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Who is responsible: 108 Service, MC Shimla or HP Govt?
An old woman slips on ice, dies due to delay as 108-ambulance service call-centre denies service, while taxi driver charges four times the usual fee to carry the dead body.
Honourable Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh recently claimed that his recently formed government would ensure Sushaasan (good governance) with welfare of all. He even made an announcement regarding an increase of Rs. 50 in social security pension. But the question is that what the hell the senior citizens would do with the social security pension when their life is not secure in the state. A recent accident resulting in death of an old lady has brought shame to the authorities bringing their inaction and ignorant attitude to the limelight.
Yesterday, an old lady, aged about 75 years was on her way home when she slipped on the hard frozen ice (the hardened snow) while getting down a set of staircases near Machhli wali kotthi, Jakhoo area. She slipped so badly that she got a serious injury on her head with a continuous stream of blood oozing out of the wound. Some onlookers called up 108 (An emergency Ambulance service) and requested them to reach on the spot and enable the seriously injured lady to reach the hospital.
But, to their surprise, the executives of Ambulance service call-centre denied providing any service to the injured lady stating that all the ambulances were struck in snow at Kamla Nehru Hospital and were so unable to reach the spot and attend the injured. Disappointed by the reply they got from the so-called ‘Emergency Ambulance Service’ and without wasting any more time, the people attending the injured lady hired a taxi and took the old lady to IGMC, Shimla.
Attending the emergency case, the doctors reported that the old lady was ‘Brought Dead’ to the hospital. The scene doesn’t end here. Carrying the dead body back to her home was not at all an easy endeavor. The people attending her were unable to secure a single ambulance to transfer the dead body to her home. Even the Red Cross Society was unable to provide an ambulance/mortuary van to carry the dead body. The taxi drivers too were ignorant but finally taking note of the situation and his chance or earning huge profit, a TATA Sumo driver agreed to carry the dead body to her home charging Rs. 1,000 which is four times the normal taxi fare.
With such type of incidents taking place in our society, can the safety of senior citizens be guaranteed? Honourable CM sir, it no more interest the common man that by what name the 108 Ambulance service is called, as far as it provides services to them in the time of urgent need.
First and foremost I would like to applaud the role of our digital media who have immense time for debating on the issues which would never produce any result, but have no time to talk about the inefficiency of our state administration.
Whom do you hold responsible for this death or may I call it a murder?
The HP State Government which is so very cautious of changing the name of 108 Ambulance service from ‘Atal Swasthya Sewa’ to ‘National Health Mission Service’ rather than ensuring that these ambulances do actually provide the services and fulfill the purpose they are meant for.
The Municipal Corporation Shimla which always remembers collecting taxes from the people in the name of services which are never provided to the people. (The Honourable Mayor never responds to the calls made to his official mobile number). Gross negligence in service can be made out from the fact that even after 10 days of snowfall, MC Shimla was unable to remove frozen ice from The Mall Road (in front of Hotel Willow Banks), leave aside the frozen ice at other places. Are they not responsible for this death as they were unable to clear snow from KNH, Shimla making the ambulances immobile when this work comes under their ambit?
The 108 Ambulance service for not ensuring the mobilization of their ambulances to attend to emergency situations.
Or finally We, the responsible citizen of Himachal Pradesh & specifically Shimla, for voting such an administration to power which is unable to fulfill the basic needs of the common man.
The final call is to be taken by you all. I am not writing this article to sensationalize the issue or hold the government responsible for it, but to make you all aware that it is you who can bring about a change. It is you who can raise your voice. I hope the govt. which turns dumb to the feeble and weak demands of the aged can no longer ignore the voice of the youth as we are educated, we know are rights and grab them if they are not provided to us by default.
Don’t sleep anymore, it’s time to rise and make our voices heard, time to Join the new social awakening, time to contribute your part. Time to Join Himachal Watcher and be the change you want to see.
Shimla-In yet another instance, two private bus operators in Shimla city were seen creating a nuisance for the public by jamming the traffic. A reader clicked some pictures at the BCS bust stop in Shimla city on February 19, 2022, at about 8 PM and shared them with us. The reader alleged that two private bus operators, namely ‘Komal’ and ‘Chadda’, indulged in a verbal spat, most probably over their schedule. While the drivers argued, one of the buses remained parked in the middle of the road, choking the traffic. The staff of these two buses indulged in a verbal spat for about 5-10 minutes during which the general public faced a huge inconvenience. The reader has requested the Traffic Police Shimla to take action against such operators and discourage them from adopting such a bullying attitude that they don’t even hesitate to block the entire road.
Write and Publish Blog on HW
If you have relevant issues/complains that you want the people and the government to see and read about, you can publish blogs on Himachal Watcher. Send us your blogs with pictures/videos at editor [at] himachalwatcher [dot]com
Language: Hindi and English
Note For Multimedia Files: If you have high resolution images/videos (taken with smartphone/camera), then send us the originals through Google Drive or We Transfer or any other file sharing applications that suits you.
Sundernagar-Many people visit the Sundernagar lake in Mandi district and litter along the road. Winds carry all those packets and plastic bottles into the lake. This practice of littering is unlawful because it costs millions in clean-up projects. It portrays a bad picture of an area. Littering is a huge threat to the aquatic life too. In my view, the solution is awareness, responsibility, sensibility and concern for nature. We as a society need to play a big role. At least, dustbins should be installed along the lake. Otherwise, the negligence in the present will affect us in near future.
-Blog and Picture By Divya Acharya, Sundernagar
Write and Publish Blog on HW
If you have relevant issues/complains that you want the people and the government to see and read about, you can publish blogs on Himachal Watcher. Send us your blogs with pictures/videos at editor [at] himachalwatcher [dot]com
Language: Hindi and English
Note For Multimedia Files: If you have high resolution images/videos (taken with smartphone/camera), then send us the originals through Google Drive or We Transfer or any other file sharing applications that suits you.
Shimla-A youth from a small town of the Mandi district – Sarkaghat- started as a freelancer and went on to launch his own start-up in 2014. By 2021, the start-up grew into a company that has garnered international clients and also designed and developed websites and web apps for several Departments of the Himachal Pradesh Government.
Netgen IT Solutions Pvt Ltd- a young agile company- has, so far, developed websites for the Department of Information Technology, Women & Child Development, Rope & Rapid Transport Development Corporation, HP Milk Federation Cooperation, and the HP AIDS Control Society.
Besides, it also developed HimSuraksha Abhiyan App (National Health Mission) and the website of the Department of Tourism & Civil Aviation along with a Services Portal.
Further, the website of the Department of Information & Public Relations and the single window system was also developed by NetGen.
Having developed over 2500 websites, Netgen IT Solutions has an imprint of having worked for clients spread over 25 countries in Europe, America, Asia and Australia.
Bootstrapped as a Start-Up on 7th July 2014, the company has evolved to offer a diverse set of services for web, e-commerce and mobile solutions that have enabled Global and Indian business to adapt to a Digital First environment. In seven years, this Shimla-based company has carved out a niche for itself.
The company started with a small team of just four people, and today it employs strong-heeled 25 IT professionals. The skillset of web developers, designers, networking specialists, social media marketers and others is expanding with the growth of the company.
To mark the NetGen Foundation Day, the company hosted a live inter-action of the team members with some clients to understand the need for future technologies and solutions for a fast-changing business environment in the shadow COVID pandemic.
Mr Rajneesh Rana, Founder and Managing Director of the company, is a computer science graduate. Speaking about the company’s journey, Rana’s says, “Stepping out from working as a freelancer at the small township of Sarkhaghat, in Himachal Pradesh, to launching a start-up company, was my first step in entrepreneurship. The company was founded on a shoe-string budget with a small capital outlay. After overcoming the initial hesitancy, we’re on the firmer ground today.”
With the growth in demand for IT Services, the company in the initial year faced manpower shortages. The management took to train and equip freshers in a mentorship program to meet its needs for IT Professionals and also to equip others to find gainful employment elsewhere. Netgen till date has trained over 50 freshers with essential and advanced IT skills. Most of them for the first time in their careers got exposure to the IT Industry.
The company’s IT Technical Team today is professionally equipped to work in 20+ technologies that can be deployed across a vast network of industries.
The Netgen team of IT professionals has expanded the services that the company now provides. A multitude of projects employing creative website design-development; customised software products; e-Commerce solutions; server administration – web security – networking services; mobile application design – development; social media marketing; stand completed.
“There is a growing demand for many other IT and IT-enabled services that the company has successfully delivered for Global and Indian clients,” said Rajneesh.
“Since the breakout of the COVID pandemic, the demand for online services has increased. It created an environment that demands moving things onto digital platform, bringing more opportunities for the IT sector ,” added Rajneesh.
“Take the case of the Government of Himachal Pradesh, India. To secure baseline health data of the over 70 lakh residents in the state and to prepare effective strategies for countering the spread of the pandemic in challenging hilly terrain, the state government needed a simple but effective IT-enabled solution to capture the data as fast as possible,” he said.
“The ‘Him Suraksha Abhiyan’ application designed and developed by NetGen IT Solutions was used by thousands of teams spread under 2300+ sub-centres. In just over a month, the software solution created successfully captured the data of over 68 lakh residents of Himachal Pradesh,” he added.
The 70:30 Percent (%) Global – Domestic revenue stream of Netgen has prepared the company to expand both its export and domestic service portfolios, said Rajneesh.
Mr Ravinder Makhaik, Director of the company says, “growing steadily, Netgen is a debt-free, profit-making company. A healthy mix of domestic and international businesses, with sound financials, gives the company strength to take up more challenging projects. Our portfolio of government projects is making good progress.”
Founded as a 1 lakh authorized capital company and with annual revenues rising at a 25 % compounded annual growth rate, the Netgen Board of Directors has decided to expand the authorized capital of the company to Rs 10 lakh to meet future growth needs.
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