Shimla, September 15
The government is considering to merge the Vigilance and Enforcement Departments to ensure optimal utilization of the police.

This was stated by Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, while inaugurating one-day workshop of various departments, boards and corporations here today. He said a decision in this regard would be taken after examining all pros and cons.

Emphasising that graft undermined the economic stability and he called for evolving an effective strategy to make Himachal completely free from corruption. He said the state ranked second least corrupt state in the country and efforts should be made to make it totally free from corruption.

It could be made possible by law enforcing and vigilance authorities which must strive to root out corruption.

He said corruption thrived when decision-making remained opaque, discretion-motivated and the system of supervision, control and enforcement were lax. He said such weaknesses could be cured by a holistic approach in anti-corruption strategy which must strengthen the punitive mechanisms, introduce systematic reforms to reduce opportunities for corruption and reinforce the pro-active vigilance tools.

Mr Virbhadra Singh said corruption undermined economic stability by reducing revenues and increasing unproductive spending, distorted decision-making, deterred investment, made development costlier, affected quality and bred inefficiency and above all diluted the impact of public programmes for the poor. He said people and the officers, in particular, should muster moral courage to expose corrupt practices. He said the fight against corruption was not meant to be waged by the Vigilance Department alone but required public support.

He directed the vigilance officers to reactivate their institution and play pivotal role in keeping a strict vigil over the unusual activities in their offices. He emphasized the need to designate at least the second in command in every officer as the vigilance officer with sufficient powers to exercise. He also directed the authorities to enforce the civil services and conduct rules effectively and maintain strict discipline in all offices.

The Chief Minister, said the vigilance officers should honour the commitment of the government in respect of eradication of corruption. He said people protecting the corrupt were equal partners in the act and must be dealt with the same law. The Chief Minister was assured that progress of the vigilance officers would be reviewed regularly.

Shimla, September 15
The state government yesterday asserted that the Himachal Pradesh Societies Registration Bill, passed recently would not enforce inspector raj and said all apprehensions of NGOs in this regard were completely misplaced.

Mr Avay Shukla, Principal Secretary, Cooperation, said the main objective of the act was to ensure transparency, public accountability and greater participation of members in the functioning of the NGOs.

Many progressive states like Kerala, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Meghalaya had enacted their own laws in place of the Central Act to suit the changing social, economic and political needs.

He said the legislation aimed at ensuring democratic functioning of NGOs by laying down provisions to broad-base membership, functions of governing body, holding elections, audit dispute resolution and inspection and enquires.

The Act had not debarred the jurisdiction of the civil courts and only provided another forum for dispute resolutions under Section 42 before the Registrar to redress the grievances speedily.

The power to the Registrar to cancel registration in certain circumstances had been provided to ensure that the societies did not indulge in unlawful activities which were detrimental to the interest of the members and the state.

He said the provision for super session of the governing body of a state-aided society had been made to ensure that affairs of the society were conducted smoothly in accordance with its by laws and regulations. It would be a stop-gap arrangement during such eventuality. The period of administration had been restricted to maximum one year and he had no powers to enroll new members or make any appointments his tenure. The administrator would ensure constitution of a new governing body within the stipulated period.

The Section 57 empowered the government to exempt any society or class or societies from any provision of the Act.

The member-based societies like Mahila Mandals, Yuvak Mandals and government-sponsored User Group societies could be exempted from the provisions of this Act.

Kulu, September 15
The district administration has initiated the registration of all Kashmiri migrants at Manali and all hoteliers have been advised to get their employees registered at the police station.

The action follows a news item published in The Tribune “Kulu district a safe haven for militants” on September 7. The police has advised migrants to cooperate and keep the police informed about their arrival and departure from Manali.

Mr Hardesh Visht, Additional Superintendent of Police, said the police would register all migrants, including ‘rehariwalas’ and ‘pheriwalas’. The police would verify the antecedents and the photographs of the migrants from the J&K police, he added.

Mr. Visht said the registration of Kashmiri migrants would help in checking the safe refuge being taken by criminals and militants in Manali.

Dharamsala, September 15
The Revenue and Panchayati Raj Minister, Mr Sat Mahajan, here today said a draft resolution on the rehabilitation of Pong Dam oustees would soon be sent to the Rajasthan Government.

The resolution would be sent before signing an agreement that would ensure that the oustees, who were not satisfied with the rehabilitation, were put up in a cluster where they could get proper basic amenities.

Addressing a press conference, Mr Mahajan said it would be a big achievement for the Congress government if a solution could be found

to the problems of the oustees, who had been fighting for proper settlements for nearly five decades now. He said Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh was taking personal interest in the matter.

“In a meeting of the Pong Dam Committee, each clause of the draft proposal was discussed in detail in the presence of representatives of the oustees and an agreement would be finally signed by the Chief Ministers of the two states involved on the condition that the oustees are satisfied with it,” he said.

Before the final agreement was signed, a committee would be nominated to go to the proposed sites in Rajasthan and see if there were provisions for water and power supply there.

He said a directive had been issued to panchayats in the state not to not to unfurl the National Flag daily and to do so only on days of national importance and on days when meetings of the gram sabhas were held.

He said copies of the flag code had also been sent to the panchayats so that there was no disrespect of the flag.

Mr Mahajan further said Himachal Pradesh would soon become one of the few states where patwaris would be given laptops for instant disposal of cases.

He said the blueprint of the proposal had been sent to the Government of India for approval.

“The work on computerisation of panchayats has already begun,” he said. He further said he had ordered an inquiry into dubious cases of pensioners, who don't deserve to take the benefits.

The Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, would submit a report in this regard within a month.

“While distributing pension in my constituency, I came across many suspected cases, where the beneficiary did not appear to be eligible for pension,” said Mr Mahajan.

Shimla, September 15
Much to the disappointment of the Himachal police, Ajmer Singh Kalra, wanted in the HP-CPMT question paper leak case did not appear in the court here today as his bail application came up for hearing even though it was rejected by the judge.

The police, which has sent its teams to Punjab several times to nab Kalra, a resident of Makhu village in Ferozepore district, was hoping to arrest him as he was expected to appear in the court today. Kalra is learnt to have been involved in the question paper leak case as he acted as a big tout and contacted some parents along with Dr Goverdhan Singh Gaba, who is already in police custody.

The police is now hoping to arrest Kalra at Chandigarh on September 22 where his bail application will come up for hearing.

Palampur, September 15
Kunj Behari Lal Butail, a veteran Congress leader and former HP PCC president and former MLA, died here this morning. He was 73. He had been suffering from lung cancer for the past one year.

Butail represented the Palampur constituency in the HP Assembly thrice from 1966 to 1980. He also served as PCC president during the Dr Y.S. Parmar regime. He was considered as one of the masterminds in the Congress who had given new dimension for the development of Kangra.

Butail was remembered as an arch rival of Dr Y.S. Parmar, the then Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. He was the first Congress leader of the state who raised the issue of discrimination with the merged areas of the state. He was offered Cabinet rank by Dr Parmar but he refused to accept it. Pt Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi visited his house many times.

Hundreds of persons from every walk of the society attended the last journey and bid adieu to their beloved leader. Mr V.K Aggarwal, Divisional Commissioner, Kangra, laid wreath on behalf of Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh.

Shimla, September 15
With the water quality and dissolved oxygen in the sacred Renuka lake having deteriorated, a study will be conducted by professors of IIT, Delhi, to understand the hydrological process of the water body and its catchment.

The State Council for Science, Technology and Environment has assigned the task to a consortium of the IIT’s professors to generate data after determining the water balance by observing the inflow and outflow.

The Renuka, being the largest natural lake in the state, is located in Sirmour district. It has an area of 25 hectares and a catchment of 500 hectares.

Though only 20 streamlets flow into the Renuka lake but the perennial source of internal springs are very prominent, supplying a lot of water to it. It was a study conducted by the State Pollution Control Board which had indicated that the level of dissolved oxygen and the water quality in the lake had gone bad.

Though a lot of efforts are being made under the conservation and management of Renuka wetlands but deposition of huge quantity of silt, weed infestation has led to shrinking of the lake.

Moreover, due to deterioration in water quality, there has been habitat degradation leading to adverse impact on the aquatic fauna and migratory and indigenous avi fauna.

Under the latest study to be completed over a period of one year, hydrological information system will be compiled through digital process. The water body of Renuka lake is big while the catchment area is small, so the outflow and inflow will also be determined. The area has a typical karst topography having a terrain of limestone and dolomite.

“There had been a deterioration in the water quality so we assigned the task of undertaking hydrological study to a consortium of IIT professors,” informed Mr Prabodh Saxena, Member Secretary, State Council for Science, Technology and Environment.

So far the Council has spent almost Rs 2 crore on undertaking conservation activities at the lake, including interlink chain fencing for Rs 50 lakh.

The Tourism Department has also spent Rs 24.14 lakh through Deputy Commissioner’s office on these conservation activities. The forest department on its part has constructed check dams, check walls, gully plugging and made spurs to protect the banks of nullahs and channelise flow of water.

Side drains have been constructed along the parikrama road and some fruit and fodder varieties have been planted. Plantation of soil binder species like agave, napier grass, vitex, salix and adhatoda have been done.