Replying to a question by Jogindernagar MLA Prakash Rana in the assembly on Thursday, forest minister Rakesh Pathania said the forest department has been carrying out sterilisation of monkeys to deal with the monkey menace in the state.
He said a total of 2,726 monkeys have been sterilised in the Jogindernagar assembly segment while the department is also planting fruit-bearing trees in forest areas so that monkeys do not venture into villages.
He said the state government had also taken up the issue of monkey menace with the Centre after which the Union ministry of forests, environment and climate change declared monkeys vermin in parts of the state, including 10 tehsils and sub-tehsils of Mandi districts vide notification issued on April 23, 2020.
He said the notification expired on April 22, 2021, and efforts were on to get it extended for one more year. Apart from it, nine animal and bird species including wild boar, blue bull, parrot, cheetal, samabar dear etc, have been declared a threat to the crops.
The divisional forest officers concerned can issue permits to kill these animals by recording the reason, he said.
{{/usCountry}}The divisional forest officers concerned can issue permits to kill these animals by recording the reason, he said.
{{/usCountry}}28 cases of apple crop payments pending before SIT
Horticulture minister Mahender Singh Thakur informed that a total of 28 cases and 311 complaints were pending before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) for recovery of payments of apple crop from commission agents. He was replying to question raised by Theogh legislator Rakesh Singha. He said an amount of more than ₹13.40 crore is to be recovered from the commission agents.
No proposal of regularising ASHA workers
Services of ASHA workers are purely incentive-based for which the government of India has not fixed any working hours, health minister Rajiv Saizal said on Thursday. He was replying to a question asked by Theog MLA Rakesh Singha and Nagrota Bagwan legislator Arun Kumar.
He said an ASHA worker is paid a monthly honorarium of ₹2,000/month by the Centre and an additional ₹2,000/month by the state government from its exchequer which is now being enhanced to ₹2,750 with effect from April 1, 2021. The amount will be disbursed accordingly to all the ASHAs.
They are also entitled for additional incentives, based on their performance. ASHA workers are local residents of the area who cover 800 people in rural areas and 2,500 in urban areas, said the health minister adding that each household under the population of the ward/panchayat has to be covered by an ASHA.
The ASHA being a local resident of her area works only in her panchayat/ward and there is no provision to provide a vehicle facility to them. He said ASHAs are honorarium-based workers hence there is no proposal of regularising their services.