Shimla, March 17
Over 9,600 trees will face the axe for laying the transmission line for evacuating power from the 1000 MW Karcham Wangtoo power project in Kinnaur, which is likely to start generation by June this year.

In reply to a query during Question Hour in the assembly by Congress MLA GS Bali about exploring the possibility of an alternate route, Chief Minister PK Dhumal today said the permission from the Centre had already been obtained and a change in the evacuation plan would cause an unnecessary delay.

“As per the original plan, 22,650 trees were to be felled for erecting the Karcham Wangtoo Abdullapur transmission line but after revision, the number has been brought down to 9,621,” he said.

Bali pointed out that a delay of a few months would not make much of a difference as it took many years for a tree to grow. “The government must reconsider the decision as JP company is obviously keen to reduce its cost for laying transmission line rather than saving more trees,” he said.

He also sought information contained in the Shukla Committee report about laying of transmission lines.

The Chief Minister said efforts were on through the Transmission Corporation to have one single transmission line per river basin so that less trees were cut and a common corridor was used by all power producers.

He said the trees, some of which were saplings and seedlings, would have to be cut in Rampur, Kinnuar, Nahana, Rajgarh and Theog divisions to make way for evacuation of power from Karcham Wangtoo.

In reply to another question by Rakesh Verma and Harshwardhan Chauhan, Horticulture Minister Narender Bragta said three anti-hail guns had been installed on an experimental basis near Kahara Pathhar at 10,000 feet to protect apple crop from hailstorm. “The government has made a provision of Rs 27.50 crore to have similar guns installed in other fruit and vegetable growing areas of the state to protect crops,” he said.

Dhumal also informed the House that the change in uniform of police officers from khakhi to blue was not applicable to IPS officers as any change in uniform could be made only by the Centre by making amendment in Section 6 of the Indian Police Service (Uniform) Rules, 1954.

“The proposal sent by the state government to the Centre for changing uniform of IPS officers has been turned down but others will change to blue as the decisions was taken by the police department only in 2007,” he said. The issue was raised by Sudhir Sharma, Mukesh Agnihotri and Neeraj Bharti of the Congress. 

Kullu, March 17
The Forest Department has suspended three beat guards Ravinder Singh, Deepak Kumar and Joginder Singh after they failed to detect the illicit felling of trees in the Naggar-Jana forest range and Neol in the Parbati range.

The role of the supervisory staff, including the divisional forest officers in Kullu and Parbati divisions, is also under scanner in this connection.

The forest mafias are active in the deodar-rich Parbati-Kasol valley and Malana valley and in the Naggar-Jana forest range and smuggle timber on demand to private builders in the valley.

The Forest Department suspended Nathan beat guard Ravinder Singh and Jana beat guard Deepak Kumar in connection with the illicit felling detected by the vigilance on Saturday which was reported in these columns.

The preliminary inquiry found both guards acted allegedly in connivance with the forest mafias as they did not detect the illegal cutting down of 12 deodar trees, 95 small trees in Nathan and Jana beats.

The guards and supervisory staff did not keep a vigil in the area over the years as trees had been cut in an alleged nexus with the field staff for the use in cottages, private houses, and resorts in the left bank of the Beas river, sources revealed.

SP Vigilance Virender Sharma said there was no damage report filed by the forest staff in both cases. “We have registered a case under Section 30, HP Corrupt Practices Act, probing the role of the forest staff, including the DFOs and lower ranks”, he added.

Acting on a complaint, the Forest Department detected another racket in which 32 trees were found cut in the Neol beat in the Parbati forest range. Beat guard Joginder Singh was suspended as he failed to take cognizance of the illicit felling in the area.

The department is now examining the role of the DFOs, range officers and block officers in the illicit felling of trees as there was no proper supervision in the sensitive ranges, said top forest officials.

Conservator of Forests, Kullu, PK Sharma confirmed that three guards had been suspended. The department was also examining as to what went wrong in the case of supervision of the area on the part of the all ranks, he added. 

Shimla, March 17
Reliance Power has finally made entry into the hydropower sector in the hill state bagging five out of 18 projects for which global bids were invited.The company had failed to bag any project in bids invited earlier and was locked in a protracted legal battle with the Brakel Corporation over the twin 960 MW Jhangi-Thopan-Powari projects, allotted to the latter in 2006.

The Tatas have also announced their entry with the Tata-SN Power, bagging the solitary 236 MW Dugar project, offering the maximum 22.35 per cent free power.

Other companies like Larsen and Toubro and GVK Energy did not bag any projects. While Moser Baer, which had bagged five projects in the previous bids, did not participate.

The projects were allotted on the basis of free power offered above the mandatory 13 per cent (up to first 12 years), 19 per cent (12 to 30 years) and 31 per cent (30 to 40 years).

Reliance Power bagged the 300 MW Purthi, 94 MW Teling, and 44 MW Shangling (in Lahaul and Spiti) and 130 MW Sumte Kothang and 104 MW Lara Sumta (both in Kinnaur) with the highest bid of 21 per cent free power for the projects.

Capital Consortium Limited, New Delhi, secured the 9 MW Cho Tundah (14 per cent) and the 9 MW Tanger (13.1 per cent), while BMD Private Limited, Rajasthan, bagged 12 MW Dhanchho (23.21 per cent) and 30 MW Malana-III (17.61 per cent). ABG Shipyard also bagged two projects, 130 MW Rashil (14.1 per cent) and 104 MW Tandi (22.1 per cent).

Other successful bidders are AMR Mitra Joint Venture, Hyderabad, - 81 MW Tinget (21.42 per cent), Bell Spun Energy -13 MW Suil (17.05 per cent), Puri Oil Mills -7.5 MW Kilhi-Bahl (19 per cent ), Green Infrastructure -12 MW Jorbie (15.84 per cent) and BLA Industries -10 MW Nesang (15.84 per cent).

In all, 17 projects, with an aggregate capacity of 1325.5 MW, were allotted. The 60 MW Patam project was withheld as there was only one bidder.

Sixtythree bids were received for 18 projects. Out of these, eight major projects, with an aggregate capacity of 1049 MW, were in Lahaul and Spiti district.

Kangra, March 17
The annual fest of the National Institute of Fashion Technology(NIFT), Spectrum 2011, at Kangra began amid protest by mediapersons for the alleged misbehaviour of the NIFT authorities on Thursday.

The mediapersons left the venue of the function when Anurag Thakur, MP and National president, BJYM, was addressing the gathering. Earlier, they were asked to leave the seats for VIPs and were stopped from carrying out professional activities by the authorities, which forced them to lodge the protest.

It was only after the intervention of Anurag Thakur, local MLA Sanjay Choudary, SDM Neeraj Kumar and DSP Dinesh Kumar that they withdrew the protest.

Shimla, March 17
The government will endeavour to host at least three film festivals every year to help promote the art of film-making in the state.Interacting with mediapersons on the eve of the 1st Shimla International Film Festival for Documentary Short and Animation Films here today, secretary, Agriculture and Public Relations, Ram Subhag Singh, said the Indian Panorama would be an annual feature, the government also planned to host an event based on the works of a reputed film-maker like Mrinal Sen and Satyajit Ray.

The idea was to provide the local people an opportunity to view real cinema so that they could appreciate the virtues of high quality creative work which was not found in commercial films.

Dharamsala, March 17
In a significant development, a close aide of Dharamsala-based businessman KP Bharadwaj, one of the accused in Karmapa case, turned into prosecution witness.Sources here said MR Dogra, a close aide of Bharadwaj had recorded his statement before judicial magistrate in the case. He had allegedly done so at the behest of the police.

Interestingly, the police has not made MR Dogra a party in the case despite the fact that he was a vital link in the entire episode. The sources said it was Dogra who had received Rs 1 crore from officials of the Karma Garchen Trust in Delhi on behalf of KP Bharadwaj. He had also issued a receipt for the money to the trust officials. Despite this, he had not been made the party to the case by the police.

The sources said Dogra had not been made the party to the case as he had agreed to become prosecution witness.

SP, Una, Santosh Patial admitted that Dogra was the prosecution witness in the case. When asked if Dogra had turned approver, Patial said he could not be termed as approver as he was not the party to the case.

Patial also claimed that the police had right to investigate the charges under the Foreign Contributions Regulations Act (FCRA) against the accused in the case. However, they would have to seek permission from the Union Ministry for Home Affairs before prosecuting the accused under the FCRA. He said the state police had right to carry out investigation under the FCRA under Section 28 of the Act.

Despite ambiguity over the issue, it is for the first time that the Himachal Police has registered a case under the FCRA. The case will affect foreign contributions being received by various Tibetan organisations in the state. But of the Dalai Lama society, no other Tibetan organisation has received permission to receive foreign contributions directly.

Solan, March 17
The Congress, it seems, has not learnt from its defeat in the recent polls to the urban local bodies. Office-bearers of the party openly traded charges against each other at a function organised to welcome the new AICC secretary Asha Kumari here.

The war of words between the senior party leaders in front of Asha Kumari transformed the function into a verbal feud.

While exposing the gaps between the various factions within the party, the poll preparedness of the Congress seems to have taken a backseat.

This came as a discouragement to the grassroot workers who had gathered to welcome Asha Kumari at a time when the Vidhan Sabha polls were less than two years away and the Congress had lost all five seats to the BJP. Instead of putting up a united fight against the BJP, the leaders in the district Congress have failed to accept their defeat in the recent organisational elections and spared no effort to criticise the newly elected office-bearers in public and on such party platforms.

Party workers, instead of endeavouring to win back the party prestige for the next polls, were busy pursuing their agendas of criticising their own flock.

The Congress has not only failed to capture the two top posts of zila parishad chairman and vice-chairman but has also lost four of the five block development committees (BDCs) in the recent polls with the party even failing to announce its candidates in Solan and Nalagarh BDCs and supporting the BJP-backed candidates. It has, for the first time, lost all five Vidhan Sabha seats and the Member of Parliament also belongs to the ruling BJP.

Mandi, March 17
The sewerage line, managed by the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department, has leaked at different places that has created unhygienic conditions in this town.The sewerage line has leaked at Paddal near Shiva temple along the Beas that has raised the anger of devotees. The sewage is flowing through the area into the river under the nose of the IPH Department.

“I have made several complaints to the IPH Department and a committee about the leakage. But they have not taken any remedial measure so far”, said a temple priest. It is a temple town but nobody is bothered about the poor health and hygiene in the town, he resented.

Besides, 42 families in the Bhiuli government colony have been living in unhygienic conditions for the last one week as toilet pipes have been stolen.

The whole sewerage system has collapsed in the colony as septic tanks near the Bhima Kali temple 
have been damaged by debris dumped there by HIMUDA contractor, complained residents.

The sewage flows openly through the colony and on the Bhiuli road and ends up into the Beas. “We cannot walk through there as stench pervades the whole area”, resented L Vaidya, a resident of Bhiuli.

The sewerage has leaked profusely at the Ramnagar locality in the town that has created unliveable conditions in the area.

“We have brought it to the notice of the IPH, but to no avail”, rued residents.

The sewerage line has also been leaking along the Skuidi khaud that emits stench all around the area. “It is a hell to live here as stench has become a constant nuisance”, said a resident.

Chief engineer, IPH, SK Vats said the problem had not brought to his notice so far, but he will survey the whole system and take action soon.

Chamba, March 17
National Service Scheme (NSS) units of educational institutions will be assigned the task of teaching illiterates under the ongoing Sakshar Bharat Abhiyan in the district.

Presiding over a review meeting of the campaign here, Chamba DC Devesh Kumar said NSS volunteers would provide their services as resource persons during the NSS periods.

He directed the education authorities to take steps in this regard and send lists of the NSS volunteers to member-secretary of the Sakshar Bharat Abhiyan.

The DC said the training schedule for imparting the training had been chalked out and 6,000 resource persons would undergo training at the block-level in April.

In basic education examination held in various blocks of the district, 5,836 persons appeared for certificate examination with the highest number of 1395 in Mehla block, 1196 in Chamba, 1049 in Salooni, 918 in Tissa and 798 in Bhattiyat block of the district, the DC said.— OC