Shimla, August 14
Wholesale suppliers of apple (ladanis) at the Azadpur agriculture market in Delhi have again resumed charging commission from growers even as stalemate over their demand for withdrawal of amendment to law making purchasers liable for payment of commission instead of growers.

The growers are being issued sale proceed slips after deducting the amount payable as commission at the rate of six per cent and as such it is not being brought on record for now.

The wholesalers maintain that the amendment has created a situation where they have to pay commission twice as they are already being charged eight per cent commission on sales to various suppliers across the country. They had observed one-day token strike on August 5 and threatened with longer strikes if the amendment was not withdrawn.

The Chamber of Azadpur Fruit and Vegetables’ Traders has decided to wait till August 15 after which the future course of action will be decided. One of the alternatives being considered is to buy apple through agents instead of making direct purchase from growers. This practice is being followed in case of mango and vegetables.

Till yesterday, 90 lakh boxes have been marketed as compared to 51 lakh boxes in 2008. However, the prices have been much on the lower side with best quality royal delicious variety fetching only Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,100 per box as against Rs 1,600 to Rs 1,800 per box in 2008.

Chairman of the Himalayan Apple Growers’ Society Rajeev Chauhan says the delay being caused in transportation of produce is partly responsible for low prices as almost the fruit is already ripe by the time it reaches the market and the buyers who have to send supplies to distant areas do no purchase it.

The growers are only hoping that wholesale suppliers will not precipitate any crisis over the issue of commission as the state is expecting a record harvest of over 3 crore boxes and about 2 lakh boxes are yet to be marketed.

Dharamsala, August 14
The Bathu bridge on the Kangra-Ranital road is haunting commuters this monsoon also. The bridge that has outlived its life and is in a poor state is still a lifeline for commuters on the said road. The PWD authorities have failed to get the bridge completed in the past four years despite cancellation of one contract and re-allotment to another contractor.

The use of old technology in the construction of high-level bridge on the national highway is one of the reasons for delay in the project. The tentative cost of the bridge is Rs 4.82 crore and it was expected to be completed within two years.

However, now about four years have passed since the allotment of the first contract for the bridge, but the contractors have just managed to lay foundation of pillars. A visit to the area by The Tribune revealed that the use of old technology was resulting in delay in the construction of the bridge.

The contractors were just using small concrete mixing machines for the construction of the bridge. The said machines produce just about 7 to 8 cubic feet concrete material at a time. The pace of construction due to the use of said machines is generally very slow and is likely to delay the construction.

Instead had the construction of the bridge been carried with batching plants for concrete mixing, the construction could have been carried out at a much faster rate. If the project is delayed it might lead to escalation in construction cost. In addition to that the bridge is vital as it is connecting link on the Kangra-Una or Kangra-Hoshiarpur roads.

The PWD officials when asked said as per the agreement clause for the construction of the bridge the modern technology of using batching plants is not being used for the construction of Bathu bridge. The batching plant technology is used for bigger bridges.

Regarding the delay in the completion of the project, he said higher steel prices and non-availability of the labour was causing delay. The steel prices remained very high due to which the contractor had to slow down the work as it was leading in escalation of the cost. Now the contractor has started the work and it is likely to be completed within stipulated time period, he said.

However, the sources available here said if the work progressed at the same pace the bridge was not likely to be completed within stipulated time period.

Solan, August 14
Two people, including a woman Shitla Devi (45), and her nephew Naveen (25), were killed when huge chunk of debris from an adjoining hillock fell on their house last night at Roura village in Kandaghat sub-division.

Kandaghat SDM Raman Sharma, who visited the spot after the incident, said, Shitla Devi was sleeping with her son when huge amount of debris fell on their two-room house. While her son managed to wriggle out of the muck, her nephew Naveen, who resided in a nearby house, tried to save her but was killed after he, too, got trapped in the debris.

Both bodies were later retrieved by the administration. The SDM also cautioned the family members of Naveen to vacate the house as it was prone to another such disaster.

He said the second house had been declared unsafe and its inmates had been directed to vacate it. Since a part of the hillock had been cleared, more debris could flow down owing to the rainy weather.

However, the administration gave an immediate ex gratia relief of Rs 10,000 to the family.

Shimla, August 14
Blaming “poor governance” under the Dhumal regime for bad roads and shortage of trucks, general secretary of the state unit of the Congress Kuldeep Rathore said apple growers had been left at the mercy of god at a time when the state was heading for a record crop.

Addressing a press conference here today, he said that thousands of apple boxes were stranded in the interior areas for want of transport facility as truck operators were not willing to ply vehicles on bad roads. Unending traffic jams, high cost of packing cartons and high freight had made marketing of crop a nightmare for the growers. The cartons and separating trays being supplied to the growers were of very poor quality and the government had not opened collection centres for procurement of fruit under the market intervention scheme as announced. Those made functional were starved of staff.

The government was also not serious on the issue of commission and it had so far not initiated Contempt of Court proceedings for non-enforcement of the amended law under which buyer had been made liable to pay commission. Growers were illegally being charged commission despite the high court order. A permanent solution to the problem could be found only by setting up big market on the outskirts of Shimla so that growers were not required to go out of the state to sell their produce.

He said it was strange that the government was charging market fee from growers on the fruit being sent out to various markets outside the state. It was illegal and the amount must be reimbursed to growers.

Rain had caused widespread damage across the state but so far no relief had been provided. Roads had been damaged, cattle had been washed away and crops been affected over large areas but no assessment of loss had been made so far.

He supported the stir of contractual doctors and said they deserved to be regularised first before starting direct recruitment.

Shimla, August 14
Enraged over the action of the government in treating their mass casual leave as illegal, the agitating contract doctors decided to extend their leave by two more days.

The joint action committee of the agitating doctors, which met at Bilaspur today, expressed its resentment over the confrontational attitude of the government and decided to continue their mass casual leave up to August 17.

They have been on leave since August 12. Their main demand was that before starting direct recruitment of doctors all those recruited on contract basis should be regularised.

The government had taken an initiative to resolve the issue and representatives of the doctors have been called for talks by Health Minister Rajiv Bindal at Amb in Una district.

Meanwhile, medical services remained affected in the state, particularly in the rural areas, due to the ongoing stir for the third consecutive day today.

Mandi, August 14
With August-September being the peak fish breeding season, the heavy silt discharge triggered by large-scale construction of hydropower projects and cement companies on the Beas, Sutlej and their tributaries has pushed the once rich fish life to brink in these rivers.

The plight of fish life is understandable as the Fisheries Department has no study or data to know the exact dimension of damage done to the state’s marine life by the hydropower and cement companies over the years.

The main culprits responsible for ruining the fish breeding habitats are the Bhakra Beas Management Board, HPSEB-run Larji power project, Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (SJVN), National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), JP hydro and Allain and Duhangan hydro company, revealed fishery experts.

Even the cement companies- JP cements, Bagha; Ambuja cements, Darlaghat; and ACC Barmana- left the mining sites scarred with debris.

The fish can resist silt discharge up to 1,000 particles per minutes (ppm). But the silt content in Beas crossed 10,000 ppm and in Sutlej it crossed 20,000 ppm in July-August.

The silt destroyed the breading ground, pebbles and algal bloom, which is the feed for the marine life in the Bhakra and Pong and their feeding rivers. The Larji project releases its silt into the Pandoh reservoir, while the BBMB releases it into the Suketi and Beas rivers during monsoons.

The State Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board has pulled up the BBMB and the NHPC for dumping debris into the Sainj and Parbati rivers, tributaries of the Beas. “But private cement and hydropower companies are yet to be punished for dumping debris and into the Baspa and Sutlej,” environmentalists said.

BBMB chief engineer SB Sharma claimed that they had deposited Rs 75 lakh as compensation for damage to fish in the Beas.

The NTPC also made similar claims that is had deposited over a crore for fish farms in the Sutlej. But other companies are yet to be taken to task by the Fisheries Department.

Director fisheries BD Sharma said: “Heavy discharge of silt destroy fish-breeding grounds as they can bear silt discharge up to 1,000 ppm and can survive for maximum 10 days. The fish used to go up to Rampur town for breeding in August-September, but the NTPC’s 800-mw Kol Dam has stopped this natural route, he observed.

Bilaspur, August 14
The Himachal Pradesh State Employees’ Federation has urged the central government to provide a financial package of Rs 1,000 crore to the state government so that the government can fulfil its responsibilities and commitments towards various sections of people, including government employees.

This was said by the state NGOs federation in its unanimous resolution, which was adopted in its state executive committee meeting held here recently under the chairmanship of federation president Ram Singh.

State general secretary of the federation Dilip Bhatia said a large number of representatives from all parts of the state, including state secretary Chaman Sharma, organising secretary Shival Thakur, chief adviser Ashok Sharma, adviser Sudarshan Sharma, vice-president Amar Nath Khurana and press secretary Pravin Kumar were present on the occasions.

The federation held the central government responsible for the unprecedented price rise, which had made the life of class III and IV employees miserable. It urged the state to release all their pay and allowance arrears in one go.

It said the central government had not provided the state any financial help to meet the additional financial burden, which the state had to bear due to increase if pay under the Sixth Pay Commission report.

In addition, the Centre had increased difficulties of the state government by reducing the financial allocation to the state under the 13th Finance Commission as compared to other states of the country, the federation added.

Solan, August 14
Scores of people who had come to avail treatment at the Public Health Centre (PHC), Jogo, Nalagarh subdivision, had to face inconvenience for several hours as none of the staff member, including doctor, turned up to open the centre.

Since the doctor posted there was appointed on Rogi Kalyan Samiti (RKS)-basis and had joined the statewide strike of doctors so he failed to turn up. Though an alternative arrangement was made by the Solan chief medical officer (CMO), the remaining staff, including a pharmacist, staff nurse and sweeper, too, failed to turn up and the PHC remained closed till afternoon.

Ajaib Singh, a local Congress leader, said it was unfortunate that the whole staff had on their own declared a holiday and none turned up to open the PHC. It was after informing the CMO that a doctor was directed to go there from the First Referral Unit at Nalagarh.

CMO Dr Ashok Tagra said there were around 20 doctors appointed under the RKS and since they were observing strike across the state alternative arrangements had been made to ensure presence of doctors in such places where there were single doctors.

He said a doctor was directed to proceed to the PHC, Jogo, soon after this information was received. He added that he had directed the Nalagarh block medical officer to submit a report about the absence of other employees so that a suitable action could be taken against them if any dereliction of duty was found.

Hamirpur, August 14
The district has added another feather to its cap by becoming the first in the state by registering maximum BPL families under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY) scheme and thus providing free treatment to five members of such a family in government hospitals.

The RSBY has been launched by the central government throughout the country. Under the scheme, people living under the BPL would get health insurance cover of Rs 30,000 for medical expenses in a year.

The scheme was started here on April 1, 2010, and Hamirpur district taking lead in registration of the BPL families and issuance of smart cards for obtaining free treatment, completed this work in a short span of time.

Out of total 18,744 BPL families in the district, 18,144 families have already been issued smart cards on the basis of which free treatment is being provided to them. Seven community health centres and a regional hospital have also been earmarked for providing treatment under the scheme.

The state government had also extended extra health cover to BPL families to meet medical expenses in cases of a few chronic diseases up to Rs 1.75 lakh. On the success of registration and issuance of smart cards to BPL families under the scheme, district health officer PK Katwal said, “Hamirpur district has become the first in the state in issuing smart cards under the RSBY to BPL families and 885 patients have already been provided free treatment under the scheme in the district till July 31”.

He added, “The district is also providing card-spilt facilities to card-holders out of total five members covered under the RSBY in a BPL family and maternity expenses of Rs 2,500 for normal delivery and Rs 4,500 for cesareans cases are being provided under the scheme”.

Hamirpur, August 14
While a stone crusher established by C&C Construction Company at Ghangota village in Badsar subdivision is under scanner of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, the District and Sessions Judge here has carried out an inspection on the order of high court to verify the damage to environment on the basis of complaint of villagers.

The company, which is constructing a super highway from Una to Ner Chowk, had set up a stone crusher to supply material for the road construction.

The villagers of the surrounding area, who had being complaining about the adverse effects of stone crushing on the environment and health, had approached the high court and obtained a stay against the company.

A few villagers, Prem Singh, Ram Singh and others, had been raising the issue of depletion of water table in the area due to alleged unscientific stone crushing leading to air pollution.

Similarly, the villagers had also been complaining about the sound pollution from the running of the machines.

On the other hand, officials of the construction company are maintaining that they have set up the most modern crushing plant to protect the environment from any damage.

They are contending that they have establishing a modern machinery to control the noise and air pollution and since they are not causing any damage to environment and disturbing the villagers in any way, they had also approached the high court to vacate the stay on running the stone crusher.

To ascertain the facts, the high court had deputed the Hamirpur sessions judge to visit the spot and verify the facts. The judge will submit a report to the high court in this regard after the spot inspection.