The biggest problems the apple growers have faced this year relate to the transportation and marketing of their bumper crop. The condition of the state's roads which was already woefully bad has further worsened due to this year's incessant rains. The situation was further aggravated by the inadequate availability of trucks to transport their produce to the markets and an acute shortage of apple trays and cartons.

Roads are the carriers of civilization. Absence of road-connectivity to the interiors of the hill state had been one of the main factors responsible for these areas backwardness. With getting road-connectivity during the last several years modern civilization also travelled to these backward areas helping in improving their economy and living standards of their inhabitants.

Over the period, the condition of the roads has deteriorated becoming the bane of the beautiful hill state. Their poor condition is not only adversely impacting the state's economy but is also responsible for heavy loss of human lives due to frequent bus accidents. According to media reports more than 700 persons, 69 of them in two days last week, have died and 1,000 injured in road accidents this year. Although human error and mechanical failures were also responsible for the bus and truck accidents, poor condition of roads has in no lesser way contributed to the accidents and loss of human lives. What has aggravated problems are the laxity in highway patrolling with no one bothering to check traffic violations and the woefully equipped Transport Department plying over 400 buses of zero book value.

The state government failed to take timely remedial measures to improve conditions before the start of the apple harvesting season. It was only after the heavy rains caused further damage to the roads and the widespread public criticism against the government's poor performance that it belatedly announced that it would take remedial steps “for the smooth transportation” of apple produce. On August 28, it gave two days to the Public Works Department for the purpose.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal was not wrong when, replying to the opposition's criticism about the government's failures, he said that the opposition was “merely trying to get political mileage” by accusing the state government of not making adequate arrangements to transport apple crop to the market.

The issue, however, has two aspects. The government has not denied the fact that the bad condition of roads has affected the apple transportation problems. In fact, it is this realisation which on August 28 prompted the Public Works Minister Gulab Singh Thakur to announce that nearly 140 bulldozers and 243 earthmovers have been pressed into service to “restore all roads within two days”.

The second aspect is Dhumal's charge against the opposition that it was trying to get political mileage. But then which opposition party, including the BJP when out of power, does not try to get political mileage out of the lapses and shortcomings of governments?

The Chief Minister, however, can blame the opposition for never appreciating his government's contribution in making the state one of the top performers in several fields including literacy, women empowerment and environment. Although the previous governments including the BJP's Dhumal-led coalition and the Virbhadra Singh-led Congress government had also contributed to the achievements in these fields -full page government advertisements used to be published in the media in support of such claims- Dhumal's positive contribution in this field during his present term cannot be denied.

Environment is Chief Minister's favourite subject and he has made strenuous efforts for the protection and improvement of environment. It is the state's outstanding performance in environmental arena, currently the hot issue in the country, which has now prompted the Planning Commission to include Himachal Pradesh in the list of the states eligible for getting a lion's share in the Centre's Rs.1,900 crore newly created special assistance in 2010-11. Other states which will be entitled to this assistance are Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Arunachal and Chandigarh.

Himachal's environment improvement endeavours may, however, face a problem arising out of the concerns recently expressed by a central committee in its report about the likely adverse effect of power projects on environment. The state government will have to be innovative in formulating balancing plans to ensure unhindered execution of the development projects without harming the state's environment and ecology. The ruling leadership's ingenuity will be on test in framing such plans. (IPA Service)