Shimla, July 30
While asserting that tainted leaders must not hold important positions, senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar said today that he had mooted a four-point formula for being adopted as the main highlight of the party’s election manifesto to fight corruption.

“The credibility of politicians is at its lowest as people have lost faith in us. So we need to take strong steps to combat corruption, which is weakening the nation,” he said while speaking at a seminar, organised by Youth Against Corruption, an NGO, here today.

The BJP leader said it was at the recent BJP national executive meet that he had unveiled his four-point formula to combat corruption and bring back the black money stashed away in foreign banks.

“The BJP should adopt this plan as the main highlight of its election manifesto if it wants to send across a strong signal that it is serious in its fight against corruption,” Shanta Kumar said.

He further said he was confident that the party would take a serious view on the issue as he had discussed the matter with LK Advani, Nitin Gadkari and other senior leaders.

Shanta Kumar said the party must commit that it would make a law where anybody found guilty of stashing money in foreign banks would be imprisoned for 10 years and the money would be seized.

“Those who surrender this money within six months of the enactment of the law on their own should not be punished and be given 1 per cent of the amount,” he added.

The other two suggestions given by him are that anyone giving information of the illegal money be given a reward of Rs 50 lakh and persons whose names figure in the list of those having siphoned off public money into their foreign accounts be imprisoned within 24 hours.

Patron of the HP Youth Against Corruption NK Sharda and its convener Nitin Vyas also spoke.

Meanwhile, Umesh Dutt, national general secretary, ABVP, reiterated the resolve of his organisation to fight against corruption by launching a mass movement.

Shimla, July 30
The absence of reservation for in-service doctors in super-speciality courses being introduced for the first time at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) here has led to resentment among serving doctors, who feel this is being done to marginalise them.

They said in sharp contrast to other medical colleges, including the PGI, reservation was always there for in-service doctors at the IGMC.

The government for the first time is starting the Doctorate of Medicine (DM) course in cardiology and MCh in Cardio-Thoracic Vascular Surgery (CTVS) at IGMC from this session.

In fact, they allege that the decision to not to have reservation for in-service doctors was taken at a much later stage only to give benefit to the kin of a senior ruling party leader.

They claimed that as per the norm and earlier practice, there was a provision to reserve seats for the in-service doctors but it was abruptly dropped later.

“When the PGI follows the practice of having reservation for in-service doctors, then there is no justification for the IGMC not following the pattern,” said the doctors.

They cited the example of the West Bengal University of Health Sciences and the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, where there was 50 pc reservation for in-service doctors.

There was 30 pc reservation in super-speciality seats at the Rajasthan University of Health Sciences.

“If there was reservation for them, people would have benefited as they would have continued serving the state,” they said.

“The deviation in giving reservation to in-service doctors only reflects the deliberate attempt by the government to sideline them, who are the backbone of the medical services,” said Dr Jiwananad Chauhan, general secretary of the Himachal Medical Officers Association.

He said the move was neither in the interest of the state nor the doctors who were serving in far-flung areas.

Solan, July 30
A team of Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) officials detected irregularities in the working of three industrial units at Paonta Sahib. As many as 128 industrial workers are working there without any registration.

The officials said two food processing units and a cement unit had been issued notices to register the employees with the ESIC immediately, failing which action would be taken against them, as per the ESI norms.

As many as 107 workers in two food processing units, located within the same premises, and 22 workers in a cement unit at Paonta Sahib were found working without their names being enrolled in the units’ registers. Since these workers had not been registered with the ESIC, they were bereft of benefits like ESI, PF and minimum wages.

This revelation had also put a question mark on the role of the Labour Department as each employee should be issued an identity card within three days of being employed. Since these workers did not have identity cards, the units could also face action under various provisions laid down by the state government, including the Factories Act, 1948, Minimum Wages Act, 1948, Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, and Interstate Migrant Workers Act, 1979.

Despite several such cases coming to the fore in Sirmaur district in the past two years, where unregistered labourers working in various units had lost their lives due to industrial mishaps, no lessons had been learnt to ensure an ESIC cover to the employees. Since the migrant labourers are not even given any ex-gratia relief after the amended rules in the state, they can merely bank on relief from the ESIC in case of any mishap.

Dharamsala, July 30
Government Degree College has opened a language lab with the aim to improve communication skills of students here.

The highly-equipped lab works through software on communication and is capable of helping students with the English language in a user-friendly way. Students can take help from the lab to improve their command over the language.

“Students of general English along with those of MA English, BA (Elective), BA (Honours), BBA, BCA, MCA and PGDCA can take benefits of the lab without any extra cost,” said Satish Chandra Sharma, Principal of the college.

“The lab has a seating capacity of 30 students. Equipped with headphones, all computers are connected to the master computer. Faculty member, using the master computer, will be able to know where a student is committing a mistake and correct him/her in right away,” informed the Principal.

“Pronunciation, spellings and writing skills can be improved through the technique as the software is able to find errors and correct these then and there,” explained Prof Naresh Sharma, head of the language lab.

The lab will help the students in improving their overall performance in university and competitive exams.

The principal and the lab staff believe that after attending classes here, students will be able to face interviews with confidence.

Kullu/Braw, July 30
Even during the monsoon season, there is no water to drink in Braw, Poshna and Jagat Khana areas in the Ani subdivision located along the right bank of the Sutlej in the district.

Residents, a local NGO and the IPH Department accused Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVNL), executing the 412-MW Rampur Project, of drying up their traditional water sources by constructing tunnels right under these sources.

The SJVNL has been rationing 80,000 litres of water a day to 7,000 residents, but the latter demand that the IPH and the SJVNL should lay the drinking water scheme finding a permanent solution to the issue.

Villagers spread in Tunan, Khedga, Bari, Poshna, Kadej, Bhawa Kushva panchayats in Ani subdivision also complained of water shortage.

They also accused the SJVNL of drying up their water sources by constructing the 8-km-long head race tunnel from the tail end of Jhakhri to Bayal, the site of power house on the right bank of the Sutlej.

Sushil Gautam and Vivek Thakur, who runs an NGO in the area, claimed that the area was reeling under water crisis due to construction of tunnels under the water sources.

The SJVNL and the IPH have yet to lay a new water scheme for the area even after months, they added.

Though the SJVNL has already released Rs 4 crore out of the Rs 7.94 crore for the water scheme for these panchayats, the IPH department has failed to utilise the funds.

Ranvir Rathaur, pradhan, Braw/Poshna gram panchayats, told The Tribune that the water sources at Ksholi Nullah had dried up.

“We took up the matter with the IPH and the SJVNL and demanded supply of 80,000 litres of water everyday till a new water scheme gets started from the Smej Khud,” he added.

Rathaur said the SJVNL was supplying 45,000 litres of water to residents daily till July 7, still residents were facing water shortage in the panchayat.

KR Kuluvi, executive engineer, IPH, Ani, said the discharge at the Ksholi source was 4.5 lakh per day till early this year, which reduced to 25,000 litres per day in May and now, it has completely dried up.

“The water source has been dried up by the head race tunnel that pass under the Ksholi Nullah water source,” he added.

He said the IPH had called the tender for the execution of the Rs 6.72-crore scheme covering all the affected panchayats, but no big contractors were available here.“We have also sent a fresh estimate of Rs 1.21 crore to the SJVNL for Braw and Poshna, but it awaits sanction,” he added.

Arvind Mahajan, environment in charge, Rampur project, SJVNL, said they were supplying drinking water in tankers to residents and had already released Rs 4 crore for the same. “We are not aware how water sources have dried up.”

Nurpur, July 30
The district-level Nagni Fair was celebrated at the Nagni Mata temple, near here, today with religious fervour.

Local MLA Rakesh Pathania presided over the celebrations and led a colourful shobha yatra from Baani to Nagni Mata temple.

Pathania said the state government was endeavouring to develop religious tourism at the temple.

He said this temple had given an identity to the Nurpur area and keeping in view its religious importance, the state government had given a district-level status to the Nagni fair.He rued that due to lack of co-ordination between the temple committee and local gram panchayat, development of the temple had slowed down.

He said the state government was spending Rs 2 crore to reduce pressure on the Nagni Mata drinking water supply scheme catering to the needs of the rural populace of the area.

“This money is being spent on newly proposed drinking water supply schemes in Minjgarh belt of Nurpur ,” he added.

Bilaspur, July 30
The zila parishad (ZP) here has taken an exception to providing cement at a high cost to consumers in Bilaspur district and adopted a resolution urging the government to ensure that cement is provided to all the consumers at Rs 207 per bag on which it is being provided for the works of gram panchayats here.

The meeting of the parishad, presided over by its Chairman Kuldip Thakur, also pointed at some instances of providing medicines past the expiry date to some patients at some primary health centres of the district here and demanded a high-level inquiry into the matter and immediate steps to stop the practice.

The meeting also discussed the perpetual losses of Rs 34 lakh annually in running of the Kothipura Animal Husbandry Farm here and urged the government to look into the matter and set up a technical institution in place of this institution. Several members pointed towards the lopsided functioning of the Bilaspur Sadar Block Development Office here. — OC

Kangra, July 30
A woman and a youth died today in Dr RP Government Medical College (RPGMC), Tanda, after they consumed poison. In another case, a girl died under suspicious circumstances, the police said here today.

Sandla Devi (35), a resident of Galyian village of this sub-division, was found unconscious at her residence today and was rushed to the RPGMC. She was referred to PGI, Chandigarh, by the doctors of the RPGMC this evening, but she died while being shifted to the ambulance.

According to her family members, she had consumed poison by mistake.

Ashok Kumar (23), a resident of Bohra village, was admitted to the RPGMC as a poison case. He was referred here from the Civil Hospital, Palampur, last night, but died today. Family sources said the youth had consumed poison by mistake.

Meanwhile, Chander Lekha (23) from Haripur, who was recently engaged , died under suspicious circumstances this evening. She was brought dead to the RPGMC this evening and a postmortem examination would be conducted tomorrow.

Hamirpur, July 30
A three-storeyed building, Sai Sweets, located in the main bazaar of the town, was gutted last night in a devastating fire.

All three floors of the building were reduced to ashes, causing an estimated loss of about Rs 26 lakh.

There was nobody present in the building at the time of the incident and the fire was spotted at 11 pm by people living nearby, who immediately informed Sukesh, owner of the building.

Fire tenders tried to extinguish the fire, but they failed to save the building. However, they saved the adjoining building from catching fire.

Though the police is investigating the cause of the fire, from the preliminary investigation short circuit is suspected to be the likely cause of fire.

Sukesh, owner of the shop, said, “There was nobody in the building at night and I was informed by neighbours. Everything was destroyed in the fire and nothing could be saved.” This building was completely destroyed in the fire about a decade ago too. SDM, Hamirpur, Pankaj Rai said, “The police is investigating the case and the administration has given relief as per the government manual.”