Shimla, May 13
The political storm raised by the high court verdict quashing the environmental clearance to the 25 MW thermal plant of Jaypee Associates Limited (JAL) is set to intensify further with Chief Minister PK Dhumal blaming the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) for allowing a truncated project.

Adding a new dimension to the controversy, which had started a blame game between the Congress and the BJP, Dhumal today asserted that his government gave the nod for setting up a thermal plant in accordance with the policy of the Centre. He said a public hearing for the project, which fell in category A, was carried out as per the regulations in 2009 and no consent to operate was given.

The minutes of the public-hearing exercise, during which the local people vehemently opposed the thermal plant, were submitted to the MoEF verbatim by the Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) while apprising it of the stiff opposition to the project.

However, the expert appraisal committee (EAC) of the MoEF did not take much notice and did not go into the issue in depth even after the ACS informed that a public litigation was pending before the high court in the matter. The EAC gave clearance to a truncated project of 10 MW, which fell in category B, for which a public hearing was not required.

The government had regularised the land on which the project was set up by recovering the cost of Rs 22 crore and imposing a penalty of Rs 4.10 crore as closing down the cement plant would have affected the livelihood of a large number of innocent people who had invested in various ventures like transport vehicles, service shops and dhabas in the area to take advantage of the economic activity generated by the plant.

Referring to Congress leaders’ assertions that the then Virbhadra Singh government had taken action against officers responsible for granting various permissions for the thermal plant, Dhumal said as per the record, no strict action had been taken. Citing a file noting, he said officers of the state electricity board, during whose tenure the permissions were given, had retired.

The matter was closed after members of the board apologised for the lapse. On the same analogy, the officer of the pollution control board, who was suspended in this connection, was reinstated by the Virbhadra Singh regime.

Dhumal said the high court had already set up a special investigation committee to pinpoint the officials responsible for the lapses, which led to the mess. The government would take appropriate action on the basis of its findings.

Hamirpur, May 13
Though the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Act was implemented way back in 1977 to regulate all construction work in and around Hamirpur town under the Hamirpur development plan, the Act continues to be violated with impunity.

Not only are the norms being violated in case of construction of private houses and commercial buildings, there have been several instances where these have been given the go-by in case of government buildings also.

While the TCP Department clears the maps, the Hamirpur Nagar Parishad has been entrusted with the task of ensuring the implementation of the TCP Act.

The TCP Act stipulates that all private and commercial buildings should have three floors and one floor for parking with a maximum of four floors. However, buildings here have been raised to six or seven floors.

While many house and commercial building owners have raised four or more floors, a majority of them have not made provision for the parking area as stipulated under the norms. Under the TCP Act, a floor area ratio (FAR) of 80:20 in case of private houses and 50:25 in case of commercial buildings is allowed.

According to this provision, 80 per cent of FAR is to be used for construction and 20 per cent is to be kept open. In case of commercial buildings, 50 per cent of FAR is to be utilised for construction and 25 per cent is to be kept open, besides leaving paths.

The nagar parishad has been passing the maps on the recommendation of a Junior Engineer for the Hamirpur area.

Nagar Parishad president Deep Kumar says, “The nagar parishad passes maps on the recommendation of the TCP Department and the JE has also been entrusted with the job of implementation of the TCP Act.”

Executive Officer (EO) of the Hamirpur Nagar Parishad RK Sharma said, “We take action on complaints regarding violation of the TCP Act, but can’t comment on what has happened in the past.”

Dharamsala, May 13
Fresh constructions are suffocating the Bhagsunag and Dharamkot roads. The roads are just about 15 to 20 ft wide. PWD rules stipulate that constructions cannot be raised right alongside the road. However, every year many new constructions are coming right alongside these roads. This has further reduced the road width to just about 10 ft at places that makes the passage of even two vehicles simultaneously an arduous task.

This year also many new constructions have come up on the Dharamkot road. Many new restaurants and Internet cafe shops have come up in the new buildings that have come up on Dharamkot road.

The effect of the new constructions has already become visible with the start of the tourist season at McLeodganj this year. Traffic jams are a common sight. Commuters trying to go to Bhagsunag and Dharamkot have to remain stranded on the road for hours. With the IPL season under way and thousands of tourists and vehicles expected to reach McLeodganj and Dharamsala, managing traffic is likely to prove a nightmare for the local police.

Enquiries from the Town and Country Planning Department revealed that most of the buildings on these roads were illegal as no plan for had been passed by the competent authorities.

Interestingly, the hill between the Bhagsunag and Dharamkot road is a reserved forest area. Still many people have encroached upon it and raised constructions. The Forest Department has initiated proceedings against 200 people for encroaching upon the reserved forest area.

Though the proceedings against the encroachers are being carried out on paper, no concrete steps have been taken to remove the encroachments.

Hoteliers of Bhagsunag and Dharamkot have expressed concern over the deteriorating traffic problem in the hill station. Vikas Nehria, who has a hotel and restaurant at Bhagsunag, said many high-end tourists were not coming to the area due to traffic and parking problems.

The local municipal council had started a project to link the Bhagsunag and Indrunag areas by road. This could have provided tourists an alternative road to reach the hill station. Similarly, there was a proposal to link Naddi with Dharamkot. However, work on both roads has been lingering on for the past many years.

With the main hill stations around Dharamsala, including McLeodganj, Dharamkot and Bhagsunag, facing traffic problems, tourists are shifting to alternative locations like the Khaniara road for stay.

Shimla, May 13
The Himachal government is against changing the name of the historic hill station, Dalhousie, in Chamba district on the grounds that it will not be appropriate from the tourism point of view.

A petition demanding a change in the name was filed with the Department of Home by social activist and lawyer of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Ajay Jagga in June 2011 on the plea that it represented the colonial rule.

He has termed the decision of the government giving preference to tourism as highly unpatriotic. He has sought the detail notings on the file on the basis of which the decision was arrived at under the Right to Information Act to decide his future course of action.

In the petition, he had stated that it was highly unfortunate that the state had been continuing with the British legacy, whereas the name of many towns had been restored to their original names such as Madras to Chennai, Bombay to Mumbai and Banaglore to Bangaluru. Tamil Nadu officially changed the name from Madras to Chennai in 1996 through an Act.

Dalhousie should be renamed after some local cultural entity as Lord Dalhousie, after whom it had been named, was the British Governor-General in India.

Hamirpur, May 13
Chief Minister PK Dhumal today said the state government was spending Rs 1,383 crore during the current financial year to provide clean and adequate drinking water to the people of the state.

The Chief Minister said this while addressing a public meeting after laying the foundation stone of the Khurd-Dahudi lift drinking water scheme being constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 87 lakh in the Dahudi panchayat of Hamirpur district.

He said several drinking water schemes had been implemented in Hamirpur district during the past four years from which thousands of residents had benefited.

The Chief Minister said in the coming months, Rs 80 crore would be spent to augment the drinking water schemes in Hamirpur town and Sujanpur. A Rs 15-crore drinking water scheme had already been approved for Nadaun.

He said to keep towns neat and clean, an amount of Rs 22 crore was being spent to lay sewage lines in Hamirpur, Sujanpur and Naduan.

The Chief Minister said the government had accorded priority to building roads, providing health facilities and improving the educational infrastructure in the state.

The Chief Minister also attended a few other programmes during his tour to the district today. Education Minister ID Dhiman, IPH Minister Ravinder Ravi, MLAs Baldev Sharma and Urmil Thakur were among those present at these programmes.

Palampur, May 13
Heavy rain accompanied by high-velocity winds and hail lashed various parts of the Palampur region last evening, damaging fruit and other crops.

The hailstorm and rain continued for about two hours. Mango and some other fruit crops were the worst hit. The most affected areas were Bhawarna, Palampur, Mehanja and Sulaha from where the maximum loss was reported. Besides, wheat on several acres was also destroyed by the rain.

Parveen Sharma, local MLA, visited the affected areas today and directed the revenue authorities to assess the quantum of loss so that the matter could be taken up with the government for disbursement of relief to the affected farmers and fruit growers.

Talking to mediapersons here, he said over 90 per cent farmers and fruit growers had suffered heavy losses to their crops.

Later, he spoke to Revenue Minister Gulab Singh Thakur on the phone and requested him to depute a team of revenue officers to assess the loss.

Mandi, May 13
Residents of four panchayats, Dadour, Bhour, Kanaid and Chowk, are up in arms against the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) against restricting the road width to 24-30 m in the Naloukha-Dadour section of the proposed Rs 2,400-crore four-laning of the Kiratpur-Ner Chowk section of NH-21.

They said the 4.741-km Naloukha-Dadour road stretch of the proposed four-lane highway was densely populated and a flyover should be made along the existing road to save people from congestion and traffic hazards.

The residents resent that the NHAI had failed to address the adverse impact of road-widening on their life, business activities and environment between Naloukha and Dadour stretch, which has a population of over 20,000 and there were 500 shops and small businesses of locals.

Joginder Walia, president, Sangharsh Samiti of Residents, said they had opposed the NHAI’s move to restrict the road widening from the Sundernagar bypass to the Ner Chowk to 24-30 m.

“This narrow width will create congestion and be a traffic hazard on the highway as it is a highly populated area,” he added. There are over 12 different road links from the NH-21 connecting nearby villages.

These included the Sai-Dadour link, the Dadour-Sericulture Farm link, Bour-Dhaban village link, the Bhour-Bhardwan link, the Civil Dispencery-Kanaid-Halel village link, the Kanaid-Dinak link, the Kanaid to Chatter village link, the Tarot-Chatter link road and the Naloukha-Sai village link.

This would also affect over 30 pedestrians and cattle crossings. Over 3,000 students studying in three government and five private schools, who cross this highway, and patients visiting health centres and two major drinking wells and 12 hand pumps would be affected, they added.

Satish Kaul, General Manager, NHAI, said: “The NHAI will address all issues when the construction begin. We have restricted the road width to 24-30 m to minimise acquisition. But it fulfils the parameters of four-lane.”

Shimla, May 13
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has expressed concern over the erosion of credibility of institutions in every sphere of society and has urged the media to take a lead in restoring the faith of people by providing right information.

Presiding over a function organised by the state chapter of the Vishwa Samwad Kendra to mark Narad Jayanti here today, he said the media had a key role to play in keeping people informed. It had played its role in the freedom movement and, thereafter, in national reconstruction. In a democracy, it had to play the role of an effective watchdog.

The Chief Minister said Narad was the best communicator of his time as he used to move among the masses and provided authentic feedback to further public interest. He said the media should have its own code of conduct to ensure its credibility.

In his keynote address, Narender Kumar, a senior functionary of the Vishwa Samwad Kendra, said in the race for “breaking news”, channels at times ended up in misinforming people. At times news was distorted which affected the credibility of the media. The trend of “breaking news” without verifying the facts did not augur well for the media. He also honoured mediapersons on the occasion.

Shimla, May 13
The HPSEBL Project Engineers Association has blamed the faulty unbundling model for the financial woes of the government company and warned the government that the present model will not sustain.

It has demanded setting up of an independent panel of experts to look into the affairs of the HPSEBL to know the reasons for its worsening financial health.

The association alleged that the financial position was worsening in direct proportion to the increase in senior-level posts of power engineers and the alleged failure of the government to allot new hydroelectric projects. It pointed out that in all states, the state electricity boards were split into generation, transmission and distribution companies but in Himachal the HPSEBL continued with all previous functions which it carried out before unbundling. It had favoured unbundling on clear lines with specific responsibility on the pattern of other states with the entire project wing shifted to the HPPCL (generation company) along with the existing hydroelectric projects and the transmission lines and works to the HPPTCL (transmission company).

The reorganisation on professional lines would protect the interests of the staff; otherwise the financial woes would continue to harm the organisation, employees and engineers. Even the HPPTCL was not constituted on professional lines with two directors from the electrical wing and no civil or project engineer to plan, investigate and execute the related engineering works. There must be one Director (Civil) in the transmission company.

Expenditure on project engineers was only 5 to 6 per cent of the expenditure on power engineers in the HPSEBL, even though project engineers were earning it revenue by planning, investigation and constructing projects.

Alleging that power engineers were being favoured, it said there was no justification of three operation circles in Shimla district, when Kangra, with the highest population and complex topography, could make do with one. Similarly, electrical circles in small districts like Una, Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Solan and Sirmaur could be done away with. Hamirpur and Bilaspur, Una and Solan, Sirmaur and Rohru could be looked after by a single circle. There was no justification for a full-fledged electrical design circle for the Uhl-III project as the design and installation of electrical equipment was the responsibility of the suppliers.

Shimla, May 13
The Atal School Uniform Scheme launched recently will benefit as many as 9,27,205 students studying in government schools up to Class X to help erase the socio-economic difference between children coming from poor and well-off families.

Under the scheme, uniforms will be provided to all students in government schools free of cost twice a year at a cost of Rs 64 crore. They will also be given Rs 100 as stitching charges every time.

The beneficiaries include 4,63,680 boys and 4,63,525 girls. The government has introduced various scholarship schemes like the Dr Ambedkar Meritorious Scholarship Scheme under which 4,000 meritorious students of the Class XII level are being given a scholarship of Rs 10,000 each year. From this year, 4,000 laptops will be given to students of Class XI on the basis of their performance in Class X.

The State Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Commission has been set up to ensure quality education and Himachal is the first state in the country to do so. It has also enacted the anti-ragging Act, besides setting up anti-ragging committees in educational institutions.

Solan, May 13
Investors in the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) industrial area may have earned crores through the 2003 central industrial package, but their approach in paying the lease money and maintenance charges to the state government appears to be lackadaisical.

This can be gauged from the fact that over 40 known industrial houses of the BBN area have failed to pay Rs 3 crore in lieu of lease money and maintenance charges for industrial plots where they have set up their operations.

The Industries Department had developed six industrial areas - Thana, Katha, Barotiwala, Baddi, Lodhimajra and Jharmarji - which were allotted to investors and they were liable to pay an annual maintenance fee and lease money. However, it was found that despite several reminders, the investors had failed to deposit these charges with the department.

The investors owe an amount of Rs 3 crore to the department and notices have now been issued to these investors to pay this money. The dues would be recovered with interest ranging from 12 to 18 per cent, said Deputy Director, Industries, TR Sharma.

He added that the failure to pay this money could lead to the cancellation of the plots. A section of the investors has also been trying to reduce the consent fee charged by the state Pollution Control Board. A proposal to this effect was put before the board’s meeting for approval. The proposal was, however, not approved.

Nurpur, May 13
Six persons, including two children, sustained injuries when an old mango tree fell on the slate roof of the anganwari centre at the Chownki gram panchayat following strong winds which lashed the area yesterday. Only five of the total 25 tiny tots had come to the centre yesterday due to inclement weather.

The tree fell on the roof and broken roof slates hit two kids, an anganwari worker and a helper sitting there. They sustained injuries. The tree further fell on the road hitting two pedestrians injuring them. The injured were rushed to the local Civil Hospital.

The local gram panchayat has demanded re-construction of a pucca anganwari centre. Residents rue the shifting of the anganwari centre to a dilapidated kuchcha room.

Local MLA Rakesh Pathania on hearing of this mishap rushed to the spot and announced Rs 1.50 lakh for a new anganwari centre in the panchayat.

Chamba, May 13
Taking cognizance of the less number of neo-literates appearing in the basic literacy examination conducted by the National Institute of Open Schools (NIOS) on April 22 in Chamba district under the Saakshar Bharat Mission-2012, Additional District Magistrate (ADM), Chamba, Ashwani Choudhary has directed District Project Coordinator of the Zila Saaksharta Samiti SK Minhas to seek clarification from officials engaged in the execution of the mission and submit its inquiry report forthwith.

ADM Choudhary, who is also the vice-chairman of the samiti, stated that the inquiry report with regard to the negligence of certain officials for their half-hearted participation in the mission would be forwarded to the state government and the heads of their departments for further necessary action.

It was negligence on the part of certain officials due to which 14,000 neo-literates could not reach the examination centres.

A target of 50,000 neo-literates to appear in the NIOS basic literacy examination was fixed, out of which around 36,000 people had been able to appear in the examination, the ADM revealed.

“To enable them to read books and newspapers, 95-year-old Noordh Ram of Kundidhar of Salooni block, Diwan Chand (85) of Saach panchayat, Phinna Ram (85) of Motla panchayat, Prem Lal (74) of Karian panchayat andChand Ram (70) of Kurahn of the district have set a rare instance of being literate by appearing in the examination,” the ADM said.

He said certificates equivalent to class II level issued by the NIOS would be given to all those neo-literates who had participated in the basic literacy examination held on April 22 in the district.

Nurpur, May 13
The Small Farmers Kalyan Manch (SFKM), which has been battling for granting ownership rights to the leased agriculture land (locally known chakota) in merged areas of the state for the past many years, has started mobilising those farmers who were leased out agriculture land by local gram panchayats before 1974. The manch leaders held a meeting of farmers and educated them about their property rights on the leased land in Khanni gram panchayat here yesterday.

Talking to mediapersons after the meeting, state president, SFKM, Vinod Kumar and general secretary Dev Anand said the manch, which was purely a non-political organisation, would launch a statewide agitation for giving justice to hapless poor farmers who had not been granted ownership rights of their leased agriculture land even after four decades. The manch could even file civil writ petition in the state high court in this connection if the state government denied justice to these farmers, they warned.

The manch leaders rued that the present state government after coming into power had revoked the notification issued by the previous Virbhadra Singh government in August 2007 in which ownership rights were granted to those lessees who had been leased out land (chakotas) between 1969 and 1971.

“Our manch has met the Chief Minister and other ministers and given a number of memorandums several times in this connection, but hollow promises were made and now the government has ordered the renewal of lease with revised lease cess just to mislead the poor farmers,” they alleged.

Shimla, May 13
The HP High Court recently sentenced Ramji Dass to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife. A Division Bench comprising Justice RB Misra and Justice Sanjay Karol passed this order on an appeal filed by the state challenging the judgment passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Mandi, whereby it had acquitted the accused for the offence under Section 302, Indian Penal Code.

While reversing the judgment passed by the trial court, the Bench observed, “We have held the accused guilty for the commission of offence under Section 302, IPC.”

The Bench further observed that “the accused had thrashed his wife on the fateful day, while she was preparing meals for him. Then after pouring kerosene on her, he set her on fire. The wife/victim succumbed to the burn injuries. Keeping in view the totality of facts and surrounding circumstances, the offence of the accused/respondent, is not the rarest of the rare case for which the death sentence could be awarded, therefore, taking a lenient view. Also the accused has no liability of parents and his only daughter about 14 years has been kept in the family of his elder brother and he is privately employed. In these circumstances, instead of awarding death sentence, we award sentence of life imprisonment to him with a fine of Rs 500 for commission of offence under Section 302, IPC.”

Kangra, May 13
Kangra town, which is emerging as an educational hub, is in dire need of a government engineering college, but not at the cost of the local polytechnic which has contributed a lot in shaping the future of thousands of students who have passed from there.

This was stated by the local MLA Sanjay Choudary at the annual-cum-prize distribution function in the Government Polytechnic here yesterday.

Choudary said he was of the opinion to see both the polytechnic and an engineering college here so that students of this valley were benefited and the Kangra valley became a major attraction for educational seekers.

Choudary, who was chief guest on the occasion, assured the college management that every step would be taken to provide all facilities and support to this institution to provide quality technical education to students.

RK Sharma, Principal, during the presentation of the annual report said he was not in favour of starting any fresh trade in this polytechnic as it was lacking infrastructure.

He said to have proper infrastructure to accommodate students needed at least Rs 10 crore.

Sharma said a dozen posts of the faculty were lying vacant, 27 faculty members were on regular basis and 19 were being paid from the Students Welfare Fund. He also demanded repair of residential quarters for the staff of this polytechnic.

Cultural programmes such as pahari folk song, skit and nati were also performed by students on the occasion.

Sanjay Choudary gave away prizes to the students who had bagged different positions in education, cultural and sports fields.

DR Sharma, former Joint Director, Technical Education, Suneel Verma, Secretary, HP Technical Education Board, Puneet Mahajan, Officiating Principal, Government Polytechnic, Chamba, students’ parents and other distinguished guests graced the function.