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CID yet to make breakthrough
Himachal diary
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16 years on, Bilaspur highway awaits bypass
Such traffic jams are a common sight on the Chandigarh-Manali highway
in Bilaspur town. Photo by the writer
Uncertainty over validity of Nagaland driving licences
Baddi firm bags environmental award
Officials of Elin Appliances get Greentech award at Hyderabad. Tribune photo
Young faces to figure in state Cong: Kaul Singh
PCC chief Kaul Singh Thakur
Mid-Himalayan project helps villagers boost income
Dr Vinod Prakash Gupta being honoured by Francois Stamm, head of the Regional Delegation International Committee of the Red Cross. Tribune photo
Vignettes
Workplace intervention programme to check AIDS
Scenic lake turns into eyesore
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CID yet to make breakthrough
Shimla, January 4 It was only last week that the report of the hard disc of the laptop of the main accused, Pankaj, alias Gurvinder, was received from the Forensic Science Laboratory at Junga. Even as the CID wing of the police is still going through the details on his laptop, they have found samples of certificates prepared by him of HPU, HP Board of School Education, National Open School of Learning and the CBSE. Interestingly, with the police finding logos and stamps of various agencies, including the Himachal Pradesh Government, it is being felt that his involvement in preparing HPU, college and school certificates was just the tip of the iceberg. The police found some driving licences, registration certificates and signatures prepared by him in the hard disc of his laptop, which was seized from his home in New Shimla at the time of his arrest. "We are still in the process of procuring the details from the hard disc of his laptop and it will take a while as the number of certificates prepared by him is over 1,000," said Rameshwar Thakur, SP (CID). He added though these certificates had been prepared by him, it was yet to be ascertained if they had been delivered to the candidates. The task of the CID becomes all the more cumbersome as the certificates bear only the name, roll number, course and the university or board but not the address. As such they will be able to get to the potential beneficiaries only after getting the addresses of the beneficiaries from the universities concerned. It was on October 15 last year that the fake certificate scam came to light when a girl student of Government Degree College, Rampur, submitted the fake B.A- II marksheet prepared by Gurvinder. It was the HPU computer branch which found it to be fake and subsequently the inquiry was handed over to the CID which got down to the task of identifying the beneficiaries and the modus operandi of the main accused. After interrogating the girl student the police got a clue about Pankaj, who is still in judicial custody. During interrogation he has confessed to having prepared about 35 certificates and admitted that he had charged differents amount from the candidates depending on their financial position. However, even senior senior police officers are amazed at the expertise he has acquired in preparing fake marksheets that look better than even the originals.
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Early snow brings cheer
The weather god obliged the Queen of Hills (See photo) and other hill stations in the state with early snow, which has brought cheers to the tourism industry, besides apple growers and farmers.
It was quite an event for the state capital that experienced a good snowfall in December after a gap of almost two decades. Until the late 1980s, a white Christmas and a white New Year Day were a common feature in the erstwhile British summer capital. In fact, until the late 1960s, snow greeted the residents in November itself and winter extended till the end of March. There were frequent heavy snowfalls in December, January and February and at times even in March. The city used to receive six to eight feet of snow during the season and the British government had framed a snow manual listing measures to be taken to deal with the situation. It is still in use, although the region does not receive heavy snow anymore. Whatever snow is there melts away quickly due to high ambient temperature. The rapid degradation of environment caused due to excessive construction and deforestation has changed the microclimate with snow becoming increasingly scarce. December generally goes dry, while some snow is received during January. However, maximum snow has been recorded in February in the recent years, which does not serve much purpose as the temperature is too high to make it last for long. Apple growers are a happy lot as early snow, which is considered as white manure for orchards, will ensure a good crop in the ensuing season. The state had a record crop of 4.46 crore boxes last year. Normally, a bumper crop is followed by a lean season, but with snow ensuring enough soil moisture and adequate chilling hours a good crop is on the cards. Widespread rain in lower hills has raised the prospects of a good rabi crop. The protracted monsoon had enabled the farmers to sow the crop well in time and now an early spell of rain will suffice for the next eight to 10 weeks. Power ‘surplus’ in winter
Despite increased demand due to a severe winter, there will be no shortage of power as the government has made adequate arrangements to procure additional power. The demand of power within the state touched an all-time high with of 241 lakh units per day with a peak demand of 1250 MW on December 29. The state has been facing shortage in the winter months when generation from hydro sources reduces to mere 20 to 25 per cent due to a decline in discharge. The anticipated demand for winter (from November 2010 to March 2011) is 3,400 million units (MUs) against the availability of 1,750 MUs, thus leaving a gap of 1,650 MUs. Arrangements had been made by the HPSEB to meet shortfall by the utilisation of state government’s share in Chamera-I, II, Baira Suil and Nathpa Jhakari (556 MUs) projects, allocation from the unallocated quota (304 MUs) from the Centre, contra-banking (482 MUs) and forward banking (350 MUs), which would provide 692 MUs. This year about 482 MUs energy had been banked with neighbouring states, Haryana (178 MUs), Punjab (143 MUs) and Uttar Pradesh (161 MUs). Besides, 350 MUs would be available under forward banking from Haryana (189 MUs) and Punjab (161 MUs). Accordingly, there would be a surplus of 22 MUs in January when the demand would be maximum 729 MUs, 12 MUs each in February and March.
Senior leaders
fail to vote
The right to vote is considered as the main strength of a democratic system and to ensure larger participation in the electoral process. The government has launched several awareness campaigns throughout the country. However, it is strange that many people heading top democratic institutions, including senior political leaders, are quite causal about exercising their franchise in the elections to the grass-root democratic institutions. It was noticed during the recent panchayati raj institutions and urban local bodies elections that at many places, a number of senior leaders did not exercise their voting right. Some of these leaders have acquired top positions in the democratic set up by the virtue of being elected by the people, but still they were indifferent about casting their vote in polls to lower rung democratic institutions. Interestingly, these leaders make fervent appeal to the electorate to turn out in large number to exercise their franchise when they are themselves in the fray. However, they ignore the appeals of others and thereby undermine the importance of these institutions. The Election Commission of India is observing January 25 as the voters day to ensure larger people participation in the electoral process. It is hoped that the initiative of the commission to create awareness among people about the right to vote will have the desired impact and the leaders who themselves contest elections will come forward to exercise their right to vote in all the elections. (Contributed by Rakesh Lohumi and DP Gupta)
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16 years on, Bilaspur highway awaits bypass
Bilaspur, January 4 This highway passes through the town for almost four km right from Lakhanpur to Bamta and any accidental deaths and injuries cause incalculable pain and agony apart from bringing delays and frustrations both to vehicle owners and pedestrians. But no government or leader has taken up the matter seriously. This is one of the main causes of resentment in the town as almost everyday residents have to face various hardships due to bottlenecks on the highway mainly at College Chowk, Main Market Chowk and the Main Bus Stand. As the number of cars, tempos, tractors and three-wheelers has increased in the town, the highway has become very busy and its traffic is increasing with every passing day. Apart from the usual tourist rush, routine buses and other vehicles, the highway daily carries a fleet of at least 5,000 trucks coming and going from ACC Cement factory at nearby Barmana. Thanks to the ill-advised government policy of surrounding Bilaspur district by cement factories, two more cement factories are expected to come on stream soon at Sunder Nagar. Then it would be virtually impossible for any small vehicle to ply on this highway here and it would be dominated by trucks. These all difficulties compelled the people here to demand from the government that there should be a bypass for this town so that trucks and heavy traffic could be diverted to the ACC factory and other upcoming factories through that bypass. Several years ago when the committee repeatedly pressed this demand, it was ordered by the Health Minister to prepare an estimate and consequently, the PWD sent an estimate of Rs 6.13 crore to the government for the approval of a bypass to the town from Lakhanpur to Banola via Bandla hillside (proceedings dated May 14, 1999). Since then, nothing was heard about it and everything was forgotten despite the demand continued to be repeated every now and then from the people. It was once again that the committee raised the issue on May 18, 2009, in the meeting of the state-level Bhakra Oustees Rehabilitation and Advisory Committee presided over by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal in Shimla and the Chief Minister ordered the HPPWD that the matter should be taken up immediately with the authorities so that the bypass was constructed at the earliest. But the matter now rests there and nobody knows if anything concrete has happened to push the matter ahead or not. During all these years, bypasses have been sanctioned for Hamirpur, Sunder Nagar and some other towns of the state, but this bypass still remains a distant dream. The committee has once again requested the Chief Minister to take up the matter himself with the Centre so that it was expedited in public interest.
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Uncertainty over validity of Nagaland driving licences
Chamba, January 4 At least three driving licences being currently used by private transport operators had been seized by the SDM which pertain to Nagaland. There was no specific place and address of the registering and the licencing authority given on these licences. Intriguingly, only the 'Government of Nagaland' and the name of the holder had been mentioned on these licences, Rathore revealed. He told this correspondent here recently that he had written to the officials of the Nagaland government to ascertain the validity of such licences, but no response had yet been received. The delay caused in the response seeking verification about such licences from the Nagaland government had created ambiguity about the genuineness of these licences, the SDM stated. Similarly, an instance of detecting such driving licences had also been reported from the Paonta Sahib area of Sirmour district a few months ago. It may be recalled that in Chamba district, a racket of fake driving licences had been unearthed a few years ago. It is not understood what had been the status of that case, but it appears that the gang involved in preparing such fake licences is clandestinely operating throughout the state, it is observed.
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Baddi firm bags environmental award
Solan, January 4 The award was presented in an environment conference held at Hyderabad on December 12 for its dedicated efforts towards environment protection by Mohandas, secretary, Ministry of Shipping. The assessment was made on the basis of a comprehensive analysis, including various environment performance indicators and its targets as well as national and international benchmarks. This included quantity of solid waste generated and its utilisation (hazardous/non-hazardous), initiatives taken for environment protection and improvement and also abatement of greenhouse gases. The adoption of pollution control technologies and the details of pollutants discharged into the environment also formed a crucial indicator for assessing the unit’s claim. Elaborating on their environmental initiatives, unit manager JS Kang said, “The company has well-defined environment initiatives and later maintenance of projects. A park developed in the Nalagarh Forest area in 2009 illustrates our concern towards the environment. It is thronged by children, youngsters, students, joggers and people from all walks of life”. “Apart from this, we are undertaking a project to educate schoolchildren about various environmental aspects which are consequences of the disturbed ecological system. We endeavour to educate 10,000 students by 2011 and around 4,500 students from four schools in the Nalagarh subdivision have already been educated. Activities like painting, slogan competitions and lectures on environment have been imparted to students to increase their awareness”. Plantation of trees in the surrounding villages, schools, panchayats and a cowshed is an ongoing activity of the company. Kang explains, “The company had its own environmental indices which it strives to achieve and improve and thereby save energy on account of conservation and efficiency. Indices like average electrical consumption per employee or product sold, carbon dioxide tonnes per employee per month, energy costs per unit of production and keeping count of greenhouse gas emissions per employee per month helps to make micro assessments”. Even figures like number of paper pages used per employee per month, percentage of hazardous operational waste, use of total energy per unit of production, waste disposed of per amount of product manufactured and water used per employee per month helped bring about crucial changes vis-à-vis energy conservation. The unit conducts its own surprise audits to check the misuse of power and harvest water within the premises to minimise any adverse environmental impact.
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Young faces to figure in state Cong: Kaul Singh
Nurpur, January 4 He claimed that the party was united in the state and he was getting cooperation from all senior leaders of the party. “After being nominated as PCC chief, Union Ministers Virbhadra Singh and Anand Sharma assured me of full support,” he claimed. Commenting on the completion of three years of the BJP government in the state, the HPCC chief claimed that the popularity graph of the BJP had touched the lowest point during the Dhumal regime. He alleged that the government was functioning like East India Company. It had violated section 118 of the Land Revenue Act by permitting the purchase of about 7,000 hectares of agricultural land by non-Himachalis, he alleged. “Every section of society has been fed up with this government as it has burdened the common man by enhancing bus fares, power and water tariffs. The people are waiting for its ouster,” he claimed.
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Mid-Himalayan project helps villagers boost income
Dalhousie, January 4 Now, the economic scenario of the village has transformed, thanks to polyhouses and other advanced technology for making it possible to grow high-value cash crops. The Mid Himalayan Project first constructed crate wire structures to save houses and reclaim the agriculture land. Water from nearby perennial streams was collected by way of check dams and further channelised into two tanks of 44,000-litre capacity constructed in Juttar and Majra villages. The total cost of these two schemes was only Rs 4.74 lakh. Since providing irrigation facilities to hilly undulating terraces is not easy, water distribution system was constructed by laying an underground 1050-m-long pipeline and 24 distribution chambers to provide water to every terrace of 61 bigha land at a cost of Rs 1.30 lakh. Villagers contributed Rs 25,572 by way of labour in the construction of water harvesting structures and that money was deposited in the bank account of user group so as to meet the exigencies while operating the irrigation scheme. In addition, the villagers have also decided to collect user charges for the use of water so that the kitty is not dried up. The villagers are now growing cash crops like tomato, ginger, marigold flowers and other high-value crops. Seven polyhouses would be constructed this year for growing off-season vegetables and carnation flowers to boost the local economy, claims RK Kapur, additional principal chief conservator of forests-cum-chief project director, HP Mid Himalayan Watershed Development Project. This is not an isolated case as there are several other villages of this backward district where the project has been instrumental in elevating the living standard of people by raising the productivity of land. Sixteen such water-harvesting structures were constructed last year and 16 more would be constructed this year. People, mostly women, are maintaining forest plantations, earning livelihood through knitting, weaving, poultry rearing, floriculture, vegetable growing etc. The project is being implemented in 46 panchayats of Chamba district. One of the most important concepts of the project is that activities are planned implemented, owned and maintained by the people. Presently about 3,000 people are associated with the project through 177 self-help groups and user groups.
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Age no bar for academic pursuits
Shimla, January 4 Gupta, who retired as principal secretary to the Government of Himachal Pradesh in April, 2009, was awarded the gold medal for his achievement and also conferred the Human Rights Scholar’s Award-2010 on the recommendation of the Academic Council of the Institute. The award was presented by Francois Stamm, head of the Regional Delegation International Committee of the Red Cross, at a function organised by the institute recently. The two-year diploma is recognised as equivalent to masters’ degree in human rights by some universities in the country. It was his four-year stint as commissioner-cum-secretary at the State Human Rights Commission and Lokayukta from April, 2001, that got Dr Gupta interested in human rights issues. He was instrumental in spreading human rights awareness and literacy in Himachal Pradesh particularly and holding face-to-face public awareness camps in the remote areas of the state like Kinnaur, Lahul Spiti and Pangi. It is here that he developed a taste to acquire formal qualification and got admission in the Indian Institute of Human Rights. He came out with flying colours and topped the examination. Dr Gupta is presently engaged in writing a reference book on the Impact Assessment of National Human Rights Commission and the State Commissions. He is also a practising advocate in the Himachal Pradesh High Court and has been contributing articles to mainstream English newspapers on various issues. He also writes in Hindi and his first poetry collection entitled “Charon Dishayen” was published by one of the most reputed publishing houses of Delhi, Rajkamal Prakashan. He is currently working on two Hindi novels, both fictions, which will keep him busy for the next five years. He is also associated with a charitable NGO, “Nawal Prayas”, through which he has been pursuing issues pertaining to human rights, environment, poverty, urban development and empowerment of weaker sections.
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All is not well with MNREGA
by Shriniwas Joshi I was recently invited at Bachat Bhawan, Shimla, by ‘People’s Action for People in Need’ (PAPN), a voluntary organisation based at Andheri in Sirmaur district to participate in a jan sunwai (people’s voice) on the functioning of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) in Himachal Pradesh. There were more than 150 job-card holders under MNREGA from all districts barring Lahaul and Spiti, Una and Kullu. The participants were shocked when the top brass of the Rural Development Department (RDD) running the scheme in the state conveniently preferred to stay away despite the fact that the date for jan sunwai was fixed in consultation with them. Well, the lok is generally treated this way by the tantra in this biggest loktantra. Himachal Pradesh is new to the concept of jan sunwai and the officers here can afford to just forget the people who had come to Shimla from the nook and corner of the state. Jan sunwai by an NGO—as a grievance redress system—- was started in 1992 at Kot Kirana in Pali district, Rajasthan. It brought many frauds in rural development to light and the siphoned-off funds were deposited in the treasury. The ill done was revoked. The officers concerned who had failed to deliver were taken to task. I congratulate Kuldeep Verma of PAPN who has continuously been raising such issues concerning the ruralfolk here. I know that MNREGA in Himachal Pradesh, nay India, is not all a black dot. And as Nita, a job card holder from Chamba, highlighted its advantages of empowering rural women by providing jobs and money and checking inter-district migration by offering jobs to local people nearby their homes, I could infer that jan sunwai was not a total sob and snivel story. It, however, does not mean that all is well here. Let us not rest comfortably on the pillow of the ‘State of the state Award’. I saw tears in the eyes of those assembled at Bachat Bhawan, heard anger in their voices and felt irritation in their demeanor. I am raising only two points from among the many in the hope that the authorities concerned would attend to these and mitigate the difficulties faced by the people concerned. Any job card holder under MNREGA is being given an income certificate of having an income of more than Rs 11000 by a patwari simply because he has a card under the scheme that guarantees him job for 100 days in a year with the minimum wage of Rs 110 per day. It makes a household cross the below poverty line level and debars it from the benefits of all other schemes for BPL families. The certificate is given without verifying the factual position on the basis of ‘presumed income’. The Government of India has assessed that at present, on an average, a job card holder gets 52 days and not 100 days’ work. Many needy people said they were afraid of accepting jobs under MNREGA for it would put them above the poverty line and their monthly quota of ration under the PDS would be reduced. I was pained because for my income tax assessment; I get standard deduction but not the poor. Is it the golden lettered justice mentioned in the preamble of our Constitution? There is an inbuilt provision in the scheme of social auditing by the Gram Sabha. The grievance-settling chart of the Rural Development Department on the web is rosy but the fact disclosed in jan sunwai was that most of those who had worked in Chamba and Sirmaur in 2006 had not received their payment till date. Mihir Sen of the Planning Commission says: “ Corruption is a problem as so much money (Rs 40000 crore in 2010-11) has never entered rural India. There needs to be a mechanism to keep tabs over the crores of rupees.” I believe that that tab can be the reliable NGOs of the districts otherwise the gram sabha, though powerful yet a handmaiden of the panchayat pradhan because of shortage of members to form a quorum, would never be able to deliver. Tailpiece
MNREGA will in the long run not only suck away the exchequer but also become a political hobbyhorse.
Nandan Nilekani
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Workplace intervention programme to check AIDS
Solan, January 4 As against the detection of 68 cases of HIV/AIDS three years ago, the number has risen to nearly 200 in 2010 in the Baddi Barotiwala Nalagarh (BBN) industrial belt. As a beginning, the society has decided to train two master trainers in industries where the strength of workers was more than 100. The one-day training will cover 30 to 40 trainers from 15 to 20 industrial units. These trainers would be motivated to train other employees and work on social issues related to HIV/AIDS, including organising programmes for spreading awareness and enable employees to have access to services related to prevention of HIV/AIDS. It would also help put an end to any indiscrimination against PLHAs in the industry. Sulakshna Puri, director of the society, said, “We aim to cover all industries having worker strength of more than 100. A red ribbon mela is being planned for the industrial areas where puppet shows and street plays would be used to spread awareness about this disease”. She said though they were keeping a track on migrant labourers, who are most susceptible to the disease, two cases of expectant mothers had come to the fore who later went to their native places for deliveries. Apart from an Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre (ICTC) at Baddi, one such mobile facility has been put in place in the BBN belt to bring testing facility at the doorsteps of labourers. This would help provide treatment facility to check its further spread. Dr NK Gupta, district AIDS control officer, said the ICTC had helped them detect such cases. As against 68 cases detected three years ago, about 230 cases had now been detected in the district and out of this 90 per cent belonged to the BBN belt. He said the mobile ICTC van would provide testing facility in at least 35 different sites in BBN. An NGO was also providing preliminary testing facility as per the guidelines of the National AIDS Control Organisation and those found positive were being motivated to visit ICTC centres for further testing. This had helped detect a large number of cases. With nearly 7,000 truckers in the BBN area, the support of the industries has become crucial to detect and check the spread of HIV/AIDS as it will adversely affect the industrial growth. Uncontrolled spread of infection due to untimely response results in decline in productivity, loss of skilled and experienced labour and increased expenditure on employee treatment.
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Scenic lake turns into eyesore
Dharamsala, January 4 However, there is no water in the lake these days as it has been dried up for cleaning purposes. The lake has been in such a condition for quite some time now and the work is still in progress. Consequently, it has become more of an eyesore and locals and tourists have been waiting for its facelift for long now. Disclosing about the work being carried out at the lake, DS Rana, SDM, said, “The work would be completed by monsoon this year. De-silting, drainage, soil conservation and work related to beautification are under progress”. A huge number of tourists who arrived here to celebrate the New Year and witness snowfall felt disappointed to see the unpleasant look of the magnificent lake. “Tourists staying at our resort always ask about the dried up lake and feel disappointed to see it. Residents have also been eagerly waiting to see a new lake as their religious sentiments are attached with the lake,” the manager of a nearby resort said. “It was disappointing to see the lake as I had heard a lot about its beauty from my friends who had visited Dharamsala a few years ago. I have come to know about the cleaning work, which is a good step. However, I look forward to its timely completion,” said a tourist.
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Bilaspur, January 4
Solan, January 4
Nurpur, January 4
