Shimla, February 8
Thwarting the march of the invasive alien species, which pose a major threat to the indigenous flora, will be the main focus of the state Forest Department during the International Year of Forests.

Weeds like lantana, ageratum, parthenium (Congress grass) and eupatorium have over the years usurped several lakh hectares of forest land and their march is continuing unabated.

In the lower and mid-hill areas, these species have invaded large tracts of agriculture land. They are now moving up into the sub-temperate zone. Piecemeal efforts in the past to tackle the weed problem have not yielded the desired results.

“The appearance of large gregarious patches of these weeds not only pose a serious threat to the biodiversity, particularly the valuable herbs and other medicinal plants, but also hamper proper regeneration of forests”, points out GS Goraya, chief conservator of forests in charge of floral diversity, non-timber forest produce and research.

Already some medicinal plants like viola (banafsha) have been weeded out from the pine forests and now that they are intruding into the flora-rich sub-temperate zone, the implications for the biodiversity will be serious.

Further, the dominance of single species on the forest floor also increases the danger of wild fires which spread quickly due to thick undergrowth. More importantly, a large scale invasion of forests by poisonous weeds is taking a heavy toll on useful grasses and bushes which provided fodder for the cattle. Failure to contain the spread of these undesirable species will, in the long run, endanger the livelihood of the hill people, he explains.

Since the United Nations has declared 2011 as the International Year of Forests to raise awareness on sustainable management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests, the department has decided to focus on the seemingly intractable weed problem. The objective is to put in place a long-term action plan to find a lasting solution to the problem.

Teams of forest officials will conduct field surveys to estimate the area affected by weed and identify the severely hit area. Thereafter, an action plan based on biological intervention like introduction of more vigorous useful species to replace the weeds and check their march will be prepared. Fast-growing species like bamboo, bohemia and ritha will have a major role in proper management of weeds.

Hamirpur, February 8
While the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) has made the bus ticketing process hi-tech by providing electronic ticketing machines (ETMs) to a majority of conductors deputed on the long route buses, these are causing annoyance to passengers as different bus fares for the same journey are being charged from them.

“If passengers buy tickets from bus stand counters, they are charged different fares while other passengers buying ticket from conductors through ETMs are being charged different fares on many routes throughout the state” says a passenger.

A passenger recently complained that a group of passengers travelling between Hamirpur and Haridwar were charged different fares for this journey. The passengers, who purchased tickets from the bus stand counter, were charged Rs 326 per ticket while tickets from the conductor of the bus using an ETM cost others Rs 340 per ticket.

“Even different fare is being charged for the return journey through ETM on the same route”, he added.

This is not a stray incident and fare variations for tickets, purchased through ETMs, are reported on many long routes of the state and passengers have been complaining about this.

Insiders say, “The variation in bus fares charged from the passengers for same distance in HRTC buses have occurred due to error in feeding the bus fare charts in ETMs by the HRTC staff.”

Divisional manager (traffic) HRTC HK Gupta said, “All 23 depots have been told to rectify the bus fare charts fed in the ETMs and make it uniform and this problem will be sorted out soon.”

“Action will be taken against the staff feeding fare charts, if found guilty, since they were given special training for this purpose”, he said.

Shimla, February 8
The state government has sought technical assistance from Israel for developing a standardised “package of practices” for protected cultivation and setting up a centre of excellence in greenhouse technology in the state.

Secretary of agriculture Ram Subhag Singh met the ambassador of Israel Mark Sofer at New Delhi today and discussed the matter and also apprised him about the implementation of Rs 353 crore Pandit Deen Dayal Kisan Baagwan Samridhi Yojna being implemented in the state to bring 14.70 lakh sqm area under protected cultivation and extending minor irrigation facility to 20,000 hectare.

The request was a sequel to the visit of a team led by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal to Israel to study agro-technology developed by that country to boost production.

Ram Subhag Singh underlined the need for “ferti-gation” technology for better results and urged the ambassador to help the state in the matter by involving some specialised agencies. He requested him to take up the matter with the Israel Government for providing technical expertise for the centre of excellence in greenhouse technology in the state.

He also informed the ambassador that two Israel, companies Nandan and Netafim, were working with the state government in the implementation of the playhouse cultivation scheme.

Mark Sofer assured him that he would take up the matter with the Israel government and see that the proposal was considered.

Shimla, February 8
The government today ordered a survey of unsafe school buildings even as the CPM staged a demonstration in front of the Directorate of Education in protest against the death of four students due to collapse of the boundarywall of a government school at Chhattarpur in Una.

Education Minister ID Dhiman directed the Education Department to conduct a survey of unsafe school buildings across the state to avert any mishaps in future.

He said the government had taken a strong notice of the shocking incident and directions had been issued to all deputy directors of elementary and higher education to get the school buildings and boundarywalls examined by the Public Works Department from the point of view of structural safety and demolish the unsafe structures after seeking permission.

He said the necessary funds would be provided to reconstruct such buildings to ensure safety of children.

He said the responsibility would be fixed and action be taken against the erring officials. He said all primary block education officers were also being directed to take precautionary measures to prevent any such incident in future.

However, the CPM maintained that the wall had collapsed because of poor quality of construction and staged a demonstration to press its demand for immediate arrest and stringent action against those responsible.

Secretary of the district unit of the party Sanjay Chauhan said the department did not have the technical manpower to check the quality of construction in the schools and works were being assigned to favoured contractors.

The education policy of the present BJP government was in a shamble and a majority of the schools lacked the basic infrastructure and school buildings were in a bad shape. Many schools did not even have their own buildings and functioned under open sky. The government was encouraging privatisation and commercialisation of education ignoring the interests of the common man.

It demanded a review of the policy of closure of government schools, stringent action should be taken against guilty and a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the bereaved families.

Shimla, February 8
The Institute of Hotel Management at Kufri, near here, will provide assistance to 10 needy and meritorious students from the next academic session.

Stating this while presiding over a meeting of Board of Governors of the institute here today, principal secretary, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Manisha Nanda, said a corpus would be created for the purpose under the budget head.

The initial corpus would be provided by the Institute and National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology. The students securing minimum 60 per cent marks in the institute would be given further assistance in the 2nd and 3rd year.

At present, 322 students are being imparted training in the 1st year under B.Sc in Hotel Administration. The institute has also imparted training to 657 skilled and semi-skilled workers, especially working in dhaba and restaurants.

She further said the institute would tie up with the hospitality sector abroad in the neighbouring Asian countries for arranging industrial training for students to give them better exposure to the modern techniques and practices.

Hamirpur, February 8
Activists of the SFI today held a protest demonstration in front of the DC office to condemn the alleged partisan behaviour of the district police in yesterday’s clash near the local college.

The activists raised slogans against the police administration and the state government.

Leaders of the SFI have accused the police of acting in a partisan manner by arresting their activists while ABVP activists were let off without any action, despite naming some of them by one of their activists in a written complaint with the police.

Later, they submitted a memorandum to ASP Gurdev Chand and demanded action against the accused.

Meanwhile, CPM state secretariat member Kashmir Singh Thakur has condemned the alleged partisan behaviour of the police and warned to move the Himachal High Court against the district police.

Chamba, February 8
Chief Minister PK Dhumal will visit Chamba district during his two-day visit to the town on February 12 and 13, according to an official communiqué issued here today.

The communiqué said the Chief Minister would inaugurate the key event of water sports complex at Taleru on the fringe of popular Chamera lake, near Dalhousie hill station, on February 12.

Dhumal would also inaugurate the “tribal hostel” for boys of the Government Postgraduate Degree College, Chamba, and the additional water supply scheme Hardaspura, besides laying the foundation stone of the additional indoor building block of the regional hospital, Chamba, the communiqué further added. The CM would halt at Chamba and leave for the Gaggal airport of Kangra district on February 13.

The much-awaited visit of the CM after July 2010 has brought cheers amongst the masses of the district.

Dharamsala, February 8
The second phase of Census 2011 will begin in Kangra district from February 9 which will go on till February 28, 2011. The revisional round for this will take place from March 1 to 5.

Deputy commissioner RS Gupta gave the information while disclosing that the preparations regarding the census had been completed and he also urged the public to support the programme for its successful completion.

The district has been divided in 20 rural and nine urban areas and charge officials will look after the whole population counting procedure in their respective areas. The officials will go door-to-door and gather the information which they have to do in the stipulated time period.

The DC said, “Control rooms have also been set up at all the tehsil offices of the district where people can give their suggestions, file complaints and also gather information.”

He also added that the development of any area was being planned on the basis of the facts and figures collected during the census therefore it was important for the officials to gather correct information and for the public also to give correct details of their families to the officials.

An awareness rally was taken out today by schoolchildren to spread the information regarding the census. ADM Kangra flagged off the rally. 

Shimla, February 8
Maintaining that the linking of the RSS with terrorist activities as a conspiracy to defame it, the organisation has decided to launch a statewide campaign to dispel the misgivings in this regard and present its point of view before the people.

State assistant secretary of the RSS Vir Singh Rangra said here today that the house-to-house campaign would be organised from February 12 to 28 during which the nefarious designs of the anti-Hindu forces would be exposed and issues like total integration of Kashmir into the country would be highlighted. In all, 2,000 groups comprising over 10,000 RSS activists would be involved in the campaign under which over six lakh households would be contacted.