Shimla, June 2
Unperturbed over the objection raised by the top brass of the state party leadership over his proposed “Himachal Rozgar Sangharsh Rally,” Congress legislator GS Bali has no plans to abandon his march intended to highlight corruption and unemployment.

Amid reports that senior Congress leaders, including Union Minister Virbhadra Singh, HPCC chief Kaul Singh Thakur and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Vidya Stokes, have conveyed their displeasure to the high command against the holding of such a rally, Bali today said he would go ahead with his plans come what may.

“I have the consent of the appropriate authority in the high command and so far nobody from the Centre has asked me to abandon my plans,” he said. He added that his rally would only carry a strong social message about the spiralling unemployment problem in the state; so none of his party colleagues should have any problems with it.

The Congress leader said he had already extended an invitation to Union Ministers Anand Sharma and Virbhadra Singh, the HPCC chief, the CLP leader and all party legislators to join him in this fight against corruption and to address the issue of unemployment. “The figure of the unemployed in Himachal has crossed the 10 lakh mark and I have raised the issue time and again in the Assembly as all industrial units are not adhering to the condition of providing a minimum of 70 per cent jobs to Himachalis,” he said.

Bali, who has been made the in charge of the June 6 Congress “parivartan rally” to be held in Dharamsala, said he had only rescheduled his plans about the yatra. “I will shortly announce the changed dates, but there is no way that I will drop the idea as the issue of unemployment is very close to my heart and I strongly feel that we need to do something about it,” he said.

The announcement by the Kangra MLA to undertake a yatra has made all senior Congress leaders uncomfortable with most of them labelling it as an attempt by Bali to catapult himself as a possible contender for the post of Chief Minister. “This kind of a show will obviously aggravate the existing factionalism and bitter fight for being projected as the leader before the Assembly poll in the state,” admitted a senior party functionary.

Bali plans to hold his yatra in three phases with the first one from the Hadimba temple in Kullu to the Bahali Mata temple in Chamba. The second phase will start from Paonta Sahib Gurdwara in Sirmaur to the Kathgarh temple in Indora in Kangra. The last and third phase will start from Kinnaur and end in his home district in Kangra.

Dharamsala, June 2
Congress MLA from Nagrota Bagwan GS Bali has set out on a padyatra in his constituency to mobilise workers for the party rally in Dharamsala, scheduled for June 7.

Earlier, the Congress had planned a state-level rally in Hamirpur on June 5. However, the rally was allegedly cancelled as party leaders from the area failed to mobilise enough workers for the event.

The rally was shifted in a haphazard manner to Kangra district. Now, Congress leaders from the Kangra parliamentary constituency, that includes Kangra and Chamba districts, have just a few days to manage the rally.

The maximum onus of mobilising Congress workers for the rally is on Bali. Many Congress leaders said on condition of anonymity that they got the information about the rally from newspapers only.

Bali said all senior Congress leaders from the state, including Virbhadra Singh, would attend the rally.

He said the basic theme of the rally was to highlight corruption by the present government during the past four years.

Shimla, June 2
The government has released an amount of Rs 3,75,71,804 to clear the entire outstanding payment of apple growers whose fruit was procured under the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) through the procuring agencies HPMC and HIMFED in 2011.

Stating this here yesterday, Horticulture Minister Narender Bragta said the government had released the first instalment of Rs 72,47,000 on March 27 and the second instalment of Rs 2,08,50,977 on May 5. The remaining amount of Rs 94,73,827 was also released on May 21. With this, the entire amount due under the MIS to fruit growers had been cleared. He said Rs 2,69,18,358 had been released to the HPMC and Rs 1,06,53,446 to HIMFED.

Bragta said the state government had made an allocation of Rs 14 crore under the MIS for 2012-13 and additional money would be provided, if needed, to ensure timely payment to fruit growers.Dharamsala.

Dharamsala, June 2
Excessive reliance of the Forest Department on pine trees in the past few decades in the mid-Himalayan region of the state has become a major source of forest fires.

The department had been planting pine trees in forest areas in the past few decades due to the better survival rate of the tree. Today pine forests comprise about 20 per cent of the total forest area of Dharamsala circle.

Pine trees occupy 27,910 hectares in Dharamsala circle of the Forest Department.

The pine forests have created problems for farmers as well as the Forest Department. Pine trees have an allelopathic impact. Allelopathy is a biological phenomenon by which pine trees produces bio-chemicals that do not allow any kind of vegetation growth in the surroundings. There is hardly any undergrowth of grass in the pine forests.

Besides, there is generally a heavy deposition of dried pine needles under the trees. These needles are highly inflammable and easily catch fire, especially during summers when the temperatures are high.

Farmers generally set fire in pine forests with the hope that in the forthcoming monsoon, there would be a good growth of grass that can be used as fodder for animals.

However, according to Conservator, Forests, Dharamsala circle, ARM Reddy, even if farmers burn down the drying deposition under pine trees, there would not be any grass undergrowth.

The possible solution to prevent fire in pine forests is the removal of dried pine needles from the undergrowth. Dried pine needles have a high combustible value. Technology is available for converting dried pine needles into combustible bricks. Already pine needles are being used in kilns in cement plants in Solan district. However, the use is limited and a low percentage of bio-waste generated by pine trees is being used in the state.

Sources said in case the government made it mandatory for brick-kiln owners and cement plants to use certain portion of pine needle fuel in their kilns, it would generate the demand for bio-waste of pine trees.

Experts feel that the government should ban future plantations of pine trees in the mid-Himalayan region. With this, the percentage of pine forests can be reduced over a period of time. Forest officials said the growth of lantana was also responsible for fires in forest areas. In Dharamsala circle, lantana had spread across 35,000 hectares.

Dharamsala, June 2
Residents, including a large number of women, of Kaliara village in the Shahpur area of Kangra district today organised a protest against the arrest of Balbir Singh, their village pradhan.

Balbir Singh was arrested yesterday for allegedly creating a ruckus at a programme of Minister for Social Empowerment Sarween Chaudhary. He allegedly tried to capture the stage of the minister and disrupt the public meeting that she was addressing at Kaliara village. The police had registered a case under Sections 107/51 of the IPC against Balbir Singh.

After being arrested, Balbir Singh got the support of his village residents and leaders of the Himachal Lokhit Party. Today about 100 women from his village gathered before the mini-secretariat, Dharamsala, where he was produced before the SDM for bail. The protesters raised slogans against Sarween Chaudhary and demanded the release of their pradhan.

The SDM, Dharamsala, released Balbir Singh on bail. After being released, Balbir Singh addressed his supporters and said he would keep on fighting for the cause of the residents of his area.

Shimla, June 2
Jaypee Industries has filed a review petition before the state high court seeking a review of the court’s order to dismantle the thermal plant of the company in Solan district.

In its review petition, the company contended that it had not installed any plant or machinery in the partially constructed structure built by it to house the captive thermal power plant.

The Green Bench comprising Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Sanjay Karol adjourned the hearing on the matter till June 15.

The company contended in its review petition that in the absence of any plant or machinery, the captive thermal power plant has never functioned.

However, in its earlier order the high court ordered to dismantle the thermal plant and observed: "As far as the thermal plant is concerned, we find no extenuating circumstances to permit the thermal plant to continue. We, accordingly, quash the environmental clearance in respect of the thermal plant and direct the company to dismantle it within three months.”

The Green Bench of the high court, in its judgment against the cement plant, which existed along with the thermal plant, also imposed a penalty of Rs 100 crore on the company as environmental damage cost for violation of the norms.

In the present petition, the company contended that in the absence of any machinery or equipment having been installed therein, “the same is incapable of being dismantled. In its review petition, the company urged the court to recall its order relating to the payment of costs imposed on it.

Solan, June 2
With the Ministry of Environment and Forests making it mandatory for all mining units to take prior environmental clearance, stone crushers operating in the state have been forced to shut their operations, causing a dire shortage of stone aggregates.

Since all infrastructure developmental projects, including repair of roads, require stone aggregates and cut stones, the shortage is delaying such works.

However, in order to meet the demand and make a fast buck, some surreptitious activity can be seen in various river beds in Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh and Paonta Sahib during late evenings.

People engaged in constructing their houses are facing problems as truckers, who transport such material, are now increasing the prices at their whims and fancies.

Nishant Kapila, who is constructing a house at Solan, said a steep increase in the price of cut stones had been noticed from Rs 38 per feet about two weeks ago to Rs 52 per feet now.

He said the truckers justified these rates on the pretext that since they had to queue up for a day or two at the crusher site and it involved the risk of being caught owing to the restrictions on mining, the prices had been increased. Paonta Sahib had become the latest hub of such activity, he added.

The PWD also faced an acute shortage of stone aggregates used for laying and repairing roads. Officials said routine repair work was being delayed as no stone aggregates were available.

Officials added that the department was now mooting a proposal to run its own stone crushers to find a permanent solution for the shortage. Its nitty-gritty was being worked out by the department, he added.

Mandi, June 2
Scientists have cracked the secret of nanotechnology for patients. They are developing an “anti-bacterial spray and tissue implants for patients that can revolutionise health care across the world”.

“We have developed an anti-bacterial spray that can be applied on wound and infected tissue of accident victims,” said Dr Kenneth Gonsalves, Professor emeritus from the University of North Carolina, USA, who heads the basic sciences, IIT Mandi.

The spray would kill bacteria that lead to gangrene and other infections in the human body, he added.

Dr Gonsalves is the convener of the national-level conference on nano-biotechnology being held at the IIT, Mandi.

His pioneering research on the “anti-bacterial spray” has attracted the attention of the health fraternity across the world.

“We have developed this technique using nanotechnology and have patented it,” Dr Gonsalves said.

Once this spray is applied on wounds and tissues, it would control infection and patients would not have to undergo amputation as was the case at present. “The bacteria inside the cell sets infection and is a major source of morbidity among patients,” he added.

“It has been developed by scientists for the first time,” he said.

The spray can be made the part of the mobile ambulance service to take care of fatalities on roads, scientists said.

“We have submitted a proposal to Indian Council for Medical Sciences, New Delhi, for a clinical trial on humans,” Dr Gonsalves said.

“We will be able to know its results and side effects on humans before its launch,” he added.

Besides, scientists have developed a nano-technique to “patent cells, grow them and implant them on burnt skin”. The tissue implants can repair the orthopaedic deformities as well, the scientists said.

The tissue engineering has come of age. “We can now even replace defective heart valves and other deformed tissues through the organic tissue engineering,” said Dr Rakesh Malhotra from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, who gave a presentation at the symposium.

When asked as to how long patients will be able to reap the benefits of the new research, Dr Gonsalves said they were close and they would take another five to 10 years for this research to translate it into actual medicines for mass consumption. He said the delay was due to clinical trials that need funding.

“It is an advanced technology that produces organic products and materials for use in health and medicine,” they added.

Bilaspur, June 2
The Central Government has increased the prices of petrol 14 times in the past 18 months and this is a sort of record in a country’s history, which has further resulted into spiralling increase in prices of essentials commodities.

This was stated by MP and BJYM national president Anurag Thakur while addressing a series of largely attended public meetings at Samoh, Baloh, Badole Devi, Thuraan and Rishikesh yesterday in the Jhandutta constituency in this district.