Dharamsala, August 11
Panic has gripped the area regarding suspect swine flu cases. Doctors are referring cases to district health authorities in which symptoms of swine flu are noticed.

Medical experts, while talking to The Tribune, revealed symptoms of swine flu were just like common flu that was prevalent in the area during monsoons.

Since common flu was quite normal in the area these days, the number of cases being referred to district health authorities as suspected swine-flu cases was bound to increase in the coming days, they added.

In the past few days, more than 10 cases of suspected swine flu cases have been sent to the district health authorities. These include seven Tibetan children and three cases from lower areas of Dharamsala.

One of the suspected patients is a Merchant Navy officer. Sources available here said he arrived from Singapore about a fortnight ago.

He had come here to visit his sister living at Dhari village. Since he had flu symptoms, the authorities sent his blood samples for testing.

Kangra Chief Medical Officer Dr Anil Mahajan, when contacted, admitted that blood samples of seven suspected swine flu cases had been sent for testing at Delhi a few days ago. He said three more blood samples were being sent today.

He admitted that due to ample awareness generated regarding swine flu through media, people had become more cautious and were bring such cases to the notice of district health authorities.

“We are taking blood samples of suspected cases for testing and advising isolation of patients till the test reports are received as a precaution. We are especially cautious about patients if they have the history of visiting affected areas,” Dr Mahajan said.

When asked about suspected swine flu cases among large numbers of foreigners visiting tourist places like Mcleodganj and Dharamkot, the doctor said foreign tourists were already screened at the international airport at the time of arrival.

“However, we have directed the respective medical officers to keep a watch for any suspected case,” he added.

Dharamsala, August 11
The police today filed a charge sheet against four former students of Tanda Medical College in Aman Satya Kachroo murder case that attracted national attention in March this year.

All four accused, including Ajay Kumar Verma, Naveen Verma, Abhinav Verma and Mukul Sharma, were produced in fast-track court at Dharamsala today by the police. The charge sheet has been filed under Sections 302, 323, 506 and 34 of the IPC.

The police has leveled charges against the accused for murdering Aman Kachroo during ragging on the college campus in the charge sheet.

The cause of death as per the post-mortem report was head injury. The judge has fixed dates from October 20 to 22 for hearing witnesses in the case.

Aman Kachroo had taken admission as a first-year student at the Tanda Medical College this year.

He, allegedly, resisted physical ragging by his seniors who hit him on the head. The injury later led to the death of Aman Kachroo that evoked national outrage.

It also evoked strong reaction from the Supreme Court that pulled up the state government for failing to implement the Raghvan Committee recommendations for curbing the menace of ragging in colleges.

Though the police has filed charge sheet against the accused students in the case, the state government has let all staff of Tanda Medical College, who were found guilty of dereliction of duty, in the case.

Initially, wardens of the hostels were put under suspension. However, they were later reinstated and absolved of the charges.

Shimla, August 11
While reports of the two suspect swine flu cases from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) is still awaited, the health authorities today sent samples of two women to the Central Research Institute (CRI), Kasauli, as a precautionary measure.

The two women, aged 35 and 45, reported at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) today following complaints of fever and symptoms similar to swine flu.

With the CRI, Kasauli, starting its swine flu testing facility today itself, samples of suspect cases can be sent there.

This will help in saving time in sending the samples across and with the NICD, New Delhi, being flooded, test reports from Kasauli would be received faster.

“The testing facility at Kasauli started today while it will be available at the IGMC from Monday onwards as the equipment is in the process of being installed,” said Deepak Sanan, Principal Secretary, Health.

He said there was no reason for panic as the health department was fully equipped and geared to tackle the situation and one could not term a person a swine flu suspect simply because he had travelled from Pune.

With some element of fear already being there among the public, reports of two suspected cases whose samples have been sent to the NICD, led to a surge in the number of patients suffering from common cold, fever and viral turning up for test at the IGMC and other hospitals.

“People are already updated about swine flu as many of them turn up in hospital wearing masks and gloves and have scanned the net to gather information about the disease which has caused panic among people,” said a doctor at the IGMC.

Dr SS Minhas, medical superintendent, IGMS, said there was sufficient stock of medicines while testing kits would also be received in a day or two.

Dr Sulakshna Puri, director, Health Services, said personal protective equipment like masks and gloves had been dispatched in sufficient quantity to medical colleges and district hospitals.

“Since all international visitors are being screened through thermal scanners at airports, there is no need to take any such measures in Himachal,” she said.

Shimla, August 11
Even as the Vigilance Bureau is engaged in the process of collecting evidence in the CD case, Vijai Singh Mankotia, the man who first released the controversial CD, said today that he was not in a position to reveal the actual source as it was given to him on oath of anonymity.

Mankotia said it was on either May 27 or 28, 2007, that the original cassette from which CDs were made was delivered to him in his mail box at the MLA hostel.

“Prior to this, an unidentified person had spoken with me over the telephone and said that if I wanted to expose corruption, he had something I could use,” he said.

Mankotia said he too was not aware as to who delivered the cassette to him. “I informed the high command, including Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister, about the CD before I made it public before the Hamirpur Lok Sabha byelections,” he said.

He said it was on July 27 that he got the forensic expert report on the CD in response to information sought by him under the RTI Act.

“With regard to the opinion of the law department, I was told that it was too voluminous and Rs 54 were the charges while he had deposited only Rs 10,” he said.

“During those days, we too were alerted that some senior police officers were tapping telephone of senior ministers and officers, so it could be a police officer,” he said, when asked about the person who could have taped the conversation which landed Virbhadra Singh in trouble.

When asked if there could be any link between the complaint filed by police officer
BS Thind against the Chief Minister before the Lokayukta and the CD case, the
retired politician said this was akin to “moves on a chess board” of which he was
not too sure.

Shimla, August 11
Terming the one-year delay in registering of FIR against Virbhadra Singh by the BJP regime in Himachal as “mystery”, former Congress leader Vijai Singh Mankotia today said rather than relying on the governemnt alone, he would wage a legal battle and use the Right to Information Act (RTI) to continue his crusade against corruption.

Mankotia, armed with documents and newspaper clippings dating back to three decades, literally declared an open war against the Union Steel Minister.

“If Rahul Gandhi is to be the future PM of India, he, along with Manmohan Singh, will have to cleanse the system as credibility of the Prime Minister is also at stake,” he remarked while seeking resignation of the minister on moral grounds here today.

He said details were sought under the RTI Act about the forensic report and legal opinion in CD case after he felt the governemnt was dragging its feet on the issue.

He said he would make a request for clubbing of the FIR against Virbhadra with the private criminal complaint filed by the former Chief Minister against him in the court.

“I will seek court’s permission to cross-examine him on all issues, whether it pertains to raising of funds, Bhagyawati case, having excess land or his other decisions as Chief Minister,” said the firebrand leader who bid adieu to politics after his party BSP got a major drubbing in the last Assembly polls.

Mankotia said a case of perjury must be registered against Virbhadra and his wife in the wake of the forensic report confirming their voices.

“In case he still denies the charges, the two must be made to undergo narco-analysis and brain mapping so that the truth can be revealed,” he demanded.

He added that it was not just the question of the CD case alone but the larger issue of political moral degradation afflicting Himachal.

“I hope the government will have the courage to take all cases against Virbhadra to its logical end,” he said.

Having taken serious offence to remarks that defamation proceedings against him in Bhagyawati case were dropped after he tendered an apology, he said it was at the request of common acquaintances that a compromise had been arrived at.

Solan, August 11
As a step towards corporate social responsibility the Himachal Drugs Manufacturers Association (HDMA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Department of Industries for setting up a Pharma-cum-Food and Technical Institute at Baddi to train the local youth in various pharmaceutical trades.

The MoU was signed by deputy director Sudhir Sharma on behalf of the Single Window Clearance Agency and Sanjay Guleria, president, HDMA.

Pharmaceutical major Cipla has been assigned the job to draw out the final outline of the training institute whose modalities were being chalked out.

Plant head of Cipla and joint secretary of HDMA Kishore Pathak, giving information, said the industrial area where nearly 365 pharmaceutical units were located lacked machine engineers who could operate and maintain the sophisticated machines.

Since the technical aspect was not included in any course curriculum of any industrial training institutes in the state they failed to get adequate local manpower.

While the engineers comprised nearly one-third of total strength of a pharmaceutical unit their unavailability in the state created problems for the entrepreneurs.

Since the units had to adhere to the mandatory clause of employing at least 70 per cent local youth it was not possible to employ this large number of technicians from other states.

The association had also requested all industrial units to pool in spare machinery from their respective units for the institute could make a beginning.

Though the final nitty-gritty was yet to be worked out, yet Pathak said they would train a batch of at least 200 students in the first go.

They would be granted a six to nine months training and they would be readily absorbed by the industrial units as the trade was much in demand.

It is worth mentioning that though the successive governments had been talking about introducing industry specific trades in its industrial training institutes after the central industrial package of 2003, yet little had been done in this direction despite a lapse of almost six years.

This was the first venture where the industry had come forward to do its bit though it remains to be seen how successful the venture would be.

Mandi, August 11
Apart from shutting down Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya being run in the Hanogi Temple complex, Onkar Sharma, chairman-cum-DC, Mandi, has allegedly diverted temple trust funds worth Rs 1.01 lakh for advertisement, including Rs 20,000 given to the RSS-run magazine Matri Vandana.

According to the RTI information sought on the income and expenditure of the temple by the RTI bureau, Mandi, the DC decided at a meeting of the trust, held on June 18, to shut down the college.

The RTI further found that funds of temple trust was spent whimsically to please political bosses. Hanogi temple earned Rs 14,62,005 and spent Rs 16,16,523, incurring a loss of Rs 1,54,518.

“Rs 1,01,700 has been spent on advertisement alone out of which Rs 20,000 has been given to Matri Vandana, a RSS-run magazine based in Shimla, Rs 15,000 to Abhi Tak, a local paper, and Rs 40,000 to organise Shivratri Mela,” the RTI revealed.

Rs 2,74,000 has been shown as donation to various organisations. Interestingly,
Rs 75,000 has been given to the District Language, Mandi, for documentation of
Shivratri fair.

The RTI revealed that the annual income of the temple varied between Rs 90,00,000 and Rs 1 crore every year and had the fixed deposit of Rs 1 crore.

But trust members were not taken into confidence and meetings were not held on regular intervals of three months.

RTI bureau president Lawan Thakur charged that apart from diverting the funds, no developmental activity had been carried out since the government took over this temple three years ago.

Onkar Sharma, however, dismissed media queries stating that he had exercised his power as chairman of the trust and the income and expenditure were transparent.

Shimla, August 11
Education Minister ID Dhiman today blamed the previous Congress regime in the Vidhan Sabha for acute shortage of teachers in educational institutions and said the government was making all possible efforts to bridge the gap.

Replying to the call attention motion of Vidya Stokes on the issue, he said the
Congress government opened schools and colleges without providing teachers and
other facilities.

The gravity of the situation could be judged from the fact that there were more than 19,000 vacancies of various categories when the BJP assumed office.

Instead of making recruitment, the previous regime cancelled tests conducted for selection of JBT teachers repeatedly.

As a result, no batches were admitted for four years for training. Since it took about two years to train a teacher, the shortfall could not be met overnight, he added.

The present government had already recruited 3,328 teachers of various categories and promoted 5,522 teachers to fill up the vacant posts.

Further, process had been initiated for recruitment of 12,673 posts of lecturers, TGTs, PGTs, JBTs and other categories.

The steps being taken by the government would help meet the shortfall of teachers shortly, he said.

Earlier, raising the issue, Stokes pointed out that with over 10,000 vacant posts, the schools were without teachers.

As a result students had been suffering. The government had removed PTA teachers but not provided the replacement.

It had not made any serious effort to fill the vacant posts over the past 18 months which led to the worsening of situation, she added.

Shimla, August 11
The state corporate sector workers’ coordination committee has urged the government to follow a uniform policy regarding the administration of employees’ provident fund (EPF) in public sector undertakings (PSUs).

A deputation of the committee, led by its chairman Harbans Rana and general secretary Rameshwar Gripta, met Forest Minister JP Nadda here today and drew his attention to the fact that the EPF contribution had been capped at 12 per cent of the basic wage of Rs 6,500 in respect of the state forest corporation.

However, there was no such restriction in case of other state PSUs. The matter had been examined in detail at various levels and the relevant Act defines pay, including basic pay, dearness allowance and darkness pay.

Thus, the contribution should be on the basis of total pay. The discrepancy, if not corrected, would affect the retirement benefits of employees, it added.

Bilaspur, August 11
Rajiv Kumar, son of Kargil martyr Havildar Mast Ram of Doohak village in Sunhani gram panchayat, near Ghumarwin, has been provided employment by the state government as was promised by the Chief Minister earlier during the Kargil war then.

This was said by Deputy Commissioner Nandita Gupta while reacting to reports carried by a section of the press here earlier.

The DC said here today that Rajiv had been appointed as a clerk in the DC’s office and no delay was caused in his appointment as earlier he was a minor and this was the only hitch in his getting this benefit earlier.

Nandita said all dependents of Kargil martyrs had been provided government service according to their qualifications, but there were some cases where dependents of martyrs were minors and they had to wait till their adulthood for the appointment.

She said Rajiv had applied to the DC in July 2007 for service and his case was then referred to the secretary general, administration, Shimla, then and it was returned with the remark that since the applicant wants service in the Education Department, his case should be referred to that department, which was done in August 2007.

Unfortunately, Rajiv did not contact the DC’s office after this date and the case remained pending since then. Now, when he approached the DC’s office, he was given the appointment as promised, Nandita added.