Palampur, January 7
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today warned the medical officers to join their new place of posting or face dismissal from the service. He said the government had received reports that most of the medical officers, recently posted in rural areas, were unwilling to join their news assignments and so far had not reported for duty.

The Chief Minister was talking to mediapersons at Paprola after the inauguration of new library building at Rajiv Gandhi Ayurvedic College, this afternoon. He said if the medical officers failed to amend their attitude the state government would be forced to initiate some hard measures like dismissal from service. He regretted that while the government was spending over Rs 20 lakh on the education one medical student, they were reluctant joint their duties. He particularly warned women doctors, most of whom had either gone on leave or failed to report on their duties.

He said the state government was committed to develop the Tanda Medical College to the level of AIMS so there would no shortage of funds. The government had already sanctioned Rs 55 crore for the purchase of new instruments.

Also the funds for the ongoing projects in the Tanda Medical Colleges had also been sanctioned. The hospital and medical college would start functioning at Tanda in March.

Referring to the setting up of Vivekanand Medical College at Palampur by former Chief Minister Shanta Kumar, the Chief Minister regretted that despite the fact the state government had given 60 acres of land for this project valuing at Rs 75 crore, but this health institution had failed to come up for reasons best known to Mr Shanta Kumar.

He said Mr Shanta Kumar, who is chairman of the VMRT trust, must fulfill his commitment to the public from whom he had secured donations worth crores of rupees.

The Chief Minister said if trust was not in a position to complete the project, it should hand over the land back to the state government so that the government could plan accordingly on the future of the VMRT.

Baijnath, January 7
The Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, has denied the charges being levelled by the BJP leaders of the state that the Congress Government was extending step motherly treatment to merged areas of the state particularly the Kangra district.

He termed the recent statements issued by former Chief Minister Shanta Kumar that the present Chief Minister had ignored the interest of Palampur during his four years tenure, as misleading, false and baseless.

Mr Shanta Kumar had, in a statement issued here yesterday, alleged that Virbhadra Singh had not allowed the setting up of an AIMS level hospital at Palampur and refused to write a letter to then Union Health Minister Sushma Swaraj, who was ready to set up this health institution at Palampur and had also announced sanction of funds to the tune of Rs 200 core for the hospital. Because of the non-cooperative attitude of Mr Virbhadra Singh the Centre had allocated this health institution to Raipur in Chhattisgarh.

The Chief Minister was addressing mediapersons at PWD Rest House Baijnath this afternoon on the third day of his winter sojourn in Kangra valley. He said the Congress government had always given top priority to the development of Kangra district. He said Kangra district, which had 16 Assembly segments was considered as one of the important districts of the state and it had political significance also, all the time the people of Kangra had given an overwhelming response to the Congress.

The Chief Minister regretted that senior BJP leaders like Shanta Kumar were adopting cheap tactics and were raising the issue of discrimination and regionalism to achieve their political goals.

He said as far as the development of Kangra was concerned, the Congress had done a lot for Kangra. All the important offices like HP Board of School Education, Chief Engineers, IPH, PWD, HPSEB, Joint Director Horticulture, Agriculture and Animal Husbandry etc had been shifted during his tenure. He said the Congress government had given the status of second capital to Dharamsala. Even in sanctioning of budget allocations he had given special priority to Kangra, he added.

He said the state government had also planned to strengthen the air network in the state. 

Kangra, January 7
The Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, today launched the first phase of the Pulse Polio Immunisation campaign from the Zonal Hospital, Dharamsala, by administering the oral polio drops to children between zero to five years of age. He urged the agencies to ensure that every child up to five years of age was brought to the nearest booth and administered polio drops to build a healthy society.

The Chief Minister said there were 7,44,192 children between zero to five years in age in the state and 5,855 booths, 69 transit and 91 mobile booths had been set up all over the state which were being manned by 24,461 health workers. About 1,050 booths had also been established in the district where 4,200 health workers would be administering the pulse polio drops to the children.

Mr Virbhadra Singh said: “The state has the most effective rural health infrastructure. Majority of doctors and para-medical staff’s post had been filled during the past three years”.

He said although people were aware of the health campaign launched by the state government from time to time but migrant labourers coming from other states should also get their children immunised.

He said his government was committed to make the state polio free and steps had been taken ensure public participation for its success.

Mandi, January 6
The central part of the district has emerged as a new “power centre” in the state as both Congress and the BJP have realised that neither can come to power without getting people’s support from this district. It has 10 MLAs, the second largest number after Kangra district in the state Vidhan Sabha.

This fact got reinforced after the BJP chose to handover the command of party affairs to the BJP MLA from Chachioyot, Mr Jai Ram Thakur, for a period of three years as the state assembly polls are round the corner.

Though the party is hopeful of putting up a brave front in the merged areas as it is trying to cash in on the anti-incumbency factor if any against the ruling Congress.

But it is nursing the district to stage a comeback and hence the party has given a clear signal to the electorates by appointing Mr Thakur as the new chief.

The Congress on its part has decided to keep two of its ministers-the IPH Minister, Mr Kaul Singh Thakur, and the Excise and Taxation Minister, Mr Rangila Ram Rao- in the Virbhadra Singh Cabinet even at the cost of downsizing it, which had kicked off a major controversy with the party facing the bogey of discrimination against the so-called lower region last time.

Besides this the Congress also believes that the party is well-entrenched in the old Himachal districts, while the BJP feels comfortable in the merged areas, represented by its bigwigs like the former Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, and the former Chief Minister and the Union Consumer Affairs Minister, Mr Shanta Kumar, who is also BJP National Vice-President, observers commented.

Bilaspur, January 7
The World Bank’s Rs 365 crore Mid Himalaya Watershed project sanctioned for Himachal last year has been included in list of nine projects in the world for consideration for the World Bank’s ‘Green Award’.

Himachal Forest Youth Services and Sports Minister Ram Lal Thakur stated this at a press conference here today. The minister said this distinction had been possible in the hard work of staff and 600 panchayats.

Mr Thakur said the World Bank had now agreed to the suggestion of Himachal government and provided more Rs 30 crore for the upkeep of the plants in next five years of the plantation. He said this amount would be without interest and given to panchayats at rate of Rs 50,000 every year for every 10 hectares of plantation. He said that this is for the first time that the World Bank had come forward with follow up amount of any of its projects for maintaining the plantation.

The minister said main object of this project was to preserve water and through various means by water management and recharging of natural sources of water and thus bring greenery and improvement in environment through participation of villagers. He said soil conservation, plantation, water preservation and its proper utilisation were main features of the project in which, Agriculture, Horticulture and Animal Husbandry departments were involved under the guidance of the Forest Department for faster growth and prosperity of the area. He said after seven years of the project-tenure 30,000 poor families were expected to be brought above the poverty line and made self-sufficient.

Mr Thakur said the project had held 59 Veterinary training camps for some 3000 farmers this year till now. Mr Thakur said the project had headquarters at Solan with two zonal offices at Bilaspur and Dharamsala and had staff of 740 officials and officers while 1204 persons were also being employed in the panchayats for the implementation of the programmes.

He said 300 employees rendered jobless after the ending of ‘Kandi Project’, in which they served for 18-20 years, were also being re-employed in this project.

Nurpur, January 7
Spread over an area of about 24,000 hectares in Jawali, Dehra and Nurpur subdivisions on the foothills of Kangra district, the Pong Dam lake has become a major attraction for tourists visiting Himachal Pradesh. The foreign migratory birds, which throng the lake with the onset of winter, are making it eco-friendly. Different types of migratory birds from Siberia, Mongolia, China, Tibet, Pakistan and Iraq have started descending on this wetland since November after covering a distance of thousands of miles. A large number of birds arrived here in the beginning of December.

Pong wetland, which has been renamed Maharana Pratap Sagar, has Ransor island in the middle of the lake. The migratory birds fly over the lake in flocks during the day and add to the glamour of the lake. They stay at night on the island in the middle of the lake. In view of their frequent and seasonal stay the state government has declared the lake as a wildlife sanctuary. A few years back this has got international recognition when it was declared International Ramsor Site.

Even though poaching is strictly prohibited under the Wildlife Act, poachers kill these birds with impunity. No doubt, the Wildlife Department has tried to check poaching but violators adopt new methods. They serve poisonous foodgrains to the birds and sell these birds at the rate of Rs 30 to Rs 50 each. Social organisations and environmentalists have demanded action against poachers. These migratory birds which throng the lake in November and December every year return to their native places in March. The migratory birds include pintails, coots, black and white ducks, brahminy ducks and pochards.

According to Mr D.S Dadwal, range officer Wild Life Department, Nagrota Surian, over 80000 migratory birds of 84 species had been sighted at the Pong Lake till December 21. Last year the department had recorded the arrival of about 1.5 lakh migratory birds. The department is also organising special awareness camps to educate the locals about the possibilities of spreading bird flu a dreaded disease, through migratory birds. In order to check the bird flu virus the veterinary experts Wild Life Department from Shimla has recently collected samples of droppings of migratory birds. The laboratory report is, however, still being awaited.

Mandi, January 7
A few days’ old cub of a leopard cat died a few hours after it was rescued by the Forest Department. The cub was spotted in the Jawahar Nagar locality by shopkeepers.

According to forest officials, they had rescued the cub after it was spotted in the locality, but it died later in the evening as it was ailing. The cub might have strayed, said a forest official.

They added the leopard cats were found in good number in the nearby Kangni and surrounding forest around the town.