|
|
|
|
Passenger transport in disarray
Poor rain: Indora orchardists suffer losses
|
|
|
Every fourth student in Shimla drug user, says study
vignettes
Biomedical waste
Guchi production sees decline
Himachal diary
Student politics
Orient Ceramics to expand base
|
|
Passenger transport in disarray
Shimla, August 25 The situation is worse when it comes to travelling by taxis as the commuters have been left at the mercy of taxi operators unions. The irrational and indiscriminate grant of bus route and taxi permits is neither helping the commuters nor the passenger transport service providers. The successive governments have been granting permits to private operators on political considerations without conducting any traffic survey. As a result, there is overloading, with passengers travelling on the roof of buses on certain routes while on others, there is low occupancy. Two decades ago, there were only a handful of private buses, mostly operating in the merged areas of the state, and the corporation was the main passenger transport service provider. Today, the position is exactly the opposite with the private operators having a fleet of 2,708 buses as against 1,953 buses of the corporation. With no independent regulatory authority to monitor the transport sector, the influential operators have been able to secure the profitable bus routes, much to the disadvantage of the corporation. As a result, the corporation has accumulated losses to the tune of Rs 479 crore and with the annual increase of about Rs 40 crore, it is likely to reach Rs 518 crore by March 2010. It was operating on 1,965 routes, including 928 loss-making routes, with total annual mileage of 16.13 crore km. The irrational grant of permits and manipulation of the timetable to the benefit of private operators has brought down the average occupancy in corporation’s buses down from 83 per cent to 54 per cent over the past two decades. There are some other factors like free and subsidised travel facility to freedom fighters, differently abled, MLAs MPs, mediapersons, police personnel, students and other categories and exorbitantly high cost of manpower, which contributed to recurring heavy losses. The subsidised travel facility deprived the corporation of Rs 40 crore revenue, putting it at a disadvantageous position in comparison with private operators. Further, the corporation spends Rs 153
crore, more than 50 per cent of its annual revenue, on salaries, pensions and other benefits being provided to employees. The situation could be improved only by rationalising the routes after a proper traffic survey, introduction of smaller buses or maxi-cabs on low-occupancy routes, ensuring fair and equitable distribution of loss-making and profitable routes between private operators and corporation, attachment of private buses with corporation on the pattern of Rajasthan to bring down the wage bill. Further, to check unhealthy competition, the timetable should be framed in such a way that bus services are not alternated between private and public transporters. Instead, three or at least two consecutive services should be allowed on busy routes to private or public operators. The government had virtually given a free hand to taxi operators to fleece the people. The grant of more taxi permits should lead to low fares, but in reality, it’s exactly the opposite. If some operators start charging reasonable fares, others put their foot down and form a union, which fixes much higher than normal rates. This has happened recently in Waknaghat where the first private IT university was opened six years ago. Students who used pay Rs 10 for a distance of less than 3 km are being made to pay Rs 70 after the formation of a union. When the students protested, the administration approved it under pressure from taxi operators. The taxi operators are now charging Rs 70 for all vehicles, from 4-seater Maruti to 12-seater maxi-cab. Neither the university authorities nor the state road corporation has ever considered providing transport facility to the students. If the students can be fleeced in such a blatant manner with the connivance of the administration, the plight of tourists can be imagined. There have been numerous complaints of fleecing by taxi operators. And despite the directions of the high court, metered taxis have not been introduced so far.
|
|
Poor rain: Indora orchardists suffer losses
Dharamsala, August 25 The orchardists say though it has been the worst year, the climate change has been taking its toll on their orchards for the past 6-7 years. Last year also, the crop was destroyed by frost, which even led to the drying up of many mango trees in the orchards, they add. However, there has been no crop this year and the orchardists are reeling under heavy losses. The only compensation that has come to them is that the state government has decided not to charge land revenue surcharge from them. However, inquiries by The Tribune reveal that this compensation comes to just Rs 5 lakh for all farmers of Kangra district. The panchayat pardhan of Indora says earlier, the area, which borders Punjab, was known for its mango and kinnow orchards. However, due to continued losses, many farmers were now abandoning or uprooting their orchards and shifting towards traditional wheat and paddy crops, he adds. “The future of the farmers even with these crops is uncertain as there is no perennial source of irrigation in the area and crops are dependent on rains that are
uncertain”. Farmers resent that the concentration of successive state governments has been towards protecting the apple farmers. Nobody is concerned about the orchardists of the lower areas. All subsidies are provided to apple farmers, they allege. They also allege that the horticulture officials do not provide any guidance to them regarding the latest schemes floated by the government. Inquiries from the department of horticulture reveal that there are schemes in which farmers going for new orchards are being offered 80 per cent subsidy. However, none of the small farmers in the area has any knowledge regarding the schemes. There are also huge subsidies for installing drip irrigation systems in the orchards. However, just a few influential farmers having contacts with bureaucrats and politicians are taking benefits of the schemes. The government is also offering the minimum support price (MSP) for the mango crop, but the farmers allege that it is of no use for them. In case, the crop is good they get good price in the market. However, when there is no crop, there is no use of the MSP, they add. The Chief Minister, at a programme in the area, had announced to launch a crop insurance scheme for cash crops in various parts of the state. However, the government has to ensure that like most of the other schemes, the insurance of crops should not remain limited to a few.
|
|
Every fourth student in Shimla drug user, says study
Mandi/Shimla, August 25 Significantly, new users (22.7 per cent) say they use marijuana (bhang) during the Shivaratri celebrations, a popular religious festival in the state. This is the only study available on drug abuse conducted on 2,046 students, (1,267 boys and 779 girls) in seven government and five private schools in 2004. It paints a grim picture of drug abuse in the city. Dr Balraj, an epidemiologist, Department of Community Medicine, IGMC, Shimla, who conducted the study, says, “Peer influence, parents using drugs or alcohol, poor academic and lack of commitment to studies and broken homes have emerged as potent risk factors, pushing schoolchildren into drug trap”. He says Shimla is state’s representative city and calls for an immediate attention to check the risk factors. “The children should be engaged in recreational activities like sports, hobbies etc. The drug users need parents’ love and care and counselling,” he adds. There is no other study available on the drug abuse in Mandi, Kullu and Kangra districts where drug addiction has assumed alarming proportions, warn doctors. The study says the prevalence of drug abuse and exposure to drugs is nearly the same among boys of both private and government schools. But significantly, these rates are higher among girls in private schools as compared with girls in government schools. The study shows that the 56 per cent boys and 33.8 per cent girls in private schools say that they use multiple drugs. It turns out over 54.2 per cent boys and 19.7 per cent girls in government schools say that they use drugs regularly. In all, 43 per cent students - 56 per cent boys and 24.2 per cent girls - say that they have used at least one drug during their lifetime, the study finds. “They say they started using drugs at the age of 15-16 years. But some students say they used drugs when they were 10 years old”. A majority of students, nearly two-third, say they were introduced to drug by their friends. Around 11.5 per cent drug users blamed their family members. Another 42 per cent say the curiosity to test drugs for kicks drove them to take drugs. As many 21 per cent believe that they used marijuana for the first time during the Shivratri festival as part of religious ritual. Study finds that 21 per cent of the students are the regular users of multiple drugs, including marijuana or hashish (bhang), inhalants. Most use tobacco (29.3 per cent), alcohol (25.5 per cent), hash (20.8 per cent) and inhalants (8.8 per cent) as their choice of most frequently used drugs. They also use cough syrups (4.4 per cent) and opium (3.04 per cent). Over 12 young lives have been lost to drug abuse in the recent past in Shimla. In Mandi, over 25 per cent of the families are bearing the pangs of drug addiction silently, reveals an unofficial survey. Moreover, over 250 cases of drug addiction, referred from all over the state on an average every year , seek treatment at the Department of Psychiatry, IGMC. “These are only 10 per cent of the cases of drug abuse in the state”, says Dr Ravi Sharma, Professor and head, psychiatry. “Hashish or marijuana account for 40 per cent of addiction after alcohol which accounts for 60 per cent cases”. But IGMC doctors have no data to ascertain the fate of drug-addicted patients discharged from the hospital. “Some of them do quit, but we do not have exact follow-up studies as to what happened to the patients”, says Dr Dinesh Dutt, consultant, psychiatry, IGMC. But alarms do not help, says Dr Aakarshan Chauhan, president, Youth Enlightening the Students (YES), an NGO working among youth against drugs. “We are organising awareness camps in schools against drugs”, he says. The psychiatrists say people still fear stigma attached to drug addiction and do not report deaths. “Only awareness and check on drug peddlers is the solution”, they suggest.
|
|
Kargil martyr’s parents fight for justice
Palampur, August 25 Dr Kalia has already approached several national and international organisations to pressurise Pakistan to identify and punish those who committed the heinous crime. But his efforts yielded no results. While interacting with The Tribune, the disheartened Kalia couple says the Pakistani army indulged in the most dastardly acts of burning bodies with cigarettes, piercing ears with hot iron rods, removing eyes before puncturing them, breaking most of the bones and teeth, chopping off various limbs and private organs of five soldiers, including their son. Dr Kalia says, “Evidently being the leader, my son fought a real battle for 22 days, undergoing the worst possible ordeal. The enemy had to finally shoot them. The detailed postmortem conducted by the Indian Army reflects all this”. He says capturing and being captured is part of every conflict, but when these Indian soldiers were captured alive by the Pakistani army, their POW status was not intimated to India and they were subjected to such brutal treatment that violated the Geneva Convention to which both India and Pakistan were signatories. Dr Kalia argued after this, parents would think twice before sending their wards to the armed forces if the government does not do its duty in safeguarding the interests of the prisoners of wars. This must be understood that this was not the problem of the Kalia family alone, but it was a national issue, he said, adding that it was unfortunate that Indian human rights organisations remained mum and showed a feeble response to this vital issue. Dr Kalia said he was grateful to the media and the public for their support and feelings, which overwhelmed him. He regretted when the bodies of the martyrs arrived in New Delhi, there were a lot of promises from various ministers, including the Prime Minister, for taking stern action, but nothing happened.
|
|
|
vignettes The British, even those who were settled in Shimla for long, started leaving the town after Independence. Who could be the last British to bid adieu to Shimla? It was a lady who lived “alone in the dark and melancholy Victorian mansion” called North Wood. This mansion is situated about 2 km from Lakkar Bazaar on the upper Bharari Road near the present HP Police Lines. North Wood built on a flat surface looks tucked inside two mounds of hills. The entrance to the building is peculiar that appears as if a single mound has been cut into two to make a gateway. It was constructed in 1918 by architect Ronald Hotz and was sold to Maude Penn Montague in 1920. She was also known by the name of Hermione and was an extremely beautiful lady married to Capt Jerald Montague. Her only photograph at Ratanjit Singh’s Chapslee shows her as beauty personified. Her magical charm was one of the reasons that her marriage did not deter her from playing coquette to many a gentleman, including the rajas and princes. Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre write in “Freedom at Midnight” about her as the lady living alone “surrounded by six dogs, five cats, four servants and a house full of memorabilia. She speaks six languages, rises everyday at four in the afternoon. Breakfast is followed by high tea at sunset, after which Montague retires to a room that she has equipped with a Zenith Transoceanic Radio. There, while Simla sleeps, Penn listens to her radio till dawn, eavesdropping on the world”. The authors have missed out her one special possession - a big macaw bird that could really talk. Her life and lifestyle was like that - the day starting in the evening followed by sumptuous tea and then banquets and revelries and thrill and excitement in the evenings going late up to nights. When India got Independence, the feelings of many a Briton were correctly measured by the authors of “Freedom at Midnight” through the pangs of Penn.She, as the last British, died in Shimla in 1985 when North Wood went to the owners of Chapslee who started the senior section of their school there.
|
|
Biomedical waste
Palampur, August 25 Despite the fact that Kangra is the biggest district of the state and has a large number of private and public health institutions, there is no arrangement for the scientific disposal of biomedical waste. At present, most of the hazardous and non-hazardous waste generated from private and public medical institutions in Palampur, Dharamsala, Kangra, Baijnath, Nurpur and Nagrota Bagwan is being thrown indiscriminately into khuds and streams. Later, the water of these streams is tapped for public drinking water supply schemes. In Palampur, Dharmsala, Jwalamukhi and Kangra, the medical waste is dumped into Bhiral and Bander khuds or adjoining forests. These streams are a major source of drinking water supply schemes and one can imagine the quality of water being supplied from such schemes. Diseases such as hepatitis, jaundice, typhoid etc spread through the contamination of water and the biomedical waste is contributing to it in a big way. The death toll because of these diseases has also gone up in this district. Official sources reveal that water-borne diseases have become common here and every fifth person is suffering from one of these diseases. In view of the indiscriminate disposal of biomedical waste, the Central government had made amendments to the Environment and Forest Protection Act, 1986. Subsequently, in 1998, Biomedical Waste Management and Handling Rules, 1998, were forwarded to the states for compliance. These rules provide for control on the generation and handling of all biological and medical waste. However, most of the municipal councils in Kangra are openly flouting these rules by dumping the entire medical waste near the towns. Most of the municipal dumps are situated along the national highways. The district administration is well conversant with the situation, but has become a silent spectator.
|
|
Now, services to rural people at doorstep
Nurpur, August 25 The process of setting up these centres has already been started in Kangra, Chamba and Una districts. Various Government to Citizen (G2C) services and Business to Consumers (B2C) services would be operated from these kendras for rural people at the doorstep. These kendras will provide hi-tech services at grass roots level. According to Sidharth Shanker Pandey, regional manager, ZDPL, the department is working as nodal agency at the state level for better implementation of the programme. He informed that it was an IT revolution which would speed up the development in the rural area. “With the functioning of the kendras in the state, people will not have to wait in queue or to go to departments numerously for their jobs done,” he added. Inquiries reveal that under this project people in the rural area can file complaints/demands from their respective centres on which a registration number will be given to them. They can check the status of their complaints/ demands online from these centres. G2C services like payment of electricity/water/telephone bills, public grievances, education services, land records, employment services, election department services, social welfare services, agricultural services, etc, will be activated very shortly. B2C services like mobile recharge, railway booking, airlines booking, PAN card applications, digital photography, insurance/banking services, courier and various other services had been activated this year. Only one centre will function in one gram panchayat.
|
|
Guchi production sees decline
Shimla, August 25 Fetching almost Rs 12,000 to 14,000 per kg, the production of guchi (morchella esculenta), which grows naturally in deodar forests, mainly in Shimla, Chamba, Kullu and Mandi districts, has shown a decline. Though no proper survey has been conducted, forest officials point out that villagers who are into guchi business have reported that as compared to higher collection earlier, finding the valuable pick is getting tougher and rarer. Being a natural fungus, which requires high moisture content, guchis show up after rains that take place post-winter in March-April, thus leading to the popular belief, “bijli aye, guchi laye”. “Improper hand-plucking technique adopted by the villagers destroys the colony permanently as the roots are also pulled out, resulting in reduced production,” points out Goraya, chief conservator, forest. It is with the objective of creating awareness and imparting proper picking technique that the forest department entrusted the task to a Chamba-based NGO. Plays and skits were performed in 36 villages under six panchayats of Chamba and Bhattiyat blocks in the remote areas bordering Jammu and Kashmir for almost year and a half. About 100 schoolchildren were also taught the proper way extracting guchi with a knife. Even though it was a very small project covering a few villages, the results have been positive and encouraging. “Our field staff have confirmed that guchi that came to the market for sale had proper knife stem cuts and not the original root pulled up with the produce,” says Goraya. The fact is that when guchi is cut with a knife, the roots are not damaged and moreover, only the fungus which is of the right size is taken out and not the immature fungus. “This will automatically enhance production and keep the colonies intact helping in good production the next season,” say officials. As per rough estimates, over a tonne of guchi is collected and sold by people residing in the deodar belts which are above 7,000 ft. In the absence of any organised market, villagers sell their produce to local traders who in turn make huge profits on the rare fungus, which is a highly priced delicacy in five-star hotels. Even though guchi is found in all areas having deodar growth, the villagers in higher reaches of Kulu, Mandi, Shimla and Chamba make a good earning from its business. After knowing the proper technique, it is expected that the quantity of guchi that the villagers pick up will increase.
|
|
Himachal diary
The general impression about the three-day “Chintan Baithak” of the BJP held at Peterhof in the state capital early this week is that it only increased “chinta” (worries) of the party.
However, the party could certainly pat itself on the back for one reason. It managed to keep the proceedings of the closed-door meeting a completely secret affair. It was a big achievement in view of the growing tendency of party leaders to leak the internal matters to select mediapersons. In fact, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh had recently chided the party to keep its internal deliberations on various sensitive issues secret. Even deliberations among three or four top leaders were being promptly leaked to mediapersons, it lamented. However, the party had made amends and taken care to ensure that nothing came out from the four walls of Peterhof. The meeting was attended by 24 leaders but no selective leaks and the leaders came out to interact with the media only to deny the reports regarding the Bal Apte Report and to affirm that it was not discussed. The fact that the party held two press conferences within an interval of half-an-hour on the final day left the media confused. While Rajnath Singh briefed the media about the meeting, Sushma Swaraj held a separate conference to tell what the party supremo, LK Advani, said in the meeting. It would have been a different story had the party not expelled senior leader Jaswant Singh before the start of the meeting.
Telefilm “Moksha”
The telefilm has been scripted by Shriniwas Joshi and directed by Mohan Joshi who has also played a major role. The story revolves around “lala” (shopkeeper), played by Achhar Singh Parmar who realises that his life was becoming constrained ever since he acquired wealth and had a well-settled family with a son and a daughter-in-law. He felt fettered and yearns for “moksha” (freedom). Krishna Sharma, Dayal Pasad, Raj Sharma, Hukum Sharma and Roshni Justa are the other actors in the film. It took six months to complete the film which had been shot in a private studio. Joshi said there was no dearth of artistic talent in the state, only opportunities were lacking.
Religious gurus seek publicity
Everybody in society seems to be eager to hog limelight in the media these days. Many religious gurus have become almost regulars on TV screens and now some local-level swamis have also started vying for space in the media. Many of them have started holding press meets in their ashrams and temples inviting mediapersons just to share
routine matters. The gurus have become enthusiastic and they are trying to do whatever they can to achieve the objective. They ensure that vehicles are provided to transport mediapersons for press meets. One such overzealous religious guru has even appointed a public relation officer to ensure proper publicity of the religious shrine and maintain regular touch with
mediapersons. (Contributed by Rakesh Lohumi and DP Gupta)
|
|
Student politics
Hamirpur, August 25 The student leadership, which used to be a domain reserved mainly for boys some time back, has found a change and many girls are attaining top positions in university and college student bodies’ polls. Taking a look on the results of the just concluded Students Central Association (SCA) elections in Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) campus, Shimla, and affiliated colleges, it becomes evidently clear that not only many girls have been elected on top posts of president but also many of them have been elected on other posts. In the local postgraduate college, Hamirpur, too, Anu Kumari has been elected as president of the SCA. Due to social taboo and family pressure many girls had not been coming forward to play an active role although their number was quite high in colleges. There was a general perception that girls being a weaker section cannot effectively lead the students and though number of the girls invariably being higher in the colleges and in the university campus, their chances to win in the boys-dominated SCA was
also doubted. With the fast changing social change and outlook in society, girls have also started attaining the leadership of students and are now contesting the SCA elections quite actively. The things have now changed to such an extent that the presence of a girl representative on a panel of every student organisation contesting the elections to the student bodies has become almost a necessity. The election of Shikha Chauhan as the first elected president of HPU campus, Shimla, during the last election has also changed the perception about the girls as student leaders. She not only always remained in the forefront of student activities in the university campus but also led the students from the front be it against the university authorities or
the police. Telling about the changed perception about girls attaining leadership in student politics, Anu Kumari, newly elected president of Hamirpur College, says: “It makes no difference if girls attain leadership or boys take up top posts. Basically, it is a question of raising the students’ issue effectively by using the forum of SCAs and girls do not lag behind in this task today”.
|
|
Orient Ceramics to expand base
Kasauli, August 25 While talks are on to rope in investment from Russia, West Asia and Eastern European countries, the company has already started work on its new manufacturing base in Andhra Pradesh. This would be the first JV of the country’s leading tile manufacturer which registered a profit after a tax growth of 156 per cent in the last fiscal. Unaffected by recession, the company has registered a profit before tax growth of Rs 10.26 crore which was an increase of 135 per cent over the previous fiscal.
|
|
||
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
The local Natraj Theatre Group has come out with its second telefilm “Moksha” over a short period of time. The small screen family drama brings out the frustration of a poor shopkeeper after he acquired wealth.