Shimla, September 15
The entry of the delicious Kinnaur apple hasn’t been of much help in lifting the market, which has been consistently going through a low this season. The bumper crop had already created a glut in the market and the prices took a plunge. Though the overall arrivals of apples have declined, there has been no impact on prices for the growers.

The initial lots of apple from Kinnaur, which normally fetched over Rs 2,000 per box, are being sold for Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,400 per box in the Delhi market. Known for its high quality worldwide, the tribal district of Kinnaur is expected to produce over 20 lakh boxes; 3.20 lakh boxes, mostly from the Nichar region, have already been sent to the market. The price of the best quality apple from other regions is hovering between Rs 800 and Rs 1,000 per box.

The daily arrivals in the market have declined from 5.50 lakh boxes to 4.30 lakh boxes in the past one week, but it has not helped in improving the rates. Besides over 20,000 tonnes of fruit has been procured under the market intervention scheme (MIS).

With prices remaining low, big fresh-fruit companies like Adani Agrifresh, Dev Bhoomi and the state-owned HPMC have procured huge quantities and their cold stores are filled to the capacity. The companies started the procurement of apple at Rs 51 to Rs 54 per kg in the beginning of the season, but as the market remained sluggish and the harvesting picked up, they reduced the procurement rate by Rs 10 to Rs 12 per kg. These companies have together stored about 18 lakh boxes.

The Container Corporation of India, which has signed an agreement with growers for procuring fruit at the rate of Rs 1,200 per box anticipating that devaluation of the rupee would discourage imports, has been reluctant in procuring the crop on the grounds that there has been a fire in its store near Kundli.

Apple growers alleged that the company was backing out due to the downswing in the market. With over 20 per cent crop in Kullu and 30 per cent in Shimla district, which together account for almost 90 per cent of the total production, yet to be harvested, the market may not gain much.

The growers cannot afford to wait for the Navratras when the market is likely to look up, as the twin attack of fungi and mite is causing premature defoliation of plants in the high areas. The growers are in a hurry to market the fruit before it gets damaged.

Dharamsala, September 15
The higher reaches of the Dhauladhar mountain ranges flanking the Kangra valley received the first snowfall of the season this evening. The top mountain ranges of the Dhauladhars, that have a height up to 12,000 ft, wore a white mantle to the delight of locals and tourists. However, soon the mountain ranges were covered with a cloud that shielded the white mantle of the mountains.

As the higher reaches received snowfall, the lower regions were lashed by heavy rain and hail storm in some areas. Snowfall in the higher reaches of the Dhauladhars signals the start of winter in the Kangra valley. After snowfall there is a significant drop in the temperature, especially during morning and evening hours.

Mandi, September 15
The tarring and carpeting work on the 473-km Manali-Leh National Highway in the snowbound Lahaul and Spiti and other parts of the state have come to a standstill due to the blanket ban on mining by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in the country since August 5.

The ban on mining has impacted various road projects of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), the Public Works Department and private companies as there is not enough construction material available.

The ban has also led to illegal mining, sending the prices of sand, stone and gravel through the roof in the state in the past one month. Private builders lamented that a tractor-trailer of sand was being sold at Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 and the house construction had become every expensive.

In Lahaul and Spiti, out of eight stone crushers, four catering to BRO have shut down as they did not have the licence from the Mining Department. The remaining four stone crushers are only able to meet the burgeoning demand to a small extent, sources said.

The widening and maintenance work is underway on the Tandi-Udaipur road in Lahaul and Spiti. The time to execute the project is short and there is a shortage of mining material, said a BRO engineer.

“We are facing an acute shortage of sand and mining material needed for road tarring and surfacing as the stone crushers have been closed. We have to procure the material from other parts, which is every expensive due to high transportation cost”, he added.

Besides, road projects of the PWD and private companies have also been hit in the Mandi-Kullu region and other parts of the state due to the ban.

At present, the demand for stone, sand and gravel needed for roads and projects is being met from through illegal and black markets.

Most stone crushers are concentrated in Kangra, Mandi, Kullu, Una, Bilaspur, Solan, Sirmaur and Shimla districts. They operate in odd hours as their mining lease have expired and they have yet to get the environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, said mining officials.

Kangra, September 15
The Nagrota Bagwan bus stand will be equipped with modern facilities at a cost of Rs 1 crore. Besides, a shopping mall and a shopping complex will be constructed there.

This was stated by Food and Civil Supplies, Technical Education and Transport Minister GS Bali at Nagrota Bagwan yesterday.

He said on the pattern of the Nagrota Bagwan bus stand, shopping complexes would be constructed in other bus stands of the state too. He added that the shopping complexes would be allotted to people from the weaker sections on a priority basis. The Minister also addressed public meetings at Nagrota Bagwan, Sheerathana, Pathiar and Raijiana and heard the grievances of people.

He said on festivals consumers would be provided an additional 2 kg of sugar on a no-profit and no-loss basis.

Bali said the Volvo bus service between Baijnath and Delhi had been recently started keeping in mind people of Baijnath, Palampur and Nagrota Bagwan. He added that three seats were reserved in the bus for the Nagrota Bagwan bus stand.

He said passengers travelling in the Himachal Road Transport Corporation buses with return ticket with get 10 per cent concession in the fare. He said this facility would be provided to the passengers in all buses and in the Volvo bus from Dharamshala to Delhi, passengers would get a benefit of Rs 114. The minister added that Rs 32 lakh would be spent on the construction of Khuls in Pathiar and Lakhamandal areas of Nagrota Bagwan.

Block Congress president Partap Choudary, general secretary Cherat Choudhary and District Congress Committee member Manoj Mehta were also present on the occasion.

Kangra, September 15
The state government has finally decided to reimburse Rs 5.38 lakh to the family of a seven-year-old girl, on whom a cochlear implant surgery was performed on July 8.

It was performed during a two-day free ENT camp organised by the local branch of Vivekananda Kendra, an NGO. Dr Sanjay Sachdeva, Director, ENT, Head and Neck Surgery, Max Group of Hospitals, performed her implant surgery at the Zonal Hospital, Dharamsala.

Srishti, a resident of Boda village of the Bhawarna block of the district, was having congenital hearing impairment. Her parents had urged the state government through the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan for funding, which the department failed to provide even after more than a year.

Sandeep Kumar, girl’s father, said he was asked to get the funding from the NRHM through the BMO, Bhawarna, but in vain.

However, they arranged Rs 5.38 lakh for the implant and a surgery was conducted free of cost at the Zonal Hospital, Dharamsala.

However, following The Tribune report on July 9 published in these columns highlighting government’s apathy towards the seven-year-old, the state government directed Dr Rakesh Kumar Sharma, Senior Medical Superintendent, Zonal Hospital, Dharamsala, to submit a detailed report regarding the surgery.

The state government has decided to reimburse Rs 5.38 lakh to the girl’s family, which was the cost of the implant.

Dr Sharma said today that he had received a communication in this connection and the Director, Health Services, had directed the Chief Medical Officer, Kangra, to reimburse the amount to Srishti’s family. 

Bilaspur, September 15
Congress state senior vice-president Chander Kumar Chaudhary has challenged top leaders of the BJP, including MP Anurag Thakur, to come out with a single achievement which they might have brought to the Hamirpur constituency.

Talking to mediapersons at the Circuit House here yesterday, Kumar said all the projects and schemes here were brought by the Congress government. He said he would be happy to know if BJP MP Anurag Thakur stated his “single achievement” for the district.

Those who were present on the occasion included party state general secretary Ram Lal Thakur, MLA Bambar Thakur, former MLA Baburam Gauttam, District Congress Committee president Santosh Dhiman and district Mahila Congress president Anjana Dhiman. 

Shimla, September 15
Former Chief Minister PK Dhumal has accused the Congress of misleading the people on the issue of imposition of additional 4 per cent VAT on goods sold through CSD canteens to serving personnel and ex-servicemen.

In a statement here today, he alleged that ministers were concealing facts and indulging in falsehood to mislead service personnel.

He said the statement of Congress ministers that the rate of VAT had been reduced from 13.7 per cent imposed by the BJP regime to 4 per cent was “false and mischievous”. The BJP government had totally exempted CSD goods from VAT and no tax was ever levied on grocery and liquor, he added.

The reality was that the Congress government had by imposing VAT “hurt” the feelings of the service personnel, he said.

He said instead of “misleading” people, the government should place the facts before them. He said CSD goods were already being taxed at the rate of 6.5 per cent by the Punjab government, which was later reduced to 2 per cent. However, the BJP government in the state did not impose any tax. Now the Congress regime had levied VAT at 4 per cent, which would effectively raise the level of VAT to 12.05 per cent, he said. 

Shimla, September 15
A spokesperson of the Excise and Taxation Department said here yesterday that the state government had issued a notification for imposing 4 per cent VAT on CSD canteen on the request of the Army authorities.

He said the imposition of tax would not affect the interests of Army families of the state and on the contrary would generate additional income to the state government.

He said recommendations in this regard were received from the Army and other allied organisations such as Sarvatar Canteen, Sarkaghat Canteen Stores Department, Pathankot, seeking imposition of VAT. He said the decision to impose 4 per cent VAT was taken at a civil-military liaison meeting which was held on May 21.

The Head of the Army Western Command had requested in the meeting to decrease the VAT percentage to 4-5 per cent from the present 14.3 per cent.

Solan, September 15
Jaypee Cements in the state appears to be going through a financial crisis with its royalty cheque bouncing for insufficient funds. The mining wing of the Industries Department recently imposed a penalty of Rs 9.86 lakh for the bounced cheque.

In June, a cheque of Rs 1.5 crore issued by Jaypee Cements towards its monthly royalty in lieu of undertaking mining of major minerals bounced due to insufficient funds.

A penalty of Rs 9.86 lakh, which is 24 per cent interest of the principal amount, was imposed by the mining wing as penalty for the late payment, confirmed Mining Officer Sarit Chander.

Jaypee Cements had contributed Rs 5.56 crore from April to August this year for its 337-hectare mining area. Royalty is calculated at the rate of Rs 63 per metric ton of clinker produced by a cement unit.

Sources said the management of Jaypee Cements had requested the officials to grant them some time to make the payment in June. But no relaxation was granted as it involved a huge amount.

With the Bagha-based Jaypee Cements already facing a court case for various violations pointed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, the development appeared to have further sullied the image of the group, which is the largest investor in the state.

The Jaypee Associates were in the process of selling their Gujarat plant to Ultra Tech and endeavouring to sell its stakes in the hydel power projects in the state in order to lower its debt levels and raise Rs 120bn to Rs 130 bn, according to financial analysts India Nivesh’s latest report, a copy of which was available with The Tribune.

The two major cements plants - Jaypee Cements and Ambuja Cements - contributed an annual royalty of Rs 52 crore to the state in lieu of mining activity in the last financial year. 

Sundernagar, September 15
A one-day National Service Scheme (NSS) camp was organised at MLSM Degree College here today. A large number of volunteers attended the camp, which was organised under the supervison of four of their teachers Sanjay Kumar, Kabita Sharma, Ralmal and Balwant.

During the camp the campus was cleaned completely. Around 100 volunteers started the cleanliness work early in the morning and ended it around 4.30 pm.

The NSS volunteers of the college have been doing a lot of social work in the vicinity of the college in the past, revealed the authorties.

Shimla, September 15
The government will approach the Wildlife Institute of India to help identify the outstanding universal value of the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) in Kullu to pave the way for the bestowing of the world heritage status on it.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and other agencies, including the Nature and Natural Resources (NNR), have sought more details from the state government before the national park, which has rich bio-diversity, can be declared a world heritage natural site. The issue was discussed during the 37th Committee Session of UNESCO in Cambodia in June.

“We have been asked by UNESCO to get an analytical study done so as to assess the outstanding universal value of the GHNP in comparison to other similar sites in the Himalayan region in its vicinity,” said AK Gulati, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and Wildlife. He added that supplementary information had to be provided to the UNESCO by February next year.

“We will soon approach the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, to identify the unique selling point (USP) of the GHNP in comparison to other areas like the Valley of Flowers in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand and Nanda Devi ranges,” he said.

UNESCO is keen that the formalities like issuing the notification for including an additional 90-sq km of the area in the Sainj valley and 61-sq km in the Tirthan valley is issued so that the total area of the GHNP increases to 905 sq km from the present 754.4 sq km. This could mean including nearby sanctuaries like the Pin valley and Rupi Bhaba to have a greater GHNP conservation area.

The notification for merger has been held back, as three villages - Shugar, Shatki and Maror - in Sainj will become part of the GHNP. UNESCO is keen on involvement of the community so that the traditional rights of locals in the eco-zone are addressed to their satisfaction.

The GHNP is one of the most picturesque areas in the Western Himalayas. It is well known for its exquisite floral and faunal biodiversity. The boundaries of the GHNP are contiguous with the Pin Valley National Park (675 sq km) in Trans-Himalaya, the Rupi Bhaba Wildlife Sanctuary (503 sq km) in the Sutlej watershed and the Kanawar Wildlife Sanctuary (61 sq km) covering a range of wildlife habitats representing the biodiversity of Western Himalaya - from tropical to alpine.

Dharamsala, September 15
The state government is in the dock over the encroachments by Tibetans on the reserve forest land in Kangra district. There are about 210 cases of encroachments by Tibetans on the forest land in Dharamsala and McLeodganj.

Acting on the Himachal Pradesh High Court’s order, Forest Department officials have removed a large numbers of encroachments on the forest land in Kangra district. However, in the drive against encroachment on the forest land, none of encroachments made by Tibetans has been removed.

The district administration as well as the Forest Department has been hesitant in acting against the encroachments made by Tibetans on the forest land due to their refugee status.

Recently, in response to a petition, a team appointed by the High Court inspected the areas where Tibetans had encroached upon the forest land. The team visited Kangra district and is likely to submit its report to the court.

Meanwhile, Tibetan authorities have started lobbying to save their infrastructure on the encroached land. Sources said a delegation of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) had met the Chief Secretary to seek the solution to the problem.

The Tibetans are claiming that they had been staying in the area even before the land in question was declared a forest land. However, there is no such entry in revenue records to prove the claim.

The government had brought a policy to give one-time relaxation to Tibetans who have encroached upon forest land by regularising their properties. However, the policy was never implemented.

Tibetan Children Villages (TCV) are also located on forest land. The sources said the state government might not be able to help Tibetans as it had to seek permission from a special empowered committee of the Ministry for Environment and Forests for diversion of forest land for any other purpose. Even if the state government wanted to regularise the encroachments, it would have to seek permission from the committee.

Though the Forest Department is removing encroachments on forest land every year, fresh cases are coming up in McLeodganj and its surrounding areas. New buildings are coming up on forest land right under the nose of local authorities.

Shimla, September 15
The Skill Development Scheme launched by the government to enhance employability will benefit 83,000 youth during the current year.

The programme started to generate trained manpower required by various sectors in the state will entail an expenditure of Rs 500 crore over five years. The emphasis of the programme is on skill development of youth so as to provide them better employment and self-employment opportunities. The government said better professional education coupled with skill enhancement could help in fetching the best of job opportunities.

The state has immense potential for the development of small and cottage industry, particularly agro-horticulture-based fruit and vegetable processing industry and other units based on locally available raw material. It also has a vast scope of employment generation in tourism and service sectors for which skill development programme will be of great help.

Under the scheme, eligible educated youth in the age group of 18-35 years will be provided Rs 1,000 per month as skill development allowance for a period of 2 years. Persons with 50 per cent or more disability will get an allowance of Rs 1,500 per month. Any unemployed bona fide Himachali, who has passed matriculation, can avail the benefit under the scheme, provided his name is registered with the employment exchange in the state as on the date of application. Besides, his income from all sources should not exceed Rs 2 lakh per annum.

Applicant could enrol in any skill development course in the country. Eligible persons will have to provide a self-attested performa in respect of his status as unemployed and other documents pertaining to qualification, photo- identity and domicile status.

The eligible unemployed youth would be provided this allowance for a period of two years. If the applicant under the time-frame of two years undergoes skill development training first for one year and then subsequent trainings for 6 months in two stints, he will be eligible to get the allowance for these courses also. A skill development authority and skill development corporation will be set up and training centre will be started a various places.

The Government of India has announced that a Regional Centre of Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) for the benefit of small and medium enterprises (SME) will be set up in Shimla at a cost of Rs 50 crore. The Centre would facilitate the process of industrialisation in the state. A spice park will be set up at Nadaun in Hamirpur district, which will have an extension centre in Sirmaur for facilitating ginger growers. 

Bilaspur, September 15
The Ghumarwin Bar Association has opposed the move of the government to appoint 75 courts of Special Magistrates on a contract or temporary basis for a year with finances provided under the 13th Finance Commission.

The association has said this system is fraught with lowering the institution of judiciary and may lower trust of the public in it, ultimately lead to lowering dignity and status of courts.

The association expressed doubt if such an arrangement can prove useful to society and be successful, particularly when they would be purely temporary without service security and accountiablity.

Association president Lekh Ram Nadda, who is also former state convener of the HP State Congress Legal Cell, said such special courts would be held in rented accommodations without any proper infrastructure, thus, making it difficult for advocates to appear in the private premises courts after leaving their normal work in regular courts. Such courts would only give unworthy impression of judiciary among litigants and help in eroding dignity and decorum of the judiciary.

The association also felt that instead of wasting funds on Special Magistrates, these should be utilised for appointing required regular judges and providing infrastructure for regular courts under a time-bound programme, which would help in the speedy disposal of cases in the regular courts.

The association is of the view that presently precious work days of regular judges are being spent in organising camps and seminars on legal literacy. It demanded that these funds from the Finance Commission should be utilised for appointing “special legal literacy awakening officers” to hold the camps and seminars so that regular judges are available and free to look into their pending cases in courts.

Kangra, September 15
Financial benefits to the tune of Rs 27 crore have been provided to employees of the Kangra Central Cooperative Bank (KCCB) during the last five months and all the KCCB branches will have ATM services.

This was stated by Jagdish Sipaiya, Chairman, KCCB Board of Directors, while talking to mediapersons here yesterday. He said the demands regarding employees's wages had already been accepted.

He thanked the members for electing him Chairman and Kuldeep Pathania Vice-Chairman of the bank. He said it was for the first time in the history of the KCCB that Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had announced a hike in the dearness allowance of state employees on Independence Day this year and KCCB employees were given this benefit immediately.

On the occasion, members of the Board of Directors, Managing Director Hans Raj Chauhan and General Manager Jaswant Rana too were present.

Bilaspur, September 15
Chotte Lal, a pujari at the Naina Devi shrine in the district and a bed-ridden paralytic for the past eight years, has urged Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh “to allow him to kill himself” so that he should be saved from the unending agony of dying inch by inch and seeing his family on the verge of starvation.

Talking to mediapersons at his home in Naina Deviji, 95 km from here, on Thursday, Chotte Lal’s wife Roop Rani said her husband had written this representation to the Chief Minister requesting him to allow him to die in one go (self-immolation) instead of bearing the extreme pain of dying a slow death.

She said since 1987, all pujaris at the shrine were getting equal rights and remuneration for performing puja there. But now, the government had introduced a new system of distribution of offerings to pujaris and it had ended in providing his family a petty amount of Rs 2,000 per month, making it difficult for them to make ends meet, what to talk of meeting his monthly expenditure of Rs 20,000 on treatment and medicines.

She said the new remuneration system had made a few pujaris millionaires and a large number of them paupers.

She said two pujaris were getting Rs 18 lakh, 15 pujaris Rs 75 lakh, 37 pujaris Rs 1.37 crore, 90 pujaris Rs 16 lakh every quarter and four pujaris only Rs 1,166 per month.

Roop Rani said her younger son was under depression and there was no money in the house for his treatment.

Kangra, September 15
A couple was robbed of golden ornaments and the husband shot at by two masked motorcycle-borne youths on the National Highway-70 at Upper Kulwaha falling under the Jawalamukhi police station on Friday.

DSP, Dehra, BD Bhatia, said Bupinder Singh and his wife Neelam, residents of Rakkar Chowla, were on their way to Amb-Una on their scooter, when two youths on a motorcycle intercepted them on the Nadun-Amb road. They pointed a pistol at the couple and snatched golden ornaments from Neelam. Before escaping, the two criminals fired a shot at Bupinder.

Mohinder Singh, a passenger who was travelling on a PRTC bus, alighted, picked up the injured and sent him in a vehicle to Amb hospital from where he was referred to the PGI. However, his family took him to a private hospital in Jalandhar, where he was operated upon.

The Dehra DSP and the Una SP reached the spot. An alert was sounded and all exit points of the state were sealed to nab the culprits. 

Hamirpur, September 15
The Hamirpur police has booked four local leaders on various charges, including molestation. A woman, led by BJP activists, on Friday, filed a complaint against Sewa Dal leaders Naresh Lakhanpal, Surender Agnihotri, Rajeev Chopra and Kuldeep Sharma at the Hamirpur police station.

The woman had allegedly slapped a Home Guard personnel posted at the Regional Hospital here on Thursday. Later, she had accused the four Sewa Dal leaders of molesting her.

“We have registered an FIR against the four leaders under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force on woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code,” DSP Dr Shiv Kumar said.

Naresh Lakhanpal, spokesman, Sewa Dal, said: “They have been implicated falsely for political reasons.”

Chief Parliamentary Secretary ID Lakhanpal said: “The woman and her accomplice were staying in a rest house for the past few days misusing my name. When Sewa Dal activists went to the rest house, the woman misbehaved with them and later filed a complaint to the police.” Former BJP MLA Baldev Sharma has demanded the arrest of accused Sewa Dal leaders.