Shimla, September 16
Belatedly though, the state pollution control board has taken an initiative to ensure cost-effective use of plastic waste for road surfacing to help find a lasting and workable solution to the problem of non-biodegradable waste disposal. It will not only bring down the cost of tarring but also enhance the durability of roads because of higher binding strength of plastic.

The board has started a pilot project on the airport road in the periphery of the city under which plastic waste is being mixed with asphalt to an extent of 15 per cent for tarring road. The board has acquired plastic waste shedder for the purpose and the project is being implemented in collaboration with the Public Works Department under the guidance of experts from the central pollution control board (CPCB). A 1-km stretch of 3.05 m wide rural road requires about 10-tonne bitumen for tarring and as such mixing 15 per cent plastic waste will result in a saving 1.5 tonne.

Explaining the process, senior scientist from the CPCB SK Nigam said, “The aggregate is heated to a temperature of 160°C and shredded plastic waste, 1.5 to 4.5mm in size, is mixed to form a coating.

Thereafter, bitumen is mixed as usual for carrying out tarring. Since bitumen and plastic are both petro products with similar chemical properties the mixture is homogeneous and provides more durable surface.”

R. Vasudevan, Dean, Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Tamil Nadu, which has patented technology, claimed that the plastic mix had been effective in preventing wear and tear due to better binding properties than the conventional technology, thereby extending the life of roads.

Quality parameters like Marshall stability value and better stripping value, reduces porosity to increase the life of roads.

Senior project consultant Madhu Soni said under the pilot scheme three stretches of 300-m each were being tarred with plastic mix without seal coat, plastic mix with seal coat and conventional asphalt for comparative performance in the hill environment.

The long-term plan was to utilise plastic waste for road construction, fuel and other such uses to save the hills from non-biodegradable litter.

The National Rural Road Development Agency has already laid down norms and guidelines for plastic-bitumen mix roads.

Shimla, September 16
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has made a plea for including Hindi for transacting proceeding in the United Nations on the pattern of languages of various other countries.

Presiding over the state-level ‘Rajbhasha’ prize distribution function here last evening, he said Hindi must be accorded its due place at the international level and unless every individual was actively involved in its promotion the language would remain confined to certain regions alone. “Hindi is our national language and it must be given top priority and due recognition at all levels,” he added.

He said the state government was promoting Hindi at all levels and instructions had been issued that all official work must be conducted in the national language. Majority of people were comfortable with communicating in Hindi. Promotion of Hindi was essential to strengthen the national integration.

He honoured officials of the state government who made outstanding contribution in promotion of Hindi. They included Satya Dev Sharma, law officer in the law department; Panna Lal Sharma, Shimla district treasury officer; and Rakesh Sharma, assistant controller in excise and taxation department.

At the Secretariat-level Bhuvneshwar Sharma, Superintendent, general administration department; Susheel Kumar Sharma, senior assistant, health branch; Chander Singh Payal, junior assistant, town and country planning branch; and Basant Lal Chauhan, senior assistant of housing branch were also honoured.

The prize winners at the directorate level included Sapna Thakur, junior assistant, elementary education; Chander Dev Sharma, senior assistant, mountaineering institute, Manali; Surender Kumar Sharma, clerk, IGMC, Shimla; and Rajender Kumar, junior assistant, social justice and empowerment department.

At the public sector undertakings level Panna Lal Sharma, APRO, HIMURJA; Kitab Singh Chauhan, clerk, State Civil Supplies Corporation; Lekh Ram Sharma, clerk, State Khadi and Village Industries Board; and Surjeet Singh Chauhan, junior assistant, State Ex-Servicemen Welfare Corporation, Hamirpur; were awarded at the function organised by the Department of Language, Art and Culture.

Solan, September 16
This bordering district appears to be transforming into a convenient place for ‘couples’ who make merry in several guest houses located on the NH-22 and then slip back into the neighbouring Haryana. This assertion was further strengthened with the Parwanoo police nabbing three couples from one AV Guest House located below the Chakki-Ka-Mor on the NH-22 today.

Ramesh Pathania, SDPO, Parwanoo, said, “We were aware that some nefarious activities had been going on in the guest house for quite sometime so we had been keeping a watch on it”.

According to information, the police raided the guest house and managed to arrest Naresh Kumar, resident of Kalka, along with Nisha (22), a resident of Kamla Nagar, Ambala, Shyam Singh of Gullerwala, near Baddi, along with Meena who resided at Indira Colony in Manimajra, and Raghuvir of Nanakpur in Kalka, along with Kusum Lata of Bairo-Ki-Ser in Kalka.

The interrogation revealed that most of them had been frequenting this guest house with different individuals and of the three women Meena and Kusum Lata were married. While parents of Nisha worked in some industrial unit at Parwanoo. The guest house had not made any entries in its register and a sum of Rs 300 had been charged for each room. The police has booked them under Section 41(2) 109, CrPC. They were later produced in the court of Subdivisional Magistrate, Parwanoo, who granted them bail.

Meanwhile, this was not the first case where such couples had been nabbed under suspicious circumstances by the police, it had become a thriving activity for the scores of guest houses located en route Parwanoo-Shimla. The fact was confirmed by the frequent interception of couples by the police in various guest houses.

Shimla, September 16
The state government will explore the possibility of creating a hydropower fund for funding of small, mini and micro hydropower projects in the state.

Stating this at the first interactive seminar on Small Hydropower Development jointly organised by HIMURJA and the Himalaya Power Producers Association, here today, Chief Minister PK Dhumal said the government was keen to see the hydroelectric potential of the state harnessed at the earliest and it would provide all possible help to the independent power producers (IPP) for the purpose. The government had decided to dispense with the “signing of MoU” and instead consent letters would be issued to allottees to save time. Further, various clearances and no objection certificates from different departments and gram panchayat would be given by the concerned department.

The process for statutory clearances from the pollution control board and the revenue department under Section 118 of the Land Reforms and Tenancy Act would be initiated by the concerned departments on receipt of feasibility approval without waiting for techno-economic clearance. The state-level single window clearances and monitoring committee had been constituted with a view to ensuring early clearance and for effective monitoring of implementation small projects. District-level single window clearance mechanism under the chairmanship of the Deputy Commissioner had also been set up. The state electricity board would grant techno-economic clearance within three months, henceforth. He said the matter would be taken to ensure that machinery for such projects was available within the state. The micro hydropower projects were environment friendly and it was for the first time in the history of the state that hundreds of small, mini and micro hydel projects had been allotted to the local entrepreneurs.

Dhumal urged the IPPs to actively involve themselves in the local development and welfare activities so that they could consider themselves as part and parcel in the power generation. He said in addition to provision of power policy they needed to win the confidence of the local people.

Shimla, September 16
Bio-discoveries in the 21st century will not only strengthen the agrarian economy with the help of transgenic plants and tissue culture techniques but will also revolutionise medical field through stem cell research.

These were the views expressed by Prof PK Khosla, former Vice-Chancellor of the HPU, in his keynote address at a seminar organised by the department of biotechnology on the theme “Emerging Areas in Biotechnology”, here today.

“Bio-discoveries will not only help enhance agricultural production but will also help find a remedy to cancer and ageing while stem cell therapy will help in tackling even the most complicated ailments and replacement of vital body organs,” he said.

He said the tissue culture techniques for mass production of quality and disease free planting stocks would help in making major strides in the field of agriculture. “The application of bio-fertilisers will help improve the fertility of soil as well as enhance the yield,” he said.

Prof Khosla said research in emerging trends would have to be need based and location specific while infra-structural facilities for carrying out bio-technical research must be strengthened.

HPU Vice-Chancellor Prof Sunil Kumar Gupta stressed the need for adopting traditional methods of farming and horticulture in the Himalayan terrain to maintain ecological balance as well as to harness the available medicinal and herbal plants.

Chairman of the department of biotechnology Dr Duni Chand welcomed the 70 delegates who attended the workshop from neighbouring universities and reputed research institutes.

Shimla, September 16
Insurance employees of the Shimla branch today observed a complete strike on the call given by the All-India Insurance Employees Association. They held a protest demonstration in support of their demands and raised slogans against the Life Insurance Corporation’s (LIC) management and the central government.

Pankaj Sood, vice-president of the Shimla division of the Northern Zone Insurance Employees Association, addressed the gathering. “Even in these times of recession, the LIC has registered a profit and as such the demand of increase in wages of employees by 40 per cent is fully justified,” he said. He criticised the central government for adopting a negative attitude and rejecting the demands of the employees.

HAMIRPUR: Officials and employees of the local branches of the LIC on Wednesday observed strike here to demand revision of their pay scales.

They also held a rally before the LIC office to highlight their demands which was addressed by their leaders PC Verma, AC Chauhan, branch secretary Pradeep Minhas and Bikram Chauhan.

They said this issue was pending since quite long but the central government had not bothered to take a decision regarding their demand.

They said while the central government had given an increase to the central government employees but the LIC management had not provided them any relief.

The insurance employees said due to effective participation of employees the LIC had increased its business to 21 per cent and earned good profit this year but still the management was not taken any positive decision about their demands. They have warned the management not to buckle under the pressure of the central government and concede their demands failing which they would be forced to wage a long struggle.

NURPUR: Under the banner of Northern Zone Insurance Employees’ Association, the employees from class I, II and IV categories of LIC’s local office on Wednesday went on a strike in protest against the failure of the management to grant their pay increment.

The striking employees abstained from office work causing inconvenience to customers. According to Sunil Kamboj, employees’ union secretary, the management had not convened any meeting for pay increments of the employees for the past two years.

Shimla, September 16
The Golden Trophy in the 13th International Folk Dance Competition held here today was won by Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan, Nabiad, Gujarat.

Chief Minister PK Dhumal gave away the prizes to the winning teams from India and neighbouring countries who participated in the competition. The teams from BME School, Bangladesh, and Delhi Public School, Sonepat, walked away with the second prize.

The competition in which over 1,000 girls participated had been organised by the Northern India Folk Art Society, Charu Castle Foundation and Department of Language and Culture.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said Himachal had launched several programmes aimed at women empowerment. “To check female foeticide, the government launched “Beti Anmol Hai” campaign to create awareness among the people and to improve the declining sex ratio,” he said.

He said the state had very rich culture and was a land of fairs and festivals. He assured that the government would help in promotion of folk, dance and music activities so that the rich cultural heritage of the state could be preserved.

In the junior category, St Like’s School won the first prize, DAV School, Faridabad, won the second prize while the third prize went to Brahmi Devi Public School, Hapur.

In the senior category, JP Public School, Vidayanagar, Anoopshehar, was adjudged first, RKMV, Shimla, stood second best and Government Degree College, Seema, Rohru, won the third prize.