Shimla, November 3
The Himachal Cabinet today increased the procurement price of citrus fruits under Market Intervention Scheme by 50 paise per kg to be implemented from November 20, 2008 to February 14, 2009. It gave nod for setting up thermal plants, preferably based on biomass, for captive use and decided to reserve 5 per cent Class III and IV posts in various departments under direct recruitment quota for the compassionate appointments.

As per the decision 'Fair Average Quality' kinnow, malta and orange of B and C grade will be procured at a rate of Rs 5.85 per kg and Rs 5.25 per kg , respectively, while for galgal the support price will be Rs 4.15 per kg. Procurement will be made from the orchardists possessing horticulture card and no fruit will be procured from the contractors. In all 52 procurement centres will be set up.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal presided over the meeting.

The State Electricity Board will have the first right to purchase surplus power from such plants. It has also been decided to levy an environment cess on such plants the quantum of which will be determined separately. To clear the pending cases of compassionate appointments in various departments and public sector undertakings 5 per cent seats have been reserved under the direct recruitment quota.

It decided to amend the recruitment procedure and physical efficiency test for the recruitment of woman constables in the police and approved one time age relaxation for Home Guards from 28 years to 33 years for clearing the backlog vacancies reserved for the category. It sanctioned 240 posts of different categories in different departments and public sector undertakings. It approved implementation of a 'Group Superannuation Pension Scheme' for the employees of HIMUDA through Life Insurance Corporation of India with effect from March 31, 2008.

The Cabinet also approved increase in the MBBS seats in the Indira Gandhi Medical College from existing 65 to 100 and also increased 9 seats in various post graduate courses. It also sanctioned 45 posts of different categories to meet the increased demand of teachers and supporting staff. Further 11 seats were increased in postgraduate courses in the Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College at Tanda.

It granted onetime relaxation in recruitment and promotion rules for filling 50 per cent of the posts of assistant professor by promotion in the two medical colleges from amongst the joint roaster of the GDO category. It decided to revive the post of engineer-in-chief (quality and control) in the public works department for two years. It approved regularisation of 15 contractual computer operators in state electronics development corporation.

Solan, November 3
Maintenance of diesel-run generation (DG) sets would soon become mandatory for industrial units having contract demand of 1 MVA and above. While the DG sets have hitherto been used under emergency situations by the units to meet their demand for continuous power in case of power failures, the same would now become an essential condition.

The state Electricity Department which is now finalising the state’s first-ever policy guidelines for allowing peak load exemption to the industrial units has come out with this recommendation.

The policy guidelines further point out that though the consumers having connected load less than 1 MVA have been exempted from this mandate, they too have been advised to install them in order to meet power shortage eventualities. The policy guidelines have also introduced for first-time the quantum of peak load exemption to the extent of 25 per cent of contract demand or the captive generation installed at the industry. Earlier, this was a flexible norm and the units usually inflated their light load, which was exempted from penalties and did not require any specific permission.

With a view to providing this exemption to all continuous process industries and ensure their judicious selection the policy has bifurcated the units into two categories. The first comprises the industries involved in the manufacturing process, including polyester yarn, injection moldings, textiles (spinning), pharmaceuticals, paper mills, cement plants and induction furnaces. While the second comprises essential categories, which involved manufacturing/processing of oxygen, frozen foods, milk products and life saving drugs, agriculture, horticulture produce-based industry, ice cream, mushroom and export oriented units.

While making the policy stringent in view of the grim power scenario it has been laid down that the peak load exemption shall not be the right of the consumer and shall be subjected to the availability of power and infrastructure and it can also be withdrawn at anytime.

The committee headed by the chairman and comprising chief engineer (commercial), joint director industries and an official of the state electricity regulatory commission would now review the guidelines for which comments have been invited till November 30. The policy would be finalised soon and it would become operational from January 1.

Officials from the industries while welcoming the policy, however, said certain categories like induction furnaces should be charged a higher tariff than the laid flat rate of Rs 4.35 per unit as they severally affect the quality of hundreds of units located in its vicinity. Further, generating little employment and more pollution there was little the state gained from selling power to these furnaces at prices even lower than the actual cost.

Figures revealed that as against the total load of 460 MVA in the Baddi-Barotiwala industrial area as much as 30 to 40 per cent was utilised by these furnaces alone. While adversely affecting the quality of power in the area the state gained little from them. The officials therefore said they needed to be dealt with separately.

Shimla, November 3
Frequent and, often, conflicting changes in the hydropower policy have created an atmosphere of uncertainty, keeping the independent power producers (IPPs) on the tenterhooks. Even before a decision is notified, the next follows and the IPPs are completely in the dark about the amendments being made every now and then.

The latest policy decision to allot self-identified projects up to 25 MW on first-come-first-serve basis goes against the earlier decision to award all projects of more than 5-MW capacity through the competitive bidding route.

Worse, major changes are being effected in the policy although the process of consultation with the IPPs was underway. The first conference to ascertain their views was held on September 13 and the next is scheduled for November 8. However, several amendments had been approved by the Cabinet in between. The IPPs are at a loss to understand why the government is in such a hurry to effect changes without completing the process of consultations.

Chief secretary Asha Swaroop said the government had taken an initial view to clear the air regarding the self-identified projects and if there was a conflict in the policy, the decision could be reviewed.

Some latest amendments in respect of mini and small hydroelectric projects, particularly those up to 5 MW, are discouraging for Himachalis. As per one of the decisions, an upfront premium of Rs 10 lakh per megawatt will be charged on all projects up to 5 MW. Earlier, there was no upfront premium for projects up to 2MW, which were exclusively reserved for Himachalis. A premium of Rs 45,000 to Rs 75,000 per megawatt was chargeable on projects with capacity ranging from 2 MW to 5 MW. The amendment will make it more difficult for Himachalis to secure projects now.

Interestingly, the amendments in respect of projects up to 5 MW could turn out to be an exercise in futility as the government had been forced to withdraw the first amendment to the policy made on April 30, 2007, after some IPPs moved the high court to get it quashed.

In fact, the government issued a notification on September 15, 2007, that the 1,607 applications received for 168 mini and micro-hydel projects with aggregate capacity of 290 MW and the self-identified projects would be decided in accordance with the hydropower policy existing as on April 30, 2007. The latest changes will lead to fresh litigation.

Hydropower expert R.L. Justa says the government should first decide the 1,607 applications which are pending for the past 18 months. The self-identified projects up to 5 MW should be allotted immediately as these could not be cancelled or re-advertised because the stream, location, elevations, site of diversion dam and other vital parameters had been disclosed under the joint inspections carried out in July, 2007.

Shimla, November 3
Even as resentment is brewing among party leaders over the delay in appointment of chairmen of boards and corporation, Ashok Kapatia, who has been made member of the newly created Media Advisory Committee, has declined the offer terming it as inappropriate with his standing in the party.

Though Rajinder Rana, chairman of the committee, assumed charge today, Kapatia, who is a member of the BJP state executive committee for the fourth consecutive term, is unhappy over the task assigned to him. He is learnt to have conveyed to the Chief Minister’s office his decision not to accept the post.

“I have politely declined the offer of being a member of the Media Advisory Committee as it is not in accordance with my standing in the party which I have been associated with for almost 20 years,” said Kapatia, who is also the state media in charge. He has already conveyed his decision to the principal private secretary to the Chief Minister as Dhumal was out on tour. He will give it in writing to him today.

Party sources said Kapatia was unhappy over being equated with those far too junior to him in the party set-up. The two other members of the committee are Sanjay Sharma from Dharamsala and Praveen Sharma from Mandi.

With almost a year since the formation of the BJP regime in the state, party men are eagerly awaiting appointment of chairmen of boards and corporation. So far, the Chief Minister has rewarded only two persons, Trilok Kapoor, who was made chairman of the Wool Federation, and Ganesh Dutt, who was made vice-chairman of the Himachal Urban Development Authority (HIMUDA).

“Making these appointments is proving to be a tightrope walk for the Chief Minister as many will be left disappointed, leading to resentment against him,” remarked a Dhumal loyalist.

Prior to the formation of its government, the BJP had categorically stated that it would not go in for appointment of chief parliamentary secretaries (CPS) and parliamentary secretaries (PS) as it had itself gone to court against the appointments made by the Virbhadra regime.

In fact, in charge of party affairs in Himachal Satya Pal Jain had said that the people who could not be accommodated in ticket allotment for Assembly elections would be given preference while appointing chairmen of boards and corporations.

Solan, November 3
With nearly 37 samples of super phosphate (SSP) purchased by HIMFED from a Noida-based firm failing to meet the specified standards, the federation has now decided not to purchase more fertiliser from the firm.

HIMFED has requested other approved suppliers to arrange fertiliser to meet the urgent requirement of the farmers and no payment has been made to the erring firm.

A HIMFED spokesman said here today that the 37 samples drawn from the 999.95 MT of SP purchased from Jubilant Organosys had failed to adhere to the Fertiliser Control Order (FCO) and hence it was not sold to the farmers.

The spokesman further added that the supplying firm was liable for action. A meeting was held under the chairmanship of the director, agriculture, where two companies, including Noida-based Jubilant Ornagosys and Udaipur-based Liberty Phosphate, were called to supply the fertiliser before October.

Though the total requirement of the fertiliser was 5,000 MT, 1,000 MT was urgently required in October for the rabi season. Since the Udaipur-based firm showed its inability to supply the fertiliser at such a short notice, the director (agriculture) was requested to grant approval to the other firm.

HIMFED had purchased the same fertiliser from the Noida-based firm in the past also and at that time it had adhered to the FCO specifications, claimed the HIMFED spokesman. He said the federation had been engaged in procurement and distribution of fertilisers for the past 30 years and all purchases were made as per the Government of India norms.

What had, however, cast a question mark over their working was a pending vigilance probe into a fertiliser purchase made by HIMFED during the previous Congress regime.

Shimla, November 3
Activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) supported by the BJP, Hindu Jagran Manch and other organisations today took out a silent procession against the arrest of Sadhavi Pragya and other arrests being made in connection with the Malegaon blasts.

The VHP activists led by district BJP chief Ganesh Dutt took out a silent procession from the deputy commissioner’s office and marched through the Lower Bazar. They sat outside the municipal corporation building as a mark of protest against the arrest of Sadhavi Pragya and harassment of Army official in connection with the Malegaon blasts.

The activists also condemned the serial blasts across Assam, which they said was the handiwork of separatist forces.

Shimla, November 3
Students, teachers, parents and some other organisations would stage a peace march at St Bede’s College here on November 6, demanding restoration of grant-in-aid, which has been drastically cut in case of four colleges.

Students from all four colleges- St Bede’s, DAV Colleges at Kangra and Kotkhai and Maharaja Lakshmi Sen Memorial College at Sundernagar will take part in the students rally supporting the cause of “Save Education” in Himachal. It was in March that the grant-in-aid to these colleges was cut down from 95 per cent to up to 50 per cent.

The students of these four colleges who have already undertaken signature campaigns in their colleges would also be meeting Governor Prabha Rau and Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal to seek restoration of the grant-in-aid to 95 per cent, which had endangered the very existence of these colleges.

The HP Non-Government College Lecturers Association has also urged the Chief Minister to make necessary amendment in the grant-in-aid rules to provide 95 per cent aid to these colleges. “About 10,000 students are enrolled in these four colleges and the decision will adversely affect them as well as the teachers so the government should restore the grant,” Dr C.P. Kaushal, president of the association, said.

“The alumnae are highly distressed at the decision of the government to drastically slash the grant to all private aided colleges which has plunged St Bede’s into a financial crisis,” said Mala Kuthiala, an ex-Bedian and founder member of the Old Bedian’s Association.

She said the step of reducing grant-in-aid would only encourage commercialisation of education. It is unfortunate that St Bede’s, which is accredited as A-grade institute by the NAAC and is a heritage college, is being stifled by this action of the government, she added.

Kaushal said results of these colleges had been outstanding and the teachers had served here for very long periods.

“The high court verdict does not make any adverse comments on the grant-in-aid being given to these colleges and moreover the government is free to add any other colleges to the list provided they fulfil the eligibility criteria,” he said.

Shimla, November 3
Treading a cautious path the Cabinet today deferred a decision on the cancellation of allotment of two mega hydroelectric projects with combined capacity of 960 MW to the Brakel Corporation.

The power department had after going through the detailed reply submitted by the company to the second show-cause notice served on it proposed cancellation of allotment of projects. However, the Cabinet decided to get certain issues examined further and constituted a three-member committee under the chairpersonship of chief secretary Asha Swaroop for the purpose.

The matter will also be got further scrutinised by the law department so that all the legal issues were examined threadbare. The power department maintains that the company had misrepresented facts and that the previous Congress government failed properly scrutinise the documents submitted by it regarding financial and technical capability.

It had termed the notice as vitiated and mala fide and pleaded for setting up an independent committee to look into the whole issue in entirety and ensure justice. It had also alleged that principal secretary, power, Ajay Mittal was prejudiced against it.

The issue had been hanging fire since January, 2008 when the BJP government slapped the first show-cause notice for cancellation of the Jhangi-Thopan and Thopan-Powari projects. Subsequently, the government decided to drop the notice and also accepted the upfront premium deposited by the company. However, a second notice was served on it by the government on the basis of some new facts which it claimed came to light later. The company had refuted the government stand and asserted that no new fact had been uncovered to warrant a fresh cancellation notice.

Hamirpur, November 3
In the second and last evening of cultural programmes during the state-level Hamir Utsav comedian Gurpreet Ghughi and Punjabi singer Jasveer Jassi were the star attraction.

Ghughi through his jokes and anecdotes made the audience laugh to glory. During his more than an hour of presentation Ghughi narrated incidents from daily life, which made people laugh. He also presented hilarious incident from husband-wife conversation, incident related to functioning of the police and about future generation and entertained the audience to hilt.

On the other hand famous Punjabi playback singer Jasveer Jassi made youngsters dance on popular songs from Hindi films and Punjabi songs.

After presenting a prayer from Gurbani, Jassi started his show with a Sufi song ‘Aaao ni sayao ral gai badhai’. In his second song only youngsters were on there feet dancing on popular Punjabi number ‘Ek tara vazada ve noor mahal di mori’.

After this he sang his popular number ‘Dil le gai kudi Gujarat di’ for which he received maximum applaud from the crowd.

He remained on the stage till midnight and regaled the audience with varied songs.

Earlier, students from local schools and local artists also presented their programmes.

In the baby show organised as part of the Hamir Utsav, Samridhi Chauhan won the prize in 0 to 3 year category and in 3 to 5 year category Drishti Chauhan won the first prize, Shreya Sharma and Lakshayana won second and third, respectively.

In the flower show, Vimla Devi of Didwin Tikkar won first prize in single flower show and Rajinder Singh of Halana won first prize for bouquet competition.

Kangra, November 3
Onkar Rahi, novelist, art historian, poet and linguist, offered his latest book on Pahari miniature painting, The Devi Shakta Cult, before goddess Bajjreshwari here today.

Addressing a press conference in the temple, he said the pictorial details in the book were a study of Devi Shakti, the supreme feminine deity. He said Pahari miniature paintings represented Indian spirit.

In fact, it is former DGP of Madhya Pradesh O.C. Sharma who writes under nom de pulme Onkar Rahi. The 174-page book contains 36 handwritten pages of Markandeya Puran that date back to 1574-75 AD. It also contains paintings of Basohli, Chamba, Guler Kangra, Jammu and Kullu versions belonging to the period from the 18th to the early 20th century.

It also includes 37 Tantrik paintings.

Rahi said he had a dream to offer the book in the Bajjreshwari temple and seek blessings of the goddess. The Kangra SDM and a number of intellectuals were present on the occasion.

Bilaspur, November 3
The Himachal government is giving top priority to education in the state and that is why annual budget for this year has been increased by 157 per cent and as many as 18,000 posts which have been lying vacant since years are being filled during the current financial year in the Education Department. Thousands of posts of headmasters and principals, which were also vacant since years, have also been filled by giving due promotions to the deserving senior teachers.

Presiding over the third-day session of the four-day-long one act play section of Himachal Pradesh University Youth Festival here today afternoon, BJP state spokesperson and Kot Kehloor MLA Randhir Sharma said it is satisfying that 20 colleges drawn from various parts of the state are competing today in “hasya natika” and this response is also a pointer towards the importance and effectiveness of this art in the present day world.

He said the people have learnt a lot and society had gained immensely through staging of our epics like Ramayana and Mahabharta and this had also played a unique role in uniting our country with varied subcultures and languages into one strong unit.

Students of Government College at Rampur staged a one act play named “Mintoo Rampurwala” while artistes from Government Evening College at Shimla staged a play titled “Ajib hove mahol-jab banda kare kalol”.

Nurpur, November 3
Indefinite dharna launched by members of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidhayrthi Parishad (ABVP) of the Government College at Dehri unit in this subdivision entered its third day today.

Munish Chowdhary, unit president of the ABVP, who has been spearheading the agitation warned the state government to accept the longstanding demand of the students to start postgraduate classes in the college immediately otherwise the students stir would be intensified.

He claimed that this college was situated in the middle of four Assembly constituencies: Nurpur, Jawali, Gangath and Guler and as many as 600 graduates had to face a lot of hardship in seeking admissions in postgraduate classes in distant colleges.

Meanwhile, the agitating students held protest demonstration in the college campus in support of their demand.

Shimla, November 3
State BJP spokesperson Rajender Rana took over as chairman of the newly constituted Media Advisory Committee here today.

He said that the BJP government had adopted election manifesto of Bharatiya Janata Party as a policy document and all promises made during assembly elections would be implemented in letter and spirit. The government under the leadership of Chief Minister PK Dhumal had maintained cordial relations with the media and with an advisory committee n place these would further strengthened.

Kangra, November 3
Two persons were seriously injured when they were attacked by two other youths near the general bus stand here last night.

Kangra DSP O.P. Jamwal said Vijay Kumar and Chander Kant, both residents of Joel village, and Ravinder Kumar of Birta village and Lucky Kumar of Matour, who arrived at the new general bus stand at midnight in their car indulged in an altercation on the issue of parking. DSP said Ravinder and Lucky attacked Vijay and Chander with a sharp edged weapon. He said both the accused were rounded up and the vehicle impounded.