Shimla, April 10
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal laid the foundation stone of the three-in-one Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government Engineering and Technology Institute at Pragatinagar, about 60 km from here today.

The institution combining ITI, polytechnic and engineering college under one roof will be set up on the pattern of the Longowal institute in Punjab. It will be the third of its kind in the country with provision for lateral entry from ITI to diploma courses and from diploma to the degree courses.

Those who pass out from 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 could get enrolled in the second year of degree course.

Dhumal announced that the institution, being set up in collaboration with the Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam, would start functioning from the current academic session but the B.Tech course would commence the next year. He also laid the foundation stones of a controlled-atmosphere store (CAS) of the HPMC, a 220/400 KV, substation of Himachal Pradesh Power Transmission Corporation Limited and Gumma-Baghi road upgradation project.

He said the Rs 140 crore substation would be constructed with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank to provide a link to the Jhakri-Abdulapur line and also connected to Rs 84 crore Hatkoti power station to help evacuate 500 MW power from Sawra, Kuddu, Pubbar and Rupa valleys.

It would also be linked with 66 KV power station of the local grid to ease voltage problem in Kotkhai, Jubbal, Rohru and Chopal besides other areas of Shimla district. The Gumma-Baghi road upgradation would cost Rs 10.9 crore and CAS, having capacity of 640 metric tonnes with an AC van, would involve an expenditure of Rs 5.7 crore.

The Chief Minister also announced that a fruit technology and fruit processing college would be opened in Hamirpur soon. With installation of anti-hail gun and radar at Khara Pathar, the orchards in the vicinity would be protected. More hail-prone areas in the apple belt would be identified for installing anti-hail guns. The modern market yard being setup at Parala at a cost of Rs 100 crore would benefit fruit growers of Shimla and adjoining district.

Horticulture Minister Narender Bragta said a cricket academy would be set up at a cost of Rs 4 crore at Pragatinagar.

Local MP Virender Kashyap announced Rs 25 lakh for setting up a chilling plant in the Jubbal and Kotkhai area.

Shimla, April 10
Instead of the traditional cake, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal chose to cut a king-size 67 kg laddu to celebrate his 67th birth anniversary at Pragatinagar in Kotkhai, about 60 km from here today.

The local people, particularly supporters of Horticulture Minister Narinder Bragta, made it into a mega event by sending across political messages. There was a purpose behind celebrating the birthday in the heart of the apple belt and lay the foundation stone of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Engineering Institute on the day as the growers had not been pleased with the decision of the government to sell the apple carton factory. The bad condition of roads had been another issue which created much resentment among the apple growers during the last apple season.

By bringing a large number of people for the function, the occasion turned into a show of strength and the idea behind laying the foundation stone of the mega project was to reassure the apple growers that the BJP government cared for them.

Sundernagar, April 10
Despite the fact that the Green Bench of the Himachal Pradesh High Court has quashed the environment clearances and land acquisition notifications of the Harish cement plant, which was coming up near Sundernagar in Mandi district, government officials are still favouring the company and has given permission to it to purchase land directly from farmers.

As per a letter dated March 11, 2011, addressed to the Mandi DC from the office of the secretary, Revenue, the government has extended permission to purchase land from farmers under Section 118 of the Land Reforms and Tenancy Act in favour of Harish Cement Company.

As per information after the High Court verdict, the company applied for extension of permission to purchase land from farmers for setting up the plant. Afterwards, the Mandi DC recommended two cases on February 8 and 25 to the government which were allowed by the office of the secretary, Revenue, on March 11 and permission to purchase land has been extended for the next six months.

The Joint Action Committee of various farmers and social organisations accused the government of adopting double standards by talking loud about environment but taking decisions which are harmful to the environment.

According to Joginder Singh, president of the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (the RSS wing of farmers), the Joint Action Committee has given a memorandum of the Chief Minister during his recent visit to Sundernagar to scrap the MoU of the cement plant as its various clearances and acquisitions have been quashed by the High Court. However, by ignoring the interest of farmers, the government recently gave permission to the company to purchase land directly from farmers.

The local revenue officials were tight-lipped on the matter, but confirmed that permission to purchase land had been received.

According to the Mandi DC, there is no illegality in according permission to purchase land from farmers as the High Court never imposed any bar on purchasing land from farmers.

On the other hand, Ashok Sharma and Anand Sharma, both High Court advocates, who fought this case, said the extension of the permission by any government official was wrong and they would seek legal remedies.

Dharamsala, April 10
The benefits of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) are not reaching a large number of beneficiaries in the state. The fact is illustrated by thousands of complaints that are piling up with the district administrative officers, especially the SDMs regarding the implementation of the scheme.

Under the NRHM, the people living below the poverty line are given free medical aid.

A large number of poor beneficiaries living are complaining that while the government pension holders and rich people have been included in the beneficiaries of the scheme, they have been left out.

The officials in most of the cases are expressing helplessness. They are alleging that the power to decide the number of beneficiaries under the NRHM lies with the general house of the panchayat.

In many cases, panchayat members leave out deserving candidates due to political considerations. However, the district administration has no right to interfere in the selection criteria of panchayat.

The only method available with the leftout persons is to file an appeal with the local SDM. In the complaint, they have to prove that they are more deserving candidates.

Senior bureaucrats also blamed the quota system for extending benefits of social schemes to the poor. The quota system for evaluating the BPL families was leaving many deserving poor out of the schemes meant for them, they said.

The sources said the Government of India decided the number of BPL families as a percentage of population. As per the criteria, the government had decided to a fixed a quota of about 2.30 lakh BPL families for Himachal.

The state government further divided the 2.30 lakh BPL family quota to the number of villages and their population.

The worst-hit due to the quota system of BPL families were the beneficiaries of the NRHM scheme.

There is a fixed quota of people living below the poverty line who can be given benefit under NRHM in villages. The quota cannot be increased or decreased.

The NGOs working in the field are of the view that there should be a more pragmatic method of evaluating the beneficiaries of the NRHM rather than following a quota system.

Shimla, April 10
The agrarian economy of the state is set to change for the good with the government giving priority to the agriculture in the budget and implementing several new schemes.

The allocation of 12 per cent for the sector in the budget for 2011-12 is the highest in the country. Further, the agriculture strategy has been re-oriented with emphasis on high-value crops and raising the productivity of traditional crops.

The Rs 353-crore “Pandit Deen Dayal Kisan Bagwan Samridhi Yojna” is a major initiative in this direction. It envisages setting up of 16,500 poly-houses to bring 15 lakh sq m under protected cultivation and 20,000 hectares under micro-irrigation by installing 17,312 micro-irrigation systems for which 80 per cent grant is being provided. In the case of BPL families, 90 per cent subsidy is available for construction of bamboo-based poly-houses. The scheme will generate employment opportunities for about 45,000 unemployed youth.

Poly-houses with micro-irrigation has resulted in saving water up to 40 per cent to help in strengthening the economy of farmers by way of reduced production costs. Focus is also on retaining soil fertility for which Soil Health Card is to be provided to every farmer by the end of 2012. More than 3.5 lakh farmers have already been provided. Organic farming is being promoted in a big way and to supplement nutritional requirement and increase carbon content in soil, an ambitious programme to set up vermi-compost units in each and every rural household is being implemented. More than 3.54 lakh households in rural areas have been covered so far. Besides, 21,000 farmers have been registered for certified organic farming.

A Rs 321 crore project for crop diversification and promotion of organic farming will be launched soon with the assistance of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). A scheme for selecting “Krishak Mitra” (KM) in all panchayats to maintain liaison between the farmers and the Agriculture Department has been started and 1,763 KM have been selected so far.

The “Doodh Ganga Yojna” has been started to boost dairy farming and 50,000 families will be covered through 10,000 self-help groups. The “Mukhya Mantri Arogya Pashudhan Yojna” has been launched to strengthen veterinary services in the rural areas by providing veterinary dispensaries in the left out 1,272 panchayats over the next three years.

Work on the Rs 100 crore modern market yard at Parala in Shimla district has been started and 12 more market yards are being set up in different parts of the state.

Shimla, April 10
Twentythree public sector undertakings (PSUs) and statutory corporations with an investment of Rs 2,663 crore are proving to be a big drain on the state exchequer with accumulated losses increasing to Rs 1,124.39 crore as on March 31, 2010.

As many as 15 PSUs were in the red and in 2009-10 alone, the losses shot up by Rs 188 crore. As per the latest report of the comptroller and auditor general (CAG), investment in 21 companies increased from Rs 1,842 crore in 2005-06 to Rs 2,663 crore in 2009-10 but the average return has been a meagre 1.65 per cent. On the other hand, the government paid an average rate of interest of 9.1 per cent on its borrowings during the five-year period.

The inability of the government to carry out reforms in the right earnest has been the main reason for the poor financial health of the PSUs which had 38,043 employees on rolls as on March 31, 2010. The state road transport corporation, which tops the list of loss-making units with a cumulative loss of Rs 549.72 crore, is followed by the state electricity board (Rs 383.18 crore), state financial corporation (Rs 102 crore), Agro-Packaging India (Rs 76 crore), the HPMC (Rs 53 crore), the state Forest Corporation (Rs 40.95 crore).

The percentage of return on capital showed a rising trend from 1.47 per cent in 2004-05 to 5.54 per cent in 2008-09 but it declined to 4.16 per cent in 2009-10. The only redeeming feature was that the turnover increased from Rs 2,146 crore to Rs 4,642 crore and the debt stock declined from Rs 4,189 crore to Rs 2,672 crore over the period. As a result, the debt-turnover ratio improved from 1.95 in 2004-05 to 0.58 in 2009-10.

The companies have also not been finalising accounts in time. The government invested Rs 120.15 crore in 8 PSUs during 2009-10 for which the accounts have not been finalised and as a result the investment remained outside the scrutiny of the state legislature. CAG has recommended that setting up of a cell to oversee the clearance of accounting arrears and set the target for individual companies. The government could consider outsourcing of the work relating to preparation of accounts wherever staff was inadequate or lacked expertise.

Shimla , April 10
With an aim to enhancing judges’ administrative efficiency and reduce the mounting backlog of cases, the state high court has appointed eight professional court managers.

These managers, who will assist judges, are management graduates appointed in accordance with the recommendation of the 13th Finance Commission to improve the justice delivery system. The Finance Commission had granted Rs 300 crore for the appointment of these managers in the Supreme Court and 21 high courts of the country.

The state has been allocated over Rs 5 crore for the purpose. The primary task of these managers will be to evaluate the compliance of standards set by the superior court to help improve the efficiency of the court management system which in turn expedite the disposal of cases.

The post of court manager is to be created in every judicial district to assist the Principal District and Session Judge in their administrative functions and the state has 11 judicial districts. The court managers will support the judges to perform their administrative duties, thereby enabling them to devote more time to their judicial functions. Besides two posts of court manager may be created for the High Court, and one for each Bench of the court.

Their work will be based on the directives of the superior court, establish the performance standards applicable to the court, including timeliness, efficiency, quality of court performance, infrastructure and human resources, access to justice and systems for court management and case management.

They will carry out an evaluation of the compliance of the court with such standards, identify deficiencies and deviations, identify steps required to achieve compliance and maintain such an evaluation on a current basis through annual updates.

Shimla, April 10
Two boys from the local Bishop Cotton School have created history of sorts by qualifying the Junior Open Water Diver Course and Bubble Maker Course from the Planet Scuba Diving Centre in Bangalore.

The two brothers, Ayush Sardana (8) and Pranav Sardana (10), are the youngest to achieve this feat in the country. Pranav has been duly certified by the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) of the USA. His grandfather Major S.N. Sardana (retd), who hails from Shimla, now plans to get Pranav’s name included in the Limca Book of Records for the feat. He successfully completed four open water dives up to a depth of 40 ft, the maximum permissible limit under the PADI Rules for boys below 15 years of age. For undertaking such dives one also has to get trained to cope with rescue operations, underwater drills and other emergencies which could arise in deep waters.

Ayush is equally brave and skillful in the adventure sport but he could not seek PADI certification because he did not fulfil the minimum age limit of 10 years. He is happy with the bubble maker course and says that his main objective is to explore the sea.

Ayush maintains that it is not dangerous at all as in SCUBA (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus) diving one is equipped with devices which enables one to breathe under water without any problem. The diving kit comprises face mask, snorkel tube, body suit, air cylinder, buoyancy control device, fins, depth gauge and air gauge which ensures safe diving. Moreover, being sons of a serving naval officer, sea did not hold any fears for them and they literally took to sea like a fish takes to water.

“One has to acquire skills and stamina to swim 200 m at a stretch and remain afloat for 20 minutes before starting to learn diving. Initially, we undertook a 15-day pre-course training in a swimming pool at Vishakhapatnam. Thereafter to have a feel of sea we were taken to Port Blair where we dived up to 12 ft. In the last leg, deep sea diving is carried out at Netrani island of Goa. In between the instructors also take theory classes with audio-visual aids on technical aspects of diving,” Pranav said.

Kangra, April 10
An eight-year-old child was injured when his 10-year-old cousin pressed the trigger of a gun and the bullet hit his leg in Sunate village, 4 km from Dehra today, the police said.

According to reports, Ayush and his cousin Nikhil were playing at their home. The children found the gun in their house which was loaded.

Kangra, April 10
A 51-year-old bank employee committed suicide by consuming poison for his alleged misdeeds and died in Tanda medical college hospital today, the police said.

According to the police, Ravinder Kumar Sharma of Har Mitta village, was posted as CTO in Punjab National Bank, Dehra, had gone to Chandigarh on April 1 and was returning to his home yesterday but consumed poison before reaching home.

The police said he had consumed sulphas tablets at Dhaliara and informed his family members on the phone that he had consumed poison to end his life. He was rushed to Dehra Civil Hospital.

As his condition deteriorated, he was rushed to Tanda Medical Hospital here where he died today. His body after post-mortem was handed over to his family.

Shimla, April 10
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) sanctioned Rs 412.9 crore for 187 projects under the RIDF (Rural Infrastructure Development Fund) scheme to the state in the financial year of 2010-11.

Stating this here recently, Chief General Manager A.D. Ratnoo said it included 85 projects in the road and bridges sector with loan assistance of Rs 171.98 crore, 49 minor irrigation projects (Rs 103.21 crore), 49 drinking water projects (Rs 116.21 crore) and four flood protection projects (Rs 21.5 crore). The total disbursement reached Rs 300 crore and to support crop loans, it sanctioned and disbursed an all time high amount of Rs 198 crore to the cooperative banks (Rs 140 crore) and Gramin Banks (Rs 58 crore) to enable them to provide short term credit at 7 per cent to farmers as per the policy of the Centre. Farm and non-farm sector, the banks in the state were assisted with refinance to the extent of Rs 461.05 crore for investment credit, with commercial banks availing the maximum at Rs 346.81 crore.

Subsidy support of Rs 2.11 crore was sanctioned and Rs 19.83 crore disbursed to 1,491 units in 2010-11 under various schemes. A subsidy of Rs 205.62 lakh was released to 630 cases under the Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Scheme (DEDS), Rs 300.11 lakh under the Agriculture Marketing Infrastructure Scheme for 13 projects, Rs 661.78 lakh for 778 units under the Venture Capital Fund for dairy and poultry and Rs 799.79 lakh for three cold storage units.

NABARD has prepared the potential linked plans for credit estimation for 2011-12 covering all 12 districts aggregating Rs 6306.69 crore.