Shimla, December 20
Chief Minister PK Dhumal today said Himachal was not opposed to the proposed Right to Food Security Act provided it did not entail any financial liability on the state government, which was often burdened with the task of implementing central schemes at the cost of its own projects.

He said Himachal had already conveyed its views on the proposed Act to the Centre. “As long as the Centre ensures that the entire expenditure on the implementation of the scheme is borne by it, we have no problem, but there should be no financial burden on us,” he clarified.

He rued that with ministers in the UPA coming up with new schemes every now and then, the states were forced to implement them. “I personally feel that the Food Security Act is more of a publicity stunt with an eye on the elections in five states,” he remarked. He said, “Why should we shell out from our pocket on central schemes when we have our own mandate and programmes as per the needs of the people?”

Himachal had also sought special relaxation under the Act for providing 7 kg of rice per person per month to general households instead of the proposed 3 kg. “Being a special category state owing to peculiar topographic conditions, we are not self-sufficient in the production of foodgrains and are dependent on neighbouring states. So, priority households, which would received 7 kg per person, and general households should be treated on a par,” said Director, Food and Supplies, Amar Singh Rathore.

In its reply sent to the Centre, Himachal has clarified that while homeless and other such destitute people should be entitled to affordable meals at community kitchens, the responsibility of migrants should be fully on their home states. “The responsibility of migrants should be of their home states so that the migration of destitute persons can be discouraged,” said Rathore.

Having a strong public distribution system of its own, Himachal was also not keen on having a state food security commission, district grievances redressal officer or a separate audit set-up as such work could be done by the District Food and Supplies Officer.

Himachal is already running a subsidised ration scheme for all ration card holders where three pulses, cooking oil, mustard oil and salt are being provided at concessional rates as relief against price rice. The state is spending about Rs 130 crore annually on providing cheap rations to people.

Interestingly, though the population of the state, as per the 2011 census, is 68.56 lakh, on record 74.53 lakh people are receiving rations through fair price shops. The total number of ration card holders in the state is 16.31 lakh, which includes 11.17 lakh above the poverty line (APL), 3.16 lakh below the poverty line (BPL) and 1.97 lakh Antodya (poorest of poor) families. The number of Annapurna card holders who are given 10 kg of free rice every month is 31,046.

Dharamsala, December 20
The Congress today lodged a protest as it leaders raised slogans in the well of the House on the second day of the winter session after two adjournment motions moved by its MLAs were not accepted by the Speaker.

The Congress had given notice to the Speaker for adjournment motions on the alleged involvement of Cabinet ministers Rajiv Bindal and Mohinder Singh and Parliamentary Secretary Sukh Ram in poll code violations during the Renuka Assembly byelection and the alleged involvement of BJP leader Anita Sandal in the recruitment scam.

As soon as question hour began CLP leader Vidya Stokes got up from her seat and objected to the non-acceptance of their adjournment motions. She was followed by other Congress MLAs present in the House, who started raising slogans.

The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Ravinder Ravi, got up and said an adjournment motion could be brought only on an urgent matter being encountered by the state. He also said that the Opposition had to give notice for an adjournment motion on the first day of the session. Since the matter of poll code violation in the Renuka byelection was within the purview of the Election Commission it could not be considered an urgent matter. Regarding the other issue raised by the Congress, he said the recruitment scam was being probed by the police and the accused had been arrested.

The Speaker allowed question hour to proceed amid slogan raising by Congress MLAs. Congress MLAs, including the CLP leader, then moved to the well of the House and started raising slogans against the government.

While raising slogans the Congress MLAs especially targeted the Minister for Transport Mohinder Singh. They raised their voice as soon as Mohinder Singh got up from his seat to answer queries raised by other members. The Congress MLAs kept raising slogans in the well of House during the entire session.

Since the Congress was not in a mood to relent the Speaker adjourned the House till 11 am tomorrow after six crucial bills were tabled in the House by the respective ministers. Owing to the early adjournment of the House two major discussions on the issue of the policy of acquiring the land of villagers for constructing roads under the Prime Minister’s Gram Sadak Yojna and problems being faced by farmers due to wild animals could not be held. Both discussions were listed on the request of Congress MLAs Rajesh Dhirmani and Mukesh Agnihotri, respectively.

Later, while talking to newspersons, spokesperson of the Congress Mukesh Agnihotri said they had the right to move the adjournment motion as the names of two Cabinet ministers were involved in the allegations of poll code violation. It was an urgent issue and the government was trying to gag our voice by not allowing the adjournment motions, he said.

Shimla , December 20
Expressing serious concern over the issue of washing away of an 83-year-old railway bridge on the Chakki river near Pathankot, the HP High Court has summoned the Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, and the Deputy Commissioner, Pathankot, along with the Chief Engineer, HPPWD, National Highways, Shimla, the Executive Engineer, HPPWD, Joginder Nagar, the Senior Divisional Security Commandant, Northern Railway, Ferozepur Division, and the Mining Officers of Kangra and Pathankot to be present in the court on December 28.

The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Dev Darshan Sud also directed the DC, Pathankot, to file an affidavit as to problems and suggestions with regard to the issue of the washing away of the railway bridge.

The 83-year-old bridge, once proposed to be declared a UNESCO heritage site, was providing connectivity to narrow gauge trains running on the Pathankot-Joginder Nagar line and was washed away in August this year in flash floods.

The court passed the orders on a PIL taken up suo motu on a news item published in an English daily and had directed Northern Railway to submit its reply.

In its reply, Northern Railway had submitted that the incident happened due to unscientific and indiscriminate mining at the stream at the Chakki river in Pathankot and Kangra districts.

Dharamsala, December 20
The Public Works Department (PWD) has posted seven executive engineers (XENs) in their home divisions against the policy of the state government. The fact came to the fore in response to a question raised by Congress MLA from Nagrota Bagwan GS Bali in assembly during the second day of winter session.

Bali has sought information from the PWD Minister regarding the number of executive engineers posted in their home divisions. He also sought information regarding the policy over their posting and whether the government was aware of the fact that some executive engineers had family businesses in their respective divisions.

In reply to the query, PWD Minister informed the House that seven executive engineers had been posted in their home divisions in the state. They include executive engineers at Kalpa, Nahan, Dharamsala, Sarkaghat, Electrical division Una, National Highways divisions at Solan and Jogindernagar.

The minister said though as per the policy executive engineers could not be posted in their home division but for design wings, the CM had the power to relax the provisions in the policy.

He denied having any information regarding business interests of any executive engineer in his respective division.

Responding to a query by Mukesh Agnihotri, Congress MLA from Santokhgarh, Minister for Urban Development Mohinder Singh informed that HIMUDA had collected Rs 34,59,15000 from people for various housing development schemes. He said till date 358.16 bighas of land had been acquired for the schemes and process of acquiring additional land was underway.

Replying to a query from Rup Singh, BJP MLA from Sundernagar, Minister for Industries Kishan Kapoor informed that the government had conducted a survey for bringing up industrial areas at Dehra, Jaswan and Indora areas of Kangra district.

On a question by Kaul Singh, HPCC president, who was absent from the House due to accident, Education Minister ID Dhiman said 316 posts of teacher were lying vacant in government schools in Darang assembly constituency.

Minister for Transport Mohinder Singh while responding to a question from Palampur MLA Parveen Kumar said there was no plan to start Volvo bus service from Palampur to Delhi or Shimla. He also denied the possibility of starting superfast buses from Palampur to Baddi or Parwanoo.

Dharamsala, December 20
The state government introduced The Himachal Pradesh Municipal Corporation (Second Amendment) Bill, 2011, in the Assembly today.

In the bill the government has proposed to give powers to directly elected mayors of municipal corporations to assess the records of the corporations and issue directions to commissioners or other functionaries to ensure the proper implementation of decisions.

In the amendment the directly elected mayors have also been given powers, as may be necessary, to implement the decisions of the corporation.

Earlier, though the government had made provision for the direct election of mayors and deputy mayors, it had not specified their powers.

The state till date has just one municipal corporation at Shimla.

The government has also proposed to keep the office of deputy mayor outside the purview of reservation.

The office of directly elected mayor would, however, be subject to reservation for various categories like SCs, STs and women in rotation.

However, a provision has been proposed in the amendment that where the population of any said class is less than 15 per cent of the total population of the municipal area, the office of mayor shall not be reserved for the class.

Dharamsala, December 20
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today flayed the Congress for wasting the time of House. Addressing a press conference after the session in assembly complex today, the CM alleged that it seems the Congress MLAs were against holding of session in Dharamsala. He alleged that every time the session is conducted at Dharamsala, the Ccongress MLAs try to avoid proceedings on one pretext or another.

The Ccongress leaders had earlier been issuing statements that they wanted to raise many issues in the House. However, now that the House is in session they are disrupting its proceedings. In the question hour today, 28 out of 36 questions listed for discussion were from the Congress MLAs. Two discussions on problems being faced by farmers from wild animals and acquisition of land for roads being constructed under Prime Minister’s Gram Sarak Yojna were also listed on the request of Congress MLAs. Still the Congress did not allow the House to function smoothly.

Regarding the issues raised by the Congress, he said in the recruitment scam all accused had been arrested. He said BJP leader Anita Sandal was also under judicial custody. The police has been directed by the state government to conduct a fair inquiry into the case. There was no question of shielding any accused in the case.

In the Renuka byelection, three FIRs have been registered. While one has been registered by the Congress leaders two have been registered against them for allegedly destroying the public property and harassing Parliamentary Secretary Sukh Ram. The matter comes under the purview of the Election Commission. Besides, the main complainant in the Congress FIR, Ajay Bahadur, has already given his statement to the police that he has not seen anybody distributing money during the elections.

The money confiscated by the Congress workers and observer was given for refreshment of polling agents by party candidate, he claimed. While issuing an appeal to the Congress for allowing the smooth functioning of remaining three days of winter session, the CM said the opposition should adopt democratic procedures for raising their issue rather than protesting over non-issues.

Kangra, December 20
Villagers of Sameerpur village buried the body of a 20-year-old youth under fresh cow dung for more than 36 hours to “resuscitate” him.

Anil Kumar, who was electrocuted in Sameerpur village, was rushed to DRPGMC, Tanda, where the doctors declared him brought dead. The body of Anil was handed over to his relatives. It was alleged that some elderly people in the village suggested that one who dies of electrocution revives if the body was buried under fresh cow dung.

Some villagers, however, ridiculed the suggestion but even then Anil’s body was buried under cow dung for 36 hours with a hope to revive him. When he did not “revive” even after 36 hours, his last rites were performed. — OC

Mandi, December 20
Additional Sessions Judge Mandi Rakesh Kainthla today sentenced Padam Singh, a resident of Mandi sadar, to rigorous imprisonment of seven years for raping a mentally challenged woman. The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on the accused which would be paid as compensation to the victim.

The judge said there was no reason to give the accused any leniency in the case involving the mentally challenged woman.

If he fails to pay a fine of Rs 20,000, he will have to undergo six months of additional imprisonment, the judge ruled.

The police had arrested Padam Singh in a case of rape under Section 376 of the IPC on November 10, 2011. The victim and her daughter had gone to cut the grass when she was raped by the accused.

Bilaspur, December 20
The migratory black cormorants and Indian grebe, the voracious carnivores, have found Maharana Pratap Sagar (Pong Dam), North India’s largest Ramser water body, a new haven of prey. They eat up more than 30 per cent of fish in the dam every year.

These 1.32 lakh “migratory flying invaders” from Central Asia, Tibet, China and Mongolia have been giving sleepless nights to fishermen and fisheries officials over the years. They come zeroing in on in this new-found winter feeding ground from October onwards and fishermen accuse these winged visitors of making them poorer by over a hundred tonnes of fish when they go back by March every year.

The fisheries officials cite figures to support their claims. The fish catch in Pong Dam has dropped from its peak production in 1988 from 797 tonnes to just 204 tonnes recorded till date this year. Pong Dam needs one crore fingerlings every year to feed birds and local demands of fishermen, but fisheries can release 50 lakh fingerlings due to shortage of fish seed.

In 1988, there were just 25,000 migratory birds at Pong Dam and now their number has surged to 1.32 lakh of over 100 different species last year and this year it can go up to 1.5 lakh.

Not only this, a large chunk of the “winged nomads” have made Raiser and Karu islands and Dameta and Katatyar forests around Maharana Pratap Sagar as their permanent home, says Dr BD Sharma, Director, Fisheries. “A black cormorant needs 300 gm of fish everyday. In all, over 30 per cent of fingerlings of 30 mm and above are devoured by the birds every year”, he asserts.

Cormorants and Indian grebe are excellent divers and can take a plunge as deep as 10 ft in the dam water and come up with its prized catch. The birds nesting sites in lake area are full of fish remains, say fisheries officials.

Shuffling in their support, bird lovers and wildlife officials

term fisheries officials’ claims as exaggerated ones. Only small and large cormorants and Indian grebe are meat eaters, whose number is not more than 10 per cent of the migratory birds, says S Gupta, wildlife in charge of Pong Dam.

Gupta says that 90 per cent of birds feed on smaller creatures or marshes along the chores, not on fingerlings. By March-end they migrate for breeding about 800 km away in the Trans-Himalayan region in summers, he adds.

Even if the birds eat fish, they give Rs 40,000 per year to the

Fisheries Department to add more seeds in the reservoir. The birds eat small cat fish and not fish seed and fish are poached and eaten by the cat fish, whose number has surged in the lake, claim wildlife officials.

But biologists dismiss their point by saying that “no bird can act

like human and can discriminate between cat fish or carp, singhara, catla, rohu, mrigal, kalyanu, mahaseer in dam. “Only singhara (catch 96 tonnes) feed on smaller fish and the rest of them feed on aquatic plant life in the dam”, says Dr Sharma.

But a major blow to fish life in this Ramsar site (Pong) came in 1988 when flood in the Beas forced opening up of all its flood gates. “That in turn washed away the seeds and feeding ground and the production dropped by half that time. But now we have replenished the feeding grounds”, says Dr Sharma.

Shimla , December 20
The HP High Court has issued notice to the state government on the issue of alleged non-compliance with the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act (MV Act) by the state authorities and other government agencies. The court passed this order on a petition filed by Jagdish Thakur alleging that the state agencies were not following the mandate of the provisions of the Act and the rules made thereunder.

He alleged that on most of the vehicles of the government departments on the number plate the designation of the officer/name of the department was displayed along with the number assigned by the Registering and Licensing Authority, which was contrary to the provisions of the MV Act. He said that as per the provisions of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, on the number plates except the registration number nothing could be displayed.But the state police, which was supposed to enforce the law, was either not aware of the provisions of the Act or was not interested in following the provisions of the mandate.

He further alleged that there was a violation of the Flag Code also in the state by the Chief Parliamentary Secretaries and certain other officers who were not entitled to use the National Flag as per the Flag Code but were using the same on their vehicles.

He urged the court that directions be given to the authorities concerned for strict compliance with the MV Act and rules.

While issuing notice a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice DD Sud directed the state to file its response and listed the matter for further hearing on February 27.

Kala Amb, December 20
With a view to facilitating the investors, the Industries Department today completed acquisition of 643 bighas of land at Jhoru on the Tirlokpur Road near Kala Amb industrial area. The officials, including SDM and Member Secretary Industries GS Chauhan, today completed the land acquisition proceedings under Section 8 of the Land Acquisition Act and announced award of Rs 6.75 lakh per bigha.

Chauhan said this would help provide land to the investors who were keen on setting up industries in the Kala Amb industrial area. With nearly 300 small and big units having an investment of around Rs 800 crore here, the area was preferred by the investors for its proximity to Delhi, Chandigarh and Haryana where railway connectivity too was not far.

With no transport union, the area also offers respite from the monopoly of transporters who exploit the investors by charging higher freight as is the case in other industrial areas of the state.

Since the benefit of income tax, which was available under the 2003 central industrial package is now available till March 2012, the investors are in a hurry to either expand their operations or set up new units so as to avail optimum benefits.

Shimla, December 20
The Kheti Bachao Sangharsh Samiti has urged the state wildlife board to reconsider the plan of mass sterilisation of the monkeys as it would not provide immediate respite to farmers from the problem of monkey menace.

In a representation to the Chief Minister, who is the chairman of the board, the samiti pointed out that sterilisation would help contain the population of monkeys in due course but those existing would continue to damage crop for the next 20 years. Every year farmers were suffering losses to the tune of Rs 400 to Rs 500 crore due the wild animal menace.

Instead, the government should engage “rakahs” in partnership with the local panchayts for the crop protection work. They should be paid from the funds available under the catchments area treatment plan and compensatory afforestation. Effort should be made to get permission from the Centre to get “rakhas” appointed under the MGNREGA.

The samiti appealed to the political parties to pass a unanimous resolution in the Vidhan Sabha urging the Government of India to lift the ban on export of monkeys. It will certainly help in containing the problem as monkeys were in great demand for bio-medical research work abroad.

It also urged the government to take concrete action to get a stay on killing of monkeys and if need be it should move the Supreme Court.

Shimla, November 20
The Central Silk Board, Union Ministry of Textiles, has approved Rs 4.84 crore project for Integrated Silk Development Scheme in Kangra and Bilaspur districts.

An official spokesperson said here today that Rs 3.91 crore for the project would be borne by the Central Government, Rs 51 lakh by the state government and the remaining amount by the earmarked beneficiaries. He added that the project would be implemented during 2011-12 till the end of 12th Five-Year Plan by the Industries Department.

He further said the main aim of the project was to accelerate silk production thereby increasing employment avenues in sericulture in these two districts. A target of 32 metric tonnes silk cocoon annually has been fixed in the project area, he added.