Solan, June 29
Even as a case for the provisional grant of permission to the Hero Honda Motors Limited is being put forward at the Single Window Clearance Agency meeting tomorrow, the project will entail the felling of 50,000 small and big trees.

The 1,815 bighas enlisted as a demarcated protected forest attracts provisions of Forest Conservation Act, 1980.

The case will not only be forwarded to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, but its clearance will take time.

Records reveal that out of the total plantation, a total of 11,000 trees comprise those planted more than 40 years ago while the remaining 29,000 saplings are younger.

These comprise significant species like eucalyptus, shisham, kikar, bamboo and khair.

As per an apex court ruling dated December 12, 1996, felling of such trees has been put on hold.

A recent high court order has banned felling of green trees in Himachal Pradesh in view of the declining green cover.

Sources in the Revenue Department said the annual average rate of the land was Rs 1.33 crore per bigha while the value of the land had been calculated at a mere Rs 16 crore.

Land in the area was being sold at Rs 15 lakh per bigha and property dealers valued the land at Rs 280 crore.

Not only had the land been sold for a song, but the Industries Department was in a hurry to clear the project.

As per a notification issued by the erstwhile Patiala state in 1960, under which the land fell, no person could cut, fell or lop this land for any purpose.

It allowed only the grazing of animals of the right holders of the land.

Officials of the Forest Department admitted that the land was a demarcated protected forest.

They added that they had only been assigned to conduct an inspection and submit a report as per the records.

The tehsildar of Nalagarh said the land was vested with the state government, though its possession was with the Forest Department.

He said they had prepared a report as per the notification of 1960 and settlement records.

Environmentalists decried the granting of the dense forest land for industrial purposes.

They said it would set a wrong precedent and others would demand green areas for industrial purposes.

Himparvesh president Gyanendra Bhardwaj said they would oppose the proposal as such attempts defeated the very purpose of conservation.

He added that the existence of a shisham research institute where plantation had been raised for studying mortality would be defeated if this project was allowed to be set up.

He said the commercialisation of green cover would encourage more industrial houses to demand forest land. Deputy Commissioner Rajesh Kumar said field reports were yet to be received and the case was yet to be sent to the government.

Shimla, June 29
With the Rs 5-crore project for captive breeding of the highly endangered western tragopan species not making much headway, the government is scouting for experts who could make the breeding programme a success.

A search committee comprising the Inspector-General of Forests (Wildlife), a representative of the Central Zoo Authority and the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) has been constituted for the purpose. The committee will get in touch with international organisations engaged in the breeding of pheasants to find a suitable person who could provide technical guidance for the programme.

Mr K.K. Gupta, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, said the plan was to use the artificial insemination technique for breeding the founder stock in captivity.

The bird captured from the wild did not behave normally in captivity as a result of which breeding was difficult.

Mating takes place only in natural and stress-free environment, but the captured birds do not feel free in captivity. Once the founder stock is produced through artificial insemination, the birds reared in captivity will be used for natural breeding.

The department also plans to import an incubator to facilitate hatching of eggs in captivity.

The female tragopan have not been showing much interests in eggs and the department had been using broody hen for hatching.

The four eggs laid in two clutches last month have not been hatched. Normally eggs are hatched in 28 to 30 days but there are instances when it takes even 35 days.

As such there is still some hope that the eggs would hatch. With an incubator in place, the success rate of hatching would increase appreciably.

The breeding programme was started more than 15 years ago but so far hatching has taken place only on two occasions.

Last year four eggs were hatched but only one chick survived.

Shimla, June 29
Wet conditions are likely to intensify in Himachal Pradesh with the MET Office here announcing the arrival of monsoon, two days late, as compared to last year.

South-west monsoon has further advanced into the entire eastern part of Uttar Pradesh, some parts of western Uttar Pradesh, whole of Uttaranchal and Jammu and Kashmir and parts of Himachal, it said.

The MET Office said the northern limits of the monsoon line passes through Bhuj, Ahmedabad, Guna in Madhya Pradesh, Jhansi, Bareliy, Dehra Dun, Shimla, Dharamsala and Jammu.

As compared to last year, the arrival of monsoon in the state has been delayed by two days, it said.

Shimla and Hamirpur districts of the state continued to receive rains for the third day today, while other parts of the state had some respite from the wet conditions after two days of heavy rains, it said.

Sunni, Shimla town and Masosbra in Shimla district recorded 30 mm, 10.8 and 19.6 mm of rainfall, respectively, while Naduan in Hamirpur district received 33.5 mm of rainfall during the last 24 hours up to 8.30 a.m.

The MET Office said Dhundi in Kullu and Palampur in Kangra district also recorded about 4.3 and 4.9 mm of rainfall, respectively.

Barring a few places, the entire state has recorded more rain this year between June 1 and 29 as compared to the corresponding period last year.

Rain clouds continued to hover over Shimla and its adjoining areas during the major part of the day today.

The Chamba district administration has urged the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) to help it in restoring vehicular traffic on the Chamba-Pangi road that has remained closed for nearly two weeks now.

The MET Office has predicted heavy rains and thundershowers at many places in the state during the next 24 hrs. — UNI

Palampur, June 29
Mr Shanta Kumar, BJP vice-president and former Union minister, said today that victory of the BJP in the zila parishad elections in Lahaul and Spiti district had proved that the Congress was losing its ground and the common man had fed up with its policies and programmes in Himachal Pradesh. He said during the past three years the Congress had lost all the elections held for panchayats, block samitis and other local bodies in the state. Even it had failed to win the byelection for the Guler assembly seat held in 2005.

Talking to The Tribune here, Mr Shanta Kumar said the Congress government had failed to fullfil the promises made during the assembly elections and the common man was feeling cheated.

He said in its election manifesto it had assured the youth that it would open new avenues of employment if it was voted to power, but soon after assuming power, instead of providing jobs to youths the Congress government imposed a complete ban on new recruitments.

Later, it signed an MoU with the Centre for introducing financial discipline in the state which further shattered the hopes of unemployed youths as the government agreed to impose a total ban on recruitments for five years.

The BJP leader alleged that though the Congress promised to provide clean administration to the people, the situation had gone from bad to worse in the past three years. Corrupt officials had been given key posting.

Mr Shanta Kumar alleged that all development activities in the state had come to standstill since the Congress had assumed power in the state.

It was a matter of concern that the state government could not utilise the funds sanctioned by the Union Government under the PMG programme and the same were surrendered.