Shimla, June 4
Threatening a week-long agitation against the hike in the prices of LPG and petroleum products, the CPM today demanded its immediate withdrawal as it would burden the common man.

In a statement issued here today, state CPM secretary Rakesh Singha said the hike of Rs 50 in LPG, Rs 5 in petrol and Rs 3 in diesel would take inflation from the present 8 per cent to 12 per cent, the highest in the past 20 years.

He said the government had neither accepted the CPM suggestion of reducing the excise and import duty nor imposed taxes on the windfall profit of the oil and gas extracting companies and private oil refineries. “While these companies are earning super profits, the common man is being burdened by such decisions of the UPA regime,” he said.

He said the CPM workers as part of a nationwide protest against the hike would hold dharnas, rasta roko and demonstrations in various parts of the state from June 5 to 11.

Meanwhile, state BJP chief Jai Ram Thakur also lashed out at the UPA regime for the the massive hike in the LPG, petrol and diesel prices. “The UPA regime which has miserably failed to check price rise is now burdening he common man by increasing the prices of LPG, petrol and diesel.

The Congress, which had come to power by projecting itself as pro-common man was now taking all such decisions which would make it difficult for making both
ends meet.

Shimla, June 4
The state government today revised its competitive bidding policy for the allotment of hydroelectric project. It also decided to separate the cadre of its two medical colleges, approved a nursing education policy and gave nod for signing the MoU for the execution of the 775 MW Luhri project.

Instead of upfront premium-based policy for competitive bidding, it decided for a hybrid policy under which projects would be allotted on the basis of free power-based biding, along with an upfront premium of Rs 20 lakh per megawatt. The decisions were taken at the meeting of the state Cabinet, under the chairmanship of Chief Minister P.K.Dhumal, here today.

The Indira Gandhi Medical College and the Dr Rajendra Prasad Medical College will now have separate cadre. It decided to adopt the new policy for setting up of the nursing colleges and schools in the state.

The Cabinet agreed to permit change the location of the multi-project special economic zone in Kanga district from the proposed Damtal to Milwan within the same district and introduce scholarship scheme for the students of OBC category studying in classes I to X on 50:50 share-basis by the Centre and the state government.

It decided to recruit panchayat sahayaks, enhance their remuneration from Rs 2,340 to Rs 3,120 per month and also engage takniki sahayaks for cluster of gram panchayats. The remuneration of kanishth lekhpal was enhanced from Rs 2,500 to Rs 4,830 and assistant engineer from Rs 8,000 to Rs 11,820 per month.

It also enhanced the monthly honorarium of the elected representatives of the panchayati raj institutions.

The chairperson of zila parishad will get Rs 3,500 instead of Rs 3,000, vice- chairperson Rs 2,500 instead Rs 2,000, chairperson, panchayat samiti Rs 1,800 instead of Rs 1,500 and vice-chairperson Rs 1,500 instead of Rs 1,200. Similarly, pradhan gram panchayat will be paid Rs 1,200 instead of Rs. 1,000, up-pradhan to get Rs 1,000 instead of Rs 750, zila parishad members Rs 1,500 instead of Rs 1,350, panchayat samiti members Rs 1,200 instead of Rs 1,000.

The Cabinet sanctioned 6,080 posts in different departments which include 4,568 posts of trained graduate teachers in the Elementary Education Department, 300 posts of agriculture extension officers and 100 posts of agriculture development officers in the Agriculture Department; 260 posts of panchayat secretaries and 225 posts of panchayat sahayaks in the Panchayati Raj Department, 200 posts of language teachers and 150 posts of Shastri in Elementary Education Department, 88 posts of different categories for 10 Marketing Committees in State Marketing Board, 81 posts of different categories in HP Power Corporation Limited, 47 posts of different categories for composite testing laboratory, Kandaghat, 15 posts of junior scale stenographers in HP Secretariat, 5 posts of drivers in Municipal Corporation; 10 posts of different categories in the state high court.

Shimla, June 4
The star performer on the second day of the International Summer Festival Mohit Chauhan of the ‘dooba dooba’ fame, enthralled the audience with his renditions in Hindi, English and pahari.

Hailing from Nahan in Himachal, Mohit’s performance attracted a huge crowd of locals as well as tourists.

Having shot into fame with his Silk Route group which gave the hit number ‘dooba dooba rehta hoon teri yadon mein’ sang some of the memorable Kishore Kumar songs also.

Mohit started his performance with a pahari number followed by his most-liked song ‘Dooba Dooba’.

He also sang the hit number ‘tumse hai’ from the Kareena-Shahid movie ‘Jab We Met’. The song has been recorded in Mohit’s voice.

The pahari songs sung by Mohit made the crowd dance. He sang ‘morni’ and ‘Shimla de sadkan’ in pahari, much to the delight of the audience.

Rendition of some of the memorable Kishore Kumar songs like ‘o mere dil ke chain’ were appreciated the most. Despite having established himself in Mumbai, it is for the first time that Mohit is performing in Himachal this year.

Impressive performances were given by local artists and schoolchildren before the star performance by Mohit began late in the night.

Shimla, June 4
Traffic on the Hindustan-Tibet road has been disrupted since last night following a massive landslide triggered by heavy rains near Matiana, about 45 km from here.

The massive landslide took place at 8 pm last night leading to complete closure of vehicular traffic to Kinnaur and other areas. With the closure of the National Highway No. 22 the entire Kinnaur bound traffic, including HRTC buses, have been diverted via Basantpur. Work on clearing the road was still on as the PWD had pressed four bulldozers into service to clear debris from the road.

Meanwhile, the capital town was lashed by heavy downpour in the afternoon with the maximum temperature being recorded at 24.4°C and the minimum being 15.3°C. About 5 mm of rainfall was recorded in Shimla and surrounding areas during the last 24 hours. Rains lashed most places in the state. The maximum temperature recorded at Kalpa was 22.7°C, Bhuntar 33.6°C, Dharamsala 30.6°C. whereas the minimum temperature at Kalpa was 8°C, Bhuntar 16°C and Sundernagar 18.5°C.

Shimla, June 4
The Union Ministry of Rural Development has sanctioned Rs 347.87 crore for 2008-09 for the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Assurance (NREGA) programme in Sirmaur, Chamba, Kangra and Mandi districts.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, who returned from Delhi last evening, said that the entire state had been brought under NREGA from April 1. A sum of Rs 23.70 crore had been sanctioned for Sirmaur , Rs 68.82 crore for Chamba in the first phase and Rs 113.81 crore for Kangra and Rs 141.54 crore for Mandi in the second phase. The programme had been designed to carry out improvement activities in rural areas through villagers for which wages as per the norms are paid.

Shimla, June 4
In order to check incidents of violence on the campus, a proposal is being chalked out for Himachal Pradesh University to have its own security with police and Home Guard personnel being permanently deployed there, besides strengthening of the Boileauganj police station.

The police is chalking out a comprehensive long-term plan to enable the HPU authorities to manage the day-to-day clashes and ensure that the academic atmosphere is not vitiated. The police will send this proposal to the Vice-Chancellor for implementation.

The move has been initiated following the May 28 incident on the campus and the subsequent violence in the hostel the same night. The situation got so bad that the police had to resort to a lathi charge in the boys hostel, injuring some of them. A magisterial inquiry was ordered into the incident following which the Boileauganj SHO was suspended and later booked.

“Being an autonomous body, the HPU should have its own security by taking police and Home Guard personnel, whose salaries they should pay,” said a senior police officer.

Sources in the police said that the top brass of the police was of the opinion that its forces should be rushed to the campus only in the case of major violence and the university should have its own force to manage small incidents of violence,” he said. He added that some universities have this arrangement. At present, the HPU has engaged private security with only a handful of them being on the campus.

As per the proposal, the police also intends strengthening the Boileauganj police station and the Summer Hill police post. “Instead of rushing our forces to the university every now and then, we also propose to increase the staff strength in the police station and police post concerned,” he said.

The police also intends holding regular interaction with students in the hostels.

Shimla, June 4
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal will meet the general public four days in a week.

He would be available from Tuesday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. at his official residence, Oakover, while in Shimla. The people seeking appointment with him would be provided time from Wednesday to Friday from 10.15 a.m. to 12 noon at the state secretariat. He would meet his Cabinet colleagues every Thursday from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. and MLAs every Wednesday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.. He further said that former MLAs, freedom fighters and party office-bearers could meet him every Tuesday from 10.15 a.m. to 12 noon.

Chief Minister said he would also meet people during his tours, besides party office-bearers and other dignitaries, subject to availability of time. 

Dharamsala, June 4
The Town Planning Department has finally woken up from slumber to stop the illegal construction going on at McLeodganj. A team of Town Planning Department officials today morning raided the site where bus stand, private parking and hotel was being constructed by a private company to which the land was leased out by the previous Congress government.

The officials said they have been directed by minister for transport and urban development Krishan Kapoor to check on complaints that illegal construction was going at the site. After the raid they said no labourer was working at the site but shuttering and other material was in place. We would compare present construction with earlier reports to reach any conclusion.

Interestingly, though the construction was going on openly despite the SC stay at a prime place, the officials woke up from slumber after direction from the minister.

The forest land just at the entry of McLeodganj was allotted to a private construction company, Prashant Constructions, on Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis by the Congress government. As per the agreement signed, the company was to construct a bus stand and a private parking in the allotted area. Since the area that was allotted to the company was forest land so permission was required from special empowered committee of the SC to change the nature of land.

Since no permission was taken the plan of proposed bus stand and private parking was not approved by the town planning authorities. Keeping all rules on back burner the company officials who allegedly had support of a former minister started the construction work. Instead of building a bus stand and parking site construction of multi-storeyed building was also started.

The work came to temporary halt after the SC stayed the construction of the project. However, now the work on the project had again resumed despite the stay.

The officials said they have been issuing notices to the private company that was carrying out the construction work. After the change in government the company applied for relaxation in original plan to get additional construction regularised. As per rules the department can regularise 10 per cent deviations from the original plan. However, in the present case an entire constructed building is unauthorised.

The officials said an entire case regarding unauthorised construction had been reported to the deputy director of town planning.

Sundernagar, June 4
The Mandi police has arrested a teacher of Government Primary School, Jangehali, Harish Thakur, who was seen in an obscene MMS, along with a woman from the Balh valley.

According to Mandi SP S. Chandersekhar, the accused was arrested under Section 292, 293 and 294 of the IPC yesterday, when a deputation of residents of the gram panchayat, Dadour, informed the police that an obscene MMS was being circulated through mobiles in the area.

The deputation, lead by representatives of Subash Chander Bose Yuvak Mandal, Dadour, lodged a complaint in writing. A case was registered and the accused was arrested.

In the MMS, the accused and a woman of the Balh valley were allegedly indulging in obscene activities. It was received by various persons on their mobiles, who further sent it to their friends.

However, this MMS gave sleepless night to a lady whose identity was misunderstood in it. Later, it was found that the lady, who was in the MMS, was a married woman from the Balh valley and the accused was a teacher in Government Primary School, Jangehali, who also hails from the Balh valley from Dadour panchayat. Local residents approached the Balh police station, but the police did not take any action. At last, they met the Mandi SP on whose directions a case was registered.

Mandi, June 4
In a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court has exempted all non-commercial public utility projects ranging from school playground to rural roads from the payment of the Net Present Value (NPV) incurred as a result of the diversion of forest land for construction of each projects under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980.

The SC order issued on March 28, 2008, came as a big relief for the states, including Himachal Pradesh, where all projects had come to a standstill, while defining forest land it had ruled that “all government lands are forest lands” interpreting the Forest Conservation Act, a few years ago.

As per the fresh order, which was received by the state government recently, the SC has categorised country’s 16 types of forests into six ecological classes (eco-class), considering “ecological role and ecological value of the forests”. Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir broadly fall in the eco-class V and eco-class VI.

In fact, the court had appointed the Kanchen Chopra Committee in 2006, to hear grievances of each state as all governments were facing problems while implementing their public utility projects. The committee submitted its report to the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) appointed by the SC earlier to look into the grievances of each state. Finally, the SC accepted its recommendations and issued the order.

As per its order the court has exempted non-commercial and public utility projects from the payment of NPV once and for all. These included school buildings and playgrounds, hospitals, rural infrastructure, municipal water supply projects, drinking water supply pipelines, district and rural roads.

On the other hand, all commercial ventures, including cement plants, hydropower projects, state highways and national highways will attract payment of NPV.

But the SC has kept the ecological stick intact, as all stakeholders of public utility projects and commercial ventures will have to pay for the cost incurred due to the trees cut down for each project and pay the cost for raising compensatory forest in each case.

The court has also fixed the NPV rates for each eco-class in the country, ranging from Rs 4.38 lakh to Rs. 10.44 lakh per hectare. But the rates would be revised after every three years, the court said.

Conservator for forests, B.D. Suyal, who was a member of the HP committee which presented Himachal’s case before the Kanchen Chopra Committee in 2006, said the state was facing problems due to fact that all land was forest land and public utilities projects were suffering due to payment of NPV, which, in turn shot up their cost and make the projects unviable.