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Doctors’ NPA delinked from basic salary
Search for relatives brings Pak family to India
Centre-state deadlock may delay Rampur project
CITU, Mahila morcha activists organise dharna
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Court comes to
widow's rescue
Irrigation facility
in Una soon: CM
Mid-day meal scheme starts in Hamirpur
Teachers burdened with mid-day meals
CM for speedy redress of public grievances
Awards for teachers announced
Sodhi inaugurates
workshop
Police hunt for kidnappers
Rs 60 lakh for fish
hatchery
Lebanese woman missing
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Doctors’ NPA delinked from basic salary
Shimla, September 2 With this latest notification issued by the Additional Chief Secretary, Mr S.S. Parmar, on August 12, 2004, Himachal has become the first state in the country to delink the NPA being given to doctors from their basic salary. “In the HP Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 1998 in Rule 3, Clause (C), the proviso under sub-clause (II) shall be deleted,” is how the notification reads. What if most surprising is the manner in which the notification has been issued in a very hushed manner. The notification, which had to come into force on August, 11, will affect about 2,000 doctors of the Health Department who are receiving NPA equal to 25 per cent of the basic salary. “The intentions of the government are clear from the manner in which the notification has been issued, keeping it a closely guarded secret till now,” remarked a doctor, who said that they stand to lose not only in terms of their monthly salary but also at the time of retirement. Even the Secretary, Health, Mr P.C. Kapoor, who was unaware of any such notification having been issued, said there was no proposal to delink the NPA from the basic salary. “Neither has any such notification been issued nor is there any proposal to delink the NPA from basic salary of the doctors,” said an ignorant Mr Kapoor. Interestingly, though the notification was to come into force from August 11, it has still not come into effect as the doctors have received the same salary for the month of August. “Contrary to the normal practice of intimating all heads of departments, Deputy Commissioners, all administrative departments, only the Accountant General (Audit) and Senior Deputy Accountant General (A and E) have been intimated about this notification, pointed out doctors. Even the Himachal Pradesh Medical Officers’ Association got wind of this notification only recently and in considering taking up the matter with the government. “It is only now that we have got to know of this highly secretive and ambiguous notification, which is worded in such a manner that nobody gets to know about the delinking of the NPA from our basic salary,” said Dr C.S. Chauhan, president of the HP Medical Officers
Association. He said in case the government did not reconsider its decision, the doctors would be left with no option but to adopt a path of confrontation.
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Delinking of NPA resented
Dharamsala, September 2 Dr Prahlad Duggal, president, and Dr Sushil Kumar, press secretary, of Resident Doctors Association said there was widespread resentment among the medical fraternity as this decision would result in a major financial loss to the doctors. “Himachal Pradesh is the only state which has taken this wrong decision and this might force the doctors to look for more lucrative options. This would go against the claims of the government about improvement of health services,” they said. |
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Search for relatives brings Pak family to India
Kangra, September 2 The three-room rented accommodation of Mr Arjun Dass, a local arthiya, in the Pushp Vihar locality of this temple-town was humming with activity last night with Faiz Ilahi, Amir Baksh, 41 and Abdul Aziz, 36, surrounded by their close relations without any religious barrier. Faiz Ilahi told this correspondent that her eyes were searching for her nearest relations and Arjun Dass was the son-in-law of her elder sister. She said her act of embracing Islam was a compulsion at that point of time but she did not repent it. When asked if she was eager to return to her original religion and become Ishwar Bayee again, she replied in the negative. The trio had visited Bhiwani in Haryana last week where the younger sister of Faiz Ilahi lives. “It was the frantic search of our old mother who wanted to see her nearest relations in India that made us accompany her here”, said Abdul Aziz. He said, “We are happy in India and it is contrary to what we heard in Pakistan about India”. He said they were told that Indian people were not hospitable and that they would be put to trouble in India. Contrary to this, a Hindu co-passenger in the train, who was a resident of Panipat, not only guided them but took them home for refreshments and then called their cousins to his home on phone. It was a wonderful experience of love, affection and hospitality. By meeting their own blood in this country, both brothers said the efforts of both the governments in bringing people of the two countries closer were commendable and needed to be boosted. Regarding terrorism in Kashmir Abdul Aziz said people of Pakistan were eager to see peace in Kashmir and an end to bloodshed there but added that they were in favour of independence of Kashmir. Both brothers, however, had a word of praise for the present government of General Pervez Musharraf for boosting the economy of Pakistan. Abdul Aziz said the present government was far better than that of Mr Nawaz Sharif and Ms Benazir Bhutto. Sitting under photographs of Maha Kali, Maha Durga and Lord Shiva, the Muslim family from Pakistan shared moments of joy and happiness with their Hindu relatives which included Mr Arjun Dass, his wife and their children. Abdul Aziz said , “We are happy with our brothers and sisters here though we know we have to leave this country and this beautiful company”. They said they visited Manali, McLeodganj and other places in Himachal Pradesh and loved the company of the peace loving and hospitable people of this state. |
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Centre-state deadlock may delay Rampur project
Shimla, September 2 The draft of the proposed agreement, approved by the state Cabinet last week, was discussed at a high-level meeting held in Delhi yesterday in which top officers of the Himachal Government, the Union Ministry of Power and the Nigam participated. However, the accord could not be finalised due to serious differences between the state and the Centre. It was decided that another meeting would be held on September 17 to find a way out to settle the contentious issues. While all other issues were thrashed out, difference persisted over whether the staff of the board would be absorbed permanently in the Nigam or taken on deputation. The Centre has been insisting that the system of taking staff on deputation should be discontinued as having two sets of rules and service conditions in an institution created problems. However, the state government wants that the option of deputation should also be kept open along with permanent absorption. Mr R.V. Sahi, Union Power Secretary, is learnt to have made it clear that the Nigam will be able to retain the surplus staff of the board only if it was assigned an adequate number of projects for execution. The Nigam wants the state to assign it four more projects, Karcham-Shong Tong, Khab, Thopan, Powariand Jhangi Thopan, besides the Rampur project for gainful unitisation of the surplus staff. Mr Y.N. Apparao, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the Nigam, who was also present at the meeting along with Mr Shamsher Singh, Chief Secretary, maintained that things were moving in a positive direction and the differences would be resolved at the next meeting. The Nigam has already initiated the process to send back the 542 surplus employees to the board and even ordered repatriation of 64 workmen last month. However, orders were kept in abeyance after the state informed that the agreement for the Rampur project had almost been finalised. At present the Nigam has about 1,750 employees out of which 1,126 are on deputation from the board. As per the agreement being finalised, to begin with, 220 employees will be deployed in them project initially and the number will increase to 500 when the work is at peak. Out of these, a minimum of 40 per cent will be from the board as per the proposed agreement. The Board of directors of the Nigam has approved staff strength of 1,201 personnel, including a manpower of 570 for the corporate office, for the operation and maintenance stage but as many as 1,742 persons are still deployed on the project. The deputation period of the 1,065 employees of the board expired on March 31,2004, and since then they were being given monthly extensions. The Nigam has a permanent staff of 659 and as such only 523 deputationists from the board could be accommodated. The remaining 542 will have to be repatriated unless the state assigns more projects to the Nigam. It is learnt that a compromise formula is being worked out under which the surplus staff will be given an option to get absorbed in the Nigam within a year and the period of deputation for the new staff to be taken from the board will be limited to three years. A deputationist will have to either opt for permanent absorption or return to the board within this period. The surplus manpower from the board is putting an annual burden of over Rs 13 crore to on the Nigam.
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CITU, Mahila morcha activists organise dharna
Hamirpur, September 2 The dharna was led by Mr Kashmir Singh Thakur and Ms Satya Galodha, general secretary state, CITU and Mahila Janwadi Morcha respectively. They raised slogans in support of their demands and held a demonstration there, during the lunch hours. They demanded immediate closure of the crusher, which according to them was polluting the atmosphere and harming the crop production. They also handed over a memorandum to the district administration regarding their demands and warned the authorities of further spearheading their agitation if their demands were not met with. However, Mr Ashok Thakur, owner of the crusher described the allegations by the people as wrong and exaggerated. He told the Tribune, that he was running the crusher after observing all the codal formalities laid down by the Himachal Pradesh Government and the Himachal Pradesh High Court. He said some misguided persons who had been shunted out from the crusher due to one reason or another were behind the dharna. Mr Ashok Thakur claimed, that all sorts of modern machinery had been installed at the plant for running the crusher and there was no harm to crops and environment due to its running. He said, more than four thousand trees of various species had been planted in and around the crusher campus and the road to the crusher was as per specifications. Mr Thakur invited the district officers and the media to visit the crusher and see themselves the way the crusher was functioning.
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Court comes to
widow's rescue
Chandigarh, September 2 In her petition, Ms Patil had claimed that her husband, after suffering from a heart ailment in 1981, was initially hospitalised for 30 days. His disease was attributed to stress and strain of service by the health authorities. He joined duty after recovering, but died on December 23, 1986, after suffering a massive heart attack while on duty. Soon after his death, Ms Patil was granted ordinary family pension. But her claim for special family pension was rejected on May 13,1988. The authorities took the plea that the officer's disease was neither attributable nor aggravated by military service. The petition before the High Court was filed after her appeal was rejected by senior army authorities. Appearing before the court on the petitioner's behalf, Association Chairman Bhim Sen Sehgal claimed that even if it was accepted that the officer's disease was not attributable to military service, it was certainly aggravated by it as evident from a Medical Board report. After hearing the arguments in the case, the Judges observed: "We have examined the counter-affidavit of respondents. It is nowhere stated by them that the officer's disease was not aggravated by military service...." In their detailed order, the Bench added: "It goes without saying that respondents' own Medical Board had found that the officer's disease had aggravated by stress and strain of military service. There is nothing on record to controvert this. Their plea that this was reviewed by a superior authority is inconsequential so long as it remains intact...." The Judges concluded: "Therefore, we have no doubt that the officer's case falls squarely within the terms of Regulation 85 of Army Pension Regulations and the petitioner is entitled to the award of special family pension from the date of death of her husband". |
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Irrigation facility
in Una soon: CM
Una, September 2 The Chief Minister said the problem of wild animals destroying crops would be taken up by the government and a law would be made not to feed monkeys on state and national highway. He said that a regional concept of schoolchildren would be introduced from the next academic session. The Chief Minister inaugurated the Una mahotsava at Government Boys School grounds, Una, Revenue and Rural Development Minister Sat Mahajan, Industry Minister Kuldip Kumar and Chief Parliamentary Secretary Mukesh Agnihotri were present on the occasion. |
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Mid-day meal scheme starts in Hamirpur
Hamirpur, September 2 Under the scheme, pulao and khichri will be given as mid-day meal to children on alternate days. Each child will get 100 gm of rice excluding other material with the help of which pulao and khichri will be prepared. Teachers were, meanwhile, busy cooking meals since morning at Matti Tihra and Hamirpur sadar primary schools of the district. At Matti Tihra School, the pradhan of the local gram panchyat, Gur Dev, was seen distributing pulao to children. Reports of the scheme
starting from other parts of the district were also received today. At many schools of the Nadaun block, teachers found it difficult to cook the pulao due to lack of cooking facilities. There were also reports of children washing utensils from the interiors of the district. The state government has provided one cook and a helper in a school to run the scheme. The Deputy Commissioner of Hamirpur told The Tribune this afternoon that nearly 29,000 children of 509 primary schools of the district would be covered under the scheme. He said if any deficiency was found in its working, efforts would be made to streamline the scheme. Kullu: Lower Wing Government Primary School here started the mid-day meals scheme and more than 500 students were served cooked food today. Members of the Mother Teacher Association, the Parent Teacher Association and the Block Education Officer were present. Mr R.D. Nazim, Deputy Commissioner, said that more than 45,000 children in 727 primary schools in this district would benefit from the scheme. |
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Teachers burdened with mid-day meals
Solan, September 2 The teachers had other problems to deal with, including arranging a cook and in the absence of instructions to the fair price shops, the teachers have to shell out money from their own pockets to buy rice and comply with the court instructions. The general secretary of the Himachal Primary Teachers Federation, Mr Ram Lal, said atleast an hour was spent daily in making arrangements for cooking and maintenance of accounts for the purpose. The problems of the teachers were compounded by the fact that some fair price shops had not received written orders to provide rice to the teachers instead of disbursing them to the students. With strict instructions to provide cooked meal from September 1, the primary teachers were forced to buy rice out of their own pockets, said an aggrieved teacher. The teachers also rued that barely three days were provided to them to make the necessary arrangements. This included holding meetings with the parent-teacher associations, panchayats and mahila mandals to chalk out a system of cooking meals at a paltry amount of Rs 200-400 per month. The biggest challenge, opined the teachers, was to arrange for an alternative mode of fuel as provision of using LPG cylinders was ruled out as a safety measure.
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CM for speedy redress of public grievances
Shimla, September 2 Presiding over the fifth state-level meeting of grievances committee here today, he said that, besides setting up an independent department for redress of grievances, he himself attended to public complaints every Monday, Wednesday and Friday whenever he was in the town. He said that all the officers had also been directed to listen to public grievances on every Monday and provide the necessary relief by taking suitable action at their level on priority. He said that a sympathetic and considerate approach required to be adopted while disposing of grievances, especially of the common man. The Chief Minister said that the administration, besides sympathetic in dealing with public complaints, also needed to be efficient in delivering justice. He said that effective steps had been initiated by his government after it came to power to put a grievances redress mechanism in place. He directed the HRTC authorities to ensure that drivers and conductors, while performing their duty, were in prescribed uniform. He said that a similar condition would apply to private bus operators with a different uniform to bring about discipline in the services, violation of which would attract penal action. The urban development authority was directed to explore the possibility of constructing more parking lots in the capital town and a similar exercise carried at all the district headquarters, besides building lifts at Rivoli and the bus stand. The Chief Minister directed the Forest Department to complete the process of getting forest clearances required for construction of various roads and projects within the stipulate period of 35 days.
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Awards for teachers announced
Shimla, September 2 The teachers who have been given awards are Mr Sansar Chand, Principal, Government Senior Secondary School, Barot, Mr Roshan Lal, lecturer, economics, Government Senior Secondary School (Boys), Una, Mr Ram Singh, drawing master, Government High School, Rama (Sirmour), Mr Hari Nand Sharma, OT Government Senior Secondary School, Dharampur, Mr Naresh Kumari Shastri, Government Senior Secondary School, Churag (Mandi), Mrs Shanti Devi, Government Primary School, Baliah, Hamirpur; and Mr Jagdev Singh, HT, Government Primary School, Pahlo, Hamirpur. Besides four teachers have been conferred the national award for 2002. They are Mr Jagat Nath Dhiman, Centre Head Teacher (CHT), Government Primary School, Garli, Mr Khiali Ram, CHT, Government Primary School, Suhari (Una); Mr Ramji Dass Soni, Principal, Government Senior Secondary School, Krishna Nagar (Kangra); and Mr Roshan Lal, lecturer, Government Senior Secondary School, Lathaini (Una). The awards would be presented on September 5 on Teachers’ day. |
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Sodhi inaugurates
workshop
Chandigarh, September 2 Mr Justice N.K. Sodhi, Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court, inaugurated the workshop. In his address, Mr Justice Sodhi lauded the efforts of Prof P.K. Khosla, former Vice-Chancellor of HPAU, Palampur, for setting up the institute, the first of its kind in Asia. Observing that the future of bio-technology is very bright in today's times, Mr Justice Sodhi emphasised the need to harness bio-diversity of the country on scientific lines by clubbing it with bio-processing. Among the others who spoke on the occasion included Prof L.R. Verma, Vice-Chancellor of HPU, Shimla, Prof S.S. Negi, and Prof S.P. Vij. Mr Sodhi had earlier been a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. |
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Police hunt for kidnappers
Mandi, September 2 According to police sources, the team has been sent to Kullu where the kidnappers are believed to be hiding. A family member told the police that Lal was kidnapped after a threat he received from the kidnappers about which he had informed the police as well. The residents raised slogans and protested yesterday and today, demanding release of Lal. The Additional SP, Mandi, Mr Sunil Kumar, refused to comment on the issue the SP, Mr Ajay Yadav, had gone to the spot and was not available on the mobile phone. |
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Rs 60 lakh for fish
hatchery
Bilaspur, September 2 Mr Mahajan urged the officials to take all precautions for the implementation of all projects within a fixed timeframe. He declared that government would endeavour to usher in “white and blue revolutions. Mr Mahajan also visited the 320-acre cattle breeding farm at Kothipuara, near here, and declared that the farm would be provided more facilities and funds. |
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Lebanese woman missing
Shimla, September 2 Releasing a graphic picture of the woman to seek public help for tracing her, the police said Jwama, alias Joe, had arrived in India through Cochin on March 5 and was planning to go to Nepal by bus from Himachal Pradesh. A missing report was filed by her friend Dimitri, who also informed Jwana’s brother in Berut, from where the woman hailed. The police said it was making frantic efforts to trace her but was still clueless.
— PTI
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Trekkers’ bodies found after two decades
Shimla, September 2 According to information reaching here documents recovered by Azhar Shafi, a tourist guide, and Laxmi, a cook, who found the bodies while accompanying a Spanish expedition, dated back to 1981 and 1982. There were doubts about the actual number of bodies, as Azhar put the number at four and Laxmi maintained that only two bodies were sighted. The document also indicated that deceased could be Swedish nationals. There have been no reports about any foreign missing from the area and the Swedish embassy was also not aware of any of national gone missing in the recent past. Mr B.R. Verma, Deputy Commissioner of Lahaul and Spiti, said the exact number of bodies could be ascertained only after visiting the glacier site.
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DC’s transfer cancelled
Hamirpur, September 2 |
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