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Rs 162-cr plan to replace old sewerage in Shimla
Farmer surprises all, grows coffee seeds in Bilaspur
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Animal enclosures to have double locking
Auction of sabzi mandi shops stalled
vignettes
Orientation training ends
Bhuntar-Kullu road awaits repairs
Finally, law to check misuse of groundwater
Sarvakalyankari Sabha to hold career counselling, placement camp in
Hamirpur
Himachal diary
HPSEB’s protection division sought at Nurpur
CPMT: Wary parents urge VC to ensure transparency
Rang Mahal's glory fades away
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Rs 162-cr plan to replace old sewerage in Shimla
Shimla, April 20 While the exact cause of such sporadic eruption was not confirmed by the authorities, fingers pointed to contaminated water supply. Improper disposal of sewage has been a major cause of water pollution in the hills. The problem lies in the old, worn-out water distribution system and faulty sewerage. As per estimates almost 30 per cent of the water is lost due to leakage and in many areas drinking water pipelines have been laid through drains and as water is supplied once a day there is always a possibility of drain water being sucked into water pipes. Even after implementation of the Rs 55-crore OPEC-funded sewerage project only half the sewage generated is treated. The sewage treatment plants with an aggregate capacity of 35.63 million litres per day (mld) set up under the project are being grossly underutilised because the new 179-km sewer lines have not been properly connected to the old sewerage network. The old sewer lines in the main city from Combermere Bridge to the AG Office are full of missing links. The result is that the treatment plant at Lalpani, which has the highest capacity of 19.3 mld, has been receiving only about 6 to 8 mld of sewage. Some lines are permanently choked while others burst frequently. The department has laid the main line through the city but the lateral network of the local Municipal Corporation has not been connected to it properly. However, Joint municipal commissioner KK Sharma says that a permanent solution to the problem is in sight with the Centre approving in principle a Rs 162 crore plan for replacing the old neglected sewerage network and extending it to the new areas merged into the corporation. The four-inch diameter sewers will be replaced with six inch ones to enhance the carrying capacity. The new system will suffice till 2031 for a projected population of 5,45,722. However, in the first phase Rs 53 crore will be provided for the upgradation and improvement of the system within the old city areas. Three more sewage treatment plants will be constructed for the Tutu Jatogh and Panthaghti and Snajauli-Malana areas. Further, a Rs 72-crore plan for replacing the old drinking water pipelines and plugging leakages and upgrading the distribution system, wherever required, has also been approved. The task of replacing the old pipelines from Dhalli will commence shortly. The water pipes laid through drains will also be replaced and laid afresh to prevent any possibility of contamination.
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Farmer surprises all, grows coffee seeds in Bilaspur
Bilaspur, April 20 He noticed that climate of that region (Hassan-Chik Mangloor) was not different from that of Bilaspur district, as it is comparatively hot and arid as compared to other several areas of the state. It was then that he thought of trying his hands at growing coffee in his fields here at Majholi village (Marhana), near Bharadi in Ghumarwin subdivision of the district. Now, Vikram can take pride that he has succeeded in growing coffee seeds in his otherwise sloping and mostly stone-laden land, which has become a cause of surprise for experts and anxiety for other farmers of the area. Vikram said he brought coffee seeds from Karnataka and grew some 50 plants in his fields. Last year he got crop of 12 kg and this year he expects to get some 30 kg of coffee seeds. He says coffee seeds fetch price of Rs 265 per kg, which can improve the economy of farmers of the district. “Better quality coffee seeds are also imported from Brazil and Kenya which are better grown here due to frost during winter. Indian coffee seed plants get seriously affected due to frost which is not uncommon here and has been notorious for destroying fully grown crops of mango. But Kenyan seeds withstand all such freak weather, even frost,” he said. He said the crop of coffee increases if few timber trees are grown between coffee plants and this is an additional advantage here. These plants do not get affected by pests or stray cattle. Vikram also has a 25-year-old ‘Rudraksha’ tree in his field and has planted successfully six trees of cinnamon (daal chini) as an experiment, which he also plans to grow as a commercial crop on a larger scale soon. He is also growing ‘cheeku’ in his fields.
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Animal enclosures to have double locking
Shimla, April 20 It is following the callousness of the staff at the Tuti Kandi Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre here that leopards strayed out of their enclosures, posing a threat to the lives of people residing in the nearby localities on two different occasions. Though five staff members, including a deputy ranger, forest guard, two animal attendants and chowkidar, at Tuti Kandi were placed under suspension, it was decided to have a proper protocol. “We have prepared and enforced a strict protocol for feeding, cleaning and health care of animals so that there is no laxity at any stage,” said KS Thakur, conservator, Wildlife. To ensure that there is no way the enclosures are left open, double locking system would be put in place. “It is after undertaking an exhaustive exercise that we have placed orders for automatic locks from Aligarh so that there is no chance of animal venturing out, while the old and defective locks have already been replaced with superior quality locks,” he said. Replacing of locks would be done at Tuti Kandi, Himalayan Nature Park, Kufri and two zoos at Gopalpur in Kangra and Renuka in Sirmour district in a phased manner. As a precautionary measure against negligence on the part of its staff, the Wildlife Wing also held workshops for its staff on “Zoo Keeping and Management”. It was on April 7 and 8 that this orientation programme was held for the staff of Tuti Kandi and Kufri Nature Park, respectively. The Wildlife Authorities also propose to have mock drills to ensure that the staff knows how to tackle the situation in case an animal ventures out or attacks someone. While the Tuti Kandi Centre has seven leopards and 11 black bears, Kufri Park has various animals, including the majestic snow leopard. The biggest attraction at Renuka is its Lion Safari even though the problem of inbreeding has plagued the zoo.
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Auction of sabzi mandi shops stalled
Palampur, April 20 A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Josseff Kaurian and Justice RB Misra, on a writ petition filed by local fruit vendors, had directed the state agriculture department and the marketing board to complete the allotment process in a time-bound plan. Ravinder Gupta, Vikash Vasudeva, Sunil Kumar and other local fruit and vegetable vendors had approached the court for early allotment of shops in the newly constructed sabzi mandi, which was inaugurated by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal in September 2009. The state government has spent Rs 4 crore on the complex. Due to the non-allotment of shops, the marketing board has been suffering a loss of Rs 1 lakh every month. On March 11, the high court directed the marketing board to complete the allotment process within a month, following which RS Gupta, Kangra deputy commissioner, constituted an allotment committee headed by district secretary, marketing board, and the auction was fixed for April 13. But on this date, the board again failed to complete the process due to disruption by some anti-social elements. There were some non-eligible vegetable sellers who wanted to grab shops without participating in the auction process. Local BJP leaders are also allegedly supporting the non-eligible candidates. The matter was later reported to the deputy commissioner, who had initiated action against the culprits. Meanwhile, a spokesman for the marketing board said a new date for the auction would be fixed soon.
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vignettes
When Columbus reached Cuba in 1492, he found people smearing their body with leaves of a plant and smelling it. In 1502, his co-voyagers found them eating and worshipping it and sprinkling its dried leaves in the air during famine to curb its effects and throwing these in water for improving the quantity of fish. The Portuguese brought this plant to India along with potato and tomato in 1508. The plant was deadly, lethal and toxic tobacco - that not only kills the smoker but also kills those who sit with him and inhale the smoke. The poison is sold in attractive packages all through (See photo). From 1508 to 2003, the Indian Elephant sat silently over the growing use of tobacco and then it trumpeted when India led a block of developing countries to advocate and secure an effective Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The same year, the Government of India, established its global leadership to enact the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), 2003, with a view to systematically reducing tobacco use among our people.
I climbed on the bandwagon of the Himachal Pradesh Voluntary Health Association (HPVHA) when I found that it was serious about curbing the menace that kills about a million people in India every year. The number of deaths in Himachal Pradesh due to tobacco-related diseases is about 2 per cent of the total. Can you believe it that 80 per cent of the tobacco consumers today started smoking or using tobacco when they were in school and slightly less than a third of the school-going population in the state used tobacco products in one or the other form? The common myths that prevail among the students are: 1. Using tobacco increases the weight and height of the consumer. The fact is that it reduces the height by 20 per cent and the weight loss is about 25 per cent. 2. We also found that the lung power of the smokers was 66 per cent less than that of the non-smokers. The chest expansion of the former to the latter was shorter by 19 per cent. 3. If the student scoring high marks happened to be a smoker, he was copied by other students with a false notion that smoking might increase the power of concentration. It is a myth because the recent research conducted by Tel Aviv University under Prof Mark Weiser concludes that "the average IQ for a non-smoker was about 101 and that for the smoker about 94." The HPVHA decided to attack the breeding ground of the menace that was growing in Himachal Pradesh. The surveys conducted showed that the girl-students preferred taking oral tobacco to smoking. The fact is that during the past three years the trend among the student community has shifted to non-smoking use of tobacco. Smoking has reduced from 5 per cent to 2 per cent % but the use of gutka, khaini etc. has increased to 16 per cent from 14 per cent. We, as a team of the HPVHA, talked to the heads of about 50 high and senior secondary schools of Shimla town and, barring a few, found total apathy towards the pious legislation among the Principals/ Headmasters of the government schools. One of them was bothered about the difficulties she was facing in distributing mid-day meals. Another was giving one ear to her pay and allowances bills while with the other she pretended to listen to our pleas. Yet another was engaged in a police enquiry and was casual to COTPA's provisions. Those of private schools were all attention and had taken initiative on their own too. A woman principal had spoken to vendors around her school and told them not to sell tobacco products to the students in school uniform, the other had issued a letter to all vendors informing them that selling tobacco products within 100 yards of school premises was an offence and yet another had frisked the boys and girls of senior classes on the day of our unscheduled visit and had found tobacco products in a boy's purse. When will the attitude of the heads of our government institutions change? It is not the schools, even the Secretariat; epitome of administration, has not put up the signage required under COTPA-2003.
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Orientation training ends
Solan, April 20 Several recommendations were made during the programme, which included maintenance of record of visiting farmers’ problems and solutions at the respective kendras and discussion of farm testing trials with the head of the departments on the newly emerged problems for making an annual action plan. It was also decided that all KVKs should document indigenous technology knowledge and farmers’ innovations in their operational areas. More emphasis should be given on small and marginal farmers of the remote areas. All KVKs must have their own demonstration units for different crops. Only tested technologies recommended by the universities/ICAR institutes should be passed on to the farmers and some of the technologies need to be identified which could be common to all KVKs. In the concluding session, Dr KR Dhiman, VC of the University, advised that recommendations which had emerged from this programme must be adopted. He said KVKs were the nodal agencies for the transfer of technology to the grass-roots level and they must fulfill the aspirations of the farmers.
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Bhuntar-Kullu road awaits repairs
Kullu, April 20 GC Gupta, executive engineer, HPPWD, here said the status of the road between Bhuntar and Kullu (up to Ramshilla) was not clear after the de-notification of this part. He said the portion is neither the national highway nor the state highway. The department had initiated a proposal to the government to notify this portion as major district road and the confirmation is still awaited. The condition of the road between Bhuntar and Kullu is miserable and crying for repairs for the past eight years. Damaged parts of the Bhuntar-Kullu Road have already caused several accidents, but it looked that the administration and the PWD were waiting for a big mishap. A part of retaining wall gave way two months ago near Baba Balak Nath Temple near here, while the passing vehicle over the wall escaped miraculously from rolling down to 1,000-ft deep gorge. One person on the road was killed. Two parapets have been lying broken, but the PWD is yet to repair the damaged parts. The road from Shashtri Nagar near Swami Shyam Ashram to Dhalpur, the district headquarters centre, (about 1 km) is full of potholes. It looks like nullah at some places during rainy days and is also the pedestrians' main path for schools, colleges and almost all offices in Kullu. Passers-by and local shopkeepers have to bear dirty water splash by crossing vehicles. The executive engineer said: "Though we have prepared a plan of Rs 8.5 crore for the repair and re-carpeting of the road between Bhuntar and Kullu to be submitted to the World Bank, but until the status of the road was not cleared the proposal could not be forwarded". As the road, as of now, was no-man's-land, the commuters would remain hapless sufferers and would keep their fingers crossed for the sanction of the required funds to repair the road.
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Lawyer-turned writer makes debut with fiction
Shimla, April 20 Nidhi, who is a criminal lawyer in the Himachal High Court, has just made her debut as a serious writer with her first fiction book "Mask in the Mirror" published last week. Already working on her second book, she places both her professions, law and her love for writing, at par. "While writing is my soul, my work is my passion and I cannot survive without the two," she says. The fact that the book will be at display at the London Book Fair next week gives her an added sense of achievement. "Mask in the Mirror" is a griping story of self-discovery, introspection and a touching saga of how fictional life can change the real life of an ordinary man," she says while talking about her writing venture. She says the process of weaving a fictional dream can be painful and also a joyful path to self-discovery which an ordinary man realises when he sits down to reveal his thoughts. Undeterred by the fact that it took almost 18 months for her to get a publisher, she says it is quite understandable that they are cautious while picking up new writers. "I have been able to do what I wished to because of the freedom my parents gave me in choosing my path and the faith they had in me," she says while talking about the support extended by her family. A product of Loreto Convent Tara Hall and St Bede's College here in Shimla she has always been close to the nature. "No other place can offer me the kind of solitude and idyllic locations which this place offers and at the same time I can pursue law with an ample time for my writing," she says while talking about her fascination for hills and her quiet and calm existence in her hometown. Nidhi wants to pursue legal profession while continuing her writing. "Like most writers, I don't wish to become a recluse so practicing law will help me keep track with life," she says. She explains how her work brings her close to the realities of life like in a case where she defended a 21-year-old woman, accused of killing her husband and father-in-law. Dealing with cases like dowry deaths and other crimes gives her a peep into people's mind and their circumstances.
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Finally, law to check misuse of groundwater
Solan, April 20 Though the notification came after a good eight-year wait, in the first stage eight vulnerable subdivisions facing maximum exploitation of groundwater, essentially due to industrialization, have been identified for its implementation. These subdivisions include Solan, Nalagarh, Poanta, Nurpur, Jwali, Una and Amb. The engineer-in-chief has been assigned the job to act as the chairman of the authority, which would finally give permission to the users. Hemant Tanwar, executive engineer, IPH, said, “To begin with, the existing tubewell and handpump owners would be asked to get themselves registered with the IPH Department and depending upon the volume of water drawn by them, a royalty would be fixed which would be payable to the government. The users would also be directed to construct water-recharging structures to ensure replenishment of groundwater. This measure will check overexploitation which leads to drastic fall in the water level”. With thousands of industrial units located in the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial belt, exploitation of groundwater was at its peak here. In the prime industrial places like Sai Road in Baddi and Bhatoli Kalan, the groundwater level had declined by 40 to 50 ft. In areas lying in the periphery of Baddi and Malkhumajra, Manpura, the groundwater level has gone down by 20-30 ft, according to conservative estimates made by the officials by the IPH Department. Consequently, it is hard to find water even at a depth of 350 ft whereas earlier, it was found easily at a depth of 250 ft. “Work has begun to identify the existing users and data was being collected from the Department of Industries and Pollution Control Board. Besides, the hydrology wing of the IPH Department has also started collecting data regarding the existing groundwater level,” confided BS Rana, executive engineer, Nalagarh division. While no industrial unit had earlier sought permission from the IPH department to install borewells, the existence of lesser distance between such wells has been proving fatal for groundwater level. Any violation of this Act would now attract punishment and every user of groundwater in a notified area would now have to seek permission from the authority. Stipulations like minimum distance of 200 m in case of shallow and 300 m in case of tubewell from the existing source of water supply scheme or irrigation scheme would be considered while granting permission. However, with scant rains every year and an abrupt rise in the number of apartments and private universities, it has become difficult to meet the water requirements of the burgeoning population. While these commercial ventures put a drastic strain on water sources, new potable water schemes seem to serve such ventures more than the local population.
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Sarvakalyankari Sabha to hold career counselling, placement camp in
Hamirpur
Hamirpur, April 20 The problem is grave in rural areas as the rural youths not only lack information about new career options but are also ill-equipped to compete with their urban counterparts despite having good potential and talent. The Sarvaklayankari Sabha, which has been working in Hamirpur district for quite some time, has helped thousands of poor and other sections of society in the past by organising free medical camps, helping poor families in getting their daughters married etc, has now decided to help rural youths in this sphere. It has taken a new initiative to empower rural youths of Hamirpur district by proving them with vital information about job opportunities through counselling and also empower them by training them The sabha has decided to organise a career counselling and placement camp at Postgraduate Degree College, Hamirpur, on May 9. President of the organisation Rajinder Rana said: "The main objective of this camp would be to empower the rural youth and equip them for employment." Five career counsellors from Chandigarh would guide the aspirants about career options and train them for grabbing jobs available in the private sector. The sabha would also make arrangements for placements, he added.
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Himachal diary
In the cold hill areas high temperature suitable of carrying out the tarring of roads is achieved only towards the second month of May and that too for a couple of days as frequent thundershowers are common during the period. However, it has been an unusual year and the temperature in the city remained around 25°C consistently providing ideal conditions. The metalling of Circular Road (See photo) was started on April 11 and it did cause some inconvenience to the commuters as it created long traffic jams. In the plains such work is carried out during the night. However, it is not possible to do so here as the temperature of the hot-mix must remain between 120°C to 130 °C on reaching the site and it should be rolled over before the temperature falls below 105°C, explains Naresh Sharma, superintending engineer. It takes six to seven days to metal one kilometre of a double-lane road as work is started only after 11 am to ensure that the office-goers are not stuck up in traffic jams. On a hot day it could continue till 8pm after which the hot-mix cools done rapidly and its temperature falls below the prescribed levels by the time it reaches the site and rolled over. While weather was good the work had to be suspended for three days due to Shri Sathya Sai Baba's visit from April 15 to 17 for which the police had prepared a special traffic plan. If the hot spell continues the department will be able to carry out some good work in road maintenance. Lifting of ban on transfers
The lifting of ban on transfers usually leads to a heavy rush of employees in the Secretariat. The ministers and other prominent leaders are surrounded by transfer-seekers. However, this year the government has tried to streamline the system and bring some order in the process. The employees will be required to submit applications for transfers to the heads of department concerned and orders will be issued in respect the applications falling within the rules from May 21 to 31 before the ban comes into force on June 1. Once the ban is in place employees could be transferred only with the approval of the Chief Minister. Thus, it is time for the ministers to exercise their authority and oblige a few employees though short stay and other transfer rules could be relaxed by the Chief Minister.
Birthdays of politicians
Celebrating the birthdays of politicians, particularly those in power, in a big way has become the order of the day. Lower- rung leaders and workers of political parties use such occasions to express their loyalty to the top bosses and attract the public eye. It also helps them demonstrate their political clout. Everyone from a bureaucrat to a common man wants to get closer to political leaders and birth anniversaries provide the right occasion for the purpose. However, birthdays of politicians, especially those in top positions in the government, bring joy to two other categories of people for whom its time to further their business interests. Such occasions bring cheer to a large number of marketing executives of newspapers, in particular vernaculars, who come out with special supplements. They sell large space in their newspapers for congratulatory messages from various sections of the people to help achieve their targets. So great is the allurement to earn additional revenue through such supplements that a few newspaper owners even deploy their reporters to garner advertisements on such occasions. Their joy is quite obvious but the advertisers have to bear the costs of pleasing "birthday" politicians. There is another category of birthday wish advertisers, who have an axe to grind with those in power. They include government contractors, wine manufacturers, people running private educational institutions and industrialists, who insert big advertisements "wishing happy birthday" to leaders in newspapers along with their photographs. For such people spending money on advertisements is an investment as it is common knowledge how things work these days. (Contributed by Rakesh Lohumi and DP Gupta)
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HPSEB’s protection division sought at Nurpur
Nurpur, April 20 Enquiries reveal that staff of the transmission division, which has recently merged into the Himachal Power Transmission Corporation, is being shifted from here which has resulted into the vacation of office as well as residential colony of the employees and also making infrastructure worth lakhs of rupees surplus. Advocating the opening of proposed protection division of the HPSEB in the vacant premises of the transmission division at Jassur, Rotash Sharma, state organising secretary of the HPSEB’s Technical Employees Union, claimed that the board management had to spend crores of rupees in setting up new divisional office, generating infrastructure and residential colony for the proposed protection division at Kangra. In this connection, senior executive engineer of 220 power substation, Jassur, confirmed that staff of the transmission division is being shifted in other wings of the HPSEB and whole office premises and residential colony would fall vacant in the days to come. “The vacated premises, along with office infrastructure and employees residential colony, can easily accommodate proposed protection division of the board,” he admitted.
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CPMT: Wary parents urge VC to ensure transparency
Mandi, April 20 They have expressed concern over HPCPMT paper leak case, which was unearthed by a team of police officers in Shimla, following which the test had to be cancelled. “The racket exposed loopholes in the examination system that still remain unplugged,” allege parents. Though the CID probe into the allegations over the nexus of a coaching centre, whose students grabbed the top 10 positions, and HPU gave a clean chit to the university and the centre, people are still wary. They have now asked the HPU to plug all loopholes in the process, right from paper setting till the final declaration of results. The university should accept the fact that it is its prime duty to conduct this important examination in a transparent manner, they say. The university has agreed to implement some of the suggestions put forward by RTI activists. Devashish Bhatacharya, an RTI activist, reveals that candidates whom officials want to benefit are instructed to keep the OMR answer sheets blank, which are filled with right answers later on. Bhatacharya says to counter this, the blanks on answer sheets should be crossed by giving five extra minutes to candidates. The right answers should be displayed on the university website the same evening so that each candidate can assess his/her result. Secondly, the carbon copy and original copy of answer sheet of each candidate should be maintained to check post-test manipulation, he suggests. The copies can be produced as and when a candidate challenges the evaluation in the court. Dr Jivanand Chauhan, general secretary, HPMOA, says question papers should be printed in five different series on the pattern of CBSE PMT. Besides, parents should be allowed access to the evaluation centre to keep a vigil so that the staff cannot indulge in post-examination manipulation. Meanwhile, vice-chancellor SK Gupta said the university had tried to bring in transparency in the CPMT by implementing some of the suggestions and if people had problems they could move the court.
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Rang Mahal's glory fades away
Chamba, April 20 With the passage of time, fissures have developed and wild vegetation has grown at certain places in the walls. The palace now appears to be a neglected and dilapidated monument. King Umed Singh laid the foundation of the palace in 1754. Later, rulers of the same dynasty, including Raj Sri Singh, repaired this brick palace. The aim behind the building of Rang Mahal, besides serving as king's accommodation, was to have a warehouse for royal grain and treasure. The palace served as the centre of royal activities in its inception. The architecture of Rang Mahal is a blend of Mughal and British styles. Some additions and changes were made by Raja Jeet Singh and Raja Charat Singh, both rulers of Chamba. Its fort-like look justifies its use as royal granary and treasury which is on its western side and had been a repository of weaponry until 1947. It is also known as Painted Palace. Now, the palace is a government property housing its various departments like offices of district language officer, district employment officer, labour officer and inspector, besides a sub-post office. The palace also houses the Himachal Emporium, including hosiery, a training centre of Chamba "rumal" and slippers, and a footwear industrial unit of the Himachal Pradesh Handloom and Handicrafts Corporation. All the paraphernalia that was left in the palace has now been taken out and kept in different museums across the country. A number of decorative and colourful wall paintings have been removed and taken to the National Museum of Delhi. Some of the wall paintings and richly painted doors of the palace can be seen preserved in the Bhuri Singh Museum of Chamba. Located in Surara Mohalla in the middle of the town, Rang Mahal attracts a large number of tourists every year. Though the outer walls of the palace were painted during the celebrations of "Chamba Millennium" in 2006, the inner walls are still in utter neglect and need immediate attention. According to district language officer Prem Sharma, an auditorium with a notional cost of Rs 1 crore has been proposed to be constructed inside the palace without disturbing the facade and architecture of the ancient structure. The financial approval by the state government is being awaited, he added.
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Waterborne disease were common across the state a few decades ago when people used untreated water, mostly from natural sources and the extension of piped water supply in a phased manner did provide respite from such diseases.
Vikram Sharma, an advanced farmer with a keen eye for something new and interesting visited Karnataka as a tourist in 1999 and found that farmers there grow coffee seeds and earn good income from their crops.
The Rang Mahal Palace, built by Raja Umed Singh in 1754, has been facing neglect. The palace walls, which were once adorned with exquisite art works, are on the verge of collapse.With the passage of time, fissures have developed and wild vegetation has grown at certain places in the walls. The palace now appears to be a neglected and dilapidated monument.
While abnormally high temperatures through the first fortnight of the month have been causing concern to people, particularly farmers and fruit growers, it came as a blessing in disguise for the PWD, which has been able to start the work of metalling roads much earlier.