As many as 10 more have tested positive for COVID-19 in Kangra on Saturday, taking the total numbers of cases in the district to 137.

Those who tested positive today include a 30-year-old woman, her 7-months-old daughter and 24-year-old sister-in-law from Banker village of tehsil Jaisinghpur, who travelled from Delhi on June 1 in a taxi and was under home-quarantine. All three were asymptomatic.

Among the 10 also include a 29-year-old man from Jawali tehsil, who came back from Rangpuri area of New Delhi on June 6 by train; 49-year-old man of Khundian tehsil, who travelled from Delhi; and 27-year-old man of tehsil Rakkar, who travelled from Vijaywada.

All three were currently under institutional quarantine at Parour and have been shifted to the COVID Containment Centre at Dadh.

An 11-year-old student of Baijnath, who travelled from Delhi and was presently under home-quarantine, also tested positive. He was shifted to the COVID Containment Centre at Baijnath. The student was also asymptomatic.

Other cases include a 42-year-old male from Jarpal village in Jawali, 30-year-old man from Lachun village in Bankhandi, and 36-year-old man from Tharu village in Jawali. All these have a travel history from Delhi and were under institutional quarantine.

Meanwhile, four patients recovered today.

Two were discharged from the COVID Containment Centre at Baijnath, one from Ner Chownk Medical College and one from Dadh.

Source : The Tribune

With Covid threat looming, two historical religious festivals, one at Kamrunag and the other at Prashar in Mandi district, have been called off. Every year, the two-day religious festivals are held at Kamrunag valley and Prashar lake on June 15 and 16, in which a large number of devotees from across the state pay visits to seek blessings of local deities Kamrunag and sage Prashar.

Blessed with a bounty of nature, both religious places are also major attractions for tourists in the district. The temple sites are scenic and natural lakes have been developed around them.

Talking to The Tribune, Shivpal Sharma, president of the Kardar Sangh, Mandi, said the Kardars (caretakers of deities) had decided to cancel both religious festivals this year due to Covid threat.

“Every year, hundreds of devotees visit both the religious places to seek the blessings of local deities because they have deep faith in them. But due to the heavy rush of people, it would not be possible for temple committees to ensure social distancing,” he remarked.

Mandi Deputy Commissioner Rugved Thakur said people of the district had approached the administration to reopen the temples but a decision of the state government on the issue was awaited.

Source : The Tribune

Seven people tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Himachal Pradesh on Thursday, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases in the state to 459, an official said.

Three fresh cases were reported from Una district and two each from Solan and Chamba districts, Special Secretary (Health) Nipun Jindal said.

In Solan district, a truck driver from Nalagarh, has been quarantined in his vehicle, while a former village panchayat pradhan from Baddi area tested positive for the infection, a district official said.

In Chamba, a 23-year-old man from Kehal Bakan village and a 25-year-old woman from Salooni tested positive.

The man was home-quarantined since his return from Gurgaon in Haryana on June 2 and the woman was institutionally quarantined at Banikhet since she came back from Delhi on May 28, a Chamba district official said.

Their samples were taken on Wednesday and they tested positive early in the morning, Jindal said.

Twenty-two patients—seven in Hamirpur and one in Solan – have recovered from the disease, he said.

The number of recoveries is 259, while 11 COVID-19 patients have migrated out of the state, Jindal said.

The number of active COVID-19 cases in the state stands at 182 and fatalities at seven.

The deaths include that of a 70-year-old woman from Delhi, who was staying at a factory guesthouse in Baddi in March. She died at the PGIMER in Chandigarh on April 2.

Kangra district has the highest number of active cases in the state at 53, followed by Hamirpur (38), Una (22), Solan (15), Chamba (13), Bilaspur (12), Sirmaur (11), Mandi (10), Shimla (4), Kullu and Kinnaur (2 each). PTI

Girls have dominated the top positions in Class X results declared by the Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education on Tuesday. As per the chairman of the education board Suresh Soni, in top positions there are 23 girls and 14 boys.

Tanu from Ishan Public Senior Secondary School, Samloti, in the Nagrota Bagwan area of Kangra topped by scoring 98.7 per cent marks (691/700). Kshitiz Sharma from New Gurukul Public School, Gopalnangar, in Hamirpur district scored 98.57% (690/700) to secure the second position.

Vansh Gupta from Glory Public School, Bilaspur, scored 98.43% (689/700), Shagun Rana from Ishan Public Senior Secondary School, Samloti, in Nagrota Bagwan and Anisha Sharma from government high school, Pantehra, from Ghumarwin area of Bilaspur district were jointly placed at third position.

Shreya Sharma from Minerva Senior Secondary School, Ghumarwin, in Bilaspur district scored 98.29% (688/700) to bag fourth spot.

Fifth position is jointly shared by six students scoring 98.14% marks (687/700) each. The students are: Ansh Bharadwaj from New Era School of Sciences, Chhatri, from Bharmour area of Chamba district; Vanshika from Amar Shanti Model Public school from the Baroh area in Kangra district; Karun Kumar from Government Senior Secondary School, Holi, in Chamba district; Shagun Sharma Minerva Senior Secondary School, Ghumarwin; Laila from DAV Public School, Rangli area in Manali in Kullu district; and Nisha from Swami Vivekanand Senior Secondary School, Ramnagar, from Mandi district.

The overall pass percentage in the results declared today was 68.11 per cent, 8 per cent higher than last year’s 60.74. In pass percentage also, the girls fared better than the boys. The pass percentage among the girls was 71.5 per cent, whereas it was 64.94 per cent among the boys, he said.

The Chairman said 14,323 students had appeared in the examination this year. The examination papers of the students who secured the first 100 positions were rechecked by authorities to rule out any discrepancy, he said.

Source : The Tribune

Shimla : Amid allegations of irregularities in purchases by the Health Department, Himachal Pradesh CM Jai Ram Thakur, in an interview with The Tribune correspondent

Pratibha Chauhan, accused the Opposition of sensationalising the issue. He spoke at length on his government’s revival plan, regrouping of dissidents and Cabinet expansion. Excerpts:

The Health Department being headed by you, the Congress has sought your resignation in view of the purchase scams. What’s your take on the matter?

Whether the purchase of sanitisers or PPE kits, we acted promptly and ordered registration of FIRs. In case of purchase of ventilators, no irregularities were detected. Nevertheless, an inquiry was ordered. We bought ventilators at the same cost as Odisha — Rs 9.19 lakh. Talk of the actual cost being Rs 3 lakh is rubbish. The company has itself said that those were merely for the purpose of demonstration. Tenders were floated for the purchase of PPE kits. But we got the entire consignment from the Centre. So we did not buy any.

The Congress says the resignation of Rajeev Bindal as state BJP chief is not enough? Do you see any justification in the argument?

They must come out with evidence, facts and figures. They are making false charges based on anonymous complaints to derive political mileage. I have received complaints against CLP Leader Mukesh Agnihotri, but I have ignored these. If pushed to the wall, I will be compelled to mark an inquiry.

Bindal’s resignation has triggered speculation that there may be some proof of irregularities in purchases by the Health Department. How do you counter this charge?

He resigned on moral grounds. The party leadership felt that since the Director (Health Services) could be involved, it was only appropriate that he stepped down. But we mustn’t jump to conclusions. The audio clip is about a conversation between two persons whose voice samples are yet to be taken.

There seems murmurs of discontent within the party with talk of leaders regrouping. Do you accept this and are there any chances of Cabinet expansion?

There could be difference of opinion but ours is a disciplined party. There are some who may have got more than they deserve. They feel they have a right over everything. I have been asked by the PM to perform and he has appreciated our fight against Covid. I had planned Cabinet expansion after the Budget session but because of the pandemic, it had to be put on hold. Right now it will not be appropriate to do so.

The damage to economy is immense. Do you intend giving more concessions ?

With our limited resources, it would not be possible to help all. At least 55,000 jobs in the tourism sector are gone. Also, 2 lakh persons have returned home from across India and abroad. Based on the Cabinet sub-committee report, we will try to help everyone.

Source : The Tribune

The Himachal Pradesh Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau on Saturday arrested Prithvi Singh, who had recorded the former Director of Health Services asking for a bribe to supply PPE kits.

Singh had made a 43-second audio clip in which the former Director of Health Services, Dr Ajay Gupta, could be heard asking for a bribe of Rs 5 lakh for suppling 6,500 PPE kits worth over Rs one crore. Singh is a close associate of former BJP chief Dr Rajiv Bindal and the audio clip has gone viral since its release.

According to sources, there were more recordings and Prithvi Singh had deliberately recorded the conversation to pressurise the DHS to give more orders.

He was summoned for interrogation by the Vigilance Bureau and later arrested on Saturday night.

After the release of the audio clip, Additional Chief Secretary R D Dhiman had referred the matter to the Vigilance Bureau and Gupta was called for questioning and arrested on May 20.

The Vigilance Bureau had ceased the mobile phones of Ajay Gupta and Prithvi Singh and voice samples of both the accused were taken to a state forensic science laboratory in Junga.

After the name of Prithvi Singh cropped up during the enquiry and Gupta was remanded to police custody, Bindal resigned from the post of state BJP president and his resignation was accepted on the same day.

Source : The Tribune

The Himachal Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission has decided not to enhance the power rates for 2020-21 in view of the extraordinary situation arising out of the outbreak of the pandemic.

The tariff for different categories released today came as a major relief for consumers as no hike has been proposed.

“The commission has considered it prudent not to revise the tariff because of the difficulties being faced due to lockdown. The tariff will be same as last year,” said Executive Director Pankaj Singh Kishtwaria.

The tariff will come into effect from June 1 with there being no increase in the infrastructure development charges. The commission has determined the aggregate revenue requirement of the state electricity board for 2020-21 as Rs 5,384.14 crore. For lifeline consumers, who consume 0 to 60 units, the tariff will be a mere Re 1 with government subsidy being Rs 2.30 on Rs 3.30 per unit.

It has been estimated by the commission that the HP State Electricity Board (HPSEB) will recover the total estimated annual revenue requirement through the existing tariff and as such the tariff, applicable for 2019-20, has been kept unchanged.

As a relief for new industries coming into production after June 1, the energy charges will be 10 per cent lower than the approved charges for the category for three years. For the existing industries, which have undergone expansion in 2018-19 or will undergo expansion in 2020-21, energy charges will also be 10 per cent lower.

The commission has earmarked Rs 50 crore for meeting any additional financial liabilities which may arise in the financial year due to the uncertainties prevailing because of Covid-19.

Source :The Tribune

The maximum number of six cases were reported from Hamirpur today, taking the total number of cases in the district to 120, the highest in any district.

The second highest number of 101 cases are in Kangra district where three new cases were reported today.

Besides, three new cases were reported from Chamba, two in Shimla and one each in Kullu, Una and Bilaspur districts.

Return of a large number of people from Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi is being viewed as the main reason for the step rise in positive cases in Hamirpur and Kangra.

3 Delhi returnees test +ive

The Tally of infected persons in Kangra district crossed a hundred as three more persons tested positive.

Those who tested positive today include 40-year-old male resident of Kulhan village in Nurpur area. He had returned from Delhi and was in quarantine. Earlier, his son had also tested positive.

The other infected persons are a 34-year-old man and a 31-year- old woman from Minjgram village in Nurpur area. Both had returned from Delhi.

One person from Puira area of Chamba was tested positive. He had returned to Noida and was kept in home quarantine.

Source : The Tribune

The search for the new state BJP president has begun after the hasty exit of Rajeev Bindal and intense lobbying for the post is being witnessed. While it is not clear whether the party will appoint a regular president or opt for a working president, five names have reportedly been forwarded to the top leadership.

Senior party leader and spokesman for the party Randhir Sharma, who is considered close to former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal; party general secretary Trilok Jamwal, who is close to BJP national president JP Nadda; Rakesh Jamwal, MLA and confidant of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur; Rajiv Bharadwaj, Chairman of Kangra Cooperative Bank who enjoys the blessings of former Chief Minister Shanta Kumar; Ram Singh, who is considered close to the Sangh Parivar, are the hot contenders but much will depend on Nadda, who hails from Himachal.

Bindal as the state BJP president was Nadda’s choice and this time also, his say would be crucial in the appointment of the new president. Other leaders such as Indu Goswami and Vidhan Sabha Speaker Vipin Parmar could emerge as dark horse, party sources said.

The Chief Minister is likely to discuss the issue with the top leadership, as the matter is also linked to the expansion of the Cabinet, which has been inordinately delayed due to Covid-19. There are at least six strong contenders for two vacant Cabinet berths.

Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday reported seven new cases of coronavirus, taking the state’s case tally to 353.

Kinnaur reported the two cases of the deadly disease—the first ones reported in the district so far.

Shimla reported a new case of coronavirus, taking the total in the district to 10. The case was reported in Jeori in Shimla district.

All the three fresh cases were returnees from Delhi and were under institutional quarantine at Jeori and Kinnaur, said Shimla DC.

They are all asymptomatic and have been kept in isolation rooms at the institutional quarantine centres, a health official said.

Four more tested positive in Kangra, taking a total number of coronavirus cases in the district to 94.

Those who tested positive include a 30-years-old man, a resident of  Badhal village in Fatehpur, who had travelled back from Madhya Prades on May 27 and was presently under institutional quarantine Sansarpur Terrace. He was asymptomatic.

A 31-year-old man, who came back from Pathankot on May 28 and was presently in home-quarantine in Gangath near Indora also tested positive.

A 25-year-old man, a resident of Golwan in Fatehpur tehsil, presently under institutional quarantine in Fatehpur for violating containment zone orders also tested positive for the contagion on Wednesday. He had no travel history and the administration is tracing his contact history.

A 22-year-old man, who travelled from Delhi by an Air India flight on May 29 and was presently under institutional quarantine at Fatehpur tested positive for coronavirus.

All of them were shifted to COVID containment centre inBaijnath.

Source : The Tribune

Himachal Pradesh on Monday reported five new cases of coronavirus, taking the state’s case tally to 335.

Solan reported two fresh cases of the deadly disease, taking the total in the district to 32. Two men, who had a travelled to West Bengal and returned to Nalagarh in May, tested positive for coronavirus. They were under institutional quarantine, where their first samples had tested negative for the contagion. They were tested again for the second time after 14 days and have now tested positive for coronavirus, said Medical Officer Health, Solan, Dr NK Gupta.

They were shifted to ESIC COVID hospital at Katha in Barotiwala for treatment.

There are 18 active cases in the district, while 12 have been cured and two referred to DDU hospital Shimla.

Chamba reported three new cases of the contagion, taking the total in the district to 23. Those who tested positive include a 29-year-old woman who had come from Delhi, and a 27-year-old man and an 18-year-old man who had come back from Tamil Nadu.

They were asymptomatic and had been placed under institutional quarantine. They have now been shifted to COVID containment centre in Baloo.

Source: The Tribune

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said the state government had relaxed curfew from 6 am to 8 pm to facilitate residents.

As a precautionary measure, all inter-state movement will be regulated through permits issued by the district magistrate and the entry of people into the state would be allowed with passes only.

People coming from other parts of the country would be quarantined, he maintained.

The CM said 1.60 lakh Himachalis, stranded in various parts of the country, had returned to the state since April 25. About 91,000 people had been kept in home quarantine and over 7,000 had been kept in institutional quarantine. The focus should be on tracing and screening of all contacts of Covid positive patients to ensure their timely treatment and to check the further spread of the virus.

He also presided over a video conference with all DCs, SPs and CMOs here on Sunday. Thakur said the DCs and SPs would provide adequate police force for crowd management and law and order maintenance at all bus stands and drivers, conductors and passengers would follow all safety protocols issued by the Health Department.

As per government orders issued by Chief Secretary Anil Khachi, religious places will open but only for local residents. Also, hotels can open but only for people visiting state for official work or business. People from within Himachal too can stay in hotels but no person from outside can come.

As per today’s orders of the Personnel Department, all government offices will be back to normal functioning with 100 per cent staff in attendance from tomorrow. However, the arrival and exit time of the employees will be staggered between 10 am to 5 pm and 10.30 to 5.30 pm to ensure social distancing.

“The provision of thermal screening, hand wash, use of sanitiser will be ensured at entry and exit points and efforts will be made to make the maximum use of electronic mode of official communication,” said RD Dhiman, Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Personnel. This order would, however, not be applicable in containment zones.

He said there will be frequent sanitisation of the workplace with wearing of masks in office being mandatory. Expectant mothers, employees with underlying medical condition and those having symptom of Covid, should take extra precautions. The use of Aarogya Setu app will be mandatory for all employees.

Source : The Tribune

Himachal Government extended its school holidays by another 15 days till June 15—a development that comes as state’s coronavirus cases continue to climb.

Schools had declared holidays until May 31, in line with the nationwide lockdown called in the country to slow the spread of COVID-19.

“The summer vacations in schools were advanced. We hoped that the situation would improve…But safety of children is more important and in view of increase in number of COVID-19 cases the government has decided to keep the schools closed up until June 15,” Education Minister Suresh Bharadwaj said.

Bharadwaj had said previously that reopening schools would depend on when public transport would function. However, the government decided to keep schools closed because lack of adequate buses would present a challenge to enforcing social distancing measures.

The government is now considering a phased opening up of schools in the state.

Meanwhile, the state government is yet to decide on when to schedule Class 12’s geography examination that was still pending. Uncertainty also continues over final examinations for undergraduate courses, which would cause some delay in the new academic session.

The development comes on a day when the central government issued orders for phased easing of lockdown restrictions first imposed in the country on March 25.

The MHA’s new orders says that a decision on opening up of schools and educational institutions—which come under phase two of easing restrictions—would be taken in July.

Source: The Tribune

Ending speculation about who would succeed Sita Ram Mardi, Director General of Police, who retires on Sunday, the government has appointed 1989 batch IPS officer Sanjay Kundu as his successor.

Kundu, a 1989 batch IPS officer, is currently serving as Principal Secretary to the CM besides looking after the excise and taxation department.

Though Kundu was the frontrunner for the post there was speculation that 1984 batch officer Somesh Goyal, DGP (Prisons), could be re-installed. He was removed from the DGP post following public outrage on the inept handling of the rape of a minor girl from Kotkhai two years back.

The Union Public Service Commission had approved the names of three IPS officers. These included Kundu, Goyal and 1988 batch officer Tapan Deka. Deka, who has spent most part of his service in the Intelligence Bureau, though senior to Kundu, was not keen to return to the state.

Prior to being posted as Principal Secretary to the CM, Kundu worked as Joint Secretary in the Union Water Resources Ministry. He has worked in leadership roles with the United Nations, and state and national governments. He has served as Police Commissioner in the UN System where he carried out works relating to national capacity building, conflict mitigation, human rights, protection of civilians and humanitarian support.

Source : The Tribune

Five deaths and nine more coronavirus positive cases were reported in Himachal Pradesh on Friday, taking the number of COVID-19 cases in the state to 291, officials said.

Of the fresh cases, five were reported from Hamirpur and four from Kangra, they said, adding that all of them had recently returned from other states.

Four of them had returned from Maharashtra, two each from Gujarat and Delhi, and one from Rajasthan, the officials added.

A 31-year-old man and his 28-year-old wife tested positive for the virus in Hamirpur, Deputy Commissioner Harikesh Meena said.

The couple had recently returned from Ahmedabad and was quarantined at a college in Nadaun, the DC said.

A 34-year-old man quarantined at a school in Bakarti, a 32-year-old woman quarantined at a Nadaun hotel and a 57-year-old man quarantined at a Laliyar school also tested positive, he said.

Their samples were taken on May 26 and their reports arrived on Friday morning, he added.

Meena said they were being shifted to district COVID-19 care centres.

Hamirpur now has 98 COVID-19 cases, over one-third of the total reported in Himachal Pradesh, a senior district official said, adding that 88 of these are active and one person has died of the disease.

Kangra reported four new cases of the deadly disease, taking the total in the district to 73. Three of the new patients had returned from Maharashtra on May 25 and were kept under institutional quarantine at Parur. They are being shifted to COVID-19 containment centre at Dadh.

Those who tested positive include a 42-year woman from Sanghol, a 33-year-old man from Gadhran and a 27-year-old man from Thural.

A 75-year-old man who had a kidney ailment also tested positive on Friday. He was on dialysis and was kept under home quarantine after he came from Delhi four days ago. He was being shifted to medical college Nerchownk in Mandi owing to his health issues.

Hamirpur has the highest number of active cases at 88, followed by 52 in Kangra, 15 in Una, 14 in Solan, 11 in Bilaspur, nine each in Chamba and Mandi, seven in Shimla, two in Sirmaur and one in Kullu. —with PTI

Source : The Tribune

After the recommendation of the Cabinet sub-committee, the state Transport Department, in a late-night development, has decided to resume intra-district and inter-district public transport in the state from June 1, even after the state has witnessed a sharp 12-times surge in COVID-19 cases for the last 23 days.

The public health experts warn that the resumption of bus services run the risk of further spread of COVID-19 infection that has already witnessed 12-times surge in the last 23 days.

“The infection was imported through trains from outside the state. It can also spread through public transport as it will be difficult to control the passengers observing social distancing. Sanitisation of vehicles is another issue,” said a community medicine expert requesting anonymity.

The state Transport Minister, Gobind Singh Thakur, however, told The Tribune that the government had decided not to run the bus services in the hot containment zones to avoid the risk of the spread of the virus.

“But public transport will be resumed from June 1 with 60 per cent capacity,” he added.

Thakur said the state government has urged the private operators to resume bus services with the HRTC from June 1.

“We have waived the state road tax and have postponed payment of fees and other taxes till July. We will consider their other demands as well but will not increase the bus fare as we cannot burden the public,” he added.

The state Transport Minister said the Transport Department would provide sanitisers, face masks and face shields to the drives and conductors. The district administration would ensure law and order, he added.

The officials, however, opined that the arrival of a large number of Himachal residents from COVID-infected states for the last three weeks had resulted in the import of infection in the green zones.

The private transporters, who cater to the 40 per cent of public transport service in the state and have about 3,200 buses in the private sector, are of the view that they were already running into huge losses due to the lockdown and the high cost of transportation.

“We would resume the public transport at 60 per cent of the seating capacity only when the state government compensate us,” the president of a private bus operator association, RK Prashar said.

“It is difficult to ready the buses by June 1 as these are run out service due to the lockdown,” he added.

Source : The Tribune

Fifteen people, out of the 43, who had come to Hamirpur district from Mumbai and were sent home before their coronavirus test reports were recieved, tested positive for the deadly disease late on Wednesday night.

The moment the report was received late last night, the administration went into a tizzy to bring back the 15 people to the quarantine centre from their homes. It was between 10 pm to 3 am in the morning that the infected, 11 men and four women, were brought back in a haste to the quarantine centre, where they had been lodged before being sent home. Majority of the people belonged to Barsar, Nadaun and Bhoranj.

The highest number of coronavirus cases in Himachal-93- have been reported from Hamirpur district, which currently has 85 active cases.

“The mistake happened due to a miscommunication and I have sought a report in this regard,” said Harikesh Meena, Deputy Commissioner, Hamirpur.

The infected people were sent back to their villages despite their being highly vulnerable after returning from COVID-hotspot Mumbai.

Though the first report of these 43 persons was negative, as per the guidelines, they could only be sent home after a second test. All the 43 people had been kept under institutional quarantine at Navodya Vidyalaya at Dungri.