Shimla, June 12
Even at the age of 93, Shyan Charan Negi vividly remembers the first election in free India in October 1951 when people in the tribal areas of the hill state voted enthusiastically to elect their representative ahead of rest of the nation on account of an early poll to beat the harsh winter.

It was owing to this privileged status which Negi enjoys that Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Navin Chawla was keen to have a date with him. Chawla today visited the tribal district, which went to polls on October 25, 1951, before the rest of the country to beat the harsh winter, which would have made polling impossible later when the general elections were to be held.

In fact one of the main reasons why Chawla was keen to visit Kinnaur was to meet and honour Negi who shared the historic experience with him. The situation today is far different from 1951 when polling boxes had to be ferried on mules from Chinni, later renamed as Kalpa. The counting of votes was however done with the rest of the nation, which went to polls in December 1951 and February 1952.

Most first-time voters recount that at the time when elections were held in 1951, all that they knew was that they were voting for Jawaharlal Nehru. It was Raj Kumari Amrit Kaur of the Indian National Congress who had won the election from the Mandi-Mahasu parliamentary constituency of which Chinni was a part, in the 1951 polls.

Compared to 1951 when there were hardly any schools, educational institutions or for that mater electricity, Himachal today has 93 per cent of its electorate in possession of election photo identity card (EPIC). “We hope to achieve the target of cent per cent EPIC for every voter by September 15,” remarks Chief Electoral Officer Anil Khachi. He informed that there were 44,89,876 general voters in Himachal with an additional 70,000 service voters.

It is Sirmaur district which has the highest percentage of voters with EPIC at 97, followed by Mandi with 96. The figure is surprisingly low for the state capital at 85 per cent and the adjoining constituency of Kasumpti with 79 per cent.

The practice of holding an early poll in Himachal in the tribal areas, which experience heavy snowfall in the winter, is still followed whenever elections are held in the winter months. It was this practical problem which bestowed on some of the residents of the area the honour of becoming the first voters of independent India.

Shimla, June 12
Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed in principle to fund projects aimed at tourism promotion, laying of transmission lines and urban development schemes in Himachal Pradesh.

Chief Minister PK Dhumal disclosed this after meeting a high-level delegation from the ADB, here yesterday. The delegation was headed by Xiaoyu Zhao, vice-president, and Hun Kim, country director, Indian Resident Mission of the ADB.

The Chief Minister welcomed the proposal of the ADB authorities for funding tourism, transmission line laying and urban development projects in the state in addition to other on-going projects under implementation in different sectors. “Infrastructure development and coming up of mega project in the tourism sector will help generate employment and revenue for the people of the state as Himachal has immense tourism potential,” he said.

Dhumal said Himachal had vast hydel potential of over 23,000 MW which was being harnessed with ecological safeguards. “There is an urgent need to raise valley wise single dedicated transmission lines to evacuate power from hydropower projects out of the valley to the main grid and for this a lot of funds will be required,” he added. He said with the funding of transmission project by the ADB, work would get expedited and aviation hazards removed from different valleys where number of hydel projects were coming up.

The Chief Minister said there was a need to regulate urban growth so that basic amenities could be provided to the residents of the town. He welcomed the proposal of the ADB to fund beautification and developmental projects in urban areas of the state.

He stressed the need to construct a modern solid waste management plant for every urban area so that cleanliness of the towns was maintained. “Himachal had banned use of polythene carry bags in the state which had been a major environment hazard and several other such steps were being initiated to save the ecology from degradation,” he said.

Xiaoyu Zhao expressed satisfaction over the progress of different projects being funded by the ADB and appreciated the initiatives taken by the state in different sectors. “Launching of projects in the tourism, power and urban development sector will help attract greater number of tourists,” he said.

He said the ADB would also be willing to exchange information, share knowledge with the state so that both could gain from each other’s experience and expertise in different sectors.

Shimla, June 12
In a major step aimed at providing financial assistance to single women, the government has decided to provide pension of Rs 330 per month to all such women above the age of 45 years.

The decision was taken at the Cabinet meeting held on June 9 but the notification in this regard is yet to be issued by the Social Justice and Empowerment Department.

It is learnt that single women above the age of 45 will be eligible for pension with an annual income criteria of Rs 9,000 in case she is alone and Rs 15,000 in case she is living in a family. It is expected that a large number of women will stand to be benefited by the government decision. Under the pension scheme for single women it is the gram panchayats who will identify the eligible beneficiaries.

Several social and voluntary organisations had for the past some time been demanding financial assistance for these women who were either unmarried, divorced or widows and managing their own affairs.

The Himachal Pradesh Ekal Nari Shakti Sangthan had demanded from the government that they be provided financial assistance so that they could make ends meet and lead a respectable life. “We welcome the step but the amount of Rs 330 per month is too meagre and this should be enhanced to at least Rs 1,000 per month,” said Subhash Medhapurkar, director of Sutra, an NGO working for women.

Medhapurkar said as per the 2001 census there were 2.1 lakh single women in Himachal and ensuring a quality life to such women was the responsibility of the government. He said the decision of the government would help about 1.5 lakh women in the state.

“By working 100 days under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), a woman can earn Rs 11,000, so the government must enhance the income limit as one of the eligibility criteria to Rs 18,000 per annum,” he pointed out. He contested that with medical bills going up substantially after the age of 60 years, a sum of Rs 330 was too less to meet the medical bills.

Single women have been demanding free medical treatment as this would take a lot of financial burden off their heads. The government had already launched two other schemes Mother Teresa and Mukhya Mantri Kanyadan aimed at providing financial assistance for education of children and marriage of daughter’s of single women.

Solan, June 12
Even as the ambitious National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) stresses on institutional deliveries, the absence of blood bank at First Referral Unit (FRU), Nalagarh, has defeated its very purpose.

The latest victim was an expecting mother who was referred to Chandigarh after her haemoglobin level was reduced to less than 5 gm.

Nalagarh BMO Dr Satinder Saini said since the FRU neither had a blood bank nor a specialist gynaecologist the patient was referred to Chandigarh on Thursday. The unfortunate mother was however caught in a traffic jam for over three hours leading to the birth of a stillborn baby.

The FRU caters to the accident-prone industrial area where almost 20 to 25 accidents are reported every month and almost one postmortem was conducted every day. Considering these circumstances the BMO said he had sent a detailed report to the state government some time back emphasising the need to open a blood bank. Nothing substantial had been done in this regard by the government.

Though there was a proposal to open a blood storage unit, even that failed to materialise in the absence of adequate staff. This was despite the purchase of equipment which was now being used at the Regional Hospital, Solan, to keep it in working condition, a blood bank official at Solan confided. A bare minimum staff of one staff nurse, laboratory technician and a doctor would be required to operate the blood storage unit but since no staff was available the blood bank could not be operated.

However, doctors at the FRU opined that a technician could be spared from the Integrated Counselling and Training Centre but the lack of will on part of the government was delaying the setting-up of a storage unit here.

Though the NRHM aims to restructure delivery mechanism by reducing child and maternal deaths, failure of the state to provide a blood bank as enshrined in the NRHM norms at the FRU level for emergency obstetrics and newborn care under the Reproductive and Child Health Programme has defeated the purpose of this ambitious programme.

Nurpur, June 12
The inter-state Chakki bridge on the Pathankot-Mandi National Highway No 20 being constructed at an estimate cost of Rs 34 crore would likely to be thrown open for vehicular traffic in September this year as the construction company has assured the government to complete its construction on the schedule time.

This was stated by PWD Minister Gulab Singh Thakur while talking to mediapersons today after inspecting the ongoing construction of the new Chakki Bridge. The minister, who visited and inspected 10 under-construction bridges on the NH-20, said at present constructions worth Rs 84 crore of bridges and roads were going on and the state government would release additional Budget to the tune of Rs 25 crore in the current fiscal to expedite the works.

Thakur informed the Public Works Department, “we are introducing the E-tendering system for filing tenders for construction of various projects.”

“It will bring transparency, healthy competition and end practice of pool system prevalent among contractors,” he claimed.

Expressing concern over the encroachments on national highways, he asserted that the local junior engineers would now be held responsible for any encroachments in their jurisdiction.

Chamba, June 12
Additional Sessions Judge of fast track court, Chamba, Yashwant Singh has convicted accused Ramesh Kumar of Nalera of Chamba district for murder under Section 302, IPC, and sentenced him to life imprisonment with a fine of Rs 20,000.

In default of the payment of fine, the convict shall suffer further imprisonment for six months.

The judgment passed by the court yesterday said the accused Ramesh Kumar, alias Bhuru, alias Bhuri Singh, and the deceased Piar Singh, who were working in Himachal Pradesh Public Works Department, had consumed liquor together in the shop of Bhagat Ram at Mani on February 11 last year. On February 12, the body of Piar was found lying at Khaleuin Morh.

The accused was threatening the deceased to do away with his life for the reasons which were not disclosed to the his wife by the deceased. However, it was proved on record that the accused had killed Piar as he had a grudge against the deceased on some money matter.

The accused after murdering Piar, dragged the body of the deceased down to the fields and fled away from the spot to a place known as Chaminu from where he was arrested.

Accordingly, it was also observed that the accused was connected with the crime on the basis of circumstantial evidence and the blood stains of the deceased which were found on the clothes of the accused.

Thereafter, on the completion of the trial, the accused was held guilty and was 
convicted and sentenced by the court.

Solan, June 12
Hundreds of villagers of Nichla Malpur and Malpur villages lying on the NH-21-A on Saturday sat on an agitation against the reckless mining of fertile land in their village.

Villagers said 12 JCBs were active in illegal mining operations which were generally executed during night hours but no official had checked these activities. Peeved at the lack of action against continuous mining, villagers today raised slogans against the administration. — OC