Shimla, January 17
Extreme weather disasters like the last year’s devastating flash floods in Ladakh will become more common due to the climate change making an “early warning system along with an integrated disaster management plan” essential for a hill state like Himachal to effectively combat such undesirable impacts.

This was the main thrust of experts at the brainstorming session organised by the state council of science and technology in collaboration with the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) to finalise the action plan to deal with the climate change, here today.

Experts recommend Ecologically fragile high-altitude areas of the state are as vulnerable as Ladakh and preventive measures should be incorporated in the mitigation plan A disaster management plan should be integrated into the action plan to ensure prompt response in case of environment-related events The district-level environment plans should be dovetailed with the state environment management plan Environmental-sensitive areas should be identified and included in the list of hot spots for special focus

Hundreds of precious lives would have been saved if the people had been warned in time about the impending disaster which caught them unawares. The ecologically fragile high-altitude areas of the state are as vulnerable as Ladakh and all possible preventive measures should be incorporated in the plan to mitigate the impact.

The experts also recommended that a disaster management plan should also be integrated into the action plan to ensure prompt response in case of such environment-related events. The district-level environment plans being prepared by the Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry should be dovetailed with the state environment management plan.

Environmental-sensitive areas like Rohtang Pass, Great Himalayan National Parks should be identified and included in the list of hot spots for special focus from the point of view of management. Extensive research and studies should be undertaken to assess the impact of climate change to generate authentic environment-related data, particularly with regard to the status of glaciers and shifting of vegetation, the main indicators of the climate change to work out the required adaptation strategies.

Director of Environment Nagin Nanda said the government had already given approval for setting up a state centre for climate change which would be the nodal institution for all activities relating to climate change. The member secretary of the state council for science and technology would be the director of the centre which would coordinate climate change-related research and studies to be carried out through various universities and scientific institutions.

A number of research papers were presented by the scientists from the SASE (Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment), GB Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry and other institutions.

Dharamsala, January 17
The state government has allotted about 90 per cent of micro-hydel projects to state residents. Out of the 300 micro-hydel projects allotted by the present government 273 have been allotted to entrepreneurs from the state.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said this while addressing a public function in the Dhar Kandi area of Kangra district here today. He was here to inaugurate a 4-MW micro-hydel project brought up by a private concern in the area.

He said the state government had taken a policy decision to allot all power projects of up to 2-MW generation capacity to entrepreneurs from the state. In allotment of power project up to 5-MW generation capacity preference is being given to the state residents, he said.

Though the state government is trying to give preference to the state residents in allotting power projects, the policy is hampering the development of micro-hydel projects in the state.

Sources said in the last 12 years the Himachal Pradesh Energy Development Agency (HIMURJA) had sanctioned about 600 micro-hydel projects. Out of these, just 27 had been commissioned as yet.

The total generation capacity of sanctioned micro-hydel projects in the state is about 700 MW.

Though the projects had been sanctioned to the state residents, they had failed to construct them in the last 12 years. The reason being: procedural maze and lack of finance with the local residents.

As per the laid down procedure, even for micro-hydel projects clearance has to be sought from Departments of Forest, PWD, IPH, Fisheries and local panchayats. Obtaining clearance is a complicated process and common people are not in a position to get them.

The average cost of constructing a hydel project ranges from Rs 8-10 crore these days. The common man who had been allotted the project does not have the capacity to generate such huge financial sources for bringing up hydel projects. The state government has no policy to provide finance to the state residents for bringing up micro-hydel projects.

In the recent past, the state government had asked Kangra Cooperative Bank to finance the micro-hydel projects. The proposal was, however, turned down by NABARD, the controlling authority.

Another option for the Himachalis to raise finances for the projects is to sell equity to outside state residents. However, the state government has allowed only 49 per cent equity for outsiders in the projects sanctioned to Himachalis. No investor from other states is ready to invest without majority holdings in the projects.

Solan, January 17
The allotting of a stretch of land belonging to the Tuberculosis Sanatorium at Dharampur to a private firm, GVK EMRI, for opening its office, has become an issue of concern for staff and patients.

Since a modern culture lab was being developed at the sanatorium under the centrally-sponsored National Tuberculosis Control Programme and funds worth Rs 50 lakh were being spent on it, the grant of a portion of its land to a private firm was considered a retrograde step. A new OPD block was also coming up in the hospital at an estimated cost of Rs 6 crore to cater to the increasing flow of patients. Thus, its importance could not be undermined.

The hospital staff said the OPD received 60 to 70 patients daily. Besides this, almost 25 terminally ill patients were admitted here for treatment.

Being the lone tuberculosis hospital in the region since 1911, it received patients from as far as Uttar Pradesh, besides neighbouring Punjab and Haryana. A staff of five doctors was at present catering to the needs of the patients.

The hospital had, however, remained ignored with almost 26 encroachments being detected in an area of around 20 bighas. The government was now allotting a large chunk of hospital land for setting up an office of the GVK EMRI, thus, reducing the available area. This showed the seriousness of the government in pursuing the National Tuberculosis Control Programme.

The sanatorium staff rued that this had restricted the movement of the patients and furniture and equipment had to be vacated from their training centre which was to be converted into the office space for the GVK EMRI.

Since the office would later be developed into a full-fledged training centre for paramedics and doctors, the fate of the central project looked bleak.

The services which were launched under the “Atal Swasthya Sewa” scheme on December 25 last year appear to have been launched without making proper arrangements.

The private firm has failed to arrange its own doctors and staff has been shifted from government hospitals, thus, putting a strain on the already scarce staff. This has led to the OPD remaining closed for a few days after the launch of these services.

While defending the arrangements, additional director, health, Rakesh Kanwar said since the sanatorium had been underutilised it was put to use and as the state government was bearing all expenses this arrangement helped save resources.

He added that the CMOs had been directed to ensure that the normal hospital working was not affected and since the firm had failed to get doctors from the state, shifting of staff was a temporary arrangement and efforts were afoot to arrange doctors from outside.

However, decrying the lack of facilities provided to the doctors in the emergency response centres, the Himachal Pradesh Medical Officers’ Association president Dr Ajay Dutta and general secretary Dr Jewanand Chauhan said the shifting of doctors had put an additional strain on the remaining staff and with no heaters available the doctors had a tough time beating the cold at night.

Dharamsala, January 17
The BJP bagged five out of the six Block Development Committees (BDC), the elections of which were conducted in different blocks of Kangra district today. Sources told The Tribune that the BJP managed to get its presidents and vice-presidents elected in Sullah, Lambagaon, Dehra, Paragpur and Panchrukhi blocks.

However, in the Nagrota Bagwan block, the Congress managed to get its candidates elected. Congress MLA from the area and former Minister GS Bali claimed that Congress candidates from the Nagrota Bagwan BDC were elected unopposed.

He claimed that 20 out of the 21 BDC members in Nagrota voted for the Congress, while the lone BJP candidate did oppose the party candidate.

The candidates who were elected as president and vice-presidents in various blocks include - Nagrota Bagwan, president Shashi Bala, vice-president Kuldeep Narayan; Sullah, president Sunita Devi, vice-president Madan Thakur; Lambagaon, president Pawna Devi, vice-president Vijay Kumar; Dehra, president Reena Devi and vice-president Vijayender Kumar; Paragpur, president Neelam Kumari, vice-president Kamlesh Kumari; Panchrukhi, president Meena Devi and vice-president Navdeep Kumar.

There are 15 administrative blocks in Kangra district. Out of these, elections for the Kangra BDC were held earlier. In the remaining 14 blocks, elections for the posts of president and vice-president were scheduled for today.

While elections were conducted in six blocks today, elections in the remaining eight blocks had to be postponed due to lack of adequate strength of elected members.

As per rules, 75 per cent elected candidates have to be present in house for election to the posts of president and vice-president. The elections that were postponed today are likely to be held tomorrow.

Nurpur: The elections of chairman and vice-chairman of the Block Development Committees (BDC) of Nurpur, Indora and Fatehpur, which were scheduled for today, was deferred.

In the Fatehpur block, the election was postponed due to lack of quorum.

At Nurpur and Indora, all elected BDC members remained absent. At Nurpur none out of the 29 BDC members turned up for the election process.

The political struggle between local MLA Rakesh Pathania and state general secretary of the Congress Ajay Mahajan to capture these posts led to the absenteeism of BDC members in the election process. Pathania, who kept his supporters’ flock at his residence, was waiting for the arrival of Congress-supported members in the panchayat samiti hall where the election was taken place.

Kavita Thakur, local tehsildar-cum-returning officer, said the next date for the elections of chairman and vice-chairman had been fixed on January 27 in which 15 out of 29 members were required to be present to fulfil the requisite quorum.

Health Minister Rajiv Bindal and BJP MLA from Nalagarh Hari Narain Saini along with Solan zila parishad members in Nangal on Monday. A Tribune photograph

Dharamsala, January 17
In a desperate bid to retain control over the zila parishad in Solan district, the ruling party leaders are keeping their members in the adjoining state of Punjab. Sources said Health Minister Rajiv Bindal and BJP MLA from Nalagarh Hari Narain Saini were keeping their 10 zila parishad members at Nangal, a small town of Punjab adjoining Una district of Himachal. The minister and the MLA along with the zila parishad members of Solan reached Nangal this afternoon. They were accorded a warm welcome by the members of the BJP-ruled municipal council of Nangal.

The sources said the members would be taken tomorrow directly to Solan district at the election venue.

The sources also added that earlier the 10 members of the zila parishad were taken on a recreation trip to Rajasthan by the said leaders. The entire exercise was being carried out to prevent poaching of members by the opposition Congress. The BJP does not want to take chances in the zila parishad elections as it already lost the Solan municipal council to the Congress.

There are 17 elected members in the Solan Zila Parishad. With 10 being herded by the BJP, the party is expected to capture the posts of president and vice-president of the zila parishad scheduled for tomorrow.

Rajiv Bindal admitted that he was in Nangal with elected zila parishad members.

When asked if he was keeping his flock of zila parishad members together, the minister said they were elected representatives and were free to stay with anybody.

When asked if they were also taken on a recreation trip to Rajasthan, the minister said the elected representatives were free to go anywhere.

Shimla, January 17
Chief Secretary Rajwant Sandhu has urged the bankers to sensitise farmers about various credit schemes through publications and by holding workshops and issue kisan credit cards to those left out at the earliest.

Addressing the state-level credit seminar organised by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) here today, she said the bankers could have better results by involving panchayati raj functionaries and associating with the meetings of the gram sabhas. So far only 4.14 lakh kisan credit cards had been issued and there was a need to speed up the process so that maximum people could avail the benefits. She advised the bankers and the district administration to chalk out a collective strategy to cover all eligible farmers under the kisan credit card scheme.

She also released the State Focus Paper (SFP) prepared by NABARD which would form the basis of the credit plan for the state for the next financial year to be prepared by the banks.

She said the banks would increase their credit flow by at least 26.74 per cent to the priority sector over their current year’s targets to achieve the estimated potential of Rs 6,307 crore for the next financial year. The assessment of potential for the agriculture sector was Rs 2,811.17 crore and Rs 3,495.52 crore for the services, manufacturing, housing and education sectors. She said the banks would now be guided by the projections made in the SFP while developing their annual action plan for disbursement of credit to the priority sector for the next financial year.

The highest potential of Rs 1,373.73 crore pertained to crop loans, which accounted for 48.86 per cent of the potential for the agriculture sector. An amount of Rs 1,437.44 crore had been envisaged for term loans for various investment credit activities in agriculture which indicated a 51.75 per cent increase over the current year. The highest potential had been identified for animal husbandry sector at Rs 259 crore, plantation and horticulture at Rs 162 crore, water resources at Rs 58 crore and land development at Rs 87 crore.

Chief General Manager of NABARD AD Ratnoo said financial support amounting to Rs 392 crore had been extended to the banks of the state for dairy development, plantation and horticulture, farm mechanisation, minor irrigation, land development and non-farm sectors so far. NABARD had sanctioned a total financial assistance of Rs 2,982.28 crore for 4,475 projects under the rural infrastructure development fund. An amount of Rs 240.26 crore had been disbursed during the current year for implementing various projects.

Solan, January 17
Congress-supported candidates managed to win the key posts of president and vice-president in the Arki Block Development Committee (BDC) elections today while the BJP established its stronghold over Dharampur after ousting the Congress.

Congress-supported Kamlesh Kumari managed to win the post of BDC president in Arki by defeating BJP-supported Gurmeet Kaur by procuring 12 of the 22 votes, while Congress’ Rishi Dev Sharma defeated BJP’s Ramji Thakur by securing 13 of the 22 votes as one BDC member was absent.

The Arki BDC was the lone seat won by the Congress as the three other BDCs, including Solan, Nalagarh and Dharampur, had been won by the BJP. Arki had thus proved to be the only saving grace for the Congress with the fate of Kandaghat BDC still being a day away.

The BJP had given the Congress a major blow elsewhere in the district with the Congress even failing to put up a contest in the Nalagarh and Solan BDCs and instead lending support to BJP candidates.

The Congress has put up a better show in Arki with both key posts of chairman and vice-chairman in the nagar panchayat being won by the party defeating the BJP. In all the other four constituencies, the Congress had only received partial victories. It’s victory in Arki was, therefore, crucial in saving the party’s image in the district as it had already lost all the five Vidhan Sabha seats. Instead of putting up a united show it had even failed to save the party’s sagging image even in the seats it held previously.

Terming the victory as a team work, Block Congress Committee president Sanjay Awasthy said the people had chosen the Congress as they were disheartened with the BJP, which had failed to address their issues in the constituency.

In the Dharampur BDC, BJP-supported candidates Narinder Attri and Teja Singh won the key posts of president and vice-president by defeating Congress-supported candidates Lalit Kumar and Ram Singh, respectively.

Mandi, January 17
Though the state High Court has not given its final word on the Shukla Committee Report, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has already initiated steps to mitigate the environmental fallout of the hydroelectric projects in line with its recommendations.

The ministry has recommended a riparian distance of 1-2 km between two projects and also directed the state government not to allot any projects in the Chenab basin until a cumulative environment impact assessment study of this basin is complete.

The Shukla Committee had recommended a riparian distance of 5 km between two projects and stressed the need for carrying out a cumulative basin-wise environment impact assessment instead of the existing project-wise system for all river basins in the state.

The Chenab basin has attracted immediate attention as it has a huge potential and a large number of projects are yet to be allotted. In case of other river-basin, most of the projects have already been allotted and are in an advanced stage of implementation. Moreover, the high-altitude Chenab basin is ecologically very fragile.

The steps, initiated by the MoEF, will go a long way in saving the eco-sensitive Chenab basin from environmental degradation being witnessed in Kinnaur where local people are agitating against the construction of projects.

The intervention is timely as the projects in the Chenab basin are in the planning stage and detailed project reports are being prepared. However, independent power producers (IPPs) fear that the latest directions of the ministry will further delay the execution of projects. The government fears that the IPPs may backtrack if the ministry’s recommendations are enforced.

Chief Minister PK Dhumal has requested Jairam Ramesh, Minister of Environment and Forests, to exclude the projects which the state government has already allotted from the clause stipulating minimum riparian distance.

The ministry has directed that the site of the 261 MW Kutehr project in the Ravi basin should be shifted downstream to maintain the minimum riparian distance from the 180 MW Bajoli-Holi project located upstream.

The High Court had asked the Centre and the state government to consider the recommendations of the Shukla Committee, set up by it, to examine the environmental fallout of big projects of over 100 MW, and file affidavits.

While the state government rejected the recommendations, the MoEF recommended the minimum riparian distance of 1-2 km between two projects. The main projects on the Chenab basin include 300 MW Jispa dam, 90 mw Mayar, 448 mw Shangling, 350 mw Saili, 400 mw Reoli-Dugli, 300 mw Purthi, 195 mw Saach Khas, 140 mw Dogar and 108 mw Chatru.

Director, Energy, Sanjay Murthy, said no projects were put on hold and the matter was subjudice.