Solan, September 8
With the land freeze in effect in Vaknaghat and its surrounding areas, the private land buyers willing to construct houses have been hit hard.

The freeze orders issued in 2004 have not only stalled all land deals, but have also barred all constructions in the area.

In 2003, the Himachal Pradesh Housing and Urban Development Authority (Himuda) conceived a plan for a satellite township project.

Since then, 5,227 bighas of land was identified and later the acquisition began.

In a bid to safeguard the planning, land use freeze was enacted in 2004 in Waknaghat and its precincts.

However, the slow pace of work has been bothering the private land buyers.

Though notices under Sections 6 and 7 of the Himachal Pradesh Land Acquisition Act, 1894, for land acquisition were served in April 2007, the process has moved ahead by mere one step.

Notices under Section 8 have been issued now after almost a year and a half. This has added to the problem of the land buyers, who are compelled to wait endlessly.

Chief executive officer of the authority S.K. Sharma said, “The process of land acquisition was underway with notices being served under Section 8. After this a consultancy would be invited for devising the nitty-gritty of the township.”

Justifying the land use freeze, he says, “We cannot allow any haphazard construction near an area where a township is already being planned. This would defeat the very purpose of a planned township,” he said.

A land buyer, Dinesh Kumar from Delhi, said, “I bought land at Kyarighat in July 2004 to construct my house. I have been trying to do so for the past one year, but Himuda has been harassing several other people like me. They themselves do not know why they are acquiring this land.”

The changes mooted from time and time have added to the problem.

A proposal to set up an integrated information technology park-cum-township at Waknaghat was mooted some time ago that was to be implemented on the BOT basis. But it was not enforced.

Shimla, September 8
Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal today said the government was keen to promote eco-tourism so that more and more employment opportunities could be created in every part of the state.

He said the government was keen to rope in the private sector to make Himachal the most preferred destination. He was interacting with a high-level delegation of the DDA group of companies, Pune.

“We are committed to preserve and protect the natural heritage, flora and fauna to attract tourists in large numbers,” he said.

He said efforts were being made to encourage private partnership in association with local communities, NGOs, academic institutions and entrepreneurs to make eco-tourism a household affair.

He said the objective behind starting the home stay scheme was to make tourism a mass movement. “Another innovative scheme is to motivate schoolchildren from outside the state to visit apple orchards during the apple season so that they get first-hand knowledge about apple cultivation. Visits to various hydropower projects can also be a big attraction,” he said.

He said horticulture was the backbone of the state’s economy and was contributing significantly towards the gross domestic product.

“This sector is being strengthened by replacing the old rootstock with high-yield varieties and through diversification from traditional crops to floriculture, herbiculture and other such activities,” the Chief Minister said.

Mandi, September 8
PWD minister Gulab Singh Thakur today said the government was promoting eco-tourism, national bamboo mission and herbal plantation drives on private and government land in its bids to tackle the challenges of global warming and environmental pollution in the state.

He was addressing a public meeting after inaugurating the Rs 25-lakh Dul Khad bridge on the Jinjima-Banad-Galu road in Jogindernagar subdivision on the occasion of 59th Vanmahotsav day.

He said 2,594 hectares of forest land would be brought under plantation in the district by spending around Rs 7.45 crore. Around 2.4 lakh herbal saplings had been planted on private land by over 2.35 families in the district, Gulab Singh added.

Under the national bamboo mission, bamboo plantation was being encouraged among artisans and other groups. A sum of Rs 4 crore would be spent for the purpose this year.

Around 3 lakh trees had been planted along the roadsides besides 4,540 trees of fruits and flowers along the Jogindernagar roads so far, he added.

He said the government was constricting trekkers’ huts, forest rest houses and roads to promote eco-tourism in the district. This would involve an expenditure of around Rs 80 lakh. Three trekkers’ huts and a forest rest house would be built at Phuladhar at a cost of Rs 6 lakh, he added. He also laid the foundation stone of a Rs 5.5-lakh panchayat bhawan at Galu.

Nurpur, September 8
Today turned to be the most inconvenient day for commuters, tourists and general passengers here when they have experienced a lot of hardship when agitating farmers from this subdivision under the banner of the Kisan Vikas Sabha (KVS) blocked traffic at three different routes paralysing the whole traffic movement for about four hours. The local police and the administration have failed to persuade them to lift blockade beyond their schedule time.

The farmers have been agitating against the ban imposed on the felling of trees on their private land. They sat in dharna on the Pathankot-Mandi national highway at Jassur Chowk, near here. Similarly, traffic was blocked on Jassur- Talwara road at Raja Ka Talab and on the Jassur-Indora road at Jangrara with the active participation of local mahila mandals. The farmers have also parked their tractor-trolleys on the highways to restrain movement of any vehicle on the roads.

According to Jagdeep Samyal, president of the KVS, the farmers have submitted a number of memorandums to the state government through the local administration but so far no action has been taken to lift anti-farmer ban on felling. He said that farmers would repeat the action on the same spots again on September 22 if the government did not take any action towards their demand. He said in order to intensify its stir the KVS was holding its meeting on September 15.

The police has lodged cases under Sections 341,147 and 149 of the IPC against 20 farmers and nine mahila mandal members who took part in blocking traffic. 

Manali, September 8
A three-day INFOFISH regional workshop on production and marketing of coldwater fish species in association with Department of Fisheries, Himachal Pradesh and Directorate of coldwater fisheries research, Bhimtal, was inaugurated by joint secretary of animal husbandry and fisheries, Government of India, Tarun Shridhar, here today.

The Marine Products Export Development authority has estimated that India exported 0.54 million tones of seafood worth Rs 7,620.92 crore.

Sridhar said there was an ample scope for establishing coldwater fish farm for aquaculture production in the Himalayas and considerable farming had taken place in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Minipur.

Rakesh Koushal, secretary, Department of Fisheries, Himachal Pradesh, said the trout farming in the state has grown and the state government has involved private farmers in rainbow trout farming. More than 30 units of commercial farms had been set up in the private sector. 

Shimla, September 8
Mott Macdonald, a leading multi-disciplinary British engineering, management and business consultancy firm, is scouting for land in Himachal Pradesh to set up a mega project under the Centre’s recently introduced Information Technology Investment Region Scheme.

Executives of the company held discussions with officials of various departments concerned and said the company required 40 sq km land to set up the project, which would include education and health institutions, industrial hub, public utilities, residential areas, an integrated township and other infrastructure.

Since it is not possible to have 40 sq km of contiguous land in a hill state, the officials reportedly suggested that the company should look for land in blocks. The company was inclined to secure land in the Waknaghat-Kunihar belt, which is proposed to be developed as a counter-magnet to take away pressure from Shimla and Solan and check ribbon growth along the main highways.

The company, which is keen to take up environment friendly activities, considers Himachal Pradesh as an ideal destination for setting up such a project in private-public partnership. While the Centre will facilitate the development of national highways, airport and rail links for such projects, the states will help in local infrastructure like land, power, water, health, education and state roads.

Shimla, September 8
The proposed Nano-Biosym Technology Park to be set up by the state government in collaboration with the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, will go a long way in making the hill state a Nano-business hub of the coutnry.

The government has tied up with a USA-based nano-business company for the park being set up with an investment of about Rs 2000 crore over 400 acres at Aduwal near Nalagarh in Solan district. The land had already been provided for the project to be completed over 10 years in three phases.

The products like DNA diagnostics kits would enable highly accurate and reliable detection of any DNA or RNA-based pathogen within a short time and can be used by least trained persons to test blood, saliva or stool samples inexpensively.

The state government is taking steps to improve infrastructure to help make industries more competitive and efforts are also afoot to ensure private sector participation in infrastructure development projects. 

Shimla, September 8
Eighty-four land banks comprising 1,700 hectares have been identified in the state so far. Out this area, compensatory afforestation will be carried out in 177 hectares during current financial year.

This was stated by forest minister J.P. Nadda while reviewing the progress of the catchment area treatment plan activities in the state today. He said 21 such plans, involving an expenditure of Rs 334 crore, were being implemented for which user agencies had deposited Rs 184 crore so far.

He directed the user agencies to deposit the balance amount of Rs 150 crore at the earliest and asked the officers of the Forest Department to take immediate steps for realisation of the balance.

He said the Forest Conservation Act stipulated preparation and implementation of plans for integrated treatment of catchment areas of hydel projects having capacity above 10 MW. Nadda directed officers to activate the societies operating in Ravi and Beas basins and ask them to hold their executive committee meetings within a month.

Shimla, September 8
Despite early onset of monsoon and a record precipitation in some parts in June, the overall rain in the state during the current season has been below normal.

As per the data available for the monsoon season (June 1 to August 31), the average rainfall recorded in the state was 589.6 mm as against the normal precipitation of 659 mm. Thus, the state recorded 11 per cent less precipitation than normal over the three-month period.

Chamba district topped among the district experiencing weak a monsoon with 66 per cent deficiency in rainfall, followed by Lahual- Spiti (minus 65 per cent). The state experienced the wettest June with 100 per cent excess precipitation with all the 12 districts, except Lahaul-Spiti, recording much higher than normal rainfall. Kangra, Una had maximum precipitation during the month with excess of 421 per cent, followed by Kangra 279 per cent , Hamirpur 180 per cent, Kulu 127 per cent and Bilaspur and Solan ,both 125 per cent.

However, during July and August when the state normally gets most of the rain turned out to be deficient months. The overall deficiency was 37per cent in July and 14 per cent in August. In July all the districts were deficient, except Kulu and Una, which recorded 20 present excess rainfall.

In fact, Una and Kullu were the only two districts which had excess rainfall through the season.

According to the in charge of the local Met office Manmohan Singh the monsoons will completely withdraw from the region over the next two weeks. 

Solan, September 8
With the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department failing to rectify a snag that occurred in a pipeline around a week ago, the water supply in the surrounding areas of Kasauli, including Garkhal, Chabal, Sanawar, Tickethatti, etc., has been paralysed for the past six days.

The carelessness of the field staff was clear from the fact that the junior engineer concerned was not traceable for the past few days. His senior officers were unable to contact him. He has not come to the office for the past many days. He was not even available on his mobile phone.

The residents could not contact the executive engineer on the phone. Later, they approached the deputy commissioner. He inquired into the case and was told by executive engineer Hemant Tanwar that the snag had been rectified and the supply would be restored today. However, that did not happen.

There is no regular SDO in the area and the charge is being held on additional basis. The SDO concerned was, however, following up the progress of the work regularly. He said the motors had been sent to Jalandhar for repair and an alternative arrangement for supplying water from another scheme would be made by tomorrow.

The department appears to have been spurred into action after the engineer-in-chief R.N. Sharma was apprised about the whole situation. Expressing regret over the situation, he said he would ensure that the water supply was restored soon.

While hundreds of people faced inconvenience due to lack of water, the department did little to even fix responsibility of the erring field official, who was virtually untraceable. Though he had been served notices earlier also for his careless behaviour, there was little improvement in his conduct. The people were now demanding immediate transfer of the official and posting of a regular SDO at Dharampur.

Mandi, September 8
With the arrest of three persons at Drang on the Pathankot-Mandi national highway, the Mandi police today claimed to have busted a gang dealing in fake currency.

Members of the gang had been operating in the guise of ready-made garment sellers. Fake currency worth Rs 31, 000 was seized from them. They have been arrested under Section 469 of the IPC. Those arrested reportedly belonged to the Shaikhla Mohala (Saroja) of Hoshiarpur in Punjab.

A police patrol party reportedly stopped an Indica car (PB-07Q-3138) that was on its way from Kullu to Manali. On search, currency worth Rs 57,000 was found kept in a black bag in the vehicle. Out of this, 62 notes of Rs 500 denomination turned out to be fake.

The police also seized 50 ready-made suits that the gang members used to carry with them to cover up their illegal activities.

Those arrested were Bhupinder Singh, Kamaljit Singh and Sonu. They told the police that they got the currency from a Nepalese.

Palampur, September 8
With a view to solving the problem of regular traffic jams in the town, the administration has decided to remove all roadside encroachments in the town.

Ritesh Chauhan, SDM, has taken the residents of the town, mandal and the local municipal council into confidence to avoid any opposition.

The plan of the government is likely to affect around 100 roadside vendors.

The administration has chalked out a comprehensive plan to resettle the roadside vendors.

An official spokesman said roadside vendors had become a major traffic hazard in the town and no one would be allowed to sit on the roadside.

He said parking of vehicles in the main markets of the town had also been banned. New sites were earmarked for parking and all light vehicles would be parked there.

He said it was also planned to shift the taxi stand near the bus stand to ease traffic congestion in the town.

Chamba, September 8
With the delay in the work of the Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojna in Pangi tribal valley of Chamba district, the valley is expected to face grave problem of electricity.

The scheme was launched in August 2007, but the work was not accomplished even after a year.

Under the scheme, a power substation was to be constructed at Killar in the Pangi tribal valley.

Sources said the tenders for laying the transmission line had to be revoked twice as no contractor came forward to submit the tender bids.

Now, the tribal administration had planned to invite fresh tenders for the third time to undertake the work, the sources added. 

Hamirpur, September 8
The non-availability of AIDS-preventing medicines to medical and paramedical staff posted at various government health centres in the state is becoming a matter of concern for health personnel.

With the increase in number of HIV-infected persons in the state, the health experts have suggested the use of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) that can save its users from getting infected from the HIV virus even 72 hours after the exposure.

Though the PEP programme was to be extended in all health centres in the state, the preventive medicines are still available only in selected hospitals at the district level.

Expressing concern over the non-availability of AIDS-preventing medicines, some nurses working in various health centres here said, “We are exposed to blood and needles of thousands of patients, especially attending delivery cases, injecting and putting stitches, and the non-availability of preventive medicines makes us feel scared.”

Medical staff sources claim six of their staff members have already got infected by HIV virus while performing their professional duties. In Himachal, there are about 1,100 full-blown cases of AIDS and about 10,000 HIV-infected persons.

Director (health services) Sulakshna Puri said, “During professional training, we preach utmost care and universal prevention from exposure to the deadly disease during treating injuries, using needles and attending deliveries since mass HIV tests are not permissible; however, PEP safeguards are available at district hospital and other health centres and medical staff can make use of these whenever there is any such need.”

Kangra, September 8
Himachal Pradesh has a great opportunity to develop tourism in the state, particularly the religious tourism, and Asian Development Bank would fund the state in order to develop and enhance the cultural heritage and environment along with tourism in the state.

This was disclosed while talking to The Tribune by Mickle Green, head of the three-member high-powered committee of Asian Development Bank during his visit to Bajjreshwari temple here on Thrusday. He described Himachal Pradesh as the most beautiful place with a great potential of developing tourism here.

He said he was spell-bound to see the beauty of the Pong Dam as it did not look like a dam but was spread like an ocean and the waters sports could easily be encouraged and developed there.

Mickle was accompanied by Mustafa, an architect, and Ms Gurmeet Rai, a conservation specialist, besides Manoj Sharma, deputy director, tourism, and SDM, Kangra, Pardeep Kumar, during his visit. The team visited Jawalamukhi, Nadaun, Sujanpur Fort,Pong Dam and Chamunda temple on Friday.

The adventure tourism with eco-tourism could be developed at Bakra and the Pong Dam and artificial water beaches on the pattern of Gao could be developed besides boating and water rafting.

Mickle said that the Bank was funding to the tune of $300 million for such developments in five states of India which included Tamil Nadu, Uttranchal, Punjab , Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh. He said that funding would depend on the need and opportunity of the tourism development.

Shimla, September 8
Chief minister P.K. Dhumal said recently that the name of prominent persons who had bought land in the state must not be dragged into controversy merely for political reasons.

Participating in a debate on the issue of permission granted to non-Himachalis for purchase of land in the state, he said when some prominent citizens buy land in Himachal it must be taken as a matter of pride for the state. “We must not rake up the issue simply on political considerations as majority of such prominent persons do not usually violate norms,” he opined.

The issue, which was raised by Independent legislator Rakesh Pathania in the assembly during question hour recently, led to heated arguments between the treasury benches and the members of the opposition. He said the previous government had shown undue favour in giving land to outsiders like Priyanka Vadra and the owner of Jagson Airlines.

He demanded that an inquiry by a sitting judge of the high court or the chief secretary must be ordered into the allotment of land in the reserved forest and no-construction zone in Jhaku, where several trees had been felled for construction purposes. “When requests by others for purchase of land in the high-security zone near Retreat were turned down, why special preference was given to Priyanka Vadra,” he said.

Dhumal said, “While discussing the issue in the House, we must not drag names of people like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who has done so much for Himachal. However, the cases where permission has been granted in violation of the Section 118 of the HP Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, which is against the interest of the state, can be looked into,” he said. Revenue minister Thakur Gulab Singh said in case there was any violation of norms in any case of land purchase, the government would look into it.

Transport and town and country planning minister Kishan Kapoor informed the House that a decision on the cases pending before the government for regularisation under the retention policy would be taken after taking all aspects into consideration.

The issue was raised by Sohan Lal and Sukhwinder Sukhu (Congress), who wanted to know what action the government intended to take since the petition in the high court with regard to retention policy had been dismissed.

Solan, September 8
Clarifying its stand on the issue of an antibiotic tablet clanoxy Galpha Lab not confirming to standard quality in Andhra Pradesh, company officials today said that they would challenge the findings of the government analyst at Hyderabad and seek a re-analysis at the Central Drug Laboratory, Kolkata.

The company’s director, J.P.N.Singh, in a communication to The Tribune said that they had supplied about 1.5 crore strips of clanoxy tablet to the AP Government and none of them had been received back by it. While the drug was not spurious it had failed to confirm to the standard quality as per the report of the AP drug authorities.

It is, however, noteworthy that the AP drug authorities had issued a show-cause notice to the company after its clanoxy sample was found not conforming to the standard quality and subsequently a drug inspector had visited the company premises on August 18. The drug authorities had, meanwhile, recalled all remaining tablets from its stores in Andhra Pradesh.

The company officials while further challenging the report of the AP drug authorities said their testing was incomplete as they had not conducted the dissolution test which would have confirmed the results. They added that had requested the AP drug authorities to send the samples to the Kolkata lab.

The company officials also claimed while merely two batches had failed to conform to the standard quality the value of the drugs stood from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 27 lakh.

Sanawar, September 8
Lawrence School, Sanawar, lifted the trophy of the 4th Geetanjali Kirlosker Inter-School Business Quiz here yesterday.

The winning team comprised Simarpreet Singh Arora, Sagat Shaunik, Aditya Baid and Navtej Bassi.

St Stephen’s School, Chandigarh, got the first runners-up trophy, while Vivek High School, Chandigarh, followed it. The third runners-up trophy went to Mayo College, Ajmer. La Martiniere College, Lucknow, and APS, Dagshai, got consolation prizes.

The quiz was organised by the commerce department of Sanawar school. It aimed at creating awareness among students about the latest developments in the corporate world. Twenty teams from across the country participated in the quiz.

After appearing in a gruelling preliminary screening test, teams from APS, Dagshai, Lawrence School, Sanawar, Mayo College, Ajmer, La Martiniere College, Lucknow, Vivek High School, Chandigarh, and St Stephen’s School, Chandigarh, made it to the final round.

The quiz was started with a question from the audience and consolation prize was won by Pardeep of St Stephen’s School, Chandigarh. Later, quiz master Lloyd Saldhana quizzed the participants on a wide range of topics.

Hamirpur, September 8
Former chairman of the Kangra Central Cooperative Bank (KCCB) and BJP MLA Babu Ram Mandial has strongly criticised the alleged violation of cooperative Act by assistant registrar (AR) of cooperative societies, Hamirpur, by accepting appeals and amending the list after final display of voters’ list.

He said “TheAR has no powers to accept appeals after display of final list of voters which he has done for the election of the KCCB from Nadaun zone.”

Seeking suspension of the AR, Mandial has made a complaint to deputy registrar of cooperative societies, Himachal Pradesh.