Shimla, July 25
The government will examine the possibility of formulating its own excise policy to meet specific requirements based on the varied geophysical conditions of the state.

Stating this while reviewing the functioning of the Excise and Taxation Department here today, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said so far the state had been implementing the Punjab Excise Act of 1914, which had become redundant in view the present-day requirements and the number of amendments carried out from time to time.

He said the state government would soon prepare a draft excise policy for the state after taking all related aspects and ground realities into consideration.

He said the department had set a target to generate revenue of Rs 1,976 crore for the current financial year out of which Rs 464.07 crore had already been collected.

It had generated a revenue of Rs 1,675 crore against the target of Rs 1,662 crore, exceeding the target by one per cent last year.

He said majority of the commodities used by every section of the society had been kept out of tax net.

These included fruits, vegetables, newspapers, school stationary, PDS items for BPL, Antyodaya Anna Yojna, Annapurna Yojna, agriculture, horticulture produce, handloom produce, fertilisers, milk and milk products.

He said the state had introduced various simplified schemes for lump sum revenue collection and tax payments, which saved traders from the required codal formalities.

He said that the Grahak Protsahan Yojna-2008 would be launched in the state from August whereby lottery system would be adopted to encourage customers to make purchases on cash memo.

He said the scheme would not only benefit customers, but also ensure adherence to the sale procedure.

A scheme to provide 1 per cent incentive to the department on achievement of the budget targets had also been approved. This would motivate staff of the department to work more vigorously.

Shimla, July 25
The high court today granted bail to Rajinder Kumar Malhotra, owner of the Super Max group of companies, and V.K. Tripathi, chief executive officer of the company, in the June 30 shooting case at the Shoghi unit of the company.

One worker was killed and three were injured when the security guards of the company opened fire on protesting workers.

While granting anticipatory bail to the owner of the company, Mr Justice Surinder Singh directed Malhotra to join the investigation and in case he was not available to do so because of his illness, his counsel should inform the investigating officer in writing within 10 days regarding his non-availability at Shimla.

The court further directed the prosecution that in the event of his arrest, he be enlarged on bail on furnishing bonds for Rs 1 lakh with one surety of the like amount.

The court directed him not to leave India without its permission and not to misuse the liberty of bail in any way. The next hearing on the issue will be on August 22.

The court also granted bail to Tripathi on the condition that he would make himself available for interrogation by the police as and when required and would not leave the country without court’s permission.

The court also directed him to make every endeavour to restore work and peace in the factory.

Shimla, July 25
Activists of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) today staged a demonstration outside the deputy commissioner’s office in protest against the tardy progress in the shooting incident at the Super Max unit at Shoghi.

The BMS activists, along with workers of the factory, demanded that the police and the administration must make efforts to resolve the stalemate as the factory management had not shown interest in holding talks to settle the dispute. They said the management representatives did not turn up at the labour commissioner’s office.

The protesters also met the labour commissioner and asked him to resolve the dispute. He is learnt to have told them that the management had sought two days since raids were being conducted at various units of the company by the income
tax authorities.

The activists demanded that Rs 15 lakh compensation must be given to the family of Amarjeet Singh, who was killed in the shooting incident. They also demanded that Rs 2 lakh each must be given to the injured.

Another major demand of the activists is the reinstatement of nine suspended employees of the unit.

It was the suspension of these employees that ultimately led to the confrontation between the workers and the management.

Shimla, July 25
While the government continues to dither on the issue of unbundling, the financial health of the state electricity board is turning from bad to worse.

How grim the situation is could be judged from the fact that state power utility is running an overdraft of over Rs 400 crore and its current liabilities are over Rs 700 crore, which include over 250 crore to be paid to the government on account of electricity duty and sale of power. This is besides the accumulated loss of 262 crore till the last financial year.

The failure of the government to unbundle or downsize the heavily over-staffed board is said to be the main reason behind the worsening financial position of the board. The excess of manpower was reflected in the employee cost of over Re 1 per unit, which was the highest in the country.

However, the board continued to face acute shortage of technical manpower. While daily wagers were being regularised and appointments were being on compassionate ground, the technical manpower was not being increased.

Over 600 appointments have been made on compassionate grounds over the past one year, whereas over 3,000 posts of junior engineers, lineman, foreman and other technical staff are lying vacant.

The situation will deteriorate as and when the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission are implemented.

The board will not have any surplus power from the next year due increased consumption in the industrial sector. The government’s industrial policy is proving disastrous for the financial health of the board.

It approved industrial projects involving invest of about 26,000 crore over the past four years.

Although projects involving investment of only about Rs 3,900 crore have been commissioned so far, the power consummation has more than doubled. This has left the board with zero surplus.

Harsh decisions and tough measures were needed to set the situation right, but the required political will seems to be missing.

The mess created in the board will ultimately affect the common man who will have to pay higher charges for electricity and may have to put up with long power cuts as happened during the last winter.

Sundernagar, July 25
The police has summoned D.P. Goel, former chief engineer of the Bhakra Beas Mangement Board, Sundernagar, in connection with the case pertaining to the controversial purchase deal of a dredger.

Gurdev Sharma, DSP, Sundernagar, confirmed that Goel was directed to join the investigation of the case.

The DSP said he was out of town today, so the Sundernagar SHO was asked to handle the case. As per his information, the investigation was still in progress and if needed, Goel would be further interrogated and asked to join the probe again.

In 2007, the BBMB purchased a dredger to dredge out silt from the Balancing Reservoir, Sundernagar, as per the environment management plan.

Later, the secretary of the purchase committee wrote a letter to the higher officials, including the BBMB’s secretary, that the report vide which the dredger was purchased (from IHC Holland) was tempered with. But the top management did not take any notice of it.

The matter was highlighted by The Tribune on September 23, 2007, even then the BBMB did not bother.

But the police stated the investigation and asked the BBMB to produce the report pertaining to the purchase deal.

The company did not cooperate and the police registered an FIR on April 22, 2008. The police said the officials, who were found guilty, would be arrested immediately.

Dharamsala, July 25
Chander Kumar, Kangra MP, is for moving privilege motion in Parliament against A.B. Bhardan, CPI leader.

While talking to newsmen here today, Kumar said MPs were being offered Rs 25 crore to cross vote the communist leader that had lowered the dignity of Parliament.

He said, “I would seek permission from the party’s high command to move privilege motion in Parliament against A.B. Bhardan. The communist leader should either provide proof of the allegations leveled against the MPs or seek apology.”

Kumar said Congress MPs from the state met Sonia Gandhi, president of the UPA, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to apprise them of the state government’s decision of shifting the venue of the proposed Central University.

As per the original proposal, the Central University was to be set up in Dharamsala or its vicinity.

However, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal announced that the university would be set up in Dehra that was a part of the Hamirpur parliamentary constituency, represented by his son.

“Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister have assured us that they would take up the matter of shifting the Central University with union human resource minister Arjun Singh. We will not allow the government to shift the venue of the Central University,” he said.

“We are not against setting up of institutes at Hamirpur or any other part of the state. But the Chief Minister should plan for new institutes there rather than shifting the institutes, which were proposed during the Congress stint to his constituency,” Kumar alleged.

Dharamsala, July 25
Ex-servicemen of the state have demanded conferring of the Bharat Ratna award on late Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw. Major Vijay Singh Mankotia (retd), president of the State Ex-Servicemen League of Himachal Pradesh, said a resolution to this affect was adopted in a recent meeting of the league.

He said the ex-servicemen also demanded that the proposed Central university in Kangra should be named after late Major Som Nath Sharma, the first Param Vir Chakra (PVC) awardee of the state.

They also demanded that the Dharamsala cricket stadium should be named after late Capt Vikram Batra.

Serving in the armed forces had been a tradition in the state. In the Kargil War alone, there were 52 martyrs from Himachal.

Himachali soldiers had won 797 gallantry awards so far, he added. However, successive governments had failed to recognise contribution of these martyrs.

There was a need to fulfil commitments made to ex-servicemen, serving solider and families of martyrs, he added.

Palampur, July 25
Shanta Kumar, former union minister and MP, addressing a district-level convention of the BJP here today, urged the BJP workers to gear up their efforts for the successful implementation of the polices and programmes of the state government.

He said the developmental activities in the state had come to a standstill during the Congress regime and there was rampant corruption in the administration.

Now the top priority of the BJP was to gear up the development activities in the state, particularly in rural areas, where taps were dry and roads were in bad shape.

He said the BJP workers should extend their cooperation to Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal for making the state a model of good governance.

All BJP MLAs from Kangra, including Krishal Kapoor, transport minister, Ravinder Thakur, IPH minister, Sarveen Chaudhry, social justice minister and Ramesh Dhwala, food and supply minister, attended the conference.

Shanta Kumar said ministers should hold “khula darbars” not only in their own constituencies, but in other constituencies to listen to the grievances of the people.

He said the NDA was likely to form the next government at the Centre and it needed more strength from the states. So the BJP must win the four seats from the state.

Bipan Parmar, district BJP president and MLA from Sulaha, asked the party workers to highlight the problems of the people so that the same could be redressed.

Parmar assured the party workers that there was no shortage of funds for developmental work in the state.

He said the police personals in civil dress had been put on duty and dogs and bomb disposal squads too have been put on readiness.

Shimla, July 25
The multi-pronged strategy adopted by the Fisheries Department to check the down slide in the production of fish has been a success. The output went up by 350 tonne during 2007-08.

This was stated by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal at a meeting specially convened to review the functioning of the Fisheries Department here today.

He said the state was producing 7,337 tonne fish (valued around Rs 37 crore) and was contributing significantly towards providing quality fish to consumers. Himachal was the first state in the country to introduce trout farming in the private sector. The state was producing over 50 tonne trout, he added.

Efforts were afoot to develop the first mahseer fish farm in the state at Badon in Jogindernagar at a cost of over Rs 5 crore.

A new farm on the bank of the Tirthan river at Hamini in Kullu was also being set up at a cost of about Rs 2.5 crore.

He said the government was extending premium-free insurance cover of Rs 50,000 to all licensed fishermen operating in the state.

This would benefit around 11,000 families. On permanent disability, the fishermen concerned would be entitled to Rs 25,000.

Providing insurance cover was one of the steps initiated by the government for the welfare of the fishermen.

There were 19 cooperative fishermen societies in the state and a number of welfare schemes were in place to protect interests of members of these societies.

The state had a total river length of over 3,000 km and three big man-made reservoirs of Gobind Sagar, Pong Dam and Chamera (with an area of over 42,000 hectare) were available for rearing rainbow, brown trout and other species.

He said precautions had been taken to protect the fish in Rewalsar, Parashar and other lakes where fish had died due to overfeeding by devotees.

He said trout angling was being promoted in a big way to boost tourism and rivers like the Beas, the Tirthan, the Pabbar and the Baspa had been stocked with trout seed to attract tourists.

He said more officers had been authorised to issue licences for trout angling in
the state.

Una, July 25
HPCC president Kaul Singh was extended a warm welcome on his first visit to Una after assuming the office.

Speaking on the occasion, he said the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) had
been scrapped as many of the employees transferred by the BJP government recently had approached the tribunal and obtained stay orders much to the chagrin of the government.

In its manifesto, the BJP had promised that Benches of the tribunal would be set up at Dharamsala and Mandi.

On coming to power, it scrapped the tribunal altogether, he said. The government was now saying that a Bench of the high court would be set up at Dharamsala.

However, the high court had already said that setting up a Bench at Dharamsala was not feasible, he said.

He maintained the nuclear deal was in the interest of the country. It was unfortunate that the CPM withdrew support from the UPA government without understanding the nuclear deal, he added.

He said he was thankful to Sonia Gandhi and the state leadership for his appointment and would try his best to strengthen the party in the state.