Wild for herbs
Govt wakes up to illegal extraction of medicinal plants
Though late in the day, the Forest Department has now decided to focus on the ever-depleting reserves of medicinal plants and herbs. The residents of Shimla have been extracting these high-value plants, which grow wild in the forests.

Medicinal plants being grown in a polyhouse by the Himalayan Research Group in Mandi for distribution among farmers.

Heritage status of Shimla to be maintained
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has said that all basic civic amenities and tourism promotional activities will be undertaken in the state capital so that the heritage status of the erstwhile summer capital of the British can be maintained.

HERE’S TO THE SPECIAL ONES

Students perform at the inaugural session of the Olympics for special children at Bishop Cotton School in Shimla

Burglars make merry in Solan
With the town witnessing a spate of burglaries in the past two months, an atmosphere of fear has gripped the residents who are now hesitant to leave their houses unattended even for a few hours.

All they need is love
Seeing them enjoy life as they dance with gay abandon to the tunes of pahari songs with snow flakes touching their gentle and innocent faces one cannot help think of giving them the best life can offer. It was one of those rare occasions when these special children enjoyed every moment forgetting their limitations and handicaps

Leave them alone
Taking into account the proposal for rationalisation of the wildlife sanctuaries in Himachal Pradesh, including two in Chamba district, expected to be finalised by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests would go a long way in hammering out the problems of local inhabitants living around the sanctuaries, thereby removing the serious handicap coming in way of their development activities.

vignettes
Far From The Madding Crowd
Two fine-looking cottages, hardly 5 km from the main town amidst sylvan surroundings, connected by vehicle-worthy road, lying vacant is enigma to anybody visiting the north of Shimla. The story of these buildings begin with one Felix Adolph von Goldstein, who was an engineer, contractor, estate agent, valuator, cabinetmaker, an agent to UK-based Ruberoid building products and was one of the three Goldsteins in the list ‘Residents of Simla, 1898’.

Big B on the sets of Shoe Bite
The arch lights of tinsel town heated up an otherwise bone-chilling snowscape in the valley of gods early this week. On the sets was none other than the Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan, supporting his grey beard and hairstyle that synced with the snow-white landscape of Manali. He had painted the town red with his admirers zeroing in on at Van Vihar, Nature Park and other shooting locations in this tourist town since January 23.

Amitabh Bacchhan on the sets of ‘Shoe Bite’ at Van Vihar in Manali

Builders Flouting Rules
Tourism projects end up as real estate pursuits
Notwithstanding, stringent revenue laws in the hill state, the builders have found a novel way of pursuing the real estate business in the garb of tourism projects. It is not just the short-staffed departments which fail to detect such flaws, but even when detected little coordination between concerned departments hamper action against the violators.

shimla Diary
Husbandary Dept sings the flu tune
The tableaux taken out as a part of the Republic Day parade to showcase the achievements of various departments are a routine affair. Not much thought goes into their making and similar themes focusing on horticulture and power are presented year after year.

BEWARE: A tableau displays information on bird flu during the 59th Republic Day celebration held at The Ridge in Shimla.

Railway projects in limbo
The proposed railway projects in the state are in limbo, thanks to the failure of successive state governments, who have failed to take up the matter seriously with the central government, so far. In fact the state has failed to find any favour in the railway budgets over the years. Even in the last budget the only consolation came in the form when it got a principle nod for the Chandigarh-Baddi rail link.