H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

HP to tackle scrub typhus, plague
Shimla, March 4
The Health Department can now hope to tackle outbreak of diseases like scrub typhus, leishmaniasis and plague, which have claimed dozens of lives in the past, as it will now have Rs 9.40 crore at its disposal under the integrated disease surveillance programme to be launched shortly.

45 employees dismissed for misbehaving
Havells takes them back after CM intervenes 
Baddi, March 4
Retrenchment of about 45 Himachali youth by Havells industrial unit led to an unsavoury agitation in Baddi yesterday. These youth were dismissed on charges of misbehaving with the supervisor and showing little progress in their daily work. 

BJP’s memorandum on Jharkhand
Shimla, March 4
The BJP yesterday submitted a memorandum addressed to the President of India, expressing strong resentment against the action of the Jharkhand Governor in inviting various alliance partners of the UPA to form a government despite being in minority.

Cancellation of IGNOU centre evokes criticism
Nurpur, March 4
The cancellation of the IGNOU centre in Government College, Dehri, near here, by the authorities at Shimla has evoked sharp criticism among the student community of the area. The centre was set up three years back with an objective to provide the facility of higher education to the students who could not join regular classes. Owing to the indifference of the authorities, no basic infrastructure had been provided at the centre which could attract students.

Princess’ unquenched thirst for knowledge
Shimla, March 4
It is her unquenched thirst for knowledge about Pali, Sanskrit and other Indian languages that brings the Princess of Thailand, Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, to India time and again.

Budget anti-farmer: Samajwadi Party
Mandi, March 4
The secretary of Samajwadi Yuja Sabha, the youth wing of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, Dr Ajay Solanki, said yesterday that the Budget had offered nothing much to the farmers in the country.

Suitor opens fire at girl
Nahan, March 4
A boy allegedly fired at a girl after her refusal to marry him in Paonta subdivision today. According to the police, the girl, Kamal Jeet, and her mother, residents of Jagatpur village under Paonta subdivision, about 60 km from here, had gone to collect firewood in a nearby forest.

Artist felicitated
Chamba, March 4
Prakash Anand, an eminent sculptor who was recently conferred with the prestigious Reashtriya Tulsi Samman — 2004 by the Madhya Pradesh Government in recognition of his excellence in the field of metal craft, was accorded a civic reception here.

12 booked under Gambling Act
Baddi, March 4
Twelve persons were booked under the Gambling Act by the Barotiwala police in three separate cases yesterday. The four migrant labourers from Chattarpur in MP were held near UCO Bank, Barotiwala by the Tapinder Singh, ASI during patrolling. The booked persons were Katwa, Mukandi Lal, Sheti Lal and Gaduwa. Rs. 480 and play cards were seized from their possession.

HP to tackle scrub typhus, plague
Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 4
The Health Department can now hope to tackle outbreak of diseases like scrub typhus, leishmaniasis and plague, which have claimed dozens of lives in the past, as it will now have Rs 9.40 crore at its disposal under the integrated disease surveillance programme to be launched shortly.

Himachal is one of the 10 states in the country where this programme will be launched before March 31. Though under this programme, 13 routine diseases and five high-risk lifestyle diseases will be covered, more importantly it is the state specific diseases like plague, scrub typhus, leishmaniasis, goiter, rheumatic heart disease and cancer which will be dealt within a specialised manner.

The state surveillance committee met here today under the chairmanship of the Secretary, Health, Mr P.C. Kapoor, and decided to recruit staff within a week’s time so that the programme could be launched at the earliest. The file in this regard will be submitted to the Chief Minister tomorrow.

The Department of Health and Family Welfare has already received Rs 1.10 crore under Phase I for the WHO-sponsored programme, which will be completed over a period of five years. “This will enable us not just to have trained manpower to diagnose the diseases at the earliest but our rapid response teams will be ready round the clock to swing into action as and when required without waste of precious time,” informed Director, Health Services, Dr R.N. Mahanta. This team would comprise officials from various agencies like Health, IPH and representatives of the Local Self-Government.

With limited funds and expertise available with the health authorities and the medical college, the state had been found to be lacking in responding to outbreak of diseases like scrub typhus (mysterious fever) which claimed more than 40 lives during the past two years all over the state. The same is the case with diseases like leishmaniasis, prevalent in Kinnaur, the iodine-deficiency disorder goiter more common in the Kangra region. The other disease to be covered is plague which had claimed many lives in the Rohru area and rheumatic heart disease.

The five lifestyle diseases with high-risk factor would include tobacco and alcohol use, obesity, high levels of physical inactivity, trauma and high-risk factors for cancer. The other 13 diseases includes malaria, leprosy, HIV/AIDS, cholera, diarrhoea, polio, tuberculosis and hepatitis.

An action plan has already been prepared and all doctors and health workers associated with this programme will undergo special training. Specific guidelines received from the Centre will be printed and circulated to the state and district-level committees. With trained staff and readily available date in hand, it will be very easy to detect the diseases and take preventive steps at the earliest.

45 employees dismissed for misbehaving
Havells takes them back after CM intervenes 
Our Correspondent

Baddi, March 4
Retrenchment of about 45 Himachali youth by Havells industrial unit led to an unsavoury agitation in Baddi yesterday. These youth were dismissed on charges of misbehaving with the supervisor and showing little progress in their daily work. The youth supported by the Indian National Trade Union Congress approached the Chief Minister for the injustice meted out to them.

Mr R.P. Jain, General Manager, Havells, however, maintained that the youth vitiated the work culture due to the lack of interest and had to be shown the door. The outburst led to an agitation with workers striking work yesterday. With situation taking an ugly turn the Chief Minister directed the district administration to resolve the issue amicably. The SP, the Deputy Commissioner and the SDM, who visited the unit last evening managed to sort out the matter with the management taking back the retrenched employees.

The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Rajesh Kumar, said that the company which had not issued appointment letters to employees despite lapse of several months had been directed to do so within three days. In addition to this they had also been directed to issue identity cards within a month and impart a 15 days training to the workers.

Provision of canteen transportation to the women, medical facilities, etc., would also be provided within a stipulated period. In case of indiscipline a due notice would first be served on employee before retrenching him and in case the employees resorted to without informing the management action as per the Industrial Act would be taken against them.

Mr Jain said a similar unit at Delhi showed progress of about 800 mcb per worker per day though it was manual. Here the employees despite putting in three to four months could hardly produce 400-450 mcb which slowed their overall production.

Attempts to improve them met only with pressures from the political bosses and local administration he said and added that this trend was detrimental to the growth of industries in Himachal Pradesh. He said the matter would have been resolved even without the administrative interference as 190 other workers continued to work despite the agitation. 

BJP’s memorandum on Jharkhand
Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 4
The BJP yesterday submitted a memorandum addressed to the President of India, expressing strong resentment against the action of the Jharkhand Governor in inviting various alliance partners of the UPA to form a government despite being in minority.

The BJP workers, led by the district BJP chief, Mr Sandipini Bhardwaj, handed over the memorandum to the Governor here. The BJP workers said the manner in which the unholy alliance led by the JMM leader, Mr Shibu Soren, had been asked to form the government was totally wrong.

“The action of the Governor in inviting an alliance having minority to form the government amounts to murder of democracy with the Governor office being a party to this conspiracy,” they alleged.

Seeking intervention of the President on this serious matter, the BJP demanded the immediate dismissal of the Jharkhand Governor and said that BJP-Janata Dal (U) alliance should be invited to form the government as they have the required majority.

Cancellation of IGNOU centre evokes criticism
Our Correspondent

Nurpur, March 4
The cancellation of the IGNOU centre in Government College, Dehri, near here, by the authorities at Shimla has evoked sharp criticism among the student community of the area. The centre was set up three years back with an objective to provide the facility of higher education to the students who could not join regular classes. Owing to the indifference of the authorities, no basic infrastructure had been provided at the centre which could attract students.

Mr Tek Chand, organising secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Sangh, Kangra district, in a statement here today alleged that the centre, which had been transferred to Government College, Indora, would create difficulties for the local students who intended to join IGNOU classes.

Meanwhile, Mr V.K. Sharma, coordinator-cum-principal of Government College, Dehri, when contacted, said that due to lack of basic infrastructure the library and the examination centre, the students had been discourged.

He said that the centre had approached the IGNOU authorities at Shimla in this regard several times but the latter had failed to set up even an examination centre here.

Princess’ unquenched thirst for knowledge
Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 4
It is her unquenched thirst for knowledge about Pali, Sanskrit and other Indian languages that brings the Princess of Thailand, Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, to India time and again.

It is for this very reason that the 50-year-old Princess, who is proficient in Sanskrit, spent more than an hour going through books on ‘Pali and Prakrit Kavya’ at the library of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) here today. The Princess, a learned scholar who did her studies and research from the Faculty of Arts, Thailand University, is here on a two-day visit.

Attired casually in black ankle high trousers and a grey coat, sans any royal trappings, the Princess is also a Professor at the Thailand Army Academy. On an official visit to India on the invitation by the Vice-President, she met Presidemt A.PJ. Abdul Kalam and Mr Bhairon Singh Shekhawat at Delhi.

“This is indeed a magnificent place for scholars to do their research work,” she remarked about the IIAS on her first ever visit to the hill town. She also presented a copy of the Thai Ramayana titled “Ramkiran Mural Paintings in the Temple of the Emerald Buddha” to the IIAS. She later visited the state museum also.

“Being a Sanskrit scholar who holds keen interest in Indian languages and ancient Indian history, she has already visited Varanasi, Ajanta and Ellora during her previous visits to India,” informed Thai Embassy officials accompanying her. Being proficient in Pali, she has keen interest in reading the old inscriptions on stupas and religious shrines, they added. She is also a Professor at the Army Academy in Thailand.

The Princess’ visit this time had immense religious significance as she paid a visit to the Thai Temple at Khushinagar in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh where Buddha had attained ‘nirvana’. “Being a Buddhist herself, she offered a precious chatra and the King’s hair at the Wat Thai (Thai temple) in Khushinagar, on behalf of her father, yesterday,” informed officials. She also offered prayers at the famous Jakhoo Temple here in the evening.

The Princess, who flew in here from Chandigarh by a chartered flight, is staying at a resort in Mashobra. She is scheduled to visit the Department of International Centre for Distance Education and Open Learning and the library at the Himachal Pradesh University and the Christ Church tomorrow.

Budget anti-farmer: Samajwadi Party
Tribune News Service

Mandi, March 4
The secretary of Samajwadi Yuja Sabha, the youth wing of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, Dr Ajay Solanki, said yesterday that the Budget had offered nothing much to the farmers in the country.

In a statement here, he said the cess on diesel and petrol would hit the farmers adversely as they depended on diesel for the use of water pumps.

“While computer and premium cars have been made cheaper, the Budget has enhanced the prices of tractors. This shows the government is “anti-farmer” and “anti-poor”. Himachal, being a tourist state, is not getting its due like states in the North-East and J&K, which get liberal funds from the Centre,” he alleged.

Suitor opens fire at girl
Our Correspondent

Nahan, March 4
A boy allegedly fired at a girl after her refusal to marry him in Paonta subdivision today. According to the police, the girl, Kamal Jeet, and her mother, residents of Jagatpur village under Paonta subdivision, about 60 km from here, had gone to collect firewood in a nearby forest.

The boy, Satpal, a resident of Kyarda village, was following them with a gun.

When Satpal found the girl alone in the forest, he proposed marriage to her at gunpoint. He threatened the girl that he would shoot her if she refused to marry him. However, the girl boldly rejected his proposal. Satpal opened fire, injuring the girl in the arm.

Satpal fled the scene after firing at her. The girl was rushed to Paonta hospital by her mother and local residents. After first aid, she was referred to the district hospital, Nahan.

A case under Sections 307 and 506B of the IPC and Section 25 of the Arms Act has been registered.

Artist felicitated
Our Correspondent

Chamba, March 4
Prakash Anand, an eminent sculptor who was recently conferred with the prestigious Reashtriya Tulsi Samman — 2004 by the Madhya Pradesh Government in recognition of his excellence in the field of metal craft, was accorded a civic reception here.

The felicitation function was organised jointly by the Chamba Sahitya Kala Parishad, the Progressive Citizens Council, the Chamba Citizen Forum, the Beopar Mandal, the District Temple Committee and the Sewa Himalaya — all non-governmental organisations.

Mr Rahul Anand, Deputy Commissioner of Chamba, presided over the function, held in the local Bachat Bhavan.

Besides administrative officers, a galaxy of scholars, artists, historians, senior citizens and prominent persons of the town were present on the occasion.

Prakash Anand has earned fame in metal craft in India and abroad.

His works are on display in various museums in India, the UK, Germany, besides other countries.

Sixty-eight-year-old Prakash Anand was earlier conferred with the National Award of Master Craftsperson by the President of the India in 1974.

12 booked under Gambling Act

Baddi, March 4
Twelve persons were booked under the Gambling Act by the Barotiwala police in three separate cases yesterday. The four migrant labourers from Chattarpur in MP were held near UCO Bank, Barotiwala by the Tapinder Singh, ASI during patrolling. The booked persons were Katwa, Mukandi Lal, Sheti Lal and Gaduwa. Rs. 480 and play cards were seized from their possession.

At Baddi bazaar, ASI Kewal Singh have recovered Rs. 715 from Munish Kumar, Raj Pal, Jitinder Kumar and Lek Raj who were allegedly playing satta. OC