Solan, November 17
Peeved at the inconclusive meeting convened by the state government yesterday to defuse the 43-day standoff between the four truck unions and the management of Ambuja Cement, hundreds of truckers today took out a protest march at Darlaghat and raised slogans against the state government and the unit management.

The truckers later convened a meeting and unanimously decided to continue with the protest till the freight issue was resolved as per their proposal.

The protest created a traffic jam with scores of vehicles getting stranded at Darlaghat. The police had a tough time in trying to streamline the traffic.

As a precautionary measure, the police has been deployed in strength with as many as 15 reserves fortifying the unit so as to avoid any violent backlash by 
the truckers.

A high-powered committee constituted by the state government had failed to resolve the freight issue at the crucial meeting convened at Shimla yesterday.

The committee comprising Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Bhim Sen, chairman P Mitra, Financial Commissioner (revenue) TG Negi and member secretary AS Rathode held several rounds of talks with the truckers and the unit management.

The latter had, however, announced that it could give a rate of Rs 610 per tonne for transporting clinker and a rate of Rs 640 for cement transportation as against the demand of Rs 625.

This offer put forth by the unit management comprising its joint president Chachal kumar, vice-president Manoj Karnawat and others had failed to find favour with the truckers who refused to accept these rates thus leading to failure of talks.

President, Solan District Truck Operators Union, Rattan Mishra said the management had proposed these rates after calculating a discount of 4.69 per cent and the rates were even lower than what the management paid to the truckers at its Nalagarh plant.

He added that the illogical reasoning of manual and mechanical loading of cement and clinker put forth by the management also failed to give any justification for these lower rates. He added that the transportation of clinker increased the maintenance cost of a vehicle by three times due to non-uniform loading pattern and hence their plea failed to cut ice.

The president of the truckers high-powered committee Jagdish Thakur said this rate was not acceptable at any cost as they could not afford to incur losses by continuing to extend discount.

Criticising the committee for failing to prevail upon the management to accept the rates finalised by them on October 21, the truckers said they merely acted as mute spectators.

Bilaspur, November 17
State Congress vice-president and former Forest Minister Ram Lal Thakur has questioned the claims of the Chief Minister that the BJP government has set up any records of development in Himachal Pradesh or even Bilaspur district and has challenged any BJP Minister to come forward to share a common platform with him and have a debate on the progress and development of the state and Bilaspur district during the former Congress party rule and present rule of the BJP government.

Thakur said the BJP government had not set up a single big institution here in district during last three years of its rule, though it was becoming a laughing stock among masses for its undue claims, taking credit for the projects and schemes started and finance-supported by the Congress government when he was minister here in the district.

Thakur said if the BJP government had any achievements here in the district, why it did not came out with a white paper on the subject, which he had been demanding since long. He said the Chief Minister and other ministers of the BJP government had been inaugurating only those projects and development schemes, which were started by the former Congress government and were even provided with funds by that government till now.

He said Bilaspur district was actually totally being ignored in matters of development and even projects, which were started or approved by the Congress government, were now thrown into dustbin and were being forgotten. Construction of Baghchhal Bridge had been stopped since last 11 months, the work on synthetic Athletics track and Astro-Turf Hockey ground at the Luhnu Sports Complex had been dropped half way through as soon as the BJP took office.

Shimla, November 17
The increased demand of fertiliser due to conducive weather conditions for early sowing has caused a shortage of fertiliser in the state. But the ongoing strike by some truck unions on freight issue with Ambuja Cement has aggravated the problem, particularly in the interior areas.

Normally, about 65 per cent of rabi sowing takes place in November and the rest in December but this excess rain and late withdrawal of Monsoon have left ample moisture in soil, prompting farmers to go for early sowing.

Consequently, almost 95 per cent of the sowing will be over by November 30 and only some areas adjacent to plains like Paonta, Una, Indora and Nurpur, will be left for December. Besides, more farmers are applying fertiliser to take advantage of the moisture in the rain-fed areas which account for 78 per cent of the total land under cultivation.

The demand for complex fertilisers has gone up suddenly and against the normal consumption of 8,000 tonne, 10,500 tonne will be required in November. The total consumption may go up to 35,000 tonne as against 25,000 tonne last season when drought-like conditions prevailed.

Director of agriculture J.C.Rana said already 5,000 tonne of complex fertiliser has reached the state and another 500 tonne was being transported from Chandigarh. Two more rakes of 5,400 tonne will be available shortly and the demand would be met with the supply of 1,000 tonne of being carried forward from October.

However, the ongoing strike of truck operators associated with the Ambuja Cement plant, which has kept about 3,000 trucks off-the-road for the past more than a month, is also posing problems in supply of fertiliser.

These trucks on their return trip carry fertiliser, steel and other items. Thus, it is taking long to transport fertilisers by road to various destinations in the state.

The target for the rabi production has been fixed at 7.33 lakh tonne and with a production of 9 lakh tonne during the kharif season, the state will be close to achieving the current foodgrain production target of 16.70 lakh tonne for the year.

The target for wheat, the main crop, is 6.50 lakh tonne and pulses 30,000 tonne. In addition, 27,850 tonne of potato, 3,450 tonne of oilseeds and 5.61 lakh tonne of vegetables will also be produced during the season. 

Dharamsala, November 17
The Punjab Arts Council has decided to dedicate its annual art exhibition to Sardar Sobha Singh, the legendary artist, who was based at Andretta, a small hamlet in Kangra district. The weeklong exhibition will be inaugurated on November 29 at Chandigarh. More than 200 artists will be participating in the exhibition and works has been shortlisted for display.

Secretary general of the Sardar Sobha Singh Memorial Art Society Harday Paul Singh gave this information while talking to Tribune here today. He said three mega events had been planned by different institutions to mark the 110th birth anniversary of saint, philosopher and artist Sardar Sobha Singh.

A three-day exhibition on the life and works of legendry artist will also be held at the Punjab Kala Bhawan from November 20-22.

Around 150 photographs and some original works will be on display. This exhibition will be organised jointly by the Indian Institute of Architects, the Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi and the Sobha Singh Memorial Art Society.

This is for the first time that this type of exhibition has been planned to capture various facets of the personality of the late artist, Harday Paul said.

He further said special lectures on the artist would be arranged, reprints of original works, literature and the DVDs on the artist would be made available to the visitors by the society.

Punjabi University, Patiala, has also decided to organise a mega function to mark the occasion on November 29.

During this function at Patiala, the Sobha Singh Memorial Art Society will give its maiden “Sobha Singh Art Award” to an outstanding artist following the rich realistic art traditions.

Harday Paul said Sobha Singh had close association with Chandigarh and Patiala. MS Randhawa, Chief Commissioner, Chandigarh, was a great fan of the artist so during his tenure he got many works of the artist for the Chandigarh Museum. 

Dalhousie, November 17
A proposal of the Department of Tourism for the construction of a multipurpose tourist centre at Tunnuhatti on the Pathankot-Chamba national highway has moved forward.

The work has been assigned to the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation for execution. According to an information from sources, the land has already been identified to construct a multipurpose building of tourist centre which could accommodate all offices of various government departments under one-roof as the only gateway to Chamba district is located at Tunnuhatti about 25 km from here.

The scheme envisages beautifying and landscaping the entry point which is the only gateway to the Dalhousie-Chamba tourist circuit while approaching to the green hills from various parts of the country. It also envisages bringing the offices of various departments under one-roof complex located at Tunnuhatti in a shabby condition.

The offices of various government departments which included police check-point, excise and taxation, marketing committee’s office, forest check-post, toll tax vender’s office and transport’s post are functioning in haphazard structures at Tunnuhatti which are eyesore to the tourists and visitors.

There is a need to construct a multipurpose complex in which all these offices of various departments, including tourist information centre could be housed. Moreover, in case of blockade of roads during rains, the edifice can also provide a respite for the tourists for a short stay.

The complex would go a long way in facilitating the tourists and boosting the tourism in Dalhousie-Chamba tourist circuit.

Nurpur, November 17
The Himachal Pradesh Government employees’ confederation has underlined the need for uniform pay scales in all states in the country.

Addressing a press conference here last evening, state confederation president Vinod Kumar claimed that the pattern of following central pay scale structure would eliminate pay scale anomalies in the states. He maintained that 50 per cent financial burden of the arrears being disbursed to the employees should also be borne by the Centre. Vinod Kumar while welcoming the commitment of the Dhumal government against corruption in the system asserted that notwithstanding making lower level employees as scapegoat in corruption cases senior officials should be made accountable for it. He also underlined the need to take strict action against those officials showing apathy in the implementation of the government’s policies and programmes effectively.

He urged CM PK Dhumal for disbursement of arrears of enhanced pay scales of the employees in one go. Expressing concern over the poor financial health of the HRTC and the state electricity board he suggested curtailing existing strength of bureaucracy and recruiting technical staff. 

Mandi, November 17
Villagers’ complaints pertaining to misappropriation of funds in Darwar panchayat in Dharampur block in the district have piled up, with the block development officer (BDO) making a mockery of the Department of Rural Development’s notification issued on July 21, 2010, that claims to redress complaints within a month.

More than 12 complainants in Dharampur, told The Tribune that they had lodged a written complaint with the BDO and the district administration regarding the misappropriation of panchayat funds. “The funds were shown to be used under 60 different works carried out in the panchayat”. They rued the department had taken no action on the complaints against the culprits.

They charged in the complaints that the bills were forged as the sand, cement, bajri etc entered in the bills were fake. The bills had shown to use 2000 bags of cements for constructing pucca paths, treatment of nallahs, khatis and water harvesting structures but the bills had no mandatory vouchers addresses of suppliers, charged Bhupender Singh.

He further stated that they had even lodged a complaint on August 28 with Dharampur police post, but it has been dumped in the dustbin.

The complainants charged that there were no proper pacca paths constructed in the villages. The quality of work on 60 projects was substandard as khatis were not in workable conditions in many cases, they charged.

In fact, the department has issued a notification on July 21, 2010, directing the BDOs concern to dispose of birth, death, measurement books, pension cases etc the same day. The notification has also stated that the panchayat complaints will be redressed within a month.

BDO Dharampur PC Manhas he said, “We have deputed panchayat inspector to probe the matter after we got the directive from the DC, Mandi. Inspection of the works is on and when we get the report, we will initiate action”.

On delay in action, the BDO said he had joined recently and there was no pressure from any quarters.

Shimla, November 17
With hardly any donors coming forward to pledge their eyes at the newly opened eye bank at the Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), the real motive of providing vision to the visually challenged is practically being defeated.

It was after a lot of struggle that the eye bank was opened at the IGMC in July. With only 21 persons pledging to donate their eyes at the bank after their death, the ophthalmologists have so far not been able to provide vision to any of the 55 visually challenged persons, whose wait only seems to be getting longer.

Even 21 persons, who have pledged their eyes at the bank are in the age group of 25-45 years, which means that there are negligible chances of actual donation taking place soon except in a case of an accidental death. The fact is that the number of actual donations, which takes place after the death of a person is far less than the number, who pledge their eye due to various factors like place and time of death and the reluctance on the part of the family members.

The authorities at the IGMC are even considering seeking the help of religious gurus to motivate people to pledge their eyes so that some unfortunate person can get sight due to the noble gesture shown by others. While in a country like Sri Lanka, it is considered a very noble gesture to donate one’s eye, in India it is the other way round as people are guided by superstitions and dogmas.

Till now people from Himachal, who are visually challenged were dependent on the eye bank at the PGI, Chandigarh. Feeling the need for an eye bank within the hill state so that more persons can get vision through an eye transplant, the eye bank at the IGMC was set up.

Dr Ram Lal, Nodal Officer in the Ophthalmology Department, the IGMC said, “Even today people are very superstitious and believe that eyes should not be removed before the last rites as the person will be born blind.” He said, “Infact the reality is that a noble gesture of donating one’s eyes would light up the life of a person who has no vision and there can be no bigger kind act than this.”

He said the IGMC at its own level was making efforts to motivate people to pledge their eyes but so far the response had not been encouraging.

Hamirpur, November 17
An embarrassed Baba Balak Nath Temple Trust, which has the Hamirpur Deputy Commissioner as the Chairman, is scrambling to restore its ownership of land worth several crores of rupees. While the trust had won the case in the High Court, an appeal was decided ex-parte by the Supreme Court against the trust for its failure to pay the court fee and, more important, its failure in responding to notices.

The case related to a dispute over 24 kanals of land on which the trust had recently spent Rs 6 crore for constructing a ‘sarai’. Following the ex-parte decision, the ownership stands restored to the present mahant, Rajender Giri.

The dispute started in 1987, when the state government formed the trust after taking over the shrine and appointed the Deputy Commissioner, Hamirpur, as its chairman. The claim of the mahant was finally rejected by the High Court in 2007.

The chairman of the BBNTT and DC Hamirpur Rajender Singh Thakur said, “Since the case was not decided on merit but in default, we are taking legal steps for restoration of our suit in the Supreme Court of India. We are also holding an inquiry to fix responsibility for the legal lapses in representing us in the apex Court”, he added.