Chakki Barrier (Kangra), February 7
Chief Minister of Himachal Virbhadra Singh today laid the foundation stone of 521.30-metre-long bridge to be constructed accross Chakki khud at Punjab border on the national highway-20 in a hurried manner without waiting for the completion of the process of calling tenders, allegedly to benefit the Congress party in Punjab where campaigning for Assembly elections is in full swing.On becoming functional the bridge will help ease traffic hazards between Nurpur and Pathankot benefiting people of Punjab border areas.

Since, more than 75 per cent of the proposed bridge area falls within Punjab territory, laying of the foundation stone at the time of Punjab elections has invited criticism by the BJP — the main opposition party in both states. As per the details available from the state government, 49 kanals and 18 marlas area of the bridge falls in Punjab while 9 kanals and 11 marlas area falls in Himachal.

A senior functionary of the state unit of the BJP told The Tribune on telephone the party had approached the Election Commission to take appropriate action against Mr Virbhadra Singh for violating the model code of conduct of elections and ban his entry into Punjab for campaigning in the assembly elections in favour of his party.

After laying the stone of the bridge, Himachal CM had planned to attend a few public rallies in the villages of Punjab on the other side of the bridge, later this week.

Union Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways TR Baalu and his junior in the Union Government KH Muniyappa were also present on the occasion of foundation laying ceremony of the bridge.

Although there exists an arch bridge adjacent to the proposed one but it is old and narrow. It is insufficent to cater to the present-day traffic on the highway. The new bridge 30-metre upstream of the existing arch bridge is proposed to be constructed at cost of Rs 20.76 crore, said Mr Baalu. He added the prequalification of the contractors for this bridge has been done and bids invited for the award of construction work at an early stage.

Three companies had applied for the job but as on date no one has been assigned the task, confirmed a senior official of the state government. Construction work on this country’s longest innovative integral type ‘piers monolithic superstructure’ bridge is likely to begin by the end of March.

Shimla, February 7
Farmers from all over the state will march to Shimla to gherao the Vidhan Sabha on April 3 in protest against the failure of the government to take any effective measures to protect their crops from wild animals.

Various agitating farmers' bodies have joined hands to form the Rajya Kheti Bachao Abhiyan Sangharsh Samiti to highlight the issue of increasing animal-human conflict and put pressure on the government for taking remedial steps. Prowling leopards have been giving sleepless nights to villagers on one hand and, on the other, wild boars, monkeys, blue bulls, sambars and other animals have been destroying crops.

Encouraged by the inclusion of monkey nuisance and the large-scale damage being caused to crops by wild animals in the Congress manifesto in Uttaranchal, the samiti has decided to make it a major issue in the next Assembly poll.

Mr Kuldeep Tanwar, president of the Gyan Vigyan Samiti, which took initiative to launch a campaign in support of the demand for scientific culling of undesirable animals, says that the gravity of the situation could be judged from the fact that 2,319 out of a total 3,200 panchayats in the state have been affected by the problem. A survey conducted by the samiti revealed that every year crops worth over Rs 400 crore are being destroyed and prowling leopards and bear were targeting human beings and livestock.

Dr Onkar Shaad, convener of the samiti, said that the farmers had been agitating for the past more than one year and they had submitted memoranda right upc to the Prime Minster but no steps had been initiated to solve the problem. The two major parties in the state, the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP, had not been taking the problem seriously.

The villagers, however, are increasingly feeling that the problem has become intractable because certain species have been provided "over protection" under the laws like the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and the Wildlife Protection Act.

The samiti is demanding that the ban on export of monkeys be lifted immediately and selected species in specified areas be declared vermins for a specified period. Further, a task force be set up to carry out scientific culling of undesirable animals in such areas.

Nahan, February 7
Newly nominated state president of the BJP Kisan Morcha, Mr Sukh Ram Chaudhri, today demanded support price for ginger and strawberry crops.

Addressing a press conference at Paonta Sahib, he said the BJP would announce support price for these crops after returning to power in the state.

He stressed that for the uplift of the people of the state, long-standing problems of farmers of the state needed to be addressed immediately.

He stated that the most important thing was to improve the economic condition of farmers by providing them better irrigation facilities.

He added that irrigation models adopted by Maharashtra and Gujarat should be tried in Himachal Pradesh.

Bijheri (Hamirpur), February 7
BJP stalwarts Shanta Kumar and Prem Kumar Dhumal seem to have come closer as they shared the dais during a public meeting here today in the Nadaunta Assembly constituency, 40 kilometres from Hamirpur.

The development assumes significance in view of Assembly elections, scheduled for next year, and the forthcoming byelections to the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat as Mr Shanta Kumar and Mr Dhumal asked party workers to get into election mode.

The new BJP state president, Mr Jai Ram Thakur, took the opportunity to tell party men to brace up for Assembly elections and start working at the grassroots level in order to spread awareness about the policies of the BJP.

Mr Dhumal also came to the strong defence of Mr Shanta Kumar and said Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh’s recent statement that he would hold an inquiry into the transfer of land to the Vivekanand Trust in Palampur was another example of the Congress government putting hurdles in development of the state.

Earlier this month, Mr Dhumal and Mr Shanta Kumar were seen together at a party function held in Una.

The BJP leaders tried to capitalise on the issue of price rise and said the Congress government had done little to contain the prices of essential commodities in the state.

Mr Dhumal said the price of flour had shot up from Rs 8 per kg during the BJP regime to Rs 14 per kg though the support price for farmers was still at Rs 6.50 per kg.

Mr Shanta Kumar asked why the sugar stocked in the 500-odd sugar mills in the state was not being released in the market to bring down prices.

He added that it was hard to understand why prices of flour had gone up despite a bumper what crop.

Mr Dhumal added that the Congress government had failed to get any major financial package from the Centre and the youth of the state had been cheated on the promise of giving them jobs.

Kangra, February 7
Having come to know that the Himachal Government is keen to see the proposed Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Kangra district to come up in time, the farmers of Meelma, Tamota and Dhamota villages, whose land is likely to be acquired, have started raising their voice to prevent their arable land from being acquired for the industrial hub.

They have alleged that senior functionaries of DS Constructions Limited, the company that has been awarded the SEZ here, have begun surveying a large tract of land of these villages located on the sides of National Highway-1 between Mukerian and Pathankot.

The company is bound to submit its detailed project report on or before April 2 this year. The company was granted permission to set up SEZ on April 2 last year. As per rules, the approval would stand cancelled automatically if the company does not file the report within a year.

Even as the state government had recently made it clear that no cultivable land will be allowed for purposes other than agriculture, the farmers fear that the company is more interested in getting the arable land.

There is another condition that the land should either be barren or in the category of single-crop. If the company violates these conditions, the project will not be approved.

Mr Amar Singh and his two sons, Harkanwal Singh and Anoop Singh, residents of Tamota village, told The Tribune that as per the preliminary survey conducted by the company more than 40 acres of their cultivable land is likely to come under the proposed SEZ.

Most of their land had submerged in the flood waters of the Beas in 1988, but they worked hard to re-establish it for cultivation and now they regularly cultivate sugarcane, wheat, paddy, besides many fruit varieties.

Prof Janak Singh, a retired educationist of this village, whose 10 acres are likely to come under the SEZ, argues that the arable land should not be acquired for this mega industrial hub.

Adding that the barren land within the 1000-metre radius of NH-1 of these three villages is also costly, he said that the minimum compensation for such land should be more than Rs 25 lakh per acre. He revealed that a large tract of barren land was recently acquired by the Union Government at the rate of Rs 32 lakh per acre for widening of the highway.

Being an educationist he realises that the SEZ would benefit the area a lot, but is of the opinion that employment should be guaranteed for the kin of the affected families, alternate land should be provided to the displaced farmers and if someone from the affected families is interested in setting up some industry of its own suitable land should be provided in the SEZ on priority at reasonable rates. He advocates the state government should frame a policy to provide nominal shares of the affected families in the proposed SEZ.