Shimla, March 26
The government will approach the neighbouring states to chalk out a joint strategy to combat the menace of female foeticide.

Health minister Rajiv Bindal said the government had taken steps to strictly enforce the Prenatal Diagnostic Technique Act as a result of which there had been a marginal improvement in the female sex ratio in the state. As many as 634 inspections of private clinics registered under the Act were carried out during the past three years and action was taken in 43 cases.

An FIR had been registered in one case and in 17 cases licences had been cancelled. In all two cases of female foeticide were registered one of which foiled in the court while the other was pending adjudication.

However, people from the state had been going to adjoining states for illegal abortions for which a joint strategy would have to be evolved for effective implementation of the Act. Emphasis was also being laid on creating awareness among the people while the balika suraksha scheme had also been implemented.

As a result of all these efforts the female sex ratio had improved from 866 in 2005 to 904 in 2007 but it was still below the national average. While in 10 districts there was an improvement, the ratio deteriorated in Solan and Kulu districts. The higher ratio of 1019 was in the tribal Lahaul-Spiti district, followed by Kinnaur (947), Shimla (946) and Sirmaur (925). Hamirpur district had the lowest ratio of 842.

Bindal said 95 primary health centres were selected for providing 24 emergency services but no additional staff was provided for the purpose. As per norms 1760 doctors, paramedicals and other staff was required. As many as 783 posts had been sanctioned for these institutions but only 568 were filled. Only Rs 11.99 crore of Rs 39.77 crore made available to the state under the National Rural Health Mission was spent.

Education minister Ishwar Das Dhiman informed the House in a written reply that 10,776 posts of various categories were vacant in various schools. These included 2,292 of headmaster, 1891 of JBT teacher, 1,628 of school lecturer, 726 of principal, 536 of TGT (arts) and 512 of head teacher.

Shimla, March 26
Chief minister P.K. Dhumal has said that the government will give the green signal to the Vaknaghat multi-product SEZ and the airport at Gagret in Una if these projects were eco-friendly and in the interest of the state.

He was speaking at a presentation made by Sea King Infrastructure Limited (SKIL) with regard to setting up of the SEZ, airport and a tourism project at an estimated cost of Rs 9,800 crore here last evening. “Investment is welcome be it in tourism or industry but the interest of the people and environmental safety would be the first priority of the government,” he said.

He said the government would explore the possibilities of creating world-standard infrastructure to promote tourism. “We are committed to maintaining transparency while granting permission for mega projects as these are directly linked with the interest of the state and its people,” he said.

“The state is blessed with huge natural wealth and if harnessed with ecological safeguards, tourism alone could provide employment and revenue to the government,” the Chief Minister said.

He said SKIL had already executed a number of projects like ports, railway lines, SEZ and shipyards valued at Rs 24,000 crore.

Shimla, March 26
The government today decided to adopt the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna to provide insurance cover of Rs 30,000 per family to 2,82,316 BPL families in the unorganised sector.

The decision was taken by the Cabinet under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal. The annual premium will be Rs 750, out of which the beneficiary family will contribute Rs 30 per annum.

It decided to increase reservation to women in panchayats at every level from existing one-third to 50 per cent of the total number of seats. It was also decided to empower panchayat sahayaks to operate panchayat fund as joint signatory with pradhans.

It also decided to scale up the formula-based allocation of funds to the Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan from the existing 11 per cent of the aggregate plan size to 25 per cent. This will be commensurate with the Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan size for 2008-09, thereby enhancing the allocation by 157 per cent and earmarking Rs 594 crore over the previous year provisions of Rs 231 crore.

The Cabinet also decided to develop a transport nagar at Beri in Bilaspur district. An amendment to the Himachal Pradesh State Commission for Women Act, 1996, was also approved to enable the chairperson and members to hold office during the pleasure of the state government for a term not exceeding three years from the date they assume office. Approval was also granted to uniform pay scales to law officers of all categories in the state secretariat.

It approved relaxation of the recruitment and promotion rules for regularisation of daily-wage workers and mining officers in the Industries Department. An amendment to the recruitment and promotion rules of the principal (B-pharmacy) in the B.Pharmacy College was also approved.

Upgrading of eight police posts to police stations was also approved. The Cabinet also decided to open one sub-division of the PWD at Baddi with three sections at Baddi, Barotiwala and Manpura in Solan district.

It granted approval to deploy surplus staff of 15 persons of the PWD against the vacant posts in the Information and Public Relations Department and sanctioned six Maruti Euro-II cars in replacement for the Judges of the high court, one Maruti van to the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Chamba, on replacement basis; 33 light motor vehicles of different specifications and 69 motorcycles to the police, three new vehicles for the IGMC, Shimla, and one vehicle for the Department of Information Technology.

Shimla, March 26
The state government would consider the possibility of preparing a master plan for tourism promotion with thrust on public-private participation.

Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal stated this while addressing a three-day international conference, “Backpacker Mobilities”, here today. The conference had been organised by the Department of Tourism Administration at the Himachal Pradesh University.

“The government will shortly come out with a detailed tourism development master plan to harness the available natural potential with utmost regard for ecological safeguards,” he said. He also stressed the need for creating quality infrastructure, which was a pre-requisite to promote tourism. He said the Tourism Department would have special packages for the students of public schools so that they can explore the state. “The department will get in touch with all these schools so that the students can see what they have been reading in school books as it will be a life time experience they will always cherish,” he remarked.

He added that the students would be taken to the hydropower projects so that instead of only reading about electricity generation they can actually see how it is done. He said the backpacker tourism was emerging as a global tourism phenomenon as a large number of youth and children love to visit the unexplored areas. More than 30 delegates from over 12 countries are attending the conference. Dr Mark Hampton from University of Kent, UK, delivered the keynote address. “The traveller today wishes to visit the unexplored and virgin areas as he wants to get the local flavour of the place be it in terms of food, culture and traditions,” he said.

Shimla, March 26
The State Industrial Development Corporation (SIDC) would develop 500 bighas of land for an industrial estate at Davni in Baddi, Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal said while presiding over the first meeting of the reconstituted Board of Directors of the corporation here today.

The Chief Minister said a portion of the Davni industrial area had already been developed and 29 plots sold for Rs 19 crore by the SIDC.

“Complete transparency is being maintained in allotment of industrial plots which were being give through public auction,” he said. Efforts were being made to create state-of-art industrial areas, where systematic industrial growth could take place in a modern way. “The SIDC is also exploring the possibility of developing a modern city centre at Nalagrah to cater to the marketing needs of entrepreneurs,” he said.

While congratulating the SIDC for earning record profit every year he stressed the need for focusing on activities that could bring additional income to the corporation. “The SIDC is one of the few public sector undertakings registering profit and there is need for professional approach by the staff to further increase profits,” he said.

The Chief Minister also presided over a meeting of the Board of Directors of the General Industries Corporation (GIC) and the H.P. Handicrafts and Handloom Corporation. “There is need to adapt and innovate so that handicraft and handloom products are in accordance with the taste of the customer and demand,” he said.

Shimla, March 26
Moving a step ahead of the Centre’s Pradhanmantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY), the state government has decided to connect all villages by motorable roads by 2012.

Replying to the debate on cut motions pertaining to demands for his department, PWD minister Gulab Singh said that all villages, except six, having a population of 1000 and more had been connected and those with population in the 500-1000 bracket would be connected by March, 2009.

The Centre had now asked the state to prepare detailed proposals for providing road connectivity to the villages in the population bracket of 250 and 500. However, as roads were the top priority of the BJP government it had set a target of connecting the remaining villages with population less than 250.

Efforts would be made to secure maximum funds under the PMGSY and the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund of NABARD. As against Rs 276 crore received under the PMGSY in the current year the target was to secure Rs 350 crore. Similarly, the government planned to get the NABARD funding enhanced from Rs 148 crore to Rs 175 crore.

He assured the members that the contractor mafia would be rooted out and the government had, in principle, decide not to accept a single tender, except in rare cases, for works in very remote areas. Over the past few years the number of “A” grade contractors had increased and works were being awarded on competitive rates.

The minister said the government would conduct a survey to identify sites where road tunnels could be constructed. Work was on the prepare detailed project reports for six tunnels, four in Shimla city, one at Ranital in Kangra and one at Swarghat in Bilaspur. Further, the feasibility of two more tunnels, one on the Uttrala-Holi raod and the other to connect Bangana and Dhaneta, was being examined.

Earlier, initiating the debate Harsh Wradhan underlined the need for deterrent action against the contractors who managed to secure huge advances from the department and vanished without completing the work. Not only that the quality of work was also poor as a result of which the roads in some cases did not last even a few months. Some contractors from outside the state had given subcontracts to local contractors and they were not paying them for the work executed by them even though the department had made full payments.

The surface renewal of roads was invariably started at the fag end of the season when the monsoon was round the corner as a result of which the quality was poor. He said that heavy machinery was being underutilised due to lack of manpower. In some cases mechanics had been asked to work on earthmovers and other machines.

Kuldeep Pathania expressed concern over delay in obtaining forest clearances for construction of roads. He made a strong plea for the construction of tunnels on a large scale to reduce distances and suggested that in case adequate funds were not available such projects could be entrusted to the private sector on a build, operate, transfer basis.

G.S.Bali expressed concern over the stranglehold of contractors and alleged that some of them had become powerful enough to get engineers transferred. He suggested that the government should consider using cement-concrete for surfacing of roads, particularly in stretches prone to water-logging, to help improve their durability.

G.R.Musafir called for speeding up work to complete the targets under the PMGSY while Mukesh Agnihotri sought strict action against erring contractors.

Solan, March 26
An unidentified Nepalese youth was found murdered at a local guesthouse this morning.

The police has detained another Nepalese youth, Bal Bahadur, for interrogation as he was accompanying the deceased. However, nothing much could be learnt about the identity of the victim, who was repeatedly hit with bricks.

The murder came to light when sweeper Rakesh Kumar noticed Bal Bahadur sitting on a bed while the bloodstained body of another Nepalese youth was lying nearby. Bal Bahadur, who seemed to have consumed a lot of liquor last night, could reveal little about the last night’s incident. He was also hit with bricks on the head.

According to preliminary inquires made by the police, the duo had met the previous evening at the local bus stand where they were waiting for a bus to go to Nepal. Four other Nepalese also met them there.

After failing to get any conveyance, they decided to stay at a guesthouse where they consumed liquor. According to entries made in the guesthouse register, six Nepalese had registered themselves as Kamal Singh, Sher Singh, Dil Bahadur, Pradeep, Bal Bahadur, Satpal and Suresh.

Solan SP S.P.S.Verma said police parties had been sent to Hardwar, Parwanoo and other places to catch hold of the other four Nepalese.

Meanwhile, the police has identified the woman who was found murdered near Serighat village on March 22 as Sushma Sharma (27) of Anji-Jabal village. She was employed at a Baddi unit.

Kullu, March 26
An unidentified decomposed body was found in the Chandra Bhaga river at Ram Bagh about 4 km from Udaipur in Lahaul-Spiti district today. Udaipur SHO Diwan Singh said the body was retrieved from the river and sent for examination to District Hospital, Keylong. He said three persons had drowned in the river on different dates during October 2007, and their bodies were missing.

SHO said the body was so badly decayed that no identity could be confirmed. The body was sent for x-rays and confirmation of the age as two claimants were claiming the body. The junior engineer and staff of the Central Water Commission (CWC) claimed that the body was of the staff of the CWC who was drowned on October 13, while local people of Ratoli village near Udaipur claimed that it was the body of their villager who had drowned on October 5, 2007. The SHO said the age of the CWC man was around 40 years and he belonged to Jammu whereas the age of the local man was around 59 years.