Chamba, October 19
To cope with the water scarcity arising out of global warming, the state government has mapped out a plan for the augmentation and remodelling of all water supply schemes across the state, according to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

He was addressing a rally after dedicating a Rs 57.2-lakh lift water supply scheme at Chakloo village, around 20 km from the district headquarters, today.

The Chief Minister said a plan had been formulated to identify the schemes — water discharge of which had been reduced as a result of global warming.

He said these schemes were being remodelled and augmented so that sufficient water supply was restored to every village in the state.

The Chief Minister directed the authorities to prepare a “draft project report” (DPR) for schemes for Budab village where residents were facing acute water shortage.

He said budgetary provisions would be made for the scheme on priority.

He also directed officials to explore possibilities of lifting water to scattered villages of the Chakloo belt located on higher altitude.

“The state government would formulate a master plan for the conservation of areas affected by soil erosion, especially in the district, so that valuable land was saved and conserved for ecological balance,” he asserted, adding that the government was concerned about the environment and ecological activities and special attention was being paid to save the ecosystem.

On the occasion, the Chief Minister heard and redressed public grievances.

He also asked officials to redress public grievances on priority and ensure that benefits of development reached targeted groups.

Virbhadra Singh is the first state Chief Minister to visit Chakloo village.

Shimla, October 19
Three senior Congress leaders have refuted the claim of Mr P.K. Dhumal, a former Chief Minister, that work on the Bamsen-Mewa water supply scheme was started by the BJP regime and asserted that the project could not take off because of the failure of the government to arrange funds.

Joining issue with Mr Dhumal, Mr Rangila Ram Rao, Excise and Taxation Minister, Mr Ram Lal Thakur, Forest Minister, and Mrs Anita Verma, MLA, pointed out that the project for rejuvenating the various lift water supply schemes from the Beas in Logwalti, Bamsen, Bhoranj and Sarkaghat areas was approved in 1999. With the main source at Kandapattan in Mandi, it was designed to cater to the need of 349 habitations of Hamirpur and Mandi districts. However, it failed to take off as the then BJP government failed to provide funds.

Later a separate scheme was formulated for 47 villages of Mandi, the work on which was in progress. Work on the augmentation scheme for 88 villages in Mewa and Bamsen constituencies was taken up using locally available sources. Further a scheme for 61 villages in the Gwardoo-Samirpur belt was administratively approved but no major work was carried out up to March, 2003. Only about 1 per cent work was done at an expenditure of Rs 13.50 lakh which was contrary to the claim of 32 per cent progress made by Mr Dhumal.

The BJP government left the majority habitations in the lurch and it was the Congress government which approved a scheme for partially covered habitation of the Mewa and Bamsen constituencies covering 153 habitations at a cost of Rs 56.92 crore in July this year.

Some works like storage tanks at Sangroh, Dhariara, Kakriar, Patnaun and Utamber were executed from 2003 to 2005.

As the actual work on the main scheme requiring a huge sum of money could not be undertaken due to lack of funds, the then BJP regime gave sanction to a much smaller and modified project called the Gwardoo-Samirpur scheme only for Samirpur. The entire population of Bamsen and Mewa was excluded from in the proposed scheme. This modified scheme of Rs 10.55 crore was proposed to be funded through HUDCO loan.

The scheme could take off now only because of the keen interest taken by Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, who committed funds it in the current year. The partially covered habitations of Bamsen and Mewa would be covered under the scheme at a cost of Rs. 56.92 crore.

It had also been decided that the Gwardoo-Samirpur scheme for 61 villages would be constructed along with the project. Thus, the combined scheme would cover 214 villages of Hamirpur only.

Shimla, October 19
The Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) will now specially focus on weekend tourism to attract tourists from the neighbouring states to the lesser known off-beat destinations.

The HPTDC proposes to offer attractive packages to tourists from the neighbouring areas of western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Punjab and Chandigarh. Seeing the vast potential of weekend tourism, the HPTDC will offer packages for every segment so as to give a fillip to tourism and at the same time promote its lesser known destinations which could come into profit under the scheme.

Normally during weekends there is a lot of rush of tourists, especially in Shimla, Solan and other nearby places. Depending on the preference of the tourists, the HPTDC will also offer transportation in the packages. Till recently the Tourism Department had only been focusing and publicising the four main tourist circuits of Kullu-Manali, Dharamsala, Shimla and the tribal belt, but now the lesser known destinations will be promoted.

Some of the off-beat tourist resorts like Kiarighat on the Solan-Shimla highway, Chindi, near Karsog, Mashobra and other such places will be the destinations for these attractive packages. So far the tourism authorities had not specifically focused on promoting weekend tourism despite there being a lot of potential in this sector.

The authorities feel that by promoting weekend tourism, some of the HPTDC units, which have not been doing good business for some reason, can be brought into profit. The example of Hotel Bhagal on way to Darlaghat is being cited as not too many people prefer to stay here. With reduced room tariff and attractive packages tourists might prefer to spend a quiet weekend here.

The packages offered by the HPTDC during Christmas and New Year are a major attraction and there is 100 per cent occupancy during these days. However, New Year bashes are restricted to only a few places like Shimla, Kasauli, Manali and Dharamsala as other places are practically left out. 

Shimla, October 19
After six months of academic dormancy the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), here, has finalised the calendar for holding various seminars, the themes of which reflect the ideological shift under the new set up.

In place of themes focussing on Indian civilisation like Vedas, yoga, consciousness and Sanskrit literature, on which numerous seminars were held during the previous regime, topics like social justice, Buddhism, gender discrimination and studies on North-Eastern states have been chosen.

The choice of visiting scholars also reflects a distinct ideological shift from right to Left.

The UPA government had made saffronisation of the institute a major issue and removed the head of the governing body and ordered a one-man inquiry into its affairs within months after assuming power at the Centre. Dr D. Bandyopadhyaya Committee pointed out that out of the 22 national seminars orgainsed over the past three years as many as 14 were regarding Indian civilisation and related issues.

Most of the proceedings of these seminars were not published which showed that the authorities of the institute were fully aware of the poor quality of deliberations.

The committee observed that it was a clear misuse of public money. Besides, the seminars should have covered all areas of study mentioned in the memorandum of the institute.

The list of visiting scholars includes some well-known Leftists intellectuals like Prof Dipankar Gupta (social scientist), Dr Irfan Habib (historian), Namver Singh (Hindi literature) and Dr Kalyan Kumar (philosopher). Earlier, known rightist like Dr B.B.Lal, Dr Balraj Madhok, Dr Vidya Niwas Mishra and Dr Rajesh Kocchar figured among the scholar invitees.

The topics selected for seminars are Ambedkar- Indian democracy and social justice, demography and gender discrimination, Colonial texts in Indian literature and national allegory, historical development of northeast ,conflict study in North-East and environment and development.

Nahan, October 19
Amidst bycott, allegations and counter-allegations, Mr Baldev Singh Bhandari, state secretary of the BJP, has been elected president of the Sirmaur district BJP unit.

The election took place at Shillai, this evening under the supervision of Mr Roop Dass Kashyap a former minister and in charge of party elections in this district.

Mr Kashyap told The Tribune on the telephone from Shillai late this evening that Mr Baldev Bhandari was elected BJP president of the Sirmaur district BJP unit.

Mr Kashyap said that Ms Shyama Sharma, Mr Jagat Singh Negi, Mr Hem Ram Kashyap, Mr Sita Ram and Mr Sudhir Gupta were elected state delegates of the party.

Mr O.P. Chauhan, BJP leader of Paonta and spokesperson for the opponent group, alleged that elections were postponed by the election officer and after that they left for Paonta from Shillai.

However, Mr Kashyap has contradicted this statement.

Kangra, October 19
Two persons were arrested by the Dharamsala police under the NDPS Act this morning on the Kunal Pathri road following recovery of 30 gm of smack from them, the police said here today.

The Kangra district police chief, Mr A.K. Yadav, said that two persons, identified as Pushpender of McLeodganj and Suder, alias Ladi, of Dinanagar, Gurdaspur, were arrested when they were on the way to McLeodganj early in the morning at a naka and 30 gm of smack was recovered from them. They were travelling on a scooter (HP-39-9806).

The police has impounded the scooter used in the crime.