Shimla, November 15
Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal today launched the ambitious Rs 228 crore widening and strengthening of Theog-Kotkhai-Hatkoti-Rohru road project at Hulli village in the Kotkhai area of Shimla today.

The project is being funded by the World Bank and is being executed by the Chinese company, Longjivan Road and Bridge Limited. Under the project the width of the road in urban areas will be extended to 9.4 mt and in rural areas upto 9 mt.

“The World Bank project is being implemented by an international company and is likely to be completed by the 2011,” said Dhumal. He added that the project on completion would solve the problem of connectivity to the area permanently.

The Chief Minister also announced the setting up of a Rs 10 crore processing plant in the area by the HPMC. “Efforts are being made to generate more and more employment avenues and about 9,000 youth had got jobs during the past nine months,” he said.

He said with the dedication of the Rs 87 lakh farmers training centre-cum-hostel and soil testing laboratories facilities at Kotkhai, the growers of the area would be imparted periodical training by the scientists of Dr Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry and the officials of the horticulture department.

Dhumal said the welfare and economic upliftment of the farmers was the priority of the governemnt and this would be fulfilled at all costs. “Removing the emotional and geographical barriers and uniting the people of the state, irrespective of caste, colour and religion is one of the objective of the governemnt,” he said.

He also laid the foundation stone of the lift irrigation scheme at Tharolla-Bagh-Domedhar at Rawtan to be constructed at a cost of Rs 5.52 crore and Kokunullah-Hallaila-Mahasu-Bakhol-Gumma scheme estimated to cost Rs 6.50 crore, a parking at Kotkhai at a cost of Rs 50 lakh.

Shimla, November 15
Acceding to the request of the Brakel Corporation for deferment of the personal hearing schedule which was to be held today, the governemnt gave it time till November 21 to enable its foreign partners to be present at the hearing.

Senior officials and legal counsel of the company today met chief secretary Asha Swaroop and made the request for deferment of the personal hearing so that its foreign partners would get enough time to travel to appear before the review committee. The foreign partners are keen to appear before the governemnt to place on record the facts about the allotment of the 960 MW Jhangi Thopan and Thopan Powari hydro power project in the tribal district Kinnuar which had run into rough weather.

Even though the corporation had sought time till November 19 or 20 but the chief secretary gave them till November 21.The personal hearing of the Brakel case was to be held today.

It is reliably learnt that the governemnt is keen that before a final decision on the cancellation of the allotment of the two projects is made, all the aspects and documents must be examined carefully. The Brakel Corporation has already filed a detailed report along with several supporting documents. “The company has specifically tried to satisfy the governemnt about the questions and doubts raised by the Vigilance Bureau about the company,” informed a senior official.

In its reply Brakel has tried to explain the reason behind creation of the Brakel Kinnaur company. It has said that it was legally mandatory for any foreign company to have a national company before it starts operations in India.

It is now being expected that probably this would be the last chance for the company to present its case forcefully before the high-level committee which has to take a final decision whether to cancel the allotment or let Brakel carry on with its execution.

After the high court directed the governemnt to take a final decision about the cancellation of the project, the governemnt treading very cautiously does not want to take chance on any account and as such gave time to Brakel so that their foreign partners can be present on the personal hearing day.

Hamirpur, November 15
State spokesperson and BJP MLA Randhir Sharma has castigated the Himachal Pradesh Congress committee president Kaul Singh Thakur for encouraging defection of party leaders.

Talking to mediapersons here today, Sharma alleged: “Since he himself switched over political parties, he is now trying to patronise defections from other political parties to fulfill personal ambitions.” He said Thakur would not be able to succeed by such tactics.

He said: “Thakur is even talking of retirement from politics at the age of 75 to target senior leaders like former CM Virbhadra Singh and leader of opposition Vidya Stokes to sideline them to grab power in the state.” Sharma also accused the HPCC president “of allegedly promoting corruption during his tenure as the IPH minister in the previous Congress government and several irregularities were committed in the department.”

He also assailed Congress leaders for their attempts to take false credit for good work done by the present government in the state during the past 10 months.

Earlier addressing a new voters greeting function organised by the Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha here, he asked them to join the BJYM and support the BJP in the elections.

He also criticised the Congress government for the present problems in the country.

Mandi, November 15
In a development that comes as a relief for the state government, medical professionals, including NRIs, philanthropists and businessmen from Mandi, have resolved to form a trust to run the proposed private medical college attached to the zonal hospital at Mandi under the public-private partnership (PPP).

Though an initiative to form a trust here has assumed a major significance as Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal has also floated the idea of formation of a trust of medical professionals of Mandi working in private hospitals, it remains to be seen whether this meeting will end as a mere pre-poll stunt or fructify into the real thing as the meeting has proposed.

In a meeting of eminent doctors, businessmen and others representing the financial institutions from Mandi was held here under the chairmanship of Dr M.P. Vaidya, retried principle-director, IGMC. The doctors and other representatives asserted that they would form the trust to run the proposed private medical college in Mandi under the PPP model.

Dr Vaidya, who is also former director of the Medical Education at Banaras Hindu University said, “The idea to form the trust to run the private college in Mandi has been welcomed by all medical professionals who attended the meeting. The trust will be run by medical professionals with financial support from philanthropists, business houses and NRIs.”

Dr Harbans Lal Kapur, former director-principal at IGMC, who now runs his private clinic here, said, “We welcome the ESIC medical college and idea of a trust to run the private medical college in Mandi, which is need of the hour to provide affordable and quality treatment to common man in the region.”

He said instead some private company from outside comes and run the private college, medical professionals from Mandi would come forward and form a trust to run the college under the PPP model. Dr Harish Behl, who works as an orthopaedic surgeon in Mandav Hospital here after quitting the government job said, “There are over 50 doctors working in private hospitals or retired from the government service from Mandi town. They liked the idea of the trust and we hope to get a good response from NRIs and business houses, he added.

Dharamsala, November 15
The burning of plastic at the solid waste management site of the Dharamsala Municipal Council is spreading pollution in the area and threatening the pine forest surrounding it.

On visiting the site one can see plastic waste being burned and its toxic fumes spreading in the area. The workers at the site said the fire in plastic waste had been continuously sulking since the last two to three days. They said burning plastic was brought in some dustbin to the site and it had spread in the area.

The workers said they were deployed here for collecting and processing organic waste coming to the site for preparing organic manure out of it. Plastic waste was dealt by other workers, who have not come to the site since the past many days.

They also told that the machine had been installed at the solid waste management site for recycling and producing a byproduct from the plastic waste that could be mixed in bitumen for laying roads. However, the machine had not been functioning due to which the plastic waste was lying in heaps at the site.

The way plastic waste was being allowed to burn at the site seemed that putting it on fire seemed to be an easy alternative for those managing the site.

Kullu, November 15
Western tragopan, critically endangered bird species, has become a matter of concern even at the international level and conservation of the bird should be on priority. This matter was discussed at the IUCN World Conservation Congress (WCC) recently held at Barcelona in Spain.

Sanjeeva Pandey, chief conservator of forests and presently on deputation as the executive director of the Department for Sustainable Practices (DSP) had represented as Indian expert for the pheasant species group at the Congress.

Pandey said Dr Ashok Khosla of Development Alternative, Delhi, had been elected as the president of the International Union for Conservation of Natural Resources (IUCN). Scientists and conservation experts expressed concern over the declining number of the western tragopan.

Pandey said the bird was not more than 500 pairs. He said The Great Himalayan National Park in Kullu district was having a good number of the pheasant and the bird was locally known as Jujurana (King of Birds).

He emphasised on the current critical situation of the western tragopan and urged effective conservation efforts in the state. He said the pheasant might get extinct if proper conservation measures were not taken to protect it.

He emphasised that the action plan of the DSP would help to conserve the wild habitat of the bird in Kullu district. Pandey said resolving socio-economic issues on priority would effectively contribute to the western tragopan (biological diversity) conservation.

He said the state government had recently declared it as the state bird. The Department of Forest was actively working to improve their lifestyle and to save this species in the state.

Shimla, November 15
The local Municipal Corporation (MC) will be engaging the services of consultants to implement the city mobility plan (CMP), 
which has been prepared by the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department for better traffic movement and transportation 
within the town.

Even though the CMP was handed over to the MC almost a year back, the matter had been pending as the transport authorities had been examining the proposals suggested by the TCP authorities.

Finally, it had been decided to seek the services of consultants who will study the report and assess the viability of the suggestions made by the TCP Department.

After the consultants submit their report, the CMP will be sent to the union Urban Development Ministry so that funds can be sought under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

“We will shortly engage the services of consultants so that the final report can be sent to the Centre for seeking funds under the JNNURM,” confirmed Amitabh Awasthy, commissioner, MC.

The TCP had suggested that in order to improve mobility and have better transportation system in the town, thrust should be on constructing more pedestrian paths and no vehicles be allowed to be parked on the roads.

“Even though it is mandatory under the law to have parking provision in every building which is approved by the TCP, later on after completion of the structure the parking space shown in the map is used for other purposes,” said a senior official.

As part of the mobility plan there is provision for construction of more bypasses so that only local buses ply on the circular road and the regional buses and trucks move only on the lower bypasses.

The CMP also had provision for construction of about six tunnels in the town for reducing congestion and having faster mobility.

The proposed tunnels are to be constructed near the Cancer Hospital, Lift, Totu, Bemloe and another one parallel to the exiting Dhalli tunnel.

It is also proposed to have elevators, which will link Rivoli bus stand to the Ridge, Bemloe to the Mall and one near Kasumpti.

For ensuring better mobility in the town, it is proposed to shift the non-conforming areas like timber, grain, vegetable markets and godowns along the Cart Road to places on the vicinity of the town.

However, with huge amounts of money required for execution of proposals in the CMP, it will only depend on the liberal availability of funds under the JNNURM that it can be translated into reality.

Dharamsala, November 15
To commemorate the 107th birth anniversary of legendary painter Sobha Singh, the Sobha Singh Art and Tourism Festival will be held at Andretta from 17 November to 30. It has been sponsored by the department of tourism and civil aviation, Himachal Pradesh and will be organized by the Sobha Singh Memorial Art Society.

A two week long workshop on art and craft will commence on November 17 where around two dozen women will be imparted training in making decorative art and utility craft items. Around 30 students of fine arts from Himachal Pradesh University and amateur artists of the region will attend a three-day interactive workshop on painting from November 28. Twenty women will attend a workshop beginning November 28.

The art and tourism festival will conclude with on the spot painting competition for around 200 students of various schools of the district on November 30. The workshops will revolve around the tourism oriented themes.

The winners of art competitions will be given cash prizes and certificates and two institutions will be honoured for their outstanding contributions in the areas of art and culture of the state. The society also intends to release a souvenir to mark the occasion and highlight the contributions of Sobha Singh to the art and culture of India. It will include some unpublished paintings by the artist, his rare photographs, unpublished matter penned by him and special articles on the legendry artist by writers and art critics will also be included to make it a connoisseur’s collection.

Sobha Singh spent major portion of life at Andretta. He produced about 2000 paintings here out of which just about 50 are available at his art gallery at Andretta.

Despite lucrative offers from Punjab government, Sobha Singh preferred to stay Andretta.

Bilaspur, November 15
The district is making fast strides in growing various varieties of fruits and also in bringing revolution in providing much more financial income to orchardists through the adoption of poly houses techniques.

This was stated by deputy director of horticulture Jagdev Singh Verma while addressing mediapersons at “ Meet the Press Programme” here today. It was organised under the chairmanship of deputy commissioner Devesh Kumar.

Verma said during the current financial year, the department had distributed about 1.02 lakh fruit plants and with this 2,250 orchardists had been benefited. He said an additional area of 410 hectares had been added to the existing fruit bearing area of 5,537 hectares under the orchards in the district.

Verma said the department had six fruit plant nurseries at Nahar, Baroha, Nihal, Saloa, Kot-Kehloor and Guru-ka-Lahore, while another 30 private fruit plant nurseries were also registered for the purpose.

He said since 2003-04, the Horticulture Technical Mission had been introduced in the district and under it 8,285 orchardists were benefited during the past five years. A total of Rs 1.98 crore had been provided as a grant to 4,500 orchardists under the scheme.

Verma said financial help worth Rs. 3.65 crore had been provided to 174 farmers to set-up their poly houses and green houses in 1.5 lakh square meters of area and all these families had been growing flowers and unseasonable vegetables and earning good income through this advance farming.

Mandi, November 15
State CPM general secretary Rakesh Singha today asserted that the CPM would launch a statewide agitation from December 15-20 against the privatisation of medical institutions for the proposed private medical colleges in Mandi, Hamirpur and Una.

The privatisation has caused a feeling of separatism in the central region of Mandi and the CPM supports the Mandi Medical College Sangharsh Samiti (MMCSS) till the July 15 notification is withdrawn, he asserted.

Addressing a press conference here today, Singha alleged that the government had taken anti-people decisions: privatisation of not only zonal hospitals and Rogi Kalyan Samitis and other services in them, but also the Vivekanand Trust at Palampur and educational institutions in the state. The CPM opposes this move by tooth and nail, he asserted.

Singha said the state had three zones: Shimla, Mandi and Dharamsala. “The uneven development unleashed by handing over the zonal hospitals of Mandi, Hamirpur and Una to Green field, a private company, has created a feeling of alienation in the central Mandi zone,” he alleged.

He said the CPM supports the MMCSS chain hunger strike and would launch statewide agitation from December 15- 20 in its support.

Singha alleged that by handing over the Vivekanand Trust to JP company amounted to betraying interests of common man as people have given donations and the government had given land to the trust. There was no debate and transfer was conspiratorial and non-transparent in nature, he alleged.

Singha added that by cutting grant-in-aid to four private colleges of the state and starting of BEd colleges, SCVT institutions, three private universities, the BJP government had pushed its agenda of privatisation of educational institution that would make education out of the reach for the common pubic.

Dharamsala, November 15
The Department of Cooperative has mooted a proposal to revive the Palampur tea factory. The factory is being run by a cooperative of tea producing farmers. However, it is making losses due to less prices fetched by the produce in wholesale market at Kolkata.

The assistant registrar, cooperative societies,-cum-ADC, Kangra, Mamta Chaudhary, while talking to The Tribune said that after discussions with the farmers and experts it had been found that very less retail sale of tea produced in cooperatives tea factories was leading to losses. The cooperative tea factories of Kangra were selling just 5 per cent of their produce in retail.

The rest of produce is sold in wholesale market, generally in Kolkata. In the past few years the tea cooperatives here were fetching just Rs 60 to Rs 75 kg in wholesale market. At the said prices a loss of Rs 25 per kg was being incurred by the cooperatives.

A proposal has now been mooted that Kangra tea should be sold that at the retail outlets of the Himachal government and cooperative department of the state. If the sale of Kangra tea is allowed at all the retail outlets of government as bus stands the retail sales are expected to go up to 20 per cent.

Mamta also said options of entering into tie-up cooperatives of other states as Markfed or Amul would also be considered for increasing the retail sale of Kangra tea.

The cooperative members have also demanded an increase in bank limit from Rs 80 lakh to Rs 1.5 crores. Presently the tea cooperative of Kangra has a bank limit from Kangra cooperative bank.

The department might also consider training staff of cooperative tea factories for packaging the produce. Packaging is a vital component in tea trade and workers can be imparted skill at Mumbai-based training institute, she said.

Despite being best in aroma the Kangra tea has failed to capture the market due to poor marketing. The tea needs proper branding and retail markets for making it viable for the farmers.

The Palampur agriculture university had also recently launched Dhauladhar brand of organic Kangra tea. Though the tea has found some market locally it has till failed to attract institution investor for promotion.

Nurpur, November 15
The body of a Dalit youth identified as Suresh (23), son of Ghian Chand of Jalakari village, was found at the Indpur forest last evening.

The police lodged a case of murder today after holding preliminary investigations and spot examination.

According to sources, the deceased had taken gun from a license-holder villager and went to forest for hunting. He was allegedly fired at by some unidentified miscreant in the forest with a 12-bore single barrel gun. After killing him, the accused left the gun near his body.

DSP Bidhi Chand Verma said a case under Sections 302 and 201 had been registered and the body sent to the Tanda medical college for forensic examination.

He said the injury marks of gunshot had been found between the ear and neck of the deceased. It was suspected to be a case of murder, he added.

He said the body was found 200 yards away from the place where he was shot dead.

The police has taken the gun from the spot for taking its fingerprints.

Bilaspur, November 15
Public representatives and gram panchayat leaders should come forward to inform people of weaker sections and members of the SCs and STs regarding the free legal services being provided by the District Legal Services Authority.

This was stated by District and Sessions Judge Sureshwar Thakur while presiding over a district level free legal services camp organised at Judicial complex. It was organised for presidents, vice-presidents and mahila mandals to educate them regarding the free legal aid being provided by the authority for those who do not have enough financial resources to go to the court of law to get justice.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Baldev Singh also addressed them on the Civil Procedure Code and Deputy District Attorney N.C Ghai on free legal services to the weaker sections.