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MNREGA Toilets constructed on the banks of Bhiral Khud in Palampur under the MNREGA are on the verge of collapse because of poor quality of work and material used. Photo by the writer
Agri varsity quashes promotion of 45 teachers
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Such traffic jams are routine at Panchrukhi, near
Palampur. Tribune photo
Pak team to play kabaddi match at Sujanpur Tihra
Shortage of drug inspectors hits monitoring
Ayurveda Dept takes steps to check sexual harassment at workplace
Ragging victim's family in endless wait for justice
Himachal diary
Commodity prices at new high
Lottery fraud accused nabbed
Two state powerlifters to take part in international championship
Members of Himachal powerlifting team, who recently participated in the National Championship at
Coimbatore.
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Irregularities galore, action rare
Ravinder Sood
Palampur, August 17 All development works under the scheme have been left under the control of block development officers and panchyats, who have miserably failed to properly utilise the funds in the absence of any technical know-how and a lack of government supervision. The Tribune carried out a survey relating to the implementation of the scheme, utilisation of funds and the quality of works completed. It is seen that there is no check on the quality of the works executed. Most of the roads and path constructed by spending lakhs have been washed away with the first showers of monsoon. It is also revealed that panchyat pardhans, other members and functionaries have been preparing bogus muster rolls and pocketing the wages paid under fake or duplicate names. Hundreds of complaints have been made to the government in this regard, but there is no agency to listen public complaints. Though the state has appointed an "ombudsman" to hear the complaints for MNREGA works, but not even a single complaint has been addressed till date. An RTI activist, Chuni Lal of Bir panchyat, provided documentary evidence to The Tribune pertaining to corruption in MNREGA. He had procured these documents under the RTI from different departments. As per the documents, the name of one Surjan, son of Dinu Ram, appeared on two muster rolls during same period and he also got wages from both. Similarly, the name of Dogran Devi, wife of Bhagat Ram, appeared on two separate muster rolls between March 2 and March 31, 2009. Same was the case of Savitri, Nehri and Guddo, who also worked on two muster rolls of different departments - one for the repair of panchyat shops and another for work on a water source - during the same period. The list is endless. When The Tribune contacted these persons, they had no knowledge of appearing their names on two muster rolls. The labourers, most of whom were illiterate, said they were paid wages for one muster roll. With official records confirming that wages were drawn from both muster rolls, who got wages from the second muster roll remains a mystery. Chuni Lal had reported the matter to the SP, Vigilance, Dharmsala; deputy commissioner, Kangra; and secretary, rural development and panchyats, but no action has been initiated against the culprits. Similar is the situation in over two panchyats of the region where irregularities have been detected and the panchayat functionaries concerned were also suspended, but no criminal case has been registered against the culprits so far.
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Agri varsity quashes promotion of 45 teachers
Palampur, August 17 The board termed the promotions illegal and uncalled for. In a meeting held at Shimla, the board decided to recover over Rs 2 crore from these teachers that were withdrawn illegally from the state exchequer as excess salaries. A senior official of the university said these teachers were promoted under the personal promotion scheme, but as per the ICAR norms, the university was not competent to promote them under the scheme with a scale of 3,700-5,700 and 2,200-4,000 to professors and associate professors, respectively. Under the personal promotion scheme, the teachers were elevated to associate professor and professor between eight year and 16 year of service, respectively, in the scale of 3,700-5,700, whereas they were eligible for the scale of 3,000-5,000. The board said the personal promotion scheme was not applicable for these teachers as the ICAR had already notified new promotion schemes known as carrier advancement with new yard sticks, which was applicable in all agriculture universities in the country, therefore, there was no justification to promote the teachers in the personal promotion scheme with higher scales. In fact, under the carrier advancement scheme, minimum period for the elevation of associate professor to the rank of professor was 21 year with a higher pay scale. In the personal promotion scheme, this period was only 16 year, but the university made some teachers as professors in less than 16-year service. Since the then vice-chancellor wanted to accommodate some of his close associates, who were juniors and did not fall in the promotion lists of professor and associate professor in the carrier advancement scheme, therefore, he invoked the personal promotion scheme. While taking the decision, he kept all norms and promotions rules aside and illegal promotions were made. As many as 45 teachers, who availed the benefit of illegal promotions, are in dock now facing recoveries from their salaries.
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Traffic jams common at Panchrukhi
Dharamsala, August 17 However, the crossing is an illustration of poor traffic management. Commuters have to remain stranded on the crossing, in many cases, for more than an hour due to haphazard parking and the absence of traffic cops. The major reason for traffic jams is the parking of buses just near the level crossing. The railway crossing at Panchrukhi is very small and the parking of buses near it blocks the traffic. Interestingly, bus operators keep waiting for passengers near the crossing unmindful of trouble being faced by commuters. To add to the woes, no traffic cop has been deployed there to manage the traffic. In case of traffic jam, it is local people or stranded commuters who try to regulate the traffic to get out of it. In case of the closure of level crossing, the situation turns worse. Parking of vehicles along the narrow road near the level crossing is another reason for traffic jams. Generally, taxi operators park their vehicles along the road. This squeezes the already narrow road to such an extent that even two vehicles cannot cross. The traffic then has to wait till some one finds the taxi driver who parked his vehicle and requests him to clear the road. Locals say traffic on the Panchrukhi crossing has increased manifold over the past few years. The district administration would have to look for a permanent solution to this. Traffic lights at the main crossing can be one of the solutions. However, till cops are posted here to regulate traffic and penalise the violators, the traffic lights might not serve their purpose, they say. They also add that by not allowing any kind of parking at the main junction or near the level crossing could be the only viable solution.
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Pak team to play kabaddi match at Sujanpur Tihra
Hamirpur, August 17 The series of the matches would be organised from September 5 to September 30 by the Amateur Circle Kabaddi Federation of India. The main organisers of the matches, national vice-chairman of the Federation and media advisor Rajinder Rana and general secretary Santosh Singh have told that these matches would be played in different towns of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Chandigarh between the teams of Pakistan and India. They said the opening matches of the series would be played at the historical town of Sujanpur Tihra in Hamirpur district on September 6 and 7. The Federation has already got security and political clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs for Pakistan players and all preparation are in full swing for conducting the series.
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From TB sanitarium to medical college
by Shriniwas Joshi I was at Tanda in Kangra last week attending a workshop on 'Anti-ragging and curbing sexual harassment' in which the four pillars of democracy shared their views with a large audience at Shobha Singh Sabhagar, raised in a mix of Elizabethan classical and contemporary Indian architecture (See Photo). The chief guest, Justice RB Mishra, mesmerized the gathering by his knowledge of oriental religious texts, quoting extensively in Sanskrit from those in his keynote address. The incident of Aman Kachroo being ragged to death has tainted the image of an otherwise valued Dr. Rajendra Prasad Medical College, Tanda, whose students, now, take the pledge of making their institution a 'zero ragging campus' resulting in slow but sure retrieval of the lost sheen. The infectious dynamism of principal Anil Chauhan makes the staff willing to push the college ahead. My quest was to know that how the place had been named Tanda when there was no such place in the revenue record and the village where the college was located was Sarhadpur. The story that a 'tented' colony for Italian prisoners during World War II was established here and that ultimately got corrupted to Tanda did not sell well with me. I probed and found that it had something to do with 'Lobanas', a tribe that has derived its name from the words 'loon' (salt) and 'bana' (trade). It was a salt-carrying and salt-trading community. The district gazetteer of Kangra(1924-25) unfolds that the 'Lobanas' were settled at villages in Nurpur, Palampur, Dehra and Kangra. Wherever the Lobanas settled they mainly named their villages as Tandas. Tanda in Lobanki dialect means a travelling body or gang. In Kangra district the Lobanas had four hamlets, each called Tanda. In this way the Lobanas replaced their nomadic and pastoral life by a settled way of life. The district gazetteer reads: "The Lobanas ascribe their settlements in this district to Rajas Dharam Chand and Langarpal (early 16th century) who permitted them to graze cattle and they subsequently settled down as cultivators though they still work as carriers." So, it was due to this sort of settlement that the place is called Tanda. On October 28, 1952, Chandulal Trivedi, Governor of Punjab, at the behest of Rai Bahadur Jodhamal Kuthiala, a philanthropist, laid the foundation stone of a TB Sanitarium here, which on completion, was inaugurated by Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India, on May 21, 1958. The 200-bedded hospital was the gift of Rai Bahadur to the people of Kangra and to keep his memory alive, his bust still stands in front of the administrative block. The Principal's office today used to be its operation theatre. It was sun-friendly where there was a glass-caged gallery from where the visitors could see the nuances of an operation being performed. The builders had foreseen the modern version of screen and camera demonstration of an operation being done. The college started on 25.2.1997 with VP Lakhanpal as the first principal. Its hospital was at Dharamsala but when the building for it was ready here, it remained inoperative because the political bosses had no time to inaugurate it. A commoner filed public interest litigation in the High Court requesting it to order the government to start the hospital here, which the court ordered. How could a politician be available in a day and how could the arrangements be done so quickly? The college authorities then got a small daughter of a labourer elegantly dressed for the occasion and gave her the honour to cut the ribbon on October 17, 2007. It was later formally opened by the Chief Minister on October 3, 2008. This year a fresh chapter has been added to the college with the starting of post-graduation classes in the disciplines of dermatology, medicine and gynaecology. May this ragging-free campus be beacon-light for other educational institutions! Tailpiece
A patient asked the other patient in the clinic of a psychiatrist, "Why are you here?" He said: "I am Mahatma Gandhi, so the doctor has called me." Next question was: "How do you know that you are Mahatma Gandhi?" The reply was, "God told me." Bold retort
was: "But I never told you."
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Shortage of drug inspectors hits monitoring
Solan, August 17 The indifferent attitude of the state government towards improving regulation was clear from the fact that little had been done to appoint adequate drug inspectors in the past seven years ever since pharmaceutical units set up their operations here. The scant staff strength of 10 drug inspectors (DIs) and one assistant drug controller were not only inadequate to regulate 600-odd units, but also it left little time for undertaking regulatory work. An illustration of the working of the department could be gauged from the fact that one drug inspector was suppose to look after 400 units in the BBN industrial area and another one was suppose to keep watch on about 100 units located in Sirmaur district, Solan town and Parwanoo. With less than 300 working days in a year, a drug inspector in the BBN could barely perform cursory duties like routine inspections leaving virtually no time even to visit a single unit in two years. Moreover with 200 sales premises in the BBN and about 1,000 in remaining Solan district and Sirmaur, there was no scope of undertaking regulation. Interestingly, though a single post of a drug inspector was advertised in March this year, its notification was later withdrawn. Though the officials had been claiming that the process to streamline the system was underway since the past one year, nothing had been done to enhance the much-needed staff strength. Contrast this with the case of Punjab where the number of manufacturing units was much less, but 37 posts of DIs were now being filled up through the funds generated through the centrally aided NRHM, while in Jammu and Kashmir as many as 70 posts of DIs were being filled. Even in Rajasthan, efforts were on to recruit 70 DIs in two phases barely to regulate about 100 to 150 sales premises. Even in Haryana, the process was underway to appoint 40 DIs. While these states were abiding by the directions of the Mashelkar Committee, which was constituted to streamline the weak drug control system, it held that one DI should be appointed for every 200 sales premises and 50 manufacturing units. It was the lack of regulation which was now weighing adversely on the pharmaceutical industry as cases of units getting blacklisted for the manufacture of spurious drugs were adding up. Health and Family Welfare Minister Rajiv Bindal said the government was seized of the matter and a detailed proposal to increase DIs had been prepared. It would be shortly taken to the Cabinet for approval following which the proposal to appoint new DIs would begin. He added that there was an urgent need to check spurious drug traders and this endeavour would help monitor all such issues. Additional director, health, Rohit Jamwal, said the issue was under active consideration and a proposal had been drafted whereby the strength of DIs would be doubled. The guidelines of the committee were being taken as a base to streamline and redistribute work. Additional drug controller Navneet Marwaha said the issue had been taken up with the government. He added that they were trying to give optimum services to regulate the system, but emphasised that more DIs would help bring about better regulation.
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Ayurveda Dept takes steps to check sexual harassment at workplace
Hamirpur, August 17 While the directorate office has issued directions to all districts ayurveda officers to conduct regular meetings of these committees, the department has also asked them to submit report of the meeting regularly. These committees would hear the complaints of all women employees regarding sexual misbehaviour by their male counterparts in offices and also recommend disciplinary action against the culprits, besides legal actions. These committees would also suggest measures to check such incidents at working place. The formation of such committees in the Ayurveda Department is quite significant since a large number of medical and paramedical staff is working in this department and many of them also have to perform night duties in hospitals. These committees had been formed on the instruction of the Department of Social Justice and Women Empowerment to check incidence of sexual harassment at workplace. As per the guidelines, these committees would necessarily comprise of two-third women members who would hear and investigate the complaints of such cases. The State Ayurveda Department had already formed a nodal committee at the state level with a woman officer as its nodal officer. The Central Government passed an act in 2002 to check incidence of sexual harassment of working women in offices and the Department of Social Justice and Women Empowerment had been entrusted the job of getting implemented the directions to check such cases in this regard. Dr Jagdish Sharma, assistant director of the Ayurveda Department, said: "We have directed all district ayurveda officers to form the committees to check sexual harassment and send report to the state office after holding regular meetings of these committees". "Since we have established a nodal committee at the state office, we would send regular report to the directorate of the Social Justice and Women Empowerment Department after every three months," he added.
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Ragging victim's family in endless wait for justice
Palampur, August 17 A murder case was registered at local police station and all accused were arrested and charged with murder. The accused were later granted bail on account of a lack of evidence. Since then, all accused have been roaming free. In the past eight years, Thakur has met all senior police and civil officers in this regard and appealed for the speedy trial of the case, but in vain. However, Kachroo's case has revived hopes of Amit's family. Ravinder Thakur has already appealed to the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court to cancel the bail of his son's killers. Talking to The Tribune, Thakur said, "I want justice. I want Amit's killers to be punished. The court should order probe into the delaying of the case. The accused have been allowed to roam free to temper with the witnesses. The police should provide adequate protection to the witnesses till the case is finally decided by the court". With tears in her eyes, his mother says she sent a written representation from the hospital in December 2003 to the Chief Minister, DGP and SSP Kangra urging them to punish the alleged killers before Amit succumbed to injuries, but no one bothered and justice was denied to the family.
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Freedom Movement on canvas
The theme of 1945 Shimla conference for the "Artists at the IIAS", an annual event at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study in the state capital, brought out not only varied views of the Freedom Movement but also provided a peep into the minds of the participants. The artists created colourful and thought-provoking pictures on the canvas during their weeklong sojourn reviving the memories of the conference convened by Lord Vowel in the majestic Viceregal Lodge complex, housing the institute, to chalk out the blueprint for Partition of the country. While artists like Kanu Patel from Gujarat (See photo) focused on the conference itself, some others like installation artist Subodh Kerkar from Goa pivoted their creation on Partition. Other artists included Asit Paul from Kolkata, Ajay Jaitely from Allahabad, Amit Dutt from Delhi, Suman Gupta from Jammu and Shail Choyal from Udaipur, Ramesh Bhonsle from Pune and also Shimla-based Him Chatterjee. The "Artists at the IIAS" is the brainchild of director of the institute Peter Ronald dSouza, who is keen to expand the scope of activities of the prestigious centre of higher learning by providing a platform to various mediums and modes of expression. So far, all research work has been confined to the written word and bringing in creative persons like artists and sculptors will not only enrich the quality of work but also provide a creative insight into history and issues, he says. This was the third event and the institute plans to continue with it giving a different theme every year. Last year the focus was on miniature paintings. During the three events as many as 27 paintings and a sculpture have been produced. An art gallery is being created in the institute to display these works. Blind show they care
Blind persons showed the way to society by donating blood in a camp organised at Shimla by the local Umang Foundation, a public welfare trust, to mark the 64th Independence Day. President of Blind Persons Association Shobhu Ram with three other members, Tara Chand, Anuroop Singh and Kartar Singh, donated blood at the camp. Local MLA Suresh Bhardwaj inaugurated the camp. The camp was dedicated to the children with thalassemia. A schoolteacher, Madhu Sudan, donated blood for the 98th time. Many first-time donor girls like Puja Sharma, Aruna Sharma, Nikita Sharma, Vandna and Kalpna were happy to contribute to a public cause. The fifth camp organised by Umang this year saw 130 persons donating blood. A street play on blood donation and thalassemia was also performed with the help of local non-government organisation YES (Youth for Enlightenment of Society). Chairman of the Umang Foundation Ajai Srivastava said he was moved by the gesture of donating blood by the blind persons who have showed that they were no less concerned for society. It also indicated that they are becoming a part of the mainstream of society. 'Pehal', a newly emerged group comprising students of Himachal Pradesh University, and NGO "Living Treasures", also supported the camp. Medical teams from the local Indira Gandhi Medical College and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Hospital conducted the camp.
Defaulters on website
In a move to put pressure on tax defaulters the Excise and Taxation Department has put the names of 165 dealers on its website whose tax arrears exceed Rs 10 lakh. They include traders not only from the state but also from Punjab, Haryana , Chandigarh and Delhi. The total amount due from them is over Rs 60 crore. The 61 traders from other stats owe about Rs 30 crore to the department. The maximum number of 20 defaulters were from Punjab with arrears of Rs 12 crore, followed by Chandigarh's 17 with arrears amounting to Rs 8 crore. Similarly, there are 11 defaulters from Haryana with arrears of Rs 5 crore and 10 from Delhi who owe Rs 3 crore. It remains to be seen whether this step helps the department in recovering some of the outstanding amount. (Contributed by
Rakesh Lohumi)
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Commodity prices at new high
Palampur, August 17 The lukewarm attitude of the state government in enforcing the Act in letter and in spirit has further encouraged the hoarding of essential commodities. Though it is mandatory for every shopkeeper to display the price list of all essential commodities in his shop, there is hardly any agency to check the same. Earlier, the SDM, the DSP, along with the inspection staff of the Food and Supply Department, used to check the business premises in several markets here, but now this practice has been stopped. A senior officer of the state Food and Supply Department said there was an acute shortage of inspecting staff in the department. The present staff available in the department had the capacity to check only 10 per cent shops in the region. The state government was well conversant with the situation, but no efforts were made in the past few months. The statements issued by Food and Supply Minister Romesh Dhwala in this regard remained confined to files and hardships of common man had gone up. This correspondent, who visited the local markets, was told that there was a huge difference in the wholesale prices and retail prices of essential commodities because of the failure of the state government to enforce the Price Control Act. The prices of pulses had registered an increase of 10 per cent to 15 per cent in the past fortnight. Dal malka is selling at Rs 90 per kg. Likewise, masar is selling at Rs 85 per kg, dal chana is at Rs 60 per kg and all varieties of dal moong are available between Rs 85 and Rs 100 per kg. The prices of mustard oil had also shown an increase of 20 per cent. Ordinary mustard oil is available at Rs 90 per litre, while branded mustard oil is selling at Rs 110 per litre. All types of refined oils are selling between Rs 85 and Rs 95 per litre. The prices of ordinary rice had touched Rs 25 per kg, whereas last month the same was available at Rs 20 per kg. Wheat flour is selling at Rs 18 per kg. It was also seen that there were no uniform prices of essential commodities and every shopkeeper had its own price in the region. SDM Ratten Gautam said the state government had already issued necessary directions in this regard and appropriate steps were being taken by the Food and Supply Department, an agency to enforce the said Act.
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Lottery fraud accused nabbed
Nurpur, August 17 According to the police, Talwinder was asked to deposit Rs 12,000 in bank account number 11552931440 of the SBI to claim the lottery amount. He transferred this amount from SBI, Gangath. Next day, he was asked to deposit another Rs 25,000 as processing fee. He again transferred the amount to the same bank account. However, he again received a call to deposit the final processing and clearance fee of Rs 40,000 to facilitate the transfer of lottery amount into his bank account. This time he got suspected and reported the matter with the local police. A case under Section 420 was registered. According to DSP Hari Ram, the accused Bhagwant Tiwari was traced with his bank account number and a police arrested and brought him from Kinnour district in Himachal Pradesh where he was working in a private power company. During police remand of the accused, the police made further headway and verified that a sum of Rs 37,000 transferred by the complainant had been deposited in his account. His mobile calls are also being verified.
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Two state powerlifters to take part in international championship
Nurpur, August 17 According to Kewal Singh Pathania, state president of the Powerlifting Association, the team had been sponsored by the Steel Authority of India. He revealed that Jeevan Kumar (100 kg) and Ajay (70 kg) of the team had been selected for the scheduled International Championship of Powerlifting to be held in South Africa from November 4 to 10. According to information, 40 participants from the SNPLC have been selected for the championship.
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Despite tall claims by the state government regarding the successful implementation of the Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
scheme in the state, there are reports of large-scale irregularities and rampant corruption.
Vignettes
Palampur, August 17
Himachal Pradesh’s powerlifting team has bagged the sixth position in the Senior National Powerlifting Championship
(SNPLC) held at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu last week. As many as 23 teams from different states participated in the championship.
