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Tourism potential of Pong Dam lake remains unexploited
Lack of distribution network ails power sector
Ex-servicemen seek 25% raise in benefits
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Himachal diary
vignettes
Five years on, Palampur yet to get multi-storey parking
Himachali scientist modifies Archemedes Principle, Newton's Laws
Vehicular movement paralysed at Panchrukhi
250 youth to be trained in disaster management
550 examined at medical camp
NABARD discusses forward-market trading with farmers
Pinegrove win inter-school hockey tournament
Athletics meet concludes at Army Public School
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Tourism potential of Pong Dam lake remains unexploited
Dharamsala, November 12 The previous BJP government had given a wide publicity to the Asian Development Bank loan for the promotion of tourism at the Pong Dam lake. In the first phase of the plan, the area near Pong Dam structure was to be develop as a tourist destination, using the funds provided by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). It however, drew criticism from oustees living in the vicinity of the Pong Dam lake. They were sore at not being taken into confidence while chalking out the plan. The government has planned to spend Rs 10 crore in the initial phase. Sources told The Tribune that as per the plan worked out by the Department of Tourism, most of the amount was likely to be spent in the area near the Pong Dam structure. The department has planned to spend about Rs 2 crore on constructing a parking place near the Pong Dam structure for tourists. The move was termed as wastage of money by the people of the area. Rajiv Sharma, who lives in the area near the lake, said till date few tourists came to visit the Pong Dam. The government should first create infrastructure around the lake rather than creating a parking facility. In addition to that there was ample open parking place on the banks of the lake, so there was no need to spend more the parking, he added. As per the plan, the Department of Tourism was to build a tourist reception centre at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore near the structure. The people of the area are, however, saying that the tourist reception centre should be created at the Gaggal airport or any other place where the tourist land and they could be guided to visit the lake. The stakeholders also lodged their protest against the initial plan at a meeting held at the district headquarters. Some people said spending so much on developing the tourism potential of the would be a waste of money. They said due to security reasons, there was restriction on the tourists visiting the Pong Dam structure. In the near future, the security of the dam is likely to be handed over to the CISF and it is going to make things more complex. The government should, in fact, provide basic infrastructure to private entrepreneurs willing to create places for attracting tourists to the area. The much-celebrated village tourism should be promoted. There are many landmarks as the rock cut Masroor temples, the heritage properties of former Guler state and Kangra art centres that can attract tourists to the vicinity of the Pong Dam lake. If the government involves the locals, it can help generate employment and increase tourism in the Pong Dam area. Now with the new congress government in power it remains to be seen if it takes the suggestions of locals living on the banks of Pong Dam into consideration before spending the amount generated as loan from ADB for developing tourism around Pong Dam.
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Lack of distribution network ails power sector
Mandi, November 12 Despite India has been facing power shortage of 1.5 lakh MW, yet there are few takers for surplus power in the country, said top engineers. Himachal Pradesh supplies subsidised power to domestic consumers and Punjab supplies power free of cost to the agriculture sector, resulting in financial losses for state power distribution companies, said top executives of IPPs. Facing difficulty in financing losses, the distribution companies resort to power cuts, leading to a situation of an artificial cut. “There are no separate distribution networks to sell electricity to different categories of consumers in the country. It leads to a situation where there are no takers for power,” said a top executive officer of the IPP. In the absence of the distribution channel, consumers who are willing to pay more for power are also facing power cuts. As there are few takers for “surplus power” generated during peak summers, the IPPs and other public power companies demand that all state governments should reduce incidents of forced power cuts to ramp up the dormant demand. The government must bear the burden of subsidy or free power and they should allow the state distribution companies to work on commercial lines. Companies must be responsible for reducing transmission and distribution losses. This will obviate the need for power cuts, which have been resulting in artificial demand scarcity, engineers said. Continued power cuts have forced consumers to meet the demand from the diesel generators at exorbitant rate of Rs 12 per unit, thus damaging the environment as well, said experts in the hydro -power sector. “We are able to sell 400-MW surplus power at Rs 2 per unit only through power trading corporation at the two power exchanges — India Energy Exchange and Power Exchange of India,” said sources. Failing to recover average cost of power generation (Rs 5 per unit), the state will continue to face the problem of artificial demand scarcity as it is tapping to generate 15,000 MW of hydropower in years to come The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission has allowed an open access to consumers who need more than 1 MW so that they do not suffer from power cuts. “However, the open access has its limitations because of the lack of National Grid connectivity for open access in the country,” said the engineers.
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Ex-servicemen seek 25% raise in benefits
Mandi, November 12 The Himachal Pradesh Honorary Commissioned Officers’ Welfare Association (HPHCOWA) hailed the
recent
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Aiming to achieve big in music industry
Gaining a foothold in the highly competitive music world of Bollywood, Uvie wants to establish himself as a leading playback singer and be counted among the best in the filed."I do not imitate or try to follow the style of any particular singer but I would like to touch the heights achieved by KK, Sonu Nigam and Udit Narayan while pursuing my own distinct style," Uvie who was in Shimla as a judge in the final of singing talent contest "Sangam Sur Sangeet Ka" said while talking about his career in Bollywood. A trained classical singer Uvie already has a number of hit film songs under his kitty. He completed his postgraduation in classical vocal music from Panjab University and learnt the nuances of Agra Gharana from Prof Harvinder Singh. The training in classical music was a huge asset and helped him in the progress of his career. Classical vocal singing enables one to master the are of voice control and voice modulation and these are essential qualities for a good singer. They also add to the versatility, without which one could not last as playback singer in Bollywood."I started of my career in Bollywood assisting the famous composer duo Sajid and Wajid and it was my first solo album "Aa Bhi Ja" was launched by T-series which forced the film industries to take notice of my singing. A few songs came my way but what established my credentials as a playback singer was the song Happening from the film Mein Aur Mrs Khanna," he said. In the current global scenario in which the young are being exposed to various genres of music from across the world combining western with the Indian music is the best way to compose popular songs. Despite being a trained classical vocalist, he was averse to such experimentation as the ultimate aim was to create melodies, which touch and move people. He is confident that his versatile style of singing will take his career graph northward and he will have the opportunity to work with the all the top composers. Traffic woes
Residents of the Bhattakufer area near Dhalli agriculture market are fed up with the unending traffic jams and vehicular pollution , which is growing with each day due to the indifferent attitude of the authorities. The apple season is over and the volume of traffic has declined considerably, but the unauthorised auto workshops that have mushroomed all along the road from Dhalli tunnel to Bhattakufer continue to be a big nuisance for the residents. The vehicles parked along the road add to their problems. The residents are demanding that the administration should ensure that no commercial activities shouldbe carried out in the residential areas and all unauthorised workshops be shifted from to area to some other place. The people have the right live in a peaceful and pollution-free environment and the government must act and stop commercial activities in residential areas.
First woman SP
The directions given by the first woman Superintendent of Police (SP) of
Hamirpur, Veena Bharti , who has recently joined, to tone up the law and order machinery has left no one in doubt that she means business. The young police officer gave several directions to subordinate police officials for effective policing in the district. To put a check on the cases of theft, the SP has asked the police officials to erect nakas and conduct extensive night patrolling besides surprise raids. She has also instructed a complaint box be put up in the SP office where people could drop their complaints and would be opened by her. For the speedy disposal of the old cases, she directed the officers concerned to complete the investigation of cases pending since 2007 in a t time-bound manner and adopt scientific methods of investigation. To solve traffic-related problems Bharti has asked the police officials to identify black spots prone to accidents and take strict action against violators of traffic rules and negligent drivers and effectively regulate the traffic. Several other directions have also been given by Bharti to the police officials to improve the law and order situation in the district. (Contributed by Rakesh Lohumi and DP Gupta)
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A visit to Joginder Nagar
by Shriniwas Joshi
Why am I writing about Joginder Nagar? Bhartiya Public Senior Secondary School was established against all odds in Joginder Nagar on March 22, 1981. A group of enthusiastic young persons dreamt and held fast to their dreams of having a private school in Joginder Nagar with a high reputation and scholastic. The story of ups and downs was told to me by Om Marwah, the present chairman of the managing committee of the school when I reached Joginder Nagar as the chief guest on their annual general function. When I asked, “Did your dream ever shatter facing all these hurdles?” He replied, “If the dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.” Learn a lesson from it, my young friends. The result of their flight is that they are managing a school today that has an enrolment crossing 1,000 and have a battery of dedicated staff working under the leadership of Colonel Shobha Singh. My visit to Joginder Nagar, this time, was after six years. Quite a few new buildings have come up on the sides of the road leading to Joginder Nagar from Mandi. Fifteen kilometres from Joginder Nagar is a place called Ghatasani, which is the gateway to the Chohar valley. In the past, the place on the hills where a footpath was available for walking was called Ghatta. The nomenclature has not changed though the footpaths have been widened. Ghatasani is a corrupt form of Ghattavasini, ghatta where the goddess lived. If one moves to Chohar instead of going to Joginder Nagar, one finds a place called Jhatingri at the distance of 5 km from Ghatasani. Jhatingri still is a virgin and non-spoilt place; it could be tried as a refreshing break from the humdrum of life. There is an age-old unattended summer palace of the Raja of Mandi and a rest house for people to stay. The straight road leads to Joginder Nagar where you make an entry to a longish bazaar (see photo). There was a time when it was a big market for all the produce of Chohar Ghati, especially potato, and the status has now been snatched from it by Ner Chowk. There is a flowing Googly khad at the western end of the town. I went up to the khad and enjoyed the scene of rippling water and felt that life was also like this flowing water, sometimes it swept one gently along and sometimes the rapids came out of nowhere. Nearby is Shivaji Park, it actually is after the name of Lord Shiv but everywhere it is written Shivaji, even in Hindi, that reminds one of the great Maratha king of the 17th century. It is also the crematorium of the town. The efforts in its maintenance and upkeep from a businessman of the town, Ramesh Sood, were visible when I saw the landscaping of the area, which was done beautifully (see photo). The greenery was waving about and the ultimate destination of human body was neat and tidy.
Tailpiece
When I was SDM at Joginder Nagar, I had developed Gandhi Vatika and displayed there in bold letters his quote, “Poison kills the body but alcohol kills the soul”. Next day, I found two advocates missing from the court. Meeting them in the evening, I asked the reason for their absence. They replied, “Sir, we sat the whole night under the quote and finished eight bottles between us to test whether the souls actually die.”
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Five years on, Palampur yet to get multi-storey parking
Palampur, November 12 The local municipal council had handed over six kanals of land situated in the heart of the town to the State Urban Development Department three years ago. Later, a MoU was also signed with a private company to construct the parking. As per the terms and conditions of the
MoU, the company was allowed to convert three stories of the parking into a commercial complex and only two stories were reserved for the parking of vehicles. The company had agreed to pay a lease money of Rs 18 lakh per year to the local Municipal Council. With the change of the government in the state last year, no head way has been made to complete the project. The MoU was signed during the BJP regime four years ago. Congress leaders of the area had demanded to scrap the
MoU. From the very beginning, they had opposed the decision of state government to allow the company to convert three stories into a commercial complex. These leaders said keeping in view that there were over 25,000 light vehicles in the town, originally the plan was only for the parking and there was no provision for shops and other commercial establishments and If the builder was allowed to convert two stories into commercial complex little space would be left for parking. Congress leaders time and again have also asked the state government to review the terms and conditions of the MoU and enhance the lease money in accordance with the value of land, which is over Rs 8 crore. If the simple interest on the value of land is calculated that comes to Rs 80
lakh. They said at the same time the HPCA was paying Rs 27 lakh per year to the state government as the lease money for a land given to it in a village near Dharmshala whereas in
Palampur, the land was situated in the heart of the town and Rs 18 lakh lease money was not genuine. Meanwhile, the traffic situation the town has gone from bad to worse in the past few months At present, the narrow Mandi-Pathankot National Highway passing through the town has become a major traffic hazard as all heavy vehicles, including buses and trucks, ply on the road. There has been increase in the number of vehicles in the town but the width of the most of the roads is the same as it was 20 years ago. In the peak hours, there is always a traffic jam in many parts of the town. The flyover on the national highway is under construction for the past five years. Despite public pressure, the Public Works Department had failed to complete it .Many a times, vehicles are challaned and impounded by the police for wrong parking in absence of owners as the administration has not specified any parking place in the town.
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Himachali scientist modifies Archemedes Principle, Newton's Laws
Shimla, November 12 Sharma said that the
book entitled "Beyond Newton and Archimedes" was published on the
recommendations of experts of Cambridge University who took seven months to
evaluate it. It explained in detail how he had modified the 2,265 years old
Archimedes Principle and the 330 years old Newton's Laws. The Indian version
of the 340-page book having 10 chapters has been priced at Rs 5,200 on the www.
amazon.in. He claims that Newton did not discover the Second Law of Motion
F=ma. It was clear from a critical study of the Principia, Book I (8 May 1686)
and nobody knew who had given the equation F=ma? Thus, the school-level
textbooks across the world needed to be re-structured as coming generations had
the right to know the truth. The mass cannot be defined in the equation if force
and acceleration are put to zero, which was a big limitation. The Newton's
First Law of Motion was nothing but Galileo's Law of Inertia. The First Law of
Motion (2nd part) was applicable under ideal conditions when resistive forces
frictional forces, atmospheric forces and other forces were not present in the
system of body and medium. Similarly, the Archimedes Principle also had
limitations as it did not take into account the shape of body and viscosity of
the medium under consideration.
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Vehicular movement paralysed at Panchrukhi
Dharamsala, November 12 However, the crossing is an illustration of poor traffic management. Commuters remain stranded on the crossing for long. The major reason for traffic jams is the parking of buses near the railway crossing. The railway crossing at Panchrukhi is narrow and parking of buses near it blocks the traffic. Interestingly, bus operators keep on waiting for passengers near the railway crossing, unmindful of the trouble being faced by commuters. To add to the commuters' vows, there is no traffic cop to manage the traffic. In case of a traffic jam, it is the local people or stranded commuters who try to regulate the traffic. The parking of vehicles along the narrow road near the railway crossing is another cause of traffic jams. Generally, taxi operators park their vehicles along the road. This squeezes the narrow road to such an extent that even two vehicles cannot pass. The locals said that the traffic on the Panchrukhi crossing has increased manifold over the past few years. The district administration will have to go for a permanent solution of the problem. "Installation of traffic light at the main crossing can prove beneficial. However, till the cops are posted here to regulate the traffic and the violators are not penalised, the traffic light will be of no use," the locals said. They also added that parking of vehicles should not be allowed on main crossing.
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250 youth to be trained in disaster management
Mandi, November 12 The training camp was organised by the Water Adventure Academy, Banala, at Kingus panchayat. Addressing a gathering here today after inaugurating the training camp, Kaul said there was a lurking danger of flash floods, avalanches, snow storms and earthquakes as it happened in 1905. Disaster management should be strengthened to face such unforeseen calamities, he added. He said in the first phase youth from Lahaul and Spiti and Kullu districts would be trained and participants from other districts would follow later. The training would be imparted free cost. The state government would spend Rs 16 lakh on this training, he added. Kaul said trained youth would deal with emergency situations by rushing victims to health centres. As many as 200 posts of doctor and 700 posts of paramedic would be filled soon to strengthen healthservices in rural areas, he added. Talking about loss caused by flash floods and heavy rains, Kaul said the state government had released Rs 129 crore to compensate losses as per the relief manual. He announced Rs 1 lakh for the temple sarai at Kingus, Rs 1.5 lakh for the Jwalapur-Hansa link road and Rs 50,000 for the Banala school ground.
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Nurpur, November 12 As many as 550 patients were examined by a team of doctors of the centre. Most of the patients suffering from heart, diabetics, and stomach and eye diseases benefited from the camp. They were provided free treatment and tests like eco-cardiography, ECG and blood sugar. They were also given free medicines by the parishad, which has organised seven such camps in the area. Parishad state president Kunwar Hari Singh said 12 branches of the parishad were selflessly functioning across the state in the field of social security, health and education. Senior physician and cardiologist Vijay Mahajan from Tagore Hospital, Jalandhar, advised the people to be careful about their eating habits and avoid junk food and smoking. Parishad president OP Gupta said this unit had been established in 2004 and was working actively in different fields specified by the parishad. “Apart from organising such free camps in the area, the parishad is conducting a scholarship examination for schoolchildren under the Himotkarsh Meritorious Scholarship Examination. It is also organising inter-school extra-curricular activities like folk dances, group songs, mono acting and declamation contests,” he said. He said this year, 2,485 students of 55 schools of the area will take the scholarship examination on November 24. — OC
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NABARD discusses forward-market trading with farmers
Dalhousie, November 12 NABARD district development manager Rahul Shashni explained in detail various aspects involved in forward-market trading. He said the programme was a step taken by the Forward Markets Commission
(Vayada Bazaar Aayog) of the Government of India in collaboration with the
NABCONS. The aim of the programme was to sensitise farmers and other stakeholders to take advantage of the forward-market trading and take decision for sowing of crops based on future prices of agriculture commodities, he added. He said other aspects of forward markets - price discovery mechanism, transparency, hedging, arbitrage opportunities - were also discussed. The role of commodity exchanges and Forward Market Commission was explained to participants, he added.
Shashni said emphasis was laid on uniting of farmers in groups of federation and getting linked to forward-market trading for benefits like better price realisation of their produce. He said information about various types of commodities being traded in the market was given and short films on commodity markets were also screened during the
programme.
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Pinegrove win inter-school hockey tournament
Solan, November 12 In a nail-biting final, Anmol Singh scored first goal of the match for the Pinegrove. Thereafter, Mayo boys created regular opportunities for their team, but failed to capitalise on them due to stiff resistance from the home team. Dushyant was the only silver lining throughout the match as he scored the equaliser for the Mayo boys in both halves of the game. Anmol seemed to be on a song as he pumped two more goals for the home team and the score read 3-1 at half time. In the second half, a fired-up Mayo side tried to make an impact on the score line, but failed to reduce the deficit. Meanwhile, Pinegrove boys capitalised on the chances that came their way and consolidated their lead through Anmol to make it 4-2. The Highest Scorer Award went to Dushyant of Mayo College.The Player of the Tournament Award was shared by Saksham Nayol of Pinegrove and Dushyant of Mayo College, Ajmer.
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Athletics meet concludes at Army Public School
Solan, November 12 Brig OP Singh, Commandant, 14GTC and chairman of the school, declared the meet open. While addressing students on the occasion, he said the school was doing well and was ranked among the top six schools of the country. He urged students to work hard for their bright future. Relay races were held on the closing day of the meet. The 4x400 mtr relay for senior boys was won by the Tagore House. Patel House clinched the overall Major Uday Singh Memorial Athletic Shield for their spectacular performance in various events. Karate display by junior boys and girls was another attraction of the meet. Founder Principal of the school Suresh Mathur was the chief guest on the occasion. Having witnessed the event after 24 years, he lauded the management for bringing improvements in the school. He gave away prizes to winners. Dr Vijay Dutta, Principal, Army Public School, Dagshai, while addressing students said participation in sports helped inculcate high values of sportsmanship. He urged students to take part in such events to ensure their overall development. Kanika Punia (Nehru House) was declared best athlete in the junior girls category, while in the senior girls category the award was bagged by Kiran Dahiya (Patel House). In the junior boys Rajash (Patel House) won the best athlete award, while in the middle boys category Vivek Sherawat (Patel House) bagged the best athlete award and in the senior boys category Tanmay Salathia and Tanishiq Salathia (Tagore House) jointly won this award. In the individual house positions Patel House bagged the first position followed by Tagore House and Nehru House.
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Mandi lad is in soccer U-14 team
Mandi, November 12 Facing all odds back at his native village Gokhra in Mandi, Rishi made his way into the U-14 team of the state after his talent was recognised by a Kazakhstan coach at a recent trial camp conducted by the Himachal Football Association at Una. "Rishi has been playing football right from his childhood. He has filled his book with soccer stars, but his ideal is Manchester striker Aguerio,” said his father Tek Chand Rana, who is also a sportsman. Tek Chand thanked Amitpal Singh, president, State Football Association, who provided Rishi a foreign coach at the Una camp, and his school coach Pramod Kumar. The Mandi Football Association hailed his selection saying this would encourage youth to play the game.
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The Pong Dam lake, an internationally recognised wetland, receives the maximum number of migratory birds in North India.
Gaining a foothold in the highly competitive music world of Bollywood, Uvie wants to establish himself as a leading playback singer and be counted among the best in the filed."I do not imitate or try to follow the style of any particular singer but I would like to touch the heights achieved by
KK, Sonu Nigam and Udit Narayan while pursuing my own distinct style," Uvie who was in Shimla as a judge in the final of singing talent contest
"Sangam Sur Sangeet Ka" said while talking about his career in Bollywood.
Joginder Nagar would have remained Sukrahatti had Raja Joginder Sen of Mandi in 1925 not thought of starting a hydroelectric project here and baptising the village after his name. The Shanan power project constructed under the direct supervision of the then Chief Engineer of Punjab, Colonel BC
Battey, started operating on March 10, 1932 and is called the mother of hydroelectric projects in North India.
The multi-storey parking project in the town is hanging fire for the past five years. The foundation stone of the important project was laid by former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal in 2008 during. It was proposed to construct this project under the built operate and transfer
mode(BOT).
Panchrukhi is a small village located about 10 km from Palampur. The village has acquired the name due to the five roads that join here. These days, just three roads seem to joining at the Panchrukhi main crossing. One of these roads leads to
Andretta, a village known for its artists and the art gallery of Shoba Singh that receives thousands of visitors every year.
Health and Revenue Minister Kaul Singh Thakur said as many as 250 youth from 12 districts would be trained to deal with natural disasters at a training camp here.
The training camp was organised by the Water Adventure Academy, Banala, at Kingus
panchayat.
The five-day 25th annual athletic meet of the Army Public School,
Dagshai, concluded on the school campus. As many as 52 track and field events were held on the last day.
Joginder Nagar would have remained Sukrahatti had Raja Joginder Sen of Mandi in 1925 not thought of starting a hydroelectric project here and baptising the village after his name. The Shanan power project constructed under the direct supervision of the then Chief Engineer of Punjab, Colonel BC Battey, started operating on March 10, 1932 and is called the mother of hydroelectric projects in North India. Shanan is a little Punjab in Himachal because it fell into the lap of Punjab under the State Reorganisation Act. The 60 MW Bassi Power House, 6 km downstream, is with the HP State Electricity Board as another one of 100 MW using the tail-water of Bassi, which is likely to be operate soon at Chulah.
