The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Nehru Kund Neglected & forgotten The spring was named after late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1958 when he visited Manali and found its water extremely refreshing. However, it is sad to see that private vehicles and buses no longer stop at this once important tourist spot and the place has been taken off the itinerary of the tourists MC Thakur Manali, September 6 Nehru Kund, a famous tourist spot on the Manali-Leh highway, 5 km from here, which was known for its crystal clear water, has been lying neglected since 1995 when devastating floods hit the region. A landslide in March 2008 further damaged the source of the spring. The place is now filled with sand and no efforts have been taken to revive the spring again. The spot is also revered by the locals for its religious importance, especially on the occasion of “Bees Bhadon” (20th day of Bhadon month) , which was celebrated recently. Nehru Kund has a mythological importance. “Bees Bhadon” is considered an auspicious day in Kullu. On this day, young people visit Bhrigu Lake, Dashaur Lake, Chandertal, Beas Kund and Beas Rishi situated at an altitude of 14,000 ft to 15,000 ft to take a dip while the elderly take a bath in the Beas or hot water springs at Vashisht, Manikaran and Nehru Kund. The entire Himalayan range during the month of “Bhadon” ripens with herbs and medicinal plants which add to the medicinal value of the waters. It is believed that the water at the Nehru Kund comes from the Bhrighu Lake. The locals believe that the water in lakes and kunds have great medicinal value and can cure many ailments. But unfortunately, the people can no longer take a dip at Nehru Kund as the water is no longer clean. Besides, the spot does not have a proper bathing place. The spring was named after late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1958 when he visited Manali and found its water extremely refreshing. It was after his visit that Manali became a known destination on the world tourism map. There was a time when this spot used to witness hundreds of tourists. It is sad to see that now vehicles and buses do not stop at this important tourist spot and the place has been taken off the itinerary of the tourists. What an unnoticed and unceremonial adieu to a place having religious significance for the residents of the Kullu valley, besides being connected with the visit of the first Prime Minister of India to Manali.
	Teenage skiers bring laurels to state Kuldeep Chauhan Tribune News Service Manali, September 6 Aanchal Thakur, 15, and Varsha Thakur, 16, both cousins belonging to the non-descript Burwa village, have scripted a success story in the field of skiing. They have made it to the first-ever Winter Youth Olympics being held in quaint ski resort of Innsbruch, Austria, from January 11- 25, 2012. Earlier, Anchal and Varsha made their mark in the Four Alpine Skiing Races held at Cardrona ski resort in New Zealand on July 25. The girls figured among the top 55 who scored the mandatory Federation De International Skiing (FIS) points at the qualifying competition. There are 60 boys, but none from India, who along with 55 girl skiers will ski down the challenging slopes in Innsbruch for the slalom and giant slaloms alpine events at the Winter Youth Olympics. What makes the country’s top teenage skiers different is that they have got no professional coaching to make it to the top. “I was eight years old when my father told me about skiing,” says Anchal, who studies in class X at Kullu Valley Public School. “He then bought for us pairs of skis from Japan. Both of us practiced on local ski slopes at Solang and Rohtang and participated in various club competitions,” she adds. Later, Varsha won the top honours while Aanchal stood second at the National Winter Games at Auli last year. “A bigger opportunity came when I participated in Junior Asian Skiing championships in Lennon and won the 7th place,” Anchal says. They thank the Winter Games Federation of India, who sent them for the FIS race competitions to New Zealand where they performed daredevil ski events in slaloms and giant slaloms and qualified for the Youth Olympics. “We do not have well-equipped ski resorts in Manali or elsewhere in the country, but we have a lot of talent,” lament the top skiers. “Ski resorts abroad are amazing. We have Auli ski resort in Uttarakhand, but we have a limited snow season,” adds Varsha. Roshan Thakur, secretary general, WGFI, and RS Negi president, National Winter Games Association, says the girls have brought laurels to the state. There is one slot for India in the Youth Olympics and one skier will be standby,” says Thakur. He says both girls will get training in Switzerland and Italy from October to December before they take a plunge in the youth Olympics. They will represent India under the Indian Olympics Association, he adds.
	Education kits given to HIV-positive children Dhara Katoch Tribune News Service Dharamsala, September 6 The Muskan Charitable Trust for Children Education recently organised a national-level programme to focus on the plight of HIV-affected children in the country and ways to rehabilitate them in Dharamsala. There are about 1,500 children suffering from HIV/AIDS in the state and their number is highest in Kangra district. Orphans and vulnerable children generally suffer from poor health and nutrition. These children also experience more exploitation and discrimination. If infected infants are not put on paediatric Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART) in time, 50 per cent of them will not survive for more than two years. These issues were shared by Dr RK Sood, district AIDS programme officer, Kangra, at a seminar on the rehabilitation of children affected by AIDS (CABA). Rajendra Rajan, chairman of Muskan, said the seminar envisaged to find out the ways and means to bring out the HIV affected children from the state of isolation and make them part of the mainstream. He said although it was a stupendous task, some kind of beginning was required to be made in this direction. Experts, academicians, research scholars, NGOs, etc, working on various projects of HIV/AIDS were invited to participate in the seminar. CABA includes those who are HIV positive, those who have lost one or both parents to AIDS and those who are living in a family which is affected by AIDS. There are 16.6 million children worldwide who have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS. In India, 1,04,450 children below the age of 15 are living with HIV and around 21,000 children are infected with HIV every year, mainly through mother-to-child transmission. On this occasion, Rajendra Rajan of Muskan, said: “Though no fees are charged and books were provided free of cost, notebooks, uniforms, bags, footwear, stationery are not provided. Parents and relatives of most of the HIV affected children find it difficult to make provisions for these items to support the education of their children. The trust has been supporting orphans for such needs and this time, it supported 25 such children by giving educational kits that include schoolbags, guides, notebooks, stationeries, uniforms and other necessary items”. It was also discussed that as per the National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) report, around 1,600 HIV affected children were expelled from schools in various parts of the country. The Rajasthan government has extended the BPL status to the people living with HIV/AIDS in the state so that they could avail the benefits given to the BPL families. The same has been appealed to the state Chief Minister and the officials had also urged the government to provide CD4 machine in the ART Centre, Tanda, for early diagnosis to initiate treatment of the affected children. CMO Dr KS Dogra, who presided over the function, said the state government was providing free treatment to all HIV affected patients and financial assistance to the affected children below the age of 18 ranging from Rs 300 to Rs 800 per month for which they could submit an application at the nearest ICTC and funds were being transferred in a client-friendly manner.
	Law only for commoners? Subhash Sharma Kullu, September 6 It seems that laws are only meant for the common man and not for the influental people. This became evident from the behaviour of traffic police personnel here recently. The traffic police regularly challans vehicles parked wrongly in the Shashtri Nagar area. The locality has a private hospital, an eye clinic, an airline booking office, a nationalised bank, an Italian restaurant, besides many other public amenities. People visiting these places are forced to park their vehicles on the roadside due to a lack of parking space nearby. Recently, personnel of the traffic police were about to challan a car when the caravan (six vehicles) of the family of J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah reached the area to have lunch at an Italian restaurant. The traffic on the road came to a halt for about 10 minutes. The traffic constable was asked by another police personnel to stop challaning vehicles at the spot. But the man whose car was being challaned insisted on challaning the VIP vehicles parked at the same place. The traffic police head constable had no option but to escape silently from the scene without booking the car he was about to challan. It is notable that the in-laws of Omar Abdullah are based in Kullu and the family is a frequent visitor to this Italian restaurant. The traffic police here can be seen patrolling to ensure the smooth flow of traffic, but in situations like VIP movements, it turns handicap. It is further notable that while the local visitors park their vehicles only for a few minutes, VIP vehicles, police pilots and escort vehicles are stationed for hours together. The traffic cops harass the common masses, rued one Abhinav, who had to visit the local traffic police office thrice to pay for the challan for parking his vehicle at the same place.
	Art can be used to promote tourism, says SDM Balkrishan Prashar Chamba, September 6 “Art can be used as a medium to promote tourism, and thus showcasing artistic and cultural heritage of any place can foster tourism in a big way, especially in the gorgeous district of Chamba”. This was the crux of the speech delivered by SDM Rohit Rathour while inaugurating the weeklong exhibition on the works of art displayed by noted senior teacher artist Asgar Beg Mirza at the local Bhuri Singh Museum under the aegis of the Language and Culture Department, Himachal Pradesh, on the occasion of Teachers’ Day here on Monday. The SDM, who also holds the charge of District Tourism Development Officer, said Chamba district was endowed with rich art and cultural heritage which could be disseminating through the internet media posting it on the website thereby providing knowledge to those interested in arts and culture. The SDM said a major chunk of tourists had always been in search of exploring the treasures of art, culture and heritage. Felicitating the teachers on the occasion, the SDM recalled former President Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who was a man of great wisdom and a teacher of extraordinary capabilities. His life and work were a source of abiding inspiration for all of us, he said. Earlier, Curator, Bhuri Singh Museum, Ramesh Chandra honoured the SDM with a Himachali cap and a shawl. Thereafter, the SDM presented a Himachali cap and a shawl to Asgar Beg Mirza, master artist, in his honour. Welcoming the chief guest, Chandra threw light on the cultural heritage of the region. President of the Chamba Welfare Association RK Mahajan appealed to conserve and preserve the waning art, craft, culture and heritage of the exquisite Chamba district which has been a repository of the rich cultural heritage since time immemorial.
	Villagers say no to Chhor Nullah hydel power project Feel it will hurt religious sentiments of local people MC Thakur Manali, September 6 In a significant development, thousands of locals, particularly members of Mahila Mandals, including their panchayat representatives, pradhans, BDC and Zila Parishad members, assembled at the Circuit House here yesterday to protest against the setting up of a 1 MW-micro hydropower generation project at the Jogni waterfalls near the holy shrine of Vashisht. Besides, residents of Vashisht, Koshla, Mathiana, Chadiyari and Kanchnikut villages falling under village panchayat Vashisht, the most affected panchayat under the banner of “Chhor project Bandh Karo” too made a beeline to the circuit house to register their protest against the hydropower project before a panel headed by BM Nanta, Deputy Commissioner, Kullu, and consisting of Chief Executive Officer, Director, Him Urja and SDM, Manali, Balbir Thakur. During a public hearing, the villagers said the power project would hurt the religious sentiments of the devotees from the entire Kullu valley. Meanwhile, all shops and business establishments in the Vashisht area remained closed yesterday as a mark of protest against the power project. Interestingly, the promoters of the 1-MW micro hydel power project, Water Millers Power Company, abstained from attending the public hearing held by the Deputy Commissioner, Kullu, on the direction of the state Chief Minister. Residents from different parts of the Manali region substantiated their stand to stall the execution of the power project saying the project would not be allowed to come up at Chhor Nullah at the cost of their religious sentiments. Thousands of anguished devotees, including the members of Mahila Mandals and the Vashisht villagers raised anti-project slogans and said no one would be allowed to hurt their religious sentiments by going for the construction of the hydropower project at the Jogni Falls. The speakers at the public hearing spoke against the establishment of power project at the Jogni waterfalls saying that it would disturb the sanctity of the holy shrine. Nanta gave a patient hearing to the grievances and the objections of the people gathered from all walks of life. While addressing the devotees and local residents Kullu MLA Govind Thakur assured the people that their religious sentiments would not be allowed to be hurt by the persons from any quarter. He further said he was in full support of the Vashisht villagers in their stir against the proposed project at Chhor Nullah. He had already moved a call attention motion in the Vidhan Sabha session to stop the construction of the power project that resulted in convening the public hearing by the Deputy Commissioner, he added. He said keeping in view the strong opposition of the people against the power project at Chhor Nullah, Chief Minister Dhumal ordered the holding of public hearing. He said at the public hearing, people had an opportunity to express their views against the hydropower project. Nanta said the public hearing was held on the orders of the state government, adding that he would convey the suggestions, demands and woes of the people to the government. Besides, Anup Thakur, a DIG(Retd) and an activist of “Chhor Nullah Project Band Karo” agitation, highlighted the salient features of the memorandum submitted to the Deputy Commissioner. He said that people of the Kullu valley had deep-rooted religious sentiments with the holy water of the Chhor Nullah and Maha Mai Jogni, adding that the Jognis were ancient powerful deities and their premises is scattered within a radius of about 500 sq mt at Chhor Nullah starting from the water fall, a place known as Narol where Maha Mai live and take her bath to the temple area. Bed Ram Thakur, pradhan of the village panchayat Shanag, and the neighbouring Vashisht panchayat also supported the ongoing fight against the setting up of Mini micro hydropower project at Chhor Nullah.
	Floods affect Himachal's trout breeding Vishal Gulati Kullu, September 6 Trout breeding in Himachal Pradesh will take a Rs 1.5-crore hit, estimates say, as a large number of private farms, known for rearing high-quality fish, have been damaged by floods. Trout are various freshwater fish of Salmonidae family. Of the 15 species found globally, two trout, brown and rainbow, are found in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. This monsoon, the damage to private fish farms in the Kullu valley is abnormally high, say official estimates. This would hit the total yield of the exotic trout species in the state. According to the Fisheries Department, Himachal Pradesh annually cultivates 18 tonnes and 90 tonnes of trout in government and private farms, respectively. Most of the farms in the state are located in this district. More than 15 trout farms have been totally washed away in the past two months, said Balbir Singh, president, Trout Growers' Association. “So far we have estimated that the damage to the fish farms is more than Rs 1.5 crore. This monsoon, the damage is quite high. We have requested the government to assess the damage and compensate the cultivators,” he said. A 600-km stretch of the cold waters of the Beas, Sutlej and the Ravi is the habitat of the trout, mainly the brown ones. The state has around 100 run-of-river trout farms, including six government-run, mainly in the interiors of Kullu, Mandi, Shimla and Kinnaur districts. “A number of private trout farms have been damaged in the past few weeks due to floods. This would definitely affect the total trout production. But the exact loss would be assessed once the monsoon is over,” said BD Sharma, director, Fisheries Department. Last week, four trout farms located 15 km from here were damaged, said BM Nanta, Deputy Commissioner, Kullu. “The entire trout farm has been turned into a desert due to flooding. The fish ponds and the pathways for diverting river water into the ponds have been totally damaged and it is not possible to restore it,” said Jiwan Ram, a fish farmer from Banjar. A large number of orders of trout procurement have already been received by the local farmers from Delhi and Mumbai for the upcoming festive season, he said. “Now, we are not in a position to supply the stocks,” Ram added. Trout farmers in the state are facing a tough competition from the neighbouring Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand where a large number of private farms have come up. The Fisheries Department is encouraging farmers to adopt trout farming under a Central government-assisted scheme to boost production. The rainbow trout’s wholesale rate in Chandigarh is between Rs 300 and Rs 350 a kg. It is sold at Rs 400 a kg in Delhi. The British first introduced trout in Himachal Pradesh in 1909 in order to promote game fishing. At that time, fingerling trout, brought from Jammu and Kashmir, were released in streams of Chamba, Kangra and Kullu districts. The introduction of the trout was successful as the stocked fish thrived and bred. — IANS
	Himachal diary Art and literature competitions organised Sankalp, a Shimla-based NGO, organised a series of events during its two-day programme at the historic Gaiety Theatre in collaboration with the State Department of Language, Art and Culture and Punjab National Bank. A number of competitions were organised for students and teachers of educational institutions and a talk on “Romance with Self” was delivered by Brother Kevin Ward. The young boys and girls participated with enthusiasm in reading session, painting contest, recycle art, poem writing and the quiz on art and literature. The paintings brought out the thoughts and ideas of the youth who displayed their creative skill while painting on themes like black beard, bright mind and from the cocoon a butterfly must emerge (see photo). The inmates of Mashobra Orphanage presented a special programme “A step to strength”, in which as many as 60 children participated. Dr Dev N Pathak from the South Asian University, New Delhi, delivered a lecture on the “Art of being a true teacher” for the benefit of teachers. Renu of BSN School topped in reading competition, Madak Verma of DAV School and Tutu in painting, Mamta and Palika of Laureate Institute of Education in recycle art, Banjamin of St Mother Teresa School in poem writing and BSN School in quiz competition. LIC celebrates 55th anniversary The Life Insurance Corporation of India organised a series of events across the state during its week-long programme to mark its 55th anniversary recently. The programme started with a blood donation camp at the divisional office in Shimla, followed by the dental check-up of school students in the nearby village of Durgapur. On the third day, tree plantation drives were carried out at Bilaspur and Manali and on the following day, a function was organised at Government Senior Secondary School, Ghanhati, to honour the teachers. A free medical camp was also organised for the local people. The celebrations concluded with a four-wheeler rally in Shimla. Customer meets were organised at all the branches. Sat Pal, senior divisional manager of the company, said LIC was doing much better than the private companies despite the new norms set by the Insurance Regulatory And Development Authority of India, as per which lock-in period for unit linked policy has been increased to five years. The new norms had affected business over the past one year, but would bring stability in the insurance sector in the long run. He said the LIC had 28 crore individual policies. Honour for Hamirpur bodybuilder A known local bodybuilder and trainer Vipul Sharma (see photo) has been selected as official team manager of the Indian Bodybuilding team participating in the Asian Bodybuilding championship being held in Bangkok from October 2 to 8. Vipul is also a member of the team selection committee for the event. Vipul, who owns a gym in Hamirpur, will be the first bodybuilder from the state to get an opportunity to be a part of the Indian team as an official. A keen bodybuilder, Vipul has represented the state 12 times at the national-level Mr India competitions and had won a bronze medal at Belgaon in 2001. He has also been associated with organising state-level bodybuilding competitions and played a major role in organising North Zone Mr India competition at Hamirpur in 2010. Press secretary of the Himachal Pradesh Bodybuilding Federation Suarabh Sood and other members of the federation have congratulated Vipul for his selection as manager of the Indian team to participate in the Asian Championship. (Contributed by DP Gupta and Rakesh Lohumi)
	vignettes Threat to Shimla’s green belt by Shriniwas Joshi What are the disaster risks of living in Shimla? One of the major risks is the way its population is increasing. It was 1,74,789 in 2001 and the provisional figure is 2,36,000 for 2011. The decadal increase of population is around 35 per cent which is very high as compared to 12.81 per cent of Himachal Pradesh during this period. About 6,000 persons or at least 1,200 households are being added to its population every year. The projected floating population for the year 2011 is 76,000. Good governance requires that in such a case, peripheral townships are developed so as to reduce the congestion in the central town. But here the thinking is otherwise - to open the 17 green belts of the town for new construction by giving relaxation not just to 75 plot owners who bought land prior to the imposition of the ban in 2000, but to everyone provided it does not involve the felling of trees. Such provisos are callously broken on one or the other pretext and once the ban is lifted, the green will soon turn to grey belts. Let the green belts survive, develop them and earn carbon credits through them. Shimla is a tourist attraction because of these green belts and its colonial heritage, not because of the newly constructed buildings. When Amitabh Bachchan came here for the shooting of “Black”, he appreciated the greenery and huge deodars, not the brick and mortar of Shimla. I have given a name because he is a visible Indian. There are many invisible ones who echo his sentiments. May I tell you that Shimla City Development Plan, still waiting the government’s approval, was prepared about eight years ago after exhaustive deliberations with historians, environmentalists, town-planners, architects, Shimla-lovers and it recommended 100 green belts in the town? Despite that, even the existing 17 green belts are on the verge of vanishing from the map of Shimla. An official admits that the ban on construction in the green areas is being lifted to benefit influential persons who have commercial interests. The government has already allowed mixed land use in the core area where earlier permission was for only residences. So, land use is nothing but sham. One cannot take such decisions on files in developed countries, such changes need to be notified and objections invited on those. Shimla is a zone IV (high-damage risk zone) as per the earthquake hazard zoning of India. High-rise buildings are big disaster risk. But not an eyelid fluttered when it was announced that there existed 187 high-rise buildings in Shimla - 141, six storeys; 26, seven; 13, eight; 2, nine; 4, ten and 1 with 12 storeys. It is the High Court that has taken a serious view of the violation and has restrained Jagson Ropeways from carrying out any further construction activity in the ropeway tower, which had the approval of 39.90 m but was to end up at 46.90 m(see photo). “Most buildings in Shimla that have been constructed in the recent years are structurally unsafe and pose high risks to the local population as they are not earthquake resistant,” reports a recent survey conducted by a United Nations Development Programme. What are we doing to check it? We have relaxed the floor area ratio (FAR) and have amended the concept of the core area or heritage zone thus removing the cap on the number of floors in the earthquake-prone geologically sensitive town. An architect, Rajiv Verma, moved the court against it from where “we the people of Shimla” expect relief. The Director, Town and Country Planning defended the action by saying: “FAR is guiding principal for buildings all over the country and that’s what has been adopted here as well” forgetting that each state has its own ecology, culture, traditions; its own climate and actions need to be taken keeping those in consideration. Traffic hazards, unsure drainage, collapsing culverts and viaducts are the other risks. The Municipal Corporation has, now, formed an Inter Agency Group on disaster-risk management comprising NGOs of Shimla and this is a welcome step if its voice is not muted. Tailpiece Heard in Coffee House, “Time has come when the blindfold of Lady Justice is removed and wrapped on the eyes of the executive whose ears are already plugged.”