The leader of the opposition Advani enjoyed the rank of a union Cabinet minister. Even if the Congress were in power he would have been declared a state guest.

Shimla, August 25
The Himachal Vidhan Sabha today passed two important Bills to effectively check increasing tendency of people to encroach on government land and ensure disposal of such cases within a fixed timeframe.

The Land Revenue (Amendment) Bill and the Public Premises and Land (eviction and rent recovery) Amendment Bill sought to provide more stringent provisions as per the directions of the state high court that encroachment cases should be dealt with strictly and in a time-bound manner.

Revenue minister Gulab Singh said that to reduce pendency cases with the assistant collector, first grade, the amendment proposed to empower assistant collector, second grade, to conduct proceedings in partition cases, except in those involving question of title.

At present 11,846 cases were pending, out which 6587 were more than six months old and 2679 more than a year old.

Another amendment to the state land revenue act provides for a period of six months for disposal of encroachment cases, which could be extended by three months but the officer concerned would have to record reasons for delay in writing.

Any appeal relating to encroachment on forest land will be disposed of within three months. The quantum of fine is proposed to be increased from the existing Rs 2,000 to Rs 20,000 or the prevalent market value of the land, whichever is higher.

The amendments to the state public premises (eviction and rent recovery) act also proposed a time limit of six months, extendable by three months, for deciding the cases of unauthorised occupation.

The collector could impose a fine of up to Rs 10,000 or the market value of the
premises, whichever is higher. The time limit for deciding appeals was proposed to
be three months.

In case any person, who has been evicted under the act, again occupies the premises without authority, will be punished with imprisonment up to one year or a fine up to Rs 20,000 or twice the market value of the premises, whichever is higher.

The House also passed the Shimla Road Users And Pedestrians (public safety and convenience) amendment Bill seeking to decentralise and simplify the procedure for grant of permits for plying vehicles on sealed and restricted roads.

The processing fee for private passes has been reduced from Rs 500 to Rs 100 and pass fee from Rs 2,000 to Rs 1,000.

Shimla, August 25
The government has prepared Rs 4,500 crore transmission master plan for evacuation of power from hydroelectric projects being set up in various river basins in the state to avoid multiplicity of high-tension lines.

Stating this during the Question Hour in the Vidhan Sabha, Chief Minister PK Dhumal informed Tejwant Singh that a transmission line was being constructed from Wangtu in Kinnaur to Abdullapur in Haryana by the Jaypee Industries in collaboration with the Power Grid Corporation of India.

He said the joint venture company had been granted license by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission in July 2007 and all clearances had been granted for execution of the project. As such not much could be done to stall the project or effect changes in it.

Replying to another question, he said the present government had allotted 311 mini hydel projects with aggregate generation capacity of 608-MW in all, out of which 273 projects had been assigned to Himachalis and 19 projects to the state agency Himurja. The remaining 19 projects had been allotted to non-Himachalis.

The House also had a short discussion on “exploring the possibility of generation power using pine-needles as fuel”, raised by Balbir Singh.

Replying to the discussion, Forest Minister JP Nadda said the government had given permission to seven parties for setting up pine-needle-based units but only one unit came up near Nagrota Bagwan. However, even this unit died, as it could not find the venture economical.

The government was keen to see the highly inflammable pine needles, which fuelled forest fires, put to some economical use but the efforts had not succeeded so far.

He said the local panchayats had been allowed to collect the needles and to make whatever use of those they could. Permission had been granted to export the needles out of the state.

Earlier, Balbir Singh urged the government to explore the possibility of generating power using pine-needle-fuelled boiler.

The JCT Mills in Hoshiarpur was already producing 6-MW of power using pine needles procured from the state and it generated 20 lakh units of electricity. It found pine needles better than rice husk as it had a much higher calorific value.

The state leadership, it appears, has tried to send the message across that indiscipline would be dealt with sternly as had been done by the high command by expelling senior leader Jaswant Singh.

Shimla, August 25
The state electricity regulatory commission has expressed grave concern over the rising debt of the state power board which has reached unsustainable levels.

Apart from indifferent management of the board, it has also held the state government responsible for the messy situation.

“Financial management within the board structure is one of the constraint areas in its functioning. The Debt Service Coverage Ratios are at puny 0.38-0.39 levels against a minimum requirement of 1.33 and as such its ability to service debt will not improve till government cleans up the balance sheet by focusing resources obtained by it from free power sales” it has observed in the latest tariff order.

Huge surpluses are available from sale of free power but the “fungibility” factor has made government a party to the decline of the board.

The generation and transmission functions have been heavily diluted by setting up SPVs (special purpose vehicles) but the duplication of activity with concomitant resource distortion continues, it points out.

The commission has also taken notice of the slow pace of implementation of power projects by the IPPs (Independent Power Producers) and identified the lack of evacuation system has become a major de-accelerator in the whole process.

The board itself has been extremely slow to react to the needs of the new transmission network, whereas the funding is with the Transmission Utility (Transco) which has not been provided with the necessary staff although more than one year has elapsed since its advent.

Similarly, the functioning of the directorate of design needs to be rationalised in view of the downturn in the transmission activity of the board.

Delays on all sides, including clearances, have led to losses to the government, to the board and to the integrated power system of the country, in addition to the loss to individual entrepreneurs.

It is essential that the government and the power department set up an effective mechanism to monitor the individual power projects so that the interests of the various stake-holders are protected.

Dharamsala, August 25
Dispute between the Army authorities and shopkeepers of Yol has reached Union Minister of Defence AK Antony.

According to sources, on petition of the shopkeepers endorsed by the state politicians, the Defence Minister has written to the Chief of Army Staff to look into plausible solution for the problem.

The communication reached the Rising Star Corps authorities here who have stuck to their stand. They maintained that the encroachments on the defence land had to be removed due to security reasons.

The impasse between the Army authorities and certain residents of the Yol area started last year when the Army started raising walls to mark its boundaries.

In this process, many shopkeepers were found to have encroached upon the government land. The Army authorities started the process of evacuating the encroachers from their properties.

However, the shopkeepers had their own logic. They maintained that they had been running shops in the area since long.

Most of their lands had come in the Army area and they were dependent on cantonment for their livelihood.

The shopkeepers alleged that the Army authorities had barred their personnel from buying goods from their shops.

The move is directed at pressurising them to vacate their shops, the shopkeepers alleged. The fact is, however, being denied by the Army authorities.

The residents of Yol have also been at loggerheads with the Army authorities over the alleged blockage of passages to their villages due to walls raised by the Army.

They had also organised protests against this. However, the Army authorities assured them a few passages in the cantonment areas.

Certain villages that also demanded ouster from the Yol cantonment board area were alleging that despite the fact they were carrying agriculture, they were deprived of all schemes floated by state and central government for farmers as on papers they were a part of urban area of the Yol cantonment board.

Now, as the matter of dispute between the locals and the Army authorities of Yol has reached the Union Ministry of Defence what remains to be seen is whether any solution could be found.

Solan, August 25
The Darlaghat police today arrested as many as 47 villagers on charges of blocking traffic and rioting at Galu village on the Karara-Kashlog mining area of the Ambuja Cements Limited.

According to Additional SP Mahinder Thakur, the villagers were arrested as they were obstructing the way and a case under Sections 341, 147, 148, and 149 of the IPC has been registered against them.

They were produced in a local court by the police this evening. Company sources said the issue pertained to distribution of award for land acquired way back in 2002.

Though the villagers then had been paid a compensation at the rate of Rs 27,000 and Rs 77,000 per bigha for uncultivated and cultivated land, respectively, they had, time and again, been demanding an enhancement in these rates.

The rate was enhanced by Rs 15,000 after the villagers stopped the ongoing work at the plant and later another agitation led this award to be enhanced to Rs 38,000.

The villagers were again dissatisfied with the total award and demanded another enhancement. They local administration, led by the SDM, was, however, trying to resolve the issue.

Though local MLA Govind Sharma and the SDM had held discussions with the people yesterday, nothing worthwhile could be worked out. The irate villagers then initiated a hunger strike and blocked the road at Giyana village.

SDM Balbir Thakur said though there were attempts to block the road near Galu village by the villagers, they managed to lift the blockade within an hour.

He said they would hold another round of talks with them on August 29 and were hopeful of resolving the issue.

Two reserves had been stationed in the area ever since the dispute arose a few days back, said Thakur, adding the situation was under control.

Mandi, August 25
Results of the recent Students’ Council Association (SCA) elections in state colleges are trickling down among party workers of BJP-supported ABVP, Congress-supported NSUI and CPM-supported SFI, indicating an “anti-power political trend” among students in the state as youth represents over 60 per cent of state’s voters.

So much so, college campuses have become hot beds of politics in the state. The SCA polls are significant considering that more than 60 per cent of the electorate is represented by the youth brigade in the state, prefiguring an anti-government poll trend in key power centres, admitted NSUI and ABVP leaders.

It had kept the Congress and the BJP on tenterhooks as each claimed a gain in the polls. The SCA polls matter more particularly in “key power centres” where ministers hold sway and make it a point to turn the tide in their favour, student leaders said.

“It is the ABVP, the NSUI and the SFI, which partly or wholly supply future leaders for their parent parties,” they reasoned.

Even Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and Union Steel Minister and Mandi MP Virbhadra Singh take special interest in watching the SCA results.

“They congratulate the respective wings for their performance and pull up them for their non-performance,” revealed ABVP and NSUI activists.

However, Dhumal and Virbhadra Singh showed a cold response to the SCA polls this time as the ABVP got a jolt in Hamirpur, while the NSUI is still struggling at the Postgraduate College, Mandi, for recounting of votes.

Even the HPU polls had given a jolt to both leaders as the CPM-supported SFI still hold fort there.

Ironically, the Congress-supported NSUI swept the Ladbharol College and Jogindernagar Government College segment, which has got maximum representation in the Dhumal government. PWD Minister Gulab Singh Thakur and three chairmen--- Ram Swarup Sharma, Ganga Ram Jamval and Kashmir Singh Rajput---represent Jogindernagar, but the voters rejected ABVP this time, raising doubts about their functioning, said party workers.

Not only this, BJP-supported ABVP received drubbing from Congress-supported NSUI at Degree College, Hamirpur, a pocket borough of Chief Minister PK Dhumal.

The ABVP claims that it has won in majority of colleges in the state. However, the NSUI claims that the ABVP’s popularity is on the decline as they have bagged the “key powerful seats” in Mandi, Hamirpur and Solan districts.

Under the second phase of this campaign four touch screen e-kiosks would be set up in all SDM offices and later tehsil and BDO offices would also be covered.

Kangra, August 25
Death toll in the HRTC bus accident, which took place at Boh village last evening, has gone up to two with one person succumbing to his injuries at DRPMGC, Tanda, and another at CHC, Shahpur.

Nineteen injured passengers, few of them serious, were still under treatment at Tanda. Dr Bhano Awasthi, medical superintendent, DRPGMC, Tanda, said Sansar Chand (42), a resident of Boh village, who was brought to the hospital in a precarious condition, succumbed to his injuries in the hospital.

Earlier, Jodha Ram (75), a resident of Boh village, succumbed to his injuries at CHC, Shahpur. The bus, on its way from Shahpur to Boh, had rolled down into 150-feet deep gorge near Boh last evening.

In another incident, Jatin Kumar (20), a resident of this town, succumbed to his injuries at DMC, Ludhiana, yesterday.

Jatin, who had met with an accident on the Dharamsala Road last week, was referred to the DMC, Ludhiana, from the Tanda Medical College as the later did not have a neuro surgeon to tackle trauma cases. Jatin’s body was brought here last night and was cremated today.