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BJP to launch stir for state’s rights
Scourge of silt worries project engineers
Pesticides kill
fish in
Baddi river
NGOs reject societies registration Bill
Resentment over cancellation of examination centre
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Vegetable growers beaten up at Banur
LPG leak leads to blast, pilgrim killed
Council seeks approval for tunnel project
Contingency plan for SC/ST approved
2 women among 4 held with illicit liquor
Dhumal alleges favouritism in jobs
Work at Chamera-III project resumed
Bonus for HPTDC staff
Join forest conservation drive: Speaker
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BJP to launch stir for state’s rights
Shimla, August 27 Addressing a press conference here today, the state BJP chief, Mr Suresh Bhardwaj, said successive Congress governments had failed to get Himachal its 7.19 per cent share from the neighbouring states. The BJP with the cooperation of all other organizations and the public will launch and agitation to seek the hill state's share from the Centre, who had done injustice to the people of the state. The party chief will be the chairman of the committee, while the other members are Dr Radha Raman Shastri, Mr Dulo Ram, Mr K.D. Dharmani, Mr Randhir Sharma and Mr Ravinder Singh Ravi. "Our fight is not with Punjab or Haryana but with the Centre, who should have ensured that Himachal got its due," he remarked. He said the Congress government had diluted the issue by approaching the Supreme Court on the issue whereas it was the responsibility of the Centre to settle the issue. "The Assembly has unanimously passed a resolution urging the Centre to get Himachal its due and the BJP too supports it but it is our misfortune that the Congress has never pursued the matter seriously," he said. Himachal has not been given royalty in all the power projects. "Compared to NDA regime, when Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, gave liberal assistance for Himachal, the UPA chairperson, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, does not even meet the chief minister, leave aside giving something to the state," he stated. Mr Bhardwaj said even the Bara Siul project had not been handed over to Himachal despite an agreement between Dr
K.L. Rao and Himachal signed in 1991. People of Himachal have suffered as thousands of families have been displaced and fertile lands washed away but the state never got its due. He said the BJP had always struggled to protect the interest of the state and will continue to do so.
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Scourge of silt worries project engineers
Mandi, August 27 What has complicated the silt scourge in the Sutlej is the fact that the engineers have no studies or the exact data available on the silt discharge to guide the Sutlej river master plan proposed at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh following the Parechu breach last year. The SJVN has been assigned the task of preparing the model plan to arrest the silt scourge in the Sutlej. What is worrying the engineers is that in a worst scenario, the state will have to face the combined flood in the Parechu (74 million cumecs) and the Sutlej (45 million cumecs) in Chinese territory that would be catastrophic for Himachal. Source revealed the problem arose as the HP State Electricity Board (HPSEB) had shut down the “river monitoring cells” for the Sutlej, Beas, Yamuna and Ravi rivers, recording their water and silt discharge throughout the year. Though the SJVN has set up its cells at Khab, where the Sutlej and the Spiti meet and at Nathpa, the Kol Dam has no such cell here to monitor the silt discharge. The scourge of silt has raised the question about the existence of the hydroelectric projects worth 10,000 MW in the Sutlej basin since 1997 when a series of flash floods in the Panvi khud and Parechu, both tributaries of the Sutlej, and in the Sutlej in its 240-km-long course in the Chinese-occupied Tibet wreaked havoc downstream. SJVN sources revealed the silt discharge recorded at Khab was 12 million particles per million (ppm), which increases to 16 million ppm at Nathpa. At the Kol Dam and the Bhakra dam the silt discharge stands at 35 million ppm each. The Kol Dam authorities claimed that they would arrest the silt problem in its reservoir like the Bhakra-Beas Management Board does it in the Bhakra dam. “Moreover, the chain of coffer dams or a big dam, which is finalised, between Khab and Nathpa would arrest the silt discharge under the joint venture of the hydroelectric companies engaged in tapping power in the Sutlej basin, they added. But the SJVN engineers faced an uphill task as the life of the proposed dam at Khab would be 27 years and after that they would have to build another dam for another 27 years. Even the geological studies are not complete as yet as the dam would be located in the geological fragile zone, they said. Those who support a big dam at Khab claim that the 275-metre-high dam would ensure 1020 MW of additional power and the regulated flow in the Sutlej for the projects downstream during lean period and safety for the people. This, in turn, would save Rs 9 crore per day at 1500-MW NJPC project which it suffers because of loss due to the shutdown. On the other hand, those who support a chain of coffer dams argue that the silt problem would be dealt with better by the chain of dams as it would take care of the silt brought down in the tributaries of the Sutlej as well.
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Pesticides kill
fish in
Baddi river
Baddi, August 27 Mr Chetan Joshi, Executive Engineer, local Pollution Board Office, rushed to spot to take stock of situation. The water samples from the river were taken for test at department’s laboratory at Parwanoo. According to Mr Joshi some pesticides were found in river water. The pesticide limit of over 1 PPM (parts per million) in water was dangerous for any water creatures, he pointed. The level of pesticides was very high from the permissible limit, Mr Joshi said. The initial investigations have suggested that the pesticides flowed down from a local unit to Sarsa River last night. The units accused of draining pesticide in the river has been identified, said Mr Joshi, while refusing to divulge more information on matter. However, he said that the report on matter had been forwarded to Shimla office for further inquiry. The labourers in the said unit were allegedly cleaning some drums carrying pesticides last night. Since it was raining this led to pesticides flowing into the river, said Mr Joshi. A team from pollution control office reportedly visited accused unit for further investigations but returned without any success as the unit was closed due to Sunday. Meanwhile, the Baddi-Barotiwala- Nalagarh Industries Association
(BBNIA) has condemned the incident. The stern actions should be taken against the default unit, the association demanded.
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NGOs reject societies registration Bill
Shimla, August 27 Led by the State Voluntary Health Association and SUTRA, the joint forum of the NGOs alleged that the Bill had been passed in “undue” haste without any consultations with the voluntary agencies. In its present shape, it would only serve to curb the people’s initiative. The government needs to be requested to suitably amend the Bill and to set up a committee, which includes representatives of the NGOs, for drafting rules to minimise the
damage. Mr Sushil Mendhapurkar, Director, SUTRA, said that there were serious legal infirmities in the new legislation and it would not stand to judicial scrutiny. It infringes on the right of the people to form voluntary bodies and work for their own betterment. He said if the government failed to address their concerns, the voluntary agencies would approach the Governor and urge him to return the Bill to the house for reconsideration. If required, a similar representation would be made to the President of India. The NGOs would be constrained to move court as the
last resort. Section 16(a) of the Bill, which empowered the Registrar to decide whether or not a person was qualified to contest an election, would provide a tool to the government to interfere with the internal affairs of the
societies. Similarly, the power to question the accounts of societies and making it mandatory to publish annual accounts in prominent newspapers if the income was more than Rs 5 lakh were unacceptable. It also empowers the government to take over the assets of an NGO even if had not received any funds from the government.
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Resentment over cancellation of examination centre
Nurpur, August 27 According to information, a flying squad of the board had raided the examination centre and booked a few examinees of plus one for using unfair means in computer (theory) and suspected mass copying in the physics paper of plus one. Following the report of the flying squad the board had cancelled the physics paper for which the examinees had re-appeared. The local Town Welfare Committee, the Free Thinkers Club, the Crescent Club, the City Club and parents of students have taken exception to the decision of the board to cancel over five-decade-old examination centre and appealed to Board Chairman B.R. Rahi to reconsider and revoke the decision in larger interest of the students. As many as 1000 students (including private) of high, plus one and plus two classes from this and surrounding schools used to take annual board examinations every year in Government Senior Secondary School, Nurpur. They will be left in the lurch following the cancellation of the examination centre by the board. The board has cancelled 128 examination centres of private schools and 11 of government schools in the state. Mr Suresh Dhiman, Principal of the school, denied mass copying in the board examination and added the board had taken the decision to repeal over 50-year-old examination centre in haste. He said before taking such a decision the board should take the examination co-ordinators into confidence so that injustice was not done to the students. In this connection local MLA and Revenue Minister Sat Mahajan claimed that the revoked examination centre would be re-stored in the larger public interest.
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Vegetable growers beaten up at Banur
Kumarhatti, August 27 Tomatoes lying in boxes were damaged by the persons who got annoyed over the refusal of the driver to pay them the money, he rued. The matter has also reported to the police posted at barrier during night, he said. The similar complaints were reported by other affected growers who have started to avoid
carrying vegetables during nights. The growers were being harassed on the pretext that they don’t pay the entry tax while entering Punjab, said Mr Nand Lal, former president of Kabakalan panchayat, who received numerous complaints from growers about their
harassment. The helpless growers have left with no alternative than to meet the demand of assailants during night despite paying the tax at respective barrier, maintained Mr Lal. The Octroi Inspector of the Banur Municipal Council was not available for comments, however, as per MC staff posted at octroi barrier no such incident has reported so far. However, those vehicles that crossed the barrier without paying entry tax of Rs 10 were chased and fined, an MC official, posted at barrier, said.
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LPG leak leads to blast, pilgrim killed
Chamba, August 27 Eight others were injured as the roof of the guest house collapsed. They were administered first-aid and discharged from the Bharmour hospital. The identity of the deceased was yet to be established. Giving this information from the incident site over the phone today, DSP Dr D.K. Choudhary said that the incident
occurred in the kitchen of a building owned by the special area development authority (SADA) which had been leased out to Mr Neel Kanth for running a guesthouse. The kitchen, which had no ventilators, was closed with the iron shutter when the catering service finished last evening. The LPG cylinder leaked in the night causing the entire gas to spread in the kitchen. It is supposed that the refrigerator in the kitchen produced the sparks which caused the gas to catch fire. The iron shutter was blown off with high velocity, which hit the deceased. The DSP added that both the LPG cylinder and the fridge were intact. The DSP ruled out the possibility of terrorism. A case had been registered, he added. However, the “explosives experts team” of the police department was arriving at Bharmour to investigate the incident, the DSP informed.
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Council seeks approval for tunnel project
Chamba, August 27 The council secretary, Mr Gurmukh Singh, in a memorandum to the Chief Minister said that Chamba district was the farthest region from the state headquarters as compared to other districts and the people of Chamba district were facing a lot of problems to reach Shimla. “If the proposal is cleared it would greatly benefit the people of Chamba district to have an easy link not only with Shimla but also with the other states by the shortest route,” Mr Singh stated, adding that the tunnel would also help reduce a distance of about 50 km to Shimla and Pathankot, the nearest railhead. The council demanded filling of the posts of MD and ENT specialists in the Regional Hospital, Chamba, and restoration of traffic lights at Sultanpur and Sapri in the town, Mr Singh added.
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Contingency plan for SC/ST approved
Shimla, August 27 This was revealed by Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, while he was presiding over the state level vigilance and monitoring committee meeting held under his chairmanship here yesterday. The Chief Minister said 56 castes had been included in the Scheduled Caste and eight in Scheduled Tribes category. The state had 15.18 lakh Scheduled Caste population which was one fourth of the total population of the state. The successive Congress governments at the Centre and state had accorded top priority to the upliftment of weaker sections of the society so that their interests were safeguarded and rights protected. He said upliftment of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes had always been the focal point of all the policies and programmes of the government. Mr Virbhadra Singh said the provisions of the Citizen Rights Protection Act, 1955, and SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, guarantee protection of the rights of the members of the communities in case of any atrocity against them.
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2 women among 4 held with illicit liquor
Kangra August 27 Mr Santosh Patial, additional district police chief, today said that Usha Devi of Bagli village under Kangra police station was arrested in the village last evening and 5000 ml of illicit liquor was seized from her possession. Kamla Devi, a resident of Chinoor, was arrested at the Raja Khas Chooch khud and 15,000 ml of illicit liquor was seized from her possession. Raju of Bairta was arrested and 5,000 ml of illicit liquor was seized from his possession. Sukhvinder, alias Bhoola, of Teeli was arrested at the Chooch khud last evening and 40,000 ml of illicit liquor was seized from his possession.
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Dhumal alleges favouritism in jobs
Shimla, August 27 In a statement here, he said the government had amended the rules to provide recruitment through departmental committees despite objection from the state public service commission. However, the notification was withdrawn on August 19. Similarly, the government amended the state cooperative societies rules to make provision that the chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of institutions like the state cooperative bank would be elected only by the members of the society. But now a notification had been issued that this provision would be enforced only after the expiry of the current term of such institutions. This clearly indicated that the Congress government had been taking decision in undue haste.
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Work at Chamera-III project resumed
Chamba, August 27 Giving this information here today, Mr S.P. Thosar, Project Controller, of the HCC said: “We had tried to restart the work previously, but a few anti-social elements had caused disruption. We are now grateful to the local residents, the police and the civil administration who had come out with full support in resuming the work at the project site.”
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Bonus for HPTDC staff
Shimla, August 27 This decision was taken at a meeting of the Board of Directors held here under the chairmanship of Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, here last evening. The Chief Minister congratulated the corporation for achieving a record turnover of Rs 20.28 crore till July.
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Join forest conservation drive: Speaker
Nahan, August 27 Addressing a largely attended public meeting on this occasion, he called upon people to come forward and join the campaign of conservation of forest so that balanced development could be ensured in the hills.
— OC
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