17 feared dead in
HP bus mishap
SHIMLA, Sept 25 — At least 17 persons are feared to have been killed when a private bus plunged into the Beas near the Pandoh dam in Mandi district today. The bus was on its way from Kulu to Rewalsar.

Congress directive
to HP MLAs
SHIMLA, Sept 25 — To enforce discipline in the Congress Party in Himachal, the party legislators (MLAs) have been asked not to meet Mr P.K. Dhumal, Chief Minister of the BJP-led government, without informing beforehand the leader of the Congress Legislature Party, Mr Virbhadra Singh.

17 feared dead in HP mishap
From S.P. Sharma
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Sept 25 — At least 17 persons are feared to have been killed when a private bus plunged into the Beas near the Pandoh dam in Mandi district today. The bus was on its way from Kulu to Rewalsar.

Unconfirmed reports said the number of those killed could be more. The bus was totally submerged in the river waters.

The only survivor, conductor of the ill-fated bus (HP-34-1016) Ramesh Kumar, was critically injured as he jumped out on the road. Lying unconscious at the Zonal Hospital, Mandi, he was not in a position to give a statement to the police on the number of passengers in the bus at the time of the mishap.

The police said two bodies had been recovered so far. One was of the bus driver and the other was identified as Krishen Chand, an employee of the HRTC at Kulu. The bus belonged to Dhani Ram of Randhara village in Mandi district.

The police is making frantic efforts to trace the wreckage of the bus so that the bodies can be fished out.

It is feared that the wreckage may have been washed away with the strong current of the river. The level of the river is high due to the recent rains. Rescue operations are likely to be suspended during the night.

The police said the bus apparently went out of control and plunged into the Beas near Badanu, 6 km from Mandi. The Deputy Commissioner and the DSP have reached the site along with a police force to trace the ill-fated bus.

The Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal while on his way to Bilaspur, has asked his three ministers — Mr Roop Singh, Mr Mansa Ram and Mr Karan Singh — to rush to the site to supervise the rescue and relief operations.

Mr Dhumal has expressed grief over the accident and ordered the district authorities to provide immediate relief to the dependants of those killed.

The Governor, Mrs V.S. Rama Devi, has expressed sympathies with the bereaved families. The Congress Legislature Party leader, Mr Virbhadra Singh, and BJP MP, Suresh Chandel have also expressed grief over the tragedy.

According to a PTI report, the accident was caused due to locking of the steering wheel. The driver tried to apply the breaks but in vain. He warned the passengers that the steering wheel had been locked, but none, except the conductor, could manage to jump out.

Congress directive to HP MLAs
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Sept 25 — To enforce discipline in the Congress Party in Himachal, the party legislators (MLAs) have been asked not to meet Mr P.K. Dhumal, Chief Minister of the BJP-led government, without informing beforehand the leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), Mr Virbhadra Singh.

The decision was taken in the presence of Mr R.K. Dhawan, general secretary AICC, at the first meeting of the executive of the PCC here last evening.

Mr Dhawan is learnt to have taken a serious view of the bickering among senior leaders of the party who reportedly were playing tricks to defame each other.

He is learnt to have made the PCC president, Mr Sat Mahajan and the party secretary, Mr G.S. Bali, sit together twice to sort out differences between them which have come in the open. Both these leaders have been accusing each other of having leaked certain information concerning the party to the Chief Minister.

Mr Dhawan told The Tribune today that he had also directed that no MLA would accompany the BJP Chief Minister on tour without prior permission of the CLP leader and the PCC president.

This instruction is learnt to have been given following complaints that a senior party legislator toured certain areas with Mr Dhumal and criticised Mr Virbhadra Singh from BJP platform.

Mr Dhawan said that it was also decided that no leader should go to the press. Any grievances should be put forth at the party forum. Both Mr Mahajan and Mr Bali explained their position to Mr Dhawan and differences among them were sorted out.

Mr Dhawan said that he made it clear to PCC members that no one should be suspected without authentic proof.

He stressed closer cooperation between the PCC and the CLP.

The AICC general secretary made it clear that the party president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, was never against Mr Virbhadra Singh. Neither any indication was ever given about replacing Mr Virbhadra Singh as leader of the CLP. If any local leader was trying to create any such impression, he was indulging in mischief.

He said that the entire party would stand by Mr Virbhadra Singh against the move of the state government to seek a CBI inquiry against him.

Mr Dhawan said that the newly nominated PCC was a very balanced one with representation to all areas of the state, Mr Virbhadra Singh was consulted before appointing the PCC.

He said that the issue of taking support of Mr Sukh Ram and his Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC) for toppling the Dhumal government did not come up at the PCC meeting, the Congress Party continues to stick to its earlier stand of not seeking support of Mr Sukh Ram, who was involved in alleged cases of corruption.

Mr Dhawan said that at the national-level the aura created by the BJP before the elections had ceased to exist with the government having failed on all fronts. It is now for the people to judge whether the BJP had fulfilled its slogan of stability and ability.

He said that the Atal Behari Vajpayee government would ultimately be a loser by organising splits in the constituents which were supporting it.

Mr Dhawan said that at the PCC meeting everyone was critical of the political vendetta unleashed by the BJP government selectively against Congress workers in the state.

He said that the party will organise agitations against price rise, lawlessness and other related issues in the state.

He asked partymen to be cautious of the attempts which were being made by the BJP to create confusion in the Congress.

He said that the issue of toppling the state government had been left to the party leadership here. The Congress high command would come into picture only when a majority of legislators supported the party.

Mr Dhawan said that the Dhumal government was taking credit for the projects started during the Congress regime and had been completed now.

He said that the BJP government at the Centre was adopting double standards by recommending dismissal of the Rabri Devi government in Bihar and not seeking such action in the BJP-ruled state of UP, Maharashtra and Delhi where law and order situation was worse.

He said that a meeting of DCC presidents and office-bearers would be convened next month most probably at Palampur.

CM: bid to make HP fruit bowl of India
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Sept 25 — The Chief Minister, Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal, said last evening that the state government was endeavouring to make Himachal Pradesh the fruit bowl of the country after having already attained the status of an apple state.

He said steps would be taken to diversify horticulture production by encouraging all types of fruits in various parts of the state besides ensuring proper marketing facilities for fruit growers.

The Chief Minister, who was addressing a workshop of fruit growers organised on the occasion of Horticulture Day by Dr Y.S. Parmar University for Horticulture and Forestry at its regional research centre, Mashobra, near here, said that the Horticulture Department and the university would be involved in a big way in research and extension programmes so that its benefits could be availed by fruit growers, enabling them to increase production.

The Chief Minister also besides increasing the support price of apple and other fruits under the market intervention scheme, the government had also brought mango under its fold from this year. He said the procurement of fruits in the state had started in time this year so that the scheme benefited all fruit growers.

Measures were afoot for encouraging byproducts and processing of fruits in the state and this would also ensure remunerative prices.

The Chief Minister said released a book written by Dr L.R. Verma, Vice-Chancellor of the university, titled "Indigenous Technical Knowledge". He also went round an exhibition of various fruits.

Dr Verma said that the university was fully aware of the problems of premature apple leaf fall and red mite and had conducted trials in Kotkhai areas which were successful, in controlling apple leaf fall. He requested the growers to strictly follow the recommendations of the university to overcome these problems.

Drug policy soon, says Nadda
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Sept 25 — A drug policy will soon be introduced in Himachal Pradesh to regulate the purchase of quality medicines by the Health Department.

This was stated by the Health Minister, Mr J.P. Nadda, while talking to newsmen here today. He said Himachal Pradesh would be the sixth state in the country to introduce the policy after West Bengal, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.

He said the policy would enable the Health Department to purchase about 40 per cent more medicines than what were being procured now.

The minister said a committee would be constituted to identify drugs required in hospitals. The government would shortly launch a Rs 92 crore World Bank aided reproductive child health programme in all 12 districts of the state.

Such programmes were at present being implemented in two districts, Sirmaur and Kinnaur. The project would be completed in five years. It would be implemented through district societies.

Mr Nadda, who participated in the regional conference of Health Ministers at Srinagar last week, said the Centre had accepted the demand of the state government to extend the revised national tuberculosis programme to Mandi and Kangra districts. The programme was at present being implemented only in Hamirpur district.

He said the infant mortality rate in Himachal Pradesh had registered a steep decline from 127 per 1000 live births in 1976 to 62 in 1996.

An action plan regarding the modified leprosy elimination campaign had been submitted to the Centre for approval, he added.

Waste disposal plant turns a waste
From Romesh Dutt

SOLAN: The Rs 28-lakh municipal solid waste disposal-cum-microbial compost plant, acclaimed as a model one by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal during its inauguration at Salogra, near here, on June 28 last, had been gathering dust (and rust) since then.

Funded by Norad, a Norwegian government aid agency, the local Municipal Council, the State Council of Science, Technology and Environment and Jan Seva Ashram, an N.G.O. based at Jabli in this district, the plant was supposedly designed to convert municipal solid waste into bio-fertilisers, recycled paper, polythene mats, wall coverings and some other economically useful products.

It envisaged providing jobs to at least 75 persons needed for running the compost manufacturing machinery and segregation of garbage into different categories like hazardous waste, sharp-edged pieces such as broken glass and metal pieces, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, infectious garbage generated at various doctors clinics and bio-degradable waste.

Prior to the designing of the plant, a government survey had calculated the daily garbage output of the town at 20 tonnes. The plant was accordingly designed to handle 25 tonnes of municipal waste per day.

When this correspondent visited the plant site recently an unbearable stench pervaded the atmosphere upto a distance of at least 400 metres in each direction, while the stench could go much further when it was aided by winds.

There was no activity with the exception of some monkeys rummaging through heaps of garbage dumped inside the plant area. The imposing, hydraulically operated machinery installed for converting bio-degradable waste into bio-fertilisers and which appeared to have performed well, stood idle. A thick layer of dust covering the plant floor bore only paw marks of monkeys indicating that no human being had come near the machinery for many days.

While a horde of monkeys who had been lying idly on the machine scrambled away hurriedly as this correspondent took out and aimed his camera at them, a lone, defiant one stood its ground.

Two young women chose not to answer queries concerning the idleness of the plant, repeatedly insisting that their boss, the chairman of the Jan Seva Ashram, Mr S.R. Dixit, who had been entrusted with the job of procuring, installing and running the plant, was the right person to be contacted.

All efforts to meet or even to talk to Mr Dixit on the telephone that day or the next proved futile "as he was out of station".

Independent enquiries revealed that some attempts were made to run the plant soon after its installation but it repeatedly got choked unable to process waste sogged by rain.

Since the plant had not been equipped with mechanical segregation-cum-conveyor belts, there were hardly any takers for the job of segregating the solid waste manually amidst nauseating smell of the garbage.

This put a serious question mark on the viability and usefulness of the plant. It would now appear that either the compost machine would have to be modified to handle wet waste or arrangements made to keep the solid waste dry. Even then the problem of finding workers for segregating the garbage manually would remain.

The Jan Seva Ashram president, had informed mediapersons during the plant's inauguration that the problem of stench emanating from the garbage would be overcome by sprinkling a chemical deodorant, Abetment. When asked about the use of any such chemical, a safai karamchari, who had spent a few days working at the plant, said such a chemical which looked like phenyl was used, but only during V.I.P. visits.

In view of the fact that about 20 tonnes of garbage was scheduled to be processed daily at the plant, it seemed reasonable to presume that Abetment must have been procured in quantities commensurate with the job of deodorising such huge lots every day. This should have required large storage tanks or a sizeable numbers of containers used for packing the chemical by manufacturers. There is no evidence of any such thing on the plant premises.

Things started looking murkier when it was found that the electrical panel housing the controls of the machinery was not covered to protect it from sun and rain. Nobody would dream of putting any such high voltage (440 volts, 50 KW) gadget in an uncovered place and in a town like Solan, where it rained or snowed for up to three months a year.

The plant had also not been equipped with any facility for in-house testing of the bio-fertiliser produced or likely to be produced there, for determining its nutritional value and presence or absence of any toxic component. Palming of such untested fertilisers to farmers could prove hazardous.

The Chief Minister, after having been apprised about the plant's potential of converting waste into economically useful products by the president of the local civic body, had announced that he would ask other civic bodies of the state to emulate the Solan example.

Kangra doctors suspend
FP operations
From Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service

DHARAMSALA, Sept 25 — Doctors in Kangra district have refused to conduct family planning (FP) operations as a case relating to payment of compensation to a patient remains undecided.

Not a single family planning operation has been conducted in the district since September 15. The family planning camp, which was to be held today, was not conducted as doctors refused to do the operations till the government takes a decision in the case, in which a court has directed the Secretary, Health, and a doctor to pay compensation to a patient who died after a family planning operation.

According to the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Purohit, a telegram was received some time ago from the Director, Health, asking the doctor concerned to pay over Rs 1 lakh compensation. He said the doctor concerned had been intimated about it and a representation from her side had been sent to the higher authorities. He admitted that since September 15, no family planning operation had been conducted in the district.

"I have informed the Director, Health, about the doctors' association's decision and further guidelines are still being awaited, he said. Doctors had been requested not to suspend the operations as the matter was under the consideration of the government, he added.

The Kangra District Medical Officers Association said after the decision of the government not to pay the compensation amount demanded from the doctor, all doctors were feeling very insecure. "We had intimated the authorities well in time and till a decision is taken by the government, we will not resume conducting family planning operations", commented one of the doctors.

The doctor concerned said she had yet to receive a copy of the court judgement.

The entire doctor fraternity and the state-level medical officers association may take up the cause of the doctor. The doctors contend that in any operation the chances of complication is always there.

HP plea to Centre on rail line
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Sept 25 — The Himachal Pradesh Government will press upon the Centre to construct the Bhanupali-Bilaspur-Rampur rail line on priority basis.

This was decided at a meeting of the Cabinet sub-committee for the implementation of the manifesto of the ruling BJP here yesterday.

The Industries Minister, Mr Kishori Lal, who presided over the meeting, said that the rail link was a necessity because of traffic congestion on roads.

He said the BJP manifesto, which was a policy document of the present government, should be implemented in a true spirit so that the maximum people of the state could derive benefit of various policies and programmes.

The minister said a crop insurance scheme would be launched in the state under which provision of Rs 1 crore had been made for giving premium. He said that a proposal had been sent to the Central Government to cover apple and potato under crop insurance scheme.

Mohini on PCC executive
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Sept 25 — Miss Krishna Mohini, a sitting MLA, has been nominated member of the executive of the Pradesh Congress Committee. She is also member of the PCC in her capacity as president of the H.P. State Mahila Congress.

Mr Kuldip Pathania, president of the Youth Congress, Mr Atul Sharma, president, NSUI, and Mr B.R. Gautam, Chairman, Seva Dal, have been appointed members of the state executive committee.

Mr Uttam Ram Thakur, has been appointed president of the Block Congress Committee Chachiot (Mandi district), in place of Mr Damodar Dass, who has been expelled from the party.