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Surveys on disabled children in district vary
Rs 42.92 cr okayed for rural water supply
Dehra Nagar Panchayat chief’s
IGMC to have MRI facility
Planning panel for review of land sale laws
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NHPC signs Rs 628-cr deal on Parbati project
Three killed in road accidents
Two bodies found
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Surveys on disabled children in district vary
Mandi, January 24 As the SSA has been focusing its activities in the Mandi-Balh-Sundernagar belt, the plight of the disabled children in the remote pockets of the district remains pathetic. Out of 291 severely disabled children identified so far under the SSA only 70 children are covered under the IED. “Out of these 20 children are under home-based programme, 30 at Sahyog School run by an NGO at Nagchala and 20 are being trained at its Day Care Centre at Bhangrotu near here, revealed SSA officials. The SSA survey has identified over 5180 disabled children in the district. As many as 628 children are mentally challenged, 443 children are physically challenged, over 627 children are visually impaired, 490 hearing impaired, and over 329 children suffer from multiple disabilities. Over 1722 suffer from learning disabilities in the district, revealed survey. Though the SSA has been doing surveys but there still remain apprehension that there are still children who are yet to be covered in the remote and inaccessible pockets of the district. The SSA has conducted four surveys, but each time it came out with four different numbers of disabled children in the district. In 2001, SSA teachers identified just 734 children, out of which 387 children were school going and rewarding out of school. In 2003, the number was 5,083 children out of which 4,083 school-going and 253 children were not school going. But the number increased to 5,180 in December 2004, out which 291 children out do not attend school in the age group of 6-18 years covered under the IED programme. In 2005 the SSA survey found 4,851 disabled children, 4,560 school-going and 291 children outside school, out of which 2,735 were boys and 2,116 girls. The SSA’s, District Coordinator for IED Ms Raksha Thakur said “over 33 teachers had been trained to identify the disabled children and then train them in daily need activities. There is a proposal to cover another 30 children under the IED in the Sundernagar, Nacham and other areas”. “We give Rs 1,500 per month per child to the NGO-run school of 30 children at Nagchala for training in skills and therapies. We are not getting enough response from the NGO to cover over 221 children in other parts of the district, she said. “The Sahoyag has adopted 30 children to give home-based training and therapies to the children who can not come to school. Over 846 medical certificates have been issued,” she added. Chief Medical Officer Mandi district K.C. Sharma said over 600 children were covered under special medical camps held with the help of SSA teachers in the district last month. “The parents have kept the children at homes. Many of them were bed-ridden as they suffer from sever disabilities. We gave them medical aid and medical certificates,” he added. |
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Rs 42.92 cr okayed for rural water supply
Shimla, January 24 As per guidelines for the implementation of the programme, 15 per cent of funds under the scheme are meant for quality-related problems and 5 per cent for taking sustainability measures. States have been requested to delegate powers for management of rural water supply schemes through Panchayati Raj institutions. The operation and maintenance of the schemes completed should be transferred to panchayats. Priority will be accorded to the coverage of schools and water-quality-affected habitation. Uncovered habitation will be given overriding priority. Efforts will be made to provide drinking water facility to rural schools by March 31 next. |
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Dehra Nagar Panchayat chief’s election put off
Nurpur, January 24 Meanwhile, maiden meeting of the newly elected members of Nurpur block development committee held yesterday which was presided over by Mr Sahib Singh president of the committee. |
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IGMC to have MRI facility
Shimla, January 24 Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh will dedicate the facility, installed at a cost of Rs 7 crore, to the people of the state on January 26. The MRI machine has spectroscopy, body scanning, cardiac and coronary imaging and mammography facility, which will help in early detection of cancer, cardiac diseases and stroke. It will enable whole-body angiography without contrast and help in diagnosis of diseases of spine and joints. The decision to instal an MRI machine was taken in 2001, but it had taken almost five years to implement it. |
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Planning panel for review of land sale laws
Shimla, January 24 Although the state has given its nod to new industrial units involving an investment of about Rs 15,000 crore since the granting of the Centre’s sanction to a special package of incentives, the commission is not satisfied with the situation in respect to private investment in various sectors. More so, because Uttaranchal, which has similar topography and has been given the same industrial package, is doing much better on this front. The commission has pointed out that the land laws are a big impediment, which have been hampering the flow of private investment into the state. The cumbersome procedure for seeking permission for acquiring land, which takes a long time, has been discouraging entrepreneurs. The commission has asked the state government to review the law so that private investors do not have to run from pillar to post for permission to purchase land. It has also advised the government to give up its conservative attitude and adopt a proactive approach to attract private investment, which is the key to speedy development and employment generation. Section 118 of the Act debars all non-agriculturists, including bonafide Himachalis, from purchasing land without prior permission of the state government. The restrictions on purchase of land is being resented not only by entrepreneurs, but even by Himachalis living in urban areas who do not own agricultural land. Employees are the worst affected as the unprivileged suffer while the influential and rich manage to get permission. Successive governments have been avoiding a review of the law as it is being used as a political issue to reaffirm the separate identity of the state. The commission has also taken a serious note of the declining sex ratio. It has expressed apprehensions that if stern measures, including criminal action again those indulging in sex determination tests, are not taken, the state may have a sex ratio similar to Punjab or Haryana.
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NHPC signs Rs 628-cr deal on Parbati project
Chandigarh, January 24 The contract was signed in the presence of the NHPC Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Mr S.K. Garg, and the Managing Director of Jager Bau GmbH, Mr Manfred Jagar, today, according to a statement issued here. The works to be executed under the contract include a 1975-metre-long and 7.25-metre-wide "head race" tunnel, a 134-metre-deep and 20-metre-wide surge shaft, pressure shafts, underground power house and transformer caverns, surge chamber and a 2670-metre-ong 8-meter-wide horse-shoe shaper "tail race" tunnel. Located on the Sainj river, the Parbati-II project envisions the construction of a 43-metre-high rock-filled dam, with an underground power house comprising four power-generating units. The project is scheduled to be completed in five years and will generate about 2,000 million units of power annually.
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Three killed in road accidents
Mandi, January 24 Two persons were killed on the spot when their car crashed into a stationary truck at Gutkar village on the Chandigarh-Manali highway in Mandi district on the night of January 22. The car was badly mangled and villagers had a hard time in pulling out the bodies from under the truck. The deceased were identified as Krishan Lal and Khem Singh. The bodies were later handed over to their relatives after post-mortem examination. In another accident, one person was killed and six injured when the truck they were travelling in overturned on the Bhuntar-Manikaran road in Kulu district late on the night of January 22. The injured were admitted to the government hospital at Bhuntar and the doctors described their condition as stable and out of danger. The police said investigations were on to ascertain the cause of the accident.
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Two bodies found
Kangra, January 24 Mr V.K. Thakur, senior police officer, said one body had been identified as of Vivek Reshi. The victim ran a tea shop in the town and his body was found outside the Industrial Estate in a drain. He was 38. He was last seen at a party in a local hotel recently, he added. Mr Thakur said in another case, a mutilated body of Amit Kumar, a student of Polytechnic College, Gagrath, was found in the Dadoun Nallah at Takipur. He was missing since November 22, last year and report was lodged at Gaggrat police station. The deceased was a resident of Naura village of Palampur subdivision, he added. |
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