Shimla, July 16
Decks have been cleared for setting up of the 500-MW pithead power plant in West Bengal with the Centre finally allotting a coal mine in Rani Ganj to the Himachal EMTA Power Corporation, a joint venture of the state-owned Himachal Power Corporation and the Eastern Mineral and Trading Agency (EMTA).

The mine, with estimated coal reserves of 131.7 million tonnes, will suffice for 30 years. The project had been hanging fire for the past over three years as the government took a long time to form the joint sector company on revised terms and conditions.

A fresh memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Himachal Power Corporation and EMTA was singed three months ago.

The two partners in the joint venture will have a share of 65.85 million tonnes each in the coal reserves and the rest will be with the JSW Steel Limited which will develop the mine and supply coal for the plant on a predetermined rate.

The state power corporation and EMTA will be entitled to 250 MW of power each. The joint venture company will assign the power project to a third company on the basis of the tariff-based bidding to ensure transparency in the entire operation.

The successful bidder, who quotes the lowest tariff, will bear the entire cost of setting up the power station and the company will only provide coal from the mine allotted by the Centre. The power generated will be shared by the two partners equally.

The Himachal EMTA Power Corporation and JSW Steel Limited will form another joint venture for mining of coal. The new company will invite bids for mining to ensure transparency in the process and ensure that coal was available at competitive rates.

The thermal plant will help bridge the shortfall in availability of power during winter when generation from hydroelectric projects declined steeply due to reduction in discharge in the snow-fed rivers.

Bilaspur, July 16
Dinesh Kaundal (31), son of Rikhi Ram Kaundal, MLA from Gehadwin reserve constituency and former Cooperative Minister, committed suicide today by hanging with a fan at his native village Gharaan near Talai, about 70 km from here.

Reports here said Dinesh, employed as a bank manager in the Jogendera Cooperative Bank branch at Darla Ghat in Solan district near here, was under depression and was undergoing treatment for the same. He was on leave these days.

Rikhi Ram Kaundal, proposed to be given the assignment of Deputy Speaker of HP Vidhan Sabha in place of Khimi Ram, a post which he had held earlier also during the tenure of Chief Minister Shanta Kumar, was at home when the accident occurred. All attempts to save Dinesh failed. A team of doctors conducted the post-mortem of the body at Shah Talai. Dinesh will be cremated tomorrow at the village cremation ghat.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister PK Dhumal, accompanied by party organising secretary Mahender Pandey and Health Minister Rajiv Bindal, rushed in his helicopter from Sirmaur district, where he was on tour, to Gharan village to console Kaundal. Others who arrived at the village included Forest Minister JP Nadda, Revenue Minister Gulab Singh Thakur, party state president Khimi Ram and Minister for Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Jai Ram Thakur. A large number of BJP leaders and party activists also thronged the village to console the shocked family.

It was only two days back that the wife of the deceased gave birth to a boy and celebrations were on full swing till the fatal incident.

Kaundal’s elder son Raj Kumar Kaundal is the president of the local gram panchayat and a prominent BJP leader of the area.

Shimla, July 16
Perturbed over his non-inclusion in the Cabinet, Solan MLA Harinarain Saini was in no mood to reconcile as he fired a fresh salvo by staying away from the district grievances committee meeting on the pretext that it was being chaired by a 
“junior” minister.

Having openly staked claim for a ministerial berth on grounds of seniority, integrity and performance, Saini was not only expressing his displeasure, but was also targeting ministers.

Despite being the district BJP chief, Saini chose to give a skip to the meeting, which was chaired by Horticulture Minister Narender Bragta, at Solan yesterday.

Saini, who was conspicuous by his absence, later said he had not attended the meeting as a junior minister chaired it. He is learnt to have said that it was against his dignity and self-respect to attend a meeting chaired by a junior minister.

It remains to be seen how seriously Chief Minister PK Dhumal and state party chief Khimi Ram would take note of Saini’s utterances. What is surprising is the fact that Saini has continued with his utterances even after the Chief Minister and state party chief noted his remarks.

The fact that Saini is raising questions on the performance of ministers in public has caused resentment among ministers. Despite the new state party chief clearly stating that all party related matters must be raised at the party forum and not in media, it has not deterred Saini from continuing his tirade.

Some of the ministers have even expressed resentment and conveyed their displeasure at Saini’s behaviour to the party high command.

Even as there is speculation about induction of some more Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPSs) and Parliamentary Secretaries (PSs) to appease MLAs, Saini is eyeing a ministerial berth in the hope that Dhumal would finally undertake a reshuffle.

He has, time and again, said the issue of performance, in terms of getting an impressive lead during the Lok Sabha elections, should be the criteria for induction in the Cabinet. 

Shimla, July 16
In a minor administrative reshuffle, the government today appointed IPS officer Somesh Goyal, IG, (headquarters), as managing director of the Himachal Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (HRTC).

Even though IPS officers have been given postings outside the police domain, it is perhaps for the first time that an IPS officer has been given the post of MD, HRTC. Another IPS officer AN Sharma has been appointed as Commissioner of the local municipal corporation.

TC Janartha, MD, HRTC, has been posted as Divisional Commissioner, Kangra, in place of Subhash Ahluwali who has been posted as MD, Himachal Pradesh SC, ST Development Corporation and Mahila Vikas Nigam, Solan.

Maneesh Garg, director, Social Justice and Empowerment, will hold additional charge of MD, HP State Minorities Finance and Development Corporation.

RS Negi, MD, SC and ST Development Corporation, Solan, has been posted as Special Secretary, Education.

Rajneesh, on return from study leave, has been posted as director, Urban Development and Town and Country Planning, and CEO-cum-secretary, HIMUDA, in place of Subhashish Panda who has been posted as director, IT.

He has also been given additional charge of MD, HP Electronics Development Corporation and MD, Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation.

Shimla, July 16
Although the Bilaspur police promptly registered an FIR in connection with the alleged incident of ragging against three students of a local government college, preliminary inquiries made in the case indicate that it may not be a case of ragging.

The FIR was lodged on the complaint of Surya Chandel, a student of the postgraduate section, with the principal who forwarded it to the police in accordance with the directions of the Supreme Court.

The police contacted the complainant and inquired about the incident. The victim, along with his parents, submitted an affidavit to the station house officer (SHO), stating that he was not ragged and his complaint was about misbehaviour by three students. The three made fun of Chandel, who stammers, as a fourth student, whose name was not mentioned in the FIR, questioned him.

SP Kuldeep Sharma said prima facie it did not appear to be a case of ragging and the student had already submitted an affidavit in this regard.

However, the police would conduct a thorough investigation into the case before coming to any conclusion, he added.

Shimla, July 16
Hit hard by the entry of Chinese apple juice concentrate in the domestic market, state-owned HPMC has urged the government to take up the matter with the Centre for imposing anti-dumping duty on the imported product.

The Chinese juice is being sold at Rs 50 per kg whereas the juice produced by the HPMC is available at Rs 80 per kg. In fact, the cost of production was as high as Rs 70 per kg even though the government, which procured the fruit at Rs 5.25 per kg from growers, supplied it for only Re 1 per kg to the corporation.

Last season, over 650 tonnes of juice concentrate was produced out which over 400 tonnes is lying unsold in the stores.

Under the WTO trade regime, anti-dumping duty up to 85 per cent could be imposed to protect their economic interests after designating the juice concentrate as a special product.

Once the duty is imposed, the corporation, which has accumulated a loss of Rs 45 crore, will be in a position to compete with the Chinese product.

With the apple harvesting season round the corner, processing of fruit will commence in the first week of August and if the existing stocks are not disposed of, the unsold stock will cross 1,000 tonnes. One of the main reasons for high cost of production is low capacity utilisation of processing plants. The corporation has not been able to utilise its full processing capacity of 22,700 tonnes for even once over the past three decades. The installed capacity of its biggest processing plant at Parwanoo is 19,400 tonnes but average capacity utilisation over the past five years has been as low as 27.84 per cent.

Further, the plant has been set up far away from the growing area as a result of which huge quantities of fruit are spoiled during transportation ever year. The year 2008-09 has been the worst as far as spoilage of apple was concerned. Over 5,600 tonnes of fruit worth about Rs 3 crore was damaged. Most of it rotted by the roadside as the corporation could not transport it to the plant.

The corporation now proposes to set up a new plant in the heart of apple belt at Pragatinagar which will help bring down the cost of production to around Rs 40 per kg by cutting down transportation cost and improving recovery of juice.

Kangra, July 16
Resentment and anguish prevailed among members of the Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University Teachers’ Association (HPAUTA) following the delay in implementation of the revised ICAR/UGC pay scales (Sixth Pay Commission) by the state government.

In a statement issued here yesterday, Dr Surinder Bhan, secretary, HPAUTA, said neighbouring states like Haryana, Punjab and J&K had already implemented the revised scales for teachers and scientists working in universities and colleges governed under the ICAR and UGC, whereas, Himachal Pradesh was the only state where this revised pay package was yet to be implemented.

He said HPAUTA members were highly disappointed in view of the failure of the state government in implementing the revised pay scales despite the fact that the government had already received clear-cut directives from the MHRD/ICAR/ UGC in this regard.

He said the HPAUTA would call on the Chief Minister and if possible, a confederation of all three universities of the state would be formed for this particular cause so that the issue was effectively taken up. 

Kangra, July 16
PTA teachers today held an anti-government demonstration in support of their demands asking the state government to issue notification for non-ouster of the teachers in the local municipal stadium here.

The protesting teachers were addressed by district president Rakesh Bhata and general-secretary Bilvir Singh of the PTA Teachers Union. They alleged that there was a difference between Chief Minister PK Dhumal and Education Minister ID Dhiman in their statements regarding the PTA teacher issue.

They said, “While the CM assured that the PTA teachers would not be sacked, the Education Minister was firm in ousting these teachers dubbing them as Congress appointees.”

The PTA teachers alleged that the Education Minister described them as “stopgap arrangement” and was adamant to oust them, which they described was unfortunate. They pleaded that a “stopgap arrangement” was meant for six months, but they had been serving the department since June 2006.