Shimla, March 4
Chief Minister P.K.Dhumal today accused the previous Virbhadra Singh regime of committing a fraud on the people of the state by not making any provision in the budget for the much-publicised scheme to provide subsidised ration.

Addressing a press conference here today he said the Congress all through claimed that it had provided Rs 100 crore for the purpose but the fact was that not a single penny was allocated. Not only that it also “cheated” the village gods by not providing any funds for the maintainance of temples, though it claimed that it had allocated Rs 12.5 crore. His government had made requisite provisions in the supplementary budget presented today. He said the government would come out with a white paper on the financial position of the state after the budget.

Referring to the problems being faced by people due to an order of the high court imposing a total ban on grant of trees to right-holders under the TD (timber distribution) rules he said the government would appeal against the decision and even approach the Supreme Court, if required. He said because of the ban trees could not be given to the fire victims of Malana village whose house had been reduced to ashes. The government had to provide Rs 1.5 crore to the Forest Corporation so that timber could be arranged for them.

He had also brought to the notice of the Prime Minister and the union minister for environment and forests the difficulties being faced by the state in carrying out development activities because of the Forest Conservation Act. The ban on green felling had created such a situation that fuel wood was not available for even burning the dead.

Shimla, March 4
Forest minister J.P.Nadda assured the House that the government would spare no effort to get relief to the sawmills that were closed down on the order of the Supreme Court.

Replying to a question of Gangu Ram Musafir (Cong), he said while 393 unlicensed sawmills were closed down, another 484 were in the pipeline when the Supreme Court passed the order. The BJP government had taken up the matter with the central empowered committee soon after assuming office. The government had replied to all queries raised by the committee and also submitted the information sought by it regarding availability of timber.

The Hamirpur Kamgar Association, representing the sawmill owners, had also filed its reply and he was hopeful of an early decision in the matter. He said the government would fulfil the commitment made by it in the poll manifesto on the issue. The government would also take the required legal action to get removed the ban imposed by the high court on grant of trees to right-holders under the timber distribution rules.

Horticulture minister Narinder Bragta told Mohinder Singh (BJP) that the government would conduct an inquiry into the foreign trip in which ineligible persons, who were close to the Congress government, visited China under the horticulture technology mission(HTM). He said that while the minister concerned went on tour as a farmer after he was denied permission, a mechanic of the Horticulture Department was included as a coordinator even though there were other officers to do the job. Another employee, who was not eligible, was also obliged by the government. The government would also look into the supply of inferior planting material to farmers under the mission.

He informed that the state was included under the HTM by the NDA regime and till date Rs 94.50 crore had been spent under it over the past five years. As many as 77,333 growers had so far benefited from the mission and over 14,000 hectares had been brought under horticulture crops.

Chief Minister P.K.Dhumal informed the House that 1,82,121 persons had been provided employment under the national rural employment guarantee scheme in the state and an amount of Rs 143 crore had been spent under it over the past three years. The state was likely to another Rs 10 crore during the current financial year.

He underlined the need for creating awareness about the scheme among the people in the backward areas for which it was primarily meant. The lack of awareness was evident from the fact that in Sirmaur, one of the two districts where the scheme was launched at the first instance, there were only 12,777 beneficiaries as against 67,455 in Kangra and 66,253 in Mandi. Even in Chamba 35,646 persons benefited from the scheme.

Mandi, March 4
All roads lead to temple town here for the week-long International Shivratri festival to be held from March 6 to 13. Over 215 deities are expected to participate in the fair. Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal would be the chief guest of the traditional “jaleb” procession which would start from the Madhavrai temple to the historic Paddal Maidan on March 7.

The town will echo with tunes played by folk musicians, bajantris who accompany the processions of devtas. The first devta that enters the town for the fair is Kamrunag, presiding deity which is worshipped as rain god. He is received by the president of the mela committee on the behalf of the erstwhile raja of Mandi whose ancestors had started this festival in the 16th century.

Interestingly, Kamrunag as a tradition does not participate in “jaleb” instead it camps at Tarna temple atop the hill town throughout the week-long ceremony bestowing blessings, peace and prosperity on residents, devotees claim.

The “jaleb” procession is led by Lord Madhavrai, Sukhdev Rishi, (Bali chowki), Shridev Thata (Shiv Badar), and Buda Bingal (Roonj). For villagers who come from all region for the divine get-together, Shivratri is not only scared but also shopping time as they buy clothes and agricultural implements from the fair and look forward to period of good crops and prosperity.

For tourists, “jaleb” and oracle sessions are special attractions. They can buy traditional handicraft and handloom items from the exhibition-cum-sale stalls at Paddal Maidan.

DC-cum-president of the Shivratri Mela Committee Onkar Sharma said the committee had invited over 215 devtas for the fair.

The main cultural attraction on the opening cultural night on March 7 at Seri Manch will be the performances by classical dancer Mittali, playback singer Nidhi Kohli, Javed Ali. Sunil of Sare-ga-ma-pa fame (March 8), Punjabi Sufiyana music heartthrob Hansraj Hans (March 9), playback singer Vaishali Sawant (March 10) laughter poets, Kuldip Dubey and Chanden Prabhakar (March 11) and Anuj Sharma of Indian Idol fame (March 13) will regale the audience on other days.

Sharma said committee would organize folk music festival for bajantris, besides national-level wrestling, state-level volleyball, district-level basketball and kabaddi championships.

He said Nehru Yuva Kendra troupes from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh would also performance during the festival.

“Cultural nights will also feature Himachali folk artistes. No international troupe is invited for the festival. All arrangements have been made to maintain health and hygiene and law and order during the mela,” he added.

Sundernagar, March 4
The government has issued a notification under Section 4 for the Land Acquisition Act for acquiring land in the Chambi-Khatrwari area for the controversial cement plant despite public opposition.

The notification was issued on February 29 for the acquisition of 1,004 bighas, including 981 bighas of private land and just 23 bighas of the government land. The entire private land proposed to be acquired is agricultural land.

The 25-page notification has been sent to the Department of Printing and soon it would be published in the official gazette and two newspapers for inviting objections from the public. Copies of the notification have been sent to various departments.

Residents of Sundernagar and adjoining areas are not so far aware of the new development as the mater has been kept secret.

People have been opposing the government decision to set up a cement plant near here.

In the second phase, 3,092 bighas of land would be acquired to form mining site for the plant. In all, 10,200 bighas would be used for the project. It was bound to affect human population and the wildlife in the area.

In July, 2007, noted environmentalist Sunder Lal Bahuguna toured the site and requested the government not to ruin the area which was a rare combination of population and wildlife, but the government seems to have ignored his requests.

Shimla, March 4
To know the weather forecast or the temperatures of your town you need not wait for the morning paper or the weather bulletin as the local Meteorological Centre here has launched a 24 hour interactive voice response system (IVRS) popularly known as ‘weather on telephone’.

The IVRS, which provides information on maximum, minimum and current temperatures, rainfall and weather forecast, was formally launched at the local Meteorological Centre here today.

One can dial the telephone numbers 0177-2627005 and 2624318 using a local call from any place in Himachal and seek information either in Hindi or English. The STD code of the particular town, in or outside Himachal will have to be fed to know the weather details but that will be treated 
as a local call only.

The launch of the IVRS will be very beneficial in sending weather alerts on avalanches or snowstorm in the higher reaches of the state. “Anyone planning a holiday outside Himachal can simply dial any of these two numbers as a local call from within Himachal and then feed the STD code of Chennai or Mumbai or any other place where they wish to travel. However, the call made from within Himachal will be treated as a local call with no STD charges,” informed Manmohan Singh, director of the Meteorological Centre.

Singh said in case the state government or the local authorities wish to issue some weather related information about avalanches, advising people in higher reaches to stay indoors, that can be recorded and fed on the IVRS. Infact, tourists who travel to the ‘Queen of Hills’ to enjoy the snow in winters can now know the forecast on phone before planning a trip to Shimla. Information about alerts on hailstorm or high velocity winds can also be given on the ‘weather on telephone’ facility.

The ministry of earth sciences of the Indian Meteorological Department has launched the facility and all the weather related information would be updated with the help of global telecommunication system. The IVRS was installed here last month but it had been kept on testing mode till the formal launch .

Shimla, March 4
Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal today assured fruit growers of the state that they would be paid the balance support price payment under the market intervention scheme.

He gave this assurance to a delegation of the Fruit Growers Association. He said Himachal was the only state in the country that was providing support price on the perishable commodities to the growers. “The government has also enhanced the support price of citrus fruits so as to bring it at par with apple growers,” he said.

He directed the authorities concerned to release the pending payment of fruit growers after observing the codal formalities. He said the government had been procuring fruit under the market intervention scheme to maintain the minimum price level of the produce so that growers got remunerative prices.

He said the government was committed to protecting the interests of the fruit growers and give a boost to horticulture activities in the state. He said diversified horticultural activities had a vast scope for self-employment for the unemployed youth.

All possible efforts were being made at the government level to check exploitation of growers at the hands of middlemen by strengthening the marketing system at the sub-division level. “The agro-climatic conditions in the state are ideal for cultivation of off-season vegetables. The trend was gradually gaining momentum,” he added.

Solan, March 4
The H.P. State Co-operative Marketing and Consumer Federation (Himfed) employees’ union has expressed concern over the promotion of an official indicted after an inquiry into a case of embezzlement.

In a letter to Chief Minister P.K.Dhumal, who is also the minister concerned, union general secretary Rajender Thakur today stated that area manager Subash Aggarwal and daily wager Rakesh Puri were indicted in a case dating back to 1979-1980. Both had been held responsible for embezzling around Rs 1 lakh.

Instead of punishing the guilty the then secretary, home, directed the Vigilance Department to move an application in the court to cancel the FIR registered earlier on June 27, 2001. The application did not find favour with the court which called for an explanation from the secretary, home.

Despite the establishment of guilt by the court the employees union rued that Himfed had now promoted this official as a senior manager. The union has sought a special inquiry into the whole affair.

Hamirpur, March 4
The state unit of Himachal Computer Teachers Association has started a chain hunger strike at the Gandhi Chowk in support of their demands from yesterday.

The computer teachers who have been raising their demands for quite some time decided to launch an agitation after their association resolved to highlight their plight by sitting on chain hunger strike. Before this they also submitted a memorandum to the state government through the DC Hamirpur.

Taking a cue from the JBT teachers who continued their chain hunger strike at the Gandhi Chowk for 82 days and ended their agitation after a firm assurance from the government, computer teachers sat on chain hunger strike at the same venue.

President of the association Ramesh Dogra said about 1,200 computer teachers are giving computer education to students in government schools for the last 7 years.

The computer teachers from Bilaspur district also sat on chain hunger strike on today.

Kullu, March 4
The Non-Gazetted Officers Government Employees Union in the district had a vertical division today.

A parallel body was constituted under the chairmanship of Balak Ram Thakur. The group led by Prem Chand Kaundal had elected its office-bearers yesterday. The elections to both bodies were almost unanimous as the factions wanted to show strength and unity.

The Balak Ram faction was reportedly supported by state leader Bharmoria. Prem Chand Kaundal said he would support the group recognised by the state government.

Both faction held shows of strength by taking out processions in Dhalpur. The Kaundal group organised a procession yesterday, while Balak Ram group marched through the streets today. The recognition of the group by the state would be known on March 11.

Shimla, March 4
Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) has rescheduled two geology (pass course) papers of B.Sc (second year) which were to be held on March 25 and 27.

A. N. Gupta, controller of examinations, said that geology (pass course) paper III — physical/general and structural geology — to be held on March 25 would now be held on April 28. The other geology (pass course) paper IV— stratisgraphy and igneous petrology— to be held on March 27 has now been postponed to April 30.

Shimla, March 4
Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal, who is also the leader of the BJP Legislature party, today appointed Suresh Bhardwaj as the chief whip of the legislature party.

The other MLAs made party whips include Dile Ram (Nachan), Urmil Thakur (Hamirpur) and Sukh Ram (Poanta). Randhir Sharma, a fresh entrant into the Assembly from Kot-Kehloor in Bilaspur district, has been made secretary of the BJP legislature party.

Dr Rajiv Sehjal, MLA from Kasauli, has been appointed Joint Secretary. Capt Atma Ram, MLA from Rajgir in Kangra, has been appointed treasurer.