Chamba, December 15
Believe it or not but it is a fact that a Central team accompanied by senior officials of the state government, including Secretaries of the PWD and Revenue surveyed the flood-affected areas of Chamba district on Thursday after five months.

The team, which arrived here by a helicopter, hurriedly visited the flood-hit areas of Rajpura, Palyoor and the Bhuri Singh power house which were badly damaged by floods in July this year.

Later, the team had an interaction with the Deputy Commissioner of Chamba, Mr Pushpendra Rajput, and other officers and reviewed the flood damages. The team gathered information from the Public Works, Development, Agriculture, Irrigation and Public Health Departments about the losses caused due to flashfloods and cloudbursts in July.

Incidentally, the areas damaged in flashfloods and cloudbursts had already been repaired by the state government and now the “spot inspection” by the Central team appears to be a farce.

The locals describe the visit of the Central team merely an eyewash. The flood-hit areas should have been surveyed at an appropriate time to assess the damage caused by the floods.

Bharmaur, December 15
The Chamba-Bharmaur highway leading to Manimahesh pilgrimage in Bharmaur mountains region of Chamba district in Himachal have 500-metres long tunnel aligned with the highway near Kharamukh in Bharmaur rift valley soon to provide an alternative passage to stretch submerged in the Chamera-III dam waters along course of Ravi. It is first flagship scheme of excavating a tunnel in any rugged hill terrain of Himachal which would also avoid risk of landslides on the highway. The work on the tunnel is under way.

A spokesman of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) said here today construction of a 1.5 km long safe aligned portion of the highway which included 500- metre long tunnel near Kharamukh along meandering Ravi had been undertaken on priority as a stretch of the highway along Ravi bed would be submerged in upcoming dam waters of the Chamera project (stage-III).

“Moreover, taking into account the tribal terrain in the Himalayan ranges being prove to heavy snowfall in winter, excavation of tunnel was necessary to rid danger of landslide from unstable rocky slopes in the rift valley”, the spokesman added.

The scheme of aligning portion of the highway, which had been mapped out by the NHPC as an alternative route to the submerging stretch was expected to be put through by April next year, the spokesman said; stating that it would be landmark achievement on the Chamba-Bharmaur highway to facilitate devotees of Lord Shiv and tourists visiting the region year round. 

Hamirpur, December 15
Eight-year-old Ajay (name changed) is not aware that he has inherited the AIDS virus from his parents.

His father lost his life to the disease last year and his mother has been labelled a social outcast.

She depends on her aged mother for paltry subsistence to bring up her two children.

This is a typical story of the Sujanpur area in Hamirpur district, which has earned the dubious distinction of having the highest number of AIDS cases in the state.

Ajay’s father, a truck driver, had migrated to Delhi where he got infected with the AIDS virus and it later got passed on to his wife, who now stays with her in-laws in a village in Sujanpur.

After his death at the PGI, Chandigarh, blood tests of his wife and children were carried out. While the daughter tested negative, younger son Ajay tested positive.

Since everybody in the village knows about Ajay’s mother being infected, the 27-year-old is leading a wretched life having to deal simultaneously with both the virus and the social stigma.

This, despite the massive AIDS awareness campaigns of the health department to help AIDS patients stay within the social fold.

There has been a spurt of cases of parent-to-child transmission of the HIV in the district and most AIDS-infected couples and their children prefer to keep the disease a secret until they succumb to the virus. But in this case, the family was not given this choice.

Ajay’s grandmother believes that her husband cannot bear the grief of his son’s death and blames her daughter-in-law for bringing ill luck to the family. She is not allowed to meet with any visitors, including health workers.

To fight the disease, Ajay’s mother has turned to yoga and recently attended a yoga camp of Swami Ramdev in the district earlier this year.

In her feedback to workers of the Lok Vikas Mandal, which is working with AIDS-infected mothers in the area, Ajay’s mother rues that she is finding it difficult to bring up Ajay and his elder sister, who is not infected and is a student of Class V.

Most of the small amount sent by her mother goes into the treatment she is receiving from Kulu and Una.

Meanwhile, like any young boy of his age, Ajay loves to play cricket and has the occasional fight with his sibling.

But for the occasional watering of eyes, he shows no symptoms of the disease.

“We are working on the project ‘Prevention of parent-to-child transmission of HIV’, which involves motivating women, especially those pregnant, to go in for voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) regarding AIDS. If their test results come positive, they are given a dose of the anti-retroviral drug and later the newborn is also given a dose within 72 hours. This brings down the chances of transmission of the disease by 30 to 35 per cent,” says Shailender Gupta, project co-ordinator of an NGO.

Mr Gupta adds that they meet Ajay’s mother only at group meetings in the village and she has been advised to maintain basic hygiene and focus on proper nutrition of Ajay and herself.

Dr P.C. Katwal, AIDS Control Officer, Hamirpur, says there are 296 HIV positive cases in Hamirpur, besides 18 children of 0-14 years, which is the highest in the state.

“Many young children, who have got AIDS from their mothers keep coming to the Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centre set up in the district hospital and the parents are given guidance on how to help them lead a normal life,” he says.

“After the awareness campaigns launched by the health department, the spread of the virus has come down to 24.6 per cent in the district and the spread of the disease is being gradually controlled,” he said.

Shimla, December 15
After doing away with the use of coal-fired “angithis” in the “queen of hills”, the state Pollution Control Board has decided to phase out these traditional heating stoves from other hill stations of the state.

The “angithis” or “bukharis”, a major source of air pollution, are still being used in tourist towns like Manali, Dalhousie and McLeodganj.

Various government offices and Army establishments begin using “angithis” from November 15 onwards every year.

In the process, tonnes of coal is burnt every winter, releasing sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide and other hazardous gases into the atmosphere.

This not only obscures the landscape with haze but also affects the air quality.

Surveys conducted by the board reveal that the suspended particulate matter (SPM) is 40 to 50 per cent more in winter in areas where “angithis” are used.

At times the smoke density during peak hours goes as high as 60 to 80 per cent.

The impact is felt more as the smoke, which consists of fine dispersed particles of coal (a result of incomplete combustion) tends to concentrate near the ground due to temperature inversion conditions during winter.

The board will launch a public awareness campaign to educate people about the deleterious effect of smoke pollution on humans and environment.

They will persuaded to switch over to cleaner power-operated devices or kerosene and gas-fired stoves for heating.

The board will adopt a persuasive approach. To began with an appeal will be issued to stop the use of polluting modes of heating.

Thereafter, notices will be issued to those who fail to comply, says board member secretary S.P. Vasudev.

Action under the Air and Water Pollution Control Act will be initiated only at the later stage, he adds, while expressing confidence that persuasive effort will have the desired impact.

As electricity here is cheaper than the neighbouring states, the use of power-operated devices will be cheaper than coal. Thus, phasing out of “angithis” will also be cost-effective in the long run.

Khairi (Chamba), December15
The Himachal Pradesh Youth Development Federation has written to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests to supply information about the environment clearance given to various hydroelectric projects in different parts of Chamba district undertaken by private enterprises.

In a communication to the ministry, Dr Ajit S. Bhardwaj, president of the federation, divulged that the vast hydel potential of the state was being harnessed by various private enterprises hailing from other states.

He said the federation had sought information under the RTI Act for the sake of safeguarding the green hills and inherent rights of its inhabitants. “Development of hydropower projects with vested interests should not be allowed to execute at the cost of the well being of the local residents and the destruction of natural sights and sounds”, Dr Bhardwaj said.

He lamented that the locals could not be benefited from these projects and remained deprived of employment and livelihood.

The federation had also sought information about the encroachments in the environs of wildlife habitats in Dalhousie and Chamba districts.