Shimla, October 24
The first international airport in the state will be set up near Shimla and 10 more helipads be set up in Sirmour, Kinnaur and Mandi districts shortly. Stating this while speaking at an investment meet organised by the Department of Tourism and Civil Aviation in New Delhi today, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said 200 bigha land had been identified in Shimla and Solan districts for the proposed airport and a final decision would be taken soon.

The total number of helipads in the state would increase to 70 with the proposed new additions. Heli-taxis services would also be started soon for which names of three private operators had been finalised and MoUs would be signed within a month. Initially, all district headquarters would be connected with heli-taxis services, he said.

He said the state would soon take up matter with the Railways Ministry for introducing heritage trains on Shimla-Kalka and Pathankot-Jogindernagar narrow gauge sections for the convenience of tourists. The state hardly had any broad gauge network but its two toy trains were great attractions for the tourists.

He said the department had land bank at various districts and would offer land to the private sector for setting up hotels, amusement parks, film studios and other tourism infrastructure facilities and added that expression of interests would be invited soon. He said the tourism sector had extended the facilities available to the industrial sector and added that tourism projects worth more than Rs 50 crore would be placed before the single window clearance authority for speedy execution of tourism schemes.

He invited the industrial houses to set up hotel training institutes in the state to meet the growing demand of the trained manpower in the hospitality sector.

The Chief Minister said all important religious and tourist places situated at high altitudes would be connected through ropeways and ropeway at Solang Nullah would be made operational by December. The letter of intent had been issued for setting up ropeways at Palchan and Bijli Mahadev in Kullu, while the work on ropeways at Baba Balak Nath and Palampur was in progress.

Palampur, October 24
There has been an acute shortage of LPG cylinders in Palampur and its adjoining areas for the past few days. The IndianOil authorities and the Food and Supplies Department have failed to meet the requirements of LPG consumers.

The shortage of LPG cylinders in the town has gone from bad to worse after the suspension of dealership of Palam Gas Service last week, who was the main supplier, feeding over 12,000 LPG consumers of the town and its adjoining areas. The dealership had been suspended by the IOC after the recommendation of the Food and Supplies Department over a complaint of overcharging against him.

Though the IOC has made alternative arrangements of LPG supply by extending the limits of three adjoining LPG agencies, that too has failed to meet the LPG shortage.

Long queues of consumers for LPG cylinders can be seen on the roadside daily. The LPG shortage has become a problem. As soon as the LPG supply van reaches the town, hundreds of consumers run after the vehicle to get cylinders. In many parts of the town, people keep on waiting for the LPG vehicle throughout the day but go back disappointed in the evening. The home delivery of LPG cylinder has virtually been discontinued as most of the time the LPG cylinders are delivered on the road side.

Though the IOC officials were aware with the situation, no efforts have been made to solve the problem.

Sat Pal Sood, a senior officer of the state Food and Supplies Department, however denied the department’s role in the suspension of the LPG dealership of Palam Gas Service. He said the department was making all efforts for the smooth supply of LPG cylinders for Palampur.

Shimla, October 24
Forestry operations in the hill states will undergo a radical change with the Centre deciding to review and revise the working plan code to shift focus from commercial exploitation to sustainable management and pave way for digitisation to take advantage of the advanced satellite-based systems.

The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has already started the exercise to revise the code to make it conform to the latest global practices under which certification that a forest is being managed on sustainable-basis is mandatory. The essential parameters for determining sustainability will not only include forest cover but also biodiversity, water resources, wildlife and other related environmental aspects on which forests have an impact.

The new code will also facilitate use of the latest geomatics technology for generating authentic data, mapping and survey of forest areas and implementation of various forestry-related works in the field. Combining geographical information system, remote sensing technology and global positioning system, geomatics provides a high precision tool, which can be used for planning, implementation and monitoring almost all forestry-related activities. Apart from mapping vegetation to the accuracy of a sub-metre, it enables landscape characterisation that helps conserve biodiversity and evaluate environmental impacts of indiscriminate and effective micro-watershed management.

Chief conservator of forests, working plans, Tejinder Singh said the digitisation of working plans would also enable to monitor the performance of officers on the basis of vegetation change and evaluate the success of afforestation schemes.

The ongoing revision of working plan code means that the process of preparation of new plans will be further delayed. Out of the total 34 forest working plans covering 38 divisions, 20 have already expired and another eight will expire in the next three years. It will not be possible to digitise the plans under revision on which major part of work has been completed. However, the plans on which work is yet to be started will be prepared on the digitised format.

Shimla, October 24
With no help coming from the administration, members of a marriage party that was stranded in Lahaul valley due to sudden snow, pooled their own resources to arrange a private helicopter for evacuation.

Members of the marriage party from Raison in Kullu comprising about 80 persons, including a large number of women and children, were stuck up at Koksar in Lahual on their way back from Ghoshal on Friday after heavy snow blocked the Rohtang Pass. They had no option but to return to Grmaphoo but there was no arrangement for lodging so many people.

One of the stranded persons informed on phone that an SoS was sent to the administration for arranging blankets, beds and other required items but there was not response. The efforts to arrange the state helicopter from Kullu also failed.

Some stranded members of the marriage party used their connections to persuade a private helicopter which happened to be in Manali to make sorties to evacuate some women and children who were not well. It was a costly affair and they had to collect Rs 1.8 lakh for three sorties, even though they only paid for fuel.

In the first sortie made yesterday, the bridegroom, bride and two women were air-lifted. Today two more sorties were conducted to evacuate nine persons, including seven women and children.

Meanwhile, work for clearing the road is in progress from both sides of the Rohtang Pass and the authorities are hopeful of evacuating all 500 odd stranded persons by tomorrow evening. 

Mandi, October 22
Health Minister Rajiv Bindal recently announced that the Health Department will conduct a medical check up of the students of government schools in the state. He said a health scheme would be launched on the birthday of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee i.e. on December 25.

The Ayurveda Department will provide panchkarma treatment at all ayurvedic hospitals in the state, he said.

Talking to the mediapersons after reviewing schemes of the Health Department here, Bindal said the scheme would cover all the government schools of the state.

“We have issued a direction to all hospitals and Chief Medical Officers of the state,” he added. Bindal also kickstarted the Panchkarma treatment at the Mandi zonal hospital.

Bindal said the treatment was now available at 27 ayurvedic hospitals. The department would provide Rs 60 lakh for construction of an ayurvedic hospital.

Quizzed on the controversy over starting ayurvedic treatment at the zonal hospital, Bindal said both (allopathic and ayurvedic) services would be available for the time being.

When asked about the increment to postgraduate doctors, Bindal said there was no plan to give PG allowance to the doctors. “But we can do a little to spot the doctors joining the private sector in or outside the state as we are providing best packages to them in the state,” he added.

He said there was shortage of specialists as a across the country, not just in Himachal. And the state is recruiting more doctors, he added. 

Shimla, October 24
The All-India Council of Mayors has made a strong plea for enacting model legislation to bring uniformity and ensure smooth functioning of Municipal Corporations, which have been denied adequate powers due to reluctance of states to implement the 74th constitutional amendment.

“There is no uniformity in mode of election, tenure, status and powers of mayors which varied from state to state and the corporations are virtually managed by officers who are not accountable to the public. Worse, the elected representatives have no control over the officials”, chairman of the council Ashutosh Varshney pointed out.

In some states, they were elected through direct voting, while in most others, the responsibility rested on the elected councillors which led to corruption as the issue was reduced to the game of numbers.

Further, the tenure ranged from one year to five years which was ridiculous as 135 corporations in the country must be governed by common rules and regulations. In case of metropolitan cities like Delhi, which had a population of over 1.5 crore, the tenure of one year was not enough even for familiarising the officials. Worse, he could be dislodged by a no-confidence motion midway.

The 74th amendment had paved way for three-tier democratic set up and accordingly the mayors should have the same autonomy and powers to administer the cities as the Prime Minister of the country and Chief Ministers of states enjoyed for effectively governing their respective jurisdictions. It was the main issue that was discussed at the 99th meeting of the council being held here.

The council also lamented that the state governments were denying administrative and financial powers to Municipal Corporations as their functions had been confined to providing civic services to the people and that too without giving them the control of various departments like public health, power development authority, education and health which rendered the elected bodies ineffective.

The council has already finalised a draft model act to ensure uniformity in power and functions of mayors which would be presented to the government for further action. The council was seeking more powers only to enable the mayors and the municipal corporations to provide better services to the people, who elected them, fulfil their aspirations.

Shimla, October 24
While assuring that his government was in favour of delegating more powers to the Municipal Corporations, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal underlined that these must take care of financial resources and not remain dependent on government funds.

Inaugurating the 99th National Executive Committee Meeting of the All-India Council of Mayors here today, he said the state was all for granting autonomy to urban local bodies and panchayati raj institutions and it would implement any recommendations made by the council. The state was decentralising powers to enable the grassroot democratic institutions to discharge their responsibilities effectively.

Himachal was a front-runner in this regard and it had reserved 50 per cent seats for women in all urban local bodies and panchayati raj institutions. He said women elected representatives were functioning more effectively, transparently and came up to the expectations of the people.

He said now the state government had decided to hold direct elections to various posts like mayor, pradhan, up-pradhan and chairperson of zila parishads in urban local bodies and panchayati raj institutions.

Urban and Local Bodies Minister Mahender Singh Thakur said the state had only one Municipal Corporation and the government was considering to set up two more, one for Solan and the other for Dharmasala. The population of the these two towns was likely cross the 50,000 mark, making them eligible to be upgraded to the level of Municipal Corporation after the 2011 census.

Kullu, October 24
Imagine a politician, who happens to be a scion of the former kings of the Kullu state and representative of Lord Raghunath, the presiding deity of the International Kullu Dasehra, who still sits in the palanquin and takes a round (jaleb) of the Dhalpur Maidan like a “feudal lord” even after 63 years of Independence.

Though Maheshwar Singh, the present scion of the former kings of Kullu, justified “his jaleb palanquin yatra” as a mark to protect the devotees present in the camp, activists of RTI Bureau at Mandi have decided to take Maheshwar head-on in the issue this time.

President, RTI Bureau, Mandi, Lawan Thakur said, “We have written to the Human Rights Commission and have decided to move a petition in the high court banning this anti-human rights practice being carried in the name of tradition during the Kullu Dasehra.”

Thakur said Maheshwar had joined the BJP and was an MP and an MLA. “However, it is shocking that he sits in a palanquin carried by four men like a devta during the jaleb. Only symbolic weapons like a sword or a dhal should be carried in the palanquin to mark the ceremony”.

Even Union Steel Minister and Mandi MP Virbhadra Singh, who also is a present scion of the erstwhile Rampur Bushair state, had raised the issue of jaleb, the RTI activists said.

Though most of the devotees chose to be quiet on the Raja jaleb during Dasehra, supporting RTI Bureau are the followers of Balu Naag devta of Banjar. “Maheshwar Singh should willfully abandon this feudal practice of sitting in the palanquin and should put raja’s weapons to symbolise the ceremony,” they revealed.

Maheshwar Singh said even Virbhadra Singh raised this issue when he was the Chief Minister. “I raised this issue with assemble of devtas, who supported that I should continue the jaleb as it has been done during my father’s time,” he claimed.

Maheshwar said the jaleb was a ceremony done to protect the devotees from the evil. “The sword and dhal that I carry in jaleb are symbols of protection and security,” he added.