Shimla, July 4
Himachal has urged the Centre to increase import duty on apple juice concentrate to save the domestic apple industries.

This plea was made by Horticulture Minister Narender Bragta at a meeting with Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma at New Delhi today. He said the Indian markets had been flooded by juice concentrate from China which had adversely affected the sales of Indian juice products.

He pleaded that as a remedial measure import duty on apple concentrate be increased from the present 37.5 per cent to at least 75 per cent so as to protect the economic interest of the apple growers of the state.

Bragta said while the actual cost of apple juice concentrate comes to Rs 75 per kg, China was supplying it at Rs 40 per kg, adversely affecting the Indian companies. He said the move had resulted in shifting of big corporate houses to imported products and the demand of the domestic product had declined sharply in the Indian markets.

He also pleaded for setting up cold chain and other fruit-based industries in Himachal Pradesh so as to increase the scope and production of horticulture activities and ensuring remunerative prices to the fruit growers. “Himachal produces international-standard fruits and vegetables which can be marketed in the five star hotels in the metropolitan cities of the country and abroad,” he added.

He requested the Centre to set up industries based on latest technology for utilising the raw material available in the state.

Bragta also informed that Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had agreed to convene a high-level meeting to address the problems being faced by apple growers of various hill states at Azadpur Subzi Mandi in Delhi.

Bragta who held a meeting with Dikshit at New Delhi today said the representatives of the Delhi government, apple growers and horticulture ministers of the hill states would put forth their views on various long standing issues between the apple growers and the commission agents of Azadpur subzi mandi.

“Issues like providing accommodation to the apple growers and extension of other facilities to them would be discussed at the meeting likely to be held in the last week of July,” he said.

Shimla, July 4
The government will come out with a special action plan to save places of cultural heritage like Bharmour, Sangla and Kamru to not only save them from haphazard growth, but also to promote them as popular tourist destinations.

It has been decided to prepare the action plan of all such places, which have been seats of rich cultural and spiritual traditions, with inputs of experts from institutes like the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA). The plan will be posed for funding to the Central government as well as external agencies.

To begin with, places for which action plan will be formulated include Bharmour in Chamba, Kalpa, Sangla and Kamru in Kinnaur and Manali in Kullu districts. Besides ensuring regulated and planned growth, one of the primary objectives of this initiative is to protect these centres from the onslaught of excessive urbanisation in the form of concrete structures and commercial ventures which stand as eyesores in the natural scenic environs.

The plan for Manali and Bharmour are already in the pipeline and the department of Town and Country Planning (TCP) are working on it.

As far as Manali is concerned, the thrust will be on creating civic and tourism infrastructure like pedestrian paths, by-pass, sewage disposal and solid-waste management. Beautification plan for Hadimba temple, Rohtang and other places of tourist interest will be included in the plan which is likely to be for over Rs 150 crore.

The endeavour of the tourism department is to promote cultural tourism which has immense potential, especially in the tribal belts of Kinnaur, Bharmour and Lahaul Spiti. These areas are dotted with ancient monasteries dating back to several hundred years.

These areas attract large number of foreign tourists who take interest in cultural heritage and local traditions. Some of these places are witnessing unregulated growth, damaging the unique culture and pristine environs.

Shimla, July 4
Visitors to the magnificent heritage complex of Viceregal Lodge, housing the prestigious Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), will be able to relish the best of Indian art and culture with the setting up of an art gallery and a mini-theatre.

The project is part of the plan for restoration and adaptive reuse of the 130-year-old complex. The proposed art centre will come up in the existing fire services building which housed a swimming pool and a squash court during the British era.

Under the plan, the heritage structure will not be altered in any way. The swimming pool will be converted into a theatre and the squash court into an art gallery.

The institute has been organising workshop and seminar on fine arts and the proposed gallery will be developed keeping in view academic interests of scholars. The mini-theatre will have a seating capacity of 75 and will mainly be used for cultural performances for the entertainment of scholars, particularly during various international seminars and workshops in which a sizeable number of foreigners participate.

Garages in the building will be redone to house a coffee shop and a book-cum-souvenir shop will be set up in which handicrafts from the hill state and other parts of the country will be available. Office of the information officer, reception centre and ticket counter will also be housed on the same premises.

Bids have already been invited for the execution of Rs 56-lakh project and authorities hope to make the new complex functional by August 15, 2009.

The number of visitors have increased steadily over the past one year with over 1.10 lakh visitors, including about 20,000 foreign tourists, thronging the complex, thereby bringing a revenue of over Rs 22 lakh by way of entry fee. However, there has been no place where the visitors could relax, have light refreshment or buy handicrafts as souvenirs, points out Peter Ronald d’Souza, director of the institute and the man behind the plan.

A cooperative society is being set up to manage all activities in the new complex. The society will have tie-ups with handicraft societies such as Bhutti Weavers and Him Bunkar for supply of shawls, Himachali caps and jewellery.

Kangra, July 4
Unemployed engineers (diploma holders) have expressed their resentment against the state government for keeping junior engineers (JEs) posts vacant in different state departments whereas nearly 5,000 diploma holders were craving for jobs.

Chief coordinator of the HP Unemployed JEs Association, Kangra district, AB Rajbansh said today that in the PWD Department 125 posts of JE were lying vacant which included 70 civil, 38 mechanical and 17 electrical and in the Agriculture Department 33 posts of JE were lying vacant since 1996 which included seven posts reserved for SC and two for ST and thus the departments were suffering.

He said in the Agriculture Department 43 posts of JE were filled by promoting surveyors and draftsmen whereas no qualified diploma holder was appointed. He alleged that nearly 5,000 diploma holders were craving for jobs and the government was a mute spectator to their agony.

Kangra, July 4
Peeved about more ouster from the education department despite an assurance by Chief Minister PK Dhumal, the PTA Teachers’ Association today threatened to launch a statewide agitation against the alleged unbecoming attitude of the government against the PTA teachers.

Rajesh Bhatta, president, PTA Teachers’ Association, Kangra district, said here today a delegation of the association met the Chief Minister at Oakover in Shimla yesterday and urged his personal intervention in the issue.

Bhatta, who was part of the delegation, said the Chief Minister assured them that there would be no further ouster of the PTA teachers following the promotion of the TGT to lecturer cadre.

Bhatta alleged that despite this assurance, one Hindi PTA lecturer in the Govt. Sr. Sec. School, Daddi, and another Political Science PTA lecturer from Govt. Sr Sec School, Tiara, in this district, were ousted today following the promotion of two TGT teachers to lecturer cadre in these schools.

Bhatta said block-level meetings would be held from tomorrow in this district.

He threatened that if the ousted PTA teachers were not reinstated back and further ouster was not stopped, the association would launch a statewide agitation against the government for their rights. 

Mandi, July 4
The Youth Congress (YC) warned the state government that they would launch a statewide stir if the government did not come out with a “white paper on the issue of 70 per cent jobs for Himachalis” in all industries set up in the state mainly in the industrial corridor of the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh belt.

Talking to mediapersons here today, state YC president Manmohan Katoch claimed that the state government had failed to provide jobs to the unemployed youth of the state under the 70 per cent job quota policy in industries in the state. We demand that the state government should come out with a white paper on this, least they be forced to take to the streets on the issue, he warned.

Shimla, July 4
The Swarn Educational Welfare and Awareness Trust (SEWA) today organised a lecture on the “Public interest” in memory of Jai Chand Chandel and Vikas Panwar, two journalists who died at a very young age.

Noted film lyricist Gulzar was the chief guest at the function.

He honoured families of two journalists on the occasion.

Dhiru Thakur, sub-judge, spoke on the issue of public interest.

The founder trustee of SEWA, Rakesh Kanwar, outlined priorities of the NGO which was working in the filed of education, health, environment social welfare and awareness generation. 

Shimla, July 4
The government today ordered the implementation of the market intervention scheme (MIS) for mango during the current year.

The procurement price has been fixed at Rs 4.58 for seedling and Rs 5.25 per kg for grafted mango varieties. Besides the handling charges, procurement agencies will be allowed Rs 1 per kg as last year.

The procurement operation will commence from July 1 and last till August 15, 2009. The procurement agencies will be the HPMC, HIMFED and the HP Agro Industries Corporation. The procurement quantity would be 300 metric tonnes of seedling variety and 200 metric tonnes of grafted varieties.

It has also been decided that the 2.50 per cent extra fruit will be taken from the farmers in view of evapo transportation and respiration losses.

More centres could be opened in case there is demand from the growers. However, fruit will be procured only from farmers and orchardists possessing horticulture card. Moreover, only ripe or soft ripe fruit of seedling as well as grafted mango varieties would be procured under the scheme.