Shimla, July 28
The state has urged the Centre to give relaxation with regard to setting up of private medical colleges in Himachal with private investors not exhibiting much interest in making such huge investment in the hill state.

Proposal of the BJP regime to set up private hospitals under its Green Field projects failed to attract investors, five of whom showed no interest despite being issued letters of intent.

The government, after withdrawing these letters of intent, have now floated fresh expression of interest for setting up medical colleges in private sector at four places which are to be received by August 25.

“We have written to Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to make a few relaxations with regard to setting up of medical colleges in the hill state so that the Medical Council of India (MCI) can accordingly issue guidelines,” said Health Minister Rajiv Bindal.

He said since five private parties had shown no interest in setting up the hospitals, the letters of intent issued to them had been cancelled.

He admitted that investors were a little cautious in making huge investment of Rs 500 crore in a hill state where they could be faced with problems like attachment of a hospital and getting faculty as per the MCI guidelines.

Relaxations sought included reducing land requirement for the hospital and medical college project and reducing the number of years mandatory for attachment of a hospital, he added.

He, however, said work on three medical colleges at Vivekanand Hospital, Palampur, ESI, Mandi, and one at Kasauli was in full swing.

Out of six letters on intent which had been issued by the government in 2008, work has started only in Una. Now the expression of interest have been floated for setting up medical college in Hamirpur, Sarkaghat in Mandi, Sirmour and one in Chamba.

It is being felt that absence of a back up, where government hospitals were to be attached to private medical colleges, has led to disinterest among the investors.

The proposal of the BJP regime to set up private hospitals had drawn a lot of flak as it was termed as a step towards privatising health services in the hill state where people did not have the means to take treatment at private hospitals.

The government had, however, assured that treatment in these private hospitals would not be expensive.

Shimla, July 28
It is a case of politics at its worst as the old spat between Congress legislator from Chopal, Subhash Mangelt and Chopal SDM Ramesh Thakur once again surfaced at the accident site at Nerwa in Chopal with Congress and BJP workers clashing while the families of the missing searched for them.

With the SDM not being present at the accident site yesterday, the public assembled there in large numbers and took him to task and even manhandled him. With the villagers assembled there targeting the SDM, some BJP workers came to his defence, resulting in a clash between workers of the two political parties.

The clash took place at the accident site while the DC and SSP were present at the site as rescue operation and search for the missing persons were on. “Within minutes the situation became so volatile that the workers of the two parties came to blows and the SDM was also manhandled,” said SSP R.M. Sharma.

Counter-cases have been registered by the two warring factions. While an FIR has been lodged on the complaint of the SDM and two BJP workers under Sections 353, 506, 147, 148, 149 and 323, a case has been registered by Congress workers under Section 147 and 323.

Mangelt said the public was agitated over the fact that the SDM did not arrive at the spot and made an appearance only when the DC and SDM reached the spot. “He became a target of public wrath as on most emergent occasions he has been found to be missing,” he said.

Shimla, July 28
With only a single body being recovered from the site of the bus accident near Nerwa in Chopal, it is feared that three to four passengers could have been either washed away or trapped inside the bus that is laden with sand.

Despite the best efforts of the district administration and the police to search for the missing persons, all such efforts proved futile.

Deputy Commissioner JS Rana, who along with SSP RM Sharma personally monitored relief and rescue operations, said so far only one body had been recovered and 27 injured persons rescued.

He said going by the statement of HRTC conductor Praveen Kumar that there were around 31-32 passengers, three to four persons were still untraceable. “Either these passengers have been washed off or are trapped under the sand inside the bus,” he said.

Horticulture Minister Narender Bragta today visited the Indira Gandhi Medical College to inquire about the well-being of the persons injured in the accident.

He also distributed Rs 8,000 each to the 11 seriously injured and Rs 2000 each to eight persons with minor injuries as relief.

Shimla, July 28
Chief Minister PK Dhumal, along with state party chief Khimi Ram, will raise the issue of price rise before President of India Pratibha Patil and will submit signatures of five lakh persons obtained from the hill state.

State BJP spokesperson Ganesh Dutt said here today that Dhumal, along with senior party leaders, including national BJP chief Nitin Gadkari and LK Advani, would submit the signatures to the President tomorrow at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

“They will urge the President to check unprecedented price rise and take strict action against profiteers and black marketers who were benefiting the most,” he said.

Dutt said the UPA regime had failed to take effective steps to check price rise, which had made the life of common man miserable.

He demanded that the government must issue a white paper on the price rise situation. “While millions of tonnes of foodgrain were rotting in the godowns, people were starving,” he added.

On one hand the government has failed to check price rise and on the other the increased prices of petrol, diesel and gas has made the life of people miserable, he added.

“Conflicting statements by the Prime Minister and his Cabinet colleagues are causing even more damage and giving an opportunity to hoarders to make profit,”he said.

Shimla, July 28
Even as high alert sounded along the low-lying areas in Kinnaur and Shimla districts continued, there was some respite from incessant rains, keeping the water level in the Sutlej well below the danger mark.

Shimla Deputy Commissioner JS Rana said the water level in Sutlej was 923 m above sea level with the danger level being 933 m.

“The alert sounded in the villages along the Sutlej will continue as more rains are expected in the near future,” he said.

The Army and paramilitary forces will continue to remain on standby. The control, room set up in Rampur, is functioning round the clock and monitoring the situation regularly. People living in the low-lying areas have been advised not to return to their homes from villages in higher areas, he added.

Meanwhile, generation at the Nathpa project remained suspended for the third consecutive day. High silt levels at 17,000 ppm made generation difficult as rains in Spiti area, the catchment of the Sutlej, brought a lot of silt.

The local meteorological centre has predicted rain for the next four days till August 1. During the last 24 hours, Shimla received rainfall of 43.9 mm, Solan-8.0 mm, Bhuntar-17.5 mm, Kalpa-8.8 mm, Dharamsala-12.4 mm, Una-9.4 mm, Solan-2.4 mm, Keylong-7.0 mm and Palampur-9.0 mm.

Shimla, July 28
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal here today launched the official Agrinet (Agriculture Resource Information Systems and Networking) Portal to provide one-stop solution to the problems of those engaged in agriculture and allied avocations.

The portal comprising two modules, a “Government to Citizen” (G2C) and “Government to Government” (G2G) services, covering the departments of agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry and fisheries through a common platform, will serve as a knowledge bank for the farmers.

Dhumal said the portal would enable the farmers to access all required information through the G2C module, which contained data about various services of line departments related to the citizens. An expert advisory module had also been developed to help farmers in finding solution to their problems and in case he was not satisfied with the information provided, he could post a query online to the experts.

He said Himachal Pradesh was leading in e-governance and functioning of all major departments had been fully computerised. The biggest advantage of the portal would be that farmers would be able to directly communicate with the experts, remain constantly in touch with the market trends and find solution to their problems online.

The Chief Minister directed the authorities to regularly update the portal and make efforts to convert the entire data into Hindi so that computer-savvy farmers could derive full benefit. He said efforts needed to be made to make all information available to the farmers and consumers and create a strong manpower to handle the communication network.

Principal Secretary, Finance and IT, Ajay Tyagi, said the integrated website would go a long way in boosting income of the rural community.

Dharamsala, July 28
The body of another Russian para-glider, Alexi Eshurov, who went missing last year in Dhauladhar mountains, has been traced. This time too a gaddi (one belonging to tribal shepherd community of Himachal) Sharan Dass yesterday spotted the body trapped in a mountain pass referred to as “varu” by locals.

The body was said to be in a highly decomposed state. It could be identified due to the equipment lying around it. Information regarding the matter has been forwarded to local administrative officials who are likely to make arrangements to bring down the body.

Eshurov went missing last year after taking off from the Bir paragliding site near Baijnath. He, along with other para-gliders, had come to participate in the pre-world cup paragliding competition that was organised almost every year in Kangra district. However, following death of a few para-gliders, the state government imposed a ban on the event.

According to sources, it might take two days to bring back the body as it trapped in a very difficult mountainous terrain. Incessant rains in the region might further hinder body recovery operations.

Last year another Russian para-glider, Ilyes Yudan, had also gone missing. His body was traced by Shayam Lal, a gaddi from Chamba district, from a difficult mountainous pass at a height of 12,750 feet.

The Kangra district administration had recommended the name of Shyam Lal for Gaurav Puraskar, a state-level award for bravery. He climbed about 12 km uphill to reach the spot. The body was lying in a deep gorge filled with water.

In 2002 too, Jol Kinchin, a foreign paraglider, had gone missing in Dhauladhar mountains. His body is yet to be recovered.

Bir Billing, in the past few years, has developed as an international site for paragliding. Para-gliders from across the world took part in the pre-world cup competitions held here. The events were being managed by local paragliding association.

However, after the accidents last year, the state government has not allowed the local organisers to hold the event. The organisers went to the court but did not get any relief. The state government cited lack of adequate security measures as the reason for not allowing the event. However, the organisers alleged that the ban was politically motivated.

Nurpur, July 28
Up in arms against inaction of the Railway police to arrest culprits in the alleged murder of Rakesh Kumar of Kandwal village, near here, family members and villagers led by deceased’s mother Dayawanti held a protest outside the office of the SDM today.

They raised slogans demanding immediate arrest of the suspects. The family of the deceased also submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister PK Dhumal through the local SDM demanding investigation into the murder case.

In the memorandum, the kin alleged inaction of the Railway police which could not arrest the culprits even after a week of registration of a murder case.

It is pertinent to mention that body of the deceased bearing injury marks was found under mysterious circumstances on the Pathankot-Jogindernagar railway track at Kandwal on July 21.

The family of the deceased suspected a land dispute behind the murder.

Mandi, July 28
Retired police inspector Hirda Ram, a resident of Patal in the Tungal area in Mandi Sadar, was attacked by a leopard at his house last night. He was rushed to zonal hospital here with serious injuries.

Narrating the tale of his fight with the animal, Hirda Ram said he was sleeping in his room and noise from the adjoining room woke him up.

He could not find anything in the verandah. “I went inside the room and a leopard pounced at me from behind a drum kept there and I was in a state of shock for a while,” he said.

Hirda mustered courage, got hold of its tail and pulled it down. At that the animal disappeared into the nearby jungle, he added.

In the fight that ensued between Hirda Ram and the big cat, other family members and villagers woke up and zeroed in on the spot.

The doctors attending on him said he was out of danger and was recovering.

Shimla, July 28
The hill state has finally come out of the shadow of global economic slowdown with tax collections registering a growth of 32 per cent, much more than expected, in the first quarter of the current fiscal.

The total tax collections, including VAT and excise duty, for the April-June quarter amounted to Rs 688 crore as compared to Rs 521 crore in the corresponding period of the last fiscal.

It is a clear indication that the economy has been steadily looking up since 2008-09 when impact of global meltdown restricted tax growth to a meagre 14 per cent.

The revival started last year when the tax collections recorded a growth of 20 per cent. However, the target of Rs 2,327 crore set by the government could not be achieved and the total tax collections came to Rs 2,274 crore.

Apart from the revival of economy, decision of the government to increase VAT from 4 per cent to 5 per cent on a number of consumer items and impose entry test on selected items procured by industries, hydropower projects, engineering projects and other such ventures have been mainly responsible for buoyancy in tax collections.

The government has set a conservative target of Rs 2,570 crore. However, if the trend of first quarter is any indication, the total collections for the year will easily cross Rs 3,000 crore mark.

More so, because the government recently raised the rate of VAT on over 120 non-essential items, mostly falling in the category of luxury goods, from 12.50 to 13.75 per cent.

As the step is estimated to mop up additional revenue to the tune of Rs 60 crore, the overall growth for the year will be around 33 per cent, up from 14 per cent in 2008-09

The increase will also help improve the tax to GSDP (gross state domestic product) which is one of the lowest in the country at 6.30 per cent. While the GSDP and the per capita income have been growing at a healthy rate, the tax collections have been on the lower side as successive governments had been taking pride in presenting “tax-free” Budgets.

With the 13th Finance Commission pegging the expenditure on salaries and pensions and the interest liability at 35 per cent, the government has been left with no option but to raise its own resources to meet the increasing burden on account of salaries and pensions.