Dagshai, October 13
With a view to restoring the architectural and historical legacy of the 165-year-old cantonment, the Army here has established a museum showcasing the historical relevance of the jail where Irish mutiny leaders were imprisoned.

Major-Gen SK Gadeock, GOC, 9 Infantry Division, today inaugurated the museum and dedicated it to the residents of Dagshai in the presence of Brig PN Ananthnarayanan, Commander, 95 Infantry Brigade, civil dignitaries, schoolchildren and local residents.

Constructed in 1849 at a cost of Rs 72,873, which was considered a tremendous amount in those days, it has 54 cells. This also includes cells for solitary confinement, which were bereft of even a ray of light and those where an inmate could barely stand so as to tire him by depriving him of any rest. Pictures of the historical buildings of the town, including the church, graves and ancient forts of nearby cantonment towns, have been put up along with a brief note so as to educate a visitor about their history.

The shrewdness of the architects is visible from the fact that ventilation was provided by a single 1x2 ft, heavily barricaded window and underground vents that drew air from a pipeline with an opening into the outer wall. This ensured that the cells provided no outlet for a prisoner to escape and the structure stands tall till today despite a lapse of 165 years.

In 1857, the Gurkhas of the famous Nasiri Regiment, then garrisoned at Kasauli, Subathu and Jutogh revolted. After the rebellion had been put down, some Gurkhas were brought to Dagshai and put in jail before being executed. On November 2, 1920, 21-year-old Irish mutineer leader James Daly was shot by a firing squad in the prison courtyard, the last member of the British forces to be executed for mutiny. He was buried at the Dagshai graveyard until 1970, when his remains were repatriated to Ireland and given a funeral with full military honours. This event had created an uproar in the country and prompted a stalwart like Mahatma Gandhi to rush to Dagshai to make an on-the-spot assessment.

Aptly explaining these historic developments, the museum is showcasing historical pictures, which have been put up on the jail premises.

Dharamsala, October 13
In most of the cases paucity of funds is cited as the reason for delay in development works. However, the case of primary and senior secondary schools at Pathiar village, 25 km from here, is quite different and an illustration of criminal apathy on the part of officials concerned.

Students of both schools are taking classes in the open despite the fact that the state government had provided Rs 40 lakh for the construction of these schools over a year ago.

A visit to the school campus revealed that the old building of the school that was declared unsafe in 1999 was demolished about a year ago. Due to this, over 150 students have to sit in the open on the ground. Others have to accommodate themselves in a verandah of the remaining building.

Their studies are at the mercy of weather that remains generally wet in the region during monsoon. In addition to that, both schools share a common wall.

Principal of the primary school Arin Kumar said in February this year PWD officials came and said the old structure had to be demolished as the work for the new building was to be started within a few days.

“We requested them that the common wall of both schools should not be demolished till the work starts. However, they cited technical reasons behind the demolition and brought down the common wall. The result was that the two pucca rooms available with the primary school have become unfit for use. We are now waiting for the construction of the new building to start so that the wall of the primary school rooms is constructed and rooms are put into use,” he said.

A visit to the school found that primary school students were taking classes in a verandah of an old ramshackle building. The Principal also said Rs 2.45 lakh was also lying sanctioned for the repair of the old building of the school. However, the panchayat was not spending the amount for the past over one year.

Principal of the senior secondary school, Pathiar, Amarnath Rana said about Rs 35 lakh received under the SC sub-plan had been lying with the PWD wing of the Rural Development Department and Rs 5 lakh with the BDO, Nagrota Bagwan.

“I have been carrying correspondence with the officials concerned for long, but no response has been received,” he said.

Later, inquiries by The Tribune revealed that the money had not been spent due to a tiff between the PWD wing of the Rural Development Department and the BDO office, Nagrota. The PWD wing has sought the services of a junior engineer attached with the BDO for getting the construction work executed. However, since the BDO office did not spare the junior engineer, the PWD wing cancelled the tender.

Meanwhile, the executive engineer of the PWD wing said he did not have staff to execute the work.

Shimla, October 13
The action committee of the people to be affected by the Lafarge’s proposed cement plant and limestone mines in Mandi district has objected to the visit of the Expert Appraisal Sub-Committee of the Union Ministry of Environment on October 16 and 17 to assess the impact of the project on the plea that sufficient prior notice has not been given to them.

In a letter to the ministry, the Jai Shri Deo Badeyogi Sangharsh Evam Paryavaran Sanrakhsan Samiti has pointed out that the visit of the committee without prior intimation was a violation of the high court order.

“We just stumbled upon the news from inside sources rather than through a public notice,” the letter said.

It drew attention to the fact that the first sub-committee, which visited the area in May 2009, did not go to the mining site and no affected communities could interact with it as it gave no prior public notice of the visit. As a result, the environment clearance granted to the project that year was quashed by the National Environment Appellate Authority (NEAA) in 2010 after the affected parties challenged it. The NEAA judgment observed that the expert committee had not taken into account the social and environmental implications of the project.

The order of the NEAA was challenged by Lafarge India in the HC, which sent the matter back to the expert committee asking it to review the project clearance afresh.

The order says that “before visiting the site, the sub-committee should ensure that sufficient notice is given to the people so that they can appear before it”.

Cancellation of notification sought

Sundernagar: The Krishak Vikas Sangh has appealed to Chief Minister PK Dhumal to cancel the notification issued by the government under the Land Acquisition Act to set up a cement plant by Harish Cement Ltd.

During a recent tour of the Chief Minister here, a deputation of farmers from 10 villages met him and urged him that since the state high court had already quashed various environment clearances of the proposed cement plant, he should order the cancellation of the notification issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act.

According to Dharam Singh Thakur, president of the sangh, who led the deputation of farmers from Keran, Kangar, Taryamber, Behali, Bagain, Nalni, Chambi, Bharari, Ghangal and Khatrwar villages, the notification had stopped the development in the area as farmers could neither raise any construction on the land nor could they sell it to others. They were even not allowed to raise poly houses on the land.

In a memorandum handed over to the CM, it was urged that the public was against the setting up of the cement plant near Sundernagar as it was being set up in an urban area on a fertile land and was near to the Bandali Wildlife Sanctuary. It was also stated that the cement plant would destroy the wildlife from the sanctuary and the Nature Awareness Centre.

Dharamsala, October 13
Parents Teachers Association (PTA) teachers, appointed during the stint of the previous Congress government, today held a rally to press for their demands.

Hundreds of PTA teachers initially gathered at the police grounds and then took out a rally till the Dharamsala mini secretariat raising slogans against the state government.

District president of the PTA Rajesh Bhatta in a press note here today said they were working in various government schools since June 2006. However, they were being paid almost half of what was being paid to teachers employed under other categories.

The government should pay them salaries equal to what was paid to other teachers on the principle of the same work pay, he said.

They also demanded that their services should be regularised and PTA teachers ousted earlier by the present government should be reemployed. The PTA teachers were recruited by the previous Congress government through parent-teacher associations of the schools concerned.

However, the present government, however, held the PTA recruitments as backdoor entries and ousted PTA teachers after the regular teachers were appointed in their place. 

Shimla, October 13
With the political climes in the state hotting up and two by-elections scheduled shortly, DGP DS Manhas today further added fuel by accusing Union Minister Virbhadra Singh of trying to coerce, influence and win over prosecution witnesses in the CD case filed against him by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau.

Reacting sharply to statements made by Congress leader Virbhadra Singh that the police is registering false cases against him, Manhas said the allegation was absolutely misleading.

“The allegations are totally baseless,” he remarked.

“We have specific information that he is trying to coerce witnesses through his personal staff and we have also recommended cancellation of the bail granted to him,” he said.

The DGP said he had served in the police for 34 years and had always been appreciated as a professional. Manhas said the case registered against the minister was enquired into and recommended for registering of a criminal case by the then SP, Shimla, AP Singh, who is now serving as a private secretary to Virbhadra.

“He has filed petitions in the HC for quashing of the FIR and change in investigating agency which the court has dismissed and taken cognisance of the matter,” the DGP said.

Virbhadra has been accusing the BJP of using the police to get back at its political opponents.

Kullu, October 13
Newborn babies and their hapless mothers and other patients admitted to the Regional Hospital here have been suffering from the hazardous high-decibel noise of loudspeakers, dust and CFCs emitted by diesel-run swings and motorbike stunts in the lower Dhalpur Maidan for the past 10 days.

The patients and newborn babies have been directly exposed to the pollution caused by Dasehra which in turn has exposed the hollow claims of the Kullu Dasehra Committee to make Dasehra “green and clean”.

The wards of the hospital where over 100 patients are recuperating are located at a stone’s throw from these diesel-run swings.

The patients, mainly newborn babies and thier mothers, have been bearing the brunt of the Dasehra pollution. The high-decibel noise, diesel exhaust, vehicle emissions and dust raised in the Dhalpur Maidan trigger bronchial asthma, sinusitis, skin allergy and lung infection among sensitive patients, say doctors.

“We cannot sleep and babies cry as the noise casued by the swings is too high as the swings are just 20 yards away from the hospital wards,” said Hari Singh, husband of a patient, Kamla. “If we open the windows to get fresh air, all we get is dust and gasoline. In fact, several patients have complained of vomiting,” patients complained.

As the traffic has been diverted through the hospital road, patients have been constantly exposed to the dust and vehicular exhaust throughout the Dasehra festival. Even sugarcane juice stall owners run diesel-run engines.

Medical Superintendent Kamal Malhotra said, “We will take up the matter with the Deputy Commissioner.”

Devta camps have been turned into parking lots, eroding the little grass that had grown on the Dhalpur Maidan. Stall owners, exhibition officials and devotees park their vehicles in and around the camps of devtas, resented kardars, who come on foot carrying their devtas for Dasehra.

A round of the Dasehra ground revealed that the Kullu Municipal Council and the Dasehra committee had not put up dust bins in the maidan. Waste can be seen littered all around. The limited number of municipal sweepers are having a tough time while clearing it.

Though the police has challaned over 200 persons while enforcing the anti-polythene and anti-smoking norms to make Daserha “green and clean”, the committee is yet to stop the use of diesel-run noisy sideshows during Dasehra.

Kullu Deputy Commissioner BM Nanta said nobody had brought the problem faced by the patients to his notice, but they would initiate action. “We are enforcing the anti-pollution norms and it is a modest beginning to make Dasehra green and clean”, he added.

Nurpur, October 13
Eleven domestic animals, including two pregnant cows and six bulls, were mass poisoned in the Milkh gram panchayat here on Thursday. The five owners of these animals noticed poisoning of their cattle at Keor Gharian village this morning.

Earlier, on September 12 and 20, one ox, one cow and one buffalo were poisoned in the same way. Eleven deaths of domestic cattle by poisoning in a single day shook the villagers. They intimated local MLA Rakesh Pathania who rushed there along 
with officials.

After visiting the village, he said he had directed the local administration to release Rs 10,000 immediately for one poisoned cattle.