Palampur, March 10
Reports of outbreak of jaundice in three villages near Palampur in Kangra district have created a scare of water-borne diseases in the area.

Ten cases of jaundice have so far been confirmed in the area with many more suspected cases also. Teams of the irrigation and public health department and health department have been deployed to monitor the situation.

Investigations made by The Tribune revealed that scores of patients suffering from water-borne diseases from the villages of Ghanetta, Darang and Dhauran were being visiting some private practitioners during the past few days, which raised the eyebrows of the local administration.

Former pradhan of the gram sabha of Ghanetta Shiv Pal Singh alleged that the water being supplied to these villages was not being chlorinated from the past many days as the water treatment plant was not working properly.

He said the local residents had complained many a times to the local authorities of the irrigation and public health department but no one turned up to look into the problems of the villagers.

When contacted, chief medical officer of Kangra district Dr J.S. Chandel confirmed that 10 cases of jaundice were detected in these villages.

“I, along with a team of senior medical officers and engineers of the irrigation and public health department, visited the affected areas to monitor the situation,” he added.

He said besides educating the residents about the preventive measures of jaundice, chlorine tablets and ORS packets were being distributed among the residents as a preventive measure. He said a few water samples were taken from these villages and sent for chemical analysis.

The health department has asked the chief engineer of the irrigation and public health department, besides senior authorities of the district administration, to ensure that the water supply is safe and fit for drinking.

“We are keeping a strict eye on the quality of water supply and in case of any complaint, alternate supply of potable water will be arranged,” said a senior official of the irrigation and public health department.

The Tribune tried to contact district magistrate of Kangra Bharat Khera many a times on both his landline and mobile phones to have the district administration’s version on the issue but he did not attended the calls.

Hamirpur, March 10
Acting tough against a Punjab-based medicine-manufacturing company, the district health authorities have filed a charge sheet in the local court after fungus was detected in an injection fluid sometime back in the Hamirpur zonal hospital.

The drugs inspector yesterday filed the charge sheet in the court of judicial magistrate under the Indian Drugs and Cosmetic Act, 1940.

The case pertains to November 15, 2006, when staff of the zonal hospital had found fungus in Ringer Lactate injection fluid in the hospital ward, which was supplied by a Punjab-based medicinal fluid-manufacturing company.

When the matter was brought to the notice of the health department, the director of health services had not only stopped the supply of fluids supplied by the company in the state, but also ordered an inquiry in the matter.

On the basis of the inquiry, the drugs inspector investigated the case under the provisions of the Indian drugs act and prepared a charge sheet against the supplier.

District drugs inspector Nishant Sareen told The Tribune that “we have pursued the case with all seriousness since not only do we want to punish the guilty supplier, but also to set an example for other medicine suppliers in the state.”

Kumarhatti, March 10
“The defeat of the Congress in Punjab has nothing to do with outcome of poll in Himachal. It will return to power with thumping majority,” said transport minister GS Bali, while talking to mediapersons at Nalagarh last night.

The BJP has no right to speak on corruption, he said. The BJP propaganda over corruption would not click in any way, as state public was aware of involvement of the BJP in high level of corruption. During the BJP regime its own legislators had voiced their protest against a government minister, who was left with no option than to resign. Ironically, the same leader was again given a senior position by the BJP. Hailing the recently announced state budget, the transport minister said that it was welcomed by all except the BJP. It was in the interest of common man and the funds have been allocated for all sectors to ensure welfare of the public besides strengthening the infrastructure. Unable to digest favourable budget, the BJP was making unnecessary hue and cry over it. 

Kulu, March 10
Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister laid the foundation stone of Dev Sadan to be constructed at a cost of Rs 1.32 crore at Dhalpur here today. He said it would fulfil the demand of devotees participating in Kulu Dasehra.

Addressing Kardars assembled from all over the area and people, Virbhadra Singh said efforts would be to complete the sadan before Dasehra festival this year. He announced Rs. 50 lakh for the construction of the Sadan and assured fund to the construction committee of the sadan as work progressed.

He assured to provide a land for the press club at Kulu to reporters. A delegation of he press Club of Kulu met the Chief Minister and requested him to lay the foundation stone of the Club building his next visit here.

He said Kulu was known valley of gods and people from all over the world visited the valley as tourist destination. He said Kulu Dasehra was the major attraction besides beauty of the area. He said people of the area had faith in local deities who were important part of the Dasehra festival.

Virbhadra Singh said the state was witnessing cultural revolution as fairs and festivals were being celebrated with fervour and it was a matter of pride people of the state had preserved culture despite modern influences and maintained faith in fairs and festivals. He said people who were trying to misuse the holy place for selfish motives were not well wishers of rich culture of state and such attempts would make people lose faith in the authorities managing holy places.

The Chief Minister said his government had created corpus of Rs 12.5 crore to provide assistance to the temples, which had lost land holdings at the time of implementation of land reforms Act. He said funds would be utilised for devotional services in all such temples and identification of such temples was on. He said corpus would help perserve of rich cultural heritage of the state.

Raj Kishan Gaur, Agriculture Minister, Khimi Ram, MLA, Satya Prakash Thakur Chairman state marketing Board were present on the occasion. 

Manali, March 10
Tourist town Manali and its adjoining areas today experienced fresh snow, while the lower parts of the region were lashed by rain on Saturday, renewing cold wave in the region. The entire upper Manali region has been covered with a thick blanket of snow.

The higher regions of the Kulu valley, including Pir Panjal range, Hamata ski slopes, Bhrighu slopes, Chander Khani pass and the 13,050 feet high Rohtang pass experienced heavy snowfall.

In Manali the tourists ventured out to enjoy the snow. The snow on the ski slopes brought smiles on the faces of winter sports lovers.

Vehicular traffic on Manali-Rohtang road was disrupted due to the snow at several places beyond Nehru kund about 5 km from here.

Icy winds, which lashed the region throughout the day further, intensified the cold wave. The severe cold forced the local residents to remain indoors. The apple growers of the Kulu valley were happy, as the snow will be good for their crop.

Mandi, March 10
After a major late night operation, the Mandi district police today claimed to have busted an international gang of charas smugglers. As many as four drug peddlers, including two foreigners, were arrested and booked under the NDPS Act after the police recovered 18 kg well-packaged charas allegedly from their possession.

A six-member police team led by Mandi sadar station house officer Rajesh Kumar acted on a tip-off and laid a naka on the Katindi-Kamand road, a bifurcation from Kulu leading into the Drang constituency in Mandi district around 11.30 pm yesterday. The team intercepted a car (DL-3C-AB-2774) there and searched its occupants and recovered 18 kg of high quality charas from their possession, the police claimed.

Those arrested included a local, who is also wanted in connection with timber smuggling cases and an Uttar Pradesh-based smuggler, who had been released from jail recently in a smuggling case along with two nationals of Italy.

The two Indian peddlers have been identified as Deepak, son of Indradev, Nandli village, Katola, Mandi district and Gopal Das, from Ghantaghar, Mathura, UP. The police claimed that the Gopal Das was driving the car. “The consignment of charas was well-packaged in two red and black bags by the four accused”.

The two Italian nationals, who were arrested along with the two Indian smugglers, have been identified as Anglo Falkon and Simon Novili. “The two Italians had valid visas and had landed in India on December 12 and were scouting for consignments in the drug haven of Mandi-Kulu region for the past 15 days", the police revealed.

Superintendent of police, Mandi district, M.Chander Sekhar said it was an active gang with international links. “The two Italians have been around for some time. The police was investigating their links with the local and international charas drug peddlers”, he added.

Later in the evening the police produced the four accused before the district judge here, who sent them to police remand.

Dharamsala, March 10
Sujata, a girl student of 10 Plus I who consumed poison on Thursday night when she was caught by the flying squad for copying in examination died last evening.

The parents of the girl had not made a formal complaint to the police in this regard. Therefore, post-mortem examination of the body could not be conducted. However, the police on its own has initiated inquest proceedings into the incident under Section-174 of the CrPC.

It was learnt the flying squad of the Himachal Pradesh School Education Board headed by Ram Singh had raided the examination centre of the government senior secondary school Indora at 3.55 pm and checked the students as per rules and regulations framed by the board. As many as 28 students were found having “objectionable material” with them in the examination hall. Sujata was one of them. She was appearing in the history examination and 30 pages torn from a history book were recovered from her possession.

As per rules, the answer sheet was snatched from her and sent to the board authorities along with the 30 pages of history book recovered from her. She then was given another answer sheet on which she wrote a few answers during the rest of the time left for the examination.

Incidentally, B.R. Rahi, chairman of the education board, and a few other senior authorities were also present in the Principal’s room at that time for a dispute between the school authorities and the examination staff.

After the examination was over, she went to her house and consumed some poisonous substance. She was rushed to a local hospital from where she was referred to the medical college at Dharamsala on Friday. She died on the way to Dharamsala.

When the police here came to know about the incident, parents of the girl were approached for their statement and post-mortem examination of the body. However, parents of girl refused to record their statement and make a formal case in this regard, said Santosh Patial ASP of the police. However, reacting to the situation, the police initiated inquest proceedings under Section-174 of the CrPC to investigate the matter, he added.

Meanwhile, Rahi revealed the deceased girl had appeared in the 10 plus I examinations last year also but failed to clear History and Hindi subjects.