Hamirpur, June 1
Taking benefit of the crop insurance scheme launched by the state government on the initiative of the Centre, farmers of Hamirpur district will get more than Rs 3 crore as insurance compensation for their crop loss after the beginning of this scheme.

This amount will be paid to the farmers of the district for losses of wheat crops occurred during 2008-09.

The crop insurance for wheat crop was launched by the state government for farmers of four districts i.e. Hamirpur, Kangra, Bilaspur and Mandi, where wheat is grown as main crop.

In other districts, the insurance cover has been extended to other main crops like tomato in Solan district and apple in Shimla, Kulu and Kinnaur districts, etc.

In wheat-growing areas, 1,167 farmers will be getting insurance compensation from Chandigarh based insurance company under national agriculture insurance scheme and 80 per cent of compensation will be paid through local branches of PNB here.

Out of the total crop insurance compensation of Rs 4.46 crore to be paid among the farmers of four districts, the biggest amount of Rs 3.21 crore is being paid to the farmers of Hamirpur district alone.

For crop insurance scheme, 50 per cent premium is paid by the state government and rest of the premium is paid by the farmers.

Manager of PNB DS Guleria said, “The continuous losses of crops due to hostile weather conditions during past some time have now created an awakening among the farmers to take insurance cover for their crops and a large number of them are paying 50 per cent premiums at their own now and getting good insurance claims as compensation for their crop losses.” 

Kangra, June 1
Interns of Dr RP Govt Medical College, Tanda, today expressed concern over the appointment of doctors on contract through the Rogi Kalayan Samiti (RKS) and demanded that doctors should be appointed on a regular basis through the Public Service Commission.

Gulab Sarouha, their leader was today critical of the government for making appointments of the doctors through RKS on the contract basis and these doctors had to wait for six years for getting regularised.

He said such appointments had left doctors’ future uncertain forcing them to relinquish their jobs putting the common patients of the state in trouble.

He asked when the doctors were appointed in other states through the PSC, why not in this state?

He demanded that state government should initiate steps to appoint doctors through the commission on the regular basis.

He further demanded that the monthly stipend of the intern should be increased from Rs 5,000 to Rs 8,100 to bring it on a par with neighbouring states of Haryana and Punjab.

Shimla, June 1
With a satellite-based fire alert messaging system likely to be in place by next year, the forest department hopes to further bring down incidents of forest fire and, more importantly, the devastation caused by it. Even though incidents of fire has been much less as compared to last year, the modern technology adopted by authorities could go a long way in dealing with the problem.

With exact location of the fire and accurate information being received through satellite, the response time will be reduced to a few units.

“We have been able to achieve considerable control over fires this summer mainly due to the fact that we have a ready data base of the names of owners of grazing lands (ghasnis), whom we can alert the minute any information about a fire is received,” said Avtar Singh, Chief Conservator (fire protection) at Bilaspur.

He said with the forest department having a proper database about the owners of grazing pastures, it was much easier and systematic to get controlled firing done during the winter months.

“Since all owners were asked to undertake controlled burning in the presence of the forest department staff, there was less accumulation of pine needles, leading to less forest fires,” he said.

It was following major devastation caused by fires during the past few years that the state decided to adopt the model being followed by the Madhya Pradesh government, using satellite imagery-based fire alert system.

So far, a total of 699 fires have been reported from all over the state involving 6,685.24 hectares of land. The estimated loss on account of these fires is Rs 72.29 lakh. Most of these fires are ground fires, which have not damaged the crown of the trees. Last year there were a total of 1,906 fires, which is the highest number till date with the damage being to the tune of Rs 2.55 crore.

Shimla, June 1
Small hydropower developers are up in arms against the government over the decision to make installation of flow meters mandatory and refusal of the state electricity board to honour the new tariff for purchase of power from small projects.

The government has made it mandatory for all hydroelectric projects to release 15 per cent of the total discharge at all times as a safeguard to mitigate environmental fallout on account of impounding of rivers and steams for power generation in the downstream areas.

Accordingly, the State Pollution Control Board had made it mandatory to install flow meters so that discharge could be measured to enforce the condition. However, small developers find it an uneconomical proposition as an indigenous flow meter costs over Rs 25 lakh and imported one Rs 45 lakh. Moreover, they are invariably washed away in floods almost every monsoon.

The Himalaya Power Producers’ Association maintains that it is not feasible for small projects and wants the government to exempt projects up to 5 MW from installation of flow meters. The small hydroelectric projects were environment-friendly as they did not generate much debris like big projects. The association has sought the intervention of Principal Secretary, power, who has assured that the matter would be taken up at appropriate level. Similarly, one per cent labour welfare cess be charged only on the labour component and not the cost of machinery, material and other capital expenditure.

The power developers are also unhappy over the refusal of the board to purchase power at Rs 2.95 per unit, the tariff fixed by the regulator, and still paying only Rs 2.50 per unit. The board was bound to pay the tariff fixed by the regulatory commission but it was openly flouting the law.

The power developers want the cumbersome procedure of obtaining various mandatory clearances to be simplified and they have urged the government to set up single widow authority at district-level for the purpose, under the chairmanship of respective deputy commissioners.

The decision to impose 5 per cent entry tax on machinery also came under fire and developers demanded exemption of small projects from the new tax.

Una, June 1
Former general manager of Una industries, Baldev Singh, and chairman of Mehatpur Industrial Area Education Society Arun Nayar, have been booked for alleged fraud.Una SP Santosh Patial, while talking to The Tribune, said the accused had been booked under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC.

The police had received a complaint from Ramesh Thakur, a resident Una, regarding the case. Police investigations revealed that the Department of Industries in 1991 gave land on lease in Mehatpur Industrial Area in the name of CMC DAV institutions, Delhi. The land was used for the construction of DAV school at Mehatpur industrial area.

However, later the school management moved another application for grant of additional land which the government granted. Ideally, the land should have been transferred in the name of CMC DAV Delhi as in the first case.

However, the then GM industries, allegedly in connivance with the other accused, got the land transferred in the name of the Mehatpur Industrial Area Education Society.

The land deed was registered in the name of new society allegedly through misrepresentation of facts and thus amounted to fraud, the SP added.

The SP said the police had also written to the Department of Industries to take action against the accused manager on department level and cancel the lease of land.

Meanwhile, one of the accused Arun Nayar said the case was politically motivated.

Solan, June 1
The Health Secretary has suspended Dr Upasna Sharma, MD, employed as physician at First Referral Unit, Nalagarh, for failing to turn up for the Chief Minister’s tour of December 11 last year without any valid reason.

CMO Ashok Tagra, confirming the news, said earlier an explanation had been called for where her reply was found unsatisfactory. Her headquarters had been fixed at CMO Office, Regional Hospital, Solan.

It was learnt that Dr Sharma was assigned to turn up for the CM’s tour on December 11 as she was the only MD available at that time as the other MD doctor was on leave. — OC

Solan, June 1
Army Public School-Dagshai celebrated itsr 24th founders day today with the chief guest, Lt-Gen MS Buttar, Western Command, presiding over the function.The function started with the inauguration of the art, craft and science exhibition by the chief guest where the working models of biology, physics and geography and computer projects were put up, paintings, woodcraft, soft toys, macramé and other decorative items prepared by students were also displayed.

The children presented a bonanza of cultural programmes, including a classical dance, Chirmi dance, which was the essence of Rajasthani folk tradition, popular among Kaalbelia tribe - snake charmers - created a mesmerising effect. Jugal Bandi, orchestra, Haryanvi dance and bhangra were other attractions of the day.

The principal, Col AK Maini (Retd), highlighted the achievements of the school in academics, sports and co-curricular activities. He announced scholarships of Rs 12,500 each for Harnoor Singh and Nirmala Rana of Class XII commerce.

The prestigious Cock House, for overall best performance, was won by Patel House. In addition, the Patel House also won the CCA, Maj Udai Singh Memorial Athletics and Academic trophies.

Calligraphy (Hindi and English) trophies too went to Patel House whereas Tagore House bagged adventure trophy. Nehru House won the Hashan Brar English Debate for Seniors and Cross Country Trophies. Sports Trophy was shared by Nehru and Tagore Houses.

Indira House lifted the Discipline Trophy while Subhash House was happy to receive the Best Kept House Trophy. The inaugural Culture Trophy was bagged by Patel House. The All-Round Best Student Award went to Vaishali Negi. She was awarded the Gold Medal. 

Kangra, June 1
A 22-year-old woman and mother of a four-month-old daughter died under mysterious circumstances in her house in Chrudoo village falling under Dehra police station when her body was found hanging from the roof this morning, the police said here.

SDPO Dehra Paras Ram said Sujha was found hanging from the roof at her house and the police took the body into its possession and was sent for the post-mortem.

He said the parents of the victim told the police that there was nothing wrong in her relation with her husband but what forced her to commit suicide, if it was a suicide, the reasons must be brought to limelight.

DSP Paras Ram described the death a mysterious
one and added that a team of the doctors had been asked to conduct the post-mortem to know the actual cause of death.

Another suicide case, Anil Kumar, 48, allegedly committed suicide in Bedli village on the night of May 29 by hanging himself at his house. Kangra district police chief Atul Fulzele today said Kapil Kumar, brother of the deceased, lodged a complaint with the Jawalamukhi police that Sumna Devi, wife of Anil Kumar, was torturing him which forced him to commit the suicide.

He said a case under abetment to suicide was registered against the accused woman and was arrested. She was produced before the JMIC I Kangra and the court remanded her to judicial custody.