Shimla, November 9
The Union Ministry of Communications, Information and Technology has sanctioned Rs 95.88 crore Himachal State Wide Area Networking (HIMSWAN) project for networking of all offices in the state down to the panchayat level.

Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, said the main objective of the project was to make available all desired information to the common man at his doorstep. The tehsil, sub-tehsil and block would have provision for wireless connectivity with the panchayats. All offices would be horizontally connected with other offices at different locations. The HIMSWAN network, which so far had extended only upto the district-level, would now be available to the people upto the block level by the next year. Video conferencing facility could be made available even in the remotest areas of the state.

He said the people would be able to use the network to register their grievances and make suggestions on voice channel using interactive voice response system (IVRS). It would be proposed to be implemented HIMSWAN in tandem with the Government of India plan to provide citizen service centres down to the panchayat level in the state. He said the network would supplement the endeavour of the government towards computerisation of entire administration to provide efficient services and ensuring transparency.

The Chief Minister said the HIMSWAN project would be dovetailed with the integrated community services centres being set up in the state at the tehsil, sub-tehsil and block-level to provide over 40 different kinds of services to the people under the single roof. He said the services would range from land records retrieval facilities to all types of certificates issued by the revenue authorities, besides s facilitating payments of consumer bills.

Mr Virbhadra Singh said the Planning Commission had released an additional central assistance of Rs 8.39 crore for site preparation of 131 modes of HIMSWAN, thereby raising the plan size of the state to Rs 1607.86 crores.

He said Himachal Pradesh was one of few selected states which had formulated purely development-oriented annual plans since the present government came to power. He said after taking over he had taken the unproductive expenditure out of the plan to ensure that every penny of the annual plan was spent on the developmental activities.

Shimla, November 9
The government yesterday came out with details concerning the transfer of a school lecturer, Mr Des Raj, regarding which information was sought by Maj Vijay Singh Mankotia, a Congress MLA, under the Right to Information Act.

An official spokesperson said here yesterday Mr Des Raj, who was transferred from Government Senior Secondary School, Rait, to Nirmand, had been serving in schools within a radius of 10 km for the past 14 years and he was shifted on administrative grounds.

Giving facts of the case he said some people of Rait village had made a public complaint that Mr Des Raj and his wife were running a private school and spending most of their time in their own school. Not only that, several students of Government School were also taken into private school. An enquiry conducted into the matter by Deputy Director (Education), Kangra, revealed that institution namely Abhishek Public School was being run in the building of Mr Des Raj by a society having the same name, most of the members of society were relatives of the couple. It was also revealed that no rent was being charged by Mr Des Raj for his building from the school.

The official spokesman said another complaint of similar nature had been made to the Deputy Commissioner, Kangra. The government had ordered a thorough inquiry in the case and further action would be taken after receiving the report.

He further said transfer was a routine administrative matter and any government employee could be shifted on completion of the normal tenure of 3 years. Both Mr Des Raj and his wife remained posted in the area for almost 15 years.

Parwanoo, November 9
The 96.54-km-long Kalka-Shimla narrow gauge toy train completed 102 years today. Chugging through hilly terrain and wooded surroundings the train was a big draw for tourists visiting hills.

Railway chronicles say this track is one of the most surveyed projects of its time. Though the broad-gauge railway up to Kalka from Delhi was opened to traffic on January 3, 1891, the idea to have a line up to Shimla dates back to November, 1847, when a correspondent had sketched the route of the railway line to Shimla in the Delhi Gazette with estimates of cost and traffic return.

The first survey of this track was done in 1884, followed by a series of surveys. Though the track has been a loss-making affair for the Railways but proposed world heritage status would help the track economically and historically. The track was a rare specimen of engineering skill. The complete line has been constructed without disturbing the beauty, serenity and the grandeur of mountains.

On the way one encounters countless tunnels, via ducts, multi-arched gallery bridges, beautiful stations and buildings. The tunnels are fully lined. The Barog tunnel, the longest one, is an engineering marvel. The tunnel and the place were named after Colonel Barog.

The Saint Bhalkhoo from a village, near Chail, was the man who helped in the construction of the tunnel. This tunnel is 3752 feet long. Other important tunnels are: Koti tunnel (2276 feet), Tara Devi (1615 feet), and Inverarm tunnel (1135 feet).

Solan, November 9
With a Cabinet decision giving a go-ahead to auction the forest produce for the first time in Himachal , the state Forest Corporation has fixed November 16 and 18 to auction rosin at Bilaspur and Nahan, respectively.

Tenders have been invited for auctioning turpentine and a quota of 60 per cent rosin has been kept reserved for the local units, including the corporation’s own use.

Sources in the corporation said about 50 per cent of the rosin had been earmarked for a Kala Amb-based industrial unit while another 10 per cent had been kept reserved for the corporation’s own use and other small units. The corporation which suspended the open sale of these forest products since October 16 is now optimistic of making a bargain through these auctions.

The auction system, which has been introduced for the first time, was expected to draw leading players from as far as Mumbai, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, revealed officials. It is also by the first time that rosin is being auctioned anywhere in the world, revealed officials.

It remains to be seen what gains the corporation could make as about nine grades of rosin ranging from the superior to lesser superior were slated to be auctioned.

While the superior grade could draw leading players there would be few takers for the inferior graded rosin.

The corporation, which was in the red with losses accumulating to Rs 20 crores in 2002-2003, managed to reduce these to Rs 12 crore in 2003-2004.

Its financial health further improved with losses coming down to Rs 6 crore by this year, informed sources.

As much as 80,000 quintals of rosin and 20 lakh litres of turpentine is annually produced by the corporation. Himachal Pradesh accounts for about 30 per cent of these forest products nationally while the remaining is imported by various industries.

Shimla, November 9
The Himachal Government has opposed the move of the Centre to empower itself with the authority to grant environment clearance to big projects directly without the consent of the state as proposed in the draft rules by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

The government has taken a serious notice of certain provisions proposed in the rules which will not only result in the centralisation of powers but also have disastrous consequences for the fragile hill environment. It is concerned about the provisions which allow the Centre to accord environmental clearance to hydroelectric projects, cement plants and mining projects which have severe environmental fallout in the hill terrain.

Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, has written a letter to Mr A. Raja, Union Minister for Environment and Forests, asserting that the process of environmental clearance should be left to the state government which was in a better position to enforce measures to mitigate environmental concerns. More so because it was the local people and the state which bore the brunt of environmental degradation.

The Chief Minister said: “The Central Government should provide overall guidance and policy directives by prescribing various rules and standards under the Environment Protection Act instead of directly issuing environmental clearances. It should strengthen the mechanism for granting clearances at the state level by facilitating transfer of knowledge , technology and skills for evaluation of environment impacts”.

Referring to the EAC (expert appraisal committee), he said it was difficult to comprehend as to how a few experts at Delhi could evaluate development projects with reference to location-specific environmental impact and the measure required to mitigate it.

However, if the Centre wanted to continue with the environmental clearances of certain category of projects, it should amend the rules to ensure that the state had a role in the process. He has suggested that power should be delegated to the state to grant clearance to all categories of hydroelectric projects and all cement plants as they were critical for the development. Similarly, for industrial projects, clearances power should rest with the state.

Dharamsala, November 9
All village schools in the district will be named after martyrs and it would be ensured that all roads leading to the villages of those who laid down their lives for the country are metalled.

A resolution to this effect was passed at a meeting of the grievance committee held here today after a proposal was moved by Major Vijai Singh Mankotia, Congress leader and MLA from Shahpur. The resolution will be taken up with the government for necessary action.

The shortage of doctors and para-medical staff in the health centres and dispensaries in rural areas of Kangra district was also highlighted at the meeting.

Major Mankotia said some of the posts had been lying vacant for years now, forcing the local population to run to the far-off civil hospitals for even minor ailments.

He added that the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) was another department that had the general public complaining in the rural areas due to inadequate water supply and shortage of handpumps.

The need for converting the Pathankot –Jogindernagar rail link from narrow gauge to broad gauge was also discussed.

Members of the committee sought a clarification from the Deputy Commissioner, Bharat Khera, on the non-release of funds to make up for the rain damages during the last monsoon. Mr Khera was asked to take up the matter with the government in case the funds released so far were not adequate.

The Congress Pradesh Committee chief, Ms Viplove Thakur, also sought information about the status of health and water projects in the district. The Rural Development and Revenue Minister and president of the grievance committee, Mr Sat Mahajan, clarified that there was no move to expand the Pong dam and any kind of displacement of villagers in its adjoining areas was out of the question.

Mr Jagjivan Pal, MLA from Sulah, pointed out shortage of staff in the Ayurvedic dispensary in Sulah. Mr Vikram Katoch and Mr Yog Raj, MLAs also raised the issues relating to lack of basic amenities in their constituencies.

Mandi, November 9
Two persons were killed and a woman injured seriously in three separate incidents in Mandi district yesterday, the police said today.

A 21-year old boy was crushed to death after a tractor overturned at Dabhan in Balh valley of the district.

The dead was identified as Rakesh Kumar.

In another case, a person identified as Ghamanada Ram of Loharzole village was injured seriously when he slipped into a gorge here. He succumbed to his injuries in Regional Hospital at Dharamshala, in Kangra district.

In yet another incident in the district, a man injured seriously his wife with an axe following an argument between the two in Randhara village of the district.

The woman, identified as Mohini Devi was admitted to the Regional Hospital here, where doctors described her condition stable.

The police said her husband, Rajinder Singh, has been arrested and case registered against him. — UNI