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PolNet to make crime probe easy
Watershed projects change village life
Cabinet fixes support price for citrus fruits
Rural health scheme for Paddar, Sarkaghat
National urban revival mission soon: Selja
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Illegal ‘dharas’ removed
Quarterly grants to civic bodies held
Is JBT training required?
Water supply scheme inaugurated
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PolNet to make crime probe easy
Dharamsala, November 18 Besides easy communication, this crime-criminal information system would help in investigations as an investigating officer would only need to do is to feed in the available description of the accused such as height, skin colour and identification marks. The criminal record of the accused, if any, in any corner of the country would be instantly flashed, out of the comprehensive database managed by the National Crime Records Bureau. In Himachal Pradesh, the infrastructure is being set up and the police stations have already been building a database of criminal cases through manual compilation since 2000, which would now be uploaded and made available to the police anywhere in the country at the click of the mouse. The software has been passed to the district headquarters and one constable each has been trained on how to feed the information in the prescribed format. The details of all cases, including petty crimes, would be uploaded, right from the registration of an FIR, findings of the investigations, filing of challans and the eventual verdict of the court, said a senior police official in Shimla. The Superintendent of Police, Kangra, Mr S.P. Singh, said the police department was all set to make the PolNet operation sometime early next year. To speak to my counterpart in Tamil Nadu, all I would need is the code of that particular police station and I would be immediately connected through the satellite, he says. The basic information about all FIRs registered in a police district would first be set to the district headquarters, from where it would be passed on to the state headquarters. The state headquarters would, in turn, transmit it to the National Crime Records Bureau at a fixed time daily in compiled, form. The bureau would make it available to all police stations in the country through the satellite. In case of stolen vehicles and missing people, the investigating officer can feed in the number or description of a suspicious vehicle or person and it would be matched with the description given in reports of stolen vehicles and missing people lodged anywhere in the country, he added. As of now, such information is shared through wireless phones or faxes, which takes a lot of time and is very cumbersome. The new system would be secure and also effective, he said. Another advantage of PolNet would be that once an FIR is uploaded, it would not be possible to change it without the approval of the state headquarters. Presently, some overwriting is possible to make corrections in the FIR, he said. The only hitch in Himachal Pradesh is the non-computerisation of all police stations below the district headquarters’ level. But we are hopeful that since funds for the computerisation have already been sanctioned, the process would be over by the time the PolNet become functional next year, he said. Another police official added that any classified information shared through the satellite would be coded and there would be no scope of foul play at any level. The FIR, in any case, is a public document. The networking promises to be effective, fast and secure. |
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Watershed projects change village life
Sukhomajri Mandhala, November 18 The dying village pond has been revived through desilting, is fed by numerous channels during rains, and is the lifeline of the watershed project. The rain-fed fields of the village, now irrigated through gravity irrigation (an inlet box transmits water through an underground pipeline) and lift irrigation (water is lifted through a diesel pump to the water tank), churn out produce that has raised family incomes and brought prosperity to
Mandhala. Says president of the Mandhala Watershed Committee Phalal Ram: “Dependent on rains, we were barely producing 8 quintals of grains in a season. With the initiation of this project in the year 2003, the produce has increased four-fold even though it’s early days yet.” Since the project follows an integrated approach, mango and amla plantations have been made and fish seeds stocked in the water body. “With this, the income will go up manifold courtesy the Integrated Land and Rainwater Management Department,” says the secretary Jagdish Mehta. Also, to check soil erosion from the slopes surrounding the village, a multipurpose check dam has been constructed under the scheme funded by
the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. At a place where every drop counts and is as precious, the department realised that sub-surface flow could be tapped to augment water availability. “We have got a tank constructed to harvest seepage flow. We have identified two more places in Mandhala to construct similar tanks,” project scientists
A.K. Tewari and Y. Agnihotri, explained. However, the going, initially, was very tough with the villagers up in arms against installation of any project. Today, they are staunch supporters of any experimentation that the department wants to undertake. At
Sukhomajri, Pinjore, in the Shivalik foothills, where the watershed model was replicated by the states all over the country, crop failures were common in the absence of a regular source of water. To top it, the team from the Central Soil and Water Conservation Research and Training Institute faced a hostile village crowd when the watershed programme was initiated in 1976. With the take-off of the project after the public was taken into confidence, earthen dams proved to be a panacea in this tiny hamlet. Today, it an altogether new village where denuded hills wear a green cover, distribution of water from dams is managed by a Hill Resource Management Committee and reduction of run off and soil loss has been substantially reduced. “We achieved all this through making check dams on slopes, planting bushes, trees and grass all over the slopes responsible for the flow of sediments into the Sukhna lake. While water is aplenty to irrigate fields, the water table has risen enough to permit installation of tubewells in the village,” says Mr Tewari. The committee, too, has an annual income of Rs 12 lakh from sub-letting its water body for fish culture to diversifying into horticulture among others. Just like these villages, integrated watershed management in other villages of the Shivalik Foothills is reaping rich dividends for the villagers. Plans are afoot to expand the “success stories” to others as well. More Mandhalas and Sukhomajris are in the making. |
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Cabinet fixes support price for citrus fruits
Shimla, November 18 Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, chaired the meeting. The ecological infantry battalion of the Territorial Army will consist of three officers, five junior commissioned officers and 139
ex-servicemen. The annual expenditure on the force will come to Rs 3.50 crore. It decided to implement the market intervention scheme for citrus fruit under which procurement price for B grade Kinnow, malta and orange was fixed at Rs 4.85 per kg and for C grade fruit Rs 4.25 per kg. Galgal will be procured at Rs 3.15 per kg. The scheme will be implemented from November 21,2005 to February 15,2006. As many as 52 collection centres will be opened in Kangra, 12 in Mandi and five each in Una ,Hamirpur and Bilaspur districts. It decided to provide transport subsidy of Rs 2.39 crore on transportation of apple to the growers of the flood-hit Kinnaur district. It decided to relax the restrictions on purchase of land by non-agriculturists under the land Tenancy Act for industrialists to enable them to buy flats and plots from the housing board and other government agencies. As per another decision the essentiality certificate for acquisition of land for information technology and biotechnology projects will be given by the housing board and the Deputy Commissioner concerned. The Cabinet approved creation of 159 posts of various categories of teachers for the newly upgraded nine high and 16 middle schools. It also approved filling of seven posts of treasury officer and one post of senior law officer. It decided to prescribe plus two as the minimum educational qualification for the post of police constable in accordance with the recommendation of the Central Police Commission. It approved the proposal to upgrade the police post at Baddi into a
full-fledged police station. |
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Rural health scheme for Paddar, Sarkaghat
Mandi, November 18 The sources in the Family Welfare and Health Department revealed that Paddar, headquarters of the Drang constituency, and Sarkaghat in Sarkaghat subdivision have been chosen under the RHM where the patients would get quality health care facilities under one roof. The choice of the townships of Paddar and Sarkaghat is understandable as the places fall in the Drang and Gopalpur constituencies represented by the IPH Minister Thakur Kaul Singh and the Excise and Taxation Minister Mr. Rangila Ram Rao, respectively. The health officials said that government will create hospital buildings at Paddar and Sarkaghat, which would be equipped with the labs and other operation theatres facilities. The specialist doctors will be appointed at the referral units, which will take care of the patients load at zonal hospital Mandi, they revealed. The Chief Medical Officer, Mandi district, Dr KC Sharma said that the two new referral units will have both operative and post-operative care facilities. “The process for new units has started and will be completed within a time bound manner”, he added. These referral units will be equipped with the blood banks and labs so that the patients will have not to go to zonal hospital. “The women and children will get all referral services there”, the official said. Once the hospitals will be equipped with the state-of-the-art facilities, these referral units will be run by the hospital-based committee charging as per the government norms from the patients getting treatment there, said Dr Sharma. |
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National urban revival mission soon: Selja
Shimla, November 18 This was disclosed by the Union Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation Minister, Ms Selja Kumari, here today. She was the chief guest at the golden jubilee function of the HP State Social Welfare Board. Shimla has been included in the list of 60 cities to be covered under this mission as it is a historic town, she disclosed. She said it was a beautiful town but unfortunately it had not developed properly and a lot was needed to be done to restore its lost glory. She said this would be a tripartite mission in which the Centre, the state government and the local bodies would work together for improving the condition of the cities with population of over one million each and all the state capitals in the country. At present Rs 50,000 crore had been approved for the mission and further allocation of money would depend on the period the mission lasted, she stated. Ms Selja said the most important aspect of the mission would be the involvement of the local bodies in a big way and the entire plan for development would be prepared at the lowest level rather than the Centre chalking out the programme. Planning would be done in accordance with the city specific needs and problems, she said. The minister expressed concern over the problem of declining sex ratio, especially in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan. The scenario in this respect was not so alarming in Himachal but in the adjoining states there was very high incidence of female foeticide, for which there was the need to generate awareness, she emphasised. She expressed satisfaction over the status of women and other social indicators in Himachal. The hill state had emerged as a model state and an inspiration for other states to follow, she remarked. |
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Illegal ‘dharas’ removed
Shimla, November 18 The officers of the corporation who were overseeing the drive found themselves in an awkward position as the Mayor, Mr Sohan Lal, disapproved of the action. While the Municipal Commissioner maintained that the illegal structures were being demolished on the orders of the High Court, the Mayor lamented that elected representatives were not taken into confidence on the issue. The Mayor asserted that the Chief Minister had announced that 2 biswa of land would be given to balmiks for construction of houses and the corporation should have waited till land was provided. The demolitions squad escorted by a police contingent faced much resistance from the occupants of the illegal “dharas” and the drive was halted after 32 structures were removed. The residents raised slogans against the officials and the government. The activists of the CPM also reached the spot and joined the protests. Mr Tikender Thakur and Mr Sanjay Chauhan, senior CPM leaders, alleged that the demolition drive had been started despite an assurance given by the government that “dharas” would be regularised. It would affect the school students who had to appear in final examination. The corporation, which had failed to take action against encroachers on municipal land all these years, was forced to act after a public interest litigation was filed in the High Court. The corporation gave an undertaking to the court that illegal “dharas” on municipal land would be removed. The court had also directed the corporation to file status report. |
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Quarterly grants to civic bodies held
Solan, November 18 There are as many as 20 municipal committees, 28 nagar panchayats and a sole municipal corporation in the state. The quarterly grant, which was due to be received by September, has been delayed for over two months now. Inquiries from the Directorate revealed that the case has been sent to the Finance Department and was awaiting clearance from the Secretary, Finance. It was learnt that the grant had been delayed as the required utilisation certificates for the earlier quarterly grant had not been furnished to the Directorate. At least 60 per cent of the certificates are required to be sent to ensure release of the subsequent grant, reveal officials. The grant, which is received from the Government of India, is released in four quarterly instalments of 20, 25, 30 and 25 per cent. A large chunk of this grant is spent on paying salaries to the staff of civic bodies. While this leaves little to be spent towards developmental works it becomes difficult to furnish utilisation certificates for the funds, confide officials of the municipal committee. The executive official of the local committee, Mr
B.R .Negi, while confirming that the quarterly grant had not been received till now said it was on account of non-receipt of the requisite certificates from the civic bodies across the state. He said an amount of Rs 30 lakh was to be received in lieu of this grant. A whopping Rs 1.20 crore was incurred on salaries of employees alone, he said. Sources added that this had put on hold award of tenders for various development works in the town, including completion of a parking lot, earmarked work for each ward, tarring of various roads where sewage lines had been laid. The non-receipt of grant had also hit the execution of those development works for which resolutions had been passed by the house in September. |
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Is JBT training required?
Shimla, November 18 The process for admitting a new batch of JBTs began three years ago but the training could not be started as the selection of candidates had been caught in legal wrangles. The notification issued by the government to create a separate directorate of elementary education clearly states that the JBT cadre will be phased out with elementary trained teachers (ETTs). Till such teachers were available, BA, B.Sc and B.Ed qualified candidates could be recruited after imparting a six-month training as per the norms of the National Council for Teachers Education (NCTE). Under the two-tier system, the Directorate of Primary Education has been upgraded to elementary level to take care of classes I to VIII. The four senior classes, from IX to XII, will be under the directorate of Higher Education. The State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT) has been asked to frame the curriculum for the ETT so that training could be started at the earliest. The minimum qualification for admission to JBT course is Class XII whereas for ETT course , the government has prescribed graduation as the minimum qualification. As such there is no place for JBT teachers and it is advisable to start ETT course at the earliest. The existing 10,658 primary schools will be either upgraded to middle schools in a phased manner or attached to the middle school. There are 2,195 middle schools at present and the number of which will go up. Similarly, the 943 high schools will be either upgraded to the senior secondary level or phased out over the next three years. The number of senior secondary schools will eventually increase to around 1,300. The primary and middle schools operating within 500 metres of each other will be merged into a single elementary school. They will function from one premises after creation of necessary infrastructure in due course. The schools separated by a distance of more than 500 metres will function as independent of sections (classes I to V and Classes VI to VIII) of a composite elementary school for the time being. There will be no post of head teacher and centre head teacher in elementary schools and the existing incumbents will be posted in stand-alone primary schools to ensure better supervision. Trained graduate teachers (TGT) and classical and vernacular teachers will be under the Directorate of Elementary Education. They will also be deployed in high school as per requirements from time to time.
JBTs, Vidya Upasaks, primary assistant teachers will be utilised in elementary schools. |
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Water supply scheme inaugurated
Bilaspur, November 18 Mr Ramlal Thakur said that villagers should ensure that no unsocial element spoiled such schemes and these run smoothly for the benefit of people. He declared that government has sanctioned Rs 1.20 crore for 4 “jalagam projects” for the area while Rs 3.72 crore have been sanctioned for setting up lavatories on private and community basis through-out district under Rural Cleanliness Project. This would also provide relief from large number of water-borne diseases. Irrigation-cum-Public Health Department. Executive Engineer P.S. Verma said that the 220 drinking water supply schemes have been implemented while 1250 hand-pumps have been set up in various areas in the district. As many as 26 irrigation projects are irrigating 1752 hectares land. Work is in progress on two major irrigation schemes namely Mangrote-Sandauli and Sakroha which would irrigate 118 hectares of land. |
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