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Generic drug companies fleecing patients
Rogi Kalyan Samitis under the scanner
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Study blames road mishaps on greedy transporters
Mahakaal Shani temple a major attraction
Kimughat-Chakki ka Mor road may finally get off
Himachal diary
Expert for stress on solid waste management
This film captures nature at its best
College sports meet concludes
vignettes
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Generic drug companies fleecing patients
Palampur, February 9 It may be recalled that Himachal Pradesh is the only state in North India where the Essential Commodity Price Control Act is in existence and state has sufficient laws to deal with the menace. The state has emerged as a big market for the sale of generic drugs and over 80 per cent of the drug market is captured by generic drug companies. The Tribune had in its possession the wholesale and retail price list of one dozen major pharma companies reflecting the prices of 1,000 brands of generic medicines that are being used by every third Indian daily. It is surprising that not only private chemists but also the medical stores owned by the HP State Civil Supply Corporation (A HP government undertaking) have also been selling them in their medical stores and earning high profit margin ranging from 500 per cent to 1,000 per cent with no check at the government level (As per price list given). It is worthwhile to mention here that in most of the medical stores of the corporation, there are hoardings reflecting "Cheap and Genuine Drugs Available Here". The inside story is entirely different. A senior officer of the corporation gave an excuse that the corporation allows 5 per cent discount on the sale of such medicines to the consumers. In reality, it was a cruel joke with the consumers. The fact is that the corporation was allowing discount of 5 per cent after earning huge margin profits over 700 per cent. He further clarified that corporation was selling generic drugs on the prescription of the medical officer. But he was answerless on the issue of margin of profit earned by the corporation at 700 per cent. Enquiries made by The Tribune further revealed that HP State Civil Supply Corporation had over 40 retail medical stores situated in key locations inside the hospitals and medical colleges in the state. Patients always prefer to buy medicines from these shops with an impression that they would get standard drugs on reasonable rates in these stores, but contrary to it the HP Civil Supply Corporation was virtually cheating
the patients by charging high profits. Sales record of half a dozen civil supply medical stores situated at Palampur, Baijnath, Dharmshala and at the RP Medical College, Tanda, etc. in the district revealed that all the drugs were sold in such stores and the salesmen posted here prefers to sell such drugs. Tall claims made by CM Prem Kumar Dhumal and State Civil Supply Minister Ramesh Dhawala that the corporation was selling cheaper medicines in its stores are only confined to their speeches. Director Health Services Dr Nagesh Verma said the generic drugs were cheaper, therefore the state government was buying it for supply in its hospital. However, the CM and Civil Supply Minister had time and again assured public that the state would buy medicines only from the standard companies, but within a year the state government deviated from its policy and switched over to the purchase of the generic drugs.
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Rogi Kalyan Samitis under the scanner
Palampur, February 9 The recent arrest of the Block Medical officer (BMO), Baijnath, while accepting Rs 3,000 from his a para medical staffer exposed corruption prevailing in the Health Department. The BMO, who was arrested by the State Vigilance Bureau, had demanded Rs 3,000 from the employee out of his salary of Rs 9,000 fixed by the Rogi Kalyan Samiti, which was headed by the suspect. The decision of the state government to allow the BMOs to appoint medical officers and other paramedical staff through the Rogi Kalyan Samitis has resulted in large-scale irregularities and corruption. These samitis have been conducting interviews for the selection of medical officers for the past six months. No appointment committees have been constituted for this purpose. Over 150 doctors had been interviewed by these samitis in the state till date of which only 30 had reported for duty. Most of the medical officers were not appearing in the interviews conducted by these samitis since these were contractual appointments. It may be recalled that government had set up these Rogi Kalyan Samitis in the district, sub-divisional and block-level hospitals to generate funds to meet the daily financial requirements of these health institutions, besides appointing medical and paramedical staff there. These samitis collect funds from the patients who undergo any medical test, x-ray, ultrasound scanning, surgery and other medical examinations in the hospitals. The patients had to pay between Rs 10 to Rs 300 to 500 to these samitis on every test and these funds were suppose to be incurred on the welfare of poor patients and for the betterment of the hospitals. The SDMs of the sub-divisions concerned were made supervisory officials for these samitis. Though the state government had given powers to spend crores every year to these samitis, no proper rules and regulations were made to keep a check on their functioning. Even no guidelines were framed about the use of funds so collected. As a result most of the SMOs, BMOs and CMOs in the district had failed to maintain proper accounts. Even the samitis had no independent staff to handle these affairs. In many hospitals nobody knew as to how much money was collected and where it was spent.
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Study blames road mishaps on greedy transporters
Mandi, February 9 A recent study on road accidents from 1999 to 2008 observes glaring loopholes in state public transport system and road safety. This underscores a need for a multi-disciplinary approach to check hazards on roads. The lure of operators to earn more leads to human error among drivers who suffer from fatigue as they put in extra hours. Most of the transporters put pressure on drivers to keep driving for long hours for dropping consignments or passengers within the shortest possible time by giving them some incentives, regardless of whether they take rest or not. This clearly violates the Motor Vehicles Workers Act (MVWA) that forbids more than eight hours of driving in a day. The glaring loopholes are understandable. A magisterial inquiry, for instance, into a road accident in Kufri involving a private bus that killed over 40 people found that the driver was fiddling with the DVD player. Besides, the driver had a forged licence procured from Agra. In another accident involving a private bus that killed over 20 persons in Chamba, the bus had no fitness certificate. Meanwhile, the study mentions that the transport inspector issues a licence to learners spends average five minutes to check the driving fitness, overlooking mandatory 10 stringent tests, including driving at night and in hilly terrain. There is no system of issuing graduating licence as the most accident-pone countries like China has done leading to less number of fatalities on roads. Accident-prone stretches between Pandoh-Hanogi-Aut on the National Highway-21 have no crash barriers. Tractors, oil tankers, construction vehicles carrying clinkers etc usually have no amber lights posing a danger to commuters in the transport towns of Barmana and Darlaghat. These glaring deficiencies in the transport system are proving fatal for travellers. The study has found that road safety has remained shaky on hilly roads. Factors like traffic congestion, potholed roads and lack of awareness and road sense are contributing to road accidents. The study reveals that fitness certificates are issued to operators and drivers by the regional transport authorities (RTOs) without proper checking and tests. Drivers suffer from fatigue on uncomfortable seats in public transport buses as they have no separate cabins. In more than 500 cases, the vehicles failed the fitness test that raises a question on the role of RTOs who give fitness certificates to operators. The study accuses the HRTC and private bus operators of violating the provisions of the MVA and MVWA. The labour department, RTOs and the licencing authorities, too, remain negligent in enforcing the laws, it states. The disturbing trend is that out of 8,596 accident cases studied in the central range in Mandi, Bilaspur, Kullu, and Hamipur districts, as many as 1,086 cases remained untraced. The police filed chargesheet in 6,961 cases. Though the trial in 3,196 cases has been completed, the conviction rate remains dismal. The police initiates its “ritualistic” road safety week in the first week of January every year, but no such campaign is initiated by other departments like the licensing authorities, labour, state transport and the PWD. Raghav, state transport secretary, says workshops are being organised to make drivers and operators aware about road safety. "We are checking drivers’ fitness and vehicles and road safety committees under SDMs have been put in place,” he adds. Anurag Garg, DIG (central range), says safety on roads needs a multidisciplinary approach. “Even enforcement of law alone cannot bring about change in driving culture”.
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Mahakaal Shani temple a major attraction
Kangra, February 9 Ram Kumar Misra, chief priest of the temple, says according to a legend, Jallander demon, a brother of Maha Laxmi, did penance for attaining victory over death at Mahakaal following which Lord Shiva gave him blessing that he would not die at the hands of Kaal (lord of death). Jallander turned amuck after getting the blessing and started troubling devtas and sages who had been visiting Mahakaal for worshiping Lord Shiva. The gods sought Lord Shiva’s help in getting rid of Jallander. Lord Shiva and Jallander confronted each other with the former killing the latter by saying that he would be killed not by Kaal but by Mahakaal. Mahakaal is now known as a holy place of tapa (penance) and vadha (death) of Jallander. As many as 12 temples have come up in the entire Kangra valley where different body parts of Jallander had fallen. The complex has an ancient temple dated back to the Mahabharata period where both Lord Shiva and Shani were worshiped by people together. In view of the large number of devotees, a new Shani temple was constructed by Swami Ramananda in 1985. The Shani temple has been constructed in Vedic style with 12 pillars of 12 rashies and people come and tie thread round their own rashie pillar for fulfilling their wishes. Tejender Singh, a US-based NRI, who visited the shrine recently to seek blessings for his brother who is on a wheelchair, says people must visit the temple to get rid of their woes. Devotees offer mustard oil over the idol of Lord Shani and some varieties of pluses. The temple is being looked after by the government under the direct supervision of the temple trust.
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Kimughat-Chakki ka Mor road may finally get off
Solan, February 9 Out of the 17-km stretch, 8-km portion has been constructed in the first phase at a cost of Rs 1.06 crore. The remaining stretch, including the laying of a fresh road, has, however, been caught in several problems. Earlier, the villagers opposed land acquisition and the matter took several years to be settled in the court. This led to lapse of the permission granted under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, clearing forest land for non-forestry purpose. Having cleared that hurdle the road now awaits adequate funds as the estimated budget works out to be a whopping Rs 4 crore. The road once completed would enable villagers to travel to Parwanoo within half an hour as against the earlier uphill climb where hours were spent in first reaching Kasauli and then carrying on the onward journey to Chandigarh which took almost two-and-a half hours. Kasauli MLA Rajiv Sehzal expressed optimism about the remaining road finally getting completed, saying that he was hopeful of getting the requisite funds from NABARD. Since the cost of construction was as high as Rs 4 crore funding has to be sought from NABARD. The road has, however, taken a almost decade for its completion as the earlier stretch of 8 km was constructed way back in 2002. The remaining stretch of 9 km has thereafter been awaiting completion. The road has been constructed up to Seri village and the road will finally benefit a population of 1,000 plus spread across 10 villages. The lack of interest taken by the previous Congress regime was also a major reason for the delay as no initiative was taken to make adequate funds available. Though the villagers too were partially responsible for the delay as they took to the court the matter relating to land acquisition. However, even after the land was finally vested with the PWD, it was the lack of funds which marred this ambitious project. Local people were now keenly awaiting its completion so that going to Parwanoo and Chandigarh could save time and money.
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INIFD dresses to be showcased at Lakme Fashion Summer Resort
The dresses designed by students of the Hamirpur-based International Institute of Fashion Design (INIFD), Hamirpur, will be displayed on the ramp by famous models in the Lakme Fashion Summer Resort, 2010, to be held at
Mumbai.
The selection of students for the big event was carried out early this week at the institute (See picture). The selected team will be deployed at the registration desk, main hall, sponsor's lounge and back stage during the event to be held at Hotel Grand Hayat from March 5 to 9. The students earlier got an opportunity to display their creations during the Lakme Fashion Week. They will now get a chance to interact and work with famous designers in Mumbai, the fashion capital of the country. The team members will also be trained at Chandigarh and New Delhi to prepare themselves for the event. The emphasis during training will be on honing their communications and management skills and developing confidence in them. Besides, working together during training will provide them practical experience how to work as a team. Award for Shimla industrialist
Shimla-born industrialist Virender Mohan Trehan has been conferred the prestigious 'Man for Science and Technolongy-2009' award by the Punjab Academy of Science. The 67-year-old entrepreneur has spent his life promoting latest technology. Chairman of Parwanoo-based Mekaster Group Trehan has set up facilities at Parwanoo in Solan and Halol in Gujarat for the manufacture of a host of engineering equipment ranging from industrial hand tools, hydraulic and mechanical pullers, tunnelling and mining machines to concrete spraying, mixing and grouting systems. However, his invaluable contribution for which he has been honoured with awards and medals has been in the field of science and technology promotion. He was presented the prestigious Presidential Gold Medal of the Indian Science Congress Association by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh two years ago. Trehan has endeavoured consistently to build scientific temper in the country and devoted much of his time to propagate the cause of science and technology, telecommunications and social harmony in society as a whole. An active member of the Indian Science Congress Association, he was twice elected as Chairman of its Engineering Sciences section. He is of the firm view that innovative ideas need to be pursued relentlessly and developed with the help of science and technology to realise the vision of a progressive India. The country is at the brink of technological and economic upsurge and it is time to make the best of the situation and strive for all-round development. Trehan was instrumental in introduction of Digital Switching System in India and setting up of the National Telematics Forum(NTF), which played a major role in formulation of the national telecom policy. He dedicated Mekaster auditorium to the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers, Hyderabad, for the propagation of science. Some of his benchmarking efforts included high torque application tools (categorised as industrial hand tools) used in mining, power, heavy engineering and aviation, concrete paving equipment to lining of canals, chimney elevator for thermal power plants, industrial construction hoists for raising tall structures and dam embedded instruments for the safety of dams.
Khadi board adds stone jewellery
The showroom of the state khadi board on The Mall has added stone jewellery in the items sold at the outlet. Chief executive of the board Ravinder Bharadwaj said that only jewellery made by units financed by the board under the employment generation programme of the Centre would be sold. There were about 25 traditional jewellery units but of late a few artificial jewellery units had also come up in the state. The step will encourage more craftsmen to make artificial jewellery. The rates had been kept very reasonable to attract customers. So far, stone jewellery was not being made by craftsmen on a large scale. It had a huge potential in a state like Himachal which attracts almost one crore tourists during the year. If the response of the customers was good, the board would encourage more such units which had good scope for employment generation. (Contributed by
DP Gupta and Rakesh Lohumi)
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Expert for stress on solid waste management
Chamba, February 9 Statements being given out about Himachal being a polythene-free state and launching schemes like 'polythene hatao-paryavaran bachao abhiyan' are fine, but unless some concrete efforts and scrupulous thought is put into these campaigns at every level of consumer awareness and waste management, there will be no practical solution in sight. It is not just the plastic carry bags that the shopkeepers give out to people for taking their purchases home, but a major part of this waste is constituted by all items used in common household consumption like chips, biscuits, bread, mineral water, toys, tyres, etc. According to a survey conducted by the Society for Protection of Forests and Wildlife, a non-governmental organisation of the region, most of the shopkeepers in Chamba, Dalhousie, Banikhet and other townships of the district have not been using plastic carry bags since last year and yet the quantum of garbage had increased rapidly over the same period at certain points. The primary need for any waste management plan is to collect the garbage and separate it and recycle it, and this activity requires a planned and long-term outlook and not just namesake campaigns of plastic collection and creating a media blitz, suggests an expert of the NGO. The Indian corporate honcho's should take ownership of the spreading pollution and take responsibility of helping to restrain and not just abandon it at the doorsteps of the government and people. Maximum input and stress should be put into waste segregation and recycling, if we are to
control the growing 'use and throw' litter of our modern consumption patterns. Unplanned tourism development and multi-storeyed housing projects in the rural areas are spreading this pollution uncontrollably, where neither the Forest Department nor the panchayats have any provisions or laws for waste management. While a number of suggestions have been proposed for plastic pollution management, ranging from road building, recycling products to electric power generation, none of them cater to the need of getting the consumer to bring back the empty packages to the urban collection centres.
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This film captures nature at its best
Shimla, February 9 It is the story of ultimate triumph of the spirit of adventure revolving around two school boys with inquisitive mind who venture deep into the Himalayan mountains to discover the mythical "lotus pond". Their journey in the unknown woods ,where they are almost lost, takes the viewer through awesome virgin mountain ranges in the inner Himalayas presenting nature at its
beautiful best. During the course of the journey they also learn a lot about the life of hill people, their culture and traditions. The whole story unfolds in a positive and cheerful note amidst
pristine splendour of the Himalayas. The main characters, Neeraj and Ajay, have been played by Akash and Rohit, 10-year-old boys, while the third boy is Khemu, a local villager who takes them to his home. It was the story narrated by Khemu's grandmother about the mystical lotus pond, which strengthens their belief that it existed and impelled them to explore the mountains in its search. While Akash, who is in the main lead, has already acted in some Telugu movies, Rohit, who is in the main supporting role, has faced the camera for the first time. He topped in the auditions conducted across Andhra Pradesh for the purpose. The film has been made in English ,Hindi and local Kuluvi dialect. It will have a simultaneous international and regional release. The international premiere will be held in London
in May. The story of adventure of the three little boys apart, the raw and virgin beauty of the Himalayas captured in celluloid will bring many nature lovers to the state. In fact, the company is looking for support for the film from the state Tourism Department. If the film does well the hill state would be firmly put on the international map and may encourage producers from other countries to shoot in the Himalayan locales.
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College sports meet concludes
Nurpur, February 9 As many as 250 girl and boy students took part in events like 100m race, high and long jump, discus throw, slow cycling and javelin throw. The chief guest distributed the prizes among the winning participants. Suresh and Nisha were declared the best athletes. In javelin throw, Rajiv, Ajay and Amarjeet (men) and Nisha, Manju and Vandana (women) were, respectively, declared first, second and third positions. In discus throw, Vikas, Vijay and Mandeep (men) and Payal, Jyoti and Deepa (women) got first, second and third positions, respectively. In long jump, Ravinder, Rajnish and Nitish (men) and Nisha Devi, Nisha and Aarti (women) were adjudged first, second and third, respectively. In high jump, Suresh, Pankaj and Mukesh (men) and Meenakshi, Kanika and Payal (women) bagged the first, second and third positions, respectively.
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The Dalziel Estate
by Shriniwas Joshi On the way to the Railway Station or Chaura Maidan from the scandal point, the structures opposite the Railway Board building would attract one's attention. The Post Office (Shimla-3) building here was constructed in 1905. The Dalziel Estate (then Dalzell Estate) comprising a house (where the SBI is) and a cottage was raised around 1844. Edward Buck confirms it in 1904 when he writes: "The sketch which appeared in Captain Thomas' book nearly 60 years ago shows Dalzell's House in the foreground." The house and the cottage were built by Captain HB Dalzell and then the property changed hands from him to Captain E. Sunderland and then to Elizabeth Ann Cooper in 1850. The military office occupied the cottage in 1875. Alexander Chisholm owned it in 1887 who sold it to Florence Elizabeth Hotz in 1890 who transformed it into luxurious hotel. Shimla had two more hotels with Hotzs. Wildflower Hall was with them since 1909 whose old building was demolished by Mrs. Hotz in 1925 to construct a three-storeyed hotel. The Hotzs also owned Cecil during those days. Hotz Hotels was a famous name then. Dalzell House, 1847 onwards, remained the residence of the Civil Surgeon and was later occupied by Upper India Bank followed by the Bank of Bengal that purchased it in 1907. The ownership of the total Dalziel Estate was transferred to Hotzs in 1890 but Robert Hotz, husband of Elizabeth and a known photographer, had Dalziel Cottage in his name in 1888. The cottage is where a self-proclaimed budget heritage hotel by the name of Dalziel is running today. Robert was the sole agent in India for permanent photographs on porcelain. He had named his shop as 'The Art Gallery'. After Hotzs had acquired the proprietary rights of Dalziel, they, taking advantage of Roland Hotz, a relative of theirs and a famous architect of Shimla, were constantly busy in additions and alterations that were troubling the neighbours. A tenant, Whey Twleslie, living in Melrose (present Ganga Hotel) on the Kaithu side below the Dalziel Estate, wrote a bitter letter in 1895 to the Municipal Committee, saying that "I have tried to get Mr. Elston (owner of Melrose) to make Mr. Hotz put the tank above the path leading to Melrose in order but nothing seems to be done. Last year we suffered great inconvenience from slips, this year nature will be much worse. Are there no rules under which a tenant, who is a taxpayer, can expect that the land near his residence is maintained in a state of safety? Excuse my bothering you!" The reply sent or action taken by the MC is not known but they warned Hotz on a different issue, "Should any of these iron sheets on the roof be blown down the hill, they may kill or injure some person?" Despite Hotz's squabbles with the neighbours and the MC, his photographic mission continued and his photo of The Glen in Shimla of 1896 or an Indian Ayah with an English mother and two children done in 1897 are examples of mastery in old photography mode. When other photographers started establishing themselves in Shimla, Hotz, in 1901, gave Dalziel Cottage to A. Kaegi, Piano Manufacturers and Punjab Music Warehouse started functioning there. And Hotz in 1916 admitted that "the photographic business is no longer in existence and some rooms are now used for dwelling purposes." By the side of Punjab Music Warehouse, H.Hotz, younger brother of Roland, the architect, started working as electrical engineers in the name of H.Hotz and Company in 1917. I, in my wander about Shimla, found the grave of Roland Hotz in Sanjauli cemetery describing his birth on 23.5.1885 and death on 7.9.1937. Anyway, the Dalziel Estate stayed with Hotz Hotels till 1972 when it was sold to its Indian owners, Virendra Hotels and Allied Industries Private Ltd. who own it currently.
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The greed of truck and bus operators to earn more in the “shortest possible time” is taking its toll on drivers. Rash driving results in human error
which is one of the major causes of road accidents.
Amidst various news reports and campaigns launched for banning polythene and creating awareness among people, one fact appears to be quite obvious that all the municipal, local bodies and state authorities are floundering in dark about 'solid-waste management
(SWM)'. As a strategy, a fledgling scheme of making roads with the waste plastic and earmarking landfill sites are in the offing, but there is no talk of removing root causes of the problem. The quantum of garbage generated in the state has to be calculated in order to understand the enormity of this problem.
Inspired by the success of children-centric movies like "Taare Zameen Par" and
"Slumdog millionaire", Hyderabad-based Tripadaya Innovations and Marketing (TIM), a leading company in travel and tourism, education and marketing, has come out with an international feature film "The Lotus Pond".
On the way to the Railway Station or Chaura Maidan from the scandal point, the structures opposite the Railway Board building would attract one's attention. The Post Office (Shimla-3) building here was constructed in 1905. The Dalziel Estate (then Dalzell Estate) comprising a house (where the SBI is) and a cottage was raised around 1844. Edward Buck confirms it in 1904 when he writes: "The sketch which appeared in Captain Thomas' book nearly 60 years ago shows Dalzell's House in the foreground." The house and the cottage were built by Captain HB Dalzell.
