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budget reaction
BJP ridicules Budget proposals
Sushant ready to face Shanta
Blame game over stalemate in session
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Uncertainty over fate of 500 inmates at 23 children’s homes
vignettes
Ambuja, JP Cement claims for transport subsidy deferred
Apple growers feel disheartened
Power producers hail sops
CM sanctions Rs 20 lakh for Bilaspur volleyball court
Helpline against graft launched in Shimla
NGO staff seeks promotional benefits
Student commits suicide
Felling of sandalwood tree: 2 held
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HPU staff threaten stir over scant aid
Tribune News Service
Shimla, February 9 Talking to mediapersons here, president of the Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) of employee unions Hitender Singh Thakur and Executive Council member Waryam Singh said the university had demanded Rs 90 crore. They alleged that the university with 300 affiliated colleges was being starved of funds and the government had made the university and its employees virtually “beggars”. It would be difficult to pay the salaries and pensions to the employees if government did not increase the funds. The leaders disclosed that during the election year in 2012-13, the BJP government released Rs 89 crore, but Rs 63 crore was allocated to HPU in 2013-14 and even in the current year, the allocation was Rs 63 crore, excluding Rs 6.3 crore under the tribal plan. The university was facing acute staff crunch with 565 posts of employee, including 232 posts of teacher and 333 posts of non teaching staff, lying vacant and if these posts were filled, the financial burden would mount. They said it was unfortunate that the government had announced Rs 5 crore each for nine new colleges but did not make any provision for two new campuses of the university in Una and Mandi announced in the Budget session. The university also did not release the UGC scales to the administrative staff and the employees would fight it out, they said, adding that the Executive Council of the university was the supreme body, but its recommendations were being scuttled by bureaucrats. Fund crunch
In 2012-13, the BJP government released Rs 89 crore, but in 2013-14,
Rs 63 crore was allocated to HPU and in the current year, the allocation is Rs 63 crore, excluding Rs 6.3 crore under the tribal
plan. |
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BJP ridicules Budget proposals
Nahan, February 9 Bindal said the state had failed to get its due from the Centre and as against Rs 2,900 crore demanded for rain damage, the state got little relief. Instead of getting a special package on the pattern of Jammu and Kashmir and North-eastern states, Himachal was granted no relief despite being a special category state. He said even grant for the proper upkeep of the national highways was much less than demanded, thus revealing the Centre’s discrimination. Bindal said even the investment subsidy and transport subsidy granted to the industry would fail to woo investors as a major component of the Central industrial package such as income tax and central excise exemption had not been granted. He said the around 12 lakh unemployed youth had failed to get unemployed allowance. The MLA said the 10 per cent DA hike for the employees was long due and there was nothing new in this. |
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Sushant ready to face Shanta
Addressing a news conference here yesterday, Sushant said he had been humiliated and insulted in the BJP, particularly by state leaders. He said his only fault was that he had raised voice against corrupt party leaders of the state, who had amassed wealth when they were on high posts. Sushant said if the party had followed his advice and initiated action against corrupt MLAs, MPs and ministers, the BJP would never have faced defeat in the 2012 Assembly elections. Sushant said the BJP as well as Congress leaders were already facing serious corruption charges in the state, for which they would be answerable to the voters. He said now the political scenario in Kangra and Chamba parliamentary constituencies was almost clear as he would face Shanta Kumar in the elections. In reply to a question, he said he still believed that Shanta might withdraw from the election scenario later on as political atmosphere was not in favour of the BJP. Out of 17 Assembly segments, the Congress had 13 MLAs. How could the BJP win the elections, he asked. Sushant said Modi wave was nowhere to be seen in the state. The BJP needed retrospection before raising fingers on others, he added. |
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Blame game over stalemate in session
Una, February 9 Addressing workers at the party office here, he blamed the Chief Minister for shying away from debates on corruption and other public issues. He said some leaders had a different tone with the Opposition and an entirely opposite tone with their Chief Minister. He said the ruling party had no answers to the questions of public interest posed by the Opposition. Taking on Industry Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, Satti said the minister was terrorised by Narendra Modi’s rally at Sujanpur on February 16, which was the reason why he had requested Virbhadra Singh to address public meetings in Una on that day. Agnihotri said the BJP leadership was busy in managing crowd for the Modi rally, which was the main reason for their disinterest in the Vidhan Sabha session. |
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Cold wave tightens grip across state
Shimla, February 9 The minimum temperature dropped to -12.4°C in Keylong and -11.2°C in Bharmaur, while the key tourist resort of Manali, which recorded 1 cm of snow, shivered under the sub-zero conditions with the mercury plummeting to -4.5°C. Shimla recorded a low of 1.1°C, while Kalpa, Dalhousie, Solan, Bhuntar and Sundernagar recorded the minimum temperature at
-1.5°C, 0.1°C, 1.5°C, 2°C and 3.5°C, respectively. The region had a clear day in the morning but thick clouds overcast the sky by the evening. Seobagh received 15 mm rain followed by Dalhousie and Bajura which received 12 and 5 mm rain, respectively. However, the maximum temperature remained steady with Una recording a high of 20. 8°C, followed by Bhuntar 18°C, Sundernagar 17.5°C, Solan 16°C, Nahan 15°C, Shimla 11.4°C and Manali 6.6°C. The local Met office has predicted dry weather in the region over the next two days. Clear sky in Manali
MANALI: After bad weather conditions and moderate-to-heavy snowfall for a few days in the upper Manali region, clear sky and bright sun greeted tourists and local residents today. The Manali-Kullu national highway and the Manali-Naggar-Kullu (left bank) road have been opened for vehicular traffic. Tourists visiting Kullu-Manali were a happy lot as upper Manali areas were still covered with snow. Hundreds of tourists visited the Hadimba Devi temple, Manu Rish temple and the Club House. The PWD pressed snow-clearing machines and labourers into service to clear the snow on the roads leading to Vashisht village. The village is famous for Rishi Vashisht, Rama and Shiva temples and hot water springs. The higher reaches received fresh spell of snowfall last night. The Bhrigu and Hamta ski slopes, famous for helicopter skiing, also experienced heavy snowfall. Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports Deputy Director Mahavir Thakur said the ski slopes of the Solang valley recorded about 5 foot of fresh snow. |
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Govt offers old secretariat building to Central varsity
Dharamsala, February 9 Sources here said the state government had asked the district administration to hand over the building to the university. The district administration, however, said only the first floor could be given to the university. The ground floor still had the office of the SDM. The top floor of the secretariat houses the offices of the Chief Minister and ministers when they come to Dharamsala during the winter sojourn. The ministers use their offices once or twice a month when they listen to the grievances of local residents. DC, Kangra, Paul Rasu confirmed that they had offered the first floor of the secretariat to Central University. The office of the Central University VC is located in the Writers Home building at Dharamsala. Sources said despite an offer from the state government, the university authorities had not shown keenness to shift to the old secretariat building. The university authorities said they were interested in more space for classes as they were facing shortage of classrooms in the temporary campus of the university at Government College, Shahpur. As far as the administrative accommodation for the VC office was concerned, they had ample accommodation. Since the secretariat building could not hold classes, it was not going to serve the purpose, the sources said. As per the original plan, the secretariat building was to be handed over to the General Administration Department (GAD) for upkeep. However, the government does not seem to be keen on having offices of all ministers in the old building at Dharamsala. It wants to hand over the building to Central University for its administration block at Dharamsala. However, the Central University authorities will again have to modify the old secretariat building just to have another temporary office. They are of the view that it will be better if they are allotted a place in Dharamsala where a permanent office can be built rather than wasting money on modulating various places for their temporary offices. |
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Uncertainty over fate of 500 inmates at 23 children’s homes
Shimla, February 9 Directions have been issued to DCs of six districts to shut down children’s homes not registered under the Juvenile Justice Act (JJA) within 15 days. In compliance with the orders, the DCs served notices to these 23 homes to shut down by February 15 without making any arrangement for the rehabilitation of the children lodged in these homes, a majority of whom are girls. The government has issued the orders citing directions of the Supreme Court, which, vide its order passed on December 16, 2013, directed the states and union territories to submit status report within eight weeks, failing which, they will be liable for contempt. Acting in haste, the government directed the shutdown of unregistered children’s homes without specifying any plan for relocation of these kids. This violates the fundamental right to life, liberty, education and protection from abuse of these kids, said Ajay Srivastav, president, NGO Umang Foundation. Srivastav said, "We are not supporting the unregistered NGOs, but dictatorial orders of the state government to shut down these homes just to save their skin without any contingent proposal for the kids lodged in these institutions is unjustified." He demanded departmental action against the erring officers who were in deep slumber for the past 13 years since the JJA was enacted. “We will move the High Court tomorrow to challenge the action initiated by the department,” he said. Madhubala Sharma, Director, Women and Child Development Department, said, "We invited representatives of all children’s homes in 2012 and asked them to get registered, but they seemed reluctant. We gave them more time and after proper inspection, registered 19 out of 42 children’s homes. Rest of the 23 homes including Hamirpur (1), Chamba (2), Mandi (4), Kullu and Kangra (5 each) and Solan (6), were served notices to shut down." “There are several children’s homes in the state which are admitting children without recommendations of the Child Welfare Committee. These are not getting themselves registered to escape scrutiny by the department,” she said. She further stated that some children’s homes were getting huge donations from various sources, including foreign countries, and were running hostels and educational institutions which could not be registered under the JJA. She said in some homes, children above 18 years of age were kept, while at one home registered for differently abled kids, normal children were admitted. Those eligible for admission in children’s homes would be sent to government children’s homes where the capacity existed, she added. |
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Tibetan Uprising March starts
Dharamsala, February 9 The march would cover almost 600 km in 30 days and end in New Delhi on March 10, which coincided with Tibetan Uprising Day. March 10 this year marked 55 years since the Tibetans' uprising against the occupation of the Tibetan territory by Chinese forces in Lhasa in 1959. The TYC alleged that since the People’s Republic of China’s occupation of Tibet in 1949, the Communist Party had enforced a series of campaigns and policies to systematically destroy and stifle Tibetan culture, language, identity and spiritual traditions. Consequently, there had been 126 known cases of self-immolations on the plateau. These brave men and women who set themselves on fire had called for the "Return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet", "Independence for Tibet" and "Freedom in Tibet". Upon the completion of this march, the TYC would present a memorandum with a set of five demands to the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi and submit appeals to the UN and embassies of other countries to support their demands. |
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Animal murals of Himachal Pradesh
Shriniwas Joshi I have visited almost all the major temples of Himachal Pradesh and nearly every temple is decorated with paintings or sculptures of animals. The artists’ favourite animal is the lion. Recently I visited Mandi’s Panchvaktra Temple which has a lion sculpted in high relief on one of the walls. This sculpture is clearly an expression of folk sensibility and this is its charm. The animal’s very human face appears to have been added after the body was sculpted. The mane begins from the neck rather than the head — a detail that emphasises the human quality of the face. The tail is raised and the muscle of the rump is well-formed to convey the strength of the royal beast. The lion is the mount of Goddess Durga and it represents the best in animal creation and yet some of its qualities are pointed out to caution humans. For instance, the lion is said to be greedy for food. Our scriptures warn that greed for food soon leads to avarice for other objects. Durga, as Simhavahini (lion-borne), symbolises control of animal instincts —a control which we humans must learn. The pelt of Durga’s lion is golden with the hair standing on end. It symbolises the golden-rayed sun that banishes the darkness of night. Hindu iconography represents night as the bull, whose horns form the crescent of the moon. That is one of the reasons why bulls are also carved on the temples here. Do you know that the lion is an exotic animal? Romila Thapar argues that it did not exist in India until the 3rd or 4th century: “If there were lions here (in Kutch), why do they not occur on Indus seals, since the area had many Indus cities and settlements? It would seem that there were no lions in this area during the period of the Harappan cities. The lion must have been an exotic import all along as there is no gradual decline in the species. I believe that the lion came to India just before or with Alexander’s invasion of India around the 3rd or 4th century.” As for Rig Veda text (late 2nd millennium BCE) that mentions of the lion’s roar, Thapar thinks the text pertained to a particular area on the northwest borderlands. She writes: “The composers of the hymns or their forefathers could have met the lion or heard about it from its presence in the adjoining Oxus valley.” Sculptures in which volumes are strongly projected from the background — as the Panchvakra Temple lion — are called alto-relievo, and those that project very little are called bas-relief. On the ceiling of the Devi Kothi temple at Chamba one can see a bas relief wooden-panel filled with animals (See photos): a small hawk fills a star-shaped panel. Elsewhere two lion cubs squat, one behind the other, two monkeys eating fruit sit opposite each other, a boar leaps forward and a short-tailed bear stands nearby. Besides satisfying our religious impulse, Himachal’s temples serve as study-centres of archaeology. TAILPIECE
There was no lion with Durga and she had either two or four hands during the Kushan period. The lion appeared with her about the 6th century when the number of her hands varied from eight to 16. |
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Ambuja, JP Cement claims for transport subsidy deferred
Solan, February 9 This has come as a setback to the two firms awaiting grant of this subsidy since 2010. The meet, convened after almost a year, could clear claims of transport subsidy of barely a few units, putting on hold claims of nearly Rs 27 crore pertaining to the two cement plants alone. The committee, headed by the Director, Industries, had two representatives from the Ministry of Commerce who dealt with matters pertaining to the Transport Subsidy and Central Investment Subsidy. Sources in Industries Department said claims of these two companies had been deferred as they had not got themselves pre-registered which had been made a norm prior to commencing production as per a circular issued by Ministry of Commerce in 2011 and later a notification issued in January 2013. Though the ministry had notified in September 2013 it would not accept more than a year-old claim, the Subsidy Committee was yet to approve claims of even 2010. “Though industrial units get themselves registered on a preliminary basis with the General Manager, District Industries Centre, at the time of seeking approval from the state government, the norm of pre-registration was not much in practice in the state. Earlier, the ministry was accepting claims of units within a year of commencement of production and they were supposed to get themselves registered after commencing commercial production. Several claims, without pre-registration of units had been approved and granted by the ministry in the past,” claimed an official choosing to remain anonymous. The transport subsidy scheme had been recently extended for four years by Ministry for Medium and Small Scale Enterprises, while old claims of 2010 were yet to be approved. Investors rue that failure of the ministry to grant subsidy in time has defeated its very purpose. Under this scheme, the investors are eligible for 75 per cent to-and-fro freight charges from the nearby rail head for raw material and finished goods. |
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Apple growers feel disheartened
The Budget has allocated Rs 192 crore for the entire horticulture sector and proposed importing the latest root stock apple varieties and setting up of Controlled Atmospheric-Controlled Stores (CAS) and upgrade of HPMC stores and processing plants. Apple farmers say there is no vision to meet the WTO challenges when the “high-quality, high-shelf life apple from the West and China" will hit the markets that can spell doom for the state fruit. “We have not even 0.01 per cent of apple raised on root stocks in the state so far”, warned Rakesh Singha, president of the Himachal Apple Growers Association. The Rs 192 crore Budget is a meager for horticulture, which contributes about 12 per cent to the state GDP that stands at Rs 82,585 crore, said Laxman Thakur. “More funds should be allotted to develop root stocks at horticulture universities, setting up CAS. Each CAS should reserve 30 per cent farmers”,
he added. But efforts are afoot to give a free land in the name of CAS to corporate houses. “The experience shows private CAS houses buy fruit at Rs 30-40 a kg in apple season and store and sell it in the market at Rs 100 per kg. At least, 30 per cent of CAS should be reserved for farmers”, Rakesh Singha demanded. |
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Power producers hail sops
Shimla, February 9 They have also welcomed the decision to set up a single-window system for projects' clearance, saying these concessions will go a long way in harnessing 2,000-MW power target in 2014-15 as envisaged in the Budget presented on February 7. Besides, the bona fide Himachal power producers hailed 4 per cent cut in free power charged from small projects of up to 2-MW capacity, exclusively reserved for them. The state stands to lose revenue worth Rs 15 crore every 100 MW due to these concessions to the IPPs. It is claimed that these, in turn, would save capital investment worth Rs 15 crore for every 100 MW. The Chenab basin power producers forum hailed the Budget, saying it would help expedite the 3,000 MW power potential in the basin located in the snow-bound and hard area of Lahaul-Spiti district. The forum has pleaded to the government that the entry tax on import of machineries should be abolished and there should be a cut on the VAT charged, on the ground that the project cost in the basin is high owing to short working season. |
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CM sanctions Rs 20 lakh for Bilaspur volleyball court
Bilaspur, February 9 This was stated by state Planning Development and 20-Point Implementation Committee Chairman Ram Lal Thakur while talking to mediapersons here today. Ram Lal said the government was very keen to provide all facilities for the development of games and sports in all areas of the state and that was why the government was reviving its plan to develop the Luhnu Sports Complex into a sports hub here. He said the Centre and the SAI (Sports Authority of India) had given its consent to construct a hockey astro-turf at the Luhnu Sports Complex. He said it was during the earlier tenure of the CM that a playfield was selected by the Centre and a specialist team of the SAI for setting up the astro-turf here, but after the change of government in the state, the BJP shifted this facility to some other place. |
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Helpline against graft launched in Shimla
Basantpur/Shimla, February 9 Addressing a public meeting at Basanpur in the Shimla rural constituency, Virbhadra said the government would bring more services under the Public Service Guarantee Act. The identity of the complainant would be kept confidential, he added. He accused the BJP of putting brakes to all development works. He further urged farmers take up vegetable and fruit cultivation and dairy farming in a big way to give boost to rural economy. He said Rs 100 crore Dr YS Parmar Kisan Swarozgar Yojana would be launched next year under which 4,700 polyhouses covering 8.30 lakh square metre area be constructed. He laid the foundation stone of Rs 85 crore lift water supply scheme from Sainj Khad to Gharog-Ghandal that would benefit 29 panchayats of Dhami. Earlier, he inaugurated the Rs 164.74 lakh Naya Ser-Jubbad lift irrigation scheme and laid foundation stone of ITI building at Sunni. He also laid the stone of lift water supply scheme from Sainj khad for 12 panchayats. He also laid the foundation stone of Jaishi-Bharara and Rs 1.14 crore Dharogra school building.
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NGO staff seeks promotional benefits
Mandi, February 9 Talking to mediapersons, district president of the federation Dev Raj Sharma, general secretary Amarjeet, press secretary Jai Pal Chaudhary and other federation leaders said, “The NGOs have always played an important role in the implementation of government schemes, and denial of the benefits to certain category of employees is a serious matter. The federation has demanded an immediate implementation of the promotional benefits.” The federation has also demanded the convening of joint consultative committee (JCC) meetings in all districts. The NGO Federation has urged the state government to recognise their body as a majority of the employees are backing it and many of their issues are lying pending for long.
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Student commits suicide
Solan, February 9 The incident came to light when her roommate failed to get the door opened despite knocking on it several times. On peeping through the ventilator, she found her hanging inside the room. After the institute staff broke open the door, the girl was rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The girl had reportedly failed to clear two papers of BSc first year in the result declared recently and she was under stress. DSP, Nalagarh, Nischint Negi said a case had been registered under Section 306, IPC, and further investigations were underway. The police have taken into possession the girl's mobile phone.
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Felling of sandalwood tree: 2 held
Bilaspur, February 9 The police, with the help of forest officials, caught two youths Ashok Kumar and Ravi Kumar, both of Riyaasi district in J&K, along with logs of sandalwood. They had fallen a sandalwood tree in Chandan Van of Forest Department. Police registered a case under Sections 379 and 34, IPC.
— OC
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Palampur, February 9
Shimla, February 9