Hamirpur, January 19
Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur launched the state-level pulse-polio programme by administering polio drops to a child at the Community Health Centre in Badsar here today.

He said in the first phase, 7.5 million children would be administered the drops for which 5,894 booths had been set up and nearly 23,000 employees had been deputed.

Dharamsala, January 19
The state government's step to exempt religious bodies from the Land Ceiling Act will legalise thousands of acres of benami land owned by many deras in Kangra district.

According to an information procured by RTI activists, these deras have about 10,000 acres, most of which are benami.

According to the Act, nobody can procure more than 300 kanals in Himachal Pradesh. However, many religious deras have bought thousands of acres in the name of their followers. Purchasing the land in the name of their followers amounts to benami land transactions, according to state revenue laws.

The District Magistrate and Division Commissioner, Kangra, had cancelled two land deals procured allegedly in the names of their followers.

The District Magistrate had declared about 500-kanal land on which a monastery was brought up by the Karmapa sect of Tibetans in the Trilokpur area of the district as benami. It was brought in the name of many followers of the sect, including those residing in Kinnaur district. The Division Commissioner had declared the land bought by the Ram Rahim trust on the Kangra-Palampur road benami on similar grounds.

In both cases, the sects have moved higher revenue courts in appeal. Though action was taken at the District Magistrate and Commissioner levels, the cases of procurement of land in the names of followers, who are the residents of Himachal, have not invited any action.

The Radha Soami sect had also procured land in Kangra district. The land also included tea gardens.

Villagers residing in the area alleged that sect followers had changed the nature of tea gardens.

Shiv Paul Singh an ex-pradhan of Ganeta village had lodged a complaint with the Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, regarding the alleged levelling of tea gardens by Radha Soami dera members in Paror and blasting being done for the purpose. However, no action was taken on their complaint by district authorities.

Even no action was taken against the Ram Rahim sect for changing the nature of a tea garden.

The land holdings in Himachal are small due to divisions of land among families. Politicians have been criticising benami land deals and sale of large tracks of land to outsiders just to make it a political agenda. However, none is raising its voice against the construction on land by religious deras.

The Congress government had included benami transactions in its chargesheet issued against the previous BJP government. However, now with the government decision to exempt the religious deras from the Land Ceiling Act, all benami land transactions will be regularised.

The state government should develop planned industrial areas or IT parks in the state that can generate employment for the youth.

Shimla, January 19
The intermittent spell of snow, coupled with the ongoing winter chill, has come as a ray of hope for apple orchards in the state which needs 1,200-1,600 hours of chilling, a prerequisite for a good apple crop.

Farmers are a happy lot as the ongoing spell of chill and snow will be beneficial to the Shimla-Kinnaur-Kullu-Mandi-Chamba-Lahaul apple belt across the state.

“The minimum temperature has dipped below 7°C in the apple belt which is good for the apple crop,” said Laxman Thakur, Chairman, Ecohorts cooperative of farmer, Nandpur (Shimla).

The orchards needed more snow as they were devoid of moisture earlier, he added.

The apple plants need 1,200-1,600 hours of chilling for their proper conditioning. “The present spell of snow is beneficial for orchards as it has a high-moisture content. Chilling begins when temperature plunges below 7°C and trees are in a dormant state,” said Dr BS Thakur, a senior scientist, Fruit Research Station of the Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Mashobra.

“Chilling is required because it induces dormancy, conditions the plants and facilitates the growth of buds and leaves,” the scientist added.

There are other critical factors which play an important role for the growth of a good fruit, but scientists said that apple plants needed optimum 1,200-1,600 hours of chilling each season.

Farmers said, “If chilling hours are less, the plant growth staggers, affecting the normal growth of leaves, buds and flowers.”

“If it does not snow, it does not mean chilling will not take place. “As soon as the temperature plummets below 7°C, it starts naturally. But the snows aids and maintains chilling,” the scientists said. 

Shimla, January 19
The Hindustan-Tibet highway was opened to vehicular traffic today. Deputy Commissioner, Shimla, Dinesh Malhotra said Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) buses operated normally as the roads closed due to snowfall were opened for vehicular movement.

However, cold wave conditions prevailed in the tribal areas with Bharmaur, Keylong and Kalpa recording minimum temperatures at -11.0°C, -9.1°C and -3.6 °C, respectively, while high-altitude tribal areas reeled under arctic conditions with the mercury staying between -15°C and -20°C.

The minimum night temperatures fluctuated marginally. Manali and Solan shivered at -2.6°C and 0.6 °C while Shimla recorded a minimum of 1.1°C followed by Una 2°C, Palampur and Sundernagar 3.2°C, Bhuntar 3.5°C and Dharamsala 5.2°C.

Paonta Sahib in Sirmaur district received 18 mm of rain, while Nahan, Jubbal and Solan had 4 mm, 3 mm and 2 mm of rain.

The maximum temperature of Una, Bhuntar and Sundernagar was recorded at 20.4°C, 19.2°C and 19.1°C, respectively, followed by Nahan 17.8°C, Solan 17.5°C and Dharamsala 14.8°C.

Shimla recorded a maximum temperature of 13.6°C while Kalpa recorded a maximum temperature of 5.8°C.

The local Met Department has predicted dry weather over the next 24 hours and rain or snow at many places on January 21, 22 and 2.

Hamirpur, January 19
The reported move of the Baba Balak Nath Temple Trust, Deotsidh, on reinstatement of two employees of the trust, suspended for the alleged embezzlement a few months back, roused the anger of people here.

The chairman of the trust (SDM Badsar) has constituted a two-member committee to review the decision which will submit a report on the basis of which the employees are likely to be reinstated.

Two employees, Vikrmajeet Singh and Anil Kumar, were put under suspension for the alleged embezzlement in the trust office a few months ago after an FIR was registered against them.

The SDM had suspended the employees when it was detected that the employees had allegedly raised fake bills by tampering a printing order for printing permit booklets.

Interestingly, Vikramjeet Singh had been under the scanner of the department for an alleged irregularity and was reinstated after his services were terminated in an alleged goat auction scam some time back.

Vikramjeet Singh and Anil Kumar had tampered a printing order for printing 500 booklets of permits and inflated the printing order for 5,000 booklets with the intent of overdrawing money through inflated bills.

SDM Akshay Sood said, “The employees were suspended so that they could not tamper the record related to the case and now inquiry is already complete. There is a provision in the trust rules to review the suspension of any employee after 90 days for which I have constituted a committee and final decision will be based on the committee report.”

Shimla, January 19
Decks have been cleared for the development policy loan worth Rs 600 crore for the state by the World Bank following the approval of the proposal by the Department of Economic Affairs, Union Finance Ministry.

A high-level team of the World Bank will visit Shimla from January 21 to 24 for the final appraisal of environment protection steps taken by the government for availing the Rs 600-crore development policy loan.

The team will review the steps taken by the key departments such as power, tourism, industry, environment and forests, pollution control board and watershed in consonance with fiscal policy loan advanced for various sectors in 2007.

It will hold discussions with the Chief Secretary, secretaries and other key officers and submit its report and the final negotiations will held in Delhi from February 10 to 12.

The World Bank has agreed in principle to sanction the loan and the Department of Economic Affairs has also given its nod, Director, Environment and Science and Technology SS Negi, who returned here after attending a meeting in Delhi, said.

A World Bank board would meet on March 21 and the loan would be sanctioned by the end of the current financial year, he added. The loan, comprising 90 per cent grant, would be given at a highly subsidised rate of 0.45 per cent.

The state government earlier made a bid for the World Bank loan of Rs 1,100 crore in 2012 but the proposal was rejected and the state was advised to prepare a fresh proposal, scaling down the loan to Rs 600 crore.

The state made a fresh bid with a revised proposal in August 2013 which was approved in September 2013 and after the clearance by the Economic Affairs Department, the World Bank team is reaching here on January 21.

Dr Negi said advancing the fiscal policy loan of Rs 540 crore in 2007, the World Bank had put certain conditions such as establishment of separate department of environment, revision of the tourism policy, making pollution data online by pollution control board, environment impact assessment of hydropower projects.

The government had already set up separate department of environment, brought changes in the tourism policy, made pollution data about pharma units online and taken some other steps and the World Bank team would review the measures, he added.

The loan would be utilised for major environment protection measures, including cumulative environment impact and assessment report on hydropower projects on the Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Chenab and Yamuna basins.

Negi said the World Bank and the Centre had also agreed for another loan of Rs 600 crore under the clean technology fund and asked the state to sent detailed proposals in this regard.

Looking for a pleasant drive? You can’t do better than the newly widened road that winds through the Shivalik foothills from Kumarhatti to Nahan. You get 73 km of scenic splendour. However, road widening inevitably takes its toll on trees along the road and environmentalists now are keenly watching to see that promises of reforestation are kept.

Many towns on this route are tempting stop-overs, but none more than Paonta Sahib, Himachal’s most southerly city. Here the Yamuna descends into the plains - on one side of the river is Himachal and on the other is Uttarakhand.

Most visitors stop to pay obeisance at the historic gurdwara that commemorates the visit of Guru Gobind Singh. The Guru was just 18 when Raja Medini Prakash of Nahan invited him to come and stay with him. The Guru’s father had been martyred nine years earlier. From Nahan, the Guru rode up the valley of the Jamuna until he reached a spot that pleased him and he made camp. This place is now called Paonta Sahib.

There are two legends claiming to account for the name. One says that the Guru ordered his horse to ‘Paaon Tika’ (set foot here). Another says that he lost his ‘paonta’, a kind of anklet, while bathing in the river here.

It was during his four-year sojourn at Paonta Sahib that the Guru confronted the hill rajas led a by Raja Bhim Chand of Kehlur and routed them in the battle of Bhangani — a place some 10 km northeast of Paonta Sahib. The year was 1686. It was during this period that the Guru began to train his men in warfare. It was also a time of prolific literary output — Chandi di Vaar, Jap Sahib and several translations were written here. The Guru’s pens are displayed at the gurdwara.

Two years later the Guru departed for Chakk Nanki, later named Anandpur Sahib. Just 4 km north of Paonta Sahib is another gurdwara associated with Guru Gobind Singh.

According to legend, the Guru was out hunting when he came across a lion. On seeing the Guru the lion lost its ferocity and became as docile as a housecat. The Guru challenged it to behave like a lion, its true nature returned and it attacked the Guru, only to be cut down instantly. The gurdwara built on the site of this incident is called Gurdwara Sher Gah.

Shimla, January 19
Former Chief Minister PK Dhumal said today that those who had indulged in corruption would go to jail, not those who exposed it.

Reacting to a statement of the Chief Minister that Dhumal would have to go to jail this time, the BJP leader said it was Virbhadra Singh who should be a worried man and not him as he had nothing to hide. “It is Virbhadra Singh who is in the dock for taking unsecured loans from an individual, executing a power project in HP, a meteoric rise in his income from apple orchards only in three years when he was the Union Steel Minister and questionable financial transactions by his family members,” he remarked.

Dhumal said he, along with senior BJP leaders, including Arun Jaitley, was seeking answers from Virbhadra on all the corruption allegations and no answer had been given so far. “Had there been any answer to all these allegations, was it possible that the Chief Minister would have kept quiet for so long,” he remarked.

He further said if there was no wrongdoing by the Chief Minister, then why did he not make mention of the company owned by his son and daughter and the shares held by his MP wife Pratibha Singh and the children in his election affidavit before the December 2012 Assembly poll.

He said the Chief Minister had yet to answer to a letter written by the BJP leader on January 6, 2014. “He has remained silent over the issues I raised in that letter, a copy of which I even addressed to AICC president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,” he said.

He added that the Chief Minister had even tried to mislead the Congress high command about the factual position on granting favours to Venture Energy and Infrastructure, the company which had been allotted the 17 MW Sai Koti project in Chamba.

Dhumal also asked Virbhadra Singh how justified was it to take a loan from a person who owed Rs 58 crore to the state government but was giving loans worth crores to the Chief Minister and his wife. “Truth will be our biggest defence in court,” said Dhumal.

Una, January 19
Under the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), 3,847 new khadi units have been set up in the state so far, in which 19,108 people have got employment.

Des Raj Gautam, Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), member, North Zone, while addressing mediapersons here yesterday said a subsidy of Rs 48.6 crore had been disbursed to the beneficiaries of the PMEGP. The programme is run under the Union Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME).

He said during the current financial year, a target of Rs 19.92 crore had been fixed under the programme for Himachal, adding that a new scheme for the design and development of khadi products was also started. Another scheme to create worksheds for khadi artisans was also launched, he said.

Gautam said a zonal-level exhibition of khadi products would be organised in Una from January 20 to February 5 to popularise khadi products among people.

He said the KVIC had been able to create awareness about khadi schemes in only 8,575 out of the total 20,118 villages of the state.

Kullu, January 19
Residents of three villages, falling under the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP), have surrendered their weapons before their local deity “Aadi Brahma” in the presence of Rakesh Kanwar, Deputy Commissioner (DC), Kullu, and BS Rana, Conservator, GHNP.

The DC and the conservator recently visited Shugad, Shakti and Maror villages and motivated the villagers to protect wildlife. As a result, villagers surrendered all their guns and weapons in a temple.

While the number of weapons surrendered could not be determined because of local customs, villagers confirmed that not even a single gun remained in the three villages.

The villagers pledged to protect wild animals in the future and not indulge in poaching practices. They also vowed to ward off poachers. 

Chamba, January 19
Rahul Gandhi is the backbone of the Congress and fully competent to win a majority of the seats in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, thereby paving the way for the reformation of the UPA government.

This was stated by Amit Kumar Bharmouri, a leader of the state Youth Congress and zila parishad member from the Bakan ward of Chamba district, while addressing mediapersons here on Friday.

He claimed that the popularity graph of the Congress in the state had scaled under the leadership of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

He asserted that the youth was enthusiastic to win all the four Lok Sabha seats of the state.

Hitting back at the BJP’s ‘chargesheet’ against the Congress, the leader stated that the ‘chargesheet’ was false and fabricated. Even the CD episode was fabricated, he said.

Amit revealed that Rs 30 lakh had been sanctioned for the construction of the Chehni pass to connect the mountainous Pangi tribal valley with the outer world for the whole year.

He said a Community Health Centre for Bharmour at a cost of Rs 10 crore had been sanctioned, adding that a timber sales depot had been set up at Udaipur which would meet the timber and fuel wood requirements of people of Chamba.

Mandi, January 19
A team of experts of the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has given its nod to the medical college authorities to start the first batch of MBBS classes at Ner Chowk, after inspecting the college building.

The team, comprising Major Gen PK Patnaik and Dr Leena Wadhwa, visited the college complex on January 15. After inspecting the infrastructure and being satisfied with the ongoing preparations, it directed the college authorities to complete certain tasks speedily to start the first batch of the MBBS classes later this year.

The college project is running more than two years behind its scheduled completion.

Patnaik said, “We have found the infrastructure satisfactory and asked the medical authorities to complete certain tasks before the visit of the Medical Council of India (MCI) team.”

The works which were asked to be done speedily included completion of finishing work in the chemistry, physiology and anatomy departments. The team also asked them to create new out-patient departments and five-bed ICUs in the Zonal Hospital, Mandi, which was being linked with the ESIC Medical College.

The college would enrol 100 students for the MBBS course (40 from the state, 40 from the open pool and 20 seats are reserved for children of ESIC employees).

The college would also run a 500-bed super-specialty hospital later.

Dr SK Dhiman, Dean, ESIC Medical College, said, “We have already applied to the MCI for the issuance of the letter of intent to start the medical college. We are waiting for the MCI team to carry out its inspection and its final approval and have started a process to fill vacancies in the college.”

Chamba, January 19
For the conservation and beautification of the heritage township of Chamba and its environs, a naturalist of the region, Navneet Chowfla, has waged a campaign. He appealed to the Forest Department, voluntary agencies and NGOs to come out for a mass plantation.

In a statement here today, Chowfla said the winter season was conducive to plant saplings in the region.

While giving a call for the plantation drive with the participation of eco-clubs of schools, voluntary agencies and NGOs, Chowfla opted to participate in the drive.

The Mangla Ridge near the Sitla bridge, alongside the Manjari garden, western side of the Chowgan, Bannu hills and some other sites should be brought under plantation, he said.

Bilaspur, January 19
A woman of Smella under Talyana gram panchayat is fighting for life at the PGI in Chandigarh, as she got burnt while preparing food last night.

Chamba, January 19
The District Watershed Development Agency (DWDA) organised an empowerment-cum-awareness programme for persons with disabilities at Mehla yesterday.

The programme was held under the chairmanship of Chamba Deputy Commissioner Kadam Sandeep Vasant, in which awareness about various government programmes and benefits under different schemes were highlighted by technical expert Chain Lal.

The aim was to promote self-employment and other ventures to benefit and economically rehabilitate persons with disabilities. A free health checkup camp was also organised by the District Red Cross Society with the help of Health, Ayurveda and Welfare Departments.

Sweaters were distributed among children of Gaddi Ashram in Mehla and Gujjar Ashram in Kalsuin.

Nurpur, January 19
The Himachal Pradesh Government Teachers Union on Thursday demanded all benefits of the 4-9-14 Assured Career Progression (ACP) on the analogy of Punjab.

Union state president PC Kapoor and general secretary Onkar Rana said the decision of the State Education Department to consider the revision of grade pay on the Punjab pattern as an enhancement in salary had deprived a large number of teachers of the 4-9-14 ACP benefits.

They underlined the need to delegate powers to the district deputy directors (education) for deciding the ACP cases of the trained graduate teachers in the state.

The union leaders demanded the relaxation of the limit of percentage of marks for the promotion of teachers in service and enhancement of their retirement age to 62 years as in Uttarakhand and Delhi.

The teachers’ union also demanded the release of DA instalment due since July last year to government employees, filling of all vacant posts of teacher in government schools in the state, two special increments to serving teachers if they were not getting first promotion till 15 years of service and regularisation of the  services of contract and para teachers.

Chamba, January 19
A team comprising three consultants Dr J Kirchoff, Dr D Muller and NS Rathore from German Development Bank visited vulnerable forest areas of Chamba district for conducting a feasibility study for “HP Forest Ecosystems Climate Proofing Project” on Friday.

This was followed by a meeting with all the forest officials of the circle up to the rank of forest guard to discuss the concept of climate changes and its impact on the forest health and forestry dependent communities. The functioning of the department and its involvement in the socio-economic development of stakeholders was also discussed.

The team visited the Bakloh range area and interacted with the joint forest management committee at Mamul. The team also visited the Mangla forest nursery, took stock of ban oak plantations, natural forests in Mangla forest block and lantana eradication programme at Mehla.

The team appreciated the efforts of the forest department in raising plantations in a very tough terrain and inclement weather conditions.

The team interacted with the mahila mandal, Banadu, regarding the usufruct sharing and the persons who were affected due to an attack by a black bear recently to understand issues of human-animal conflict in Chamba district.

They discussed with local forest officials the possibility of converting the chir pine plantations into ban oak plantations to increase fodder availability to villages and reduce dependency on natural forests.

Later, the team visited a number of muck-dumping sites along the Ravi on the Chamba-Bharmour road starting from Dharwala to Gehra, which are being reclaimed by the Forest Department.

Kullu, January 19
Naresh (20) of Angudobhi village, 8 km from here, was killed in an accident on Thursday night.

He was rushed to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

DSP, Kullu, Sanjay Sharma said the deceased was identified yesterday, as no identity proof was recovered from him and even the number of the motorcycle was not correct. The postmortem confirmed head injury to be the cause of the death, he added.