Shimla, July 4
Thirteen eminent activists, intellectuals and environmentalists led by Medha Patkar of the National Alliance of People’s Movements have written to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on their “disastrous funding” of four hydroelectric projects under the Clean Energy Development Programme in Himachal Pradesh.

In a letter to Andrew Jeffries, Senior Energy Specialist (ADB), they have called for a thorough review of projects in the view of violations of its own safeguards as evident from the report ‘In the name of Clean Energy’ sent along with it.

The report is based on a study undertaken to assess the efficacy as well as the implementation of the ADB’s safeguard measures to address public concerns as well as to examine compliance to existing legislations related to environment and social issues.

They demanded that 100 MW Sainj, 402 MW Shongtong Karchham, 195 MW Kashang II and III projects be immediately scrapped. While the Kashang project’s II and III were being locally opposed, the Shongtong Karchham project on the Sutlej would only add to the ongoing severe ecological destruction and disappearance of the river.

The same is the case of the very fragile Sainj valley that needed a serious carrying capacity review.

It points out that the Environment Impact Assessment Reports were misleading and finalised after completely ignoring the socio-economic concerns as well as the ecological impacts and carrying capacity issues.

Land was acquired forcibly through the draconian Section 17/4 of the Land Acquisition Act and differential compensation and rehabilitation policies were based on local protest rather than public consultations.

No effort by the bank to study the efficacy or the effectiveness of mechanisms like CAT (catchments area treatment) and LADA (local area development agency) was made.

The Asian Development Bank overlooked the poor performance of hydropower projects which had been deteriorating on every count, including power generation terms over the year. It should have steered clear of projects in ecologically-sensitive areas and sites important from the conservation point of view, like Kinnaur and Sainj, if it was committed to a cleaner environment.

The other signatories are Bharat Jhunjhunwala, Environmentalist Post; Rohan D’Souza, Assistant Professor at the Centre for Studies in Science Policy at Jawaharlal Nehru University; Manoj Misra (Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaa); Soumya Dutta (Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha); Vijay Pratap (South Asian Dialogues on Ecological Democracy); Samir Mehta (International Rivers Network); Kanchi Kohli (Kalpavriksh); SS Negi and Devi Gyan (Paryavran Sankrahshan Sangarsh Samiti, Lippa); RS Negi (Him Lok Jagiriti Manch); Rahul Saxena (Researcher and Activist); Himanshu Thakkar (South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People) and Manshi Asher and Prakash Bhandari (Him Dhara- Environment Research and Action Collective).

Shimla, July 4
As a safety measure against adulteration in liquor, the state Excise and Taxation Department has made it mandatory for all distilleries in the state to ensure a security hologram on every bottle that is sent out of their units.

The directives have been issued to all the distilleries making Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) as well as country liquor to eliminate any chances of adulteration which is being done often. The security hologram will adorn the cap of the bottle and in case of any tampering with the contents, it will be very easy to ascertain.

The Excise Department had been receiving frequent complaints about adulteration in liquor as there was no foolproof security system in place. Sources said, “The department has finally decided to direct distilleries to have a security hologram in place to check adulteration from this month itself.”

There is substantial consumption of liquor in the border industrial areas, besides the main urban centres as compared to the urban areas. The security seal will ensure that there is no adulteration, which can at times prove to very lethal.

Revenue being generated from the sale of liquor is the single biggest source of revenue to the state government. This figure was almost Rs 549 crore last year and during 2011-12 the figure is likely to touch Rs 720 crore.

In order to bring about an increase in the revenue from the sale of liquor, the government has enhanced the licence fee for both country as well as Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL).

While the enhancement in licence fee for country liquor is 6 per cent, in the case of IMFL there is a hike of 21 per cent. This enhancement is likely to generate additional income of Rs 170 crore to the state coffers.

Efforts are also being made to check smuggling of liquor across the borders from the neighbouring states. In the new excise policy unveiled this year, attempts have been made to keep the prices of liquor in Himachal at par with the rates in the neighbouring states.

Thus, the objective is to generate additional revenue and check cross-border smuggling, which results in loss of revenue to the government.

Dharamsala, July 4
The Government Degree College, Dharamsala, has achieved another milestone as it has received the approval letter to start MBA (Masters in Business Administration) and MCA (Masters in Computer Applications) from the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) here today. AICTE is an apex advisory body to promote and develop technical education throughout the country.

According to Satish Chand Sharma, Principal of the college, with this approval, the one of the oldest institutes of the district has become the first degree college in the state to avail AICTE approval for these professional courses.

“We had been waiting for this moment for a long time and we finally achieved it today. The college will be having 60 seats each in the MBA and MCA courses,” said the elated Principal. “Now, we’ll write to HP University to fulfill further formalities so that we can start the courses from this session itself,” he said.

While elaborating the fees structure, the Principal said being the self-financed courses, they would strictly follow the varsity norms for the fees.

“This degree college in Dharamsala has become the first college in Himachal to have these professional courses. Our college has made history by being a pioneer in meeting the growing demands of students here,” shared Sharma.

The college authorities are now putting in all their efforts to fulfill the required formalities with HP University at the earliest so that they can start the courses from this session. “If everything goes smoothly, chances are there that we will launch the courses in the current session,” stated the Principal.

Shimla, July 4
The state government has urged the Centre to start a pension scheme for HIV and AIDS patients.

Speaking at a national seminar organised by the AIDS Sansdiya Manch in New Delhi today, Health Minister Rajeev Bindal said the state would consider providing employment to AIDS patients under MNREGA and added that 12 such patients had already been provided employment in the government sector.

He said the government would include these patients under the BPL category and provide all facilities entitled to the category.

He said no case of HIV or AIDS had been reported from the tribal Lahaul-Spiti district, area-wise the largest district. The percentage of such cases had declined in the state due to effective awareness campaign being implemented. The HIV positive-infected rate had declined from 2.4 to 0.8 per cent. The government was providing financial assistance for the children of such patients for pursuing education and 1,478 children benefited last year. Besides, 660 patients were provided travelling allowance for getting treatment in ART Centre.

The Health Minister said a total number of 5,198 HIV positive cases had been reported in the state so far out of which 1,401 were AIDS patients.

The government had accorded priority to the AIDS Control Programme and a campaign “Jindagi Jindabad” was being implemented in the remote areas to create awareness through folk media, exhibitions, mobile vans, quiz competitions and other publicity means.

Solan, July 4
After a series of frauds surfacing in various cities regarding cheating by private finance companies, customers of a local finance company, PACL India Limited, today demanded back their money which they had deposited in fixed deposits and recurring accounts.

A section of the customers, who stormed the local office of the company this morning, said they were asked to complete a series of formalities, including submitting affidavits, receipts of depositing monthly instalments, etc, and several other documents to get their money back.

With nearly 200 to 250 persons storming the office of the company located on the Mall Road, the staff had a tough time handling the customers who wanted immediate refund of their money. The company could barely furnish five post-dated cheques by evening, while the rest of the customers were seen fretting and fuming at the delay tactics being adopted by the company.

The company, which has been operational since 1987, has customers from Sirmaur, Shimla and Solan districts and has six other branches in the state. With no RBI registration, which is mandatory for such finance companies, people started doubting the company after several such cases surfaced in various cities across the nation.

Company officials, however, insisted that they were registered under the Companies Act and did not need any RBI registration.

The company was deducting 20 per cent cash in case of fixed deposit accounts of lakhs and 6 per cent from those having recurring accounts in the company.

SHO Chaman Lal, who reached the company’s office after receiving complaints from people, said trouble arose after this company was declared a defaulter in Gwalior. So people rushed to the local office to get their money back.

With the accounts of the Gwalior office of PACL India Limited being sealed today, the investors were demanding immediate return of their money.

The investors had been promised doubling of their fixed deposit accounts in six years and an interest of 6 per cent on recurring accounts.

With nearly 50,000 customers, the company appears to have received huge investment from here with some investors investing Rs 5 lakh to Rs 20 lakh here.

The police failed to take any action and insisted that no fraud had come to light here. It remains to be seen if the investors will be returned their money.

Hamirpur, July 4
There seems to be no respite in the cases of gastroenteritis as 24 more villagers from Badehar having symptoms of the disease visited the two health centres of the area for treatment — Community Health Centre (CHC) at Bhoranj and Primary Health Centre (PHC) at Bhareri.

With the registration of these cases of gastroenteritis today, the total number of people coming under the grip of the disease has reached 237.

Though Irrigation and Public Health Department officials have ruled out contamination of drinking water as a cause for the spread of gastroenteritis in the area, health officials say it is basically a water-borne disease.

Meanwhile, the water sample drawn from the water tank of the village which was being tested at the microbiology laboratory in the regional hospital at Hamirpur has suspected the presence of bacteria generated from human excreta in the water.

Panchayat president of Badehar Meera Devi said, “We are cleaning the water tank on daily basis and asking the villagers to take all precautions.”

Chief Medical Officer Hamirpur SK Soni said, “The gastroenteritis is under control in the area. A medical health officer visited the area today and our health team posted there is providing medical aid to patients suffering from the disease.”

Shimla, July 4
Banks have identified 532 villages in the state having a population of more than 1,000 for the purpose of extending banking services under the second phase of the Financial Inclusion Plan 2013.

Stating this while inaugurating the 120th state-level Bankers Committee meeting here today, Chief Secretary Rajwant Sandhu said targets under the Annual Credit Plan (ACP) for the fiscal 2010-11 were surpassed.

An enhanced credit deployment of Rs 7,547 crore had been made under the ACP 2011-12 with an increase of 28 per cent over the past year and highest allocation of Rs 2,479 crore (33 per cent) had been made for the agriculture sector under the ACP. She said 225 villages in Solan and Sirmaur had been covered under the Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Yojna under which a Central assistance of Rs 10 lakh was being provided for infrastructural improvement.

Shimla, July 4
Judges are the safeguards of the Constitution and it is their duty to do best of their ability to find the law while delivering justice. Chief Justice of the HP High Court Kurian Joseph stated this while inaugurating a five-day Orientation Training Programme on Revenue Matters for Civil Judges.

As many as 19 Chief Judicial Magistrates and Judicial Magistrates from all districts of the state are participating in it.

The Chief Justice while talking on the importance of witness said, “Evidence taking gets to analyse 75 per cent facts of the case. Witness should feel that they are protected and honoured.”

He asked the judges to find out truth in a situation when enough evidences were not available. Justice Deepak Gupta, Judge of HP High Court and Patron of HP Judicial Academy, stressed upon the need of honouring judicial ethics and values.

Earlier, SL Sharma, director, HP State Judicial Academy, welcomed the Chief Justice and others. He said this was the last such course for the judicial officers for this year.

Shimla, July 4
While the action initiated by the government to streamline the functioning of private universities will go a long way in checking malpractices, some of the institutions are not pleased and pointing out errors in the inspection report on the basis of which various directions have been issued to remove the deficiencies.

The government has put the inspection reports of all the 10 universities on the website of the Education Department to ensure transparency and enable students to take an informed decision. The decision to make approval by the regulatory bodies concerned mandatory and specific directions issued for uploading the details of existing faculty course-wise with names, photographs, qualification and biodata on their respective websites and also the names of students already admitted into the existing courses will actually help in establishing the credentials of the universities. The step has been taken to ensure that teachers are actually deployed in the institution and are not working elsewhere and students are on regular rolls.

However, some of the universities do not fully agree with the findings of the Education Department, in fact, they pointed out some factual errors. For instance, the Baddi University of Emerging Sciences and Technology and the Shoolini University of Biotechnology maintained that the Pharmaceutical Council of India (PCI) regulated pharmacy education up to graduate level only and there was no need for seeking its approval for the MPharma course. The Baddi university had, in fact, recently got approval for the BPharma course from the PCI. Eternal University had contested the inspection report on the point that it had not got the fee structure approved for some courses and cited a letter dated May 31, 2010, vide which approval was granted.

Principal Secretary, Education, Shrikant Baldi said representatives of some universities had met him in this regard. The deficiencies had been detected on the basis of information provided on the pro forma and subsequently to the inspection committee. Further, the universities had been asked to remove the deficiencies and come back to the department for getting approval.

All these issues would be taken care of at that time and if the universities had the requisite approvals they would get permission for fresh admissions. The objective of the entire exercise was aimed at ensuring minimum academic standards.

Shimla, July 4
The Directorate of Energy has accorded granting techno-economic clearance to the 66-MW Dhaulasidh storage dam project paving the way for the implementation of the first hydropower project in Hamirpur district.

The cost of the project to be set up on the Beas by the public sector Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) has been finally pegged at Rs 497.67 crore and it will annually generate 253 million units of electricity in a 90 per cent dependable year. The cost of generation works out to Rs 4.47 per unit. The project will be completed in 54 months, including pre-construction period of 11 months. As such the project will be commissioned in 2016.

The river will be impounded downstream Sujanpur Tira town by building a 51-m-high dam. The structure will create a 14-km-long reservoir with a gross storage capacity of 96 mcm (million cubic metres) and a live storage of 6.8 mcm. Initially, a higher dam was planned, but the height was reduced to save the main road bridge on the river from submergence. Despite the vast reservoir only one family will be dislocated and only five families will lose their agriculture land.

The power house will be located at the base of the dam where two Francis vertical turbines of 33 MW each will be installed. Project head Sushil Mahajan said the project would run on full capacity rainy season and from lean November to May period it would be used for peaking utilising the storage. Water would be stored for 18 hours for daily six hours of peaking.