HIMACHAL PRADESH

Earlier, he paid obeisance and performed pooja at the Jwalaji temple and also visited the place where a statue of Saint Aadiguru Shankaracharya has been installed in the premises of Jwalaji Shrine.

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur, Industries Minister Bikram Thakur, MP Kishan Kapoor, Chairman State Planning Board Ramesh Chand Dhawala, MLAs Arjun Thakur and Rajesh Thakur, amongst others were also present at the premises of Jwalaji Temple during the live telecast of function of Shri Kedar Dham in Uttrakhand presided over by the Prime Minister.

Director, Industries, Rakesh Prajapati today signed MoUs with 17 industrialists, who have proposals to set up units in Una district with a total of Rs 427 crore. Most proposed units are from the food Industry, while three pharmaceutical units have also been proposed.

Farmwale, an agro-processing company, signed an MoU for setting up multiple milk-chilling plant, vegetable-processing plant, bakery unit, gram dehydration Evaporation and processing unit, sorting, grading and destoning of maize unit, sugarcane jaggery processing, potato-grinding, storage and packing unit, green corn packaging unit and corn seed grit plant. The company has proposed to invest Rs 180 crore in Bathari of the district.

Hemtex Textile has proposed to set up a yarn manufacturing unit at Nangal Slangari village, involving an investment Rs 31 crore, and the firm, Narinder Kumar-Bhupinder Kumar, will set up a chemical plant for manufacturing formaldehyde chemical with an investment of Rs 5 crore.

He announced the upgrade of various Health centres and Education facilities, Rs 10 lakh each for 12 new panchayats in the Nachan constituency for the construction of panchayat bhawans and the opening of a new patwar circle at Killing. He said Ayurvedic dispensaries would be opened at Gharot and Ghinvi.

The Chief Minister said that Rs 50 lakh each had been released for the construction of stadiums at government senior secondary schools at Aatgarh and Chail Chowk.

Later, Thakur presided over a conference of the elected members of the institutions (PRIs) of the block and the elected members of the Municipal Council, Sundernagar.

The Himachal Pradesh government is contemplating to develop artificial reservoirs as vibrant tourist destinations in the state, offering a range of adventurous activities, including watersportsactivities, angling, bird watching and eco-tourism activities. Chief ministerSukhvinder Singh Sukhusaid rules and regulations are currently being formulated to govern these activities.

Sukhu said Kangra District Administration has been directed to identify suitable sites to create an artificial lake, spanning one to two km, along a perennial river route. Additionally, 5.75 hectares of land has also been identified in Nagrota for setting up a wellness centre as well as an artificial lake with world-class fountains.

Stating that the government intends to increase the influx of tourists in the state to attract five crore tourists in the coming four to five years, he said the government has allocated Rs 70 crore for promoting adventure tourism activities at Pong Dam in Kangra, which will attract adventure Sports enthusiasts to the state.

Scientists fromIIT Mandihave developed a computational model for automated disease detection in potato crops using photographs of its leaves. The research led by Srikant Srinivasan, associate professor, School of Computing and Electrical Engineering, IIT Mandi, in collaboration with the Central Potato Research Institute, Shimla, uses (AI) techniques to highlight the diseased portions of the leaf.

The computational tool can detect blight in potato leaf images. The model is built using an AI tool called mask region-based convolutional neural https://exam.pscnotes.com/Network“>Network architecture and can accurately highlight the diseased portions of the leaf amid a complex background of plant and Soil matter.

Stressing the need for protected and balanced development in the direction of Environment conservation, the Himachal Pradesh Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla on Sunday said that India is emitting the least carbon as compared to the western countries and their environment was so unbalanced that it affected the whole world.

The Governor, addressing the gathering as the chief guest at the North Zone Environment Workshop organized by Arogya Bharti Himachal Pradesh in association with National institute of technology, Hamirpur at NIT, said that Himachal has good environmental condition and we need to preserve our green cover. For a healthy life, we have to adopt chemical free agricultural practices and go back to , he added.

Shukla further said that water scarcity was another important factor today which needs our attention. The water sources of major rivers of the northern region are under threat of pollution, overuse, and encroachment. Rainwater harvesting, wastewater treatment, and community awareness campaigns could go a long way in ensuring sustainable water supply for future generations, he added.

He also stressed on safeguarding the fragile Ecosystems and Biodiversity of the northern region and said that conservation of habitats of endangered species of wildlife should be given priority and activities like deforestation, illegal wildlife trade and habitat destruction should be discouraged.

Himachal PradeshCM JairamThakursaid China is doing “surveillance activities” in its border area.

The CM had visited the Indo-China border areas at Samdo in Lahaul-Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh recently.

Thakur said he went to the border areas following inputs after the violation of the state airspace last year by Chinese helicopters and some construction activities, including those of roads near the border.

It also decided to provide Rs. 1500 per month as Indira Gandhi Mahila Samman Nidhi to all the eligible Women of Spiti Valley including Chhomos/nuns from the age of 18 years and above.

The cabinet also gave its nod to introduce e-stamping in the State for the collection of stamp duty to promote . It decided to stop printing physical stamp papers with immediate effect and to authorize Stamp Vendors as Authorized Collection Centres. It also gave its nod to continue with a dual system of stamps, i.e. physical stamp paper and e-stamp paper from 1st April, 2023 to 31st March, 2024 and after 1st April, 2024 physical stamp paper will be discontinued completely.

In another decision, the Cabinet decided to give Rs. 600 in lieu of school uniforms through DBT to all eligible students.It also decided to increase the honorarium of Nambardars in the Revenue Department from Rs. 3200 to Rs. 3700 per month as per the budget announcement, which will benefit about 3177 Nambardars in the State.

All sanitation workers in the (ULBs), including municipal corporations, municipal councils, nagar parishads and nagar panchayats, will be given an incentive of Rs 2,000 per month for April, May and June, 2021, keeping in view the vital Services they are rendering in maintaining hygiene in the urban areas during the Covid-19 pandemic.

CM Jai Ram Thakur urges representatives of urban local bodies to remain in constant contact with the family members of the person in Home isolation

Asks them to ensure that people come forward for test as it has been found that delay in going to hospital leads to deterioration of condition and increase in deaths

Tells them to maintain better coordination with the Health Department to check the spread of the pandemic

Thakur said the elected representatives should also come forward to ensure that in case of unfortunate death of Covid patients, the last RITES of the deceased were performed as per the protocol. He said the State Government was also considering providing PPE kits to health institutions so that the last rites could be performed as per the protocol.

The Centre has asked the to expedite land acquisition for the remaining four phases of the Pathankot-Mandi fourlane project.

The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has asked the state for the quick disbursal of compensation for land to the affected people for expediting the NH project.

The project falls among the top priority projects since this road will link Pathankot with Leh and Ladakh. The government of India had shelved the Bilaspur-Leh rail line project. Therefore, the Pathankot-Mandi project has now gained more importance and the government wants to complete it at the earliest.

The bidding process for the first phase of the Pathankot-Mandi project had been completed last month and the construction works valuing over Rs 800 crore had been awarded to IRB Infrastructure. This company has also been directed to complete the project within two years.