P R A D E S H
Wednesday, October 28, 1998
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H I M A C H A L P R A D E S H |
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Wednesday, October 28, 1998 |
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spotlight today's calendar |
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MIG-21 crashes near
Dharamsala |
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 Teachers' complaint on salary NANGAL, Oct 27 — Twentyfive teachers working in two schools here, Shivalik Model School and NAC Medium High School and run by the local municipal council, have not been paid wages for the past 18 months. |
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Polio
eradicated from Solan |
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MIG-21
crashes
near Dharamsala DHARAMSALA, October, 27 — A MIG-21, fighter plane of the Indian Air Force crashed in the Pargode forest, near the Harchakian village, today morning. The fighter plane had taken off from the Pathankot air force station, before it crashed in a forest area, about 60 kilometres from here. 23-year old Flying Officer Manu Shrivastava was killed in the crash, as he could not bail out in time. The smouldering wreckage of the plane was strewn in an area of about 200 metres. The completely disfigured and charred body of the flying officer lay amidst the wreckage. The plane hit the ground with such impact that a crater was created and bushes and pine trees around the site were burnt by the ensuing fire. A rescue team of the Air Force from Pathankot reached the site of the accident within twenty minutes, as intimation of the accident was flashed by another fighter plane flying with the ill-fated MIG. The rescue force comprised of four helicopters, of which one landed in a field in Basa village. Squadron Leader Sharvan and others in the rescue team began the search for the plane's black box. An eyewitness, Gian Chand of Magreta village says he saw the plane loose height and plunged down to hit a pine tree and catch fire. "I suddenly wondered how come a plane is flying so low, when it suddenly plunged down and crashed" remarked Gian Chand. He immediately informed the Panchayat Pradhan, Manohar Lal, to intimate the Shahpur Police Station and left for the site of the crash along with a few villagers. "We could not go near the wreckage as flames were rising from it and two big blasts took place", he said. The entire area was on fire before it was put off by fire services personnel, who had rushed to the spot from Dharamsala. Air Force Personnel present at the site said that the cause of the crash would be known only once the black box was found. The Deputy Commissioner, Superintendent of Police, ADM, SDM and a number of other officials rushed to the spot as soon as news of the crash was received.
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BJP's clout with employees rises
SOLAN, Oct 27 — The Himachal Pradesh Employees Confederation, a breakaway group of the once two lakh strong HP non-gazetted officers NGOs seem to have consolidated it's hold on a majority of government and semi-government employees of the state. The confederation was considered a creation of the BJP minded leaders while the original federation led by Gopal Dass Verma, was considered to be close to former CM Vir Bhadra Singh. Over 70 per cent of the delegates who assembled here for holding elections to the confederation's state executive earlier belonged to the federation. This was admitted by Mr Gopal Dass Verma, who was present as a special invitee, during a formal chat with local newspersons. Mr Verma, while replying to a question, said that the current strength of the federation stood at 90,000 employees of a total of 2,50,000. The NGOs' Federation had played a crucial roles in Himachal Pradesh politics with its leaders often claiming that only that party would win elections in the state which enjoyed its support. Politicians calculated that each union member commanded atleast five votes. Which meant that the strength of the vote bank controlled by the staff unions was around 12,50,000. The total population of the state is about 50 lakh. Today's elections were dominated by confederation candidates, which should give a boost to the BJP. This development which has taken place barely a month before the important byelection to the Baijnath seat is expected to cast its shadow on the outcome of that election. The following were elected to the state executive of the confederation. President — Subhash Sharma, senior vice-presidents — Hari Om Bhanot and Yashwant Rana; vice-presidents — SC Patial, OP Sharma, KC Bakshi, Sundar Lal Mehta, HN Kashyap and JS Chandel. Secretary general — OP Sharma, organising secretaries — Inder Pal Sharma and Anil Sharma; chief advisor — Lekh Raj Sharma; advisors — Romesh Kaistha and Rakesh Bhardwaj. The elections were held unanimously.
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Canine vigil for jawans DHAPUN (Chamba): 'Gabbar' and 'Tommy' have cut new assignments for themselves. They preferred to leave company of their old masters — the Gujjars — and continue with their service of providing a "security" cover. Their new masters are none other than men and officers of the ITBP who patrol the Himachal Pradesh-Jammu and Kashmir border. "Gabbar", a brown coloured male Gaddi dog, and "Tommy", a bitch of the same breed with thick and attractive coat of brown and black fur on her, stay with the jawans at a checkpost on the border, near here. Both of them have developed such an affinity for the jawans that they proceed on long-range patrol with them from one peak to another along the inter-state border during after having breakfast with them. During the night, they keep a strict vigil around 'Gujjar Deras', where the ITBP jawans are putting up. "At night they are on full alert and do not allow even other dogs to stray into the area. Sometimes they keep themselves positioned at a morcha to give company to the jawans who are there with a machine gun," said Janak Singh. Even during a 12 km trek undertaken by The Tribune team to Barari Pass, these canines defied the command of the Deputy Commandant, Mr.B.S.Routela, to return to the post. Instead they accompanied the two patrol parties separately braving rain and strong winds that lashed the area. The jawans maintained that though 'Gabbar'was a bit arrogant and responded by wagging his tail yet he had qualities of an excellent friend, who occasionally enjoyed playing with them with a ball, which perhaps has been abandoned by some Gujjar child. Charhat Singh, another jawan at Mahadwar post, said 'Gabbar' and 'Tommy' kept taking rounds of Mahadwar post after an interval of a day or two after covering a distance of about 8 a.m. and returned after having breakfast or lunch with them.
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Teachers' complaint on salary NANGAL, Oct 27 — Twentyfive teachers working in two schools here, Shivalik Model School and NAC Medium High School and run by the local municipal council, have not been paid wages for the past 18 months. The selection of these teachers was made in April, 1997 by the managing committee of the schools through advertisement and employment exchange. Though the 20 selected teachers got their appointment letters, they are yet to receive salary. The teachers who have not been paid salary allege they are being victimised due to political rivalry in the municipal council. Seven teachers reportedly moved High Court in July this year to get their salary released. The court while admitting the writ of the teachers issued directions for the release of salary of teachers. Following this, the Director, Local Government, issued a fax message to the municipal council to release the salary of teachers. However, no action has been taken so far. The teachers who moved the court allege that they are being threatened that they will be ousted from jobs. They further allege that when they complained to Mr Madan Mohan Mittal, Food and Civil Supplies Minister, Punjab, who represents the constituency, he asked them to first withdraw the case before expecting any relaxation.
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Polio eradicated from Solan SOLAN, Oct 27 — Deputy Commissioner Balram Sharma while presiding over the annual meeting of the district pulse polio immunisation programme here yesterday said no polio case had been reported from the district in the past seven years. He said the consistently excellent results achieved in the implementation of the pulse polio programmes in the past three years were primarily responsible for the current zero incidence of the crippling disease in the district. Mr Sharma said the district had achieved over 100 per cent targets in each of the three years during which the programme was taken up. This was made possible by the cooperation of various voluntary organisations and government employees who saw to it that even children visiting the district from outside in vaccination days were administered the requisite vaccine doses. The Chief Medical Officer, Dr L.R. Purohit, said with zero incidence of polio, Solan now ranked with the few districts in the country which had equalled the record of advanced countries like the USA in this regard. He, however, cautioned that the polio-causing virus was considered to be wild in medical terminology which required constant vigil in the years to come. The district administration had decided to set up 340 polio booths in the district on December 16 and January 17, 1999.
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BJP charged with protecting traders SHIMLA, Oct 27 — Opposition parties have accused the BJP-HVC government in Himachal Pradesh of protecting big traders who were hoarding essential commodities resulting in a steep price rise. The Congress, the CPI and the CPM today lashed out at the state government for its failure to control prices of essential items. Mr Mohar Singh, Secretary of CPM, accused the BJP governments at the Centre and here of protecting interests of unscrupulous stockists, hoarders and middlemen who were "looting" the producer and the consumer. The state committee of the CPM observed that the unprecedented price rise was an outcome of hoarding of essential commodities by big traders who enjoyed political patronage of the BJP government. The price rise was not due to failure of crops as the BJP government was trying to make out. The state committee demanded immediate arrest of hoarders and threatened to organise demonstrations throughout the state on the issue. The PCC President, Mr Sat Mahajan, said that the common man was being crushed due to the unprecedented price rise which the government has failed to control. The Secretary of the CPI, Mr Kameshwar Pandit, announced that the party would organise demonstrations throughout the state from November 15 against the price rise. He accused the BJP government of having a pact with hoarders and black marketeers.
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CM invites road construction experts SHIMLA, Oct 27 — The Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, who is on a two-day visit to Mumbai, called on the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Joshi, last evening. The two leaders discussed various matters of mutual interest. He showed special interest in the working of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation. He invited Mr Joshi to Himachal. Mr Dhumal also held discussion with the Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation and enquired about the working of the corporation. He had an aerial view of the Mumbai-Pune express way, one of the most prestigious projects entrusted to the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRD) which provided safe and speedy link between Mumbai and Pune. The Chief Minister invited experts to visit Himachal Pradesh and take up the construction of roads in the state as the government was entrusted to involve the private sector in this work. Earlier, the Chief Minister distributed sewing machines among Himachali widows living in Mumbai on behalf of Mittar Mandal formed by the people of the state living in Mumbai. He also gave away prizes to meritorious students.
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Petition against Speaker SHIMLA, Oct 27 — Two petitions seeking disqualification of the Speaker of the Himachal Assembly, Mr Gulab Singh Thakur, were filed today by six Congress legislators before the Secretary of the Vidhan Sabha. These petitions have been filed under the anti-defection law by Mr Rangila Ram Rao, Mr Harsh Mahajan, Mrs Viplove Thakur, Mr Kashmir Singh, Mrs Asha Kumari and Mr Singhi Ram. The earlier petition for his disqualification was dismissed on technical grounds by Mr Mohan Lal MLA, who was elected by the Assembly to deal with the petition.
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IGMC docs strike work SHIMLA, Oct 27 — Functioning of Indira Gandhi Medical College Hospital was affected today as about 175 resident doctors observed a day's strike for the implementation of their demands. According to hospital sources, most of the surgeries scheduled for the day were postponed and the out patient departments also functioned for only about two hours. Dr Naresh Kalia, president of the IGMC Resident Doctor Association, said the stir would be intensified and the members would go on an indefinite strike from November 7 if the demands were not settled by that time. He threatened that if the authorities still failed to take steps to redress their grievances, resident doctors would resign en masse. Besides implementation of the revised pay scales, the association demanded enhancement of stipend for postgraduate students on the Punjab pattern. They also demanded the shifting of clerical staff.
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