Palampur, March 27
Despite tall claims made by the state Mining Department, nothing has been done at the ground level to check illegal mining in Neugal river. In the past two months, mining has increased in Neugal.

In December 2011, the state government had identified half a dozen mining sites in Neugal river and later these sites were put up for auction on January 18, 2012.

Before auctioning it, proper demarcation of the mining areas was not done by the Mining Department. Contractors were allowed to extract mining material and minerals from the entire river. In one of the cases, only 3.50 hectare area was auctioned in Mohal Chimbalhar, Mauja Bindravan but tractors can be seen extracting mining material from the entire khud. The worst affected areas are the Neugal bridge and Bindravan (near the chilling plant).

Ashok Sharma, District Mining Officer, Kangra while talking to The Tribune admitted that the department could not earmark mining areas in Neugal river as the final demarcation of sites was pending.

He said he had asked the revenue authorities for proper demarcation but nothing has been done so far.

In Palampur, illegal mining has damaged the irrigation and drinking water supply schemes, roads, forests and fields of framers. The water level in Neugal khud has also gone down.

Hundreds of tractors, trucks and vehicles can be seen extracting sand, stone and other mining materials daily from un-auctioned sites. The revenue and mining departments have become silent spectators.

Though, these departments are well-conversant with the situation, action has not been initiated in the past two months.

Meanwhile, Divisional Forest Officer, Palampur said that he had also received complaints regarding illegal mining in the forest area opposite HP Housing Board Colony and the chilling plant. He said he had personally visited the sites. In the absence of proper demarcation of the auctioned sites, it was difficult to initiate action, he said.

He said the Forest Department could stop illegal mining in the river and adjoining forests only after demarcation is carried out.

The government has also given powers to the SDM, DSP, Executive Engineers of PWD, IPH and DFO to check illegal mining in the state but the officials hardly step out of their offices, despite the fact that maximum loss is being caused to forest, PWD and IPH departments due to illegal mining.

Mandi, March 27
You inhale polluted air, with plumes of dust and gasoline rising from the damaged roads, as you enter the much-acclaimed tourist destinations in Himachal Pradesh. The rough back-breaking rides on the potholed national highways greet tourists heading for Manali and Shimla to beat the rising summer heat of the plains this tourist summer season.

From Kiratpur in Punjab to Manali, the popular hill station in the state, National Highway-21 has over a dozen road stretches virtually littered with potholes, rough patches and craters. These rough patches make the mountain journey tiring and back-breaking.

The unending stream of over 10,000 trucks that ply between Barmana and Ropar on NH-21 add to the miseries of tourists seeking solace in the hills of Himachal.

“You inhale polluted air throughout the 75-km-long road between Ropar and Barmana. It takes more than three hours to cover this stretch as cement and clinker-carrying trucks make the journey hazardous,” commented Atul Sikka and his wife Ashima, tourists heading from Delhi to Manali.

From Bilaspur town through Ghambar bridge to Swarghat, the highway has been damaged due to the last monsoon.

Back-breaking jerks are rampant, so is the case with traffic jams due to frequent breakdowns or congestion created by overloaded clinker and cement trucks.

These trucks ply from ACC cement plant at Barmana, JP plant at Bagha and Ambuja plant at Darlaghat to Ropar, almost round-the-clock on this part of the highway.

The state PWD has done a bit of patch work on some portions of the highways. But more than a dozen patches at Pandoh, Duar, Hanogi, Raison-Katrain-Patlikuhal give rough rides, spraying apple orchards, houses and guest houses with a thick layer of dust, resented the orchardists and hoteliers, who run home stay units on the highway.

The condition of the Pathankot-Mandi, Hamirpur-Ghagas-Shimla and Shimla-Kotkhai-Rohru highway is even more pathetic, resented tourists, who came from Shimla to Manali.

The Pathankot-Mandi Highway from Jogindernagar to Mandi had been badly eroded in the last monsoon. Though the tourists pay green tax of Rs 300 for small vehicles, Rs 500 for bigger ones and Rs 25 as toll tax at Gharamora barriers, they have been facing rough rides on the highways over the years.

The situation can worsen as the summer tourist season adds over 10,000 of vehicles on the NH-21 every day, said police officials.

SR Negi, chief engineer, National Highways, said they had done the patch work on most of the national highways from the limited state PWD funds. “We have sought additional funds from the Centre and will resume repairs or tarring when temperature rises a bit after the severe winter,” he added.

Kangra, March 27
Among the nine species of vulture in India, all of them except one, have been reported in Himachal Pradesh. A small breeding population of endangered species, the Indian white-backed vulture, the slender-billed vulture and red-headed vulture are confined to the Kangra valley but their numbers are reducing by the day.

Dr ML Thakur, scientist in the Department of Biosciences, HP University, said that the veterinary use of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) ‘Diclofenac’ in livestock, carcasses of which the vultures fed on, was the main cause of their declining population.

He said that due to use of ‘diclofenac’ in livestock for some ailments, it passed on in the food chain of vultures. After consuming the drug indirectly, vultures suffered from a disease called gout. As vultures get exposed to toxic levels of this drug when they feed on carcasses of livestock containing residues of this drug. they consume sufficient tissue from such carcasses and die after consuming diclofenac content in the carcasses, Thakur disclosed.

He said that most of the Indian vultures were found dead in the wild areas with severe visceral gout. He said that more than one third of the pharmacies in India were still manufacturing veterinary ‘diclofenac’ illegally.

He said that environmental changes had also produced adverse effects on the population of vultures. Food shortage, caused by the burial or burning of carcasses too has contributed to their decline.

He said a small population of critically threatened Indian White-backed Vulture had been reported in Bilaspur, Chamba and Hamirpur.

He said that not more than 200 breeding pairs of Indian white-backed vultures were living in Himachal Pradesh, which is a very small population as compared to their previous numbers.

There had been a small increase in breeding success of 16 percent but at the same time some nesting sites were left by the Indian white-backed vulture due to the drying of nesting trees, and interference caused by humans and monkeys. Monkeys were reported to interfere in normal breeding of this vulture species resulting in decline of numbers, Thakur added.

He said that two pairs of slender-billed and one pair of red-headed vulture had been spotted in Himachal during last two years and later the species became the most threatened species in the world.

Himalayan Griffon is the the most common vulture species found in slightly higher areas of HP which migrates to lower areas for feeding during winter. Population decline of the species during the last decade was not of the magnitude as experienced by other threatened species.

14 breeding colonies of Himalayan Griffon supporting a total of 70 breeding pairs had been reported from different parts in Himachal Pradesh, Thakur divulged.

The practice of removal of the skin and leaving the carcass for vulture consumption by locals had been a tradition in HP. In the absence of this practice now, dead bodies of domestic animals were usually buried. This social custom was brought to Kangra by some migrants from Punjab who unknowingly were supporting a small breeding population of critically threatened vultures.

Kangra district supports more than 5.5 lakh cattle and buffaloes, therefore, scarcity of food does not play significant role in the life of vultures but the socio-cultural practices of disposal of carcasses need urgent attention.

The Shimla Sood Sabha organised Ram Utsav-2012, a fancy dress competition for children based on the characters of the Ramayana(see photo) as part of its golden jubilee celebrations during the ongoing Navratri festival.

This theme has been chosen to make the children aware of the religious and cultural significance of the teachings and characters of the Ramayana in daily life. The participants were divided in two age groups of 4 to 8 years and 9 to 14 years and in all 76 children participated in the event.

Municipal Commissioner Dr MP Sood, who was the chief guest, appreciated the initiative of the sabha in organising activities which would go a long way in instilling moral values among the children.

He also thanked the sabha for its gesture to renovate and run public toilets located at the Ram Bazar Market. He assured that the municipal corporation would facilitate the sabha in undertaking such constructive activities to improve the area in future also.

President of the sabha Praful Kuthiala said his organisation proposed to open a technical university in Shimla or its vicinity depending on the availability of land.

He said the sabha would encourage children to participate in activities that would help familiarise them with their holy religious books, such as Ramayana, Geeta and Mahabharata and to learn more about their religion, tradition and culture. The fancy dress competition was just a beginning.

In the first category (4-8 years) Mridul Nagpal, Soumya Arora and Pari Khanna bagged the first three places and two consolation prizes were given to Taksh Chauhan and Brijesh Nagpal.

Nurpur, March 27
The issue of declaring sandalwood a medicinal plant was raised at the state planning board meeting on February 23 and finally the government accorded its approval paving the way for its cultivatation in the lower areas of Himachal Pradesh.

The idea of allowing and promoting cultivation in the lower areas of the state having a height ranging from 600 to 1,000 metres above sea level was conceived by the newly appointed chairman of the State Agriculture Marketing Board (SAMB) Kirpal Parmar.

The felling of sandalwood trees available in some parts of the state has been banned.

Talking to The Tribune here recently, Parmar claimed that after a preliminary survey and investigation around 300 sandalwood trees could be grown on 1 acre which would fetch Rs 10 crore after 15 to 20 years as its international market value was Rs 10,000 per kg.

He said the state government was keen on the cultivation of sandalwood as it would change the socio-economic status of the farming community in the years to come. “Initially, Chandanwari, an NGO, will provide saplings of sandalwood on a no-profit-no-loss basis after getting the same from South India. Apart from this the government will impart knowhow to the growers in the state. The SAMB will facilitate growers to get the requisite market prices for their produce,” he maintained.

Speaking about the steps taken by the SAMB for providing infrastructure to vegetable growers and farmers, Parmar said the construction of a modern vegetable market at an estimated cost of Rs 100 crore was under way at Parala in the Theog Assembly segment. The first phase of the mandi would be dedicated to the growers in June.“The selection of land for the proposed vegetable-cum-grain mandi at Karloohi in Una district is on and the foundation stone of a Rs 32 lakh sabzi mandi will be laid at Barot in the Bara Bhangal area in Kangra district next month,” he said. 

Bharmour, March 27
The long-pending demand of a divisional office of the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department was raised at the meeting of the tribal project advisory committee held recently at Bharmour, the sub-divisional headquarter in Chamba district.

The meeting, which was presided over by the Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Speaker Tulsi Ram, discussed the issue of opening an IPH division as about 22 additional non-tribal panchayats have been included in the Bharmour tribal assembly constituency after the delimitation of constituencies.

The Speaker impressed upon the officials to ensure proper utilisation and transparency in the tribal budget. A PWD official apprised the committee members about the tourism hotel which is under construction and the residential building of the Additional District Magistrate, which would be completed next month. 

Nurpur, March 27
Indoor patients at the local 100-bedded Civil Hospital will start getting diets for Rs 18 per day from April 1.

The hospital’s Rogi Kalian Samiti (RKS) had been entrusted with the task of inviting tenders for providing diet to the indoor patients. Inquiries reveal that there is provision for supplying breakfast with milk, egg and toast with butter. At lunch the patients will get chapattis, rice, dal and one vegetable and at dinner chapatti, dal and one seasonal vegetable.

For financial year 2012-2013 the RKS had invited tenders for supplying food to the patients recently. Five bids were received by it but as per the norms the tender with the lowest quoted supply rates was accepted.

The Free Thinkers Club, a local NGO, has termed such low charges for food as ridiculous. The NGO has underlined the need for bringing certain amendments to the food supply bid system by fixing the minimum diet cost so that proper quality and quantity can be ensured.

The chairman of the RKS and SDM Rakesh Verma admitted that while awarding the tender to the food supply contractor he was questioned how diets could be supplied at such low rates.

“But as per the existing norms, the RKS had to award the tender to him as his was the lowest quotation. The hospital administration will keep a check on the quality and quantity of food to be supplied to patients.I will also conduct a random check and if proper food is not supplied, the tender can be annulled,” he said.

Solan, March 27
With Baga-based JP Cements proposing to expand its existing cement plant by more than doubling its capacity, roads in the vicinity are slated to face the “worst traffic influx”.

According to the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report submitted by the plant, there is a proposal for enhancing the capacity of the existing plant for manufacturing clinker from the earlier 2.05 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 4.80 MTPA and cement from the earlier 2.54 MTPA to 4.04 MTPA.

Since the narrow roads are already choked with traffic and jams are a frequent occurrence in the Darlaghat area owing to the existing cement plants, the new proposal will expose the NH-21A and the NH-88 to a lot of wear and tear.

Cement of nearly 4 MTPA is being manufactured in the area and even the National Mineral Development Corporation has signed an MoU with SAIL to extract high-grade mineral from the Arki area, which will further add to the traffic inflow.

According to an estimate, for every MT of cement about 1,000 trucks are required. The area also houses the ACC cement plant at Barmana. Still worse, two more cement plants are coming up at Sundernagar and Chopal, which will further enhance the capacity of cement production by about 4 MT.

The six plants will be in close proximity in the Darlaghat-Bilaspur-Karsog belt and will create unmanageable traffic on both the NH-88 and the NH-21A.

It is surprising that though the successive governments have been granting permissions to set up these plants, little has been done to augment road connectivity or set up parking places for trucks.

Joginder Sheru, president, JP Cements, said they had been holding talks with the state government to address this problem and since the Railways was also taking interest in laying lines in the area, they were hopeful that some expansion would take place in the near future. 

Hamirpur, March 27
The tardy progress in the construction of the Jahu-Kalkhar road, being built as an express road under a World Bank project, has become a nuisance for public due to the pollution it is causing.

The work on this road, which had started more than four years ago and was supposed to be completed within 33 months, is still at the digging stage in many stretches and it will take quite some time for completion. The road, which is one of the first few express roads being constructed in the state, is being built in three stretches from Una to Kalkhar.

While the work on two stretches from Una to Badsar and Badsar to Jahu is almost complete, the work on the third patch from Jahu to Kalkhar has been delayed. Ravinder Kumar, a frequent traveller on this road, said, "Travelling on this stretch of the road is very gruelling. Dust is a big problem."

Although the work had started a long time ago, it is still incomplete and dust and potholes make the journey on this road quite difficult. The state government had been attributing much importance to the construction of this road since this would provide an alternative route to tourists and travellers coming from the side of Una and ease traffic on the link to Mandi and Manali via Swarghat.

Chief Minister PK Dhumal is keen on the speedy construction of this road and a construction management unit (CMU) has also been set up at Hamirpur.

However, it is learnt that CMU officials have allegedly not been able to exert pressure on the contractor for the quick completion of the road due to his political connections. Executive Engineer, Hamirpur CMU, SK Sharma could not be contacted as his mobile phone was switched off.

State Project Director, CMU, Pradeep Chauhan said, "The main reason for the slow progress on this patch of express road had been frequent land slips. We have asked the contractor to first construct retaining walls and culverts on the road."

“If the contractor fails to complete the road in the stipulated time, we will put penalty on him, as per the agreement," he added.

Shimla, March 27
The Himachal Pradesh High Court has directed the state government as well as the HP State Public Service Commission to fill vacancies of drug inspector within four months and summoned the Principal Secretary (Health) for April 12.

The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Dharam Chand Chaudhary passed these orders on a petition taken up suo motu by the court on a letter written by S Kamaljeet Singh from Sangrur to the Chief Justice alleging that the government was playing havoc with the lives of people on account of poor

monitoring of spurious, sub-standard, fake and psychotropic medicines being manufactured in pharmaceutical units, mainly at Sirmaur and Baddi, which is considered the hub of pharma manufacturing not just in the country, but in Asia. In his letter, he alleged that in the name of “effective monitoring system”, the government had just a handful of drug inspectors in the state that was insufficient to monitor the working of half of the pharma units at Baddi, let alone the whole state, besides inspection and checking of retail sale counters.

On October 26, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, GoI, had raided a unit at Baddi manufacturing illegal psychotropic drugs, but the local authorities failed to check such activities right under their nose.

While passing this order, it observed that though there had been a periodical increase in the number of manufacturing units and shops during the past few years, there was no corresponding increase in the staff strength of drug inspectors. There were only 16 posts of drug inspector in the state, of which seven were lying vacant.

The court said there was no corresponding increase in the staff under the Drugs Controller. It also directed the Chief Secretary to immediately look into the aspect of requirement of staff under the Drugs Controller, particularly drugs inspectors, and submit the response of the government within three weeks. It posted the matter for April 12.