Shimla, January 5
Yielding to government pressure, the three cement companies finally agreed to reduce the price of a 50 kg cement bag by Rs 25 with immediate effect, thereby providing great relief to the consumers in different parts of Himachal Pradesh.

The issue of price reduction was finally resolved today at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal here today.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the three companies and government officials to discuss the rationalisation of cement prices in the state. The reduction by Rs 25 per bag will be applicable to all three companies - ACC, Ambuja and Jaypee - having their plants in the hill state.

In Una the cement costs the least in the state while the maximum rate is at Reckong Peo in Kinnaur on account of the transportation cost. The price of a cement bag varies at all other places in the state depending on the transportation cost from the cement plant.

The Chief Minister directed the deputy commissioners to ensure that the price list of different companies is displayed by retail dealers within their jurisdiction. He said the Centre had excluded cement as a commodity from the list of controlled items, giving cement companies a free hand to determine the cement prices on their own.

“I have sought the intervention of the Prime Minister to review the decision and bring cement under the fold of controlled items,” he said. He said the increase in the cement prices had been disturbing the budget of common people who were carrying repair, maintenance and construction activities for domestic purposes.

“The companies need to understand that it is Himachal which has been supplying them the raw material for manufacturing cement in the plants set up in the state,” he said. He said the people of the state had every right to demand cement at reasonable rates since they were experiencing the pinch of environmental degradation, choking of roads and other related inconvenience.

“As compared to the production of cement by the companies, the consumption in the state is very less and since the government is extending all possible help to entrepreneurs, it is the corporate responsibility of the cement companies to keep the interests of local consumers in mind,” he said. He said the district administration would keep a vigil over the rate lists and ensure that no overcharging was being done by retailers.

Kishan Kapoor, Industries Minister, said he had personally been pursing the matter relating to the rationalisation of prices with the cement companies and urging these to reduce the prices. He said the reduction in the cement prices was a welcome step which was bound to benefit the common man.

Shimla, January 5
The weather god finally obliged the “Queen of Hills” and many other parts of the state with a snowfall, though a mild one. Lower areas experienced moderate rain, bringing cheer to farmers whose standing crops were being affected by the persistent dry spell.

Mount Jakhu, the highest peak overlooking the city, had 5 cm of snow, while the nearby tourist resort of Kufri had 10 cm. Narkanda received 15 cm of snow since last evening and the snowfall was still continuing, while the 11,250-foot Hatu peak had 45 cm of snow. Tourists and residents were thrilled to see snowflakes settling down on trees, bushes, sloping rooftops, power lines, roadside railings and roads, transforming the landscape dramatically in no time.

The Met office had predicated widespread snow and rain on January 5 and 6. It was the second snowfall of the season at Kufri. Tourists rushed to the nearby resort in the morning to enjoy the snow. Slippery road conditions near Narkanda and Khara Pathar affected vehicular traffic to upper Shimla areas. Manali, Solang Nullah and tribal areas of Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti are also having intermittent snow since last evening.

The snow brought cheer to apple growers who had a poor crop this year due to lack of snow last winter. Considered as white manure of apple orchards, snow will not only ensure the minimum chilling hours required for a good crop, but also improve soil moisture and help recharge the water sources.

MANALI: Manali and the surrounding areas experienced a fresh spell of snow on Thursday. This was the season’s second snowfall here.

The upper areas of the Manali region were covered with a white blanket in the morning.

Vehicular traffic on the Manali-Rohtang Pass road was disrupted at several places beyond Nehru Kund, about 5 km from here, in the morning. All tourists going on a sight-seeing tour to Kothi Gulaba and the Solang valley had to stop near Nehru Kund. As a precautionary measure, the movement of vehicular traffic was stopped on the Manali-Rohtang Pass road near Nehru Kund by the traffic police.

The HRTC suspended bus services between Manali-Kothi village and Solang Nullah. Vehicular traffic on the Manali-Kullu road remained smooth.

The ski slopes of the Solang valley also experienced fresh snowfall.

The famous ski slopes of the 14,000-foot-high Bhrighu slopes and the 12,000-foot-high Hamta slopes also experienced heavy snowfall.

Meanwhile, two rescue posts, one at Marhi, 35 km from here, on the Manali-Leh highway at the base of the Rohtang Pass, and the second at Khoksar in Lahaul-Spiti district, were closed on Thursday by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports, Manali.

KANGRA: The Kangra valley shivered on the second day on Thursday as the sky was overcast since morning and higher reaches of the Dhauladhar range experienced snowfall in the afternoon. The Kangra valley experienced mild showers.

Shimla, January 5
Faced with stiff competition from Chinese and American apple, growers in Himachal are gearing up to meet the challenge by adopting the internationally accepted standard universal carton for which a legislation may have to be brought for ensuring a complete switchover.

Growers from all apple-growing areas in the districts of Shimla, Kullu, Mandi, Kinnuar and Chamba gathered here today to discuss the pros and cons of a shift to the standard universal carton, which would ensure good prices. They urged the government that forging a consensus among the growers alone was not sufficient as a legislation would have to be brought to make it mandatory for all.

Horticulture Minister Narender Bragta, who had invited all MLAs, elected representatives and growers of apple-growing areas to deliberate upon the issue, held talks with the apple growers. The government has decided to constitute a team headed by the Director, Horticulture, that will meet within a fortnight to look into all aspects associated with the issue and submit a report to it. “Besides three growers, representatives of the Marketing Board, the HPMC and HIMFED will be its members so that everyone’s opinion can be sought on the matter,” said Bragta.

Bragta said there was a complete consensus among the growers, who felt that they needed to shift from the telescopic carton to the universal standard carton in case they had to compete with quality apple, including the one being imported from foreign shores. “It is on the demand of the growers that we may have to explore the possibility of bringing in a legislation but that issue will have to be examined thoroughly,” he said.

The apple growers of the state have been badly hit with apple from China, the USA and Europe flooding Indian markets. As such the government has been compelled to urge the growers to adopt international marketing yardsticks to be able to compete at the global level.

“We have been severely hit by the imported apple and in some cases it is even getting difficult for us to recover the costs; so a shift to the universal standard carton will be welcome,” said Prem Sharma, president of the Kullu Fruit Growers Association.

Despite the carton issue directly affecting all apple growers across party lines, Congress leaders, including Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Vidya Stokes, along with party MLAs from Chopal and Rampur decided to skip the meeting.

Even though Stokes, who is a leading apple grower herself, has been advocating the shift, she chose to maintain a distance from the meeting, which was attended by growers irrespective of political affiliations.

Even though personal invitations had been extended to all MLAs of apple-growing areas by the Director, Horticulture, it was only Rohru MLA Khushi Ram Balnahata and Karsog MLA Hira Lal who ensured their presence and gave valuable suggestions.

The notable absentees included Rakesh Verma (Theog), Tejwant Negi (Kinnaur) and Govind Thakur (Kullu).

Mandi, January 5
Hit by the wildlife menace and partly bitten by the yellow rust bug and a long dry spell, the demand for wheat seed has dipped by 50 per cent during the past two years in this lower region, the main wheat producing area in the state.

The demand for the wheat seed has plunged from 21,000 quintals in 2009 to 11,000 quintals this rabi season, which ended last week. In all, the demand for wheat seed has dropped from 60,000 quintals last year to 51,000 quintals this year in the state, said agriculture officials.

According to farmers, the rabi sowing of wheat was delayed and hit by the long spell of drought. The wildlife menace and the yellow rust, a fungal disease that affected over 30 per cent in the lower region, adversely affected foodgrain crops in the region, they rued.

The demand for wheat seed varieties has diminished drastically in the lower region as agriculture has become unsustainable as 80 per cent of the cultivable area is rain-fed.

The productivity remains not more than 20 quintals per hectare which is not even half of 45 quintals per hectare in Punjab, said the agricultural scientists.

The farmers’ resentment is understandable as they have abandoned cultivation on 18,500 hectares in the state due to the monkey menace.

According to a recent survey done by the Agriculture Department, the losses to crops range from 10 per cent to 100 per cent due to the ever-increasing population of monkeys, wild boars, nilgai and stray cattle.

These wild beasts affect 92,000 hectares of agricultural land and destroy agricultural crops worth Rs 150 crore in the state every year, the survey said.

Himachal Kisan Sabha leader Paras Ram said farmers procured the wheat seed locally as sowing was delayed due to shortage of fertiliser and drought in November-December.

The wildlife menace had remained unabated, making agriculture unprofitable in many parts of the state, he added.

Additional Director, Agriculture, HR Sharma, said the two yellow rust-infested wheat varieties, PBW-343 and PBW-502, had been phased out and new varieties had been distributed to farmers this season.

The productivity had increased over the years and farmers were also buying seeds directly from seed-producing farmers, while over 51,000 quintals of wheat seed was stocked this season out of which 90 per cent had been used, he added.

Shimla, January 5
The local unit of the state Youth Congress today submitted a memorandum to Governor Urmila Singh drawing her attention to the indiscriminate opening of private universities in the state and the failure of the Dhumal government to ensure 70 per cent employment to Himachalis in industries and power projects.

A deputation, led by Akash Saini, president of the Youth Congress Shimla (Urban), went to the Raj Bhawan and sought the Governor’s intervention for protecting the interests of Himachal.

The memorandum underlined the need for effective enforcement for condition of providing 70 per cent employment to Himachalis. It lamented that the government had made no effort to encourage the IT industry.

It demanded stern action against private universities which did not have qualified faculty and were running all sorts of courses on paper. They were virtually indulging in the sale of degrees. All the universities were being opened in Solan and there were three universities in one village which reflected the ulterior motive of the authorities who had allowed them to acquire huge chunks of land.

Shimla, January 5
The economic growth rate of the state is set to decline significantly in the current fiscal, thanks to a poor apple crop, industrial slowdown and indifferent performance of the power and tourism sectors.

The state clocked an impressive growth rate of 9 per cent last year with the gross state domestic product (GSDP) at current prices shooting up to Rs 52,426 crore from the revised GSDP of Rs 43,281 crore for 2009-10. The achievement was mainly due to the record apple crop of 8.92 lakh tonnes and bumper kharif and rabi crops, and a phenomenal increase in the tourist traffic. However, the scenario has changed this year and apart from the overall slowdown in the economy, particularly in the second half the financial year, the failure of the apple crop and less-than-expected performance of the power and tourism sectors have hurt the growth. The economic growth rate may be around 8 per cent, thanks to a decline in the inflation in the second half of the year. The GSDP is likely to be around Rs 60,000 crore.

The apple production hit a 10-year low to touch 2.72 lakh tonnes, one-third of last year. The contribution of horticulture, which increased to 6 per cent, is expected to come down to half. Similarly, last year saw a phenomenal growth of 17 per cent in the tourist inflow with over 1.32 crore tourists, almost double the native population, visiting the state, which is not the case this time as the economic slowdown and the improvement in the situation in Jammu and Kashmir have affected the inflow.

Its contribution will continue to be around 6 to 7 per cent, while that of the industrial sector is likely to come down from last year’s 11 per cent to 9 per cent.

The power sector has also slowed down though the country’s biggest hydroelectric project in the private sector, the 1,000 MW Karcham Wangtu project, has been commissioned. The power market remained sluggish and as a result the overall earning of the government also declined despite more power being available for sale.

Shimla, January 5
The HPSEB Project Engineers Association has urged Chief Minister PK Dhumal to allot hydroelectric projects to the state electricity board as per the decision of the state Cabinet and create more posts in the state power corporation and the state transmission utility.

In a memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister here today, the association said the Cabinet had decided to reserve 14 projects with aggregate capacity of 175 MW for the board, but so far no project had been allotted to it.

It demanded the immediate filling of the post of chief engineer (Projects) in the HPSEB and creation of posts of director (Technical) and superintending engineers in the corporation for Thana Palun Project (141 MW), Triveni Mahadev Project (78 MW) Shong Tong Project (402 MW). Besides, the posts of senior executive engineer (Civil) be upgraded to the level of superintending engineers.

Further, the posts of project engineer in the SJVN be filled as per agreements and 40 per cent share of the HPSEB be ensured. Other demands included the creation of the post of director (Civil) and chief engineer (Civil) in the state Transmission Corporation. Presently there is no project engineer in the corporation.

Solan, January 5
The Arki Congress today took out a protest march against the indifferent attitude of the state government towards this constituency where the locals after surrendering their land were forced to agitate to get even their demands accepted.

Led by Block Congress Committee (BCC) president Sanjay Awasthy, Congress leaders later submitted a memorandum to the Governor through the local SDM.

They alleged that despite having given their land to cement units, those involved in the transportation work were forced to agitate and the locals were exploited by managements of units.

Later while addressing the people, Awasthy said the health facilities in the constituency were deteriorating and poor people were forced to seek private health care.

He said the much-hyped 108 Ambulance services was “being used to benefit favourites”.

The Jamroti-based sub-centre’s construction work in Bhumati had failed to begin despite the sanction of the budget, and in Kohu sub-centre there was no staff for the past three years, which resulted in its closure. Still worse, the sub-centre’s building at Navgaon had not been utilised for the past three years.

Congress leaders said the law and order condition was going from bad to worse with no murder case having been traced in the past four years in the Arki constituency.

The condition of link roads was pitiable and the works undertaken by the PWD in Arki failed to confirm to quality.

Dharamsala, January 5
NK Singh, the author of a book on the Masrur temples whose theory regarding the origin and theme of the rock-cut temples formed the basis of a recent programme organised by the Tourism Department to promote the site, is alleging violation of the Copyright Act by the Tourism Department.

Talking to The Tribune today, NK Singh, who is also a former chairman of the Airports Authority of India, alleged that though he was grateful to Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal for sparing time and using his office for the promotion of the Masrur temples, the Tourism Department had treated him shabbily.

He alleged that though the department quoted contents from his book “Coronation of Shiva: Rediscovering Masrur Temple”, it did not acknowledge his five-year research on the subject. In fact, the entire theme of the Tourism Department programme, “Coronation of Shiva”, was based on his book, NK Singh alleged.

He alleged that after an elaborate historical research, he had put forward theories regarding the genesis of the temples. However, during the programme, tourism officials chose to highlight just the mythical theory of the Pandavas constructing the temple. This theory was unscientific. By choosing to adopt the theory, tourism officials had displayed their unprofessional approach, NK Singh alleged.

NK Singh also flayed the approach adopted by the Tourism Department to promote the Masrur temples as a heritage tourist site. He alleged that the department “mixed politics with tourism promotion”. Asked if he would file a case for violation of the Copyright Act against tourism officials, NK Singh said he would not do so due to the positive approach of the Chief Minister towards the promotion of Masrur as a heritage site.

Director, Tourism, Arun Sharma denied the charges and said the department had not violated the Copyright Act. He said they respected NK Singh and the Chief Minister had given him due respect on the day the function was held at Masrur. “In case tourism takes off at Masrur, we will consider NK Singh as the patron for the project,” he said.

Shimla, January 5
Two occupants of a pickup were killed when the vehicle rolled down the road at Dhalli.

According to the police, the mishap took place due to the negligent driving by driver Vinay Awasthi.

The pickup (HP-63B-0540) fell off the road near Prabhakar Automobile killing both Awasthi and Nikhil.

2 die as Jeep falls into gorge

Chamba: Two women were killed and four others were injured when a Jeep in which they were travelling skidded on the snow lying on the road in its reverse gear and fell into a deep gorge near Satnala on their way to Devikothi in an interior part of the Churah subdivision in Chamba district last night, according to a report received here today.

The report stated that two women who died on the spot had been identified as Kamla and Himi Devi.

The four injured had been rushed to nearby Tissa hospital, the report said, adding that a three-year-old child was also among the injured.

Meanwhile, SDM Rohit Rathour said revenue officials headed by the tehsildar had been directed to rush to the accident site to conduct relief and rescue operations.