Shimla, March 21
After exercising a measure of fiscal discipline for about two years, the debt-ridden state has veered off the fiscal correction path chalked out by the World Bank while sanctioning the Rs 900 crore development policy grant to pull it out of the debt trap.

The ratio of fiscal deficit to the gross state domestic product, which was to be reduced from 3.4 per cent in 2007-08 to 2.2 per cent in 2011-12 by implementing the approved “policy matrix”, shot up to 5.42 per cent in 2009-10. While some increase was expected on account of economic slowdown and pay revision, the increase of almost 2 per cent was too high and unsustainable for a state with small tax base. It will come down marginally to 5.08 per cent in the next fiscal and increase to 5.66 in 2011-12 and 5.86 in the following year.

Further, on average, the net loan was to go up by about Rs 1,100 crore every year from 2007-08 to 2011-12 to help keep the total outstanding debt of the state down to Rs 24,000 crore. However, the figure has been crossed during the current financial year itself and as per projections, net loan in the next financial year will go up by over Rs 1,700 crore, making things worse. The bank has already released the second and final tranche of Rs 471 crore to the state and it will be interesting to see if it implements in letter and spirit the policy matrix as per which total transfers of employees were to be limited to 6 per cent (about 12,000), government guarantees were capped at 40 per cent of the total receipts of the preceding year (Rs 2,000 crore) and power subsidy to Rs 140 crore.

More importantly, downsizing was to be effected in five major departments of education, heath, PWD, irrigation and public health and forest after undertaking manpower requirement studies. The surplus manpower was to be phased out by creating dying cadres.

The state has far too many employees in government sector (over 4 per cent) as compared to less than 1 per cent at the national level. In fact, it had already suffered on this account with the 13th Finance Commission adopting the normative approach to cap the expenditure on salary at 35 per cent of the total revenue expenditure sans committed liability on account of pension, interest and loan repayment. Accordingly, it recommended a revenue deficit grant of Rs 7,889 crore as against Rs 10,300 crore recommended by the 12 Finance Commission.

The performance of the state in the first three years clearly indicates that the fiscal indicators, instead of improving, will deteriorate further at the end of the five-year period.

Bhatiyan (Nalagarh), March 21
Chief Minister PK Dhumal today blamed the UPA government for discriminating against the state by curtailing the central industrial package time and again and extending it only in Jammu and Kashmir where the Congress government was in power.

He said it was unfortunate that the package, which was granted to three hilly and industrially backward states - Himachal, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir - by former Prime Minister AB Vajpayee in 2002, was extended only where the Congress was in power.

Flaying the UPA for its discriminating policy, Dhumal said if was for the first time that the Centre had withdrawn a package given by it before time.

He was addressing a public meeting here after inaugurating a steel unit, Timco Steel Company, which had been set up at a cost of Rs 25 crore by Nalagarh MLA HN Saini.

The CM, while urging the investors of the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial area to provide more employment, said the state provided a pollution free environment with adequate power and where there was no labour or law and order problem.

He announced opening of adequate labour hostels for both men and women and said efforts were afoot to ensure that hostels were constructed close to the units so that the youth did not shy away from coming to the BBN. He said facilities like common effluent treatment plant and community facilitation centre were set up at Nalagarh besides strengthening of the NH-21A would be taken up and funds worth Rs 2.45 crore had been estimated for it. He said Rs 50 lakh had already been sanctioned to the BBN Development Authority for this purpose.

He said Rs 2,200 textile bank had been approved for Amb in Una district while country’s leading two-wheeler group Hero Honda had approached the state for Rs 2,000 project and even if the central package was not increased they would provide all facilities to the upcoming industry.

Earlier, Industries Minister Kishen Kapoor gave figurative details of the industrial growth. Local MLA HN Saini thanked the CM for acceding to their various demands, including speedy construction of the Chikni bridge, widening of Bir Pallasi road and upgradation of schools.

Earlier, the CM also inaugurated a new building of Government Senior secondary School at Khera village, which had been constructed by a media group.

Shimla, March 21
With its earlier plans of setting up an international airport in the state failing to take off, the government has finally decided to rope in private investment and hand over land to entrepreneurs in either Shimla or Solan district so as to give a boost to tourism in the state.

The Department of Tourism and Civil Aviation has written to Deputy Commissioners of Solan and Shimla to identify about 1,000 bighas of land which will ideally be suited for the coming up of an international airport.

With two big firms, including GMR, which constructed Hyderabad airport, evincing interest in the international airport, the project is likely to be taken under private-public partnership (PPP) mode.

The Department of Tourism has already initiated the process for setting up of an international airport through the PPP mode. “Neither the state government has the resources for the project nor will the Centre fund it. Hence, the best option available is that the project be taken up under PPP mode and the private company be provided the land,” a senior official said.

According to rough estimates worked out by the department, the government will have to spend about Rs 100 crore on providing 1,000 bigha land along with water, power and road connectivity. The international airport is likely to cost anywhere between Rs 2,000 and Rs 3,000 crore.

Despite certain destinations like Shimla and Manali figuring on the international tourist map, the absence of an international airport in the hill state is a major impediment attracting high-end tourists. To make matters worse, air connectivity in the state is very poor and there are only three airports at Shimla, Kangra and Kullu.

At present, it is only small planes that are able to land at the three airports because of limited length of runways. As a result, the airfare works out to be very high and uneconomical. Efforts of the government to have subsidised airfare on the pattern of Jammu and Kashmir and North East have not yielded result.

Proposals to extend the runway at the Shimla airport has been pending and is practically unfeasible as the cost is likely to cross Rs 500 crore.

It was two years back that the Airport Authority of India (AAI) had prepared a rough estimate about extension of the runway from the present 4,100 ft by filling up both sides of the airport. Moreover, this would have helped extend the runway by only 400 ft whereas to enable landing of bigger planes, a runway of at least 8,000 ft is required.

Shimla, March 21
Opposition by the Congress and some other organisations notwithstanding, the new timber distribution (TD) policy, framed on the direction of the high court, will indeed check misuse of the facility and save thousands of green trees from axe every year.

Under the new policy, instead of standing trees, the right holders will be given converted timber at 10 per cent of the market rates, as determined from the sale price of the state forest corporation, to the BPL families and 30 per cent to the APL families. Accordingly, the current rate for one cubic metre of deodar works out to be Rs 2,400 for BPL families.

Till 2006, when the high court imposed a ban, about 45,000 to 50,000 green trees were being allotted to the right holders annually.

Trees were being allotted at ludicrously low rates fixed during the forest settlement in 1872. The rates of TD were fixed at one-fifth of the market rates which varied from Re 1 and Rs 2 per tree and the same rates were being charged even though the market rates of some of the species like deodar increased from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh. The ratio of TD rates to the market rates for deodar, which was 1:5 about 137 years ago, has gone up to 1:9000, in case of chil (pine), it has gone up from 1:8 in 1867 to 1:15,000 and for kail to 1:30,000.

For a new house, three cubic metre of converted timber will be provided once in a lifetime or 30 years and for major repairs, one cubic metre once in 15 years. The state forest corporation’s average rate of deodar TD will be granted only if timber was available “silviculturally” in the forest, in which they had rights, for extraction as per the forest working plan. Green trees will be saved as the demand for the TD will be first met through salvage markings. The rights will be sustained only if trees are available for felling.

With precious trees being virtually given free of cost, misuse was inevitable. The TD timber was smuggled out of state and used for raising palatial commercial buildings, including hotels, in both urban and rural areas. In fact, TD fellings had become a big drain on the fast-depleting forest reserves, forcing the high court to impose a ban on grant of trees, till the policy was rationalised.

As per records of the Forest Department, 2,10,934 green trees, with a standing volume of 5,49,484 cubic metre worth over Rs 275 crore, were sanctioned to right holders between the 1994-99 period, charging a meagre amount of Rs 2.13 lakh. 

Shimla, March 21
Enraged over the move to sell the apple carton factory at Gummah, the Himachal Pradesh Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Federation has threatened to launch a statewide stir if the decision was not reversed and production resumed at the public sector unit.

The federation drew attention of the government to the fact that the factory catered to the need of not only the apple growers but also of those growing vegetables, flowers and other fruits. If properly managed it could also produce cartons for the growers of neighbouring states. If the government could give grants to other corporations, which had incurred huge losses, there was no reason to close down this particular unit on this ground. More so, because the government was itself facing huge deficit.

The decision only betrayed the anti-apple growers’ bias of the BJP government. The party had in its election manifesto promised that it would restart production after coming to power but it was doing exactly the opposite.

Apple season was fast approaching and the government should repair the plant and resume production of cartons without delay. The unit, which produced high quality cartons, must remain in operation to give competition to the private sector units and save the growers from exploitation.

President of the federation Ravinder Chauhan said meeting of growers would be held at Theog on April 5 to chalk out the strategy for the proposed mass agitation.

Manali, March 21
Union Minster for Steel Virbhadra Singh strongly flayed the recent hike in bus fares by the state government today. He was speaking at the inaugural function of Leaves Experiment laboratory at Mahili, organised by upper Kullu Fruit Growers’ Association at Baagwan Bhawan on the Kullu-Naggar road, about 21 km from here.

The lab has come up at a cost of Rs 25 lakh.

Virbhadra, on his maiden visit after having been inducted into the Union Cabinet, alleged that exorbitant hike in bus fares would prove to be a huge burden on commuters of the hill state.

The Union Minister, while addressing orchardists drawn from different parts of the Kullu valley, said the Bhanupalli-Bilaspur and from Bilaspur upto Beri, Mandi, Kullu, Manali and Hamirpur railway line would link many parts of the state. Keeping in view the increasing prices of diesel and petrol, a big railway network was essential in the state, he added. 

Dharamsala, March 21
The Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department has decided against issuing of no-objection certificates (NOC) for establishing micro-hydel projects on rivulets that feed drinking water schemes. The decision would also be applicable to rivulets that were used for irrigation purposes traditionally by farmers.

IPH Minister Ravinder Ravi said the decision had been conveyed to competent authorities of the department.

Farmers in many areas of the state had been complaining that their traditional irrigation and drinking water sources were drying due to establishment of micro-hydel projects. In Kangra district alone, farmers in Nagrota Bagwan and Chari area had been complaining that their crops were being hit as the water supply of the rivulets flowing in their respective areas had dried up.

In Kangra district, most of the agriculture is carried out in the rain-fed area. The farmers have not established any irrigation sources. Traditionally, the streams that flow around the year from the Dhauladhar hills were used by farmers to irrigate their fields.

Since the establishment of micro-hydel projects on rivulets like Gajj and Manji, the farmers were complaining that they were not getting water to irrigate their fields. Inquiries by The Tribune revealed that companies that had set up micro-hydel projects, collected water for sometime and then released it to run their turbines. It disrupted the natural flow of water in streams.

The fight for water had increased to such an extent that, at places, villages were even opposing the drinking water schemes being brought up on the traditional streams passing through their area.

Recently, residents of six panchayats, in and around Dhari, protested against the upcoming drinking water scheme, fearing that it would completely dry their traditional water source.

Residents of the Yol cantonment area also complained against drinking water scheme being brought in their area by the Army.

Experts were of the view that fight for water in the valley was likely to intensify with the decreasing rain and snow on the hills. The state government had to protect the traditional rights of people on streams flowing in their area.

To strike a balance between development and decreasing resources, the government would have to implement schemes for conservation of water that was a scarce commodity in the hills.

The recent decision of the state government to allow marginal farmers to take up irrigation, land development and horticulture development works under MNREGA could provide an alternative to the problem. The villagers should be encouraged to conserve water in their respective areas by working under MNREGA, especially in rain-fed areas like Dharamsala.

Hamirpur, March 21
The government hospital at Sujanpur Tihra has not been made functional at its new complex even after its inauguration in February by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, due to pending works in the new building.

The new building, which will have various medical facilities for patients and spacious rooms for staff to run these facilities, is still under the control of the Public Works Department (PWD), which will take at least two weeks to handover it to the hospital authorities.

The building, which had been raised with an estimated cost of Rs 1.5 crore, was inaugurated by the Chief Minister on February 26.

The hospital, which had been designated as first referral unit (FRU) by the state government few years back, is still being run from the old building having four rooms.

At present, indoor facilities for only 12 patients is available, but the new building will have capacity for handling 30 indoor patients, a modern operation theatre, a labour room, maternity ward etc.

According to information, as many as 150 patients visit the outdoor patient department (OPD) here daily and many of them require hospitalisation.

According to sources, delay in making new hospital building operational is due to non-completion of few works by the PWD Department.

Hamirpur CMO Dr DS Chandel said, “Some work in the bathrooms like putting up tiles and marbles etc is still going on and we will shift in the new complex after completion of all these works because it becomes difficult to complete these works after shifting.”

Superintending engineer of the PWD BT Negi said, “Finishing touches are being given to the new building of the hospital which will be completed in the next 10 days.”

Solan, March 21
Peeved about prolonged neglect of the Nalagarh industrial area and lack of effective airing of their grievances at appropriate platform, investors of this belt have joined hands and constituted the Nalagarh Industrial Association.

About 150 investors, who met recently at Nalagarh, unanimously elected Prem Sharma as their president while Harish Aggarwal was elected senior vice-president. Rajesh Aggarwal and Sahil Kumar were elected vice-presidents, Ramesh Gupta Rakesh Sharma, Vinod Khurana and Hitender Chawla were given the post of general secretaries.

Anil Sharma was entrusted the task of press secretary while an organising secretary, three joint secretary, a treasurer and directors were also elected.

Prem Sharma, while vouching to take up crucial issues of this area before the authorities, said, “It is lamentable that significant issues like road connectivity suffered adversely and the crucial Chikni bridge, which was damaged in August, 2008, was yet to get repaired. Not only were roads of the Nalagarh industrial belt awaiting repairs, this area was given a step-motherly treatment when Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial area was considered in totality.”

The association chiefly demanded expansion of the jurisdiction of the office of Single Window Clearance Agency at Nalagarh as it would facilitate their operations.

Though major industrial houses like Ambuja Cement, TVS Motors, GPI Textiles, Sahara Textiles, Dev Bhumi Saria, Greenply, various pharmaceutical units, etc., were located here, there was not even one community hall or facility centre where investors could address grievances of all departments under one roof. The association would, therefore, endeavour to open such a facility centre and also get offices of crucial departments like the State Pollution Control opened at Nalagarh.

The association later met local MLA HN Saini and apprised him of various problems plaguing the Nalagarh area and sought his support to solve them.

Mandi, March 21
Even as farmers in the apple-belt have been demanding opening of branches of Himachal Gramin Bank (HGB), the HGB management may miss the March 31 target of opening 15 new branches of the bank mainly in Shantha-Dewat in Chopal and Hilahila in Kotkhai in the apple belt and other areas in Sirmaur, Solan, Bilaspur, Lahaul-Spiti, Kinnaur and Hamirpur districts, which were assigned to the bank as new areas for rural banking.

The HGB management continued to be sluggish in achieving the target of opening 15 new branches, seven in Shimla district, which had been assigned to it recently.

Though the HGB claimed that it had covered all districts by opening its branches there except certain neglected pockets in Shimla, Solan, Sirmaur and tribal areas, the bank management had been sitting on the licences given by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Even the HGB had opened its branches in urban centres which were already overburdened just to oblige political bosses. However, farmers in the remote neglected areas mainly in the apple-belt of Chopal and Kotkhai and other rural areas in Sirmaur and Solan districts remained without banks, revealed insiders.

The HGB employees and bank officers union even urged the state government to intervene and expedite the process of opening new branches in the rural areas, the objectives for which the regional rural banks (RRB) have been opened.

They rejected the bank pleas that HGB had shortage of staff to start new branches on the ground that HGB had surplus staff in town-based branches in Mandi, Kangra and other districts.

Outgoing chairman of the HGB Dr Phool Singh said they have opened three branches in Shimla and were trying to get licence from the RBI to start new branches mainly in Shimla, Sirmaur and Solan districts in the near future. “We also face shortage of staff to start new branches,” he claimed.