Shimla, November 2
Unending woes of apple growers have finally come to an end. Thanks to the closure of the harvesting season that saw the produce at a record high of 4.20 crore standard boxes, posing innumerable problems.

In all, 3.70 crore boxes had been sent to various markets from the state till October 31 when the season officially came to an end, though stray boxes are still being transported from high-altitude areas like the tribal Kinnaur.

Besides, about 10 lakh boxes have been kept in cold stores by private companies like the Adani group which has three controlled-atmospheres stores in the state. Thus, the total export will be around 3.80 crore boxes. Taking into account the consumption within the state, which is pegged at 10 per cent, the total production will touch 4.20 crore boxes.

It is three times from the last year’s outturn of 1.40 crore boxes and 37 per cent more than the previous highest production of 2.97 crore boxes achieved in 2007. The procurement under the market intervention scheme (MIS) is also the highest ever at 1.10 lakh tonne as against 45,000 tonne in 2007, indicating an abnormally high percentage of low quality of fruit.

However, for the growers, the season was taxing and unrewarding. They faced unprecedented problems in marketing the fruit and the net gains were minimal. The incessant heavy rains, bad conditions of roads which were frequently blocked by landslides and shortage of cartons and trays made marketing of the bumper harvest a nightmare for growers.

Consequently, the bulk of the fruit arrived late in the market and had already reached the ripening stage and the growers got Rs 200 to Rs 300 per box less for their produce. Worse, they were forced to spend Rs 50 to Rs 80 per box more on packaging and transportation as truck operators refused to ply their vehicles on bad roads and private carton suppliers overcharged.

The government will also end up as a loser as it will have to pay about Rs 58 crore for the fruit acquired under the MIS at the rate of Rs 5.25 per kg along with the handling charges of Rs 1.90 per kg as a bulk of it got spoiled for want of timely transportation. It is now being converted into organic manure through vermi-composting. The total loss to the government could be around Rs 50 crore.

Shimla, November 2
The verdict of the high court that those who have illegally occupied government land can be debarred from contesting panchayat elections will have a huge fallout in the coming polls in the state where over 1.60 lakh cases of encroachment have been recorded.

If the provision in the state Panchayati Raj Act to debar the encroachers and their family members is strictly enforced, they will not be able to contest the elections scheduled to be held in December or January.

As such, over 6 lakh voters can be deprived of their right to contest election. As per data compiled by the Revenue Department, as many as 1,67,339 cases of encroachments involving 3,02,487 bighas of land have been recorded in the state. Out of these, 60,448 cases involving 1,47,287 bighas pertained to forestland.

In fact, successive governments have not been “keen” to detect encroachments and take deterrent action against the violators of law and most of these are the cases that came to light after the government came out with a policy to regularise encroachments in 2002. Those who have themselves accepted that they are in illegal occupation of land and applied for regularisation will have no excuse and can be debarred straightaway.

However, the implementation of the law will debar even those who are not at fault but became encroachers as the land allotted to them by the government turned out to be forest land. The most glaring cases pertains to Bhakra Dam oustees. Over 3,500 of whom have been facing eviction proceedings. Similarly, in the tribal Kinnaur, over 7,000 and some genuine persons who have become encroachers because they were allotted “nautor” land but could not be given “pattas” (land deeds) later due to implementation of laws like the Forest Conservation Act.

While the maximum number of 40,980 cases are in Kangra district, the maximum 5,400 hectare of land under illegal occupation is in Shimla district. It was followed by Mandi district with 32,819 cases involving 3,100 hectare of government land. Similarly, Hamirpur has 13,888 cases (1,522 hectares), Una 13,459 cases (1,271 hectares), Solan 8,177 cases (1,566 hectares), Chamba 9,857 cases (1,402 hectares), Kullu 3,571 cases (1,100 hectares), Sirmour 2,154 cases (1,040 hectares) and Bilaspur 10,152 cases (975 hectares).

The government conferred the powers of collector on divisional forests officers (DFOs) for the purpose of removing encroachments in 1994, but it did not yield the desired results as lack of political will has been the main reason for the tardy progress in removing encroachments.

However, with the high court directing the government to take time-bound action, the scenario is changing. The government has amended the Public Premises Act and the Land Revenue Act to make it mandatory for the officer vested with the powers of collector to dispose of the cases of encroachments within six months of the sate of issuing notice. It can be extended for another three months for which reasons will have to be recorded.

Hamirpur, November 2
The selection process of about 250 trained graduate teachers (TGTs) through the HP State Service Selection Board (HPSSSB), Hamirpur, is still hanging fire as the file, pertaining to their written exam conducted in 2002, is still not been made available to the board authorities here.

The selection of about 550 candidates for 250 posts of TGT arts, who had qualified the written exams, was held up after the change of the state government in 2003, when then chairman of the board SM Katwal was booked for a few alleged irregularities in the selection of the candidates by the Vigilance Department of the state.

These candidates had approached the High Court to expedite the completion of selection process through the HPSSSB. The HP High Court, a few months back, in its order had asked the HPSSSB to complete the selection process for their appointment with the Education Department within two months.

Since written tests and interview process in case of the non-medical and medical categories had been completed and only selection list was to released, they had been selected.

But in case of arts category candidates, since the interviews are still to be conducted, the HPSSSB had asked the Vigilance to provide the record pertaining to these candidates to complete the selection process.

Meanwhile, the Vigilance has reportedly shown its inability to provide this record to the HPSSSB since this record is still lying in the court in connection with some case. 

Shimla, November 2
The CPM has lambasted the BJP government for not taking any initiative to resolve the issue of freight between Ambuja Cements and truck operators who have been on strike since October 5.

The truck operators were demanding an increase in the freight charges but there had been no effort on the part of the BJP government to ensure an amicable settlement, the party lamented.

The company was keen to get rid of the local truck operators and bring in big operators with large trawlers.

It was indeed shocking that the cement plant, owned by Jaypee Industries in the same district, paid Rs 653 per tonne as freight, whereas this plant gave only Rs 478 per tonne. For the past month, more than 3,000 trucks had come to a halt, causing a loss of more than Rs 1 crore for which the government and the Ambuja Cements owed an explanation. 

Hamirpur, November 2
Students and staff of Sainik School at Sujanpur Tihra today celebrated its 33rd Raising Day on the school premises, where Education Minister ID Dhiman was the chief guest.

The celebration began with the Education Minister, staff and students of the school paying floral tributes to martyrs at the martyr’s column.

The students displayed their talent by presenting acrobatic exercises and cultural programme, after which the chief guest awarded trophies to the winners.

Principal of the school Group Caption Surender Singh and local MLA Urmil Thakur were also present at the function.

Shimla, November 2
The death of 16-day-old girlchild at local Indira Gandhi Medical College Hospital led to a brawl involving doctors and family members of the deceased last night.

While the family members alleged negligence on the part of doctors, things worsened when the doctors reportedly took the matter lightly and showed no sympathy. Their casual attitude triggered a verbal duel which soon turned into a scuffle in which a resident doctor, Sudhir Mehta, was allegedly manhandled.

The functioning of the hospital was affected today as the resident and senior doctors virtually boycotted duties and remained busy in finalising strategy to press their demand for action against those involved in manhandling.

FIRs had been registered by the rival parties and one of the family members had been arrested. According to senior medical superintendent KS Rana, the child had been undergoing treatment for the past 12 days with multiple problems like jaundice, pneumonia and other diseases.

The state association of medical and dental teachers and the resident doctors’ association condemned the manhandling of the doctor and urged the hospital authorities to provide effective security to the staff. 

Mandi, November 2
A leopard on the prowl in the Chulah, Sakrohi, Badsu area near here took away and killed 7-year-old boy Sagar Pratap, who studied in class II in Government Primary School, Gutkar, yesterday. After the night-long hunt, the boy’s body was recovered from the nearby bushes today.

As a result of this third leopard attack in the belt, fear stalks Pathar and other nearby villages in Chulah, Sakrohi and Badasu in Mandi Sadar area.

The boy’s mother Lata and Narpat Ram collapsed after the villagers recovered the mauled body of their son.

The villagers suspect that the leopard could be a man-eater. “A leopard had killed 11-year-old girl at Sakroha village across the National Highway-21 on the Mandi-Gagal road four years ago, while another 8-year-old boy was saved from the jaws of the animal at Badsu village in the same area two years ago”.

The sobbing Kanhaia Lal, Sagar’s grandfather, rued, “The boy had gone to a cowshed about 50 metres away from the house along with his parents around 6 pm, but he never came back.”

DFO, headquaters, Mandi Anil Joshi, who rushed to the spot, said:“We had laid a trap to nab the animal to avoid any further risk to human life”. He said: “We will pay Rs 1 lakh to the family”, he added. 

Bilaspur, November 2
Bhag Singh (50) of Nalagarh was seriously injured when the bike he was driving had a head-on collision with a truck at Chadole Jattan village near Berry on NH-21 last night. He was rushed to a hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Reports said the police reached the spot and rushed him to a hospital where he was declared brought dead. The bike rider was trying to overtake a truck on a turn when he collided with another truck coming from the opposite direction. Bhag Singh was on his way to Barmana from Bilaspur. 

Kangra, November 2
GAV Public School, Kangra, and SGGS School, Sector 26, Chandigarh, today entered the finals of the CBSE cluster 13, inter-school volleyball championship being held in the local GAV Public School here.

In the girls section, GAV Public School defeated Greenway Public School, Ropar, by 25:09 and 25:10 and entered the finals of the championship. SGGS School defeated Guru Nanak Mission School, Poanta Sahib, by 25:12 and 15:10. In the girls section, final will be played tomorrow between GAV Public School and SGGS School, Chandigarh.

Earlier in the day in boys section, GAV Kangra defeated APS Baddi, Army School Akhnoor, defeated KPS Sanawar and Gian Joyti Mohali defeated DAV Paonta Sahib.

In another set earlier, SAS Ropar defeated LPL Mohali by 25:19, 25:10. Gian Jyoti Public School Mohali defeated Shivalik School Nangal by 25:10 and 25:22 and GAV Public School defeated JK Public School Jammu by 25:17, 25:16.

SDCS Jawali lost to Nangal Chowk, Punjab, by 25:18 and 25:13 . The Tribal belt school of Kinnour lost to GJPS Mohali by 25:11 and 25:14.

Earlier DAV Chandigarh defeated Sanawar, Army School Akhnoor defeated Nurpur and DAV Paonta Sahib defeated Saint Merry Public School Solan.