Shimla, March 23
In a significant decision which will prove to be a major breather for hotels and medium and large-scale industry that have come up in violation of change of land use, the government has allowed compounding of such illegal units all over the state.

The notification in this regard was issued by the Department of Town and Country Planning (TCP) last week. It is by making an amendment in Rule 19-E of the Himachal Pradesh Town and Country Planning Rules, 1978, that the compounding of hotels and medium and large-scale industry has been made permissible. However, compounding will still not be possible in the case of change of land use pertaining to forest land and water bodies.

Prior to this, there was no provision for regularising hotels, medium and large-scale industry that had come up in violation of change of land use. Falling in the category of illegal structures, such units were not given water and electricity connection. In most of the cases the violation is in the case of agricultural land.

The government has now fixed the composition fee for regularising of these structures and the rate for the offending hotels and medium industry will be Rs 100 per sq m. For heavy industry the fee has been fixed at Rs 200 per sq m.

The decision will help sort out a large number of cases where the sale of land had taken place in a haphazard manner before the coming up of an industrial estate or a township. There will be many such cases at the industrial estates at Kala Amb, Badi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh, Sansarpur Terrace, Mehatpur and at tourist destinations like Dalhousie, Kasauli, Dharamshala and Kullu-Manali.

Some industrialists had approached the state government that since they had already set up their units on areas where there had been the change of land use, the TCP Department should find a way to sort out the problem. Falling in the category of illegal structures, water and electricity connection to their units had been denied causing huge loss to them as production could not be started.

Besides making the change of land use permissible, the government has given another relaxation to the industry by making a substantial increase in the permissible floor ratio area (FRA). In the case of large and heavy industry in the Barotiwala planning area, the maximum FRA has been increased to 0 .90 as compared to 0.60 earlier.

Sources said this had been a long-pending demand from the industry and an amendment had been made in the interim development plan for the Barotiwala planning area.

Shimla, March 23
Concerned over rampant violation of Section 118 of the Land Reforms and Tenancy Act by builders, the government has decided to act tough with lawbreakers.

Henceforth, no change in land use will be allowed. In case an entrepreneur deviates from the sanctioned project, the permission granted under the Act will be cancelled.

Under the new rules, it has been made mandatory for the entrepreneurs to complete the project for which permission was granted under Section 118, which debarred non-agriculturists from purchasing land in the state without prior approval of the government, to acquire land in the state within two years. Failure to do so will lead to cancellation of the permission.

The maximum number of cases of illegal change in land use are in the tourism sector. In fact, hotel and tourism projects are being used as a convenient ploy to acquire land in the state by non-Himachalis. Housing colonies have been built in place of hotels and flats have been sold to outsiders in violation of Section 118 that debars non-agriculturists from purchasing land in the state without prior permission of the government.

Chief secretary S.S. Parmar said sanctity of Section 118 would be maintained. It would not be allowed to be misused. The maximum cases of violation were in Kasauli, Shimla and Solan areas. Instead of tourism projects, multi-storeyed flats had been constructed. The unauthorised change of land use would lead to cancellation of the permission under Section 118 and the land would revert to the government.

He said committees comprising officials of the revenue, tourism and town and country planning departments were carrying out survey to detect cases of violation and appropriate action would be taken against the errant entrepreneurs.

The government has reportedly ordered a confidential inquiry into the benami deals and unauthorised change of land use after multi-storeyed housing structures started coming up at Fagu, Kufri-Chail road area, Naldehra, Baldian, Mashobra, Durgapur and Kandaghat-Shimla belt.

According to sources, around 400 flats have come up in Mashobra alone.

The sale of flats is being effected on power of attorney and affidavits to circumvent the Act. In many cases, the flats have been given on long-term lease. The illegality of property transactions apart, the main concern of the government seems that if such large structures are allowed to come up in rural areas, how it will provide basic civic amenities like water, power and sewerage there.

Shimla, March 23
Setting a deadline for the government to accept their demand of enhancement in stipend, the Resident Doctors Association (RDA) at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) here have decided to go on strike from March 27.

The RDA today observed pen-down strike for the second consecutive day as resident doctors stayed away from the OPDs from 9.30 am to 12.30 am .The resident doctors have been demanding enhancement in their stipend for the past some time.

The president of the RDA,Dr Rajesh Sood, said after observing pen-down strike for three days, all resident doctors would take mass casual leave on March 26. He added that in case the government did not announce the enhancement in stipend on the Punjab pattern, the resident doctors would proceed on strike from March 27.

"We want an enhancement which will make our stipend equal to our counterparts in Punjab," he said.

Dr Sood said like Punjab, the Himachal Government should also give stipend and DA, which would automatically solve the problem permanently. He said the stipend would keep increasing as the DA went up from time to time.

He said the resident doctors in Himachal were getting Rs 8,500 and with the 20 per cent enhancement it would go up to only about Rs 10,000. He added that their counterparts in Punjab were getting above Rs 15,000. He also demanded that the government should increase the stipend of interns and house surgeons.

Kumarhatti, March 23
Over 500 workers of PA Group of Industries, Dharampur, have gone on strike today against the management decision to shift group's unit 1 of PA pinions to Nalagarh. Around 80 workers of unit were told to join the unit new location at Nalagarh that sparked row among workers of other units. The workers of unit 2 of PA pinions and PA Time Industries joined the protest of unit 1 workers and sat on a dharna.

The trouble in PA Group has been continuing since October last over non-settlement of various monetary issues. However, the management decision to shift the unit 1 has fuelled the ongoing resentment among workers. The group is one of the largest manufacturers of spare parts of watches in India besides manufacturing electronic watch components and Maxima quartz wristwatches.

President of the state unit of AITUC Jagdish Bhardwaj, who is leading the workers' protest, has accused the management for its highhandedness. "It was a plot by management to show the door to the workers. The management was trying to disturb workers protest against their salary deduction", he said. Bhardwaj said Rs 390 and Rs 755 had been deducted from workers' salary for September 2006 onwards without giving any reason.

Showing wage slips of some workers, he said it was not a deduction in respect of settlement allowance.

As per the three-year agreement made in 2003, the wages of workers were enhanced from Rs 390 to Rs 720, he said.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the PA Group of Industries G.S. Purewal has clarified that the unit 1 was running from a private accommodation. Its lease deed had ended in December last, he pointed out. "The new suitable location was found at Nalagarh. The unit 1 workers were given one and half month time to join at Nalagarh," he said. He however has blamed the AITUC for unnecessarily brining bad name to the group that has 40-years history of implementing worker-welfare policies. The workers' allegation of salary deduction was wrong as the amount deducted from the September wages pertained to settlement allowances as per a three-year-old agreement, Purewal maintained.

The management was ready to give enhancement in wages, but the demand of workers to treat the enhancement as direct part of wages could not be accepted, asserted Purewal.

Kangra, March 23
Union minister for civil aviation Praful Patel would inaugurate the new terminal building of the Kangra airport on March 28. Regular flights of Deccan Airways would also be inaugurated on the same day.

Senior aerodrome officer of the Kangra airport S.K. Sharma said the new building would be equipped with all modern facilities and security check arrangements.

The foundation stone of the Rs 5-crore Kangra airport project was laid by former state minister for defence Chaman Lal Gupta and former Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal in 2001.

An increase in the domestic passenger traffic had necessitated provision for matching terminal capacity both in terms of space and user friendly services.

The new terminal would accommodate 50 arrival and 50 departure passengers at a time. S.K. Sharma said the runway had been strengthened and extended to 4,500 feet.

Vikas, an executive in the planning wing of Deccan Airways at Bangalore, said on telephone that the director-general of Civil Aviation today granted approval to the airways to undertake regular daily flights from Kangra. The daily flights would start from March 28, he added. These flights would be between Delhi-Pathankot-Dharamsala and Dharamsala-Pathankot-Delhi.

Station in charge of Jackson airlines Pankaj said their airline would continue flights on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday as usual.

Chamba, March 23
Internet services provided by the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) in Chamba district is at an average speed of 20 to 35 kbps and even this connection is often disrupted resulting in disconnection of the services several times.

The subscribers of Dalhousie and Chamba regions and tourists who usually like to be in touch with their business contacts while they are on a holiday, are very much upset with BSNL for not providing high speed connection. If broadband Internet is provided, the users will be able to communicate at a speed of 256 kbps. Broadband also enables use of telephone and Internet simultaneously on the same line. These advantages have been deprived to this distant district, even though it is an important tourist station of Himachal.

People here are upset that the Punjab BSNL circle is providing far better schemes, but this takes a long time to reach this alpine district, even tough Punjab border is only one hour drive from Dalhousie.

The people of this region point out that the new scheme launched by the Punjab circle of BSNL provide unlimited free calls among BSNL landline connections and to BSNL mobile at a lower tariff for just Rs 111 per month within the Punjab region.

Officials of BSNL maintain that the plan to provide broadband services in the region was in the pipeline.

Similarly, the scheme of BSNL which was okayed by its competent authority in New Delhi in October last year, took about five months to reach Chamba district, the most backward and far-flung corner of the country.

The scheme for the offer of "rent-free landline telephone connection against the existing telephone" is being implemented in this region after a lapse of five months.

As per the circular of BSNL being issued here this month, the decision taken by competent authority of BSNL which is a Government of India enterprise for releasing such connections was applicable with effect from October 1 last year but in Chamba district it is being introduced in March this year.

Hamirpur, March 23
About 50 per cent women are still delivering children in their homes and not in hospitals in Hamirpur district.

This practice is prevailing mainly in rural areas, the trend also continues in urban areas due to lack of awareness about safe deliveries in health institutions coupled with lack of medical infrastructure and services.

Since 2001 to 2006, number of deliveries performed at homes is about 4,500 on average per year and same number is performed at the health institutions, bringing the percentage to almost 50 per cent out of average 10,000 deliveries in a year. The practice is still going on in Hamirpur district where literacy rate is high.

Lack of staff and infrastructure in health institutions is also one of the main reasons of this age-old practice. Sources say though all 25 PHCs are supposed to be fully equipped with staff and other facilities to perform childbirth, but not even half of them are functional at night. Surprisingly, 8 PHCs have been specially marked to provide 24 hours childbirth facility .

One of the reasons for not giving the facility during odd hours in PHCs is, non-availability of trained staff and medical officers who generally do not reside at the PHCs, sources said.

Medical experts say that while domestic deliveries could create several medical complications and major health dangers like hypertension, eclamtia, anemia etc if they go untreated at the pre-natal or delivery stage. They can even prove fatal to mother or the new born. They suggest, the first delivery with above marked complications and cesarean cases should always be taken to health institutions for childbirth.

Hamirpur officiating chief medical officer Dr P.K Katwal said this practice was continuing due to lack of awareness and as medical officers at PHCs do not reside close by, they can not attend to deliveries at PHCs round the clock. Efforts are being made to create awareness through the NHRM, he added.

Nahan, March 23
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry at Kala-Amb in Sirmour district is unhappy with the treatment meted out to the industrialial giants in this belt. The entrepreneurs in the industrial stretch at Kala-Amb have alleged the government for not removing their grievances since four years.

A survey carried out by The Tribune team transpired that the government had triggered its first phase of industrialisation on 224 bighas land by carving out only 65 plots. It, later on, gave clarion call for freehold plots and promised to roll out red carpet for the potential entrepreneurs if they launched their industrial production for the economic prosperity of the state.

“We were lured by the tall promises of the government. Many of us have arrived here from far distance of Rajasthan, Madhya Pardesh, Delhi, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Haryana to boost the economy of the hilly state. We have opened the doors for employment, earmarked 70 per cent reserved job opportunities to the bona fide Himachalis, but the government has not stuck to its promises despite our reminders,” said Umesh Garg, president of Kala-Amb Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

In order to accelerate balanced growth of industrialisation, the local Industry Department is reportedly considering to acquire 1,119 bighas land at Andheri (Sanghra), 1,098 bighas at Nagal Saketi opposite to Kala-Amb, 1,100 bighas at Tirlokpur, besides fair proposals devised for Amboa and Sarahan. An estimate of Rs 2.51 crore for provisioning of four-laning of Mirpur to Chooran road is awaiting final approval, says Ramesh Verma, manager, District Industries Development.

The provisioning of fire station reserved to be raised on 250 sq yds plot in the heart of Kala-Amb industrial belt remains in the pipeline for want of replacement of low-lying high-tension cables.

It is pertinent to mention here that the nodal agency ASIDE (Assistance to States for the Development of Infrastructure of Industries) had sanctioned funds worth Rs 86.91 lakh to Himachal Pardesh State Industries Development Corporation for undertaking the exclusive development of roads.

He says that despite the provision of massive funds, industrial belt of Kala-Amb is yet to see the light of the good motorable road for a mere 6 km stretch of Tirlokpur.

In the recent past, industrialists pointed out the lack of co-ordination among Town and Country Planning Department, Public Works Department and district administration which led to utter fallout of industrial production.

Under the supervision of district authorities and State Industrial Development Corporation, the drainage system at Kala-Amb went lopsided since it remained chocked with the polythenes and dry leaves.

Shimla, March 23
The on-going phenomenon of climate change due to global warming was the topic of discussion on World Meteorological Day today.

Shimla is also experiencing the impact with the mean temperature through the year showing an increasing trend.

According to in charge of the local Met office Manmohan Singh, the data for the past 16 years clearly shows that both day and night temperatures are rising. However, the period of observation is too short to quantify it. Data for at least 50 years will have to be taken into consideration to work out the quantum of change.

Former director-general of the department D. Lal had studied the data for one hundred years from 1891 to 1990 and concluded that Shimla was becoming warmer.

There were other discernible signs like shifting of winter. Earlier, the city received most of the snow in December and January, whereas there was more snow in February in recent years.

Apart from global warming, local factors like deforestation, vehicular emission and rising population also contributed to climate change. Corrective action had to be taken at the local level to reverse the process.

He said the theme for year 2007 was “Polar meteorology: Understanding global impacts”. The aim was to highlight that although far removed from the populated areas, polar regions could have an impact on the ecosystem and human society.

Shimla, March 23
Congress-backed candidate Rai Singh Verma was elected to the executive council of Himachal Pradesh University here today, while Birma Chauhan was elected to the university court.

Seven candidates supported by the Congress, the BJP and the CPM were in the fray.