Dhumal calls for quality education
BILASPUR, May 13 — The Himachal Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, yesterday came down heavily on opposition Congress leaders in the state for criticising the government by levelling charges of saffronisation of educational institutions in the state.

Cong to focus on stability: Mahajan
HAMIRPUR, May 13 — The Himachal Congress president, Mr Sat Mahajan, has said the Congress party will not only contest all four Lok Sabha seats in the state but win these with large margin as people of the state has lost faith in the ruling BJP-HVC combine.

‘Implement policy on care of elderly’
SHIMLA, May 12 — Major-Gen S.S. Sandhu, Director-General of HelpAge India, has urged the Centre to come out with an action plan to implement the recently approved national policy for old persons in a time-bound manner.

4 die as hillock caves in
DHARAMSALA, May 13 — Four women and a six-year-old boy were killed near Barot, when a hillock caved in.

Water scarcity reports 'baseless'
KULU, May 13 — The president of the Kulu Valley Hoteliers' Union, Mr Krishan Banon, has claimed that there is no shortage of drinking water and other basic amenities for tourists in Manali.

BJP in no mood to oblige HVC
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, May 13 — The ruling BJP is in no mood to oblige its alliance partner and Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC) chief, Mr Sukh Ram, by accepting his demand for sharing two of the four Lok Sabha seats in the coming elections.

Mr Sukh Ram and his supporters are demanding that the BJP should leave at least two Lok Sabha seats for the HVC to contest.

However, the BJP leadership here does not appear to be in a mood to bow to Mr Sukh Ram this time. The Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, has made it clear that the BJP will contest all four Lok Sabha seats. The issue is yet to be discussed by the central leadership of the BJP.

BJP men allege that Mr Sukh Ram is in the habit of twisting the arm of their leadership on every occasion just to get his pound of flesh.

They pointed out that there was no question of leaving the Mandi seat for the HVC as Mr Sukh Ram's son, Mr Anil Sharma, was got elected to the Rajya Sabha seat by the ruling BJP on the understanding that Mr Maheshwar Singh (BJP) would contest the Mandi Lok Sabha seat with the support of the HVC. Now that the Lok Sabha had been dissolved within a year and Mr Maheshwar Singh had ceased to be an MP, the claim of the BJP to the seat was stronger. Mr Sukh Ram's son would continue to enjoy the membership of the Rajya Sabha for the complete term, they said.

Mr Dhumal has already named Mr Virendera Kashyap as the BJP candidate for the Shimla (reserved) seat and had introduced him to the electorate at a recent public meeting in the apple belt.

The BJP men pointed out that there was no question of replacing either Mr Shanta Kumar or Mr Suresh Chandel, state BJP chief, as candidates as they were representing the Kangra and Hamirpur constituencies in the dissolved Lok Sabha.

The HVC has been demanding that it should be allowed to contest two seats, including Mandi.

Meanwhile, a former minister, Kanwar Durga Chand, has offered to contest the election from the Kangra constituency from where Mr Sat Mahajan, PCC chief, was reluctant to contest this time after having lost to Mr Shanta Kumar last time.

BJP circles are in high spirits following the unseating of Ms Krishna Mohini from the Solan assembly seat by the high court.

However, it has been indicated that Ms Krishna Mohini may seek a stay on the operation of the order of the court on the basis of certain judgements of various courts.

‘Curb drunk-driving by bus staff'
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, May 13 — Mr Kishan Kapoor, Transport Minister, has directed regional transport officers (RTOs) to ensure that the single-window system, introduced for transporters under the new transport policy to simplify procedures for obtaining licences and permits, is implemented effectively.

Presiding over a meeting of RTOs here today, the minister stressed the need to undertake checking of private buses and ensure that action was taken against drivers found under the influence of liquor and drugs.

Mr Kapoor said a survey of new roads should be carried out for issuing bus permits keeping in view the demand of the area. All buses would have to keep an inspection book and RTOs would be required to inspect it once in a fortnight. He asked officers to ensure that rules framed in this regard were implemented and warned against laxity.

Luxury coaches had been introduced from state headquarters to district headquarters and a proposal to provide airconditioned buses was also under consideration. Every bus stand should have a booking counter for private buses, besides a joint time table for plying buses.

The Transport Minister said that special consideration should be given to unemployed youth, ex-servicemen, physically handicapped, Scheduled Castes and Tribes and IRDP families while issuing permits. Control rooms should be opened of state headquarters for keeping information about accidents and playing of cassettes on buses should be immediately stopped. A drive against tape recorders should be started from Shimla town immediately and defaulters should be fined. It should also be ensured that buses were plying on permitted routes and permits of those plying vehicles on other routes should be cancelled.

Pollution control measures should be enforced strictly besides ensuring parking at proper places. The private operators would be asked to issue proper uniforms to their drivers and conductors and defaulters would face action. He asked RTOs to ensure proper pollution checks of vehicles coming from other states.

Places should be identified on highways where telephone booths, canteen and urinal facilities could be provided for the convenience of passengers.

Enrol Nathpa workers as voters,
CEC urged
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, May 13 — The state unit of the CPM has expressed concern over the 'indifferent' attitude of the state Election Department towards the enrolment of workers engaged in the Nathpa Jhakri project as voters and sought the intervention of the Chief Election Commissioner to ensure that the 7000-old workers were not denied their right to vote in the Lok Sabha poll.

In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner CEC, the party pointed out that the private companies executing the project had not declared May 8 as a holiday, due to which the workers could not get themselves enrolled as voters.

Besides the relevant forms were also not made available at the polling booths and workers were asked to get the photostat copies at their own cost. The denial of voting right to 7000 workers of Kinnaur and Rampur assembly segments of Mandi parliamentary constituency was a serious matter and warranted immediate intervention.

It urged the Election Commissioner to direct the competent authority to make the relevant forms available to these workers and declare a holiday on any day before May 20 so that the workers could get themselves enrolled as voters.

New luxury train to be introduced
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, May 13 — The Railways will introduce a luxury train on the pattern of the Shatabdi Express on the Pathankot- Jogindernagar section shortly.

Mr V.K. Mehta, General Manager, Northern Railway, who met Mr A.K. Goswami, Chief Secretary, here early this week said the train would have all facilities to make the journey of tourists to the picturesque Kangra valley a comfortable and pleasant experience.

The Railways also proposed to provide the booking facility at Palampur, an important tourist destination of Kangra.

A booking agency would also be opened at Manali and it would start functioning from June 15. While the Railway authorities would provide computer hardware and software, the state Tourism Department would provide the necessary staff to run the agency.

Mr Mehta assured the state government that its request for providing the booking facility at Dalhousie would be given due consideration.

The Railway authorities also agreed to allow the state to construct a parking facility at the Railway yard near the bus stand at Shimla.

Mr Goswami suggested that the Railways should introduce joy rides for tourists between Shimla and Tara Devi. Mr Mehta gave an assurance that he would take up the matter at the appropriate level.

Dhumal calls for quality education
From Our Correspondent and PTI

BILASPUR, May 13 — The Himachal Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, yesterday came down heavily on opposition Congress leaders in the state for criticising the government by levelling charges of saffronisation of educational institutions in the state.

Speaking after laying the foundation stone of Saraswati Vidya Mandir here yesterday, he stressed the need for giving special attention to quality education and earmarking more funds for it .

He also emphasised the need for inculcating the spirit of nationalism amongst the students and said that to acquaint the younger generation with actual historical facts of India, its history needed to be reviewed as it has been distorted by the Britishers and others. He lauded Vidya Bharati for doing good work in the field of education.

He claimed that the present government in the state had given special attention to strengthening the education system, especially at the primary level.

He said the vidya mandirs, were doing a wonderful job of making our children patriots. Himachal Pradesh had achieved the distinction of 77 per cent literacy and from this year, the government had launched an ambitious project called the Saraswati Bal Vidya Sankalap Yojna. Under this scheme, Rs 136 crore would be spent on the construction of 13,612 rooms for providing at least three rooms in each primary school of the state by March, 2002.

He announced a grant of Rs 21,000 from this discretionary fund for children.

Cong to focus on stability: Mahajan
From Our Correspondent

HAMIRPUR, May 13 — The Himachal Congress president, Mr Sat Mahajan, has said the Congress party will not only contest all four Lok Sabha seats in the state but win these with large margin as people of the state has lost faith in the ruling BJP-HVC combine.

Talking with mediapersons here last night, he said that there would be some surprises in the list of candidates. The party would give ticket to hard working, honest and those having complete loyalty for the organisation.

When asked whether he would contest the Kangra Lok Sabha seat again, he said people of the Nurpur Assembly segment had sent a representation to the party high command not to allow him to contest the Lok Sabha election but to allow him to remain in the state politics. He said he would go by the orders of the party high command.

Mr Mahajan said the next election would be fought on the plank of a stable and a clean government. He claimed that the Congress alone could provide a stable governments at the Centre and in the states. The experience of the coalition governments had failed and there was no question of the BJP and its allies returning to power.

The Congress president dubbed the BJP as anti-people in general and anti-Dalits and anti-poor in particular. He said the way money meant for the Dalits under the Special Component Plan had lapsed proved that the present government had no concern for the Dalits. He demanded a white paper from the state government on the utilisation of the money under the Special Component Plan for the Dalits. He alleged that as per information crores of rupees were not spent properly and lapsed under the programme last year.

He demanded adequate and timely compensation to those farmers who had lost their crops due to bad weather during the rabi season this year. He alleged that the state government had failed to implement the much-publicised crop insurance scheme in the state.

The state Congress chief said that Mrs Sonia Gandhi, all India party President would be the star campaigner in the coming elections. Mrs Gandhi had agreed to visit the state much before the elections to interact with the people, Mr Mahajan added.

He denied any rift in the party saying both would visit various parts of the state during elections and canvass for the respective party candidates.

‘Implement policy on care of elderly’
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, May 12 — Major-Gen S.S. Sandhu, Director-General of HelpAge India, has urged the Centre to come out with an action plan to implement the recently approved national policy for old persons in a time-bound manner.

Addressing a press conference here yesterday General Sandhu said the government had taken more than 15 years to formulate a policy and it should not delay any more in implementing the policy, He said the policy was exhaustive and took care of all issues concerning the elderly but much would depend on its implementation.

He said in case the government failed to make an action plan, the Helpage India, which had analysed and discussed the policy in detail, would come out with its own suggested action plan.

General Sandhu said looking after the evergrowing number of elderly persons would be a major challenge for the country in the 21st century. The number of elderly persons increased from 12 million at the beginning of the 19th century to 19 million in 1950. However, with the average life expectancy rising from 32 years in 1950 to 64 years, the number of elderly persons had shot up to 70 million, an increase of 50 million in less than 50 years.

In the next 25 years the number will swell to 177 million which would constitute over 12 per cent of the total population.

He lamented that while life expectancy had been increasing steadily, the quality of life of the elderly was deteriorating with each passing year. A number of factors like breaking up of the joint family system, industrialisation urbanisation and radical change in the living arrangement had affected the life of the elderly who had been deprived of the emotional and financial support system which existed traditionally in the society.

He said health and financial security were two major areas of concern for the elderly in a country as 90 per cent of them came from the unorganised sector with no facility of pension or medical reimbursement. Further, two-thirds of the elderly were below or just above the poverty line and thus required financial security.

The government was giving a meagre pension of Rs 75 per month to 2.76 million elderly persons, while the quantum of pension was required to be increased to at least Rs 450 to Rs 500 per month, the scheme also must be made broad based to cover all needy persons.

Health facilities were far from adequate and the medical institutions did not have any specialist of geriatrics in fact none of the 162 medical colleges was offering a course in geriatrics which was as important in treating the elderly persons as paediatrics was for children. He said the government should take immediate measures to remove this shortcoming by introducing regular courses geriatrics in medical colleges and organising short duration course for serving doctors.

Besides to ensure financial security the returns from Provident Funds must be increased. This could be achieved if and independent authority, managed on professional lines, was set up to handle the fund.

The HelpAge India was trying to help the elderly persons in a modest way. It had undertaken 1500 projects across the country over the past 21 years and made impact on the life of two million persons. Half of the 400 old age homes in the country were supported by it. The organisation was also running 125 day-care centres for the old besides income generating programmes.

General Sandhu expressed the hope that the government would implement the policy for older persons expeditiously during 1999, which was being observed as the International Year of Older Persons.

4 die as hillock caves in
Tribune News Service

DHARAMSALA, May 13 — Four women and a six-year-old boy were killed near Barot, when a hillock caved in.

According to the police, the incident occurred when the hillock caved in, while villagers were digging clay for household purposes near Multhan under Baijnath subdivision.

The killed were identified as six-year-old Jai Lal and 75-year-old Ratti Devi of Sangred, and 33-year-old Sunni Devi, 22-year-old Durmi Devi and 38-year-old Shammi Devi of Deothi village.

The three injured were 54-year-old Sibu Ram, 28-year-old Draupadi Devi and Uma Devi, all belonging to Sangred. They have been admitted to Government Hospital, Baijnath.

The SDM and DSP, Baijnath, rushed to the accident site and gave Rs 5,000 each as ex gratia to the next of kin of the deceased.

Water scarcity reports 'baseless'
Tribune News Service

KULU, May 13 — The president of the Kulu Valley Hoteliers' Union, Mr Krishan Banon, has claimed that there is no shortage of drinking water and other basic amenities for tourists in Manali.

In a press note issued here, Mr Banon termed the reports of shortage of potable water as baseless. He said after the opening of the Rohtang Pass, the town was attracting a large number of tourists from the country and abroad. He said these was no lack of basic infrastructure for the promotion of tourism in the valley.

The union has urged the state government to display the list of hotels in Manali on the internet, through the official website of the Tourism Department.