Jawan cremated with state honours
CHAMBA, Sept 8 — The cremation of Asheesh Thapa, a jawan of Gorkha Rifles, was held at his native village Ghatasani, about 75 km from here, today. Mr Thapa was killed in a fight of militants’ encounter in the Rajouri sector of Jammu and Kashmir on September 6 and his body was brought by officers of his regiment to Ghatasani in the morning. He was aged about 23 years.

7 dead, 21 hurt as truck falls into gorge
From Our Correspondent

CHAMBA, Sept 8 — Seven persons were killed and 20 injured when a private truck fell into 250-metre-deep gorge on the Chamba-Bairagarh highway about 80 km from here today.

According to official sources, the vehicle was carrying about 27 passengers. One person was died on the spot while six succumbed to their injuries at the Tissa hospital. Eight seriously injured persons were referred to the district hospital; here and 12, who received minor injuries, were admitted to the Tissa hospital.

The S.D.M., Churah, who along with subdivisional officer, rushed to the accident site was supervising the rescue operations. An immediate relief of Rs 10,000 each to the next of kin of the deceased was distributed on the spot and a relief of Rs 5000 was given to the injured. However, more relief of Rs 35,000 each to the next of kin of the deceased would be given as per the relief manual by the government.

The deceased have been identified as Beli Ram, Himachal Singh, Viagya Ram, Baldev, Karam Chand, Miss Devo and one is still unidentified. All deceased belonged to Churah tehsil of the district. The condition of eight passengers undergoing treatment at the district hospital here was serious.

The Additional District Magistrate (ADM) said an inquiry had been ordered.

Tibetan monk dies after Chinese torture
Tribune News Service

DHARAMSALA, Sept 8 — A Tibetan monk, Ngawang Jinpa (31), is reported to have died in his home town in Tibet, after receiving severe beating while under Chinese imprisonment.

According to the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy here, Ngawang’s health first began to deteriorate after he was arrested for participating in a protest at the Ganden monastery on May 6, 1996. He was detained at the Gutsa Detention Centre for eight months, where he was severely beaten up. Later, he was shifted to the Drapchi prison in a very weak condition, and despite all this he was tortured and forced to work hard.

Ngawang, also known as Lobsang Dawa, along with some 43 monks, was arrested on May 7, 1996, during a raid conducted by the Chinese at the Ganden monastery, to take down the pictures of the Dalai Lama, at display. During this raid the Chinese soldiers also fired warning shots with automatic weapons and reportedly shot five monks, resulting in the death of one of the monks.

Upon his arrest, the court sentenced Ngawang, to a 12 years’ term in Drapchi prison and deprived him of his political rights for four years on the charge of having participated in "counter-revolutionary" activities. He was released on medical parole after serving almost three years in prison and died two months after his release. He died in his hometown of Phenpo County, on May 20, 1999. He is survived by his father Dorjee and his mother, Kalsang Dolma, who are farmers.

There are a large number of other monks, who are serving imprisonment up to a period of 15 years.

Kargil an election issue: Chandel
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Sept 8 — The BJP in Himachal Pradesh is banking on the Kargil issue and its achievements during the past 15 months to make it successful on all the four Lok Sabha seats in the state.

The president of the state unit of the BJP, Mr Suresh Chandel, told newsmen here today that the manner in which the state government has honoured the war heroes would benefit the HVC, its alliance partner, in the Shimla (reserved) constituency where the party had put up an ex-serviceman as its candidate.

The excellent relations which the Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal had with the Centre had helped Himachal Pradesh in financial matters by granting an assistance of Rs 300 crore. Various major projects, including the Parbati and Chamera hydel projects, were cleared by the Centre within a short period. Four new national highways had also been sanctioned.

Mr Chandel criticised Mrs Sonia Gandhi for calling Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee as a "traitor" and asked her why she remained hesitant to acquire citizenship of India for 16 years.

He alleged that the Congress leadership in the state was in the grip of panic and fear over the "unpopularity" it has earned during the elections. He ridiculed the Congress for making allegations of misuse of official machinery against the BJP-HVC alliance government.

Mr Chandel, who is also contesting the election as a BJP candidate for the Hamirpur seat, said that all-round development of the area had taken place during his tenure in the dissolved Lok Sabha. He utilised Rs 2.50 crore out of the MPs local area development fund, got the zonal office of the Nehru Yuvak Kendra shifted to Bilaspur from Delhi, secured a computerised railway booking office for Hamirpur, got the work on the Una rail line speeded and helped the plan for channelisation of the Swan river reach the final stages of approval in the Planning Commission.

Probe sought into hospital’s working
From Our Correspondent

BILASPUR, Sept. 8 — A large number of trainees of the so-called "Himachal Institute of Medical Science and Charitable Hospital", being run in the upper part of Raura sector here by someone from Haryana since July last year, have urged the state Health Minister, Mr Jagat Prakash Nadda, to order a high-level inquiry into the functioning of the institute and ensure that the management does not cheat them of their annual fees of about Rs 21,000.

The students also submitted a memorandum to District Magistrate Ramesh Kapil, Superintendent of Police Anuraj Garg and Chief Medical Officer M. L. Mahajan, requesting them to check the credentials of the management and the institute which had changed its name thrice during the past year.

They said the staff nurse course had been converted to medical laboratory technical course and huge amounts of money were being charged from them under various pretexts. There were no arrangements for proper teaching and the staff and equipment were inadequate, they said.

No "charitable hospital" existed and the management's claim that the institute was "recognised" by the Centre and the state government had been found to be false.

They said about 50 new students had been admitted while the old batch of 30 students had not yet been allowed to take the final examination or given certificates despite repeated requests.

Jawan cremated with state honours
From Our Correspondent

CHAMBA, Sept 8 — The cremation of Asheesh Thapa, a jawan of Gorkha Rifles, was held at his native village Ghatasani, about 75 km from here, today. Mr Thapa was killed in a fight of militants’ encounter in the Rajouri sector of Jammu and Kashmir on September 6 and his body was brought by officers of his regiment to Ghatasani in the morning. He was aged about 23 years. A large number of people attended the ceremony performed with full state honours when the Deputy Commissioner of Chamba, Mr K. Sanjaymurthy, laid a wreath on the body of the deceased.

Mr Kishorilal, Himachal Industries Minister, paid glorious tributes to the martyr.

A complete bandh was observed in Bakloh and Kakira townships and public offices and schools remained closed today in the honour of martyr.