horticulture and Forestry University, Nauni, suggested creation of buffer zones between forests and human habitations by raising wild fruit plantations so that animal did not venture into agriculture fields and orchards in search of food. Dr Dhirendra Dangwal from the Himachal Pradesh University said that study of the Pauri Garhwal area revealed that the leopard attacks on human beings had been taking place mostly in the area where the big cat had been at the receiving end of the human wrath. The unanimous view was that the conflict could be resolved only by restoring the ecological balance which had been disturbed due to increasing human activity.
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Vintage car rally to be flagged off tomorrow
Shimla, October 5 As parts of its endeavour to hold events all the year round, the Department of Tourism and Civil Aviation is organising the Vintage and Classic Car Rally from Delhi to Shimla from October 7 to 9. Almost 55 proud owners of vintage cars have already confirmed their participation. The rally to be held every alternative year is being held for the second time. In 2003 it was held for the first time, coinciding with the celebrations to mark the 100 years of the Shimla-Kalka railway line,” informed a tourism official. The department is holding the event with the support of local hoteliers, who have offered stay free of cost for the participants. The classic cars in the rally include 1924 Std Coventry, 1926 Austin convertible, 1930 Stud Baker, 1932 Ford, 1934 Mercedes Benz, 1935 Chevy and 1947 Hillman and Plymouth. The other vintage cars that are likely to participate include Jaguar, Austin, Citroen, Volkswagen, Chevrolet, Mazda and Sunbeam. A majority of the participants are from Delhi, Chandigarh and other parts of north India. The first night halt of the rally which will be flagged off from Delhi on the seventh will be at Parwanoo, the same day. The vehicles will reach here on October 8, while the beauties will be on display at the historic Ridge here on October 9. To make it a mega event, the Tourism Department has tied up with the local Army authorities for holding a cavalry show and performance by the fusion band at the Ridge on October, 9. Apart from the vintage cars remaining on display at the Ridge throughout the day, there will be a dog show the same day. The effort is an attempt on the part of the Tourism Department to hold events during the off season also so that there is something to offer for the tourists as well as locals. Trophies will be given in various categories, which include the Best American, British and German cars separately. There are various competitive categories like the best maintained car, most exotic car, most elegant car, oldest car to reach Shimla, best restored car, best painted car, best driver in the hill section, and best lady driver. Another trophy will be given to the best dressed couple conforming to the attire of the period
when his car was manufactured. |
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Army, Kinnaur Admn at loggerheads
Rekong Peo, October 5 Officials of GREF say that they were working day and night to restore the road links and reconstruct bridges in the tribal district after the natural devastation caused by floods in Sutlej and its tributaries. The temporary use of a piece of land under emergency situations should not have been looked upon as an encroachment by the civil authorities, said a senior official of the GREF. “The authorities should have cooperated with the Army, the official added. Meanwhile, it is learnt that Officer Commanding of GREF M.L. Kom in an official letter to Dr Amandeep Garg District Magistrate of Kinnaur, has shown his resentment over the action of Tehsildar asked him to intervene in the matter. Dr Garg confirmed that he had received the letter. However, the DM said he was not in a position to intervene because the notice served on the CO of GREF by Tehsildar Moorang was an order of a court that could not be influenced by anybody. |
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Parents of dead lovers claim bodies
Kangra, October 5 The parents today identified the bodies of both Aneeta (19) and Ashok (21). Later, a post-mortem was conducted by the doctors of Dr R.P. Government Medical College Hospital at Dharamshala. After the post-mortem, the bodies were handed over to their parents for cremation. The duo had consumed poison here allegedly following the parents of the girl opposing this alliance. Both had been in love for the past six years. The body of Aneeta was consigned to flames at Dharamshala today in the presence of her parents while the mortal remains of Ashok were taken by his parents to Dhariwal for the last rites, the police said. |
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Kumarhatti, October 5
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