Niharni, September 15
The noise created by the blasting of rocks is sending shock waves among wild animals in the core area of the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP). The rocks are being crushed to construct a dam of the 100-MW Sainj Hydropower Project, which is located just 2.5 km from the park’s core area.

More than 2,326 broad-leaf trees face the axe to make way for a 700-metre long, 100-m-wide and 24.5-m-high dam.

Just 100-m downstream, over 300 trees have been uprooted by a 1-km-long landslide at Kili Parli that has squeezed the river into a 1-m-wide gorge.

Just 15 km downstream of the HPCL’s 100-MW Sainj project is the NHPC’s 520-MW Parbati project and three other micro projects.

These projects are located in the GHNP’s buffer zone and have turned this zone into a “zone of ecological disaster” that can have far-reaching consequences for the park’s rare flora and fauna. From Bihali, the NHPC’s powerhouse site, through Siund, Neoli and Niharni, the Sainj project’s dam site, the sensitive lush green valley is “bleeding”.

Contractors are having a field day and dumping muck and debris wherever they please into the Sainj riverside and its feeding streams that have threatened the trout in the river. All this is being done in violation of the Forest Conservation Act.

The Sainj project site presents a worse picture. The protection walls have collapsed at the powerhouse site at Matla, the tunnel site at Sanshar and along the two roads leading to the dam site and the surge shaft.

The water table of this zone and drinking water sources of locals have already shown “signs of deterioration”. Over a dozen houses have developed cracks at Shamshar (the PHCL’s tunnel site) and the Raila road (the NHPC’s surge shaft road), says Dile Ram of Riara village.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) had accorded approval to the Sainj project two years ago and to the NHPC a few years ago. However, the Himachal wildlife wing, which maintains the GHNP, is yet to do an environment impact assessment study of this zone. GHNP Director Ajay Srivastva says the wildlife wing has imposed a penalty of Rs 10 lakh on the Sainj project and has asked it to raise proper protection walls.

“The HPCL has paid Rs 3.52 crore for felling 2,326 trees after the MOEF’s approval.”

HPCL DGM, Construction, CSS Chauhan claimed that debris was being dumped on the designated sites and the walls damaged by rain would be repaired soon.

Shimla, September 15
It will be another fortnight before the monsoon will bid adieu to the hill state, which, despite continuous showers, has received 6 per cent less rain this year.

According to the Met Department, the state will experience heavy rain for the next two days and it will only be during the last week of September that the monsoon will start receding. The state has so far received 700.3 mm of rainfall till yesterday, which is 6 per cent less than normal.

“With a western disturbance approaching the state, there will be very heavy rain during the next two days after which the monsoon will gradually recede,” said Manmohan Singh, Director of the Met office. He said till September 15 last year, Himachal had received 746.7 mm rainfall, which was 16 per cent more than normal.

Even though the rain has been slightly less than normal, there seems to be no respite from the continuous showers as there were practically no dry spells in between. “This monsoon the rain was regular with light to moderate showers which made it appear as if this year there was too much rain,” says Manmohan Singh.

Kinnaur district received 49 per cent more rainfall than normal, followed by Kullu with 29 per cent excess and Una with 26 per cent excess rainfall. Sirmaur, too, received 8 per cent more rainfall while Hamirpur witnessed 6 per cent more rainfall than normal.

Lahaul and Spiti received 63 per cent less rainfall than normal, followed by Solan which received 23 per cent less rainfall. Chamba, too, saw 20 per cent deficient rainfall and Shimla 4 per cent.

Another interesting aspect of the weather this year has been that with regular showers even during the summers, the temperature did not exceed 28°C as compared to last year when it touched even 32°C in Shimla.

“This year the average temperature for the summer months of April-May-June was between 26 and 27°C which is relatively less as compared to the previous years when even in the “Queen of Hills” the temperatures really soared,” says Manmohan Singh.

Meanwhile, many parts of the state were today lashed by heavy rain since morning.

Shimla, September 15
While the government has been feigning ignorance about the sale of the heritage Bantony Castle, documents obtained by the Congress under the RTI reveal that a UK-based party has not only entered into an agreement with the owners for the purchase of the prime property but also submitted a proposal to develop a tourism complex on it.

According to the documents, Ranjay Trehan from the UK entered into an agreement with the 11 owners on November 15, 2010, for the purchase of the castle spread over 19,436 sq m for Rs 45 crore. He also paid an advance of Rs 50 lakh to them. The agreement also had a time frame for securing various clearances and also permission to purchase land under Section 118 of the State Land Reforms and Tenancy Act.

Further, a company in the name of Bantony Boulevards had been set up and a Rs 38-crore proposal to develop a tourism resort submitted to the Director of Tourism on July 26, 2011. The agreement stipulated that in case various types of permission were not granted, the deal will be scrapped and the owners will return Rs 37.50 lakh of the amount paid as advance.

AICC member and Congress MLA Mukesh Agnihotri wondered how a person living in another country could come up with such a proposal in the heritage zone unless backed by someone in the higher echelons of the government.

The most intriguing part was that two different applications had been submitted for the tourist resort proposal in the name of Bantony Boulevards and Dream Square Estate Private Limited and in both case the local address was of Chandigarh.

He alleged that the government had been misleading the people on the issue and wanted to know the progress made with regard to the move to acquire the property as announced.

He also raised questions over the leasing out of 97 bighas to Acharya Balkrishan of the Patanjali Yogpeeth who was a Nepalese national and the apparently benami land deal in which two adjoining pieces of land, both measuring 7 hectares each, in Rampur Kuinthal on the outskirts of Shimla were sold under Section 118.

Shimla, September 15
The high court today sought a response from the state government on the issue of alleged purchase of ayurvedic drugs by the Director, Ayurveda, on higher prices. The court also directed the state to explain the reasons for purchasing the drugs on extra prices.

Issuing notices to the Secretary (Health) and the Director, Ayurveda, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Rajiv Sharma further listed the matter for September 30.

The court passed this order on a petition filed by the HP Ayurvedic Manufacturing Association in which it was alleged that ayurvedic medicines were purchased by the Director, Ayurveda, in violation of the rules. It was further alleged that according to the rules, 70 per cent drugs were to be purchased from state manufacturing units and 30 per cent from outside the state. The petitioner has alleged that while purchasing the drugs, the Director has manipulated the rules to purchase the drugs at higher rates from outside.

According to the petitioner, the department had shown undue haste in the purchase of the drugs in such a manner that no tender was floated and the purchase order was placed. It was further alleged that on the basis of the quotation and the prices of 2009, the purchase order was placed through fax and they were asked to make the supply.

The petitioner further alleged that the present Director was not fit for the post because he did not fulfil the academic qualification as per rule 49 of the Drug and Cosmetic Rules. It was further alleged that he had no knowledge about the quality of the drugs since it was not the work of an IAS or an HAS officer. According to the petition, only an ayurvedic officer could judge the quality of the drugs.

Shimla, September 15
Expressing dissatisfaction over the working of the state government, the state high court yesterday directed the Additional Chief Secretary (Labour and Employment) to file an affidavit on the steps taken for the implementation of labour laws and the utilisation of the amount for the welfare of labourers.

The orders of the Division Bench comprising Chief Justice (CJ) Kurian Joseph and Justice Rajiv Sharma came on a PIL taken up suo motu by the court after getting an enquiry conducted on an anonymous letter addressed to the CJ pertaining to unfair labour practices in one of the industrial units at Parwanoo.

The CJ directed the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Solan, to conduct a confidential inquiry in the matter.

The CJM pointed out 12 violations of labour laws in the said industrial unit.

The court observed that this was the story of one of the hundreds of such industrial units at Parwanoo. The court also directed the Additional Chief Secretary in the affidavit as to how many industrial units were there in the state, along with the number of commercial establishments under the purview of the Commercial Establishment Act and whether the government seriously meant to implement the labour laws.

Shimla, September 15
Ridding the town of the menace of stray dogs is no doubt the responsibility of the local Municipal Corporation (MC), which swears by the high court directive of keeping the canines in shelter homes, but the deplorable conditions in which they have been packed in small enclosures with excreta, decaying food and at times carcass of dogs all around is an unbearable sight.

Outraged by the plight of the dogs, Dimple Vahai Oberoi, a local resident, has given a representation to Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal against the merciless manner in which stray dogs have been kept at a shelter created for them below the old barrier. She has also met the Municipal Commissioner to draw the attention of the officer towards the treatment being meted out to the mongrels.

“It was a chance visit to the dog home to look for my lost dog that I was shocked to see the awful condition in which they have been kept in small enclosures,” says Oberoi. She says the stale food sent from hotels was given to the dogs once a day, which was placed on a heap of rotting and decaying food alongside their excreta.

She says that from her interaction with the people living close by, she was told that several dogs were dying because of the atrocious conditions in which they had been kept. “It is an unbearable sight to see so many dogs lying around listlessly with not even one of them barking due to the traumatic and distressing living conditions,” she explains.

Questioning the MC move of keeping the dogs in such awful conditions, she says if they do not have the resources and the means, then why this torture of animals in the name of dog homes.

“The least that they can do is to provide them spacious enclosures, clean environment and food so that they are not left there to suffer and die,” she says.

Oberoi who has always adopted stray dogs and taken care of them rues the fact that dog catchers invariably catch even the collared dogs who are registered with the MC. “There is a complete lack of sensitivity towards the dogs who would have been better off had they been poisoned and killed rather than be forced to lead such a terrible life,” she says.

The Municipal Commissioner said the shelters were being maintained properly but since there were no funds to feed them, arrangement had been made with hotels to send left-out food. “We have made public appeals to NGOs and locals to come forward to take better care of the dogs,” he said.