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God’s own valley at tunnel end
Tipsy on Tea
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SHIMLA Diary
HILLSIDE VIEW
Ambari: not a drop to drink
Pia-Basanti Queen
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God’s own valley at tunnel end
The longest traffic tunnel in the country is now available to tourists making a beeline to Manali and Ladakh, reports
Kuldeep Chauhan
Welcome to the new horseshoe-shaped gateway to the Valley of Gods! The country’s longest Thalot-Aut traffic tunnel welcomes tourists, making a beeline for Manali and Leh-Ladakh on the National Highway-21. Built at a cost of Rs. 43 crore, the 2806 metres long double-lane traffic tunnel has been thrown open for the traffic by the Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh at a ceremony held at Aut on August 6 and he declared that tunnel was part of efforts of government to provide a safe and smooth transport to the public and tourists visiting the state. As soon as the Chief Minister’s motorcade steamed off through the tunnel after tunnel was opened for traffic on last Sunday, there followed a flurry of joyous of commuters roaring their vehicles through the tunnel. “You feel thrilled when your drive through the new tunnel. It is a wide and high tunnel. But it raised the dust or sand particles at the entrance from Kulu side and at two points in the middle of the tunnel,” comments Sudhir Shah, a tourist from Mumbai, who drove through the tunnel. “If they sweep sand particles clean from the road surface inside tunnel at these points, then there would be no such problem,” he suggests. The two parallel rows of the electric sodium-vapour lamps light up the traffic tunnel facilitating visibility inside the tunnel. But the electric lights and maintenance of the tunnel will cost Rs.1 lakh a month. To facilitate ventilation, the tunnel has two vertical ventilation shafts, each of 2.5 metres in diameter.The traffic tunnel has a minimum headroom space of 5.80 metres that gives “no suffocating feeling” and makes it a straight walk inside the tunnel. “But noise level increases when a number of vehicles cross inside the tunnel. The noise rings in one’s ear if one walks on the footpaths on both sides of the tunnel”, say Chet Ram and Bhanu, Aut residents, who were walking on the tunnel’s footpaths after the inauguration. To ensure safety for the pedestrians and the commuters, tunnel has the stripped bright indicators laid out on both sides of the road inside the tunnel.In case power supply fails, tunnel has been equipped with the diesel-run standby system to make the tunnel safe for traffic”, the engineers explained. The traffic tunnel has been designed and constructed by the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB), which is executing the 126 MW Larji project here. The drive along the highway makes drive a new experience along the highway that meanders along the Beas river. The Chief Engineer (Civil), HPSEB, Larji project Mr. Arun Sharma said the traffic tunnel is the longest in the country. “It has a length of 2809 meters. It has 7.6 metres wide double-lane, running for 2809 metres that makes it longer than the once country’s longest traffic tunnel, the Jawahar tunnel on Srinagar highway in Jammu and Kashimr, which is 1500 mtrs long said the traffic tunnel has two footpaths, each 1.5 meters wide, on both sides meant for the pedestrians. “It has four by-lanes- two on the left and two on the right at a distance of every 400 metres. These can be used to meet an emergency like breaking down of vehicles inside the tunnel”, he added. To facilitate air-circulation and exhaust from the vehicles, the traffic tunnel has 2 ventilation shafts inclined at the 104 metres, said Mr. Sharma. “We will study the functioning of the tunnel for six months. To take care of seepage and rain water inside the tunnel, the traffic tunnel has the underground drains that will facilitate washing of concrete pavement”, he added. “The design of tunnel has been approved by the Ministry of Roads and Surface Transport and Highway.We will hand over the traffic tunnel to the PWD’s Highway wing, which maintains the National Highway-21”, he added. Mr. Sharma said initially the length of tunnel was about 646 metres. “But the part of the national highway towards Kulu side along the Beas barrage would have been submerged in water of the barrage. To take care of the highway at this point, the highway authorities
extended the length of tunnel by another 2163 metres that makes it the longest traffic tunnel in the country”, he explained.
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Tipsy on Tea
The tea wine has already caught the fancy of the defence personnel and has thus been christened ‘Kargil Sepoy’ and could soon hit the market. It’s high nutritional value in the form of anti-oxidant properties is a good enough excuse for even teetotalers to hit the bottle. Tea wine is made by following the conventional procedure of brewing yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and tea dust in a specified proportion with sugar. IHBT Director P.S.Ahuja says many private entrepreneurs have already expressed interest in commercial production of tea wine. “Himachal Pradesh has immense potential for wine production, given the easy availability of fruits,” he says. The institute has already begun research on making wine from ‘amla’, which would score even higher on count of nutritional value. The IHBT labs are presently working on bringing down the cost of producing ‘amla’ wine as it takes a much longer time for brewing. “Tea wine is being considered even better than grape wine and we have got it patented. Wine drinking is being promoted in Maharashtra for its nutritional value and we should ideally be producing the best of wine considering the easy availability of fruits, even though local brewing is still on the sly,” he says. Wines can be made dry or sweet on demand. The tea wine was tested for microbial load and objectionable microorganism in the institute and was found free from them. No pesticide residues were detected. Tea wine can be packed in long necked glass bottles with airtight caps. The institute offers transfer of technology to private parties as per the CSIR guidelines, he says. T he tea science unit has an experimental tea garden (32 acre) for undertaking studies on agro-technology, organic farming, pesticide residue analysis and tea management practices. A tea processing plant has been established for training and demonstration purpose and to study the chemical parameters of tea processing. The chemical profile and quality of tea is done on a regular basis. Experts believe that even though the quality of Kangra tea, which is primarily based in Palampur, was in no way inferior to the Darjeeling tea, the lack of entrepreneurial initiative in the region was a hurdle to proper marketing of tea and tea products outside Himachal Pradesh. There has been a drastic decline in the production of tea in Kangra district and the tea gardens have been shrinking. The IHBT was set up to help in sustainable management of bio-resources in the Himalayan region by adopting a multidisciplinary approach in research and development activities. The Institute has five divisions engaged in research of high scientific impact.
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Sanitation Sentries
They claim they are “rural sanitation missionaries”. Under the World Bank-aided Water and Sanitation Programme
(WSP), South Asia, these rural sanitation NGOs are breaking the man-made barriers of caste, class, religion, region and party in the subcontinent from Kiling village in Mandi to Mardan district in Pakistan for the past four years.
Meet these new “missionaries”, who intend to make each village in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan free from the problem of rural sanitation. They are the resource persons, who participated to share their experiences at the six days long workshop, organised by the
WSP, South Asia in Mandi, which was just concluded. For Ms Seema Khan, Mr Ajmal Shah and Mr
Sayyid, three resources persons from Pakistan, it was as if they “were in their native Mardan district in Northwest Frontier Province in Pakistan”. “We have come to learn and share the problem of rural sanitation, which every acute in Pakistan”, said Mr Ajmal, who led the Integrated Rural Sanitation Programme
(IRSP). “We face same problems and can solve them jointly. We persuaded man, women and elders that defecating in the open brings a host of diseases and miseries. Women are literate and understand the problem”, added Ms Seema, who interacted with rural women in the villages as a part of workshop. “The WSP launched the programme in Mardan district in 2004-5 and the Mr Kamal Kar, consultant, WSP visited Mardan June last year. Today as many as 11 villages have cent percent toilets there”, he said. In Kiling panchayat in Mandi district, which has been declared as the first total sanitation panchayat in Himachal. Mr Tek Chand Thakur, it pardhan shares their experience, “Till 2004, most villages in the panchayat have piles of the stinking night-soil. We teamed up with mahila
mandals, yuvak mandals and got tips from the trainers and the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) on how to motivate villagers. The poor people worked as workers and built up toilets. The DRDA gave us Rs 10 lakh; Rs. 500 for each householder as a reward for a joint effort to make the Panchayat total sanitation-free”, he added.
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Ghazal singer Peenaz Masani is keen to come out with an album of Himachali songs, says
Pratibha Chauhan who had a talk with the singer in Shimla
Nothing could have been worse for the world of music than this age of remixes, replete with vulgarity where ghazal singing has taken a backseat with shrinking aficionados. This is how ghazal singer Peenaz Masani, who was here to judge budding singers at ‘Bazme Anjum’ a local ghazal contest feels about the latest trend of remixes and item numbers, which have become a rage with the younger generation. “Unlike changing fashion, ghazal is a form of art which is here to stay despite the current phase of remixes and pop music,” she says sounding very optimistic. She says ghazals are part and parcel of our culture and even now there are many who are fond of ghazals. She says undoubtedly the popularity of ghazals amongst the younger lot is much reduced but this was a phase, which will lead to final resurgence of ghazals. “Late Naushadji was very much opposed to remixes and the increasing influence of western music and he felt that we must stand up against this trend,” she said. Peenaz who does not miss out any opportunity to come to Shimla, a place she adores, says the bottom line in the music world today is commercialisation and the money aspect, with the entire thrust being on packaging and visual effect. “Unlike the old songs, which had a soul and even after decades sound so melodious, the numbers being churned out today are only aimed at making money,” she regrets. She laments the western influence on classical Hindustani music, which she says is so beautiful that people who do not understand the language also enjoy it. “The least that the people coming out with remixes can do is to give credit to the composer and singer of the old number, which should not be tampered with,” she remarks. “People who appreciate good music are hurt by these kind of songs having more of visual effect than music quality to the extent that it is difficult to watch them sitting with your family,” she says. Peenaz says gone are the days when it used to take four weeks for recording one song. “Today there is this trend of holding talent hunt shows where the youth want instant success and they too are told that their singing is all right but presentation is not up to the mark,” she says. Peenaz who sang a verse from a Chamba folk song says she is keen to come out with an album of Himachali songs for which she will have to do a lot of practice to get the right pronunciation. “Music should be like songs of Muhammad Rafi, who had a voice which communicated and rendered effortlessly,” she says about her all time favourite.
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SHIMLA Diary
In fact, encroachers have been having a field day all these years under the local self-government. But for the intervention of the high court even the illegal structures on forestland would not have been removed. Prime land has been encroached in the heart of the land and even the narrow municipal roads have not been spared. Under the building bylaws no structure could be constructed upto 2 m from the edge of the road but buildings and shops have come right on the road. Influential persons have erected boundary walls right on the roads making the provisions of setbacks redundant. While maximum number of encroachments has taken place in Krishnanagar locality, unauthorised structures have come up in other parts of the city. The number of such structures continues to grow along the road leading from the State Bank of India to the Fingask Estate as the municipal authorities look the other way. Pedestrians face problems when vehicles pass through as a good part of which has been usurped by encroachers. One such illegal eating joint has come right next to the quarter of a municipal corporation employee. Worse, the municipal corporation does not have even complete data about the number of encroachments. Mr Shekhar Gupta, Municipal Commissioner, asserts that a drive to detect encroachments was on and so far about 700 cases have come to notice. Proceedings have been started to eject the illegal occupants under the public premises act. Action will be taken after completing the process. However, with election to the corporation due next April it is very unlikely that any concrete action will be taken in the matter. In fact, three is already indicates that the government is framing a retention policy to regularise illegal structures across the state. *
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Fab fabrics Fab India, a leading cotton fabrics and organic products company, made entry into Himachal Pradesh by opening its first outlet in the “queen of hills”. The company hopes to reach customers from across the country who throng the popular destination as tourists round the year. Earlier, it opened a summer showroom in Leh, which also attracts a large number of local foreign tourists. It is not a one-way business, the company has been procuring a number of products, including Kangra tea, honey and brown rice, from various parts of the state, says Ms Diljit Grewal, zonal manager of the company. It will further explore the hills to source cotton fabrics and organic products from local artisans. The store will help make available the company’s exquisite products, which are much sought after by the elite class. *
* * The opening of the tribal areas by removing the inner line restrictions may have given a boost to tourism, it has opened the floodgates for smuggling of antiques, particularly the Buddhists artefacts which are more than a millennium old. Mr Rajeshwar Negi, president of the state minorities and social welfare parishad, claims that the ancient temples and monasteries in the region are being robbed of their invaluable treasure systematically by antique smugglers masquerading as tourists. They befriend the gullible tribals and stay with them in their houses or monasteries for months together. They depart only when they have accomplished their mission. Many of antique artefacts have been replaced with replicas. He said he will soon submit a list of manuscripts, paintings, idols and antique artefacts stolen or lost over the past few years to the government. e wants the government to come out with a tribal heritage plan for the protection and preservation of ancient sites and monuments. All sites with antiquity of more than 500 years should be brought under the control of the Archaeological Survey of India. Besides the visitors, particularly foreigners should not be allowed to say in the tribal areas for more than week. Check posts should be set up at entry points both from Rampur side and Rohtang to keep a watch on antique smugglers.
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HILLSIDE VIEW
How often do we bare our teeth and grin sheepishly, when someone meets us suddenly and accosts,” kaise hain? Remember me?” We make the right noises, trying desperately to figure out who the gentleman is. Many times a vague conversation takes place, but we come away wondering about his identity.
I have tried a technique, not so successfully. I would start with:” Where are you coming from?”— followed by “where are you going? “. Next would be: “ How are things? Haven’t seen you for a long time”. I would wait for some clue. But most of our folks (whether from Kinnaur or Kangra) answer briefly in enigmatic tones. They also keep pumping your hands, and keep saying “aur sunao…” You feel like yelling, “kya sunao, gaane sunao?” The other day, a lanky gentleman met me warmly, hugged and guffawed:” How are you bhai ? How is bhabhi ji?” I told him she was in parlok. His jaws dropped: “ Arre, I didn’t know. When did she pass to swarg lok?” I replied with a straight face:” No, no, she hasn’t passed away. The thing is, she has always been in parlok— never came down to marry me!” Need I tell you how he ran for cover! A case of wrong number, surely. Instead of all this rigmarole, how nice it would be to introduce yourself again (unless you are regular acquaintance). But I find people very reticent to introduce themselves or even their companions. Strangers stand around on the Mall, shuffling uncomfortably, grinning dutifully. One reason is social shyness. What annoys us is the other reason— bloated egos. We expect even those who had met us once (or long ago) to remember our names and faces forever. Are we that great? Voices are even more difficult to recognize over the blessed telephone lines, unless you are in touch daily. Once, I thought the caller was a defeated candidate in a by-election and started off with a heavy dose of sympathy. I was giving the real stuff— about how undeserving the victor was etc. A hiss and a groan told me I had stepped on thin ice. He was in fact the winner’s campaign manager! He still greets me with frogs in his throat, so emotional he feels. Very few say who they are and then begin to talk on the phone. Good executives announce their names (even after passing through secretaries) as soon as they pick up the phone. There is a journalist friend who shouts at my domestic help or anyone else who picks up the phone and asks who the caller is. What’s wrong in telling your name, friend? Only small men feel insulted by small things. Isn’t it better to rule out a tragedy of errors? Seva for stray dogs… The list of expressions like “kutte, kamine, kutte ki mouth…” is endless (just watch a Dharmender movie!). But they may lose their venom and scorn one day if Sonali Purewal’s compassion continues to bloom. This elegant, determined lady has a mission— caring for stray dogs, cattle and “retired” horses. She set up a make-shift shelter (in a rented building) for stray dogs at Tiggar Hatti near Kasauli in December last year. “ We have a dedicated staff, but they need training in catching big dogs. So we started off with picking up smaller puppies and their nursing mothers”. The 35 canines picked up so far from the streets are washed, de-wormed, treated for skin and other diseases, vaccinated, and given proper food regularly. They are also neutered (sterilized) for checking their population growth. Veterinary doctors like Munish Batta, K.D.Ryot, and Anupam Mital take turns to go there and do seva. Interestingly, Himachal had 40, 699 stray dogs (census figure of 2,003 ) with Kangra heading the share— 13,804. Lahaul and Spiti had the lowest — a mere 225. There were 1, 67, 555 domesticated dogs in the state. Shimla city alone had about 3,000 stray dogs according to the Municipal Corporation’s estimate last year. There were allegations that the Corporation had paid a squad from Gurgaon Rs. 150 for catching and “trans-locating” each dog in view of the growing number of bites. Residents of a Shimla locality were upset and protested recently when six stray dogs were beaten up with sticks and later poisoned allegedly at the behest of the authorities. Cruelty in any form cannot be a solution— but the fact remains— Rabies kills nearly 30,000 people annually in India. We need many like Sonali in our midst. Thanks to “support and encouragement” from husband (a businessman) and father-in-law, Sonali is able to spend over Rs. 30,000 monthly from personal funds on the canine welfare. The villagers of Mandrel have offered shamlat land for building a permanent home for the purpose. She feels her main strength comes from the overwhelming response and help from the locals, the panchayat, army people in the area, and the doctors from Palampur and other towns. The famous Central Research Institute (CRI) of Kasauli uses horses to produce anti-tetanus serum . When these animals age and become unfit, they are “retired”. Sonali said yes to a request from Director, CRI, sometime ago to provide care and shelter to such retired horses. But she needs much more space and facilities to house the big animals— the files for transfer of land etc have been “under process” for a couple of years. It’s difficult to draw out Sonali and make her talk about herself. “I am an ordinary girl wanting to make a difference”, she says, “ The project is part of a larger idea. I want to spread good karma”. Her voluntary organization attached to Menaka Gandhi’s People For Animals (PFA) has been struggling to raise a wider public support. You can contact her — sonalipurewal@sify.com (or 09810190497).
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CITIZEN FIRST
Himachal has a bounteous monsoon this time and the rivers and streams are full up with water but the of Ambari village (Nagrota Bagwan) in Kangra district is facing acute shortage of drinking water. Taps are usually running dry and women have to walk long distances to fetch water from springs and wells.
It is sad that the villagers should have to face so much of trouble in the constituency of Transport Minister G.S. Bali. Ambari is also a village that has given many brave soldiers to the Indian Army. Subehdar Bal Singh Rana (OBI) was an illustrious son of this village who was awarded second Victoria Cross. Should this village suffer thus? Will someone attend to the woes of Ambari? Sidhartha Rana,
Ambari.
Erratic supply We draw your kind attention to our village, Ladoh in Kangra district, which is facing a severe shortage of drinking water. We get our supply of potable water every alternate day and in summer we are often without the supply for two or more days. We have made many representations to the government but nothing has been done for us. Since the youths of the village have gone to big cities to earn their livelihood and old people find it hard to walk long distances to fetch water. Will the authorities do something about us? Satish Kumar Sharma,
Village Ladoh P.O Panchrukhi, Snake menace Despite Himachal Government's constant efforts of encouraging industrial growth in the state, there are many problems that the industrialists are facing here. Like Una district's constituency called Amb has lots of snakes cropping up now and then. Many-a-industrial labourers have been the target of snake-venom. And the only saving grace is the local snake charmers who suck the poison and save the lives of innocent people. The Government should realise that just giving tax concessions and financial incentives is not sufficient. It has to do something to improve medical and first aid facilities in such areas. Otherwise, industrialists, being lured by the financial incentives, will continue to set up projects in small villages of Himachal. But the locals who'll be employed to work in these projects may have to loose their lives. Praveen Sharma, Una
Temple blues Pilgrims visiting the Chintpurnihave many a sad tale to tell. It seems some pilgrims are given prefrential treatment and thus some can have darshan of the Mother Goddess more easily than others. For one vehicles are stopped a long distance away from the temple and old pilgrims have trouble walking up all the way. On the other hand some VIP visitors are allowed to take their cars close to the temple. Such discrimination at a divine place is very sad. Others are able to take their vehicles forward on giving the traffic regulators a handsome tip. This practice is most unfair. Champa Rani, Amb
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Pia-Basanti Queen
How Uma Singha became Kotgarh’s queen, is indeed a filmi story. Her daughter-in-law Shabnam who lived in Kotgarh, had invited her film-maker friend Pradeep Sarkar there. He was looking for a suitable locale for his new music video Pia Basanti. He was enthralled with Kotgarh’s picturesque green valleys, floating clouds, mist and drizzle. And ruins of nearby Khaneti inspired him to change the story to suit the locale. Pradeep was destined to find his queen in Kotgarh too. He was sitting at breakfast table when Uma walked in with her silvery tresses cascading all over her fair face. Hold your breath! Pradeep just couldn’t help staring and exclaiming, ’Gazab ho gaya!’ Uma was the very queen he visualized for his video. Pradeep offered her the role. Uma accepted it. But who’s Uma, often seen on Shimla’s Mall, clad in traditional reshta and daatu? She comes from Himachal’s premier Stokes family, being eldest grandchild of late Samuel Evans (Satyanand) Stokes and married to apple orchardist Mahavir Singha. As a student, Uma enacted Macbeth in Auckland House and later in Benares University. She is a qualified doctor from Delhi’s Lady Hardinge and is a social worker too. Music video Piya Basanti was shot mostly in Uma’s apple orchards namely River View Orchards, where Shabnam’s rabbits in their angora farm, are also featured. Pradeep wanted to create artificial rain by using apple spray guns but luckily it rained. A crew of 80 worked day and night dragging their equipment up and down hill slopes, in pouring rains. |
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Take your love for tea a bit further. Follow up the sizzling cup of bed tea with a chilled glass of ready-to-serve, luscious tea cola in the afternoons and savour some lip-smacking tea wine for evening delights. Courtesy: The Institute of Himalyan Bioresource Technology (IHBT), Palampur.
While the illegal ‘dharas’ built by encroaching on the forestland within the municipal limits are being demolished on the orders of the high court, nothing is being done to remove the unauthorised structures on government land.
