Shimla, February 13
There were heated exchanges between treasury benches and opposition members over the issue of taking credit for the projects approved by the Centre for Himachal and naming of schemes after leaders during the debate on the motion of thanks on the Governor’s address in the assembly today.

Initiating the debate on behalf of her party on the motion of thanks on the Governor’s address, CLP leader Vidya Stokes said the BJP regime should not take false credit for the schemes, which had been given to Himachal during Congress rule.

“Be it the central university, the IIT, NIFT, national rural employment guarantee scheme (NREGA) or funds being received under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Missions (JNNURM), all this has been given by the Congress-led UPA regime”, she said.

She also said several schemes had now been named by the Dhumal regime after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

She said Dhumal regime must be grateful to the UPA government and the Congress for approving so many prestigious projects for Himachal.

Stokes said it was at a public meeting on the Ridge on October 2, 2007, that union minister P. Chidambaram had announced the opening of an IIT and a central university in Himachal.

She regretted that now there was a dispute over the location of these two projects which were cleared while the Congress was in power.

“Himachal too is part of India and by approving projects, the UPA regime has not done a favour as we have got what is due to us,” retorted the chief minister.

He also took strong exception to the fact that Vajpayee’s name had been dragged into the discussion.

As tempers ran high the HPCC chief Kaul Singh Thakur urged everyone to keep
their cool.

Dhumal said it was not just the Congress, which had the right to name institutions after their leaders.

“Vajpayee has always protected Himachal’s interest and even when the Congress was in power in the state he announced a special assistance of Rs 653 crore for the hill state,” he said.

Roop Singh Thakur of the BJP earlier initiated the debate on motion of thanks on the Governor’s address.

He along with Urmil Thakur said that several pro-people decisions had been taken like enhancement of daily wages, social security pensions and a virtual revolution in the field of education, health and power sector.

Shimla, February 13
Keeping the heat on the ruling BJP, the Congress today once again staged a walkout from the assembly, seeking apology for the faux pas in printing wrong map of India in the official diary of the state government.

CLP leader Vidya Stokes raised the issue in the House through a point of order. “It is a matter of shame that the official diary does not show Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) as part of India and even the boundary along the LOC is wrongly depicted,” she said.

She said chargesheeting some employees and ordering an inquiry was not enough for such a major blunder.

She sought apology at the national level from the government. “It is not a small mistake that can be justified by ordering inquiries. The government must tender an apology to the nation,” she said.

Former Speaker of the assembly Gangu Ram Musafir also reiterated his party’s demand for a national apology on the issue.

Dismissing the demand of the opposition, Chief Minister PK Dhumal said what needed to be done on the issue had already been ordered by the government.

“The three employees responsible for the printing of the diary have been issued a chargesheet and the Additional Chief Secretary is holding an inquiry into the matter,” he said.

Admitting that it was a serious lapse, he said the map indicating national highways had been downloaded from the Internet.

Action would be taken against the guilty, he said. Dissatisfied by the reply of the Chief Minister, Congress members left the House.

Dhumal said rather than holding discussion, the Congress had made up mind to resort to “walkouts” for publicity.

Had Jawaharlal Nehru not ordered a ceasefire, PoK would have been inseparable part of India, he said.

Shimla, February 13
Besides giving preference to Himachalis in the allotment of power projects up to 5 MW, the government will ask financial institution like Cooperative Bank to extend help to Himachali youth for setting up projects.

This was stated by Chief Minister PK Dhumal during question hour in the assembly today. He was replying to a query by Kuldeep Pathania and Kaul Singh Thakur of the Congress, regarding amendments in the power policy.

“The changes that have been effected are to ensure that Himachalis are given preference and the state gets maximum possible benefit in the long run,” he said.

Pathania said the government must ensure that Himachali youths get preference and also consider waiving off the condition of payment of upfront premium for projects up to 5 MW.

“It is next to impossible for Himachali youths to raise such huge amount of upfront premium, which is why they join hands with outsiders, leading to corruption and irregularities,” he said.

Dhumal said preference was being given to Himachali youths in the allotment of power projects up to 5 MW and banks would also be urged to help them in arranging the finances.

Dhumal said the government had decided to do away with the system of giving upfront premium and fixed Rs 20 lakh per MW, besides free power on long-term basis.

“The kind of quotations that we are getting in this regard are very encouraging. In one offer, the state could get 56.11 per cent power during the last 30 to 40 years of the project,” he stated.

He also defended the decision of the government to allow sale of power by independent power producers to any agency.

“There is provision of first right refusal for the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB) which is at liberty to purchase power or refuse, depending on its requirement,” he said.

Shimla, February 13
The government has decided to engage services of a consultant to prepare a blueprint for the construction of a marketing complex at Kundli in Haryana.

With growers from Himachal facing problems at the Azadpur Mandi in Delhi, the government will set up a market having all modern facilities so that the produce from the state could be marketed properly.

The existing 15,000 sq yd space that the HPMC has at Kundli will be put to
optimum utilisation.

Horticulture Minister Narender Bragta confirmed that a consultant was being engaged so that separate marketing slots could be created for flowers, organic produce, apples, medicinal plants and herbs.

Though the government is keen to acquire more land and set up a bigger complex at Kundli, the existing set-up will be put to use to begin with.

Mandi, February 13
Four patients, one of them reported to be serious, remain stranded for want of helicopter service at Azog, about 25 km from Killar, the headquarters of snowbound Pangi subdivision in Chamba district, for the fifth day yesterday.

The state-run helicopter flew back from the Rohtang mountain due to bad weather prevailing in the snowbound Lahaul-Killar region across the Pir Panjal range.

According to sources, the helicopter after taking off from the Kullu-Manali airport yesterday flew up till the Rohtang range, but it had to return due to bad weather prevailing across the Pangi-Lahaul region.

The helicopter was carrying about 20 passengers, including officials working in the Pangi subdivision, the sources added.

Taking up their cause, president of the Pangi Students Union Tulsi Ram and secretary Ashok Kumar complained that the four patients have been stranded at Azog, one of them serious, but there was no emergency lifting of the patients from the landlocked area to Kullu.

They charged that officials posted in the tribal areas desert the offices before it snows in these areas.

“The government still considers tribal postings as political punishment for officials,” they pointed out.

“Even most seats in the helicopter are occupied by the officials who keep on shuttling between Kullu and Pangi for the reason best known to them”.

The government had run the helicopter service for the tribal people in Pangi and Lahaul-Spiti during the six winter months as people remain cut off from rest of the state, they added.

Liaison officer, Kullu, H Dharmani claimed that preference was always given to residents of the Pangi and Lahaul-Spiti in helicopter services.

The patients would be brought here as soon as the weather cleared up, the
officials added.

Keeping in view directions of the high court given on January 6, he forwarded the case file with recommendation to police to lodge an FIR and a case was registered.

Palampur, February 13
Students belonging to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) today gheraoed Dr Tej Partap, vice-chancellor (VC), HP Agricultural University (HPAU), here, for about an hour.

They gheraoed to protest against VC’s failure for not taking action against a university teacher, who had sent objectionable SMS to a girl student.

The students also shouted slogans and sat on a dharna outside the HPAU guest house where the VC had to address a press conference this morning.

According to students, a university teacher had sent some objectionable SMS to his student in November.

Later, the parents of the students also met the VC in this regard and filed a written complaint against the teacher.

It was also learnt that the girl student was also called by the VC to ascertain the truth. Despite the expiry of two months no action was taken against the teacher.

The ABVP students had raised this issue time and again and the matter was also brought to notice of Chief Minister PK Dhumal.

Later, the VC constituted a committee, but till date it failed to submit its report. The students alleged that the VC was shielding the teacher.

The cameras and mobile phones of mediapersons were also snatched and damaged by the students during the press coverage.

Mediapersons also lodged their protest with the VC. Later, the VC cancelled the press conference also.

In a press statement issued here this evening the ABVP demanded an immediate dismissal of the VC.

It urged the Chief Minister to intervene and save the university from the anti-
social elements.

Solan, February 13
With the interim budget presented by the Union Government failing to announce any new sop for the expansion of railways in Himachal, the state’s hopes have once again been dashed.

Though a location survey was underway in the state to study the feasibility of expanding railway facility to the state’s prime industrial area of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh, with no budgetary provision being announced now the expansion plan had been hit. This had greatly disappointed the state’s investors.

MP Anurag Thakur while ruing this partisan attitude of the Union Ministry said it was lamentable that the interim budget was not indicative of any expansion for the state and it appeared that the Union Government was not keen to undertake developmental works for Himachal.

He added that the situation would reverse only after the NDA would emerge victorious and form government at the Centre.

Adviser of the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) Industries Association Deepak Bhandari said it was a sorry state of affairs that the Central Government paid no heed to the railway expansion in the area and the neighbouring states hampered improvement of the road network.

The situation was so pitiable that investors today were virtually left on the road with the Siswan road being closed for traffic due to construction, the Mandala route being blocked due to traffic influx and the lone Marrwala road facing excessive traffic leading to its closure as well, added Bhandari, who said it was a daily ordeal to commute to the BBN area.

The Union Government had earlier accorded its principal approval for laying of this 33-km long railway track several times in its railway budget, but no budgetary provision was ever made.

This was among six other railway lines cleared by the Union Cabinet earlier and the laying of this track was slated to be completed by 2011-2012.

The railway expansion had also hit expansion of the Inland Container Depot, which would have relieved the industry from the recurring problem of shortage of trucks, AC containers and specially designed vehicles for transporting their finished goods.

Though the Container Corporation of India had shown its keenness to open an Inland Container Depot in the industrial area, lack of railways had curtailed their plans.

It was therefore decided to open only a container freight station instead which could later be upgraded to ICD if railways expanded their facility.

With all raw materials and finished goods for the textile and pharmaceutical industry coming from outside the state the cost of manufacturing was considerably high in the BBN area.

The pharmaceutical industry here was specially looking forward for this expansion as its excise per cent had been curtailed to nearly one-fourth and this had made the central excise package uneconomical.

Dharamsala, February 13
The residents of Dari village located in the vicinity of Dharamsala are reeling under acute shortage of drinking water.

When The Tribune team visited the village, residents alleged despite the fact that their village donated land for drinking water schemes and for houses of public health department, they were getting just half an hour drinking water supply in a day.

Even that supply is coming from the natural source that is generally impure rather than the deep tubewells located in their village.

The residents also alleged that at the cost of residents of Dari the public health department was supplying extra water to certain politically influential people and hotels of some of the retired officials of the department.

Residents alleged that earlier they were supplied water from open natural sources that were rain dependent.

Since the water supplied was impure and dependent on inflows in natural rivulets, residents requested former Chief Minister and Rajya Sabha member Shanta Kumar.

In 2003 Shanta Kumar got approved three deep tubewells for the drinking water supply in the village.

The village donated land for the project in 2003. The first deep tubewell was commissioned in 2005.

Water was pumped from the deep tubewell to storage tank with a capacity of 2.80000 litres, created in Upper Dar village.

Initially, the residents of Dari also benefited from the scheme. However, after sometime the things were back to square one. Now another deep tubewell has been dug in Dari.

However, the residents of village are still being supplied from open water sources rather than deep tubewells dug on the land donated by the village.

The residents alleged that on political grounds the residents of Barol village are benefiting at their cost. In Barol the department was supplying water twice a day.

The residents of Dari are being discriminated as just on the ground that the ruling party did not get majority votes here, the villagers alleged.

The executive engineer of the pubic health department Garg when contacted denied that residents of Dari were being discriminated on political grounds.

He said water from deep tubewells was not being supplied in Dari as many hand pumps have been installed in the village. He also assured to look into the complaints of villagers.

They have alleged that the management adopts ‘pick and choose policy’ while making appointments and promotions of teachers in the institute.

Chairman of the board RL Chauhan said, “I have asked the management to constitute the inquiry committee and submit the report to me.”