Shimla, May 14
Concerned over the repeated extensions being granted to the state electricity board to continue in its existing “bundled” form, the state electricity regulatory commission has served a notice on the union ministry of power to explain the rationale behind the action. It has also sought to know what steps it would take to revalidate the extension allowed retrospectively for which there was no provision under the Electricity Act, 2003.

The commission took suo motu notice of the situation arising due to the extension granted to the board to act as a state transmission utility even after the expiry of licence as a result of which the period from August 1, 2008, to June 15, 2009, needed to be covered, most of it retrospectively. “It is a settled principle that if the parent Act does not provide for “retrospectivity”, retroactive operation cannot take place. This issue needs to be argued before the commission,” the commission observed.

The commission has asked the state government to place on record the documents and correspondence exchanged after July 31, 2008, with the Centre in relation to the board’s licencee’s status as per Section 172 of the Act.

It sought views of the union ministry of power on the legality of the notification issued by the state government as a retrospective measure and also as to the necessity of setting up of a validation law. The commission was at a loss to understand how a meeting between the chief secretary of the state and the union secretary of power could be construed as a mutual decision mechanism satisfying the requirement of proviso 172 (a) of the Act.

Arguments need also to be advanced before the commission as to what kind of a roadmap would be available for the future. Further, there was an apparent need of a validation law with regard to the actions taken by the board from August 1, 2008, on which the last extension expired, till the date on which the authorisation was to be actually accorded.

Also, a roadmap would be needed by the commission to assure itself that the juridical status of the board does not hang midway between a de jure line and a quasi-extra legal status with non-sequitur aspects after June 15, 2009, the order said.

Dharamsala, May 14
Leading cement company of the country ACC that also has its plant in the Barmana area of Himachal has justified the higher cement prices in the state. The chief commercial officer of ACC, J Datta Gupta while talking to The Tribune attributed higher cement prices in the state to high freight rates.

He maintained that the transportation rate of cement in Himachal was Rs 5.42 per km per MT. On the contrary the transportation price in Punjab was Rs 2.75 per
km per MT.

To justify the higher prices of cement in Himachal he also claimed that if cement bags were to be transported from Barmana to Dharamsala (165 km distance) the cost of transportation would be about Rs 904 per MT, whereas the cost of transportation to a same distance in Punjab would be Rs 672 per MT. The differential cost of Rs 232 per MT adds to Rs 10 extra cost per bag in Himachal. In addition to that the unloading costs are also higher at Rs 2 per bag in Himachal, he claimed.

The ACC representative claimed that the cost of cement bags was reduced by Rs 3 per bag in Himachal at the request of state government.

However, the limestone is mined locally and prices of power in Himachal are comparatively cheaper in Himachal. In addition to that the flyash that is another major component in price of cement is also transported from Ropar Thermal Plant in Punjab that is located at a district just over 100 km. This might be reducing the cost of production in Himachal.

The ACC representative when asked if lower cost of production benefit could be extended to the customers in Himachal said that besides the said inputs gypsum and coal two other major components were still transported here. So, there was no chance in reduction of prices.

The ACC representative has claimed that price difference in Punjab and Himachal is about Rs 10 per bag that also due to higher transportation costs in state. However, inquires from market revealed that difference ranges from Rs 15 to Rs 25 per bag. The cement bag in Himachal is being sold between Rs 267 and Rs 270 per bag whereas in Punjab it is being sold at prices ranging from Rs 240 to Rs 250 per bag.

While the ACC representative has claimed that the price of Rs 267 per bag is up to home delivery, the retailers here are charging Rs 10 to Rs 15 per bag extra for home delivery.

Shimla, May 14
As fear of the impending water scarcity continues to haunt residents with elections being over, the additional supply from the Giri water supply scheme has so far saved residents of the state capital from the inevitable rationing which is introduced from May 15 every year.

Plagued by perennial water scarcity problem every summer, the position this year is considerably eased out with the Giri water supply scheme providing 10 MLD daily. However, supply in outskirt areas, including Chakkar, Bharari and Summer Hill, was temporarily affected due to broken pipes and uneven distribution.

As against a requirement of 40 MLD daily the MC is being supplied 38 MLD by the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department. “The water supply position is absolutely satisfactory as a result of which we have not even started rationing which otherwise starts by May 15,” said Narender Kataria, mayor.

“We are providing sufficient supply to the MC as per their demand and it is for them to ensure that there is proper utilisation and no wastage by way of leakage or other means,” said engineer-in-chief R.N. Sharma. He said the department proposed to lay a new pipeline between Dhalli to Sanjauli to plug leakage but the permission to undertake work was still awaited from the National Highways.

Interestingly, the officials maintain that against a norm of providing 135 lts per person per day in urban schemes, the IPH was already giving 190 lts per person per day with an estimated population of two lakh living in the state capital. “The Giri scheme will meet the water requirement of Shimla for the next 20 years so it will operate to its full capacity of 20 MLD only when the demand escalates to that level,” said Sharma.

The mayor said certain steps like replacing the old pipelines, creating storage tanks in various localities could go as a long way in easing out the problem. He added that in case supply from Giri scheme continued the residents could be saved from water woes.

The fact that the tourist influx is yet to pick up, the residents are keeping their fingers crossed while the worst affected hotel industry for whom reports of shortage spell doom is praying that this year is better.

Dharamsala, May 14
The district election officer found it hard to juggle with polling percentage in the Kangra parliamentary constituency. Even till 5 pm today, district polling officers were not sure about the exact polling percentage.

The approximate polling percentage released today evening presented a totally different picture from what was released yesterday. Despite modern communication network, the officers failed to collect poll data even after 24 hours.

As per figures released yesterday, the polling percentage in the Kangra constituency was about 55 per cent. However, today they expected it to go up to 56.32 per cent.

The tentative percentages worked out today might have brought cheer to Congress leaders. As per the percentage figures released yesterday, it was expected that the polling in the OBC stronghold of Congress candidate Chander Kumar had remained very low and that might have worked against him.

However, the revised tentative figures released today indicated good voting in those areas (Nagrota Bagwan, Shahpur, Jawalamukhi and Dharamsala), auguring well for Chander Kumar.

The polling percentage in the Baijnath constituency, represented by Congress MLA Sudhir Sharma, recorded the lowest percentage. Just 45.5 per cent voters cast their votes.

The sources here attributed low percentage in Baijnath to the poll boycott by residents of Chota Bhangal area. The Chota Bhangal area has about 8000 voters most of whom were expected to be congress supporters.

Una, May 14
This time polling at Hamirpur has shown a new trend. Women in Una district have outnumbered men in voting in all five Vidhan Sabha constituencies.

According to DC Padam Singh Chauhan, out of total 3,56,489 voters of Una district 2,19,171 voters exercised their right to vote, which came to 62.34 per cent.

The district returning officer-cum-deputy commissioner informed that 1,13,142 women and 1,06,029 men participated in the Lok Sabha poll.

In the Haroli constituency of Una district, out of 71,184 voters 45,770 voters exercised their right to vote and 21,946 men and 23,824 women cast their votes. In the Una constituency, out of 71,414 voters 45,699 voters cast their votes, which include 23,453 women and 22,246 men.

In the Kutlehar constituency, out of 71,010 voters 45,146 voters, including 23,732 women and 21,414 men cast their votes.

In the Chintpurni constituency, out of 72,618 voters 41,352 voters, including 20,956 women and 20,396 men cast their votes.

In the Gagret constituency out of 70,263 voters 41,204 voters, including 21,177 women and 20,027 men cast their votes.

Chauhan informed that 502 EVMs were used, which now have been kept under tight security at Government College, Una, where counting would take place on May 16.

BILASPUR: Women voters outnumbered men voters and took lead in voting at the Jhandutta reserved and Ghumarwin assembly segments here in the district on Wednesday while more men voted in the Bilaspur Sadar and Naina Devi constituencies.

District Returning Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner JS Rana stated this while giving details of the voting pattern in the district.

He said there are total 2,66,864 voters in the district and out of them 1,56,935 cast their votes. More women came to cast their votes as 79,387 women and 77,548 men participated in the voting process. He said 1,34,858 voters cast their votes after showing photo identity cards.

Rana said in the Jhandutta constituency out of total 38,905 voters who cast their votes, there were 20,168 women and 18,737 men while in the Ghumarwin segment out of total 40,653 voters who turned up to cast their votes, 21,587 were women and 19,066 were men voters.

In the Bilaspur Sadar constituency, out of total 39,473 votes cast, there were 20,061 men voters and 19,412 women while in the Naina Devi constituency out of total 37,904 votes cast, 19,684 were men and 18,220 women voters.

Reckong Peo (Kinnaur), May 14
Foreigners making a beeline for the tribal areas of Kinnaur and cold desert of Spiti are landing into problems as they are neither guided by travel agents about “inner line permits” nor the Department of Tourism and Civil Aviation has put up even a signboard at the Powari junction, near here, to guide them for availing permits from the DC office here.

Narrating their tale of woes, a couple from Moscow- Yula and Kinazi, who were on their way from Dharamsala to Kinnaur and Spiti, said they had to come back from Spillo to Peo as the police did not allow them to go beyond as they did not had the inner line permits.

“Our whole journey schedule was upset as it killed a whole day,” Yula rued, while she was waiting for an official to sign the permit here.

This couple was not alone who faced problem while going straight to Spillo and Nako. There were two more vehicles carrying foreign tourists who were turned back from Spillo as they too did not carry the permits.

Though domestic tourists need no inner line permits, foreign tourists need them to go beyond Nako till Sumdoh on the Powari-Nako-Sumdoh-Kaurik highway as the area falls within the inner line of the Indo-Tibet border.

Local hoteliers said the Tourism Department had opened tourist information office here, but it is run by a ‘babu’ who is rarely found in the office.

Kinnaur DC Priyanka Basu said the Shimla DC also issues the inner line permits and tourists are guided about it by the tourist information offices. “We will put up sign board to guide them in near future,” she added.

Mandi, May 14
Parents of two students of local Yadavindra Public School, Nitin (5) and Yash (7), who were killed in a road accident on the Mandi-Padhwahan road on May 9, have accused the school management of adopting an apathetic attitude towards them.

Nitin’s uncle Tek Chand alleged here today that the school management neither informed them that the children were being taken to Padhwahan for community living experience nor did they inform them about the accident immediately.

Even after six days, none of the members of the school management had visited them, let alone paying any compensation, he alleged. “We have received a financial assistance of just Rs 10,000 from the government so far,” he added.

Parents of the students said their children were killed due to the negligence of the owner of the YPS chain of schools, Col J Kumar, who was driving the Tempo Trax vehicle (HP 33 A 8802) on that day. “As is physically challenged, he risked the life of children by driving the overloaded vehicle,” they said. There were 22 passengers in the 14-seater vehicle, they added.

The police had not taken any action in the case so far although an FIR was lodged at the Paddar police station on the same day, they said. They suspected that the owner of the school was manipulating the facts.

Meanwhile, Col J Kumar said, “We assure them that we will visit families of both kids within a week and pay them due assistance as per law. I am also injured. The accident took place due to a mechanical failure.” He admitted that he was driving the vehicle, but claimed that it was not overloaded. Mandi SP Sonal Agnihotri said the police investigation into the case had been expedited from today. 

Chandigarh, May 14
Principal, staff and students of Army Public School (APS), Dagshai, today bid farewell to Lt Gen AN Aul, Chief of Staff, Western Command. The general, who is retiring shortly, visited the school today, which is run under the aegis of the Western Command.

General Aul was received in the academic block by Principal Col AK Maini (retd), according to a statement issued here. On the occasion, a farewell party was organised in the school where he interacted with staff members and students holding school appointments.

In his valedictory speech, General Aul said APS, Dagshai, was one of the best boarding schools in India and he was very happy to see the progress, which the school had made over a period of time.

Recalling the days when he used to visit his son and daughter who studied in this school, General Aul advised students to set their goals and focus their energy to attain success. As a token of remembrance, the principal presented him a souvenir.