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Thursday,
February 28, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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HP Govt grilled for delay Scam in Health Dept rocks HP House CBI letter placed in House CM for
consensus on power arrears |
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CPI call
to fight communalism Rs 40 cr released for HP BADDI DIARY
Workshop on women’s role Shifting of college irks students Kol Dam oustees hold rally
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HP Govt grilled for delay Shimla, February 27 A calling-attention motion was moved by Mr Virbhadra Singh, Mrs Viplove Thakur, Mr Kaul Singh (all Congress) and Mr Mohinder Singh (unattached member) to draw the attention of the Health Minister towards panic caused due to pneumonic plague. Intervening Chief Minister, Prem Kumar Dhumal denied that any delay was caused in taking steps to provide medical aid to the patients and the steps taken by the state government to contain the disease had been appreciated by the World Health Organisation (WHO). He said the Centre was informed as soon as the symptoms of the disease were detected in some patients on February 12. A team of doctors from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) reached the affected areas next day to identify the disease. Mr Virbhadra Singh said the first patient of pneumonic plague died in a hospital at Rohru on February 5 and it was after a long delay that the disease was identified. Other patients reached the PGI, Chandigarh, in taxis hired by them without any help from the authorities. He appreciated Dr Ram Lal Sharma at the Civil Hospital, Rohru, for diagnosing the disease as pneumonic plague and giving the required treatment to the patients. He said many posts of doctor in the hospitals at Rohru and Jubbal had been lying vacant. Many primary health centres in the interior areas had been lying locked as no doctors had been posted there. Thakur Ram Lal (Cong) said adequate compensation should be provided to the families whose members had died of plague. Children had been orphaned and they should be provided some package for an honourable livelihood. The affected areas should be properly disinfected and all vacant posts of doctor filled. Mrs Viplove Thakur and Mr Kaul Singh demanded that health institutions in the rural areas should be strengthened and steps taken to undo the harm caused to the tourism industry because of the adverse publicity regarding the disease. Mr Mohinder Singh pulled up the government for a shortage of doctors in the area. No senior officer visited the affected area till February 17 when Health Minister, J.P. Nadda and Horticulture Minister Narendra Bragta went there. Replying to the motion, Mr Nadda announced that 10 new doctors, 12 pharmacists and six nurses had been posted in the area. He said the Congress members should keep in mind that Dr Retola has sent a letter to the then Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, in 1996 regarding the threat of outbreak of the disease. He said the Union Minister of Health Dr C.P. Thakur, and the WHO had appreciated the manner in which the state government had tackled the disease. |
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Scam in Health Dept rocks HP House Shimla, February 27 Initiating the debate on the motion of thanks on the Governor’s Address, Mr Virbhadra Singh specifically targeted the Health Department and said rampant corruption in the purchase and recruitment had left it in a shambles. As many as three former Directors of the department had been arrested in various cases. Recruitment of nurses and other paramedical staff was not carried out on the basis of merit but on political and other considerations. He said there was no transparency in the procedure and even the list of selected candidates was not made public. The appointment letters were issued from the state secretariat and posted by the staff of the Health Minister. The Health Minister, Mr J.P. Nadda, rebutted the charges and said the cases in which the Directors were arrested pertained to the Congress regime and it was the present government which took action on them. He said he had issued a detailed statement in the House in this regard. This led to heated exchanges between the Opposition and Treasury Benches as Mr Ram Lal Thakur, who held the Health portfolio in the previous Congress Government, contested Mr Nadda’s claim and said he had initiated action in one of the cases and transferred the Deputy Director involved in it. However, the Dhumal government gave him two promotions in utter disregard of recruitment and promotion rules. As angry exchanges between Mr Nadda and Mr Ram Lal continued, the Speaker, Mr Gulab Singh, adjourned the House for the day. Earlier, devoting a major part of his hour-long speech to the issue of corruption Mr Virbhadra Singh expressed shock that corruption in the Public Works Department after the removal of Mr Mohinder Singh from the ministry, had not only persisted but flourished. It was a serious matter as none other than the Chief Minister Mr P.K. Dhumal, was now holding the charge of the Public Works Department. He was unsparing in his criticism of the Hamirpur-based State Subordinate Services Selection Board which, he alleged, had become a den of corruption. Recruitment was being made on consideration other than merit. The impression was that jobs were being given on political considerations or “give-and-take” basis. Worse, the credibility of the state public service commission had also been seriously eroded. |
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CBI letter placed in House Shimla, February 27 The letter dated August 14, 2001, signed by Mr M.A. Ganpathy, DIG, CBI, says that the allegations against Mr Virbhadra Singh have been verified and none of these is substantiated to be worth further probe by the CBI. It may be mentioned that the allegations against Mr Virbhadra Singh were forwarded to the CBI by Mr Laxmi Rattan, Additional Secretary, DP&T, vide his letter dated November 9, 1998, for investigations. It is worth mentioning that a controversy had arisen about the contents of the letter with ruling BJP activists claiming that the CBI has not given a clean chit to Mr Virbhadra Singh and that some missing documents have been sought. Mr Dhumal had also said this on several occasions. On the other hand, Mr Virbhadra Singh and his supporters have been maintaining that the CBI had closed the case. The state government had sent the “charge sheet” of the Himachal Vikas Congress against Mr Virbhadra Singh to the CBI for investigations. However, Mr Dhumal recently said that the matter was referred to the CBI under pressure from the HVC. |
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CM for consensus on
power arrears Shimla, February 27 Mr Dhumal was replying to a question of Mr Chander Kumar (Congress) regarding the latest position of the case, which the state government had filed in the Supreme Court with regard to its claim. Mr Dhumal said he was making constant efforts for an honourable out of court settlement, but these did not make much headway because of elections in Punjab. Moreover, as Himachal Pradesh had itself gone to the court, no such haste should be shown in the out of court settlement. He said members of the Opposition could make an effort to solve the issue as a Congress government had now been installed in Punjab. Replying to a supplementary of Mr Mohinder Singh, (unattached member) that the matter should have been decided when the NDA government was at the centre and its allies were ruling in Punjab and Haryana, Mr Dhumal said no one should try to score a point on the matter as the case was filed in the Supreme Court by the previous Congress government when the governments of the same parties were ruling the Centre, Punjab and Haryana. He said the dispute of Chandigarh had remained unsettled all these years. Mr Kaul Singh (Congress) suggested that the government should file an application in the Supreme Court for an early hearing of the case. The Chief Minister tabled supplementary demands totalling Rs 219.50 crore. Of this Rs 79.73 crore is under plan schemes, Rs 92.59 crore under the centrally sponsored schemes and Rs 47.17 crore under non-plan. While both Plan and non-Plan supplementary demands are internal adjustments. Only within the overall budgetary ceilings passed by the House for the year 2001-2002 Budget, the allocations under the centrally sponsored schemes are over and above budgetary ceiling fixed under the 2001-02 Budget. He said under the Plan a provision of Rs 79.73 crore had been kept to fund the requirements of the 11th Finance Commission schemes and some other committed liabilities. Under different Centrally sponsored schemes, supplementary provision of Rs 92.59 crore has been proposed. Most of it is for funding the ongoing or new schemes for which money has been received from the government of India. Important among them are Rs 47.19 crore for the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme and Rs 10 crore for Central transportation subsidy. In addition to small provisions in education and animal husbandry, Rs 2.75 crore has been proposed for the construction of roads. He said for non-Plan expenditure Rs 47.17 crore has been provided in the supplementary demands for grant. A major part of it, Rs 24 crore, is one-time grant for meeting committed liabilities in the HRTC. Rupees 8.87 crore is proposed for defraying the decreetal liability under the state lotteries. Rs 1.92 crore has been kept for photo identity cards in the Election Department. Besides, Rs 1.66 crore has been kept under medical reimbursement for pensioners and Rs 3.96 crore for printing and stationery.
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CPI call to fight communalism Mandi, February 27 The party resolved that the government should take effective measures to deal with the problem of employment failing which it should grant unemployment allowance to the jobless. It also demanded that at least one member of each family should be given a government job. The CPI expressed deep concern over the slow pace of development and widespread corruption in the state. Veteran CPI leader Shankar Singh Chandel was unanimously elected state secretary of the party in place of Mr Kameshwar Pandit who died last year. A 15-member CPI council and 15-member executive committee was also constituted. Mr Desh Raj was elected joint-secretary. |
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Rs 40 cr released for HP Kulu, February 27 Ganga Ram said the grave situation of scavengers in our country has led to the formation of the commission which would monitor the implementation of various schemes meant for safai karamcharis as an independent organisation and also to ensure redressal of grievances. The Centre and the state governments have started various schemes to rehabilitate scavengers in some alternate and dignified jobs. The member of the commission said the National Scheme for Liberation and
Rehabilitation of Scavengers (NSLRS) and their dependants has been in operation since March, 1992. The scheme provides for funding of projects costing upto Rs 50,000 per beneficiary and also for margin money loan to the extent of 15 per cent of the project cost and subsidy upto 50 per cent subject to a limit of Rs 10,000. He stated that the Government of India, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment have allocated Rs 300 crore to the states and union territories during the ninth Five Year Plan under the NSLRS. The government has also released Rs 277 crore as loans and Rs 245 crore as subsidy under the integrated low-cost sanitation scheme and converted around 7,15,933 units of dry latrines into wet ones. |
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BADDI DIARY
Baddi While voicing strong protests, the locals have stated that a written permission from the subdivisional magistrate, mining officer, as well as the concerned panchayat is required for any such move, but no such permission had been sought. Despite protest from the residents of the four adjoining panchayats no action has been initiated by the government agencies to remove these stone crushers. The locals, who have also informed the pollution control department, lament that the presence of brick kilns near inhabited areas has added to pollution in the area. Mr Kedar Nath Sharma, president of Save Environment Committee, Kalujhinda, stated that no permission was granted by the panchayat for setting up these stone crushers. A three-member committee was set up to review the setting up of this stone crusher in the area which pointed out that the said site lay a mere 200 metre away from the river, which was contrary to prescribed norms. The site is surrounded by a irrigation network on one side and green fields on the other. Setting up of a stone crusher at such a site would prove detrimental to the environment. In an important meeting convened by the panchayat, a letter in this regard has been written to the deputy commissioner. Officials of the pollution control department, when contacted, stated that the said stone crusher laying down unit had sought the consent of the locals living at some distance from the affected area, while those living in its proximity were not consulted and hence the resentment. College surveys industrial workers Bhojia Dental College is conducting a survey among industrial workers employed in various industrial units here. It is aimed at identifying various diseases existing among workers who come in contact with various raw materials in the industries situated in this industrial belt, stated the college Principal, Dr Jagmohan Lal. There are about 600 big and small units, producing various products like pharmaceuticals, paper, leather, dies, fabrics, tobacco, etc, many of which are known to cause diseases related to the respiratory tract. It is also being ascertained whether there is prevalence of lung diseases like bronchitis, tuberculosis and asthma among these workers. The college has also set up an OPD for these workers here, in addition to organising various health camps from time to time. The survey, the first of its kind in the region, proposes to identify specific diseases among workers and also undertake the required treatment after detection of disease. Police verifies labourers’ antecedents In order to check the rising incidents of crime related to the migrant labour population here, the police has undertaken a campaign to verify their antecedents from their parent state. This has been undertaken following the recovery of countrymade weapons like ‘kattas’ from some migrant labourers here in the recent past, according to the Superintendent of Police, Mr S.Z.H. Zaidi. Police authorities are motivating company officials, who employ these workers to maintain proper records of those workers stress is also being laid on keeping a check on the number of members residing with their families. Explaining the purpose behind this exercise the SP stated that of late it had come to their notice that this industrial belt had become a safe haven for criminals from other states. The measure is aimed at checking anti-social elements from indulging in crimes here. The exercise has however evoked ambivalent response from the company officials employing large sections of these migrant labourers. While some have enthusiastically supported the move, response from many others has only been lukewarm.
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Workshop on women’s role Palampur, February 27 Inaugurating a two-day workshop on challenges, opportunities and constraints faced by women in agriculture and allied industries at CSK HP Agricultural University here Ms Reddy said women undertake most menial and labour intensive jobs in agricultural sector but their contribution was not adequately recorded. Presiding over the workshop, Dr Tej Partap, Vice-Chancellor, said women were playing a dominant role in mountain agriculture and they had different challenges than the plains. He added that women were custodian of gene pool and traditional knowledge of farming. Farming in future and we would require the traditional knowledge of women in reshaping the future agriculture. He informed that his university was taking innovative steps to train the hill women in all modern aspects of farming, including marketing of the farm produce. Ms Malvika Pathania, Chairperson, HP Women Commission, delivering her key-note address, said efforts should be made to develop such technologies which reduce drudgery for the farm women. Dr Geerwani, former Vice-Chancellor of Mahila University, Tirupati, said like industry, there should be a separate health policy for women in agriculture. Dr Manorajan Kalia, Dean of Home Science College, said women in communication must strive to wreck the stereo-typed images cast on them in society and give greater focus on their individual identities. |
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Shifting of college irks
students Shimla, February 27 He said the shifting of the college to Sulah was an insult to martyrs. Earlier, the college was known as Government College which was later named as Capt Vikram Batra College by the state government. He informed that all student organisations, including, the NSUI, the ABVP and the SFI, had been holding agitation for the past many days at the Palampur College. He said instead of shifting the college, the government should open a new college. |
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Kol Dam oustees hold rally Bilaspur, February 27 Addressing the rally, committee leaders declared that neither the government nor the district administration could terrorise them by using police force and instead the government should abrogate the agreement which it had signed with Kol Dam implementation agency — the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) make suitable amendments in it for protecting the interests of oustees of the dam. They demanded that each family be given 20 bighas of “Nautor Land” with the dam. |
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Sepoy cremated Nurpur, February 27 The martyr was recruited in the Army only two years ago. |
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