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Villagers want Army firing range shifted Women, including mothers of the deceased children, wail during a demonstration at Gurkhari village, demanding shifting of the firing range. Photo by the writer
No check on dumping debris
Construction debris is dumped at a slope along the McLeodganj-Bhagsunag road. Photo by the writer |
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Govt numb to negative impact of heli-skiing
State literate only in statistics
Police drive against drug trafficking
Rohtang Tunnel
Vignettes Guler rest house built in ‘pahari’ style.
State fails to boost industrial growth
Himachal High Court has come a long way
This judge is known for simplicity, devotion to duty
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Villagers want Army firing range shifted
Kangra, March 16 The notified firing range area located at Kachairi has invited criticism from people of the area. Anil Damir, pradhan of Gurkhari village, alleges that residents of villages surrounding the firing range area have been moving from pillar to post seeking the shifting of the firing range away from the populated area, but with no positive result. He says earlier a shell fired by the Army smashed against a residential house and the police investigation ended without any result. Rahul, Suhail and Chandan, three children who had gone to the nearby forest area of Khohala village collected some live shells which resulted in a blast, killing all three on the spot. The villagers held a protest demonstration at Gurkhari on March 10, and blocked traffic for four hours on the national highway against a delay in the postmortem of the victims. They also demanded shifting of the firing range. Jeet Singh Thakur, SDPO, Kangra, said there were live shells still spread in the area and the police had requested the Army to collect and defuse them, but without response from the Army. He said Army officials had maintained that shells and other ammunition in the forest area belonged to the BSF. Atul Fulzele, Kangra SSP, said earlier, when a shell hit a residential house, the police investigated the matter, but the Army did not cooperate. He said the police had requested both Army and BSF officials to collect the shells to avoid any further causality. Jeet Singh, DSP, said it was not possible for the police to collect and defuse the shells for the want of technical expertise. He said live shells collected by the bomb disposal squad from the site of accident at Khohala were defused with the help of ordinance Army officials of Baklo. Meanwhile, residents have urged the Defence Minister, AK Antuly, to sort out the issue.
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No check on dumping debris
Dharamsala, March 16 It is the duty of the local municipal council and district administration to check dumping of solid waste. A dumping site has been established in Dharamsala as per directions of the Supreme Court. The dumped debris should be used as filler in low lying areas where construction is to take place. However, to make it practical a proper management is required. The authorities should force people carrying out construction work to dump debris at places marked for the purpose. Interestingly, inquiries reveal that despite the fact that debris is being dumped illegally along the hills in large quantities, no one has been booked for the offence. The authorities said they had not received any complaint in this regard. It is surprising that the authorities, instead of taking suo motto notice of solid waste being dumped in the forest areas, are waiting for a complaint to check the illegal practice. It has been found that even in case of illegal constructions, the town and country planning authorities limit themselves to issuing notice to offenders to save their skin in case of enquires. No concrete action has ever been taken to stop the practice.
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Govt numb to negative impact of heli-skiing
Manali, March 16 Local NGOs and residents in Vashisht and Prini panchayats have been protesting against heli-skiing for years on the plea that helicopters used in skiing are wreaking havoc on the wildlife and environment. “Skiers indulge in hunting and dump solid waste on the scared mountain tops, which are worshipped as abode of gods and are a source of drinking water in the valley,” they resent and blame it on the ministry and the private company which operates heli-skiing in the Manali region. Despite the fact that the government signed an MoU with Himachal Helicopter Skiing Pvt Ltd in December 2007, the company changed its name to Himalayan Heli Adventures Pvt Ltd and opened its seasonal office in Prini, near here. Moreover, the company has deployed three foreign helicopters piloted by Swiss pilots, who are running the show in Himalayan skylines and over the aerial space of the Indian Army base and Snow and Avalanche Establishments (SASE) raising security concerns. Apathy of the forest and tourism departments is understandable as they do not have equipment or staff to go to the snow clad mountains to map the negative impact of heli-skiing and the violation of aerial space. Residents say heli-skiing spots like Beas Kund, Fatru, Bhrigu, Chandrakhani Pass, Deotiba, Chandrasen and Hanuman Tiba are worshipped as ‘sarovars of devtas’. These snow-fed lakes are sacred as these feed water sources in the region. LS Katoch, president, Janjagran Manch, Kullu, says local people go barefoot to these spots in summers, but the government is hurting their sentiments, besides destroying the sanctity of water sources. “We have been protesting against heli-skiing since 2000 and have been urging the government to ban it as has been done in France”, he stresses. But helicopters and skiers continue to have a free run in the entire Himalayas from Rohtang pass to Chandrakhnai and even in the Lahaul valley as there is nobody to pay heed to the negative impact of heli-skiing on environment, activists rue. “We have found bones of animals from the higher reaches, which are hunted by heli-skiers,” charges Katoch. The helicopters disturb birds and wild animals who come out for grazing in the lower margins. The impact is such that leads to their death in some cases,” activists say. “It is a noisy hell when choppers take off from Ambassador Resort daily to the ski slopes and one wonders what kind of tourism the government is promoting in peaceful valleys,” they say. Heli-skiing has been an exclusive domain of foreigners. “It remains out of the reach of Indian tourists as the company charges 6,450 euros per skier for a week’s trip”, reveal company sources. Rajeshwar Goel, Manali SDM-cum-district tourism officer, says they check the bills and NOC of the company monitoring its activities. PK Sharma, conservator of forests, Kullu, says the ministry gave permission to the company on December 18, 2007, on over 3.77 hectare of snow land only in the Manali and Naggar forest ranges. “We have no information that company is violating the norms and disturbing the wildlife”, he adds. Arun Sharma, director, tourism, claims that the company has been granted permission for heli-skiing and it pays royalty to the department per guest. “I am not aware about whether the civil aviation ministry has permitted foreign pilots to fly the choppers”, officials add, showing their indifference to issue. Manjiv Bhalla, company manager, has been pleading that they have got the NOC from the ministry and the tourism department and pay $300 per guest as royalty/tax to the tourism department.
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State literate only in statistics
Dalhousie, March 16 Revealing this in an interaction with this reporter, Alok Mahendroo, Managing Trustee of the Himalayan Village Education (HiVE) Trust, says the standard of education in Chamba, as in the rest of the state remains woefully below the standard. Mahendroo and his wife, Isha, have been working with children and women in the rural areas of Kangra and Chamba for the past 15 years. At present, they are principally working in small villages nearby Dalhousie Hill town where they run village libraries, tailoring schools and computer centre amongst their activities. According to them, most of the children, in the villages where they are working, even after passing higher secondary school examinations are still not fluent in reading and writing Hindi mainly because Hindi is not the language they use at home, where they speak Gaddi, Chambyali or Pahari and English is still poppycock for most of them. Girls coming to learn tailoring even after having passed class XII do not know fractions and decimals and there would be hardly any student who would know how many centimetres are there in a metre. Isha, who has specialised as a primary school educator, feels sad at this state of affairs where primary education is not given enough importance. The parent teacher associations should not be merely used to throw out the teachers, but to correct their performances. Transferring a teacher means that the problem has been shifted somewhere else and not really corrected. There should be district or area-wise assessment groups made up of educated and knowledgeable people who should take up inspections and provide recommendations. Also the quality of textbooks at the primary level should be improved instead of following substandard books that are full of mistakes. Angry at this state of affairs, Mahendroo lashes out at education system saying, "It is not education! It is genocide where we are guilty of destroying generations of children, pushing them through primary schools by making them learn questions and answers by rote that are going to come in the examinations and then passing them through secondary school because it is too late for them to relearn their basics".
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Police drive against drug trafficking
Nurpur, March 16 The car was going towards Pathankot in Punjab. During search 60 gm of heroine, 100 gm of opium and 150 gm of charas worth lakhs were seized from the car occupants. Car occupants Atul Sharma, alias Vicky, of Thanger and Yashpal, alias Sonu, of Toond village were arrested. A case has been registered against them under the NDPS Act. Earlier, the police intercepted a motorcycle on the Jassur -Dhameta Chowk road and seized 110 gm of charas from the riders. The riders tried to flee but were chased and nabbed. In another case the police arrested a youth at Jassur and seized 60 gm of charas from his possession. According to Sanjiv Gandhi, ASP, Kangra, the police endeavour is to ensure that the youth do not fall prey to drug peddlers and send out a message to those involved in this anti-social and illicit trade that they will not be allowed to play with the lives of people," he asserted.
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NGO resents nod to cut trees for dumping site
Our Correspondent
Kullu, March 16 Abhishek Rai, president of the NGO, says the society has urged the court to direct the government and the BRO to earmark more places to dump the muck instead of one place of 41.05 hectare near Dhundhi on the south portal of the tunnel. This forestland has been allocated to the BRO for the dumping of muck. The 9-km long Rohtang tunnel is an important project from the defence point of view. It took more than a decade for necessary permissions and funds to bring the project on track. The work has been allocated to Afcon Straw Bach Venture. It is also expected that the work would be started by the end of next month.
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Guler heritage should be restored
by Shriniwas Joshi
Jiwanand Jiwan, a retired Principal Secretary to the government, and I had come to Haripur Guler 35 years ago for settlement training mandatory for recruits in the administrative service. On my recent visit here, I chose the same room of the rest house where we had stayed then.
The rest house, built in old Pahari style of architecture and occupying a small corner of a huge ground (See photo) would please any heritage lover. On the other end of the ground, a plaque reads: "Stone for the stadium is laid by Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal, MP, on November 18, 1994." A stadium means 'a large, usually open structure, for sports events with tiered seating for spectators.' As I could find no tiered seating there, I asked the young boys playing cricket that if a stadium ever existed there and a reply in the negative made me feel sorry for that 'liar' stone. Not far from the rest house is Goverdhandhari's temple in the 17th.century 'shikhar' style with exquisite stone idols and fine latticework on its walls whose front face has been spoiled by erecting a horrible structure that houses senior citizens' office. I expect that elders should, at least, show respect for the old monuments of their areas and maintain their ambience. The Babaji in the temple told me that the 'ashtdhatu' idol of Goverdhandhari had long been stolen and that of Radha in brass was suffering the anguish of separation from her Lord since then. The dilapidated striking old gates at Mata Rani Chowk and old Guler can be restored, provided there is will. A temple of Ram at the chowk claims to be 800 years old. I doubt its age as it appeared younger but its delightful shikhar stands punctuated by wild grass that needs to be removed and the temple conserved. The forts of Kangra, Haripur and Kotla were worth reckoning in Kangra district. Raja Harichand had built a fort at Haripur in the 15th.century. It is in ruins now. It can be protected as it is because it has a great story to tell and a great view of flowing Baner. Hari Chand, Raja of Kangra in 1405, was fond of hunting. Once he went to Harsar in Guler for sport and fell into a well. Search to locate him for several days went in vain. Believing that he had fallen prey to a wild beast, he was declared dead and his Ranis performed 'sati'. His younger brother, Karam Chand, was enthroned in his place. Hari Chand was found alive in the well after 22 days. He was rescued but he decided not to return to Kangra to dethrone his brother. He carved out a separate principality of Guler from Kangra, of course, with consent of the new King. Hari Chand then began searching a proper site for his capital. A milkman indicated ideal locations for the fort and the town to Hari Chand. The Raja liked those and, as was the custom then, the milkman was sacrificed and his head was buried in the foundation of the fort to ensure its stability. So came Haripur in existence in 1465. There are several neglected monuments in and around the twin township of Haripur Guler. The former Chief Minister had declared in 2007 that Haripur Guler Development Board will be set up for restoration and preservation of the rich cultural heritage of the area. I do not know whether it has been formed or not but a girl,Reeya, has blogged in 2009: "Nothing has been done for developing Haripur ...it's still the same... please try to understand its our own land; so many beautiful old monuments are there... please maintain them for our future..." Guler, the land of Chandradhar Sharma of 'Usne kaha tha' fame and Seu, Manaku and Nainsukh, the forerunners of Kangra painting, deserves better upkeep.
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State fails to boost industrial growth
Solan, March 16 Figures available from the industries department prove that as against 12,802 registered units, barely 6,151 units came into production and out of the proposed Rs 40,649 crore, investment worth Rs 6,327 crore materialised. Similarly, the number of employed youth is 80,000, which is a mere 17.46 per cent of the proposed employment of 4.58 lakh. This low score proves how the state’s youth have been betrayed on the employment front while the government failed to attract even those industries which had got themselves registered. Though officials in the department plead that this figure would rise as scores of industries are on the verge of initiating their operations before March 31, but one wonders if just 17.46 per cent of youth got employment in seven years of the package period, how much would the figure rise in the next few days. With the public sector offering limited employment avenues, the government has been publicising industrialisation as the biggest employment generator. This myth has, however, been exposed with these figures, which has added to the frustration of educated unemployed whose figure is more than 8 lakh in this small state. Investors who shied away from investing in the state opine that the tedious procedure of section 118 of the HP Tenancy and Land Reforms is the biggest impediment. Moreover, a little has been done to sustain the industry which is keen to invest in the state. With major groups like Indo Rama, a textile major, which had earlier come up with a project of several hundred crores and had finalised Lodhi Majra near Baddi, withdrawing its case, a question mark has been put on the department concerned. About 100 bighas in Lodhi Majra was allotted for the unit more than a year ago, but the non-acquisition of a 15-bigha stretch of private land within that plot deterred the unit from going ahead with its investment plans. Further, with little stress on infrastructure and other development activities, industrialists are a worried lot. Even the much-hyped Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh Industrial Development Authority failed to have a permanent CEO with the work being managed on an ad hoc basis on several occasions. This proves the seriousness of the government in facilitating the industry. The roads are not being maintained regularly and potholes especially dot roads of the coveted Export Promotion Industrial Park in Baddi where most of the MNCs are housed. It shows the authorities in poor light when foreign dignitaries visit their units here. It is time that the state government pay heed to improve the requisite facilities so that industrial growth could be sustained and youth get enough employment opportunities.
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Physicist does Hamirpur proud
A physicist from Nadaun, Dr Rajeev Puri, presently working as associate professor of Physics at Panjab University, Chandigarh, has brought laurels for Hamirpur district by getting nominated to the editorial board of Physics Research International, published by International Hindawi Publishing House Corporation. The Hindawi group publishes more than 200 journals of science, including medicine, veterinary, physics, chemistry and geology. Dr Puri is already placed on the international board of editors of Georgian Electronic Science Journal: Physics and the Indian Journal of Science and Technology. He has also been on the international board of referees of many countries, including USA, UK, Europe, Singapore, Russia, Slovakia and Argentina. Dr Puri was recently granted an international project worth Rs 75 lakh by the French Government. Dr Puri has published 290 research papers in different journals and conferences with h-index 16. Dr Puri gives full credit of success to his teachers at Government High School, Joginder Nagar (Mandi), where he did his schooling. A post-doctorate from Germany and France, Dr Puri is a well-known nuclear scientist and also a recipient of national awards from the Atomic Energy Commission of India and the India Physics Association. Digressions,
Phalgun Utsav at Gaiety
The two events, organised by the State Language Art and Culture Department in collaboration with the Lalit Kala Academy, were inaugurated by Governor Urmila Singh. In all 26 paintings of artists from various parts of the country and the state were displayed. However, the bronze and ceramic sculptures turned out to be the main attraction of the exhibition. The local "Thirkan" Group and "Vishal Sanskritik Dal" presented colourful kathak dances during the utsav. Veena recital by Kumar Mishra also drew a loud applause from an appreciative audience.
Debris dumping sites
The Shimla Municipal Corporation has finally initiated steps to prevent reckless dumping of debris generated due to construction activity. It has identified 16 dumping sites in the city for the purpose. As forest land is involved in some sites the corporation will have to obtain clearance form the Forest Department. In the absence of any convenient earmarked sites, the builders have been illegally dumping the muck on hill slopes, which not only destroyed all vegetation but even damaged full grown trees. In fact, a large number of trees in the city have dried up due to the dumping of muck and domestic waste. Even 16 sites are not sufficient as those building houses will have to transport the debris over a long distance which is not only inconvenient but also a costly affair. It will be worthwhile if the corporation carries out an exercise to identified stretches of roads which could be widened or slopes which could be reclaimed by raising retaining walls so that debris could be used as filling material. It will help create space for parking of vehicles, setting up parks and other development works at minimal costs and at the same time the people would not have to transport the debris too far. (Contributed by DP Gupta and Rakesh Lohumi)
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Himachal High Court has come a long way
Shimla, March 16
The court has several achievements to its credit. It has the honour of having had a woman Chief Justice in the illustrious Justice Leila Seth. In fact, Justice RS Pathak, who headed the Himachal Pradesh High Court rose to become not just the CJI but also had the rare distinction of being judge of the International Court of Justice at Hague. The first Chief Justice of Himachal who became CJI was Justice MH Beg. The Central Government promulgated the Himachal Pradesh (Courts) Order, 1948, on 15th August, 1948, under which the Court of Judicial Commissioner was established for Himachal Pradesh at “Harvington House” in the Bharari area of Shimla. It was vested with the powers of a high court under the Judicial Commissioner's Court Act, 1950, besides the Court of Judicial Commissioner, two courts of District and Sessions Judges and 27 subordinate courts were also to be set up. The Court of Judicial Commissioner started functioning on August 15, 1948 and in the same year, two courts of District and Sessions Judges were also established. The Punjab High Court rules and orders with suitable amendments were made applicable. On April 29, 1967, two more District and Sessions courts, one for Shimla and other for Kangra, were established. However, in 1966, the Delhi High Court Act was enacted and from May 1, 1967, the jurisdiction of the said Act was extended to the Union Territory of Himachal Pradesh, replacing the Court of Judicial Commissioner by the Himachal Bench of Delhi High Court. It was then the court started functioning in the old high court building known as “Revenswood”. As such, the jurisdiction of the High Court of Delhi was extended to the Union Territory of Himachal Pradesh under the Delhi High Court Act, 1966. At that time, Justice KS Hegde was the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court. After Himachal attained statehood in 1971, its own high court was set up in the Revenswood building, with Justice MH Beg its Chief Justice and Justice DB Lal and Justice CR Thakur the other two judges. Justice NM Kasliwal, Justice M Srinivasan, Justice D Raju and Justice LS Panta from this court had the honour of being elevated to the Supreme Court. Today, the High Court has 11 judges, including the Chief Justice. With almost 56,000 pending cases, Chief Justice Kurien Joseph who took over recently has set a time frame to bring down the number of pending cases. The real task is to first clear old cases, some of them more than 20 years old, which he hopes to clear by the end of April. It was the vision and concern for protecting the fragile Himalayan ecology that Justice Joseph decided to set up a “Green Bench” which hears cases every Friday and if need be on the next day. A step being widely appreciated not just by environmentalists and NGO’s but also by people in general who have concern for environment. Considering the damage that has already been done to the fragile ecology by way of mining, coming up of cement and hydro power projects, it is being hoped that the “Green Bench” would help in checking further degradation. Besides, there are a number of other steps which he intends to take in the near future, including setting up of “Gram Nyayalayas” so that poorest of the poor can get justice at their doorsteps.
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This judge is known for simplicity, devotion to duty
Bilaspur: District and Sessions Judge Preetam Singh, who retied on February 28, was given a warm and emotional send-off by the entire judicial community, including the Bar and members of the judiciary. Born on February 1950 at Chandron in Jaisinghpur tehsil of Kangra district, Preetam Singh was very popular for his amiable personality as he was always ready to come to the help of the poor and the needy and the hapless. He got his law degree from HP University, Shimla, he first served at the Accountant-General office at Shimla before joining the Himachal Judicial Service as a Sub Judge-cum-Chief Judicial Magistrate on October 26, 1982.
— OC
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Resentment prevails among residents of at least 10 villages surrounding the Kachiari firing range area of the Army following the death of three children due to blast at Khohala on March 9.
People carrying out construction work in the Dharamsala area are throwing rules to the winds so far as dumping of debris is concerned.
A number of construction works are on in McLeodganj and Bhagsunag.
Himachal diary
Ever since its restoration last year, the Gaiety theatre has been humming with artistic activities. This week saw two major events, an exhibition of paintings, sculpture, ceramics and prints titled 'Digressions' and 'Phalgun Utsav', which treated performing arts enthusiasts with some exquisite dance performances (See photo).
