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Himalayan Dev. Authority soon: Fernandes

Hamirpur, October 31 Union Defence Minister, George Fernandes today advocated the need to save the Himalayas. He said that steps were needed to foil threats of the foreign powers to the Himalayas, he told a massive gathering at Deotsidh in Hamirpur district this afternoon.

Union Defence Minister George Fernandes addressing a public meeting in Hamirpur district on Wednesday.  — Photo Chander Shekhar Sharma

Medical officers threaten stir
Dharamsala, October 31
The Himachal Medical Officers Association has threatened to launch an agitation in case the government does not accept its long-pending demands, including the removal of an administrative officer from the post of Additional Director, Health Services.

One of cultural troupe dies in mishap
Kulu, October 31
A person was killed and 14 others injured, three of them seriously, when the jeep in which they were travelling, rolled down a hill near Jibhi, about 60 km from here, in the Banjar sub-division of the district this morning.

CITU activists stage dharna

Shimla, October 31 Activists of the CITU staged a dharna outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner here today in support of their demands for the immediate withdrawal of the hike in electricity and water tariff in the state. They also took out a procession and held a rally.

Activists of the CITU staging a dharna outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner in support of their demand in Shimla on Wednesday . — Photo by Anil Dayal.

Anthrax scare at Jama Masjid
Shimla, October 31
Scare of anthrax gripped worshippers at the Jama Masjid here this afternoon when a postal envelope carrying some powder was delivered there. The police was immediately called and the envelope was taken for examination.

• Leopards stray into house, injure 3

Himalayan Dev. Authority soon: Fernandes
Our Correspondent

Hamirpur, October 31
Union Defence Minister, George Fernandes today advocated the need to save the Himalayas. He said that steps were needed to foil threats of the foreign powers to the Himalayas, he told a massive gathering at Deotsidh in Hamirpur district this afternoon.

He also inaugurated a three-day long convention of Eternal Himalayas and challenges before it. The function was presided over by Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, Himachal Chief Minister. Two RSS functionaries Shri Kant Joshi and Mr Indresh Kumar and Mr Karma Chope Speaker of Tibetan government in exile were also present.

The minister said saving of the Himalayas was possible if proper inputs of development were provided to the people of the border areas of India with Pakistan and China. He said that terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir was due to lack of development and poor fiscal health of the people of the state, especially living along the borders of Pakistan. Young persons of these areas were lured by the Pakistani ISI agency and used against their own people, he said. He said that had we provided employment and other facilities to these people, they would dealt with Pakistanis on their own and the present situation would not have developed.

The minister felt pained to say felling of trees was on the Himalayan region. He said that if it continued, the day was not far when the entire region would get converted into a big desert like Sahara.

The Union Minister said Himalayas was known to be ours saviour in the north. He blamed the previous Congress governments for not taking timely efforts to save the Himalayas.

He said that people of Arunachal Pradesh still had not forgotten the remarks made by Pandit Nehru when the Chinese encroached on a part of the state. He said that same was in case of Tibet. He said timely steps by the then government, could have verted the exodus of the Tibetan people for refuge in India.

Mr Fernandes paid rich tributes to the people of Himachal and he said that sacrifices made by Himachali people would not be forgotten.

He said that we had failed to protect our culture and the language. He said that he had been fighting for including the Bhoti language as one of the Indian languages but all in vain. He said that Bhuti was linked with Himalayas and it should be made official Indian language.

Earlier, talking to reporters at Deotsidh, he said that the government planned to set up Trans Himalayan Development Authority for preserving the cultural and environmental wealth of the Himalayas. This authority would be set up with the cooperation of the ex-servicemen of India as Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had given his approval for the constitution of the authority.

Medical officers threaten stir
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, October 31
The Himachal Medical Officers Association has threatened to launch an agitation in case the government does not accept its long-pending demands, including the removal of an administrative officer from the post of Additional Director, Health Services.

In a statement issued here today, the association said a meeting would be held at Hamirpur on November 3 to decide the future course of action, keeping in mind the indifferent attitude of the government towards the problems of doctors. The doctors regretted that the government had till date not implemented the agreement reached out with their association on December 15 last year.

The press secretary of the association, Dr Sushil Sharma, said that no increase had been made in the salary of postgraduate doctors and the stipend of interns and resident doctors.

He said the Recruitment and Promotion Rule Committee had not met since 1998, as a result of which posts of lecturers at Indira Gandhi Medical College and Tanda Medical College were lying vacant.

He said despite so many posts of doctors lying vacant in health institutions all over the state, the latest batch of MBBS students, who had passed out, had not been given postings.

Dr Sharma said there was resentment among doctors over the continuation of holding of the post of Additional Director, Health Services, by an administrative officer. He demanded that as per the claim of the government this was to be a stopgap arrangement.

He said the government must clarify what improvements had been made in the health services with the appointment of an administrative officer as Additional Director.

Dr Sharma said the doctors in the state were hopeful that their proposed meeting with the Health Minister, Mr J.P. Nadda, on November 7 would be fruitful so that the public could be saved from inconvenience to be caused in case doctors launched an agitation.

One of cultural troupe dies in mishap
Our Correspondent

Kulu, October 31
A person was killed and 14 others injured, three of them seriously, when the jeep in which they were travelling, rolled down a hill near Jibhi, about 60 km from here, in the Banjar sub-division of the district this morning.

The injured were admitted to the government hospital at Banjar. The body of the deceased was handed over to his parents after a postmortem.

It was learnt that the victims were members of a cultural troupe from Kinnaur and were on their way to Kulu to participate in the Dasehra festival. The District Administration has given Rs 15,000 to the next kin of the deceased and Rs 5,000 to the injured.

Mr Karan Singh, Minister of State for Primary Education, Mr Maheshwar Singh, Member Parliament and Mr Chander Sen Thakur, MLA and vice-chairman, HPMC, expressed grief over the sudden demise of the artiste.

CITU activists stage dharna
Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 31
Activists of the CITU staged a dharna outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner here today in support of their demands for the immediate withdrawal of the hike in electricity and water tariff in the state. They also took out a procession and held a rally.

The activists accused the state government of having burdened the people by increasing the power tariff. They said the common people would get squeezed due to imposition of winter surcharge of 25 paise on each unit of electricity.

Meanwhile, Mr Rangila Ram Rao, spokesman for the PCC, criticised the state government for hike in tariff for the third time in the past three-and-a-half years.

He said earlier two hikes had put up a financial burden of about Rs 150 crore on the people and the fresh increase would further burden them by Rs 76 crore.

Meanwhile, the Shimla (Urban) Committee of the Congress today held an emergency meeting under the chairmanship of Mr Harbhajan Singh Bhajee and demanded that the hike should be withdrawn immediately.

Anthrax scare at Jama Masjid
Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 31
Scare of anthrax gripped worshippers at the Jama Masjid here this afternoon when a postal envelope carrying some powder was delivered there. The police was immediately called and the envelope was taken for examination.

The envelope carried a letter in which Bin Laden was criticised. Many postal envelopes carrying some powder were received here in the past few days, but this was an attempt to create a scare as none of these contained anthrax spores.

Leopards stray into house, injure 3
Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 31
Two leopards strayed into a house in an apple orchard at Gumma near Kotkhai today and wounded three persons. Among the injured are two children and an old man.

The police said the wounded persons had been admitted to the hospital at Kotkhai. The leopards also attacked some passers-by. The incident has created panic in the area.