Mandi, April 7
A panel of experts has advocated a complete switchover to green technology, stopping of carbon emissions on snow and undertaking a comprehensive study of representative glaciers to mitigate climate change in the Himalayas.

The experts say a long-term mitigation strategy, involving local communities, is needed to combat climate change in the Himalayas. “We need an urgent switchover to green technology such as snow harvesting and use of non-conventional sources like geothermal, solar and wind energy to combat climate change and check water scarcity in the Himalayas,” they say.

Since the winter temperature is rising in the Himalayas, there is an urgent need for reducing the “concentration of carbon soot particles over snow”, emitted by the ever-increasing traffic in the Himalayas. “We need to extend the snow cover and the duration of the winters as long as possible,” they add.

The panel has recommended a six-point action-oriented agenda, a copy of which is available with The Tribune, to the government. They went through the studies presented by over 200 researchers during a three-day international symposium on cryosphere and climate change followed by a two-day workshop that concluded here today.

The panel says there is “an urgent need to take up a holistic study of representative glaciers in the region to understand their response to climate change.

The Himalayas are a source of fresh surface water. “We need to pool in efforts to understand all aspects of cryosphere and its impact on humanity at large. This can be done by setting up an integrated institute of cryosphere in the country,” they assert.

The panel comprised Dr S Sundresh, Chief Controller, Research and Development, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Dr Ashwaghosh Ganju, Director, Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE), and Dr MR Bhutiyani, head, Hazard Assessment Forecasting Division, SASE.

Convener of the symposium MR Bhutiyani says the panel studied the original works and studies presented by international and national researchers, academics, engineers, professionals, policy makers, planners, managers and NGOs at the symposium. “We expect action on the recommendations,” he said.

Shimla, April 7
The “Queen of Hills” is fast gaining popularity as a favourite destination for tourists with a sizeable number of them coming here from Mauritius, especially honeymooners, as the “land of sun, sand and beach” has no mountains of its own.

“Over 55,000 people from Mauritius visited India in 2011, with a sizeable number of them visiting Shimla, which is emerging as a favourite destination for the people of Mauritius as there are no hills in the country, famous for its picturesque beaches,” said Rajeev Nangia, Associate Director for India Market, Trac Representations, which also handles tourism for Kenya, Monaco and Jamaica.

He says it is because of the absence of any hill station in Mauritius that people from there want to enjoy the cold in the hills and the snow, which is a lifetime experience for them. He was in the town to take part in an international tourism conclave being held here.

Nangia said there had been a steep increase in the number of tourists vesting India from Mauritius and vice versa. “Even today a huge chunk of Mauritian tourists visit India with the desire to trace their roots as almost 60 per cent of the population there is of Indian origin,” he reveals. He says families whose ancestors moved to Mauritius from Bihar, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu over 200 years ago are keen on visiting India to trace their roots.

Nangia says another segment of people from Mauritius who visit India are those seeking medical treatment. “The quality and affordability of medical facilities in Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai is attracting a large number of people from Mauritius,” he says.

The number of Indians who visited Mauritius last year was 57,000 as compared to 13,000 in 2000. “Our aim is to enhance this figure to one lakh by 2015 as Mauritius has a lot to offer besides its immaculate beaches and a lot for those seeking thrill through adventure sports,” he says. He says about a decade ago there was just one flight operating from Mumbai every week while now there are four flights from Mumbai, two from Delhi and one from Chennai and Bangalore.

With many Bollywood flicks being shot in Mauritius, the country has become famous with Indian tourists. “The admiration is mutual as it is not just India with places like Shimla and the Golden Triangle getting very popular but Bollywood masala movies are a big craze among people, who listen to and hum popular Hindi film songs,” says Nangia.

Shimla, April 7
Himachal Tourism was conferred with the 25th award for the “Har Gaon Ki Kahani” scheme launched to promote rural tourism, at an international tourism conclave and travel award function held here today.

The award was presented by Chief Minister PK Dhumal to Manisha Nanda, Principal Secretary, Tourism, and Arun Sharma, Director of Tourism and Civil Aviation. People associated with the tourism industry from all over India and China, Korea and Mauritius attended the conclave.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said the state was contemplating a 20-year long-term tourism master plan and laying down policies for development of quality infrastructure to promote tourism on a sustainable basis.

He said the main thrust would be on generation of employment and self-employment for the local youth by promoting new concepts in tourism. “The tourism sector is contributing 9.57 per cent to the state gross domestic product and the arrival of tourists during 2011 had crossed the figure of 1.5 crore which included 4.85 lakh foreigners,” he said.

The Chief Minister said the process of identifying land for setting up an international airport had begun and the private sector had also been invited to invest in the aviation field.

RH Khwaja, Secretary, Tourism, Government of India, lauded the bold initiative to make Himachal plastic-free, which had further added to the natural beauty of the state.

Dharamsala, April 7
After grumblings among supporters of Virbhadra Singh, it was a day of reconciliation among Congress leaders before the maiden visit of Union Minister for Industry, Commerce and Textiles to Kangra district on April 10.

Senior Congress leader from the district and MLA from Nagrota Bagwan GS Bali, while addressing a press conference here today, said DCC president Suman Verma had personally sent written invitations to all Congress leaders from the district. Today, she also rung up all leaders to inform them regarding Anand Sharma’s visit, Bali said.

He said though Anand Sharma was coming to lay the foundation stone of a tea board building at Palampur, he had also accepted the invitation of the DCC to address a political rally.

Anand Sharma would be accorded a grand welcome by party workers in Kangra district. After landing at the Gaggal airport, he would be taken in a cavalcade of 150 vehicles to Palampur. Gates would be erected after each kilometre of the journey where the party workers would welcome the Union Minister, he said.

Bali said the Congress would demand from the Union Minister that Kangra district should be given a potato-based industry that could increase the income of farmers and provide employment to the local youth.

Asked about complaints to certain leaders of the Virbhadra Singh faction that they had not been invited form Anand Sharma’s function, Bali said there was no faction in the party. Anand Sharma was a senior Congress leader and did not belong to any faction.

Asked about the importance given to Vinod Mehra, alias Kuka, who is his bête noire from Nagrota Bagwan, in the Virbhadra Singh rally, Bali said he was a small-time leader and had been expelled from the party.

Meanwhile, HPCC spokesperson Kailash Prashar told The Tribune that Anand Sharma would campaign for the party in the entire state. He said there were no differences among the Congress leaders of the state. Soon, senior Congress leaders, including both union ministers, Anand Sharma and Virbhadra Singh, would jointly address a political rally in the state.

Mandi, April 7
Youth Congress leaders from the Mandi parliamentary constituency today pledged their support to Union Minister Virbhadra Singh’s son Vikramaditya Singh.

They urged Youth Congress national secretary Amit Punia to restore Vikramaditya’s election as the state president of the youth wing, respecting the “collective will of the youth of the state”.

They pleaded that the decision of FAME declaring the democratic election of Vikramaditaya as void without assigning any reason was “draconian and one-sided”. “We do not accept FAME and we urge that Vikramaditya’s election be restored respecting the sentiments of the youth of the state,” a Youth Congress leader said. Though Punia evaded media queries on the contentious election issue, Youth Congress leaders from Mandi, Kullu, Kinnaur and other parts of the state told mediapersons here that they expected that Punia would apprise the high command of the sentiments of the youth of the state.

Mandi parliamentary area secretary Sanju Dogra, general secretary Asha

Thakur, Ajay Mudgil (Sundernagar) and several other leaders told mediapersons that the “voices of internal party democracy” were being scuttled at the behest of some “anti-party activists” at a time when elections were round the corner.

“We have expressed our views to Punia and hope that he will convey these to Rahul Gandhi,” they said. 

Shimla, April 7
Chief Minister PK Dhumal today said Himachal would present a memorandum, prepared by the “Citizens for Annandale”, bearing the signatures of over one lakh persons to the Centre for returning the ground to the state government so that it could be developed as a multipurpose sports stadium.

He addressed a rally taken out by sports organisations from different parts of the state today for seeking public support so that the Annandale ground was returned to the state. President of the HP Cricket Association (HPCA) and MP Anurag Thakur also took part in the rally. The Chief Minister also put his signatures on the memorandum already bearing the signatures of 1.08 lakh persons.

Dhumal said the Centre was aware of the demand as Himachal had time and again raised it. He requested the MPs from Himachal to meet the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister, requesting them to hand over Annandale to the state government. “The lease of the property expired 30 years ago and during the NDA regime, the then Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Defence Minister had agreed in principle to return Annandale which could not materialise due to a change in the government at the Centre,” he said.

He said in case Annandale was returned by the Army, it would be developed into a multipurpose sports complex.

The Chief Minister said the cricket stadium at Dharamshala had gained popularity among cricket lovers the world over and IPL and international matches were being held there, giving global publicity to Himachal.

Speaking on the occasion, Anurag Thakur said he had raised the issue of return of the Annandale ground to the state in Parliament and also met the Defence Minister to reiterate the demand. “The HPCA would extend all help to the state government in developing the ground into a multipurpose sports stadium,” he assured.

Shimla, April 7
Chief Minister PK Dhumal today launched information technology-enabled services like e-CST and SMS alerts for the convenience of taxpayers of the State Excise and Taxation Department.

He launched the facility by handing over a hard copy to Vinod Gupta, owner of Meridian Medicines Limited, Solan, here today.

The Chief Minister congratulated the Department of Excise and Taxation for providing information technology-enabled services to the taxpayers of the state. “Such e-services are the need of the hour and with the launching of the e-CST service, dealers will get statutory forms essential to avail of concessions on inter-state trade, anywhere and at any time round the clock through the Internet,” he said.

He said with the launching of the service, the dealers would be benefited as they would not have to spend time in travelling to excise and taxation offices. He said the CST forms on the web portal had the validation status for all purposes.

“The launching of IT-enabled services will not only save time but will also check corruption since the dealers will directly be dealing with the headquarters,” he said.

JC Sharma, Commissioner, Excise and Taxation, detailed the benefits likely to accrue to the taxpayers with the launching of the IT-enabled services. Harinder Hira, Chief Secretary, Srikant Baldi, Principal Secretary, Finance, Excise and Taxation, and Subhashish Panda, Special Secretary, Finance, and Director, Information Technology, were also present on the occasion.

Manali, April 7
Gone are the days when residents of the historical Goshal village were forced to travel about 2 km on foot to remain connected with the highway for all essential works as seasonal floods in the Beas were damaging their foot bridge every year.

Today was the happiest day for villagers when local MLA Govind Thakur inaugurated a 70- m-long power-driven passenger ropeway which will connect their villages directly with the highway at Bahang, 4 km from here.

Built at a cost of about Rs 9 lakh, this ropeway, only one of its type in the Kullu valley, has passenger capacity of four persons. The MLA today handed over the ropeway to residents of Goshal, Shanag and Bahang villages. Earlier, during monsoons, when the Beas came in spate and damaged their foot bridge, residents used to walk up to Nehru Kund bridge to cross the river.

Villagers were complaining for a long time that the span of the river was too large to accommodate any temporary foot bridge and the river was washing away their bridges every year. The ropeway will be specially beneficial for children studying in senior secondary schools at the other side of the river in Bahang.

Villagers are happy to have this all-weather passenger ropeway, but they demand its expansion up to the road to avoid the problem of reaching its boarding platform during peak monsoon.

The ropeway seems to have laid a milestone for the tourism industry of Manali. Goshal village is of religious importance for its association with Goutam Rishi, Beas Rishi and Kanchan Nag. Many tourists visit their shrines round the year. Also, hundreds of domestic and overseas trekkers from Manali make a round trip via Old Manali-Goshal-Bahang-Manali every year.

Earlier, Govind Thakur also introduced a snow-clearing machine to the Nagar Parishad, Manali. He said another snow-clearing machine worth Rs 2 crore would be provided to Manali soon.

Ajay Sharma, Executive Engineer, Mechanical Division, PWD, Kullu, said the snow-clearing machine had been imported from the United Kingdom for Rs 20 lakh by the Public Works Department.

RC Negi, president, Nagar Parshad, Manali, thanked the local MLA for the snow-clearing machine.

Nurpur, April 7
To “connect every citizen of the country with the banking service”, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has launched the Financial Inclusion Scheme and in the first phase villages having a population of 2,000 are being covered.

This was stated by KC Chaturvedi, Deputy Governor, RBI, while presiding over a financial literacy-cum-inclusion programme at Kotplahari village here on Saturday.

Launching this scheme as a pilot project of Himachal Gramin Bank here, Chaturvedi said the USA and the UK had “dominant existence” in the world as they were strong financial players.

Underlining the need of financial literacy, especially in rural areas, he said one could get financial empowerment through savings by opening a bank account.

“At present only 30,000 villages of the total six lakh in the country have banking facility and with the launching of branch-less banking, account holders will get services on their doorstep,” he claimed.

He called upon state governments to come forward and cover rural areas with the Financial Inclusion Scheme. He advised the beneficiaries to approach bank officials in case they had any complaint.

On this occasion, he distributed smart cards to new bank account holders, who will be able to operate their branch-less bank accounts using the smart card.

RBI General Manager R Gurumurti, UCO Bank General Manager V Vanketraman, HP Government’s Financial Secretary Manish Garg, NABARD Chief General Manager Naresh Gupta, Punjab National Bank Executive Director Usha Anant Subramanian and Kashma Maitre, national chairperson of the Chinmay Mission, also spoke on the occasion.

Under the Financial Inclusion Scheme, the account holders will get four types of banking services on their doorstep: opening of accounts, loan facility, money transfer and micro-insurance facility.

Solan, April 7
The wildlife wing of the state Forest Department has finally conducted a survey to estimate the actual simian population in the state.

Since no authentic data about their presence was available, this survey will help devise strategies to plan their sterilisation. The last monkey census had taken place in 2004 in the state and their population has risen sharply ever since.

Monkey sterilisation is a major endeavour of the department to check their population as they cause large-scale destruction to crops in the state.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife)-cum-Chief Wildlife Warden RK Sood said this survey would help the department plan effective sterilisation campaigns as authentic data about their presence was now available.

Renukaji has the highest number of 286 monkey troops where the adult population was found to be 7,314 and that of their progeny 3,703, which is the highest in the twin districts of Solan and Sirmaur.

Likewise in Bilaspur there are as many as 8,084 adults and 2,621 progeny in 181 troops, which was the highest in the district. In Kangra district, Nurpur division has the highest number of 10,049 adults and 3,461 progeny in 268 troops with adults being 33.73 per cent of the total population.

In Chamba district, Dalhousie has the highest number of 161 monkey troops comprising 5,954 adults and 2,114 progeny. There are 39 troops in the Hamirpur wildlife circle where the number of adults is 1,891 while that of the progeny 555.

In Shimla district, Chopal recorded the presence of 105 troops with 2,602 adults and 869 progeny while 115 troops were found in Shimla having 2,266 adults and 811 progeny.

Interestingly, in the Greater Himalayan National Park in Kullu, the number of troops was a mere 56 with 913 adults and 307 progeny, thus indicating how the simians had shifted from their traditional habitat of forests to urban habitations.

Una recorded as many as 10,031 adults and 2,997 progeny in 275 troops.

In Ani falling under Rampur circle, the presence of 2,326 adults and 702 progeny was recorded among 134 troops. Mandi division has recorded the presence of 310 troops where the adult population is as high as 4,658 while that of the progeny 1,665.

Kangra, April 7
A Run-for-Fun rally was organised at the Dr Rajendra Prashad Government Medical College (DRPGMC) at Tanda today in connection with the World Health Day. It was an effort to create awareness among doctors, medical students and staff of the college about their personal health.

Dr Anil Chauhan, Principal, DRPGMC, flagged off the Run-to-Fun rally at 8 this morning. He later addressed the participants and said when doctors would be aware about their health, then alone a message about better healthcare would pass on to patients and common people. He said the Tanda Medical College campus was already made vehicle-free for faculty members, students and staff. He said this was a step towards a healthy and environment-friendly life.

Later, prizes were distributed among the winners. Mukul Sharma bagged the first prize among boys and Ankita Dhiman among girls.

Consultants too participated in the Run-for-Fun, and among them Dr Rakesh Chauhan and Dr Savita Mahajan figured among the top winners.

Among post graduates Dr Rakesh Thakur and Dr Suman Thakur bagged the first positions.

Rishi Sood was a winner among the DRPGMC staff.

Dalhousie, April 7
The Municipal Council of Dalhousie has unanimously rejected a move to rename the hill station as Netaji Subhas Nagar or Tagore Nagar.

Disclosing this over the phone today, Dalhousie Municipal Council president Manoj Chadha said a meeting of the council was held here to discuss the issue and the proposal for renaming the hill station was turned down as soon as it was tabled.

Chadha said Dalhousie had a splendid history where great revolutionaries like Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Rabindranath Tagore and Ajit Singh, an uncle of patriot Saheed Bhagat Singh, stayed.

“However, the idea of changing the name of the hill station is not a good one since Dalhousie is a known name on the international tourism circuit,” he said.

Kangra, April 7
Indian students were logically sound and faster than British students because students in England were more dependent on technologies than logic.

Sophie O’ Connell of Class XI, Ruby Tait of Class X and Mark Hopper and Lyndarn Harrison of Class XII said this before departing from here today. Steve Smith, programme coordinator of the Global Educational Exchange programme between Crawshaw Educational School, London, and GAV Public School, here said this programme would help in exchanging culture and education from both the countries.

Smith said “Peace and Conflict Resolution”, “Environmental Sustainability” and “Diversity of Communities” were the three themes of their programme which concluded here today.

He said “Achievements in examination results, class discipline and schooling system were similar in both the countries, but the method of teaching was different.” He said two teachers, four students and Principal of GAV Public School would visit London in July this year.

Sophie and Ruby said what was good about the educational system here was unity among students which was lacking in the UK. They said “unity in diversity” based on Indian cultural ethos was helping students here to grow in the right direction. They lauded the sense of patriotism among Indian students.

The UK students appreciated that the teachers in India were more respected by students than those in England.

Sophie and Ruby said, “Indian students are more relaxed than students in England which helps them to grow in a better way.”

They visited the Kangra Fort, Brajeshwari temple, local market, Shahpur village and Hatli panchayat to make them come close to the Indian cultural heritage. They left after planting saplings and carried a message of love from here.

Solan, April 7
Health and Ayurveda Minister Rajeev Bindal inaugurated an integrated hospital information system, biometric machine and mobile-based reporting by health workers in the regional hospital on the occasion of World Health Day today.

Later, addressing the health staff at the Deputy Commissioner’s office, he said all 12 district hospitals in the state and 24 other hospitals would be computerised within six months. This would include computerisation of all hospital functions like patient registration, billing, laboratory test reports, pharmacy, inventory of medicines available in the store, OPD, IPD, blood bank and radiology reports.

This would prove useful for patients, doctors and administrators. The system was patient friendly as all details of a patient would be available online and could be accessed at any hospital in the state, including medical colleges. This system was paperless and more useful in the treatment of patients suffering from chronic diseases like tuberculosis and diabetics.

He announced Rs 20 lakh for strengthening the integrated hospital information system for the local regional hospital.

Later, he inaugurated a mobile-based reporting system for health workers by receiving an SMS from a health worker at Dhar Anji. He announced that mobile phones would be provided to health workers in the state along with charges of SMSes.

All information related to the Health Department at the village level would be sent through SMSes at the block, district and state levels instantaneously.

Director, National Rural Health Mission, Rakesh Kanwar said the hospital information management system would strengthen the existing network in the state. It would be more convenient to patients and also useful to doctors and administrators.

Deputy Commissioner C Paulrasu and vice-chairman of the municipal council Pawan Gupta were among those present on the occasion.