H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

HP hospitals to be autonomous
SHIMLA, Aug 28 — The people in Himachal Pradesh are in for a heavy dose of increased hospital charges with the state government having ordered the two medical colleges and district hospitals to get themselves converted into autonomous societies by the end of this month and refix the user charges.

Lawyers’ strike continues
SHIMLA, Aug 28 — Advocates today boycotted courts in protest against the amendments to the HP Land Revenue Act, 1954, effected recently. The Himachal Pradesh High Court Bar Association also supported the call of district bar associations in the state to go on strike in protest against the amendments.

Bodies handed over to Spanish Embassy
KULU, Aug 28 — The bodies of Spanish tourists, Maria Angeles Gironeus and her son Cristobel, were retrieved and brought to the zonal hospital here last night by a police party. The SP said the bodies were handed over to the Councillor of the Spanish Embassy after a post-mortem examination. 

Monkeys had eaten poison: report
HAMIRPUR, Aug 28 — What is the actual number of monkeys that died under mysterious circumstances at Jeral village of this district last Saturday? While government agencies put it at nine, villagers put the figure at 40. Most of the monkeys had fallen prey to wild animals, they said.

20 kg charas seized from British national
MANDI, Aug 28 — The police has arrested Ian Roylance Stillman, a British national, for possessing over 20 kg charas here last night.

Silent procession by ABVP
HAMIRPUR, Aug 28 — Activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad took out a silent procession here. They carried placards in their hands.

HP hospitals to be autonomous
From S.P. Sharma
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Aug 28 — The people in Himachal Pradesh are in for a heavy dose of increased hospital charges with the state government having ordered the two medical colleges and district hospitals to get themselves converted into autonomous societies by the end of this month and refix the user charges.

The government has circulated the bylaws to these institutions for facilitating them to convert into independent societies.

Besides the district hospitals Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) here, Tanda Medical College at Kangra and Kamla Nehru Hospital here are being converted into separate societies. The Kamla Nehru Hospital was so far a part of the IGMC.

The government has ordered that a governing council and an executive committee will be set up for supervising the functioning of the IGMC and levying user charges and fee on medical investigations and tests. This will also be applicable to other societies.

Sources say it has been decided to name the IGMC Society as Indira Gandhi Medical College Hospital Management and Welfare Society.

Having tasted a bitter pie in form of increased hospital charges during the earlier BJP regime, the Dhumal government has this time cleverly chalked out the revision of hospital fee by converting these institutions into societies with the government having no direct role in the hike.

Sources say that these hospitals have been suggested that they could levy user charges for X-ray, CT scan, laboratory investigations, EGC, special investigations, registration fee, operation charges, any special charges and also fee on use of space in hospital premises. Till now most of these services have been provided free of cost by the government.

The IGMC has been collecting about Rs 70 lakh annually out of these services and has been expecting to make a substantial jump by hiking the user charges and meet its financial requirements.

The Cabinet had earlier given its clearance for setting up these societies in the hospitals.

The objective for creating these societies is that these will strengthen the existing facilities in the hospitals, upgrade the infrastructure, decide purchase of equipment and machinery and hire staff on a contract basis to meet the required strength.

These societies will be required to generate their own resources and improve patient-care system.

Sources say that a nine-member governing council and a five-member executive committee will be set up for the IGMC and Tanda Medical College. The Health Secretary will be the chairperson of the council, while the respective principals will head the executive committee. The Medical Superintendents of the two medical colleges will be the member secretaries of their respective institutions. The Additional Director (Administration) and two senior most faculty members will be members of the governing council. The council will also have the Director of Health and Medical Education as its members.

HP plan for IT sector
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Aug 28 — The Himachal Government has prepared an action plan for the development of information technology (IT) sector which will enable the state to earn an annual revenue of Rs 20,000 crore by 2009-10.

Stating this during an interaction with industry experts at Nagpur today, Mr P.K. Dhumal, Chief Minister, said as per the plan formulated in collaboration with the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), the revenue from exports alone would be over Rs 14,000 crore, while the rest would come from the domestic market. The revenue from the information technology-related industry would be about 4 to 5 per cent of the country’s projected turnover by 2009-10.

Mr Dhumal said Himachal Pradesh had decided to go in a big way for the development of information and technology as the state’s climatic conditions, peaceful environment, adequate supply of electricity and good communication network were ideal for software units.

A high-speed data connectivity was being established in Shimla, and a software technology park was likely to be made operational soon. A world class institute of information and technology was also being set up near Shimla in collaboration with the University of Berkley, USA. He said the government would like to set up high quality institutes of information and technology in the private sector.

The state government had come out with a new tourism policy which envisaged the participation of the private sector in the development of this sector, leaving only the promotional role for the government. The new policy recognised the potential of heritage tourism and provided exemption from the luxury tax for five years for heritage buildings to be developed. The laws for the purchase of land for the purpose were being simplified and the Tourism Department would provide escort services for obtaining all clearances.

A land bank was also set up in the state for the convenience of private investors.

Lawyers’ strike continues
From our Legal Correspondent

SHIMLA, Aug 28 — Advocates today boycotted courts in protest against the amendments to the HP Land Revenue Act, 1954, effected recently.

The Himachal Pradesh High Court Bar Association also supported the call of district bar associations in the state to go on strike in protest against the amendments.

The secretary of the High Court Bar Association, Mr Chirag Bhanu Mandyal, said a meeting of presidents of district bar associations, had been called at Bilaspur to chalk out the course.

He said apart from the amendments in the Land Revenue Act, the conduct of the state, including the Chief Minister and the Revenue Minister, had been criticised by lawyers.

The advocates have been abstaining from courts for the past two weeks in protest against the amendments.

Meanwhile, a senior advocate, Mr G.D. Verma, in a letter to the Chief Minister pointed out that the amendments were controversial.

Bodies handed over to Spanish Embassy
From Our Correspondent

KULU, Aug 28 — The bodies of Spanish tourists, Maria Angeles Gironeus and her son Cristobel, were retrieved and brought to the zonal hospital here last night by a police party. The SP said the bodies were handed over to the Councillor of the Spanish Embassy after a post-mortem examination. Meanwhile, the DGP has reached Aut where he is looking into the steps being taken for the arrest of the culprits who killed the tourists.

The only survivor of the gruesome attack, Martin Young, a British national, has been shifted to Delhi. His condition is stated to be out of danger by medical experts.

Meanwhile, the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mr S.R. Thakur, said special committees on the subdivisional level had been constituted to safeguard foreign tourists.

Monkeys had eaten poison: report
From Our Correspondent

HAMIRPUR, Aug 28 — What is the actual number of monkeys that died under mysterious circumstances at Jeral village of this district last Saturday? While government agencies put it at nine, villagers put the figure at 40. Most of the monkeys had fallen prey to wild animals, they said.

The mysterious death of the monkeys, as claimed by officials agencies, has alarmed the district administration. The monkeys are worshipped by people as the army of Lord Hanuman. No one in the area harms them even though they damage their crops.

The carcasses of the monkeys have been buried following a post-mortem examination. The report revealed that they had eaten some poisonous substance and grains of maize had been found by veterinarians in their stomach, according to official sources.

Dr Pavnesh Kumar Sharma, Divisional Forest Officer, said the department was still investigating into the cause of the death. According to him, the total number of the dead monkeys is nine and not 40 as reported in a section of the Press. The department had already referred the matter to the police.

There are reports that state and Union Government agencies related to the cause of animals have taken a strong note of the death of the monkeys. They have asked district officials to send them a detailed report about the cause that led to the death of the monkeys.

Meanwhile, residents of this district want a thorough probe into the killing of monkeys and immediate arrest of erring persons.

20 kg charas seized from British national
From Our Correspondent

MANDI, Aug 28 — The police has arrested Ian Roylance Stillman, a British national, for possessing over 20 kg charas here last night.

Stating this in a press note, the district police chief, Mr Anurag Garg, said the accused had checked in a hotel on August 27 and had gone to Jari to bring the consignment. He was intercepted by the police when he was coming back to the hotel in a taxi.

Indian and foreign currency, including Rs 30,000, $ 900 and DM 260, were recovered from him.

The accused has been allegedly peddling drugs for a long time as he was on a five-year visa and a regular visitor to Kulu.

A case under the NDPS Act has been registered.

Silent procession by ABVP
From Our Correspondent

HAMIRPUR, Aug 28 — Activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad took out a silent procession here. They carried placards in their hands.

A spokesman for the parishad said here today that the main demands of the students were immediate holding of elections of the College Students’ Central Association, withdrawal of fee hike and acceptance of their other long-pending demands.

He said the agitation would continue till their demands were accepted.