Shimla, June 10
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today directed the project authorities to raise 3-km-long fencing along the dam sites and danger spots along the rivers and operate vehicles downstream and use hooters before the water was released every time.

The Chief Minister spelt the safety norms for project companies at a review meeting of power and the non-conventional energy sources departments here after the fallout of the tragedy in which 24 engineering students from Hyderabad washed away on Sunday evening in the Beas.

The project authorities would have to take extra-precautions and safety norms should be strictly enforced using vehicles and hooters for averting any mishap before releasing water from all dams, he warned.

The lesson had to be learnt from the Larji dam mishap and every precaution should be taken by all departments, he said. The fencing would be raised on 3-km long stretch along the dam sites and dangerous zones and signboards would be installed at such areas, added the Chief Minister. Virbhadra Singh said a high-level inquiry had been ordered and stern action would be taken against those found guilty for this incident. The Chief Minister directed power producers to complete projects in time to avoid cost overrun.

Hyderabad, June 10
An eerie silence at the tarmac of the international airport here was shattered by heart-wrenching cries as the bodies of four students who died in the Himachal Pradesh river tragedy, arrived in wooden boxes.

On seeing the bodies, the parents and relatives sobbed inconsolably.

The bodies, retrieved from the Beas, were flown to Hyderabad around midnight on Monday and handed over to the family members.

About 20 survivors, who were part of the 45-member group of engineering students from the city-based Vignan Jyothi Engineering College, arrived by special flight arranged by the government. In a state of shock, the students hugged their teary-eyed parents andbroke down while recounting their ordeal and the trauma of losing their friends before their own eyes.

“Everything happened in a matter of a few seconds. We saw our friends being washed away by the swirling waters but could not help. This will haunt us for the rest of our lives,” said 19-year-old Lavanya.

Heart-rending scenes were witnessed at Swargadham crematorium in Alwal area of Secunderabad where the last rites of G Ishwarya, who died in the tragedy, were performed. A large number of people from different walks of life, including local political leaders, gathered at the crematorium and shared the grief of her parents and relatives. Her smiling face on the photo frame kept near the pyre lit by her crestfallen father brought tears to everyone present there.

The bodies of Rambabu, Vijetha and Lakshmi Gayatri were handed over to their families. As the day wore on, the parents of the missing students started losing hope of seeing their dear ones alive.

Pandoh (mandi), June 10
Various agencies involved in rescue operations, looking for 19 students who went missing in the Beas on June 8 after sudden release of water from Larji Dam, have been given an area of 2.5 km for intensive search.

For making the search operation more intensive, every agency has been given a specific area in a stretch of 15 km from Thalot to Pandoh dam.

Transport Minister GS Bali and Rural Development Minister Anil Sharma met Home Minister of Telanagana, MPs from Andhara and Telangana and parents of the missing children and told them about the search operation.

The ministers said suitable action would be taken against anyone found guilty after the inquiry. They said the search operation was being undertaken as per the direction of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and more than 300 personnel from different agencies are involved.

Vice-chairman of the Disaster Management Board Rajinder Rana also visited the place and expressed sympathies with the families of the children. He said their priority was to search the missing children.

Rana said effort would be also made to establish battalions of the National Disaster Action Force (NDAF) since the state was prone to natural disasters.

He said 12 more divers from the NDAF had also been called to join the operation and level of Pandoh dam had been lowered by 4 ft, besides identifying places where students can be located. The DC said arrangement had also been made for stay of the parents of the children.

Shimla, June 10
Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Anil Sharma today said the government had sanctioned Rs 1.50 lakh to the families of those who were killed in the mishap at Thalot. As many as 24 students from a Hyderabad engineering college were washed away on Sunday evening due to release of water in the Beas.

Transport Minister GS Bali, Anil Sharma and Rajendra Rana, Chairman, Disaster Management Board, visited the mishap site at Thalot to take stock of the rescue operations being undertaken to recover the bodies of the drowned students.

They also met the parents and other family members of the missing students and expressed grief.

They also met Members of Parliament from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh at Pandoh and apprised them about the steps being taken by the state government for the search of the missing students. They said proper boarding and other arrangements had been made for the parents and other family members of the missing students.

They said a search operation was going on. Twentytwo personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) nine raft, 100 personnel of the Indo-Tibet Border Police, 100 personnel of the Sashastra Seema Suraksha Bal, 100 policemen of the Himachal Police and 25 Home Guards have been deputed in the search operation. He said besides taking help of local people, 12 additional divers had also been pressed into service by the National Disaster Response Force.

Una, June 10
Former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today said the inquiry into the mishap in the Beas, in which 24 engineering students from Andhra Pradesh lost their lives, should focus on the sand mafia, the role of the police after the incident, lack of inter-departmental coordination, inadequate flood warning system and working of the Larji dam authorities and suggest ways to check repetition of such incidents.

Addressing mediapersons at Amb, he said he was visited the site on Monday where he met witnesses and interacted with locals. He said the colleagues of the drowned students complained that contrary to the claims of the Larji Dam authorities, they did not hear any warning siren before the release of the water.

Dhumal suggested that the flood-prone zone was till 2 km downstream of the dam and a warning vehicle, equipped with public address system, should be deployed to warn the people. He said the students had also complained that the police kept shouting at them and did not heed to their pleas.

He added that there were allegations that initially 50 cubic metres of water per second was to be released, but later it was enhanced to 400 cubic metres, which also need to be probed.

The Leader of the Opposition said people had alleged that chaos and lack of inter-departmental coordination prevailed after the incident. Since the dam was in Kullu district and the scene of accident fell in Mandi district, the officers expressed ignorance about the telephone numbers of their counterparts in the other district.

Reacting to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh's statement that the students had ventured into a prohibited area, Dhumal questioned the existence of a jeepable road from the national highway to the river bank where the students were sitting at the time of the incident. 

Shimla, June 10
The State Load Dispatch Centre (SLDC) and the northern grid Regional Load Dispatch Centre (RLDC) that monitor power generation in the region connected to the northern grid, are in the eye of storm: They targeted the shutdown on the state government-run power projects, while the private companies and SJVNL projects got a free run on Sunday.

It was on Sunday that 24 engineering students from Hyderabad were washed away at Shala Nullah in the Beas in Mandi district after the Larji power project released 250 cumecs of water from its barrage.

As per the inputs gathered by The Tribune, had the SLDC not targeted the Larji power project to scale down generation from 138 MW to 32 MW from 5.30 pm to 6.45 pm, the precious life of 24 students would have been saved.

What has raised an accusing finger on the SLDC and RLDC is the fact that they allowed generation of private power companies, including SJVNL, much more than their installed capacity.

The SLDC cited message from the RLDC saying that there was “no demand for power and the generation should be stopped to save the grid from collapse”.

As a result, Larji project cut down its generation from 138 MW to 96 mw at 5.50 pm then again to 64 MW by 6.30 pm and the project scaled down to 32 MW by 7 PM, said PL Masoom, superintending engineer, Larji project.

But that led to a rise in the Larji barrage water to 969.5 ft, the highest permissible limit. They were forced to open the gate releasing about 50 cumecs of water after 5.30 pm and another 250 cumecs of water around 6.40 pm after they were sounded the message from the northern grid LDC to save the barrage, he added.

Apart from Larji, the SLDC and RLDC targeted HPSEBL projects - 60 MW Giri, Bhawa and other projects to scale down to save the grid form collapse, the project engineers said.

The 1,000 MW Karcham-Wangtoo project of the JP Company was allowed to produce 1,187 MW from 5 pm to 11.45 pm, almost 187 MW more than the installed capacity and this did not buy RLDC and SLDC argument that scale down was slapped on all power projects.

JP is not alone in the “good list of RLDC and SLDC”. The 192 MW Allain and Duhangan plants of AD Hydro Pvt Ltd was generating 213 MW and 219 MW from 1 am to 11.45 pm on Sunday, revealed the details of production accessed by The Tribune.

The SJVNL’s 1,500 MW Nathpa Jhakhri was allowed to produce 1,602.13 MW power and so was the case with its 206 MW Rampur project.

Other private producers who enjoyed SLDC’s and RLDC’s goodwill also included 100 MW Malana -II of Everest Power Company, which produced 104.69 MW from 6 pm and 8 pm on Sunday while 70 MW Buhdil plant of Lanco Company in Chamba produced 68.83 MW throughout that day.

The 260 MW Parbati project of NHPC was shut down twice between 5 pm to 5.45 pm and between 7 am to 9.30 am on Sunday, but resumed power generation to 260 MW from 7 pm that day, revealed the data.

It took just 8-10 minutes for water released from Larji barrage to reach theShala Nala near Thalot where the students had gone for taking pictures between 6 pm and 7 pm.

Sunil Grover, Chief Engineer, Systems, SLDC, said the National Load dispatch Centre flashed the message to RLDC which forwarded it to SLDC saying that power generation frequency had hit the permissible 50.10 level and forced cut on generation of electricity for all power projects, not HPSEBL’s projects alone. The generation peaked in the evening time due to the fast melting of snow into the rivers. It was a mandatory direction as the grid would have collapsed due to over generation that could be far-reaching consequences in the north, he defended.

SKBS Negi, Principal Secretary, Power, said the generation cut was forced on power houses due to the peak in power generation. “But the government has ordered a probe as to why the certain IPPs were exempted from the warning. The report has been submitted to the government and the Central Government”, he added.

Dharamsala, June 10
Due to the heat wave in the plains, there is a heavy influx of tourists to McLeodganj and Bhagsunag. However, the lack of adequate parking spaces and traffic jams have become a bane for tourists.

Gagan Shergill, a tourist from Patiala visiting Dharamsala, said she would not come back as traffic jams haunted tourists here.

Bikram, another tourist from Punjab, said the authorities should regulate the entry of big vehicles in Dharamsala to prevent traffic jams.

Traffic woes of Bhagsunag, a tourist destination located about 2 km from McLeodganj, are unending. Long traffic jams on the narrow road from McLeodganj to Bhagsunag have become the order of the day, especially in view of the ongoing tourist season.

Locals, too, have resented the lackadaisical attitude of the administration in addressing the problem.

Vikas Nehria, a hotelier, said Bhagsunag and Dharamkot were the only places where locals had set up tourism infrastructure. In McLeodganj, most of the hotels and shops belonged to Tibetans. “However, the government has failed to provide us a good road. Traffic jams haunting tourists now might discourage them from coming to this place in the future,” he added.

Dinesh, another local who runs a guest house at Bhagsunag, alleged that suggestions given by locals to ease out traffic had been ignored by the administration.

The locals had suggested that a small bypass from the Dharamkot road could help vehicles avoid the major bottleneck on the Bhagsunag-McLeodganj road where many illegal structures had been set up by Tibetans, reducing the road width to just 10 ft.

Another long-term solution to the problem, as suggested by locals, was connecting Bhagsunag with the Indrunag road. If constructed, one-way traffic rule could be implemented here, thus eliminating traffic blockades.

The construction of the said road was started during the previous BJP government. However, the project has been in limbo since then.

The locals have also suggested that traffic lights could be installed on the congested portions of the road. Only one-way traffic should be allowed on the narrow stretch with both sides manned by traffic cops. This could prove to be an affective short-term remedy.

Inquiries revealed that parking along the narrow road and encroachments were also a major reason for the jams. Most of the hoteliers along the road had not provided any place for parking on their premises, due to which vehicles were parked along the road. The problem could be solved by either forcing hoteliers to provide parking space in their establishments or construct a bigger public parking lot.

In many cases, tourists are being allowed to take their mini-buses till Bhagsunag even during peak hours. Such vehicles create traffic jams as they need more space. The entry of such vehicles should be restricted, the locals suggested.

Another project that could have eased traffic in lower Himachal was the Kotwali market bypass. Even this project is lingering on due to the acquisition of land at certain places.

Una, June 10
Former captain of the Indian cricket team Bishan Singh Bedi today reached Santoshgarh here to interact and give tips to budding cricketers. He was accompanied by Rishi Dhawan, a member of the Kings XI Punjab team in the IPL, who also gave useful tips to the players.

Later, interacting with mediapersons, Bedi appreciated the Santoshgarh cricket stadium, developed by a private entrepreneur. He said he would be a regular visitor to the stadium, especially during winters where the trainees could be put through rigorous sessions. Bedi said his impetus was more towards making good citizens through the game, rather than making outstanding sportspersons.

Bedi said he would dedicate the rest of his life towards promoting the cricketing talents among the Under-14, Under-17 and Under-19 age group players. He said he was not in favour of a foreign coach for the Indian cricket team. He said India had adequate experience and coaching talent among the former cricketers, whose talent could be utilised for training our teams. 

Palampur, June 10
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-Institute of Himalayan Bio-resource Technology (IHBT), Palampur, has developed and released Him Stevia, a clonal cultivar of stevia. It supposedly has a desirable glycoside profile, marking an improvement in the utilisation of stevia crop as a source of natural non-calorie sweetener.

A senior scientist of IHBT, Palampur, talking to mediapersons on the occasion of the Foundation Day, said with the increased incidence of diabetes in India and abroad, and growing concern over the safety of some chemical sweeteners, stevia crop could be considered a natural non-caloric sweetener with acceptable taste and health properties.

He said leaves of stevia contained glycosides which were high potency, non-calorie and non-toxic sweeteners, being up to 300 times sweeter than sugar.

Of the different glycosides, rebaudioside-A has the highest sweetening potency and is free of after-taste bitterness as in case of stevioside, which is present in a ratio higher than that of the other glycosides.

Him Stevia apparently has higher ratio of Rebaudioside-A as compared to stevioside, thereby marking a desirable improvement in sweetness profile of the plant.

The cultivar is vigorous in growth and has good adaptability under field conditions, giving high leaf biomass yield over years.

He said the institute had also developed two cultivars of gerbera, an important cut flower crop in floriculture industry which ranked among the top 10 cut flower crops in the international market. The new cultivars Him Glow (yellow or orange in colour) and Him Peace (white in colour) had complete double flower types which were in great demand in the floriculture industry. These could supplement the income of farmers undertaking greenhouse/polyhouse cultivation in the state.

Palampur, June 10
With the rising of mercury, several parts of the Baijnath region have been facing an acute shortage of drinking water. A number of water supply schemes managed by the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department have failed to meet water requirements.

Reports reaching here said residents of Harehar panchayat in Baijnath sub-division dismantled the water supply lines of 30 villages falling in Jogindernagar sub-division, resulting in an acute drinking water crisis in the area.

They were opposed to drinking water being provided from Harehar Kuhal, which is supposed to feed farmers of the area. Thus, they had resorted to this step.

Assistant Engineer, IPH Department, Parkaram Chand said it was an illegal action on the part of villagers and he had informed the higher authorities about it. He said over 100-metre pipes had been damaged by the villagers. The Assistant Engineer said this water supply scheme had been functional since 1988 and the said 30 villages were getting an uninterrupted water supply from Harehar Kuhal as per an agreement with the government.

Later in the afternoon, SDM, Baijnath, Rigved Thakur visited the affected areas to defuse tension. The SDM directed the villagers not to take the law into their hands or legal action would be initiated. He said AE, IPH Department, Ladh Bharol had been asked to repair the damaged supply lines and restore water supply to the affected areas.

He had also called a meeting of officers of the IPH Department and villagers on June 18 at Baijnath to settle the dispute.

Nurpur, June 10
The Pathankot-Mandi National Highway (NH) from Kandwal to Nurpur has become an accident-prone stretch, as stray cattle are seen on the road, causing not only traffic problems but also posing a threat to lives.

Driving on this stretch at night is risky. A number of road mishaps have taken place during the past few months on the NH due to stray cattle.

Not only this, stray cattle also destroy crops in rural areas. Local residents alleged that truckloads of abandoned cattle were being left in border areas from neighbouring states.

They said proper checking should be conducted at the entry points to deal with the menace. The NH authorities and the local administration were blind towards this problem, they added.

The NH Nurpur Sudhar Sabha, a local NGO, underlined the need to shift abandoned cattle to the gau sadan, which is being run by the Animal Husbandry Department at Khazian near here. The NGO also keeps a strict vigil on the illegal transportation of stray cattle to the area.

Sabha president Pramod Kumar said the NH authorities should find a solution to this problem by coordinating with the Animal Husbandry Department and the local administration.

Una, June 10
The 8-km-long stretch of the Una-Hoshiarpur road in the Bankhandi area of the district is full of polythene bags at places, mostly bread wrappers. These are thrown on the road by people after feeding monkeys.

Besides loaves of bread, people purchase roasted Bengal grams, biscuits, sweets and bananas from roadside vends that have mushroomed at both ends of Bankhandi, including Pandoga barrier in Una district and Chak Sadhu barrier in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab.

Tuesdays and Saturdays are special days as monkeys line up on both sides of the road, looking impatiently at each passing vehicle. Despite a ban on feeding monkeys, almost every bus that crosses the area, waits for a few minutes till all bread and eatables have been hurled towards the monkeys by passengers and out go the empty wrappers at the next turn.

Despite the fact that there is a police post and a Forest Department check post at the Pandoga barrier and another at Chak Sadhu in Punjab, there is nobody to check the illegal practice, while heaps of bread and other stuff are being fed to the monkeys in front of the law-enforcing agencies.

The light material is gradually finding its way from the roadsides to the forest areas through wind and water. This is posing a great risk to the forest ecosystem, including flora and fauna, besides causing irreversible damage to the groundwater seepage system. This non-degradable material ultimately finds entry into the main water channels in the forest.

With plenty of easily accessible food, comes quick breeding. When the monkey population becomes unsustainable in the area, groups migrate to human settlements in search of food.

Palampur, June 10
Development activities in a number of panchayats of Baijnath block have been adversely hit following the non-clearance of cheques worth lakhs of rupees issued by the Block Development Officer (BDO) to the different panchayats.

Official sources said here yesterday that the delay in clearance of cheques occurred because of the fact that the BDO, Baijnath, had transferred bank accounts from Baijnath to Palampur to a private bank 20 km from his office.

The cheques issued by the BDO to the panchayats are further sent for collection. This takes 10 to 15 days for clearance, inconveniencing numerous panchayat pradhans and secretaries. Besides receiving payments late, panchayat pradhans have to pay collection charges running into thousands of rupees.

A senior officer of the State Development and Panchayati Raj Department, when contacted by this correspondent, said there were already a dozen nationalised banks functional at Baijnath and Paporla. There was thus no sense in shifting all bank accounts from Baijnath to Palampur, 20 km away, he said. He wondered as to what circumstances compelled the BDO to transfer all government funds to a bank at Palampur.

He categorically stated that as per instructions of the state government, government accounts were bound to be opened only in those banks which had larger network as there should not be any delay or inconvenience in clearance of bills of the public.

A senior officer of the State Bank of India said that earlier, all the BDOs operated routed such transactions through SBI branches. But a few months back, all of a sudden, they transferred their bank accounts to a private bank without assigning any reason.

He said the public was then facing problem because of the fact that the bank concerned had no network in the area. All cheques were collected by paying collection charges, which had irked the panchayats.

Meanwhile, a dozen panchayat pradhans today demanded action against the erring officers. They urged the Kangra Deputy Commissioner to transfer the bank accounts from Palampur to Baijnath so that they were not caused any inconvenience.

Chamba, June 10
Officials of Irrigation and Public Health Department and the Municipal Council apprised DC Kadam Sandeep Vasant of old fire hydrants. They said most fire hydrants were decades old and had corroded.

This was stated by officials at a meeting to review the state of fire hydrants. Buildings had been raised over these fire hydrants and in an emergency situation one faced hurdles while using these pipelines, officials said.

The DC said they would purchase two fire-extinguishing vehicles of 300 litres capacity each. The vehicles would be able to enter alleyways which heavy fire vehicles could hardly gain access to, he said, adding that with the availability of the vehicles, the fire-fighting system would be strengthened.

He directed IPH Department and MC to carry out a joint inspection and identify points where fire pipelines could be repaired and new ones laid. IPH officials told him that with the utilisation of funds of Rs 15 lakh, five hydrants would be made operational by connecting these with storage tank of circuit house, besides hydrants at Surara and Sapri mohallas.

The DC asked both departments to fill dug-out points simultaneously while renovating fire hydrants and sewerage lines.