The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Himachal Pradesh Edition

Cabinet okays medical college at Sarkaghat
Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 22
The government today decided to grant permission for starting up a medical college under the public-private partnership mode at Sarkaghat in Mandi district, besides two more medical colleges at Hamirpur and Una, as greenfield projects.

Accepting the recommendations of a Cabinet sub-committee, the state Cabinet that met here today under the chairmanship of the CM took the decisions with the objective of creating quality medical education infrastructure and providing better healthcare facilities to the rural people.

The government would offer its hospital at Sarkagahat with a capacity of 100 beds for the setting up of the medical college.

The Cabinet has also decided to set-up 10 CT scan service centres in various health institutions in the state under for a period of five years. Below poverty line families will be eligible for free of cost facilities as the same shall be reimbursed by the rogi kalyan samitis (RKS). It also decided to undertake purchase of medicines for government hospitals through the RKS on an approved rate contract. This will give the patients an option to go in for purchase of non-branded generic medicines through the jan aushidhi centres. The Cabinet also granted permission for filling up of 637 vacancies of various categories in different departments. This include 259 vacancies in the Revenue Department, 369 vacancies in the Home Department and 15 vacancies in the Forest Department.

A decision was also taken for raising of 6th India Reserve Battalion in Sirmour district, thereby generating employment to about 1,000 unemployed youth. It also approved setting up of a government ayurvedic B.Pharmacy college at Jogindernagar and attach it to Rajiv Gandhi Government Post Graduate Ayurvedic College and Hospital, Paprola, in Kangra.

The Cabinet has approved transfer of 2-60-16 hectares of government land in Mohal Pratapnagar, in Una district for the Nangal-Talwara railway line for free. Besides, it also approved the opening of five new veterinary dispensaries at Krishan-Kot-Amar-Kot in Sirmour; Seri gram panchayat, Bhanwas, Mandi;, Nalbagi, Mandi; Deem, Kullu; and Baasa, gram panchayat Bisadhar, Kullu, besides upgradation of a veterinary dispensary at Sarahar in Kullu.

Govt cancels project to Brakel
Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 22
The government today decided to cancel the 960 MW Jangi Thopan Powari hydro power project allotted to the Brakel Corporation NV and issue them a show-cause notice for the delay and lapses leading to financial losses to the government.

The Cabinet while taking the decision in the light of the High Court judgment today decided to invite fresh bids for the allotment of power projects in Kinnaur.

“The Cabinet has decided that the government would not file an appeal in the Supreme Court against the decision of the High Court,” said Chief Secretary Asha Swaroop.

She said the Cabinet had, however, not taken any decision with regard to action being initiated against the officers’ committee, which took the decision with regard to allotment of project to the corporation. “The upfront money of Rs 173 crore along with Rs 20 crore interest deposited by them would not be returned but the losses that will be worked out due to delay in execution of work would be adjusted against this amount,” said Swaroop.

However, the matter is likely to be dragged to court once again as the Brakel Corporation is considering moving the Supreme Court against the cancellation of the allotment.

Their contention is that they cannot be solely held liable for delay as the government had been mulling over the issue and had shot them two show-cause notices.

The Jangi Thopan Powari project had been allotted to the Brakel Corporation during the Congress regime.

After the BJP assumed power in Himachal, two show-cause notices were issued to the company but finally it was decided that the project would remain with them.

However, it was Reliance, which moved the court against the government decision to allot the project to Brakel on which the High Court finally gave its verdict on October 7, directing the government to invite fresh bids.

“The allotment has been cancelled in view of the High Court decision after detecting problem in the bid document and the evaluation procedure even though the government had felt that it would be inappropriate to cancel the project at this stage,” admitted Swaroop while defending the government move.

With even the High Court in its judgment pointing out certain shortcomings in the bid document and the evaluation procedure, it has now been decided that all fresh bids for execution of projects would be invited under the New Power Policy so that there is no dispute.

By-elections: It’s Virbhadra vs Stokes
Kuldeep Chauhan
Tribune News Service

Mandi, October 22
The two warring factions of the state Congress are training their guns at each other turning the two state Assembly by-elections — Rohru in Shimla apple belt, the Congress stronghold, and Jawali in Kangra, the BJP stronghold — not as the Congress versus BJP but “Virbhadra Singh faction versus Vidya Stokes faction assisted by state Congress president Kaul Singh Thakur and former president and Rajya Sabha MP Viplove Thakur”.

This new power struggle within the state Congress has reached the high command as Ahmad Patel, political secretary to party president Sonia Gandhi, is learnt to have summoned a meeting regarding this yesterday, apprising the party of the “worrying ground situation in Rohru and Jawali”.

Vidya Stokes, Kaul Singh, and Viplove Thakur- appeared to be “comrades-in-arms” against Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh, who is an MP from Mandi. For them it is now or never kind of game as they are eyeing the next Assembly elections to call the shots in the state, revealed insiders.

They are trying hard to make “Rohru as a contest in which if the Congress retains seat it will be their achievement and if it loses to BJP it will be a personal defeat of Virbhadra, who hold fort there for decades.

However, on the ground it is different. Even after ensuing ticket to Manjit Singh, neither Kaul Singh nor Stokes went to accompany Manjit when he filed his nomination, citing personal ruses.

“By joining hands against Virbhadra, these leaders are out wooing would-be ticket seekers in the long run, telling them that they can manage to cut tickets whosoever he/she may be - Pratibha Singh is the recent example- and can ensue tickets. However, the irony is they enjoy a little support and mass base,” revealed party workers.

However, Virbhadra still remains party’s only star campaigner and has made a four-day election tour to campaign for party candidate Manjit Singh, a non-entity so far, from October 24, sources said.

The Congress faces a rough music because BJP’s Khushi Ram Balnatah has already toured extensively in Rohru while Congress newcomer Manjit has been left in lurch by his mentors- Stokes, Viplove and Kaul Singh, the sources added.

Moreover, the BJP has given a united show of strength with Chief Minister PK Dhumal and state party in charge Satya Pal Jain accompanying Balnatah even during nomination, they said.

Dhumal flags off 9 mini buses
Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 22
Chief Minister PK Dhumal today flagged off a fleet of nine buses from Chhota Shimla to shuttle within the municipal limits of the capital town purchased under the Jawahar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said with the flagging off of the mini buses under the JNNURM, all major destinations had been connected with regular and frequent bus service from 7 am to 10 pm.

He said the first fleet of the buses would be connecting Vikas Nagar, New Shimla, Basant Vihar, Sanjauli, Lakkar Bazar, Mehli and the Dhalli areas with the Inter-State Bus Terminus and peripheral areas while one bus would be operating as ‘Mudrika’ which would originate from Sanjauli and pass through Chhota Shimla, Talland, Bus Stand, Tara Hall, Lakkar Bazar, IGMC to complete the circle.

Dhumal said the purpose behind starting efficient local bus service was aimed at providing people convenient transportation facility and to decongest the roads in the town so that vehicle owners were not forced to travel within the municipal limits in their own vehicles. He appealed to residents of the capital town to take benefit of the bus facility and use the new transport facility as an alternate to their self-driven vehicles.

He said with the strengthening of the fleet under the JNNURM the government would consider separate bus service for senior citizens, handicapped, women and children so that they could travel more conveniently and safely to their destinations.

Trial in Aman Kachroo ragging case begins
Lalit Mohan
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, October 22
The trial in the Aman Satya Kachroo murder case started at the fast track court at Dharamsala today. Prosecution recorded the statement of former principal of the Tanda medical college Dr Suresh Sankhyan and two others before fast track court Judge Purender Vaidya. The prosecution will produce 72 witnesses in the case in the coming days.

Deputy District Attorney RK Kaushal said three witnesses were produced before the court today, including Sankhayan, hostel manager Dr Deepak Verma and hostel warden Dr Pardeep Bansal. He also said the trial would continue for three days during which witnesses in the case would be produced.

Large number of students of the medical college skipped their classes and gathered before the fast track court today.

Aman Kachroo’s death due to ragging led to national outrage. The police on March 8 registered a case under Section 304 (culpable homicide) of the IPC against four accused students --- Naveen Verma, Abhinav Verma, Mukul Sharma and intern Ajay Kumar Verma.

However, doctors submitted the post-mortem report the next day, which stated the cause of the death to be neurogenic shock or head injury. After the post-mortem report, a murder cases was registered against the accused students under Section 302 of the IPC.

The Supreme Court (SC) also took suo-motto notice of the case. The SC directed the Himachal Pradesh Government to immediately suspend Dr Suresh Sankhyan who had quit as principal but continued as head of the forensic medicine department. It appointed an inquiry committee comprising Dr AK Aggarwal, dean, Maulana Azad Medical College; Dr Rajindra Prasad, principal, Ramjas College; and Tanvir Aeijaz, assistant professor, Ramjas College; to probe into the incident. The committee in its report submitted before the SC stated that the demon of ragging haunted junior students persistently in classes and college premises as they were under the continuous vigil of senior students. The committee had also stated that alcoholism on the college campus was the main reason that generated violence leading to serious ragging.

A magisterial probe was also conducted into the incident by the Kangra ADM, who stated that 10 incidents of ragging and indiscipline had taken place in the college since 2001.

The incident also forced the state government to issue an Anti-Ragging Ordinance that was later converted into an Act.

Kachroo Case
Father holds principal responsible
Lalit Mohan
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, October 22
Rajinder Kachroo, father of Aman Kachroo, the first-year medical student of Tanda Medical College who allegedly died due to ragging in March this year, has declined to be a part of the trial of his son’s murder case that started in fast track court at Kangra today.

Kachroo said: “I have nothing to do with the trial. It is the duty of the state prosecution to handle the case. I do not consider the students guilty. I rather consider the then principal of the Tanda Medical College, Dr Suresh Sankhayan, as the main culprit. It was the principal who encouraged ragging in the institute that led the death of my son. There is a history of cases in which the principal had failed to take action against the students for indiscipline. This encouraged the erring students.”

He, however, said Aman was not suffering from any heart ailment and had died due to ragging. “Aman Kachroo was the captain of school football team. How can a person with serious heart ailment play football?” questions the father.

Scholars, writers, editors to attend Seminar function
Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 22
The Indian Institute of Advanced Study is organising a special one-day colloquium on October 24 to celebrate the golden jubilee of “Seminar”, a unique monthly journal which completed 50 years of publication on September 1, 2009.

The role and need of public intellectual institutions like Seminar in the national life will be discussed by eminent scholars, writers, editors and political scientists during the colloquium. The invitees include Governor of West Bengal Gopal Krishan Gandhi, Union Minister for Corporate and Minority Affairs Salman Khurshid, eminent writer Nayantara Sahgal, former foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon, film maker, Shyam Benegal, eminent historian Ramchandra Guha, political scientist Sunil Khilnani, Editor of The Dawn Hameed Haroon, Editor Himalag (Kathamandu) Kanak Mani Dixit, Editor of Tehlka Tarun Tejpal, Editor Business Standard T.N. Ninan, Barister-at-Law Kamal Hossain (Bangladesh).

Initiated in September, 1959, by the late Raj and Romesh Thapar, Seminar is a journal of ideas. Each month, the journal debates a single theme, inviting leading public intellectuals to discuss the theme in its various facets. Imposing no pre-fixed editorial position, Seminar in print provides a platform for reasoned debate, a space where individuals of diverse ideological persuasions can engage themselves in collectively, creating an output that while informing readers of the latest thinking on the subject invites them to come to their own conclusions.

Its contributors include scholars, journalists, politicians as also activists and cultural practitioners from both India and across the world. It would not be an exaggeration to claim that the Seminar archive is a veritable treasure trove of our national thinking and imagination. The institute expects that the meeting of concerned public intellectuals will significantly advance its broad agenda and help to contribute to reasoned thinking and analysis of issues that challenge our society and nation.

CFL scheme a failure, says CPM
Tribune News Service

Mandi, October 22
The CPM today accused the state government of slapping hefty electricity bills on consumers as its much-hyped CFLscheme had turned out to be a failure. They charged that the CFL bulbs distributed for free to consumers were of substandard quality and the party would launch a state-wide stir against it and the failure of the government to control the price rise, it charged.

According to CPM district secretary Bhupender Singh, the government’s CFLscheme has turned out to be a harbinger of miseries for the consumers. The residents who used to get on an average a bill of Rs 300 a month now get bills worth Rs 700-900, he charged.

He stated that the government had claimed during the launch of the CFL scheme that the consumers would get low amount bills and it would also save electricity, but it has turned out to be quite the opposite as the consumers were getting hefty bills, he claimed.

The CPM district secretary further stated that the CPI-CPM would launch a state-wide agitation in this regard bringing the realty before the pubic even the prices of the essential commodities had gone higher and the government had become a mere spectator. The party claimed that the PDS system has collapsed and consumers, mainly poor cardholders, were getting sub-standard ration.

Shatru for respect to mother tongue
Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 22
Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha today urged the student community to respect their mother tongue.

Speaking at the annual day function of DAV School, New Shimla, here today, Sinha said it was unfortunate that the youth were so besotted with English that they were ignoring their mother tongue. “The fact remains that English is and will always remain a foreign language so it is essential for each one of us to respect and popularise Hindi,” he said.

Sinha added that it was unfortunate to see the young generation, especially students, more keen to learn English rather than Hindi. “Each one of us should take pride in speaking in Hindi and for this we need to take a lesson from the Chinese and Russians who consider it an insult to speak in any other language except their mother tongue when in their country,” he said.

Sinha exhorted the youth to contribute towards nation-building by working towards a bright future in various fields. He said: “Every Indian must take pride in our rich culture, heritage and traditions, which were enchanting, even the foreigners.” He gave away prizes to the schoolchildren in various categories.

Six booked for beating officer
Ambika Sharma

Solan, October 22
After dilly-dallying for hours over the SDO manhandling case, the Baddi police today finally registered an FIR against six persons, who had been identified by the officials present on the spot.

The Baddi SP had earlier dismissed the incident as a mere misunderstanding between the beopar mandal and SDO of the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB). It was because of the intervention of the CM that the FIR was registered. Six shopkeepers have been booked for assault on a public servant to deter him from discharging his duty, voluntarily causing hurt and abetment of an offence.

Though the police had been provided with an additional force to deal with such situations, the audacity shown by the shopkeepers in restraining the SDO despite the presence of senior police officers prove that fear of law had ceased to exist. The shopkeepers did not even hesitate to push the DSP who tried to intervene.

The beopar mandal had later on issued a statement blaming the SDO and the DSP of harassing the shopkeepers by forcibly entering their shops and beating them up. They have also demanded that in case the officials wished to come to the market they should give prior information so as to maintain peace. They also sought a suitable option in lieu of polythenes as they averred that the goods, which were manufactured elsewhere, were packed in them. While neither the police nor the SPCB came forward to lend support to their colleagues, the officials concerned were feeling let down and demoralised.

RTI directory on website
Tribune News Service

Hamirpur, October 22
An RTI directory containing designations, addresses and telephone numbers of all the public information officers (PIOs) and appellate authorities of the district has been made available in all government offices, including panchayat ghars and patwarkhanas, of the district.

Giving this information here today, DC (Hamirpur) Abhishek Jain said the directory, which was recently released by Chief Minister PK Dhumal at Shimla, had also been put on the official website at www.hphamirpur.gov.in.

Jain said the directory includes the designated PIO and assistant PIOs up to the level of panchayat officials and would be useful to the public for identifying, locating and approaching various authorities under the Act.

The DC has directed all officers to display the directory at prominent places in their offices.

11 candidates in poll fray
Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 22
There are 11 candidates in fray for the by-elections to the Rohru and Jawali Assembly constituencies, which will take place on November 7.

Stating this here today, Chief Electoral Officer Anil Khachi said scrutiny of nomination papers was taken up by the respective returning officers (SDMs). After scrutiny, the nomination papers filed by 11 candidates in Rohru and Jawali were found valid.

After scrutiny the candidates who are in the fray include- Khushi Ram (BJP), Manjit Singh (Congress), Shurveer Singh (Rashtrawadi Sena), Kewal Ram Negi (Independent), Bihari Lal (Independent), Mathu Ram Bushehari (Independent) and Veena Shukla (Independent) in Rohru.

Those in the fray from Jawali include Baldev Raj (BJP), Sujan Singh Pathania (Congress), Ashok Kumar Somal (Independent) and Madan Sharma (Independent). He said the last date for withdrawal would be October 24.

Poll manifesto meeting held
Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 22
The recently launched Rs 300 crore Doodh Ganga project will be dovetailed with various welfare schemes of self-help groups (SHGs) in the state on easy loan terms and conditions.

This was stated by Forest Minister JP Nadda while presiding over the ‘Election Manifesto’ Cabinet sub-committee meeting held here today. Also present were Health and Family Welfare Minister Rajeev Bindal and Irrigation and Public Health Minister Ravinder Ravi as members of the sub-committee.

Nadda said the government was committed to the welfare and empowerment of weaker sections, especially women, and had left no stone unturned to fulfil promises made for empowerment of women in the BJP Election Manifesto. “The SHGs will soon be provided a permanent exhibition-cum-sale centre in every district so as to enable them to sell their products and facilitate marketing opportunities for them,” he said.

Workers celebrate Cong win
Tribune News Service

Hamirpur, October 22
Congress workers and leaders celebrated the party’s victory in the Assembly elections, the results of which were declared today. The Congress has emerged victorious in Haryana, Maharashtra and Arunachal Pradesh.

Former MLAs Anita Verma and Kuldeep Pathania along with other party leaders assembled at the Gandhi Chowk and raised slogans hailing the victory of the Congress. They also fired crackers and distributed sweets.

Woman dies in mishap
Tribune News Service

Hamirpur, October 22
A woman died and four others were injured when the car in which they were travelling met with an accident near Maid on the National Highway-88 last night.

Police sources said, a family of five comprising Santosh Kumari, Ashit, Harshit, Rekha Kumari and Mukesh Kumari were returning after attending a wedding when their Santro car (HP74- 0927) met with an accident around midnight, in which all of them sustained injuries.

They were rushed to a hospital at Bhota where Mukesh Kumari (30) succumbed to injuries.

5 hurt in mishap
Tribune News Service

Mandi, October 22
Five persons were injured when the car they were travelling in rolled down into Soan Nala near Parchlu bridge under Sarkaghat police station.

According to the police, the injured have been identified as Ramesh Chand, Mukesh Kumar, his wife Kusum Lata, Seema Devi and Happy (Jodhan), all from Sarkaghat area. They were going from Batoh to Fehad when accident took place.

They were under treatment at the Sarkaghat hospital and were out of danger.