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Palampur police station cries for repairs
Kerala varsity are all-India champions
Construction work on fire station in Bharmour under way
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Govt likely to constitute Hali Kalyan Board
Chamera project-III gears up for final stage of commissioning
Leaders pledge to unite four factions of NGOs federation
Bilaspur district achieves 100 per cent target
‘Hill Fair’ captivates audience
Veer Diwas observed
vignettes
Himachal Diary
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Palampur police station cries for repairs
Palampur, November 22 It seems that the state government is waiting for a major tragedy to occur. Palampur police station is among the important police stations of the district and it looks after the security and safety of over 2 lakh residents of this region. The present police station building was constructed by the Britishers in 1919 after the Kangra earthquake of 1905, which had razed most of the buildings of the town to ground. This building was constructed under mud-missionary technique and no cement or lime was used in it. In the past 90 years, not even a single brick has been added to the building. The experts had already declared the building unsafe and recommended for its dismantling as it had already lived its life. The staff working inside the building feels insecure as all internal and external walls of the building had developed major cracks. The dormitory rooms of constables have developed big holes. The storeroom of the police station had already collapsed. There is no proper place in the police station to store seized items. At present, all these items are lying in the open in the police station. A number of valuable items, which were seized or recovered from anti-social element, are also lying in the open. Even the old record of the police station has also been damaged by insects because of dampness and leaking of roofs. Almost all rooms of the police station leak in the rainy season as the CGI sheets had developed The residence of the SHO, which was also built in 1919, is also on the verge of collapse. Even minor earthquake can raze this building to ground. Information gathered by The Tribune revealed that the Superintendent of Police, Kangra, had sent proposals to the government a number of times for the construction of a new building for police station at Palampur in the past 10 years, but no funds had been released so far.
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Kerala varsity are all-India champions
Nurpur, November 22 The championship was organised by Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, in which 200 sportspersons from 12 universities of different states took part. While both men and women took part in kayaking, only men contested the canoeing event. Sarveen Chowdhary, Minister of Social Welfare and Empowerment, Himachal Pradesh, inaugurated the championship. Presiding over the opening ceremony, she claimed that the state government was committed to improving the sports infrastructure and to promote sports activities in the state. She informed that the government was constructing stadiums in every gram panchayat with a budget of Rs 5 lakh for each stadium. So far, 324 such stadiums had been built. She informed that the government had strengthened basic infrastructure at the Water Sports Centre at Pong Lake, international cricket stadium at Dharamsala and Atal Bihari Vajpayee Adventure Sports Complex, Manali. “The state government is also providing 3 per cent reservation to sportspersons in government jobs so that youth get attracted to sports,” she said. Kanwaljit Singh, director (sports), Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, gave away the prizes at the closing ceremony. The results: Kayaking (men): First-Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar; second-University of Kerala; third-Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra. Kayaking (women): First-University of Kerala; second-Guru Nanak Dev University; third-Kurukshetra University. Canoeing (men): First-University of Kerala, second-Guru Nanak Dev University, Third-Kaktiya University, Warangal. Kerala University, which bagged 18 gold and four silver medals, was declared all-India champions. Guru Nanak Dev University won eight gold, 12 silver and three bronze medals, while Kurukshetra University bagged two gold, six silver and six bronze medals at the meet.
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Construction work on fire station in Bharmour under way
Bharmour, November 22 It is hoped that the construction work on the fire station will be completed soon so that it can be put into operation, thereby proving to be a boon for the safety of distant habitations of the tribal area in the event of any fire incident or any other untoward incident as well. According to official sources, as it was a long-cherished demand of the people of Bharmour to have an independent fire station in the tribal region, Himachal Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal forthwith acknowledged their genuine demand in letter and spirit sometime ago. Then the Chief Minister held joint consultations with functionaries of private construction companies to provide a fire station to cope with fire incidents in the tribal region. Accordingly, on the Chief Minister’s request, a private company came forward and agreed to construct a fire station and other fire-related infrastructure of the fire station, sources revealed. Upon completion, the fire station will be equipped with about two dozen of fire-fighting crew, including round-the-clock Home Guards, and the expenditure to be incurred on the salaries of the crew would be borne by these companies, the sources divulged.
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Govt likely to constitute Hali Kalyan Board
Kangra, November 22 The assurance was given by Speaker of the state Assembly Tulsi Ram while addressing the state executive of the Hali Vikas Mahasangh here recently. Rakesh Kumar, spokesman of the mahasangh, said the Hali community comprisied 5.70 lakh of the population and was apart of the Gaddi community. He said this section was backward and downtrodden and in need of immediate attention for its uplift. Rakesh Kumar said the state government, according to the Speaker, was eager to provide a succour to this section of the society and was contemplating to formulate the Hali Kalyan Board. Rakesh said the Hali community was divided into 20 sections and the formation of the board would not only boost their economic standards, but also help them in unification.
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Chamera project-III gears up for final stage of commissioning
Dharwala (Chamba), November 22 The Ravi waters at the dam site are expected to be diverted to the tunnel through its intake shortly to begin testing of the three generating units of the project consecutively. The dam is 68-metre high and 75-metre long. According to project General Manager AK Malhotra, the 231-MW Chamera stage-III project is being constructed by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation. The main components of the project are a 68m high and 75m wide concrete gravity dam, two de-silting chambers, an 18m diameter and 1,030m deep surge shaft, a 6.5m diameter and 16 km-long headrace tunnel and 125m-long tailrace tunnel for discharging the waters into the river course of the Ravi. For the project, an underground powerhouse cavern of size 100mx18.6mx42m had been constructed. It has three generating units of 77 MW each with an overall installed capacity of 231 MW, the GM said. He added that the project would generate 1,104 million units of electricity in a 90 per cent dependable year. The civil works had been executed by Hindustan Construction Company and mechanical works by Messrs Om Metal Limited while the electro-mechanical works were being carried out by Messrs Alstom India Limited, the GM said. The estimated sanctioned cost of the project is Rs 1,405 crore at February 2005 prices. Home state Himachal Pradesh would be getting 12 per cent free power from the project amounting to around Rs 50 crore annually, he said. The power generated from this project would be fed to the Northern Grid for further distribution to Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Chandigarh. The power would, however, be allocated to the beneficiaries in accordance with their entitlement under the Central sector power sharing formula at the tariff to be fixed by Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), the GM said. The adjoining areas of the project had benefited immensely due to the construction of bridges and widening of roads that are the lifelines of the mountainous terrains of the Chamba region where several interior villages remain cut off due to inaccessibility, the GM informed. He csaid the NHPC had already spent crores of rupees on the road network, besides the implementation of a Rs 47.6 crore environment management plan in the environs of the project.
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Leaders pledge to unite four factions of NGOs federation
Bilaspur, November 22 Leaders took a pledge to make a joint effort to unite all four factions of the federation in the interest of employees, who, they said, were suffering due to the disjointed voices of leaders. Addressing employees, Ram Singh said it was unfortunate that those employees who had affiliations with some political party or the other and had no role whatsoever in getting anything for the employees till now, were trying to project themselves as “champions” of their cause and trying to seek “recognition” from the government. The meeting resolved to ensure the earlier “non-political status” of the state federation. It decided to re-launch “Him Karamchari”, a mouthpiece of the state federation, which had stopped publication several years ago. A resolution urged the government to accept the employees’ genuine demands, including an increase in the retirement age of all employees to 60 years and release of all arrears in one go. Present on the occasion were former NGO leaders Ravinder Sankhyayan, Basant Ram Varma, Kesh Pathania, Radhe Shyam Sharma, Pawan Shankhayayan and SP Gauttam (all retired and who had led successfully various NGO agitations) and employee leaders Pradip Chaudhary (Nalagarh), Sudershan Sharma (Hamirpur), Dev Raj Sharma (Kangra), Trilok Chand (Shimla), Sarita Devi, Mahant Ram, Rajnder Singh (Mandi), Dalbir Singh, Prem Chand, Anil Kumar, Naresh (Una), KN Naryal (Solan) and all state and district office-bearers of the state federation, including state vice-president Amar Nath Khurana (Mandi), state general secretary Chaman Sharma (Una), Malkit Singh Chandel, Roshan Lal, Prem Lal, Shankar Singh Patial and Pravin Thakur.
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Bilaspur district achieves 100 per cent target
Bilaspur, November 22 Chauhan said the Ghumarwin Development Block in the district was the only block in the state which had got Rs 20 lakh prize under the Total Sanitation Programme and 79 gram panchayats, out of a total of 151 panchayats, had got the Nirmal Gram Panchayat prizes. He said a drug de-addiction centre had been started at the Regional Hospital at Bilaspur and with a view to making the district “smoking free”. As many as 285 challans were done and Rs 56,000 realised in fines till now. Elderly persons had been provided with 147 full dentures under the Muskaan Yojna and six Call 108 ambulances were serving the district under the Atal Swasthya Yojna. The DC also gave details regarding the progress of the MNREGA and rain harvesting systems. Present on the occasion were Conservator of Forests Anil Thakur, Divisional Forest Officer DR Kaushal, PWD Superintending Engineer MS Minhas, IPH Superintending Engineer RM Mukul, Chief Medical Officer Sudershan Sharma and District Medical Officer Jitender Saxena among others.
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‘Hill Fair’ captivates audience
Hamirpur, November 22 The ‘Hill Fair’, in which students from the neighboring engineering colleges participated in large numbers, began with formal inauguration by Prof Rajneesh Shrivastava, director of NIT. The fair opened with folk dance competition followed with a dance by kids from the Prayas group and the English play ‘make up and break- ups’. A winner of several awards, Sarita Sharma from Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, also recited her poems on the first day. The star performer of the second night of Hill Fair was Anuj Sharma, second runner-up of Indian Idol-2 fame.
The Dance Club mesmerised the crowd with the ‘ishq hua’ medley. The crowd could not stop laughing when the Dramatics Club headed by Akhilesh, gave a superb performance. The pahari folk dance ‘natti’ performed by final year students of architecture department, left a mark on the audience. In the fashion show, models from NIT Hamirpur displayed glitz and glamour on the stage through their graceful catwalks. Dr RL Sharma was the chief guest on the last and third day of ‘Hill Fair’.
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Veer Diwas observed
Nurpur, November 22 Ever since his supreme sacrifice, the memorial committee constituted by the martyr’s kin has continued to observe his martyrdom day as Veer Diwas year after year. Raghunath Rana, chairman of the Medium Industry Development Board, Punjab Government, who was the chief guest at the function paid floral tributes to the patriot. Rana exhorted the youth to follow in the footsteps of the martyr who had made the supreme sacrifice of his life in 1849 - at the young age of 24 while languishing in prison. He asserted that the Pathania had brought glory not only his native state, but also to the nation. “Pathania’s armed revolution against the British regime (1846-49) gave direction to our freedom movement,” he said. Former minister Kewal Singh Pathania called upon the youth to fight drug addiction and corruption in society. Rajeshwar Pathania, president of the memorial committee, said that the committee had decided to install a statue of the freedom fighter in Wazir Ram Singh Pathania Government College, Dehri. “The endeavour will be purely on a contributory basis and no government funds will be utilised for it,” he added.
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vignettes
Ranital at Nahan is known as the Rani Lake. The ranis (queens) of Nahan used to come here for taking bath and also for royal festivity. It was the garden of the royalty for the royalty by the royalty. How would the queens come from their palace to this lake, a distance of about a kilometre? An interesting, sans evidence, telltale is that there was a tunnel (gufa) connecting the lake with the palace and this was the path of the queens. Head of that tunnel is still visible. The fact, however, is that the queens, because of “pardah pratha”, used to come to the lake under cover of canvas screen (qanat) erected on the sides of the road and that formed a tunnel minus the roof. Recently, I visited the lake one morning and found four ducks in it (see photo).
Raja Shamsher Parkash ruled the State of Sirmaur for 42 years from 1856 to 1898. He was married to the beautiful daughter of Raja Keonthal. She was a lady of great ability and would conduct the judicial and administrative business in the absence of the king. When she died, Raja laid the garden in 1889 known as Ranital Bagh in the memory of his beloved. There existed an old Shiv temple here which stood renovated now and one of the ranis from Kumaon married to a raja appointed a Brahmin from Kumaon to be the priest of the temple. It then became a practice that a Brahmin from Kumaon will be the priest. Kedar Dutt Joshi was there about a 100 years ago who planted a mango sapling there which is still bearing fruits. Jivanand Pant was the last Brahmin from Kumaon to serve there. It is the municipal committee which appoints the priest of the temple now. There are fish in the lake and a signboard restricts the people to the earmarked three days a week for feeding them otherwise the fish overeat and get ill. With increasing obesity in India, I would say that overeating is neither good for fish nor for humans. An old pipal tree (ficus religiosa) has broken into four huge branches from one trunk here. It is an astounding tree. People worship it. A foreigner seeing the sacred thread wound round the tree with lighted lamps placed near it was anxious to know about it. I told him that an incident described in the “Purans” spoke of the demons defeating the deities; Lord Vishnu hid himself in the pipal tree. People, therefore, began worshipping the tree thereby indirectly worshipping Lord Vishnu. Another legend says that the tree is home to the trinity of Gods; the root being Brahma, the trunk is Vishnu and the heart-shaped leaves represent Lord Shiva. A popular belief is that Lord Krishna died under a pipal tree. I also told him that Gautam Buddha meditated under the pipal and because he attained enlightenment i.e. ‘bodhi’, it is also called Bo-tree and the town where he attained bodhi is known as Bodh Gaya. He was happy with the information and was taking photographs of the tree from different angles when I left him and the garden. Dr Ramesh Pande, a former professor in Panjab University and a resident of Nahan, told me that the water in the lake was mostly rain water but he had observed a link in the lake and pucca tank. He said, “I have observed that when the pucca tank is not dry and there is water in it, there is slight increase in the level of water in the lake also, which shows that there is an underground phenomenon that connects the two water-bodies.” Both these tanks are at a distance of about 500 to 700 metres away. A town always shines with tangible signs of human creativity and integral elements of natural and man-made heritage. So save heritage.
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Himachal Diary
The award has been instituted by the Community Leadership Loddon Murray in support with the State Government of Victoria and the Departments of Human Services and Community Development. The programme also has support from over 100 financial and in-kind sponsors within the region encompassing 11 local government areas across central and north-west Victoria. This is the first time in its history that any Indian citizen has been awarded with this honour. The award was presented by Darriea Turley, national president, Australian Local Government Women's Association (ALGWA), at a ceremony held in Bendigo, Melbourne (see photo). Hailing from a small village, Kotli, near Mandi, Abhishek is currently employed as the transition and student engagement officer at La Trobe University. He facilitates orientation, transition, community development, engagement and leadership programmes. His role is focused on building and maximising the informal learning experiences of youth, operate to consolidate and enhance the co-curricular programmes and strategies that contribute to student retention, success and engagement. He did his initial schoolings from Kotli and after passing plus two from Model School, Sundernagar, pursued engineering and studied aeronautics, IT, biotechnology and bioinformatics in India. Thereafter, he obtained his Masters degree from Australia. While pursuing his Masters, he got Infinity Leadership Award, Research Year Award, Scholarship from Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coherent X-Ray Science, Molecular Sciences Scholarship, Best Chief Marketing Officer, Career Ambassador Award, and he was also elected as the President of Biochemistry Society and Indian Students Club. Sukhmani Sahib ‘paath’ held
The Sector IV Residents Welfare Society, New Shimla, conducted a paath (recitation) of Sukhmani Sahib with great enthusiasm. The residents of New Shimla and the members of the Sai Engineering Foundation participated in the ceremony. Mit Granthi of Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurudwara Bhai Sahib Bhai Gurbagh Singh started the ceremony by chanting the hymns of Sukhmani Sahib. A Kirtan Darbar was also organised in which the Hazoori Ragi of Gurudwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Bhai Sahib Bhai Sukhjinder Singh and party sang the “shabads”.
Mass upsurge against graft
Conviction of former Union Communication Minister and senior Congress leader of the state Sukh Ram by a Delhi court for the charges of corruption in allotting a cable contract to a firm has once again brought the issue of corruption to the fore. The recovery of unaccounted Indian currency worth several crore in a CBI raid from Sukh Ram’s house in 1996 and allegations of awarding telecom contracts for alleged financial consideration started the process of exposures in cases of corruption at the highest level in the Central government. With the current mass upsurge against corruption, as evident from the response to the campaign of Anna Hazare, conviction of a top politician is quite significant and helps send a clear message to those charged for various act of graft that the law will soon catch with them. People fighting corruption will be encouraged and also emboldened to pursue their campaign with a new vigour. -------------------------------- (Contributed by Rakesh Lohumi and DP Gupta)
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The local police station building is in a bad shape and can collapse at any time.
Despite the fact that the state government is well conversant with the
situation, no efforts were made in the past 10 years.
Dharwala (Chamba), November 22
Ranital at Nahan is known as the Rani Lake. The ranis (queens) of Nahan used to come here for taking bath and also for royal festivity. It was the garden of the royalty for the royalty by the royalty. How would the queens come from their palace to this lake, a distance of about a
kilometre? An interesting, sans evidence, telltale is that there was a tunnel (gufa) connecting the lake with the palace and this was the path of the queens. Head of that tunnel is still visible. The fact, however, is that the queens, because of “pardah pratha”, used to come to the lake under cover of canvas screen
(qanat) erected on the sides of the road and that formed a tunnel minus the roof.
Abhishek Awasthi from Mandi has been awarded the Loddon Murray Community Leadership Award in recognition of his commitment and contribution to the regional communities and their development in the regional and rural parts of Australia.