Shimla, May 16
The state Wildlife Department will get a fresh population estimation of leopards, snow leopards and monkeys done with the help of experts who will suggest ways and means to reduce man-animal conflict resulting in increased attacks by wild animals.

Experts from an NGO headed by Vidya Athreya, a wildlife biologist, will hold a meeting with the officials of the Wildlife Department here on May 20 to work out a strategy for reducing the increasing man-animal conflict. There is also a proposal to undertake radio-collaring of at least six leopards which will help in analysing their behaviour and tracking their movement.

It was in June 2004 that a survey had been undertaken to assess leopard population in the state which turned out to be 785, which included 24 animals in captivity. Ever since, there has been no scientific estimation. However, considering the frequent attacks by leopards, wildlife experts feel there could have been an apparent increase in their number, which will be known exactly only through their estimation.

“We have invited experts here on May 20. With their help we can work out a strategy to tackle the problem as man-animal conflict is on the rise,” said AK Gulati, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Wildlife.

He said there was also a proposal to undertake radio-collaring of at least six leopards in districts like Mandi, Bilaspur and Hamirpur, where their number is higher.

Gulati said the survey of leopards would also cover snow leopard population estimation, which stood at 35 in 2004. “The snow leopard estimation will be undertaken with the help of experts from the Nature Conservation, Mysore, as they are the nodal agency,” he said. So far, Himachal is the only state in the country to have undertaken population estimation of snow leopards which are also found in the alpine regions of other states like Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand. Monkey estimation will be undertaken with the help of experts from the Wildlife Institute of India, Mysore.

The past experience of having done radio-collaring of one leopard in the Shimla region had helped in tracking its movement and forewarning the locals in case the animal ventured too close to the inhabited areas. “The radio-collaring, funding for which will be provided by the Centre, will help us to study their behaviour and take steps to reduce man-animal conflict,” said Gulati. He said the decrease in territory of animals automatically resulted in their concentration and reduced food habitats compound the problem further.

Shimla, May 16
The government has decided to set up an authority to monitor hydroelectric projects being executed by independent power producers (IPPs) to ensure quality of construction and long-term safety of the projects.

The hydropower projects safety, quality control and water management authority will be created under the Directorate of Energy. Headed by Chief Engineer, Energy, the authority will have a superintending engineer, four executive engineers and other supporting staff. Since 90 per cent of the work in hydroelectric projects like construction of dams, tunnels and power house pertains to civil engineering, the superintending engineer and three executive engineers will be from the civil cadre, while one executive engineer will be from the electrical cadre.

The entire staff for the authority is proposed to be taken on secondment from the state power board. The authority will closely monitor projects during construction and also have periodical inspections during the entire period of 40 years of operation. The objective is to ensure that the projects awarded to private sector under the public private partnership (PPP) for implementation in the BOT (build, operate and transfer) mode are well maintained and kept in good shape when they are handed over to the government after the concession period of 40 years.

The hydropower policy framed in 2006 had a provision for setting an authority for regular monitoring of the projects for ensuring the safety of dams, tunnels, surge shaft and other components of the water conducting system. However, the government failed to constitute the authority all these years.

Concerns about the safety of projects being implemented in the private sector have been raised repeatedly as almost all the projects commissioned so far had faced technical problems. The latest instance pertained to the 1,000-MW Karcham Wangtu, the country’s largest private sector project, which faced problems due to profuse water leakage from the surge shaft and the water-conducting system. The Jaypee Company had to undertake major repairs to rectify the problems.

Earlier, the Malana-II project remained closed for over five months for the rectification of defects which led to leakage from the surge shaft and the pen stock. The Malana-I and Baspa projects had problems in the reservoir wall. All the four major projects in the private sector have been beset with technical problems, underlining the need for putting in place an effective mechanism for the proper monitoring of projects during the course of construction.

Meanwhile, the department has engaged 13 consultants for conducting periodical inspection of projects in various stages of construction to check the quality. 

Kangra, May 16
Management faculty and students were told at Shahpur on Tuesday that communication involved not just soft skills but life skills as well. Prof Roshan Lal Raina, Dean, Planning and Development, Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, said this while addressing them at the Central University of Himachal Pradesh (CUHP).

Dr Manpreet Arora and Ajay Kumar, faculty members of the School of Management Studies, gave this information. They coordinated the two-day workshop on ‘Communication and case analysis’ at the temporary academic block which concluded yesterday.

Professor Raina said all activities depended on communication that was an ongoing process always in motion which began with birth and ended with death. Professor Raina said referring case studies from situations in life was important and the ability to demonstrate cases made a teacher stand out.

CUHP Vice-Chancellor Furqan Qamar said communication could play a major role in various development activities if used constructively. He said communication was an important element and led to innovation and modernisation of society. He said the workshop provided an opportunity to learn analysing and resolving management problems.

CUHP Pro-Vice-Chancellor YS Verma said the workshop was organised to familiarise the faculty and research scholars with the importance in teaching effective communication and to understand case studies as a valuable addition to management education.

Solan, May 16
With a slowdown in the economy, three major cement players of the state have been feeling the pinch of reduced margins and declining demand.

According to the latest quarterly report released by the Motilal Oswal Financial Services (MOFS) of the three cement companies, ACC Limited, Ambuja Cements Ltd (ACL) and JP cements, it will be tough for these companies to maintain pricing discipline in the present circumstances and the approaching monsoon is supposed to add to the slowdown.

According to the MOFS report, in ACC cements, the top-line numbers witnessed a decline of 2.9 per cent on a year-to-year basis, while in the ACL this decline was 3.3 per cent for the last quarter.

With financial analysts assessing the current inflationary trends to continue with only moderate easing issues like higher freight, costs have become a cost of concern for the cement companies in the state.

This was especially so as the higher freight charged by the truckers was not only leading to higher costs of cement in the state vis-à-vis neighbouring states but also the rising cost of diesel was supposed to further add to the burden.

“Though all the three cement companies have implemented a marginal decline in the price of cement following pressure from the state government, sustaining this reduced price for long have become a question of concern for the cement companies,” a senior executive of a cement company said.

The state government is, however, not satisfied with the marginal decline in prices effected voluntarily by the cement companies and these companies are expected to reduce the price by Rs 40 per bag.

While the question of cement being available at a higher cost in Himachal than the neighbouring state had become a cause of concern for the people and the government, the declining real estate market too contributed to the drastic decline in the demand of cement, Anil Kumar, a builder, said. He added that the higher interest cost was a major reason for the decline in the real estate sector. 

Hamirpur, May 16
Himachal Pradesh Technical University (HPTU), which is holding a joint entrance test for the first time for admissions to graduate and postgraduate courses, has extended the last date for submission of application forms.

The university has invited application form from students seeking admissions to B.Pharma, M.Pharma and MTech courses in various institutes.

The last date for procuring the prospectus for these courses was kept for May 15 by HPTU, which has now been extended to May 24.

Total 900 seats in B.Pharma, 162 seats in M.Pharma and 222 seats in MTech are available at present in various institution and seats in postgraduation courses may increase or decrease as per recommendation of the All-India Council for Technical Education.

The prospectuses for these courses are being sold at Rs 1,000 and entrance test has been scheduled for June 8 in various centres.

The HPTU is also starting three new courses at Jawahar Lal Nehru Government Engineering College, Sunder Nagar, from the current session, which are BTech in textile, civil and mechanical engineering.

Twenty four seats would be available in all these three courses at Sunder Nagar Engineering College.