Shimla, April 9
The Planning Commission is revamping centrally sponsored schemes to avoid overlapping and to allow more flexibility to address the demands of states for “untied funds” under the Annual Plan.

Stating this here today, Union Minister of State for Planning Ashwani Kumar said the exercise was being carried out on the basis of the recommendations of the BK Chaturvedi Committee under which the number of central schemes was proposed to be brought down drastically by merging similar schemes. Besides, the difficulties being faced by states due to rigid norms would also be taken care of. The commission had in principle accepted the demand for including the Net Present Value (NPV) to be paid for diversion of forest land in a project and increase the funding norm for irrigation schemes in the hills to Rs 3 lakh per hectare.

The Union Minister, who was here to discuss the implementation of the Annual Plan, said the commission had already allowed some leverage to Himachal and allowed a special plan assistance of over Rs 1,400 crore to help increase the Plan size to Rs 3,700 crore for 2012-13, an increase of 12 per cent over last year.

The state had done well in the health and education sectors and it was now a developed state in many ways having performed consistently in several areas. However, the huge expenditure on employees, with almost 90 per cent of the Budget being spent on committed liabilities, was unsustainable for any government.

The state must focus on expansion of the private sector for job creation and make efforts to attract investment in the tourism, information technology, biotechnology and other environment-friendly industries, besides hydropower which was emerging a major resource for the state. The state needed to do more in the tourism sector for which there was vast scope, but the flow of tourists was confined to a few destinations like Shimla, Manali and Kullu. Efforts had to be made to disperse the tourism industry to the less explored interior areas of the state like Narkanda, Kinnaur and other such places.

Referring to the problem of environment clearance for hydropower projects, the Union Minister asked the state to prepare a detailed representation pointing out specific bottlenecks so that required measures could be taken at the level of the Centre. He said central schemes were being rationalised on the demand of the state and an exercise was on to help provide some “untied grants”. He said the demand for green bonus for protecting the forests was justified and he would support it at all levels.

He lauded the setting up of the State Education Regulatory Commission but stressed that it should be strengthened and made more effective to achieve the goal of 12th Plan to provide quality education. The number of institutions did not matter; only the quality mattered and it could be guaranteed by ensuring the requisite faculty and physical infrastructure.

The state drew attention to the fact that revenue form the sale of power was declining as the fund-starved state distribution utilities were in no position to purchase power. The Centre had provided a special plan assistance of Rs 1,486 crore to help fund the Rs 3,700 crore Annual Plan for 2012-13.

MinisterSpeak

* The state has done well in the health and education sectors and it is now a developed state in many ways having performed consistently in several areas

* However, the huge expenditure on employees, with almost 90 per cent of the Budget being spent on committed liabilities, is unsustainable for any government

* The state needs to do more in the tourism sector for which there is vast scope

Shimla, April 9
The luncheon meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari is expected to hasten the process of talks for trade liberalisation between the two countries, feels Union Minister of State for Planning Ashwani Kumar.

“Trading activity will pick up with the inauguration of the check-post at the Attari border and it will get a real boost after liberalisation. The process is under way and talks are likely to be held shortly,” he said during a conversation with The Tribune. Liberalisation was bound to have a positive impact on the economies of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh as they would be the main gainers being the states of the region.

Economic ties apart, Pakistan had to do its bit on the terror front and bring concrete evidence to show that those guilty of terror would be brought to justice. This had been amply made clear by the Prime Minister to Zardari.

Referring to the exercise being carried out by the high command to revamp the party in Punjab, he said senior leaders of the state had already placed their views before a three-member committee comprising AK Antony, Sushil Kumar Shinde and Sheila Dikshit, set up for the purpose. It was likely to submit its report shortly after which the high command would take a final view. Asked specifically if Capt Amarinder Singh would be replaced, he said he did not rule out any possibility.

Regarding the coming poll in Himachal, he said the party would contest the elections unitedly and as far as the issue of leadership was concerned, the Congress high command would take the right decision at the right time. He said there was no parallel in Punjab and Himachal as far as politics was concerned and the party was set to oust the BJP from power.

Shimla, April 9
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has urged the Centre to provide a special package of Rs 2,000 crore to the state to meet its committed liabilities.

Raising the demand with Union Minister of State for Planning Ashwani Kumar here today, he said the state had plunged into a deep financial crisis due to faulty recommendations of the 13th Finance Commission which grossly under-assessed its committed liabilities on account of salaries and pensions of employees. The state was provided a hike of just 50 per cent, the minimum, while devolution to some other states was increased by as much as 150 per cent.

He underlined the need for the expeditious construction of the Bhanupalli-Barmana-Mandi-Manali-Keylong-Leh railway line, which was not only important for tourism promotion but also from the defence point of view. It would help save transportation costs incurred on carrying men and material to the Ladakh region. He said the infrastructure being developed by neighbouring country should be taken as a warning and taken seriously by the Centre. The project must be taken up immediately and completed in a time-bound manner.

He drew attention to the fact that a number of hydro-electric projects were held up for want of clearances to be granted by the Government of India. Such an attitude was hampering the hydropower development in the state and also increasing the cost of the projects.

He also raised the issue of the premature withdrawal of the special industrial package, granted by the NDA regime up to March 2013, by the UPA government. He said it showed a bias against Himachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand, both of which were deprived of the full benefit as the duration of the package was curtailed by three years.

He also sought subsidy on heli-taxi service to attract high-end tourists and also called for expeditious payment of arrears of the state’s claim in the BBMB projects as the Supreme Court had already dismissed the review petition filed by Haryana and Punjab.

Shimla, April 9
Union Minister Virbhadra Singh today said declaring the party’s chief ministerial candidate well in advance before the poll will prove to be beneficial for the Congress in the coming Assembly elections in the hill state.

“In case of Punjab, the party’s announcement declaring Capt Amarinder Singh as the chief ministerial candidate came too late, but if it is done well in advance, the party stands to gain,” he said. He was the chief guest at the National Students Union of India’s foundation day celebrations held at Himachal Pradesh University here today.

“There cannot be two swords in a scabbard as it is only one person who can effectively lead the party in the elections and this sends a clear signal to all others,” he said when asked about several aspirants for the post of Chief Minister in Himachal. He added that the voter was keen on knowing as to who would be the Chief Minister of his state before he cast his vote.

“It is high time that there is serious thinking about the elections and everyone moves to the field to ensure the party’s victory. A far as I am concerned, I am fully prepared for it though I have never lost touch with Himachal even while being at the Centre,” he said. He dismissed reports about factionalism plaguing the Congress by terming it as creation of the media.

Commenting on allegations against the Congress for failing to play the role of an effective Opposition, he said the fault was not that of the legislators but of the senior leadership. “During the recent Assembly session, the performance of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) was certainly better than before, but it was more like a ‘swan song’ as this was the last Budget session of this government,” he said.

Admitting that at times the CLP in the Assembly in Himachal is referred to as “His Majesty’s loyal opponents” for its poor performance, he said he personally disagreed with this view as it was not an objective and fair view. To belie all such accusations they should have come out more forcefully against the BJP regime for its acts of omission and commission during the past four years, he said.

Terming the initiative taken by some young Congress MLAs of forging unity in the party by urging senior leaders to sink their differences as a positive move, he said one should not be pessimistic by predicting its outcome too early.

Shimla, April 9
Union Minister Virbhadra Singh today said the Congress was not against setting up of private universities but all those who were found violating the norms would be taken to task when the Congress assumed power in the state.

He was speaking at the foundation day celebrations of the National Students Union of India (NSUI) at Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) here today. “The private sector can play a major and positive role in the fields of education and health provided they are established names in the field of academics and medicine, adhering to the norms strictly,” he said.

He said in case appointments had been made in the HPU by ignoring meritorious and deserving candidates, an inquiry would be held into all such recruitments and action taken against the guilty.

The Congress leader said the NSUI was the nursery of the Congress among the student community. “The NSUI might not be that well entrenched on the HPU campus but it has ‘captured student bodies’ in many colleges all over the state,” he said, reacting to reports about the NSUI’s poor performance in student elections.

State NSUI chief Yedupati Thakur thanked the Union Minister for taking out time to attend the foundation day celebrations. Others present on the occasion included Nand Lal, MLA, Kewal Singh Pathania, Congress leader and former state president of the NSUI, Deputy Mayor Harish Janartha, teachers and employees of the HPU. A cultural programme was presented on the occasion.

Mandi/Kullu, April 9
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has busted a scam of “fake entry of cement trucks” running into several lakhs of rupees. The scam was being run in alleged nexus with the contractor of the Parbati Hydropower Project (Stage II), being executed by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) on the Parbati river in Kullu district.

The CBI has found that the NHPC allegedly did not follow the mandatory procedure while supplying cement to its contractor, Gammon India Ltd. The Parbati (Stage I) project has also come under the CBI scanner and the racket may allegedly run into crores of rupees, suspect CBI sleuths.

After getting a complaint recently, the CBI raided godowns of the NHPC at Sainj, the project site, in Kullu and Chandigarh, and seized documents which led to the busting of the racket. The CBI found the entry of 600 bags of cement to be fake as stated in the complaint, said CBI sleuths.

The modus operandi was simple. The agent, certain NHPC employees and the contractor used to make “an additional fake slip of a cement truck” whenever a cement-laden truck started from Chandigarh through the Swarghat barrier to Sainj. The cement was allegedly sold on the black market, claimed the CBI sleuths.

Superintendent of Police, CBI, R Upasak told The Tribune that they had found that the entry pertaining to 600 bags of cement in two trucks was made at its Sainj godown of the Parbati (Stage II) project. “In fact, only two trucks of cement reached the contractor’s godown directly from Chandigarh, but the entry of the two additional cement trucks turned out to be fake,” he added.

The CBI investigation found that the scam pertaining to the “fake entry of cement trucks” had been going on in the project for the past few years. “We are scrutinising the documents and questioning key persons from the NHPC and Gammon India,” he added.

The CBI found that the cement company agent had been supplying cement directly to Gammon India. The legal procedure was that the consignment was to be supplied to an NHPC store, which further supplied it to its contractors, said Upasak. NHPC General Manager, Parbati (Stage II) project V Stayanarayan said he was not aware about any CBI raids or the scam as he was out of station.

Manali, April 9
There is not even enough parking facility to accommodate 600 vehicles in this prime tourist destination of Manali, what to talk of accommodating over 1,000-1,400 tourist vehicles that move in and out in the peak summer season, jamming this tourist town from the Rohtang Pass to the Manali barrier for hours together daily.

The hype-hungry Department of Tourism has been spending “crores on the publicity of the “unforgettable Himachal” campaign.

The District Tourism Development Council (DTDC) has collected green tax worth Rs 20 crore from vehicles coming from the outside over the years, but it has a parking facility for just 600 odd vehicles, not even enough to accommodate the local 2,000 taxis and private vehicles in this town.

“The traffic mess is going worse day by day as it is adding 1,800 new private vehicles every year. The peak summer rush traffic of 1,000-1,400 odd tourist vehicles make this town immobile everyday,” resent residents.

Residents and hoteliers question the rationale behind spending crores on publicity through the media to bring in more tourists in the summer season.

The residents resented that the money collected as green tax was not being spent on creating parking lots, pedestrian paths along the hazardous Circuit House-Hidimba temple road and on improving civic amenities in this town.

President, Manali Municipal Council, Rup Singh Negi said the council did not have even a single inch of land for creating parking lots in the town.

“We will create parking for over 1,000 vehicles once the bus stand is shifted to a new site,” he added.

Even hoteliers have parking facility to accommodate four to five vehicles each.

On paper, each hotelier has a parking floor when they get the map passed from the Town and Country Planning Department, but they use the premises for other purposes, revealed insiders.

The plight of the Tourism Department is understandable.

“There is no full-time District Tourism Officer (DTO) and not even a single inspector to check over-charging and fleecing of tourists here. Only two clerks run the DTO office here. The government is recruiting more staff and an inspector. We check violations when complaints reach us,” said DTO-cum-SDM, Manali, Balbir Thakur.

“We have requested the BRO to allot some roadside parking on the highway,” he added.

Kullu DC-cum-Chairman, DTDC, BM Nanta said they were beautifying the Mall. “The parking lots will be created once the bus stand is shifted to the new site to the lower part of the town. The real issue is that all the land in Manali is forest land. But we are regulating traffic from Kothi to Rohtang allowing only local taxis and buses.”

SP, Kullu, Ashok Kumar said they were deploying extra policemen at key points in the town to guide tourists.

“We are making a contingency plan to cope up with the rush with local administration and BRO so that some temporary parking lots are created for tourists,” he added.

Shimla, April 9
Chief Minister PK Dhumal today dedicated the first traffic tunnel constructed in Shimla town since Independence by throwing it open for vehicular traffic, thereby reducing distance between Victory Tunnel to Sanjauli by about 800 m.

The tunnel has been constructed at a cost of Rs 5.5 crore, besides a bridge on it has also been completed and with the total cost of both being at Rs 7.30 crore.

Speaking on the occasion, he said the efforts of the state government had been to reduce geographical and emotional distances by constructing tunnels in various parts of the state.

He said Shimla was a historic town that had its own identity across the world for being the summer capital of the erstwhile British regime and now a popular tourist destination.

“Over 1.5 crore tourists visited the state last year that included the largest number of foreigners, 4.85 lakh, in any state in the country,” he said.

Dhumal while thanking people of the state for making Himachal polythene-free, appealed to them to maintain cleanliness in and around their houses so that tourism could get a boost and visitors enjoy their trip to the state.

“Our endeavour has been to improve infrastructural facilities at prominent tourist places like Shimla, Kullu-Manali and Dharamsala and a good road network remains a priority,” he added.

Suresh Bhardwaj, local MLA, thanked the Chief Minister for providing funds for the completion of the tunnel, which was a major demand of people.

He added that the tunnel would not only decongest the Auckland House School area, but also facilitate vehicle owners to save fuel due to curtailed distance.

Waknaghat (Solan), April 9
Bahra University, Waknaghat, has become the second university after Delhi University in the country to join hands with California State University, Fullerton, a university with the largest number of graduate and undergraduate courses.

The California university is located in Orange County, a technologically rich and culturally vibrant area of metropolitan Los Angeles, and provides undergraduate and graduate programmes to students from over 80 countries. It was founded in 1957 and at present holds 36,000 students.

Chancellor, Bahra University, Gurvinder Singh Bahra while addressing mediapersons on the campus said today that the aim of Bahra University was to impart education that meets international standards and this MOU was a concrete step in that direction.

With this agreement between the two universities, students of Bahra University would complete the first three years of an undergraduate programme at Bahra in computer science and electronics and electrical engineering and complete the fourth year through the university semester abroad programme at California university.

He said usually an international student in this university pays around $10,000 to $12,000 fee but under this MoU, students of Bahra University will pay fees equal to local students of the US that is around 5,000 dollars.

For the first year according to this agreement, the programme would allow up to 40 students to participate from Bahra University and for each subsequent year total number of students allowed would be determined on the basis of mutual agreement of the parties, Bahra said.

Dr Sandeep Singh Kaura, JMD, Rayat Bahra Group, said the California university is the sixth among the top ranking universities of the US and first in the state of California.

Dr RK Gupta, Vice-Chancellor of Bahra University, said all students who were studying in Bahra University could opt for this programme from the next semester.

Bilaspur, April 9
Led by state senior vice-president JK Nadda, district president Rama Nand Sharma, general secretary Jagdish Dinesh and other top leaders of the district, more than 1,000 pensioners of the HP State Pensioners Welfare Association held a rally and passed through town bazars shouting slogans against the government for ignoring their long-pending demands here today.

Addressing the rally at the Shahid Kumari Champa Park here, leaders, including Hukam Singh Thakur, Jaswant Chandel, Sohan Singh Patial, Lekh Ram Sharma, Birbal Dhiman, Chambel Singh Dhiman, Kala Chandel, Amar Nath Bhardwaj, Baldev Gauttam, Sita Ram Sharma OP Sharma, Omparkash Garga, Prem Lal Bina, Bansi Ram, Thakur Dass Azad and Prem Lal Mishra, said the government took no time in enhancing salaries and benefits of MLAs and ministers by Rs 20,000 per month, but had been “feeling serious financial crunch” to meet pensioners’ financial demands.

They warned that they would be forced to intensify their statewide agitation, if their pending demands were not immediately met and all financial benefits being given by the Punjab Government to its pensioners were not made applicable in HP from the same dates at the same rates.

All leaders vowed to obey every direction of their State Action Committee (SAC) and some even offered to sit on an indefinite fast in front of the Chief Minister’s office in Shimla.

Later they presented a memorandum to DC Ritesh Chauhan for forwarding it to the Chief Minister.

Hamirpur, April 9
The Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department is all set to start work on a lift water supply scheme to augment drinking water for villages falling under the four Assembly constituencies of Hamirpur district.

The scheme will formally begin with the foundation stone-laying ceremony at Saloni by Chief Minister PK Dhumal tomorrow.

The scheme being constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 34.59 crore will enhance drinking water supply to the existing 16 water supply schemes and cater to 48,527 persons of 197 habitations in 27 panchayats of the area.

Villages falling under Nadaunta, Mewa, Nadaun and Hamirpur Assembly constituencies are being covered under this scheme and maximum eight water supply schemes of the Nadaunta Assembly constituency will get enhanced water after the augmentation.

Total 24,90,495 litre water per day is proposed to be drawn from two percolation wells to be constructed at Kohla from Maan Khad, a confluence of the Beas, which will be lifted in three stages at Panjarar - from Kohla to Kashmir and Kashmir to Narain Taal and Narain Taal to Panjarar.

Out of the 16 schemes, 12 schemes will be fed from Narain Tal and the remaining four schemes from Panjarar village through the existing storage tanks.

Executive Engineer, IPH Division, Badsar, Dharmender Gill said: “This scheme will be completely automated to maintain and monitor quality and quantity of drinking water and quality of the water will be monitored through sensors installed on pipelines, for the first time in the state.”

Palampur, April 9
Hundreds of villagers today staged a dharna in front of the Baijnath police station in protest against the arrest of zila parishad member Tilak Raj. Tilak Raj was arrested by the Baijnath police last evening on a complaint of Brajeshwari Construction Company executing the Binwa-4 Hydel Project on the Binwa river near Baijnath.

The company had alleged that Tilak Raj had caused damage to a government road leading to the powerhouse site.

The villagers raised anti-police and anti-government slogans. They alleged that the company executing the power project was harassing local residents and encroaching upon their land without paying any compensation. They alleged that instead of protecting the rights of the villagers, the police was harassing them and shielding the owners of the company. The villagers threatened to stop the construction work on the the powerhouse if the company failed to cooperate with them.

Meanwhile, Tilak Raj, who was in police custody, told this correspondent at the Baijnath police station that he had donated 4.5 kanals of land for the construction of a road. Besides, he owned another 30 kanals adjoining the road. Yesterday he had hired a JCB machine to level his land. During this process, the road got blocked. He had no intention either to block the road or damage public property. He wanted to clear the road by the evening, but the police did not allow him to do so.

He was called to the police station for recording his statement, where he was arrested along with the JCB machine driver. He said he had a dispute with the company for the past one year, since the company had allegedly encroached upon 15 kanals belonging to him. He had filed a civil suit against the company and the PWD for illegally constructing a road on his land. The case was pending.

Sanjiv Chauhan, DSP, Palampur, said Tilak Raj had damaged a government road and, therefore, a case was registered against him. Later, he was arrested.

Meanwhile, Sudhir Sharma, MLA, Baijnath, today met the agitating villagers and assured them full support. He said he would take up the matter with Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal. 

Shimla, April 9
The state high court has deferred the counselling for MD/MS course scheduled for April 10 till April 12 and directed the moderation committee to submit its opinion on disputed questions in the entrance examination to the course.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice DC Chaudhary directed the moderation committee to look into the disputed 36 questions in the light of references appended by petitioners along with their writ petition.

This order came on a petition wherein the petitioners have challenged the key answers of an entrance examination to the MD/MS course.

The petitioners have alleged that as many as 45 key answers were incorrect or questions were incorrect.

The petitioners had also made a representation to the HPU and the questions were referred to the moderation committee.

The moderation committee found that at least eight questions were either incorrect or had over one key answer.

The university accepted the decision of the moderation committee and revised the merit list. The petitioners have alleged that the committee had not given due consideration to the references made by the petitioners in support of their representation.

The Bench observed that interest of justice would be met in case the committee was again directed to look into the disputed question by considering the references made by the petitioners.

The court, however, has excluded the eight questions from reference whereupon the committee has already adjudicated. The case would come up for further hearing on April 12.

Shimla, April 9
Alleging ulterior motives behind the government-sponsored “March for Annandale”, the CPM has termed a climbdown from the demand for developing a cricket stadium to a multipurpose stadium as nothing but the changing colours of a chameleon as the campaign was backed the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA).

Member of the state Secretariat of the CPM Tikender Panwar said here yesterday that the massive support of people to the parallel movement launched by the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) to save Annandale from land sharks had unnerved those out to grab the historic green meadow to such an extent that they mobilised school students for the march by an order from the Director of Education. It was an extreme form of misuse of state machinery to serve narrow, vested interests of individuals in the garb of a public campaign.

The HPCA had been trying its best to grab the ground for its ulterior motives, but the DYFI’s initiative forced it to change tracks and offer something new by roping in some sections of the society. The party urged the local groups to be wary of the nefarious designs of the HPCA, virtually a frontal organisation of the BJP, which was carrying out its political agenda. If the HPCA was sincere about having a multipurpose stadium in Annandale, it should first ensure that the Dharamsala cricket stadium was converted into a multidiscipline facility. At present it was out bounds for local people and people did not want this to happen to Annandale. Handing over valuable assets to sports bodies was worse than privatisation.

The revenue records of the land adjoining Annandale indicate a clear nexus between the campaign and land grabbers who had purchased more than 25 bighas of land and were just waiting for a facilitator to have value addition. The CPM was against allowing construction activity in the ecologically fragile, but relatively unspoilt green patch that supported a wide wealth of flora and fauna.

Palampur, April 9
Jagmel Katoch and Shanti Sarup Sharma, president and general secretary of the Zila Banao Action Committee, respectively, today criticised Union Minister Virbhadra Singh and PCC president Kaul Singh for opposing the creation of a new district in the state.

Addressing mediapersons here today, they said the recent statements of both Congress leaders were politically motivated and against the interest of seven lakh people of the Palampur region, who had been fighting for the creation of a new district since 1985.

They said if the Congress continued to oppose this demand of residents of Kangra district, people would reject them in the coming Assembly elections.

Residents of Palampur, Nurpur and Deharagopipur of Kangra district had already submitted an unanimous memorandum to the Chief Minister for the reorganisation of districts, they said.

Virbhadra remained the Chief Minister of the state for 20 years, but he always made false promises with people regarding the creation of new districts and ignored their demand, they added.

Kangra, April 9
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was snubbed by former Transport Minister and sitting MLA from Nagrota Bagwan GS Bali who accused it of adopting double standards regarding the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bills at the national and state levels. He said this was evident by its passing the Lokayuta Bill last week in the Himachal Assembly in a tearing haste, ignoring the Opposition party before drafting it.

Bali was addressing a press conference here today. He described the Lokayukta Bill as toothless, ineffective and weak with all powers centralised with the Chief Minister. He alleged that this Bill was drafted with an eye on providing a shield to corrupt ministers and MLAs of the ruling party.

He charged the government of allegedly misappropriating Central Government funds, which, he said, was vindicated by the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) latest report.

He alleged that there was a big scam while allotting tenders of 108 ambulances, details of which would be made public this week. He alleged that the allotment of the tenders for 108 ambulances was delayed for one and half years depriving common people from this facility despite the funds being available.

He demanded that legal scrutiny should be conducted in Vivekananda Hospital as nine of the 15 members of the trust of this hospital were outsiders. He demanded a high-level inquiry to find if the Vivekananda Hospital case came under Section 118 of the HP Tenancy and Land Reform Rules.

He dared Industries Minister Kishan Kapoor to name Congress people involved in mining mafia as alleged by him on Sunday or otherwise tender an unconditional for these baseless allegations.