Shimla, June 22
An urban disaster risk-reduction programme would be launched in the state capital by the UNDP and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHM) to identify vulnerabilities and suggest preventive measures with the active involvement of the community.

Speaking at an interactive session organised by the UNDP on Disaster Risk Reduction: Addressing Increasing Urban and Hydro-met Hazards, J Radhakrishnan, assistant country director, Urban Risk Reduction (URR) Programme of the UNDP, said the project would shortly be implemented in Shimla town.

He said the State Revenue Department had already prepared the action plan which had been approved by the MoHM.

“A sum of almost Rs 75 lakh would be provided over a period of three years which will be utilised for institutional strengthening, capacity building and urban risk management,” he said.

Currently, 49 cities in the country were being covered under the URR programme which were implemented by urban local bodies in coordination with the State Disaster Management Authority.

Speaking on the occasion PC Kapoor, Principal Secretary, (PWD), stressed on the need for having better preparedness to meet hazards like cloudbursts and flash floods, whose frequency had gone up lately. He said stricter implementation of building bylaws was a must to minimise damage in case of a hazard.

Currently three districts of the state, including Kullu, Kinnaur and Kangra, are being covered as a pilot initiative, supported by European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) and being implemented by the UNDP’s Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR). The key components of the project is assessing risks and impact of hydro-meteorological hazards like floods, cloudbursts and landslides, which have seen an upswing in recent times.

Radhakrishnan admitted that haphazard and unplanned construction activity, especially in the mountain area, had increased the importance of disaster risk reduction.

“With most of the Himalayan region falling in high seismic zone, there is a need to have earthquake-resistant structures and strict implementation of the Town and Country Planning Act and other bylaws,” he emphasised.

Speaking on the occasion, Suchitra Goswami, Deputy Secretary, MoHM, said the projects were aimed at sensitising and preparing the community for risk mitigation by involving stakeholders.

Dharamsala, June 22
Farmers, who have encroached upon dry bed of the Pong Dam Lake that is a part of international wetland area, are at logger heads with Wildlife Department authorities who are trying to dispose them of. They are not ready to give up the benefit of one crop they get during summer on the encroached river that they have divided into fields.

The Pong Dam Wildlife Sanctuary, spread in an area of about 300 sq km, is home to hundreds of birds and animals facing extinction.

Every year, over one lakh migratory birds are recorded in the wetland area. It also has the distinction of receiving the highest number of bar-headed geese in the entire country. Last year, about 30,000 bar-headed geese were recorded at the Pong wetland.

However, this nature’s paradise is threatened by encroachments and killing of migratory birds.

According to sources, most of the farmers who have encroached upon large tracks of land along the wetland area are Pong Dam oustees.

A few of them, when contacted, justified encroachments. They alleged that they were allotted lands in Rajasthan in lieu of their lands acquired for Pong Dam lake. However, locals in Rajasthan, allegedly due to tacit support from their government, encroached upon the lands allotted to the oustees.

“We have not been given possession of lands despite the Supreme Court orders” they alleged.

Wildlife and Forest Department officials said the land was acquired by the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB). The authority to get the land vacated lies with the BBMB, they said.

The area around the wetland is feeding ground to the migratory birds.

However, fields around the Pong Dam in some cases allegedly are being used to poison migratory birds. The migratory birds feed in the fields or areas around the wetland at night. This damages the crops in the encroached fields. Farmers, in order to save their crops, generally spread poison-laced seeds in fields. The birds die after consuming the poisoned seeds and farmers collect them early in the morning to escape wrath of local wildlife authorities.

The wildlife authorities recovered many dead bar-headed geese in the fields surrounding Pong Dam lake near Nagrota Surian area last winters. However, no arrests could be made as the fields were owned by none and nobody could be pin pointed for the crime.

Meanwhile, according to experts, tourism in the wetland area should be promoted. This could provide alternative employment opportunity to locals and they can be persuaded amicably to vacate the land.

Shimla, June 22
Going soft on the staff whose negligence led to escape of leopards from the Tuti Kandi Rescue Centre, the Forest Department has reinstated all suspended five officials on the basis of preliminary inquiry.

The department had taken prompt action after the second incident of leopard escape which took place on March 28 and had suspended even higher supervisory officials, including the deputy ranger and a guard, besides two attendants who were directly responsible for the lapse. The objective was to give a strong message that such negligence would not be tolerated.

Earlier, in the first incident, a chowkidar was suspended after two leopards escaped in the wee hours of the day.

However, all of them were reinstated within months, indicating that the department was now taking lenient view as none of the officials has been charge sheeted so far.

AK Gulati, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, however, asserted that the reinstatement did no mean that the department was going soft and said action would be taken on the basis of inquiry report. The department was already short of manpower and keeping officials under suspension for long did not help. Even otherwise they had to be reinstated within a stipulated period, he added.

He said services of the reinstated staff were being utilised for reconnaissance required for capturing of monkeys under the mass sterilisation programme. The teams for capturing monkeys were being sent to different areas only after carrying out reconnaissance to implement the programme efficiently.

The department is still in the process of finalising the proposal for improving security at the rescue centre to prevent such incidents in future. It was decided that the portion in which enclosures of dangerous animals like leopard were located, would be fenced to have second line of protection to prevent animals from escaping from the home even if they managed to come out of the enclosure. Also, exiting gates were to be replaced with the ones having double-locking system to electronic locking system.

Shimla, June 22
Extending his wholehearted support to the crusade launched by Swami Ramdev, the Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, Jayendra Sarawathi Swami, too intends setting up a medical college and an ayurvedic research centre in the hills of Himachal.

The Shankaracharya, during his visit to the town here yesterday, made a formal request to Chief Minister PK Dhumal for granting land so that a medical college and an ayurvedic hospital-cum-research centre could be set up. Though the Kanchi Kamkoti Peetham has several medical, engineering and other professional colleges down south, it has no major institute in the north.

“I have requested the Chief Minister to provide us land so that we could set up a medical college and, more importantly, undertake research on rare medicinal plants and herbs which are found in abundance in the Himalayan region,” said the spiritual guru.

Pandit C Keerthivasan, state representative of the Kanchi Shankaracharya Swami Mutt, said formalities with regard to making a request to the government for land would shortly be completed. “The Kanchi Mutt already has a Sanskrit institute in Chintpurni in Una and youth from the state are given formal training in Hindu rituals,” he said.

“I fully support the movement that has been launched by Swami Ramdev as we are all working towards cleansing society. Only means adopted by each one of us could be different,” Shankaracharya remarked.

On self-styled gurus like Swami Nityananda, he said they were neither saints nor spiritual beings and their negative image would not affect Hindu religion.

Shankaracharya said unlike the Christians, who use church, and the Muslims, who run madrasas for propagation of their religion, the Hindus were lagging behind. “Hinduism welcomes people from all faith and religions but we need to educate the masses about our own dharma,” the religious head said.

He said there was need for some good religious institutions, especially in north Indian, which could preach Hinduism the way it is done down south.

Swami Ramdev has already been given a huge chunk of land by the state government near Sadhupul in Solan district for setting up of Patanjali Yopeeth, the second one after his main establishment in Haridwar. Following his footsteps now, the Shankaracharya too intends having an establishment here which could later take the form of a deemed university.

Hamirpur, June 22
While the state government has selected more than 1,000 trained graduate teachers (TGT) for both arts and science streams through the HP State Service Selection Board (HPSSSB), Hamirpur, and the education department is in the process of appointing these in different schools of the state, delay in their appointment is affecting studies in many schools. According to sources, transfer manipulation by many regular teachers is also delaying the process.

TGTs for both arts and science subjects were recruited separately by the state government in different batches a few months back and the process was initiated to appoint them in different schools. Since a large number of post of TGTs were lying vacant affecting studies in many schools, early appointment of these teachers in far-flung areas was of utmost importance. Since many regular teachers did not want to get posted in remote and tribal areas, many of them apparently managed their postings near their hometown or other suitable places with the help of political connection.

With the recruitment of a large number of fresh TGTs it was expected that new recruits, being appointed on contract, would have very little options but to join schools of their appointment.

Before appointment of these teachers the education department had initiated a process of rationalisation leading to abolition of many posts of teacher in different schools to curb overstaffing.

The education department wants to complete the rationalisation process to fill most of the vacancies created in the process before appointing fresh TGTs.

Sources tell, “Most of the seasoned manipulators, who were transferred after the rationalisation process, have once again managed to get posting of their suitability.”

Meanwhile, director of elementary education said, “We are in the process of rationalisation and appointments of fresh TGTs will be made soon.” 

Solan, June 22
Tightening its noose around industrial units releasing untreated waste into water bodies, the State Pollution Control Board has stepped up its drive to check such erring units by conducting surprise night raids.

In a recent raid conducted by Baddi regional officer Brij Bhushan, effluent treatment plants (ETPs) were found functional in all units except Venus Remedies which was found defaulting on this account for the second time in as many months. It was surprising that the unit’s ETP, which was earlier found non-functional during a raid conducted on May 26, again failed to operate it on June 19.

The operator on duty presented lame excuses for the laxity. Interestingly, the unit’s environment health and safety in charge had admitted in written that its ETP had stopped functioning on May 26 from 1.10 pm to 1.55 pm after the laxity was discovered though the reason cited was sudden burning down of two motors. The plant was, however, functional and only the ETP was found non-functional, leading to discharge of untreated effluents.

Intriguingly, samples of untreated effluents, tested at the board’s Parwanoo laboratory, were found within safe limits thus putting a question mark on the whole procedure. The unit erred for the second time where its ETP was yet again found non-functional, thus lending credence to habitual default. Its samples have also been sent for analysis for the second time now.

The regional officer collected samples of at least seven other major units and sent them for analysis to check efficacy of ETPs. The units whose samples were collected included Cipla, ITC, Panacea Biotech, Navdeep Bioceuticals, Celebrity Pharma and Nester Life Sciences.

The board was concentrating its efforts to check polluting units as water pollution had become a major cause of concern and directions had been issued to all regional officials to conduct surprise checks to deter wrong doers. Habitual defaulters, whose samples failed, were directed to install reverse osmosis-based treatment systems while power disconnections were issued in several cases to discipline the erring units.

Shimla, June 22
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) will promote Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) in a big way to help provide credit to farmers with small landholdings.

Stating this while speaking at a workshop organised here today, ST Raghuraman, chief general manager, NABARD, said Himachal had done exceedingly well in propagating self-help groups (SHGs) with the help of non-government organisations and banks and their number had crossed 50,000 mark. There was a vast scope for extending credit to needy farmers through the JLGs in the state, he added.

Under the scheme, farmers could form JLGs having four to 10 members to avail agriculture loans up to Rs 50,000 per member without requiring to furnish an collateral security. A major difference was that in the SHGs, funds were made available in proportion to savings whereas in case of JLGs, the quantum of loan depended on activity and the repayment was also linked to the harvesting of crop.

It was stated during the workshop that over 65 lakh SHGs had been set up in the country through which credit was being extended to over 10 crore people.

General manager of the RBI SK Bal said the focus was on providing banking facility to people on their doorstep. A proposal to have a business correspondent for every 2,000 population was being implemented for the purpose. However, in case of hill states like Himachal Pradesh where people had to walk long distances, there was need to have separate norm. A proposal to have a business correspondent for a population of 1,000 or 500 was being considered. 

Shimla, June 22
Horticulture Minister Narinder Bragta has said that the government would make the best possible arrangements to facilitate marketing of apple and its products.

He said a plan had been formulated to provide quality carton boxes for apples at reasonable prices. “The procedure to finalise purchase of cartons is underway and fruit growers will be provided boxes at the earliest so that they do not face any inconvenience,” he asserted.

Bragta said adequate apple collection centres would be set up in the state by the HPMC and HIMFED and along agro industries they would ensure marketing of apple under the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS). He said fruit markets of Parwanoo, Bhattakuffar, Kharapathar and Pandranu would also start functioning during this apple season.

The minister said the HPMC and HIMFED had made adequate arrangements for trucks for transportation of apples.

Various truck unions would also be involved to transport apple to processing plants and market.

Hamirpur, June 22
Hundreds of water carriers, working in different primary schools of four blocks of Hamirpur district, have not been paid their salaries for about past three months.

According to information about 500 of these employees working in different primary schools of the district have not received their salaries since March due to non-receipt of funds from the education department.

The water careers are the lowest paid employees working in the schools and appointed by the education department and local panchayat; while those appointed by the department get monthly salary of Rs 1798, the people appointed by the panchayats are getting Rs 1000 per month.

These schools are granted funds by the education directorate for paying their salaries in the month of March but this time the funds have not been allocated for quite some time, delaying payment of salaries.

Ruing non-payment of the salaries, district president of the causal water careers sangh (primary wing) Ramesh Kumar said, “It is quite distressing that lowest-paid employees like us are not paid our meager salaries on time and we have not been paid since March.”

“In Hamirpur district water carriers in only one block- Sujanpur block- have been paid the salaries while the employees in Nadaun, Hamirpur , Toani Devi and Badsar have not been paid since March,” he added.

Another water carrier said,”Most of us are living hand to mouth and seek ration on credits from local grocers but as we have failed to pay them our ration bills for almost three months, we are facing great hardship.”

Deputy Director of primary education, Hamirpur district, Bheem Singh Rana said,”This problem has arisen due to non-receipt of funds from the department since March onwards; we have forwarded the case for allocation of funds to the higher authorities and payment would be made soon to all water carriers.”

Dharamsala, June 22
Dr Pradeep K Sharma, Dean, College of Agriculture, CSK, Agriculture University, Palampur, has been invited as an expert to the annual ProSPER.Net-Scopus Young Researcher Award Symposium and Ceremony being held at Shanghai, China on July 5.

In a press release issued here today, the university spokesperson said Dr Sharma would serve as a panellist in the selection of a young scientist for this prestigious award in Sustainable Development.

He has been selected as an expert based on his expertise and experience as a researcher in the field of natural resource management in agriculture, for which he has been recognised at the national-level by the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences as well as the Indian Society of Soil Science.

The Promotion of Sustainability in Postgraduate Education and Research (ProSPER.Net) is a network of 19 leading higher education institutions in Asia-Pacific that have committed to work together to integrate sustainable development into postgraduate curricula and research. Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer reviewed literature. Winners are evaluated based on the number and quality of publications and patents, citations and h-index, and social impact of their research.

Shimla, June 22
Members of the Shimla District Bar Association abstained from courts and staged dharna in support of their demand for review of the decision to shift district court complex to a new site.

The bar association members maintained that the new complex, which was being built away from the main city, would cause much inconvenience to both litigants and advocates alike, thereby causing harassment to them.

It pointed out that the advocates were not consulted when the new site for the complex was finalised.