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Realty mafia eyes heritage sites of Mandi
Benami land deals rampant in state
Illegal mining threatens bridges
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Una admn helps disabled get jobs
Earthquake-prone zone
Vignettes
Himachal Diary
Reminiscing the Raj days
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Realty mafia eyes heritage sites of Mandi
Mandi, February 16 The Town and Country Planning Department had declared the Kau Rani buildings of Damdama Palace, Baba Kot, Rupeshwari Devi, Rasjeswari Devi, Bhawani Palace, Palace hotel, Darbar Hall, Emerson House, Pavilion, Sunken Garden and Kesri Banglo as central heritage and conservation zone under notification issued on May 31, 1984. But this central heritage-cum-conservation zone is slipping into history as the government has failed to implement its notification, say local residents. As a result, except for Darbar Hall, which houses a post office, most these buildings are in bad shape and are being converted into commercial complexes. Both exteriors and interiors of these buildings have been modified. The slate-roofed Emerson House that houses government offices cries for immediate attention. The government has leased out its front portion to a private restaurant owner who has modified its interiors. Similarly, Damdama palace houses a sweet shop, government offices, a bank, beauty parlour and a coaching centre, making a mockery of heritage. As many as 19 historic temples - Bhutnath, Trilokinath, Panchvakhtar, Ardhnarieshwar, Mamartunjeya, Neelkanth Mahadev, Kameshwar Mahadev, Ekadash Rudra, Chaleshwar Mahadev, Chota Tarna temple, Shyama Kali, Bhawaneshwarib Devi, Jalpa Devi, Siddhbhadra, Mahishsurmardini, Sheetla Devi, Kua Rani, Jagatnath and Borsalas - constitute the temple heritage of the town. Triloknath and Panchvakhtar are under the ASI and are being maintained while most other temples are being run by pujaris as their fiefdoms, say sources. More worrisome is the fact that property sharks are out to grab the heritage properties with the district administration failing to implement the Town and Country Planning Act as the TCP plan to conserve the central heritage zone remains mere eyewash. Even the present scion of the erstwhile Mandi state, who is custodian of the royal property dedicated to Raj Madhorao, is not taking interest in protecting the heritage in its true spirit, allege devluas and karkoon of devis and devtas, who camp in the Bhawani Palace for Shivratri fair. In fact, various devtas were allotted spots inside the palace, but now the premises have been locked and a wall has been built to obstruct the entry of devtas, resent kardars of devtas, who have been traditionally camping in the inner courtyard of the Bhiwani Palace. “Initially, the present scion of Mandi state refused entry to the devis, but he allotted them an outer room, which has no window and is a security risk. The premises are in bad shape as the slate roof is falling apart and leaking at several places,” rue kardars. The TCP Act prohibits change of land use and look of the heritage properties. But violation has been going on in the name of converting the Damdama Palace into Maharaja Joginderpal Sen Museum. Ashokpal Sen, present scion of the former Mandi state, says they have converted Damdama Palace into a museum to be named after his father Joginderpal Sen, which will house artifacts and other antiquities of the royal heritage. Dr BL Kapur, writer of “Gods of High Hills”, says the arrival of age-old devtas has revived the tradition, but the growing commercialisation of the seat of Madhorai is a serious concern. The Shivratri fair is because of devtas and traditional Damdama should be protected and protocol of devtas be maintained, he adds. Shivpaul Sharma, president of the Sarvadevta Committee, says the committee has expressed concern of devlus over the commercialisation of the Damdama as the heritage should be preserved. Amandeep Garg, DC Mandi, says the legal status of the Damadana palace is that the ground floor belongs to Rajmadhav, first floor to royal family and the government is yet to be notified the area as a heritage zone. There is a proposal to conserve and protect the central part of the town as heritage zone, but the government has not notified it so far, he adds.
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Benami land deals rampant in state
Palampur, February 16 Section 118 of the HP Land Revenue Act prohibits outsiders to buy land in the state. Therefore, benami deals have been flourishing. It is learnt that numerous properties have been purchased by outsiders in the state in the recent past on a simple agreement (patta) and no sale deed was registered. In most of the properties, shops, residential houses and commercial complexes have come up without approval. Besides individuals, a number of property dealers from Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana and New Delhi have also purchased properties in the state. A senior officer of the revenue department while talking to the Tribune revealed that the then Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had ordered probe into a number of such deals and deputy commissioners of Kangra and Solan had unearthed over 24 benami deals in their districts, but till date, the government could not take over the possession of such properties. The situation turned to worse last year when the government decided to liberalise provisions of Section 118 of the HP Land Revenue Act and announced that it would allow non-Himachalis to buy land in the state. Thereafter, a race began and hundreds of outsiders entered into benami agreements with locals to buy land, particularly in Kangra, Una, Solan and Sirmor districts. But the move halted with stiff opposition from the Congress in the state Assembly. The scam relating to benami land deals also came to the notice of the higher authorities last year when a high-level team of the Income Tax Department on the advice of the Ministry of Home Affairs began investigations into land deals made by Tibetans in the Kangra valley. During investigations, revenue officials told the IT authorities that there were persons other than Tibetans who had purchased land worth crores in Kangra and other places adjoining Dharamsala and Palampur on simple agreements and no sale deed was registered for their being non-Himachalis.
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Illegal mining threatens bridges
Solan, February 16 The bridges facing maximum damage include Chinki, Balad, Mahadev, Bagvania and Kundlu. This has severely affected their restoration and strengthening work with the official estimates increasing by a few crores. High estimates in turn delay grant of funds from the Ministry of Roads and Surface Transport. An illustration of this fact was the case of Chinki bridge which collapsed in August 2007, but its restoration work could not begin even after a lapse of two-and-a-half-year as the estimates have been revised time and again. Officials in the National Highway Wing of the PWD said initially an estimate of Rs 7.73 crore was prepared, but this was revised to Rs 8 crore after a team of officials from the Centre remarked that in lieu of abnormal receding of the river bed, deep foundation of 15 to 16m would be required to construct a sustainable structure. The officials, while expressing concern over the illegal mining, said it had led to colossal damage to the bridges in the entire BBN. People residing in villages along Chikni bridge had to cross the khud in the absence of a bridge and the vehicles of several industries too were getting damaged while commuting through this bridge. Moreover, crossing the khuds in rainy season was a risky proposition. It was a known fact that about 24 stone crushers located on the Swarghat-Ropar Road in Punjab were being fed by the stones transported from the river beds of the BBN. But despite the lease period of the stone crushers having expired years ago, the concerned officials found it difficult to curb illegal mining. SDM Shushil Sharma said as and when any information is received about illegal mining activity, immediate action is taken. But being a huge area with porous border, it was difficult to regulate mining, he added.
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Una admn helps disabled get jobs
Dharamsala, February 16 The administration organised an employment fair exclusively for physically challenged persons at the Voluntary Rehabilitation Centre (VRC) being run under the aegis of the Union government. More than 350 persons suffering from different physical handicaps from various districts of the state participated in the camp. About 41 physically challenged persons were offered on-the-spot placements in different industries located in the district. Another 28 candidates were sanctioned financial support for self-employment ventures. More than 25 industrial houses had put up their recruitment counters at the fair. The Khadi Board, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Development Corporation, Minorities Corporation and Punjab National Bank had also put up counters to help candidates from Kangra, Hamirpur, Bilaspur and Una set up self-employment ventures. KR Bharti, deputy commissioner, said the government was expected to bear the responsibility of rehabilitating the physically challenged persons. “For this purpose, it has also affected reservations in government jobs for the category. However, this cannot serve the need of all such persons. With the role of private sector increasing in the country, I was of the view that they should be asked to share the responsibility. Fortunately, many industrialists from Una district responded favourably,” he said. RK Goyal, PNB additional general manager, said vocational loan amounting to Rs 8.30 lakh to 17 candidates was sanctioned on the spot and their cases were referred to the nearest branches of the bank for disbursement. The State Minorities Development Corporation also sanctioned loan amounting to Rs 11 lakh to 11 candidates at the fest while the SC/ST Development Corporation cleared self-employment loan of Rs 1.5 lakh. Dr Jainender Kumar, VRC in charge and psychologist, said their institution was the only one of its kind in the North India which provided free vocational training to persons suffering from physical disabilities. The training, he said, was being provided in cutting and tailoring, motor repair, electrical and electronic repair, besides computer applications.
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Earthquake-prone zone
Palampur, February 16 After the 2001 earthquake in Gujarat, the state government had taken serious measures to regulate the construction activities in this region and also brought all important towns of Kangra district within the purview of the Town and Country Planning Act. But it is most surprising that hundreds of buildings, including residential houses and multi-storeyed complexes, in the district have come up without the prior approval of the Town and Country Planning Authorities. It seems that there is no one to check such illegal construction which is openly extending invitation for a major disaster like Jammu and Kashmir. Not only private parties, but also semi-government and government agencies have not followed the norms laid down for the construction by the Town and Country Planning Department (TCPD). Number of buildings constructed by the government department and other government agencies have openly flouted the norms laid by the department. In various cases, courts have granted stay orders on the constructions of buildings also. The entire Dhauladhar Range in the state falls in Zone five. Experts of the Seismology Department of Roorkee University have recommended earthquake-proof constructions for this region. But it is a sad state of affairs that neither the Town and Country Planning Authorities nor the state government has followed these recommendations suggested by these experts. Most of the building maps approved by the TCPD, particularly for Palampur and Dharmsala towns, lack such norms and huge concrete jungles have come up here which can result in big tragedy at any moment. It is on record that a number of civil engineers and other senior officers of the state have been imparted training for construction and designing of earthquake-proof structures in the state. Special workshops on this subject were also organised by the government at various level and senior officers like chief engineers and superintending engineers attended these programmes. Huge funds were spent, but their services were never utilised and number of such officers have retired in the past five years. After the Gujarat earthquake, several state governments have established agencies to address potential disaster. Orissa and Gujarat have disaster management authorities. Uttaranchal has a Ministry of Disaster Mitigation. MP has a Disaster Mitigation Institute. The Union government has established a National Institute of Disaster Mitigation and a disaster mitigation division within the Home Ministry. The emphasis, however, has always been on post-seismic exercises rather than pre-seismic ones. Yet, modern technology has enabled the world to anticipate disasters of this kind. Today, for instance, Chinese scientists use satellite photographs and conventional knowledge to predict earthquakes. Earthquake disaster mitigation consists of taking appropriate action during pre-seismic, co-seismic and post-seismic periods. The pre-seismic activities include a seismic audit of old structures, strengthening existing houses, constructing new houses as per the requirements of relevant seismic codes, educating local communities and conducting seismic drills. If people are educated about reliable seismic precursors, it can help a great deal. One of the best-known and most reliable precursors is abnormal animal behaviour. In 1905, the then director of the Lahore Zoo recorded that on April 3, a day before the occurrence of Kangra earthquake, all animals in the zoo appeared highly disturbed. The distance between Kangra and Lahore is about 190 km. It is most unfortunate that Himachal Pradesh, which falls in seismic Zone V, has no such infrastructure to deal with the situation. The state government is unconcerned which could be fatal for the state at the time of any tragedy. The earthquake that struck the Dharamshala-Kangra area of the state on April 4, 1905, is among the deadliest earthquakes in the history of the country. According to the then provincial government of Punjab, 19,727 persons were killed. Most of the fatalities were from Dharamshala, Kangra and neighbouring towns and villages. The quake hit at 6.19 am (IST) and is said to have lasted for at least 2 minutes. The worst damage was at Kangra. All buildings were destroyed, including the Brejeshwari Temple, Municipal Dispensary, Thana and Treasury buildings. The Devi Temple and the Mission Church, which lay side by side, were both demolished. Their wreckage mingled with each other. The Kangra Fort was also ruined.
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Vignettes
The response to this exhibition is also encouraging and the day I visited it, a British couple too was there watching the two photographs with nostalgic interest - Gandhi alighting from the ship ‘Rajputana’ at a London port to attend the Round-table Conference in 1931 and ‘nut-brown Gandhi’ standing amidst a number of textile industry workers at Lancashire. The SS Rajputana was a British passenger and cargo carrying ocean liner.
Built in 1925, it was commissioned into the Royal Navy as the armed merchant cruiser in 1939 and renamed HMS, Rajputana. It was torpedoed and sunk off Iceland in 1941. At Lancashire, the two parties had different goals. The textile workers and mill owners expected that the discussion would focus on Lancashire’s poverty and would induce Gandhi to end the boycott of English-made cloth that was being carried out in India. Gandhi accepted it as a chance to explain India’s cause to British citizens for gaining electoral support for Indian independence. The Mahatma had visited Shimla 10 times from 1921 to 1946. He liked the natural beauty here but as the seat of the government he disliked the place: “so long as a distance equal to the height of 500 floors separates the Empire from us, Dyerism (policy of General Dyer) must need be used maintaining the distance… to descend from the 500th floor to the ground floor and to introduce naturalness in its relations with us. The discrimination is not between the white and coloured, but as between the high and low.” He again showed his disliking for Shimla when he wrote to an indisposed Rajkumari Amrit Kaur from Wardha in 1936: “surely it is ‘idiotic’ to pass the summer in Simla merely because you possess a house there. You ought to select another summer resort where you can really recoup yourself.” The Mahatma was anti-rickshaw — man pulling man. After his first visit to Shimla, he had written an article in Navjivan on May 22, 1921,saying that “after seeing Simla my views have not changed. No end of money has been spent over the place. The only means of conveyance here is the horse or the rickshaw - the rickshaw has become quite an ordinary conveyance, or it was most natural thing for any of us to be yoked to a vehicle!” He was unhappy to see men accepting this profession with choice to become the beasts of burden. He says: “My charge is that it is we who force men to make beasts…it is not British alone who use the rickshaw. We use it as freely as they do. We who join in turning people into bullocks have, therefore, become bullocks ourselves.” He had stayed at Firgrove in Jakhu in 1931 from there he walked to the Viceregal Lodge to meet Lord Irwin. The Universal Newspaper had published: “Gandhi trudges 6 miles on foot. The nationalist leader walks to the Viceroy’s castle in protest against man-drawn vehicles.” But with fasts and jail terms, he was a weak man in 1945 and rode the rickshaw for the last time (see photo). The exhibition, initially organized at the Museum on January 30 has now been shifted to The Gaiety till February 23. It is worth a visit.
Tailpiece
In a press Conference in 1931 in London, a heckler asked: "What do you think would happen, Mr. Gandhi, if we gave India her independence and got out? Don't you know that civil war would start and that the Muslems of India would whip the Hindus?" The Mahatma wrapped in a ‘tent-like shawl’ shot back: "Even should the Muslems of India eat up all Hindus they would still be Indians. It would not be too great a price to pay for Indian liberty!"
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Himachal Diary Snow eluded the state capital even as the rest of the state received plenty of it during the four-day spell early this week, paralysing normal life. It is indeed a matter of concern as even areas like McLeodganj in Dharamsala which are at an elevation of under 6,000 ft wore a white mantle, whereas the highest peak of the city, Mount Jakhu (8,000 ft) did not a have trace of it. The impact of indiscriminate and excessive construction, which has virtually transformed the once lushgreen hills into a veritable concrete jungle, on the micro-climate has started beginning to manifest itself. Not even that even the adjoining resort of Kufri, which usually got much more snow during such longish spells got a few inches of it. A clear indication is that Shimla is slowly but surely moving out of the seasonal snowline. Last year it experienced a snow-less winter and there was token snow in January this winter, which vanished even before people could capture the landscape on camera. The trend is ominous and if it continues the problems of water scarcity, rising average temperature, which has already started affecting the apple and other fruit crops, will only get aggravated. The blame for the change in micro-climate squarely rests on the government which has made a mockery of the Town and Country Planning Act by bringing one retention policy after the other to regularise illegal structures. Instead of enforcing the law, efforts are now being made to lift the ban on construction in the green belt. The lack of snow and dry weather for most part of the winter proved a boon for the ice-skating lovers. Asia’s oldest natural ice-skating rink recorded 73 sessions during the season as compared to just 27 last year and 45 in the preceding year. The sessions spilled over to the second week of February, which was quite unusual in recent years. Young boys and girls enjoyed the thrill of skating on ice for the whole season, making up for the previous two years. Residents exposed to water-borne diseases
Residents of many residential colonies are constantly exposed to the risk of jaundice and other water-borne diseases due to the failure of the local Municipal Corporation to shift the water supply lines passing through drains and nullahs. There have been numerous instances of outbreak of jaundice in various parts of the city but the corporation has not shown any urgency in shifting the pipelines. As a result impure water from drains is often sucked into the pipelines, contaminating the supply. The corporation had drawn up a plan to shift such pipelines three years ago but only a few pipelines having been re-laid so far.
Standing up to pvt varsities
The two rival students organisations, the SFI and the ABVP, normally do not see eye to eye on most issues, even those involving vital interests of the students. However, they were they were seen raising their voice in tandem in support of the agitating engineering students under the newly set-up private university at Badu Sahib. The leaders of these students’ outfits not only expressed their solidarity with the agitating engineering college students but strongly raised the larger issue of privatisation and commercialisation of higher education in the name of making the state an education hub. They were extremely critical of the manner in which the government was granting permission to set up private universities in the state and maintained that a small state like Himachal did not require them at all. The ABVP was more strident in its criticism and its strongly worded resolution opposing private universities has come as a big embarrassment to the Dhumal government. Activists of two organisations also organised separate demonstrations and submitted memorandums to the state government. They attacked the policy of opening private institutions without any regulatory authority and alleged that it was nothing but a ploy to allow favoured parties to set up ‘money-minting machines” at the cost of students who were made to pay through nose in institutions that lacked the basic infrastructure, staff and other facilities. These were nothing but “cheating shops” playing with the academic careers of students. The combined voice of the SFI and the ABVP on this issue has had some impact on the government, which ordered an inquiry into the issues raised by the agitating students. (Contributed by Rakesh Lohumi and D.P. Gupta)
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Reminiscing the Raj days
Shimla, February 16 After penning a short story book on the "Queen of Hills", Sumit Raj Vashisht has now come out with a coffee table book "Shimla: A British Himalayan Town". Laced with beautiful pictures, some of them black and white of the earlier as well as present times, the book makes a distinct comparison of the town during the British days and now. The writer has not only placed on record the entire history of the town set up on the recommendation of Sir John Lawrence in 1864 but also given in great detail account of the bubbling and vibrant life of the town during the days of the Raj with theatre, music and elaborate parties. The extracts from letters written by some senior British officers to family members back home in England give an insight into the pulsating life in Shimla during British rule. Some of these accounts given by Samuel Wilberforce, a Judge at Shimla from 1896 to 1921, speak about the vibrant social life, including balls and parties at the Viceregal Lodge and residence of the Lieutenant Governor and other high-ranking British officials. He makes mention of the tonga journeys up and down the hill and the refreshing atmosphere and flowers in the area. "It is during my interaction with several British tourists here that I collected interesting bits of information and some of them were extra nice as they provided me with valuable inputs and some rare photographs from their private collections," says Sumit. Born in Shimla in 1967, the author studied here before moving out due to his father's postings. It is love for the mountains and the life here which drew him back to the hills where he remains associated with tourism industry as he utilises his spare time to collect accounts of life in Shimla during the days of the Raj and how it has changed now. Besides giving details of the life during the Raj and history of various places, a chapter is devoted to famous people associated with Shimla, including Rudyard Kipling, Amrita Shergill, Ruskin Bond, EJ Buck, Rai Bahadur Mohan Singh Oberoi and Manohar Singh. Another chapter gives information about the famous hair salons, bakeries, garment stores, jewellers, book stores and other prominent stores on The Mall during the British days. A chapter devoted exclusively to architecture gives an insight into the styles followed and the material used for constructing the magnificent structures like Viceregal Lodge, Bantony, Gorton Castle. The book also given information about the heritage zones, interesting trails and interesting places, including temples and churches, one can visit to get the real feel of a hill station and blissful escapade with nature.
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Palampur, February 16
Snow eluded the state capital even as the rest of the state received plenty of it during the four-day spell early this week, paralysing normal life. It is indeed a matter of concern as even areas like McLeodganj in Dharamsala which are at an elevation of under 6,000 ft wore a white mantle, whereas the highest peak of the city, Mount Jakhu (8,000 ft) did not a have trace of it.
It was a pleasant surprise to find the sleeping ‘archives wing’ of the Language and Culture Department holding an exhibition of 90 photographs depicting Mahatma Gandhi’s life, 19 of which show his activities in Shimla. This greatest Indian to tread on this earth had always been a big draw whether he walked on real or reel life.