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Tourist season
Samrat Shankar mesmerises a packed house |
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World Environment Day
Payal dreams of bringing dropouts back to school
BJP seeks repair of highway
ICTC holds workshop for nursing staff
Technical training benefits lower Kangra farmers
Forest Fires
vignettes
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Managing traffic in Kasauli a tough task
Ambika Sharma Tribune News Service
Solan, June 4 With scores of resorts, hotels, guest houses, flats and cottages coming up at every nook and corner of the area surrounding Kasauli, the number of people visiting Kasauli and its surrounding towns has increased manifold. The police has a herculean task in managing traffic at the Garkhal Chowk during the weekends. It is a tough task for the police to manage VIP movement during peak season of summer. With no scope for expanding roads as ribbon-shaped development has taken place here, traffic chaos has become a routine. Terming it as a deterrent, Gurpreet Singh, General Manager, Kasauli Resorts, said tourists had to face traffic problems every time when they had to cross the Garkhal Chowk. Here, long queues of vehicles lined up on all roads. Though several resorts had been permitted to come up in Kasauli tehsil, there was little planning to expand the road network or work out alternate routes which could decongest the existing roads. It was observed that the upcoming resorts often damage the parapets and side lanes while dumping muck or undertaking reckless digging of their plots. Road surfaces suffered excessive damages where resorts were coming up due to the movement of machinery and material. Such damaged roads further added as a deterrent to the tourists. Though there was a proposal to install traffic lights at Garkhal, it failed to be implemented as the roads are not wide enough to handle that arrangement. With constructions are being a continuous activity, there is an urgent need to work out an alternative solution to pass the traffic through the Garkhal Chowk as traffic snarls are becoming a permanent problem. With the Army and Air Force station is being located at Kasauli, wider roads are required for the smooth movement of defence vehicles. Though there was an alternate route through Parwanoo-Jangeshu to reach Kasauli, the tourists are not using it because of its poor maintenance.
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Samrat Shankar mesmerises a packed house
Shimla, June 4 Among the best in the business, Shankar gave an impeccable performance, proving beyond doubt that hi-tech films, full of special effects created with computer wizardry, have not waned the "magic" of magic even a wee bit. Supported with live music, dancers and fashionable and colourful costumes, the master entertainer enthralled the audience at the historic Gaiety Theatre with one amazing trick after the other. There were several astounding tricks which drew a huge applause. These included acts like making a girl fly and then vanish into thin air, dwarfing of a six-foot man into a three-foot creature using a hammer, raining currency notes and cutting of a girl into two halves using an electronic saw and placing the severed head on the other end of the stage. The Jadugar also used the show to create awareness against female foeticide and gave some tips to conserve the environment. The chief guest at the inaugural show, Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, Himachal Pradesh Congress chief, was all praise for Samrat Shankar. He appreciated his efforts in creating awareness against superstitions and social evils like female foeticide while entertaining the audience. The ever-modest Jadugar Shankar humbly commented, "Magic is a fine art, my team and I strive hard to keep it alive in every Indian's heart. We travel from city to city and perform for the masses apart from creating awareness. We also donate a chunk of our earnings to various charities." Jadugar Samrat Shankar later entertained the audience by shaking hands and handcuffing them, changing the time on the wall clocks through hypnotism, producing a different fragrance through people's palms on request. He brought a Maruti car on stage and turned on its headlights. Then after switching them on and off a few times, he called three persons from the audience and asked them to properly check the car. As soon as the satisfied persons left the stage for their seats, Jadugar Shankar made the car disappear, taking the thrill quotient a notch higher. Apart from being a magical extravaganza, the inaugural show was filled with various dance and music performances by the charming girls of the magician's unit. Their graceful movements to the beats of foot-tapping music added to the enjoyment. Shankar ensures that dancers' costumes are attractive but not indecent. He is equally famous in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Nepal and other countries. His magical caravan has performed in every major city in India over the years and his month-long show in Essel World Mumbai created a buzz and made him very popular among the city folks. He has till date given over 28,000 performances across the world.
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State losing its green sheen
Our Correspondent
Palampur, June 4 Now, concern for the environment is mounting due to an ever growing population and urbanisation and other problems of the country. The state is facing issues such as deforestation, reckless cutting of hills, illegal mining, poor management of waste, falling ground water table, preservation and quality of forests, biodiversity loss, and land or soil degradation. Setting up of cement plants, execution of hydel power projects combined with other construction activities have posed serious threats to the existence of natural resources and disturbed the eco system in the state. The state is losing its forest cover year after year. Reportedly, over 50,000 trees have been axed in the state for making way for cement plants, roads, buildings and Hydel power projects in the past 10 years. Unfortunately, the new Congress government in the state has further allowed five private companies to commence their cement plants. The state forest department and district administration have failed to initiate action against the defaulters. Plying of over 30,000 trucks, involved in commercial activities, on the state roads has led to large scale pollution and emission of gases. It affected the tourism industry as there are regular traffic jams on the Chandigarh-Manali Highway causing inconvenience to the tourists. With the commissioning of five more cement plants in the next five years, the situation will move from bad to worse.
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Payal dreams of bringing dropouts back to school
Chamba, June 4 Dr Sehgal says the main reason of leaving the school for these dropouts was their penury and other circumstances. Most of them belong to the Bharmour tribal area of Chamba district. They are presently residing in Sultanpur and Obri, close to Government Middle School, Kasakra. Payal, a student of Class VII of the school, has accepted the challenging task inspired by her teacher, Dr Sehgal, who intends to bring the dropouts back to the schools. “Perhaps no one knows the pain of leaving school at an early age better than Payal who herself belongs to a poor family and realises that the beginning of childhood is education,” says Dr Sehgal. Dr Rajesh has already brought nine students from Malethi, Aghar, Karadpei, Gharmani villages and other adjoining hamlets in the Jammuhar area of the district. Now he has started performing the task in Chamba town also. “Observing that Payal is acting as a role model in the field of education in the area, the Deputy Director of Elementary Education, Susheel Pundeer, has recommended Payal’s name for the state award,” says Dr Sehgal. Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh, having a low literacy rate, is one of those districts of the country which has been chosen under the Saakshar Bharat Mission with a view to wiping out illiteracy.
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BJP seeks repair of highway
Bilaspur, June 4 Led by BJP state executive member Rajender Garga and mandal president Narender Thakur, the demonstrators also staged dharnas at the Kothi Chowk, Panyaala and Silha. The leaders condemned the inaction of the state government in this matter, resulting in difficulties to vehicle owners and pedestrians and also extreme pollution this road was causing in the villages around it. They warned that they would be forced to start a regular agitation if steps were not taken to repair this road, as its widening work was abandoned by a contractor several months ago. They also presented a memorandum through the SDM, Ghumarwin, to the government demanding immediate action. — OC
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ICTC holds workshop for nursing staff
Nurpur, June 4 Kangra AIDS Programme Officer Dr RK Sood advised the students that in case one got an accidental prick injury during healthcare delivery, she should immediately wash the wound with soap and water and take post exposure prophylaxis medicine for HIV within 72 hours based on the risk assessment and followed up by HIV testing at the ICTC. “The recent outbreak of Hepatitis B at Modasa (Gujarat) due to unsafe injection practices by private practitioners highlighted the importance of safe injections. To prevent an injection injury, the staff should follow precautions like wearing gloves, goggles, and face shields. After injection, the nurse should destroy the needle in the needle cutter,,” he said. — OC
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Technical training benefits lower Kangra farmers
Nurpur, June 4 The traditional cereal crop growers have now started producing vegetable and cash crops, which have changed their fortune. As many as 25 progressive farmers attended a workshop organised on topic ‘Improved vegetable production technology for income generation of farmers’ by the RHRC in the last week of February this year. They were imparted technical training in growing hi-tech vegetable nursery by using pro-trays (propagation plastic trays) and soil less medium coco-peat. According to SS Rana, Associate Director of the RHRC, such production of high-quality seedling was essential for higher yield and quality of vegetable crops.
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Home Guards save property worth Rs 80 lakh
Balkrishan Prashar
Chamba, June 4 Commandant, Home Guards, Chamba, Kuldeep Sharma, said the forest fire near the Chamunda temple on a hillock adjacent to Chamba town was put under control with the vigilant efforts of the fire brigade team and the home guards saving the property worth Rs 4 lakh. The rescue team relentlessly combated and managed to control the fierce fire occurred near the petrol pump at Dalhousie, the Commandant said. He said last month, over seven fire incidents had been reported in the fire station, adding that the fire personnel were always prepared to tackle such situation as and when incidents were reported. The Commandant appealed to the business fraternity to keep small branded fire extinguishers not costing over Rs 1,000 in their apartments, commercial and industrial establishments. He also asked government offices and schools to put six buckets of sand and water and fire extinguishers on the premises of their offices and asserted that the fire-fighting teams were already doing their job on a war footing. “In the wake of scorching summers, awareness regarding fire safety is quite important and at the same time it is the responsibility of every citizen to be cautious and they should refrain from throwing any burning stub in the open,” the Commandant added. The Commandant urged people of the region to take all deterrent measures saving their property from fire and not to put dry wild grass on fire.
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We are the borrowers of earth not the inheritors
by Shriniwas Joshi I was in Himachal Pradesh University to share my views on ‘Sustainable Development’ with about 30 lecturers from colleges affiliated to 14 different universities of India. They were a group of enthusiasts eager to know about the progress made by Himachal Pradesh in ‘sustainable development’ and the process of achieving it; if ,at all, the state has progressed in that direction.
On the topic of the day, I said the classical concept of development considered economic growth only. There was no thought of human face in it. Gross domestic product and per-capita income used to be the main concerns of developing nations. Indira Gandhi, in 1970, had declared ‘Development before Environment’. So, we started playing catch-up with the developed world and cared not for the environment. It continued till 1987 when, Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister, championed the cause of environment and said, “Development which destroys the environment eventually destroys the development itself.” Fagu is a roadside locality 22 km from Shimla; huge JCBs were at work here playing havoc with the environment. It was all dirt and grime. I walked into the jungle and trudged towards Nalla village, about 4 km from Fagu, where a kachha but scenic path connected the village to the main road without diminishing the splendour of Deodar jungle. Not far from the snarl and roar of the JCBs, this walk on which was written PEACE by an unseen hand in invisible ink was a fine example of development with human face (see photo). A small country like Bhutan put forth the idea of Gross National Happiness — indicator that measures the quality of life of the people. Develop, it says, but develop with human face. That reminds me of a couplet in Urdu: “Bahut kuch ho rahaa hai taraqqui ke zamaane mein/ Par hai kyaa gazab Aaadmi Insaan nahi ho rahaa.” (Much is happening as we progress; Strangely, the man is losing the human face.) The term ‘sustainable development’ appeared for the first time in Brundtland Report in 1987. Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland was three times Prime Minister of Norway, also an international leader and authority on ‘sustainable development’ and public health. She chaired the World Commission on Environment and Development when the Brundtland report captioned ‘Our Common Future’ was prepared that defined ‘sustainable development’ as “the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” I explain it: “Do not think that you have inherited this planet from your grandfather or father; always remember that you have borrowed it from your grandson or son.” A borrowed thing has to be returned as was taken at the time of borrowing —unspoiled and unpolluted. If you love your son or grandson, you will conserve the Earth. Right?
Tailpiece
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A heavy influx of tourists to the cantonment town of Kasauli is taking its toll on the narrow roads which are bursting at the seams especially during the weekends.
With scores of resorts, hotels, guest houses, flats and cottages coming up at every nook and corner of the area surrounding
Kasauli
A couple of them who had come from the small town colleges narrated that the use of bicycles, growing saplings, using both sides of paper was the trend in their institutions. It confirmed my belief that the villages and the small towns were still trying to save the environment; the culprits were the big-town dwellers. The famous Chipko movement of Uttarakhand or the island communities joining hands to stop the coral mining which destroyed their lagoons or the villagers in Rajasthan banding together to stop goats from grazing on the bramble planted to halt the advance of the desert or late Kinkri Devi, an illiterate lady, fighting against the mining-mafia in Sirmaur were all examples of rural people agitating for sustainable development.
The urbanites want broad roads touching their houses, milk booth, vegetable vendor’s kiosk, dry-cleaner, hair-dresser and others - all at stone’s throw from their houses. The very idea of sustainable development for them was alien, meant for rural India. This is our tragedy. After a fruitful discussion, I asked the lecturers to assemble for a photograph, they willingly agreed and found, outside the Academic Staff College building, a bench on which the ladies managed to cling in while the gents made a chivalrous background (see photo). I saw a few left out running towards the spot when the photo session was over.