Reckong Peo, June 25
The Kinnaur district administration has issued prohibitory orders under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, which will remain in force till the end of 2007 following apprehensions of the outbreak of epidemic diseases like cholera, gastroenteritis, and dysentery in the tribal belt.

There has been a rise in cases of gastroenteritis, diarrhoea and dysentery in the tribal belt during the past few weeks. The hospital authorities in the regional hospital at Reckong Peo had referred hundreds of patients to Rampur Bushahar and Shimla for treatment during the past few weeks.

There were also complaints of contaminated water supply in various localities at the district headquarters in Kinnaur. The Tribune tried to contact the Chief Medical Officer of Kinnaur for official version but he was said to be on leave.

Under the orders issued by the District Magistrate, Dr Amandeep Garg, the sale of uncovered and exposed food, candies, ice-cream, locally manufactured aerated drinks, has been prohibited.

Similarly, the sale of exposed sweets, meat, fish and other perishable food articles has been banned. Restrictions have also been imposed on the sale of over-ripe, under-ripe and cut fruits.

All hotels, dhabas and other eating places have been directed to provide chlorinated drinking water. The District-Magistrate has authorised the Chief Medical Officer, the District Health Officer, all executive magistrates, all medical superintendents, the District Food and Supplies Controller and all male health supervisors to take action against those violating the prohibitory orders within their respective jurisdictions. 

Shimla, June 25
The Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) has failed to implement the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by it with the government for improving its fiscal position on the basis of which its grant-in-aid was stepped up.

The government had enhanced the grant-in-aid from Rs 27 crore to Rs 48 crore on the condition that it will reduce the fleet from over 1700 buses to 1500 buses. As per the timeframe laid down under the MoU, the number of buses was to be brought down to 1600 by March 2006. However, the corporation still has a fleet of 1650 buses and it is not likely to see any further reduction over the next nine months.

They have been perpetually in the red and its accumulated loss has crossed the Rs 400 crore mark. The government has been of the view that merely increasing grant will not help and the corporation must take steps to reduce its fleet in a time-bound manner. The income is Rs 16 per bus per km as against the expenditure of Rs 23 per bus per km. Thus reduction in fleet will automatically curtail losses.

The corporation attached private buses to ensure that its operations were not affected due to reduction of its fleet. It has attached 71 buses and 37 mini-buses under the scheme. But it has not been able to reduce the strength of its own fleet.

It has also implemented a voluntary retirement scheme, under which 394 employees obtained premature retirement. Consequently, the corporation managed to reduce the number of employees per bus from 5.8 to 5.2 which was one of the lowest in the country.

The government had decided to provide a loan of Rs 60 crore to enable the corporation to meet its financial liabilities and purchase new buses but its financial position would improve only if it reduces its fleet as per the MoU.

Kangra, June 25
The Central Tibetan Administration yesterday welcomed the decision of the House of Commons, Canada, to grant honorary Canadian citizenship to Tibetan temporal head and spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

The motion to declare the Dalai Lama an honorary citizen of Canada was unanimously approved on June 22 in the House of Commons. Members of Parliament agreed unanimously to a Conservative motion to grant the honour to the Tibetan spiritual leader.

It’s the third time, Parliament has approved such a measure. The only other honorary citizenships were bestowed on iconic South African leader Nelson Mandela and on Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving the lives of thousands of Hungarian Jews during the Second World War.

The Dalai Lama is scheduled to visit Vancouver in September, his second visit to Canada. The motion was put forward by David Sweet, an MP, which said whereas the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet has been recognised with the Nobel Peace Prize as one of the world’s leading champions of peace and non-violence; and the Dalai Lama will visit Canada from September 9 to 1; and this House has previously acknowledged historic visits to Canada by other leading champions of human dignity, such as Raoul Wallenberg and Nelson Mandela, by adopting motions granting them ‘Honourary Canadian Citizenship’. The House resolved it unanimously. 

Shimla, June 25
With more schools than required as per norms already in place, the state government is now laying emphasis on improving the quality of education in the state.

Various programmes are being implemented to achieve the objective under the ambitious Rs 532 crore Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. The state has almost achieved universal enrolment up to the elementary level, which is the first and foremost goal of the programme, and it has been able to bring down the dropout rate to below 1.5 per cent.

A special thrust is being given to the education of physically challenged children under the “Inclusive Education for Disabled” programme. There are 29,122 children with special needs (CWSN) in the state out of which 26,906 mild and moderate disabled children have been enrolled in schools. These children are being covered under home-based education. Besides, 200 children are being imparted education through non-gazetted organisations.

The National Programme for the Education of Girls at Elementary Level (NPEGEL) provides additional components for the education of girls. The scheme is for educationally backward blocks where the rural female literacy is below national average and the gender gap is above national level.

Five development blocks of Chamba district and one block each in Shimla and Mandi districts have been covered under the scheme. Besides construction of model cluster rooms, activities like teacher training on gender bias, free environment, life skill education and remedial teaching for girls are being taken up. One more block Shillai of Sirmaur district has been brought under the programme from the current year.

The Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya Yojna (KGBV) are being set up at elementary level for girls belonging to the Scheduled Caste, other backward classes and minorities. In all, nine such schools two each in Salooni, Tissa and Mehla and one each in Bharmour and Pangi in Chamba and Chhauhara in Shimla district have been approved in 2005-06.

All girls of general category are being given free text books up to upper primary level from SSA. Computer literacy programme has been started in 282 schools of the state. Not only the children are being given computer training, teaching of mainstream subjects through computers is also being undertaken. Teachers are being provided training for the purpose. Science labs in selected upper primary schools and libraries in primary schools are being set up at selected clusters.

Development plans are being prepared in every school and active involvement of the community is being ensured to make such plans need-based and meaningful. To improve the learning levels of the children, continuous comprehensive evaluation is being undertaken in each school.

The implementation of the SSA project would not only bridge the gender gap and social disparities but also help in bringing about qualitative improvement in the education system.

Reckong Peo, June 25
Unfavourable weather conditions in the past couple of months have to a large extent damaged the apple crop in the tribal belt of Kinnaur.

The orchards, which were normally laden with fruit this time of the year, present a dismal sight. Trees in many orchards, particularly in the lower areas, do not even have enough leaves.

Apple production in the tribal district that touched a record 22 lakh boxes last year, is likely to come down to 16 lakh boxes this time, the lowest ever in the past few years.

“The weather god has been unkind to us. The prolonged dry spell in the months of March and April, just after the end of snowfall, upset the process of flowering and fruit setting”, said Dinesh Negi, a local farmer.

He said the production of apples this year was likely to fall by 40 per cent, based on a practical survey and calculations in the fields. Moreover, the quality of apples was also likely to be affected badly, he added.

Apart from poor flowering and fruit setting, premature droppings of fruit in the month of May, made things worse for the farmers. They were unable to control the heavy premature dropping of fruit due to hostile weather conditions.

There was more than average rainfall followed by hailstorm in most parts of this tribal belt, which is the mainstay of economy in this area.

Worried over the pitiable condition of petty farmers, the state government had asked the district administration to furnish a detailed report of the crop-loss, confirmed a senior official of the state government.

The only hope for the tribal people of this belt is chilgoza (pine seeds) that is likely to be a bumper crop this year. 

Kangra, June 25
The BJP has said that criminal activity in the state were making Himachal Pradesh a replica of Bihar and criticised the prevailing law and order situation under the Virbhadra Singh government.

Mr Rajender Rana, assistant in charge of the BJP media cell of the state, yesterday denounced the state government’s decision to give charge of the CID Department to senior police officer, Mr B.S. Thind, who was allegedly involved in innumerable controversies.

Mr Rana said that reports in the media have revealed that Mr Thind was allegedly involved in a number of cases and a court in Punjab had allegedly issued warrants against him.

He questioned the motive behind the continued patronage by the state government to Mr Thind despite numerous allegations.

Mr Rana said that the state government had adopted a dual policy on corruption. He alleged that the corridors of power in the capital were stained with corruption but the government was claiming a clean rule in the state.

He alleged that corruption was rampant in government offices and that the development in the state had come to a standstill. He said that the common man felt marginalised under this government.

Chamba, June 25
Several houses and cowsheds were damaged and tracts of land were washed away due to landslides following a deluge-like situation arising out of cloudbursts in Haripur, Naun and Koh villages of the Sahoo and Sarol valleys in Chamba district last night, Mr Rattan Chand, Zila Parishad member, who represents the area, informed this correspondent over the phone today.

According to preliminary reports, at least eight cowsheds, six houses, three motorbikes, three cars and five mules, besides land, had been washed off in the flood, waters in these villages. Water supply schemes, irrigation channels and roads had also been damaged.

Some agricultural zones had become marshy owning to sliding of hillslopes. However, no report of any casualty from anywhere had so far been reported.

The tentative losses caused due to cloudbursts had been put at about Rs 1 crore as per reports received here today.

Mr Harsh Mahajan, Animal Husbandry and Urban Development Minister, directed the district authorities to rush to the flood-affected areas and carry out relief and rescue operations.

The officials had reached the affected sites and were assessing the losses caused due to flashfloods and cloudbursts in these areas. However, the official information about the losses was awaited.

The Chamba-Sahoo road had been washed off at different points due to flooded nullahs in the Maredi belt and the vehicular traffic had been disrupted. The milk supply to Chamba town had also been affected.

Shimla, June 25
Accusing the police of being hand in glove with those responsible for the killing of three CITU leaders in Chamba on June 10, the CPM yesterday demanded their suspension and blacklisting of Hindustan Construction Company.

Addressing a press conference here yesterday, the state secretary of the CPM, Mr Rakesh Singha, alleged that police officials were already aware of the motives of the killers and as such were hand in glove with the accused.

“We demand that the company, on whose work the three CITU leaders were murdered, should be blacklisted and not allowed to work in Himachal,” he said.

He demanded that the company management should provide a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the families of the three slain leaders.

“The government should speed up the efforts to nab the accused whose bail plea has been rejected by the high court,” he demanded.

Mr Singha alleged that the company had also been responsible for the killing of a CITU leader in the Nathpa Jhakri project.

Shimla, June 25
Mr H.N. Kashyap, convener of the election cell of the BJP, has demanded re-induction of a Himachal Administrative Service (HAS) officer as Registrar of Himachal Pradesh University in view of the alleged scam in the combined pre-medical test conducted last month.

He alleged that the last incumbent to the post from the HAS was repatriated under pressure from the Vice-Chancellor. The result was there for all to see. Not only the image of the university had been tarnished but its credibility had also been seriously compromised.

Mr Kashyap pointed out that the HAS officers were holding the posts of Registrar in the other two universities of the state. One failed to understand why the government had made an exception in the case of Himachal Pradesh University.

He pointed out that in the central universities and some prominent state universities the post was held by IAS officers.

Chamba, June 25
The diversion channel from the Jadera nullah feeding the water supply scheme of Chamba town, 12 km from here, was washed away by flood waters following a cloudburst which took place last night, according to reports received here today.

As a sequel to this, Chamba town today went without water. The supply of water to the town was expected to be resumed tomorrow as the work to restore the damaged channel was in progress, official sources said.