Shimla, July 6
The state government has come out with a programme for the welfare of the aged, who are increasingly being neglected by their families.

The “integrated programme for old people” will go a long way in helping the aged to lead a respectable life. The objective is to improve the quality of life of the elderly by providing them basic amenities like shelter, food, medical facilities and entertainment opportunities. To achieve this, support will be provided for capacity building through government agencies, non-governmental organisations, panchayati raj institutions and the local bodies.

Under the programme, 90 per cent of the cost of each project indicated in the scheme will be provided by the Union Government and the remaining will be borne by the organisation concerned. In case of schools, colleges, educational institutions and youth organisations, the entire expenditure will be borne by the government.

The government will provide grant-in-aid for running and maintaining old-age homes for 25 persons to provide them food, shelter, health care and recreation facilities free of cost.

For bigger old-age homes, the grant-in-aid will be provided on proportionate basis. Grant-in-aid will also be given to agencies with a credible track record in running old-age homes for a minimum of 150 beneficiaries, including 25 persons with mild to severe disability.

Recognised charitable hospitals, nursing homes, medical institutions, colleges will be eligible for funding to the tune of Rs 7.2 lakh. For providing health care to the elderly living in slums, rural and inaccessible areas, mobile medicare units will be set up. Each unit will cover at least 400 persons per month. An amount of Rs 2.96 lakh will be provided as grant-in-aid for the purpose.

For extending facilities of day care, health care, recreation, peer interaction, spiritual programmes, a grant-in-aid of Rs 4.06 lakh will be provided for every project covering 50 elderly persons.

Similarly, a grant-in-aid of up to Rs 2.96 lakh will be provided to organisations and institutions for mental health care and specialised care of the elderly, setting up helplines and counselling centres. Every day care centre catering to 20 old persons suffering from dementia per month will be entitled to a grant of Rs 1.2 lakh.

Shimla, July 6
Eyebrows have been raised over the state government’s decision to permit enhancement in the installed generation capacity of nine small hydroelectric projects assigned to private companies under the mini projects (up to 5 MW) category. More so, because the increase is not nominal and the capacity has been more than doubled for almost all projects, taking the aggregate capacity from 45 MW to 108.95 MW. It also goes against the new policy of the government to allot projects above 5 MW through the competitive bidding route.

In the process, HIMURJA, the nodal agency for non-conventional course of energy, has ended up allotting projects for which it is not competent. The agency can allot projects only up to 5 MW while the projects of higher capacity are allotted by the state electricity board. The decision has virtually allowed private companies to secure big projects through the backdoor without going through the due process for allotment of project above 5 MW. There have been allegations in the past that bigger projects were under-rated to limit the capacity to 5 MW to avoid competition in allotment and the decision of the government would only lend currency to such charges.

The board carries out a detailed exercise to evaluate the financial and technical capability of companies. The project is allotted to the company which scores maximum points on the basis of evaluation. The companies who secured the project from HIMURJA have not been subjected to the rigours of such technical and financial scrutiny, which is most essential for projects to be allotted through the MoU route. The companies, which are technically and financially not on a sound footing, either fail to implement the project or look for equity partners, which amounted to sub-letting the project.

Convener of the state professional forum R.L.Justa says that the government should have either re-advertised the projects and followed the competitive bidding route as per the new policy or subjected the allottees to the same terms conditions applicable to projects above 5 MW. They should be asked to pay an upfront premium of Rs 20 lakh per megawatt and the quantum of free power be fixed basin-wise on the basis of highest percentage quoted for the 17 projects being put up for competitive bidding. The basins where projects had already been allotted under the previous policy of upfront premium-based competitive bidding, the highest upfront premium be charged.

The extent to which the capacity has been enhanced after allotment to private companies also puts a question mark over the capacity of the HIMURJA to assess the competency of projects. Some of the nine projects, originally of 5 MW each, will now have the capacity increased by four times. The enhanced capacities are Toss (20 MW), Jogni (12 MW), Upper Joiner (12 MW), Chirchund (9.90 MW), Rala (9 MW), Upper Nanti (12 MW), Hamte (10.5 MW), Nanti (10 MW) and Rangar (14 MW).

Shimla, July 6
Private hydel power developers will be required to quote ‘additional free power’ at a uniform rate over the existing percentage in all three time-bands of royalty for 17 projects with an aggregate capacity of 1968.5 MW for which the free power-based bidding route is being used for the first time in the state.

According to engineers of the state electricity board which is conducting the exercise on behalf of the government instead of inviting bids on the basis of flat rate for free power, as had been done by some other states and Nepal, the three slabs had been retained to ensure precision evaluation of bids. As per the hydel policy it is mandatory for the independent power producers (IPPs) to give 12 per cent free power as royalty for the first 12 years, 18 per cent for the next 18 years and 30 per cent for the remaining period of the agreement for projects offered on a build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis. The projects will be awarded to the companies quoting the highest percentage of free power over and above the mandatory free power to be paid as royalty.

The percentage of additional free power will be uniformly applicable to all slabs. For instance, if a company offers to give 5 percent additional free power the quantum of free power will be 17 per cent for the first 12 years, 23 per cent for the next 18 years and 35 per cent for the remaining period of the agreement. The IPPs will also be required to pay a fixed upfront premium at the rate of Rs 20 
per megawatt.

The pre-feasibility report has been prepared only for four projects and the IPPs will have to ascertain the feasibility of the 13 other projects. The projects for which the pre-feasibility reports are available are 90-MW Khoksar on the Chandra river in Lahaul - Spiti, 13-MW Suil in Chamba, 7-MW Shalvi in Shimla and 7.5 -W Kilhi Bahl in Kangra.

Of the remaining 13 projects, 11 are in Lahaul Spiti which include Kuling Lara (40 MW), Mane Nadang (70 MW) and Lara (60 MW), all on the Spiti river, Miyar (90 MW), Tinget (81 MW), Teling (69 MW), Patam (60 MW), Reoli Dugli (268 MW), Sach Khas (149 MW), Seli (454 MW) and Gyspa-Stage-I & II (170 MW), all on the Chenab, Lara Sumta (104MW) in Kinnaur and Dugar (236MW) in Chamba.

The board has sent the tender documents to all companies which had submitted bids for these projects last year. The projects have been re-advertised by the BJP government after changing the hydel policy to provide for competitive bidding for all projects above 5 MW and replacing upfront premium-based bidding by the free power-based biding route.

Shimla, July 6
The state government will take up with the Centre the issue of funding of the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNURM) on the pattern of north-eastern states where the Central share was 90 per cent while states contributed only 10 per cent.

This was stated here by Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal at a review meeting of the projects sanctioned for the state under the JNURM programme. In the case of Himachal Pradesh, the Centre was providing only 80 per cent funds while the state was contributing the remaining 20 per cent, he said. The Centre was discriminating against Himachal in funding even although it was on the list of “special category states”.

He said the matter would be taken up with the Prime Minister, the union urban development minister and the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission with a request to remove the anomaly. He said the state had more difficult geophysical conditions as compared to the states that had been sanctioned liberal funding.

He said the state government had proposed construction of 636 flats at an estimated cost of over Rs 24 crore under the basic services to the urban poor (BSUP) programme in Shimla.

He said projects worth Rs 85.58 crore had been sanctioned for the state. These included urban infrastructure and governance (UIG) projects amounting to Rs 30.66 crore, basic services to urban poor (Rs 17.44 crore), urban infrastructure and development scheme for small and medium towns (Rs 21.29 crore) and the integrated housing and slum development programme (Rs 16.19 crore).

Shimla, July 6
Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal has sought the removal of anomalies in the Agriculture Debt Waiver and Debt Relief scheme, 2008.

In a letter written to Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, he said under the present provisions of the scheme many beneficiaries would be deprived of the benefits. “In order to ensure that everyone benefits, certain provisions of the scheme will have to be amended and restrictions of reimbursement to the credit institutions be removed,” he said.

Dhumal said Himachal was a hill state where farmers had limited land holdings and a majority consisted of small and marginal farmers with 90 per cent of the population being dependent on agriculture.

“The debt relief scheme of the Centre would be of utmost use to the farmers if necessary modifications in the provisions and removal of anomalies under the agriculture debt waiver and debt relief scheme is made,” he said.

He said the primary agriculture cooperative societies need to be permitted full reimbursement of the rate of interest over the loans it had disbursed to the farmers for 2006-07 as also prior to the period. He said loan had been disbursed to the farmers by societies on an average interest of 10 per cent with two per cent penal interest on default.

He also said the ceiling of Rs 1 lakh horticulture loan be removed besides brining all borrowers sanctioned loan prior to March 31, 1997, from cooperative banks on the long term basis, spreading the repayment period from 10 to 15 years. He added that the entire interest over crop loans for the period from April 1, 2006, to October 1, 2006, also needed to be reimbursed.

Solan, July 6
With contractors failing to execute time-bound work of laying 14-inch pipelines for the Rs 67-crore Giri Water Scheme, the IPH Department has recalled tenders worth Rs 1.16 crore awarded for it.

This has forced the department to channel water through the parallel eight-inch pipeline. Departmental sources said the 14-inch pipeline was supposed to supply water to Solan. The material for the construction of the pipeline lies dumped on the Rajgarh Road and awaits installation. In lieu, the eight-inch pipeline that was supposed to supply water to the peripheral area of Dharampur and Kumarhatti was being used to supply water to the area. As per sources, an area of about 4,000 meters still requires laying of pipelines and the work was going on at snail’s pace.

Executive engineer Hemant Tanwar when contacted said the tenders had been recalled as per the directions of the chief engineer. Since it was being felt that the estimates as per the existing tender were on the higher side, fresh negotiations would take place and the process would come through soon. Fresh tenders had been invited but with little response the process had to be repeated at least thrice.

Tanwar also informed that taking strict note of the laxity, the contractor concerned had been imposed a penalty of Rs 26 lakh. He added that the scheme was running well now and since the water tanks at Solan capacity had been filled to the brim, lifting had to be suspended on Thursday. The scheme was launched by the Chief Minister in April and was slated to provide water to Solan town and 114 villages of Kasauli and Solan constituencies. The scheme had remained non-functional for few days when excess silting caused it to shut down.

Questions have been raised over the execution of the scheme as earlier in October last year a crucial bridge located at the main site to facilitate crossing of the pipes developed a crack in one of its pier. This had put a question mark over its construction quality as it was indicative of a foundation failure.

Dharamsala, July 6
The 73rd birthday of the Dalai Lama was celebrated without any pomp and show here today. No cultural programme was organised to mark the occasion.

The celebrations remained limited to speeches by leaders of the Tibetan community, including prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile Kalon Tripa Samdhong Rinpoche, offering prayers at the main temple and distribution of ‘prasad’ among the devotees who had gathered there. The Central Tibetan Administration appealed to the Tibetans to remain steadfast to the middle-way approach.

Samdhong Rinpoche said unfortunately, the seventh round of discussions with the Chinese authorities “did not go through according to our hopes and wishes”. He appealed to the international community to continue to extend support to them and urge China to exercise restraint. He said every campaign initiated by Tibetans in and outside Tibet should be non-violent. Karma Chophel, speaker of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile, praised people from the Himalayan region of India for supporting the Tibetan cause.

Around 200 persons from Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Kalimpong, Darjeeling, Uttarakhand, Lahaul-Spiti, Kinour, Kullu, Manali and Ladakh participated in the function.

Shimla, July 6
A big stride will be taken towards making the hill state the herbal garden of the country on August 3, 2008, when each of the 12.22 lakh rural families will plant a medicinal tree on its own land. In all 14,01,341 plants of 57 species have been identified for the purpose by the Forest Department.

Giving details of the programme at a press conference forest minister J.P.Nadda said that the objective was to make the afforestation programme a mass movement by involving every family. In the urban areas where there was scarcity of land the people would be encouraged to grow medicinal plants in pots and kitchen gardens. The plants would be provided by the department free of cost. The species to be planted in a particular area would be decided on the basis of the agro-climatic conditions.

The programme was being implemented in three phases from July 3 when the exercise for transporting saplings of plants from 600 nurseries to the respective ranges and beats and, finally, the families would get under way. The department had already carried out an exercise to ascertain the availability of varies species of plants in different nurseries for the purpose. It would take about a month and the first phase would be completed on August 3 with the planting of the saplings.

Chief Minister P.K.Dhumal would launch the campaign from the state capital by planting a sapling, while ministers would do so in various districts, the MLAs in their constituencies and panchayat functionaries in their respective areas. Besides, mahila mandals and non-government organisation would also be involved in the programme.

In the next phase afforestation would be carried out by the department under which new plantations would be raised over 20,000 hectares. It would be followed by a compensatory afforestation programme to cover 1,800 hectares in 37 selected blocks. The total number of saplings planted along with breakdown of the species and the cost incurred would be made public to bring transparency in the system.

Kangra, July 6
Amarnath pilgrims from Kangra district, who visited the shrine on Sunday last, arrived here with a bitter experience. They were allegedly attacked by a mob at Baltal on July 1. Pilgrims alleged that their vehicles were damaged and the Jammu and Kashmir police was a mute spectator.

Ravi Kant Dogra, Sanjay Sharma and Suresh Rana, residents of Nagrota Bagwan, in a joint press conference here today, said on July 1, a mob at Baltal beat up pilgrims, damaged their vehicles and forced them to raise slogans of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’.

They alleged that the Jammu and Kashmir Police was a mute spectator.

They complained that pilgrims were charged Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 per person for getting shelter in a tent near the cave on June 29. At Baltal, cost of a Bislery water bottle was Rs 46 and 250 ml milk packet was Rs 40, they said.

Ravi Shankar, spokesperson of the VHP here, demanded that the Ghulam Nabi Azad government should be sacked and the Amarnath track and the arrangements should be handed over to the Army and the Cenrtal Security forces.

He said the J &K police should also be removed from Phalgam and Baltal tracks.

The VHP leader said the Azad government succumbed to the militant pressure resulting in the rolling back of the land issue decision.

Mandi, July 6
With elections to the student bodies round the corner, the ABVP, SFI and the NSUI have begun defacing the campus of Government Postgraduate College, Mandi, and Paddal stadium, public places and bridges under the nose of the college authorities and the district administration, violating the Lyngdoh Committee’s code of conduct.

A visit to the campus revealed that the students’ outfits have defaced the campus, including the historic Paddal stadium. The Himachal Pradesh University’s Lyngdoh Committee forbids walling writings, banners and other publicity material placed in the campus except at designed places.

But all student wings are indulging in wall writings on the campus, violating the code of conduct . Even the Election Commission forbids the defacement of public places and has a provision to penalise the leaders or party organisations indulging in violation of the model code of conduct.

Interestingly, these banners and wall writings are sponsored and funded by local publicity seekers whose names figure in the banners.

Not only the college campus, the students’ outfits have also defaced bridges and other places in the town.

Even students accused the organisations of promoting a cult of violence as it has happened two days ago.

Principal O. C. Malhotra said the college would take action in this connection. “We have allotted them separate places for the purpose but they do not respect the code,” he added.

The district officials expressed ignorance about the defacement of public places and bridges in the town. 

Shimla, July 6
The hill state experienced widespread rain after a gap of almost one week as the monsoon became active in the region again.

The fresh spell of rain provided respite to people, particularly in the lower hill areas, from sultry conditions as the day temperature came down significantly.

The state capital recorded the highest precipitation of 29 mm and a maximum temperature of 21.4 °C and minimum of 17. 4 °C. Dharamsala was slightly warmer with a maximum of 26.6 °C and minimum of 18.7 °C. It had 10 mm of rainfall, followed by Sundernagar (8 mm), Bhuntar (3 mm) and Una (1 mm).

The local Met office has forecast more rain across the state over the next 24 hours.

Chamba: The entire Chamba region was lashed by heavy rain o Sunday morning, damaging the Chamba-Pathankot highway at certain points. As a result vehicular traffic was disrupted for some time.

Some interior link roads in the Churah and Bharmour areas remained blocked by landslips, hitting vehicular traffic.

Hamirpur, July 6
The bypass project for Hamirpur town, which has been hanging fire for about six years, has once again found a fresh momentum with the national highway department submitting a revised proposal to the Central Government.

The national highway division has submitted a detailed project report (DPR) to the Ministry of Surface Transport for constructing the bypass to Hamirpur at a revised cost of Rs 25.75 crore keeping in view the escalation in the construction costs. The earlier estimated cost of the project was around Rs 20 crore. The 6.355-km bypass would be built from national highway No 88, near Mattan-Sidh, to Krishna Nagar in Pakka-Bharo.

After the construction of this bypass, the traffic congestion would ease to a great extent since vehicles coming from Bhota and Nadaun side would have the option of avoiding to enter the town. The proposal to construct this bypass was mooted by Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal during his earlier term in 2002, but the project could not move ahead. After taking over as the Chief Minister recently, Dhumal once again announced to take up the bypass project on priority.

Shimla, July 6
The state CPM has demanded a minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 7 per kg for apple for the current season.

Secretary of the state committee of the party Rakesh Singha said here today that the harvesting season had started but the government had not yet announced the new support price for the procurement of fruit under the market intervention scheme. Even the support price for mango announced recently was far from adequate. He pointed out that the cost of production had increased steeply due to a hike in the rates of inputs like labour, fertilisers, insecticides and fungicides, freight and packaging material. Moreover, the government had withdrawn subsidies altogether, adding to the woes of farmers.

The failure of the apple carton factory at Gumma had left growers at the mercy of private manufacturers who had virtually formed a cartel to maintain the prices of cartons at an high level. The cost of carton had gone up by Rs 16 and that of separating trays by Rs 6. He blamed the government for the situation which, he alleged, was hand in glove with private manufacturers.