Dharamsala, October 17
Lack of refuelling facility for aircraft at the Gaggal airport in Kangra district is keeping airfare for Dharamsala and its adjoining hill stations among the highest in the country. The airport receives two flights daily -- Air India and SpiceJet.

Due to lack of refuelling facility, the aircraft cannot take the optimum load of passengers. Sources said both Air India and SpiceJet were operating 72-seat planes to Kangra from Delhi.

However, the planes can bring from Delhi only 57 to 60 passengers and return with just 48 to 52, depending on the baggage load.

This is keeping airfare high. Air-India is charging Rs 12,000 from Dharamsala to Delhi whereas SpiceJet Rs 9,000.

Sources in the airlines said if refuelling facilities were available at the Gaggal airport, they could carry passengers to full capacity. The airfare from Dharamsala to Delhi could come down by about 20 per cent.

Deepak, a travel agent at Dharamsala, said there was enough passenger load to operate two flights at full capacity from Dharamsala to Delhi. In summer, the Dharamsala region had the passenger load of even four flights. However, due lack of basic facilities at the airport, the tourism in the region was being hit, he said.

Sources said providing refuelling facilities at the airport was not a tedious task. The IndianOil is already providing aviation fuel to the Indian Air Force in Pathankot that is only 90 km from Dharamsala. If the government took interest, the oil company could easily provide refuelling facilities at the airport.

The other drawback at the Gaggal airport is lack of night landing facility and radar facility for landing in cloudy conditions.

Shimla, October 17
Blaming depot holders for the delay in supply of ration through the public distribution system, Food and Civil Supply Minister GS Bali today said the government would soon bring a new policy to rein in depot holders.

Interacting with mediapersons here today, he said the loopholes in the existing policy would be taken care of in the new policy and provision would be made for stringent action, including the cancellation of licence, against the depot holders who had failed to comply with the prescribed procedure and distribute ration within the stipulated time. The new policy would be placed before the Cabinet for approval shortly.

At times, the supply was delayed as the depot holders failed to deposit money for procurement of the allocated ration with the State Civil Supplies Corporation. Also they did not lift all items in one go which also caused hardships to people. The government would work out a system to ensure that all items were supplied at the same time.

Referring to steps being taken by the government to tone up the system, Bali said orders had been issued to the department to monitor all depots on a daily basis and weekly reports be sent to at the Secretary. He maintained that there was no shortage of any food commodity and requisite stocks were available at the godowns of the corporation, including 22,000 tonne of subsided sugar.

He said another major step being taken by the government to ensure uninterrupted supply of essential items to common man at a reasonable rate was “Aam Aadmi Ki Dukan” scheme. These shops would sell food items to the people on the basis of “no-profit, no-loss”. To begin with, four shops would be opened at Palampur, Kangra, Hamirpur and Mandi and three would become functional from the next month, he added.

The state government had sent a Rs 100-crore proposal for providing e-Ration Cards to the Centre and the approval was awaited. It would help eliminate duplicate ration cards and further improve the public distribution system.

Kangra, October 17
The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) subscribers of this town and its suburbs were in for a rude shock when a bar was imposed on outgoing calls for the non-payment of landline telephone bills, which were not delivered to them for the last two months.

The BSNL subscribers were caught unawares with the call bar imposed on Tuesday. About 50 per cent of the subscribers had not been receiving their bills, but the authorities, without any prior information, imposed a bar on the outgoing calls.

The subscribers today deposited their bills under protest and some subscribers wrote to JC Maneria, General Manager, BSNL, Dharamsala, to improve the system or face legal action. They demanded that the late fee charged by the BSNL should be adjusted in the next bill.

The SDO office here witnessed a huge rush of subscribers for getting duplicate bills.

In Kangra town, the affected telephones included that of the police station, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, two landline numbers of the IPH Department, the Additional Judicial Magistrate, Kangra, and domestic and mediapersons' telephones.

Subscribers in the rural areas, who had no facility to get duplicate bills, had to visit the Kangra Telephone Exchange for the purpose.

The General Manager, BSNL, said he had received the complaints and would call a meeting of officials, including postal authorities, to sort out the matter.

Des Raj, DGM, Finances, who is supposed to monitor the bill delivery system, said the matter was being looked into and would be rectified shortly. 

Barog (Solan), October 17
PK Dhumal, former Chief Minister, today criticised the state government for misleading investors on the issue of the Central industrial package and said the recent statement of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, advising investors to forget enhancement of the package and learn to operate without incentives, was disappointing.

He said the Congress had exploited this issue to gain electoral mileage and this even hogged headlines by claiming that the package had been restored after its entire Cabinet had marched to Delhi to meet the senior Central leaders. Despite tall claims, no such relief had been granted to the industry.

Addressing mediapersons here after presiding over a training camp organised at Dharampur, Dhumal said even the poll promise of granting unemployment allowance to the youth had remained unfulfilled and the skill development allowance, about which several hoardings had been erected, was merely granted to 41 youth till now. He said this allowance was not a new scheme and even their government had granted this allowance to 5,972 youth.

He said the several developmental projects inaugurated by the Chief Minister in the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial area yesterday were conceived and completed during their tenure, but their inauguration had been delayed due to the enforcement of the model code of conduct. He said even the multi-purpose barrier inaugurated by him was already functional during their tenure.

He said then Union Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan had laid the foundation stone of a steel unit at Kandrori in Kangra district during their tenure.

He criticised the state government for failing to provide adequate ration in fair price shops and said the much-hyped Food Security Bill would fail to provide relief to the people.

The former Chief Minister said the employees too felt cheated as promises such as grant of DA from 2006 and grant of 4-9-14 service benefits had failed to be honoured and even the commuted pension had been reduced.

Dhumal said there was a visible wave in favour of the BJP and their prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was receiving overwhelming support throughout the country.

State BJP president Satpal Satti, Shimla MP Virender Kashyap, MLAs Govind Ram Sharma, Dr Rajiv Sehgal, were among those present in the press conference.

Bilaspur, October 17
Former Chief Minister PK Dhumal had made scores of announcements but did not fulfil even one during the five years of his tenure.

This was stated by Congress state president Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu while addressing a largely attended "Karyakarta Jagrookta Sammelan" of the Naina Deviji Block Congress at Suharghat, 42 km from here, today.

Sukhwinder was welcomed by Congress state general secretary Ram Lal Thakur, along with hundreds of party activists. District president Santosh Dhiman and block president Narvir Thakur were also present.

The president alleged that Dhumal only watched political and financial interests of his son Anurag Thakur and did not bother for the common masses at all. He wanted to ensure that his son was settled in politics so that his future was secure.

Sukhwinder said the BJP was given an opportunity by people to send its MP from the Hamirpur but Anurag did not complete a single work, he added.

Sukhwinder said all lands of stadiums under the control of the HPCA belonged to the government. The state government should immediately take over these stadiums and throw these open for all registered cricket clubs in the state.

He said the Congress would face the parliamentary election with full preparation and ensure the defeat of the BJP on all four seats.

All-India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary Raja Rampal Singh said Rahul Gandhi's political vision and Sonia Gandhi's political sagacity, strategy and organisational skill would again ensure the return of the UPA for the third consecutive term. 

Shimla, October 17
There is a good news for the bright students: 5,000 of Class X and XII students, who excelled in the 2012-13 state board exams, will be given netbooks free of cost by December.

The State Electronics Development Corporation has invited tenders for the netbooks and shortlisted two companies. The financial bids will be opened after the approval by the government.

Three companies, Lenovo, Acer and Microsoft Corporation, participated in the tender. However, the bid of the Microsoft Corporation was rejected during technical evaluation as the tablet Surface-I was just launched and did not meet the specifications laid down in the tender documents.

The other two companies had offered netbooks as per the specifications and they were asked to get the required certifications regarding the operating system and other software to be provided.

The main reason for preferring the netbook over the tablet was that the content which the students required was easily accessible using the netbook.

The netbooks will have 1.6 GHz dual core processor and Windows-8 operating system with 2 GB RAM and 320 GB hard disk. It will support bluetooth and wi-fi, besides the data card for connectivity.

The selected company will be given one month for supplying the netbooks after award of contract.

The government will spend about Rs 10 crore on the scheme introduced to encourage the meritorious students.

Director of Education Dinkar Burathoki said the top 2,500 students each on the merit list of Class X and XII would be given the netbooks. In the case of Class XII, all streams, non-medical, medical, commerce and arts would be covered. The netbooks would be distributed within one month after receiving the supply.

Shimla, October 17
The Himachal Government has decided to hold regular prescription audit of doctors after making available 314 generic medicines in all Civil Supplies Corporation shops so as to save patients from the unholy nexus between some doctors and pharma companies.

The Health and Family Welfare Department has decided to provide 314 generic medicines in all civil supplies shops so that the patients are not compelled to purchase costly drugs of various companies, prescribed by doctors. In yet another interesting step, patients too will be educated to keep the prescription slips carefully and complain to the department if they are prescribed costly medicines.

The Health Department will shortly issue directions for maintaining record of every prescription slip in all hospitals in special boxes so that there is proper record of the medicines being prescribed by doctors.

"There will be a proper prescription audit of all doctors once there is availability of generic medicines in the shops being run in hospitals," revealed Kaul Singh Thakur, Health and Family Welfare Minister.

Kaul Singh made it clear that if doctors are found guilty of unnecessarily prescribing expensive medicines when cheaper generic medicines are available, action will be taken against them.

"Doctors will no longer be able to give excuse that the medicines are not available once all 314 generic medicines are made available in the shops," he said.

He added that the information about keeping prescription slips carefully and making complaints to the department would be printed on the back of the slips.

The practice of holding prescription audits of doctors is not being followed but once the availability of all generic medicines is done, this practice will be started.

"It has come to our knowledge that doctors are prescribing eight to 10 medicines to patients and in some cases even specifying the pharma company which is absolutely unethical," said Kaul Singh. The Civil Supplies Corporation runs over 24 medicines shops at various government hospitals in the state.

The alleged nexus between some doctors and pharmaceutical companies makes it difficult for poor patients to afford costly medicines.

The decision to hold prescription audit of doctors will also help in checking the practice of recommending costly tests and CT scan and MRI when they are not required. There are allegations that doctors recommend these in many cases as they get a commission on every scan. The patients too do not really object to it as large number get medical reimbursement.

Kullu, October 17
Stepping up their nationwide campaign for one-rank, one-pension, convener, Indian Ex-servicemen Movement, Brig Khushal Thakur, today urged the Centre to set up a separate national commission for armed personnel and ensure employment in government jobs till the age of 60 years for ex-servicemen.

Khushal Thakur said the commission should be constituted along the lines of the Women Commission and the Minority Commission.

The government should remove all anomalies in widow pension, pay and restoring the rank and status.

He said the military had been deliberately kept out of the policy formation loop. Soldiers remained separated from their families, but they had to make steep promotion pyramid, he added.

Brigadier Thakur said the military and civil services were the government's two equal pillars. All disparity in pay, perks and pension should be removed, he added.

He further said pay and pension of military man was 20 per cent to 30 per cent higher than their civilian counterparts in many countries. "We have no option other than intensifying the movement in the country," he added.

Thakur said they had postponed the October 19 protest as the government had decided to bide time.

Hamirpur, October 17
Spokesman for the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) Deepak Sharma has resigned from the cultural committee of Hamir Utsav to protest against the alleged arbitrary decision of the committee regarding the finalisation of main artistes to perform in the cultural evenings of the Utsav.

In a letter sent to the Hamirpur Deputy Commissioner-cum-chairman of the Utsav, Sharma has alleged that the artistes of the cultural evenings have been selected without taking the members of the committee into confidence.

Through the letter he has alleged, “Second-rung artistes have been selected to perform in the Utsav for a very high remuneration of Rs 10.5 lakh, which is a sheer wastage of public money.”

DC Ashish Singhmar said, “Sharma has dissented with the decision of the committee constituted for the selection of the artistes for the Hamir Utsav.” 

Shimla, October 17
The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau today registered a case against former BJP minister Kishan Kapoor for allotting a residential plot in his name while being the Chairman of the HP Housing Board Authority.

The Vigilance Bureau was inquiring into the allegations that the minister, while being the Chairman of the Himachal Pradesh Urban Development Authority had allotted a residential plot in his and his wife’s name in Dharamsala. Kapoor had remained the Minister for Town and Country Planning, Transport and Industry in Dhumal regime but had lost the assembly election from Dharamsala last year.

“We have registered a case against former BJP minister Kishan Kapoor in a land allotment case for misusing his position,” confirmed A P Singh, DIG, Vigilance. After he was accused of misusing his position to get the plot, Kapoor did not take it but it was observed that all the formalities had been completed and the plot allotment had been made. 

Shimla, October 17
The police today recovered a bullet-ridden body of a 23-year-old married woman, hailing from Banur village in Rajpura district of Punjab, from the forests near the Hasan valley on the outskirts of the town.

The body was recovered jointly by the Punjab and Himachal Pradesh police from a spot about 200 m from the Charrabra road. The husband of the deceased, also the accused in the case, accompanied the police to reveal the exact location where he had dumped the body.

The woman had been reported missing since October 5 and it was during interrogation that the husband revealed that he had dumped the body in the Hasan valley after killing her.

“It is based on the information given by the woman's husband to the Punjab police that the body was recovered from the spot,” said Abhishekh Dullar, Superintendent of Police, Shimla. The postmortem was conducted on the body by doctors at the Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) to ascertain the exact cause of the death. 

Solan,Ocober 17
Drug Control Administration officials today pasted a notice on the closed pharmaceutical unit, GBS Pharma, Panjhera, in Nalagarh and directed the unit management to appear before the Drug Controller till October 21 or face suspension of the manufacturing work. The action was taken after a huge cache of sedative drugs, manufactured by it, was seized by the Ludhiana police on Monday.

Though officials of the Drug Control Administration had swung into action after receiving the information from the Punjab Police, the unit was found closed.

Drug Controller Navneet Marwaha said since no official was present in the unit despite visiting twice by the Drug Inspector, a notice had been pasted on the unit wall directing its management to appear with records of their manufacturing operations undertaken in the last two years.

He said if the unit management failed to come forward with the required records, they would issue a show-cause notice and suspend all manufacturing activities in the unit.

He said they would inquire into the matter before allowing any further manufacturing.

The case came to light when a cache of sedative drugs was recovered by the Ludhiana police and the drugs bore the label of GBS Pharma, Panjhera. The police has reportedly arrested 11 persons though the owner of the unit and his son were absconding.

The police, which had come with a search warrant to inspect this unit, recovered only 270 grams of some raw material which is supposedly used in the manufacture of sedative drugs.

Bilaspur, October 17
The police has arrested Shyam Lal (34) of Naal village and Mohammed Ramzan of Cheli village under the NDPS Act after having recovered 9 kg and 960 gm of "chura post" (opium powder) from them. Both are said to be employed as labourers in the Public Works Department (PWD).

Reports said the Suharghat police, led by SHO Lakhvir Singh, was on a routine patrol duty of the area on National Highway No. 21 (Chandigarh-Manali) near Naal village, 35 km from here, when it found two men walking on the road with a bag. They started to run on seeing the police, but the police caught them and on searching their bag found the contraband in it.

They were presented in a court from where the police got their remand till October 19. The matter is being investigated further.