Solan, June 29
The magisterial inquiry report, constituted by the Chief Minister into a fire incident at an air-conditioning manufacturing unit — Advantec Coils Private Limited — which had claimed nine lives at Khera village near Nalagarh, has pointed out certain laxities in the erring unit for having adopted a casual attitude in maintaining proper fire-fighting facilities on its premises.

The report, which was submitted by ADC, Solan, to the government today, has pegged the total loss of the unit at around Rs 43 lakh while loss of nine human lives has also been reported.

While findings suggest crucial shortcomings, various remedial measures have been suggested to be adopted by the unit and other such industries so as to avert such tragedies in the future.

This includes constitution of an in-house well-trained team of fire-fighting in each unit which can by themselves tackle such adversities.

While such teams can immediately help contain fire incidents, preliminary steps towards fire fighting can be achieved before the arrival of the fire tenders.

The report has also laid stress on the importance of getting regular fire-certification from the Fire Department which can help assess the gap between the requirement and facilities available and also ensure that the systems were in working order.

It has also been suggested to ensure availability of adequate fire-fighting equipment, including fire hydrants, on the unit premises.

Lack of fire hydrants and fire-fighting equipment had also come forth as a major flaw in the findings of the Fire Department earlier.

This had hampered speedy fire fighting and officials opined that some lives could have been saved if adequate equipment had been installed.

The unit, which was keen to re-start its production activities after the tragic fire incident of June 3, had been specifically directed by the Labour Department to first ensure installation of fire-fighting equipment and it would be only after an inspection by their department that permission would be granted to re-start the unit.

The unit, which had nearly 600 employees, was also running short of time to meet its supply orders and was therefore running from pillar to post to re-start manufacturing in one of its adjoining buildings.

Bilaspur, June 29
Two youths namely Kapil Dev (17), son of Jagdish Kumar of Nog village, and Ashwini Kumar (17), son of Chandu Ram of Jangal Jhaleda village, were killed instantaneously and three others were injured, when the tractor in which they were travelling turned turtle, near Delag village, late in the evening.

Driver Vinod of Bihar and Monu of Nog village were rushed to the IGMC, Shimla, due to serious nature of their injuries, while Vikrant was admitted to a hospital here and is stated to be out of danger.

The police has registered a case and bodies have been sent for a post-mortem examination. High speed of the tractor is stated to be the cause of the accident. All youths were returning from a religious ceremony in a nearby village.

Later, Krishan Lal repeatedly demanded details of his account from the bank, but it did not respond.

Shimla, June 29
The World Bank will soon release the second instalment of the Rs 850 crore development policy loan to the state.

A team of the bank comprising Mohan Nagrajan and Vikram Chand appreciated the performance of the state government on the governance front and adhering to fiscal parameters as envisaged under the project.

They were satisfied with the use of the untied grant of about Rs 425 crore given in the first instalment to improve the financial health of the debt-stressed state.

The team also called on Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal here today and had discussion with government officials with regard to utilisation of the second instalment of Rs 425 crore.

Dhumal informed the team that Himachal Pradesh had become the face of the country in respect of social services and protection of environment.

Emphasis was being laid on development of rural areas to help improve the socio- economic conditions of the people, besides creating self-employment opportunities.

The ultimate objective of the government was to make every Himachali self-reliant so that he could lead a dignified life.

He said agriculture was being given big boost by diversification to floriculture, herbiculture and horticulture.

Poly houses were being set up in the state in a big way for which subsidy up to 80 per cent was being given.

The geographical condition of the state was different from that of plains and its performance should not be measured on parameters fixed for the plains as construction and other costs in hills were much higher than the plains.

He said the performance of the state in implementation of the Mid-Himalaya Project had been appreciated by the World Bank and this indicated optimum utilisation of the funds by the state.

Secretary, finance, Arvind Mehta apprised the team about the steps being taken to mobilise resources by the government.

Shimla, June 29
Himachal Pradesh has taken a lead in making available village-level basic statistics and market prices of essential commodities on the Internet with the launching of web portal by Chief Minister PK Dhumal to mark the third statistics day here today.

The Chief Minister said market rate of essential commodities up to Friday would be available on the Internet to consumers and traders with comparative rates of the previous week. The entire statistics down to village level would be available in the coming months.

The Department of Economics and Statistics had made commendable efforts to collect data, compile and analyse it for the benefit of researchers, policy makers and the general public, he said.

In the era of information revolution, data and statistics availability to public had become the need of the hour, he added.

He said since “price statistics” was a national topic, the department had decided to show prices of 16 essential commodities on its website.

He said these prices would be collected through the network of district statistical officials and sent via Internet to the state headquarters.

Economic advisor Pradeep Chauhan said the website would be quite useful to the general public and also invited suggestions for its improvement.

Kangra, June 29
Residents of Kangra valley were once again overjoyed this afternoon when heavy showers provided further respite from scorching heat.

It was only yesterday that McLeodganj and Dharamsala had witnessed heavy rain. Foothills of Dhauladhar mountain range had also experienced rain.

But today, besides hill towns of Dharamsala and Mcleodganj, Matour, Gaggal, Kangra, Kholi, Smloti, Jadrangal, Chamunda, Yol and Dari too experienced showers.

Hill town of Dharamsala witnessed heavy rain for more than two hours, bringing the mercury level considerably down.

People were caught off guard and were seen running for shelter at many places. McLeodganj also witnessed heavy rain this afternoon.

It came as a respite to residents who had been reeling under unprecedented heat wave for the past one month.

Reports of heavy rain were also received from Palampur, Maranda and Mallan. However, residents of Jawalamukhi and Dehra were not lucky enough as the hot spell continued in the region.

Kangra, June 29
India has made a major achievement in space science by developing cryogenic stage to be flown in the next flight of the GSLV.

This was stated by here today by BH Patil, former scientist, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), and a close associate of former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.

He said India had achieved milestones in space science and there were ambitious and notable space research programmes for future too.

Patil said India was capable of launching satellites weighing upto 4 tonnes, reusable-launch vehicle and manned space flight. Work in all three projects was in an advanced stage, he added.

Patil, who was here in connection with an All-India Yoga training camp, said, “With successful mission of Chandrayaan-1 in October 2008, I made stride in this area and planted the National Flag on the moon on November 14.”

Lauding the systematic scientific efforts of the team of Chadrayaan 1, Patil said the robust design proved helpful in more than dozen flights of PSLV (Launch Vehicle).

He said the vehicle (PSLV-XL) was designed and developed at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Trivandrum, and Chandrayaan at Bangalore centre.

Other major centres involved in launching and tracking the Chandrayaan was carried out by the Satish Dhavan Space Centre at Sriharikota and ISTRAC in Banglore.

Kangra, June 29
Two women were killed and 20 other bus passengers were injured, four of them seriously, when a private bus and a tempo collided head on at Gummar on the Matour-Shimla National Highway, near Jawalamukhi, this evening.

According to the Jawalamukhi police, the private bus (HP36-5525), which was on way to Dharamsala from Jawalamukhi, collided with a tempo (HP39A-3425) coming from the opposite direction at Gummar, leaving two women dead.

One of the dead was identified as Paramjeet Kaur (30) of Patiala and the other was yet to be identified. Both the dead were bus passengers.

Twenty other bus passengers were also injured in the mishap. Four of the victims who were serious were identified as Pinky (23), Summit (17), Ram Payri (36) and her daughter Anjali (8).

They were referred to the DRPGMC, Tanda, whereas 12 injured were under treatment at the Jawalamukhi Hospital and four were discharged after first aid.

The police has registered a case under Sections 279 and 304 A of the IPC against the bus driver who was arrested.

Dharamsala, June 29
The proposal of the Department of Fisheries to set up Rs 5-crore seed farm has evoked a lukewarm response from fish farmers of the state.

The farmers, when contacted by The Tribune, expressed apprehensions about the success of the project. They alleged that fish seed farm might end up as another white elephant of the government.

They maintained that at present the best quality fish seed was available at a cost about Rs 100 per thousand fish seeds of any variety.

Fish seeds are generally imported from West Bengal by most of the progressive farmers of the region. The government departments import the same from UP.

However, despite setting its own fish seed farm, the department would not be able to sell these to farmers of the state at the same cost.

The average cost of fish seeds being produced in farms located in adjoining state comes to about Rs 200 per thousand seeds.

In Punjab, where fish seed farms already existed, the farmers still imported seeds from West Bengal as it was cheaper and of better quality.

In Himachal also, as the salaries of department staff were very high, the establishment expenditure would increase and the department would not be in a position to sell fish seed at market rates, the farmers added.

Farmers are of the view that instead of developing a fish seed farm, the government should create storage of fish seed.

It should import fish seeds from open market and develop it into fingerlings and then supply it to farmers. This would help save their nursery cost.

This year the department had failed to provide fish seed to farmers of the state. Generally, fish seeds are provided in the months of February or March.

However, as the Lok Sabha elections were in progress, some enterprising officials of the department did not call tenders for procuring fish seed in time, fearing that it might lead of violation of code of conduct.

The result is that this year farmers would not be able to market their fish produce in winter that is the peak period.

The farmers are also of the view that instead of spending money on the farm, the department should create market support for them.

This year the farmers in the state had to suffer heavy losses as the traditional market in Delhi was drying up.

Mandi, June 29
Despite the health hazards posed by the region’s ‘milk-mafia’ that is said to be active in producing synthetic and adulterated milk, the state-run Milkfed has still not installed any quality control systems in its antiquated processing plants.

Besides none of them have microbiologists and chemists, a requisite for all such plants in the country.

The federation has been operating its four processing plants - in Chakkar (Mandi), Tutu near Shimla, Dabwar (Kangra) and Kafota (Sirmaur) (all of which were gifted to Himachal Pradesh under the Indo-German projects in the 1970s) with no eye on ensuring the quality of its products.

The technology employed in these plants has become too outdated to meet the challenges posed by competitors, synthetic milk producers and those involved in the adulterated milk trade, said sources.

A visit to Chakkar plant revealed it had no central cleaning system with reception dockyard still being operated manually, exposing the milk to being contaminated.

The water to cleanse the plant is not available as the handpump is out of order and no spare parts are available to repair the old machines, the sources added.

The story of other plants is no different as they were set up about 20 to 30 years ago. The incidence of infection by microorganisms in these plants has become a serious concern and requires the management’s urgent attention, said insiders.

Though the central government provided Rs 9 crore to Milkfed in 2005 under the integrated dairy development project, the state’s grant-in-aid is only used to meet the federation’s expenditure and reduce it deficit.

As a result no funds are available to install quality control systems in the outdated plants, the sources said. Under the IDD there is no budgetary provision for replacing the plant’s old equipment, the sources added.

Milkfed’s management is headed by non-technical persons who appear to have no stake in professionalising the federation along the lines of its counterparts in Punjab and Maharashtra, rued insiders.

“The project reports are drawn up by nontechnical personnel without consulting dairy and milk product professionals,” the sources said.

Milkfed general manager AK Thakur admitted there was an urgent need to put in place quality control systems in each plant.

“Production of synthetic or adulterated milk has not come to light so far. However, we need microbiologists and chemists to professionalise the federation and create acceptability for our products in the market”, he added.

Milkfed managing director SS Negi said the federation has so far been providing a supporting market to milk producers’ cooperatives and feeding milk to the national grid at lower prices.

“We are in the process of setting up new plants and upgrading old ones but are facing certain constraints,” he added.

Shimla, June 29
Efforts of the government to promote apiculture to help supplement meagre income of farmers from small-land holdings has started yielding results.

With 37,033 sq km area under forests, the state offers potential for bee keeping, which has predominant role to play in pollination, besides honey and wax production.

However, it remained neglected for long and the government focussed due attention on it only in recent years.

The department of horticulture is imparting training to unemployed educated youth to adopt apiculture as a vocation.

The department has 32 bee stations and demonstration apiaries in various parts of the state. There are about 1,500 commercial bee-keepers and 83,000 bee colonies.

Apiculture was also being promoted under the horticulture technological mission project. Bee keepers were being provided subsidy and other inputs, besides beehives, bee colonies, honey extractors and bee veils.

The department also provides facility for certification of honey to private honey producers. There are five species of honey bees found around the world, namely Apis Florea, Apis Ceranaindica, Apis Dorsata, Apis Mellifera and Trigona Iridipennis.

In Himachal Pradesh, Appis Mellifera, a domestic species, and A. Ceranaindica, imported from Italy, are reared, while Dorsata, a wild species is found in forests.

The annual production of honey in the state varies from 700 tonnes to 1,600 tonnes per annum, depending upon the weather conditions.

Apart from being used in medicines and other ayurvedic drug preparation, portions of beehive are used in lip balms and tonics.

Shimla, June 29
Forest Minister JP Nadda today visited the Sarahan pheasantry in Shimla district and took stock of the Rs 4-crore programme for carrying out conservation breeding of the highly endangered Western Tragopan.

He was informed by officials that a new pheasantry was being constructed with financial outlay of Rs 1.2 crore for the smooth implementation of the project.

The forest department had achieved a rare breakthrough in the year 1990 by successfully breeding the highly endangered pheasant Western Tragopan in captivity at the Sarahan Pheasantry for the first time in the world.

Nadda expressed satisfaction over the progress made in captive breeding of the State Bird. He said out of 24 eggs laid by four pairs of birds this season, the first chick was already born.

He also suggested some improvements in the pheasantry and directed the officials to take necessary steps for the success of this programme.

Shimla, June 29
The State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and the HP State Civil Supplies Corporation to pay Rs 5,51,240 as compensation to the complainant for damage caused to his building due to leakage of a gas cylinder.

The commission headed by Justice Arun Kumar Goel passed this order on the appeals filed by both of them wherein they have challenged the order of the consumer forum, whereby it had directed them to pay the above said amount to the complainant, Davinder Singh, for causing damage to his building.

According to the facts of the case, the complainant was a consumer of the IOC. He had booked a gas cylinder with the HP State Civil Corporation on October 15, 2004, and the same was supplied to him on October 18, 2004.

However, when his family member was attaching the gas cylinder with the gas stove, there was leakage of gas at a great speed followed by blast in his house.

As a result of it, the family members of the complainant suffered burn injuries and the building was also damaged.

While dismissing the appeals filed by the IOC and State Civil Supplies Corporation, the commission allowed the appeal of the United India Insurance Company and exonerated it from its liability.

However, the consumer forum held the insurance company also liable jointly and severally with both of them.

The commission at the same time held the IOC and the State Civil Supplies Corporation jointly and severally liable to pay the above said amount.

Hamirpur, June 29
The Bhoranj Block Congress Committee today staged a demonstration at the SDM office, Bhoranj, to protest against the supply of water from the Bamsan-Lagwalti drinking water scheme to some parts of Dharampur in Mandi district.

The Congressmen assembled at the SDM office and staged a dharna for about two hours before raising slogans against Chief Minister PK Dhumal and Education Minister ID Dhiman.

It alleged that the government was supplying drinking water to the Dharampur areas for political consideration.

They accused that the present government had always tried to play politics with one of the biggest drinking water scheme started by the previous government at the cost of Rs 75 crore and did not formally inaugurated the scheme to deny credit to Congress government, though water from this scheme is being supplied since long.

The committee also criticised Dhumal and Dhiman for allegedly not protecting the interests of the electorates of the Bamsan and Mewa Assembly constituencies by allowing diversion of water from this scheme to the Dharampur area.

The committee also threatened to intensify their agitation if water from the Bamsan- Lagwalti scheme was not fully distributed to the areas falling under the Bamsan and Mewa areas and suggested that the government should start work on Kandapatan drinking water scheme immediately to fulfil drinking water needs of Dharampur area.