Shimla, October 6
The government will go ahead with its decision to set up three special economic zones (SEZ) in the state, but will not get involved with the process of land acquisition for these project. This will be done by the project-executing agency.

Addressing a press conference here today, industries minister Kuldeep Kumar said the government was in the process of finalising the setting up of three SEZ. “However, the state government will not get involved in land acquisition for the purpose,” he said.

The state government proposes to set up three SEZ at Kangra, Una and Manali. Some time ago, there were reports that the government had dropped the proposal, but Kuldeep Kumar confirmed that the matter was still being processed.

The minister said the state government had taken up with the Centre the issue of extension of the special industrial package given to the state till 2013. “It is wrong to say that the industrial package given earlier was till 2013 and it was later reduced to 2010,” he said.

He said the fact was that there was no cut-off date mentioned in the package as far as the 100 per cent excise duty exemption was concerned. “It was an open-ended concession on which a cut-off date of 2010 was later added,” he explained.

He said the government had decided to convert the Rs 4.61-crore loan given to the HP Handicrafts and Handloom Corporation Limited into equity. “This will go a long way in reducing the losses of the corporation and help improve its financial health,” he said. The losses of the corporation had come down from Rs 1.21 crore during 2004-05 to Rs 1.12 crore in 2005-06 and Rs 44 lakh last year, he added.

He said a Rs 20-lakh export order for angora shawls had been placed with the corporation by a Korean company. The government had appointed consultants to suggest ways for the revival of the corporation and the report submitted by them was under consideration, he added.

Kangra, October 6
Tension gripped the local bus stand today when the contractor constructing the bus stand under the build, operate and transfer (BOT) scheme blocked the entrance and exit of the bus stand when he was not allowed to collect the bus stand fee by the HRTC authorities. Instead the collection was made by the regional manager, HRTC.

It was around 6.30 am that officials of the HRTC arrived at the bus stand and started collecting Rs 20 per bus. Earlier, contractor Pushp Rajan was allotted the contract earlier by the HRTC. Later, workers of the construction company blocked the entrance of the bus stand.

Traffic was blocked on the highway adjacent to the bus stand and only when regional manager, HRTC, called the police that traffic was restored.

According to contractor of the bus stand, Vijay Sood, the chief executive officer, Bus Stand Development Management Authority (CEO BSDMA), had allowed him to collect the fee, following the receipt of the Provisional Completion Certificate issued by the competent authority.

Sood said he had been collecting the fee since September 26, and yesterday, he received a fax massage from the CEO BSDMA that the bus stand lacked basic facilities and hence he should stop collecting the fee.

Sood claimed that facilities were complete in the bus stand and that he was being victimised for unknown reasons. He said he would seek legal relief from the HP High Court in this regard.

Regional manager A.N. Salaria said following an inspection by the two-member committee headed by divisional manager, HRTC, B.S. Thakur on October 1, a report was submitted to the HRTC that the bus stand lacked facilities.

Salaria said since the bus stand lacked facilities and was not formally inaugurated and handed over to the contractor under the BOT scheme, he was asked to stop the collection of Rs 50 as bus stand fee. He alleged that Sood even refused to accept the order copy delivered to him by traffic manager Ragunath Singh.

He said, “We tried to negotiate with him yesterday but he was adamant to accept the suggestions”. Divisional manager HRTC said as soon as the contractor completed his work, his lease time would start for 16 years and 7 months.

It was after more than two hours that the tension was defused and the contractor’s workers lifted the blockade.

Hamirpur, October 6
In the process of hearing complaints pertaining to appointments of anganwari workers and helpers in Hamirpur district, total eight appointments have been cancelled by the deputy commissioner 
till now.

About 400 complaints were filed against appointment of 859 anganwari workers and helpers in the district by the rejected candidates or their relatives challenging the appointments on the basis of wrong certificates of income or family status of the appointee being a separate entity.

Out of 8 cancelled appointments of Tripta Devi for Malag 2 Anganwari centre, Reeta Kumari for Bela 4 centre, Anita Devi for Lohrat centre, Manju Devi for Ghanoa Anganwari centre, were cancelled on September 17 and that of Brahmi Devi for Gujreha - Bharan centre was cancelled on September 26.

Three more appointments under the Nadaun block that of Kamesh Kumari for Balh- Patiana Anganwari centre, Anuradha for Khunagar centre and Beena Kumari for Banthru Anganwari centre had been cancelled on October 3rd by DC Nandita Gupta after hearing the complaints. The appointments of Anganwari workers and helpers had generated much heat and many complaints were filed.

The complaints are being taken up block wise and in Nadaun block out of 114 complaints 72 have been decided and 42 are pending, in Sujanpur block out of 20 , 12 have been decided and 8 are pending, in Bhoranj out of 67, 20 have been decided and 33 are pending . As many as 70 complaints from Hamirpur and 90 from Tohni Devi have been received. The Hamirpur DC said, “the complaints are being decided on the basis of verification of income certificates or family status of the appointed candidate from the revenue record and panchayat records etc, since there are fixed norms for the appointment.”

“The appointments have been cancelled if the certificates were not found consistent with the record” she added.

Chamba, October 6
In order to efficiently manage natural resources and the environment, the Himachal Pradesh Government has appointed 75 forest guards in Chamba Forest Circle on a regular basis to fill up all beats lying vacant since a long time, thereby strengthening the Forest Department.

The recruitment of forest guards has put one more feather in the cap of the state government showing its concern to provide employment to people of the region.

Chamba conservator of forests Avtar Singh said the recruitment had been made purely on merit following the prescribed procedure and the criteria laid down by the government. He further added that transparency had been maintained at every stage during the process of recruitment and appointments as it was made through the authorised selection committee.

He further said the recruitments had been made through the newly adopted procedure starting with physical efficiency test of 25 marks followed by the written test of 60 marks and personality test of 15 marks.

The newly recruited forest guards were being sent for training to various forest training schools in Himachal Pradesh to equip them physically, technically and administratively.

In addition to this, he said in Chamba Forest Circle, 136 daily-wage workers had been regularised, who had completed 8 years of service.

Dharamsala, October 6
The state government has claimed to have provided Rs 100-crore subsidy on essential commodities to the people, especially to the poor families in the state. A spokesman of the government in a press note issued has stated that keeping in view the price rise, the government has launched an ambitious ‘subsidized scheme’ under which essential commodities are being provided through the network of 4,345 fair price shops in the state which has not only brought stability in the prices, but the commodities are being easily made available to the poor people of the state.

The pulses, malka is being sold at a fixed price of Rs. 20 per kg, channa dal and urd at Rs. 25 per kg to the consumers under the scheme. One kg of each of all three pulses are provided to every family per month through out the state.

Besides, mustard oil is also provided at Rs. 45 per liter and refined oil at Rs. 40 per liter to all 14,03,334 ration card holders every month, while iodized salt is sold at Rs. 4 per kg per family per month.

The spokesman has claimed that the state government is committed to provide essential commodities to the poor people at subsidised rate. Wheat flour (atta) and rice are being provided every month to BPL, APL and Antyodaya families in the state.

Similarly, food grain is also being provided to the people above 65 years of age under the Annapurna scheme. Wheat flour at Rs. 7.65 per kg, rice at Rs. 9 per kg to APL families, while to BPL families wheat at Rs. 5.25 per kg and rice at Rs. 6.85 per kg is being made available through fair price shops.

For Antyodaya families wheat is being made available at Rs. 2.00 per kg, rice at Rs. 3.00 per kg. and levy sugar at Rs. 13.50 per kg is provided to the consumers.

The The Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) has further been made broad- based with the introduction of the Antodaya Ann Yojna Scheme with additional benefits to the venerable sections and the poorest of the poor families as well as an Annpurna Scheme for destitute old persons covered under the national Old Age Pension Scheme.

The flying squads are keeping vigil over the storage and distribution of essential commodities in the state. The government has also formed monitoring committees at the district, subdivisional and panchayat-level which have been authorised to inspect the fair price shops, stated the spokesman.

Dharamsala, October 6
A section of journalists based at Dharamsala today protested against the slapping of sedition charges by the police on an editor and two senior journalists of a vernacular daily newspaper being published from here and gave a memorandum addressed to the Governor to the DM demanding immediate withdrawal of the case.

DM Ashwani Kapoor while discussing the issue told the deputation of journalists that he would personally take up the matter with the home secretary of the state and request him to withdraw the case.

Two days back the Shimla police had registered a case of sedition charges under Sections 124-A and 505 of the IPC at Sadar police station against Anil Soni editor, Vijay Puri chief of bureau and Sunil Sharma special correspondent of a Hindi daily ‘Divya Himachal’ published from here.

The case was registered on the basis of a news item published in the newspaper with regard to the arrest of three Pakistan-trained militants prior to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s proposed Shimla visit, last week. The newspaper had claimed that the PM’s proposed visit was cancelled due to security threats.

However, Shimla ASP DW Negi defended the registration of this case saying that no such arrests were made by the local police or any other police/agency of the country as published in the newspaper. Claiming that the news item was fictitious, the ASP said the case had nothing to do with the state government as it was the individual decision of the police to register a case against the editor and two journalists.

Bilaspur, October 6
The medium irrigation project in Changar area of Kot Kehloor constituency to be constructed at a cost of Rs 88.09 crore, has become a bone of contention between three leaders belonging to three different political parties, with each claiming credit for its approval from the Central government and in its implementation.

Inaugurating the first phase of the six phase project at Dabat village, state forest minister Ram Lal Thakur said the former BJP regime had ignored the project and only spent Rs 1.50 crore on it, while the Congress had spent Rs 36.29 crore on it up till now. He said Rs 5 crore had been spent on its first phase which would irrigate 176 hectares of land. He said the project would be completed in six phases and a total of Rs 23 crore would be spent on it.

On the other hand, BJP state spokesman Randhir Sharma rejecting the claims of Thakur said, Thakur was making false and misleading statements regarding the Central approval.

He said the project was first approved on August 4, 1984, and an agreement was signed between Punjab and the state government for providing 25 cusecs of the Nangal Hydel Channel Water to Changar area. He said the respective Congress governments ignored the project and so the agreement was annulled by the Punjab government in December, 1997.

He informed it was former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal who signed a fresh agreement with Punjab government in 1998 and later he laid its foundation stone on June 26, 1999 at Dabat.

He said the entire credit of the project went to the BJP and Prem Kumar Dhumal and charged the earlier Congress governments of not taking up the project for 16 years which had delayed its completion.

State general secretary of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Krishan Kumar Kaushal also contested all claims of forest minister Ram Lal Thakur and said he was misleading people.

He said from 1985-90, when Thakur was an MLA, he had sent a faulty project report to the Centre which was rejected by Prime Minister Rajeev Gandhi.

Kaushal said when he himself became an MLA, he sent a revised report and got it sanctioned on June 22, 1999, from the Central government. He said Thakur could not claim any credit for the project as he was befooling people.

Solan, October 6
BJP state in charge Satpal Jain today negated the impact of BSP in Himachal. He said the BSP’s presence would adversely help the BJP in emerging victorious as it would erode the Congress vote bank which also suffered from anti-incumbency wave.

Interacting with The Tribune near Kumarhatti today he said the party leaders had been directed to work in unison as it was the opportune time for the party to consolidate their voter base.

Asserting the need for putting up a united fight, Jain later convened a party meeting where president Jai Ram Thakur, former Chief Minister and MP P.K.Dhumal, former union minister Shanta Kumar, office-bearers and in charges of all four parliamentary constituencies were directed to ensure that bickering within the party were amicably settled.

Other senior leaders, including Om Prakash Dhankar co in charge, Ram Lal organising secretary and Manohar Lal regional organising secretary, district president H.N Saini, former minister J.P. Nadda, former MP Kripal Parmar and others were also present.

State president Jai Ram Thakur said the BJP would contest on all 68 seats and would not enter into any alliance with any party.

He said 300 rallies would be held throughout the state by December end.

Thakur however evaded queries on declaration of the Chief Ministerial candidate and said it was the prerogative of the party’s parliamentary board to decide on the issue. 

Kumarhatti, October 6
An alarming rise in cable theft cases in the area has put BSNL in a fix. Such instances not only put subscribers to inconvenience, but also deprive BSNL of its precious cable stock.

Six telecom subdivisions in the area are facing problem due to rise in number of cable theft cases. The problem was more severe in remote forest areas where thieves strike at their own will. A large number of migrant labourers in the area could be behind these thefts as cable fetches good price. BSNL officials, however, do not rule out the possibility of involvement of local residents in such incidents.

Cable theft cases have virtually crippled BSNL services in certain areas causing a major commercial setback to the nigam. Earlier, such cases were restricted to remote areas, but now such cases are being reported from even thickly populated residential areas.

All efforts by the BSNL authorities to seek help from the police have proved futile. On the other hand, the police authorities feel it is impossible to curb such instances without BSNL support. A senior BSNL official, however, said laying cable underground in rural areas was not possible due to cost factor. 

Shimla, October 6
Red ribbon clubs will be set up in all government departments to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS and create awareness among the masses.

Stating this here today project director, HP State AIDS Control Society, Sulakshna Puri said a statewide campaign would be launched for control of the disease and its further spread. She was presiding over a workshop on HIV/AIDS.

“A nodal officer has been appointed for setting up red ribbon clubs in every department. He will cooperate with the State AIDS Control Society and senior officials for the purpose,” she said.

All government departments, NGOs and panchayati raj institutions would be involved in the campaign to reach out to every nook and corner of the state, she added.

Puri said the government had opened free HIV\AIDS diagnostic centres at all district headquarters and some other places.

Dharamsala, October 6
A new linseed variety ‘Bhagsu’ has been developed by the scientists of the State Agricultural University, Palampur.

The new variety is blue flowered, brown and small seeded. It has been found suitable for growing in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir.

It gives an average yield of 400-450 kg per hectare. It matures in 184-190 days and is moderately resistant to rust, wilt and alternaria blight diseases. The oil content in the seeds is 36.4 per cent. Dr. Tej Partap, vice-chancellor of the university, has appreciated Dr S. Bhateria and her team for developing this variety. linseed. — TNS