Tattapani (Mandi), January 13
Thousands of pilgrims took a holy dip in the hot water springs at Tattapani today and weighed themselves on a weighing scale to celebrate Makar Sankranti with traditional fervour.

Pilgrims reached the hot water springs and took a holy dip. The rush was understandable as the bath sites would be submerged in the 800-MW Kol dam next year. The NTPC has started filling up the dam.

Though the NTPC has relocated the hot water springs at a higher location, the government has yet to construct washrooms near the new site.

Pilgrims started taking a dip at 4 am. After taking a holy dip, they took their families and relatives for weighing and donating material to those who traditionally performed ‘tula daan’ ritual.

The local administration made elaborate arrangements for pilgrims, especially women. “We have set up separate baths along the river for women,” said Karsog Subdivisional Magistrate KK Sharma, who oversaw the arrangements.

Police personnel, including women, were deployed for the safety of woman pilgrims around the sacred baths for them. “We have ensured enough parking for pilgrims along the roads so that there is the flow of traffic is smooth,” he added.

He said there was no untoward incident during the pilgrimage today. He added that at least 1 lakh pilgrims were expected to visit Tattapani for the two-day pilgrimage.

Mandi, January 13
In a bid to benefit a private company, the previous government had not only given a body blow to the 1,020-MW Khab storage project by changing the domain of the 262-MW Yangthang-Khab project in Spiti, but also ignored the report of the three-member technical committee that recommended maintaining the pre-bid domain for the project.

Heads may roll in the Yangthang-Khab project as this last-minute change in the domain has come under the scanner after the change of guard. The change in domain has rendered the Khab storage project unfeasible.

The move is allegedly aimed at giving a benefit of 24 MW to a private company, Gammon India Limited, which had pleaded its case before the previous state government.

The domain of the project was pushed downstream the Sutlej by 63 metres even though the Central Water Commission had funded the Rs 16-lakh pre-feasibility study on the domain fixed earlier.

The change of domain resulted in an increase in gross head of the project from 205 metres to 226 metres, thereby increasing the capacity of the project from 261 MW to 285 MW.

This change dealt a body blow to the proposed Khab storage project downstream which was kept with the government-run Himachal Power Corporation Limited.

As per the technical committee, the Khab storage project will have to be abandoned because of change in domain. The government gave a benefit of 26 MW to the company which would earn Rs 800 crore as revenue for a 40-year lease.

“On the other hand, the state will lose a gross revenue of Rs 48,000 crore that it was expected to generate from electricity from the Khab storage project in 40 years,” hydro-power experts point out.

Officials are tight-lipped as the state government changed the domain of a project at the post-bid stage for the first time. This violates the state government’s Power Policy, 2006, and the Centre’s Power Policy, comment experts.

The state government had appointed a three-member technical committee to give its report on the plea of the company. The committee had found the domain to be correct and recommended status quo.

The state government ignored its recommendation and changed the domain as desired by the company. It was allowed under a notification issued on June 15, 2010, that amended the clause of the state government’s Power Policy.

“It allowed the change in domain at the post-allotment stage pleading that the change inf domain does not exceed the increase of 10 per cent in the head of the project, which is illogical, irrational and arbitrary,” sources say.

Dharamsala, January 13
The race for the post of Kangra Central Cooperative Bank (KCCB) Chairman has begun with the change of government. Sources have said RS Mankotia, who is the Chairman at present, is under pressure to resign.

The Congress plans to nominate three members to the KCCB Board to help instal a Chairman of its choice. The Congress has two elected Directors on the Board at present.

Ajit Mahajan is the Director from Shahpur. He has been elected as the Director for the last eight terms. Though he is a Congress loyalist, his appointment as the Chairman will depend on Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

The term of the Board will end in five months. The government will either have to force the Chairman to resign or wait for his term to be over.

The sources have said the government is trying to persuade Mankotia to resign so that it can instal the KCCB Chairman of its choice. Kangra district has got a raw deal in the appointment of the KCCB management.

Successive governments have dithered in the appointment of the Chairman from Kangra district even though most members and Directors are elected from the district.

In the recent elections, eight of the 16 Directors were elected from Kangra district. Three Directors were elected from Una district, two each from Hamirpur and Kullu districts and one from Lahaul-Spiti district.

The previous government had appointed one of the Directors from Hamirpur district as the Chairman. The merit behind the appointment was that Hamirpur was the home district of then Chief Minister PK Dhumal.

Daulat Chaudhary, then Kangra legislator, was the only Chairman from the district from February 1994 to December 1995. The system to elect the Chairperson was put in place in 1987 even though the KCCB was set up in 1920.

Successive governments have appointed political leaders from Una or Hamirpur as the Chairperson. Varinder Gautam from Una district, a confidant of Virbhadra Singh, was the Chairman during all Congress stints in the last 20 years.

The previous government had appointed Pirthi Singh from Hamirpur as the Chairman. It had also nominated three Directors to the Board.

They are then Gangath legislator Des Raj, former Una district Bharatiya Janata Party president Subhash Sahore and then Samirpur pradhan Rakesh Thakur. Samirpur is Dhumal’s native village.

Solan, January 13
Eight workers of Darlaghat-based Ambuja Cements Limited were injured, one of them seriously, in a mishap late last night. A cyclone pre-heater developed a snag while clinker production was under way and subsequent opening of the door led to the bursting out of hot liquid, which spilt on the workers, injuring them.

Ashok Kumar, DSP, Arki, said they learnt of the mishap from the Mohali police, which was informed by Fortis Hospital, where the injured were admitted.

The machine developed a snag. Trouble arose when its door was opened to examine the fault, which led to the spilling out of the hot liquid. The liquid, which was at a high temperature of 500 to 600°C, injured the workers present around the pre-heater. The mishap occurred around 9:30 pm last night.

Among those injured included Kuldeep Kumar, Jagdish Kumar, Rakesh Kumar, Sanjay Gupta, Bhagat Ram, JN Yadav and GS Saluja. The condition of Jagdish Kumar, who suffered maximum burn injuries, is stated to be critical and he is admitted to the ICU of Fortis hospital, Mohali. Jagdish hails from the Darlaghat area.

A case of negligence under Sections 336 and 337 of the IPC has been registered against the plant management and further investigations are on.

Despite such a major mishap having occurred on the premises of the plant, the police was not informed of the mishap and it was only after the management of Fortis informed the Mohali police that the local police was informed.

The Arki DSP admitted that they were informed about the mishap and they visited the plant this afternoon after receiving information from Fortis.

Shimla, January 13
With the revenue deficit grant set to decline by about Rs 400 crore in 2013-14 and state income from sale of power continuing to slide, it is testing time for the new government on the financial front.

The precarious financial position has been eased at least for now with the release of the first instalment of Rs 500 crore of the development policy loan sanctioned by the World Bank to promote green growth of the state.

However, the situation will be quite grim in the next financial year when the full impact of the sops announced by the outgoing government on the eve of Assembly poll to employees and other sections of society will be felt.

According to officials, the impact of various benefits for employees alone will be over Rs 800 crore.

Further, the revenue deficit grant according to the recommendation of the 13th Finance Commission will come down from Rs 1,800 crore to Rs 1,400 crore. Continuing slide in the revenue from sale of power, which has emerged as a major resource in recent years, is only making things worse.

Instead of increasing, the revenue is set to decline by over Rs 300 crore in the current financial year itself. The government will have an additional deficit of about Rs 1,300 crore to bridge during 2013-14.

Despite the receipt of the first instalment of development policy loan, the fiscal deficit during the current financial year is likely to overshoot the projected figure of 2.7 per cent and it could be as high as 4.5 per cent of the gross state domestic product (GSDP).

The government will be hard pressed to raise financial resources to meet the widening revenue gap and it will have no option but to take harsh decisions.

The only way out is to pursue the matter for securing arrears of the claim of the state in BBMB projects in accordance with the Supreme Court verdict.

A committee set up by the Centre for the purpose has worked out the amount to be Rs 4,250 crore. It is a significant amount, which can help the state improve its financial position considerably over the next few years.

Kullu, January 13
Backed by local non-government organisations, Ravi Thakur, the Congress legislator from Lahaul-Spiti, has asserted that he will oppose big hydro-power projects in the landlocked cold desert.

He says he will request Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to allow only small-scale projects considering the fragile ecology and culture of the tribal belt. Ravi Thakur is categorical that no big hydro-power project will be allowed in the fragile Lahaul valley.

The Jispa Sangharsh Samiti and the Sheli Project Sangharsh Samiti have opposed the 300-MW Jispa project on the Bhaga beyond Keylong and the 320-MW Sheli project on the Chenab near Udaipur on the grounds that those will pose a threat to tribal culture and local ecology.

The Himachal Power Corporation Limited is executing the Jispa project while the private company Moser Baer is executing the Sheli and Miyar Nala projects.

Last year, tribal residents of Lahaul-Spiti observed the first-ever Lahaul bandh on Environment Day in protest against the government policy of allotting almost the entire Chenab basin in the tribal belt to independent power producers to set up 14 big and 42 small projects.

The previous government had allotted most of the other projects in the Chenab basin even though the Ministry of Environment and Forests had told it to prepare a basin-wise study on the impact of the projects in the valley first and then maintain a riparian distance of between 1km and 2 km between any two projects.

Sudershan Thakur, convener of the Sheli Project Sangharsh Samiti, said they were encouraged by the stand of the local legislator. “We have no problem if the project does not submerge forest and cultivable land and displace local residents,” he added.

Ravi Thakur, also the convener of the Jispa Sangharsh Samiti, said they would not allow big projects that submerged cultivable land and displaced local residents.

The population in the belt was sparse and no project would be allowed to displace local residents and play with their cultural identity, he asserted.

He told mediapersons here yesterday that he would try to find a way out to minimise damage and submergence due to the Jispa dam.

“We will take up the matter with the Chief Minister and the Department of Tribal Development to chalk out a policy for tapping the hydro-power in Lahaul-Spiti by allowing only small projects to minimise the damage to the ecology and the environment,” he asserted.

Shimla, January 13
The Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Limited (HPSEBL) Employees’ Union has urged the government to review the policies of the previous regime, which “undermined” financial stability of the state power board.

Hailing the decision of the government to avail the bailout package offered by the Centre for financial restructuring of the board to pull it out from the debt trap, the union said a one-time package would not be enough and policy changes were required to find a permanent solution to its financial woes.

The decisions of the previous government, especially with regard to the sale price of the enhanced power share in the BBMB projects, needed to be reviewed to prevent further accumulation of financial deficit, the union said.

The bailout package would end an uncertainty regarding the future of the board and remove the feeling of insecurity among employees and consumers, it said.

It would end the liquidity crisis in the board, but some more initiatives were required, it said.

The union said to improve the distribution system, billing system and revenue collection, recruitment of technical and commercial staff was required at lower levels. It would help reduce commercial losses and ultimately enable the organisation to secure incentives from the Centre under the bailout restructuring plan, it added.

Kuldeep Singh Kharwara, president of the union, said employees and engineers would make collective efforts to fulfil expectation of the government to make the best use of the opportunity to restore the financial health of the board.

Bilaspur, January 13
The matter of upgrading Harlog into a sub-tehsil will be taken up with the Chief Minister soon. This was stated by Ram Lal Thakur, chairman, State Planning Development and 20-Point Implementation Committee, at a state-level Lohri festival organised jointly by the Him Kala Sangam and the Language and Culture Department at Harlog, 35 km from here, today.

Thakur said such cultural functions not only highlighted the local culture but also gave a glimpse of cultural richness of other states as well. These functions played an important role in national integration while stressing on unity in diversity, he added.

He alleged that the BJP government in the state had ignored all the important projects in the district, which were earlier started by the Congress government more than five years ago.

He alleged that the work on the Baghchhal bridge was stalled, not a brick was added to the Berry Dadollan bridge for which Rs 52 crore was sanctioned by the Congress government and the process of allotment of rehabilitation plots to remaining Bhakra Dam oustees was also stopped. He said the new government would soon allot 186 plots to the oustees in Bilaspur town.

He said more than Rs 2 crore was sanctioned by the Centre for the building and machinery of a Trauma Centre in Bilaspur, but the building was inaugurated without making any provisions of staff and machinery for it.

Thakur paid tributes to Swami Vivekananda and said his unique contribution of introducing the real India to the world would always be remembered and his teachings were as practical today as were 150 years ago.

Local MLA Bambar Thakur said a night bus service to Sarkaghat via Harlog would be started soon.

Solan, January 13
The Arki Congress said today that Sukhvinder Singh’s appointment as the working president of the Pradesh Congress Committee would boost youth leadership in the state and help strengthen the party.

Hailing it as a positive step for the party, Sanjay Awasthy, former president of the Block Congress Committee, said Sukhvinder had good organisational skills, since he had risen from the grass-roots level.

Known for his leadership acumen during his Youth Congress days, Sukhvinder’s elevation would help the party put up a united fight in the parliamentary poll, he said.

“The appointment of a young leader as the state president of the Congress will also provide new lease of life to the second line of leadership in the Congress,” he said.

Since senior leaders had been handling this responsibility earlier, the emergence of a young leader is being viewed as step towards promoting the youth in the state.

Bilaspur, January 13
A cow of Jagir Singh of Samtehan village under Kot police station in the Naina Devi area was injured seriously as it touched some bomb-like object and it exploded blowing off most part of its mouth in a jungle near Samtehan village, 95 km from here, yesterday.

Reports said Jagir had taken his cattle, including a buffalo and a cow, to the jungle for grazing, but was stunned when he heard an explosion and found his cow seriously injured and bleeding from the mouth.

Soon after that Jagir Singh saw two youths on a scooter coming from the village side. When he tried to stop them, they left their scooter behind and fled from there.

The police has registered a case and is investigating the matter. It is suspected that the youths had earlier fixed some bomb-like object to kill wild animals and ran away after they found that instead a cow had become victim of their dangerous trap.

Chamba, January 13
Since products of the famous traditional arts and craft of the Chamba region have been internationally recognised, the district administration has taken an initiative to promote these on commercial lines. It will also impart training in the traditional art and craft of painting, Chamba rumal and metal to budding artists of the region.

Talking to mediapersons, Deputy Commissioner, Chamba, Sunil Choudhary said Chamba art and craft products like pahari miniatures, Chamba rumal, metal craft and wood carving had won national awards.

Taking into account the strong need to promote such art and craft products, the district administration would help boost their sale and take up measures for providing facilities to local artisans. The administration would help artisans in showcasing their products at shows and exhibitions where a stall would be allotted to them free of cost.

Rumal means handkerchief, but the Chamba rumal is not to be kept in the pocket. It is generally used for covering gifts, placing on metal and bamboo trays and baskets on special occasions as birthdays, weddings, festivals or fairs. The Chamba rumal is an embroidery work that is a kind of painting on cloth done with needle and thread, Dr Choudhary said.

The DC said the district administration had planned to draw two mini projects with regard to painting and the Chamba rumal motivating young artists to get training in these arts, adding that a stipend would also be provided to the trainees. The endeavour in this direction would go a long way providing employment to local people as well as fulfilling the great demand in the national and international market, he said.

Ghagas (Bilaspur), January 13
The Rs 1.36-crore Deoli fish farm here is running three years behind schedule. The Fisheries Department has put the blame on HIMUDA, the executing agency, for disturbing the bottom of tanks that have developed seepage, not allowing the water to pond.

The department claims that it has deposited Rs 1.25 crore with HIMUDA for completion and ‘concretisation’ of nine fish tanks, but HIMUDA is yet to award tenders. The department blames HIMUDA for the delay in the completion of the fish farm. The delay has hit fish farmers, who face shortage of fish seed to raise stocks in private ponds in the Mandi-Bilaspur region.

Fisheries Director Gurchanran Singh said they could not raise fish in tanks as the bottom of big tanks had developed seepage. “We have urged HIMUDA to repairs the tanks so that we can start seed breeding in the tanks,” he added.

The fish farm produces 1.2 lakh common carp seed every year. “The addition of the nine more tanks will add 50 lakh fingerlings every year. that will meet the shortage of carp seed in the state,” he said.

The department is facing shortage of fish seed in the Gobind Sagar lake and the Pong Dam, the two main fishing ponds in the state. Private pond farmers also face seed shortage every year and the Deoli fish farm will meet some of the demand once it achieves full capacity.

HIMUDA Executive Engineer, Mandi, DK Tandon said they had invited tenders for laying concrete lining in the fish tanks. The seepage in tanks was not due to HIMUDA, but due to shortage of water from the water inlet, he claimed.