Kullu, July 10
The Himachal Pradesh police has availed of Rs 1 crore under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) for destroying cannabis in the state, but it has received a poor response from the panchayats in the district that has emerged as a hotbed of opium and cannabis cultivation in the state.

After the successful execution of the anti-cannabis campaign in Chamba district last year, the state government availed of a grant of Rs 1 crore which was given to the Police Department for destroying cannabis in the state.

The task was given to panchayats, which were supposed to use the MNREGA funds. However, the response in Kullu district this year has been poor as representatives of the panchayats are not coming forward to destroy cannabis.

Villagers consider cannabis plants sacred and use its seeds and byproducts for traditional puja.

According to experts, though villagers have been cultivating cannabis in the valley for long, hippies from across the world encouraged farmers to produce high-quality hashish in the 1970s that in turn spanned a contraband trade running into crores of rupees every year.

Even though many farmers have abandoned its cultivation and switched over to fruits in many pockets, the illegal trade has been hijacked by a chain of drug smugglers, including foreigners who have made this valley their home. They deploy Nepalese labourers for cultivation and share the harvest every year, the experts say.

The panchayats have used just Rs 52,000 for destroying cannabis and opium crops this year.

Kullu SP Abhishek said they had got Rs 27 lakh for the purpose - Rs 7 lakh for destroying opium and Rs 20 lakh for cannabis this year.

“These funds have to be spent through panchayats for the development of land which is under the wild growth of cannabis. We have used only Rs 52,000 so far as the panchayats are not coming forward to destroy the cultivation,” he added.

He said they could not use these funds for destroying the illegal cultivation under the terms of the MNREGA as only the panchayats were the executing agencies.

Dharamsala, July 10
The Himachal Pradesh Government College Teachers Association has expressed resentment over the implementation of the UGC regulations - 2010 in government colleges in the state.

After the implementation of the UGC regulations, the state government has made it mandatory for the lecturers to stay on the college campus for at least seven hours a day. The UGC regulations have come along with the implementation of the new pay scales for the college teachers.

The teachers’ association has, however, alleged that the condition was not acceptable to the teachers. It alleged that college lecturers were performing odd-hour duties pertaining to examinations, cultural and sports activities.

If all these activities were taken into consideration, the college lecturers were performing eight to 10 hours’ duty.

They demanded that the bar on the college lecturers to stay in college should be reduced to five hours a day and just four lectures a day.

They have also alleged that the government has implemented the UGC regulations with retrospective effect from January 1, 2009.

This would hit the promotion avenues of a lot of college lecturers. Hundreds of teachers in the state have been awaiting promotions since 2007-08. They have not been promoted as the government failed to conduct meetings of the departmental promotion committees (DPCs) in time.

They alleged that it was not possible for college lecturers to fulfil the conditions for promotion as laid down in the UGC regulations - 2010 with retrospective effect. They demanded that the government should implement the UGC regulations from June 6, 2011, the date these were notified in the state.

The new UGC guidelines also make it mandatory for the college lecturers to carry out research work. However, the lecturers allege that the prevailing infrastructure in government colleges is not ideal for research activities.

The teachers say that according to the UGC guidelines, the teacher-student ratio should be 1:80. However, at present, the teacher-student ratio in government colleges in the state is 1:150.

The teachers also condemned the statement of the Controller of Examinations of Himachal Pradesh University in which he blamed college teachers for a delay in the results.

Shimla, July 10
The citizen-centric services being offered through the 3,366 e-governance common service centres in the state are proving a boon for people living in far-off areas who can submit and collect various required certificates and documents without visiting the office concerned.

Established under the Public-Private Partnership mode, Lokmitra Kendras are playing an important role in providing services and information on the doorstep of the rural community under a single roof. The public services include vehicle registration, driving licence, voter registration, caste or domicile certificates, land records, property registration, arms licence, police complaints and disability identity cards.

Similarly, under AGRISNET farmers are being provided information by researchers, scientists and administrators. The project will help create a sustainable data bank of all agricultural inputs in the state containing all relevant information pertaining to agriculture and related activities which could be accessed through a secured network.

The telemedicine project has been implemented to enable patients in remote areas to avail of the services of medical specialists in the PGI, the IGMC and other institutions. The hospital management information system is another initiative to provide better health services to the people. It includes computerisation of routine activities of the hospital and medical records of patients.

The IGMC, Shimla, is among the few health institutions in the country where such a system has been implemented.

Recently, the government introduced the e-tendering process for procuring supplies for major departments to bring efficiency anad transparency in the process, besides reducing paperwork through the automated-bid-evaluation system.

Mandi, July 10
Anganwadi workers, under the banner of CITU, staged a state-level protest here yesterday, accusing both the state government and the Centre of exploiting 36,000 anganwadi workers without paying them a penny for the extra work they have been assigned in the state.

They demanded the status of government servants like their counterparts were getting in Uttarakhand and Maharashtra. Raising anti-government slogans, the anganwadi workers and helpers demanded Rs 5,000 as salary per month for workers and Rs 3,000 per month for helpers and the status and benefits that the state government gives to its servants.

“We are doing all sorts of government works, ranging from conducting health surveys, carrying out election duties and executing village-level government schemes and self help-groups (SHGs), but the government pays nothing for extra works,” they resented.

“If the Maharashtra and Uttarakhand governments can give Rs 5,000 and Rs 3,000 for workers and helpers, why cannot Himachal do the same?” said Kaushlaya and Gita Thakur, anaganwadi workers.

Addressing the rally here, national anganwadi workers union secretary Hemlata said their struggle would continue as the Centre and the sate government had been exploiting anganwadi workers and helpers in the state and other parts of the country.

CITU state general secretary Kashmir Thakur charged the state government with exploiting anganwadi workers and helpers by engaging them in all village-level government duties to carry out its schemes without paying them for the extra work they were doing.

“Anganwadi workers are getting a paltry Rs 1,800, while helpers are getting Rs 950 per month despite the fact that they are doing extra government works,” he added.

Hamirpur, July 10
Vikramaditya Singh, Union Cabinet Minister Virbhadra Singh’s son, who floated a sports organisation a few months ago with the motive of joining politics later on, today came down heavily on the BJP-led state government.

During his visit to Hamirpur district to inaugurate a blood donation camp organised by the district unit of Indian National Trade Union Congress, Vikramaditya criticised the state government for opening “so many private universities in the state”.

“Private universities are being opened by people from Punjab, who have no background in education, just to mint money,” he alleged.

“Since many of these universities are turning out to be education shops, we urge the government to regulate the functioning of these universities,” he said.

Vikramaditya inaugurated a blood donation camp in Sarvhit Sudhar Sabha Bhawan, in which 30 persons donated blood. 

Chamba, July 10
A six-day bikers’ rally, organised by the Peak Valley Bikers Foray, which began from Chamba on July 5 converged at Manali today.

The bikers’ team consisting of 17 bikers was led by team leader Vinayak Raina. The rally arrived at the Manali crossing over the Saach Pass (4,413 m) via Killar, Udaipur, Keylong and Rohtang Pass itinerary.

The objective of the bikers’ rally was to bring the gorgeous landscape of the mountainous Pangi tribal valley on the international map of tourism thereby promoting adventure tourism and beckoning trekkers and tourists from other parts of the country and abroad to this snowy terrain of Himachal Pradesh.

This will go a long way in generating livelihood to local inhabitants of the picturesque and serene valley, Vinayak Raina claimed.

Shimla, July 10
The fund-starved state’s revenue from the sale of surplus power is set to decline by at least Rs 150 crore for the second consecutive year due to the continuing downswing in the power market.

The income is decreasing despite the increased availability of power for sale due to the commissioning of new projects, including the 192 MW Allain Duhungan and the 1,000 MW Karcham Wangtu, which is already generating about 600 MW from two units. Consequently, the revenue, which took a quantum leap from Rs 29.60 crore in 2003-04 to a whopping Rs 1,255 crore in 2008-09, is going down. Last year, it came down to Rs 1,150 crore.

The current year’s trend shows that it will not cross Rs 1,000 crore. The increased availability in the northern grid has led to a correction in the power market which was yielding huge profits to the generating companies until two years ago. However, what is hurting the market the most is the reluctance of the state utilities, which do not purchase power, even if available at reasonable rates, and instead impose cuts. As a result the average rates have remained low even during the peak summer.

The data of the Indian Energy Exchange reveals that the average power rates in the short term sales have been hovering in the range of Rs 2.80 to Rs 3.70 per unit right through the summer. The rate crossed Rs 4 per unit only on a few occasions but also plunged below Rs 1.50 per unit at times. The rates have been lower by Re 1 to Rs 1.50 per unit compared to last year. The state sold power at Rs 7.21 per unit three years ago and is now finding it hard to find buyers even at half the rate. The revenue loss would have been almost double but for the fact that Uttar Pradesh, where the Assembly poll is drawing near, agreed to purchase most of the power at Rs 4.30 per unit, a good rate in the current scenario.

However, last year the state managed to sell its power at Rs 6.28 per unit in June and Rs 5.23 per unit in July and August. As such the revenue is declining even though the power available for sale is 725 MW as against 630 MW last year. Uttar Pradesh purchased 200 MW in April, 400 MW in May and June and from July the quantum has been increased to 623 MW.

Principal Secretary, Power, Deepak Sanan said efforts were being made to make up for the shortfall in revenue through an upfront premium by offering more projects to the private sector. Already 15 projects with an aggregate capacity of 13.25 MW had been given and an upfront premium of Rs 130 crore had been deposited and an exercise was on to identify more projects.

Bilaspur, July 10
Ashok Kumar Dhiman (41), a small contractor and resident of Jhamradiyan village in the Talai ploice station area, reportedly killed himself with his licensed gun in an inebriated state.

Ashok had reportedly been drinking heavily for the past three days and allegedly been abusing and beating up his family members, including his mother Gita Devi (72), his wife and children. His mother reported the matter to the police station which accompanied her to the house.

Seeing them arrive, the contractor, who was already under work-related tension, immediately took out his licensed gun and shot himself. The police has registered a case.

The deceased has left behind his mother, wife and two daughters, aged 5 and 7, and a one-and-a-half-year-old son.