Shimla, July 12
In a major relief to the state government, the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry has decided to restore 85 MBBS seats at the two government-run medical colleges, raising the number of seats from 115 to 200.

The state government has received an informal communication from the Centre regarding the restoration of 35 seats at the Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), Shimla (from 65 to 100) and 50 seats at Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College (DRPGMC), Tanda in Kangra (from 50 to 100).

The Medical Council of India (MCI) had not renewed the increased seats for 2014-15 and as a consequence, the government held counselling for 200 seats, but admitted only 115 students.

With the restoration of seats, the remaining 85 seats will be filled soon.

Vineet Chowdhary, Additional Chief Secretary, said the government had been informed about the increase in the number of seats to 200, but a formal written communication was awaited.

The state government had represented their case against the reduction in the number of seats and assured the MCI that the shortcomings pointed out by it would be removed.

The MCI at its internal meeting on July 8 last took up the cases of medical colleges the seats of which had been spiked and reportedly recommended to the Union Health Ministry to restore the seats to 200.

The IGMC was established in 1966, while the Tanda medical college came into existence in 1996 and both colleges had adequate infrastructure and faculty, but the MCI expressed its dissatisfaction and did not renew the seats.

It, however, allowed Maharishi Markandeshwar Medical College (MMMC) to admit 150 students in the first batch of MBBS in July last year.

The state government had issued the essentiality certificate to the MMMC affiliated to HPU and the MCI gave permission to the college, affiliated to Maharishi Markendeshwar University (MMU), a private university at Kumarhatti, even though the university was not entitled to affiliate any college.

While the MCI has not allowed the ESI Medical College in Mandi to make admissions to the first batch of MBBS, there was no authentic information about the permission to the MMM College and Hospital to make admissions to the second batch.

The state government has asked the college to get affiliation from HPU and clearly told the management that affiliation with MMU violated the provisions of the Act, under which the university was established.

Una, July 12
State Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president and Una MLA Satpal Singh Satti today said the incompetence of the state Congress government was responsible for the reduction of seats in medical colleges and de-affiliation of engineering colleges in the state.

Addressing mediapersons here, he said the lack of coordination between the CM and his Cabinet colleagues was costing students dear.

Satti blamed Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur and Technical Education Minister GS Bali for making a mockery of the medical and engineering under-graduate courses.

He said the students were facing the brunt due to the ongoing internal rift between the Congress leadership.

He said it was surprising that a private medical college situated in Kumarhatti was allowed to admit 150 students in the first year, but seats in the established government medical colleges were slashed.

Satti further added that the matter needed to be probed at the level of the state government and the Medical Council of India (MCI).

Satti said the government should immediately fulfil all shortcomings at the Shimla and Tanda medical colleges, as pointed out by the Medical Council of India.

He said students from Himachal Pradesh were forced to take admissions in colleges outside the state, which was pinching parents’ pockets.

He demanded the immediate restoration of affiliation to the engineering colleges so that students did not suffer.

Shimla, July 12
The tussle between two Congress ministers — GS Bali and Sudhir Sharma — has once again come to the fore with the former threatening to proceed on a long leave, after reportedly being unhappy with some of his works not being given the nod.

Peeved over Urban Development Minister Sudhir Sharma’s decision of not approving some projects in the department, Bali had a major showdown in the Chief Minister’s office last evening.

Agitated over the reluctance shown by Sudhir Sharma in giving nod to the projects in Kangra district, he left the CM’s office in a huff, threatening to proceed on a long leave of three months.

“He has conveyed his displeasure by stating that he is going to be off for some time as he intends to travel abroad and spend time with family,” sources said.

He has reportedly conveyed to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh also that he was going to be away for some time.

“I just wanted a break for two months to spend some time with my family for which I sought permission from the CM, who has declined my request,” said Bali, when contacted.

He completely denied that there were some issues with his colleague Sudhir Sharma and added that he shared very cordial relations with him.

He, however, added that he would take leave later with the approval of the CM.

Incidentally, this is not the first time that Bali has thrown such tantrums as in the past too he had threatened to resign over some issues he was unhappy about.

Whether Bali sticks to his stand of staying away from work for some time or not will become clear on July 14 when the Cabinet is scheduled to meet.

Sources confirmed that three items concerning his Departments of Food and Civil Supplies and Technical Education were being readied for being taken up in the agenda for the July 14 Cabinet meeting.

Initially, at the time of the formation of the Virbhadra government in December 2012, Bali had been upset over not being given portfolios of his choice. Later also he tried his level best to get portfolios of his choice, including health and tourism, but did not succeed as the CM declined to reshuffle the departments allocated to his ministers.

Shimla, July 12
Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) national president and BJP MP Anurag Thakur today apprised the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj about the 28 Indians, including six Himachali’s, stranded in Iraq and requested for their early release.

In a letter to the minister, he gave the details of those stranded and said he was informed about these people through an e-mail today.

Anurag had written to the minister earlier also and in response to his letter, Swaraj had shared the details of the efforts being taken by the External Affairs Ministry to facilitate Indians returning home.

Swaraj had informed that the ministry had opened three camp offices in Najaf, Karbala and Basrah manned by senior officials. Those wishing to get back to India should contact the nearest office and these offices would facilitate their return to India, including all travel formalities and air tickets. Apart from these offices, a 24-hour helpline number was also functioning at the Indian Embassy at Baghdad, Swaraj in her reply said.

Solan, July 12
Officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) today clarified that the project to four-lane the 90-km stretch of the Parwanoo-Shimla road had not been rejected as had been inadvertently published in these columns.

Satish Kaul, Project Director, Parwanoo-Shimla Four-Laning Project, said the proposal for inviting bids for the Rs 3,300-crore project had been submitted to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways by the NHAI and further process was awaited.

The NHAI officials were considering re-examining the award for the acquisition of land falling in the three tehsils of Kasauli, Kandaghat and Solan, which was announced by the SDM-cum-Land Acquisition Officer, Solan, Tashi Sudup yesterday, as there was no mention of the basis of this land acquisition. 

Palampur, July 12
Hundreds of workers engaged in the execution of Om Power Project at Bundla, 5 km from here, today went on an indefinite strike in support of their demands.

All construction activities came to a standstill following the strike. Agitated workers took out a procession in the town and asked project authorities to accept their demands.

They said the project management should stop exploiting workers and provide insurance cover to them. Other demands included provision of dress to all workers, proper pay scales for skilled and unskilled workers, timely payment of salaries and social security to workers.

Agitated workers said the non-cooperative and unhelpful attitude of the project authorities had forced them to resort to direct action. They announced to continue with their strike till their demands were met. They also suspended the power generation resulting in the loss of over Rs 20 lakh a day. 

Dalhousie, July 12
The court of the Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Dalhousie, today remanded proclaimed offender (PO) Sona Singh in judicial custody for 14 days.

Sona Singh was arrested by the police at Jalalabad in Fazilka district of Punjab yesterday after 13 and a half years.

SP DK Chaudhary said the accused was declared a proclaimed offender on December 23, 2008, by the court.

Nurpur, July 12
The Nurpur police, that had arrested Baldev Singh, husband, Ratan Chand, father-in-law, Vidhya Devi, mother-in-law and Surjato Devi, sister-in-law of victim Seema Devi of Baldoon village near here on Thursday in a dowry harassment case, produced them in the local court yesterday. They were bailed out.

Police said following the complaint of Leela Devi, mother of Seema, the police registered a case under Sections 498-A, 506 and 34 of the IPC against them. Seema was married to Baldev, a truck driver of Dehra in Kangra district, a few years ago. Baldev had been harassing Seema after marriage for dowry. A few days ago, she, along with her children, was thrown out of her in-laws’ house. She was injured after Baldev thrashed her and admitted to the Nurpur Civil Hospital. — OC

Solan, July 12
Around 14 drugs manufactured in the state have been declared sub-standard by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) today.

Out of 41 drugs listed in the nationwide drug alert, around 14 are manufactured in various pharmaceutical units of Himachal located in Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh, Kala Amb, Paonta Sahib and Sansarpur Terrace industrial areas.

These drugs include tapentadole, paracetamol, ofloxacin, amoxicillin, dicloxacillin, misoprostol, amoxycillin, potassium clavulanate, salbutamol sulphate, cefuroxime axetil, megarab-20, albendazole, wohinral (trypsin chymotrypsin) and
gencin injection.

The drug samples were drawn by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisations (CDSCOs) of various zones, including Ghaziabad and Kolkata. The testing was undertaken by the drug testing laboratories in Kolkata and Chandigarh.

The dissolution and non-conformity of the drug test with the standard norms have emerged as the cause of these drugs having been declared sub-standard.

The emergence of a large number of drugs in the monthly list of the drug alert has become a cause for concern.

The state houses nearly 700 drug firms and maximum number of drugs tested by the CDSCO pertain to Himachal.

Navneet Marwaha, drug controller, said as a standard practice a notice was issued to the firm concerned and it was ensured that the batch mentioned in the alert was withdrawn from the markets immediately.

The drug controller said the field staff also inspected the units to take a stock of the situation.

“We will soon introduce a system where drugs manufactured in other states will be tested in Himachal and also figure in the list of drug alerts as this will ensure an added check on the drugs sold in the state,” he added.

Shimla, July 12
A person was killed and two others were injured when the Maruti car they were travelling in had a head-on collision with a truck coming from the opposite direction near the BDO office at Basantpur, 40 km from here, on Thursday.

The trio were going from Sunni to Shimla.

The deceased had been identified as Dr Vijay Verma who worked as a professor at Government College, Sunni.

One of the injured was still stuck in the crushed vehicle and efforts were on to rescue him till the filing of the report.

Sources said negligent driving on the part of the truck driver was responsible for the accident.

A case has been registered and the police are investigating the matter.