Shimla, December 20
Having imposed a ban on the use of plastic in the hill state, Himachal can contribute in protecting the ecology of other states as well from the ill-effects of plastic by buying it for tarring of roads. It has worked out to be more economical and durable.

The experiment of making use of plastic in the construction and tarring of roads seems to have worked well as these roads, built almost six months back, are in a good condition. So far, 29 tonne of plastic has been used in constructing 42-km roads under various circles of the Public Works Department (PWD) in the state.

Even though the initial figure of plastic collection pegged at 398 tonne has dipped to a mere 90 tonne, this too has helped the PWD to construct 42-km roads. The PWD was able to take out a total of usable 67 tonne of plastic from the 90 tonne waste collected under the campaign to keep the environment free from plastic.

“We will be making use of the remaining plastic in road construction during the summer season as these roads work out to be cheaper by at least Rs 35,000 per km and also seem to be more durable,” said PC Kapoor, principal secretary, PWD.

He admitted that with a ban on plastic in the state, its collection had reduced, but since the experiment seemed to be working well, the state could even consider buying it from other places.

Having overcome the problem of dealing with the collected plastic waste by acquiring shredder machines of the bigger size, the PWD is fully geared to go full steam in utilising the remaining plastic and more.

The road construction work can only be undertaken in the summer season as a minimum temperature is required for proper binding.

In fact, earlier the PWD was facing problem as it did not had sufficient number of shredders and the ones it had were too small. The department had now bought 13 shredders costing about Rs 1.30 lakh each, making the task of the PWD much easier.

Himachal was the first state which imposed restrictions to prevent the use of plastic and has now almost imposed a ban on its use. The initiative has helped a great deal in preventing choking of the nullahs with plastic and the green hillsides being littered with plastic bags and bottles.

Palampur, December 20
Once again, the ancient Shiva temple at Baijnath is facing a threat to its existence.Despite stiff opposition of local residents, environmentalists and other social bodies, illegal mining near the ancient Shiva temple is still going on, posing a serious threat to the historical temple built in 1204 along the banks of the Binwa river.

Till date, no step has been initiated by the state government in this regard. The illegal mining activities have put a question mark on the future of the temple, which encompasses the essential features of the Nagara temples.

Earlier in 2008, The Tribune carried a news reports in these columns pertaining to the damage casued to the temple. Thereafter, the state government came in action and the SDM, Baijnath, banned the mining in the Binwa river. But later on, the officer was shifted and the illegal mining once again started adjoining the temple.

It may be recalled that on a PIL, the Himachal Pradesh High Court had banned all mining activities near the temple complex, but there was none to implement the orders of the High Court. At present, the temple is under the administrative control of the state government and the Archaeological Survey of India is maintaining the old structure.

It has spent lakhs of rupees on the maintenance and development of surroundings of the temple during the past 10 years. Thousands of domestic and foreign tourists visit the temple every year. Besides, the state government has constituted a trust to manage its affairs.

The temple, which remained intact during the major earthquake of Kangra in 1905, has been badly damaged by the unscientific mining in the river in the past 15 years.

Raja Sansar Chand, a Katoch ruler of Kangra, renovated the temple in the 19th century, but Aurel Steil, who studied it in 1892, said it had not undergone much alteration except the roof. Meanwhile, the district mining officer, when contacted by The Tribune, said all efforts were being made to check the mining near the temple. He said the mining wing was facing shortage of field staff.

He had urged the government to post a regular mining inspector at Baijnath to check the illegal mining. He disclosed that state government had also given powers to the DFO, the SDM, junior enginers of the IPH and the PWD to check the mining.

Shimla, December 20
If a male government servant neglects his wife and family, he is liable for punitive action under the Central Civic Services Conduct Rules, applicable to the employees of the Centre and the state government, but the rules are silent in case of female government servant.

This interesting fact has come to light from the information obtained under the Right to Information Act (RTI) by Devashish Bhattacharya, an RTI activist, while pursuing a complaint of a husband, whose wife, an employee in the Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs, left the family following a dispute.

As the ministry did not take any action on his complaint, he obtained the file notings pertaining to the case under the RTI to know the reasons for it.

The copies of the file notings supplied by central public information officer J.C.Gupta read: “The instruction for proper maintenance of family states that in case a government servant is reported to have acted in a manner unbecoming of a government servant, for instance, by way of neglecting his wife and family, departmental action can be taken against him on that score. Penalties that may, for good and sufficient reasons, can be imposed on an errant government servant. Further, it has been held that neglect of wife and family in a manner unbecoming of a government servant may be regarded as a good and sufficient reason to justify action being taken against him under this rule”.From the instruction, the noting says, it is observed that the rule is for male government servants, who neglect their wives and family, whereas, there is no provision of rule for taking action against a female government servant for neglecting their families

Bhattacharya said it was time to review the skewed rule to end the gender bias and ensure justice to husbands who are neglected by their spouses.

In his complaint, the husband had stated that his 76-year-old mother, who was a heart patient, was not in a position to avail the medical treatment facility as his wife after an altercation, had taken away both CGHS cards. He had sought the intervention of the department in the matter to get the cards returned failing which the department would be bound to hold her responsible and accountable by taking action against her.

Hamirpur, December 20
Education Minister ID Dhiman today honoured ace shooter Subedar Vijay Kumar for bringing laurels to the country and people of Hamirpur district by winning medals in shooting events in international competitions, in the concluding ceremony of the three-day state-level youth festival here today.

The minister offered a shawl and a cap to Vijay Kumar in the function. A resident of Harsour village in the district and a serving Army Subedar, Vijay Kumar had won three gold medals in the recently concluded Commonwealth Games and two silver medals in the Asian Games.

Addressing the youths on the occasion, the minister asked them to participate in more and more such activities as it would help in weaning them away from many addictions and drugs.

The minister also gave away prizes to the winners of different competitions in the youth festival.

Bilaspur, December 20
A total of 12 district Red Cross Societies in the state are providing timely help to the poor and needy during their sickness. This was said by divisional commissioner (Mandi) Ashwini Kapoor, while presiding over a day-long district-level Red Cross Fair organised by the district Red Cross Society here yesterday.

Kapoor said all should come forward to become members of these societies and thus be active and proud partners in this social responsibility to help those who deserve it.

District society chairperson-cum-DC Nandita Gupta said the district Red Cross Society had spent Rs 11.71 lakh in providing financial help for treatment of 843 poor persons last year, while this year till date, Rs 8.08 lakh had been spent on various activities of the Red Cross, including the help to 436 deserving patients. The society has six patrons and 136 lifetime members among others.

Kapoor also distributed wheelchairs, crutches and walking sticks to nine physically challenged persons. He also released a souvenir brought out by the society. He also had a round of the 48 stalls of exhibitions and other food items put up in the fair by government departments and NGOs and was all praise for the effort of all in this cause.

A large number of officers, citizens, women and children drawn from all parts of the district were present for enjoying the attractions. The stall of “sarees” put up by the Naina Devi Temple Trust attracted huge crowds of women as costly sarees were sold at a throwaway prices.

Solan, December 20
A woman Saroj Kumari (56) was brutally murdered by being repeatedly hit with cudgels and sharp-edged weapons in a forest area near her native Tikker Panoh village falling in Nalagarh sub-division last night.

The murder came to light when her relatives found her blood-soaked body in a forest adjoining her village this morning. They later informed the police who immediately reached the spot.

Saroj Kumari was a widow who was living alone. According to police inquiries, a property dispute could have led to her murder.

The body bore numerous injury marks and she appeared to have been brutally beaten up with cudgels before being killed.No weapons have as yet been recovered from the spot.

She is survived by three daughters and all were married. Her husband Raghuvir Singh had expired some years back. The police also learnt that some days ago, she had an altercation with her son-in-law.

SP Chander Shekhar Pandit and Assistant SP Veena Bharti visited the spot and examined the murder spot.

Dharamsala, December 20
The revenue policy adopted by the previous BJP government during 1998-2003 is likely to increase litigations during the coming panchayat elections in the state.

Rajan Sushant, former Revenue Minister, said the BJP government had floated a policy to regularise the encroachments on government land. Forms were sold by the revenue department at a cost of Rs 50 for allowing encroachers to apply for regularisation of their encroachments.

Due to the policy, over 1 lakh people declared themselves encroachers on the government land and submitted the forms. These included 13,000 persons in Una district and about 40,000 in Kangra district.

Sources told The Tribune that many people turned encroachers overnight to take benefit of the scheme. However, the state High Court stayed the proposed scheme and encroachments on the government land were never regularised.

However, the forms filled by people declaring themselves encroachers have now become a bottleneck in their participation in local body polls. The government this time has banned encroachers from contesting local body polls.

However, information collected by The Tribune revealed that many people, who had declared themselves encroachers under the policy, were being allowed to contest elections, while some were being denied permission.

A senior bureaucrat said if all people, who declared themselves encroachers, were barred from contesting elections, about 80 per cent of contestants would become ineligible.

He said the government had given this authority to Returning Officers (ROs). The ROs in panchayat elections were generally tehsildar or BDO rank officers.

It had been decided that the only those would be declared encroachers, who had been held guilty by any revenue or judicial authority. They were not to be considered encroachers on the basis of simple complaints or forms in which they declared themselves encroachers.

Legal experts, however, have a different opinion over the matter. They said the people, who themselves declared that they had encroached upon government land, could not be absolved of the responsibility. In forms submitted to the government, such people had also given the details of government land that they had encroached upon.

As per the court orders, even a person who has been evicted from government land after court or administrative orders would also be considered encroacher.

Since a large number of candidates are contesting polls this time, the litigations over the definition of encroachers on government land might increase after the declaration of results.

Shimla, December 20
The government has declared December 28 and 30 and January 1, 2011, as public holiday in view of election to panchayati raj institutions in the state.

January 3, 2011, when polling for the election to the urban local bodies will take place, has also been declared a public holiday. All government offices, boards, corporations, educational institutions, industrial establishments and shops will remain closed on these dates in the areas where polling is scheduled to be held.

It will also be ensured that it is a paid holiday to the daily wage earners and also within the meaning of Section 25 of the Negotiable Instrument Act, 1881.

All deputy commissioners are authorised to declare a public holiday on the actual date of election in the areas within their jurisdiction. A panchayat or urban local body will get only one holiday for the day on which the poll is to be held.

Special casual leave will be given to employees who are working in different places in the state and have a right to vote in other places on production of certificate from the presiding officer that the employee has actually cast vote.

Shimla, December 20
Taking strong exception to the Congress accusation that rejection of nomination papers of candidates guilty of encroachments was being done on political considerations, the BJP said this only proved that Congress men had violated the law in larger numbers.

In a statement issued here today, state BJP spokesperson Ganesh Dutt said the Congress was trying to mislead the public by levelling false accusations. Dutt said such kind of baseless allegations only indicated that the Congress was frustrated. — TNS