Shimla, December 7
Expressing concern over the alleged failure of the government to keep it posted on the issue of “unbundling” of the state power board, the State Electricity Regulatory Commission has sought information about the latest position in the matter.

In a written communication, the commission has asked the government to inform it the date up to which the Centre had granted extension to the state power utility to continue in the unbundled form.

Citing newspaper reports stating that the board had ceased to be a legal entity following the denial of extension by the Centre to continue it in the unbundled form, it has specifically asked whether any clause of the Electricity Act had been infracted?

The union ministry of power had last week sent a communication to the government informing it that the licence of the state transmission utility has expired and it should be prepared to face the legal consequences.

The board will now have to approach the state regulatory commission to secure a new licence that can be granted only if it fulfils the requirements of the Electricity Act regarding segregation of transmission, distribution and generation functions.

Before that, a detailed exercise will have to be undertaken for preparing a transfer scheme for unbundling of the board.

The assets of the state utility will have to be first transferred to the government and invested back in the three independent companies to look after the three functions.

The independent government companies will then approach the commission for the grant of licence.

Having dragged its feet on the issue of trifurcation of the board for more than three years, the government does not know what to do after the denial of consent by the Centre for allowing the board to continue in the unbundled form.

An urgent meeting convened by chief secretary Asha Swaroop remained inconclusive. It was decided to study the transfer schemes implemented by various states where the state utilities has already been unbundled.

A detailed note is being prepared on the issue for further discussion and finalisation of the scheme.

It was pointed out in the meeting that while restructuring of the state utility had not made much difference in states like Orissa. In states like Haryana, where unbundling exercise had been carried out in the right earnest, there had been remarkable improvement in performance in the power sector.

Shimla, December 7
The state government is in favour of setting up a trans-Himalayan development council keeping in view the similar geographical conditions and development concerns of hill states.

An official spokesperson said the state had realised the need for collective efforts for development of hill states and taken an initiative in that direction by organising a conference of horticulture ministers of hill states recently.

The aim was to take up the common problems. The council would also prove effective in disseminating information regarding various development schemes to the people and generating awareness about environment protection.

He said Himachal was keen to maintain cordial relations with neighbouring states for mutual benefit. Its efforts had borne fruit and the Punjab Government had agreed to complete the construction of Kurali-Siswan-Baddi road by June, 2009.

The road would provide connectivity to the industrial belt of Baddi- Barotiwala- Nalagarh. Similarly, Baddi would be connected with the proposed Mohali international airport through a super highway and a ropeway would link Anandpur Sahib and Naina Devi.

The state had agreed to provide 300 MW electricity to Punjab during summer on the understanding that in return it would ensure electricity supply to the state during winter months.

Likewise, the Haryana Government had also agreed to cooperate with the state on various development issues.

It had agreed to undertake repair of the Pinjore-Baddi road on the 18-km-long Pinjore-Padwal stretch.

The state was pursuing the interests of the Pong Dam oustees with the Rajsthan government and a high level committee would be constituted to settle the issues regarding land demarcation and allocation of land to the oustees.

Shimla, December 7
State Congress general secretary Kuldeep Rathore today urged the Dhumal government to reduce bus fares in view of the recent substantial reduction in the prices of petrol and diesel.

Addressing mediapersons here, he reminded Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal that when the Congress had opposed the bus fare hike, he had said that he would do so if and when the prices of petroleum products were reduced.

Now that the prices of petrol had been cut down by Rs 5 per litre and diesel by Rs 2 per litre, the government should honour its commitment and roll back the bus fare hike without delay.

He said the Centre had taken a series of steps to bring down prices these had started yielding results. However, the state government was indifferent to the situation.

If the bus fares were not reduced, the common man would not benefit from the cut in the rates of petroleum products.

Rathore lambasted the state BJP and its sister organisation for its stand on Mumbai terror attack. He said instead of supporting the government, they were holding demonstrations.

Unlike the NDA government, which had failed to take stern action against militants, the UPA regime not only countered the attack but also managed support of the world community.

Pakistan had come under pressure for the first time, which reflected the success of the foreign policy pursued by the UPA government, he added.

Shimla, December 7
The Himalaya Niti Abhiyan, a forum of non-government organisations, has urged the government not to relax Section 118 of the Land Tenancy Act, which debars non-agriculturists from acquiring land in the state, as it would open the floodgates for outsiders.

Convener of the forum Kulbhushan Upamnyu has urged the government to keep sufficient safeguards to protect the interests of the local people while allowing sale of land to outsiders.

It was solely because of the Act that there were still very few landless households in this state and developmental benefits could reach to the majority section.

The government now proposes to bring about radical changes in the procedure of land transfer to non-Himachalis on the premise of facilitating industrialisation and the development processes in the state.

It was being justified on the plea of faster developmental goal, but the way in which the provisions of the Act, especially Section 118 and Rule 38(A) were being relaxed needs urgent rethinking.

The forum suggested that instead of outright sale, the land should be leased out for such activities without changing the ownership.

When the project life was over and the project was wound up, the land should be reverted to the original owner in whatever condition was specified in the lease agreement.

The period of the lease agreement should not exceed 40 years with provision for renewal of lease after the elapse of this period.

It should be strictly enforced and if the leased lands were not used for any purpose other than the one specified at the stage of seeking permission, the lease agreement automatically be treated as cancelled.

Allowing large number of interested people to acquire land in the state, for various purposes, including construction of residential houses, would render more and more Himachalis landless and their long term livelihood security would be jeopardised.

Even in the past permissions had been granted in thousands of cases by similar relaxations in the provisions of the Act, but in many cases the land had been used for other than declared purposes.

A case under Sections 498 (A),406, 506 and 34 of the IPC has been registered.

Bilaspur, December 7
There are 2,135 applicants from Bilaspur district for 39 posts of constables to be recruited for the 4th India Reserve Battalion (IRB), Jangle Berry. The physical test will be held from December 9 to 11.

DIG Anurag Garg said here today that candidates from Bilaspur (Sadar) must report at Luhnu ground at 8 am on December 9 for physical tests while those from Ghumarwin tehsil should come on December 10 and those from Jhandutta and Naina Devi tehsils should report on December 11.

Physical test would include 100-m sprint, shot put, long jump, high jump and 800-m race. DIG said three posts were reserved for ex-servicemen and four for home guards, seven for OBCs, one for ST and eight for SCs. Three posts were reserved for IRDP families and one for sportsmen.

Manali, December 7
Vashisht village is not only known for its hot water springs and the Vashisht rishi temple, but also for the sanctity of the shrine where the gods and goddesses of Kullu valley visit to take a holy dip.

While Kullu-Manali is going through a lean tourist season, but the famous Vashisht village is attracting very special guests- the village deities are making a beeline to take a holy dip in the hot spring.

A festive atmosphere prevails in the village nowadays as disciples bring the deities in colourful decorated palanquin accompanied with folk band.

The tradition is that deities of the valley come for holy dip on certain auspicious days of the year.

The Vashisht temple and hot water spring is witnessing a great hustle and bustle with people from different nooks and crannies visiting the temple in large numbers each day.

The Vashisht hot water springs have made this low-profile village famous around the world. The village is 3 km away from Manali town on the left bank of the Beas.

The water kunds are in the centre of the village and the temperature of the water in the kunds is around 111F, but at the mouth of the spring is 123F.

On an average about 3,000 people take a dip in the tanks each day and one tank is reserved for females.

Dharamsala, December 7
The use of old technology in construction of high-level bridge on the national highway is likely to delay the project.

The National Highways Department is getting a level bridge constructed near Bathu on the Kangra-Ranital stretch of the national highway.

The tentative cost of the bridge is Rs 4.82 crore and it was expected to be completed within two years.

However, one year has passed since the allotment of work, but contractors have just managed to lay foundation of pillars.

A visit to the area by The Tribune revealed that the use of old technology was resulting in delay in construction of the bridge.

The contractors were just using small concrete mixing machines for construction of the bridge.

At that time the contractor’s work force was using four small concrete mixing machines for construction of the bridge.

The said machines produce just about 7 to 8 cubic feet concrete material at a time.

The pace of construction due to use of said machines is generally very slow and is likely to delay the construction.

Instead, had the construction of bridge been carried with batching plants for concrete mixing, the construction could have been carried out at a much faster rate. If the project is delayed it might lead to construction cost.

In addition to that the bridge is vital as it is connecting link on the Kangra-Una or Kangra-Hoshiarpur roads.

A few years earlier the bridge got washed away during monsoons and the entire traffic had to be diverted on longer alternative routes.

Superintendent engineer (SE)of the National Highways D.R. Chaudhary said as per the agreement clause for construction of the bridge the modern technology of using batching plants is not being used for the construction of Bathu bridge. The batching plant technology is used for bigger bridges.

Regarding the delay in completion of the project, he said that higher steel prices and non-availability of labour was causing delay.

The steel prices remained very high due to which the contractor had to slow down the work as it was leading in escalation of cost.

Now the contractor had started the work and it is likely to be completed within stipulated time period, he said.

However, sources available here told that if the work progresses at the same pace the bridge is not likely to be completed within the stipulated time period.

The issue has brought to the fore the failure of the state PWD National Highways Department to rope in companies that can deploy modern technology for early construction of bridges in the state.

Nahan, December 7
After smelling movement of suspected terrorists in the Paonta area, the police in the area has been put on high alert.

Additional reserve police force has been deployed which is combing the area to search the suspected person who was collecting information about Paonta town last week and has threatened a tea stall owner of a possible terror attack.

As per information received here after a meeting between V.S. Thakur, DSP, Paonta, and Dr Verma, Police CO, Vikas Nagar (Uttarakhand), yesterday, the Uttarakhand police has deployed additional police force in the boarder areas to keep a strict vigilance on the suspected people crossing over to Himachal Pradesh.

It has been learnt that the Himachal Police has given crucial intelligence tips to the Uttarakhand Police and has asked them to make strict security arrangements at Kulahal on the Paonta border where thousands of people would assemble in a ‘peeth’ (local weekly bazar) on December 11.

The whole matter came to light after a tea vendor, who sits in front of the Paonta gurdwara, informed the police early this week that a suspected person was gathering information about the crowded areas of Paonta town and threatened ‘some action on December 11’.

The behaviour of the young man was ‘very suspicious’ and was talking in a ‘threatening language’ with the tea vendor.

The Paonta police immediately swung into action and has started combing the area, checking hotels, religious places, vehicles and people entering from Haryana and Uttarakhand. They have impounded more than 150 two wheelers, which were being run without number.

The Paonta DSP today held a meeting with local NGOs, beopar mandal and schoolteachers at Paonta and urged them not to believe in any rumour. He said that the people should cooperate with the police and be alert.

A sketch of the suspected person was being prepared and all police stations of adjoining states have been provided with the details of wanted suspect.

Nahan, December 7
Two persons were killed on the spot and two were injured, one of them seriously as a new “applied for” pick-up jeep carrying articles of the Shamra Panchayat rolled into over 300-m deep gorge in the wee hours today, near Shamra village, about 150 km from here.

As per the Nohra police, Lokender Singh, the owner of the vehicle, was killed on the spot. He was driving the vehicle himself when the accident took place.

Nirmala Devi, assistant secretary of the Shamra Panchayat, was also killed on the spot while vice-president of the panchayat Chander Singh was rushed to Solan district hospital in a critical condition.

Santosh Kumari, the fourth occupant of the vehicle, received simple injuries. All occupants were the residents of the Shamra Panchayat.

The vehicle was carrying the articles of Panchayat Bhawan, Shamra, from Solan when this accident took place.

The police said a case has been registered and bodies have been handed over to the family members after post-mortem examination.

Nahan, December 7
The Nahan division of the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB) has disconnected electricity supply to 15 industrial units in the Kala Amb industrial area and served 15 days notice to 50 more industries to procure no objection certificate (NOC) from the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department or face disconnection.

On the other hand industries owners of Kala Amb industrial area have expressed strong resentment on the ‘harsh action’ taken by the HPSEB.

They alleged that they were not asked to furnish the NOC from the TCP at the time of releasing of power connection by the HPSEB. They said they were incurring huge losses due to closure of the units.

A.C. Sandil, executive engineer, HPSEB, Nahan division, refutes the charges of industries owners and said action as per legal provisions had been initiated against those who have violated the TCP Act.

He said strict action was taken on the recommendations of Nahan office of the TCP.

In the first phase, 15 industries were served notices as they had not got clearance from the TCP and when TCP NOC were not produced even after expiring the notice period as per legal provisions their power connections were stripped off.

He said on December 4 Nahan division had served similar notices to 50 more industries on the recommendations of the TCP.

In the wake of non-supply of NOC within the stipulated period power connections of these 50 industries would also be disconnected as per rule.

He refused to comment as how these industries were granted power connections without submitting NOC from the TCP, previously by the HPSEB officials.

As per provisions it is an essential document to get a power connection in the area.

Mandi, December 7
The Forests Department has decided to set up nine van thanas to check the growing cartels of “van mafias” which continue to get a free run in the deodar-rich jungles in Mandi, Kullu, Shimla, Sirmaur and other hot spots frequented by the van mafias across the state as the ill-equipped forest guards remain no match to meet their challenge.

Sources in the Forests Department told The Tribune that the nine “van thanas” would be equipped with trained staff, fire arms and wireless sets as per need and would be dedicated to check the illicit felling in the deodar-rich hot spots, where van mafias have been operating under the nose of the unequipped staff over decades.

These nine van thanas would be located at Balu and Devkhan in Panarsa and Parashar Lake of the deodar-rich forest range in Mandi district, Rajvan and Tikkar in Rohru, Haban and Patori in Nahan, Balson in Theog and Palhol in Kullu.

Each van thana will be headed by deputy ranger officer, six trained forest guards armed with firearms and six other subordinate staff. They will be mobile in their area of operation on a vehicle and have mobile phones provided for the staff.

The demand for the van thana was felt in the top hot spots frequented by the van mafias as the beat and block system of the Forests Department have failed to check the menace of illicit felling, commented forests officials.

Though the government had given its nod for setting up these nine thanas in the state on a trial basis in the first phase, the government may extend the van thanas to include more sensitive forest areas once this experiment succeeds in checking the illicit felling in the targeted areas.

But the van thanas does not come for cheap. Each thana will need its building, an armoury to store firearms and a mobile vehicle etc that will cost each van thana a sum of Rs 13 lakh or so, officials said.

These thanas would start operating even before the Forests Department put the infrastructure in place.

Conservator of forests B.D. Suyal said, “The opening of the van thanas have been sanctioned by the government. We have sent a proposal worth Rs 25 lakh for the two van thanas in Mandi circle to build infrastructure to the state government.”

He said staff meant for van thanas would be trained. They would be in place soon after the crash course. The staff will come from the present strength, Suyal added.

Mandi, December 7
The HPTDC Employees Association has demanded pension scheme for its over 1,500 employees as they have put up their whole life in the service of the corporation making it a profit-making public sector undertaking.

Urging Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal to fulfil their long-pending demand for pension association general secretary Sita Ram Sharma and president Dabe Ram Chauhan stated that they have pinned hopes on the CM who had promised to consider their demand for pension when he addressed a meeting in Manali recently.

“We worked as daily wagers and kept its target as top priority, we expect that the government will appreciate our dedication to the corporation,” Sita Ram said.

They said they thanked the CM for regularising services of the daily wagers who have put in eight years in service and giving them 7 per cent dearness allowance.

“We request the CM to implement the notification issued in 2003 for giving them pension,” they added.

They pleaded that they have no other source of livelihood to feed their families after retirement from the corporation as employees have put in the entire life in the service of the HPTDC.

Solan, December 7
Accusing the Congress of politicising the issue of Draft Development Plan of Greater Kasauli chalked out for 35 revenue villages by the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department, local MLA Dr Rajiv Sehzal said it was unfortunate that instead of lending support the opposition Congress was indulging in petty gains.

Addressing mediapersons along with members of the sangharsh samiti constituted to air their grievances against the plan he said it was unfortunate that former Kasauli MLA Raghu Raj saw nothing wrong in the plan which was notified during their tenure in January 2007, but now he was issuing statements against the very document.

Sehzal said after the people presented their mass discontent on the issue. He had discussed it with Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal, who not only agreed that it would unduly bother the people, but assured to remove and change the contentious clause which infringed upon the rights of the people.

He said it was on the CM’s insistence that the director of the TCP came forward to listen to the grievances of the people on November 28 and they were hopeful that their genuine objections would be incorporated in the actual plan.

President of the samiti Prabhu Dayal said certain clauses of the plan, including non use of land where the slope was more than 45 degrees, requirement of hefty paper work to seek approval for new constructions, ban on raising new hotels or tourism ventures and industries were all detrimental to the interest of local villagers.

The members while alleging that the plan had been manipulated by the well-connected people said it appeared that since they had already set up their hotels and palatial houses here were intolerant to the locals doing so.