Shimla, December 2
Celebrations turned into a tragedy as one of the vehicles carrying a marriage party from Remu in Nirmand to Challan, near Kingal, rolled into a 500-foot-deep gorge near Bithal in Rampur subdivision early today, killing 16 persons, including eight women. While a 12-year-old boy escaped with injuries, another was reported missing.

The ill-fated private passenger transport vehicle (Tempo Trax HP-1A-3255) was being driven by its owner, Madan Lal, who died on spot. Most of those killed in the mishap belonged to the Nirmand area. They together had hired the vehicle for the late-night journey. A pall of gloom descended on Dhank Pat village in Nirmand which lost 11 of its residents. Four families virtually perished in the tragic accident. Shyam lal, his wife Leela Devi, son Suresh died in the mishap while his second son, Kamlesh, was missing.

Jia Lal and his wife, Janki Devi, were killed while their 12-year-old son Rohit was seriously injured. Khoru Ram and his wife, Pitri Devi, both from Shinairi village, and Amar Chand and his wife, Ramila Devi, were also killed in the accident.

However, two persons had a providential escape as they got down from the vehicle at Neogli a few minutes before the accident. Nand Lal, pradhan of the Towar panchayat, said he always considered the Tempo Trax an unreliable vehicle and while on board he thought of getting down and taking a bus. He disembarked along with Surat Ram which saved their lives.

The cause of the accident could not be ascertained immediately. The police has registered a case. ASP Jai Pal said there were no parapets on the valley side of the road and prima facie it appeared to be a case of human error.

However, Rohit who was injured in the mishap said the vehicle was probably hit by another vehicle coming from the opposite direction.

The next of kin of those killed were provided Rs 6,000 each as immediate relief and the injured Rs 4,000 each. Governor V.S.Kokje and Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh have expressed sorrow over the accident and conveyed their sympathies to the bereaved families.

The deceased have been identified as Sanjeev Kumar, Jia Lal, Janki Devi, Ramila Devi, Amar Chand, Shyam Lal, Leela Devi, Hukum Ram and Kamal Devi (all of Dhank Pat village in Nirmand), Savitri Devi of Mai Dhar in Nirmand, Suresh Kumar of Ghiyara, Khoru of Uhli Nal village, Pitri Devi, wife of Khoru, Madan Lal of Sublok village in Kumarsain, Rita Devi and Man Dasi of Shinairi.

Una, December 2
The Kutlehar constituency can easily be described as the most backward area
in the district.

Very little has changed for the people in many areas of the constituency since Independence. Lidhkot and Garvasra villages are still not connected with kutcha roads.

After rains or during the monsoon there is no public transport available to these areas and people have to travel on foot or use their own conveyance.

The constituency extends along Gobind Sagar Lake and the Sutlej in many parts. The people of the area have lost most of their land due to the construction of the Bhakra Dam.

They are now residing on the banks of the biggest manmade lake of the country, but have to depend on nature to irrigate their fields.

The government has failed to install lift irrigation project here to provide irrigation facilities to the farmers of the area. This is the main cause of their misery.

Handola village is not directly connected with the state by road. People have to travel through Punjab to reach other parts of the district. The village is bereft of basic facilities. There are no roads or drains in the village.

In some of the areas, people have to travel more than 20 km to reach the Primary health Centre (PHC). In the hilly areas, the PHC is located at Thanakalan village only.

Sources said there was another PHC in the area, but it was later shifted to a neighbouring constituency represented by a Congress leader.

A bridge over the Sutlej near Mandali village can shorten the distance for the people of the constituency wanting to visit surrounding areas.

For the past more than 15 years, the bridge construction effort has remained limited to the foundation stone level. The stone was laid by Virbhadra Singh.

Drinking water is another problem being faced by the people of the area, especially during summers. Though many water schemes have been implemented in the district during the past years, the Kutlehar constituency has not gained much. It has hardly witnessed any development in the past five years.

The constituency is represented by opposition MLA Varinder Singh. For past three elections, the BJP has been winning from the area. However, hardly any significant development took place in the constituency even during the BJP rule from 1997 to 2003.

This time, the constituency is witnessing contest between BJP nominee Varinder Singh and Ram Nath of the Congress. Local issues have taken a backstage in the campaigning. Leaders are concentrating on state or political issue to garner votes. For people of the area, employment, roads, basic health and education facilities are the major issues.

Chamba, December 2
Two persons were charred to death in a devastating fire that broke out at Gajnui village, around 15 km from here, last night.

Immediately after the fire was noticed, members of the family came out in the open. However, four-year-old Dheeraj was left sleeping in the house.

To rescue the child, his father Ramesh plunged into the flames. However, neither could he save his son nor himself. Both of them were charred to death.

An immediate relief of Rs 70,000 has been given to the next of kin of the deceased. Officials were still assessing the loss.

Nurpur: Bhagwan Dass (60), a resident of Golwan, was killed when his motorcycle collided head on with another motorcycle coming from wrong side at Raja Ka Talab this afternoon.

After the accident, she was taken to Sujanpur hospital where she succumbed to her injuries. The motorcyclist managed to run away after the accident.

Nurpur, December 2
The Congress cadre in the Gangath constituency (SC) is on tenterhooks following the rejection of nomination papers of party’s changed candidate Krishan Kumar, son of late MLA Dhinu Ram.

He was declared party nominee just before the closing of filing of nomination papers on Friday.

Earlier, the party had fielded sitting MLA Bodh Raj as its nominee. He filed nomination on Thursday. However, the Supreme Court declared him disqualified for contesting election as an SC candidate.

The judgement came in the wake of an appeal filed by local ex-BJP MLA Des Raj against a decision of the high court in 2003.

The Congress high command changed him and fielded Krishan Kumar in his place. However, due to belated submission of the candidature authority letter, the returning officer rejected the papers of the party candidate yesterday.

With the rejection of nomination papers of Krishan Kumar and holding Bodh Raj as the official candidate of the party by the returning officer in the absence of a copy of the judgement of the Supreme Court, the Congress is in a dilemma over its existence in the poll fray.

State Congress general secretary and party spokesman Kuldeep Rathore said legal aspects would be studied after receiving the copy of the judgement and a review petition could be filed.

“The Congress has yet to formulate its strategy in the wake of the new development in the constituency,” he said.

He also admitted that the sitting Congress MLA of the constituency had committed a mistake by not filing nomination papers of his covering candidate at the time of filing his nomination.

Shimla, December 2
Taking a tough posture on the issue of corruption former Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal said today that the BJP would investigate all scams and scandals and review the controversial ski village project on coming to power.

Addressing a press conference here today he said the Virbhadra Singh regime was the most corrupt and his government would spare no effort to bring those guilty to book.

The BJP had over the past four years submitted three chargesheets again the government containing serious allegations of corruption which would come under the scanner. In fact, some of which were proved subsequently.

He said that the one of the major scams pertained to supply of spurious fertilisers to farmers by state-owned Himfed.

Samples of these fertilisers were tested in the state laboratory and found substandard. The matter was highlighted in the media but the government took no action.

Similarly, the insecticides supplied to fruit growers were also ineffective. The BJP government would inquire into the scandal and take appropriate action.

Even during the current rabi sowing season the state agencies had failed to make available fertilisers as per the demand of farmers. While the demand was for fertilisers with the NPK ratio of 12:32:16, the farmers were being supplied fertilizers with NPK ratio 10:26:26.

He charged Virbhadra Singh with misleading the people on the issue of hard disk and said there was nothing in the report of the forensic science laboratory report which had given a clean chit in the case.

He also released copies of the report which stated that no active or deleted document pertaining to recommendations for appointments by the State Subordinate Services Selection Board had been found in the suspected storage media.

He said Virbhadra Singh should also send the audio CD released by Mankotia against him for forensic examination like the hard disk.

The Chief Minister was saying that it was an old recording when there was no CD technology but the moot question was whether the contents of the recorded conversations, particularly regarding money transaction and promotions of officers who also figured in the CD, were true or not.

Referring to the ski village project he said that a lot of questions still remained unanswered and most of the mandatory clearances had not been obtained so far.

The issue of no objection from the minister of defence and environment had also not been settled so far. His government would have a fresh look at it but without any prejudice.

Referring to the emergence of BSP he said the hill state had been polarised thoroughly throwing up a two-party system with the BJP and the Congress occupying the center- stage.

However, whenever a strong effort had been made to forge a third front it had only helped the BJP in ousting the Congress from office. As such the presence of the BSP would only help the BJP.

He claimed that there was a strong wave in favour of the BJP which would help the party to sweep the assembly poll.

Palampur, December 2
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has said that BJP leaders have already accepted defeat and started talking about post-poll adjustments with certain independent candidates.

He was referring to the candidature of D.D Thakur, DCC president, Mandi, who has now been made the BJP candidate.

Talking to The Tribune near Chintpurni yesterday Virbhadra said this had exposed the doublespeak of P. K. Dhumal and other BJP leaders, who had always tried to take the high moral ground, misleading the people.

He said the youth were disenchanted because of the anti-youth and anti-people policies of the BJP, who brought the state on the verge of bankruptcy when it was in power and there were ominous signs of unrest amongst the unemployed youths, who had been taken for a ride by the Dhumal government.

The Chief Minister said corruption was the major issue in the coming elections and the BJP leaders who had looted the state would have to explain their conduct to the people.

He said the issues of corruption and mis-governance during the regime of the BJP from 1998 to 2003 raised by the Congress had been accepted by the people, which had rattled the BJP leaders, who had started a malicious campaign against the Congress to divert attention.

He said it was a matter of shame that three directors of health services had been put behind bars for corruption during the BJP regime.

The recent judgement of the Hamirpur Court awarding three years imprisonment in two cases to chairman of the Subordinate Selection Board S.M. Katwal is a slur on the face of the BJP who had handpicked the officer for the key post when it was in power.

Blaming the BJP leaders for lacking vision, Virbhadra said the Congress government had tried its best to solve the mass problems like poverty, unemployment and provide neat and clean administration.

Una, December 2
Dismissing the claim of the BJP, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said the Congress would form the government in the state after the Vidhan Sabha elections.

He was talking to mediapersons here before leaving for campaign in the Kutlehar constituency. He said the Congress would not like to enter into personal allegations with other party leaders but would not hesitate to counter the same.

He called upon other political parties not to make Himachal politics as that of Punjab, where personal allegations on each other had become a routine.

He said differences apart elections should be fought on political issues that too in a nice way.

Virbhadra said various BJP leaders, including P.K. Dhumal, were threatening government employees/officers that they would be dealt with if the BJP came to power and called upon employees/officers to work fearlessly.

He alleged that the BJP was misguiding voters before elections on the Ram mandir issue.

Virbhadra Singh said tremendous development had taken place in the fields of education, health, road network, agriculture, irrigation, drinking water, electricity generation and social welfare in the state

Replying to question Virbhadra said the BSP which was contesting all 68 seats would not make much a difference in Hiamchal politics as political and social situation of the state was different from that of UP .

He further said now that nominations papers had been filed and the Congress had started the election campaign where central leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, the Prime Minister, Rahul Gandhi and many others would visit the state for campaign.

Kangra, December 2
The Kangra assembly constituency was facing a multi-cornered contest with the Congress, the BJP and the BSP as strong contenders for the seat but it was tough for the Congress because of the presence of the BSP.

Kangra had been a stronghold of the Congress till 1977 when Chaudhary Hari Ram represented this constituency for nearly two decades and remained a minister in the cabinet of Partap Singh Kairon when Kangra was a part of Punjab and was also the transport minister in the cabinet of Y.S.Parmar.

It was in 1977 following an anti-Congress wave in the country the Congress felt the turf thorny and Captain Partap Chaudhary representing the Janata Party was elected to the state assembly routing the Congress.

It was in 1982, for the first time BJP candidate Vidya Sagar was in the fray against Congress candidate Surender Kumar Chaudhary and Vidya Sagar was elected by a margin of 7,709 votes, which was the highest margin in the state. In 1985 Pushpa Chaudhary, daughter of the veteran Congress leader Hari Ram Chaudhary, was pitted as a Congress candidate from here but was defeated by Vidya Sagar by a margin of more than 2,600 votes.

In 1990 the Congress changed its strategy and fielded H. K. Chand Saini, a close confidante of former revenue minister Sat Mahajan, as a Congress candidate from here but this strategy of the Congress did not work well and Vidya Sagar defeated him by a margin of 16,830 votes. He remained as a minister in the cabinet of Shanta Kumar.

It was following the Babri Masjid debacle the Shanta Kumar government was sacked and in 1993 poll.

Vidiya Sagar lost to Daulat Chaudhary of the Congress by a margin of 6,758 votes. It was a come back for Vidya Sagar in 1998 when he defeated Daulat Chaudhary by a margin of 6,900 votes and remained the agriculture minister till 2003.

It was in 2003, Vidya Sagar deserted the BJP and contested as an Independent candidate and Rattan Jagat Amba, zila parishad chief, was pitted by the BJP in a multi-cornered contest and Chaudhary Surender Kaku was given a ticket by the Congress. It was Vidya Sagar who remained in the fray as an Independent candidate that damaged the BJP votebank leaving Rattan Jagat Amba in a lurch.

The Congress bagged this seat because of the BJP infighting and Surender Kaku was elected to the assembly.

Meanwhile, Sagar returned to the BJP fold and the party allotted him the ticket this time. Surender Kaku, chairman OBC Financial Corporation is in the fary on the Congress ticket.

The BSP for the first time fielded Sanjay Chaudhary as a candidate. Aman Guleria from the Communist Party, Chaudhary Devi Lal from Lok Janshakti Party, Amar Singh from the Akhil Bharti Hindu Mahasaba, besides three independents Banarsi Dass, Rajesh Nanda and Raj Kumar, have also filed their nomination papers.

The road to the assembly this time is not easy for the Congress candidate as Sanjay Chaudhary of the BSP represents a belt which is a stronghold of the Congress.

In this multi-cornered contest, practically it was a fight between Surender Kaku, Vidya Sagar and Sanjay Chaudhary.

The voters who got registered at their native villages and also at the state capital were not being asked the option and their names were being deleted from the electoral rolls of Shimla.

Hamirpur, December 2
With rebels from both the Congress and the BJP entering the fray by filing nominations for the Assembly election in Hamirpur district, the leaderships of both parties must be a worried lot.

Two rebels of the Congress have filed nominations from the Mewa and Naduanta constituencies against party nominees and one BJP rebel is in the fray from the Nadaun constituency.

Prem Kaushal, Congress candidate during the 1998 elections and a strong contender for the party ticket this time, filed his nomination for the Mewa constituency as an Independent candidate today. The Congress has fielded Suresh Kumar from there.

In the Naduanta constituency also, wife of former MLA and Congress leader Manjeet Singh Dogra, Avninder Rani has filed nomination against the official nominee of the Congress Vidya Zar.

Though Rajinder Zar and Manjeet Singh Dogra, both Congress rivals, have been battling it out within the party for quite a long time, both of them have are now fighting proxy war through their wives.

While the Congress ticket has been given to Vidya Zar, Manjeet Singh Dogra has fielded his wife Avninder Rani.

Manjeet Singh Dogra, who had contested the last Assembly election also against Vidya Zar, had secured 10,568 votes against 11,235 secured by Vidya Zar.

BJP rebel Prabhat Chaudhary filed nomination as a BSP candidate from the Nadaun constituency. He was a BJP ticket-seeker along with 21 other contenders and when the party ticket was given to a former student leader Vijay Agnihotri, Chaudhary revolted.

All three of them cannot be considered light candidate as they could mar the prospects of official nominees of their respective parties.

Though Avninder Kaur is entering the fray for the first time, Manjeet Dogra has been won as an Independent during the 1993 election and contested four elections i.e. twice as Congress candidate and twice as an Independent.

Similarly, Prabhat Chaudhary, who enjoys good support among the Girth community, had contested the last Assembly election as an Independent candidate and had secured 9,794 votes, while official BJP candidate Babu Ram Mandial could secure only 8,657 votes.

Shimla, December 2
The presence of a large number of Independents, including rebels from the BJP and the Congress, could play a significant role and upset the calculations of the two main political parties engaged in the fight for power in the hill state.

During the 2003 assembly elections six out of 110 Independents had been able to register victory. This time too the number of candidates trying their luck as Independents is above 100.

This includes prominent leaders like Rakesh Pathania, a BJP rebel from Nurpur; Deputy Speaker Dharam Pal of the Congress from Arki; former Shimla BJP chief R.D. Kashyap from Kasumpti; and Rakesh Verma from Theog, who could make the going tough for the official candidates.

The number of candidates who have been able to win as Independents has considerably come down as compared to the 1967 elections when they had polled 38 per cent of the total votes. An all-time high of 16 MLAs had won as Independents in the 1967 elections,

including stalwarts like Thakur Sen Negi from Kinnaur, Hira Singh Pal from Arki and Jai Bihari Lal Khachi from Theog.

Even in the first assembly in 1952 there were eight independents while their number rose to 16 in the 1957 territorial council.

As compared to earlier times when tall personalities like Thakur Sen Negi, a former Speaker who won thrice as an Independent from Kinnaur, were able to emerge victorious without the help of political parties, it is mostly rebels now who have been able to win with the tacit support of BJP or Congress.

The six Independents, including present assembly Speaker Gangu Ram Musafir, Mansa Ram and Gulab Singh, had helped in the formation of a Congress government in the 1982 elections.

A large number of Congress and BJP leaders won their first elections as Independents before joining some political party. Prominent among them were former Chief Minister Thakur Ram Lal, former communication minister Sukh Ram and Jai Bihari Lal from the Congress.

Even in the 2003 assembly elections a total of six candidates had won but most of them were rebels of the Congress. Out of them five MLAs, including Rakesh Verma from Theog, Sohan Lal from Kasumpti, Kuldeep Pathania from Bhattiyat, Biru Ram Kishore from Geharwin and Subhash Manglet from Chopal were supporters of the Chief Ministers who jumped into the fray as Independents on being denied the ticket.

In fact all five remained associate members and supported the Congress all through. Now all of them barring Rakesh Verma have been given the Congress ticket.

Similarly, Naveen Dhiman, a BJP rebel who won as an Independent from Pragpur in Kangra, remained aligned with the saffron party and is now its official nominee.

Shimla, December 2
The PCC chief Viplove Thakur has appointed senior party leaders as coordinators for organising rallies of national Congress president Sonia Gandhi to be held at various places.

Sat Mahajan will be the coordinator for the rally to be held at Rahan in Kangra district, Kaul Singh for Mandi, Kuldeep Kumar for Una and Harsh Mahajan for Shimla.

She also appointed campaign in charges for various districts. Ranjit Singh Verma will oversee the campaign in Hamirpur district, Harsh Mahajan in Shimla and Solan, Ajay Bahadur in Sirmaur, O.P. Rattan in Una, Sukh Ram in Mandi, Kunjna Singh in Bilaspur, Sat Mahajn in Kangra and Chamba and Phunchog Rai in Kullu.

A. N. Vidyarthi will be the spokesperson of the HPCC.

Nurpur, December 2
The election commission has appointed Jagdish Mohanti, a 1985-batch IAS officer (Rajasthan cadre), as election observer for the Nurpur and Gangath Assembly constituencies.

According to a press note issued by the returning officer, he will remain available at the state electricity board’s rest house at Bodh in Nurpur for redressal of grievances till the end of the Assembly elections.

Bilaspur: District election officer-cum-deputy commissioner Devesh Kumar has said that the Election Commission has appointed Madhukar Gupta as general observer for the Ghumarwin and Geharwin reserved constituencies.

Madhukar Gupta has set up his office at the PWD rest house, Ghumarwin, and his fax and phone No. is 254642 (mobile 94185-36668).

Solan, December 2
Faced with insurgence in the Arki constituency, from where deputy speaker Dharam Pal Thakur has filed his nomination as an Independent candidate after being denied the party ticket, the going appears to be tough for the Congress official nominee Prakash Karad.

Though the congress had maintained a stronghold over this constituency since 1993 but with two Congressmen in the fray now the split in voters share was naturally going to accrue benefits to the BJP nominee Govind Sharma.

Since he had lost by a slender margin in the 2003 assembly poll, he is now optimistic of wresting the seat back from the Congress.

With the Congress already facing anti-incumbency each and every seat has become significant for it if has to come back to power. Keeping this view in mind the senior leaders are endeavouring to prevail upon the rebels to step down in favour of the official nominees.

Senior leaders, including party in-charge R.K. Dhawan, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh as well as the PCC chief Viplove Thakur are busy trying to persuade rebels to withdraw from the contest. With Monday being the last day of withdrawal the senior leaders were engaged in this exercise confided party sources.

The sources added that these senior leaders were meeting the rebels in their respective areas of dominance and efforts were afoot to ensure the withdrawal of rebels. Trouble however arose with the party giving tickets to some of the associate members who had contested against the official nominee in the last elections.

This step has not only emboldened those denied a ticket, but now it had become a tool in the hands of the rebels who were now all set to contest as independents.

The fact that the victory as an independent candidate would ensure their entry back into the party fold, there was little fear of even a disciplinary action like suspension from the party observed senior leaders.

The PCC spokesman Kuldeep Rathod said the senior leaders were making best efforts to meet the rebels and make them withdraw but in case some rebels preferred to contest, disciplinary action as per their constitution would be taken against them.

It remained to be seen if the senior leaders were able to impress upon the deputy speaker to step down from the contest or he would go ahead and invite a disciplinary action.

The move assumes importance as the Congress official nominee Prakash Karad is the son of a former employee of PMO and has a sizeable influence in the party high command.

Undaunted by the denial of the party ticket Thakur was seen campaigning for himself in his constituency and he had switched off his cell phone to avoid any pressure.

Mandi, December 2
In a race to retain power in Shimla, the ruling Congress in the central Mandi-Kullu-Lahaul-Spiti region, which has 14 assembly segments, is countering the charges of corruption levelled by the rivals - the BJP and the BSP- against it at public meetings and press briefings by preaching its gospel of equal development of all regions and terming the charges as political propagandas to gain votes among voters.

Countering their charges on corruption, Mandi MP Pratibha Singh, who is the wife of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh termed the charges as political propagandas to gain votes.

Unfazed by the audio CD controversy raised by the BSP and used to hilt by the BJP Pratibha Singh said the issue was raked up earlier and now the matter was in the court and they would reply on it in the court itself. “The BJP is an issueless party and the voters are now well-informed about their false propagandas”, she added.

Pratibha cited a big list of development works at a press conference here being carried out by the government in the 14 assembly segments in Mandi-Kullu-Lahaul-Spiti.

“I have distributed an equal amount to each segment from the Rs 2-crore local area MP development fund each year in the past three years. The BJP had always given a raw deal to the people, she claimed.

She said the Congress government had sanctioned Rs 1,355 crore for the 8.8 km-long Rohtang tunnel that would link Lahaul to the outside world, the Bhanupali-Bilaspur railways line had been sanctioned by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi countering the BJP’s claim that the Rohtang tunnel issue was taken up by the then Vajpayee government and not by the Congress.

Pratibha Singh addressed rallies in support of Congress nominees at Sundernagar, Jogindernagar, Dharampur, Nachan.

She said the elections were declared without consulting the state government when the Chief Minister was on a foreign tour, which put several works on hold as model code of conduct came into force.

She said the government had controlled prices of essential commodities by providing an annual subsidy of Rs 100 crore and this issue had been taken away from the BJP.

“The Congress will win three tribal seats and win a majority of seats in Mandi and Kullu,” she claimed.

Shimla, December 2
General secretary of the Pradesh Congress Committee Kuldeep Singh Rathore has said the BJP is a house divided and its leaders are speaking in different voices.

He said former Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal had said that on coming to power his government would quash all appointments made through parents-teacher associations (PTA) along with anganwari recruitments.

However, only a few days ago, BJP chief Jai Ram had said it was not the party’s stand and only his personal view.

He charged Dhumal with misleading the party on the issue of allotment of power projects. He said the process of assigning these projects was completed long before the announcement of elections.

The Cabinet had approved the allotment of projects to private parties selected on the basis of a transparent procedure. The matter was now with the election commission. A petition had also been filed in the high court in that regard.

Rathore said the decision of the BJP high command to project Dhumal as the chief ministerial candidate had intensified factional was in the party.

The party stood divided right from the national level to the grassroot. Senior most leader of the party Shanta Kumar was being eased out the party like former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

He said the in charge of party affairs in the state Satya Pal Jain had admitted that there was discontent in the party, but not an open rebellion.

Jain must know that discontent was the first stage of rebellion and the party would see revolt in many segments over the next few days.

Unlike the BJP, the Congress had accommodated leaders of its frontal organisation in the allotment of ticket.

Mandi, December 2
In their bid to spread awareness about the “hidden AIDS epidemic” among both the “high-risk groups” like truckers and sex workers and vulnerable sections like youth, the state and district AIDS control societies are distributing condoms free of cost through a chain of free condom depots placed at key petrol stations, dhabas and other popular toilets across the state under the guidelines of the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO).

Though Himachal Pradesh figures among the low prevalence state in the country where AIDS/HIV cases are concerned, but the state AIDS control societies have yet to focus on the about 50 per cent pregnant mothers in rural areas, who deliver their babies at home.

The district societies are keeping a close eye through the central surveillance of ante natal mothers and patients, who are tested HIV + at the Integrated Counseling and Treatment Centers (ICTCs) in every district.

But the deadly virus continues to threaten both the high-risk groups and the vulnerable sections, including pregnant mothers who deliver at home.

In Mandi district, the ICTC centre here has reported 142 HIV+ cases out of 2,202 who took the test since 2004.

The prevalence rate is less than the national average of about 0.36 per cent in the state, but it is no reason to be complacent on this front, caution experts.

To promote a safe sexual behaviour among all high-risk and vulnerable groups in the state, condoms depots have been placed at the key patrol stations, dhabas, toilets, on the highways and other popular joints for users, free of cost health officials said.

But the good news is that not even a single HIV case was reported among the ante natal mothers for the last two years in the district.

“This group is crucial to detect the transmission of the AIDS virus from pregnant mothers to child, said Dr. Hemant Kapur, a district nodal officer, Mandi.

But AIDS virus continues to threaten pregnant mothers who do not go the hospitals and deliver their babies with the help of midwives at homes as institutional deliveries remain less than 50 per cent in the state, experts said.

Health officials said the patients get antiretroviral therapy (ART) medicines for free and testing and counselling for free at ICTC in each district. They have both male and female counsellors for each sex, they added.

Chief medical officer Dr D.K. Arora said World AIDS Day programmes this time would continue for 15 days as per the NACO theme to promote “leadership” among different sections, community, youth, students and families.

“We have organised posters, slogan and painting competitions among students to spread awareness about safe sexual and adult life for youth in general, he added.

Bilaspur, December 2
New born child can be saved from the dreaded infection HIV/AIDS if the infected mother is brought to deliver the baby in any district hospital where the child can be given proper treatment within 72 hours of his/her birth to protect the infant against the dreaded disease.

This was said by district and sessions judge A S Jaswal while addressing a function regarding AIDS awareness organised by the district legal literacy authority for advocates and other staff of courts in the judicial complex here last evening.

Jaswal pleaded that since AIDS was not treatable and only precautions could protect from this fatal disease, proper lessons regarding AIDS awareness should be included in the syllabus of school and college students to apprise them regarding the disease.

He also said the Health Department should provide facility of equipped mobile van to conduct blood test in various parts of every district so that common man could get this facility at his door-step apart from giving proper publicity to precautions.

Himachal voluntary health organisation coordinator Manoj Sharma there were 296 HIV infected cases in Bilaspur district while there were 65 AIDS patients in the district

Chief Judicial Magistrate Dr. Baldev Singh Thakur, district BAR association president R L Pathak and deputy district attorney Naresh Ghai and a large number of advocates were present on the occasion.