Dharamsala, September 8
The local administration recently started an anti-encroachment drive in Kachehri market, near the secretariat, here. The drive began with much hype as the administration descended to the spot along with a JCB machine, but it turned out a damp squib.

Local residents were hoping that encroachments would be removed and congestion on the main road would be eased, but the drive remained limited to removing just a few cemented floors extended in front of the shops.

In some of cases, shop owners were directed to remove the tin sheds they had raised in front of their shops, which they did for the time being.

However, no concrete structure was demolished despite that the fact that encroachments on roads are obvious. Sources said the drive was restricted due to political intervention.

The sources said a similar drive was launched in Kotwali market earlier, but it proved ineffective. Hardly any concrete structure was removed due to which the main road leading to Mcleodganj remained prone to traffic jams.

Traffic on the Mcleodganj-Bhagsunag and Mcleodganj-Dharamkot roads is also affected due to encroachments.

On the Dharamkot road, which is surrounded by reserve forest, Tibetans and locals have constructed illegal buildings. The modus operandi of people who have encroached upon the forestland in the area is simple. They cut trees in the night and remove the entire evidence. In rainy season, earth beneath trees is removed, which leads felling of trees. After some time, the building comes up along the road.

In Dharamkot, roads have remained about 10 ft wide at many places as buildings have come up on both sides. Though in some cases, forest officials have filed cases for felling trees, no action has been taken to remove illegal structures.

On the Bhagsu road, the approach is narrow mainly due to encroachments.

The traffic problem worsens during the summer months when the tourist season reaches its peak. Last month, tourists had to remain stranded for hours due to traffic jams.

The government would have to take a stern action against encroachers otherwise “weak” anti-encroachment drives like this would only embolden the violators.

Hamirpur, September 8
While employing almost all government employees on a contract basis in the state government departments has become an accepted policy today, thousands of such employees working in various government departments are a harried lot.

Ever since the contractual policy was introduced by the state government in 2000-01 as per the new economic reform policy of the Central government for fixing fiscal responsibility and budgetary management by state governments, the contractual appointees have been at whims and fancies of the departments concerned.

At present, from class IV employees to highly professional people like college teachers, doctors, engineers and all other technical or non-technical people are being employed on a contract basis.

While the contractual employees against the particular posts are appointed on a fixed salary for generally five years, they get very few facilities and perks in comparison to their regular colleagues.

They are paid only 12 casual leaves and their salary is deducted for any other leave. When regular teachers enjoy paid vacations, contract teachers are not paid salary for the vacation period.

The contractual employees cannot be transferred to any other place during their contract period and can be transferred only after regularisation after eight years except some relaxation given to teachers under the new transfer policy.

“As per the government notification, we are to be paid annual increments as per the norms, but this purely depends at whims of the department concerned,” complain some of the contractual employees.

Professorial persons like medical or veterinary doctors tell: “Our service conditions are so pathetic that large numbers of them are shirking from taking government jobs on a contract basis and even people already working are leaving such jobs and are joining the private sectors”.

It is also cited as the main reason for the government not finding medical specialists, medical officers and other professionals when hundreds of the posts are lying vacant since professionals are not ready to join on a contract basis and people in the rural and hard areas are suffering.

The latest grievances of these employees are that they are not given annual increments and salaries as per the new scales despite the government’s notification in this regard and regularisation of contract employees as per the wishes of the department and not as a rule.

However, DS Dogra, secretary personnel to the state government, said: “All contract employees are being regularised after eight years of service on the availability of vacancies and the government has issued notification in this regard”.

On the question of non-payment of annual increments by a few departments, he said: “In March 2009, the government had issued notification for the payment of annual increments and other benefits to contract employees and if some officers show ignorance about this notification and seek specific instruction then this is a defiance of the government order”.

Shimla, September 8
Belatedly though the Forest Department has taken initiative to regenerate vanishing deodars which lend a distinct scenic charm to the “queen of hills”. About 5,000 deodar saplings are being planted in the state capital where haphazard and excessive construction has over the past three decades taken a heavy toll of the stately cedars. Vast patches of green cover have been gobbled up by concrete monsters and the once lush green ranges have been left scarred all over the place.

Unfortunately, the focus has been solely on preserving the built-up heritage of the city, the natural heritage, particularly the crown of deodars, is being allowed to be destroyed. Indiscriminate felling of trees, indifferent afforestation effort and an inadequate law to deal with illegal felling of trees have been the major factors responsible for the irreparable damage being caused to the green cover in the erstwhile British summer capital. The large-scale deforestation has not only led to changes in the microclimate, but also caused severe aesthetic degradation of the internationally famous tourist destination.

The local municipal corporation has been granting permission to fell and lop trees all these years even as no serious effort was being made on the afforestation front. On average, about 1,500 trees are felled, including dried and those felled illegally, but hardly any new plant was raised. One only hopes that deodar initiative will be pursued in the right earnest to revive the green cover.

Illegal felling apart, hundreds of trees have dried up mysteriously in the greenbelts like the Jakhoo Hills, particularly in and around the housing board colony, and in Chhota Shimla near the state secretariat, right under the nose of the government. Dry deodar trees close to multi-storeyed buildings is a common sight with landowners using ingenious methods, like exposing the roots and applying acid to kill green trees, to help increase the built-up area. Whenever a tree is illegally felled, a damage report is issued mostly against the owner and the cases are mostly compounded by imposing a meagre fine and at times recovering the cost for damage caused to forest.

The government had decided to enact the Tree Preservation Act to provide deterrent punishment to such offenders and, in fact, the Town and Country Planning Department has proposed that the minimum fine for felling of precious species should be Rs 50,000. It has also proposed that it should be mandatory for the plot owners to maintain a minimum specified number of trees on their land.

However, no further action has been taken in the matter and the issue has been hanging fire for the past over three years. Environmentalists suggest that a provision should also be made for automatic withdrawal of the approval granted for building plans if trees were felled during the course of construction.

The government agencies are also indulging in ecologically destructive construction activities and by covering every inch of land with concrete or hard bitumen coating making vast stretches of hills completely impervious, leaving no scope for rain and snowmelt to percolate down to the drying aquifers.

The result is that the old trees growing naturally on rocky hill strata are being virtually starved of water which sustains all life. It is, thus, not surprising to see trees drying up all over the place. The Vidhan Sabha complex, the High Court complex, the Radha Swamy Satsang complex and the Jakhu Temple provide glaring examples of such thoughtless construction. Impervious layers have been spread right to the tree trunks.

The cobbled drains have been replaced with the one lined with cement and concrete long back and the environment-friendly dry masonry retaining walls are making way for the impervious cement masonry.

It is time that the government comes out with an environment-friendly construction policy making it mandatory to maintain specified percentage of the plot as soft area with vegetation. Corrective measures should also be taken to restore minimum pervious area to save trees in government buildings.

Shimla, September 8
Being the biggest women’s dance event in Asia, about 1,500 girls from India and abroad will participate in the International Women’s Folk Dance Competition to be held here from September 12 to September 16.

It is his dedication towards promotion of art and culture among women that inspired Kapoor V. Bhan to start the mission in 1984. Being an educationist, focusing on girls’ enlightenment, his endeavour has been to promote art and culture among school and college girls.

With participation from Nepal, Bangladesh and some other neighbouring countries, he is hopeful of making it a truly international event.

“With fear of swine flu and some participants facing visa problems, confirmations from some foreign countries are still awaited,” says Bhan. He has already got confirmation from 1,200 participants from states, including Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Manipur, Delhi, Punjab and Haryana.

It is under the aegis of the Northern India Folk Art Society, the Nehru Painting Group and the Charu Castle Foundation that he had been holding the international and national dance and painting competitions every year.

“The zeal to serve with greater dedication became even stronger after I lost my 20-year-old daughter Charu to dengue in 2001,” Bhan says. She was a student of Delhi Art College when she fell victim to dengue in Delhi.

The competition is only for folk dance with only group dance having 10 members. He feels that folk art is something that is precious and must be preserved and promoted at all costs.

“India with its diverse culture and traditions has rich and precious folk dances of every region and groups,” he says. He guarantees that being part of the event is an enriching experience as one gets to see such diverse dance forms from all over the world.

To ensure the maximum participation, invitations are sent to over 25,000 schools, colleges and universities in India and abroad. Barring the travelling expenses, lodging and food are completely free. The Department of Languages, Art and Culture is providing Gaiety Theatre for holding the event.

All performances will be videographed and on the last day, on September 16, prizes will be distributed among the winners.

“To ensure fairness in judgement, we have a panel of eminent people from the fields of dance and culture and moreover, besides, viewing the performance, they will also go through the video recording before arriving at the final results,” he explains.

The competition is open for girls from class VIII till the university level with different categories.

Later in October, Bhan will be holding an All-India Painting Competition for schoolchildren. He intends setting up a school for girls and a fine arts college. He says studies will be free of cost for girls from the weaker sections and poor background.

Concern has often been expressed about the health of cops discharging traffic duties who have to slug it out daily in congested towns.The state police authorities have now started taking concrete steps to mitigate the harmful impact of vehicular emissions and noise pollution on their health.

Chamba, September 8
In order to curb frequent motor vehicle accidents on the winding roads in the alpine district of Chamba, the district administration has decided to curb accidents with “zero tolerance” by taking severe measures to deal with those violating the traffic rules.

Henceforth, regular checking of vehicles by all the authorities concerned accompanied by the police would be made in a time-bound manner on different roads every month. On every Saturday, except second Saturday, combined checking of vehicles would be carried out by the police as well as the registering and licensing authorities concerned in the district.

When asked about the recent spurt of accidents, Devesh Kumar, deputy commissioner, Chamba, informed that the Police Department had identified 106 black spots on different roads in the district which would be improved by PWD executive engineers in their respective jurisdictions.

Devesh warned that those using kerosene oil in lieu of diesel in vehicles would be dealt with stringently under the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act. Similar action would also be initiated against the transporters involved in persuading overloading and roof travelling.

Those found plying vehicles without licence or indulging in drunken driving, their vehicles would be impounded forthwith on the spot, he stated, adding their licence would also be withdrawn.

“No doubt the condition of the roads in the district is not good and even there is absence of parapets on so many dangerous points alongside the roads. But, simultaneously, it is also an admitted fact that most of the accidents are occurring due to human error,” he said.

It may be recalled that three accidents had occurred in Chamba district during the past 15 days. On August 13, six pilgrims of Manimahesh were killed in a car accident and on August 14, 24 persons were killed and 12 others were seriously injured in the Salooni bus mishap, while on August 28 nine persons were killed and eight others were seriously wounded in a private pickup van accident in the Bharmour tribal area of the district.

Nurpur, September 8
A new housing colony is in the pipeline as a high-powered committee of the Himachal Housing and Urban Development Authority (HIMUDA), comprising technical experts recently inspected three sites at Baldoon, Letri and Khushinagar for the purpose.

After visiting the sites,committee leader Ganesh Dutt said the Authority’s technical experts had been directed to prepare blueprints of all three sites and submit a detailed report to the board. “The board will take a final decision and give its nod to one of the identified sites for the construction of the housing colony”.

Nurpur, September 8
Seventy stone crushers in Nurpur subdivision are facing closure and may render over 4,000 jobless, thanks to the apathy of the state Industry Department which has denied the short- term permit (STP) to entrepreneurs.

Inquiries reveal that getting a mining lease after completing all formalities is mandatory for setting up stone crushing units in the state. The industry department which issues the lease after a long time. Each unit has been paying Rs 20 per tonne as royalty, beside other taxes. But now the department has stopped issuing STPs and started serving notices on them. The Mining Department has reportedly asked them to close their units for want of the mining lease.

A delegation of Nurpur Subdivision Crushing Units Association led by its president, Dharmedra Singh, Industry Minister Kishan Kapoor here recently and apprised him of the problems of the entrepreneurs. The delegation alleged that the STPs were being denied due to the influence of the stone crusher mafia of neighboring Punjab which wanted to scuttle the business of the flourishing units in the border areas in Kangra district. Meanwhile, the Industry Minister assured the delegation that the units in the state would not be allowed to be closed as these had a vital role in the construction, development and generation of direct or indirect employment.

Shimla potato is popular and almost as old as Shimla is. Potato, probably, is the oldest tuber that man has been eating. The Incas of Peru and Chile have been eating it since 500 BC. They consider potatoes as the food and the God. They eat and also worship them and call them “papas”. Potato has been the favourite of many a writer. Charles Dickens’ “Papa, potatoes, poultry, prunes and prism, are all good words for the lips” is a pleasing sentence. And AA Milne, children storybook writer, judges a man by his food habits when he says, “What I say is that, if a fellow really likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow”. For Oprah Winfrey, the most popular TV host, “My idea of heaven is a great big baked potato and someone to share it with”.

The journey of potato in India started in 1780 when the Dutch presented a basket of potatoes to the then governor-general Warren Hastings. He shared the unusual gift with fellow council members in a dinner. It then marched into the gardens of the affluent and the commoners. It travelled to the hills of Dehradun in 1830 through the efforts of Captain Youns and Shore. Shimla hills were already growing potatoes by then. Capt Godfrey Charles Mundy had come to Shimla in 1828 and had stayed with Capt Kennedy. He writes in Pen and Pencil Sketches, “Many of the Shimla householders have already cultivated small spots of ground for cabbages and potatoes, and other vegetable esculents. The last named valuable root thriving well in these climates. Captain Kennedy is liberally disseminating it through the district and the poor natives”.

The hill-men impatiently started growing this tuber and in order to make a quick buck they even cut the luxurious forest between Mahasu and Fagu. The result was that the topsoil, having lost the natural protection of trees, was washed away when the monsoon struck. It, however, did not deter hill farmer from cultivating potato because it earned a handsome amount by its sale in the plains of north India. Potato since then has been a cash crop for Shimla district. The pahari variety of potatoes used to be Numberi, Dhankri and Sathu. It was in 1909 that Scottish varieties Kerr’s Pink, Factor and Majestic were introduced to Shimla Hills, Palampur and Kullu. Twenty years later different varieties Up-to-Date, President and Windsor Castle were being grown in the fields here. The establishment of Central Potato Research Institute here in 1956 brought the Kufri varieties of potatoes for people of India through Shimla.

There are more than 45 Kufri varieties of potatoes developed by the institute so far. Potato, today, is considered by the health-conscious people as high-energy food with little nutrients.

This is simply not true. It has vitamins, minerals and high water content. Eat it and be healthy, but do not think that keeping a potato in your pocket will cure your rheumatism and eczema.