Palampur, June 12
Recent spurt in the cases of renal failure, gastric ulcer, liver cancer and tuberculosis in this region of the state has become a matter of serious concern. The situation is quite alarming but the Health Department is yet to wake up from its deep slumber. In fact, renal failure and gastric ulcer have become a common disease here as every seventh person is a victim. The number of deaths due to these two diseases has also gone up. A study conducted by a team of medical experts has come to the conclusion that excessive dose of pain killers for a longer period to the patients has resulted in diseases like renal failure and gastric ulcers.

Medicines like paracetamol and analgesics are more harmful and cannot be prescribed for longer period. Out of hundred patients taking pain killers for long, 37 have become victims of these diseases.

Hundreds of patients suffering from renal failure, liver cancer and gastric ulcers are being admitted to PGI, Fortis and other big hospitals in Punjab and Chandigarh daily from Himachal Pradesh, since state hospitals lack medical facilities to treat such ailments.

A senior physician of PGI, Chandigarh, also confirmed that heavy dose of pain killers of sub-standard companies given for longer period was the main cause for renal failure and gastric ulcers and aggravation of diseases like ulcer colitis.

Most of the doctors working in Himachal Pradesh are not updated with the latest medicines, therefore they have been prescribing drugs which have not been approved by US and European countries.

Tuberculosis has also been expanding its base in Himachal Pradesh. It has posed a serious threat to human health in Kangra district particularly. Due to the lack of indoor facilities in state hospitals, most of the sputum positive tuberculosis patients are not attended properly. Despite the fact that medicines are given free of cost to these patients, in the absence of indoor facilities most of the patients are advised to take medicines at home.

Barring a few district hospitals, there are no separate isolation wards for tuberculosis patients in the state, therefore no doctor takes the risk of admitting them in general wards.

If the sputum positive patients are admitted to general wards, they can infect other patients also.

Despite spending over Rs 1,000 crore on health services every year, the state Health Department has failed to provide better health cover to the residents of the state. Though the state government claims to have received a number of awards from various private agencies for better health services in Himachal Pradesh, the poor condition of health services offered to state residents has put a question mark on the creditability of awards received by the state government.

Despite the fact that the state has two medical colleges with good infrastructure, even for ordinary ailments and minor surgeries residents of the state have to move to Chandigarh, Ludhiana and Jalandhar. State hospitals do not have proper facilities for lab tests. Simple investigations for thyroid i.e. TSH, T3 and T4 tests are also not conducted regularly in state hospitals and blood samples are sent to Chandigarh or other places.

Solan, June 12
With little check on overloaded vehicles by either the police or the officials of the Regional Transport Authority, these vehicles appear to be having a free run in the district.

Various commercial vehicles, including pick-ups, are often seen plying on roads and the amount of goods they carry often extended well beyond their prescribed limit. They not only sizeably reduce the width of the road, but also make it difficult for other vehicles to ply alongside.

Though the state High Court had strictly directed the officials to check overloading of vehicles and also weigh trucks and other commercial vehicles at various places by installing weigh bridges, there appeared to be little adherence to these directions.

One can often see commercial vehicles carrying loads of goods on the Kalka-Shimla NH with the authorities remaining mute spectators to such violations. This not only damages the roads, but also increases the probability of accidents, thus putting to risk the lives of road users. The police, however, fails to realise the potential danger from such overloaded vehicles and rarely challan them.

With the road being narrow at several places near Nagali and Panch Parmeshwar Temple with a steep Valley below, such overloaded vehicles are a potential hazard to the road users.

With the movement of trucks, too, being high on the NH-22, such overloaded vehicles are a threat to other vehicles.

Additional SP Vinod Kumar said they were challaning such overloaded vehicles and they would keep a check on utility and other commercial vehicles also.

Nurpur, June 12
It is a matter of pride for Himachal Pradesh that has contributed 35 commissioned officers in the passing out parade held in the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun, recently.

Gireesh Kumar from Rehan, a small town in lower Kangra district, is one of the 35 commissioned officers who had brought laurels to the state. He cracked Combined Defence Service (CDS) entrance test in the first attempt about 18 months ago and now has been successfully commissioned as a lieutenant in the Army.

His father, Naresh Kumar, felt honoured when he tagged his son’s Army stars in the passing out parade at IMA, Dehradun.

Gireesh Kumar hails from a family having no Army background and moreover he had done his schooling as well as graduation from government school and college in his native area. Gireesh passed his Class XII examination with flying colours and got selected in the Indian Air Force as an airman. However, he was not satisfied with that selection. After his graduation from government college, Dehri, he chose Army officer as his career goal. However, he had no proper guidance or training to crack CDS entrance test.

Gireesh came in contact with Colonel (retd) NS Pathania from Suliali village, who had been encouraging youngsters to join Indian Army since 2007. His devotion, hard work and zeal for becoming commissioned officer and guidance of Pathania prepared him to crack CDS entrance test. “Three out of four commissioned officers from this area had taken his guidance,” claimed Colonel Pathania.

Solan, June 12
The move of the state police to register all security agencies operating in the state has met with a lukewarm response from the state’s industrial hub of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh with barely 13 to 14 agencies coming forward to register themselves.

The state government had earlier made it mandatory for all private security agencies in the state to seek registration with the Police Department from April following the notification of the Himachal Pradesh Private Security Agencies Regulation Rules.

Nearly 50 security agencies are working in the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial area alone with a strength of 10,000 personnel. According to an estimate, there were about 20,000 security personnel working all over the state.

With a view to enforcing these rules, the Baddi police is now issuing notices to those agencies which have not come forward to register themselves. Gurdev Chand Sharma, SP Baddi, said notices had been served to about 12 agencies who had not come forward to seek registration.

Interestingly, some 3 to 4 security agencies had discontinued their operations after the enforcement of these rules as they did not want to face the tedious procedures of verification and training of their staff.

With rapid industrialisation leading to an influx of industries in the BBN since the Central industrial package in 2003, a number of cases had come to light where security guards had been found involved in crimes. Since there was no provision to register these agencies in the state till now, even records pertaining to their whereabouts were not found on several occasions.

This notification has made registration compulsory and a licence would be issued after due verification of the agency head. The agency would also be required to conduct verification of his entire staff and issue character certificate thereafter. This certificate would be applicable for three years.

The agency staff would be required to undergo a two-week training at the Police Training Centre, Daroh, before being issued a licence by the designated authority.

A provision of imposing a penalty of Rs 25,000 or imprisonment of one year or both in case the agencies did not come forward to register has also been included in the notification in order to enforce this provision. The agency would also have to pay fee for seeking a licence, which would be granted for a five-year period. The security personnel have also been strictly warned not to use similar colour for their uniform as worn by the defence authorities or the police for easy detection.

The move would help check various crimes, especially thefts, in various industrial units wherein the absence of proper verification, the security personal were routinely conniving with anti-social elements to commit burglaries and thefts.

Palampur, June 12
The ‘Atal Swasthya Sewa’ launched in the state is one of the ambitious schemes of the state Health Department, which envisages round the clock free ambulance service to patients. The scheme launched with the efforts of Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal is proving to be a boon to the masses especially the poor who otherwise used to find it difficult to shift serious patients from their homes to the nearest hospital in case of medical emergency.

Talking to mediapersons here recently, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said that initially the scheme was started with a fleet of 50 ambulances, later the state government decided to raise the fleet strength of ambulances from 108 to 135 to extend services to the remote areas of the state.

Under the scheme, there are 112 ambulances out of which 108 are at locations and 4 are back-up reserve ambulances which are operated as and when required or when other ambulances are off road.

He said under the Atal Swasthya Sewa, free ambulance service was being provided to the persons suffering from critical ailments and pregnant women to get timely treatment at a nearby hospital within a radius of 35 km. It takes an ambulance 25 minutes to reach a person in urban areas and 35 minutes in rural areas, which is an achievement in itself given the terrain and difficult conditions of the state.

Chief Minister said according to 2011 census, population of the state was Rs 68,56,509 and total operating expenditure under Atal Swasthya Sewa was Rs 13, 15, 23, 840, which was being met by the state Government as per the agreement between the government of Himachal Pradesh and GVK EMRI.

A patient can contact Emergency Response Centre by dialing toll free number 108. Till date, emergency Response Centre has received around 1,351,653 calls on the toll free number out of which, 17,1889 were emergency calls. 26,938 pregnant women too availed this facility.

All the ambulances are equipped with GPS (Global Positioning System). The centre tracks all the ambulances and sends the vehicle stationed at the nearest point to the patient’s home. The ambulances have on board life saving equipment like automatic internal defibrillators, pulse oxymeter, oxygen supply, nebulisers, suction machine, glucometer, electronic blood pressure measuring apparatus, five types of stretchers and splints, extraction kit, medicines and IV fluids. The ambulances are equipped to handle 42 types of emergencies.

Shimla, June 12
The government will involve gram sabhas in the campaign on disaster preparedness and use their four meetings, being held annually all over the state, to sensitise and educate the rural masses about earthquakes.

Stating this in a meeting with M Shashidhar Reddy, Vice-Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority, here recently, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said the government had drawn up a disaster management policy to help mitigate the impact of earthquakes as the state fell in seismic zones IV and V. He said periodic campaigns were being launched to create awareness among the masses and the government would provide full cooperation for the success of the proposed mega mock drill for a hypothetical earthquake of magnitude 8 with epicentre at Sundernagar to be held in February.

Dhumal said the epicentre of the hypothetical earthquake was located in a “seismic gap” in the western Himalayas and several scientists expected this region to experience a big earthquake in future. The exercise was likely to create awareness among all stakeholders and help evaluate the response mechanism and functioning of various agencies and identify gaps, if any. The government had already finalised the site for the location of the Disaster Management Battalion at Kopra in Nurpur where training facilities would be available.

A State Centre for Climate Change and AGRISAT to monitor weather conditions through satellite had been set up and nodal officers appointed at the required levels. A communication system was being developed at acost of Rs 4.40 crore. 

Kangra, June 12
The audience at the Shoba Singh Auditorium of Dr RP Government Medical College, Tanda, was mesmerised during a ‘bhajan sandhya’ jointly organised by the local unit of Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari, and Students Central Association, DRPGMC, Tanda, recently.

Sunil Kumar, 28, M Phil in vocal music from Indera Kala Sangeet University, Chattisgarh, who has attained proficiency in classical music from his guru Dr Krishan Kant Jha of Jhansi, was the centre of attraction at the event.

S. Gopal Puri, a law graduate and a journalist, presented the first song of the evening ‘Meera Aap Kee Kripa Sai sub Kaam hoo raha hai, kartay hoo tum Kanhiya mera naam hoo raha hai’ based on Raag Kalawati.

PL Thakur, Inspector General of Police, was the chief guest on the occasion and Dr Anil Chauhan, Principal DRPGMC Tanda, presided over the function.

Youths from 11 states who are in the town as part of Vivekananda Kendra activities of personal development camps held in different colleges and schools of this temple town also attended the function.

Prem Narbu Thorgchi, an Arunachal Pradesh officer and an activist of Vivekananda Kendra presented Swami Vivekanand’s portrait to the chief guest.

PR Agnihotri, convenor of Vivekananda Kendra said that the programme aimed at bringing the younger generation close to their cultural roots and making them understand that the quest for peace lay in our cultural ethos rather than in western philosophy.

This year the bells of Shimla Festival rang with the flower show on the Ridge organised by Shimla Amateur Garden and Environment Society (SAGES). It was held in an open space and the flowers were placed at the base of the statue of Indira Gandhi, who was also referred as ‘Flower of India’.

The organisers due to a technical slip-up decided not to declare any exhibit as the best. The flower arrangement competition for schools on the theme ‘Flowers speak the language of rainbows’ was won by Hainault School, and as the tradition goes, the participants of that school inaugurated the show.

The flower show (see photo), this year, had comparatively more dash of greenery with abounding foliage and less flowers. Nevertheless, it attracted thousands of visitors, including Justice OP Verma, former Governor of Punjab.

Shimla Festival is a feast for nocturnal birds when singers from Bollywood, Kollywood and Tollywood arrive here and sing through half the night from a temporary platform raised on the Ridge. The thronged house and star-studded stage would have continued till the rise of the morning star had the High Court not put restriction on the use of loudspeakers after midnight. I have always remembered the remark of Dr Sanjiv Gulati, an ace pediatrician of Shimla, on the visitor book of SAGES flower show: “The best show under the Summer Festival for day-time creatures.” A tourist from Delhi, this year, had graced the visitor book with: “My Shimla visit would not have been complete without the refreshing flower show.”

On any flower show, the people of Shimla need to remember Sir Henry Collett who wrote a book ‘Flora Simlensis-a handbook of the flowering plants of Simla and the neighbourhood’ in 1902. It has docketed 155 plants that grow in Shimla and around. His personality had something wholly out of common. ‘Rather below the average height he had a spare, erect and well-knit figure.’ His soldierly qualities were worth appreciating. WT Thiselton-Dyer, Director of the Royal Botanical Garden, Kew, writes about him: “I am convinced that if Collett had been a professional botanist he would have made a great name for himself; and it is possible that had he been spared, his work supported by his knowledge of the world, his wide reading, and by distrust of anything he had not personally verify, would have been more original and so perhaps more valuable. He was quite undaunted; he talked of taking up Simla mosses when his Phanerogamic Flora should be published!”

The flower show of SAGES has started transmitting its aura to the suburbs too. The Residents Welfare Society of Sector 4 (RWS), New Shimla, not only organised a flower show there at the close of the past year but also brought out a handbook titled ‘Phoolon Se Maitri’ (see photo). Its editorial, inter alia, reads: “It is certain that the universe from its minutest to the largest fragment has to be flowery. The ever expanding universe, born from Hiranyagarbh, is akin to an imposing flower. And the God is its gardener. To grow flowers, therefore, is a pious duty of all, it is propitiating Him, who made the universe, in fact, it is public service.” How many of us perform this public service? Shimla will, automatically, be clean and green, if all and sundry keep pots and grow flowers according to the availability of space with them. The RWS handbook shows with photographs the flowers that can be grown around houses and in lawns; it gives a list of flowers that can be grown in pots or other containers; the flowers to be grown in shades find a place in it and it explains the method of preparation of soil required for plantation. I would say that publishing the handbook and organising the flower show by RWS is an effort to be glad about. May their breed multiply!

Shimla, June 12
Rain played spoilsport during the five-day Shimla Summer Festival, but the two main programmes featuring Bollywood singers Udit Narayan and Hema Sardesai were held without any interruption.

The fourth day of the festival was completely wiped out due to heavy rain depriving tourists and locals of the glamorous fashion show planned by famous brand Monte Carlo, which launched its “Spring Summer 12 Collection” earlier in the day, performance by Punjabi singer Hans Raj Hans and Kathak dance by Anuj Sinha. The rain interrupted the third day, but it did not make much difference as it was reserved for the artists of the state to showcase the rich culture.

The festival commenced with a “hasya kavi sammelan”, but the main highlights were the performances of Hema Sardesai on the second day and the programme on the concluding day featuring Udit Narayan, who enthralled a packed house with his foot-tapping numbers.

He started off with his all-time hit “papa kehte hai bada naam” and went on with one popular song after the other, including “jadu teri nazar”, “aye ajnabi tu bhi kabhi” and “tere naam hamne likha hai”.

A number of other events were also held alongside the festival. These included a dog show, a baby show, a flower show and a Himachali food festival, which was organised by the state Tourism Development Corporation at its Ashiana Restaurant on the Ridge, the venue of the festival.

The PHD Chambers of Commerce also organised a tourism mega mart during the festival which attracted over 1 lakh people from different states of the country and abroad. The fair showcased a wide array of products like garments, footwear, handicrafts, onyx products, dry fruits, kitchenware, gemstones and other items. Participants from Pakistan did brisk business.

The PHD Chamber also organised seminars on tourism-related issues like promoting tourism in the state and energy conservation in the hotel industry. A report entitled “Tourism in Himachal Pradesh and the Way Ahead” was also released by the Chief Minister. An MoU was also signed between the PHD Chambers and the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry to promote two-way trade and people-to-people contact.

Mandi, June 12
The quarterly meeting of the Ex-servicemen Association known an Honorary Commissioned Officers Welfare Association of Himachal Pradesh was held recently at Baldwara. Capt Jagdish Chand Verma, president of the association, said various issues came up for discussion like discrimination of honorary officers, ongoing litigation in AFT Bench, Chandigarh, against discrimination, selection of honorary officers, etc.

Since the association is affiliated with Defence Honorary Commissioned Officers Association, Chandigarh, it sought details of all honorary officers to include their names in the court cases.

The president further said the members pointed out that staff of ECHS polyclinics at Mandi and Sarkaghat harass people rather than helping them at the time of their illness. The association took serious note of the issue and decided unanimously to take up the case with AHQ, New Delhi.

The association also deliberated on long pending and genuine demand of ESM, one-rank-one-pension scheme and decided to take stringent action in case the demand is not met before the impending Assembly elections in the state. — TNS

WATER shortage has been a common problem during the summer in Shimla, but now peripheral villages, which are having their own local sources, are also being affected.

The latest to join the list of water scarce villages is Pharaichi, next to the mini Kuftadhar area where the people have not been getting water for the past more than two months. The entire population of about 1,500 is making do with meagre water available from the only hand pump (see photo) in the village. The quantity of water in the hand pump is also declining with each passing day and it was not enough to meet the requirement.

The village was being provided piped water supply by the Irrigation and Public Health Department by tapping a local spring. However, water in the source had declined with a lot of construction taking place uphill in and outside the municipal area as debris was being dumped in and around it.

Narinder, a local resident, said distribution was also a problem area as little water available in the scheme was exhausted in the Kuftadhar area where tanks in some houses overflowed. The residents of Pharaichi had sometime ago laid their own independent pipeline to bring water straight to the village, but the department was reluctant to supply water through it. Further, storage tanks were in bad shape. There was no water in the tank which had a functional filter. Water was being stored in the second tank, which did not have a proper filter, he revealed.