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Friday, February
22, 2002,
Chandigarh, India  
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Thakur declares plague contained Tibetans’ plea to Bush on Chinese ‘atrocities’ Long life prayers for Dalai Lama Election in HP on schedule: Dhumal Non-political groups in poll code purview |
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Medical waste poses problems Order to start court on paper only Mandi being neglected,
says ex-Speaker MPs’
forum to take up issues with Centre Virbhadra’s rallies ‘irk’ Stokes College students boycott classes Bagli panchayat chief removed 56 plots given to Bhakra
oustees: Nadda 1 killed, 38 hurt in bus mishap 265 nabbed under NDPS Act in HP 2 killed as truck falls into Ravi Health services in shambles: Cong Health awareness camps in 10 dists Plea to remove bank Chairman
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Thakur declares plague contained Shimla, February 21 Dr Thakur visited the patients suffering from pneumonic plague in the hospital at Rohru and discussed the measures adopted for preventing the disease from spreading further. He asked the health authorities in Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal to maintain a vigil throughout the respective states although the infection had successfully been confined to the area of its origin. The Chief Minister, Mr
P.K. Dhumal, announced that the doctors, who effectively controlled the disease, would be rewarded. Dr Thakur told newsmen that the disease investigation system at the
PGI, Chandigarh, which was catering to this region, would be further strengthened. Four patients had died out of a total of 16 who were infected by the plague since the first case was reported on February 4. He said the sequence of five tests conducted at the National Institute of Communicable Diseases
(NICD) collectively confirmed that the cases related to infection with “yersinia pestis”, commonly known as pneumonic plague. The procedure for identification and confirmation of the pathogen was in full conformity with the guidelines set out by the World Health Organisation (WHO). He said the NICD had asked the two state governments to fumigate the affected villages and the vehicles. Dr Thakur was accompanied by the Chief Minister, Mr
Dhumal, the Health Minister, Mr J.P. Nadda, the Health Secretary at the Centre, Mr Javed
Chaudhary, the Director-General of Health Services, Dr S.P. Aggarwal and the state Health Secretary, Mr Vineet
Chaudhary. He made an on the spot announcement to include the district in the NIDSP so that the
reoccurrence of the plague and other communicable diseases could be prevented. So far out of a total of 45 districts included in the NISDP in the country, Solan and Hamirpur were covered under it. Health workers will be given training in combating communicable diseases and the necessary equipment will be provided to them. He said the programme would be extended in all 593 districts of the country during the five year plan and an allocation of Rs 250 crores had been made for the purpose. Dr Thakur appreciated the manner in which doctors at
Rohru, IGMC and other institutions successfully prevented the disease from taking the shape of an epidemic. The Health Department quickly traced the origin of the disease which was confined to the Hatkoti area and took necessary steps for treatment of the patients. Their work was also appreciated by the WHO, he added. He said the rural health network was being decentralised so as to provide an effective health care. Dr Thakur said guidelines for controlling the disease had also been issued to the Uttaranchal Government where a woman had died. Mr Dhumal thanked the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari
Vajpayee, Dr Thakur and other functionaries of the Central Government for having shown concern and provided help for the affected people in Himachal Pradesh. He appreciated the media for exercising restrain and not creating a panic. |
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Tibetans’ plea to Bush on Chinese ‘atrocities’ Palampur, February 21 In a memorandum submitted to Mr Bush, copies of which were today released to the press at Dharamsala, the centre had drawn the attention of Mr Bush to China’s failure to produce any information about the whereabouts of the 11th Panchen Lama, Codhun Chooki Nyima, the world’s youngest political prisoner. Mr Bush’s attention had also been drawn to some Tibetan prisoners of conscience amongst which Chadrel Rinpoche of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery and head of Search Committee to identify the successor of the 10th Panchen Lama, Geshe Sonam Phunstok and Tanak Jigme Sangpo nominee for 2001 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders are important names. The Tibetan centre while welcoming the release of Ngwang Cheophel as a positive gesture has asserted that still 253 Tibetans are being detained by the Chinese authorities for alleged political activities. Demanding the release of all political prisoners, the centre has appealed to the US President to ask the Chinese Government to uphold the freedom of speech, opinion, assembly and religion and also to ratify the international convention on civil rights and political rights. Tchrand D has also appealed to Mr Bush to raise the issues of recent demolition and expulsions from the Serthar Buddhist Institute, the denial of Tibetan’s right to educate their children in their own language and issue of population transfer thus making Tibetans a minority community in their own home land. The centre feels that in the wake of September 11 attacks, it is more vital than before that the international community, including China honour international conventions and universally recognised laws which specify the rights to which human beings are entitled. They appealed to the American President to use his influence to improve the human rights of Tibetans reminding him of long history of the USA in safeguarding human rights globally. |
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Long life prayers for Dalai Lama Dharamsala, February 21 According to Tibetan officials, the special offerings will be held at the Namgyal monastery , next to the palace of the Dalai Lama in Mcleodganj on Saturday. Though the offerings for the well being of the Dalai Lama, will be made by monks of various monasteries but it is the Kirti monastery, which is holding the special prayers. The Kirti monastery belongs to the Gelugpa school of Tibetan buddhism to which the Dalai Lama belongs and most of the monks here hail from the Amdo region of Tibet, the home place of the Tibetan leader. Tibetan officials said the Dalai Lama, would himself be present during the prayers, which will last for almost three hours. Though it is not mandatory for the person for whose long life the prayers are being made to be present at the ceremony but the Dalai Lama, will be there at the offerings. The ministers and senior officials of the Tibetan government-in-exile will attend the long life offering ceremony. Despite the Tibetan cabinet
(Kashag) taking a decision to cancel all travel programmes and private and public audiences of the Dalai Lama till April-end, this will be the second occasion after his return from Mumbai, that he will attend a function. After his return here, he had held an audience for at least 400 Tibetan
refugees, who had come to India to seek his blessings. Doctors had advised the Dalai Lama to take complete rest for sometime as he was feeling weak and exhausted after suffering from gastroenteritis, while on a pilgrimage to Nalanda in Bihar, last month. |
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Election in HP on schedule: Dhumal Hamirpur, February 21 Talking to this reporter, he said the last four-year period of the BJP rule in the state would be remembered as golden period in the history of the state as despite shortage of funds, massive progress took place in the state. Credit for this mainly went to the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee who gave liberal finances to the state whenever a demand was made. He said the Prime Minister was keen to visit the state and he had accepted their invitation to be the chief guest at a function in Shimla to be held to celebrate the completion of four years of the BJP rule in the state on March 24. Prof Dhumal said going by the positive performance of the BJP government in the state, Congress leaders were so much apprehensive about their defeat in the next election that they had started accusing the government of unbalanced development in the state. He reminded these people that it was the BJP government that provided equal subsidy to the farmers and orchardists of the state. He was hopeful that the people of the state would again vote the party to power. |
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Non-political groups in poll code purview Shimla, February 21 The new code issued by the state Election Commission for the first time lays down stringent restrictions on the corporation, similar to those applicable to the government during Assembly elections, to ensure a free and fair poll. The state government, the corporation and the persons in power, including ministers and councillors, will be debarred from sanctioning financial grants or promising new schemes within the territorial jurisdiction of the corporation. They will also not be allowed to lay foundation stones of schemes or appoint daily wage workers or select beneficiaries for assistance from public funds under any scheme. One of the provisions of the code, which restrains the government from altering the structure, classification or area of the corporation, has come into force from February 20. The definition of “party” has been widened to include any group or association of persons, whether registered or not, recognised or not, to make the code applicable to non-political groups and organisations which enter the electoral arena. Mr K.C. Sharma, state Election Commissioner, said that the new code took care of the ground realities of corporation elections, unlike the earlier code which was virtually a copy of the code applicable to Parliament and Assembly elections and, thus, it was directed mainly against the government and ministers. Similarly, it did not cover the non-political groups, which had a significant presence in elections at the corporation level. The code has the usual features restraining contesting parties from indulging in corrupt practices like bribing the voters, appealing on the basis of religion, caste and community, promoting enmity or hatred between different sections of society, arranging vehicles for transporting voters to polling stations and obtaining assistance of government employees. Similarly, places of worship will not be used for political propaganda and private life of candidates will not be made subject of campaign and criticism of party will be confined to its policies and programmes. Private or public property will not be used for creating flagstaffs, pasting posters or painting slogans, loudspeaker would be used only with the permission of competent authority. Candidates will be required to maintain a record of election expenditure on presented proforma and it should be within the presented limit. These provisions of the code will come into force as and when the election schedule is notified or a specific announcement made by the commission in the regard. |
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Medical waste poses problems Palampur Most of the waste generated by the health institutions here is non-hazardous. One of the unique waste streams from the medical institutions is the infectious waste that contains live pathogens which need special treatment and disposal. It has been noticed that the liquid waste from the hospitals in the district finds its way into drains and the solid waste are disposed in municipal dumps. The indiscriminate disposal of wastes generated from the private and public medical institutions in Palampur, Dharmsala, Kangra and Nagrota Bagwan is becoming a major health hazard. The extensive use of plastic in the health institutions is resulting in a sharp increase in the waste which needs special treatment plants. In fact, plastic has replaced glass in the medical institutions. Despite the fact that Kangra the biggest district where there are a large number of private and public health institutions, including a Government Medical College at Tanda, no efforts have been made in past 10 years for the scientific handling of biomedical waste in the district. At present, most of the hazardous and non-hazardous waste is being thrown into khuds and streams. Later, the water of these streams is tapped for the public drinking water supply schemes. One can see that in Palampur and Kangra, the medical waste is dumped in Bhiral and Bander khuds, respectively. These two streams are the major source of drinking water supplies here. It is surprising that the Irrigation and Public Health Department has no water treatment plants for the water tapped from these khuds and the people are left with no alternative except to consume contaminated water. The public is becoming increasingly aware of the dreaded diseases such as cancer, HIV, hepatitis, jaundice, typhoid and other epidemics that spread through contamination of water. It has been established that hospital wastes are a potential source for the spread of such diseases. The death toll because of these diseases has also gone up in the district. Official sources say that water-borne diseases have become quite common here and every fifth person is suffering from these. In view of the indiscriminate disposal of biomedical wastes and increasing concern about health and environment, the Government of India has taken up on priority the task to regulate the wastes generated in the medical and health institutions. Necessary amendments have also been made in the Environment and Forest Protection Act, 1986, twice — in 1995-96 and 1997-98. The notifications to this effect were also circulated to the states. Subsequently in 1998, Biomedical Waste Management and Handling Rules, 1998, were also forwarded to the state by the Union Government for further action. These rules provide for a control on the generation and handling of all biological and medical waste, the hospital waste being in the major waste categories. But it is a sad state of affairs that neither the Himachal Pradesh Government nor the HP State Pollution Control Board have gone through these important notifications and rules framed by the Government of India. Therefore, various nursing homes and health institutions are openly flouting these rules in Himachal Pradesh in the absence of any check from the government. The municipal councils of Palampur and Kangra are also openly flouting these rules by dumping the entire medical waste near the towns. Despite stiff opposition from the public, the entire medical waste is being dumped in the streams and khuds which are the major source of drinking water. The district administration is well conversant with the prevailing situation but has become an silent spectator. Most of the municipal dumps are situated on the national highways at Palampur and Kangra emitting foul smell all the time. Senior officers who pass through these roads daily do not bother to initiate any action against the defaulters. The 3rd World Congress on Environment Management held here in June last year had expressed its displeasure over the environmental degradation in Himachal Pradesh. While addressing the World Congress, various speakers cautioned the Chief Minister, Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal, in this regard. The speakers called upon the Chief Minister to develop strategies that could help in reducing the harmful impact of human development on environment. Despite spending crores of rupees on the protection and conservation of environment, the state is still facing serious environmental threats in different fields. Besides, various foreign-aided projects have also been launched in the state to check the environmental degradation in different districts, but nothing has been done sincerely in this field so far. The state is loosing its vegetation cover fast. Illicit felling of trees, indiscriminate mining and quarrying are going on unchecked. Even protected forests have not been spared by the anti-social elements during the past 10 years. Experts have held our political set up responsible for all these evils. Time has come for the state to introduce more stringent laws to deal with the menace. |
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Order to start court on paper only Nurpur, February 21 The Himachal Pradesh High Court had appointed office staff for the court in 2000. Intriguingly, the staff have been working at subdivisional judicial courts complex and drawing salary from the Treasury at Indora. Sources reveal that political dissension between two factions of the ruling BJP is responsible for the failure of starting the court. Similarly, the District and Session Court for Nurpur announced by the Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, publicly in June 1998 here has failed to come up. The local Town Welfare Committee general secretary, Mr P.D. Sahotra, said that with the opening of District Session Court, the people of Nurpur and Jawali subdivisions would get justice at their doorstep and not travel over 100 km to reach the District headquarter at Dharamsala for appeals and session trials. |
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Mandi being neglected,
says ex-Speaker Mandi, February 21 Addressing a news conference, he alleged that various works had come to a virtual halt due to insufficient funds. Work on the building of the regional hospital had been abandoned for want of funds as also a drinking water augmentation project. He said work on other projects for which foundation stones had been laid by the Chief Minister over two years ago had not yet been initiated. The former Speaker alleged inequitable allocation of funds under Nabard. He also flayed the government for closing down offices opened by the Virbhadra government. He said corruption had assumed alarming proportions. It was for the first time that three consecutive Directors of Health Services had been arrested and suspended. The rural health services had been paralysed for want of doctors and medicines, he added. |
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MPs’ forum to take up issues with Centre Shimla, February 21 Mr Suresh Chandel, coordinator of the forum comprising MPs of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and Jammu and Kashmir, said since these states had few representatives in Parliament, they could not cut much ice at the Centre. These states accounted for 54 MPs, which was comparable with states like Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, and could have more say in the government. He said the forum would meet before and after every session of Parliament to discuss the issues. The forum had held a meeting at which it had been decided that the case for converting the single-track Jalandhar-Jammu rail line into the double track would be taken up. This would benefit three states, he said. Besides, the forum would seek the upgradation of Chandigarh Airport to an international airport and development of an agriculture market to help farmers and fruit growers who were dependent on the Azadpur market in Delhi. These projects would boost the economy of the region. The forum had already taken up the case for setting up diagnostic centres of the PGI in each state to facilitate patients. The installation of BJP-led governments in the state and at the Centre had proved a boon for the hill state. Never before had the Centre given such liberal financial assistance, Mr Chandel added. |
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Virbhadra’s rallies ‘irk’ Stokes Shimla, February 21 Without identifying anyone, Mr Kuldeep Singh Rathore, PCC spokesman, in a circular to all leaders and functionaries of the party, today said that Ms Stokes has observed that the public meetings and functions being organised by the party without prior information to the PCC were causing unnecessary confusion among the rank and file of Congressmen. This led to unwarranted speculation which were detrimental to the image of the party. On other hand, Mr Virbhadra Singh said he was organising all public meetings with the approval of the AICC and always invited the district and block Congress committee concerned to participate in them. It is worth mentioning here that both factions of the Congress have been organising separate rallies and Mr Virbhadra Singh and Ms Stokes are generally not participating in each other’s meetings except when some senior leader from Delhi came. |
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College students boycott classes Palampur, February 21 Terming the decision as politically motivated, students took out a procession in the town. They also burnt the effigy of the Chief Minister on the main chowk where students disrupted the traffic for some time. Students affiliated to the NSUI, the ABVP and the SFI have joined hands to oppose the decision and formed a joint action committee. According to a press note of the action committee, the government has been advised to open another college at Paraur and not to shift the Palampur college.
PTI |
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Bagli panchayat chief removed Dharamsala, February 21 According to an official spokesperson, an inquiry had been ordered into the matter after the pillars at the construction site in the school collapsed, injuring one student. He said Rs 80,000 had been sanctioned for the construction of additional accommodation, the contract for which had been given to the panchayat Pradhan, Ms Shalini Chaudhary. He said during the inquiry it had been found that the construction work had not been done as per the specification, as a result of which the structure collapsed even before completion. He said the reply filed by Ms Chaudhary in response to the notice issued to her was found to be unsatisfactory. The inquiry had been conducted by engineers of the Municipal Council, Dharamsala. The official spokesperson said a notice had also been issued to the Junior Engineer, under whose jurisdiction the area fell. |
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56 plots given to Bhakra
oustees: Nadda
Shimla, February 21 He said creation of 137 more plots were in the process and efforts were afoot to identify more land so that oustees could be rehabilitated suitably. The Health Minister said the government had also laid emphasis on creating infrastructure and other facilities in the areas where Bhakra Dam oustees had been settled. He said though the Bhakra Dam was constructred way back in 1952 but it was unfortunate that even after 60 years their problems still exists, which amply speaks about indifferent attitude of the successive Congress governments which ruled the state for most of the period during these years. The Health Minister said to facilitate the Bhakra Dam oustees the Irrigation and Public Health Department had provided the facility of drinking water in 53 villages.
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1 killed, 38 hurt in bus mishap Mandi, February 21 Mr J.R. Thakur, Superintendent of Police, told The Tribune, that the bus was going from Bandli to Sundernagar when it skidded and fell into a gorge. In all 39 persons were travelling in the
bus. The deceased has not been identified. Condition of some of the injured is serious. The accident occurred in a remote area falling under Karsog Police Station. Medical and rescue teams have been sent to the accident, site. The injured were being brought to Civil Hospital,
Sundernagar. |
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265 nabbed under NDPS Act in HP Shimla, February 21 In the preceding year, 12 foreigners were arrested and about 28 kg charas seized. Of the 46 foreigners apprehended during the past two years, nine were Italian, six French, four Israeli, five British, and two each from Australia, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Nigeria. |
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2 killed as truck falls into Ravi Chamba, February 21 Giving this information here today, an official spokesman said the deceased had been identified as Sushil Kumar and Kewal Ram. He said an immediate relief of Rs 10,000 each to the next of kin of the deceased had been disbursed. The police has registered a case. |
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Health services in shambles: Cong Shimla, February 20 Talking to mediapersons here today, he said many posts of doctor and para medical staff had been lying vacant in these areas. He said there had been reports from these areas that unqualified staff was manning the health centres. People of these areas also agitated against this at these health centres but to no avail, he added. Even the appointment of Health Director was yet to be made, he said. |
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Health awareness camps in 10 dists Shimla, February 21 Awareness camps were organised at various places in Shimla to reach 500 persons, mostly migrant labourers, mechanics, taxi drivers and villagers. In all, 40 persons were examined and 33 were referred to IGMC Hospital. Medicines were distributed free of cost. Under the project, a team of workers organised six health check-up and treatment camps at Barmana in Bilaspur. During the camp, 26 persons were treated. |
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Plea to remove bank Chairman Shimla, February 21 Mr R.K. Negi, President of the union, said the inquiry ordered by the Chief Minister in the matter had confirmed that the irregularities pointed had taken place. |
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