Shimla, November 9
With the state electricity board refusing to take the equity power available from the 1,500-MW Nathpa Jhakri project, the government has decided to sell its share to West Bengal.

According to the agreement between the two states, the entire equity power, which is 22 per cent, will be supplied to West Bengal at Rs 3.65 per unit for 13 months from November. Since the project has been generating about 7,000 million units (MU) annually, about 1,500 MU will be supplied West Bengal.

The board has refused to take the equity power as the generation cost is high during winter when generation declines sharply due to the reduction in river discharge. The project generates only about 9 MU in winter months compared to 37 MU during the rest of the year. The board requires power only during winter and has surplus power during summer, due to which procuring the equity power is a costly affair.

The government may suffer a loss during winter even though it will supply power at Rs 3.65 per unit as the generation cost will be around Rs 6 per unit. It is making efforts to get the power reallocated to West Bengal.

If the Centre agrees, the buyer will foot the bill, whatever the rate may be. In that case, Himachal Pradesh will gain as it will be spared transmission charges to the extent of 20 paise per unit. Additional Chief Secretary (Power) Deepak Sanan is hopeful that the state’s share will be reallocated to West Bengal for 13 months.

The government has decided to have a long-term arrangement for selling its share due to the continuous slump in the highly volatile power market. It has over 950 MW of power available during summer, but has been finding it difficult to sell it as distribution utilities impose power cuts instead of procuring costly power.

The rest of the power, available as royalty in various hydroelectricity projects, will have to be sold through the power exchange during summer. There is no such problem in winter as the entire free power available as royalty is being supplied to the board.

The board, which has been facing acute shortage due to the decrease in generation, is getting 19 lakh units of free power. The state Electricity Regulatory Commission has fixed a tariff of Rs 2.9 per unit for it. As the shortage will continue till March, the government will end up with more power to the board this winter.

Compared to the low rates at the power exchange, the rate fixed by the commission for the current financial year is an attractive proposition. The days of windfall profit, with the rate ranging from Rs 6.3 per unit to Rs 7.2 per unit four years ago, are over.

Shimla, November 9
The counsel for former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh today accused the prosecution in the compact disc (CD) case of concealing material evidence from the court to malign their image.

Referring to a report from the Chandigarh-based CFSL, counsel Sharvan Dogra said the prosecution was in possession of this report since January 2010.

He pointed out that the report was produced neither in the trial court, nor the High Court. He said had the report been

placed on record, things would have been different.

He claimed that the court might then have come to the conclusion that no case was made out.

He alleged that it was a deliberate act of concealment of documents, which was an offence.

It was categorically mentioned in the report that there were interruptions in the recording and authenticity could not be

verified without telephone call details and the recording device.

Special Judge BL Soni directed the prosecution to supply a copy of the report to the counsel for the respondents. Four witnesses were examined today. The further recording of witnesses would be conducted on November 16.

Shimla, November 9
Himachal Pradesh University will conduct the annual examination of undergraduate courses in respect of regular, correspondence courses, private and compartment candidates from March 15, 2013.

Stating this here today, the Controller of Examinations said the regular, correspondence courses and private candidates of BA, BSc, Bcom, BPE, Part 1st, 2nd and 3rd year students, who had been placed under compartment in the annual or supplementary examination and students who had passed Shastri and Prabhakar examination could also appear in the examination.

He said the last date for the receipt of examination admission forms and fee was December 31, thereafter, late fee would be charged as per the university rules.

Forms are available at the university and sub-post offices all over the state at a cost of Rs 150.

The university will conduct B.Pharmacy 5th and 7th semester and 1st and 3rd semester (re-appear examination) from December 5. The last date for the receipt of the examination form in the university office is November 19.

Shimla, November 9
The state government today granted approval for procurement of citrus fruits under the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) during the coming harvesting season in the state.

As per the decision taken by the state Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister PK Dhumal here today, B grade kinnow, malta, santra and galgal will be procured at a rate of Rs 6 per kg and C grade at Rs 5.50 per kg.

Galgal will be purchased at Rs 4.50 per kg. Designated agencies will be entitled to Rs 2.65 per kg as handling charges for procurement of kinnow, malta and santra and Rs 1 per kg for galgal.

These fruits will be procured from growers by the designated agencies - HPMC, APAIC and HIMFED - through 54 procurement centres to be set up in the citrus-growing areas of the state.

Out of the estimated total produce of 27,395 tonnes, 500 tonnes of kinnow, malta, santra and 100 tonnes of galgal is proposed to be procured under the scheme.

The scheme will be implemented from November 20, 2012, to February 15, 2013.

It was decided to provide 10,000 tonnes or actual apple procured under MIS during the current apple season to the HPMC free of cost for production of apple juice concentrate.

It also allowed the HPMC’s actual sale price of Rs 1.46 per kg and HIMFED’s Rs 1.57 per kg as against the estimated price of Rs 3 per kg for the apple procured during the apple season of 2010 when the state had a record apple crop.

It directed the field functionaries concerned to check smuggling of ‘naag chhatri’ (trillium govanianum), a perennial medicinal plant found in the temperate zone of the state, and ensure that there was no indiscriminate and excessive exploitation that was posing a threat to it.

The field staff was also directed to check illegal and unscientific mining in different river beds and forest areas across the state and stern action be taken against offenders.

Dharamsala, November 9
White honey of the Bharmour area in Chamba district is believed to possess medicinal properties. Its colour, which is pure white, gives it a distinct place among honey varieties in the world.

The colour is attributed to the unique flora and fauna found in the higher reaches of the Himalayas, especially the Bharmour and Tissa regions in Chamba district.

Residents of the area who are involved in honey farming attribute its colour to the ‘jhinjari’ herb. They said bees pollinate the herb, which has white flowers, and as a result, the honey is white.

They say houses in the area used to be made of wood and bees used to form hives in bamboo reinforcements. With concrete replacing wood, honey production in the area is now limited to honey farmers or those living in forest areas.

Harpal Singh of Khani village in Bharmour has installed the only honey extractor machine in the area. He says the production of about 5 tonne per annum is expected.

Honey farmers are paid between Rs 80 and Rs 90 per kg. Since they do not have much support for marketing the produce, it is generally sold to traders from lower areas who come here during the Minjar fair.

Enquiries reveal that there no study has been conducted by scientists with the agriculture university to list out the medicinal properties of white honey.

If the medicinal properties are listed out, honey farmers can get a better price for white honey.

Government departments can market the honey, which will boost the income of farmers.

Sources say ayurvedic medicine companies used to procure honey from Chamba district. The availability of lower-priced honey from China, which is transported through the Nepal border, has hit the market in Chamba.

Shimla, November 9
The public sector Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) organised a state-level painting competition as part of the “National Awareness Campaign on Energy Conservation” in which selected students from across the state took part.

The first prize of Rs 10,000 was bagged by Yungdrung Rapten of Central School for Tibetans, Oochghat (Solan), while the second and the third prizes of Rs 8,000 and Rs 5,000 were won by Ritvik Banchta of DAV Public School (New Shimla) and Satyam Kumar Singh of Army Public School (Yol Cantonment), respectively.

The three winners will participate at the national-level (final) competition to be held at New Delhi next month. In addition, 10 consolation prizes of Rs 1,000 each were also given to students.

The topics for today's competition were “Save Electricity to Energize more Homes”, “Save Energy, Save Money” and “When it is Bright, Switch off the Light”. Block education officers, who successfully organised this competition, were also felicitated during the function.

The first prize was bagged by Balbir Shastri of Dadahu (Sirmaur), second by SS Chopra (Hamirpur) and third by TR Sharma (Sunni). The competition is organised every year under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Power and the Bureau of Energy Efficiency. Chairman and Managing Director, SJVN, RP Singh presided over the function and distributed the prizes among the winners.

Director (Personnel), NL Sharma, said the number of participants in this event had been increasing every year and from 178 schools and 7,142 students in 2008 it had gone up to 7,186 schools and 1,41,498 students in 2012.

This achievement had bagged the SJVN the prize for “Best Nodal Officer” for the past two years. In his speech, Rajeev Sharma, Director, Elementary Education, HP, emphasised the need of energy conservation.