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Question Hour
Urban Rent Bill referred to panel
Dhumal for AIDS tests before marriage
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Diversion of Forest Land
Apple growers set up packaging units
Youth fest gets lukewarm response
Hike in chopper charges
Seminar on power growth
NSUI flays govt over pvt varsities
Himfed to set up more stores
DC warns traders
World Sikh University
Tribune journalist bereaved
Body found
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Question Hour
Dharamsala, December 19 Replying to a query of Kullu MLA Govind Singh Thakur, PWD Minister Gulab Singh told the House that the Union government had approved a budget of Rs 1,458 crore for the construction of Rohtang tunnel. The construction work will start by April, 2010, and is likely to be completed by 2014. The tunnel would be 33 feet wide and the vehicles would be able to travel through the tunnel at a speed of about 80 km per hour. He also said bridges on the Manali National Highway would have to be strengthened for bringing heavy machinery for the project. Chief Minister PK Dhumal, while responding to the issue, said the tunnel would be of strategic importance from the defence point of view. Nagrota MLA GS Bali, from the details provided on his query regarding the Tanda medical college, stated that there were 1,100 vacancies under various categories in the institution. He also alleged that there was an imbalance in posting at the IGMC, Shimla, and Tanda medical college. While there were surplus posts at the IGMC, there were vacant posts at Tanda college. Meanwhile, Health Minister Rajeev Bindal said the posts might be surplus as per the Medical Council of India norms, however, more doctors were needed at the IGMC. He also said in the past one year, 50 faculty positions had been filled at Tanda college. Kishori Lal, MLA from Ani constituency, said the Barla community in his constituency had been deprived of the SC status due to alleged wrong entry in revenue records. Minister for Social Justice Sarween Chaudhary, responding to the query, said as per their record, only the Barad nomadic community could be given the SC status. Hamirpur BJP MLA Umril Thakur questioned about the provisions of maternity leave to women under NREGA schemes. She also sought to know how many Balwari centres were being run under NREGA. Minister for Panchayats and Rural Development Jai Ram Thakur, while responding to the query, said there was no provision for providing maternity leave under NREGA. He also said if six women with children less than age five come together, one lady could be hired to take care of them in case they were employed under NREGA. However, no such Balwari centre was running
in Himachal. Responding to a query of HPCC president Kaul Singh, the PWD Minister said the detailed project report for construction of Sulabhudhani road had been sent to NABARD. He also said the 3-km tunnel from the said road could shorten distance between Dharamsala and Kullu by about 70 km. |
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Urban Rent Bill referred to panel
Dharamsala, December 19 Congress MLA Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu proposed an amendment in the Bill. He said as per the proposed Bill, the married daughter had not been provided right to get the building of her parents vacated for carrying out own business or profession. It would create an awkward situation in case the parents had single daughter or the daughter who returned to her parents’ house after divorce or other circumstances. Shimla BJP MLA Suresh Baradwaj said the proposed amendment was compromising the rights of tenants. He said in the proposed amendment, the tenant had been given the right to enter the building after reconstruction. However, the fair rent had been proposed to be increased according to 10 per cent cost of construction and value as to be decided by the controller. This would lead to exorbitant increase in rent of reconstructed buildings, he said. He proposed that increase in rent should be 10 per cent after every five years as per the present provisions of the Act and there should be no difference between residential and non-residential buildings. Congress MLA Harshwardhan Chauhan said the proposed amendment was against the interests of owners. He said the rent, proposed in the new amendment, was less keeping in view the construction costs. Market rents of respective areas should be taken into consideration while deciding the rents for reconstructed buildings. The status of tenants should also be defined in case the owner decides to sell the building. He said the amendment had been proposed taking into consideration the Shimla perspective. Instead, the government should also consider the scenario of the entire state. Chief Minister PK Dhumal, while replying to the debate, said the amendments were proposed in view of the Supreme Court orders that had allowed eviction of tenants for reconstruction of buildings. The government brought the amendments on demand of trader associations and increasing litigations in the matter. Amendments brought out in other states were also taken into consideration. However, due to sharp difference of opinion among the members, the government proposes to refer the Bill to the select committee, he said. The Speaker then proposed to refer the Bill to the select committee that was accepted by the House. |
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Dhumal for AIDS tests before marriage
Dharamsala, December 19 The CM said it had been estimated that there were about 3.03 crore AIDS-infected persons in the world and a major portion of it belonged to developing countries like India. He said a large number of people had fallen prey to the disease due to non-availability of curative drugs and ignorance. It would be in the interest of the youth to get themselves tested for AIDS before their marriage to ensure a healthy and safe married life. The awakened society also needed to remove apprehensions about the problem. More social workers, NGOs and volunteers need to come forward to create mass awareness about the disease in the society, he said. The CM said the state government had launched an exhaustive awareness campaign regarding AIDS which would be ending on December 25. The government had also enhanced the scholarship of the HIV-AIDS infected children to help them pursue their studies conveniently. Free medicines and diagnostic facilities were also being made available to the people at almost all health institutions, he said. Health Minister Rajiv Bindal apprised the audience of the initiatives being taken by the state. |
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Diversion of Forest Land
Dharamsala, December 19 He said earlier there was a condition for diverting the forest lands for constructing roads under the PMGSY. However, now the special empowered committee of the Supreme Court had made it clear that the NPV for diverting the forests lands would have to be deposited before starting the construction of roads. Nadda said they had earlier taken up the case with the government of India. “We were of the view that since it was a central government scheme, the NPV costs should also be added to the project cost. However, the Union government turned down the plea of the state,” he said. Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has now decided to make a budget provision of depositing the NPV with the forest department so that the pending work could be completed, Nadda said. He also added that the situation was more peculiar in case of state like Himachal which had more forest land. In other states, villagers had to give up their private land for construction of roads under the PMGSY. Congress MLA from Chamba district Kuldeep Singh Pathania, however, alleged that the state government was biased on the matter. Roads, that were in the constituencies of ruling party MLAs were being constructed while roads falling in constituencies of opposition MLAs were being neglected. He alleged that construction work on most of the roads proposed under the PMGSY in Chamba district had come to a standstill due to failure of the state government to deposit the NPV for diversion of forest land. |
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Apple growers set up packaging units
Shimla, December 19 More than 100 apple growers have set up small grading and packaging units mostly in Jubbal-Kothkai, Rohru and Kotgarh apple belt in Shimla district. A few big apple orchardists have also set up similar units in Kullu district. Some of these growers have availed the incentives being offered by the government under the Horticulture Technology Mission (HTM). Experts point out that the cost for putting up a small grading and packaging unit is about Rs 1 lakh. “This unit is an answer not only to the labour problem but also helps growers fetch better prices as the grading is done with precision,” Horticulture Minister Narender Bragta pointed out. He said apple growers whose produce was about 5,000 boxes were going in for setting up these grading and packaging units. Moreover, the problem of getting professional graders and packers also gets sorted out as it was done with perfection by the machinery. The entire apple economy of the state was dependent on labour from Nepal who undertakes every task right from pruning, spraying, plucking, packaging and transporting it to road head from the orchard. In recent times, the number of Nepalese coming here in search for better options are declining and the apple growers are finding it difficult to carry out work. Another advantage of these grading units was that it does the segregation according to size and also colour, which helps fetch good prices. Moreover, the fruit, which gets damaged due to hail or other problems, is also separated out. The Horticulture Department is also making efforts to set up processing units in apple belts so that the transportation cost is reduced. Though the department has a few such units, with their technology being outdated efforts are on to get the latest machinery even if the private sector has to be roped in. Another facility that greatly will help apple growers is setting up of cold chain technology at more places. “In case of a glut the grower stands to lose out but in case the cold chain facility is available he can hold back his produce and send the fruit to market when the market stabilises and the prices go up,” Bragta explained. He said as such efforts were on to modernise the entire process of apple and other fruit cultivation so that problems of labour and transportation were cut down bringing better benefits to growers. |
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Youth fest gets lukewarm response
Mandi, December 19 The organiser of the show, department of sports and youth affairs (DSYA), failed to attract audience. The venue of the festival, Bipasha Sadan, wore a deserted look as chairs in the hall were vacant and most participants were basking in the sun outside. The handful of audience, participants and even artistes shivered in cold as they had no heating system. The Bipash Sadan, an ordinary hall with no proper acoustics --- a must for the classical cultural performances --- was not a fit venue for a competition like this, rued the artistes. Even the judges were provided heaters, but they were more busy gossipping with the organisers rather than focusing on the performances on the stage, remarked participants. Though the festival, as per its mandate, is open for the age-group between 15-35 years, there were participants beyond the age-limit, according to sources. Interestingly, the in charge of each cultural troupe were the district sports officer (DSOs), who have little knowledge of cultural events, they added. The Nehru Yuva Kendra, Yuvak Mandals, mahila mandals exist in rural Himachal, but they are never involved in this youth festival just because the department organises it as a ritual, commented a noted performer on condition of anonymity. Though the budding participants gave the best performances on stage, they expressed serious concern over the casual attitude of the department. “The department has sanctioned Rs 1 lakh for the festival as prizes for nine categories which does not turn out to be much,” the participants rued. The folk dance and folk songs had 12 teams from each district, but other seven cultural items had six teams from only six districts. This shows poor response to the youth festival, the participants said. On the other hand, deputy director (DSYA), Suman Rawat said the department had improved the level of festival and putting best efforts to encourage participation. |
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Hike in chopper charges
Dharamsala, December 19 The government, in its reply to the question, said earlier helicopter charges for locals and government officials posted in tribal areas was Rs 700 per head. On demand of locals, the government this year had contracted the services of 26-seater private helicopter for ferrying people from tribal area during winter months starting from December 20 to May 10. The lease amount of helicopter has increased to about Rs 1.64 lakh per hour. Keeping in view the increased cost of helicopter lease and keeping state subsidy for the purpose at 50 per cent, the government decided to increase per trip cost of locals and employees to Rs 2,100 and Rs 4,200 for others. The per trip cost for patients has, however, been kept at Rs 700 per person, the government stated in its reply in the House. However, highly placed sources told The Tribune that under pressure from tribal area MLAs, the government once again revised the rate of helicopter services this evening. It has now been decided to charge Rs 700 per trip per person from patients, Rs 1,500 from locals and employees and Rs 7,000 for other persons wanting to visit tribal areas.
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Seminar on power growth
Shimla, December 19 Speaking on the occasion, VS Verma, member, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, outlined the reasons for delay in commissioning of power projects and its remedies. “To encourage investment in power sector, the Centre is stressing on renewable sources of energy by issuing new tariff regulation, 2009, and providing clean development mechanism (CDM) benefits to the developer,” he said. Tarun Kapoor, MD, HPPCL, spoke about the incentives and other innovative measures being taken by the company. |
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NSUI flays govt over pvt varsities
Mandi, December 19 “This will be the main NSUI plank in the upcoming elections for HP university’s executive council scheduled for December 21,” he added. Lambasting the state government here at a press conference today, Thakur claimed that like-minded students’ outfits, including the SFI and the ABVP,which also opposed the state government on the issue of commercialisation and privatisation of education, were welcome to joint the NSUI on this. The NSUI opposed the contract system and saffronisation of educational institution being done by the present state government, he charged. He said that the ABVP-supported secretary elected last time had turned out to be non-effective as the ABVP had failed to protect students’ interests. He claimed that the NSUI had 55 votes out of 115 votes eligible for the executive council. Thakur warned that if the government did not take any action against the accused involved in thrashing of the students in Mandi three days ago, the NSUI would gherao the Vidhan Sabha in the coming Assembly session. |
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Himfed to set up more stores
Shimla, December 19 At present, the state lacks adequate storage capacity as a result of which it is unable to maintain requisite stocks of foodgrain and other items supplied through the public distribution system (PDS). The existing storage is enough only for storing two to three months stocks, whereas the Centre insists that the state must have a capacity to store stocks at least for four months to meet exigencies. MD of the federation MP Sood said 18 spots had been selected for construction of warehouses. |
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DC warns traders
Bilaspur, December 19 The DC was presiding over the district-level meeting of the district officers regarding review of prices and availability of essential commodities in every nook and corner of the district. She said no commodity was in short supply in the district. |
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World Sikh University
Shimla, December 19 The chairman of the Foundation Committee, Dr Tejinder Singh, said the university would be set up on 300 acre land and a number of sites, including Bhagani Sahib, Logarh, Gulabgarh and Rajban had already been inspected. “We are seeking the permission of the state government for setting up of the university and the NRI’s are also being approached to help in it,” he said. He further informed that separate applications were being filed before the union ministry of HRD and the UGC for seeking clearance of the project. |
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Tribune journalist bereaved
Shimla, December 19 He was 65-year-old and had been a chronic patient of asthma. He developed complications two days back and was rushed to the PGI, Chandigarh, last night, where he breathed his last. He was cremated at Kasauli today. He is survived by his wife, daughter and a son. |
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Body found
Hamirpur, December 19 The Sujanpur Tihra police arrived at the spot. Hamirpur DSP Rajesh Sharma said the body was of a person aged between 35 and 40 years. He said a police party had come to identify the deceased from Joginder Nagar today but it had still not been identified.
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