Mandi, May 1
In a show of strength, activists of the two rival trade unions -Leftist CITU and the rightwing BMS - had a close encounter at the gate of the ESIC Medical College and Hospital construction site marring May Day otherwise celebrated as Labour Day.

The tension mounted when BMS activists disallowed CITU activits to install their flag inside the gate of the site.

The police swung into action when slogan-shouting rival union activists came face to face with each other. The whole site turned into a khaki garrison when tension simmered as they accused each other of formenting trouble.

According to CITU leaders, Prabhash Rana and Paras Ram, CITU had decided to celebrate Labour Day at Ner Chowk today in which all categories of workers participated. But the BMS tried to distrupt the function, stopping their entry inside the gate which led to the tension, they added.

They charged that the BMS enjoyed the patronage of the state government and there was nobody to stop them to exercise their right to install their trade union flag.

The BMS had installed its flag inside the gate last year and was denying the same to them despite the Nagarjun company, the contractor firm of the ESIC, had permitted them to install the flag, they claimed.

On the other hand, BMS leaders Narender Guleria, Prabhunath and Ghanshyam Thakur claimed that CITU was in a habit of creating a wedge among the workers and they were forcing the entry of outsiders inside the site for which they had no permission from the company.

They claimed when outsiders tried to enter the gate, a majority of workers opposed them.

Guleria, said CITU had no office and flag inside the site as the majority workers were with the BMS.

He said the district administration had called a meeting to sort out the issue in a couple of days. They were ready to hold elections .

Meanwhile, HP RTI Bureau, Mandi, holds a special May Day lok adalat on the issue of employment allowance for the unemployed and supported their demand for allowance till they get the jobs to sustain themselves. 

Palampur, May 1
With the rise in mercury, forest fires have been triggered in Kangra district. A number of pine forests in the lower hills of the state are on fire. In the absence of adequate financial support for preventive measures the Forest Department has been looking towards the “rain god” for dousing the flames. The raging fires are extinguished only when the monsoon breaks over the region.

Information gathered by The Tribune revealed that this year the Forest Department had not been able to take even the minimum required preventive measures like controlled burning of forests and maintenance of fire lines. It carried out controlled burning over a small forest area of 11,000 hectare and cleared 2,500 km of fire lines.

As per norms, controlled burning has to be carried out at least over one-third of the total forest area susceptible to forest fires. The total area under pine forests, where controlled burning is required, is 1,50,000 hectare and as such preventive measures are to be carried out on over 50,000 hectare.

The high fire-risk pine forests are considered to be biotic climax forests and controlled fires are beneficial for their growth, even though uncontrolled blazes cause severe damage to soil, water, wildlife and the overall environment. Controlled burning enables to destroy the inflammable material which gets accumulated on the forest floor. An estimated 2 tonne of pine needles are shed over 1 hectare of pine forest annually. As the mercury rises the highly inflammable needles virtually transform the pine forests into tinder boxes.

An officer of the Forest Department said the department required about Rs 20 crore for carrying out various control measures and to keep the fire risk at the minimum level of 0.2. However, it received only around Rs 1 crore annually for the purpose.

Solan, May 1
The Baddi police today recovered two semi-automatic pistols and one country-made pistol from a gang of miscreants involved in a shoot-out incident which took place on Friday morning at Dasoramajra village near Baddi.

The police had registered a case under the Arms Act and Section 307 of the IPC where unidentified miscreants after entering the house of one Dhyan Singh had not only beaten him brutally but also thrown him from the roof of his house. Later, he was also fired at by an unidentified youth who had fled after the incident.

Baddi SP Gurdev Chand Sharma said six youths had been arrested in the case. Three youths were arrested today while three others had been arrested from Chandigarh on Friday night along with two cars.

He said these youths were also found to be involved in the cases of theft where copper wire from various industrial units had been stolen and they were operating through an organised network.

He said a 7.65 mm semi-automatic pistol along with five live cartridges had been recovered from a junk dealer in Kalka and it was known that it was sold to him by one of the youths arrested on Friday. Another similar pistol along with three live cartridges was recovered from the room of another youth arrested in the case while a country-made pistol was recovered from a forest area near Dasoramajra along with three live cartridges.

The recovery of these weapons was an alarming revelation which lent credence to the presence of an organised gang involved in crimes in the industrial area.

The SP said further investigations were underway and more information about the origin of these weapons would be procured from those arrested.

He added that the incident appears to be the result of a dispute between members of the gang over the distribution of money.

Though there were reports of armed miscreants being active in the area, detection of such arms was less. The recovery of these weapons proved that availability of arms was being channelled through a network and the miscreants resided locally in the area.

With several cases of robberies taking place at the gunpoint in the industrial units, the detection of such weapons was a major challenge for the police. 

Mandi/Kullu, May 1
Villagers continue to cultivate contraband crops of poppy and cannabis in the common border of Kullu and Mandi districts as the successive state governments have failed miserably to motivate and implement the economic alternative development model for them.

The main reason why villagers are persisting with the illegal cultivation is that they enjoy political patronage. The local politicians have their axe to grind to keep these poor villagers stuck to the illegal activity by promising them to legalise both opium and cannabis crops.

Chief Minister PK Dhumal, when the issue was raised in the Assembly in 2010, had categorically stated that the Centre had rejected the proposal to legalise poppy cultivation in the state and hence the issue was a closed chapter now. The farmers should grow alternative crops in the areas, he had added.

But most remote villages in the Chauhar valley, parts of Karsog and Seraj in Mandi district remain economically backward and the road connectivity is poor. The farmers have been growing opium to get quick money and sustain their livelihood.

The villagers in the remote villages of Kalvari, Srikot, Shapnil, Toong and Glingcha and Mashiar in the Thirthan valley in Banjar still are without road connectivity. They have been kept in isolation as vote banks as most Banjar MLAs have been non-Seraji and they have been creating a wedge among locals, said Dile Ram Shabab, 90, a former Banjar MLA.

The villagers are now switching over from hybrid cannabis to opium cultivation in what has emerged as the opium belt of Kullu and Mandi, where about 15,000 bighas of private land has come under poppy cultivation.

The story is no different in the opium belt of the Ani-Chatri-Bishlidhar region and Lug, Gadsa and Sainj valleys in Kullu district where the police has already destroyed about 80 bighas of opium for the past two days of anti-opium campaign.

As the goverment has yet to launch the pilot alternative development projects in the area to win over the villagers from opium and cannabis cultivation, the villagers continue to cultivate the contraband crops in the region to make fast bucks.

GM, Malana Vikalp and Churah Valley Cooperative Society, OP Sharma said the society had submitted a Rs 2.87-crore pilot project to the government for comprehensive development of Malana and surrounding areas.

Sharma, a fromer NCB Superintendent, who led anti-poppy and anti-cannabis drives in the belt in the recent past, said once the NCB funded this project, the society would set it up as a model and replicate it in the rest of the opium belt.

ADGP, CID, ID Bhandari said the police had been educating villagers about the bad effects of opium and cannabis crops in society and they could be booked under the NDPS Act. But persuation had not helped and, hence, the police had started registering cases against them, he asserted. 

Shimla, May 1
The government has chalked out a three-pronged strategy to harness the full tourism potential of the hill state which is emerging as one of the most sought-after destinations.

Besides focusing on long-term measures like development of various tourist circuits and strengthening the infrastructure, it is coming out with schemes to cater to tourists of all classes.

Adventure, religious, heritage, rural and eco-tourisms are some of the areas which are being given special attention and schemes benefiting the unemployed rural youth have also been launched.

A 20-year master plan is being prepared for integrated development of tourism in the state. It has already succeeded in securing a $ 95.16 million loan from the Asian Development Bank for strengthening the infrastructure, a hotel management institute at Hamirpur at Rs 12 crore and work is under progress for setting up a Food Craft Institute at Dharamsala.

“Home Stay Scheme” launched in 2008 has been a success and it is generating employment for the rural youth and opening new areas for tourism in the interior. Till date, 291 home stay units have been registered in the state.

Event-based tourism promotion activities like trekking, mountain biking and paragliding are being organised throughout the year and recently a Road-Show-cum-Tourism Event was held at New Delhi to promote the brand “Unforgettable Himachal”.

The concept of health tourism is also being pursued by developing health resorts and providing facilities for ayurvedic therapies like “Panchkarma” in various HPTDC complexes. Eco-tourism is being promoted in a big way with the objective to bring the tourists closer to nature and ensure adequate economic returns to the state and livelihood opportunities to the local communities.

Eco-tourism circuits proposed to be created are Kothi, Kasol, Pulga, Shojha, Paneo, Takrasi and Sarahan in Kullu, Mandi, Larot, Dodra, Kawar, Jakha and Jiskoon in Shimla, Sholtu, Purbani, Sangla and Shongtong in Kinnaur and Nainadevi in Bilaspur. 

Shimla, May 1
Chief Justice of the state High Court Justice Kurian Joseph has made a fervent plea to the people to adopt the motto of “Live and Help Live” which is the real duty of citizens towards society.

Speaking at a public colloquium on “Fundamental Duties” here last evening, he said every citizen must be alive to the fundamental duties towards the country, particularly protecting its sovereignty and integrity and the hard-earned freedom.

He announced that the next colloquium would be organised on “Upholding the Sovereignty, Integrity and Unity of the Country and Role of Parents and Teachers”. He said parents and teachers had an important role to play in this regard. He called upon them to participate in a large number in the colloquium to be organised in Shimla.

The colloquium was organised by the State Legal Services Authority in association with the local Sewa Trust and the Shimla Chapter Public Relations Society of India.

Justice RB Mishra, executive chairman of the State Legal Service Authority, said it was unfortunate the despite the supreme sacrifices of the heroes of the freedom movement, the country was today facing challenges of corruption and unemployment. He said the youth should respect and follow the ideals of the heroes of the freedom struggle who always believed in the theory of karma.

Director of the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies Peter d'Souza, while delivering a keynote address, underlined the need for forging a relationship between rights and duties. He said the freedom struggle was full of glorious stories of fundamental duties and sacrifices which were missing now.

Earlier, Rakesh Kanwar, trustee of the Sewa Trust, spoke on the objective behind organising this series of colloquium. A panel discussion was also held on the topic in which students from various colleges and schools of the town also participated. 

Shimla, May 1
The state is exploring the possibility of setting up storage power projects in Spiti in view of the likely shift in the domain of the Youngthang-Khab project which will leave no room for setting up a storage dam project downstream at Khab as planned.

The government is inclined to the proposal of Gammon India, which is executing the project, to shift the diversion dam downstream Leo village. The company came out with a revised proposal after the people of Leo opposed the diversion of water from any point upstream the village on the ground that the river would go dry, affecting irrigation facilities.

The government after considering the report of a three-member panel, set up to examine the revised proposal, has found merit in the company’s plea for shifting the domain and asked the company to come up with the a detailed revised proposal indicating the exact elevations of the dam site, full reservoir level and the tail race level. The local people have also been asked to send a panchayat resolution for shifting the dam site downstream the village. Principal Secretary, Power, Deepak Sanan, said once the company submitted the final proposal and the panchayat resolution was received, the matter would be put up before the State Cabinet for approval. The shifting of domain would also take care of the minimum riparian distance of one to 2 km between two projects as mandated by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

He said the downstream Khab storage project, which had been hanging fire for the past quite sometime due to stiff opposition from the local people, would be curtailed and even otherwise a 270-m-high dam might not be feasible close to the China border.

However, to ensure that there was not loss of power potential on this count, the government would explore the possibility of setting up four storage projects, two on the Spiti river and two on its tributaries, besides a run-of-the-river power project on Sutlej upstream Khab.

A team of technical experts would be sent to Spiti this summer to examine the possibility of storage dams on the Limpi nullah and the Pin valley. Storage projects would not only help the downstream projects generate more power, but also take care of the problem of excessive silt. The possibility of collective funding of storage upstream structures by the beneficiaries would also be explored.

Similarly, the available head of over 300 m between Khab and the China border will enable setting up of 360 MW project on the Sutlej. The revised proposal for Youngthan-Khab project would increase the head from 205 m to 223 m and accordingly the capacity would go up from 261 to 285 MW.

Solan, May 1
Baddi SP Gurdev Chand Sharma on Wednesday directed private security personnel to abstain from wearing khaki and blue-coloured uniform as it is the colour worn by the police and created confusion in the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) industrial area.

In a meeting convened with the security staff of industrial units, the SP directed them to get their security staff registered so that their identity could be traced in case their verification was required.

He directed the owners of about 35 security agencies to issue identity cards to their staff bearing the registration numbers issued by the police.

Since a number of cases had surfaced in the BBN where security staff, in connivance with miscreants, had hatched conspiracies of thefts in several pharmaceutical units, the police had now made it mandatory to register the staff of all security agencies. Inquiries revealed that an organised network of security guards existed in the BBN who carried out thefts as per a similar modus operandi.

With no data base of the existing security agencies and the staff, most of who operated from Panchkula, Chandigarh and Mohali, the police had now initiated a campaign to make their registration compulsory. This would help in the detection of security guards in case of thefts in industrial units.

Palampur, May 1
A two-day group meet of the All-India Coordinated Research Network on under-utilised crops was inaugurated at CSK HP Agriculture University here today.

Dr SK Sharma, Vice-Chancellor, underlined the importance of these crops. He said due to the increasing pressure on farm land for other developmental activities, it was imperative to pay attention to such under-utilised crops like buckwheat, chenopodium, rice-bean, amaranths, etc which grew on marginal lands and were nutritionally very rich.

He said out of 158 plants under use for food crops, 60 per cent dependency was only on three crops viz. wheat, paddy and maize. “This is detrimental for food security as we should have a plenty of crops in our food basket”, he said. He advised the scientific community to do research work on such crops and spread awareness among farmers.

Dr JS Sandhu, Assistant Director General (seeds), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), said research work on such crops demanded a lot of labour and efforts as one had to start from scratch, but due to value of these crops and their adaptability in tough climatic conditions, they had immense value.

Dr DC Bhandri, network coordinator of the project, said these crops grew in extreme environmental situations, threatened habitats and possessed promising nutritional and industrial importance for a variety of purposes.

Dr KC Bansal, Director, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, suggested that the nomenclature of underutilised crops should be changed to crops of future as they had a lot of potential. Dr SP Sharma, Director of Research, asked the ICAR to support the university for doing more work on these crops.

Dharamsala, May 1
The serene locations along the Pong Dam lake are attracting low-budget pop album makers, especially from Punjab. Many Punjabi pop albums have been filmed in the area. Last week, a group led by Punjabi pop singer Saberkoti was here shooting for his new album likely to be released in May this year.

The group filmed the album on the lush green meadows along the banks of the Pong Dam lake and the ruins of the fort of former Guler ruler located at Nandpur village. The artistes were impressed with the locations.

They, however, complained regarding the lack of boarding and lodging facilities in the area. The four-room PWD rest house at Nagrota Surian was the only accommodation available for stay in the entire area.

The producer of the album said the locations along the Pong Dam lake could compete with any other location for shooting of albums. About 15 regional albums were coming out almost every month. If the Himachal Government promoted the area for shooting short films or albums and provided the basic minimum infrastructure, it could create good business and employment opportunities for locals, he said.

Sources said even some big advertisements had been filmed in the area. The recent advertisement of Tata Nano had also been shot in a heritage property in the Paragpur area of Kangra district. However, all these were individual efforts. There was hardly any effort on the part of the Department of Tourism to develop the area.

Raghav Guleria, who is trying to set up a resort along the ruins of the Guler ruler fort in Nandpur village, rues lack of government support. He said: “We just demand connectivity of the area by road. However, that connectivity is not being provided due to bureaucratic bottlenecks. Though the government has declared that roads will be provided for promoting village tourism, hardly anything is happening on the ground”, he alleged.

The government recently earmarked a budget of about Rs 75 crore for the development of tourism in Kangra district. The budget is likely to come from the grant of about Rs 450 crore being sanctioned by the Asian Development Bank for various projects in the state.

Sources in the Department of Tourism maintain that a considerable portion of the budget will be spent on developing tourism in the Pong Dam lake area.