The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Security for VVIPs lacking in state Ambika Sharma Solan, November 10 The lack of preparedness of the state security agencies in providing veritable security to the VVIPs faring high on the security alert has been exposed in a recent visit of BJP’s National President Rajnath Singh where his vehicle developed a snag at Nalagarh. This was despite the fact that he had been provided the state’s lone bullet-proof vehicle (HP-07-A-2358) to travel a distance of 9 km. It created an embarrassing situation for the security agencies who had to shift him to an ordinary gypsy in the midst of a busy market. While this was a serious security breach, but what was more astonishing was the fact that the bullet-proof vehicle found it difficult to negotiate an uphill climb of a few metres while taking Singh to the venue of the programme. Though senior officials brushed aside the issue on the pretext that a bullet-proof vehicle weighed much more than an ordinary vehicle and hence it failed to negotiate a steep ascending road, it was understood that a bullet-proof vehicle in a hilly state like Himachal Pradesh would be required to take such routes. Singh had reached Nalagarh in a chopper and he had to use this vehicle to reach the venue which was barely 8 to 9 km away. While the vehicle somehow managed to reach there despite developing some hiccups, but it was the return journey when the vehicle developed a snag. Though officials tried to evade the security breach by asserting that he was shifted to an escorting vehicle which was a part of his cavalcade, the changeover in the midst of a crowded market had raised eyebrows about the security arrangements granted to a VVIP. It was even more amazing that this was the state’s lone bullet-proof vehicle and had been kept aside for such VVIPs and if this was the highest level of preparedness then one wondered what the laxities would be?
	Beggars, stray animals dot college campus Kuldeep Chauhan Tribune News Service Mandi, November 10 The campus of the Government Vallabh Postgraduate College, tipped as one of the oldest colleges in the state, is in a poor condition. It has virtually turned into a free-for-all thoroughfare for beggars, stray animals and encroachers and gives the look of a village fair as over 5,000 students move in and out of the college amidst their non-student companions. Besides, toilets in the main hall and other departments stink. Posters pasted on walls of college buildings present an ugly look, besides violating HP University’s code of conduct. A visit to the college reveals it all. Apart from stray dogs and cattle, beggars greet you with begging bowls in their hands. Students say stary animals and beggars keep haunting them all time, but neither the college authorities nor members of the Students Central Association (SCA) seem to bother. It’s only when some VIP pays a visit to the college that the authorities wake up to its upkeep. But after that they again turn a blind eye towards the cleanliness of the campus, rue students. These days, the college is being done up for the forthcoming youth festival beginning November 4 here, they inform. The students blame the college management, SCA and faculty members for the worsening condition of the campus. They say various student unions, including ABVP, NSUI and SFI, have failed to take up the issue of keeping the campus neat, clean and green. The unions keep protesting over other things, but they are never bothered about the real welfare issues. The three outfits have only onething to do i.e. outsmart each other in their show of strength, slogans shouting and poster pasting and ultimately promoting a “predominant valueless culture of politics on the campus”. They freely indulge in defacing the college campus by pasting posters on the walls, the students complain. This culture of politics has vitiated academic atmosphere on the campus that at time looks like a village fair in which stray cattle, dogs and beggars roam freely, reveal students. The Paddal stadium, walls and college buildings are dotted with posters and wall writings. Even encroachers have raised their structures on the campus. Teachers’ quarters are in bad shape too. Congress grass grows all over and dies its natural death as the college management is indifferent towards any kind of maintenance. The dilapidated roof of the college auditorium-cum-examination hall leaks profusely in rainy days, students say. There is no water in toilets and it is difficult to keep toilets clean, claim sweepers. On the other hand, the college management seems to have become immune to what has been happening over the years. Principal Kusum Bakshi says that they are removing the posters and shifting the toilets to alternative sites. “It is the fault on the part of the PWD, which had built toilets at the entrance”, she adds. Expressing her helplessness, Bakshi says water and cleanliness is a problem as they have to cater to over 5,000 students. “We are beatifying the campus,” she adds.
	vignettes Lytton encouraged stage acting by Shriniwas Joshi I am back in Shimla after spending six months in the USA. It is a slow town and time hangs on it. There is hardly any change here. There, President Obama's stimulus of $737 billion is being spent so rapidly in the public sector on building roads, bridges, pathways etc. Resurrection is being felt. Here, the Auckland House tunnel being constructed under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission to divert the traffic to Sanjauli, avoiding the loop that has schools and a college with pedestrian traffic, has, probably, moved at a snail's pace. When the cement bridge near the tunnel gave way, a Bailey bridge was put up there. Donald Bailey was a civil servant in British War Office whose hobby was to model bridges and he came out with a bridge that provided with an excellent solution to the problem of bridges being destroyed by the retreating Axis armies during World War II. The bridge is a quick remedy for emergencies with the PWD. The emergency is still continuing. Then the newly constructed road to Pagog village from lower Bharari road was approved for public transport buses when I was in Shimla. The road is still waiting for the bus. The slip during the previous year's winter rains that took a slice of the road in the so-called Tibetan Market stands to be repaired. Gaiety Theatre was closed for rejuvenation in October, 2003. It opened for theatrical performances in June this year, thus giving great relief to the performers in the town but, since my arrival here, all three stages - two indoor and one outdoor - are hushed. When I was in Minneapolis, I saw Guthrie Theatre there, which reminded me of Gaiety. That also has three stages — one with a capacity of 1100 was running Ella, a musical and the other accommodating 700 showed The Importance of Being Earnest. Instantly, I uttered Gayety Guthrie and Gothic Gaiety. How to keep the stages busy is a big issue with those interested in theatre? Stage acting in Shimla has a history. It got encouragement during Viceroy Lytton's period, also known as 'Riddell and Liddell time' because the two officers were theatre-activists. In 1878, Lytton himself wrote and produced a play 'Walpole' and supervised its rehearsals. Later, all Viceroys and now the Chief Ministers have been taking interest in stage activities. Gaiety has to buzz in its new avatar. Ved Segan, the conservation-architect from Mumbai, has exerted himself in giving Gaiety the original splendour. It is for the government and the performers to put soul in the body beautiful. During this period, I have lost a friend of mine, Anil Wilson, a former Vice Chancellor of HP University. The speech that he had made as the principal speaker, when the then Governor, Mr VS Kokje, had released a book on Virbhadra Singh written by Som Ranchan, still reverberates in my ears. What oratory! What flow! What academics! Death snatched him from us when he was only 62 but his body, as per his wish, is being used for research on pancreatic cancer, the cause of his demise. I had read a story in my childhood — "Battle after battle — he had fought with England. Many times he had been beaten, but ultimately won the battle and was called the wise and brave King Robert Bruce of Scotland." The same happened in the political scene in the constituency to which I belonged. Virendra Kashyap of the BJP, a constant loser, is now our MP. He has defeated the sitting Congress candidate this time. May he also prove 'wise and brave' during his tenure in the Lok Sabha! Tailpiece Shimlawallas sideline Middle Bazaar. But Author Julia Gregsen says that 'she likes to walk down the vertiginous steps to Middle Bazaar. It's scruffy but alive — open drains, fruit shops, monkeys sitting on roofs, old men staring at women coming out of tailors' shops.'
	7,729 patients examined in week-long medical camp Our Correspondent Kangra, November 10 A week-long medical camp was organised by Dr RP Govt Medical College, Tanda, at Dharampur in Mandi district through the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in which 7,729 patients were examined and 93 surgeries were performed recently. Dr Anil Chauhan, principal of the college, said people of Dharampur did not have an access to the specialised medical care and were by and large poor and living in difficult terrains. He said the nearest centres with good medical facilities were at Mandi and Hamirpur which were 50-60 km away from Dharampur. He said a team of specialist doctors which included those for anaesthesia, eye, surgery, medicine, pediatrics, gynaecology, ENT, orthopaedics and dermatology, besides a team of gynaecologists from IGMC, Shimla, and dental surgeons from HP Dental College, Shimla, examined the patients of the area. He said this was the first such camp in the government sector under the NRHM programme in the state. He said surgeries were carried out in the Civil Hospital, Sarkaghat, and OPD in the college ground. However, minor surgeries were carried out at the operation theatre of the Community Health Centre, Dharampur. Patients were shifted from Dharampur to Sarkaghat for surgeries by ambulances, Dr Chauhan said. He said: "Everything was free in the camp which included consultation, medicines, investigation in the form of lab tests, X-rays, ECG and ultrasonography". The principal said the response was so unexpected that reinforcement of the medicines was asked from Tanda and they had to make local purchases of the same from Sarkaghat. He said 280 ECG, 345 ultrasound examinations, 799 X-rays and 1,040 laboratory tests were performed, besides 17 eye operations, 42 general surgery operations, 19 gynaecological and 15 orthopaedics operations were performed. He said 90 Pap smear were taken (a screening method for genital trace malignancies) and 752 dental procedures were carried out during the camp. The college authorities have decided to hold another such camp in the remote area of Sulgani, Chamba district, on the request of the CMO, Chamba, from November 17 for a period of 7 days.
	'Neonatal screening for hearing impairment essential' Our Correspondent Kangra, November 10 Neonatal screening for hearing impairment was extremely essential followed by ENT check-up for schoolchildren as hearing loss not detected at an early stage affects both speech and education of child. Dr SK Kaluskra, a renowned ENT and neck surgeon of the UK, suggested this here recently after he attended a free ENT surgical camp organised by the Vivekananda Kendra, a spiritually oriented service mission, in the local Civil Hospital. He said in India much needed to be done to develop good structural programme both for doctors and patients. He said technologies had gone so advanced that deafness could be wiped out from the country if better infrastructure were developed by the government. Dr Kaluskra, an Indian born who was an ENT consultant in the UK for 34 years, has been visiting India every year for a few weeks and has decided to serve the country. He said: "I want to spend more time in serving the humanity in general and people of India in particular". He said: "If the government provides better infrastructure, more specialised doctors of the Indian origin working in England would like to serve India. Prof S. Narue of Padua University, Italy, who also attended the camp, said in India ear problems were because of the lack of proper information among the patients regarding visiting a doctor and how to avoid making it chronic. He stressed on better communication between a patient and doctor for the early detection of disease. He said better hygiene and early detection of hearing impairment among children would help India to get free from deaf and dumb menace. Dr Kaluskra and Dr Narue lauded the role of the kendra in conducting such ENT, OPD and surgical camps here and suggested that the government must come forward to support such NGOs to make India free from deafness. A number of endoscopic ENT surgeries were performed free of cost in the camp which was attended by Dr Kaluskra, Dr Narue, Dr Sanjay Sachdeva, director and HOD, ENT, Fortis, Delhi, Dr Daniele Fischetto of Padua University, Italy, and Dr Satish Sharma, all ENT experts. For the want of adequate facilities, including general anaesthesia facility in Kangra Civil Hospital, some patients were selected for the major surgeries to be carried out in Delhi free of cost. Nearly 50 patients were also examined in the OPD after the surgeries were completed. To avoid the inconvenience to patients of the hill state, the government must come forward with helping hand to needy people by providing operation theatre facilities in Dr RP Govt Medical College (DRPGMC) at Tanda to perform complicated ENT surgeries under general anaesthesia through these camps free of charges. Earlier, nearly 12 complicated surgeries were performed by Dr Sanjay Sachdeva in DRPGMC, Tanda, but due to non-cooperation by some vested interests, the organisers were forced to shift the venue of the camp to Civil Hospital here. The kendra had offered free lectures and practical demonstrations on different surgeries to medical students of DRPGMC, Tanda, but it received no response from the authorities.
	Delay in online payment at STA Ambika Sharma Solan, November 10 Even as the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau was investigating a case involving financial irregularities in the issuance of national permits (NPs) which surfaced at the Solan office of Regional Transport Authority, little was being done to streamline the system by the Transport Department. The bureau had unearthed a scam where more than Rs 65 lakh bungling had surfaced as the cheques collected in lieu of issuing national permits had failed to be deposited in the bank. While this had put a question mark over the fee deposition system prevalent in the department no lessons appeared to have been learnt to stem the rot. Interestingly, a proposal had been mooted by the State Transport Authority (STA) some months back wherein a Memorandum of Understanding was to be signed with the State Bank of India (SBI) to provide services. As per this proposal, the STA was to open an online bank account in the SBI where the fee collected in lieu of issuing NP to vehicles outside the state could be deposited. Earlier, the possibility of using the services of HDFC had been explored but since the SBI has a nationwide presence with nearly 4,000 branches it was decided to approach the SBI. As a step in this direction, the state government had already accorded permission to open an online account with the SBI about four months ago. The officials had studied similar arrangements which existed in Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring Punjab where the system of payments had already been made online. The exercise, however, appeared to have been buried in the files as nothing further was being done to implement the same. This system if put in place would have helped streamline the system. However it was the lackadaisical approach of the department that nothing further had been done in this direction. BL Raghav, Secretary, State Transport Authority, said it was a problem which was being discussed at the national level and this would take time. He opined that what had happened at Solan RTA office was a system failure due to the short staff but they were trying to streamline the system by restricting the hours of fee deposition and tabulating the day’s work.
	Sainik School raising day a treat to watch The 32nd raising day of Sainik School, Sujanpur Tihra, was a special occasion this year as M.M. Pallam Raju, Minister of State for Defence and chairman of the Army Schools Organisation, joined the students in the celebrations. The students worked hard for several days to prepare various items for the big day and it was evident from the success of the show. There were a host of entertaining items but acrobatic exercises presented by junior students stole the limelight (See picture). The harmony and rhythm exhibited by the participants was applauded by everybody among the audience. While presenting a few adventurous acrobatic exercises the young students exhibited skills comparable with the one witnessed during such events presented by soldiers. To add to the gaiety and encourage the students of Sainik School Sujanpur Tihra, IAF personnel also organised a paragliding show and a sortie of three Jaguar fighter planes. It was a rare treat for all those present as such an event had not been held in the state earler. Maj-Gen J.S. Kundu from 9 Corps and Brig Ranjeet Singh, Inspector of Sainik Schools, were among the other dignitaries present at the celebrations, made enjoyable and highly successful by Col. SS Minhas, principal of the school. (See picture) Campus placement Famous fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger recently conducted campus interviews at the International institute of Fashion Design (INIFD), Hamirpur, to select fresh talent for fashion designing. A unique experience for local students, it also made them familiar with the needs of fashion industry and emerging trends. The company selected three students, Bitto, Seema Patial and Chandan, who have been offered handsome annual pay packages. The visit of companies like Tom Hilfiger for placement in a relatively remote place like Hamirpur has definitely generated renewed confidence amongst the students. Preparing for winter session The Vidhan Sabha secretariat is preparing for the winter session to be held at Dharamsala, which is likely to be rather long. Speaker Tulsi Ram has already visited the place and inspected the facilities at the Vidhan Sabha complex, near Tapovan. The practice of holding the winter session was started by the BJP government in 2002 to woo people of the Kangra region. It was, in fact, the political answer of the party to the Congress, which introduced “winter move” with a similar motive in 1994 under which the Chief Minister camped in the merged areas and even held a Cabinet meeting at Dharamsala where a mini-secretariat had also been constructed for the purpose. Both initiatives were a result of the Shimla versus Kangra politics pursued by the two main parties in the state. The BJP had for years tried to consolidate its position in the merged areas by alleging discrimination by the successive Congress governments which were ,incidentally, headed by the Chief Minister from the Shimla region. In between there had been demands from various quarters to shift the state capital from Shimla to a central place but no one seriously pursued the issue in view of the practical difficulties in implementing such a proposal. The annual “winter move” and holding the winter session of the Vidhan Sabha at Dharamasla has to an extent helped in sidetracking the demand for shift of the capital. It is no longer an issue and the charge of regional discrimination has also lost appeal in recent years. (Contributed by DP Gupta and Rakesh Lohumi)
	Bachat Bhavan calls for attention Balkrishan Prashar Chamba, November 10 The Bachat Bhavan of Chamba housing the only auditorium at its first floor at the district headquarters town of Chamba emits foul smell thanks to its thoughtless architecture in which it was constructed. The toilets constructed quite on the entrance lounge in the ground floor of the building stink. Even the entry of the toilets in the conference hall just behind the VIP seats looks odd. Virtually, the building is in a bad shape and cries for attention. In fact, the toilets at the ground floor should have been built at the backside of the building. The building was constructed about 18 years ago. Improvements were made some time ago to save the building from the rainwater as the tin roof was further extended to let the water fall ahead from the walls. Since significant meetings, seminars and workshops of different key organisations are held in the bhavan, nobody appears to be serious about bringing some modifications in the present structure of the building. Though, everybody, whether VIP or a layman, speaks of its deteriorating condition. Cheap plastic chairs and some other ragged chairs have been installed in the conference hall which give a poor show to VIPs. There is no permanent provision for exhaust fans and central-heating arrangements. The bhavan should be air-conditioned so that official meetings, conventions and policy-making discussions could be organised and conducted in an appropriate manner. In sum, the bhavan, which is the hub of the district for holding key conferences, conclaves and soirees, should at least be well furnished. Devesh Kumar, deputy commissioner of Chamba, who is receptive to new developments, has recently mapped out a proposal to put in the latest furniture and furnish the building beautifully thereby giving a new lease of life to the bhavan.