Shimla, December 1
The death of a youth arrested in a snatching case in the Boileauganj police station here last night has put the police in the dock with his family completely dismissing the possibility of suicide, as being claimed by the police.

The police, however, said the death of 26-year-old Pawan Kumar Sharma, booked in 15 cases of theft, burglary and snatching, was a clear-cut case of suicide. His family on the other hand rejected the police suicide theory, claiming that Pawan could not have ended his life as he was not new to police arrest and facing such charges.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has been informed about the death of Pawan while in police custody and an inquiry into the matter has been entrusted to a judicial magistrate in whose presence the post-mortem was being conducted and videographed.

District police chief Sonal Agnihotri said Pawan had been arrested by the police last night around 8 pm when he tried to snatch the bag from a jeweller in the Jutog area on the outskirts of the town. “He was kept in custody last night and was to be produced in court today, but at about 7.30 am, the sentry on duty found him hanging from the window of the toilet,” said Agnihotri.

He said Pawan had committed suicide by hanging himself from a window about 16 feet high in the wall of the police station with the help of a blanket. “He was immediately rushed to hospital but was declared brought dead by doctors,” said the SP.

Agnihotri said Pawan did not have a pair of scissors or weapon to cut the blanket, but since it was old and worn out, he made a rope out of it to commit suicide.

“I have known him since childhood and he was not at all the type of person who would commit suicide,” said Gopal Sharma, cousin of Pawan. He added that there was no reason for Pawan to be under stress or fear as all this was not something new for him. Moreover, since he was presenting himself in court in all the cases registered against him, there was no reason for him to end his life, he added. He, however, expressed satisfaction over the judicial inquiry and said the postmortem would pinpoint the reason for his cousion’s death.

Pawan, according to the police, had about 15 cases registered against him in Shimla and Solan districts, including that of vehicle theft, and was out on bail. Hailing from the Charabra area near here, he had studied up to Class XII and had mostly stayed away from home since then.

Hamirpur, December 1
Health Minister Rajiv Bindal has said there has been a substantial decline in HIV AIDS cases in the state during the past four years as a result of an awareness campaign launched by the state government.

Addressing a gathering at a state-level function on World AIDS Day today at Hamirpur, he said, “The state government has opened 49 integrated community testing centers (ICTC) in different parts of the state, besides starting two mobile testing centers and free testing facilities are being provided at these centers.”

He said, “The HIV testing facilities have been expanded in the state and 3,29,920 persons were tested in the state free of cost during the past four years of which 1,17,179 expectant women were also tested.”

The minister urged the people to join the awareness campaign against HIV AIDS and urged couples getting married to go in for an HIV virus test for a happy married life. An AIDS awareness rally was also taken out in the Hamirpur bazar in which students and other sections participated. They carried placards and raised slogans against AIDS.

A colourful cultural programme was also presented by students on the occasion.

Later, talking to mediapersons, the Health Minister talked about various initiatives taken by the state government to create awareness and treatment of HIV AIDS, besides achievements in the Rashtriya Swasthaya Bima Yojna, the Atal Swasthaya Yojna and promoting institutional deliveries.

He said a month-long campaign had been launched today to create awareness about AIDS and rallies and programmes would be organized during this period throughout the state.

Solan, December 1
With a large migrant population, comprising one of the five high-risk groups which could contract HIV/AIDS, residing in the industrial area of the state, special intervention is under way to prevent its spread.

With as many as 20 cases of intravenous drug users, which comprise patients who share equipment, including syringes and needles and fall in the high risk category, having been identified in the Baddi industrial area, the State AIDS Control Society (SACS) has stepped up its efforts to monitor and increase its outreach among this population.

The society has identified 15,000 migrants under the Community Needs Assessment study in the Baddi industrial area for undertaking preventive intervention.

Apart from this, 45,000 migrants have been identified in other industrial areas, including Parwanoo, Kala Amb and Una, by collecting data regarding knowledge, aptitude, behaviour and practices of this population.

With a view to ensuring the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS, NGOs identified for the purpose, are now undertaking activities for the prevention of this disease by “voluntary peer leaders (VPL), outreach workers and counsellors”. These activities include behaviour change communication which includes one-to-one contact and group discussion, condom promotion, linkages to sexually transmitted infections clinics, integrated counseling and testing centres, enabling environment and capacity building.

The migrants are identified as the bridge population for HIV/AIDS under the National AIDS Control Programme and they are one of the five high-risk population groups.

The Director, AIDS Control Society, Dr MK Pathak, said in 2010-11, 15,000 migrants were covered through these interventions and in 2011-12 it is targeted to cover 60,000 migrants. Of them, 45,000 migrants will be covered in Parwanoo, Kala Amb and Una through three existing interventions while a new intervention will be drawn up for the 15,000 migrants in Baddi.

The MS, ESIC, Dr Ajay Kamra, at Baddi said they were undertaking random checking of migrants and one patient had been tested positive for HIV. He added that since the area had a large migrant population, the susceptibility of this disease was also high.

Shimla, December 1
The award-winning film. “Bunty’s Tree”, produced by Jaspal Bhatti’s film school, on environment protection was today viewed by Chief Minister PK Dhumal here.

The animation film highlights the problem of the depleting green cover in an impressive manner. The film is set in the picturesque landscape of the tribal area of Kinnaur with local costumes and ambience of the area captured on camera. The film has been directed by Jasraj Singh Bhatti, son of renowned artist Jaspal Bhatti.

The Chief Minister appreciated the concept of the film which conveys the message of environment protection in a sentimental manner. He congratulated Bhatti for producing the film, which, he said, was capable of forcing people to think about planting more trees and protecting the environment for the sustenance of all living beings.

Dhumal said the film left a lasting impact on the viewers and made them think of protecting the environment. He said Himachal Pradesh had emerged as a role model for the rest of the country in the protection of environment and the biggest carbon credit project of World Bank had also been awarded to the state.

He said a number of awards had been received by the state from national and international organisations in recognition of the efforts made in environment protection, which included banning the use of plastic and polythene bags, green felling and making major towns of the state smoke-free.

Mandi, December 1
In the absence of a time-bound promotion policy, the state government move to increase the retirement age from 58 years to 62 years for teaching faculty in the two medical colleges would further speed up the exodus of the young specialist doctors from the IGMC, Shimla, and Tanda Medical College to private and prime health institutions.

According to doctors serving in district hospitals, the government should instead put in place a time-bound promotion policy and should not assign administrative posts after 58 years.

The decision to increase the age from 58 years to 62 years was not a solution to the issue of shortage of specialists, commented a senior doctor.

Talking to The Tribune, general secretary, Himachal Pradesh Medical Officers’ Association (HPMOA) Dr JN Chauhan said: “The government should not divide the medical fraternity on this issue. The best solution was putting in place a time-bound promotion policy and appointing doctors on the peripheries.”

The doctors, who are at the verge of retirement in the Directorate of Medical Education and in medical colleges, are supporting the move saying that it would take care of the issue of shortage of specialist doctors at the top level once the age increase.

The HPMOA had nothing to do with medical colleges, they claimed.

On the other, the HPMOA opposed the move and supported junior doctors in medical colleges, saying that there were over 16 doctors at the IGMC and seven doctors at Tanda Medical college, who still await promotion as assistant professors (APs) on a regular basis.

“They are just designated as APs, not as full-fledged APs and hence, their promotion will be hit by this move,” they claimed.

Over 30 per cent young doctors, most of them specialists, deserted the state in the absence of better opportunities here, they added.

Patients referred from zonal hospitals to IGMC or Tanda are still referred to PGI or other hospitals outside the state despite the fact that state medical colleges have super specialties, charged the HPMOA.

“APs and senior residents are the backbone of patients and they need time- bound promotions to keep them in the state,” they claimed.

Meanwhile, faculties said the PGI was the referral institution in North after AIIMS, New Delhi and all state governments were increasing the retirement age of doctors to check shortage of specialists. “We have met the principal secretary health, Ali Raza Rizvi and put forward our view on the issue,” Dr Chauhan said.

Meanwhile, health officials are tight-lipped as the “government has put the proposal in a freeze considering the controversy it has generated”.

Mandi, December 1
A love letter allegedly written by Vijay Guleria, a school teacher of political science at Senior Secondary School, Nabahi, in the Sarkaghat area in the district to his Dalit girl student has cost him dear as the Director, Higher Education, today ordered his suspension with immediate effect and ordered an inquiry in the case.

Though Guleria was bailed out today at a Sarkaghat court after remaining two days in police remand, the Director has ordered an inquiry and suspended him with immediate effect. The police has booked him on the complaint of the girl.

The letter was spotted by the girl’s parents. They along with over 200 villagers had come to school two days ago to teach the accused a lesson.

But when Guleria was called out from the school and was shown the letter, he put it in his mouth and gulped it down to destroy the evidence against him. On which, villagers thrashed him in front of the school gate. They managed to save some pieces of the paper, which he was trying to destroy, and later the police took possession of the same.

The police charged that the accused in the case had a shady background. The police has also lodged a counter-FIR in the case as Guleria had charged that he was thrashed by villagers and pleaded innocence in the case. Mandi SP Pupul Dutta told The Tribune that Guleria was in police remand for two days, but was bailed out today as the police investigation was complete under Section 354 of the IPC.

Commenting on the episode, Director, Education, OP Sharma, said Guleria was deemed suspended as he was in the police custody. “We have constituted an independent inquiry in the case and will take strict action against the guilty,” he added.

Shimla, December 1
The proposal of the government to set up a Rs 25- crore fruit processing plant at Pragatinagar may remain a pipedream with the efforts of the state-owned Himachal Pradesh Horticulture Produce Processing and Marketing Corporation (HPMC) to raise resources for the project by selling off its land in Chennai failing once again.

The corporation had invited tenders for the outright sale of its 2.03 acre vacant land at Numbal on the Chennai-Bangalore highway for which the reserve price was fixed at Rs 16 crore. However, the highest bid for the land was almost Rs 4 crore short of the reserve price. The three-member committee set up by the government under the chairmanship of the Managing Director of the corporation for the purpose decided to have an open auction among six parties with their consent to get a higher bid. There was no appreciable increase and the final offer was Rs 12.30 crore. It was the second time that tenders were invited for the sale of the land. Earlier, the highest bid was only Rs 6 crore.

The corporation decided to sell off the land after the Union Ministry of Food Processing Industry, which grants subsidy up to Rs 10 crore to set up cold chains to reduce the loss caused due to wastage of fruits and vegetables, rejected the proposal.

With the government not in a position to provide funds for the project and the corporation already deep in the red, there is little possibility of the project being implemented in the near future. The accumulated loss of the corporation has crossed Rs 55 crore and it is finding it hard even to pay the salaries. With a negative net worth, it is not likely to get a loan from financial institutions.

The project involved the construction of an apple processing plant of 20,000 tonne annual capacity, a cold storage of 1,000 tonne capacity and a network of procurement centres. It was to be set up on a part of the land available with the carton factory of Agro-India Packaging Limited, which had been closed down. 

Shimla, December 1
Rajwant Sandhu, Chief Secretary, today said the process of delivering IT-enabled services to the people in the state should be simplified and made less cumbersome to make them citizen-friendly.

She was speaking at the inauguration of the “Citizen-Centric e-government” consultation workshop, organised by the state Department of Information Technology and the Union Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, in partnership with NASSCOM here.

Sandhu said the departments should look into the electronic procedure of deliverance of public services so as to involve the common man in it. “Creating awareness and speedy and effective delivery of essential services would help in achieving this objective,” she added. Common service centres and Sugam centres were contributing well in this respect, she added.

The Chief Secretary said IT usage should penetrate into the remotest corners of the state to bring in smart governance and ensure transparency. She directed the heads of departments to ensure capacity building in this area to avoid any gaps in service delivery. — TNS

Shimla, December 1
Expressing concern over the issue of poor monitoring of infrastructure and inadequate strength of drug inspectors to check the quality of drugs being manufactured in the state, the HP High Court today directed the Principal Secretary (Health) to file a reply and explain the stand of the government.

Taking suo motu note of a letter written by Kamaljeet Singh from Sangrur to the Chief Justice alleging that the state government was playing havoc with the lives of people on account of poor monitoring of spurious and substandard medicines being manufactured in pharmaceutical units, mainly in Sirmaur and Baddi, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Rajiv Sharma directed the Secretary to file the response within four weeks.

The petitioner alleged in his letter that in the name of “effective monitoring system”, the government had deputed just a few drug inspectors in the state, who were insufficient to monitor the working of half of the pharma units at Baddi, let alone the whole state, besides inspection and checking of retail sale counters.

He alleged that it was embarrassing that the drug authorities of other states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Haryana and Rajasthan had raided pharma units at Baddi to check the manufacturing of fake and spurious drugs and had blacklisted the units engaged in malpractices.