Shimla, July 14
The government is considering legislation to check the sale of spurious and substandard seed to farmers.

The farm authorities are facing problems in regulating the supply of seed as the existing law is inadequate and full of loopholes.

The Centre had introduced a Bill to replace it four years ago but it had not been passed till date.

The proposed law provides for mandatory registration of seed companies with the central as well as state registering authority. Besides, it proposes to make it mandatory the trials of seed in the state concerned and certify that the seed is suitable for sowing.

Under the existing Act, the department can only test the seed for physical purity and percentage germination and there is no mandatory provision for trials to assess the suitability.

The farmers suffer when spurious seeds that are not suitable for sowing in the state are supplied to them. The department has been receiving complaints from farmers in this connection regularly.

However, the authorities could not do much in such cases as there is no provision for stopping the companies from selling seeds not subjected to trials.

The Tamil Nadu government has enacted its own seed law with all required provisions to effectively regulate the sale of seeds in the state.

The state government plans to have a similar law and the agriculture department has already started an exercise in this regard.

A team of experts from Tamil Nadu will visit the state shortly to discuss the matter and also provide training to officials for effective enforcement of the seed law.

The annual turnover of he seed business in the state is about Rs 30 crore and there are 1211 seed dealers in the state, including 881 in the private sector, 158 in the cooperative sector and 172 in the public sector.

Director of agriculture J.C Rana said with a view to solving the problem of spurious seeds the farmers were being encouraged to produce good-quality seeds under the seed village programme.

The foundation seed is supplied to farmers at a 50 per cent subsidy and every farmer is provided seed for sowing in over half an acre of land.

Camps were also being organised to provide training to farmers in seed technology, safe storage and other aspects of seed production.

He said the talent hunt method would not be used for selecting district office- bearers as there was little time left for undertaking such an exercise. He would rather tour all districts and choose his team after due consultations.

Shimla, July 14
The state’s Fruit and Vegetable Producers Mahasangh today rejected the procurement price of apple (Rs 5.25) announced by the government in view of the increasing costs of inputs like fertiliser, chemicals, freight and packing material.

In a statement issued here today, convener of the mahasangh Ravinder Chauhan said there was an increase in the prices of fertilisers and freight and hence, the procurement price of Rs 5.25 was not profitable to the growers.

“We urge the government to make available fertilisers and chemicals in sufficient
quantities as epidemics like leaf fall, scab and scale spread in apple orchards,”
Chauhan said.

He said the government should ensure that trucks were available during the peak season. “The freight of trucks must be fixed on the basis of weight and distance, as it is the practice followed everywhere for lifting essential goods,” he said.

He added that approved and printed rate lists must be displayed to avoid overcharging. The growers lamented that they were facing problem in getting empty cartons and trays.

“Cartons and trays are of inferior quality and their price is almost Rs 15 higher than the last year’s price.” they rued.

Dharamsala, July 14
In the government set-up in the state, it seems the right hand does not know what the left is doing.

Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal was today quoted in a section of the media as saying the government would try to get established a Bench of the high court at Dharamsala.

However, in a communication to the president of the District Bar Association, Kangra, on June 26, officials of the CM secretariat had written that the matter regarding the setting up of a Bench at Dharamsala was taken up with the high court.

The court had observed that no separate Bench could be set up outside Shimla
in the state.

President of the association Tek Chand Rana said the above-mentioned letter was received from the CM’s secretariat in response to their memorandum submitted to him during his visit to the district.

Lawyers alleged the CM’s statement about setting up a high court Bench at Dharamsala was just an effort to assuage feelings of the people of lower Himachal, who would now have travel to Shimla even for petty service matters that were redressed here by the State Administrative Tribunal earlier.

Many employee organisations are also gearing up to lodge their protest against the government move.

The employees, who had obtained stay orders from the tribunal against their transfers, were now in a quandary over the status of their cases and transfers.

Many employees alleged the government had scraped the tribunal as it was proving to be a hurdle in BJP leaders’ way to effect mass transfers at their whims.

Nahan, July 14
While addressing a press conference here this evening, general manager Rakesh Kapoor, BSNL Solan, disclosed to cater the needs of tourists in Himachal Pradesh BSNL network alongside national highway would be ensured within two months time.

He said a number of signal towers in Solan and Sirmour districts alongside national highways would be erected for which spots has been identified.

He added that to improve the mobile signal in the circle “mobile signal equipment” would be installed on every WLL and BSNL towers.

Kapoor disclosed that his department has decided to convert all the landline telephones into WLL phones which were situated at a distance of four km from the telephone exchange.

For this purpose up to December this year 67 WLL towers would be erected in the Solan telecom circle out of which 47 towers would be erected in the Sirmour district.

He said all telephone exchanges in the Sirmour district would be connected with the broadband facility.

He made it clear that all the broadband connections would be given from the landlines and to connect internet with the WLL telephones EVDO service would be provided to the WLL consumers.

To combat the cable theft in future BSNL has decided to discourage landline connections and promote WLL telephones.

Kapoor said at present BSNL has 60 WLL signal towers in Sirmour district out of which “mobile signal equipment” has been installed only on five towers, but now all the towers would be provided with the “mobile signal equipment” to improve the mobile signal in the district.

Mandi, July 14
The Rural Workers Association (RWA) and the district administration here are on a collision course over the non-payment of wages to workers, unemployment allowance to those eligible and non-availability of work for 1,500 job card holders under the NREGA in Khalwahan, Khani, Thata and Bung panchayats in the district.

RWA convener Lawan Thakur and president Sant Ram met the district NREGA coordinator here today.

They said they had brought these issues to the notice of the administration several times, but no action had been initiated to give relief to the rural workers so far.

They said unemployment allowance worth Rs 20 lakh was overdue as per Section 1 of the Act.

“Workers who worked during April, May and June await payments worth Rs 18 lakh,” they claimed.

Moreover, 1,500 job card holders, who applied for work under NREGA about a month ago, had not got work so far.

“This despite the fact that the Act provides that they should get work within 15 days of filing of an application,” they added.

RWA leaders alleged that district officials were deliberately dismissing cases for unemployment allowance.

DRDA-cum-district coordinator, NREGA, B.C. Thakur said, “None of the applicants was found eligible for unemployment allowance so far. We are examining other cases and the BDO concerned has been asked to send a report in this regard.”

He said the workers would get their payment soon as Rs 1 crore had already been sanctioned for Seraj block, while Rs 1.5 crore more would be sanctioned this year.

“We will examine the report and allot work to applicants,” he claimed, and termed RWA’s pleas as the one inspired by “local politics”.

Mandi, July 14
The state CPM general secretary, Rakesh Singha, has accused the Dhumal government of not giving immediate relief to the people of the state by way of cutting down the import duty on diesel and petrol.

The six-month long regime in the state had brought miseries to employees due to large-scale transfers and had done nothing to bridle the rocketing prices, he added.

Speaking at the CPM meeting here Singha said the CPM had asked the government to reduce 5 per cent import duty on oil and withdrawal of excise duty on diesel and petrol to give relief to the consumers, but to no avail.

As a measure, the government should impose tax on profits of the oil companies and constitute a price stabilisation fund to control the prices of all 25 essential food items and ban forward trading, he demanded.

Former Congress chief of Maharashtra Prabha Rao has been named the new Governor of Himachal Pradesh. — PTI

Shimla, July 14
The police has launched a campaign to educate the college authorities and students on the ways to combat harassment and violence on the campuses.

R.M. Sharma, SP, Shimla, today held a meeting with the heads of the colleges in the town so that they could hold counselling sessions for the students.

The main focus is to make the students aware of the Supreme Court’s directives with regard to ragging and college elections.

“The college authorities have been asked to ensure that the Raghvan Committee’s recommendations are followed in letter and spirit so that there are no problems,”
he said.

The Raghvan Committee, constituted on the directions of the Supreme Committee, submitted its report on May 16, which was circulated to all educational institutions.

The police has asked the college authorities to hold counseling sessions for the students so that the new students are not harassed. They have also been asked to constitute ragging squads.

“The students will be made aware about the consequences of ragging, including rustication and intimating parents, besides legal action,” said a college teacher.

The Raghvan Committee has suggested that chapters on ragging should be included in the NCERT and the SCERT to impart knowledge of ragging to the students.

The police has also asked the college authorities to report any serious case of ragging immediately rather than informing it later.

The authorities were asked to follow the Lyngdoh Committee’s recommendations on the code of conduct for the student’s elections.

They were asked to keep a check on the involvement of outsiders in campaigning on the campus.

The students can campaign only on the campus and not outside it, as per the Lyngdoh Committee’s recommendations.

The Himachal Pradesh University and other colleges have witnessed a lot of violence during the student elections. So the police was taking all precautionary measures.

The woman had admitted that she left home as she was being harassed by her husband and in-laws.

Shimla, July 14
The CPM said today that the BJP regime had scrapped the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) only to fulfil its political objectives despite the fact that the employees would be put to a lot of inconvenience.

The state secretariat of the CPM, which met here today, has decided to oppose the government decision to scrap the tribunal.

“The fact that the tribunal gave stay against the transfers ordered by the BJP regime purely on political considerations made the government take the decision of scrapping the tribunal,” said Rakesh Singha, secretary of the CPM state committee.

Singha said the BJP regime had taken the decision contrary to the promise made by it in its election manifesto.

“Rather than setting up a permanent Bench of the tribunal at Dharamsala and
Mandi, as promised in the election manifesto, the government scrapped the
tribunal,” he said.

The CPM leader said the employees would not only have to move the High Court but also pay higher fees and make additional expenses in the existing cases.

The CPM also accused the government of trying to launch a misinformation campaign with regard to the performance of the tribunal.

“Since its inception in 1986, the tribunal has settled 1,18,892 of the 1,42,559 cases filed before it,” he said.

He further said that the disposal of cases had been even faster that the registration of cases during the past three years despite the vacancies that remained unfilled for a considerable period of time.

MANDI: CPI state president and member of the Bar Council of Himachal Pradesh Des Raj has termed the government decision of scraping of the state administrative tribunal as a violation of the Supreme Court verdict.

In a statement issued on Sunday, he said the apex court had ordered seven years ago that anyone aggrieved by the order of the tribunal could approach the high court and then the supreme court to seek justice.

“However, scrapping of the tribunal has closed the first channel for the employees for seeking cheap and easy justice,” he added.

SUNDERNAGAR: The District Bar Association, Mandi, has criticised the government move of scrapping the State Administrative Tribunal.

A resolution to this effect was passed at a recently held meeting of the association.

The association said the BJP had taken a “U” turn from the promise made by it in its election manifesto that it would establish permanent Benches of the tribunal at Mandi and Dharamsala.

The association passed a resolution urging the government to review its decision.

Shimla, July 14
The BJP has welcomed the proposal of the state government to increase the strength of judges in the High Court along with setting up its Bench at Dharamsala.

Convener of the State BJP media cell Ashok Kapatia said with the scrapping of the State Administrative Tribunal, the employees would get relief in a shorter duration from the High Court.

The decision to scrap the tribunal had been taken keeping in mind its performance. “In some cases decisions have been pending for more than 18 years with no satisfactory interpretation of service laws” he remarked.

The decision to scrap the tribunal had been taken despite promising otherwise in its election manifesto as the step was in favour of the employees.

Shimla, July 14
The two-day regional conference on “importance of public relations and media in goof governance” concluded here yesterday.

Sunil Gupta, vice chancellor of the Himachal Pradesh University, said the constructive criticism if taken in the right spirit facilitated good governance.

President of the state chapter of PRSI, B.D. Sharma, also address the gathering. It was organised by the state chapter of the PRSI (Public Relations Society of India).