The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Himachal Pradesh Edition

Tibetan Conclave
Deliberations over, reports today
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, November 20
The three-day in-house deliberations among over 500 delegates of Tibetans living in exile came to end here this evening. The subcommittees formed for deliberating over the future strategy to be adopted while dealing with China would present their reports in the main hall of Tibetan Children Village tomorrow morning.

After deliberating over the suggestions forwarded by these subcommittee, the speaker of Kashag (Tibetan parliament-in-exile) will brief the media regarding these suggestions on November 22.

Sources said the younger generation was in favour of adopting a tougher stand against China. They were of the view that since the middle-way approach had not been reciprocated by China, the Tibetans-in-exile should demand complete freedom. These feeling were made public by the speaker of Kashag during a press conference on the first day of the conclave.

The organisations formed by young Tibetans, including the Tibetan Youth Congress, are already open supporters of complete freedom.

As per reports reaching here from China, Chinese officials have reportedly said that complete independence for Tibet can never be considered. They have also said although talks can be held with the envoys of the Dalai Lama, no communication is possible with the Tibetan government-in-exile as it is an illegal body.

Sources said it was for the first time that opinion of common Tibetans was being sought for making a major policy decision.

Earlier, the decision of the Dalai Lama, spiritual head of all Tibetans, was considered to be paramount. The Dalai Lama and Kashag members did not opt to even participate in the meeting of delegates this time as they did not want to influence the true feelings of the common Tibetans living in exile. The Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile had even stated that they were committed to reflect the true opinion of common Tibetans as reflected through meeting of delegates.

Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama participated in a meeting of the local Lions Club here today.

Narkanda, Kufri experience snow
Tribune Reporters

Shimla, November 20
Severe cold gripped the region as Narkanda, Kufri, Fagu and other areas in the middle hill ranges of Shimla district experienced first snowfall of the season in the wee hours of the day. The “queen of hills” was also lashed by sleet accompanied with traces of snow.

The weather was clear last evening and there was no trace of cloud in the sky. However, strong winds started blowing around midnight and the dark clouds appeared in no time. While Kufri and Narkanda recorded 5 cm of snowfall, the 11,500 ft Hatu peak recorded 20 cm and Churdhar 15 cm of snowfall.

The sky had cleared in the morning, but the weather god obliged with another spell of sleet and snow in the afternoon.

The city shivered in severe cold as intermittent sleet and showers continued to lash the region throughout the day. The minimum temperature dipped to 2.8°C, about 4°C below normal and the maximum temperature also plummeted to 12°C from yesterday’s 17°C. Traffic moved at a slow pace as thick fog enveloped the region reducing visibility to a few feet.

According to reports reaching here, the Kalpa and Sangla valley in the tribal Kinnaur received 2 cm to 5 cm of snowfall. The tribal Lahaul valley also had traces of snow.The mercury ranged from minus 7.5°C to minus 1.5°C in the Lahaul valley. Kalpa in Kinnaur recorded a minimum of minus 2.9°C and maximum of 9°C.

According to the local met office intermittent snow and rain will continue in the region till tomorrow and the weather will clear by the afternoon.

KULLU: The higher reaches around Kullu received snowfall and the lower region received rain today after a dry spell of one month.

The peaks of Mattikochhar, Mout Nag, Phungni Devi and Bijli Mahadev experienced snow since this afternoon. The minimum temperature recorded at Bhuntar remained 2.7°C for the past many days and the dry weather was hazardous to the health, causing throat and cough problems.

Reports from Manali confirmed that the Rohtang Pass received heavy snow since morning and the Manali-Leh road would be closed for vehicular traffic. However, the road was officially closed from November 15, but the Lahaul-Spiti deputy commissioner advised the HRTC authorities to continue the bus services till the weather remained clear.

DALHOUSIE: Dalhousie received 10 cm of snowfall this morning, according to official reports reaching at the district headquarters.

The reports revealed that the highest Saach Pass situated at an altitude of 4,413 m linking the isolated, but picturesque, Pangi tribal valley with its district headquarters at Chamba had been totally closed to vehicular traffic due to heavy snowfall.

As a sequel to this, the tribal Pangi valley in Chamba district having a population of 17,591 had been cut off from the outer world.

Meanwhile, the highlands of Chamba district had been experiencing heavy snowfall since this morning, the reports said.

The low-laying areas of this region had been receiving widespread rain plummeting the temperature considerably, the reports added; claiming that the rain after a long drought of two months was beneficial to rabi crops of the region.

Kufri ski resort to be made model panchayat
Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 20
The famous ski resort of Kufri will be developed as a model panchayat with focus on preserving its natural beauty and keeping it environmentally clean with the help of foreign experts.

Stating this here today, the deputy commissioner, J.S. Rana said five panchayats will be involved in the project so that the lost glory of Kufri which till a few years back was a popular ski resort could be restored. “The able guidance of an environmental expert from Netherlands, Joseph Vanodenhoven, had been taken so that Kufri can be kept clean and promoted as a tourist destination,” he said.

Rana informed that the local hoteliers, pony owners and the villagers had agreed to join hands so that the project could be a success. “Under the home stay scheme of the Tourism Department, the locals will be asked to open their houses for the tourists so that they benefit and the visitors get a feel of local culture and cuisine,” he said.

The DC asked the Kufri panchayat to submit a comprehensive report for connecting all wards with pucca paths, total sanitation, community hall and other infrastructure.

He added that in case adequate land was available in the town, Kufri haat, on the lines of Delhi haat, could be set to encourage local craftsmen and artisans.

The DC suggested that the villagers could even form a society and avail bank loans for setting of guest houses and creating of other infrastructure facilities. He asked the district tourism officer to recommend maximum possible of cases so that the locals could luxury tax and other exemptions and benefit economically. He suggested that the locals could also take to cultivation of medicinal herbs and vermiculture for which they could be provided technical know how by the government agencies.

Panchayat pradhan Sant Ram and president of the Kufri Horse Union Sohan Singh were present on the occasion along with villagers and other officials.

2,000 pension applications pending
Tribune News Service

Hamirpur, November 20
While the BJP and the Congress governments have been claiming to provide cent per cent pension to old, widow and handicapped persons in the state, about 2,000 applications for getting pension are pending in Hamirpur district alone.

The state government is providing a monthly pension of Rs 300 per month to these categories every month and at present 14,131 beneficiaries are getting this pension in Hamirpur district. About 2,000 applicants, who have applied for pension in the district, are waiting to get this benefit for about a year now.

As per norms of the government, these applicants would only be included in the list of pension holders if the government enhances the budget under this head. In the event of death of the existing pension holder the next in the list automatically would start getting pension benefits as the government had allocated about Rs 5 crore to give monthly pension of Rs 300 to 14,131 pension holders.

Interestingly, the BJP and the Congress have been claiming to provide this pension to every beneficiary in the state. Not only this both the parties have been taking dig at each other by saying that “old age people and other persons seeking pension had to wait for the death of existing pension holders to get pension, but our government had included every person to avail the pension.”

However, contrary to these claims there is still a long wait to get the pension and death of an existing pension holder only creates new vacancy in the pensioner’s list.

Additional director Social Justice and Empower Department Lokinder Chauhan said, “The current list of pension beneficiaries has been prepared as per budget allocation this year and pending requests for seeking pension would be considered after fresh allocation of funds.”

Pvt firm fined Rs 64 lakh
Our Correspondent

Palampur, November 20
Om Power Corporation, a private company, executing a power project on the Binwa river here was fined Rs 64 lakh by the Forest and Environment Department for gross violation of environment norms in execution of the project.

According to divisional forest officer, Palampur, A.S. Baniyal, the company had been slapped this penalty for its failure to follow the terms and conditions of the MoU signed with the state government and playing havoc with the nature in the project area. He said a high-level team of the Forest Department was deputed on the directions of forest minister J.P. Nadda during his visit to the town last month and on observations made by the team in its report company had been found involved in illicit felling of trees, dumping of stones and clay in the forest, further damaging the green cover and local water sources. Baniyal said another report regarding damage to environment is still awaited from the high level committee, as soon as the report is received more penalty would be levied on the company.

Come out with facts, BJP tells Narender
Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 20
The BJP today challenged Narender Thakur to come out with facts rather than misleading the public by making wild allegations of corruption against the BJP regime.

In a statement issued here today, co-convener of the state media cell and member of the Media Advisory Committee, Praveen Sharma said Thakur, who had recently joined the Congress was an opportunist and people were well aware of calculative political move.

“The people of Hamirpur are well aware that his personal contribution has been nil and he has always tried to take advantage of the name of his father, Jagdev Chand,” said Sharma. He added that with the Congress keeping its options open about the candidate to be fielded from Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat, Thakur is a frustrated man who is leveling baseless allegations against the BJP leadership.

He said feeling ignored within the Congress party, Thakur was now resorting to levelling baseless allegations against Anurag Thakur, MP from Hamirpur. “He must not forget that Anurag rather than living in the glory of his father has contributed for promotion of sports and other development works in the state,” he said.

Govt depts ignoring proactive disclosure clause of RTI Act
Rakesh Lohumi
Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 20
While more and more citizens are coming forward to seek information under the Right to Information Act, a majority of the government departments are not publishing even the minimum basic information mandatory under the “proactive disclosure” clause.

The non-compliance of Section 4 of the Act, which is considered to be one of the most important features, is quite noticeable. Out of the total 159 designated public authorities in the state, 49 have not bothered about the information to be provided under the provision. Besides particulars of the organisation, directory of officers and employees, along with monthly remuneration, function and duties, the various government departments are required to make public the procedures for decision making, documents held under their control, details of budget allocation, list of beneficiaries of various programmes and all other relevant facts relating to formulation of important policies and decisions affecting the public.

Further, the information provided by most of the 110 departments is sketchy and not up to the mark. The information was not being updated regularly as required under the provisions of the Act. The Information Commission has in its latest report drawn the attention of the government towards the non-adherence to the provision of the Act concerning proactive disclosure and urged it to take corrective measures.

The government has appointed public information officers (PIOs) in respect of all public authorities, including educational institutions right down to middle schools. But they were not aware about the RTI Act. In most of the institutions, particularly schools, PIOs did not have even a copy of the Act and the rules framed by the government for its enforcement. The commission has urged the government to ensure that a copy of the Act and rules was provided to all PIOs.

The commission has also taken note of the poor awareness about the Act not only among the public but also among government functionaries and urged the government to take necessary steps as laid down under Section 26 of the Act.

State seeks release of CAMPA funds
Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 20
The state government has expressed concern over the delay in the release of a sum of Rs 209 crore that was deposited by Himachal with the Compensatory Afforestation Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).

Forest minister J.P. Nadda raised the issue with union minister of state for forest and wildlife S. Raghupati in New Delhi today. “Due to non-availability of the money to be released by the CAMPA, the state forest department is unable to undertake afforestation activities essential for increasing the green cover,” he said.

Nadda said the delay in release of money was subject to the enactment of the CAMPA Bill that was under the active consideration of Parliament. He also discussed various issues related to afforestation and plantation in Himachal Pradesh with the union minister.

He also urged the union minister to provide more funds to the state under the forestry sector considering its importance from environment point of view. He said the state was finding it difficult to undertake all its forestry-related activities due to paucity of funds.

Agreement signed
Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 20
A tripartite agreement involving the state government, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and the Himachal Pradesh State Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank (HPSCARDB) was signed here today to improve the efficiency and productivity of the HPSCARDB.

The agreement incorporating a development action plan for strengthening the bank will remain in force until 2011-12. It was signed by secretary, cooperation, Manisha Sridhar, chief general manager , NABARD. S.T.Raghuram and managing director of HPSCARDB H.R.Chauhan.

The objective of the agreement is to improve key financial parameters of the bank.

Balbari workers’ plea
Our Correspondent

Kullu, November 20
Prem Lata Thakur, chairperson of the Himachal Pradesh State Social Welfare Board, urged the government to implement the 1996 pay scale to the Balbari workers so that the long pending demand of the workers was fulfilled.

She said the board had been paying the wages as per the 1996 scales while the state government was releasing the amount as per the 1986 pay scales. She thanked the Chief Minister for taking decision of absorbing the Balbari workers into the regular service. She was talking to mediapersons at the Circuit House yesterday.

Foreign scholars to take part in workshop
Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 20
Top scholars will discuss research conducted in Europe and India on issues of common interest and high policy relevance such as governance, democracy and conflict resolution at a two-day workshop on “cultures of governance and conflict resolution” commencing here tomorrow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study(IIAS).

It will address how Europe and India have developed their cultures of governance and how they view each other. It will also explore how mutual perceptions have been shaped and the implications of these processes for Euro-Indian relations and for their reciprocal roles in the global context.

Director of the IIAS Peter de Souja said that resolution of conflicts, ranging from social conflicts which were normal in any pluralistic society to violent outbreaks and wars, was another important aspect where the different experiences of Europe and India could be usefully compared. Scholars would explore causes of conflicts and venues for conflict transformation in a comparative perspective and also examine continuities and discontinuities in the Indian and European cultural traditions and heritages.

The workshop will be attended by 25 national and international scholars including Prof Mario Telo, Director, European Studies, University Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium; Prof Emil Kirchner, Essex University, United Kingdom and many others.

Govt concerned over tardy progress of project
Ambika Sharma

Solan, November 20
With only 12 per cent of the budget for the current financial year (Rs 53.58 crore) being made use of the total budget of the Rs 365-crore Mid-Himalayan Project, its performance has been rated as “very poor” by the state government.

A budget of Rs 53.58 crore was granted for the project for the current financial year. However, only Rs 9 crore could be spent till September. Out of this, Rs 2.5 crore was spent on paying salaries of the staff while Rs 6.5 crore was spent on the project activities, which was a dismal 17 per cent of the total budget.

This poor performance has made the government sit up and take stock of the tardy implementation of the project. This was more so since a World Bank team was slated to visit the state in the first week of December for its interim half yearly review.

Expressing concern over the tardy progress of the project, the additional chief secretary has written to the project authorities to make serious efforts to remove bottlenecks in the way. The letter dated October 3 mentioned if the present trend continued, it would be difficult to meet even this year’s target.

It has pointed out lack of motivation and involvement among officers as the underlying reason for the poor performance. The letter written to chief project director R.K. Kapoor also pointed that though the government had extended full cooperation, there was something drastically wrong at the implementation level that led to poor results.

The project covering 602 panchayats was initiated in October, 2006. However, it has been marred by controversies after the government ordered its special audit. Sources said the move had demoralised the staff and officials were apprehensive of spending funds without seeking approvals from seniors even for matters that fell in their purview. The panchayats had to submit utilisation certificates (UCs) for the money utilised earlier, but the inordinate delay in doing so had further delayed the remaining grant.

Additional chief secretary Avay Shukla agreed that the project’s performance had not been up to the mark for the first six months. However, he added that there were some systematic delays like expiry of rate contract and delay in finalisation of the new contract that delayed purchases for implementing various activities.

The transfer of officials in at least five divisions aggravated the situation more. The situation was so grim in one of the divisions that in the absence of any official virtually nothing out of the allocated amount could be utilised until recently. “Instructions have now been given to the project director to present his budgetary plan before the executive committee well in time so that there is no delay in the release of budget for the next financial year,” Shukla said.

Resentment over shifting central varsity to Dehra
Lalit Mohan
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, November 20
After agitation in Mandi over medical college, another movement has started brewing against present government over the issue of locating proposed central university at Dehra.

Local residents have formed the Central University Sangharsh Samiti to carry forward their movement against shifting the central university venue to Dehra. A team of the union ministry for human resources had recently visited the district to look for locations offered by state government for the university campus. The administration had reportedly told the team that 700 acre land was available only at Dehra.

Chairman of the committee Raghvir Singh Rana alleged the central government team was not allowed to meet local residents. Their visit was organised in a clandestine manner. Instead of making the members of the visiting team stay in the circuit house, the authorities arranged for their stay in Bhagsu, a private hotel.

Hans Raj, a resident of Chola village, wanted to meet the visiting team. He had with him revenue papers of 1,000 kanal vacant land in Chola village that could have been used for setting up the central university near Dharamsala. However, he was not allowed to meet the team.

The committee members also said they had revenue papers showing that 6,000 kanal land was available in Chola Tau and Khainara village. They said the intention of the government was to shift the university to Dehra as it fell in the Hamirpur constituency, represented by Chief Minister’s son Anurag Thakur.

The committee members threatened to take their agitation to roads in case the government shifted the central university to Dehra.

Meanwhile, BJP ministers Kishan Kapoor and Ravinder Ravi said here today that unnecessary politics was being played on the issue. “It is false that Dehra falls in Anurag Thakur’s constituency. After the reconstitution of parliamentary constituencies, Dehra has been included in the Kangra constituency. Central university is being proposed at Dehra as Dharamsala is already cluttered with government offices,” they claimed.

MP flays govt for overlooking central schemes
Our Correspondent

Chamba, November 20
MP Chander Kumar flayed the BJP government for overlooking the ongoing flagship schemes launched by the Centre for the welfare of people of the state and depriving them from deriving the benefits of these schemes.

After addressing a series of public meetings held at various villages of Chamba, Dalhousie and Rajnagar Assembly constituencies during the past couple of days, Chander Kumar while speaking to this correspondent here today lashed out at the BJP government in the state for its failure in the implementation of centrally-sponsored schemes and charged it with lax attitude of ‘discrimination’ shown to these schemes of the Centre.

Quoting prestigious schemes of the Union Government like Rs 25 crore Rajiv Gandhi Electrification scheme for Chamba district, Kumar condemned the half-hearted approach of the BJP government in implementation of these schemes in letter and spirit; alleging that the BJP government was also not paying heed to the Bharat Nirman programme of the Government of India which was also not being executed in its true spirit.

“Today, the BJP has no ‘election issue’ to go before the public,” asserted Chander Kumar; claiming that the UPA-led government at the Centre would again return to power in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.

Tough time for paragliders
Ravinder Sood

Billing (Palampur), November 20
Foreign and Indian paragliders have been facing a lot of problems at the landing site here as the administration has failed to acquire the land at Chaogan village, the only recognised landing site by the Department of Tourism.

It may be recalled that Billing had been considered one of the best sites in the world for paragliding and many national and international championships were held here in the past 10 years.

Information gathered by The Tribune revealed that land acquisition proceedings were going on for the past two years, but till date neither land was acquired nor the owners of the land were persuaded to allow landing at their private land by the administration.

The owners of land had categorically told the gliders not to land in the private area. The state government had proposed to acquire over 52 kanal of private land in Mohal Keor-Chogan, Baijnath tehsil, as the state government had constituted the Bir Billing Development Authority here to develop this site for holding regular paragliding championships.

During the last Himalayan Free World Championship, in which over 84 paragliders from all over the world participated, the state government had paid the compensation to the land owners in lieu of the crops damaged. However, now the sowing season was in progress and the farmers had refused the gliders to land there.

As per rules, the gliders were allowed to fly for 10 months in a year after seeking necessary permission from the administration. This correspondent who visited the site this afternoon observed that over 50 paragliders were flying daily and landing at Keor village in heavy odds putting their lives in danger.

As per record available with the Baijnath SDM it was revealed that documents pertaining to land acquisition had been forwarded to higher authorities long back, but no action had been taken so far.

The land owners told The Tribune that the state government had paid them compensation for the last crop, but it had not paid any compensation for the next crops which would also be damaged or sowing would be delayed.

Rattan keen to contest from Hamirpur
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, November 20
A section of the Congress is projecting BJP rebel Narinder Thakur, who joined the party recently, as the probable candidate of the party from the Hamirpur constituency.

However, despite enjoying support of HPCC present Kaul Singh, Narinder Thakur might face opposition within the Congress. HPCC spokesperson O.P. Rattan, who unsuccessfully contested the last elections against Anurag Thakur, has thrown his hat into the ring.

Rattan said he was keen to contest election from the Hamirpur constituency. “Last time, despite the fact that the BJP government was working for the Hamirpur parliamentary constituency and the Congress was a divided house, I managed about 2 lakh votes. There is no reason that I should leave my claim for the party ticket this time,” he said.

Narinder Thakur, who has joined the Congress with a hope of contesting elections against Anurag Thakur, might have to face a stiff opposition from a section of Congress leaders from the area.

Some party leaders maintain that Narinder Thakur could not win even the assembly election, how he can be expected to win parliamentary election.

BSP asks Cong leaders to apologise
Our Correspondent

Nurpur, November 20
Mann Singh Manhera, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) national general secretary and state in charge of party affairs, has stated that the BSP was issuing legal notices to leader of opposition in Vidhan Sabha Vidhya Stokes and PCC chief Kaul Singh for their misleading statement about the newly nominated state BSP convener. Talking to mediapersons in a press conference here this evening, he asked the Congress leaders to tender public apology within one month otherwise the BSP would file defamation suit against them.

Lashing out at the Dhumal government he said the BJP had used the CD released by former BSP convener Vijay Singh Mankotia during the Congress regime as its weapon in Assembly elections.

Benami Deal
President’s intervention sought
Tribune News Service

Mandi, November 20
Over 10 organisations in Mandi, including the Indian People Theatre Association (IPTA), the CPI, the Progressive Writers Association and the Progressive Citizens Council today sought President Pratibha Patil’s intervention in resolving the mystery behind the multi-crore benami royal property deal.

In a memorandum addressed to the President, the copy of which was released to the Press today, convener of the IPTA Lawan Thakur said the state government had developed a cold feet on the issue as names of some sitting MLAs had figured in the deal. Copies of the letter had also been sent to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the CBI director and former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

He said even the police was under pressure in the case. An independent agency like the CBI should probe the deal, he said.

The organisations that had signed the letter included the All-India Students Federation, the Rural Workers Association and the Progressive Writers Association, the Bhagwahan Yuva Mandal, the Yuvak Mandal-Nanawa, the Hoteliers Association of Himachal, the Sarv Devta Samiti, the Progressive Citizens Council of Mandi and the Communist Party of India.

Procession taken out
Our Correspondent

Kangra, November 20
A few thousands devotees of Satya Sai Baba from all over the district and different parts of the country today took out a procession here as part of the celebrations on the 83rd birthday of the Baba which is scheduled to fall on November 23.

A public function was held later near the temple in which speakers laid stress on the teachings of the Baba. Devottees from Delhi, Haryana, Chandigarh, Mumbai and few from foreign countries too attended the celebrations here.

Renuka Dam outsees decide to intensify stir
Our Correspondent

Nahan, November 20
An emergent meeting of the Renuka Dam Sangharsh Samiti attended by over two hundred residents of the Renuka area at Kubja Sarai in Renuka Ji today decided to intensify its agitation.

They unanimously rejected rehabilitation plan of the authorities for outsee families whose land and villages would submerge under the proposed Renuka Dam water.

Taking a tough stand samiti members decided not to allow any dam activity in their area till the fulfilment of their demands.

Convener Yogendra Kapila, president Pratap Singh Tomar and several other office-bearers of the samiti took serious note of the “false assurances” given by officers of Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited which was the executing agency of the project.

The members expressed deep concern over the danger ahead for the existence of Renuka lake due to proposed heavy blasting to be used for the construction of three tunnels on the Giri bed. It was decided not to allow submerging of Dadahu-Sangrah road at any cost in the Dam water.