Shimla, December 12
To maintain a proper data bank of all antiques and rare artifacts housed in ancient temples, monasteries, forts and other monuments in Himachal, the state CID is undertaking documentation and indexing of all such valuable items to keep them safe and protected against smuggling.

Though indexing of antiques, including centuries- old idols and other items had been undertaken once in 1994 by the police, but following the recent controversy involving auction of the George Cross awarded to Kirpa Ram of Bilaspur, a fresh exercise is being undertaken so that there is proper record and the authorities have readily available information with them.

“We want not just to update whatever little information we have but we wish to undertake proper indexing so that we have information about each artifact, many of which are considered priceless in the international market,” said a senior police officer. Admitting that those into smuggling of antiques which fetch huge sums in the international market have all such details of the priceless artifacts they are eyeing.

Sources said the exercise of preparing a data bank had been stared following the proposed auction of the George Cross given to a resident of Bilaspur, which was finally stalled after the intervention of the state government through Interpol and the Scotland Yard. “As far as the medals like the George Cross and other war decorations are concerned there can be no government interference as these are private properties of the families of the recipients and their protection is the responsibility of the owners,” said police sources.

Even though indexing of all the valuable artifacts is ebing prepared but the most priceless ones are housed in the temples, forts and monasteries of the culturally rich tribal areas of Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti, Pangi and Bharmour. The theft of idols from the ancient Kamru temple in Kinnaur several years ago had also got the police into action and finally the idols were brought back and restored in the temple.

Experts will be involved in the exercise so that the exact antiquity of the artifact can be determined along with its other details. 

Hamirpur, December 12
Hamirpur district has become the first choice of a Japanese firm to start a project for providing irrigation and road connectivity, not only in the entire country, but also in whole of the Asia.

Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which was looking to invest through a project in Asia, has opted for India and that too for Hamirpur district.

The JICA, which is involved in extending cooperation and financial help world-wide, has given a project through the government of India (GOI) on which about Rs 40 crore would be spent.

Through this project, about Rs 35 crore would be spent on various irrigation schemes like water lift irrigation schemes, water harvesting sheds (WHS) etc and about Rs 5 crore would be spent on establishing road communication to agriculture farms.

Before starting actual work on the ground, the JICA would send a team of subject specialists from Japan, which would stay here for two years and carry case studies related to conventional farming and approach of people towards irrigation.

Based on these case studies, the team would suggest ways to start work on the irrigation schemes in the district and depending on the basis of the success of project here, this project may be extended to the entire state.

The state agriculture department, which would be the executive agency to implement the project, has already prepared and submitted proposals for this the same.

The water supply schemes would have several new features. It would have all pipes underground so that no person could interfere with the water supply and the WHS would provide water for irrigation also.

AS, Rana, deputy director, Agriculture, while talking to The Tribune, said, “We are submitting proposals to provide irrigation facilities for 1,190 sq hectares through various schemes and construct 18 roads over 24.65 km to provide connectivity.”

Work in the first phase would begin in March, 2010.

Bilaspur, December 12
Chief Minister Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal has a given call to people to conserve as much water as possible as water harvesting has become the need of the hour and we must wake up to this truth immediately as water was becoming very precious and scarce in nature.

Addressing mediapersons after laying a foundation stone of Rs 1.03 crore Bassi-Kot Khas Toba lift drinking water supply scheme at Bassi, about 80 km from here, today the Chief Minister suggested to the Irrigation and Public Health Department in the presence of the IPH Minister Ravinder Ravi that the department should hence go in for drip and sprinkle irrigation schemes instead of flow water schemes with a view to conserving maximum water so that it can serve more areas and more crops for better farm results.

The Chief Minister said the Asian Development Bank had promised that it would help the state in developing this technique and water management to conserve and maximise its use in a planned manner.

He said that the state government had recently set up a State Water Management Board with this objective in view and it would soon come out with an exhaustive project for this purpose.

Dharmasala, December 12
‘The state government has not received any communication regarding increase of industrial package to Himachal from the Union Government. I have only read the statement of a union minister (Virbhadra Singh) in this regard. After reading it I rang up the other union minister from the state Anand Sharma who is dealing with the case. However, I was told that he was out of country.”

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal stated this when asked about the status of increase in industrial package for the state.

The Chief Minister said initially the package was announced for 10 years by the NDA government. However, later it was reduced to just four years by the UPA government. Now the package is being proposed to be increased in pieces, that is, for one year each.

The way the package is being increased it is detrimental to attracting investment in the state. Any big unit that is planning to invest in the state requires period ranging from three to four years. The one-year increase in package is not going to attract any major investment, he said.

If the Centre is serious about providing any benefit to Himachal with regard to setting up of industries, it should extend the industrial package to 2020, the Chief Minister demanded.

The industrial package to the state, under which the units coming up in Himachal are extended five years central excise holiday, would end in March, 2010. The former union finance minister P Chidambaram has written to the state government that the Union Government was losing Rs 10000 crore due to industrial package given to various states.

The Punjab and Haryana governments have also been opposing the package for Himachal alleging that it was resulting in flight of industry from their state. The Punjab government has already moved the Punjab and Haryana High court in the matter.

Dhumal, however, found the apprehensions of Punjab and Haryana governments as unfounded. He said the maximum industry that had invested in Himachal was pharmaceutical industry. It had shifted to Himachal from south Indian state.

Shimla, December 12
Notwithstanding tall claims of the police in checking crime, not only is the powerful liquor mafia operating from the VIP area of Bemloe here, but those raising a voice against the illegal activity are now being harassed by the police itself.

Seeing Muhammad Yakub’s plight, who helped the police seize liquor worth Rs 5 lakh last year from Bemloe, one can fully understand why people do not wish to help the police in checking crime or in any other social cause.

Today Yakub, originally hailing from Utttar Pradesh and living here for the past 22 years, is not just being threatened by the liquor mafia, but also by the police to flee the town due to political patronage enjoyed by the miscreants.

What is shocking is the fact that rather than providing protection to Yakub, the police too is intimidating him that he should either leave the town or face dire consequences.

“Despite seeking protection from the police time and again, nobody has helped me. In fact, I have already been thrashed by the mafia outside the court and now they have asked me to leave the town,” he rued.

The liquor mafia is being shielded by a local senior BJP leader, forcing the police to get back at Yakub to please the political bosses.

Yajub’s miseries started last year when, on his tip-off, the police seized liquor in the Bemloe area. Ever since he, along with his family, has been threatened to pay Rs 5 lakh and leave the town if they valued their life.

“When I met a senior police officer, he too threatened me to leave the town or else I would be implicated in some false case,” he said with fear writ large on his face.

The police is all the more annoyed with him because he tried to seek the intervention of the court after he was once again threatened by the liquor mafia yesterday.

“Since I knew somebody in the court, I decided to seek his help as my repeated pleas to the police fell on deaf years and this further infuriated the cops,” he said.

Having lived here for the past 22 years, Yakub says there is no way that he wants to return to his home in UP.

“I have been earning a living here and consider this my home. However, now I am being victimised as I tried to help the police which has now joined hands with the powerful liquor mafia,” he says.

Dharamsala, December 12
Taking an obvious dig at Congress leaders from the state, Chief Minister PK Dhumal said, “They are complicating the issue of central university.”

We have not received any communication from the Union Ministry for HRD regarding setting up of central university in the state since long despite our best efforts, he added.

The CM was in Dharamsala today for the winter session of the Himachal Assembly. He laid the foundation stone of a new building complex of the Kangra Cooperative Bank.

“We had suggested various sites for setting up the central university to the Union Ministry for HRD. However, it is unfortunate that the ministry has started central university classes in sheds in many states. Despite being offered proper building, the Union government has not made any effort to start the classes here,” Dhumal said.

In Jammu and Kashmir, where there were protests against the setting of central university, two universities have been proposed by the Union government. Two central universities should be set up in Himachal also, one for the lower area and one for the upper area that can be set up in Solan, Sirmour or Shimla districts, he added.

The recent stance of the CM over location of central university is a deviation of earlier assertion of the state government to set up central university at Dehra. The Congress had vehemently opposed setting up of central university at Dehra on the plea that Dhumal was trying to take the university to his son’s Parliamentary constituency.

The BJP government in the state had been justifying Dehra as the location for the proposed central university on the plea that there was no suitable land available near Dharamsala. They had been maintaining that about 500 acres was required for setting up a central university.

Failure of the Union government for sanctioning the central university in Himachal has also illustrated the lack of decision-making power in the present UPA government. 

Dharamsala, December 12
Vidhan Sabha Speaker Tulsi Ram organised a “havan” (religious ceremony), in the Himachal Vidhan Sabha complex at Dharamsala today. Besides the Speaker, Vidhan Sabha Secretary Govardhan Singh was also present during the ceremony.

According to sources, the ceremony continued for about two hours this morning to ward off evil from the Assembly House.

The religious ceremony, just two days before the commencement of winter session of the Himachal Assembly, was organised at the request of employees posted at the Assembly complex, the sources added.

Employees posted here had refused to attend night duties at the complex. They had alleged they heard vague sounds at night in the building complex. Some of them had even requested transfer on the said base.

The employees alleged that the place, where the Assembly complex has been built, was once a graveyard.

Tulsi Ram, when contacted, however declined that the religious ceremony was organised due ill omen. He said the ceremony was organised for peace in the state. “It is a constitutional temple and we have just organised prayers for peace in the state,” he said.

Mandi, December 12
Mango and potato farmers in Mandi district and the adjoining areas of Bilaspur district are up in arms against the state government as it has not covered even a single block in the region under the crop insurance scheme launched at Ani in Kullu, Narkanda and Rohru in Shimla and Dehra in Kangra district.

Jarol-Hara Bagh, Kangu, Dehra, Nihari and the adjoining areas of Jhukhala in Bilaspur district have emerged as mango producing areas in the central region. However, the government has turned a blind eye towards them. Not even a single block in Mandi district has been covered under the crop insurance scheme, they rued.

Farmers at Rawanda, Kamand, Nieri, Karsog Balag and other areas in Mandi district have emerged as major producers of potato, but the state government has not covered them under the calamity or weather-based crop insurance scheme.

Each year, drought or excess rainfall destroy crops, but the farmers do not get even a single penny from the state government, they stated.

Leading from the front, former Sundernagar Congress MLA Sohan Lal Thakur told The Tribune that the crop insurance scheme was launched in many areas in Kangra, Kullu and Shimla districts. However, not a single block of Mandi has been covered under the scheme. This amounts to discrimination as farmers in this areas have been left to face vagaries of nature, he added.

Thakur said he had received complaints that mango and potato farmers had been ignored by the present government. A large part of Sundernagar subdivision and the adjoining areas have come under mango cultivation, but there is no cover for them, he said.

Meanwhile, the government has been claiming that it has started weather-based crop insurance scheme in selected areas in the state and if it turned out be successful, it would be extended to other areas as well.