Rajgarh is less than 100 Km from Chandigarh via Solan and about 150 Km via Nahan. In the south, it touches the beautiful Renuka Lake and Nahan — the district headquarters of Sirmaur — and beyond this starts Haryana. In the north-east, it touches the Theog and Chopal tehsils of Shimla district.

Roshini Channa who lives in Shaya Chabron village with her husband, a retired as the Chief Secretary of Himachal Pradesh, says "Rajgarh is so centrally located that it can be called the heart of Sirmaur district. The environs are lush green and the air is clean.I have always felt that the sky looks more blue here. It is colourful and picturesque and it can be compared to hamlets in Europe. Rajgarh is a place of great beauty."

Basically, the people of this area belong to Khash Rajput clan. It is said that the local people in the Pachhota Valley called Miyans were originally Rajputs from Rajasthan. During the freedom movement, the village figured in the popular Pachhota movement. It played a significant role in the liberation of states. The veteran freedom fighter Vaid Surat Singh of this valley played a stellar role in this movement. And Sai Ram, another great personality of this valley, was a great educationist during the pre-British era. He played an active part in spreading education in Rajgarh and Sirmaur. He also established the first school in this area about 100 years ago.

The people of this valley are dynamic and hardworking. They are tough, stout and basically good-looking and simple people with sharp features. They are religious and God-fearing and worshippers of Lord Shiva and Goddess Durga. The local Shaya temple of Lord Shirgul, the descendant of Lord Shiva, has a mammoth following. According to a legend, Lord Shirgul had first come to Shaya village and later settled in Chur Chandani Chur-Dhar mountains at height of 12,000 feet.

The locals of Rajgarh, Sirmaur and the people of adjoining Shimla district go to pay obeisance at this temple at once every year.

There was a fort of Raja Sirmaur in Rajgarh. It used to house various offices of Rajgarh subdivision. It also housed the PWD office and in the adjoining area there was a store of blasting materials i.e. detonators. But unfortunately, in 1960, this store blew up in a freak accident and the entire fort was razed to the ground. The valley mourned the loss of a priceless monument. But the tragedy proved to be a blessing in disguise as a construction boom started in this area. Rajgarh has today emerged as a small town cluttered with hundreds of concrete structures. It is a good sign

from the development point of view, but definitely not a healthy one keeping in mind the natural beauty of this valley. Around this time, in the 1960s, the people of this valley also started growing vegetables and stone fruits that included peaches.Says L.R. Jhamia, SDM, Rajgarh,"The dream of the first Chief Minister of HP Dr YS Parmar has been realised as Rajgarh is today known as the peach bowl of Asia. Every year, about Rs 4 crore worth of this fruit is grown here. Dr Parmar had initiated fruit cultivation here and it was carried forward with great determination and hard work by well-known bureaucrat TN Kaul."

Rajgarh subdivision has 550-km of roads. The condition of the roads isn’t good but there is improvement since the past one-and-a-half years. The roads to Tikker Bhuria village and Dhamla are in bad condition. The local temples include the Shaya Chabron Temple of Lord Shirgul and Mata Matnali temple. These temples need care and attention but, unfortunately, the Himachal

Pradesh Government and the Department of Language, Art and Culture have not done anything in this regard.

The famous Baru Sahib Gurdwara also lies in this valley and is worth a visit. This gurdwara is 29 km from Rajgarh and is situated beyond Kheri, a picturesque spot on the banks of a tributary of the Giri river. According to a legend, Guru Gobind Singh meditated here. The local management runs an Akal Academy, plus two school. This gurdwara and school are unique because they have their own private road, own workshops, petrol station and a generator (in case of electricity failure).

According to Dr Jagmohan Singh Chauhan, Director of Horticulture, Himachal Pradesh, who incidentally belongs to Rajgarh, "The credit for inception and introduction of peaches in Rajgarh mainly goes to late Dr Y.S. Parmar, the former Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. The first experimental peach orchard was planted by the Department of Horticulture in 1955. From 1955 to 1970, there was no peach boom visible though people had started growing other routine stone fruits and vegetables. It was only after the ‘70s that the peach revolution started and became visible. Harbans Singh, the former Director of Horticulture, also played an active role in spreading the peach revolution in Rajgarh. Incidentally, he also owns an orchard here."

The total turnover of peaches in Himachal Pradesh is 3500 tonnes worth Rs 5 crore. And the turnover of peaches in Rajgarh

valley alone amounts to Rs 4 crore. The total area covered by peaches in Rajgarh subdivision is 1604 hectares and the total area covered by other temperate-zone fruits is 1396 hectares, that includes mainly peaches, apricots, plums, apples and walnuts. There are apple orchards also in this valley and mid-height apple varieties are grown here. The other seasonal vegetables like top quality tomatoes, hybrid peas, ginger, cauliflower, capsicum etc, fetch an income of Rs 15 crore.

The main popular varieties of peaches are the canning variety

— elbata, July elbata, helbatagiant, C-Smith. The early table varieties are Shan-e-Punjab, Sun Haven, Red Haven. These two varieties are popular and have a good market because of the stiffness of the fruit. In 1980, the area covered by peaches was only 606

hectares and the total production was 321 mt. Now, the total area covered by peaches is 3000 hectares and the production is 3000 mt.

The result of peach boom and Rajgarh becoming peach bowl of Asia is that the pace of construction in Rajgarh and the adjoining village areas has increased considerably. The standard of living is definitely improving. Flashy cars and other vehicles are visible in the backdrop of peach trees. Some people are spending a good amount of money on education of children, who are mostly studying outside Rajgarh, in some of the best schools and colleges of the country. The younger generation that is likely to take over the care of orchards has acquired aptitude and knowledge about the technical aspects of growing peaches, stone fruits and vegetables.

However, the problems are plenty. Says orchard owner Purna Chand,"Many a time our produce rots because of lack of transport facilities. It is high time that the government gave a thought to providing refrigerated vans at competitive rates so that peaches can be transported to Delhi with minimum damage."

Kanwar Narinder Singh is of the view that in order to sustain the peach boom a minimum support price should be announced by the government. A big canning unit should also be established near Rajgarh.

Politicians of all regions have played hide-and-seek with the sub-division for the last two decades. They have time and again made promises, which have ultimately not been kept. The long-standing genuine demand of a college by the people of this sub-division has always fallen on deaf ears. The pace of work on the ITI is also moving at a snail’s pace. Drinking water is a major problem of the Rajgarh area.

There is no proper bus stand in Rajgarh. The main bazaar area is currently being used as a bus stand. The result of all this is frequent traffic jams and chaos. There is a small tiny temporary rain shelter which cannot accommodate even a dozen people. The local bazaar is usually crowded and dirty.

Says the DFO, Rajgarh, DP Chandra, "Rajgarh can be developed as a major tourist spot if basic facilities are created here. It can be promoted as a place to visit during the peach bloom season."