HIMACHAL PRADESH

The National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) has decided to provide a 33-seater bus based on hydrogen fuel and set up a hydrogen fuel generation plant through a 250 kW photovoltaic solar plant in Chamba district as a pilot project. The Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) will operate the bus at important tourist places of the district.

NHPC Chamera project-II general manager SK Sandhu disclosed this at a meeting held here under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner DC Rana. Sandhu

provided the information on the technical aspects with regard to setting up of a hydrogen mobility-based project in the district.

He said the bus on full fuel tank would run around 200 km. After the hydrogen was produced from the solar plant, the remaining electricity supply would be sent to the local grid.

In a bid to promote greener, non-polluting electric vehicles, the Transport Department ofHimachal Pradeshhas pledged to switch its current fleet of petrol and diesel vehicles to electric vehicles. This will make it the first state in the whole country to switch its entire fleet to EVs. As per the plan, all government departments will be equipped with electric vehicles within a year, in order to promote a sustainable and cost-efficient system.

Moreover, a total of 300 electric buses will be added to the fleet of Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC), for which, an outlay of Rs 400 crore has been sanctioned, an official statement quoting Chief MinisterSukhvinder Singh Sukhusaid. The government aims to switch the entireHRTCfleet to e-buses by 2025.

The Shimla west Police station topped the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) ranking in the state in the above 50 FIRs category in the last quarter of 2021, scoring 27.45 of 30 marks.

The ranking is based on the uploading of data by police stations from registration of FIR to current status of investigation. The Dhalli police station in Shimla and Sundernagar police station in Mandi district were ranked second and third with 27.39 and 24.86 marks while Rohru and Jubbal police stations in Shimla district bagged the top position in (20-50 FIRs and 0-20 FIR) categories.

All 133 police stations in the state are covered under the CCTNS project. The CCTNS provides enhanced tools for investigation, crime prevention, law and order maintenance and other functions like traffic management and emergency response, improving Communication, automating back office functions, helping police staff to focus more on core police functions.

Notwithstanding the hardships faced by the in the Covid-induced lockdown, the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the state registered a significant increase in the quarter ending June 2021.

An FDI to the tune of 7.6 million US dollars was received in the state in the first quarter of this financial year till June. Though the states share nationally was merely 0.04 per cent, it reflected an increase vis–vis the quarter ending March 2021 when the FDI had declined to an all-time low of 0.2 million US dollars.

The lockdown badly hit the FDI flow into the state from December 2019 to March 2020. From 10 million US dollars in December 2019, the FDI plummeted to as low as 1.9 million US dollars in March 2020. Though it increased to 4.3 million US dollars in the quarter ending June 2020, it fell to a mere 1.5 million US dollars in the subsequent quarter ending September 2020.

The lockdown was lifted in September 2020, and the FDI again rose to 5 million US dollars in the quarter ending December 2020.

The state had registered its highest ever FDI of 10 million US dollars during the quarter ending December 2019 prior to that. Though this was merely 0.09 per cent of the total FDI flow into India, it was significant for the small hilly state of Himachal. Trade analysts opine that the Union Government has taken a slew of measures to enhance its investment potential.

The ‘Pratigya Patra’ announced by the Congress during the assembly will be a policy document and the government will work accordingly, Himachal Pradesh Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar saidwhile addressing the first session of 14th assembly.

The government will focus on new programmes in all sectors in a phased manner through integrated development of the state’s capabilities to create EMPLOYMENT opportunities, he said and added that it would also ensure that the benefits reached all sections of Society. The government is committed to fulfilling the promises made during the elections and a detailed roadmap for implementation of the guarantees in the ‘Pratigya Patra’ will be discussed while presenting the budget, the governor said.

Arlekar asserted that Governance and administration would be improved to protect people from Corruption and said all possible efforts would be ensured to establish an efficient, transparent and accountable administrative machinery. Calling employees the government’s backbone, Arlekar said they would maintain cordial relations with the people and consider their grievances and demands without compromising efficiency and discipline.

The people of the state have always supported progressive policies and given the mandate to attain the objectives of all-round development. It will be the government’s endeavour to curb fast-growing Unemployment and complete ongoing development projects within the stipulated time frame, he added.

The government will make efforts to ensure that the state’s youth not only get employment but are also able to create employment, Arlekar said. He added that the government had already started working to create new employment opportunities.

Assuring the state’s people that the government would always respond to constructive criticism, Arlekar hoped that each member would contribute fully to deliberations in the House. He urged the members of both the ruling and the opposition to work together with a positive outlook and the objective of taking the state forward.

The government is planning to bring in a new policy for 23,417 contractual employees. Minister for Town and Country Planning Suresh Bhardwaj, officiating on behalf of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, gave this information on the floor of the House.

Revenue Minister Mahender Thakur introduced the Himachal Pradesh Abadi Deh (record of rights) Bill 2021 in the Assembly.The Bill aims at giving land ownership rights to people living in Abadi Deh or Lal Dora areas of villages, as per the scheme notified by the Union Government.

Abadi Deh areas in Himachal have remained without rights of the proprietors being recorded, preparation of record or marking of boundaries through a survey.

This has resulted in disputes over boundary demarcation and identification of rights in dwelling and other areas.

Himachal Pradesh-based Shoolini University has been ranked best private universities in India in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings for 2023.

The Lawrence School, Sanawar, has been ranked best In the country in the category Vintage Legacy Co-ed Boarding Schools by the Education World, which announced its India-Schools Ranking (EWISR) for 2022-23.