vignettes
by Shriniwas Joshi
Shimla A five-tunnel town
If the plains have flyovers, the hills have tunnels. A tunnel is an underground passage way. In general, tunnels are enclosed on all sides with openings at each end and at least twice as long as they are wide. Since 1945, five tunnels of Shimla town, two of which are dysfunctional presently, fit into this definition.

A view of the Lower Bazaar tunnel in Shimla. photo bt S. Chandan

Haphazard construction beckons destruction 
Ravinder Sood
Despite the fact that the entire Dhauladhar Range in Himachal Pradesh falls in the most sensitive earthquake-prone areas, haphazard and unplanned construction of residential houses and other buildings is going on unchecked. 

STEP OUT
Yana Banerjee-Bey
Last ascent for Edmund Hillary
The pioneer of Everest departs on his final journey 
SIR Edmund Hillary, the grand old man of mountaineering – indeed, of adventure – has passed on to another world. When the golden jubilee of his Everest ascent with Tenzing Norgay came round in 2003, he had graciously borne the May heat in Delhi to attend celebrations by the Indian mountaineering community.

Sir Edmund and Lady June Hillary at the commemoration of the Everest golden jubilee in Kathmandu in May 2003.

E-WATCH ON TRAFFIC
Dharam Prakash Gupta
While the new traffic regulation at Hamirpur has given a new look to clogged roads of here, this initiative has also changed the priority of the traffic police here. The district police after doing its home work for quite some time swung into action few days back to make the town congestion free and to bring perceptible changes according to the growing traffic needs of the residents.
SPY EYE: A vehicle-free Gandhi Chowk after the new traffic regulations were made operational. photo by Dharam Prakash Gupta

Special kids need full-time physiotherapist
Kuldeep Chauhan
There is no full-time physiotherapist available for the treatment and training of the physically challenged children under the home-based programmme meant for their education and training under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) in the state. Over 2,100 physically challenged children can not walk, can not move their limbs properly and are still spurned as “handicapped” even years after the SSA launched its home-based-programme in the state for their education and treatment. Parents find themselves unequipped and untrained in handling them.

shimla diary
Here’s hoping the pinch ends soon
Pratibha Chauhan
The local municipal corporation (MC) is keen on making money even if it brings inconvenience to the public. This is precisely what is happening as people are being made to wait for long hours at the shooting site near the Willows Bank hotel, here on the Mall Road. Nobody has a problem with the shooting taking place, but it should not hinder the movement of the public and vehicles.

BUSY SHOOTING: Actors Diya Mirza and Amitabh Bachchan on the sets of ‘Shoe Bite’ in Shimla. 

Tehsil work suffers
Ashok Raina
The decisions taken to serve political interests usually put common people to inconvenience. One such glaring example was the announcement of the creation of a new revenue tehsil camp at Nagrota Bagwan without providing the requisite staff , putting the people both at Kangra and Nagrota Bagwan to great hardship.