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Sangla valley falls prey to commercial tourism
Concrete structures like these have come up all over the Sangla valley. Tribune photo
Hue and cry over divesting trust of Dholera temple control
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Path to Bhagot crematory cries for care
German artist opens 'NAAM' art gallery in Dharamsala
Elisabeth Buschmann, a German painter, at her art gallery in Sidhbari village on the Dharamsala-Chamunda road. Photo by the writer
Himachal Diary
Vignettes A view of the Dharamsala cricket stadium.
Zoological park at Renuka to go modern
MLA expresses concern over ecology degradation
Apple waste no more a junk
Chamera lake to host water sports
Mission Green
An Army officer adept at laying golf courses
Revocation of notification on ayurvedic hospital flayed
Lack of beds, docs ails civil hospital
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Sangla valley falls prey to commercial tourism
Shimla, May 25 The valley is being marred by concrete structures, presenting a stark contrast to the traditional hill architecture. The multistorey buildings are coming up all over the place. Even the village close to the Chinese border, Chitkul, has not been spared. The tourism boom is indeed taking a heavy toll, devouring the valley of its scenic charm and tranquillity. The government has been harping on promoting eco-tourism, but it is not taking any effective steps to save the tourist destination from falling prey to unbridled forces of commercialisation. There has been a spurt in construction activities and the traditional timber and stone houses are fast giving way to concrete structures, which do not blend well with the local tribal architecture. The indifferent attitude of the government, which seems to be in no urgency to regulate construction activity, is only hastening the aesthetic degradation of the landscape. However, in absence of any plan for development of the tourist destination, new structures are coming up in a haphazard way. The main beneficiaries of the tourism boom are tour operators, who take properties on lease and make fast buck during the season. However, locals stated that ban on green felling and non-availability of timber was the reasons for giving preference to concrete structures over the traditional architecture. Though these concrete structures are environmentally not satiable for such cold areas, where mercury dips several degrees below the freezing point for a good part of the year and space heating is a big issue. Moreover, timber-framed structures are easy to built and take much less time, locals added.
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Hue and cry over divesting trust of Dholera temple control
Bilaspur, May 25 This trust, which consisted of official and non-official members, was given charge of four temples - Shri Luxmi Narayan temple, Hanuman temple and Dholera temple and also Markandeya Shiva temple at nearby Markandeya--- to streamline the functioning of these religious places and to use their income for the welfare of these temples visited by lakhs of devotees every month. On popular demand, the local Vyas Gufa was also added to the charge of this trust. But the latest decision to restore the management and control of the Dholera shrine to the earlier "pujaris", who claim it to be their 'malkiyat" or their property , has resulted in hosts of protests from the general masses who term this decision as "anti -people" taken with a view to giving the monetary benefit of the Dholera temple income which on an average was Rs 3.5 lakh every month. The fact is that these pujaris were earlier the servants of the erstwhile princely state (former Rajas) and were paid a monthly salary while the presiding deity of the temple was the "owner " of the temple and the entire land and property attached to it. But the latest government decision is being called as an attempt to give specious legal sanctity to the unauthorised claim of these pujaris. The All-Party Bhakra Oustees Rights Protection Committee, the Elder Citizens Association, the Nagar Nagrik Sabha, the All-Party Citizens Action Committee and the Bilaspur Nagar Vikas Sabha etc have vociferously protested to the state government in various representations, urging the Chief Minister to reconsider this retrograde step and restore the temple to the Temple Trust which has initiated several reforms since its takeover. There has been a lot of improvement in management, upkeep, facilities to devotees like separate clean, well-maintained toilets, provision of safe, healthy environment and parking lots, preparation of kitchen for thousands of devotees, drinking water and mast lighting arrangements etc. A number of social, cultural and even religious organisations have taken strong exception to the mismanagement and mess spread in the centuries-old Dholera temple of "Nar Singh Bajiya" here.
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Path to Bhagot crematory cries for care
Chamba, May 25 The path, which passes beneath the vertical hillside and below Pacca Tala Mohalla of the town, has become hazardous. There have been incidents when people were hit by boulders and were injured on the way below the hillside. The formation of a steep hillside is quite fragile and the boulders stuck into the sharp hill frequently are loosened in the aftermath of even a spell of rain and fall down. Funeral processions carrying dead bodies walk along the hillside through the precarious path in an imminent hazard of a death trap. Moreover, the constant erosion to the hillside has also posed a serious threat to the thick vicinity of Pucca
Tala. It is also the main entrance for a number of daily pedestrians who come across this path to Chamba town from
Baloo, Parel, Sarol, Kiani, Rajnagar and other areas. There is an urgent need for the geological treatment of this vertical hillside at Pacca Tala through which the path to the crematorium passes. For the protection of escarpment of the hillside, a determined and concrete plan should be drawn setting a time-limit for the completion of this task so that the hazardous path may not turn into a death trap in future. Meanwhile, the district Beopar Mandal has alleged that Rs 14 lakh had been earmarked some time ago for the conservation of the hillside standing along the path, but practically nothing has been done so far. To undertake the work of ecological conservation of the hillside, funds should be allocated forthwith, said Anup
Mahajan, district president of the mandal. Airing their grievances, the Chamba Welfare Association and the Chamba Progressive Council have asserted that the issue of this risky path had already been raised by them for the consideration of the authorities several times. Of late, Devesh Kumar, DC,
Chamba, has released the first instalment of about Rs 6 lakh for initiating the work of the plan.
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German artist opens 'NAAM' art gallery in Dharamsala
Dharamsala, May 25 The abstract paintings of Elisabeth displayed in a portion of the gallery illustrate various shades of spirituality that crossed her mind while meditating. Lord Shiva spelling out light to dispel darkness is also the logo of the gallery that catches the imagination of commuters on the road. Another section of the gallery has paintings of flowers and nature by Elisabeth. A section of the gallery also displays paintings of Alfred W.
Hallet. Hallet was a designer in Dhariwal woolen mill in Gurdaspur district during British rule. He later settled in the Dharamkot area. His paintings depict culture prevailing in Dharamsala in the late seventies. The painting 'Piper of
Dharamkot' depicting a local Gaddi paying pipe and a Gorkha soldier are the star attraction in this section of the gallery. Elisabeth said that paintings of Hallet displayed in the gallery were purchased by her during his life time. It is the third private art gallery in the state after the gallery of Sobha Singh at Andretta and that of Russian painter Nicholos Roerich in the Nagar area of Kullu district. Talking to The Tribune Elisabeth said that I chose to move to India from Germany in the late eighties in search of spirituality. The divine mountains of Dhauladhar overlooking the Kangra valley impressed me so much that I initially settled in the Dharamkot area uphill
McLeodganj. Later, I met local bank employee PR Bali whom I married and settled in the area. Elisabeth Bushmann was born in the Limburg area of Germany. After finishing her school she went to study arts in Switzerland, London and Paris. Her early style included traditional paintings of landscape in oils and water
colours. She later took study trips to Mexico. The contemporary art of that country helped her develop her own style of painting. She has organised many exhibitions worldwide and won many awards. She has won awards at a group show with "painters guild' New Orleans, USA; Art Festival
Savanah, USA; and Group Show BBK Professional Painters at Frankfurt in Germany. She has also held exhibitions at Taj Art Gallery, Mumbai, and AIFAC Gallery, New Delhi. Elisabeth said the response of local people to the art gallery has been better that their expectations. We also plan to give groups of artists coming to the area a chance to hold exhibitions in the art gallery in the near future. I could have earned a lot more by displaying or selling by art in metros but by opening an art gallery in Dharamsala, I have tried to give back something of what I have taken from the area in its pristine glory, Elisabeth said.
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Stray cattle menace in Kullu
The stray cattle menace is a nuisance not only for local people but also the tourists. The cattle that keep moving on and along the highway serve as mobile speed breakers. The crowded local bus stand, Dhalpur, Bhuntar and several other places on the highway have maximum concentration of bovine population. There have been instances when stray cattle have caused road accidents. The lack of proper garbage disposal system apart, haphazard urbanisation with hotels, eating shops and other commercial units related to tourist trade coming up all over the place, is equally responsible for the cattle menace. There has been rapid urbanisation of villages along the main highways due to tourism boom. But due to the failure of civic bodies to take care of basic amenities and sanitation, even small villages are generating much more garbage due to the increasing tourist traffic. The government had two years ago started registration of cattle so that the owners of stray animals could be identified and fined. However, it seems that the scheme has not worked. The plan to set up “gau sadans” to provide shelter to stray cattle was also being implemented at a very slow place. Vidya Deep scholarship
The Hotel and Catering Management Institute, Dera
Bassi, has come out with a “Vidya Deep Scholarship" scheme to help deserving Himacahli students pursue various courses run by it. Under the scheme 150 students will be selected on the basis of a written test for the annual scholarship of Rs 10,000 for the full duration (three years) of different courses. Principal Naresh Trehan said that the test was conducted on May 23 at 10 places, Shimla,
Solan, Dharamshala, Baijnath, Una, Hamirpur, Mandi, Kullu, Paonta Sahib and
Bilaspur, to select candidates for the scholarhship. The institute is affiliated to Punjab Technical University, IGNOU and American Hotel and lodging Educational Institute, USA, for one-year diploma, three-year degree for 10+2 students and two-year MBA in hotel management, catering and tourism for graduates. The passouts have been placed with leading hotel chains like
Taj, Oberoi, Hyatt, Le Meridian, ITC, Radisson, Park Plaza, which had placed more than 400 students in the past three years.
Netball championship
The 16th sub junior netball championship began at Sujanpur Tihra with a glittering start on Thursday, with 22 teams from different states of the country participating in the championship being organised for the first time in this region. Inaugurating the championship Education Minister ID Dhiman said sports facilities were being expanded in rural areas and the government was providing 3 per cent reservation to outstanding sportspersons sports at the national and international levels in government jobs. The minister said the state had produced several sportsmen who excelled at the national and international levels. The government would train boys and girls for national and international events in this game by appointing coaches at Sujanpur
Tihra. Sujanpur Tihra, the erstwhile capital of Katoch rulers, is witnessing hectic activity these days, giving the look of a mini India with participants from from various parts of the country. President of the state netball association Rajinder
Rana, who took the initiative to organise this championship here, is happy with this event being a great success. (Contributed by
Rakesh Lohumi and DP Gupta)
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Cricket: State gets its due, finally
by Shriniwas Joshi I am not praising Anurag Thakur for he is Chief Minister’s son. I have no axe to grind. I am not doffing my hat to him because he is the Member of Parliament. I applaud him because he brought Himachal Pradesh on the map of Indian cricket. In my youth, I had represented the state of Himachal Pradesh in cricket to play inter-district tournaments in Punjab. Representing a state to play inter-district tourney may sound strange. Yes, that was where HP stood in cricket up to the 80s. It got the status of a Ranji Trophy team in 1985. Sri Chand from Chamba, Jagjit Parmar from Nahan, Surinder Bisht from Mandi, Jugal Tandon and Raja Tikku from Shimla were a few other names, I instantly recollect, that had donned the whites for the state then. During those days, how I wished that national players like Vijay Merchant, Vijay Hazare, Lala Amarnath, Polly Umrigar, Dattu Phadkar, Ramakant Desai, Vinoo Mankad and others come here and play cricket? If wishes were horses! It is Anurag, at last, who has fulfilled the aspirations of many youngsters who could not only see Dhoni and others bat here but also watch Gilchrist in action and the local lad Vikramjeet Malik bowl at Dharamsala in IPL. His efforts in raising the standard of stadium here to that of international one are praiseworthy. He is getting both bouquets and brickbats for his achievement. I have a story to tell the brickbat hurlers and it is sheer coincidence that it starts from Shimla. A meeting of the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) was held in Shimla in the summer of 1934 where AS De Mello, secretary of the board, stressed the need of having a national championship. The trophy proposed to be given to the winner was to be like a ‘Grecian urn, two-feet high, with a lid, the handle of which represented Father Time, similar to one on a weather vane at Lords.’ Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala immediately agreed to donate this trophy and christened it Ranji Trophy in the name of Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji, Jam Sahib of Nawanagar, a friend who had played for Patiala in 1898-99. Maharajkumar of Vijaynagaram, popularly known as Vizzy, was Patiala’s rival. He managed to sabotage the proposal in the next meeting and manipulated to launch another trophy called Willingdon trophy just to butter up the then Viceroy. The media, especially Bombay Chronicle, Star of India and Amritbazaar Patrika raised their voices in the favour of Ranji Trophy. Bombay Chronicle wrote, “I wonder by doing so (accepting the Willingdon Trophy) they ever thought of the sacrilege they were doing to the greatest cricketer ever born in India, whose memory is still cherished by thousands of followers of the game in all parts of the world. If such a move is made, the duty of all cricketers in this country is clear. They should rise in a body and oppose the sacrilege.” Despite these protests, the champion team Bombay was all set to receive the Willingdon Trophy from Lord Willingdon himself in March 1935. As the skipper of the winning team Vajifdar moved to Lord Willingdon to receive the trophy, the Viceroy himself announced that he was handing over Ranji Trophy to the skipper and thus started the Ranji Trophy Championship. The moral is that there are always people who have no eye to appreciate a real good work done in the interest of the state or nation. Such detractors, like Vizzy, fight a losing battle. Emanuel Bach says, “Every Master has his true and certain value. Praise and criticism cannot change any of that. Only the work itself praises or criticises the Master, and therefore, I leave to everyone his own value”.
Tailpiece
Mahavir Singh was the chief secretary here in the 60s. He was fat as an elephant but captained our secretariat cricket team. He would cut jokes on himself. Once he came to Annandale wearing off-cricket colour pants. He told us that he went to a clothier and asked for white pants of his size when the clothier observed him for a minute and then replied, “Sorry Sir, we sell pants, not tents.”
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Zoological park at Renuka to go modern
Shimla, May 25 Notwithstanding the opposition from locals, environmentalists and NGOs against the proposed Renuka Dam which will quench the thirst of Delhi, the wildlife authorities have prepared a master plan for developing the Renuka wildlife sanctuary from eco-tourism point of view and above all to save wildlife from biotic pressure. It will have a butterfly park, a modern pheasantry and a leopard park as an added attraction. Even as detailed studies are being conducted in association with the Wild Life Institute of India, Dehradun, and other agencies to develop it along modern and scientific lines, the Himalayan Forest Research Institute has already submitted a detailed report. With liberal funds likely to be received, a detailed action plan spread over a period of 10 years has been drawn. "The dam once in place will be an ideal habitation site for resting, roosting, feeding and a nesting place for migratory as well as local birds," said an official. As such the periphery area will be developed and planted with plants that can provide food, protective cover and nesting sites for birds as a permanent winter habitation. A butterfly park comprising rare and endangered species will be developed along the ridge area. There is also a proposal to release the butterflies reared under controlled conditions in the nearby areas. The authorities also propose to set up a primate sterilisation centre to check monkey menace. An animal rescue and rehabilitation centre will also be set up to take care of injured, abandoned, captured and aged wild animals with trained manpower to take care of them. The zoo at present exhibits lions, leopards, black bear, goral, black buck, barking deer,
sambar, cheetal, bluebull, besides many pheasants. With the problem of inbreeding of lions plaguing the zoo, it was found that the site was not very suited for their habitation. As such some of the lions from the safari existing here for the past many years have been shifted to
Gopalpur, near Palampur.
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MLA expresses concern over ecology degradation
Palampur, May 25 He said it was a cause of concern that the companies executing the power projects failed to follow the terms and conditions of the MoU signed with the government. Addressing mediapersons here, he said power companies had violated all provisions of the MOU and had played havoc with the nature, adding that the power companies also failed to deposit money with the Deputy Commissioner,
Kangra, under the Local Area Development Authority. He said companies were bound to deposit the money within a year of execution of project, but most of the companies in Kangra had not deposited any money so far. — Parveen Sharma,
Local MLA
“No one knew how companies managed to get the NOC from the Forest, IPH and Revenue Departments, which transferred land and forests on lease to these projects. The state should order a probe into the matter and guilty should be punished,” the MLA said. He said he had raised this issue in the state assembly and even requested the Deputy Commissioner,
Kangra, to initiate action against the defaulter companies and to direct them to deposit the money in the state exchequer without any further delay. Sharma said companies would also be asked to pay damages on account of loss caused to the drinking water supply schemes and irrigation channels during construction of roads for their projects. He said one of the companies, executing a power project near
Bundla, had contaminated the water sources of the area and residents had no other option but to consume the water, resulting into various waterborne diseases. The IPH Department should immediately initiate action against the company and stop its workers from defecating in open in the
Nugual, which was a major sources of water for the residents of Palampur town and the adjoining areas, he added.
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Apple waste no more a junk
Solan, May 25 Since, the waste is generated in large quantities, a single product is unlikely to be useful in this aspect. Therefore, several alternative techniques, depending upon the capacity of the production unit were developed. “We had initiated several studies on fermentative as well as non-fermentative utilisation of apple pomace a few years ago, which have now shown results. These investigations have led to the development of several technologies for the utilisation of apple pomace,” said Dr VK Joshi, professor and head, Department of Post Harvest Technology. The research had shown that apple pomace could be converted into various edible products, like sauce and jam. But for making these products, the apple had to be collected and preserved immediately after its production to avoid any contamination, said Joshi. The most important element in determining the acceptance and enhancing the acceptability of a food product is its colour. As synthetic colours have proved to be carcinogenic to humans, an increasing interest in food colourants of natural origin have been developed. Despite the availability of variety of natural carotenoids from microorganism, microbial production is of a great interest because of the problem of seasonal and geographical variability in the production and marketing of colourants of plant origin. In addition to its suitability and safer alternative to the synthetic colours, Carotenoids also have anti-cancer activity and act as pro-vitamin. Thus, there is a great need to utilise the waste, not only to control the pollution, but also to make natural colours, which are non-toxic in nature and good for health. Keeping these in mind, the studies on production and evaluation of microbial colour, using apple pomace had been undertaken successfully to isolate and characterise the microorganism for the production of various pigments, said Dr Joshi, who conducted a research on these aspects. The apple pomace after drying and grinding has been found to be a good substitute required for the growth of Rhodotorula as a microbial pigment. Another product from apple pomace is pectin, which is used as a jelling agent in the preparation of various commercial products, like jam, jelly, sauces and ketchup. Attempts have successfully been made in the department to grow bakers’ yeast, which at present is being grown on the molasses-based medium. All these technologies had been developed on the laboratory scale and holds promise for industrial exploitation. The real purpose of research would be served when these would be transferred to the ultimate user industry, said vice- chancellor of the university Dr KR Dhiman. The technologies developed would pave the way for effective disposal of the waste and at the same time, its utilisation could result in the development of apple pomace-based industry in the state, Dhiman added.
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Chamera lake to host water sports
Dalhousie, May 25 Addressing a meeting of hoteliers and tour operators last week, district tourism development officer
(DTDO) Kishori Lal said the government had already put most of the infrastructure in place for starting water sports in the lake. The DTDO said the government would play a regulatory role with private players participating in this venture. The rides along the river on boats or a ferry are being made an attraction, besides water sports, would be a big attraction for tourists. Asish
Chadha, a member of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation Board of Directors, said the water sports in this region would be a big boost for tourism in the region. General Secretary of the Federation of Hotels and Restaurants Association Vishal Anand said water sports in Chamera would enable tourists to have an extended stay at
Dalhousie, thereby benefiting the hoteliers.
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Mission Green
Nurpur, May 25 After touring Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab, this youth recently entered Nurpur, the gateway to Himachal Pradesh. Sagar launched his cycle journey with a cause, which has gained momentum in the wake of global warming, on Republic Day this year, from Jarri in Parbhani district (Maharashtra) and decided to culminate his journey on the Republic Day next year, covering major cities and villages of all 28 states. While entering the hill state, he told mediapersons that he was upset and wanted to do something constructive for the cause of environment. “I am inspired by late Baba Amte and with strong family support, I adopted farming. I personally experienced that climate change by and large affects the farming community more,” he said, adding that he wanted to make people, especially youth, aware of global warming and climate change and thus, initiated this journey across the country for spreading the message to grow more trees and conserve environment. Interestingly, he did not accept any sponsorship for this campaign.
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An Army officer adept at laying golf courses
Hamirpur, May 25 While this officer made people of this area proud through his multiple achievements during his career, he has won the hearts of local people of this area by doing social work. Brig V Kumar has got the distinction of establishing one of the largest golf courses in New Delhi on 115 hectares built at a cost of Rs 18 crore, besides leading significant army operations in various parts of the country and outside. Impressed by his work the DDA has decided to hand over the construction of three more golf courses in New Delhi to him. His expertise in this field has now been acknowledged at the international level too and Brigadier Kumar has begged assignments to build three golf courses in Kota Kinablum being constructed by the Malaysian Government. A man with a humble family background and limited resources he excelled in his career after joining the Army as an officer with his sheer hard work and innovative ideas, which paid him rich dividends during his career. He fought the 1965 war with Pakistan in the J&K sector and the 1971 war for Bangladesh liberation on the Punjab front. Brigadier Kumar also served in Sri Lanka as a member of the IPKF. He played a significant role in tackling militancy in Nagaland during the worst period of Naga militancy. However, during all these years he never forgot his native area and always tried to do something for his people through social service. At present he is helping economically poor students of three schools of Bhoranj, Kajyan and Mehal, besides helping some of them in their career promotion.
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Revocation of notification on ayurvedic hospital flayed
Nurpur, May 25 Intriguingly, the previous Congress regime had issued these notifications just a few months before the last assembly elections but failed to make any appointment in the civil or ayurvedic hospitals. Krishan Heer, pradhan of the Suliali gram panchayat, criticised the decision to de-notify the ayurvedic hospital in his panchayat State Congress general secretary Ajay Mahajan has also lambasted the Dhumal government for the revocation of the previous government's notifications one after the other.
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Lack of beds, docs ails civil hospital
Nurpur, May 25 Besides, specialist doctors are not available during emergency as some of the doctors reside in the neighbouring state of Punjab. As a result, emergency patients are being referred to other hospitals for the want of specialist doctors. The local Town Welfare Committee has urged the state government to fill vacant posts of doctors and ensuring availability of specialist on emergency calls. Chief medical officer, Kangra, Kultar Dogra, confirmed that the state health department had given clear directions to the doctors and supporting staff to reside at the place of posting so that their services could be requisitioned on emergency calls. He asserted that he would take departmental action against those violating it if any such case was brought to his notice.
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Rifle shooting contest in June
Dalhousie, May 25
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The picturesque landscape and serene environs of Sangla valley in Kinnaur district, which made it a favourite destination for foreign tourists, has become the latest victim of unregulated commercial tourism.
A German painter, Elisabeth Buschmann, who has made the Dharamsala area her home, has now opened an art
gallery--"NAAM"-- at Sidhbari village on Dharamsala- Chamunda road to display her paintings.
I am not praising Anurag Thakur for he is Chief Minister’s son. I have no axe to grind. I am not doffing my hat to him because he is the Member of Parliament. I applaud him because he brought Himachal Pradesh on the map of Indian cricket.
The ever-increasing number of stray cattle one comes across in and around Kullu makes it quite evident that the local authorities have failed to ensure proper disposal of domestic waste. Herds of cattle are seen feasting on garbage dumps not only in the main town but even on the national highway, particularly towards Bhuntar (See
pic).
