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Ski village project faces uncertainty
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Endangered Mahseer faces extinction
shimla diary
Race hots up for ministerial berths
Road blockade hampers fuel supply to Chamba
Parents get tips on bringing up kids
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Ski village project faces uncertainty
Manali, June 2 The Janjagran and Vikas Munch (JJVM), Kullu, is spearheading the anti-ski village and anti-Pulchan-Rohtang ropeway movement. The JJVM has mobilised 24 NGOs or organisations in Kullu to register their protest against the village during the public hearing fixed for June 6 in Manali. Nine villages protesting against the ski village or ropeway projects include Pulchan, Kothi, Ruar, Solang, Kulang, Burwa, Majeli, Shanag and Goshal. The project will snatch away their sources of livelihood as they operate as travel agents, pony operators, photographers, snow dresses or roadside dhabas and catering to tourists. They have grown apple orchards, which is enough for them to sustain. Even the companies or their agents are trying to win over the villagers offering them underhand deals, they charged. LC Katoch, president, JJVM, said the government had always kept them in the dark about the ski village project and now another Pulchan-Rohtang project. “We oppose the ski village and ropeway projects. Their purpose is to grab villagers’ land and turn the whole area into a real estate business of selling cottages, plots or camps to outsiders,” the JJVM asserted. Even the gram sabha had passed the resolution on February 28, 2003, summarily rejecting the ski village as it would destroy their water sources, pasture land and forests and ruin orchards. All villagers have their ‘bartandari’ rights in the area being earmarked for the ski village or the Pulchan-Rohtang ropeway, they said. On the other hand, after the exit of Albert Bush Ford, grandson of Henry Ford, from active participation from company’s board of directors, the five-member board of directors of the project has also come under the scanner of the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) under the state Anti-corruption and Vigilance Bureau. The SIU has begun its probe into the “entrustment of company”, scrutinising documents submitted by the company to the state government, along with its detailed project report on the ski village. With the change of guard in the state, the present government doubted the entrustment part of the company credentials and has brought it under the SIU scanner, sources revealed. Moreover, the fate of the HSV company has become uncertain as the company has shed more than 90 per cent of its staff pleading that the “company has suffered losses due to recession and the state government has not taken any positive step on the DPR submitted to the former”. Ajay Dabra, director, HSV, said the investors’ confidence had been pushed beyond patience as the state government had not responded positively to the project. “It is for the first time that the state government is conducting public hearing ahead of other proceedings,” he added. Dabra said the ‘khasra’ numbers of land on which the ski village project was being proposed were the same as that of the Palchan-Rohtang project. “The two projects are not feasible at the same site. We have sent the complaint to the government but without answer and we are hearing about the probe or inquiry,” he claimed. A senior government official said the government was examining the company’s complaint and had decided to conduct public hearings on the project on June 6.
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Recreated stolen idols restore faith of devotees
Shimla, June 2 It was one of the most difficult assignments for the artistic genius who has proved his mettle by sculpting the images of various eminent personalities and idols. Apart from the main idol, three more images had been stolen and he had to reproduce all four. Moreover, it involved the sentiments of the devotees which could be restored only by creating idols as good as the original ones to inspire their faith. The temple committee had chosen him for the job on divine intervention and he has proved equal to the task. He created the images using the photographs of the idols, which the management of the temple had taken from time to time for printing calendars and publicity material for the annual Shoolini fair. The texture was matched with other idols in the temple which survived the theft to create the original looks. “It was a divine duty which he was able to fulfill with the grace of the Almighty. It took more than four months to accomplish the job but gave me immense satisfaction,” says the modest sculptor who teaches art at the local Rajiv Gandhi Government College. A postgraduate in Indian bronze sculptures from Vishva Bharati University, Shantiniketan, Gautam uses the lost wax process for making the sculptures. He has more than 24 important sculptures to his credit that include busts of eminent personalities, martyrs and religious idols. The 12.5-ft tall statue of Maharana Pratap installed at the Pong Dam is his largest creation. Other works include idols of Lord Hanuman (Bhumpal), Goddess Durga (Kothi Jamogi), Khunnu Rinpoche (Kinnaur), late BJP stalwart Jagdev Chand (Hamirpur and Sujanpur), Thakur Sen Negi (Reckog Peo) and Subhash Chandra Bose (Hamirpur). “Sentiments help bring out the best in an artist whatever be the medium of his expression,”
he said. He said metal sculptures were in great demand for decorative purposes and it was a field worth pursuing. The youth were also keen to pursue the art, provided proper guidance was available. In his own institution, the number of students had risen from six, when he joined, to over 100 within a couple of years. However, there was a big hurdle which discouraged budding sculptors - lack of facilities to pursue higher studies in the field. Not a single institution in the state offered postgraduate courses that dissuaded even the most talented sculptors to pursue a career. The problem could be solved if a postgraduate course was introduced in Himachal Pradesh University, he suggested.
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Endangered Mahseer faces extinction
Palampur, June 2 The major causes of this loss are the distortion of rivers due to the construction of river valley projects, multipurpose dams, shrinking habitat and poaching. While exploitation and poaching deplete the fish population, the construction of barrages acts as a physical barrier in the migration of this fish resulting in the prevention of its breeding, feeding as well as rearing of its progeny. The state has a rich diversity of water resources in the shape of snow-fed perennial rivers, seasonal streams and reservoirs, ponds, natural lakes and irrigation channels. Here, Mahseer is described as the food fish of the fishermen and an ace game fish equivalent to Canadian Salmon by sport fishermen visiting the state. A serious setback to its population was realised in early 1980s when members of the Himachal Angling Association noticed a steep decline in its availability and considerable reduction in its size. Within a span of 10-15 years, the appearance of Mahseer in the catches of fishermen using cast nets dipped to as low as 2 per cent. Accordingly, the association demanded the inclusion of Mahseer in the list of endangered species. Passive conservation measures like the introduction of rational licensing, regulation of mesh size of nets, prescribing stringent punishment for offences of dynamiting and poisoning of waters, declaring some waters as sanctuaries etc., included in the HP Fisheries Act, 1976, did not help much. These measures became meaningless in the Himalayan ecosystem due to the abysmal state of their implementation and host of other reasons such as rapid urbanisation, road construction, river valley projects and excessive fishing
pressure.
The NBFGR ultimately included Golden Mahseer in the list of endangered species. It is over a decade when this was done but nothing has improved as no concrete steps have been taken. The dwindling fishery resources in the country and also the devastatingly reduced stocks of the game fishes have been worrying conservationists and members of the angling associations. It is unfortunate that the state government and the bureaucracy is insensitive and non-responsive to the issues raised for the promotion of sport fishing and boosting “fish tourism” even though the state has two of the world’s best game fishes, Trout and Mahseer. The tourism department must give a fresh look at the state’s potential for the sport. The fisheries department has to draw an action plan with an inbuilt roadmap to maintain the population of suitable game fishes, at least in some selected stretches at the optimum level.
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Boundaries bring Army in conflict with villagers
Tribune News Service This week,residents of Chandmari village on the Dharamsala-Mcleodganj road, most of whom are ex-servicemen, locked horns with Army personnel on the issue of fencing. Most of the residents of Chandmari village are retired Army personnel from Gorkha regiments. They have settled in the village since the Gorkha regiment was set up at Dharamsala by the British in 1830. The residents of the village have been using paths to the main road that pass through the Army land. Even half of the school ground of the village is on the land. The villagers with the money provided by the government have converted the kutcha paths into concrete lanes. However, now the Army authorities have started constructing fences to cover their land or save it from encroachments. The result is that all paths leading to the village are on the verge of getting blocked. The district administration had tried to broker a deal in favour of villagers. It was decided the Army personnel would leave the school ground and the 10-feet- wide path to the village and the Himachal government would provide alternative land as compensation to the Army. However, this week when the Army once again started the fencing work, the villagers took to the roads once again. Similarly, in the Yol cantonment area also the Army authorities have erected a wall to mark their boundaries. The wall has blocked the passages being used since decades by the local villagers. In many of the areas the villagers now have to cross rivulets to reach their fields and homes. They cannot carry two-wheelers or other vehicles to their property due to the newly erected wall. Peeved residents of Yol had also resorted to agitation after which the Army authorities conceded to allow them to pass through the cantonment areas. So peeved are residents in Yol area that they even boycotted the elections Yol Cantonment body that oversees the development of the area. The Army authorities justify the move to raise the boundary wall in the cantonments areas. They maintain that with the growing value of land and pressure of population the number of encroachments on Army land is increasing. Once permanent structures are raised by locals on Army lands, it is difficult to remove them.
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shimla diary
Eminent scientist Jayant Vishnu Narlikar has expressed his concern over the declining interest in basic sciences among the younger generation, but he has hoped that the opening of world-class institutes would help attract talented boys and girls to pursue science.
Country’s best-known astrophysicist, who is in the city to deliver a series of lectures on “Is Modern Cosmology a Scientific Theory?” at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, asserts that the five Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, which had been modelled on the pattern of IIMs, were comparable with the best in the world and had all facilities to attract scientific talent. Known for the contribution he made for popularising science among children, Narlikar was himself instrumental in setting up of the Pune-based Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), which he headed for almost 15 years. The scientist conceded that intuition played an important role in important breakthroughs made on the research front. However, intuition was also guided by some principles and one had to grapple with the problem, available research matter and data till the time a bright and a novel idea strikes the mind. Citing the example of famous physicist Dirac, who gave the quantum mechanics theory, he said the famous scientist intuitively wrote some equation and asserted that it was true. The justification of the mathematical formula came years later after the group theory came into being and it actually turned out to be true. He lamented that the scientists did not start with an open mind and only looked to improve and modify the existing theories, blocking the flow of new creative ideas. The general impression among the people that universe came into being following the “Big Bang” irks Narlikar, who asserted that the famous theory was not the final word on the creation of universe. It had not been verified and given the limitations of scientific experiments, it might not been even possible to do so. There was no way to detect and study super high energy particles, which must had been created at the initial burst of “Big Bang”, due to limitation of particle accelerators.
Seminar on role of media in polls
Participants at a seminar organised by the local chapter of the Indian Media Centre (IMC) on “Elections 2009 - Role of Media” expressed concern over the commercialisation of media space during the elections, putting the credibility of both print and electronic media at stake. Veteran journalist and director of Delhi-based IMC Shyam Khosla, in his keynote address, termed it a grave development and called upon mediapersons to join hands and wage a battle to nip the evil in the bud. If such aberrations were overlooked or taken lightly, more newspapers and news channels would be sucked into the morass in the next polls and it could even become an accepted practice, spelling doom for impartial and ethical journalism. He also called for self-introspection by media. He said there was a need to have media council, a body with more teeth to regulate media. The Press Council of India was ineffective to take any action against the defaulters, as it did not have powers, he added. Former chairperson of the department of journalism and mass communication, Himachal Pradesh University, Vepa Rao, asserted that the evolvement of a healthy system was a big challenge. He said media was suffering from the crisis of ethics and the lack of investigative skills. Director, Public Relations, JR Katwal said media had the capacity to mobilise public opinion as such it must regulate itself. He said during recent poll coverage more than 70 per cent of space in media was devoted to meaningless political speeches, whereas other important issues were ignored. President of Shimla chapter of the Indian Media Centre PC Lohumi said the biggest debate over ethics had been drawn by the concept of space marketing, which even put the credibility of media at stake. District police chief RM Sharma said mediapersons should not form nexus with the officers as it would affect the quality of
reporting. — Rakesh Lohumi
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Race hots up for ministerial berths
Mandi, June 2 In the polls, Dhumal himself has received a setback as his lead margin in his home segment of Bamsan has been reduced from 26,000 votes to nearly 16,000 votes. As a result, all ministerial hopefuls have got a breather. In fact, the patience of the MLAs and their supporters has been wearing thin as Dhumal has been delaying the filling of the vacant berths even as almost 16 months have passed after the formation of the government. The voters of the state have surprised all state bigwigs as their lead margins have been reduced drastically. Even the lead margins of five times Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has been reduced from 20,000 votes in Rampur segment to over 15,000 votes. Other bigwigs like Vidya Stokes failed to give a lead to Congress candidate Dhani Ram Shandil from Shimla, the sources added. Meanwhile, state BJP president and three-time MLA Jai Ram Thakur and Una MLA Satpal Sati, a close confidante of Dhumal, have emerged as strong contenders for the two ministerial berths. Modinder Singh Thakur from Dharampur is another hopeful contender. More representation to Mandi has assumed significance as the BJP had won six Assembly seats from there, but there is just one minister from Jogindernagar, who incidentally is the father-in-law of Anurag Thakur. The Congress had made an issue during the Lok Sabha elections that the BJP was discriminating against Mandi by not giving it enough representation. No doubt, Mohinder Singh Thakur has given the maximum lead of 14,864 votes to Anurag Thakur this time, but the chances of Jai Ram Thakur from Mandi has increased due to several factors, the sources said. Jai Ram’s supporters said he had established the BJP in Seraj, once the stronghold of the Congress. More so, Jai Ram’s term as the state party chief had been successful as the BJP was able to form the government, they said, adding the BJP was also able to wrest the Shimla Lok Sabha seat from the Congress for the first time.
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Road blockade hampers fuel supply to Chamba
Chamba, June 2 They have also been facing shortage of kerosene, which has, too, proliferated their misery of domestic requirements. In fact, the supply of these items has been hampered as the transport services could not ply due to the blockade of roads from Chamba and Lahaul side due to snow. According to the inhabitants of these tribal areas located in the tough terrains of snowy mountains, they were facing a great difficulty without cooking gas and kerosene. More than 600 LPG consumers of the areas have been facing the problem due to the shortage of cooking gas and kerosene at a time when the residents were unable to meet their requirements of fuelwood even.
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Parents get tips on bringing up kids
Shimla, June 2 More than 150 parents attended the programme with resourceperson Rashmi Srivasatava, regional academic head, Euro Kids, northern region, giving tips on how to handle the kids. She highlighted the activities undertaken by the children during a typical day at the school, which included playing, painting, dancing, singing and other activities. The parents were informed about their role in preparing a child for pre-school and handling a
child. An interactive session was also held.
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