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Power corps shun responsibility of promoting sports
Leaders remember Gandhi, Shastri
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal offers floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi on his birth anniversary in Shimla on Sunday. Photo: Amit Kanwar
164th Founder’s Day at Sanawar School |
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Poor facilities at Mandi judicial complex
Rs 2.36 crore for poly houses in Bilaspur
Youth’s death: Case of negligence against 3 doctors registered
Non-gazetted employees demand separate cadre for TMC
BDTS vetoes introduction of multi-axle trucks
Gandhian philosophy must be adopted, says Bajpai
Day 2: 79 left in MTB race as 12 more drop out
How realistic is ban on non-biodegradable items?
Incentives for farmers rearing trout sought
Blood donation camp marks Ahimsa Day
Chandel is Director of Health Services
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Power corps shun responsibility of promoting sports
Dharamsala, October 2 Coaches and managers of various teams told The Tribune that their organisations had not recruited any players against the sports quota since long. The coach of the HP State Electricity Board kabaddi team, CR Khagta, said their organisation had not recruited sportspersons against the direct quota since 1989. The result was that there was no professional sportsperson in the board’s kabaddi team now. The players representing the board were employees and amateur players. He said the government had announced 5 per cent quota for sportspersons in the electricity board. However, the announcement had not been implemented as yet. Dalip Singh, coach of the Haryana Power Corporation kabaddi team, was himself an international player, who represented India. He is also the general secretary of the Haryana Kabbadi Association. Dalip Singh told The Tribune that the Haryana Power Corporation had also not recruited any professional sportsperson since 1992. He said earlier the Haryana kabaddi team used to be the best in the all-India power board competitions. However, since no new player had been recruited, the team was now slipping in its performance. He demanded that the power corporations should provide employment against direct quota to sportspersons who were not getting grants from sponsors. The condition of the UP power corporation kabbadi team is the most pathetic. The team had the most aged players in the competition. Two main players of the team are due to retire this month at the age of 58. It was more a team of veterans than young players. Sources in the team said the UP power board had also not recruited any sportsperson against direct quota for the past over two decades. Manager of Andhra Pradesh Transco Company, Krishna, said they had not recruited any sportsperson against direct quota since the board was divided into firms. The coach of the Madhya Pradesh State Electricity Board, Ram Naresh, said their organisation had no professional sportsperson. The board had not recruited any professional sportsperson since long, he said. Even the Punjab State Power Transmission Corporation and the Karnataka Transmission Power Corporation were the only teams that had young national and international players. The Punjab Power Transmission Corporation in the recent past has recruited players on a regular basis. |
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Leaders remember Gandhi, Shastri
Shimla, October 2 Governor Urmila Singh and Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal offered floral tributes to the Mahatma at his statue on the historic Ridge Maidan. They also garlanded the statue of Lal Bahadur Shastri near the Central Telegraph Office. Chief Justice of the state High Court Joseph Kurian, Leader of the Opposition Vidya Stokes, Suresh Bhardwaj, local MLA, Ganesh Dut, Vice-Chairman, HIMUDA, Veena Thakur, vice-chairperson of the state Social Welfare Board, AN Sharma, Commissioner of the local Municipal Corporation, Kashmir Chand, Divisional Commissioner, Onkar Sharma, Deputy Commissioner, and prominent persons from various walks of life also paid floral tributes. A session of patriotic songs and bhajans was also held on the occasion. Prabhat pheris, led by the Deputy Commissioner, were carried out in the town in which the children of Bal Ashram participated. The Chief Minister said the countrymen would always remember the contribution these leaders had made for the cause of the nation. He said to make the state plastic-free a complete ban would be imposed on the use of plastic cups and plates from today. Earlier, a total ban was imposed on plastic bags in 2009, which was yielding good results. Himachal Pradesh was the first state in the country to undertake such concrete steps for the preservation of environment. He expressed gratitude for the cooperation extended by people of the state, particularly traders, as well as visitors for making this campaign successful. Further, Shimla had been declared smoke-free and he appealed to the people of the state to take a pledge on the auspicious occasion of Gandhi Jayanti to make the state plastic-free and smoke-free so that it could match up to its 'Devbhoomi' title. |
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164th Founder’s Day at Sanawar School Our Correspondent
Sanawar, October 2 A commemorative function was held in the historic Barne Hall to mark the occasion where a vocal rendition of Gandhiji’s favourite hymns was presented by the school choir. The school head boy and the head girl sensitised the audience about the life and works of Mahatma Gandhi. Addressing the students on the occasion, Headmaster Vasisht highlighted the importance of unconditional love, faith and hope and said, “Gandhiji was truly a mahatma, which means a great soul.” Exhorting the students to emulate his qualities, he said they must contribute their bit for peace and humanity by rising and challenging their internal and external enemy. He said, “What Anna Hazare did is a testimony to the fact that the means must justify the end and there should be no hypocrisy in mankind. Strength is nothing physical but spiritual, an indomitable spirit of ‘never give in’. He who can control his mind can control the world. A majority of people die of love than hunger.” The function culminated with the prize distribution to the winners of the essay-writing competition on the topic “If I were Gandhi”. The competition has been instituted by Naveen Chawla, former Chief Election Commissioner and a distinguished alumnus of Sanawar in 2010. While Harshit Poddar and Chahat Sekhon were the winners of the first and second positions, respectively, the third position was bagged by Gayatri Kashyap. While conferring the prizes to the winners, Chawla expressed his desire to be present every year on the occasion. Offering as a food for thought to the students he said, “Go back in time and mull how Gandhiji with his methods of non-violence, integrity and transparency was able to overthrow the British empire from India, which was considered a jewel in the crown.” A chapel service was later conducted for the alumni who had graduated 25 and 50 years back. This year 1961 and 1986 batches were special invitees. On behalf of the school, the Headmaster offered prayers for late Sir Henry Lawrence, founder of the school, and made a divine invocation for the welfare and well being of all those associated with Sanawar. Old students, including Vinay Tuli and Arun Sobti of the 1960 batch, along with Apoorva Lakhia, Vikas Sagar, Major Kirat Singh Brar, Meeta Sagar and Udita Malhoutra Nabha of the 1986 batch, shared their fond memories of the school with the gathering. This year the silver and golden jubilee batches will be of 1961 and 1986, respectively. The prominent among these batches are Jai Singh Gill (former Chief Secretary, Punjab), Naveen Chawla (former CEC), Atul Sobti (former CEO, Ranbaxy International), Sunil Ahuja (former Chief Secretary, Haryana), Dr Meenakshi Mahapatra, FRCA (renowned anesthetist, UK), Apoorva Lakhia (film director), Vikramjeet Kanwarpal (film actor) and Owais Husain (son of MF Husain).
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Poor facilities at Mandi judicial complex
Mandi, October 2 The Mandi Bar Association, which has over 400 members, blame the state PWD and Home Department for not providing proper facilities to litigants and lawyers who visit the courts daily. DC Guleria, president, Mandi Bar Association, said the Bar had taken up the matter with the then high court authorities and the Home Department to provide benches for clients outside the courtrooms and chambers for lawyers. The government has spent Rs 4 crore on the complex, but the council has failed to depute a sweeper to maintain the toilets. Nine courts function daily. More than 500 clients and 350 to 400 advocates come for hearings. But each courtroom has sitting facilities for not more than 20 persons, said Guleria. “The bar room is located on the third floor and does not have a proper library. The members also face problem due to lack of parking space,” he added. The new judicial complex has no chamber for advocates and they rough it out under a few temporary sheds, which have been erected at an open space between the complex and the Emerson House. “Earlier, lawyers used to sit in the verandah of the Emerson House, but it was demolished to construct the present complex. The advocates have to run for cover when it rains,” say Mahesh Sharma and Samir Kashayap, both advocates. Guleria said they had been taking up the matter with the district administration and relevant Mandi Municipal Council and high court authorities from time to time, but to no avail. Devesh Kumar, Mandi DC, said the administration could do little as there was no space available for extension and parking. “We are exploring a possibility of creating parking lots in the basement between the DC and SP offices,” he added.
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Rs 2.36 crore for poly houses in Bilaspur
Bilaspur, October 2 This was stated by Deputy Director of Agriculture Kul Bhushan while addressing a meet-the-press programme under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner Ritesh Chauhan here recently. He said 900 poly houses had been constructed till now in Bilaspur district and the district was leading in this regard in the state. These were occupying a total of over 12 hectares. He said this scheme was fetching a good annual income for farmers and, on an average, the income of every poly house owner had grown by at least three times in much less land. The only condition was that there must be provision of water in this land. He said 1,180 farmers were being given loans and subsidy worth Rs 2.32 crore (with 80 per cent subsidy component) for setting up sprinklers and drip facility. He added that from the current year bamboo-based poly houses, which were at least 66 per cent cheaper for the same area (though these have half of the life of the iron-based poly houses), were also being set up for those who would opt for these due to the availability of bamboo in their villages. Seventyseven bamboo poly houses had been set up till now this year in the district. Meanwhile, the DC clarified that steps were afoot to solve issues of green house owners who had taken heavy loans from banks several years ago under the National Horticulture Mission Scheme of the Horticulture Department.
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Youth’s death: Case of negligence against 3 doctors registered
Kangra, October 2 District police chief DS Thakur, in a statement today, said Hoshiar Singh of Haler Jaisinghpur village lodged an FIR with the local police station alleging that his son Avtar Singh was admitted to the DRPGMC, Tanda, on March 18, 2011, and was under the treatment of Dr Sanjay Kumar
Abrol. The SSP said the FIR revealed that Avtar was referred from the DRPGMC to the PGI Kidney Centre Hospital, Sector 34, Chandigarh, on June 2 by Dr
Abrol. Avtar was treated by a doctor of the Sector 34 hospital till July 12, and on July 12 referred to Oxford Hospital, Chandigarh, where he was treated by another doctor till July 13 and on this day Avtar died. He said Avtar was suffering from a kidney stone problem and had got treatment in three different hospitals for nearly four months before he died. Thakur said a case under Section 304-A, IPC, had been registered against Dr Sanjay Kumar Abrol of the DRPGMC, Tanda, a doctor of the PGI Kidney Centre Hospital, Sector 34, Chandigarh, and another doctor of Oxford Hospital Chandigarh. The names of the two doctors were not identified as yet, the police said. No arrests had been made as yet. |
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Non-gazetted employees demand separate cadre for TMC
Kangra, October 2 SS Rana and Vishal Sharma, president and general secretary of the NGO Federation, respectively, raised this demand today and added that the vacant posts of the ministerial staff should be filled up at the earliest keeping in view the increased workload following an increase in MBBS and postgraduation seats and proposed
super-speciality block. The two employee leaders said the sanctioned posts of the ministerial staff in the TMC were 63, whereas 45 were in a position against an MCI requirement of 82 posts. They further demanded that the transfer policy should be framed for the TMC and the employees who were transferred from this college should only be relieved on the joining of the reliever. The duo demanded that the DPC of the Senior Laboratory Technicians for the post of Chief Technician and a dozen posts should be created on the pattern of the IGMC, Shimla. They said the promotion and financial benefits should be provided to the ministerial staff on the analogy of the education and other such departments. The NGO leaders demanded that employees working on part-time
or hourly basis through RKS should be regularised and a policy for RKS employees should be framed similar to that of contract-based employees. Rana and Sharma demanded a working women’s hostel in the TMC campus for unmarried female staff as Tanda falls in a rural area which was devoid of safe and suitable accommodation for women employees. They demanded 13-month pay, besides medical and other allowances for nurses and other contract employees be given. |
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BDTS vetoes introduction of multi-axle trucks
Bilaspur, October 2 A majority of the members opposed the BDTS management’s move to introduce multi-axle vehicles, while those who supported it lost the battle. Those who opposed the move got 753 votes, while the supporters could muster only 477 votes. Out of 1,746 members of this truck cooperative society, 1,277 turned up to vote, including a large number of women operators, while 47 votes were rejected. General secretary of the BDTS Kuldip Gautam said after the verdict that the BDTS would honour the decision of the majority. Opposing leader Lekh Ram Varma, whose “Action Committee” consistently opposed this move, called this as a victory of common truck operators. He said this should be a clear signal for the BDTS management and they should desist from taking unilateral and whimsical decisions, which affect the livelihood of common truck operators who could hardly afford to purchase and maintain costly multi-axle trucks.
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Gandhian philosophy must be adopted, says Bajpai
Shimla, October 2 Delivering a special lecture organised by the Gandhian Study Circle, he said, “Research scholars and students must study the Gandhian philosophy in the current turbulent times when the nation is passing through a very dangerous and sensitive phase of uncertainty. The prohibition policy of different state governments need revamping as the motive of earn more revenue is destroying much. The defective policy has shattered the web of the society. Increasing revenues through liquor sale was against the Gandhian thought, as per which liquor and wine has no place in the society.” He said the number of villages having the agricultural land had decreased from 8 lakh to 6 lakh, affecting the farmers who were the backbone of the country’s economy. “Hard work of farmers in producing 1 kg of potato yields nothing, but a multi-national company earns Rs 200 by making chips from the yield,” The condition of roads, health services, power supply and educational facilities were deteriorating in villages due to the negligent attitude of the planners and the policy makers, he added. He announced that a Centre for Gandhian Studies would be set up in the university with Prof Suresh Kumar as its honorary director. |
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Day 2: 79 left in MTB race as 12 more drop out
Shimla, October 2 With this, 79 bikers have been left in the race out of a total 104 who took off from here yesterday. As many as 13 participants, including Jardine and Jitender, who got injured in mishaps, dropped out on the opening day yesterday. Mohit Sood, president of the Himalayan Adventure Sports and Tourism Promotion Association which is organising the event, said lack of stamina and inability to cope with the high altitude had been mainly responsible for the riders opting out of the first leg of the rally. The dropouts were mostly fun-lovers who did not have requisite experience to compete in the event billed the third toughest in the world. However, all the competitive riders were in the race and 46 of them duly completed the Hatu Peak leg. The remaining 33 were there to gain experience for the next year’s event. The route of the rally has been changed as some roads have been restored over the past one week. With the road through the 10,300-ft Jalori Pass opened to the traffic today, the rally will cross over to Kullu before turning for the return leg to Shimla.
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How realistic is ban on non-biodegradable items?
Shimla, October 2 With most of the consumer items of daily use like milk, mineral water and ration being packaged in plastics of different kinds, banning a few items will be of little consequence. There is no escape from plastic, a by-product of petrochemical industry, the use of which as packaging and disposable items was popularised to reduce the use of forest-based paper products. Of late, the IT and electronics industry has been generating a lot of non-biodegradable waste which is also hazardous. In the environment-conscious western countries, the focus is on not only reduction of all kind of waste, but also on its recycling. The European Union is now required to bring legislation on waste collection, reuse, recycling and disposal. Studies available with the Pollution Control Board reveal that 55 to 60 per cent of the waste is biodegradable and the rest is non-biodegradable. However, the polythene and plastic account for only 4 to 5 per cent of the total waste. The failure of the local bodies to ensure proper disposal of the biodegradable waste is the root cause of monkey menace and stray dog problem in the state. Moreover, the state cannot ban manufacturers across the country from using non-biodegradable packaging materials. In a state like Himachal where most of the towns face perennial shortage of water, ban on disposable cups and plates could lead to health problems as these are hygienic. Local traders are not pleased and want the government to adopt a pragmatic approach. President of the Shimla Beopar Mandal Ramesh Sood termed it a hasty step and said it was not clear whether plastic disposables or all kinds of non-biodegradable items were banned.Ban on inexpensive plastic cups and plates will hurt the poor hawkers and dhaba owners as there is no cheap alternative. The ban on recycled polythene bags came into force in January, 1999, but it has not been enforced properly till date. The government has already taken an initiative to use plastic waste along with bitumen for surfacing of roads and to make it a success, proper segregation and collection of waste is essential.
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Incentives for farmers rearing trout sought
Kullu, October 2 Local MLA Govind Singh Thakur assured the farmers that he would take up the matter with the government. A retired fisheries officer expressed concern over the increasing river water pollution and deforestation. He said these were the major reasons for the fish stock damage. He urged people to grow natural varieties of river-side trees like koish, chest nuts (locally called khanor) and others. Vice-president of the association Rup Singh Katoch said trout angling competitions and availability of trout fish in the rivers and nullahs would not only increase tourism in the Kullu valley, but also open scope for employment.
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Blood donation camp marks Ahimsa Day
Shimla, October 2 As many as 55 persons donated blood at the camp, which was inaugurated by Leader of the Opposition Vidya Stokes by presenting red roses to donors. The camp was dedicated to children with thalassemia who require regular blood transfusion. Stokes said blood donation not only saved lives, but also strengthened national unity and integrity. She appreciated the efforts of the Umang Foundation in organising such camps during periods when hospitals faced shortage of blood. Vidya Stokes appealed to the youth to come forward to support the most vulnerable sections of the society. She said to serve the ailing humanity was a part of ahimsa as preached by Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi. Vidya Stokes was pleased to note the involvement of girls in social activities of the Umang Foundation. It was the ninth camp of Umang Foundation at which a senior blood donor Madhu Sudan was
also present.
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Chandel is Director of Health Services
Palampur, October 2 Chandel has vast administrative experience as he has served as the Palampur SMO, Hamirpur CMO and later as the Joint Director, Health Services, at Shimla. Chandel is a product of the 1978 batch of the Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla. Later, he did MS in orthopaedics. During his tenure as the Palampur SMO, he made radical changes in the functioning of the Civil Hospital. He had given new dimension to the working of the Rogi Kalyan Samiti and made the hospital financially viable. All types of surgical operations were performed in the Civil Hospital, Palampur, during his tenure.
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Rich tributes were paid to the Father of Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, and former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri on their birth anniversaries today.
