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Retirement age of doctors may go up
Drugs worth crores seized from Baddi unit
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Governor, CM greet people
Panchayat serves 15-day ultimatum on govt
Week later, no trace of MiG pilot
State to seek additional funds for steel railings
Be ready for mid-term poll: Shanta
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Retirement age of doctors may go up
Shimla, October 25 The proposal to enhance the retirement age of doctors teaching in Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), Tanda Medical College and Government Dental College is likely to be placed before the Cabinet shortly. The state has been facing an acute shortage of doctors, especially specialists, which has created problems for it in running its two medical colleges smoothly. A total of 10 doctors will retire from the IGMC by the end of this year. Another 10 will retire from the IGMC next year and 13 more in 2013. Besides, some of the doctors serving at Tanda will also attain superannuation, which can adversely impact the teaching faculty, leading to problems from the MCI in post-graduation and diploma courses. “The proposal for the enhancement of the retirement age of doctors serving in the medical colleges is likely to be placed before the Cabinet so that we can prepare ourselves to deal with any situation arising out of the retirement of doctors,” confirmed Health and Family Welfare Minister Rajiv Bindal. He added that there could be problems in some of the departments having MD seats due to the retirements, but the government was seized of the matter and was accordingly making arrangements to recruit more doctors. Since the MCI and the Central Government had already enhanced the age of doctors to 65 and in case of super-specialty to 70 years, the state government hopes to tide over the immediate problem of the shortage of teaching faculty by enhancing the retirement age to 63. The departments at the IGMC which could immediately face trouble with MD seats are anaesthesia, community medicine, pharmacology and radiology. It is with a lot of difficulty that the government has been able to enhance the number of MD and diploma seats from 39 in 2008 to 111 at present and also the MBBS seats from 65 to 100 at the IGMC. “We are making all-out efforts to improve the faculty position, but then the shortage of specialists is being felt even at the national level and not just in Himachal,” said Bindal. |
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Drugs worth crores seized from Baddi unit
Baddi, October 25 This was part of nationwide raids carried out by DRI sleuths after a huge cache of various psychotropic drugs, including ketamine, were seized by it from a US national in Mumbai. Since the drugs were reportedly manufactured at Baddi, a DRI team today arrived here to raid this unit. In the day-long raids, DRI sleuths, Drug Controller Navneet Marwaha and police officials seized lakhs of drugs manufactured under the names of various pharmaceutical units located in various states. This included drugs manufactured under the name of Torranto Welcare Pharmaceuticals, Tranesia Bioceuticals, MPPL Rudrapur and Excel Biolife Private Limited. Marwaha said they had received a letter from the Joint Director, DRI, informing them about this illegal activity in Ten Star and subsequent search of the unit led to the seizure of a huge quantity of various veterinary and allopathic drugs. Even drugs meant for the Punjab government supply were seized from the unit which was a matter of investigation. Unit General Manager Ajay Tewari and its owner Jasbir Singh Sodhi, who hail from Muktsar, were arrested by the DRI sleuths today. The DRI was now probing the role of health officials as the seizure of a large quantity of banned drugs was a matter of concern. Marwaha said they would seal the unit premises and the procedure to cancel the licence would also be initiated as there were stark violations of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, including manufacture of illegal drugs. A case under Sections 18(a)(i) of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act would be registered against the unit after completing the investigations. He said no unit violating such norms would be spared and action would be initiated against all such offenders. Though the process to seize the drugs was under way at the time of filing this news, no banned drug or ketamine had been seized till this evening from the unit. The unit which had initiated its operations a year and a half ago was authorised to manufacture injections, capsules and tablets, but it was illegally manufacturing various veterinary and allopathic drugs under the label of various firms located in different states, including Punjab. |
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Governor, CM greet people
Shimla, October 25 Dhumal, in his message, said the festival was
an occasion to share joy and happiness with near and dear ones. He wished that
this festival of light may bring prosperity and happiness into people’s
lives. |
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Panchayat serves 15-day ultimatum on govt
Jogni Fall (Manali), October 25 Resentment is prevailing among villagers for the past one month as the government has not taken a decision on the fate of the project. The villagers have asked the government to scrap the project, respecting the religious sentiments of people. The villagers had rejected the project at a public hearing in Manali on September 5 on the grounds that it would desecrate the holy place and destroy the natural beauty of the Jogni Fall, a rare secluded spot for tourists in the concrete jungle of Manali. The villagers had also met Chief Minister PK Dhumal twice at Shimla and during the Kullu Dasehra. “However, the company has not stopped work here. The villagers are angry,” said AR Thakur, a retired DIG and resident of Vashisht. The company had built a concrete structure and laid a pipeline towards Narol, the head of the holy Jogni Fall. The company had neither a lease deed nor an NOC from the Vashisht panchayat, which, according to the revenue records of 1948-49, has “full rights”over Narol and the Jogni Fall, said a villager. “For us, it is a do-or-die battle to save this religious place from ruin,” said an 80-year-old villager, Bhikam Ram. A couple from Scotland, Tim Flood and his wife Marioan Normand, who visited the Jogni Fall, said, “If the waterfall dies, it will be an act of eco-vandalism. It is a holy place and a beautiful spot.” Meanwhile, the company maintains that it has got the permission for executing the project after it signed the implementation agreement with the government in 2006. Kullu Deputy Commissioner BM Nanta said the public hearing report had been sent to the government for action and a decision was awaited. |
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Bus mishap toll 27; probe ordered
Bilaspur, October 25 Chief Minister PK Dhumal rushed to the town this afternoon to pay last respects to those killed from the three villages of the nearby Bandla hill. He was flanked by Transport Minister Mahender Singh Thakur, BJP national general secretary, local MLA JP Nadda, HP Vidhan Sabha Deputy Speaker Rikhi Ram Kaundal, MLA and BJP state spokesman Randhir Sharma and Kisan Morcha national vice- president and former MP Suresh Chandel. Paying tributes to the departed souls, Dhumal said the local SDM, Sandip Kadam, would conduct an inquiry in the accident and all those found guilty would be punished. Finding villagers complaining about faulty buses being deputed on their routes despite several earlier complaints, the Chief Minister ordered suspension of works manager Inder Singh and also of driver Gyan Chand and conductor Suresh Kumar of the ill-fated bus, who escaped unhurt. He also spoke about providing employment to kin of the victims. He said an ex-gratia grant of Rs 10,000 had already been given to each family while a total grant of Rs 1 lakh would be disbursed soon to each family. He also said a new bus would be deputed on this Bandla route in the future and all congested turns on this road would be widened. Later the Chief Minister also visited the injured at the local Regional Hospital here. He also declared that free treatment would be provided to the injured and other hospital facilities to their attendants. The accident took place as an overloaded bus developed a snag and stopped near the Gopal temple and another bus was summoned to carry the stranded passengers to their destinations. As the waiting passengers rushed to the bus, which was already jam-packed, and even boarded its rooftop, the overcrowded bus suddenly began sliding backward down the road towards the chasm, as the bus was standing on an incline. Meanwhile, some of the passengers who were sitting on the rooftop succeeded to save their lives by jumping to the road. |
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Week later, no trace of MiG pilot
New Delhi, October 25 There has been no breakthrough despite the fact that satellite imagery is being used and the Sukhoi-30-MKI fighter planes fitted with a special infrared camera have been reconnoitring the area. Apart from this Jaguar fighters, Cheetah and Cheetal choopers, along with An-32 aircraft, have searched the areas using high-tech electro optical devices. Hundreds of IAF personnel and troops of the Army’s Ladakh Scouts have been carrying out a search on foot. Fresh snowfall over the weekend has further covered the mountains. Squadron Leader Tomar had taken off in a twin-engined MiG-29 combat aircraft from Adampur in Punjab. The plane crashed over an inhospitable snow-bound area on October 18. The MiG-29 is not fitted with a locater beacon which, after a crash, activates automatically to transmit a radio signal indicating the location of the plane making it easier to spot a crash. Sources confirmed that Tomar’s personal rescue beacon has not emitted any signal to show where the pilot could be. They said in case of the MiG-29, the pilots personal rescue beacon is located under the seat of the pilot. On ejection, in case of a crash, the seat ejects with the pilot. After parachuting down on land, the pilot has to himself activate the beacon. “It is a simple process but the pilot has do the activation on his own after locating the seat,” said a senior pilot, adding that in another make of fighters, the pilots carry their personal locater beacon in their flight suit. In case of Squadron Leader Tomar, the difficulty in locating his personal beacon in the dead of the night on a snow-clad mountain can be well imagined. This in case he successfully ejected. Meanwhile, sources in the IAF said the small pieces of wreckage located by the sarpanch of village Thirot are parts of the MiG-29. “Nothing can be said with certainty at this stage until the crash site is conclusively identified and flight data recorder (black box) is recovered and analysed,” IAF spokesman Wing Commander Gerald Galway said tonight. Meanwhile, the joint IAF-Army rescue team today intensified its operations roping in seven Sherpas from Darjeeling, who would assist team members from the two base camps that have been set up at the base of 13,000-ft-high and 15,000-ft-high Lote mountains to make a concerted bid to rescue the missing pilot and the wreckage site of the MiG-29 that crashed into the Lote mountains in Udaipur sub-division in Lahaul-Spiti district on October 17 at around 8.30pm. |
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State to seek additional funds for steel railings
Shimla, October 25 This was disclosed by Thakur Gulab Singh, Public Works Minister, while presiding over a meeting of the PWD here today. “Since steel railings help a lot in minimising the loss of life in road accidents, we will seek financial assistance from the Centre for the task,” he said. He said over 29-km steel railing had been installed along 25 identified black spots along the national highways in the state. The minister said steel railings would also be installed between Barmana and Salapar in Bilaspur district and Jalor and Harabag in Mandi for the safety of commuters. He said reflectors and reflector strips would also be installed to guide the drivers at night and during fog on strategic points. He added that reflector strips would also be installed on parapets and steel crash barriers. He stated that a sum of Rs 60 crore was already being spent on improvement of black spots along all national highways and state roads so as to ensure the safety of the commuters. “We have already spent Rs 25 crore during the current year and an amount of Rs 35 crore will be spent during the next year on the improvement of the accident-prone black spots,” he said. He said a target had been fixed to improve 170 black spots in the state during the current financial year, of which 92 had already been improved. |
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Be ready for mid-term poll: Shanta
Palampur, October 25 Speaking on the occasion, Shanta Kumar said in the present political scenario there was a possibility of a mid-term poll not only in the Centre, but also in the state. He said the BJP should gear up its political activities so that it could retain power in the state. The BJP leader said after the Anna Hazare’s movement in the country, the popularity graph of the Congress had been adversely affected and the country today had only one alternative and that is the NDA. He said Congress leaders and workers were demoralised across the country because of the fact that the top leadership of the party had underestimated Anna and tried to suppress his movement, which had badly damaged the party. Shanta Kumar added that the Congress had virtually legalised the corruption in its 50-year rule and it was evident from the fact that for petty jobs like issuing of ration cards and getting BPL registration certificates one had to pay a bribe first, only then these documents were prepared. He asked BJP workers to openly come out to check corruption from public life without hesitation and expose corrupt officials. |
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