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Illegal construction major environmental hazard
Survey Report
Virbhadra flays state govt
Kufri villagers seek govt help
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Disinvestment by Centre in SJVN to bring transparency
Dhiman underlines importance of sports in life
Special Olympics from tomorrow
Paragliding Competition
WHO guidelines not displayed
Navodaya staff to protest from today
4 held in driving licence case
‘Ration missing from govt shops’
Gaiety marks NIT Hill Fair
One killed, 2 hurt in mishap
Auditorium for Chamba sought
Meter shortage adds to power board woes
Bali’s call to expose babus, politicians
RSS chief to visit Shimla
NSUI office-bearers elected
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Illegal construction major environmental hazard
Shimla, November 1 Violations of the Town and Country Planning Act and the building laws has been so blatant that Union Minister of State for Forests and Environment Jairam Ramesh, during his recent visit, took notice of it. He could not hold back his anguish over the sight of multi-storeyed concrete monsters on steep slopes and while addressing the Chief Ministers’ conclave, expressed his disappointment over the failure of the states to take harsh measures without which environment could not be protected. The situation has been worse in the hill state as the government has, in recent years, aided and abetted violation of laws by coming out with one retention policy after the other to regularise the 13,000 illegal structures detected officially. The actual number is much more. The policy for providing one-time relief to people became a regular feature and the government ended up bringing as many as seven retention policies from 1999 to 2008, making a mockery of the law. As the illegal retention policies drew flak from the high court, the present BJP government went a step further and amended the law to pave way for regularisation of illegal structures. Not only that, it pre-empted scope for planned development in future by providing exemption from development permission to people in 898 villages in notified planning areas. The high court took notice and pointed out that regularisation of totally unauthorised structures was against the spirit of the Town and Country Planning Act and asked the government to clarify its stand. The government had no option but to file an affidavit that regularisation of such structures would not be permitted. Appreciating the stand while disposing of two separate cases in this regard recently, it observed: “The court hopes and trusts that in future, the state government shall desist from taking any retention policy permitting regularisation of total unauthorised construction and send a clear message to unscrupulous persons, who have been raising unauthorised constructions in the hope that it shall be regularised”. One only hopes that observations of the high court and the “plain speak” by Jairam Ramesh will have the desired effect on the government and it would show political courage to take the required harsh measures to save the hills from the onslaught of unbridled forces of urbanisation.
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Survey Report
Shimla, November 1 The states have been complaining that the report of the FSI on the status of forests, released every two years, does not give a true picture as high altitude areas, where even a blade of grass could not be grown, are included in forest land. The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has now directed the FSI, which is in the process of finalising the 2007 report, to take out the areas beyond the elevation of 4,000 m and take into account only the are where vegetation could come up. Accordingly, the area under green cover in respect of Himachal Pradesh will almost double from 27 per cent to 50 per cent. The state has a geographical area of 55,672 sq km out of which over 37,000 sq km has been classified as forest land. However, thick green cover actually stands only over 14,500 sq km. The state has about 16,000 sq km of area beyond tree-line where no vegetation grow. With the exclusion of the area, the state could achieve the target of bringing 66 per cent of the area under forests, as prescribed in the National Forest Policy, for the hill states. Similalry, in case of Jammu and Kashmir, the forest cover will go up from 12 per cent to 40 per cent, in Sikkim from 50 per cent to 85 per cent and Uttarakhand from 47 per cent to 60 per cent. The report is likely to be released next month.
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Virbhadra flays state govt
Nurpur, November 1 Addressing well-attended election meetings at Chalwara on Saturday and
Bharmar, Harnota and Patta Jatian on Sunday, he alleged that the state government was selling interests of the state by allocating valuable land to outsiders for setting up private universities and expressed doubts about their viability in the long run. Questioning 15 years’ agreement between these private universities and the state government, Virbhadra said outsiders might sell or alter the purpose of the land usage. He also suspected share of BJP leaders in these universities and power projects being given to outsiders. He said the Dhumal government had failed on all fronts and all development works in the Jawali area like Shah Nehar and Sidhatha irrigation projects were sanctioned and undertaken during the Congress regime. Singh lashed out at the Dhumal government for its move to shift the proposed central university from Dharamsala to
Dehra, being represented by Chief Minister’s son Anuragh Thakur. Alleging the BJP for dividing the society on religion and caste basis for gaining electoral benefit, Virbhadra Singh claimed that the Congress had a history of sacrifices and always worked for the poor and downtrodden sections of the society. He said the BJP government, during its previous regime, had befooled poor farmers by issuing kisan pass books and collecting lakhs of rupees from them. In Bharmar’s election meeting, Vikky
Mankotia, the BSP candidate during the last Assembly elections, was admitted in the Congress. His admission was welcomed by party members. The election meetings were also addressed by Kaul Singh, Chander Kumar and Congress candidate Sujan Singh
Pathania.
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Kufri villagers seek govt help
Shimla, November 1 They raised the demand for grant of 25 per cent subsidy at the interactive meet under the “Save Himalaya, Save Humanity” project, held under the chairmanship of chief secretary Asha Swaroop recently. Their plea was that they were shifting from the vocation of giving pony rides which were increasingly being seen as a environmental hazard to home-stay tourism and other income generating activities, so the government must help them out. In his detailed presentation, chairman of the state committee of PHD Chambers and the man behind the initiative Dhian Chand unfolded the road map for restoration of the pristine environment of Kufri which had taken a beating due to haphazard growth of tourism. He said the concerns of the local people who were the main stakeholders must be addressed to promote environment-friendly tourism in the area. An action plan for sustainable development of Kufri, prepared by the department of forests was shared with all the participants by Rajesh Sharma, DFO, Shimla. All senior officers from the government then presented their views on the problem of Kufri panchayat. The matter of problems of ponies and roads was discussed in detail by Principal Secretary, PWD, PC Kapoor, and he assured that his department would make estimates for the proposed roads and allocate budget for the purpose. Additional Chief Secretary Avay Shukla underlined the need for preparing a comprehensive and integrated project for the area by the Department of Town and Country Planning or by the Department of Tourism. Asha Swaroop promised all cooperation from the government under different schemes and also directed the departments concerned to work in coordination to sort out the problems of incomplete projects in this area.
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Disinvestment by Centre in SJVN to bring transparency
Shimla, November 1 The joint venture company of the Centre and the state will have to comply with the regulations of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the induction of independent directors will reduce government interference and ensure that decisions were taken in the interest of the shareholders. The governance will improve as the company will have to function as a corporate entity and not as a government department. Its increased public exposure and accountability to shareholders will help bring efficiency in its functioning. However, the company will need some restructuring to pave way for induction of independent directors without making the board unwieldy. The Centre has 75 per cent equity and the state 25 per cent in the company which has five full-time, six part-time and three independent directors. As per SEBI regulations, the company will have to appoint 50 per cent independent directors before even coming out with a draft red herring prospectus. As such, under the existing set up, eight more independent directors will have to be appointed which will make the board unwieldy. The government proposes to reduce the number of part-time directors from six to two so that the board has a maximum strength of 14, half of which will be independent directors. Accordingly, the number of part-time directors from the Centre is to be reduced from four to one and from state the exiting two to one. The total authorised capital of the company is Rs 7,000 crore and the paid up capital is Rs 4,108.81. The Centre’s share is Rs 3,081.61 crore and as such Rs 308.16 crore will be disinvested. Its income stood at Rs 2,029.24 crore in 2008-09, up from Rs 1,582.21 crore in the previous year. The net profit increased by 33 per cent to Rs 1,015.32 crore in 2008-09. The company owns the country’s largest 1,500 MW Nathpa Jhakri hydroelectric project and has eight projects with aggregate 3,005 MW capacity in hand.
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Dhiman underlines importance of sports in life
Hamirpur, November 1 He said games not only made us strong and healthy but also helped in taking important decisions in life. Talking about legendary hockey player Dhian Chand, he said while playing a match at Auckland, Chand was injured but showing exemplary sportsmanship he played and scored seven goals for the country. Local MLA Urmil Thakur also addressed the gathering on this occasion. Earlier, Hamirpur SP Asif Jalal welcomed the chief guest and introduced the players.
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Special Olympics from tomorrow
Bilaspur, November 1 Brigadier JS Varma (retd), chairman of the District Special Olympics Committee, said here today that these games were being organised by the state Special Olympics Committee in collaboration with the Department of Youth Services and Sports of the state government. He said the organising committee of the state Special Olympics would bear the expenditure of bus fare and boarding of one attendant of the handicapped person who participate in these competitions. He urged all parents and others to ensure participation of all such children in this meet and help them become an important member of society.
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Paragliding Competition
Bir (Palampur), November 1 It may be recalled that during the trials, two pilots had lost their lives indifferent mishaps. According to sources, the state government did not want to take any more risk which could have resulted in more fatal mishaps. In fact, the state government also refused a local paragliding society to go ahead with the competition. Meanwhile, Baijnath MLA Sudheer Sharma said holding of international paragliding championship at Bir was a regular feature and every year, over 200 para-gliders from all over the world came here to participate in the championship. This year, the state government and the tourism department kept itself away from the competition and also refused the local organisation to hold the competition scheduled for November 4, he alleged. He said on one side the state government was time and again announcing that it wanted to promote paragliding in the state, on the other hand, it was discouraging participants who had from come all over the world, he said. He held the government responsible for mishaps during the trials of the championship as it had failed to provide safety measures for the pilots. In fact, the government also failed to provide medical aid and ambulance services to the victims, he added. An official of the state government, while talking to The Tribune, said the Himachal Pradesh High Court had also refused to entertain the writ petition filed by the Bir Billing Paragliding organisation who had challenged the orders of the state government on Friday. Meanwhile, resentment prevailed among paragliding participants and residents of Bir Billing area over the uncooperative attitude of the state government which had not shown any interest in holding the international paragliding championship at Bir this year. The sudden cancellation of the championship had come as disappointment for thousands of people in the area.
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WHO guidelines not displayed
Hamirpur, November 1 While old guidelines remain depicted at all public places in the district, even these have not been replaced with new guidelines at the regional hospital, Hamirpur, and other such places in Hamirpur town. Under old guidelines issued by WHO for diagnosis of the TB, people were advised to undergo test for the disease if any person experienced continuous cough for three weeks. Such patients were also advised to have three sputum tests and a few other tests to confirm the presence of TB prevalent in that patient. But according to new guidelines issued by WHO, every person having continuous cough for two weeks is advised to undergo the tests. The procedure for conducting the sputum test has also been changed by WHO; while earlier a patient had to undergo three sputum tests with a regular interval, now they have been advised to go for two tests during the same day. While lack of publicity by the health department is leading to confusion among the patients on the procedure for the diagnosis for the TB, people are also not getting adequate information about the new WHO guidelines. Health experts tell the publicity of new guidelines is very important since WHO has now changed the criteria and procedure for undergoing the TB tests. “Since TB is still a common problem in many parts and its early detection is important for its cure, publicising new WHO guidelines to create awareness at all important places among people is very important,” they said. Chief Medical Officer, Hamirpur, Dr DS Chandel agreed that WHO guidelines about TB diagnosis had changed and sign boards at many places had not depicted them. He said, “Due to lack of funds, sign boards have not been changed. However, the department has been making people aware of these guidelines through ICE programmes and sign boards would also be changed after fresh allocation of funds for its publicity.”
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Navodaya staff to protest from today
Bilaspur, November 1 This was unanimously decided at a state-level meeting of the state joint action committee (JAC) of employees of the Navodaya Vidyalayas held at Kunihar, near here, on Friday, which was presided by principal Dr Ravi Ray. While talking about resolutions of the meeting to mediapersons here yesterday, principal JNV, Hamirpur, KS Guleria and district JAC convener Anoop Thakur said they would attend the school wearing black badges from November 2 to 7 and 15 members from each of these vidyalayas, including those from Himachal Pradesh, would attend a massive all-India protest rally in New Delhi on November 9. They said the national JAC of these JNVs had decided to observe a peaceful mass strike on November 16 if the government failed to pay any heed to their demands. |
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4 held in driving licence case
Kangra, November 1 Kangra District Police Chief Atul Fulzele yesterday said Satpal, alias Cheena, a resident of Barsal village in Una district, who was running a photostat shop at Sansarpur Terrace, Jobinder of Barri Ban and Rajesh Kumar of Radhi Kuthair, were arrested after their names figured in the racket during the investigation. Satpal confessed that he had supplied driving licence to a youth against payment of Rs 900. Meanwhile, the police yesterday seized the CPU, a black and white and coloured printer and scanner used by Vinesh Kumar, the mastermind of the racket, from his residence. Dehra SHO Joginder Singh said the contents of the CPU would be analysed by computer and forensic experts to uncover the racket. Meanwhile, all four accused were produced before Divender Kumar, Dehra Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, who remanded Vinesh Kumar further in police custody till November 3. The other three accused were granted bail. The police recovered BCom/BA final year blank marks sheet of Panjab University from the residence of Vinesh Kumar. It was now looking into the matter whether the accused in this case were involved in the circulation of fake certificates.
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‘Ration missing from govt shops’
Bilaspur, November 1 Addressing mediapersons here today, DCC general secretaries Ram Saran Thakur and Lekh Ram Dhiman said cheap ration had been missing from the government ration shops since the past several months, particularly in rural areas, and the poor people had been left at the mercy of the open market sharks where prices of essentials had been shooting up without any check from the government. |
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Gaiety marks NIT Hill Fair
Hamirpur, November 1 Aditya Tewari, media secretary of the festival, said the dramatics competition had a lot of participants from various colleges and other events like aamne saamne, tol mol ke bol, ship wreck, mad ads were also a hit with the audience. The autumn night of the Hill Fair started with Vande Matram, literacy mission’s dance and mono act. The western dance competition, organised at the open-air theatre, was an instant hit and joined by good number of students from the audience too. The star event of the night was Adam and Eve competition, which selected Mr and Miss Hill Fair. The cultural programme ended with a musical night and almost everybody joined the jam session. Earlier, a fashion show was also organised and participants from different states participated in the event. The fashion parade was followed by a guest band show, ‘The Third Sovereign’, the power-packed metal quartet from Mizoram.
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One killed, 2 hurt in mishap
Dalhousie, November 1 It said the deceased had been identified as Bindro, a resident of a nearby village; adding that the body of the deceased had been handed over to his kin after carrying out an autopsy. |
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Auditorium for Chamba sought
Chamba, November 1 The Chamba Welfare Association had put across this proposal to the Himachal Pradesh government for construction of an auditorium with nearly 1,000-seating
capacity. There is no problem of space as sufficient space is available in the town adjacent to Akhandchandi Palace where shabby ruin stands unused, giving an ugly look to the nearby heritage landmark. On this site a majestic auditorium (lecture theatre) can be raised which can be of importance to the residents, as well as the administration, for organising symposiums, conferences and seminars. The need for such an auditorium has been virtually felt by everyone. At the moment, there is a small “Bachat bhawan” hall which cannot fulfil the present day requirements of organising mammoth conventions and concerts. Endorsing the proposal of the association, the National Forum of Awareness and Development also advocated for considering the plan and sought immediate clearance of this project so that its architecture could be drawn in consultation with professional architects. The project envisages three-storeyed auditorium with a reception and kitchenette on the ground floor, lecture theatre and green rooms on the second floor and offices at the top floor. If this initiative is considered and okayed by the state government, it would go a long way in easing out problems in Chamba district.
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Meter shortage adds to power board woes
Solan, November 1 This shortage forced the board to use old repaired mechanical meters which failed to give the correct power usage. An assessment of their shortage could be gauged from the very fact that in one of the industrial divisions in the district, as against a requirement of 280 meters per month, barely 30-odd meters were available. In yet another division, barely 40 single phase meters were made available in the past six to eight months despite the demand being much higher. Officials in the board said it was not just the meter shortage, but also the lack of availability of PVC wires, poles and even conductors that handicapped them in providing new connections. “The lack of meter availability led us to get the mechanical meters repaired and use them despite the fact that they contributed to the transmission and distribution losses,” revealed a senior official of the board. The official added that the situation had remained unchanged for the past almost a year, forcing them to cut a sorry figure before customers. The major problem was being faced in the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial belt where investors were in a hurry to begin operations as the central industrial package was due to expire in March, 2010. This shortage delayed the timely grant of power connections and added to monetary losses to the board. Even the option of consumers themselves purchasing meters and getting them tested appeared non-feasible as the process was tedious. This scarcity had led to a situation where meters, which developed faults, failed to be replaced, adding further to the losses. Officials in the board, however, opined that they were aware of the situation and were in the process of finalising purchase of new meters which were technically better and had features like remote reading which would save the hassle of going from door-to-door to take readings.
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Bali’s call to expose babus, politicians
Kangra, November 1 He stated this while addressing a press conference here yesterday. He said his claims were vindicated by the recent judgement of the Himachal Pradesh High Court describing the decision of the Council of Ministers of November 25, 2008, as “arbitrary, illegal and irrational” regarding the allotment of two power projects Jangi Thopan and Thopan Powari of 480 MW each and ordered their cancellation. He demanded that the Chief Secretary should either tender an apology or name the bureaucrat responsible for making recommendations for the allotment of these two projects. He also demanded that the government must come forward with details whether money deposited by the Brakel company had been forfeited or returned to the firm. Regarding the cancellation of the para-gliding event Bali described it as a blow to the tourism industry due to the alleged inefficiency of the state government.
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RSS chief to visit Shimla
Shimla, November 1 He will be given a guard of honour at a ceremonial parade of swayam sewaks dressed in “gan vesh” on November 8. It will be followed by a public address which will be open to all. He will preside over a function of the state shiksha samiti before leaving on November 9. A meeting with prominent residents and representatives of social organisations will take place on November 7. |
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NSUI office-bearers elected
Shimla, November 1 After the extensive exercise carried out by the team headed by Manthan, the returning officer, votes were counted today. Yadupati from Drang in Mandi was elected the state president, defeating Balwinder Kanwar by 56 votes. He is a stated to be a Virbhadra Singh loyalist and his supporters started raising slogans in favour of the Union Minister as soon as the result was announced. The two delegates to represents the state at the national level were also elected. Vijendra Pal Sharma from Kullu and Nitika from Chamba were the successful candidates. |
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Hamirpur, November 1
