Shimla, January 6
A legal battle initiated by animals rights organisations to prevent culling of monkeys brought some reprieve for simians as the state High Court today restrained the forest department from issuing any gun permit to farmers for killing the animals till further orders.

The High Court has stayed the issuance of the permits under Section 11 (b) of the Wildlife Act to protect crops for the time being and directed the state chief wildlife warden and the authorised officers to experiment the use of airguns, air pistols and air rifles for the purpose.

While passing this direction, the Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice V.K. Ahuja observed, “The state should protect all the beings. By giving permission to kill monkeys, the state has not understood and applied its mind to understand the basic intent of the Wildlife Protection Act and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act”.

The Bench wondered whether the warden had thought of and experimented other available options with the sublime object of protecting the crops of farmers and the state had understood and applied its mind to its constitutional obligation, fundamental duties and statutory intent behind the (Wildlife Protection) Act.

To protect the crops from wild animals, the Bench also suggested some preventive measures like use of barbed fencing, fire belt, use of crackers, trained dogs, obtaining funds for primate protection parks, relocation, sterilisation, protection parks etc. The court also directed the Centre and all statutory bodies at the national and state level for the protection of wildlife and the Wildlife Welfare Board of India to extend the required financial assistance in this regard.

Appearing before the court, chief wildlife warden AK Gulati submitted that 259 permits were issued and 15 monkeys were shot till December 15.

The state submitted that it did not intend wanton killing of wild animals. It also submitted that earlier methods like sterilisation, translocation, public awareness etc. had not yielded the desired results and the wildlife warden was compelled to issue necessary instructions regarding the permit given under Section 11 (1) (b) of the Wildlife Act.

However, the state clarified that the permits were not issued to everybody and it was granted under some terms and conditions. The permit is issued to scientifically cull one or two number of problematic monkeys within private agricultural land of the permit holder. Another condition is that there has to be a coordination team at every panchayat level, headed by pradhan of the gram panchayat, and permit holder has to approach the panchayat level coordination team.

The team will select the area where culling will take place, the service of sharp shooters is to be engaged, the ammunition is to be in control of the coordination committee etc. Steps will be taken to ensure that permit is given only to ensure that the problematic animals are culled in private land and no shooting is done in the forest area.

The counsel for the farmers submitted that the farmers had stopped cultivating because of monkey menace and thiswais seriously affecting the rural economy. Now the case will come up for further hearing on March 5, 2011.

Shimla, January 6
The government today granted approval for transfer of land, owned by Agro Industrial Packaging India (AIPIL) at Pragati Nagar in Kotkhai, to the technical education department for opening of an engineering college.

The decision was taken by the state Cabinet, which met here today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister PK Dhumal. It was decided that the land would be transferred free of cost to the technical department as the carton factory had been lying closed for the past some time.

Even though apple growers had been demanding that the carton factory should be made functional but the government decided to close it and transfer the land.

The Cabinet also approved the holding of an open auction and following of tender procedure to dispose of land owned by HPMC at Chennai by fixing a reserve price at Rs 15.60 crore.

The Cabinet also granted permission to create and fill 536 posts in different departments, boards and corporations, including 300 vacancies of constable in the Himachal Pradesh Police through direct recruitment, 155 posts of clerk in the education department and 65 posts of scientific, technical and non-technical personnel in the HP State Science, Technology and Environment Council.

Taking cognizance of the complaints received from different quarters, the Cabinet decided to convene special gram sabha meetings throughout the state in April to consider complaints.

It approved a 3 per cent reservation in government jobs to sportpersons who had won medals in the national-level.

It granted permission to fill 4 posts of Deputy Superintendent of Police through direct recruitment, three posts of Assistant Professor in Government Dental College, Shimla, one post of Scientific Officer in Zonal Forensic Laboratory at Mandi and four posts of Drug Inspectors.

The Cabinet approved a development plan for the leftout area of the Kullu Valley Planning Area to create quality public amenities of parking lot and warehousing complex at Palchan, fruits and vegetable regulated markets, including truck terminals at Patlikuhal and Bandrol (Alu Ground), to facilitate locals and visitors as also to maintain the natural grandeur of the world famous Kullu-Manali valley.

Shimla, January 6
The Cabinet today decided to give the 420 MW Reoli Dugli hydro power project, allotted earlier to Moser Baer Projects Ltd in Lahaul-Spiti, to Larsen and Toubro.The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister PK Dhumal here today. The Cabinet decided to allot the project to L&T as it had agreed to match the H1 highest bid. It will be asked to pay the upfront money, which works out to be Rs 80 crore.

“The 420 MW Reoli Dugli project was allotted to L&T as it have agreed to match the highest bid,” confirmed Ajay Tyagi, principal secretary (Power). He added that it was in July 2009 that the government had cancelled the allotment of the Reoli Dugli project to Moser Baer as the firm had failed to deposit the upfront amount, which was Rs 80 crore despite repeated reminders.

The computer technology company Moser Baer had ventured into the area of hydro power generation in the hill state after it bagged five of the 14 projects for which global tenders had been invited by the Himachal government in December 2008.

The projects that had been bagged by the company included 420 MW Reoli Dugli, 320 MW Seli project, 149 MW Sach Khas project, 69 MW Teling project and 90 MW Miyar project. “We are executing other four projects allotted to us, besides Reoli Dugli, very fast so that the people of the state benefit, said AB Giri, managing director and CEO of Moser Baer.

Out of 14 projects having a capacity of 1652.5 MW, Jindal Power had bagged 70 MW Mane Nadang project, 60 MW Lara project and 40 MW Kuling project. DCM Energy had got two projects, 90 MW Khoksar and 81 MW Tinget project. Other companies, which had been in the race for these 14 projects, 12 of which are to be executed in the difficult terrain of the tribal district of Lahaul Spiti, included Tata Power, Essar Group, GMR, Bhilwata Group and L&T.

The company had been able to bag five major power projects under the changed policy norms.

Solan, January 6
After an appalling performance in the urban civic bodies poll, the BJP managed to put up an impressive show in the zila parishad elections with the party-backed candidates bagging nine out of the 17 seats, and the Congress managing to win only six seats as against 10 won by the party in the last poll. Both parties claimed support of the two Independents who were yet to pledge support to any party openly.

In Nalagarh block comprising seven wards, the BJP and the Congress-backed candidates managed to win three seats each with one seat of Manjholi-Rajpura being won by a CPI candidate, Kulwinder Kaur.

In the significant Solan block, Congress committee president and former zila parishad ward member, Ramesh Thakur, witnessed an embarrassing defeat by remaining at third position from the Sirinagar ward. BJP’s Dharamvir Thakur trounced Congress candidate Narayan Singh to win this crucial seat after a virtual division of the Congress vote bank between Ramesh Thakur and Narayan Singh Thakur.

In another significant loss a former district Congress committee chief, Babu Ram Asra, suffered an embarrassing defeat by over 4,000 votes from a first timer Paramjit Pammi, who was a BJP-backed candidate from the Barotiwala ward.

After the results, the focus had now shifted to gain the crucial post of zila parishad chairman and vice-chairman.

A senior Congress leader from Kasauli constituency said their gain could have been higher if a single party- backed candidate had contested and it was the emergence of more than one candidate which played spoilsport for them at various places like Sirinagar, Anji, Kasauli-Garkhal and Dharampur wards. Though the BJP also had to witness such a situation in some wards like Domehar ,with the party-backed candidates registering victories they had managed to put up a better performance.

The list of winners included Kaushalya Devi from Anji, Hardip Thakur from Khera, Sarla Sharma from Ratwari, Suman Lata from Chamdaar, Sonia Thakur from Kunihaar, Asha Parihar from Domehar, Vimla Verma from Darlaghat, Nirmala Devi from Dhundhan, Ajaib Singh Rana from Kundlu-Jhukhali, Husan Chand from Dhabota, Paramjit Pammi from Barotiwala, Ajay Singh from Kasauli-Garkhal, Jagdish Pawar from Dharampur, Laxmi Devi from Darva and Sheila Kumari from Salogra. 

Bilaspur, January 6
The BJP got the majority in the 14-member zila parishad here for the first time, as the result of this election was declared by district Returning Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner Nandita Gupta after the counting ended here yesterday.

The Congress had a severe drubbing as only two of its declared candidates, namely Babu Ram Thakur from the Jukhala ward and Hoshiar Singh Thakur from the Behal ward, won by getting 4,700 and 6,637 votes, respectively, after defeating several other candidates, including Congress rebels and BJP candidates.

Others who won as members of the zila parishad are - Indu - 6,165 (BJP) from the Pantehada ward; Ganga Devi - 4,444 (BJP) from the Lehadi Sarel ward; Anjana Sharma - 5,445 (BJP) from the Kutheda ward; Promila Devi - 8,795 (BJP) from the Patta ward; Poonam Kumari - 5,465 (BJP) from the Barthin ward; Vijay Kumar - 6,416 (BJP) from the Gandhir ward; Anita Devi - 8,540 (BJP) from the Kalol ward; Anoop Mahajan - 4591, a BJP rebel from the Samoh ward; Rita Kumari - 5952 (BJP) from the Chandpur ward; Basant Ram Sandhu -4,599, a Congress rebel from the Barmana ward; Kuldip Singh -3,770, a BJP rebel from the Suin Surhad ward and Manmohan Singh - 7,581 (BJP) from the Kot Khas ward.

Solan, January 6
The decision of the state government to conduct municipal committee polls for the twin posts of chairman and vice-chairman on party symbols without a thorough study is slated to create a crisis for the urban civic bodies where the chairman and vice-chairman lack majority in the house.

Since the conduct of business in the House pertaining to passing of the annual budget, any amendment, including hike in the fee or other charges, and other such decisions is through a majority vote, the MCs where the chair lacks the majority will face problems in transacting business.

Such a situation is witnessed in quite a few urban civic bodies where the chairman and vice-chairman lack majority in the House. The Arki nagar panchayat is one such example where despite the Congress winning both the key posts of chairman and vice-chairman, it merely has one councillor in the House and the BJP has the majority of six councillors. It will be difficult to transact even day-to-day business in the House.

“Under such a situation, the rules of business for conduct of house would have to be amended so as to ensure smooth working of these civic bodies or else their working would be marred in politically motivated internal strives? opined a senior congress leader.

If the rules of business are not amended, it would altogether change the definition of the prevailing democratic system which operates on the voice of majority. If the will of the chairman and vice-chairman is allowed to prevail ignoring what the majority in the House wants for transacting business, it would transform into a presidential form of governance.

HN Kashyap, convener of the BJP’s Panchayati Raj Cell, said the present circumstances require an amendment to the rules of business for conduct of the House and it has already been recommended to the government. This will ensure smooth working of the urban local bodies.

Though the government’s move to conduct these polls on party symbols has put a check on horse trading, the change which is brought about without a thorough exercise was a hasty exercise which has cost the ruling party dear.

Having lost four of the five urban bodies in Solan and registering only a partial victory in one of them, the conduct of polls on party symbols has exposed the declining popularity of the BJP government which has completed three years in power.

Shimla, January 6
The HPSEB Employees’ Union has demanded a Vigilance inquiry into award of contract for online billing system to the HCL company, which had failed to carry out the job. It has also urged the management to stop the further roll out of online system until all shortcomings in the pilot project under implementation are removed by the company.

The union alleged that the company had miserably failed to operate the online billing system in Shimla city covered under the pilot project. The software was malfunctioning creating multiple problems and the data centre under the project generally remained disconnected from the local area network paralysing the online system. Besides, the processing speed of the billing software was very low being coded in old computer language as it was unable to bear the load of even 10 subdivisions and it was not understood how it would take care of the entire state.

At the same time the bandwidth being provided by the BSNL to HPSEB Ltd was low and as a result the consumers and the employees deputed for billing work were facing the music. The pilot project awarded in 2006-07 was to be completed by 2008 but it was still no where near completion.

The management was hand in glove with the private company as evident form the fact that despite the failure of the company to implant the pilot project, it had been allowed to install hardware throughout the state and a payment to the tune of Rs 10 crore had been released to it.

Mandi, January 6
Led by the CPM, over 100 supporters of zila parishad candidate Mahender Singh Rana today staged a protest march in the town and in front of the Mandi DC office demanding action against the assistant returning officer (ARO) tehsildar, Thunag, Anil Sharma for favouring BJP candidate.

Leading the protesters, Rana said they had given a written complaint to the ARO demanding recounting of votes for the zila parishad, Khalwahan seat, on the two grounds. First, there were 16 counting tables, but he allowed two agents inside the counting hall at Janjheli. Second, the margin of victory during the final round was 110 votes, but the ARO did not pay head to the request for recounting, he rued.

Thoor Singh from Thata panchayat, Narayan Singh, Sudhrani, KS Thakur from Balichowki, Dile Ram from Khani, who accompanied Rana, stated that Rana was a winning candidate. But the bundles of votes of Rana were mixed with those of his opponent Pitamaber Singh, who was later declared the winner, they charged.

CPM district secretary Bhupender Singh said the ARO did not dispose of the written complaint and committed a procedural lapse and subverted the democratic process of election.

They claimed the candidate had faxed the complaint to the returning officer, DC Mandi, and to the state election commission.

The protesters accused the ARO of acting on the behest of Seraj BJP MLA and the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Jairam Thakur as he was in favour of BJP candidate Pitamber.

Rubbishing their allegations, ARO Sharma claimed that they had allowed two agents as the candidates had mentioned two names only in the form. “We received a complaint at 8.30 am while we sealed the results at 3.30 am in which the margin of victory was of 435 votes, not 110 votes, but candidate did not raise any objection at that time”, he claimed. 

Shimla, January 6
Alleging that the ruling BJP was pressurising the newly elected members, the Congress today urged the state election commission to hold elections to the posts of chairperson and vice-chairperson of the zila parishads (ZP) and the block development samitis at the earliest to prevent horse-trading.

General secretary of the party Kuldeep Rathore said the BJP, which fared poorly in the urban local bodies poll, was using overt and covert means to pressurise the newly elected members to support its candidates for the posts of chairperson and vice-chairperson. Officers had been deputed to enlist the support of newly elected members and since the poll had not been conducted on party symbols the ruling party would indulge in horse-trading to subvert the verdict of the people.

He said the newly elected members would be administered oath on January 10 and the commission should fix the dates of elections for the posts of chairperson and vice-chairperson and announce the schedule immediately.

Rathore said Pradesh Congress Committee chief Kaul Singh had constituted coordination committees comprising senior leaders for the elections to all 10 zila parishads where election was to be held. Asha Kumari would head the committee for Chamba, Viplove Thakur (Kangra), Anita Verma (Hamirpur), Ram Lal Thakur (Bilaspur), Rangila Ram Rao (Mandi), Raj Krishan Gaur (Kullu), Lajja Ram (Solan), Gangu Ram Musafir (Sirmaur), Kuldeep Kumar (Una) and Vidya Stokes (Shimla).