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MC to provide free anti-rabies vaccination
Stray dogs sit on the Mall in Shimla on Saturday. Photo: Amit Kanwar
Work on Mehatpur-Amb highway stopped again
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Ontario, Nauni varsities ink MoU
NGOs’ plea to catch belligerent bull
Dist-level passport offices to be
shut
Five monks sentenced in Tibet
Four arrested on gang-rape charge
Additional sugar quota for Divali
9.5 quintal of sweets destroyed
1 convicted of sodomy
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MC to provide free anti-rabies vaccination
Shimla, November 10 The animal birth control and anti-rabies programme (ABCARP) ran into rough weather due to lack of adequate facilities to operate upon the animals. A total of 5,724 dogs were sterilised up to March 2011 when the programme was stopped. The MC workforce engaged in door-to-door collection of garbage is the worst hit by the twin menace. Workers are attacked by monkeys and dogs which feast on garbage. There are over 500 such workers, of which four or five a day are either bitten or mauled by the animals, says Omesh Bharati, MC Health Officer. The anti-rabies vaccination, required in these cases, is a costly proposition. Since the intra-dermal route to administer the vaccine, which reduces the cost by 70 per cent, has been perfected, it will be possible to provide free vaccination with the help of pharmaceutical companies, says Bharati, who has set up the first intra-dermal vaccination clinic at the Ripon Hospital here. Apart from vaccination, the MC is organising a training programme for workers to educate them about various aspects of hygiene, the need to segregate garbage and its recycling and processing for manure so that the work is done properly. The MC has also decided to activate its vaccination wings, lying defunct since 1994, and carry out a regular immunisation programme to cover babies. Local residents have been facing many problems after the scrapping of posts of multi-purpose health worker in hospitals, who carried out immunisation. Bharati says the MC has trained staff for the purpose, but their services are not being utilised and they are being given office jobs instead. Once the vaccination wings are made functional, the MC will carry out campaigns to create awareness about immunisation and encourage residents to avail themselves of vaccination services at its clinic. |
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Work on Mehatpur-Amb highway stopped again
Dharamsala, November 10 Sources here said the government stopped payment to Longjian after its contract for constructing the
Shimla-Rohru road was terminated. The sources said officials stopped the payment on the apprehension that the company might exit work on the Mehatpur-Amb road. Company officials maintain that they want to carry on the construction of the said road, but are waiting for the release of about Rs 3 crore from the government. They allege that their head office in China is not releasing money to them as it apprehends that the state government may cancel the contract. Amid this uncertainty, people of Una and Mehatpur and commuters using the road continue to suffer. The road that stretches into the two towns is half-done. People suffer due to dust pollution and traffic jams. Traders who have their businesses along this road complain that their Divali sales have been affected. A few residents of Una have threatened to move court in case the construction is not expedited. The state government had allotted two projects, express highways from Mehatpur to Amb in Una district and from Shimla to
Rohru, to the company after calling global tenders. Work on the roads was to be completed by December 2010, within about two-and-a-half years after the allotment of contracts. The projects got delayed inordinately due to a number of reasons. While the government has been blaming the Chinese company for the delay, the company is putting the onus on the Centre and the state government. The sources said the basic reason for the initial delay was the Centre’s move to cancel the work visa of all Chinese workers in the country. Due to this, all Longjian workers had to leave the country for about six months. The Chinese company is also alleging a delay on the part of government departments in shifting water pipes and power lines in urban areas and in felling trees in rural areas. The sources also said work on bridges on the Mehatpur-Amb state highway was outsourced to a local contractor, who failed to complete the construction and hence the work was in limbo. If the government does not release the amount to the Chinese company at the earliest, the project is likely to be delayed further as the laying of bitumen is not likely to be carried out from next month due to the onset of winter. |
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Ontario, Nauni varsities ink MoU
Solan, November 10 The move will also help establish a protocol for the NRM Scholar Exchange Programme between the College of Forestry and Faculty of the NRM, Lakehead University, Ontario, Canada. Applicable for a year, according to the terms of the agreement each institution can send four scholars to the other to participate in the programme that will last for four weeks. While the option is available only to registered degree-seekers of the two universities who have completed at least one year of full-time study, they will be expected to promote the programme upon their return. With a view to ensuring optimum benefit to students, a one-to-one mentor will be provided. They will be provided adequate study space and shadowing opportunities with scholars in their areas of study. With no additional tuition fee required to be paid to the host institution, an individual coordinator will be appointed for the programme. Regular monitoring through weekly reports from the mentor at the host institution will be submitted through e-mail. The scholars will be awarded certificates of accomplishment at the end of the programme. Public Relations Officer PD Bhardwaj said four students would leave for Ontario soon and initiate their study. The two institutes could also contemplate the extension of the programme and explore the possibility of the degree exchange programme, dual degree programmes, joint collaborative research, joint supervision of PhD candidates, faculty exchange, joint training management development programmes for senior executives, distance/distributed learning programmes, joint professional workshops and funding options for joint research projects, including consultancy, development and revision of curriculum and application of geomatics, including online technologies. |
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NGOs’ plea to catch belligerent bull
Bilaspur, November 10 District unit president Malkit Singh Chandel and general secretary Ram Lal Sharma said the bull, which was young and well-built, had been breaking gates and barbed-wire fencing, destroying kitchen gardens and flowerbeds and attacking those who came near it. They added that it had damaged two-wheelers and broken windowpanes of cars in the sector and had become a source of danger to the life and property of people, most of them being employees and their families and those visiting courts, offices and the Regional Hospital here. |
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Dist-level passport offices to be
shut Hamirpur, November 10 At present, the RPO has given facilities to applicants to submit application forms through district-level offices where applications are accepted and forwarded to the RPO. The RPO has started a Passport Seva Kendra in Shimla. All application forms bearing biometric details of applicants will be accepted online. Offices functioning at the district level will be phased out. Applicants will have to submit online applications at the Passport Seva Kendra as applications on paper are also being phased out. While residents resent the move to close down passport offices in districts, the department is claiming that better authenticated passports will be issued. The department has installed a biometric system at the Passport Seva Kendra. Fingerprints and other physical details of applicants will be obtained at the time of submission of online applications. Regional Passport Officer, Shimla, Rajesh Sharma, said, “Since the department has opened a Passport Seva Kendra in Shimla with gadgets for biometric details, we are in the process of closing down passport application collection centres at the district level as two sets of passports, one with and the other without biometric details, cannot be issued.”
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Five monks sentenced in Tibet
Kangra, November 10 Disclosing this here, Tsering Tsomo, spokesperson of the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) here, said according to information received by the TCHRD, Tulku Lobsang Tenzin was sentenced to seven years, Geshe Tsewang Namgyal, Tashi Thupwang aka Dralha and Geshe Tenzin Palsang aka Tenga to six years and Thinlay to five years. Tsomo added that families and relatives of the monks had said an Intermediate People’s Court in Tridu city passed the sentence and the news reached the families after about 15 days. No details about the exact charges were available. Tsomo said at least 36 Tibetans had been sentenced to varying prison terms so far. |
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Four arrested on gang-rape charge
Chamba, November 10 The SP said the incident occurred on Thursday night when the woman was sitting in Chowgan No. 1 of the town. The four persons appeared before her and asked her why she was sitting there. She replied that she was ill. In the meantime, the four asked her to come with them to the hospital for getting some medicine, and she went along with them. But instead they took her to an isolated spot where she was allegedly gang-raped, the SP said. Later, on the complaint of the victim, a case under Section 376, Indian Penal Code (IPC), against the accused had been registered at the Chamba police station and the accused arrested, the SP informed. However, further investigation in the case was underway, the SP added. |
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Additional sugar quota for Divali
Shimla, November 10 He advised people to contact offices of his department in case the additional quota was not being made available in any area of the state. He said officers had been asked to launch a special drive to ensure that only good-quality sweets and other edible items were sold during the festive season. He also said essential food commodities and medicines had been provided to all tribal areas for winter. So far, 61 per cent of medicines, worth Rs 1.13 crore, had been sent and the remaining 39 per cent would be dispatched shortly. |
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9.5 quintal of sweets destroyed
Bilaspur, November 10 A team of health officials raided several shops of sweetmeat sellers in the town and destroyed 9.5 quintal of substandard sweets in the last two days. Chief Medical Officer DR Sehgal said a team led by District Health Officer Rakesh Roshan Bhardwaj was on the lookout for storage and sale of substandard sweets in the district.
— OC |
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Shimla, November 10
