Mandi/Alsindi, October 17
Apart from destroying over 38,000 trees and affecting 1.26 lakh trees, as many as 50 families in Talain village will be displaced permanently by the controversial Lafarge cement plant being set up in the Alsindi-Ghanghar belt in Karsog subdivision in this district.

The cement plant will spell doom for the cash crop of “anardana”, besides leading to an “eco-disaster for more than seven gram panchayats in the area”, say affected villagers. The villagers told a central environment panel which inspected the site today that they were against the setting up of the cement plant.

The villagers apprised the eight-member Central Environment Impact Assessment (CEIA) panel of their views. The panel, recommended by the high court, inspected the mining and plant sites of the Alsindi cement plant to be set up by Lafarge, a French giant.

Villagers in seven panchayats - Bindla-Talain, Thali, Shakra, Shakrori, Bakshad, Alsindi and Sunni - have opposed the plant on the grounds that it would be a disaster for the area. They lodged their objections before the panel.

Residents of Talain village alleged that the company had hired some outsiders to impersonate as villagers. The company had “entertained” them at a langar at Tatapani and at Shamot and Mauta, and then ferried them in company’s vehicles to the Kanda top to be present before the panel to favour the plant. However, the company and officials rejected the villagers’ allegations.

The panel comprised chairman MS Nagra, SC Dubey, Surinder Kumar (Conservator of Forests), K Shankar and M Ramesh (both scientists), state geologist Arun Sharma, Ravinder Kumar of the pollution control board and RR Patial, Joint Director, Industry. They recorded the objections and videographed the proceedings.

Interestingly, earlier a whopping 1.28 lakh trees on 800 hectares were supposed to be cut to make way for the cement plant.

However, as part of a ploy to get approval, the Ministry of Environment and Forests reduced the mining belt and the plant area to 326 hectares on which still 38,000 big and small trees will be cut to make way for the plant.

The panel was accompanied by Karsog SDM KK Sharma and Karsog DFO SK Sapata and the Karsog DSP. Sources told The Tribune that the villagers were divided over setting up of the plant.

The panel would submit its report to the ministry for fresh environment clearance, the sources added.

Manali, October 17
For the first time in the history of adventure sports in the country the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports (ABVIMAS), Manali, took the initiative to introduce grass skiing on the slopes of the Solang valley, 13 km from here, yesterday.

Capt Randhir Singh Salhuria (retd), Director of the institute, inaugurated a seven-day grass skiing course, a specially designed training programme for instructors of the state free of cost.

Mahavir Singh Thakur, Deputy Director (skiing), ABVIMAS, welcomed Captain Salhuria on the grass ski slope in the Solang valley and briefed the gathering about grass skiing at the inaugural session.

In a press note, Captain Salhuria said 32 instructors were being trained in grass skiing, from which six females were also participating in the grass skiing course. Training would be imparted by Santosh, renowned skier who had represented India in the Winter Olympics several times and brought laurels to the state and the country. Another instructor Nirmala was also in the training team.

These two instructors got their training in Iran and also participated in the international grass skiing championship successfully.

Captain Salhuria added that there was a tremendous scope of grass skiing in the state, which would attract adventure lovers as well as domestic and foreign tourists and which could also be a good scope for employment to state youth.

For grass skiing, a 120-m grass skiing slope has been developed at the Solang valley. Grass ski equipment and alpine ski equipment worth Rs 1 crore has been purchased by ABVIMAS last year out of grant-in-aid received from the Central Government.

Captain Salhuria, appreciated the work of the Deputy Director and his team to develop the grass ski slope and their contribution to start up the new adventure activity.

The Director also inaugurated the Artificial Rock Climbing Wall in the Solang valley and a demonstration was organised.

Rock climbing and rappelling on this artificial rock climbing wall have been thrown open to tourists after charging nominal rates under expert guidance.

These two new adventure sports activities of grass skiing and artificial rock climbing have added a new chapter in the history of the mountaineering Institute, which will give a boost to adventure tourism in the state.

Shimla, October 17
Taking on the BJP on the issue of land deals, the Congress today accused Chief Minister PK Dhumal of misleading the people regarding permissions granted under Section 118 of the Land Reforms and Tenancy Act by quoting wrong figures.

Convener of the media department of the party Mukesh Agnihotri said today that the Dhumal government had virtually put Himachal on sale and now he was citing comparative figures as per his convenience to cover up his misdeeds.

The fact that the BJP government had been forced to amend the State Land Ceiling Act to regularise permissions granted in violation of the Act, provided sufficient proof of the ruthless manner it allowed outsiders to purchase large chunks of land without any justification and bona fide requirement.

The Congress government also gave permissions for setting up industries and other projects in the wake of the industrial package granted by the Centre, but within the provisions of the law and strictly as per requirement.

The Congress government never had to amend any law to regularise any illegalities. The Congress was not only opposing the Land Ceiling (Amendment) Bill, but it would when in power ensure that those responsible for granting illegal permissions were held accountable.

The Dhumal government allowed the Jaypee Group to set up a cement unit in Nalagarh, without obtaining the mandatory clearances, and later regularised the violations in the Act.

The manner in which various permissions were granted overnight, throwing all rules and norms to the winds, to the Bemloe builders for raising a housing colony in a thickly forested area and the proposed sale of heritage Bantony Castle exposed by the RTI, reflected the functioning of the government, which remained in the denial mode all through.

There were a host of other issues, including the opening of private universities of doubtful credentials, making higher education a lucrative real estate business, granting permission to builders under the Apartment Act, bypassing the minister concerned, and amending the power policy every now and then to oblige private companies.

He said the Congress would pursue these issues and ensure its ouster in the Assembly poll due next year. Each of the issues would prove to be a nail in the BJP’s coffin.

Hamirpur, October 17
The path for opening a Canteen Stores Department (CSD) bulk supply store, the first in this region, has been cleared after the identification of a piece of land at Baned in Una district by the state government.

The Ministry of Defence had proposed to open a CSD bulk supply store in the region to supply goods to all CSD canteens in the area. They had asked the Himachal Pradesh Government to provide a piece of land for the purpose.

The government has identified 22 acres at Baned and has informed the defence authorities.

Work on this project is likely to begin soon.

At present all supplies for CSD canteens in the region are being brought from CSD bulk stores at Jalandhar, Pathankot and Ambala.

The opening of this bulk supply store will also help in procuring certain items like refrigerators, washing machines and big items like cars, which generally are procured directly from New Delhi or Ambala as many dealers are not
authorised to supply these in this area.

About Rs 40 crore is likely to be spent on creating infrastructure for the CSD store by the Central Government and about 100 employees will be employed in different departments.

After opening of this CSD store, about 2.5 lakh serving Army personnel, ex-servicemen and their families will be benefited.

The Director of the Sainik Welfare Department, Brig Rajinder Singh Rana (retd), said, “The Defence Ministry had been asking the state government to identify land for opening a CSD bulk supply store and now 22 acres have been identified at Baned in Una district.”

“Since this CSD bulk supply store will cater to about 50 CSD canteens in this region, it will benefit the people of the state in general and serving and ex-servicemen in particular,” he added.

Shimla, October 17
Religious sentiments ride high in the “Valley of Gods” as notwithstanding the loss accruing to the Larji hydro-power project, the generation is brought down for four days during Dasehra to enable the two-and-fro movement of over 150 local deities across the old submerged road as travelling through the 3-km-long tunnel is strictly abhorred by the “devtas”.

Due to the creation of a 3-km-long tunnel near Aut on the NH-22 short of Kullu by the HP State Electricity Board for the 120 MW Larji hydro-power project, the local deities face a problem in arriving for Dasehra, which has been accorded the status of an international fair by the state government. According to old beliefs, these deities walk in the open and do not pass through a tunnel or under a roof. The old road along the Beas has got submerged under the dam waters.

“It is on the request of the local people that every year two days before Dasehra and two days after it concludes we direct the Larji power project authorities to open the gates of the dam so that the old submerged road can be used by the deities to reach Kullu and back,” said BM Nanta, Deputy Commissioner, Kullu. He said besides reducing the water level, the submerged road is also repaired so that the deities and their followers can walk across, bypassing the tunnel when they come from the Seraj, Ani, Sainj and Jibhi areas.

According to old beliefs and traditions, the local deities do not travel in vehicles nor do they camp in any place which has a roof, resulting in all 226 of them being housed in tents in the expansive Dhalpur ground in Kullu for the week-long Dasehra. This year a total of 226 deities registered their attendance in Dasehra and more than half of them had come from the Banjar side, where the tunnel has come up.

Considering the strong faith that people have in their deities, religious traditions have to be given precedence, but the construction of a pedestrian road above the tunnel along the Beas could be a permanently solution to the problem rather than suffering losses due to reduced generation and repairing the old submerged road every year.

Shimla, October 17
Pleased with the success of the Rs 337-crore Mid-Himalayan Watershed Development Project, World Bank wants the hill state to have a separate department for watershed development for similar activities, particularly those related to sustainable development, being implemented by various departments on the same model.

The suggestion has come following the recent visit of an appraisal team of the bank headed by Ranjan Samantaray, which appreciated the activities being carried out under the project “in enhancement of livelihood”. The bank is keen to see the model of watershed development, evolved over the past five years under the project, to be adopted not only for catchment area treatment (CAT) plans but all such schemes being run by the Rural Development and Agriculture departments, and other agencies.

The neighbouring state of Uttarakhand already has an independent department of watershed development. Additional Chief Secretary, Forests, Sudipto Roy said World Bank had given the best rating to the project and it had emerged as a model for sustainable development of hills.

The Union Ministry of Rural Development has already asked the project authorities to make a presentation in Delhi so that it could adopt a similar approach and implement its watershed development programme on the same pattern.

The bank has agreed in principle to extend the project to 102 more panchayats and it will provide $45 million to cover the areas left out at the micro-watershed level and for the consolidation of the first phase to improve sustainability. At present, the Rs 337-crore project is being implemented in “272 micro-watersheds” spread over 602 panchayats, 42 blocks and 10 districts of the state.

The World Bank team was highly appreciative of the focus on enhancement and conservation of water sources, which is gradually leading to an improvement in livelihood with farmers switching over to high-value crops, dairy farming and vermin-composting to make small landholdings economically viable. The team took special notice of the Rs 90-lakh dairy framing project under which a milk processing plant has been set up at Namhol as it took care of everything right from training, fodder, milch cattle, veterinary support and pasteurisation of milk. It has helped augment the income of over 950 families in 18 panchayats which are producing 6,000 to 7,000 litres of milk daily.

Shimla, October 17
The state high court today sought response from the Secretary (Forests), Secretary (Revenue), Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Municipal Corporation, Shimla DC, Bemloe Construction and Infrastructure Company, Chairman DLF Company, and Ministry of Environment and Forests on a petition challenging grant of clearance for construction to Bemloe Cons and Infrastructure Co in a forest area in Kanlog.

The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Sanjay Karol directed the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests to clarify as to what was the amount spent in construction and the position on required clearances from the authorities and why the construction of the road was not being undertaken as per the same standard as was constructed now so as to connect it to poor villagers.

The court also directed that unless the road was connected to villages, the Municipal Corporation would not issue any completion certificate or further permission to occupy the constructed houses till the road reaches its end point.

It also directed the Ministry of Environment and Forests to clarify whether the construction of the road undertaken till now had any adverse impact on environment.

The court further directed the Shimla DC to clarify as to how many villages of the district were not yet connected by roads and what was the proposal for the construction of roads to such villages and what was the amount required for that construction.

The Commissioner, MC, had also been directed to file an affidavit with regard to the road access to the localities and the condition of roads.

Bilaspur, October 17
A full grown bear is said to be active in several villages in the Jukhala valley area, about 25 km from here, which has made villagers miserable due to fear it has spread all around.

Reports said several people had confirmed that they were being hounded by this bear which chased them while they were working in the fields or cutting grass in their areas in Thaharla, Selag, Kolnoo and Koita villages under the Kotla gram panchayat. They said they could save themselves only by running away.

It is said normally bears do not live around this area, but it seems that either this bear has strayed into the area or has wandered into a new domain.

They said they were already worried about a prowling leopard, which was devouring their cattle and pets, and now this new menace had cropped up. Their daily routine was now confined only to a few areas.

Villagers, led by gram panchayat vice-president Suman Thakur, zila parishad member Babu Ram Thaklur and others Soma Devi and Rajesh Kumar, Prem Lal, Nand Lal and Sukh Ram, have all urged the district administration to immediately intervene and ensure that this bear does not become a menace to people and is either captured to be carried to a zoo or some jungle away from human habitation.

Bilaspur, October 17
Leaders of six gram panchayats of the Barthin area, near here, have served an ultimatum to the government that they will start an agitation if the government does not make proper arrangements for stray cattle.

Presided over by Capt Omparkash Chandel (retd), a meeting of leaders Dev Krishan Nadda, Krishan Dass Gauttam, Nikka Ram, Budhi Singh Parmar, Neelam Devi, Paramjit Dhiman, Rakesh Mehta, Rajesh Kumar, Sub Pyar Singh and Vinod Kumar expressed anguish over the death of Vinod Chandel earlier on being attacked by a stray bull.— OC