HIMACHAL PRADESH

For the first time, ropeway projects will be included under the MLA priority schemes, as the guidelines for funding from are being modified.

Aerial ropeways are one of the most suited modes of transportation, both for men and material in the hilly terrain, but Himachal has not had much success with it. A few ropeways have been set up but these are primarily tourist attractions at popular destinations.

Sources said that decks had been cleared for the first ropeway under the MLA priority scheme to be funded by NABARD in Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakurs Seraj Assembly constituency in Mandi district. Approval had been given to set up an aerial ropeway between Pandoh and Baglamukhi. The ropeway with a span of 8.560 km would cost Rs 50 crore.

The sources said that directions had been issued for amending the guidelines for funds from NABARD under the MLA priority schemes so that other legislators, too, could propose aerial ropeway projects under their priority schemes. A proposal for aerial ropeways was gathering dust in files. These were to be set up especially in rural areas where these would be used as a mode of transportation and not as a tourist attraction.

The state Police have completely switched over from the manual registration of FIRs to the digital mode. Even chargesheets are now being filed online.

A meeting of the State Apex Committee of the Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) was held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary RD Dhiman, here today. Integrating the e-system into recording FIRs and the preparation of chargesheets has been possible due to the implementation of the CCTNS in all police stations across the state.

The CCTNS data is being shared with the National Data Centre, New Delhi, for its integration with the national Database on a daily basis. Chargesheets of cases are also being filed electronically and are being shared with the courts.

The implementation of the CCTNS project was started in the state in 2009 with the signing of an MoU between the HP Government and the Central Government in September, 2009. At present, the CCTNS is successfully operational at 246 places, which includes police stations, offices of DSPs, SPs and higher offices.

Besides, various queries and reports are being generated for the assistance of investigating officers (IOs) and the preparation of periodic statistical reports.

The Hp Police have been awarded the first rank among the hilly and Northeastern states in the CCTNS two years in a row i.e. in 2020 and 2021. The state has also bagged the first rank overall at all-India level in the implementation of the Interoperable Criminal System.

The is planning to promote Khajjiar area of Chamba district for aero Sports. Rakesh Pathania, Minister for Forests, Youth and Sports Affairs, said this while talking to The Tribune. He said Monal National Aero Fest was organized last week in Khajjiar to attract tourists to the region.

During the fest, people from nine states participating in parasailing, paragliding and motorized paragliding events. A project was being prepared for promoting Khajjiar in Chamba as a new destination for adventure sports like paragliding and sailing. It would be sent to the union ministry for sports and youth affairs for funding, Pathania said.

He further said that Chamba Chalo programme has also been launched to attract tourists to virgin locations of Chamba district.

The cultivation of cannabis can emerge as an election issue in Kullu district. The area has gained notoriety for being a drugs hub but successive governments have made little efforts to help people cultivating cannabis to take up alternative crops.

The government has tried to provide livelihood to people in remote villages of the district through MGNREGA but failed to help them take up alternative .

The Chief Ministers statement had raised the expectations of those involved in cannabis cultivation. However, the government could not make any progress in the direction.

The Health Department has introduced new diagnostic and treatment facilities such as elderly and palliative healthcare, basic oral health and screening of non-communicable diseases at Health and Wellness Centres (HCWs) across the state.

The HCWs have been established to provide healthcare Services on the doorstep of the beneficiaries under the ambit of the Ayushman Bharat. A total of 2,042 health facilities, including 1,154 health sub-centres, 418 Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and 13 Urban Primary Health Centres (UPHC) have been upgraded to HWCs in the state, said a government official.

He said all HWCs have been upgraded with desktops, along with webcams, speakers and Internet to provide teleconsultation to the community through e-sanjeevani. The state has completed more than 55,000 consultations on e-sanjeevani portal.

Himachal Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur inaugurated a new Milkfed Plant Chakkar in Balh area of Mandi district which would increase its capacity to over 50,000 litres constructed at a cost of Rs 16.32 crore. He said this plant would process milk in a semi-automatic way, which would provide a facility of procurement of more milk from the farmers.

Addressing a public meeting at Chakkar, Thakur said that the HP Milkfed collected about 395 lakh liters of milk from 47,295 farmers of the State during the year 2021-22 and Rs 110.56 crore was provided to the farmers. He said that milk was one of the most important sources of income to the farmers of the State and during the tenure of the present , the purchase of milk has increased by 78 per cent, that is, from 219.00 lakh liters in the year 2017-18 to 395.39 lakh liters in the year 2021-22. The total turnover of Himachal Pradesh Milk Federation in the year 2017-18 was Rs.99 crore which has increased to Rs.172 crore in the year 2021-22, he added.

Thakur said that during the present government, an unprecedented increase of Rs.9 was made in the price of milk purchased from farmers, from Rs.22.90 per liter in the year 2017-18 to Rs.31.90 per liter in the year 2022-23. He said that the commission of milk societies was increased from 4.5 per cent to 5 percent and the Milk Federation was paying the best price to the milk producers in the country.

He said that Milkfed today has 11 Milk Processing Plants, one Cattle Feed Plant and one Powder Plant functioning in the State. With the commissioning of Milk Plant Chakkar (Mandi), the daily capacity of milk plots has increased from 100000 litres to 130000 litres. He said that another Milk Processing Plant of 50,000 litres capacity was under construction in Duttnagar, of which 70 percent work has been completed. He said that this plant would facilitate about thousands of farmers from Mandi, Kullu and other districts.

Union Minister of Commerce & and Textiles Piyush Goyal, accompanied by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and Education Minister Govind Singh Thakur, witnessed an exhibition of handloom and handicraft under the Seva and Samarpan campaign on the occasion of the golden jubilee of the statehood at Dhalpur here. He interacted with local weavers and artisans and listened to their suggestions.

There is a lot of potential in promoting handloom by reforming designing and packaging, standardising quality and modernising Marketing techniques. A committee has been formed to use marketing techniques for competing in the international market.