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Work yet to begin on Palampur projects
A foundation stone laid by Chief Minister PK Dhumal for a project in Palampur. Photo by writer
Delay in construction of Baghchhal bridge
Ration card seekers left in the lurch
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Residents seek better civic amenities
RSS chief to visit state
‘ITIs helping youth get jobs’
Govt to provide time-bound services: Dhumal
vignettes
Baijnath roads in state of neglect
Himachal diary
Precaution the ‘only remedy for AIDS’
Gold jewellery, cash stolen from house
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Work yet to begin on Palampur projects
Palampur, December 6 It seems that there is no one in the government to ask the departments concerned about delay in taking up construction, despite no hurdle at the political level. The Chief Minister had already provided adequate funds for these projects. No official of the state government is bothered to take up the construction of these projects putting the government in spot in view of the approaching Assembly poll in the state. Dhumal had laid foundation stones of over six new projects in Palampur town in past three years, the construction for these projects could not be The Chief Minister laid foundation for multi-storey parking project in 2008 and till date no efforts were made to take up the construction of this project. The local municipal council had already given land for this project. The government Rs 55 lakh had also been transferred in the account of the Palampur MC three years ago. Dhumal had announced to complete this project in 2010. The state Urban Development had failed to take final decision on this project in the past four years. The Chief Minister had also laid the foundation stone for the Solid Waste Garbage Disposal Plant nine months ago, this project too had been hanging fire. No process was begun to take up the construction till date as the design for this project was yet to be finalised by the Urban Development Department. Dhumal had also sanctioned Rs 85 lakh for this project, funds were lying in the bank account of the Palampur MC. Both these projects were funded by the Centre. Another project for residential complex of doctors in the local civil hospital was also hanging fire. The final design for this project could not be finalised till date, therefore construction could not be taken up. However, the PWD officials blame health officials and say that site was not cleared by the health department, delaying the construction. Dhumal had also given funds for this project. In addition to this, the Chief Minister had also given Rs 60 lakh to the municipal council for the construction of two parking lots in the town, but no construction was taken up. Besides the Chief Minister, ministers and MLAs of the state government had also laid foundation stone for many projects in Palampur, these projects too have been waiting approval for the construction from various government agencies.
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Delay in construction of Baghchhal bridge Our Correspondent
Bilaspur, December 6 Talking to mediapersons here, state chief convener of the organisation and former MLA Krishan Kumar Kaushal and state spokesman Kesh Pathania, accompanied by some six other state leaders, said the construction work of the bridge was stalled due to the fact that both construction company and PWD offices, who were in charge of the construction, have played havoc with their duty and have departed from the approved design and have allowed one of its main load bearing pier (pillar) to be constructed without going to the depth of the actual approved foundation, and now, this pillar has become shaky and was tilting and was liable to collapse. It was still incomplete. They urged Chief Minister PK Dhumal to order a high-level impartial inquiry into the matter and ensure that this construction was completed at the earliest.
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Ration card seekers left in the lurch
Kangra, December 6 Daso Ram, 78, a resident of Ansoli village falling under Kangra block have been running from pillar to post to get hold of an APL card. He said his family falls under poverty line and used to have a BPL card, but his ration card was cancelled in July. He said he was frantically asking for an APL card but the Panchayat secretary was not giving an APL card under the pretext of non-availability. There were many others who were facing the same problem, he added. Daso Ram said he has written to the secretary of Panchayat in August and to Kangra BDO last month, but in vain. He said his family, including a disabled son, has been starving for the past four months but no one is ready to help. BDO Kangra was not available for her comments as she was on leave. Panchayat secretary Rajesh Kumar, when contacted, said APL cards were not available so new cards could not be issued in the last four months. Panchayati Raj Minister Jai Ram Thakur said he would inquire into the matter as to why a family was deprived of their ration. He said he would direct the Director of Panchayati Raj to take an appropriate action in this regard.
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Residents seek better civic amenities
Bilaspur, December 6 A deputation of prominent senior citizens met parishad president Rajni Sharma and vice-president Kamlender Kashyap and discussed issues threadbare for more than two hours.
They stressed on the need for maintaining cleanliness in the sectors and cleaning of roads and drains. A plantation drive should be launched to make the town look more beautiful, the members suggested the Parishad. The Sabha members demanded that Luhnu sports complex be named in the memory Gen Zorawar Singh, a valiant Army commander who won several posts in J&K after defeating the Chinese troops. He was born in Bilaspur. The deputation also demanded installation of a statue of prominent social activist and advocate Pandit Dina Nath at a park setup in his memory at Diara sector here. Other demands included construction of a swimming pool for children, completion of commercial complex in the main market, restarting the ‘Palika Club’ for entertainment of senior citizens, restoration of Palika Rest House at Dholera complex and developing it into a tourism complex. They urged the administration to construct ‘Sulabh’ toilets in each sector, solve the menace of stray animals, arrange for proper maintenance of parks and town lavatories and make provision for a cremation ghat and a graveyard in the town. Nagar Parishad president Rajni Sharma said that the Rs 15 cr-market complex would be completed soon and proposal for construction of three public toilets is under consideration of the government. The Nagar Parishad has already met the Deputy Commissioner for arranging finance for construction of a cremation ghat, Sharma said. She assured that other problems would also be addressed soon.
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RSS chief to visit state
Bilaspur, December 6 This information was given here recently by RSS prant sanchaalak (Colonel) Roop Chand while talking to the mediapersons. He said a RSS chief was visiting Bilaspur after 23 years. Roop Chand accompanied by RSS HP Gramin Vikas Praant pramukh Sohan Singh Shastri and prant karyawaah Kismat Kumar said over 4,000 swayam sevaks from seven nearby “RSS districts” of Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Una, Mandi, Sunder Nagar, Sarkaghat, Nalagarh, Dadlaghat and Arki would participate in the “Path Sanchalan” here on December 14. Bhagwat would address a huge public meeting at the Government Boys Senior Secondary School at Raura sector here, in which over 15,000 men and women are expected to participate. He said those who would participate in this congregation, would be served packed lunch collected through system of “Rukmani Rasoi”, contributed voluntarily by all households here in town, each contributing four packets. Bhagwat would address and interact with the RSS state executive committee and address all prant pracharaks on December 16, while a “Samajik Sadbhav” meeting would be organised on December 17 before he leaves for Hamirpur in the evening. Roop Chand said the RSS is the biggest disciplined social organisation in country which always accepts challenges and takes suitable remedial action during any calamity or emergency. It has 40,000 shakhas with 70 allied organisations which are autonomous, but are infused with the RSS philosophy. He said the RSS did not believe in any differences of caste and religion and those who were committed to this country as their “maatribhumi” were all Hindus, they did not belong to any caste, creed or region in Bharat.
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‘ITIs helping youth get jobs’
Bilaspur, December 6 This was stated by Vijay Chandan, HP Director Technical Education (Sundernagar), while presiding over district-level fourth annual games, sports and cultural competition at the government ITI here recently. Chandan said now computer education has been made compulsory for all trainees and this would naturally increase chances for more jobs in industrial sector. He said there were 84 government and 110 private industrial training institutes in the state and government is providing training in several additional trades to help youth get jobs in modern industrial houses. The government is trying to ensure that no trainee was left without a work. He said private ITIs are also being asked to diversify their trade-training to make it commensurate with the demand in fast growing industrial sector so that this helps in solving unemployment problem in the country. He said once self-employed such trainee can at least provide employment to five others after he settles properly in his trade. The Director also distributed trophies, prizes and certificates to the winners. Local ITI principal Kuldip Chadha said girls and boys from eleven ITIs, including from private sector, competed in this six-day tournament.
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Govt to provide time-bound services: Dhumal
Palampur, December 6 The approval to the Himachal Pradesh Public Services Guarantee Rules, 2011, recently notified reflects upon the state government’s determination to serve common people. Talking to the mediapersons at Palampur recently, Dhumal said the Himachal Pradesh Public Services Guarantee Act would bring transparency and accountability in the administration. The common people will not have to wait for the delivery of basic services as this act will ensure the various services within stipulated time. The act would encompass basic services of the health, panchayati raj, industries, agriculture, animal husbandry, social justice and empowerment, home, fire services, urban development and town country planning. These departments have been directed to notify the services expeditiously. Dhumal says every citizen can now demand that the notified public services be provided within the prescribed time limit. If the officials fail to provide services in a time-bound manner, they are liable to be penalised. In case, the service is wrongfully denied or delayed, the applicant has recourse to remedial measures under the act/rules, including monetary compensation and disciplinary action against the defaulter officials. The Chief Minister says some of the services to be notified such as soil testing in the Agriculture Department would have to carried out within 60 days, artificial insemination in the Animal Husbandry Department within 2 hours, grant of TP to right holder by April 15 of the year by the gram sabha, sanction of DFO by May 15 , TD to disaster sufferers by September 1 to December 1 by the DFO and within 60 days by the CF in the Forest Department, grant of disability certificate in health department within 15 days, failure of power supply (in drinking water and irrigation scheme) within a day and sanction of water connection within one month in IPH Department; to provide new electricity connection within 30 days and to resolve consumer’s billing complaints within 24 hours in MPP & Power, registration of births and deaths and issuance of certificate, registration of marriages and issuance of certificate within 24 hours, issuance of copy of panchayat record within 5 days and issuance of BPL certificate and ration cards within 24 hours in panchayati raj; supply of copies of revenue records, reports for issue of various certificates, attestation of affidavits/power of attorneys issuance of various certificates on the same day/next day, reports of damage due to natural calamity within 7 days in the Revenue Department; issuance of identity card to senior citizens and persons with disabilities within 3 days in the Social Justice and Empowerment Department; issuance of certificate that land is not in planning/special area within 3 days and certificate of change of land use within 60 days in the Town & Country Planning Department; registration of birth/ death/marriages within 2 days, preparation of ration card within 15 days, water supply/ sewerage connection within 60 days, issuance of BPL certificates within 7 days, no objection certificate for electricity connection within 30 days in the Urban Development Department. With such concrete measures, the state government is ensuring that the administrative machinery becomes sensitive to the needs of the common man in delivering services in a befitting manner.
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Invitation to a ‘Lucky Draw’
by Shriniwas Joshi When I was roaming at Nahan recently, I came across a display board put up by the Chemist and Druggist Alliance, Sirmaur district, in collaboration with the Road Safety Club, Police Station, Nahan. It is an invitation to a “lucky draw” which will be held at the cremation or the burial ground where the chief guest is the God of Death. I have also received an invitation card where Miss Misfortune Cigarette Devi (Bidi) weds Mister Deadly Cancer alias Incurable Disease. The International Institute of Population Sciences has recently conducted the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS). Its results on India for 2009-2010 have been published. I may inform the readers that the position of Himachal Pradesh vis-a-vis neighbouring states is slightly better than that in Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana, where the percentage of current tobacco users is 31 per cent, 27 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively, and that of Himachal Pradesh is 21 per cent, whereas Chandigarh and Punjab stand at 14 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively. It means about 14.40 lakh people use tobacco in this small state, out of which 12.34 lakh use it daily and the rest occasionally. Mizoram (67%) and Goa (9%) are the two states where the maximum and the lowest number of people, respectively, make use of tobacco. If a group of 100 females is randomly selected in Himachal Pradesh, four out of them will be tobacco users and in a group of equal number of males, 39 deserved to go to attend the “lucky draw”. I have visited all the 54 high and senior secondary schools of Shimla town and the B Ed colleges and have talked to the heads of the institutions in order to find out the situation of the adolescents and the youth taking to the habit of using tobacco. I am happy that the teachers did not show ‘negativity’ and agreed that the menace was increasing and though their students did not smoke or use tobacco within the school complex, yet outside the boundary of the schools, the tobacco products were openly sold by the unscrupulous vendors to even those below 18 years of age without any fear of action under the COTPA (Cigarette and other Tobacco Product Act-2003). I told them that under the COTPA, even they had powers to issue challans and fine the culprits who sold tobacco products within 100 yards of school premises and the challan-book was available in the Department of Health and Family Welfare. My purpose of laying emphasis on school and college children was because the GATS revealed that the initiation age for tobacco use in Himachal Pradesh was 2.8 per cent for those who were less than 15 years; 15.9 per cent for those between 15 and 17 years; 21.5 per cent for those in the 18-19 age bracket; and 59.8 per cent in the age group of 20-34 years. It gives a mean-age of 20.5 years. Though the syndrome in Himachal is shifting from ‘smoking’ to ‘oral tobacco use’, yet with 18 per cent of population as regular smokers, the dangers of passive smoking do exist. May I tell the would-be mothers, who are in constant company of their smoker-husbands, that the birth-weight of infants decreases by way of passive smoking and the number of premature deliveries increase. Secondly, all other diseases that affect the smokers can affect the passive smokers too. And here is a warning for all the smokers: “You are human bombs. You are not only killing yourself but killing others too who surround you.” The GATS has specifically mentioned ignorance of people. It says: “Though a large proportion of adults believe that smoking causes serious illness, only half of adults (49%) think that smoking causes stroke and a little less than two-thirds (64%) believe that it triggers heart attacks. A relatively higher proportion of adults from the urban areas are likely to believe, in comparison to those from the rural areas, that smoking causes lung cancer (90% urban and 83% rural), heart attack (72% urban and 61% rural) and stroke (54% urban and 47% rural). The Lucky Draw Invitation ends with a wish that none gets the prize of this Lucky Draw. Amen Tailpiece “Tobacco surely was designed To poison, and destroy mankind.” — Phillip Freneau, US poet
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Baijnath roads in state of neglect
Palampur, December 6 The internal roads in Baijnath are crying for immediate attention of the authorities. The Baijnath Chobin road leading to the house of local MLA Sudhir Sharma is full of potholes. The Baijnath-Deol road leading to native village of BJP leader and HP State Wool Federation chairman Trilok Kapoor has turned into a drain at many points as after the rainy season no repair was done. The road from Ahju to Bir, which also connects Billing, a site for paragliding, constructed under the PMGSY two years ago had lived its life. In September, PWD Minister Thakur Gulab Singh had given directions to all the PWD divisions in the state for repair of roads damaged in the monsoon. It seems that in Baijnath division, no one followed the directions of the minister, causing inconvenience to the public. A senior official of the PWD made an excuse of shortage of funds. However, Singh categorically said there was no financial crunch in the PWD and the executive engineers were bound to repair all the damaged roads before October 25, the deadline fixed by him. He said he would inquire into the matter and necessary action would be taken against the erring officials of the PWD at Baijnath.
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Campaign creates awareness about
differently abled persons
A Shimla-based non-government organisation Udaan organised a ten-day campaign in the hill state to create awareness among the people about the differently abled persons and the problems faced by them.
A large number of people, including several differently abled children, participated in the mass awareness campaign. Children enjoyed games like lemon race, musical chair and ring throw. They also participated in cultural activities like dance and drama with enthusiasm. Secretary of Udaan Ranjit Rana explained the objectives of the campaign and Lalita Rana counselled parents and special educators engaged in teaching and training of differently abled children. The campaign was organised in collaboration with the national trust for the welfare of persons with autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation and multiple disabilities. Chairman of Umang Foundation Ajai Srivastava told the people about rights of differently abled, government policies and schemes of the trust. He also addressed the queries of differently abled persons and held interactive sessions with special educators and JBT trainees. Besides Akshay Kumar, members of Umang Foundation Ranjan Bala, pursuing PhD (Education); Gautami, a student of mass communication; and Ashish also participated in the campaign. Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court Kurian Joseph called upon the people not to infringe the rights of differently abled persons. They not only have the right to life but also the right to live with dignity, he said. The concluding function was presided over by Director General of Police DS Manhas. Justice Rajiv Sharma of the high court was also present on the occasion. Justice Kurian Joseph stressed that if equal rights, opportunities and full participation was ensured, the differently abled persons could face any challenge. It was high time that the society changed its mindset and started treating them with dignity and on par with others. They needed parity, not charity, he added. Engineers’ meeting
The state chapter of the Institution of Engineers (India) held its 12th annual general meeting at Shimla recently, in which over 200 engineers from all over the state participated (see photo). Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, who was the chief guest, appreciated the role played by Institution of Engineers (India), the oldest and largest body of engineers in the country. It was not only conducting the AMIE but also regularly holding technical workshops, seminars and other activities to enrich the technical knowledge of the engineers. He assured that the government would provide full support for establishment of an engineering consultancy and training centre, which the Institution of Engineers (India) proposed to start from September 15, 2012. He also exhorted the engineering fraternity to maintain high professional standards and adherence to ethics. Suneel Grover was chosen the new chairman of state chapter of Institution of Engineers (India) and Dinesh Kashyap as the honorary secretary. While thanking the members for their support and faith reposed, Grover said he would spare no effort to improve the organisation. He said engineers had played a major role in the development of the state, but of late they were distressingly witnessing gradual erosion in their status. He demanded that engineers be given due parity with the bureaucrats and appointed to key administrative posts like secretary, public works department, irrigation and public health and power. Professional engineers should also man the posts of managing directors of public sector undertakings to accelerate the pace of development activities. (Contributed by
Rakesh Lohumi)
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Precaution the ‘only remedy for AIDS’
Bilaspur, December 6
The ADM said that service to humanity lay in providing relief to those in pain and the profession of nursing provided this opportunity. He praised the girls and their parents for choosing the noble profession. He said that those in the medical profession could play a very vital role in controlling AIDS as they could advise the ignorant people on how to prevent AIDS. An AIDS awareness rally was also flagged off by the ADM. Nursing trainees of the Zonal Hospital took out a procession through the villages apprising villagers of the dangers of AIDS and essential precautions. District AIDS Control Officer Dr Ashwini Kumar Sharma, District Medical Officer Dr Jitender Saxena and Health Educator Raj Kumar also addressed the gathering. — OC
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Gold jewellery, cash stolen from house
Bilaspur, December 6 The theft was detected when both the husband and wife returned home and found that the iron grill of one of the ground floor window was broken. The thieves broke locker of an almirah and took cash from there and they looted jewelleries from trunk. This is the fourth theft occurred here in last six weeks but no arrest has been made so far. Earlier superintendent of police had issued a press note urging people to be alert as theft has increased in the area. However, in this case also police has ensured that it would soon succeed in solving the case.
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Because of lack of “administrative will” and poor governance, a number of foundation stones laid by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, his cabinet colleagues and MLAs in the town have just turned into showpieces as construction on these projects is yet to be taken up.
The “Badhte Kadam” campaign was flagged off by Abhishek Jain, Director, Department of SC, ST and Minorities Affairs. During the campaign, a team of 11 volunteers travelled over 1,400 km covering Shimla, Hamirpur, Chamba, Kangra, Kullu and Mandi districts. Akshay Kumar, a differently abled and highly meritorious student pursuing his PhD in English in Himachal Pradesh University, was part of the team. He remained in focus all through and came out as a role model to inspire the differently abled persons. 