Shimla, December 6
Agreement between the Centre and the state government for the execution of the 775 MW Luhri project may have to be reviewed to pave way for the mandatory disinvestment of 10 per cent equity in the public sector Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN).

The state wants the Centre to settle all issues and ensure that its equity share and other interests were protected before coming out with an IPO. It has already written a letter to the SJVN regarding its concerns over the disinvestment. The Centre and the state hold 75 per cent and 25 per cent equity, respectively, in the company which owns the country’s largest 1,500 MW Nathpa Jahkri project. The total authorised capital is Rs 7,000 crore and paid up capital Rs 4108.81 crore. The Centre’s share is Rs 3,081.61 crore and as such Rs 308.16 crore will be disinvested.

However, the equity share of the state has been raised to 49 per cent in the Luhri project and a special purpose vehicle (SPV), a joint venture company of the SJVN and the state with the former holding of 51 per cent equity, is to be set up to implement the project.

Off-loading to 10 per cent equity by the Centre and the mandatory induction of independent directors to comply with the regulations of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) will require a fresh look at the proposal to set up the SPV and make restructuring of the board of directors inevitable. More so, because the World Bank has expressed reservations to provide funds to the SPV on the ground that it will not have the same credibility as the well-established SJVN.

Anther issue to be settled is that how the overall equity of the state, which varies in different projects, has to be paid and adjusted in the SJVN without which disinvestment could not be undertaken. Issues pertaining to restructuring of the board of directors also has to be thrashed out. At present, the SJVN has five full-time, six part-time and three independent directors. According to the SEBI regulations, the company will have to appoint 50 per cent independent directors.

The Centre 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 the state, the exiting two to one. The Centre has asserted that details of all agreements with the state concerning various projects be clearly mentioned so that the prospective shareholders are aware of the factual position.

Majari, December 6
The data collected from various sources by the Himachal and Punjab police revealed that about 300 persons had lost their lives till date after consuming illicit liquor and other narcotics sold from Majari village of Himachal.

According to the report authored by senior Punjab police official LK Yadav, a copy of which is available with The Tribune, there were about 25 hardcore dealers of narcotics at Majari village. Many cases under the NDPS Act and the Excise Act have been registered against these people at various police stations of Himachal and Punjab.

However, this had no impact on them. In fact, they are emboldened to the extent that they even killed a Himachal police constable who tried to stop them. Many a times, villagers involved in narcotic trade, have confronted the raiding parties of the police and even attacked them.

Most of the narcotic traders have their own tankers and trucks that are used for smuggling of narcotics from Himachal, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir.

According to sources, initially the traders from the village used to go and fetch the contraband on their own. However, now they have established contacts and the contraband is being delivered to them in Punjab or other places in Himachal.

The recent arrest of a Jharkand resident in Ropar district of Punjab revealed how people from other states were involved in supplying opium to narcotic traders of Majari. The arrested narcotic peddler of Jharkhand told the police that cultivators of poppy in the state used their labour to send poppy milk or opium to Majari village. The labourers, who acted as couriers, were paid amounts ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 per visit. They usually came by buses or trains and were difficult to trace, he said.

Narcotics are sold by dealers of Majari through contacts.

They contact their permanent customers on phone and ask them to reach a specific destination. In the absence of male members, females dealing in narcotics undertake the job of supply to customers.

The police has also detected chambers especially fabricated in car, trucks and other vehicles that are used to conceal narcotics by residents of the village.

There have been reports that customers from the entire Doaba region of Punjab have started coming to this remote village to have narcotic supplies.

The village has also become a hub for sale of psychotropic drugs. A vend on the border of the village is the favourite among those seeking psychotropic drugs to addicts, the sources added.

They claimed that huge supply of such drugs was sold and addicts could be seen lining before the vend in the mornings and evenings.

(To be continued)

Solan, December 6
As many as 73,501 children, up to the age group of 5 years, were administered polio drops today in the district on the occasion of supplementary polio campaign organised by the health authorities here today.

Solan was among the four other border districts where such a campaign was organised after a polio case had surfaced on November 21 near Nalagarh. The health authorities had set up 442 booths to facilitate polio immunisation with 1,768 health workers being pressed into service.

Health and Ayurveda Minister Dr Rajiv Bindal today administered the polio dose in the slum area of Chikni khud where the recent polio case had surfaced. He later visited various other booths at Sauri, Jogo and Bagvania.

Interestingly, while the health authorities were contemplating action against the private clinic located at Panjhera which had failed to inform the authorities about the polio case, the minister today enjoyed hospitality at the same clinic after administering polio drops to children at Chikni khud. In fact, the health director had sought a report about the failure of the private clinic to detect the case.

Bindal, while addressing the officials, said the government was committed to provide healthcare in rural areas and there was no scarcity of staff in hospitals. Illustrating his point, he said as against 10 posts of doctors, 19 had been posted at Nalagarh, which included nine specialists and two dental doctors. A sum of Rs 40 lakh had been sanctioned for constructing staff quarters for doctors at Nalagarh, he added.

Dr Rajiv Bindal, however, said he had visited the clinic to take stock of the situation as he wanted to know why the affected child had been taken to Panjhera which fell in the opposite direction when a government hospital was not far.

Dr Bindal said he also met the affected child Ajay Krishan and his parents and learnt from them that the child had failed to receive polio immunisation at the time of his birth though he had been immunised subsequently during the polio campaigns. He was also given polio drops by the minister. 

Shimla, December 6
The Himachal Kisan Sabha will hold demonstrations on December 7 throughout the state in protest against the government’s failure to arrange adequate quantity of seeds and fertilisers for the rabi sowing. It will also oppose the new policy framed by the government under which right-holders will be provided timber instead of standing trees.

President of the sabha Kuldeep Tanwar said timely and adequate supply of farm inputs was essential during the current sowing season. Farmers were under tremendous pressure since long because of consecutive failures of crops due to severe drought. Over 70 per cent of the last rabi crops and 80 per cent of kharif crops was damaged and even fruit growers were also severely affected.

However, the affected farmers were not provided any relief, either from the state government agencies, or the Centre. The non-availability of seeds and fertilisers had added to their woes. Agriculture was a state subject and the BJP government could not blame the Centre for its own failures, he added.

Initially, both the Chief Minister and the Horticulture Minister had stated that there was no dearth of either seeds or fertilisers for the rabi crop but now they were putting onus for the shortfall on the central government. The government owed an explanation to the people for misleading them and not ensuring timely supply of farm inputs, which had resulted in non-sowing of large tracts of farmlands in the countryside.

Tanwar said the new timber distribution policy was against the interest of the farmers and it would encourage illegal fellings. The sabha will also present its case before the High Court which has to give the final nod to the revised policy. The sabha has also expressed concern over the reduction in the monthly ration quota from 35 kg of foodgrains to 25 kg provided through the public distribution shops (PDS).

It demanded implementation of the Forest Tribal and Dwellers Act and urged the BJP government to regularise encroachments as promised. More than 1,84,000 farmers had encroached upon the government land, out of which 54,000 had applied for regularisation under the policy brought in by the previous BJP government. However, after coming to power, the party forgot its promise and instead, it was appeasing big business establishments as evident from the fact more than 10,000 hectares land had been diverted for the benefit of corporate enterprises, opening of private universities and setting up of hydel projects.

The Kisan Sabha will organise a “Jan Sansad” (People’s Parliament) on December 10 at Kali Bari Hall, here, and organise protests on Kisan Divas which falls on December 23. It will also join the protest on December 22 planned by the state federation of Fruits and Vegetable Producers’ Mahasangh against privatisation of carton factory at Gumma in Kotkhai.

Shimla, December 6
The Governor’s team won the Governor’s Cup Golf Tournament defeating the Army Commander’s team at the Annadale golf course, here today. The tournament, hosted by the Army Training Command (ARTRAC), was played over 18 holes on the Stable Ford format. The winning team posted a tally of 153 points as against 138 points scored by the hosts.

Governor Prabha Rau gave away prizes to the winning team. She said golf was a game which increased level of concentration and playing it was more like meditation as it relaxed the players.

A ladies’ golf competition was also organised on the occasion in which Leena Jain and Taruna Mishra bagged the prizes.

Lt-Gen AS Lamba, GoC-in-C, Army Training Command, thanked the Governor for organising the tournament at Annadale.

Shimla, December 6
The executive committee of the Gaiety Dramatic Society has decided to provide the historic theatre to accredited theatre groups of the state on subsidised rates.

All such groups will be required to get accreditation with the society by January 31, 2010. The society which met under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Asha Swaroop, here recently, decided to create an endowment fund to promote the cultural, art and other activities besides maintenance of the theatre complex.

It recommended that accredited groups would be provided theatre at the rate of Rs 3,500 for a single performance. It also decided to constitute a subcommittee to be headed by Shriniwas Joshi, former director of Art, Language and Culture and a renowned theatre artist.

Swaroop emphasised for preserving the historic monument by proper upkeep of the building and theatre. She also directed that renowned artistes, cultural and other groups should also be invited to perform at the theatre to inspire upcoming talent.

Shimla, December 6
While terming bickering in the Congress as a thing of the past, Madhu Sood, the newly elected Mayor, yesterday said overall development of the town would be her priority with thrust on providing safe drinking water and street lights.

Talking to the mediapersons after her election, she chose not to comment on the factionalism within the Congress over her election. “We will all work unitedly for the betterment of the services being provided by the MC and ensure that the problems are solved,” she said.

She said efforts would be made to expedite the ongoing works and try to raise resources so that more schemes and better services can be provided to the public. “The Congress will continue to serve the people while taking care of the needs of the weaker section and the vulnerable,” she said. Sood said she would make special efforts to improve cleanliness, improve water supply and street lighting so that Shimla retained its charm of being a beautiful hill station.

Kangra, December 6
One person was killed in a road accident as reported by the father of the victim at the Jawalamukhi police station through the Dehra Civil Judge while six others were injured in different road mishaps in the district during the past 24 hours, the police said here today.

Kangra District Police Chief Atul Fulzele today told The Tribune that one Bishember Dass, a resident of Drang, had lodged a complaint that his son Sanjay Kumar was hit by a motorcycle on the Amb Gatta Tudhi road and later died at Tanda Medical College. A case under Sections 279 and 304 A of the IPC against Vipin Kumar of Ghaid village was registered, the SSP said.

In another accident, a motorcyclist was injured when hit by a bus (HP 72 0207) at Paprolen, falling under the Lambagoan police station. The victim was admitted at Sujanpur hospital for treatment.

Another accident occured at Badoh chowk on the Pathankot-Mandi National Highway under the Nagrota police station when one Sadha Ram was hit by a car (HP 36 9595). He was admitted at Tanda Medical College.

Former pradan of Gaggal, Dev Raj, was injured in a hit-and-run case when he was purchasing vegetables at Gaggal. 

Kangra, December 6
Hundreds of villagers of Guler and Haripur, who protested against the government’s inaction against those involved in the bus accident on November 6 last month that had left 37 persons dead, today blocked the Haripur-Guler road for more than three hours and demanded a judicial inquiry in the accident. The protesters also demanded shifting of the entire police staff of the Haripur police station.

The villagers gathered near the Guler railway station this morning and sat on a dharna on the main road connecting Guler with Haripur, leaving vehicles stranded. Karam Chand Nanda, president of the Sangrash Samiti, told The Tribune that a judicial inquiry was needed to go into the depth of the accident.

The protestors raised slogans in support of their demands and asked for shifting of the entire staff of the Haripur police station to some other place.

Charanjee Lal, village pradan, headed another group of villagers who organised a “hawan” and shanti path on the bank of Banner river, where bus passengers were killed on November 6.

The hawan was organized for peace of the untimely departed souls, said Charanjee Lal. He alleged that a transport mafia was active in the area and RTO officials and the police were hand in glove which resulted in such accidents.

He alleged that scooter and taxi drivers were challaned whereas bus drivers went scot-free.

Both Nanda and Charanjee Lal demanded immediate intervention of Chief Minister PK Dhumal in the matter.

Solan, December 6
Using domestic and farm bio-waste, scientists of Jaypee University of Information Technology, Waknaghat, have developed a new model of portable bio-gas plant which would bring down the LPG usage by 50 per cent.

A team of scientists comprising Dr Sudhir Kumar Syal, assistant professor of Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, and his students Mamta Kumari and Tushar Kalia, developed this plant which is economical, compact and could be installed in 2 sq m area. Priced at around Rs 9,000, it runs on waste material and is, hence, touted as a low cost option. It could support a family of 4-5 members and could run continuously for 2.45 hours. The basic model was inspired by portable commercial bio-gas plants and it essentially used two water tanks.

The co-researchers, Mamta and Tushar, enthusiastic about the research, said since the plant used waste food rather than cow dung as feedstock, it was a low cost option to supply bio-gas for cooking. The results, in terms of bio-gas production with the use of kitchen waste, have been much better than the use of any other substrate because of very high starch content in kitchen waste, they added.

Efficiency associated with this design was manifolds higher than a conventional plant. The immediate benefit from owning such compact bio-gas system is the savings in cost as compared to the use of kerosene or LPG for cooking.

The plant uses herbal waste as substrate which is generated by Ayurvet Industry, Baddi, under a sponsored project study. The use of this model in these industries will help them cut on their energy as well as waste disposal cost.

Throwing light on the technical aspects, Dr Syal said the use of this bio-gas system in an agrarian community could enhance productivity as the agricultural residue and dung generated within the community would be available for anaerobic digestion.