Shimla, March 31
The heavily overcast skies over the apple belt in Jubbal-Kotkhai reverberated with a deep booming sound as three anti-hail cannons generated shockwaves to dispel the threat of a possible hailstorm.

A pilot project to install an anti-hail gun to protect the apple crop, which suffers extensive damage due to frequent hailstorms, has taken shape on the ground with successful test-firing of the three guns installed at Bareu Ghat, Deori Ghat and Khatasu with a radar base at Tumru, near Khar Pathar.

“The trial run was actually meant for providing training to staff of the Horticulture Department and scientists of the Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry but an overcast sky made it a successful event,” said Gurdev Singh, director, Horticulture. In all eight horticulture development officers and as many extension officers, four subject matter specialists and three scientists were provided training during the testing.

The state-of-the-art acetylene-fired anti-hail cannon if used properly can provide effective protection over a radius of 1 km and help cover an area of 80 to 100 hectares. The hail cannons generate hail-disruptive shockwaves at a greater frequency, which are more powerful, through the use of acetylene or butane gas. The cannon shoots ionising (high energy) shockwaves up in the air at every four to five seconds which reach the high atmosphere (15,000 m) having extremely low temperatures (-50°C) and reverberate by clouds and the troposphere, transferring a large ionisation potential to disrupt the growth of hailstones.

However, a hail cannon operation has to be initiated at least 20 minutes before the hailstorm formation or storm arrival and any delay in the matter decreases efficiency of the cannon proportionately. Thus, it is important to use this means of protection in conjunction with weather radar.

The idea to install anti-hail guns was first floated by Laxmi Singh and Dr K.D. Verma of the Himachal Eco-Horticulture Society who saw the device during a study visit to Holland in 2004.

However, it was finally pursued and implemented by Horticulture Minister Narinder Bragta who is himself an apple grower. He said with the state-of-the-art weather radar the anti-hail gun would also provide an early warning system to enable the government to deal with disasters like storms, cloudbursts and heavy rains, more effectively. If the device was found effective in saving the crops, it would be installed in other areas too.

Shimla, March 31
The government came under fire in the Vidhan Sabha for allowing commercial endeavours in forests in the name of eco-tourism to benefit favoured private parties in blatant violation of the Forest Conservation Act (FCA).

Pradesh Congress Committee chief Kaul Singh while raising a discussion on the functioning of the Forest Department said out of the total 10 as many as six sites had been allotted to one party from Nagpur at a pittance. It had raised structures in the demarcated forests and even obtained licence for a bar, making a mockery of eco-tourism, the main purpose of which was to generate sources of income for the local community without causing any harm to the environment. The nodal officer for the FCA in the Union Ministry of Environment had written a letter to the state government to take action against the erring officer but so far nothing had been done in the matter.

He alleged that its core functions like preparation of CAT (Catchment Area Treatment) plans were being outsourced and the government was also not paying attention to expand the shrinking green cover even though the state had minimum area under forests among hill states. The neighbouring Uttarakhand had 44 per cent area under forests and the 13th Finance Commission recommended a grant of Rs 205 crore, whereas Himachal got Rs 100 crore as it had only 26 per cent green cover.

Worse, the government was not providing enough funds under the plan for afforestation and it allotted only Rs 115 crore in the current year and Rs 116 crore in 2011-12. He urged the government to take up the matter regarding payment of NPV (net present value) of the forest area diverted for construction of roads with the Centre. It should be included in the detailed project report so that state could get funds under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna.

Replying to the debate, Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal said the government would ensure that no pucca structures were built under the eco-tourism projects and informed that work on one such structure had been stopped in Kangra. The government would look into the matter if any violation was there and action would be taken. He said the letter in this respect was sent to all states and he had also discussed the issue with the Union minister.

He said the government had given impetus to the monkey sterilisation programme and in 2010-11 15,004 simians were operated, taking the total number to 31,169 since the programme was launched in 2006. He said apart from the plan allocations, funds were also available under the CAT plan and other schemes.

Shimla, March 31
Vice-Chancellor of Himachal Pradesh University Sunil Kumar Gupta has refuted the allegations levelled against him regarding the functioning of the institutions, including tampering with the proceedings of the Executive Council (EC) meeting.

Gupta, who has been in the eye of a storm after the issue echoed in the Vidhan Sabha, denied that the members of the EC were kept in the dark about a letter written by Suresh Bhardwaj, MLA and a member, in which he had requested to include an item regarding re-allocation of certain teaching positions pertaining to the non-functional departments to some functional departments. A perusal of the minutes of the meeting would also clarify the position that under item number 5 it had clearly been informed to the members that three items (number 17, 18 and 27) received from the members were in the agenda. All these items were discussed and decisions taken were reported in the proceedings.

Further, there was a provision in the rules of business that any member who had any objection to the proceedings circulated could make a submission within a period of 15 days. The confirmation of the minutes and action taken report on the decision of the last meeting were taken up in the subsequent meeting. It was a matter of fact that no Board of Studies for these non-functional departments were in existence being non-functional departments for the last more than 30 years. As such no proposal could have been processed through the Board of Studies.

In the past posts from one department to other department were quietly converted as per requirement and in some cases the Vice-Chancellor had taken a suo motu decision under Section 12-C(7) of the University Act. Often posts were transferred from one unit to the other while considering the recommendations of the Selection Committees. He also cited a number of such instances.

The Vice-Chancellor further stated that the university was downgraded from “A” to “B” Grade by the UGC on the basis of its performance during the period 2003 to 2007 when the then Congress government did not provided sufficient grant-in-aid and it could not meet the infrastructure and other requirement. As far as the appointment of Controller of Examinations was concerned, the university was running without a regular incumbent for the last more than 30 years on an ad hoc basis which had now been put on hold by appointing a suitable meritorious candidate on regular basis.

Shimla, March 31
Terming the cricket diplomacy an attempt to divert attention from the black money issue, national vice-president of the BJP Kalraj Misra said the hype created during the World Cup match between India and Pakistan was uncalled for.

Addressing a press conference here today, he said the real motive behind the move was to focus attention away from the observation of the Supreme Court which had expressed dissatisfaction over the perfunctory investigations with no attempt to identify the sources and the persons to which money stashed away in tax havens belonged. It had also asked the government to ensure the security of those involved in investigation of the case and suggested constitution of a special investigation team (SIT) for the purpose. However, the response of the government had been evasive.

Instead it resorted to cricket diplomacy inviting Pakistani premier to witness the match. While talks between the two countries were always welcome as issues had to be resolved bilaterally in this case the focus was on cricket and the Indo-Pak talks were only a subsidiary event.

He alleged that the UPA regime was discriminating against the NDA-ruled states, particularly Bihar, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. The MPs and the Chief Minister of Bihar and MPs of Bihar had recently submitted a memorandum to the President in this regard.

Referring to Himachal, he said the state had been completely ignored in the Railway Budget and the 13th Finance Commission had recommended negligible funds further worsening the financial position. The Centre had also rejected the demand of the Chief Minister for grant of a Rs 2,500-crore package to tide over the financial crisis.

He said the BJP would not allow the UPA to divert attention from tactics to succeed and it would expose the scams and scandals of the UPA during the three-month mass contact programme from April to June. Besides, village-level meetings and big rallies would also be organised across the country during the campaign.

Shimla, March 31
The audio CD case against Union Minister Virbhadra Singh took a new turn today when a prosecution witness Dr Kapil Mohan, Managing Director, Mohan Mekin, approached the Himachal Pradesh High Court by filing a petition alleging that his statement recorded under Section 161 of the CrPC is false. He has urged the court to direct for holding an inquiry by senior judicial authority.

Dr Kapil Mohan has mentioned in his petition that his statement was never recorded by any investigating officer on May 13, 2010. He came to know about his statement through newspapers and he immediately contradicted the same. The petitioner has questioned as to how the investigating officer can record his statement at Mohan Nagar, Ghaziabad, UP, and statement of HN Handa at Solan on same date. He said this statement was defamatory and petitioner had no remedy except to approach the high court for deletion of his name from the list of witnesses. “I can approach the magistrate for recording my statement under Section 164 of the CrPC,” he added.

Earlier another prosecution witness, Prem Chand Jain had already filed such petition in the high court where in the court had directed the investigating officer to file his personal affidavit. A Shimla’s special court has taken the cognizance in this case only considering the statements of these two witnesses recorded by the investigating officer. The court at the stage of taking cognizance had found that prosecution had not been able to bring out the source and origin of the CD released by Vijay Singh Mankotia.