Stricter vigil by
HP police needed
DHARAMSALA, Aug 9 — The Himachal Pradesh police will have to make serious efforts to keep an eye on the activities of Kashmiri labourers who have penetrated into various parts of the state.

HP to control cataract blindness by 2000
SHIMLA, Aug 9 — Himachal will be the first state in the country to control cataract blindness by the turn of the century.
Govt has failed to check inflation: Kaul Singh
MANDI, Aug 9 — Congress leader and former Vidhan Sabha Speaker, Thakur Kaul Singh, today came down heavily on the BJP governments in the state and at the Centre for its failure to check "unprecedented inflation" which had made life difficult for the common man.
Path held to pray for mishap victims
KULU, Aug 9 — Path was organised at Gurdwara Singh Sabha here by local residents and nearly 200 residents of SAS Nagar, including bereaved families and survivors of Kulu bus accident today.
Functions mark 'Quit India' day
SHIMLA, Aug 9 — Functions were organised all over the state to mark the 56th anniversary of the 'Quit India' day today.

Stricter vigil by HP police needed
From Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service

DHARAMSALA, Aug 9 — The Himachal Pradesh police will have to make serious efforts to keep an eye on the activities of Kashmiri labourers who have penetrated into various parts of the state.

A large number of Kashmiri labourers and shawl vendors have come here following terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. The personnel of the anti-terrorist squad of the J and K police have been raiding the "deras" of the Kashmiri labourers at various places in Himachal Pradesh for interrogating those who are suspected to have links with the militants.

During the past few years, a number of Kashmiri terrorists owing allegiance to various militant outfits have arrested from Himachal. It is often seen that whenever pressure is mounted by the security forces in J and K, Kashmiri militants take shelter in Himachal and later return to the valley. The intelligence agencies too had pointed out that Kashmiri militants had been able to get quite a few sympathisers in places like Chamba, Kangra and other districts of Himachal.

There is virtually no information with the police regarding the exact number, activities and antecedents of the Kashmiri labourers and vendors moving around in the towns and villages of Himachal. It was only last week that the Kangra police arrested Saif Din, a suspected Hizbul Mujahideen (Ansari) militant, from a remote area in Baijnath. He was wanted in a number of cases by the J and K police and was allegedly having links with militant outfits.

Similarly, last year the Kangra police had arrested a militant belonging to the Harkat-ul-Ansar outfit, from Dehra in Kangra district. He had been operating freely in the Chamba and Kangra region and had revealed to the police that he had been promised the commandership of the Himachal area, if he succeeded in recruiting some local youth into their organisation. He was arrested while he was impersonating as a retired Army personnel.

The cases relating to pilferage of explosives from some power projects and road construction sites, also need to be taken much more seriously. Six Kashmiri labourers had been arrested a few years back from the Nathpa Jhakri Power project site in Rampur, and were later taken away by the J and K police. Some explosives were also stolen from the Baijnath area last year.

After the Nathpa Jhakri incident, the Himachal Government had said all Kashmiri labourers would have to get themselves registered in Himachal, but there was no strict implementation of the directive. The Superintendent of Police, Kangra, Mr K.C. Sadyal, said the police was maintaining the records of all those who come from outside at all the police stations.

All those who are moving around in towns and villages remain in public view and we have their records, but those staying in remote areas in isolation do not get themselves registered always", he said. The antecedents of all Kashmiris coming here were sent for verification to the J and K police. However, he added, "in some cases, where the person belongs to a very remote area of J and K, the report from the J and K police does not come."

According to him, the police was keeping an eye on the activities of the Kashmiri labourers, vendors and those selling handloom goods. Those contractors, who got the Kashmiri labour, were also asked to provide full information about them.

Though the Kashmiri labour has been living and working in Himachal much before the outbreak of militancy in Kashmir, due to the suspected links of some of them with terrorists even the innocent ones have to face problems.

HP to control cataract blindness by 2000
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Aug 9 — Himachal will be the first state in the country to control cataract blindness by the turn of the century.

This was stated by Mr P.K. Dhumal, Chief Minister, while presiding over the state convention of the National Society for Prevention of Blindness here today. He said Una had already been declared the first "cataract back-log free" district of the country by the Danish International Development Agency which had been funding the national programme for blindness control in a big way.

He appreciated that the programme was carried out by non-government organisations without assistance from the government. The cooperation and coordination between the Health Department and non-government organisations in Una district would help the state free from cataract blindness.

He said India had the largest number of potentially blind people in the world. A survey by the World Health Organisation estimated the prevalence rate of blindness at 1.49 per cent with a total 12 million blind persons. This was shocking in view of the fact that over 70 per cent of the blindness in India was curable and preventable.

He said at present total cataract cases, including unilateral blindness, was estimated at 35,000 and operating these with the help of NGO’s by the year 2000 should not be difficult.

The Chief Minister said that in Himachal blindness prevalence was less than 0.87 per cent against the national rate of 1.49 per cent. It was to be brought down to 0.3 per cent. He lauded efforts of the National Society for Prevention of Blindness and Himotkarsh a voluntary organisation for doing good work.

Mr Dhumal stressed that voluntary organisations holding eye camps in far-flung areas of the state should have all equipments and expertise to perform operations as any carelessness could lead to permanent blindness and defeat the purpose of campaign. He said Chief Medical Officers of the districts concerned should ensure that before granting permission this would help in qualitative improvement of the treatment.

The Chief Minister also gave away awards on behalf of the NSPB, state branch to those who had done good work in the implementation of blindness prevention programme in the state.

Mr J.P. Nadda, Health Minister, said that the state government would formulate a comprehensive programme to achieve the target of cataract blindness control by involving voluntary organisations in a big way.

He said that cataract was one of the main reasons of blindness and according to a surveys 64.38 per cent blindness was due to cataract alone.

He said that government would also make a programme to prevent blindness amongst school students and other children by providing them timely treatment throughout the state.

Dr K.S. Sohal, director, Health Services Himachal Pradesh said that 7 lakh children had been checked in the state in schools for cataract blindness.

Mr D.M. Chaudhary, of the NSPB, said that over 33 lakh cataract operations were performed in the country last year and Himachal Pradesh was one of the seven states in the country to achieve the target fixed for it.

Dr Shiv Kumar, president, state branch of the NSPB said that the Himachal branch had been adjudged first, three times for its performance in the field.

Govt has failed to check inflation: Kaul Singh
From Our Correspondent

MANDI, Aug 9 — Congress leader and former Vidhan Sabha Speaker, Thakur Kaul Singh, today came down heavily on the BJP governments in the state and at the Centre for its failure to check "unprecedented inflation" which had made life difficult for the common man. The worst was that the necessities of life like foodgrains, edible oils and vegetables had gone beyond the reach of common man due to increasing prices.

Talking to reporters Mr Singh regretted that the BJP government had been crippled by "pulls and pressures" being used against it by coalition partners and it was not in a position to take action against hoarders who were exploiting the people in the present climate of political uncertainty.

He said the BJP in its manifesto had promised to bring down the prices, but it had failed even to maintain the priceline which prevailed five months ago when the BJP took over at the Centre. The public distribution system had weakened and no action was taken against big business houses where black money was generating.

Thakur Kaul Singh, alleged that the development works had come to a standstill and the various departments had been rendered ineffective due to large scale transfers. Many schools in winter were without teachers as substitutes had not joined.

He also expressed concern over deteriorating law and order situation in the state. In a peaceful state like Himachal one murder a day was being reported and the police was converting murder cases into suicides, he alleged.

Thakur said the fertile Balh valley, which was the granary of Mandi district, was continuously being ravaged by silt being ejected from the hydel channel and the reservoir of the BSL project. If the Bhakra and Beas Management Board dithered about the demand of constructing a lined channel for diverting the silt to Beas, the Balh valley would turn into a desert, he warned.

Mr Singh called upon the Chief Minister to utilise the influence of the Prime Minister to force the BBMB authorities to construct a channel for the ejection of silt directly to Beas.

He said large areas between Aut and Manali including Sanaur valley were facing a worst ever drought. Mr Singh, who visited about 12 drought-hit panchayats said farmers were facing acute scarcity of fodder. He said government should immediately send subsidised fodder to the drought-hit areas. Congress government in the past had been giving full transport subsidy to the farmers to meet such situations. A large number of farmers in the valley were rearing Jersy cows, he added.

Mr Singh held the state government responsible for complacency in Chamba district where 35 innocent persons were killed by the Kashmiri militants. He said the Chief Minister had hurled empty threats to militants to crush them without deployment of forces in the sensitive areas. The militants opted to strike when the Chief Minister was in Chamba itself.

Path held to pray for mishap victims
From Our Correspondent

KULU, Aug 9 — Path was organised at Gurdwara Singh Sabha here by local residents and nearly 200 residents of SAS Nagar, including bereaved families and survivors of Kulu bus accident today.

The path was held to pray for the departed souls.

Mrs Diljit Kaur, MLA, SAS Nagar, presented seropas to the Chief Minister, Mr Sumer Nath Awasthi, president of the local municipal council, the Deputy Commissioner, Additional District Magistrate and to the five young men who risked their lives to save 13 persons.

The seropa on the Chief Minister's behalf was received by Mr Maheshwar Singh, MP.

The committee of the SAS Nagar gurudwara gave an award of Rs 2100 each to Pawan Kumar, Inder Singh, Jagdev Singh, Amar Singh Chauhan and Ajay who saved the lives of 13 persons.

Mr Harinder Pal Singh, president of the SAS Nagar Municipal Council, thanked the district administration for the help rendered to the survivors and relatives of the bus victims during the rescue operations.

Mrs Diljit Kaur said a function would be organised at SAS Nagar to honour the five youths.

Functions mark 'Quit India' day
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Aug 9 — Functions were organised all over the state to mark the 56th anniversary of the 'Quit India' day today.

Presiding over the state-level function here, Mr P.K. Dhumal, Chief Minister, recalled sacrifices of freedom fighters and paid warm tributes to martyrs who laid their life during struggle for freedom. He said merely achieving political freedom was not enough and a second movement was required to root out corruption, fear and hunger from the country.

Mr Dhumal said without eternal vigilance and sacrifices no nation could retain freedom for long.

Veteran freedom fighter, Mr Satya Dev Bushairi and Mr Sita Ram narrated their experiences of the freedom movement.

An one-act play was also staged on the occasion.

Mr Dhumal also inaugurated an exhibition at Indira Gandhi sports complex, Shimla, jointly organised by the Information and Public Relations Department and Language and Art Department to mark the conclusion of year-long celebrations of golden jubilee of India's independence.

The exhibition depicted important events of the freedom movement and also the contributions made by freedom fighters.

The Chief Minister said that the exhibition would help inculcate spirit of nationalism among the people.

Mr Narinder Bragta, Minister of State for Horticulture was also present on the occasion.

The exhibition will continue till August 15.