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The killer drive
Shimla, November 11 During the recent years, the number of accidents has shot up and last year the number of casualties in road mishaps was an all time high of 979 as compared to 687 in 1998. Even though the inquiry report to look into the cause of the accident near Lambidhar near Kufri is yet to be submitted, preliminary indications point at negligence on the part of the driver. It is only now that even the traffic police has stepped up its campaign to check the use of stereos and mobile phones while driving, although it is being enforced strictly by the police of other states. The sorry state of affairs is also an indicator to the fact that people have scant respect for traffic rules and most individuals, unmindful of their own safety and the threat that they could cause to others uses mobile phones and stereos, violate traffic rules with impunity.
Even though the Central Motor Vehicles Act prohibits use of stereos in buses, except those having separate cabins, almost all private buses play blaring music, a blatant violation of the norms in the absence of any checking. Though after the recent accident strict checking is being done by the authorities, including checks by transport minister Kishan Kapoor himself, it remains to be seen whether it becomes a regular feature or lasts only till the time the hue and cry over the accident lasts.
"Nobody will be allowed to play with the precious human lives and all those found to be flouting the rules would be punished," said the minister. It is a fact that whenever the transport authorities and the police try to tighten the noose around the private bus operators they resort to pressure tactics as they threaten to bring the public transport system to a halt. This time too they did bring their vehicles to a halt after the crackdown. The fact that a large number of the private bus drivers are not well trained to handle heavy vehicles, results in human errors, thus high casualty. There have been instances when the private bus drivers are driving the bus when they only have a light vehicle driving licence. “What we need to have is a stricter system for issuing driving licences so that those on the wheel have knowledge of traffic rules and road safety and above all respect for safety of others on the road,” says J.R. Thakur, DIG (railways, tourism and traffic). He has taken the initiative for collecting data regarding the total number of vehicles registered in the state and those entering the state on a floating basis. This in turn will help in better traffic management and assessing the carrying capacity of the existing roads and their upgradation. In fact, the authorities are even considering opening more driving schools and permit training of those engaged by private buses in the transport driving schools at Jasur in Kangra and Tara Devi in Shimla. “We have received Rs 80 lakh for strengthening and upgrading the facilities at Jasur driving school and as such we are in a position to give drivers of private buses a training of 15 days, which is mandatory for the HRTC buses after their selection,” said T.C. Janartha, managing director, HRTC. The bad road condition, too, has contributed to road accidents in the state. The absence of parapet and fortifications even along the most treacherous tracks also results in the worst ever accidents with the casualty figure being too high. The police authorities have identified a total of 536 killer spots where a large number of mishaps have taken place. Out of these spots, about 24 black spots have been short-listed where steps like road widening, indicators and erection of parapets would be undertaken to reduce accidents and minimise the loss of life in case of a mishap.
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Feels like heaven
Nurpur, November 11 Numerous species of migratory birds from Siberia, China, Tibet, Mongolia, Iraq and Pakistan throng the wetland in November every year only to return to their native places in March just after the end of winter and the onset of summer season. Significantly, this year about 5,000 migratory birds did not return and got adjusted with the local climate. Wildlife department sources reveal that as many as 5,000 foreign birds formed their nests on the trees in nearby villages and after reproduction they have returned to the wetland, adding to its beauty. The department undertakes census of migratory birds every year during peak days of their arrival. According to DFO wildlife Hamirpur S.K. Guleria, about one lakh migratory birds have been recorded in the census undertaken in January and February this year and so far about 30,000 have arrived. "The department is expecting a fall in the number of migratory birds this year due to inadequate water recede in the wetland as more exposed area of the lake attracts more migratory birds," he added. Meanwhile, with the arrival of these exotic birds poachers are back in action. Though the department has tried its best to curb this menace, poachers keep adopting new techniques to kill the birds. The DFO says the department has set up 10 chowkis alongside the wetland for keeping a round-the-clock vigil on the poachers.
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No solution in sight
Kuldeep Chauhan Tribune News Service
Mandi, November 11 The Mandi Medical College Sangharsh Samiti (MMCSS), comprising members of all parties, except the BJP, and numerous other organisations have been sitting on a chain hunger strike here since October 20. The protesters have been accusing the Dhumal government of “adopting a stubborn non-democratic attitude” towards their demand. Earlier, the Dhumal government had withdrawn a notification regarding the medical college issued by the previous government and issued a fresh notification proposing to attach the zonal hospital to the medical college to be opened in partnership with private parties. In fact, the government proposes to attach zonal hospital to the three private medical colleges that it wanted to open one each in Mandi, Hamirpur and Una following the public-private partnership (PPP) model. Though the government has not yet experienced success in the PPP model, exerts say this model is prone to constant wrangling between the management and its staff, and between the government and management. They also point out that the government has failed to attract good doctors and over 800 posts are laying vacant, severely hitting the patient care in district and civil hospitals. The experts further say that there is no guarantee that private management will attract good doctors, as they demand hefty pay packages. There are instances where guest faculties and doctors are running private colleges or hospitals in the state. Meanwhile, former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has said the Congress issued the notification in 2007, but the BJP withdrew it soon after assuming power. “This amounts to step-motherly treatment to local people,” he pointed out. He said the Congress would start the medical college as and when it came to power. “We had constructed a 500-bed hospital in Mandi and land had been identified for the medical college, but the Dhumal government brushed aside interests of Mandi people by allotting a private medical college here,” he added. Meanwhile, state Congress president Kaul Singh Thakur has warned that the MMCSS would take issue of medical college to its logical end. “The government can open private college, but first priority should be given to a government medical college,” he added. CPI state president Des Raj and CPM president Bhupinder Thakur asserted that private college attached to the Mandi zonal hospital would never be allowed to come up as it would amount to putting infrastructure worth crores created at the expense of public at the disposal of some private party. A private college would run with a profit motive and poor patients would be a casualty, they charged. MMCSS convener Sunder Lohia said the protest had got popular support but the sad part was that the government had turned out to worst even than the colonial rule as it had not even bothered to invite the samiti for talks. A former Mandi district Congress president, Veer Singh Chauhan, alleged that the samiti had written several remainders to the Chief Minister requesting him to invite members for talks and restore the earlier notification, but he had turned a blind eye towards the demand of the people of Mandi. He said Dhumal should stop making it a prestige issue and should immediately invite samiti members for talks. He said patients from Lahaul, Kullu and Bilaspur come for treatment at Mandi zonal hospital and no government could ignore their right to cheap and round the clock medical care. BJP president and Chachiot MLA Jai Ram Thakur said the Congress had issued the notification on the eve of polls just to lure voters. “It did not make any budgetary provision for the college. The government is still open on the issue whether it will be private or government college,” he added. Health minister Rajiv Bindal said the government had appointed a consultant on the public-private partnership proposal who would submit its report soon. He said the government would ensure that interests of people were not ignored. “It is not necessary that zonal hospitals will be attached to the three proposed medical colleges in Mandi, Hamirpur and Una”.
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History in ruins
Kumarhatti, November 11
The fort, also known as Gurkha’s castle, that could prove as a goldmine in promoting adventure tourism in a big way in this region has so far got no attention of the successive governments, who otherwise claimed to make the state prosperous by using tourism as a main tool. Nothing concrete has ever been done to preserve this relic except from granting some funds, doing surveys for maintenance and making unplanned ways to restore the pristine beauty of the fort.
Ironically, a team member based in Shimla that had done survey of the fort about a year back, reveals that it is hard to match even the 50 per cent of architect quality of that period as well as the construction material used when the fort was constructed. The walls cannot be repaired thanks to the rare architecture, informs the team member. The raw material used at that time is no more in use now. Without that arrangement the repair of fort is a tough task, rues the member seeking anonymity. Moreover, the Solan forest department that was entrusted with the job for its maintenance has expressed its inability to do so citing the same reason. In fact, the exact history of fort is still a puzzle. There is no record available. There is also nothing in the British accounts about this fort, its garrison or maps of battles fought here. However, the famous belief is that Amar Singh Thapa built the fort after he signed the famous treaty of May 15, 1815, with British General David Ochterlony. There are some other beliefs that the fort was set up by the Maharaja of Patiala or by pahari rajas as the check-up post. Whether this particular fort was part of the territory gifted or sold by the British to ally Maharaja of Patiala or whether it had reverted to previous pahari raja are not known with certainty. However, this is sure that David Ochterlony was highly impressed with the fighting skill of Gurkhas. This development led to the formation of the first Gurkha Rifles. The regimental history of Gurkhas is well-documented thanks largely to the British. After trying hard to find concrete history of the fort, a documentary filmmaker planning to shoot a film on the fort sums up in distress that there are lots of questions that remained unanswered but such is the pathetic state of historical data in our country that there are very few authenticated answers. According to a myth, the Maharaja of Patiala got this hill as a reward for helping Ochterlony in beating the Gurkhas at Malaon in 1814. Sanads attached to the treaty of Seaugali in 1816 confirm that he did get a lot of hill land but whether this particular hill was also included, could not be said with confirmation. According to the Himachal Tourism website, there are a lot of similarities between various forts. One other obvious question is that what was the strategic significance of this fort? Nothing of importance by itself was on this hill, so it seems that it was an outpost of sorts, more defensive perhaps. Though what happened later after treaty of Segauli is still unknown but there is also a big question mark on whether this mountain belonged to the Maharaja of Patiala or some pahari raja or was a part of the British India. The mystery behind the origin of this fort thus remains.
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Eco, Rajbhasha awards for NHPC region-II
Dalhousie, November 11 NHPC’s region-II executive director Nain Singh said the region had recently received the Greentech Golden Award for the third consecutive year for the exceptional implementation of environment safeguards in hydropower sector. The Greentech Foundation, New Delhi, has selected the NHPC region-II on the basis of technical details and presentation made before the evaluation committee in August this year, the executive director stated. This prestigious award was presented during the 9th global conference held recently in Goa and chief (geology) D.C Tripathi presented a technical paper in the presence of eminent participants of various government organisations and other reputed institutes of India. Likewise, in the field of national language, the region has been awarded the Rajbhasha Shield as the first prize for 2007-08 for effectively implementing the use of the official language, Hindi, in its offices.
Nain Singh further asserted that Banikhet was the first region of the NHPC for getting this award continuously for the past three years. He further added that the award had been achieved only due to the dedicated and efforts of the staff. Meanwhile, the NHPC region-II had also been awarded for its book, “NHPC — Chamba Zile Ke Samridi Ka
Paryaya”, for 2007-08 under its special rajbhasha implementation award scheme started to encourage the use of Hindi among employees of the corporation. “The people of Chamba have given their wholehearted support in completing NHPC’s mega hydropower projects well before time. Thus, the book is a complete account of the development of the district after the arrival of the corporation in the area,” said executive director.
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Preparing to manage natural disasters
Pratibha Chauhan Tribune News Service
Shimla, November 11 The fact that many parts of the state, including Chamba, Kangra and Shimla, fall in the high seismic zones IV and V. There is need to ban all multi-storeyed buildings and construction activity in the sliding zones. Holding a mock drill certainly ensures the preparedness of the agencies concerned. But taking precautionary measures like restricting high-rise buildings and use of light construction material, which would minimise loss of life and property, is the need of the hour. Successive governments have been talking of declaring Shimla a no construction zone but construction activity is being carried on in full swing. Moreover, till date six retention policies have been floated that give relaxation to those who flout norms. Till concrete measures are not taken to ensure restricted construction activity and in accordance with the norms, the situation is likely to go from bad to worse. The NDMA would be holding similar mock drills, which were held in the crowded Lower Bazaar area and Sanjauli for earthquake. This was the 40th mock drill that was held in the country as part of the initiatives of the NDMA to check the preparedness and coordination of various agencies. BJP faces
uphill task
Under tremendous pressure to give an impressive performance in the Lok Sabha elections after the formations of its government in the state, the search for formidable candidates in the BJP is underway. Baring the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat from where sitting MP Anurag Thakur is comfortably placed, the situation is not so cozy on other three seats. With indications that former Chief Minister and Congress stalwart Virbhadra Singh is likely to be fielded from the Mandi Lok Sabha seat, the BJP leaders are even more worried. Added to this is the fact that former union minister and Rajya Sabha member Shanta Kumar has made it clear that he would not contest the polls. “All the three potential candidates, Ravinder Ravi, Ramesh Dhawala and Sarveen Chaudhary are in no mood to give up their ministerial berth, so we are in quite a fix over selection of candidate from Kangra,” admitted a senior party leader. With the graph of the Dhumal regime has come down, even if marginally, the outcome of the Lok Sabha polls would be a reflection on its one-year performance.
Valuing disabled people
As part of the initiatives of the National trust to have a support system and safety nets for people suffering from profound disabilities, Sahyogi, a personal care support system is being developed. The National trust works for the welfare of persons suffering from autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation and multiple disabilities. Efforts are being made to address major and urgent need of the community by training and deploying caregivers. “This could perhaps in some ways address the universal worry of parents as to what will happen to their child when they are no more,” says secretary of the Chetna Association Mallika Nadda. If anybody requires a helper at home, school or at workplace they could get in touch with the caregiver cell (CGC) of Chetna Association at House no-23, Roura, Sector-II, Bilaspur district. Under the programme to develop caregivers, two courses would be held. The first would be for sahyogi level-I, which would be of 25 days duration along with four months on the job training. The second would be sahyogi level-II, which would involve a five months programme. It is hoped that a caregiver support system would reduce problems being faced by parents and families who have tremendous responsibility of taking care of a person suffering from a major disability.
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Shimla’s Christ Church
by Shriniwas Joshi
Almost an equal number goes to the credit of camera-holding visitors. Designed by JT Boileau in 1844, the second oldest church in North India (Ambala church is older) was consecrated in January 1857, by the Bishop of Chennai. It consists of a nave, a chancel, a window (added in 1864) and frescos (now plastered) were designed by Lockwood Kipling and done by the students of the Mayo School of Art, Lahore. Around 574 to 630 people could be accommodated in the 100 x 42 ft seating area. The 90-ft tower, the clock donated by Colonel Dumbleton, porch and the stone pulpit were added in 1860, 1873 and 1877, respectively. The striking stained glass window was raised in the memory of Walker. The east window with the subject of Te Deum, a traditional hymn of joy and thanksgiving, was erected in 1890, in the remembrance of the wife of Bishop Matthew. M/s Bueilson and Grylls of London had completed this work. Morgan and Smith of Brighton installed the biggest pipe organ in the subcontinent here in 1899. The church consecrated on January 10, 1857, proved good as initial assembling place for about 800 panicky whites on 12th May 1857, when beginning of uprising of 1857 in Shimla was sensed. Though nothing happened here, yet the Church was a great consolation to the horrified. The estate of Bally Hack comprised the Church complex and Bally Hack, the building on the back of popular Taka bench. This building, now Siddhowal Lodge, was the Christ Church lodge where priest lived. It unsuccessfully tried to unsaddle Kennedy House (1822) from the list of first house in Shimla on strength of a letter written on 15th May 1910 to its the then occupant Archdeacon Nicolls by one Earl Roberts, “The house in which you are living was built by my father about the year 1826. It was the only house in Shimla. He called it Bally Hack, the name it bore when I first visited Shimla and the house in which Lord Amherst lived when he visited Shimla, the first Governor-General to do so in 1827.” Edward Buck writes that Lord Amherst in 1827 was the guest at Kennedy House and his words are accepted. The present Christ Church lodge was built in 1916 where the priest lives. A Georgian sundial above the entrance has ‘Pereunt ET Imputantur’ inscribed on it. It was a favourite Latin motto for clocks and sundials of that era from poet Martial that meant hours perish and are reckoned to our accounts’, meaning thereby that hours pass so we should spend these prudently. This building was earlier used as Middle school and then from 1948 onwards as Christ Church College for ladies. When Raja of Siddhowal purchased Bally Hack, the priest shifted here and the college with strength of 300 had to be closed down in 1954. An interesting story is of Sadhu Sundar Singh from a Patiala landowner’s family. He was a student in the Christian Missionary School. His mother died when he was 14. He was shocked and went into a fit of despair and violence. He ridiculed the sacred teachings received in school, brought Bible and burnt it page by page and shouted that if God did not talk to him by morning, he would commit suicide by throwing himself before a running train. Next morning, he claimed that Jesus appeared before him and he heard his voice too. He adopted Christianity and was baptised at Christ Church Shimla in 1905. He went to the Sabathu Leprosy Home from here where he served the lepers and served the humanity at many places and died in 1929 in the Himalayas. Several biographies written on him speak of his piety, humility and spirituality.
Tailpiece
The present members of the Church are hardly 180 but during the Raj, the seasonal influx would be so great that, at times, the space posed a big problem. A vicar, once spoke on enormous space taken up by the spread of women’s crinolines. Next Sunday, the chastened ladies turned up in riding outfit.
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Harassed traders dial 100
Rajiv Mahajan
Nurpur, November 11 Raj Kumar Gupta, president of Beopar Mandal, and Pawan Kumar, secretary of brokers’ association, in a joint complaint to the Kangra SP have urged the district police to check the terror let loose by members of so-called transport society who had allegedly been harassing traders and interfering in the business activities at the wholesale grain market by hiring musclemen, notwithstanding orders passed by the state high court against the latter for not interfering in the business activities. Urging the district police to act in this regard, the traders rued that their business had been badly hit as the local transporters did not allow customers to lift goods from the grain mandi either in their own vehicles or vehicles hired by them on competitive transport cost. “The local transporters are forcing them to transport their consignment only in their vehicles for which they charge exorbitant transport rates,” they lamented.
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With a huge and ever expanding fleet of 2,800 private buses in the state, there is a need for enforcement of the regulations, most of which are already laid down for private bus operators. Incidentally, the number of accidents involving them has been almost five times higher than the government-owned Himachal Roadways Transport Corporation (HRTC) buses. The HRTC has a fleet of about 1,800 buses.
Christ Church is the most photographed building in Shimla. In fact, it is the signature landmark of the town. Subhash, a peddler photographer on the Ridge, informs that he and his clan click about 700 photographs of the Church a day on an average.