Shimla, September 5
Chief Minister PK Dhumal has urged the Centre to release Rs 608.13 crore for the state under the drought relief to enable the government provide relief
to farmers.

This demand was raised by Dhumal before the Central team headed by EK Majhi, Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperation, visiting Himachal to assess the loss to crops. The team, after visiting districts of Una, Kangra, Hamirpur, Bilaspur, Shimla and Solan, called on the Chief Minister here today.

Dhumal said most of agriculture and horticulture crops had been damaged and loss to agriculture crops had been estimated at Rs 101 crore, horticulture crops, Rs 19.95 crore and animal husbandry, Rs 43.29 crore.

Damage to drinking water supply, irrigation and hand pumps had been estimated at Rs 376.07 crore.

He said the state was passing through severe drought conditions and all efforts being made by the government to compensate people had proved inadequate. “Under such circumstances, the state is left with no option but to pin its hope on liberal calamity relief fund from the Centre which can help in giving relief to the farmers,” he said.

Dhumal said the average annual ground-water recharge, as estimated by the Central Ground Water Board in respect of the state, was 356.58 cubic metres and so far, only about 11,403 million cubic metres ground water had been utilised.

Drinking water supply schemes had also been affected adversely and many hand pumps had gone dry, he added.

Earlier, the team had a meeting with senior officers which was presided over by Chief Secretary Asha Swaroop.

Majhi, who is leading the Central team, said due to inadequate rainfall, Himachal Pradesh had suffered more than 50 per cent loss to kharif and rabi crops.

“In some parts of the state, the losses were even more than 80 per cent. Maize and paddy crops had suffered huge damage while in horticulture sector, crops of apple and cherry suffered damage,” he said.

He asked the state government to compile a detailed report of losses and send it to the Centre.

Shimla, September 5
Despite three months since the public hearing on the controversial Himalayan Ski Village (HSV) project was held, a final decision on the fate of the biggest foreign direct-investment project has been delayed despite the court directives that a final decision be taken at the earliest.

It was on June 6 that the Department of Tourism had held a public hearing at Kothi in Manali to ascertain views of locals and other voluntary organisations on the issue. A meeting was later held by the Tourism Department with all other departments to elicit their opinion on the project. However, a final decision is still awaited.

The Tourism Department had asked all departments, including Forest, PWD, IPH, Revenue, Town and Country Planning and Environment, to give in their opinion within 15 days at a meeting held in mid July. It is reliably learnt that while some of the departments had given their reports, comments from others were still awaited.

With about a dozen panchayats, senior BJP leaders, NGOs, hoteliers’ association and other organisations of Kullu-Manali registering their opposition to the coming up of the HSV, it appeared that the project would not be approved but the governemnt has now delayed a decision on the matter.

According to proceedings of the public hearing, Naggar, Jana, Karja, Gofra, Jagat Sukh, Burva, Shamug, Palchang and Malana have opposed the project.

Even the Kullu and Manali Hoteliers’ Association had expressed resentment on the proposed project.

Interestingly, names of two senior BJP leaders --- Maheshwar Singh, former MP, and Chandersen Thakur, former MLA, ---figured prominently in the list of individuals who opposed the project at the public hearing.

The local community has been opposing the project which is to come up in the Kothi-Palchang area of Kullu-Manali. The locals are opposing the project on the plea that their rights, including grazing, forest as well as water sources, would be adversely affected.

The HSV project has been facing rough weather ever since the BJP assumed power in the state. The BJP, while in opposition, had opposed the project by stating that it did not approve of it in its present form. HSV promoters were also asked to seek clearance from the Ministry of Defence in view of the fact that the Manali-Leh road was a strategic link for the armed forces. 

Shimla, September 5
Governor Prabha Rau today gave a clarion call to the teaching fraternity to empower women with education so that they could further educate the society.

Rau conferred state awards-2009 upon eight government teachers who had contributed significantly in the field of education to mark the state-level Teacher’s Day orgnaised at Raj Bhawan. Chief Minister PK Dhumal was the chief guest on the occasion.

“Teachers need to be sensitive towards every section of society which would make education and learning process more effective and valuable,” she said.

She stressed the need for inclusion of environment education in the school curriculum.

“Teaching fraternity should come forward to inculcate moral values and patriotism to ensure overall personality development of young citizens so that they could contribute significantly towards nation building activities,” she opined.

Dhumal underlined the need for introspection by the teaching community.

The Chief Minister said during his earlier term, “Sarswati Bal Vidya Sankalp Yojna” had been implemented in the state and 17,672 rooms were constructed at a cost of Rs 126 crore, ensuring a minimum of three-room accommodation in every educational institution.

Those who were awarded included Susheel Pundir, Bilaspur, Ashwani Kumar, Una, Amar Lata Thakur, Bilaspur, Man Singh Rana, Samirpur, Bir Singh, Irra, Geeta Ram, Bandla, Surjeet Singh, Jhandwin, Hamirpur and Hemlata, Rampur Bushehr, Shimla.

They were presented with traditional shawl, Himachali cap, citation, meritorious certificate, memento and a cash award of Rs 25,000 each.

Hira Singh Negi, Kanam, district Kinnaur, Bansi Ram Sumar, Sarkaghat, Mandi, Ravinder Nath Pathak, Dehlan, Una, and Ramesh Sharma, Nanaon, Kangra, 2007 national awardees, were also honoured with a memento and a cash award of Rs 50,000 each.

Hamirpur, September 5
Teachers and staff of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalya (JNV) at Dhungari in Hamirpur district today observed a day-long hunger strike to protest against non-acceptance of their long-pending demand of introducing GPF-cum-pension scheme in the JNVs.

Members of the JNV staff went without food and sat on a dharna on the school campus. The call for this action on the Teachers Day today was given by the joint action committee (JAC) of employees associations of Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti.

This action was planned by the All-India JNV Principals forum, the All-India JNV Staff Association, the JNV Samiti Employees’ Welfare Association and the JNV Catering Assistants’ Association, on August 9 at a meeting in New Delhi.

“We have adopted the Gandhian way of observing the hunger work day today to draw the attention of authorities towards one-point demand of introduction of GPF-cum-pension scheme to all those employees who had joined prior to January 1, 2004,” they added.

Pleading their case, JAC members said, “After the formation of JNVs in 1985, the HRD Ministry had written thrice to then director of Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti to introduce provision of the Central Civil Services Rule, 1972, but no action was taken.”

Shimla, September 5
Notwithstanding the fact that Himachal is amongst the top ranked states having high literacy rate, lack of basic facilities and infrastructure, especially in remote and interior areas, has affected quality of education in government schools.

No doubt that the network of primary, middle and senior secondary schools in the state is above 15,000, vacancies of teachers have compounded problems of the government. There have been several incidents where irate villagers had locked up schools as vacancies hampered normal functioning of the school.

The fact that enrolment in government schools has come down by 20,000 annually, is definitely a cause of concern. Though the government has launched a major recruitment drive for filling up vacancies of teachers, their reluctance to serve in tribal and difficult areas is a major hindrance.

Teachers, who were honoured here today for their services, felt that there was a need for greater dedication and sincerity on their part. “Besides being punctual, sincere and disciplined, we have to conduct ourselves in a manner that not just students, but society looks up to us,” said Sushil Pundir, principal, Senior Secondary School, Soldhar, Bilaspur, who was honoured today.

Incidents of teachers hiring “proxy” teachers to teach in their absence have hurt the teaching community. “Such people should be punished severely. However, the government too must engage regular teachers and not on contract as this affects quality of education,” said Pundir.

With almost 150 government schools in the state having less than 10 children, questions are being raised on expansion of education network rather than improving the quality and standard of the existing ones.

The government is considering merging these schools not just to save resources, but also to provide competitive spirit to students. “To be able to compete with the so-called convent schools, we must have more schools of excellence in the government sector,” said Hemalata Jodhta, posted in Government Primary School, Rampur.

Dharamsala, September 5
Fear of swine flue has virtually sealed Indian borders for foreign tourists; so it seems. This is especially true in the case of Dharamsala, a virtual Mecca for low-budget foreign tourists. But a visit to this popular and cheap hill resort reveals that foreign tourists have virtually vanished, thanks to the scare created by H1N1.

In any given season you could see hordes of foreign tourists thronging Dharamsala. But these days a foreigner has almost become a rare sight. Not only this, Dharamkot, which is only 2 km from McLeodganj and has been a favourite foreigners’ haunt, is just deserted. There are a number of guest houses lining this 2 km route which also sees as much rain as Cherrapunji in Assam. Two days ago I visited the place and it was raining steadily- with temperature hovering between 15 degrees and 18 degrees Celsius. One of the favourite spots of foreign tourists has been Radhekrishna Guest House. The day I visited this favourite haunt of tourists-September 3- it was virtually empty, with a Russian playing chess with an Indian tourist. Guest house keeper Raju told me that foreign tourists had taken a flight due to the fear of swine flu. Other guest houses too drew a blank as far as foreign tourists were concerned.

I journeyed back, 2 km down Dharamsala- to Bhagsu. There too I drew a blank as far as foreign tourists were concerned. It was no use looking for them. They had taken wings to other destinations. The fear of swine flu was preventing them from descending on Dharamsala. Otherwise, locals told me that both Dharamkot and Bhagsu overflowed with foreign tourists.

Back in Dharamsala, I visited a private hotel which had zero occupancy the same day.

At night the same day, I ran into industry minister Kishan Kapoor, who, however, saw a silver lining in dark tourism clouds. He said loss of foreign tourists was offset by the inflow of domestic tourists, who were flocking to various tourist spots around Dharamsala. That was true also as I had earlier seen a group of Punjabis dancing in the rain at a spot between Dharamsala and Dharamkot. According to sources, people from Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur, which share borders with Dharamsala, are making a beeline for this hilly region. Therefore, in the words of the minister, there was no cause for concern on the tourist front. Besides, he said loss on the financial front may result gain on the health front- after all, Indians ran the risk of contacting the deadly virus from the foreigners.

So, Dharamsala can breath freely for some time from the onslaught of foreign tourists.

Bharmour, September 5
As many as 30 persons suffering from diarrhoea in Bharmour tribal township and its suburbs have been admitted to the government hospital here during the past couple of days, according to officials of the health department.

One patient, in a critical state of condition, had to be referred to the regional hospital in Chamba. However, he was stated to be out of danger.

The main cause of diarrhoea was being attributed to the contamination of the source of water supply at Bharmani. According to reports, at Manimahesh pilgrimage, pilgrims used the open space around the source of water supply scheme at Bharmani to defecate; this water is supplied to the Bharmour tribal township.

The entire human excreta with the rainwater during the past two days went into the water sources at Bharmani on the uphill side of the township.

Due to the consumption of contaminated water, many people reported with the problems of dysentery and vomiting to the hospital.

Dr VK Pathak, CMO, Chamba, said experts, headed by Dr YD Sharma, from the regional hospital in Chamba had been sent to Bharmour to take stock of the situation.

Dharamsala, September 5
Lack of availability of land in and around Dharamsala is hindering development projects. The state government had approved a project for bringing up over 300 houses for urban poor here.

The amount for the purpose had been lying with the municipal council since long. The project was approved by Minister for Industries Kishan Kapoor during his stint as Minister for Urban Development and Transport a few months ago.

According to sources, about 100 kanal land was required for the purpose. However, the administration failed to locate the said amount of land. As a result, houses were now being planned at Yol, about 6 km from here.

A private industrial house had also proposed to set up a call centre here with a capacity to recruit about 1,500 persons. The project would have provided employment to youth in the area as a large number of youth from the district were working at call centres in Delhi and Chandigarh.

The industrial house had, however, sought about 10 hectares land in the vicinity of the area. However, the project has being stalled due to non-availability of land, the sources added.

The government had also proposed to set up an Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) department rest house here. The budget for the purpose had already been sanctioned.

However, the department was unable to locate an ideal land for the purpose. Initially, the administration had selected a piece of land in Khaniara village. However, the site was rejected by IPH Minister Ravinder Ravi.

The state government has also made non-availability of suitable land as a basic reason for shifting the venue of proposed central university from here to Dehra area. Despite the fact that Dharamsala is the headquarters of Kangra district, the satellite township for the area has been planned near Gaggal.

The Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association has also been looking for suitable land for bringing up a five-star hotel here which is a mandatory condition for hosting international cricket matches. Most of land in and around here is either forest land or tea gardens. Land of both categories, according to prevailing laws, cannot be diverted for other purposes.

Mandi, September 5
The Ministry of Surface Transport (MoST) and the HP PWD, responsible for maintaining the Chandigarh-Mandi-Manali national highway, have yet to wake up to the accident-prone dangerous curves and turns on the 15-km Slaparh-Kangu-Harabagh stretch and 16-km Pandoh-Hanogi-Aut road stretch as the proposed Rs 15 crore “metal beam crash barrier” project is yet to get a nod. The HP PWD is yet to put up proper parapets on the Slaparh-Harabagh stretch.

According to sources in the police and NH 21 authorities, most of the fatal accidents take place between Pandoh-Hanogi and Hanogi-Aut road stretches and between the Harabagh-Kangu and Slaparh-Kangu road stretches on the NH 21.

The recent bus accident that killed 23 persons and injured eight others took place at the U-turn at Kangu which had no parapets along the highway. The bus driver plunged the bus straight into the 70 mt deep gorge.

Similarly, more than a dozen accidents took place between Pandoh and Aut in the recent past. The Hanogi-Pandoh stretch and Hanogi-Aut stretch are prone to accidents as strong wind currents are triggered by the narrow Beas gorge that separates two steep parallel mountains, they added.

NH authorities have proposed to raise metal beam barriers along the highway between Pandoh and Aut, forewarning commuters and protecting fatalities on the highway. But the MoST has yet to give its nod.

BS Barbal, executive engineer, NH 21, said the department had principally accepted the project, but funds were awaited.

“We are putting up parapets along the highway at Kangu where the recent accident took place,” he said.

HP PWD chief engineer (NH) KK Kampani said he had sought a proposal for erecting parapets and signboards so that they could allot funds from the state and MoST for the purpose. 

Bilaspur, September 5
Deputy Commissioner Nandita Gupta inaugurated the new office of the Bilaspur sadar tehsil at the complex of the Deputy Commissioner’s Office here yesterday.

She said earlier this office was located at the main market which was a good distance from the main district offices, including the District Collectorate’s, and this had been creating problems for the litigants and public.

However, with the opening up of the new office the problem had been solved. This would provide all revenue facilities to the people, she added.

Earlier Sant Ram Vaid, Director, HP State Cooperative Bank, inaugurated an ATM facility of the bank at Ghumarwin.

He said presently 182 branches of the bank were online and by serving the people in meeting their financial demands it was playing an important role in the faster progress of the state.

Kangra, September 5
The State Information Commission has pulled up an Assistant Engineer of the Electric Subdivision I, HPSEB, for his refusal to entertain an RTI application dated July 6, 2009.

In his complaint to the information commission, social activist AB Raajbansh stated that his application to the SDO, HPSEB, Kangra, wasn’t entertained in which he had sought the details of the defaulters and the amount of default.

In a letter to the SDO concerned, the commission has sought clarification from him within 10 days before taking any further action on the complaint against him.

The letter said as per Section 6 (3) of the RTI Act, 2005, the SDO was required to transfer the application to the public authority concerned within five days of its receipt at his office. After keeping the letter for five days, the SDO returned it to the applicant.

The Assistant Registrar of the commission in his letter further said, “The State Information Commissioner has directed to convey you his displeasure on your careless and irresponsible attitude in dealing with the RTI matter.”