Kulu, September 17
Dasmu Devi and her 12-year-old daughter Bhuvneshwari from Thanar village in Gohar subdivision of Mandi district are recuperating at the Regional Hospital for the past four days and are still shocked.

Dasmu and her husband Alam Chand have yet to come to terms with the sudden death of their four children on the intervening night of September 13-14.

The health, police and civil authorities suspect the deaths to be “isolated cases of food poisoning.”

Jayvanti (2), Begama (7) and Mangat Ram (12) had died on Wednesday night at their house while Nilama (5) died at the Regional Hospital, Kulu, on Thursday.

Alam Chand told the police that Mangat and Begama collapsed on the way back home from school and died the same evening. “Nalima and Bhuvneshwari, who had complained of vomiting and diarrhoea, were taken to the Primary Health Centre, Gara Gushaini, but there was no doctor/pharmacist there. A private practitioner gave them medicine before they were taken to hospital,” he said.

“All of us had eaten roti-gobhi that day. My wife was ill and undergoing treatment. We took the water from a ‘baoli’ as there was no water in the pipe. I also ate the same food,” he stated.

The Chief Medical Officer, Kulu, Dr Vijay Kapur, said the patients were admitted to the hospital with vomiting and diarrhoea. “We have received no more such case from the village. The police is investigating the case. The reason would be known after the viscera examination report comes from the Junga laboratory,” he added.

The SDO (civil), Gohar subdivision, Mr D.L. Kalia, said the police and the health authorities were investigating the matter and compensation could not be given before ascertaining the cause of death.

The bodies had been cremated by the family. “We are investigating other angles also,” a police official said.

Shimla, September 17
The debt-ridden hill state is looking for a soft loan from the World Bank to keep its fiscal liabilities within manageable limits.

The Centre has agreed in principle to recommend the Himachal Pradesh’s case to the World Bank and the state has already started negotiations.

A preparatory mission of the bank will visit Shimla later this week to assess the financial position and requirement of the state.

The state tentatively proposes to raise $ 200 million, which it requires to meet the annual budget deficit of Rs 1,000 crore.

The decision of the Centre to consolidate all its outstanding loans amounting to over Rs 9,000 and charge interest at a uniform rate of 7.5 per cent has brought down the annual interest burden by Rs 300 crore.

However, with a debt liability of over Rs 19,500 crore, the state has been still spending a whopping Rs 2,800 crore on debt servicing. It is a huge amount considering the fact that the state’s own income is only Rs 2,200 crore.

The gravity of the situation can be judged from the fact that 35 per cent of the budget is being spent on debt servicing.

The growing debt liability of the government has been indeed a matter of concern as the outstanding loan came to 83 per cent of the gross state domestic product (GSDP). As per norms the total debt should not exceed 40 per cent of the GSDP.

The strategy to improve the situation is to cap the loans at the existing level so that it falls within the prescribed limit due to the normal 10 per cent growth of the GSDP over the next few years.

The GSDP stood at Rs 22,000 crore last year and as such the loan liability, if maintained at the present level, will be brought within the limits over the next six to eight years.

The state is also making efforts to get its annual plan funded totally by the Centre. Even at present the Central funding of the plan extends to 85 per cent and the rest of the amount is contributed by the state by raising loans. If the level of central funding is further increased the state will not have to raise loans.

Shimla, September 17
Taking head on the BJP on appointments under the PTA (Parent-Teacher Association) scheme, Mr Kuldeep Rathore, general secretary of the state Congress, said the party, which virtually institutionalised backdoor appointments through the State subordinate selection services board had no moral right to raise such issues.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday set up by the BJP government at Hamirpur, the home district of Mr P.K. Dhumal, former Chief Minister, had committed gross irregularities in recruitments. The situation was so grave that four BJP ministers openly made allegations of favouritism and corruption against the board and demanded an inquiry.

The Congress government on coming to power probed the allegations as a result of which Mr S.M. Katwal, a former chairperson of the board, had been convicted in three cases. Some more cases were still under investigation.

Despite such a track record the party was raising hue and cry about the appointments made through the PTA in which the government had no role except that it was providing funds to pay salaries so that the parents were not burdened. It was purely a stop-gap arrangement to provide teachers in educational institutions till regular appointments, which took quite some time, were made.

Mr Rathore alleged that the BJP leaders were indulging in such misleading propaganda only to divert attention from the factional fight within the party which had reached a  new high. 

Chamunda, September 17
Mr Vijay Goel, BJP national secretary, here today gave a clarion call to the members of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) to come together in spreading the policies and ideology of the party as, he said, the BJP was all set to come back to power in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.

He was addressing a three day meeting of the BJYM, which concluded at Chamunda, near here, today.

Talking to The Tribune, Mr Goel said the BJP was now concentrating on making the best use of the youth power at different levels in the party set-up.

He said the organisational elections of the BJP would help in infusing new blood into the party’s rank and file once the new bodies were installed in November. He said efforts were on to give the maximum possible opportunities to young leaders. The “BJP was the only party which had a democratic way of choosing who would lead the organisation at different levels,” he said.

Addressing a press conference, Mr Dharaminder Prasad national president of the BJYM, said the political challenges facing the country were discussed at the three-day meet. “ The UPA government at the centre seemed to have a casual approach towards the internal security of the country.

He said that it was worth condemning that the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, had given a clean chit to Pakistan on spreading terror in India by saying that certain autonomous groups were out of the Pakistan Government’s control.

He said the prices of daily necessities had increased manifold and the UPA government had failed to put a check on it.

A two-day national executive of the BJYM would be held in Pathankot from Sepetmber18.

Former Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal had a dig at the UPA government for failing to keep prices of daily necessities under control, even though the Prime Minister was himself a man of economics.

Senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar and leaders of the BJP’s district units from Kangra and Palampur also attended the meeting.

Dharamsala, September 17
It's a piquant situation. Even though the blindness control societies in Himachal Pradesh are busy motivating people to pledge their eyes, there is no eye collection centre in the state, making the entire campaign a futile exercise.

As many as 100 persons have pledged their eyes in Kangra district during the blindness control fortnight itself, which concluded recently. But the organizers themselves are not sure whether these pledged eyes would be put to any use.

Even though the District Red Cross Society had moved a case for setting up of an eye collection centre in Dharamsala, it is yet to get a go-ahead from the Health Department and it would take so more time to make the pledging process fruitful.

A senior functionary of the District Blindness Control Society confirmed that until an eye collection centre comes up in the state, the blindness control societies could only spread awareness about pledging under the National Programme for Control of Blindness.

He said a host of steps had been taken by the society to increase public awareness about the usefulness of eye donation in restoring vision of those who were blind due to damage of cornea.

"Since eyes should be removed within six hours after death, it is important that the relatives and friends inform the nearest eye bank immediately, reads the information brochure. But what's the point as there is no eye collection centre in the entire state and taking the removed cornea to Chandigarh would take much longer," says an ophthalmologist, on condition of anonymity.

On the other hand, Dr Swatantra Mahajan, district programme manage, said the blindness control fortnight had proved successful as they have been getting requests from the units in different units for more pledge forms as the response has been very encouraging, he said.

At a seminar organized in Dharamsala recently, Dr S.B.Sood, SMO, Kangra, addressed representatives of different non-government organizations and self-help groups on eye donation.

He said even costly treatment cannot restore sight in corneal blind individuals and it was only donation of eyes after deaths that can bring light to the blind. There is still no substitute available for the human corneas and this is the only human body part which can be used after death.

An official of the District Red Cross Society said a case had been moved for setting up of an eye collection center at Dharamsala about three years back but it has not been given a go-ahead. Besides, he added, qualified staff and infrastructure would be required for running the eye collection centre for which financial aid is a must.

Shimla, September 17
The Himachal government plans to introduce vocational educational in all institutions of higher education in a phased manner.

The objective is to improve the employability of students by honing their vocational skills. The private sector will also be involved in a big way to make the hill state the knowledge hub of the country.

Himachal Pradesh has already made remarkable progress in the field of education and leading national weekly had in its countrywide survey rated it as the top state in the field of education.

It overtook Kerala in 2005 and the most notable outcome was in education that propelled the literacy rate from 31.3 per cent to 77.13 per cent in two decades, a feat that outshines the most literate state of Kerala.

The state is now laying stress on improving the quality of education system.

The state was the sole facilitator in providing education and health services in the state, where Kerala various missionaries and non-governmental organizations were also supplementing the endeavours of the government.

The girl students are being provided education free of cost at all levels, including professional courses. A number of scholarship and other incentives have been introduced to attract children to schools and achieve gender equality.

Under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, free text books are being distributed in children of Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Class categories.

The infrastructure was being improved in colleges and Rs. 50 crore had been made for construction of buildings in 14 new degree colleges opened during the current financial year.

Kulu, September 17
Though the Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB) and the Himachal Pradesh police will launch an anti- cannabis drive in the landlocked Malana village and Manlunder forest areas in Kulu district tomorrow, drug traffickers and cultivators have invented ways to cultivate and smuggle high-quality hashish.

They have started using Nepalese women labourers and men clad as sadhus as couriers to hoodwink the police, revealed sources.

According to the NCB and police the villagers cultivated cannabis in Malana and its surroundings despite an NCB-police drive in the areas last year. The drug traffickers are also using Nepalese, apart from locals, as cultivators, revealed sources. The higher areas in Kulu and Mandi district have emerged as a haven for the drug smugglers.

Interestingly, the Forest and Revenue Departments are not involved in the campaign. Secondly, the alternative crop scheme for the villagers his yet to take to them, the sources added.

The NCB superintendent, Mr O.P. Sharma, who is leading the operation, said they had inputs that cannabis had been cultivated in Malana and surrounding areas. 

Reckong Peo, September 17
A local journalist, Bal Krishan Negi (42), associated with Doordarshan and All India Radio died of cardiac arrest at his Barang village in Kinnaur district , late last night.

The Tribal Journalists Association of Kinnaur, Lahaul and Spiti condoled his death.