Shimla, July 24
Various user agencies will have to pay much higher costs for diversion of protected wildlife areas for non-forestry use, besides fulfilling the mandatory requirement to add equivalent area to make up for the areas lost by the sanctuary concerned.

A central empowered committee set up by the Supreme Court to deal with forest diversion cases has fixed the net present value (NPV) for diversion of area under a wildlife sanctuary at five times that of the ordinary forestland. Similarly, the NPV for diversion of area under national parks will be 10 times that of the forestland. It has also been made clear that the diversion of protected wildlife areas will be permitted only in unavoidable circumstances for projects involving larger public interest.

The new rates of NPV fixed on the recommendation of the committee for forestland range from Rs 4.38 lakh to Rs 10.43 lakh per hectare the forestland lost, depending on the quality and density of the land diverted for non-forest use.

Accordingly, the rates applicable for national parks will vary from Rs 43.80 lakh to Rs 1.04 crore pre hectare and for sanctuaries from Rs 21.9 lakh to Rs 52.2 lakh per hectare. The new rates of NPV for open, dense and very dense forests range from Rs 4.38 to Rs 7.3 lakh per hectare, Rs 5.63 lakh to Rs 9.39 lakh per hectare and Rs 6.26 lakh to Rs 10.43 per hectare, respectively. The rates will be revised after every three years.

It has been also made clear that the diversion of protected wildlife area will not be allowed unless additional area equivalent to the diverted area was included in the sanctuary or the national park concerned. There have been cases in the past where this mandatory requirement had not been fulfilled. In the hill state, the condition was not adhered to in case of the diversion of land for the Ambuja Cement Plant for which 17.5 sq km of protected wildlife area under the Darlaghat wildlife sanctuary was diverted.

The Government of India had allowed the state to divert a part of the Darlaghat sanctuary for the cement plant on the condition that 20 sq km area of the adjoining land will be merged in it to make up for the diverted land. Even the necessary notification under Section 18 of the wildlife act was issued and the process to settle the rights of the local people in certain pockets of the area proposed for merger was started. However, the final notification for the merger was never issued and the move was shelved.

Shimla, July 24
The government will explore the possibility of generating thermal power to add to its power generation capacity.

This was stated by Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal while reviewing the progress and future plans of the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB) here today. “We will initiate steps to get a suitable coal pit allotted in our favour in states having thermal potential and explore the possibilities of executing it with equity participation or as a joint venture,” he said.

He said the government would prefer to execute such a project through the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) that had expertise in the field. “The government will considering allotting hydropower projects of 1,000 MW to the HPSEB to fully utilise its expertise and capability,” he said.

Efforts were already being made to identify solar and wind power potential in the state along with thermal power. “Every possible effort will be made to enhance power potential of the state to meet the growing demand of the domestic and commercial consumers,” he said.

Dhumal said the state would reserve the right of equity participation up to 49 per cent on selective basis in all mega projects with a view to gain maximum out of its hydropower potential. He said the ‘Atal Bijlee Bachat Yojna’ announced on April 15 would be launched from August 15 by distributing CFLs among domestic consumers by December 25.

Shimla, July 24
Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal has said that no haste should be shown in completing the restoration work of the historic Gaiety Theatre so that there is no deviation from the original Gothic architecture of the imposing structure.

He inspected the restoration work being undertaken at the Gaiety today. “The complete restoration work of the historical building is likely to cost about Rs 12 crore and funds will not be allowed to come in the way of quality work,” he assured.

He said the best quality material was being used so that the structure can be protected and preserved. “Being one of the important landmarks of the town, the building was in need of immediate restoration work that is being undertaken painstakingly,” he said.

Dhumal said the government had prepared the restoration plan of the Gaiety after carrying out detailed study to ensure that the original architecture and style were not changed in any way. He said the services of conservation experts had been taken to ensure quality work. He said the government was keen that the Gaiety was thrown open to the public at the earliest, but there would be no compromise on the quality of work in order to finish the work early.

“Renowned artistes, including Pritvi Raj Kapoor, K.L. Sehgal and Balraj Sahni, have performed at the Gaiety Theatre along with other prominent personalities,” he said.

Hamirpur, July 24
After busting the inter-state gang of car lifters last month, the Hamirpur police has now exposed the alleged role of the regional transport office (RTO), Hamirpur, in registering the stolen vehicles here on forged documents.

After quizzing Rajesh Kumar, the kingpin of the car lifter’s gang, the police found that many vehicles were reportedly registered on forged documents at Hamirpur and four of these vehicles were stolen by the gang.

It shows that registration certificates (RCs) and other documents were not verified. Moreover, new RCs and numbers were allotted ‘blindly’.

The police is surprised as to how these vehicles were registered here and new registration numbers were issued without verifying form no. 28, 29 and 30?

M.L. Mehta, RTO, Hamirpur, said, “The registering officer is responsible for verifying the documents for registration and if any forged registration takes place, he is liable.”

Asif Jalal, SP, Hamirpur, said, “The investigation is still in process and legal action would be initiated after the completion of the probe.”

Shimla, July 24
The government has requested the Centre to sanction an Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) for the state.

The request was made by horticulture and technical education minister Narender Bragta while speaking at the higher and technical education ministers’ conference at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi today. “The state government has already offered 100 acres of land and identified sites at various places keeping in view the norms and conditions for the setting up the institute,” he said.

Bragta said the government was in the process of sending a detailed project report for the setting up of the IIIT. He said the state would bear 15 per cent of the total cost of the project, under private-partnership model.

He urged the Centre to give some relaxation in norms laid down for setting up of such technical institutes in the hilly states keeping in mind the difficult geographical and topographical conditions and limited land resources. “These constraints faced by the hill states must be borne in mind while formulating national-level policies,” he said. The minister also urged the Centre to restore the old policy of making admissions to the engineering colleges as the new system had affected the prospects of students from the state. “We are keen that the academic session of the IIT be started from this year in Himachal like all other newly sanctioned IITs,” he said. He said the state government had already made available facilities so as to enable starting of classes from this year.

He also requested the Centre to allow setting up of polytechnic colleges in five districts of the state under the national skill development mission. “Since we have eight government and four private technical colleges, the sanctioning of five polytechnics by the Centre will cover the entire state,” he said.

Nurpur, July 24
The Central government-sponsored National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) scheme launched last year has ensured 100-days labour job to the rural people. But there is no check on the quality of development works being undertaken under the scheme.

An instance of forged attendance on muster rolls engaged by the Hadal gram panchayat has come to light. Ex-pradhan of the panchayat Subash Singh who had got certified copies of muster rolls under the Right of Information Act from the office of the block development officer (BDO), Nurpur, had submitted a complaint to Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and the local BDO demanding high level probe into the alleged misuse of Central fund by the panchayat.

According to information gathered from the certified copies of the muster rolls the gram panchayat had shown attendance of a few labourers under the NREGA scheme from August 16 to 31 and October 1 to 23 in 2007 who were virtually engaged by the local Government Middle School administration for constructing school rooms. In this connection BDO Nidhya Ram admitted that he had received the complaint and initiated an inquiry into the allegations.

Solan, July 24
The corrugators of the Federation of Corrugated Box Manufacturers from six northern states have decided to hold a week-long strike against the languid attitude of the paper mill owners towards their genuine grievances.

As many as 200 corrugators from Himachal, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttranchal, Rajasthan, Punjab and Chandigarh, who convened a meeting yesterday at Baddi, have decided to stop production and delivery of packaging material from August 1 to 7 to resent the lack of hike in the packaging material.

Devinder Sehgal, the president of the association, said their delegation went to meet the paper mill owners in Delhi on July 2. They were treated in an indifferent manner and their grievances were not heard.

Vice-presidents - Mukesh Jain and G.K.Sardana, L.S.Verma, representing BBN Packagers Association, and Girish Modi, chairman, people’s coordination committee, representing All- India Federation of Corrugated Box Manufacturers, decided not to stop the supply of apple
trays to the orchard owners, as they were not responsible for the dispute.

The corrugators said the price of various commodities, including paper, had put an immense strain on this small-scale sector. This had increased their costs by 10 to 15 per cent.

Kangra, July 24
Members of the panchayat of Ansoli village on the outskirts of this town have served a seven days legal notice to the secretary of the Power Department and engineers of the HPSEB subdivision 2, Dharamsala, for their failure to provide normal voltage supply to their village for the past two months.

Ward members of the village panchayat A.B. Rajbansh, Hem Raj and Ajay Kumar yesterday said the village had been reeling under low voltage problem for the past two months and the voltage was so low that even the students were not able to study after evenings.

They said the villagers had been moving from pillar to post to get redressal from the low voltage problem.

Shimla, July 24
Demanding restoration of timber distribution (TD) rights to the people, the Himachal Kisan Sabha (HKS) demanded that the government must represent the case of the farmers in an objective manner in the court.

The peasants all over the state yesterday staged protest against the complete ban on TD rights and collection of fuel wood and fodder from the forests. The state president of the HKS, Tikender Singh Panwar, said a massive statewide signature campaign would be launched and submitted to the chief justice of the high court so that the case of the farmers can be presented in a new form.

He regretted that the Forest Department is interpreting the court order by its own parameters whereas the factual position is that the ban exists only on green felling and not on collection of fuel and fodder, which is a centuries old right of the people.

Shimla, July 24
The BJP Mahila Morcha has welcomed the government decision of holding the national women’s sports meet at Hamirpur along with other steps taken for the promotion of sports.

State president of the BJP Mahila Morcha, Rupa Sharma said by holding athletics, badminton and table tennis national-level competitions, women sportsperson would get a lot of encouragement. “The decision to give Rs 1 lakh to the national winners and the enhancement of rewards for the sportspersons have been appreciated by everyone as it would go a long way in sports promotion,” she said. She said it was essential to promote sports so that the youth instead of getting hooked to drugs and other social evils could devote their time and got benefits from the sports activities.