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Saturday,
June 29, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Centre
accused of non-governance The danger
stage of TB Election
of Shimla ZP member set aside HPTDC
union wants MD booked Rly
man’s widow denied relief |
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Value of
family stressed Residents
seek exam centre at Killar Mite drinks apple juice Barking
deer’s killer arrested Telcom
services expanded Draughtsmen
give ultimatum to PWD Voter
ID cards from today
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Centre accused of non-governance Shimla, June 28 Addressing a press conference here today, Mr Chakravarty said he had been a minister since 1982 and had interacted with all Prime Ministers except Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, but had never seen such laxity in governance. While the main task of formulating policies and programmes and implementing them was being completely neglected, the Centre was also lying to shift its responsibility on the states, he said adding that Vajpayee government had not even been responding to important administrative and policy matters raised by states. Replying to a question regarding the decision to allow foreign direct investment in print media, he said though his party was opposed to it his personal view was that the issue should not be seen in isolation but as a part of the general policy to attract foreign investment. He said fighting globalisation was a fallacy and effort should instead be to resist the lure of "western capital" for development. Mr Chakravarty said there was no threat to the security of the country or its culture from foreign investment in media. The roots of democracy, sovereignty and the cultural moorings of the country were strong enough to withstand any impact, he said. He was critical of the proposal of the Railway Ministry to create divisions and subdivision and alleged that it was a ploy to benefit selected states like Bihar, home state of the Railway Minister, and Andhra Pradesh, an important ally of the NDA. It would create inter-state problems and lead to imbalanced expansion of the rail network, he alleged. Mr Chakravarty, here to preside over a seminar organised by the state unit of the CPM to celebrate the competition of 25 years in power in West Bengal, said that celebrating silver jubilee of a provincial government at a time when not only the country but the entire world was going through political, social and economic upheavals was nothing short of a miracle. It was only because of the credibility of the party, which matched its words with deeds, policies and programmes that it had been able to remain in office, he said. |
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The danger stage of TB KUMARHATTI: Tuberculosis is a deadly disease but few are aware of the Multi- Drug Resistant Tuberculosis Bacillus
(MDRTB) — a stage of the disease when it becomes resistant and cannot be treated by conventional drugs in use these days. The MDRTB has become a major threat to health in our country as well as in other developing countries. Nearly 14 per cent of the total cases of TB are MDR in India, says a WHO study. Another study says MDRTB patients in Gujarat have increased from 27 per cent to 37 per cent of the total TB patients. Irrespective of economic or social status, a patient becomes helpless if once declared a case of MDRTB as it, in a way, is a death sentence unless treated judiciously, with accurate combination of drugs, efficacious anti-TB treatment in right doses and under competent medical supervision. The major hurdle in detecting the spread of MDRTB is the lack of timely and adequate medical treatment as TB is mostly rooted in rural areas where people are not educated and have poor economic background. A case of simple TB becomes a MDRTB case due to inadequate treatment, discontinuation of treatment by patients due to lack of awareness and proper education and improper treatment and advice by the physician. The MDRTB is the danger stage of the disease as its bacteria multiply fast, points Dr
R.P. Kaushal, Medical Superintendent of Dharampur Hardinge TB Sanitarium — a reputed TB treatment centre of North India, 4 km from here, that has on an average seven to eight indoor patients of
MDRTB. He says anybody can contract infection of MDRTB while in a bus, in a cinema hall and at crowded places. A MDRTB case, if not treated properly, can infect healthy persons and create more cases of its type. A delay in treatment will mean TB bacteria infecting more healthy persons and the bacteria becoming more resistant to drugs and ultimately some of the cases not responding to any known anti-TB drugs. Listing difficulties in treating MDRTB cases, Dr Kaushal says an amount of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh is required for a full course for one patient taking 18 to 24 months till sputum becomes negative. More drugs are required than the conventional ones. An MDRTB case needs isolation, a factor ignored by the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme
(RNTCP) that discards the theory of isolation of patient emphasising on a door-to-door medical treatment of TB cases. A majority of the MDRTB patients do not have any social support and if left uncured can prove disastrous as one MDRTB case can affect 20 healthy persons in a year. The high cost of MDRTB treatment is out of the reach of patients and the government has not framed any policy in this regard. There are no budgetary provisions and even the RNTCP is silent about
MDRTB. Ironically, the state government has reduced the budget for medicine of the Dharampur sanitarium that already does not have certain drugs required for the treatment of MDRTB cases. Moreover, this sanitarium does not have a culture sensitivity laboratory, a basic infrastructure to diagnose MDRTB and distinguish it from an ordinary TB case. Due to the lack of this facility, patients have to go either to Delhi or Chandigarh. Moreover, the delay can prove fatal for MDRTB patients. This facility should be provided at the Central Research Laboratory, Kasauli, opines Dr
Kaushal. Eighty per cent cure rate is possible if treatment of MDRTB cases begins early and these cases can be treated with social help and in an environment of commitment to eradicate
MDRTB, points out Dr Kaushal who has been treating MDRTB patients. He is instrumental in setting up an MDRTB society under the chairmanship of the Deputy Commissioner, Solan. The society extends financial help to
patients of
MDRTB. The state government has failed to provide financial help to the society despite several representations in this respect and people have remained ignorant of this venture in the absence of adequate publicity. “Though we have, from time to time, made efforts to get funds from industrial houses, Yet we have failed to get the desired response, says Dr
Kaushal. Any one wishing to be a help in eradicating MDRTB can join the society by donating Rs 15,000 (at one time) for life membership, Rs 1000 a year throughout life for regular life membership, Rs 50 per month for 12 months for an yearly membership and a donation from Re 1 to any amount. Those making donation to the society can claim rebate in Income Tax. Contact numbers of Dharampur TB Sanitarium are: 01792- 64022; 01792- 65230. |
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Election
of Shimla ZP member set aside Shimla, June 28 The defeated candidate, Mr Daulat Ram, had challenged the election on the ground that Mr Banolta was not qualified to contest the Panchayat or Zila Parishad poll as he had encroached upon land in Chak Janog Ghat belonging to the municipality of Theog. According to Section 122 (1) of the Himachal Pradesh Panchayati Raj Act, any person who had encroached municipal land was not qualified, Mr Daulat Ram said. Mr Banolta had also made a wrong declaration while filing nomination form before the returning officer in this regard. Mr H.K. Paul the counsel for petitioner, brought to the notice of the Deputy Commissioner that revenue courts right up to the Financial Commissioner had declared that municipal land had been encroached by the respondent. |
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HPTDC union wants
MD booked Dharamsala, June 28 Mr Kaul alleged that the Managing Director and other senior officials of the corporation were misusing their position to benefit their friends and relatives by providing them free services in HPTDC hotels and restaurants. He said the union was in possession of records which proved the allegations. The union president also alleged that the HPTDC had spent a huge amount of money for renovating dilapidated residential accommodations which were returned to the owners soon after, thus misutilising funds meant for various projects. He said the Chief Minister had been apprised of all these irregularities and demanded action against those responsible for causing loss to the HPTDC. |
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Rly man’s widow denied relief Kumarhatti, June 28 However when her son turned 18, the railway authorities turned down her application on the pretext that she had not submitted it on time. Moreover, the railway authorities said no job could be given after eight years of the death of her husband. For the past more than five years, since her son attained the required age, Premi Devi, a resident of Bashulo village in Dharampur panchayat, has left no stone unturned to get justice but to no avail. Narrating her tale of the woes to this correspondent, Premi Devi, a mother of three girls and a son, said after getting an assurance from the DRM to get her boy a railway job, she had taken financial help from her relatives in the hope that she would return it when her son would be employed. But much to her shock, it did not happen. She gets around Rs 1400 as monthly pension of her husband and has meagre land holding. Her son, Ganesh Dutt, had to abandon studies from plus 2 onwards due to lack of financial support. As the railway authorities refused to give him a job, he has been exploring other job avenues to help his family to return the money borrowed for the marriage of her sister. Denying the woman’s son a job is against the rules of the Railways, alleged Mr G.S. Rajput, president of Uttariya Railway Mazdoor Union. He said rejecting her application due to the time bar was also against the norms. |
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Value of family stressed Shimla, June 28 Ms Bhattacharjee said she was only 14 when Mahatma Gandhi died. She regretted that Bapu’s personality and ideology had been understood in a very limited manner. She held that the Gandhian institutes had not come up to the expectations because they had been working like other government agencies and there was danger of Gandhi being lost to Indians like Buddha was lost centuries ago. She said Gandhi’s concept of cleanliness, beauty and self-reliance and humour should be propagated at all levels of society if his ideas and philosophy were to be understood by everyone in India. About the empowerment of women, she said empowerment was another term for fearlessness and truthfulness. She said that Gandhi’s strongest point and strength in the life was his family. He believed in the institution of family, which unfortunately today was on the decline, she
added. Mrs Malvika Pathania, Chairperson, State Commission for Women, gave details of activities for uplift of women. Prof Usha
Pathania, Director of the Centre for Women’s Studies and Development, said the centre had initiated several projects to help women become self-dependent. |
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Residents
seek exam centre at Killar Chamba, June 28 They said that due to the absence of an examination centre at Killar, the youth had to go to far off places like Bharmour, Chamba and Shimla. Those who could not afford to go outside the valley were deprived of a chance to sit for competitive exams and avail themselves of higher education, opportunities, they said. They also demanded setting up of a depot of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) and a rural development agency in the valley. |
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Mite drinks apple juice Shimla, June 28 According to reports reaching here, a number of orchards in the two districts, which together account for almost 90 per cent of the state’s apple production, are reeling under the attack of the parasites. The insect and fungi, had infested the orchards a decade ago, and had led to the premature defoliation of apple trees. The pests had been contained in the past couple of years. Though not as deadly as scab mite progressively, affects production. The fruit loses juice and shape. There have been instances in the USA and some other countries when the mite infested orchards had to be abandoned. Hence, the need to take remedial measures on a war footing. Mr P.S. Thakur, a plant protection specialist of the horticulture department, maintains that the disease had staged a comeback only in those orchards where the growers did not use the insecticides recommended by the department. Orchards in Ratnari in Kotkhai and Jubbal areas, had been affected, but there has been no premature defoliation. He said the department had recommended colnel.s., nomite and thiodan insecticides to protect the orchards against mite. However, some growers had sprayed the plantations with insecticide like monocil, metasystos and metacid, which were not effective. He said the growers should be careful as temperature around 25 degree centigrade in midhills, was conducive for mite. Meanwhile a spokesman for the department claimed that there was no shortage of insecticides and fungicides in the fruit growing areas. |
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Barking
deer’s killer arrested Solan, June
28 He was allegedly caught red-handed while cooking the meat of the slain animal at his residence at about 11 p.m., by a party of forest officials headed by Range Officer,
Kandaghat. The latter had acted on an anonymous tip off. The skin, bones, horns and a good part of the animal’s meat was recovered from the house of Pawan
Lal. The Range Officer later handed over Pawan Lal to the Kandaghat police. He was booked under the Wildlife Act. He had reportedly admitted to having killed the animal for game with his 12 bore shot gun, which had been impounded. |
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Telcom services expanded Chamba, June 28 Inaugurating the upgraded services last evening, Mr Shanta Kumar, Union Minister of Food and Consumer Affairs, said residents of Salooni and Tissa regions would get telephone “on demand” from July next. |
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Draughtsmen
give ultimatum to PWD Bilaspur, June 28 Addressing mediapersons here today, leaders of the
association led by its state president Ransingh warned that the association would again approach the Supreme Court if the PWD failed to implement it’s order directing the department to implement the Himachal Pradesh High Court’s order regarding their promotions. He said the meeting of state Executive Committee of the association would be held at PWD Rest House in mandi on July 12. |
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Voter ID cards
from today Solan, June 28 Voters wanting to avail themselves of the facility can now do so from June 29 to July, 1 between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. |
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