Shimla, February 20
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said the delay in the establishment of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) battalion at Kopra in Nurpur had been on account of non-payment of Rs 2.36 crore by the ITBP as value for the forest land.

Replying to a query by Ajay Mahajan during Question Hour in the Assembly, Virbhadra said the state government had already approved the land acquisition award of Rs 12.67 crore which had been conveyed to the DC, Kangra, in December 2012.

“Despite request by forest officials, the ITBP Commandant is yet to deposit Rs 2.36 crore as present value of fort land and cost of compensatory afforestation,” he said.

The Chief Minister informed the House that 17.51 hectares of land had been acquired and the process for diversion of 23.05 hectares of forest land was under way. He added that notifications under Sections 4, 6 and 7 under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, had been issued, but the possession of the land had not yet been taken.

In reply to another query about unavailability of the government subsidy on LPG cylinders to consumers, Food and Civil Supplies Minister GS Bali said 100 registration centres to ensure Adhaar-linked subsidy would be set up.

“A project of Rs 25 lakh has been proposed where the linkage will be established as Aadhaar cards of 98.96 per cent population had been made and 93 per cent had received their cards,” he said.

He added that the state government was keen to put this subsidy scheme through banks on hold and the Chief Minister had written to the Prime Minister but as of now, this system would have to be implemented.

In reply to a query by Kuldeep Kumar about the total investment and jobs due to industry, Rajesh Dharmani, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, said from 2003 to 2012, 6.65 lakh people had got jobs in various units. He said investment worth Rs 13.024 crore had been made with the setting up of 889 units during this period.

Shimla, February 20
Former Chief Minister PK Dhumal today said the government should give a second thought before passing the Lokayukta Bill to save Himachal legislature from becoming a laughing stock in the country.

Talking to mediapersons here, he said the proposed Bill had several lacunae, including complete contradiction to Article 311 of the Constitution and two existing Central Acts - Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and Section 197(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973. He added that the Bill was only eyewash which would not give more administrative and judicial powers to the Lokayukta.

“I do not think the President will give his assent to a Bill which violates the Constitution and two Acts, which is why the state government must give it a rethink,” he said. He added Article 311 gave protection to a government employee and sanction to prosecute could be given only by the appointing authority and not the Lokayukta.

He added that the Bill was a weak and diluted one as compared to the Lokayukta Bill 2012 which had been passed by the Assembly during the BJP regime, but was withdrawn by the Congress regime before it could get the President’s assent.

He said another major flaw in the Bill was the absence of transparency in appointment of its members by the Selection Committee. “The provision for seeking public opinion by putting the names of shortlisted persons in public domain has been dropped,” he said. Moreover, another insertion made was that either the Chief Justice or his nominee would be its member.

Shimla, February 20
The state Lokayukta, which received 65 complaints last year, with not even a single against any public figure, has sought better infrastructure, staff and accommodation to function effectively.

The 26th report of the Lokayukta, giving details of all complaints received by it in 2013, was placed in the Vidhan Sabha here today. The report was earlier submitted by the Lokayukta, Justice Lokeshwar Singh Panta, a former Supreme Court Judge to Governor Urmila Singh.

Out of the 85 complaints, 20 pending from previous years, the Lokayukta decided 51 while 34 are still pending. The report makes it evident that a majority of the complaints pertain to irregularities in development works by representatives of the panchayati raj institutions and charges against lower-rung revenue and police officials.

Thirteen complaints were against officials of the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department followed by eight against revenue officials, seven against the police and five against the Education Department. Twelve pending complaints pertain to the Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Department.

The single-member Lokayukta, which can get three members if the Lokayukta Bill 2014 tabled in the Assembly yesterday is passed, has not proved effective in dealing with corruption charges against government officials. The main reason for this is lack of awareness among people about its existence and also because it has little power to investigate complaints.

As against a budget of Rs 2.89 crore sought by the Lokayukta for 2013-14, it was given Rs 2.53 crore only, with an additional Rs 7.25 lakh given later. The tentative budget sought for the year 2014-15 is Rs 3.14 crore. The report also seeks empowerment of Lokayukta with more administrative and judicial powers.

Shimla, February 20
BJP MLAs continued the boycott of the House and staged a protest outside the Assembly today, raising slogans and holding placards.

The hopes of the party attending the session were belied as Opposition members, led by PK Dhumal, sat on a dharna outside the entrance of the Vidhan Sabha. They raised slogans against the Chief Minister and the Congress regime, accusing them of dictatorial attitude and violating all norms of decency and democracy.

“There have been no efforts from the ruling party to request the BJP members to attend the session by expressing regret for the derogatory remarks about BJP MLAs. Under these circumstances, there is no question of attending the session when the belittling from the Congress continues,” said Dhumal.

He, however, added that the BJP could attend the session on the last day tomorrow if the Congress regretted the remarks and approached them to join the House.

“The ball is in their court and if they apologise, we are not averse to attending the session,” he said.

He added that the party at its meeting decided to stay away from the session. He also took to task all those Congress leaders who were trying to sermonise the BJP legislators about being courteous.

Shimla, February 20
About 2.50 lakh people attended the Sujanpur rally addressed by Narendra Modi, state BJP chief Satpal Singh Satti claimed here today.

Satti, who reviewed the post rally situation at a meeting of state office-bearers and district presidents, said as per the feedback and reports from district units, about 2.50 lakh people attended the rally which indicated that a Modi wave was sweeping Himachal Pradesh and the BJP was set to win all four Lok Sabha seats.

Addressing the meeting, Leader of the Opposition in the Vidhan Sabha and former Chief Minister PK Dhumal thanked workers for making the rally a big success and said the turnout at the rally was a milestone in the political history of the state and it proved that a "wave for change is sweeping the state".

"In spite of bad weather conditions, the turnout was massive which is a record in itself as a large number of people from Shimla, Kinnaur and Kullu could not attend the rally due to closure of roads following heavy snow", he added.

Dhumal said going by the electoral trends projected by the media, the BJP would form the government as the people were fed up with the UPA and were deeply disappointed with rampant corruption during the past 10 years.

Discussions on a strategy for the Lok Sabha poll were also held at the meeting and the BJP decided to hold district-level functions to send iron and earth collected from the state to Gujarat for the "Statue of Unity".

Shimla, February 20
The Municipal Corporation and the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department are engaged in a blame game over the 178 high-rise buildings that have come up in the city and its peripheries located in the seismic zone V.

Some of the buildings have hostels in the top floors where evacuation could be a nightmare in case of fire or tremors. There are other buildings such as 10-storey high court building and hotels and houses, reveal officials.

There are four 10-storey buildings, the high court, Hotel Surya, Vidya Bhavan, Tutu, Santosh Bhawan, Kachighati, two nine-storey buildings Thakur Niwas, Hotel Capital, 12 eight-storey and 144 six-storey buildings in the city as per a survey by by the MC.

Most of the six-storey buildings have come up on the peripheries such as Tutu (38 buildings), Boileauganj (35 buildings, including shopping hub of Lower Bazaar), Chhota Shimla (11) Ruldu Bhatta (10 buildings), the survey found.

“It is a complete failure of the TCP Department which cannot check the growth on the merged areas around the city as the fault lies at the planning level, said Sanjay Chauhan, Mayor, Shimla.

The number of six-storey buildings could be higher as the MC had prepared a list of buildings as per its survey conducted in 2010. The Jakhoo ropeway 12-storey building being built by Jagson International was the tallest in the city whose revised plan was pending with the government, survey revealed.

Urban Development Minister Sudhir Sharma revealed the list of some of the high-rise buildings in the House having more than five storeys, highlighting the concern over the safety in case of an emergency.

Municipal Commissioner Amarjeet Singh said many multi-storey buildings had come up in the merged areas which were earlier with the TCP and later transferred to the MC. “We are verifying the status of each six-storey or above building in the municipal area. But final approval rests with the Cabinet”, he adds.

Director, TCP, Sandeep Kumar said they would consider each case separately once the notification after amending the TCP Act was issued and took action accordingly. The TCP looked after only the planning area notified by the department and the city area was under the Municipal Corporation, he added.

Sundernagar, February 20
The 800-MW Kol Dam has not stored water even two months after the filling up of the reservoir was started by Anup Rai Chaudhary, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, NTPC, on December 19.

Due to delay in the execution of the project, the state government has been suffering a loss of more than Rs 150 crore annually, says a highly placed source in HPSEB Ltd. A source in National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd says due to delay in filling up the reservoir which was to start in September 2013, power generation will now be delayed by at least another year.

The 800-MW Kol Dam, the outlay for which is Rs 5,600 crore, was the first hydro-project undertaken by NTPC. Its foundation stone was laid by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on June 5, 2000. NTPC says it is to start power generation by 2008.

The state government will get 12 per cent free electricity, 15 per cent at the cost of production and a further 2.5 per cent in grid allocation.

It has been more than 13 years to construct the 163-metre-high rock fill dam (the major component of the dam) which has been constructed on the border of Mandi and Bilaspur districts on the Sutlej. After the filling up of the reservoir with water was started two months back, it failed within two days. Subsequent efforts proved futile.

A source says though the work of grouting and concreting in the about 1-km-long diversion tunnel (LAV) was going on at a war footing, it will take at least three months to complete it. Only after that, the filling up can be got on with. The process will take 315 days, says a schedule formulated by the Kol Dam authorities.

Parveen Ranjan Bharti, PRO of Kol Dam project, says the work inside the tunnel is going on. According to some officials, the process can be started after the monsoon season as March onwards the water flow in the Sutlej increases at a rapid rate and it will not be possible to start it, which is usually done during the lean season.

It was more than a seven-year delay and the state government has had to incur a loss of more than Rs 1,000 crore. Even then, no penalty clause has been inserted in the agreement signed between the government and the project authorities.

Shimla, February 20
Project engineers have expressed resentment over the state government’s move to re-employ retired engineers or give them extension in the power board or state-run corporations.

They also sought the execution of three power projects, 16 MW Devi Kothi, the controversial 16-MW Saikothi and 29-MW Bada Khamba, in the state sector.

They said the move would block opportunities to project engineers awaiting promotion.

Though officials in the power board and state-run corporations deny the move, HPSEB project engineers are apprehensive that few of them were lobbying hard to get extension after retirement.

The project engineers said the power board should be allowed to executive the three newly allotted projects -- Devi Kothi, Saikothi, Bada Khamba.

The board had technical manpower and could handle bigger projects as well, the engineers claimed.

“The engineers have decided to oppose any extension as it will block the channels of promotion for the youth and violate the recruitment and promotion rules,” said MK Sharma, general secretary of the association.

“We want to apprise Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and the Power Minister of this move. The extension or re-employment of retired engineers will demoralise competent project engineers,” the engineers added.

The board and corporations should focus only on the execution of power projects, said younger engineers. The engineers who had put in more than 30 years of experience in hydro sector were stagnated for many years, they rued.

The HPSEB should have hydro projects of about 3,000-MW capacity which would improve the financial health of the HPSEB and the state, they opined.

On the other hand, board officials claimed that there was no move to give extension to retired engineers and the three projects had been allotted to the board.

Una, February 20
Wielding brooms and raising slogans against corruption and the two traditional political parties, activists of the Aam Admi Party (AAP) today launched a "jhadoo yatra" at the Gagret block headquarters in the district. The movement was led by its district convener PC Sharma.

Later, local AAP leader and sitting Zila Parishad member Ashwani Thakur said Gagret Assembly segment had repeatedly been ignored by both the political parties as regards development. District secretary of the outfit, Puran Chand charged that developmental activities were taking place only in the Haroli Assembly segment of the district.

They said their party would field candidates on all the four Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Goddess Chamunada

Palampur, February 20
Former MLA and senior BJP leader Parveen Sharma today criticised the state government for its failure to order an inquiry into the recent fire incident in which the century-old Himani Chamunada temple was gutted.

Addressing mediapersons here, Sharma said the state government should respect the sentiments of devotees and residents who worship Goddess Himani Chamunada.

He said it was unfortunate that the state government had taken the incident lightly and no official had reached the spot to assess the situation.

He urged Governor Urmila Singh to send a high-level team of officials headed by the Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, and forensic experts to the spot and assess the reasons behind the fire.

Shimla, February 20
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has assured the House that the state government will provide road connectivity to all 216 gram panchayats. Assistant engineers have been authorised to prepare a detailed project report and complete it in a phased manner.

A budget of Rs 2,384 crore had been provided for roads and bridges this year which was later passed by the House with a voice vote.

The Chief Minister further said the road work was in progress in 179 gram panchayats. Out of 3,234 gram panchayts, 3,027 had been connected with road, he added.

On the issue of fourlaning of the National Highway No. 21 between Pandoh and Aut, raised by Kullu MLA Maheshwar Singh, the Chief Minister said he would take up the matter with the NHAI.

He said Chamunda-Holi and Tissa-Kilar tunnels had been assigned to the SJVNL for pre-feasibility report. Two tunnels in Shimla have been proposed under the 14th Finance Commission, he added.

Earlier in the debate, Jubbal and Kotkhai MLA Rohit Thakur has proposed to consider the Kharapathar tunnel to give relief to the people in the apple belt and declaring the Chaila-Yashwant Nagar-Kumarhatti road as national highway.

Dharamsala, February 20
Newly metalled stretches of national highways from Mubarakpur to Chintpurni and Amb to Nadaun are in bad shape. The bad condition of the roads that were mettled about three months ago has raised doubts about the quality of work.

The Mubarakpur-Chintpurni stretch was laid just in December. However, about 25-km road stretch has been damaged. Huge pits on the road have become a bane for commuters.

Superintending Engineer (SE) Satyavrat Sharma said the condition of the Mubarakpur-Chintpurni stretch was in bad state.

"We tried to metal the road in winter. However, it did not work out. Due to low temperature, the laid road started coming off at certain portions. It will be started as the weather normalises," he said.

The 91-km highway from Nagrota Bagwan to Mubarakpur has been in bad condition for the past about five years. The road was declared as national highway in 2009, but the Union Ministry for Surface Transport did not notify it as the national highway. On the other hand, the state government stopped giving funds for the road. The road was reduced to tatters due to lack of repairs.

It was only after the Union Government notified it the funds were allotted for the road. After that some stretches of roads, including Ranital to Dehra and Dehra to Chintpurni, were metalled. However, with even the newly metalled portions of the roads coming off, it raises questions about the quality.

The SE, however, said the damaged portions would be repaired by the contractor.

The other national highway that was being re-laid was the Amb-Nadaun road.

The SE said the contractor laying the Amb-Nadaun national highway was bound to maintain the road for three years. The road would be repaired soon.

The Amb-Nadaun road has been re-laid twice in the last few years. Earlier, the state government had also spent a fortune on re-laying the road. However, still its condition is poor. Local residents have demanded an inquiry into the funds spent on the road in the last few years so that the responsibility can be fixed for the poor condition of the road.

Solan, February 20
With the state Cabinet giving its nod to the new barrier policy, the Excise and Taxation Department will now auction 55 barriers in the state for three years as against annual auctions.

The idea is to generate an assured income to the state government and ensure professional handling of entry tax collections.

Though the earnings from barriers register an annual increase of nearly 10 per cent every year, there have been cases where a licensee has defaulted on paying the entire amount to the department.

As per the new policy, a licensee will have to deposit 25 per cent of a year’s revenue as security which can be forfeited in case he fails to pay the stipulated amount.

Sources in the Excise and Taxation Department said this move would help rope in bigger players and ensure professional handling of the barriers. Since revenue worth crores of rupees had failed to be paid by small licensees in the past, the department has been facing problems in realising the pending amount.

Outstanding revenue worth crores had been stuck up in various districts in lieu of barriers and officials had to invest undue time in pursuing its realisation by attaching properties and adopting other means.

Figures collected from various districts revealed that this amount stood at Rs 1.34 crore in Una, while an outstanding amount of Rs 1.78 crore was yet to be paid in Sirmaur.

In Solan, the figure stands at Rs 6.85 crore, while in Baddi Rs 3.41 crore is yet to be realised in lieu of entry tax for the past three years.

The new policy was slated to overcome these hurdles by ensuring the entry of bigger players who would not only get three years time to settle down, but also invest less in setting up the infrastructure and ensuring assured returns.

Chamba, February 20
Residents of Bharmour in Chamba district heaved a sigh of relief when their only lifeline linking the district headquarters was cleared after five days here yesterday.

As per reports, vehicular traffic resumed to the tribal township of Bharmour, the headquarters of Bharmour tribal sub-division. The Chamba-Bharmour highway beyond Kharamukh was blocked due to heavy snowfall, the reports said.

Many link roads in the interior parts of the district were restored after clearing of snow, the reports confirmed.

The roads included Chamba-Kohladi, Jamuhar, Khajjiar, Barour-Sillagharat, Sarol-Sirhkund, Sahoo-Kiri-Lagga and Mani.

The restoration of link roads has enabled inhabitants to move to the district headquarters and earn their livelihood.

Shimla, February 20
Following a delay in the declaration of results of supplementary examinations, the Students Central Association (SCA) of HPU today met the additional Controller of Examinations.

SCA joint secretary Monika Dhadda said the examinations for undergraduate courses would commence from March 15, but results for the supplementary examinations of BSc and BA first year as well as students appearing for ‘golden chance’ had not been declared till date.

Students whose results were not declared or whose detailed mark sheets were not submitted in the university could not fill their examination forms, she added.

SCA president Rajan Hartta said the university administration had assured them of declaring the results by February 5 and 20, respectively, but results were still awaited.

Even those students whose results had been declared were running from pillar to post to get their mark sheets, he added. The SCA also threatened to launch an agitation if all results were not declared by February 25.

Shimla, February 20
A delegation of the Trained Nursery Unemployed Teachers Association of HP, led by Excise and Taxation Minister Prakash Chaudhary, met CM Virbhadra Singh here today.

They urged him to start nursery classes in government schools on the analogy of private schools so that children of up to three years could be enrolled in government schools. Association chief Champa Sharma and secretary Promila Devi urged the CM to depute trained nursery teachers through school management committees. — TNS

Mandi, February 20
Residents of several panchayats being affected by the Naulakha-Ner Chowk fourlaning of national highway project met Union Minister Road Transport and Highway Oscar Fernandez in New Delhi today.

Delegation members apprised the minister of the problems of the residents of Dadour, Bhour, Kanaid and Ner Chowk. Joint Action Committee (JAC) president Joginder Walia said, “As per plan the fourlane road from Naulakha to Dadour is proposed to be constructed with the existing width of 24 metres and with a height ranging from 1 to 3 metres, whereas the rest of the road from Kirtapur to Ner Chowk is being constructed with a new alignment of 45 metres.”

The villagers told the minister that nearly 300 houses and 150 shops would also be damaged. The residents have urged the minister to construct a bypass from Naulakha to Dadour to save the affected residents. The minister has reportedly assured the delegation members.

Solan, February 20
Manav Bharti University, located at Laddo village on the Kumarhatti-Sultanpur Road, will soon have world’s tallest statue of Lord Hanuman standing at 171 feet above the sea level. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh will lay its foundation stone on February 23.

Manav Bharti Charitable Trust’s Chairman Rajkumar Rana said the move would open tourism opportunities for the area and place this remote place in the world map of tourism.

The university management has entrusted the job to Matu Ram Art Centre which has sculptured several such statues across the world.

Centre Director Naresh Kumar said the project would be a blend of engineering and sculpturing marvel and a unique piece of architecture.

The job would be complete by the end of this year, he said. “Once done, the university management will also approach the Guinness Book of World Records to enlist their achievement,” he said.