Shimla, April 7
The refusal of the Centre to allow imposition of generation cess in the past notwithstanding, the fund-starved state has again introduced a Bill to tax hydroelectric energy.

The Himachal Pradesh Electricity (Taxation and Generation) Bill provides for levying of generation tax at the rate of 25 paise per unit of energy to help raise a revenue of Rs 675 crore annually. Introducing the Bill, Chief Minister PK Dhumal said in the absence of additional resources, development activities were likely to be affected. With this tax, the annual revenue would go up with the commissioning of more projects in the future.

The state had passed similar Bill in the past and it has been pursuing the matter with the Centre for the past 15 years. In fact, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was very sympathetic on the issue and appreciated the fact that the hill state needed sources of additional revenue. However, the proposal could not be cleared by the Centre as the power consuming states opposed it on the plea that any such cess would make the already costly power more dearer.

The state had been encouraged by the fact that the neighbouring Jammu and Kashmir had recently imposed tax on non-consumptive use of water and hydropower.

Dhumal also introduced the Himachal Pradesh Hindu Public Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act to provide for conversion of 50 per cent of the gold offered in the temples into gold biscuits or coins for sale to devotees and pilgrims on the current market price. At present, 70 per cent of the gold stock is kept as reserve which is causing a huge monetary loss to temple trusts.

He also introduced the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development and Registration (Amendment) Bill to provide for judicious fixation of rates keeping in view the facilities provided by those involved in tourist trade. It also provides a legal framework for enforcing regulatory standards and compulsory registration of the tourism units and lay down safety standards and authority to disconnect power and water to unregistered units.

Thirtan, April 7
The Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP), a unique Himalayan hot spot of the great natural beauty and biodiversity, is set to figure on the prestigious UNESCO’s world heritage site soon as the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) has strongly represented its case to UNESCO.

An International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) team is expected to visit the GHNP soon. The GHNP and the MOEF have both cited its “unique natural beauty and biodiversity” as the two strong factors that fit into the IUCN’s criteria of “ecosystem hot spot” to declare it a world heritage site.

UNESCO has already processed the GHNP case and sought certain clarifications and the IUCN team is expected to visit the GHNP to verify the MOEF and the GHNP’s claims that qualify it to make a world heritage site. UNESCO is holding its annual conference in New Delhi and it is about this time that the IUCN team is expected to visit the park, top officials said.

The GHNP, spanning 75,440 hectare area, is a unique biosphere housing the IUCN’s red data species, including rare western tragopan, cheer pheasant, white, spectacled and cheeked tit, the threatened musk deer, snow leopard, brown bear and others. It has the fresh water trout-rich Tirthan and Sainj wildlife sanctuaries and its buffer zone is also home to over 20,000 people, eking out their livelihoods from herbs, fruits and eco-tourism.

Though greedy developers still are eyeing the Tirthan for hydro projects, the government has banned projects in Tirthan in 2004 that has saved the valley and the GHNP from development. This ban has made it a fit case for the world heritage site.

GHNP is also a home to 377 species of fauna, 493 species of herbs, 69 species of trees, 113 species of shrubs, 125 species of insects and 44 species of butterflies ranging from the “glassy blue bottle to cruiser and plain tiger.

Conservator, GHNP, Ajay Srivastav says that it has several species of balsams and Himalayan Tahr that have evolved in the western Himalayas. Its natural beauty and diversity and biodiversity of rare and endangered high altitude flora and fauna make the GHNP a strong candidate for the UNESCO world heritage site, he says.

So far, the Nanda Devi National Park and Valley of Flowers figure on the UNESCO’s world heritage site in the Himalayas. “We expect the IUCN team to come here for inspection”, hopes Srivastav.

Chamba, April 7
The Killar township, sub-divisional headquarters of the mountainous Pangi tribal valley in Chamba district, recorded 60 cm of snowfall during the past two days.

According to reports, the Saach Pass situated at an altitude of 4,413 metres had been closed due to heavy snowfall.

The high-altitude mountain ranges in this region had again been covered with a snow thereby hampering the normal life of the tribal residents.

Solan, April 7
Collection of barrier fee has become a contentious issue in the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) industrial area with contractor resenting the grant of concessional passes to vehicles of other states, including villagers of adjoining Haryana and investors agitating against the non-issuance of passes.

Dilbagh Singh, who had obtained the rights to collect fee of the Baddi and Barotiwala barrier at a sum of Rs 19.5 crore, said as per the terms and conditions laid down at the time of auction, only residents of Himachal, who reside within 5 km, were to be issued annual passes at the rate of Rs 150. However, now they have been forced to issue passes not only to the people of the adjoining area of Haryana but also to thousands of vehicles of other states.

He said though they were implementing the policy, there was immense pressure from the people who refused to pay the barrier fee and instead demanded passes. Refusal to do so leads to traffic jams.

“With 1 per cent of the entire auction amount being handed over to the government in the form of a fixed deposit account and another 40 per cent being paid in advance, we have no option but to give passes,” the contractor rued.

This was causing daily losses as the two barriers of Baddi and Barotiwala had been procured at a much higher rate of Rs 19.5 crore as against Rs 8.58 crore in the last financial year.

He demanded the state government to notify its policy regarding the issuance of passes to vehicles of other states so that one could approach the court for redressal as they were forced to issue passes to such vehicles despite no such notification.

Officials of the Excise and Taxation Department said they had written to senior officials at Shimla about this problem and expected the state government to give some relief to the contractor who had a genuine cause to resent.

They, however, added that the people of the nearby areas of Haryana, who worked here, could not be denied the right to passes as they visited the area for various purposes, including availing ESI facilities.

Several panchayat pradhans from Haryana had also approached the officials demanding issuance of passes.

Shimla, April 7
Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Minister Ravinder Ravi today denied that the people of Kusumpti and some other localities in the periphery of the state capital were being supplied contaminated water.

Replying to the call attention motion of Vidya Stokes, he said his department had been carrying out regular testing, particularly after the recent media reports which alleged that foul smelling water was being supplied, and none of the samples had failed. The water had been found safe for drinking.

He sad the charge that several people had been suffering from water-borne diseases was far-fetched and there had been no such reports.

He maintained that all sewage treatment plants, including the one at Malyana, were properly functioning and the allegations that sewage was overflowing and contaminating the water of Ashwini khud from which water was being lifted for supply was also not true.

Earlier, Stokes expressed serious concern over the fact that residents of Kusumpti and adjoining areas were being supplied contaminated water. She alleged that the sewage from the Malyana treatment plant was overflowing into the nullah and ultimately reaching the Ashwini khud, the main source of water supply. The strong foul smell emanating from the water made it more than obvious that it was contaminated even without testing.

Kullu, April 7
Drug inspector Manish Kapoor raided the premises of two medical practitioners at Naggar and Kais in the district today and seized a large amount of drugs.

An establishment named as CMC in Kais village, about 7 km from here on the Kullu-Manali left bank road, evaded search and escaped after locking the shop. The drug inspector with the help of villagers broke open the premises and seized huge quantity of drugs, besides empty capsule shells.

Kapoor said the alleged quack might be using the shells for filling medicines and, thus, cheating people.

In another seizure, Kapoor said a doctor who had an establishment at Naggar could not produce any licence or degree for practising as a doctor. The premises were sealed and the drugs seized.

Two separate cases under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, has been registered, he added.

Shimla, April 7
The Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government Institute of Engineering to be set up at Pragatinagar will be a “three-in-one” institution combining ITI, polytechnic and engineering college under one roof.

Planned on the pattern of the Logowal Institute, it will be the third of its kind in the country with provision for lateral entry from the ITI to diploma courses and from diploma to the degree courses. Those who pass out from the ITI with more than 60 per cent marks will be eligible for admission to the second year in diploma course and those who have completed diploma can get enrolled in the second year of the degree course.

Minister for Horticulture and Technical Education Narinder Bragta said Chief Minister PK Dhumal would lay the foundation stone of the institute on April 10. The institution was being funded by the public sector Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam.

He said Dhumal would also lay the foundation stone of controlled atmosphere store (CAS) and the second-largest power substation which would end the voltage problem in the region and suffice for the next several decades.

In contrast the Congress which was in power at the Centre had been creating hurdles to stall the Centre-aided projects. He alleged that the state was denied Central funds for setting up a fruit processing plant at Pragatinagar because of the negative role of the Congress.

Shimla, April 7
The CPM has opposed the move of the government to open an engineering institution at Pragatinagar on the land of the apple carton factory which was given by the local fruit growers to get quality apple packing cases at reasonable rates.

The carton factory was set up to reduce the burden on forests by replacing wooden packing cases with cartons and this was the reason that the farmers agreed to part with their land. They would not have allowed their fertile land to be used for any other purpose.

The land on which the factory was established was the only place where irrigation was possible.

The government has already sold the machinery of the factory as scrap at throwaway prices. As such if the government had given up all hopes of running a carton factory it should return the land back to the owners and desist from change of land use. Further, a patch of more than 200 bighas of government land was available nearby on which an engineering college could be opened.

The party alleged that the Chief Minister was in undue hurry to lay the foundation stone of the proposed 400 KV substation of the Himachal Pradesh Power Transmission Corporation (HPPTC) in Pragatinagar.

Dharamsala, April 7
The anti-ragging committee of Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Tanda, has initiated an idea of making the campus pollution-free.

Committee members have started coming to the campus on bicycles to motivate students not to use vehicles.

They have requested students from coming on bikes, cars or any kind of vehicles.

Dr Praveen Sharma of the pharmacology department and also general secretary of the committee said there had been a trend these days in colleges to make campuses pollution-free and banning the use of motor vehicles.

He said, “It took me around a year to convince students and the staff to be a part of this campaign. In the beginning, we started with students but later on, we have included the staff also. Now some of the staff members have started coming on bicycles or on foot to keep the college green.”

Initially there was some resistance but slowly students and staff members started joining the campaign.

The doctor said apart from being environment-friendly, this drive would prove healthy and pocket-friendly too.

“In one year, we will be able to make our college pollution-free,” said the doctor.

Kullu, April 7
A seminar was organised at the regional hospital here today on World Health Day.

Addressing the gathering, Deputy Commissioner BM Nanta said self-medication was most dangerous and people should avoid taking medicines without consulting a doctor. He also called upon chemists to discourage selling of drugs without a prescription.

The seminar was attended by doctors, health workers, chemists and various organisations.

Head of the surgery department Prem Lal Thakur said the continuous and wrong use of antibiotics was dangerous and could lead to fatal results. The World Health Organisation (WHO) had earmarked this year as “anti-microbial resistance” that reflected on the development of many such viruses caused due to wrong medication.

Medical specialist Rajesh Thakur revealed that more than 150 drugs had been marked ineffective worldwide due to wrong medication. He said most of the patients take medicines for minor symptoms and invite serious problems.

Medical superintendent Sushil Chander Sharma said more than 1.5 lakh people die of tuberculosis (TB) due to wrong or irregular treatment while about 4.5 lakh TB patients show unproductive results due to irregular doses.

Chief Medical Officer KBL Srivastva appealed for taking advice from registered medical doctors for any ailment and said chemists could be the best media to bring awareness among people of the bad effects of the self-medication.