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Review self-identified hydel projects, board told
Power project fetches Rs 70-cr royalty
20 Cong men join BJP
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Shahpur unit of Cong dissolved
Scrub typhus fever grips 200 in Kangra
RTI information expensive in state
Construction mafia eating into forest cover
Private security — a booming industry
Protect interests of industrialists: BJP
Few takers for short-term technical courses
Staff wants HPU autonomy restored
CM: Road to Kupvi soon
‘Probe misuse of circuit houses’
Drive against social evils
Union to oppose HPSEB division
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Review self-identified hydel projects, board told
Tenders floated for big
projects Addressing the executive committee meeting of the state INTUC here Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said the state was striving to harness the entire identified hydel potential and work on a large number of hydel projects was in progress. The state had so far harnessed about 6500 MW and projects to exploit 6200 MW were under implementation. The government had floated global tenders for bigger projects in which reputed power companies of the world had evinced interest. He said his government had raised the daily wages from Rs 60 to Rs 75 and a further enhancement would also be considered National INTUC president G. Sanjeeva Reddy said efforts were being made to create adequate workforce to feed the growing industrial and power sectors. He said the decision of the state government to provide 70 per cent employment at all stages to local people deserved to be adopted in the entire country.
Shimla, July 22 Initially, the government had invited applications for self-identified mini and micro hydel projects up to 5 MW in response to which about 200 proposals were received, mostly from companies outside the state. However, the present government which decided to give preference to Himachalis in allotment of projects cancelled most of the projects on the plea that no company will be allotted more than three projects. Thereafter in January 2006, the state electricity board invited applications for both identified and self-identified projects having capacity in excess of 5 MW. Applications were received for 23 self-identified projects. Interestingly, the private companies which had earlier submitted proposals for mini projects came up with proposals for big projects on the same rivers and khads. The projects included 30-MW Malana-III, 70-MW Tos, 15- MW Rupin, 9-MW Kapari, 12-MW Ropa, 7-MW Seri Rawla, 128-MW Mastrang, 24-MW Tunda, 10-MW Tati and 16-MW Balsothi projects. The government subsequently decided not to consider the applications for self-identified projects. Early this year HIMURJA, the nodal agency for mini and micro hydel projects, again invited applications for identified and self-identified small projects. More than 1600 applications, half of which were for self-identified projects, have been received. The private companies which had applied for big projects last year had split the same projects into smaller projects up to 5 MW and submitted proposals. For instance, the 30-MW Malana-III project has been split into three mini projects of 5 MW each. Similar is the case with Tos, Rupin and other rivers where both small and big projects have been proposed. The government has now written to the state electricity board to re-examine the self-identified projects from technical, professional and operation angles to ensure that there was no overlapping and that these projects do not enter into or end up in protracted litigation. Further, it has to be ensured that sufficient space on the ground was available for execution of individual projects and construction of transmission lines. |
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Power project fetches Rs 70-cr royalty
Surangani (Chamba), July 22 S. Kalgaonkar, general manager of the project said since the commissioning of the project, the state government had been drawing free power quota of 12 per cent electricity from the Jassore substation in Kangra district, thereby fetching a royalty of Rs 70 crore to its exchequer from the project. Till the commissioning of the 540 MW Chamera hydroelectric project in 1994 on the Ravi in Chamba district, the Baira-Siul project remained the biggest power project in Himachal
Pradesh. The Baira-Siul project which celebrated its ‘silver jubilee’ on May 21, 2005, had completed 27 years of its operation, Kalgaonkar stated. “Chamba district, earlier known for its ancient temples, is now known to harbour at least 2,000 MW of power on the
Ravi. The NHPC has developed three projects of 1,038 MW in Chamba district, of which the 180 MW Baira-Siul hydroelectric project was commissioned as its first hydroelectric project in the country after the NHPC’s formation during the year 1975-76”, he
claimed. Kalgaonkar said the project had been supplying power to Himachal
Pradesh, Punjab, Delhi and Haryana. This has also been giving much-needed fillip to the industrial and agro-horticulture development of the region at a time when there were a few power projects, Kalgaonkar said. Amazingly, the amount of repair effort required for the Baira-Siul project is the highest one amongst powerhouses in the country. But despite this, the water is not allowed to be lost and cheaper power is provided to the states. The Research and Development efforts by NHPC have also helped in reducing the annual maintenance of the generating units. The NHPC augmented the capacity of power plant from 180 MW to 198 MW during 1989-91. The project was constructed at a cost of about Rs 149 crore and came into commercial operation in April 1982. Power from the project flows through a 96-km-long 220 KV double circuit transmission line to the Northern Grid at Talwara in Punjab, from where it is channelised to the beneficiary states, Kalgaonkar added. |
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Stage set for third force
Rakesh Lohumi Tribune News Service Shimla: With rebel Congress leader Vijay Singh Mankotia finally deciding to join the BSP along with some other leaders the stage has been set for the emergence of a third force on the political horizon of the hill state. Though not unexpected, the development is a cause of serious concern for both the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP, the two main contenders for power. Mankotia hails from Kangra, the biggest and politically most significant district of the state, and with most of the former HVC leaders likely to follow suit, the BSP with its new social engineering formula could make a difference in the outcome of the forthcoming Assembly elections. The Congress and the BJP will have to rework their strategies, particularly in view of the announcement made by BSP general secretary Mann Singh Manhera that his party would declare its chief ministerial candidate well in advance. Mankotia has been consistently raising the issue of discrimination against Kangra to exploit the regional factor and there is little doubt that a decisive battle for power will be fought in Kangra, a traditional stronghold of the BJP. Electoral politics in the state has been largely bipolar with the Congress and the BJP occupying the center-stage. However, there have been at least two occasions in the past when parties floated by disgruntled leaders played the spoilsport for the Congress. It was none other than Mankotia who joined the V.P.Singh bandwagon in 1989 to head the newly floated Janata Dal. He lost the Lok Sabha election from Kangra to BJP stalwart Shanta Kumar. However, the Janata Dal contested the subsequent Assembly polling alliance with the BJP to oust Congress from power. The Congress could win just 9 seats. The Janata Dal won 11 out of the total 17 seats allotted to it and the rest went to the BJP. In 1998 veteran Congress leader Sukh Ram floated the HVC on the eve of the Assembly poll to ensure defeat of the Congress. The party had gone for a snap poll to take advantage of the badly divided BJP but the HVC upset its calculations. It won only five seats but tilted the scales against the Congress in 12 seats. Even then the BJP, which secured 29 seats, could form the government only with the support of the HVC. Two former ministers Vijay Joshi and Kewal Pathania are also joining the BSP along with Mankotia. A formal announcement will be made on July 26 at Kangra where party supremo Mayawati is scheduled to address a rally. The process of political polarisation has just started and many leaders from the two main parties will join as the elections draws near.
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20 Cong men join BJP
Nurpur, July 22 He lambasted local Congress leaders for spreading rumours about the denial of the BJP ticket to him in the forthcoming Assembly elections. He alleged that the Congress had failed to fulfil its promises and development activities had come to a standstill in the Nurpur Assembly constituency. Pathania welcomed 20 Congress workers who joined the BJP on the occasion. |
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Shahpur unit of Cong dissolved
Shimla, July 22 According to party sources, members of block Congress committee, mostly supporters of Mankotia, have been busy mobilising support for the BSP rally to be held at Kangra on July 26. Mankotia and some other leaders will formally join the BSP in the presence of BSP supremo Mayawati. Dev Dut Sharma has been appointed in place of Madal Lal, who headed the dissolved committee. He will constitute the new body in consultation with Viplove Thakur. |
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Scrub typhus fever grips 200 in Kangra
Dharamsala, July 22 Though the medical authorities have claimed to have contained the spread of this disease the fear looms large in people living in the low-lying hill areas of this district. The illness, caused by a micro-organism of the rickettsia genus, is characterised by high fever, headache and body muscular pain, as in malaria, typhoid and dengue. CMO Jaswant Singh Chandel said that while12 of the 19 blood samples had confirmed scrub typhus, four were found to be suffering from typhoid. It was for the first time that such type of fever had been reported from the region. Special teams of doctors had been visiting the affected villages for treatment. The CMO said that the patients were responding to doxy-cycline and a few other antibiotics. There was no cause for alarm as the patients were responding to antibiotic treatment. At present, 200 patients were under treatment. Meanwhile, the district administration has launched a campaign to create awareness about the measures to check this disease. |
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RTI information expensive in state
Shimla, July 22 After paying an application fee of Rs 10, a person seeking information under the RTI Act has to pay Rs 10 per page for photocopy of A-4 size sheet and Rs 20 if the size of the paper was more than that, sources in the Information Commission said. The charge per page of photocopy of A-4 size sheet at the Union government level was only Rs 2, they said. Besides, information available in the form of printed publication would be made available at the printed price, they added. For information available in electronic form and supplied through CD or floppy disk, the charge was Rs 50 per floppy and Rs 100 per CD. The fee for perusal of government files was Rs 10 for 15 minutes and the amount would multiply for every additional 15 minutes, they said “The amount of Rs 10 per page was not for generating revenue but was aimed at spreading awareness about the act from money acquired through the applicants,” Chief information commissioner Prem Singh Rana told PTI. He said about 150 applicants had availed information under the Act in the hill state in the past one year. The Act came to force in the state in October 2005, but became more effective after the appointment of Rana as head of the State Information Commission on March 1, 2006. Sources in the commission said reports had been sought from all government departments to assess the impact of the information movement in Himachal Pradesh in the past one year.
— PTI |
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Construction mafia eating into forest cover
Dalhousie, July 22 The construction mafia here is involved in raising unplanned, unauthorised and illegal structures.The construction activities are spreading out in the wooded municipal areas where it is prohibited. Politicians are allegedly in league with the mafia. The norms and provisions of the Himachal Pradesh Town and Country Planning Act are being violated Many hotels are coming up in and around the municipal limits with the administration and civic body not being concerned. If this goes on, the town, known for its natural and picturesque setting, would lose its scenic splendour. The media has highlighted the issue on several occasions, but the Department of Urban Development has turned a blind eye to the menace. The Town and Country Planning Department appears to be ineffective. It merely issues notices. The functionaries of the government, under whose nose multi-storeyed structures are being constructed however, clarify that all constructions are coming up with the prior approval of their development plans. Since there is no sewage system in the town, both the sewage from private houses and the waste from hotels are conveniently dumped into the surrounding burns (nullahs) in certain areas. The dense forest itself is allegedly being used as an open-air lavatory. |
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Private security — a booming industry
Shimla, July 22 The private security business has a potential for exponential growth which, if fully exploited, could help provide jobs to millions of rural youth. However, most states, which were grappling with the worsening problem of unemployment, seemed to be unaware of it. They were taking no interest in ensuring regulated growth of the industry as evident from the fact that so far only Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnatka and West Bengal had enforced the Act, Vikram Singh, who was in the city to hold discussions with the government, pointed out during an interview with The Tribune. The growing demand for security can be gauged from the fact that the industry is growing at the rate of 25 per cent with its current size about Rs 8,000 crore. There are around 10,000 private security companies in the country at present. Almost 80 per cent of the industry lies within the unorganised sector with many small players setting prices according to their whims. The rest 20 per cent is in the hands of a few big ones. Such a situation is not conducive to healthy growth. Some big players like G4S India (Group 4 Securicor), SIS (Security and Intelligence Services), Tops Group and SDB CISCO India together employ over 50 lakh security personnel, four times the number of police personnel in the country. Though this industry is creating employment, especially for the rural youth and retired personnel from the armed forces, a large chunk is still unorganised. Of late, girls have also started venturing into what has so far been an exclusive male preserve and there are already about 50,000 girls on the rolls of various agencies. As per estimates about 10 lakh security personnel were being employed every year and if the state government enforces the Act the industry will provide employment to over 10 million youth over the next five to seven years. Its size will swell to Rs 25,000 crore by 2015. States like Himachal Pradesh which have lost their main employment avenue, following the Centre’s decision to make recruitment to the Army on the basis of population stood to gain the most. The Act was long overdue as without a law to regulate the industry in place, it was difficult for the end-user to discern the genuine players from the fly-by-night ones and the service providers were also finding it difficult to maintain standards in the face of undercutting by some unscrupulous players. |
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Protect interests of industrialists: BJP
Solan, July 22 Addressing mediapersons, vice-president of the state unit Rajeev Bindal said here that the move of withdrawing of 10 per cent excise duty exemption to pharmaceutical units would render thousands of Himachalis jobless as currently over 400 pharma units were in operation at Baddi, Barotiwala, Nalagarh and other places of the state, while over 100 have sought the clearances from the single window clearance agency He said the recent move of the Union Government to withdraw the excise duty concession would place the future of entrepreneurs in complete darkness as several industrialists had started their production in rented buildings in the district. Expressing concern over the alleged failure of the government in not establishing industrial townships at Solan, Shimla, Mandi, Hamirpur, Bilaspur and other places, the BJP leader said owing to alleged neglectful approach of the government, the industrialists were being exploited by the property dealers. He urged the Chief Minister to intervene in the matter and take up the issue with the Prime Minister for reconsidering the decision concerning the withdrawal of tax exemption. He also urged the government to take up the issue of filing of income tax returns by the industrialists in Himachal circle instead of their head offices with the Union Government to generate more revenues to the state. |
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Few takers for short-term technical courses
The Figures The State Council for Vocational Training has received just 4,500 applications for over 16,000 seats. On the other hand, ITIs have received over 12,000 applications for 6,000 seats while polytechnic colleges have received over 7,000 applications for 1,400 seats
Mandi, July 22 Earlier, these centres flourished as “money-minting teaching shops”, but this time the State Council for Vocational Training
(SCVT) has received just 4,500 applications for over 16,000 seats. On the other hand, ITIs have received over 12,000 applications for 6,000 seats while polytechnic colleges have received over 7,000 applications for 1,400 seats. Though the technical education directorate has extended the last date for SCVT courses up to August 11, students are preferring long-term “higher job-oriented technical courses” rather than going in for “short-term SCVT courses”. Most of them are of the view that these short-term courses do not get them even low-paying jobs in the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh belt. “These courses do not make us eligible for even low-salary jobs in the private sector,” students said. This became quite evident in the job mela held recently. Students said the government should design ITI and other vocational courses as per needs of the industry. “The seats in ITIs and polytechnic colleges should also be increased as SCVT courses offer only low-paying jobs,” they added. Director (technical education)
K.R. Bharti said: “The low demand for SCVT courses was due to increasing literacy level in the state. Students and their parents are now preferring ITI and other long-term diploma courses which offer better career and pay packet as compared to the jobs offered by SCVT vocational courses.” He said it was expected that students who failed to get seats in ITIs or polytechnic colleges might apply for the SCVT courses. “Thus, we have extended the date till August 11. We regularly upgrade courses as per needs and demands of the industry so that students could get good jobs,” he added. |
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Staff wants HPU autonomy restored
Shimla, July 22 Addressing a press conference , president of the union Chaudhary Waryam Singh Bains said if the authorities did not accept their demands they would be left with no option but to proceed on strike. “The amendment is a must so that the autonomous character of the university is restored, which is in the interest of the students and employees,” he said. He said the amendment must be brought during monsoon session of the Assembly. He said the union under no circumstances would allow outsourcing in the name of
computerisation. He also demanded granting of central university status to
HPU. “In case the Centre insists that central university be opened at a new institute, the regional centre at Dharamsala should be the venue,” he said. He also demanded implementation of the recommendations of the Dohru committee in ICDEOL, regularisation of the daily wage employees, filling of vacant posts of clerks in the examination branch and additional staff in the library for the convenience of the students. University court member Virma Chauhan requested the Governor, who is chancellor of the university, to convene a meeting of the court so that various issues could be raised. |
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CM: Road to Kupvi soon
Shimla, July 22 Interacting with a deputation of panchayat representatives from the Chopal Assembly segment led by MLA Subhash Manglate he said the Kupvi area would be soon linked with a motorable road. He said work on the Dimmu-Kupvi road was likely to be completed in the next couple of months, while work on tthe Pulwahal-Sarain-Chopal raod was in progress. The detailed project report for approval from the NABARD of Kupvi-Dahiya-Chopal road had already been submitted, he added. |
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‘Probe misuse of circuit houses’
Chamba, July 22 In a statement issued here , Gupta asked the state government to clear its stand on the concept whether the circuit houses and rest houses owned by the government were meant for holding political meetings and other related activities “Presently, it has become a common practice among various political parties to misuse the circuit houses and rest houses for holding their political meetings. These premises have become hub of political activities. “Not only this, with the vehicle revolution, one can find these circuit houses and rest houses jam-packed with private vehicles parked all around and it looks like a parking lot. This practice is going on unchecked”, Gupta lamented. |
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Drive against social evils
Shimla, July 22 Addressing a seminar on the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 and the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989, social justice and empowerment minister Rangila Ram Rao said the government was taking suitable measures to protect rights of the deprived sections. The minister urged the judiciary to dispose of cases related to atrocities on SC/ST on priority. Officers found guilty of delaying disposal of cases against SC/ST would be punished, Rao said. The minister stressed on publicising the provisions of different Acts meant for the welfare of SC/ST by holding seminars across the state, particularly in remote rural areas.
— PTI |
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Union to oppose HPSEB division
Bilaspur, July 22 Addressing mediapersons here, newly elected state Chief Advisor of the board union, Dilvar Singh
Thakur, said any division of the board was detrimental to the interests of the employees and would not only affect their future, but it would also prove harmful for the state consumers as power rates in the state were bound to increase, while consumers in state could not now afford any such increase at all. |
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