 |
|
|
Rs 13.34-cr scheme to raise bamboo forests
Redefine development,says Bahuguna
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Residents unite against thermal plant
Fraud by MS Traders
BJP analyses defeat in MC elections
Misuse of rest houses goes on unchecked
Acute scarcity of water
At Sirmaur hospital, sarai adds to
Woman commits suicide
Police post attacked
Hooch claims two lives
Landslide poses threat
Demand for abolishing tribunal flayed
BMS is largest labour organisation
Missionaries face villagers’ wrath
Kalka-Shimla highway heaven in summers
Man held
|
|
Rs 13.34-cr scheme to raise bamboo forests
Shimla, June 17 These forests have fallen victim to indifferent management. As there has been no treatment of the bamboo areas all these years, the natural forests have become congested. Out of the total 10,640 hectare natural bamboo forests managed by the Forest Department, 6,000 hectares is congested and needs immediate tending and cleaning of the clumps. The maximum congested bamboo forest area of 2,200 hectares is in Nalagarh, followed by 880 hectares in Kunihar and 700 hectares each in Bilaspur and Nahan. In the absence of proper cleaning of clumps, adequate space is not available for new shoots. Bamboo stands are felled without bothering about regeneration and growth. Apart from congestion, reckless felling, destruction of rhizomes due to fires and compaction of soil have also been responsible for the shrinking of bamboo forests. Concerned over the situation the government had in 2,000 transferred the management of bamboo forests to the state forest corporation. However, the step made little difference and the management was reverted to the department after three years. The government has now formulated a project for the rehabilitation and expansion of area under bamboos. The Rs 13.34-crore scheme involves planting of new forests over 3,000 hectares and cleaning of the existing 6,000 hectares of the existing congested bamboo forests. The project has been submitted to the Centre for funding under the National Bamboo Mission. In the first year of the seven-year project nurseries will be established, one each in the selected divisions of Nurpur, Bilaspur, Dehra, Nahan, Nahan, Solan, Kunihar, Nalagarh, Sundernagar and one for the Kuthelar forests. Tissue culture has already been used to produce several thousands of plants of dendrocalamus strictus, a bamboo species known for drought-resistance. The plants raised in nurseries will also be distributed among villagers for growing on private lands.
|
|
Redefine development,says Bahuguna
Sundernagar, June 17 He said there was a need to redefine development. “We do not need development that disturbs ecology. Disturbing nature in the name of development is not right. It is disfiguring mountains and destroying water sources. Instead of constructing roads, we should go in for ropeways,” he said. He said there was a need to protect the Himalayas. “The model of development that we have adopted is defective. The wealth of the country lies in the beauty of the Himalayas and not in commercially exploiting mountains for mining for the cement industry. Our plan should be to restore the beauty of the Himalayas and not to cause further devastation,” he added. He also toured the site of the proposed cement plant to be set up in the Khatrwari-Chambi area, near Sundernagar, with a team of mediapersons and addressed a gathering at Mahdev Temple. He appealed to the local residents to fight against every decision of the government that was against environment. He appealed them to launch a door-to-door campaign and come forward against the decision of setting up of the cement plant.
|
|
Forced to consume muddy water
Palampur, June 17 Though the university authorities have spent lakhs of rupees on the water treatment plant but it hardly functions. All senior and junior officers of the university have to consume contaminated and muddy water which carries mud, insects and other foreign materials. This reporter who surveyed the water treatment plant was told by a number of university employees that despite repeated requests the university authorities had initiated no efforts for the repair and maintenance of the water treatment system. Even the university hostels were getting water from this plant. Also the water tanks installed in the water treatment plant are left uncovered which could result in any mishap. Estate Officer of the HPAU, H.S. Thakur, admitted that at present the water treatment system was out of order and the university was planning to repair it soon. He said for the time being, university authorities would supply water from handpumps to all the colonies in the university. However, on the other hand, the teaching and non-teaching employees refuted the claim of the estate officer and said the entire university was still getting water from the defective water treatment plant. They said university authorities were hiding the facts from the media to save their skin. To support their claim, a lady brought a bucket of water which was full of mud and insects which she received from her tap. It was also revealed that many employees and their families were suffering from water-borne diseases and amoebiasis, which was common here. It may be recalled that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on a visit to Himachal Pradesh last year, had donated Rs 5 crore to HPAU for the development of its infrastructure, but nobody knows where this money was spent.
|
|
Residents unite against thermal plant
Nalagarh, June 17 The villagers united under the banner of Him Parivesh, an environment protection NGO, to protest against the move. A meeting was held today at Bagheri, in which, besides villagers from six panchayats of this subdivision, Punjab area panchayats too participated. The J.P. Industries is setting up a 25 mw thermal plant at Bagheri, using rice husk to generate power. The villagers perceive the plant as a major threat to the ecology of the area. The immediate provocation against the move was the issuing of notices to five panchayats by the Pollution and Control Board (PCB). The PCB has asked the panchayats to attend a public hearing on June 27 to give a NOC for the project. Interestingly, where the panchayats of Bagheri, Manakpura, Barona, Kishenpura and Karsoli have received notices, no such communication was made to those of Khillian, Bercha, Goluwala, Kohlu, Sohali, Behl and Kondawali. The J.P. Industries had bought 325 bigha of land at Bagheri in 2003. The land was bought to set up a cement unit, pointed out general secretary of Him Parivesh Bal Krishan Sharma. However, the area was later earmarked to set up houses, parks, schools and other social projects for the thermal plant, he said. We will not allow the setting up of the plant as it will harm the greenery of the area, besides causing other ill-effects, asserted Sharma. The samiti has decided to hold a massive protest, here on June 22.
|
|
|
Fraud by MS Traders
Chamba, June 17 The ‘company’ defrauded and fleeced the people of Chamba to the tune of lakhs of rupees. The magisterial report was submitted by inquiry officer Ritesh Chauhan. It had held almost all the departments concerned, involving excise and taxation department, civil and the police administration, accountable in this hoodwinking case.
Official sources said the inquiry report was submitted to the higher officials of the state government for initiating legal action against the erring officials under whose nose the incident occurred. However, what has irked the people of this area is the administration’s reluctance in bringing the guilty to the book. Ironically, the civil and police administration, too, has failed miserably in its professional spirit to respond to the law. People now apprehend that the government may ‘invent’ something to evade the responsibility. Over 100 people had deposited their receipts amounting to around Rs 15 lakh with the inquiry officer. These receipts show that the innocent people had deposited huge sums in advance for the goods to be bought from M.S. Traders. The inquiry report revealed that the owner of so-called M.S. Traders, Sell Durai, son of Mathuvel of Tamil Nadu, along with four-five people began business on April 23 and he fled from this place on May 27. The report also stated that the police and the civil authorities acted as deterrents to take decisive steps to prevent the fraud. “Had the fallacy among the people about the fraudulent business been addressed in time, the said company would not have had time to hoodwink such a large number of people,” the report further stated. |
|
BJP analyses defeat in MC elections
Shimla, June 17 The in charge of party affairs in the state Sat Pal Jain and the co-in charge Prakash Dhankar were present along with office-bearers and those who contested the poll. The majority view was that wrong distribution of tickets, faulty voter list and under-cutting by rebels within the party were the main factors for the BJP defeat. Some candidates expressed dissatisfaction over the functioning of the election committee and also demanded action against those who worked against the party. The two leaders also held meetings with spokespersons and media in charge and gave them necessary guidelines in view of the impending assembly election early next year. |
|
Misuse of rest houses goes on unchecked
Palampur, June 17 The state government owns over 100 rest houses in and outside the state. It is alleged that most of these are being misused by politicians and government officials.
Though the government has banned the use of liquor in these guest houses, it is still being served with impunity. Interestingly, officials on genuine government duty seldom get accommodation in these guest houses, whereas persons without valid permission easily find their way into these. Most of them do not fill the visitors’ book, nor pay the tariff fixed by the government. The state government also owns two guest houses in New Delhi and one at Chandigarh, but for ordinary state government officials, it is very difficult to get accommodation in these guest houses even for a single day. Ninety per cent of the rooms remain occupied or reserved for the political leaders and senior bureaucrats throughout the year. A senior official of the General Administration Department (GAD) admitted that checking the blatant misuse of these guest houses was beyond their control. He said
permits from GAD were always issued in the names of MLAs, ministers or political leaders, but most of the time they
allow their workers or other persons to occupy rooms allotted in their names. He said GAD had no authority to check such illegal occupants. He said such illegal occupancy in the government rest houses was not only causing inconvenience to those actually on duty, but also resulting in huge loss to state exchequer. He said the tariff for persons on official duty was only Rs 50 per day with subsidised food, whereas the tariff for persons other than on official duty was Rs 500 per day with no subsidy on food. This way, the government was losing revenue in lakhs. It is also learnt that in Shimla and New Delhi, ministers and some senior bureaucrats had converted these gust houses into their residences. They continue to get their permits renewed from GAD, Shimla, from time to time. On many occasions, they do not fill the daily visitors’ books and rooms occupied by them were shown as vacant. There is none in the administration who could dare to ask them to vacate these rooms. The annual expenditures on the maintenance of these rest houses was over Rs 5 crore, including salary of the staff. The situation at Chandigarh has also gone from bad to worse. Political leaders and bureaucrats continue to occupy rooms here for days together. Even in district and sub-divisional headquarters, the situation is no better. Ministers, MLAs and their staff members continue to occupy VIP suites. |
|
Acute scarcity of water
Solan, June 17 While parts of Solan, Garkhal, Mashobra and Chattiyan have been going without water for days together, the two departments have their own tales of woes. In Solan the additional Superintending engineer has released the details of power supply in the town for the past several months. According to the computer generated data of MRI meters, apart from routine power shutdowns on every second Tuesday, there have not been major failures. While the power made available for water-lifting schemes has been as high as 99 per cent how the department can be blamed for lack of power, contest officials. The situation is, however, different in the areas near Kasauli, including Garkhal, Mashobra and Chattiyan, where people have been without water for four days. According to IPH officials, the erratic power supply led to no or little water lifting. Though it is a dedicated feeder line, connections have been given to other places, leading to undue strain. This has led to the transformer giving way every now and then. It is interesting to note that though there is no dearth of water it could not be lifted in the absence of proper power supply. The people suffered the most as even tankers have not so far been made available in all affected areas, rued residents.
|
|
At Sirmaur hospital, sarai adds to patients’ woes
Nahan, June 17 An ambulance remains stationed round-the-clock to ferry those belonging to the BPL (Below Poverty Line) and IRDP (Integrated Rural Development Programme) categories free of cost to PGI, Chandigarh and Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla. However, allegations abound that patients are arbitrarily chosen and sometimes ambulances are also hired at Rs 5.50 per km, which is the current market, says Ram Avtar, a resident of Shillai. He is here for the treatment of his relative. There is also widespread resentment among the doctors who say that unlike other places where the honorary secretary of the Red Cross is the head of civil hospitals, here, the Red Cross chairman is holding that post. Incidentally, he is also the Deputy Commissioner of
Sirmaur. Chief medical officer (CMO) Dr Anil Gupta corroborated this stance.
A proponent of ‘Karamyogi Sanskar’, speaking on terms of anonymity, says the patients should not be asked to pay as the ‘sarai’ was meant for charitable purposes. He says the conditions in the ‘sarai’ are pitiable, unhygienic and shabby. It is difficult to comprehend how people even manage to cook their food amongst such filth, he wonders. Those from far-away places who cannot afford to get tests and ultrasound, etc, done at market rates are forced to stay on at the ‘saria’ for days until the doctors can attend to them. The CMO says the secretary of Red Cross, like in other hospitals, ought to be the head of the Regional Hospital. However, this task is being performed by the assistant commissioner to DC. Meanwhile, the assistant commissioner claims that Red Cross is discharging its duties towards the welfare of the hapless and vulnerable sections. He also admits that since the sources of income have escalated substantially, the institution will undertake more assignments of uplifting and serving the social causes as it has recently hired Asha Boarding School to accommodate handicapped students at a cost of Rs 2,600 rent per month. However, when The Tribune talked to doctors at the Regional Hospital, they said the rates being charged from poor are unreasonable and need to be drastically cut. They advise Rs 20 for X-Ray, Rs 200 for CT scan, Rs 50 for ultrasound and Rs 10 for blood tests, saying this would help the poor to take advantage of the treatment available. They also feel that the functioning needs to be streamlined and brought directly under the ‘Rogi Kalayan Samiti’ located at the hospital premises. |
|
Woman commits suicide
Nurpur, June 17 Following the complaint of Kanta, mother of the deceased and resident of Bhatolli Dhabrwan, the police has registered a case under Sections 489(A) and 306 of the IPC for allegedly harassing the deceased and forcing her to commit
suicide. The police informed that Vipin had solemnized his second marriage to Babit after the death of his previous wife in April this year. He started harassing Babita soon after the marriage. Meanwhile, the police arrested the husband of the deceased today. The body was sent for a postmortem examination after which it was cremated. |
|
Police post attacked
Dalhousie, June 17 According to sources, there was an altercation between tourists and workers of a restaurant and in no time a squabble ensued. On receiving information, a policy squad rushed to the spot and took two tourists hailing from Jammu in custody. As soon as the police officials reached the police post, a crowd of some local people started pelting the police post with stones. Walls and door were damaged and windowpanes smashed. |
|
Hooch claims two lives
Chamba, June 17 One person died in the Bharmaur civil hospital, while another died in Chamba regional hospital Chamba last evening. Five persons, who reportedly worked as labourers with a civil contractor at Kharamukh, consumed some spurious liquor on Friday night. On Saturday morning, two of them were found lying unconscious. They were rushed to the Bharmaur civil hospital where Hira Lal, a resident of Punjab, breathed his last. Another person, Roshan Lal, a resident of Khairi in Chamba district, was referred to the Chamba regional hospital where he died last evening. |
|
Landslide poses threat
Chamba, June 17 A few years ago, a massive landslide caused by heavy rains had blocked the Ravi thereby making an artificial reservoir of the river waters. Though a passage for the smooth flow of river waters had been dug out at that time but the obstruction to the free flow of water and fear of triggering further landslides from the unstable hills hovering over the river posed a greater danger. The landslide which occurred on Monday had damaged the Nayagran road and big cracks had developed on the road. Due to the blockade of road communication, the link of Kuleth, Deol, Bhajot and Nayagran tribal villages with other parts of the district had been cut off. |
|
Demand for abolishing tribunal flayed
Bilaspur, June 17 Addressing mediapersons here yesterday, confederation state chief adviser and state NGO’s former president Ram Singh said if so many transfer cases were pending with the tribunal, it only proved the charge against the government that thousands of employees were being transferred extraneously. He said the pendency of a large number of cases also showed that the tribunal was overloaded with work and that it required more judges and benches to dispose of the cases at the earliest. The state confederation was of the view that CM should refuse to order any transfer at the instance of any NGO leader, he added. He also dismissed the plea put forward by pro-government NGO leaders that this tribunal was a handicap for employees.
|
|
BMS is largest labour organisation
Bilaspur, June 17 At a district level meeting at Kandraur, near here yesterday, district BMS president Jagir Singh Thakur said this had been stated in the latest trade unions’ survey just released by the chief labour commissioner and Ministry of Labour, Government of India. Singh said CITU, a trade union of the CPM, is next in the state with 11,000 members, while AITUC, an affiliate of the CPI, is at the third place with a membership of 6,000. The conference urged the government to implement Supreme Court’s latest verdict and order departments to clear arrears of labour apart from regularising services of all those who have completed seven years in service. Another resolution demanded a monthly medical allowance of Rs 350 instead of the present Rs 40.
|
|
Missionaries face villagers’ wrath
Hamirpur, June 17 They were taking some local residents for prayers in Tilu village, near
Nadaun. Refuting the allegations, the Christian missionaries said they were there to conduct prayers with the family to ward off their problems. The police said there seemed to be no evidence of conversion.
|
|
Kalka-Shimla highway heaven in summers
Parwanoo, June 17 The cool breeze welcomes as you take a turn from the Timber Trail Resort here, to the wide open lush green valley ahead. From the Timber Trail Resort, the hotel cable car takes you to another resort, the Timber Trail Resort Heights, situated at the top of a hill. Those wanting more adventure can visit the famous historical Banasar fort, just behind heights. As you go further on the highway, Jabli, a little point in the lap of the hills beckons you with its charming look. Gone are the days when Jabli was just a hamlet of two to three small shops. Now, it boasts of excellent facilities. Jabli also has a ropeway trolley that climbs from 3,000 feet above sea level to 4,500 feet. The HPMC also has its plant at Jabli. Its vast fruit-based products easily catch one’s attraction. A little away from Jabli, roadside vendors gleefully sell apricot, plum and cheery, among other pahari products. Very soon, fresh local vegetables like tomato, cucumber and capsicum will replace these fruits. Onward from Jabli lies Dharampur. This hilly town is known as a famous food junction. Apart from the famous ‘Gaini Ka Dhaba’, renowned food chains like Hot Millions, Golfers’ and Café Coffee Day have also set up their vends here. Other local dhabas also make the place a foodie’s delight. From Dharampur, the drive to Kasauli goes through breathtaking landscapes. Another shortcut leading to Kasauli goes thorough dense wooded hills. Both the locations are perfect for picnics. Back on the highway, about few metres away from Dharampur, a road leads to Dagshai. Known as an 867-acre piece of fairytale land, Dagshai is a calm and sleepy cantonment. Here, one encounters glimpses of the British Raj everywhere. The famous T-shaped jail and cemeteries leave an impression on the mind. The famous polo ground atop a hill also leaves one spellbound. All these places make the highway a place to run to and are an amazing escape from the oppressive heat.
|
|
Man held
Parwanoo, June 17 The woman is two months pregnant. The couple also has a one-and-half-year-old daughter. Both were residing at Majhyana village. The husband works as labourer. |
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
