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Forest land in Nadaun dotted by encroachments
NREGA funds misuse
E-governance programme fails to take off
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Arctic char breeding a success
Paragliding association rues state's apathy
vignettes
Drive to make shepherds aware of govt schemes
Youth hostel gives fillip to tourism
Agriculture sector stagnates
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Forest land in Nadaun dotted by encroachments
Hamirpur, January 19 The land, which is on the hilltop near Nadaun bus stand, has been converted into a nomad colony by migrants where a large numbers of them have now permanently settled. This has been done under the clear violation of rules for protection of DPF and norms prohibiting other uses of such forests. In fact, the state government had allotted five marlas to one nomad long back at this place but after this case dwellings on this DPF land have been multiplying through encroachments and 15 such dwellings have reportedly been raised there. Not only this some of the encroachers have reportedly raised even 'pucca' houses on this piece of forest land. Interestingly, Nadaun subdivision has as high as 2386 cases of encroachment. It is pertinent to mention here that the Himachal Pradesh high Court had issued strict directions to all forest officials some time back to carry out a survey on encroachments on forest land and submit a report to the court. Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal had also raised this case of DPF encroachment at Nadaun in the Assembly in 2004. Local residents and environment activists have also been taking up this issue from time to time. Hamirpur divisional forest officer Sanjay Sood said: "This case is not in my knowledge. However, I would get the matter probed.
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Semi-literate sarpanches face action, but supervising officers go scot-free
Lalit Mohan Tribune News Service
Dharamsala, January 19 A few sarpanches have even been removed after inquires into the allegations. However, inquiries by The Tribune reveal that in many cases, sarpanches are being made scapegoats. Since most of the village pradhans are illiterate or semi-literate, they generally carry out the development works under the guidance of officials of panchayats and the rural development department. Officials allegedly guide them to commit violations under various schemes and ultimately swindle the funds. However, since the onus of using the funds lies with the sarpanches, they are held liable and prosecuted. The officials at the level of panchayat secretaries and junior engineering who are directly involved in the execution of works go scot-free. The sarpanches allege that inquiries into the irregularities are held by administrative officers who are biased towards executing and supervising officers. A case of alleged irregularities in NREGA scheme came to the fore in Masrur village panchayat. A member of the elected village level vigilance committee brought to notice several irregularities in the implementation of the scheme. He has alleged that even schoolchildren who were taking their board examinations appeared on the muster rolls of NREGA. Sources reveal that certain junior engineers of the panchayat and the rural development department are even constructing a hotel in Ludhiana with NAREGA funds. A complaint in this regard has been made to the vigilance authorities. Village pradhans who are being indicted for swindling NREGA funds are mostly women. They have attained the position owning to 33 per cent reservation in local bodies. However, kin of such pradhans are generally running the affairs in connivance with department officials. Kangra MP Rajan Sushant also expressed concern about the alleged swindling of funds in schemes like NREGA. He warned erring officials of strict action.The sources also allege that certain provisions of the NREGA scheme are leading to irregularities. The basic purpose of NREGA is to provide employment. At least 60 per cent funds coming under the scheme have to be spent on labour and remaining 40 per cent for the purchase of material that can be used for local development works like the construction of streets or local roads. Though the scheme might be suitable for states like Bihar and UP where ample labour is available for employment, but in small states like Himachal Pradesh that have limited population, it cannot be implemented in many areas. Experts are of the opinion that the Centre Government should give broad guidelines for the schemes while states should be allowed to amend such guidelines as per their specific needs to check the misuse of funds.
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E-governance programme fails to take off
Kangra, January 19 Under the national e-governance programme funded by the Central government with the Department of Information Technology, Himachal Pradesh, as nodal agency, 3,366 LMKs in public-private partnership were to be set up in the state in order to provide G2C and business to consumer (B2C) services to people at their doorsteps. Under this programme, people in the rural areas were to get facilities of getting revenue documents, driving licences, power and waters bills and university related documents from such centres. The scheme was launched in August 2008. As many as 1,278 kendras were to be set up in Kangra district. The entire project was outsourced and three private agencies were assigned the job to carry out the programme. Pratul Choudary, a village-level entrepreneur (VLE), who established his centre at Upper Barol in Kangra, said on an average, every LMK needed an investment of Rs 1 lakh, but for the want of coordination between different agencies, the programme was in a shambles. He said G2C services were not activated even after one and half year of the launching of this programme in the state. Pratul alleged that for one reason or
the other, the activation of G2C was being delayed by the authorities and the private agency responsible for carrying out the programme. The IT department, too, had failed to deliver, he said, adding, “The lackadaisical attitude of the government has put a question mark on the future of 3,366 VLEs”. He said VLEs were bearing the expenses without earning a single penny. Meanwhile, experts describe the launching of the programme in the state a hurriedly taken step without taking care of infrastructural system at the gross-roots level. Sidarth Shankar Panday, regional manager of Zoom Developers which is looking after the LMKs in Kangra, Chamba and Una districts, said 1,278 LMKs were to be set up in each panchayat of Kangra district. He said 815 LMKs were identified and the government had certified 105 of them. He said on the same pattern, 55 LMKs in Una district and 54 in Chamba had been certified. Despite certification, the LMKs were still awaiting activation of G2C services. He said under the programme, different departments, including social justice and empowerment, power, revenue, IPH and other panchayti raj institutions, had been involved and for the want of proper coordination, the project was getting delayed. IT department sources said certain modalities were being discussed and signatures of different officers were being put into the system. He said because of this technical problem, the project was getting delayed. Meanwhile, some VLEs have alleged that RS Gupta, Kangra deputy commissioner, recently threatened them that he would cancel all LMKs in the district in view of shabby performance of the programme. They claimed that there was no lapse on their part and they were being victimised. They also sought intervention of the Chief Minister.
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Arctic char breeding a success
Shimla, January 19
With the breeding programme being successful it is being hoped that the fish eggs would be ready for distribution among farmers next winter. "With Arctic char having a rearing capacity three times more than the rainbow trout it will bring in great dividends to farmers in the tribal areas with limited options," said B.D. Sharma, Director, Fisheries. The delectable cold water fish is currently not being reared anywhere in India and Himachal has taken the lead in this regard. With the upper limit tolerance of Arctic char being 12°C, it is suited only for the heights. With the fish growth getting retarded at temperatures below 4°C, the winter months could be difficult but then the metabolic activity would
Arctic char gives a production of 90 kg per cubic metre as compared to 30 kgs by rainbow trout, which is being produced at several private as well as government farms in the state. After successful rearing, the Fisheries Department has over 2,500 mother stock of Arctic char ready for distribution among interested farmers. Sharma points out that the successful breeding of Arctic char will greatly help enhance the income of farmers. "The fish is disease-resistant, gives three times more production and there is no cannibalism," he said. Himachal is the leading producer of trout in the country, overtaking both Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir. With over 80 private trout farms in the state the production by these entrepreneurs has crossed 60 tonnes. On the other hand the production in the six government farms at Holi, Sangla, Dhamwari, Patlikuhl and other farms this year was about 20 tonnes. Farmers are getting over Rs 200 per kg for rainbow trout. However, the absence of proper marketing channels is one of the major problems though some of the farmers have explored channels for sending their produce directly to Delhi where it is in great demand at five-star hotels. Efforts are being made to encourage the fish farmers to form a cooperative as this would help them in its marketing at remunerative prices.
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Paragliding association rues state's apathy
Bir Billing (Palampur), January 19 The State Tourism Department regularly organises Annual Pre-World Cup Paragliding Championship here in which hundreds of pilots from all over the world participate. Last year, although the Centre sanctioned Rs 1.27 crore for the development of the aero sports, even then the tourism department failed to organise the event which was to be held in November. Later, a local organisation, known as the Bir Billing Paragliding Association, came forward and decided to host the event on its own. But despite repeated requests, the association failed to get any cooperation from the local administration. However, last year over 300 pilots from India and abroad reached there to participate in the event, but the state government cancelled it just two days before and directed the association not to go ahead with it as it lacked the necessary infrastructure. The decision came as a big set back to the association. Suresh Thakur, president of the paragliding association, said: "We had cancelled the Himalayan Paragliding Open Championship 2009. The decision in this regard was taken following the non-cooperation of the government". "Our objective to hold the event was just to promote adventure tourism in the state. Since the government was not serious, we had to cancel it," he said. He further said there were over 50 members in the association and most of them were trained pilots having their own kits which were very expensive, as the kits were imported either from the USA or from England. He pleaded that the department should provide them the necessary equipments on subsidised rates. "Any organisation not registered with the Himachal Pradesh Tourism and Civil Aviation Department (HPTCAD) under the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development and Registration Act 2002 is not authorised to hold adventure sports activities," a senior officer of the State Tourism Department said. However, he failed to clarify why the event was cancelled at the last moment. He said the government was developing the Bir Billing aero site as per the international standards fixed by the Paragliding World Championship Association. But the association is free to hold the event, if it ensures better standards of safety to the gliders, he added.
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Baddi’s Sai Road in for upgradation
The industrial area of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) can be discredited with poor infrastructure, particularly bad roads. However, this has not deterred the local development authority from initiating an ambitious project to decongest and beautify Sai Road in Baddi. This project, first of its kind in the BBN, envisages widening and beautification of 1-km road connecting NH-21-A with Baddi’s most congested Sai Road. A metalled road of 10.5 metre would be put in place having pathways of 1.5 metre on either side. Fitted with streetlights, it will pave the way for the already planned Town Hall and Sabzi Mandi, which figure in the BBN master plan. It will not only help decongest Sai Road but also provide improved connectivity to NH-21-A. Work on the Rs 1.50-crore project has already begun and the existing road is being widened. It will help provide some respite to the traffic police struggling to facilitate movement of vehicles with the haphazardly parked trucks along the road. With a shopping mall already coming up along the road, it is bound to lend an upmarket ambience to the entire complex. It will be a welcome change in the township where pot-holed roads and traffic congestion have been the order of the day. In fact, the Baddi region is often being described as the biggest industrial slum of the country because of the poor civic amenities. The situation worsened after the grant of the industrial package as companies made a beeline for setting up units in Baddi to take advantage of the tax concessions but the government failed to expand the basic infrastructure. Cleanliness drive
The Hamirpur district administration has launched a new scheme called “Sampuran swachhata abhiyan” in schools to involve students for maintaining cleanliness in the government institutions by giving cash awards as prizes. This project has been launched in the government primary and middle schools of the district. The performance of various schools in carrying out the drive would be evaluated by specially constituted committees on the basis of which prizes would be given. The prizes will be given on April 15. The first prize of Rs 50,000 in cash would be given to the best clean school in the district and Rs 20,000 to best clean school selected in the block. The second prizes of Rs 10000 each would be given to the school placed second at the district and block
levels.
HRTC recruitment
After dragging its feet over the recruitment of bus conductors for over one year the HRTC has started the process afresh. This time interviews are being conducted for 132 conductors specifically for the bus fleet acquired for Shimla city service under the Jawahar Lal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission. The selected persons will
be engaged on a commission basis. Earlier, interviews were held for the selection of 495 bus conductors for all the HRTC depots across the state. There have been allegations of irregularities but the corporation cancelled the interviews on administrative grounds. Now the corporation has decided to carry out separate recruitment later to meet the shortage of conductors in various depots. In all, over 400 conductors will be recruited in the second phase.
(Contributed by Ambika Sharma, DP Gupta and Rakesh Lohumi)
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Fair-full Solan a favourite with tourists
by Shriniwas Joshi If Shimla has Christ Church on the Ridge as its signature mark, Solan has that in Thodo Ground. Recently while I was passing through the ground with Shailendra Singh, an acceptable cricketer during his youth, he told me that the ground was hardly a few paces broad and long with shrubs and plants covering the open space in the early 1940s and he, as a child, used to kick football here with his playmates. Pandit Vidya Sagar, an executive magistrate in Solan gave dimensions to the ground in 1957-58 with the help of the people who contributed about 40 per cent towards the cost in cash or kind. He had done a similar feat at Theog when posted there. Hailing from Chamba, he had seen Chowgan (a beautiful huge ground covered with green grass) from his childhood and knowing 'what is Chamba without the Chowgan', had a feel for open spaces and provided those to the towns wherever he had the opportunity to serve. The Thodo, today, is the venue of the popular Shoolini fair. Solan used to be the capital of the princely state of Baghat. The name Baghat had been derived from Bahu (many) Ghat (pass) or Barah (12) Ghat. Certainly there are several places, Kandagaht, Kaithlighat, Waknaghat, Chambaghat etc., within the old territory of Baghat. And Solan was not always its capital. It was Bhoch in the Bhochali pargana on the Sabathu road. After Rana Dalip Singh, the title was changed to Raja and when his son, Durga Singh, ascended the throne, the capital was shifted to Solan in 1875 when a cantonment had already been established here after General Innes had acquired the rights in 1863 on an annual payment of Rs.500 for establishing it. The Rajas of states in the hills had liking for fairs and the Raja of Solan knew that it would attract the tourists because of the location and salubrious climate of the town - midway between the heights of Shimla and the plains of Kalka. The Solan fair of the yonder days was held in June at Akhara, near Durga Bhagwati temple, in the main bazaar. Its attraction was famous wrestlers of India flocking in Solan. The names like Rustam-e-zaman Gama, Goonga, Kingkong, Goldstein, Hamida, Kikar Singh, Mangal Singh etc. are still taken with reverence by the old-timers. The Solan fair was shifted to Thodo in the 1950s when Antani was the Magistrate here. It was not a district then and an Executive Magistrate used to be responsible also for socio-development of the town. Former capital Bhoch had a fair after the one at Solan and its pull was bullfight and Karyala, a folk-theatre of Solan, Shimla and Sirmaur districts. Not far away from Solan, near Chambaghat, is Basal village and that had the honour of arranging a fair with archers from various places showing their skills in Thoda, a happy blend of sport and culture. It is played with bows and arrows. The two rival groups are called Pashe and Saathe - representing the Pandavas and the Kauravas, respectively. The target in this game is the leg below the knee, where the opponent should aim his arrow. Lightning movements and agility are the qualities required for defence. The competition is conducted to the lively, virile rhythm of war dance, with supple sidestepping and dexterous leg kicking while the other side tries to shoot on the target. There are minus points for a strike on the forbidden parts of the leg. The Thodo ground of Solan has earned its name from this sport. Besides these fairs, the Raja of Solan held darbars during Dasehra in which known names in Indian classical music like Paluskar, Ahmed Jan Thirakua, Vilayat Khan, VR Patwardhan, Malika Pukhraj and Begum Akhtar used to participate. Fair-full Solan, therefore, remained the number one hill station in the list of tourists. No wonder many built their own houses and spent the summer here.
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14-quintal butter idol attracts devotees
Kangra, January 19 Des Raj Jariyal, temple officer, says devotees from all over the country donate ghee for this purpose. He claims that pujaris with a specific technique convert the donated ghee into butter by washing ghee with water 108 times. Ram Prasad Sharma, chief pujari, says they started making the butter idol on January 14 evening and the process was completed in the wee hours next day coinciding with Makar Sankrati. Sharma says the butter remains on the pindi for a week before it is removed on January 20, every year. Jariyal says the temple authorities received ghee from devotees from Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Agra, Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, MP, UP and Gujarat, besides local people. He says the butter when removed is distributed among devotees. It is then used for the treatment of chronic skin ailments and joint pains. Meanwhile, a large number of pilgrims were seen at the temple during the festival.
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Drive to make shepherds aware of govt schemes
Nurpur, January 19
Animal husbandry experts educated them about various diseases and healthcare of the livestock. They were also given free first-aid kits. The participants were told about special contributory insurance schemes for shepherds as well as their sheep. “For shepherds, there is an accidental insurance cover of Rs 1.5 lakh to be contributed by the LIC, government and the beneficiary with annual premium contribution of Rs 100, 80 and 150, respectively. For sheep, there is an insurance cover of Rs 1,200 with contribution of premium of Rs 25 and 19 by the government and the beneficiary, respectively,” camp organisers told the shepherds. Deepak Saini, manager (marketing), HPWF, apprised the participants of an ambitious project launched to ameliorate the socio-economic conditions of shepherds in Kangra, Chamba, Mandi and Kullu districts by the Central Wool Development Board. He revealed that the board had launched the Integrated Wool Improvement and Development Programme (IWIDP) with technical assistance of the animal husbandry department in these districts and the HPWF had identified 1.10 lakh shepherds in Kangra district alone whereas in other districts beneficiaries were being identified. “A sum of Rs 7.10 crore will be spent within three years to benefit as many as four lakh shepherds in these districts,” he revealed. Meanwhile, Trilok Kapoor, chairman HPWF, said the state government was committed to uplift the economically backward shepherds by launching wool improvement and development schemes.
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Australian students visit Tanda medical college
Kangra, January 19
He claimed that the visitors were of the opinion that the college would become a centre of excellence in the days to come. Dr AK Bhardwaj, Dr Pardeep Bansal and Dr Sunil Raina, head, associate professor and assistant professor, respectively, of the Department of Community Medicines, were asked to take care of the visiting students for their three-day visit. Dr Bhardwaj told them about the teaching methodology applied to medical students in India in general and DRPGMC in particular. Dr Bansal and Dr Raina delivered lectures on health problems in India and the three-tier health system in the country. The visitors were told how medical services were being provided to people from top to the gross-roots level. Interestingly, the visiting students came across a lot of the patients suffering from communicable diseases as such patients are rarely available in Australia. Tuberculosis patients were examined and studied with interest by the visiting foreigners as TB has been wiped out of Australia. Dr Dheeraj Kapoor, HoD, medicines, briefed the students about types of patients were admitted in the hospital and statement of protocol. Dr Tully, consultant, eye department, made the visitors to examine few ophthalmologic patients and suggested the treatment. Sarah Sattar and Allya, both students, were all praise for the medical exchange programme. They said they did field practice in the area of the community medicines at Nagrota Bagwan and health system at CHC, PHC, sub-centres and anganwari centres in the Shahpur area of the district. Stacey and Xinyi from among the team also appreciated the programme. They also lauded the hospitality of the people of the state. Dr Anil Chouhan said it was expected to send the students of DRPGMC to Australia under this programme. He said another group of medical students would arrive at the college from England in June. A global conference of doctors would also be held and modalities for the same had been finalised, he added. Dr Padam Dev and Dr Amit, representatives of Volunteering India, an NGO, who had organised the programme, said the programme was organised to bring students of both countries closer in a friendly atmosphere.
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Youth hostel gives fillip to tourism
Dalhousie, January 19 Such trekking expeditions have been helpful in getting a lot of people to visit Dalhousie during the off-season. These trekkers, who have been coming to Dalhousie for the first time and who had not known much about this place, tend to come back with their families later, thus help propping up tourism in this region. This year, a record number of 928 trekkers consisting of 744 men and 184 women from 17 states took part in the expedition. The members of the expedition trekked to adjacent trekking itineraries of the Dalhousie-Chamba tourist circuit. Dalhousie has been promoted as a tourist destination among people in the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh through this programme in a big way. These trekkers were happy enough to see a lot of snow at Kalatop. This expedition also promoted a lot of employment-generation activity among villagers en route the trek. Village children on the route to Khajjiar from Kalatop received the trekkers with flowers. They also sold Narko flowers for Rs 5 a bunch. Some families provided even hot Maggi, omlette and local Himachali dishes at nominal prices to the trekkers in the jungle, thereby supplementing their income. Trekker Jatin Sangivi, a software
engineer, said it was surprising for him to see frozen water in the open even during the day in upper Dalhousie hills for the first time. Dalhousie’s Youth Hostel helped putting Dalhousie on the international tourism map by connecting it to the international online booking network in 2007. The hostel has given the much-needed fillip to the tourism in this picturesque alpine region, says Asish Chadha, a member of the Board of Directors of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation. The main objective of the hostel is to provide good accommodation at nominal tariff and serve as a “home away from home” for the travelling youths. Consequently, the 92-bed hostel has been attracting students and youth groups from different states of the country and nationals from more than 30 countries are using the hostel annually. This hostel has been graded as the best among the government-run youth hostels in the evaluation report of the Youth Hostel Scheme conducted by the YHAI on the request of the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports as desired by the Planning Commission of India.
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Agriculture sector stagnates
Shimla, January 19 There has been a marginal increase in farm productivity over the period, but it was largely offset by the large-scale diversion of agricultural land and the state never achieved the target of food grain production which continues to oscillate from 12 lakh tonnes to 15 lakh tonnes. The growth of agriculture sector has not only been poor, but also unsteady. The average growth has been between 2 per cent to 4 per cent and in the event of drought and other natural calamity, which is quite often, it even turns negative. In the absence of any land use plan and policy, cultivable land is being diverted without any restrictions and as a result, the net sown area has been decreasing with each passing year. Over the period, almost 15 per cent of the total 6.5 lakh hectare of the net sown area has been diverted and an equal area (about 72,000 hectare) has degenerated into fallows. Section 118 of the Land Reforms and Tenancy Act, which was meant to protect the agricultural land, has over the years become a convenient tool in the hands of politicians in power for its diversion. The area under wheat has declined from 3.82 lakh hectare to 3.58 lakh hectare, rice from 90,000 hectare to 71,000 hectare and maize from 3.20 lakh hectare to 2.95 lakh hectare. Over the past decade or so, a lot of emphasis is being laid on expanding irrigation facility to bring more area under command. On an average, 2,500 to 3,000 hectare is being brought under assured irrigation annually, but the percentage of the irrigated area continues to hover around 21 per cent. The reasons are not far to seek. The failure to properly maintain the old irrigation schemes, particularly the traditional kuhls, more and more of which are becoming defunct, is depriving large chunks of land of irrigation facility. Worse, even irrigated land has been diverted for non-agriculture purposes. Some of the best farms of the agriculture department have been transferred for setting up various institutions. The latest instance is the 50-acre Bhongrotu farm in Mandi which has been given for ESIC Medical College. It was one of the few farms which even had the sprinkler irrigation facility. Many schemes have been affected due to drying up of sources, while others have become the victim of indiscriminate mining in riverbeds, which had lowered the water level leaving the intakes literally high and dry. In such a situation, it hardly surprises that the productivity of all crops, except maize, is lower than the national average. The yield of wheat is 18 quintal per hectare as against the national average of 30 quintal per hectare and that of rice is 17 quintal per hectare against the national average of 35 quintal per hectare. The state is better place in case of maize with 26 quintal per hectare against the national average of 18 quintal per hectare. The reason is that still 80 per cent area is rain fed and that the farmers are still at the mercy of the rain God. JC Rana, director of agriculture, admits that the declining contribution of agriculture to the SGDP and decreasing net sown area are a matter of concern and the only way-out was to increase productivity. The department had prepared a Rs 3,500 crore integrated plan for the purpose which would raise the contribution of agriculture to the SGDP to around 35 per cent. The focus of the plan was on micro-irrigation which was the key to increasing productivity in hills.
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