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HPMC in bad shape
Misuse of rest houses unchecked
Census confirms four new bird species at Pong Dam
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vignettes
shimla diary
Drought-like conditions lead to 20 crore loss
Stray cattle force farmers to abandon fields
Curbs on grazing area
Report on heritage of Dalhousie awaits govt’s clearance
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HPMC in bad shape
Shimla, March 3 With accumulated losses touching Rs 45 crore, the state-owned HPMC is indeed in no position to carry out its mandate. The performance of the corporation could be judged from the fact that it has not been able to utilise its full processing capacity of 22,700 tonne for even once over the past three decades. The average capacity of its biggest processing plant at Parwanoo (having a capacity of 19,400 tonne), over the past five years had been as low as 27.84 per cent. Moreover, it had not been able to process the fruit procured by the government under the market intervention scheme, as a result of which huge quantities of apple was spoiled. The period 2008-09 has been the worst, as far as spoilage of the fruit was concerned. Over 5,600 tonne of fruit worth about Rs 3 crore was damaged. Most of it rotted on the roadside, as corporation had not been able to transport it to the plant. The spoilage at the processing plants had been in excess of the norms. For instance, the spoilage at the Parwanoo plant was over and above the 2.5 per cent margin ranging from 1.5 per cent to 8.04 per cent between 2003-2008. The apple collected at procurement centres is not lifted for days together, which results in drying, evaporation and rotting. Another reason for the mounting losses has been that the machinery in all the processing plants, the grading and packaging centres and the cold storages was old and obsolete. The recovery of juice from apple has been very low and it takes 10 to 11 kg of fruit to produce one kg of juice concentrate. Latest machinery yields one kg of concentrate from 7 to 8 kg. However, the main factor responsible for the ills of the corporation has been abject lack of professionalism, as is the case with most of the public sector undertakings in the state. The corporation has not been managed like a commercial unit and has virtually reduced to a government department. There has been no evaluation of the performance of the company or the staff and in absence of accountability no one has been concerned about losses being incurred by the corporation year after year. The management and employees have no stakes as they have been assured of promotions and salary hikes, irrespective of the financial position. Managing director of the corporation Bharat Khera, who has taken some initiatives to improve productivity through innovative use of apple pomace (waste left after extraction of juice) for making organic manure, admits that the processing, grading and packaging units required modernisation for efficient functioning. A Rs 30 crore plan, under which a processing plant would be set up in the heart of the apple belt in Shimla district to save on transportation cost and spoilage during transit, has already been prepared for the purpose. The machinery at Parwanoo would be partially replaced and an automatic bottling line would be provided at the Jarol plant. In the first phase, the centres at Reckong Peo and Gummah would be modernised at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore each and the remaining eight centres would be done in a phased manner. The cold stores at Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai are also to be upgraded under the plan.
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Misuse of rest houses unchecked
Palampur, March 3 Though the government has banned liquor in these rest houses, it is being served in most of the rest houses without any check. Enquiries reveal that officials on government duty hardly get accommodation in these rest houses whereas persons without permission easily find their way in. Most of them neither fill up visitor book nor pay the tariff. The government owns two guest houses in New Delhi and one in Chandigarh, but it is very difficult to get accommodation in these guest houses even for a single day as 90 per cent of the rooms are “permanently” occupied or reserved in the name of Chief Minister, ministers and senior bureaucrats. A senior officer of the general administration department (GAD), which issues permits for accommodation in these rest houses, admits the blatant misuse of the facility and stated that it is beyond their control to check the same because of involvement of politicians and senior bureaucrats. He says permits from GAD are always issued in the names of MLAs and ministers, but most of time they further allow their workers or other persons to occupy rooms allotted in their names. He says GAD has no authority to check such illegal occupants. He says illegal occupancy in government rest houses not only causes inconvenience to officials on duty but also resulting in huge loss to the state exchequer. The officer states tariff for persons on official duty is Rs 50 per day with subsidised food inside the rest house, but the tariff for persons other than those on official duty is Rs 500 and for proxy booking Rs 1,000 per day without subsidised food is charged. This way the government is losing revenue in lakhs. The annual expenditure on the maintenance of rest houses is over Rs 5 crore, which includes staff salary. It is also learnt that ministers and senior bureaucrats have converted several suits of these rest houses into their temporary residences. They continue to get their permits renewed from GAD from time to time. Many times, they also do not fill up daily visitor book and rooms occupied by them are shown as vacant. It seems that there is no one who could dare to ask them to vacate the rooms. Even the Chief Minister is helpless in initiating any action and improving the situation.
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Census confirms four new bird species at Pong Dam
Hamirpur, March 3 While Bar-Headed Goose, considered the flagship bird among the migratory birds, topped the number this time as well with about 24,000 birds already counted during the census. Among the new species, Pied Avocet was spotted at the lake for the first time this season. Although bred in Africa, this bird migrates to Central Asia, Spain and England. This bird is on the logo of the Royal Society for Bird Protection as it was saved from extinction with great effort in 1940. Small diving duck named as Greater Scaup was also identified for the first time. Another species, Jacana, known for their huge feet and claw, was also a new arrival at this wetland this season. The forth species, Nordmans Greenshank was another new bird identified during the census. In all, 95 species of migratory birds were recorded during the survey. Ten species i.e. Bar-Headed Goose, Common Coot, Northern Pintail, Great cormorant, Common Pochard, Common Teal, Little Cormorant, Mallard, Tufted Pochard and Gadwall were seen in a large numbers here. DFO SK Guleria said, “We had formed 23 teams to identify migratory birds at Pong Dam and three readings were recorded to count their number. About a lakh birds have already been counted and the number might increase since their arrival is still continuing”.
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Soft, sweet, shiny Shimla ‘mutter’
by Shriniwas Joshi Hans Christian Anderson wrote a tale “The Princess and the Pea” in 1835. The tale opens with a prince returning home having failed to find a real princess to marry. One night in a thundering storm, a soaking wet woman came to take shelter in the castle. She claimed to be a real princess. The queen decided to test the truth of her claim by placing a single pea on a bedstead and piling 20 mattresses and 20 featherbeds atop it. The maiden spent the night there. In the morning, she informed her hosts that she had a sleepless night as something hard in the bed kept her awake. Believing that only a real princess could have such sensitivity to feel a pea through the giant cushions, the queen agreed to solemnise the marriage. The local story-coiners add that had the princess slept over a soft Shimla pea, the prince would have remained unmarried. Peas and capsicum are the two vegetables that prefix Shimla. How did the pea get the prefix when KT Achaya, the known food-historian, wrote that “kalaya” and “vatana” in Sanskrit, “pattani” in Tamil and “mutter” in Hindi was an ancient food material domesticated around 10,000 BC in the Mekong valley in Thailand? The following is the explanation. Earlier, peas were dried and eaten. Garden peas to be consumed green were the gift of English during the 18th century. Eating green peas became a fashion and madness in England and France. “There are some ladies who, having supped and supped well, take peas to home and eat before going to bed, at the risk of an attack of indigestion. It's a fashion, a craze!” wrote Madame de Maintenon. The English developed excellent varieties of peas whose popularity spread to North America. Thomas Jefferson cultivated more than 30 cultivars of English peas in his estate. The English residing in Shimla brought pea-seeds from England to grow in their kitchen gardens here. Captain Godfrey Charles Mundy had come to Shimla in 1828 and had stayed with Captain Kennedy. He writes in Pen and Pencil Sketches, “Many of the Simla householders have already cultivated small spots of ground for cabbage, potato and other vegetable esculents.” He further writes that the natives were grateful to Kennedy for liberal dissemination of seeds which could find roots in the arid land-profile of theirs. The English variety when reached the markets in the plains from Shimla hills, the people developed fancy to it and on knowing that it had come from Shimla started calling it Shimla “mutter”. The prefix Shimla still fetches a dime more for the green pods. It is a matter of pride that a vegetable that gave birth to Mendel's genetics with an innocent sounding botanical name “Pisum Sativam” is associated with Shimla. William Wallace Irwin, an American bureaucrat, had said, "There is nothing so innocent, so confiding in its expression, as the small green face of the freshly shelled spring pea. Asparagus is pushing and bossy, lettuce is loud and blowsy, radishes are gay and playful, but the little green pea is so helpless and friendly that it makes really sensitive stomachs suffer to see the way he is treated in the average home. Fling him into the water and let him boil, and that's that." The pea-crop in Himachal Pradesh is gradually pushing potatoes as cash crop out from the reckoning. The former fetches an average return of Rs 75,000-80,000 per hectare as against Rs 35,000-Rs 40,000 per hectare fetched by the latter. Palam Priya variety developed by HP Agricultural University and formally released for cultivation in 1995, has been giving good results. Its average green pod yield capacity is not less than 150 quintals per hectare. One well filled pod of this variety gives 8 to 10 peas against a general count of 6 to 9. No wonder, Japan and Hong Kong have opened their markets for Himachali peas. More countries are in the queue. Himachal has many varieties - Lincoln, Bonneville, Arkel, Harbhajan, Jawahar etc - but to a common vegetable-eater each variety is just Shimla “mutter”.
Tailpiece
A customer ordered for a dish “pumpkin-pea mush”. With no taste of peas in the item, he made a complaint to the manager of the restaurant. The manager replied, “The ratio of ingredients in the combination is quite good, Sir. It is 50:50 - one pumpkin against one pea.”
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Ridge gets LCD screen
Visitors as well as locals can now enjoy cricket or any other national event while sitting on the Ridge, as a huge LCD screen has been installed by a private agency. The huge screen will make the tourists aware about the state, its pristine beauty, rich culture and traditions. The screen will not only rake in money for the local municipal corporation (MC) but will also be used to flash the welfare schemes and policies of the state government. The LCD screen is being placed along the Takka Bench, overlooking the historic Ridge Maidan. Prior to this the daily temperature and humidity levels were flashed on a screen installed at the same location by the Indian Oil Corporation. Busy time for politicians
Former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and BJP MLA Rajan Sushant made only brief appearances during the Budget session of the Assembly as they were campaigning for the parliamentary polls which kept them busy. Even though the Congress is yet to finalise its candidates for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections, but the candidature of Virbhadra is being considered a foregone conclusion. Though he made it a point to be present on the opening day when Governor Prabha Rau addressed the house and on the day when budget was presented but otherwise he was conspicuous by his absence. The absence of the Congress stalwart obviously reflected in the opposition’s attack on the Dhumal regime, which could have been more hard hitting and pungent, had the former CM been in the house all along. Virbhadra, besides visiting Delhi has been touring parts of Mandi and Kullu, which form part of the Mandi seat. On the other hand BJP legislator from Jawali, Rajan Sushant, who is the ruling party’s official nominee from Kangra Lok Sabha seat was seen in the house only on few occasions. He only made token appearance in the session as he is slogging hard to taken on the Congress MP Chander Chaudhary.
Casualty dept
Even as Left parties are crying foul over the privatisation of health services in the state, the authorities at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) are preparing to handover the reins of the most important area of the hospital, the casualty department, to private party. So far only some tests, including echo and blood investigations, have been given out on contract at the IGMC. Even though the logic being given is that the experience by giving out certain services on contract had been very encouraging and people had benefited, but there is apprehension among the public about the cost factor. State Health Minister Rajiv Bindal has on several occasions reiterated the fact that his government would not hesitate to engage the service of private doctors or other such steps for the convenience of patients. The casualty at the IGMC is the most important department of the hospitals where patients from all over the state are rushed in case of emergency and accidents.
—Pratibha Chauhan
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Drought-like conditions lead to 20 crore loss
Palampur, March 3 Apple and tea growers are the worst hit. The winter remained dry and there was no snowfall on the higher reaches this year. The main reason for the sudden change in the rain pattern is attributed to the large-scale unscientific mining, quarrying combined with the construction of power projects, cement plants, roads and buildings. The illegal mining and quarrying has been going on unchecked for the past many years which has further contributed to the environmental imbalances. The installation of cement plants has further worsened the situation. Dust and smoke coming out of the plants has become a major environmental hazard. Besides, over 10,000 trucks plying on state roads have made the matter worse. The latest studies conducted by a private NGO, the Himachal Pradesh Welfare and Environmental Protection Forum, relating to “Environmental Imbalances in Himachal Pradesh”, revealed that over 50000 hectares had been affected by mining and other construction activities. The report based on this study says that Kinnaur, Solan, Shimla, Kulu and Bilaspur districts which fall in the catchments areas of the Sutlej and Beas, are the worst affected, where reckless mining and cutting of hills for executing power projects has played havoc. The report has cautioned the state government as well as the union governments against serious consequences, if timely measures are not taken to check the environmental hazard. The report has put a question mark on the future of the Bhakhra and Pong dams built at a high cost since no steps have been initiated in the past for large- scale plantations in the catchments areas of the Sutlej and Beas as recommended by various government and non- government agencies. The government had received crores of rupees for the CAT development plan, but nobody knows where this money was spent. The capacity to hold water in these two dams is falling year after year because of heavy siltation caused by the destruction of forest, mining and other activities in its catchments areas. Even the BBMB has become a silent spectator. Unless these activities are stopped, large-scale silt would continue to flow into these dams every year. The report says that the bed of both the dams has risen by five to 10 meters and nearly three times more sediments had flowed into these dams in the past 10 years reducing the life to one third. The report expressed concern that even the directions of the apex court were not followed by the state government.
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Stray cattle force farmers to abandon fields
Dharamsala, March 3 “Our land holding is very small. However, in the past few years, the number of the stray cattle in the area has increased. They destroy our field and due to religious beliefs we cannot hurt them,” they said. The farmers also alleged that outsiders have released the stray cattle in their villages. The officials of the department of animal husbandry said they have started registering the animals of the farmers. All the animals, including cattle and buffalo have now been tattooed with names and address of their owners. The tattoos would help the department in keeping track of the owners of the animals. Under the new Act, the panchayat has been empowered to impose a fine up to Rs 500, if cattle of some owner are found to be damaging the fields or property of other farmers. However, there is no such provision for cattle that are already left stray. They also said the government has formulated a policy, in which the non-government organisations (NGO’s) are being urged to open “gosadans” (community cowsheds). The government would give them one-time grant for their set up, the department officials said. However, inquiries revealed that very few NGO’s have come forward to accept the proposal. Generally, the cattle abandoned by their owners have stopped giving milk. It would be hard for any society to manage large number of cattle without persistent government support. The sources also said the work of tattooing of the animals is also progressing at a very slow pace. The officials said the NGO’s that would open such cowsheds would be helped in establishing the technology to earn from cow dung and urine products. The sources, however, said even selling cow dung and urine by-products cannot generate resources to maintain stray animals in proposed cowsheds. For proper care of stray animals, any organisation would have to spend at least Rs 500-700 per annum. The government would have to give at least some persistent grant for the maintenance of such sheds to keep them operational. The remaining expenditure could be met by raising funds through donations. While the government is moving at a snail’s pace, farmers in certain regions are getting restive. There were reports that certain unidentified persons in Shimla district loaded stray animals in trucks and pushed them downhill, leading to their death or fatal injuries. Such acts of the farmers might bring them at loggerheads with religious or animal activist groups and create unrest.
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Marginal increase in wool production
Pratibha Chauhan Tribune News Service
Shimla, March 3 As compared to 10.89 lakh sheep in the state as per the 1993 census, the figure has dropped to 9.01 lakh as per the latest census undertaken in 2008. Thanks to the efforts of the animal husbandry department and Wool Federation, there has been a slight increase in the wool production with emphasis on breed improvement and quality enhancement. With almost 16.50 lakh kg of wool stocks lying with the federation, there are hardly any buyers in the market, forcing the authorities to re-tender the auction of its stock. Not that there isn’t demand for wool at places like Ludhiana, Panipat, Amritsar and Bikaner, but the recession has led to a major slump in the market. The Central Wool Development Board under the ministry of textiles has sanctioned a project for sheep and wool improvement for Rs 2.40 crore for the districts of Shimla and Kinnaur. The emphasis will be on breed improvement, medical care of the sheep and enhancement of wool quality before shearing. Two multipurpose extension centres will be set every year. To protect the shepherds, the government provides them Rs 55 per kg for white and Rs 45 per kg for black and coloured wool for the autumns clip. The rates for the summer clip are Rs 35 per kg and for the winter clip at Rs 25.50 kg. However, as compared to the 2003 census when the number of total sheep in the state was 10.89 lakh the figure dropped to 9.06 lakh in 2003. The latest survey conducted last year indicates further decline. The highest concentration of sheep in the state is in the districts of Chamba, Mandi, Kangra, Kullu and Shimla. The restrictions on grazing due to most of the forests being declared protected and the fact that the grasslands open for grazing have been under attack from weeds like Congress grass, lantana and ageratum. The grasslands where shepherds from the Kinnuar and Dodra Kawar areas of Shimla are authorised and given permits by the forest land to graze their sheep during the winter months falling in Sirmour and Solan are infested with weeds. With shrinkage of grazing areas also not too many shepherds are keen to continue with the family profession. Notwithstanding the fact that the government is keen to give a boost to agriculture and allied sectors like animal husbandry, the number of people as well as the sheep head is on the decline keeping in view the difficult life involving sheep rearing. Officials say that with import of wool being open and the duty being very low, it is increasingly getting difficult to get good prices for the wool. Several incentives are being given by the government, including holding of camps, where medical kits are being provided and a Rs 30 lakh revolving fund has been created to ensure that the sheep owners do not face any problem in getting payments. More sophisticated shearing machines are being acquired to help the shearing process to ensure quality of the wool.
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Report on heritage of Dalhousie awaits govt’s clearance
Dalhousie, March 3 The draft report on ‘Heritage of Dalhousie’ reveals that considering the wealth of heritage inherited by Dalhousie over the years, the entire hill town has been viewed as a single entity, in the context of development, in order to ensure proper growth and conservation of the heritage areas of the wooded hill town known as sanatorium. Founded in 1850 AD and located on the western end of the mighty Dhauladhars at an altitude of 2,378 metres, Dalhousie has a name due to its unique setting, architecture and beautiful British style bungalows that dot the townscape. Town would suffer both economically and environmentally, if there would be loss of heritage in the wake of development. The owners of the monuments, buildings and bungalows be provided incentives to ensure preservation of these ancient structures. Heritage cess on the tourists coming to the town and funds thus generated may be used effectively for value addition to the town’s heritage. Making heritage conservation as people’s movement is the foremost necessity. In the light of prosperous and proud past of Dalhousie being a British town on one hand and need for preservation of heritage on the other, regulatory control for heritage monuments of Dalhousie are devised for several monuments such as Sardar Ajit Singh Samadhi, Kynance Building, Subhas Bouli, Norwood Paramdham, Bara Pathar, Khyber House, St John’s Church in Bakrota, Radha Swami Satsang Bhawan, Dakshina Murti Ashram, Shivkul in Moti-Tibba and St Francis Church Cemetery, Sacred Heart High School, Laxmi Narayan temple in Dalhousie Khas. The report has laid down provisions for the restricted development, which means only residential construction with two storeys and one parking floor would be allowed in the heritage zone, which has been defined as ‘restrict area’ in the approved development plan. The heritage of Dalhousie has been divided into two categories- natural heritage and built heritage. Natural heritage comprises socio-cultural spaces and parks, area on the hillside of the Mall in Bakrota starting from Dhoop Ghari to the IPH tanks on the Khajjiar road, the GPO and Subhas Chowk and its surrounding areas, the open green patches, slopes, woodlands in and outside the heritage zone but within planning area limits. Sightseeing points near Sun Villa on the Satdhara road and near the Vikas Guest house on the Potreyn road and site seeing points and rain shelters along the Thandi Sarak, the report recommends. All the heritage buildings, monuments, spaces identified and mentioned in the report falling in proposed heritage zone and outside heritage zone within the planning area boundary (the municipal council boundary) fall in the category of built heritage. The report has prescribed regulations for natural heritage and heritage buildings, complexes and heritage zone. Relaxation of certain options for the architectural elements has also been proposed in the report. The report on heritage of Dalhousie has attributed the causes for neglect of heritage monuments in the past to the ignorance and lack of understanding of the values of the historical monuments and the buildings of the olden times. As Dalhousie being easily accessible by the plains, the problem of conversion of structures of the British style and architecture into multistory, commercial flats, hotels and guest houses has posed a threat to the valuable heritage, besides scarcity of developable land and pressure of forces of consumerism. Carelessness and inactive role of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), lack of coordination and interaction between local bodies, town planning, district administration and the INTACH are also the reasons responsible for the degradation of the hill town’s invaluable assets.
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Visitors as well as locals can now enjoy cricket or any other national event while sitting on the Ridge, as a huge LCD screen has been installed by a private agency.
The huge screen will make the tourists aware about the state, its pristine beauty, rich culture and traditions. The screen will not only rake in money for the local municipal corporation (MC) but will also be used to flash the welfare schemes and policies of the state government.
Drought conditions in Himachal Pradesh in the past two years have resulted in a loss of over Rs 20 crore to the state. Apple, potato and other off-season vegetable crops playing a significant role in the economy of the state are the worst affected.
Apple and tea growers are the worst hit. The winter remained dry and there was no snowfall on the higher reaches this year.
Farmers of the Lanj area of Kangra district have been forced to abandon their fields, as a large number of stray cattle could be seen sitting undisturbed here.
“Our land holding is very small. However, in the past few years, the number of the stray cattle in the area has increased. They destroy our field and due to religious beliefs we cannot hurt them,” they said.