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Traffickers unleash cruelty on cattle
Garbage disposal in Shimla comes a cropper
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Vohra relives his days as SDM
Space crunch plagues regional hospital
Nalwari mela losing sheen
Shortage of funds hits Nurpur ITI building project
Power project a source of misery for residents
Nalagarh investors form body
NIFT students display talent
vignettes
Engg students display skills at NIMBUS
Himachal diary
Widening of Chamba-Goli stretch hits roadblock
Stray cattle menace in villages too
Indifferent attitude of power board irks consumers
PHC Kihar sans doctors
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Traffickers unleash cruelty on cattle
Dharamsala, March 30 Nek Mohamud, a People for Animals (PFA) activist, reported the matter to Una SP Santosh Patial that large numbers of buffaloes were being carried in a truck. The SP directed the police to intercept the truck. The police caught the truck and brought it into police station. According to the PFA activist, the police did not dislodge the animals from the truck for one day. There were 40 buffaloes packed in suffocating condition in the truck by Saharanpur-based traders who were taking them to slaughter houses in Uttar Pradesh. Next morning, when the animals were dislodged, 27 of them were found dead. The rest were also in critical condition. The Chandigarh chapter of the PFA would take the injured animals in their custody, he said. Police officials, however, maintained that the animals had already died due to hazardous journey they undertook from the Dehra area of Kangra to Una district. “We have booked the culprits under the Prevention of Cruelty Against Animals Act 2008”. However, punishment under the Act is meagre. When caught, culprits have to pay a fine of Rs 2,000 and the offence is also bailable. Offenders generally do not take the Act seriously due to the meagre sentence. Rajshekar, secretary of the Animal Welfare Board of India, said as per the Act, carrying of six animals are allowed in a small truck. In a bigger truck, a maximum of eight to 10 animals are allowed. He said the board had recently sent its recommendations to the Centre to increase the sentence under the Act. “We have recommended that a maximum fine for carrying animals in violation of the said Act should be increased to up to Rs 50,000. Besides, the vehicles in which the animals are transported in violation of the Act should be impounded permanently under the Wildlife Act,” he said. The sources said under the Act, the police had the power to seize animals being transported in violation of the rules and hand them over to NGOs. However, since there are a few NGOs taking care of stray animals in the state, the police finds it hard to dispose of animals caught in such cases. In the Budget passed recently, however, the state government has made provisions for opening of gaushalas for stray animals in the state.
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Garbage disposal in Shimla comes a cropper
Shimla, March 30 Over the past 15 years, several schemes for door-to-door collection of domestic waste have been implemented, but without much success. Only about 55 to 60 per cent of the waste is being collected and in the absence of a solid waste management facility, there is no proper disposal. Segregation of biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste is the first step towards its scientific disposal, but so far not much has been done on this front. It is hardly surprising that a huge amount of litter ends up on slopes and nullahs, which not only pollutes the environment, but also causes aesthetic degradation of hills. Most of the 206 garbage dumpers provided in various localities are eyesore, as monkeys and stray dogs spread the litter all over the place. The residents are wary of having a dumper in the vicinity of their houses because of the foul stench it generates and the litter thrown around. In fact, the problem of monkeys and stray dog nuisance is largely attributed to the lack of proper solid waste management. Dogs often use dumpers as kennels. With houses perched on steep slopes, it is not easy to put a system in place for collection, segregation and scientific disposal of waste from every household. “We are aware of the problem and working on a new scheme after identifying all bottlenecks and shortcoming of earlier attempts,” says AN Sharma, commissioner of the corporation. It will be implemented through the Shimla Environment Heritage Conservation and Beautification Society of which every household will be a member. The idea of floating a society is to involve the residents. It will function under the aegis of the corporation with the commissioner as the chief executive officer. A pickup vehicle is being acquired for all 25 municipal wards for the collection of garbage and its carriage to the solid waste management plant being set up at Bharyal near Tara Devi at a cost of Rs 16.5 crore. Expression of interest has already been invited for the project which will have a capacity of 100 tonnes. Every household will be provided green and yellow bins for biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste, respectively, which will be collected by workers engaged by the society. In due course, the entire garbage will be collected daily and garbage dumpers will be done away with completely, Sharma explains. Unlike the failed waste management project at Darni ka Bagicha, the new plant will use in-vessel technology to make compost from biodegradable waste. Recyclable non-biodegradable waste will be sent for recycling and inert non-biodegradable waste will be disposed of at landfill site to be created near the plant. Once a system for collection and disposal is in place, the focus will be on enforcing the law under which throwing garbage on slopes, drains and nullahs is a punishable offence, he says.
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Vohra relives his days as SDM
Nurpur, March 30 His recent visit for a few hours during his sojourn in Himachal Pradesh surprised his old colleagues when he called everyone by name. He also hugged them and inquired about their health and family members. He even hugged Vidhya Devi, an old woman who worked as safai karamchari in his office. Vohra showed his interest in
the now hi-tech SDM office. He also shared his experience as SDM over 48 years ago. He pointed out that at that time, there were no fans in the office and kerosene lamps were used. “People were leading a hard life,” he added. Before arriving, Vohra had asked the local administration to give message to all his old colleagues and friends to remain present in the SDM office during his brief visit. Sat Mahajan, former minister and octogenarian Congress leader, who was president of the local municipal committee during 1961-62, was also present. Vohra’s old colleagues told The Tribune that meeting and sharing moments with such a personality who had risen from the post of SDM to the Governor of a state was a pleasant experience. During his visit here, Vohra and his wife visited the historical Brij Raj Swami temple.
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Space crunch plagues regional hospital
Solan, March 30 Interestingly, an ambitious plan to open a specialised hospital had been chalked out during the last term of the BJP government. The plan was, however, scuttled at the last moment, following pressure from a section of businessmen, who were averse to shifting their business establishments to the new site located on the bypass road. The failure to shift the hospital had left the administration with little option to add facilities to the existing space. The administration had now undertaken work to construct a new mortuary in place of the old one and a multi-storey building was slated to come up in its place. The authorities now have
shifted the mortuary right next to the housing quarters of doctors, which has become a point of concern for the residing doctors. “It has made our residences a miserable place to live,” lamented doctors. However, CMO Ashok Tagra said it was a temporary arrangement and a wall would be erected around the mortuary to keep it aloof from the housing quarters. In another bid to cope up with the increasing influx of patients, the hospital administration was also thinking of dismantling the two residential quarters and erecting another multi-storey building that would house various facilities, including housing quarters for the doctors. The scarcity of space has, however, made it difficult for the doctors to handle the ever-increasing influx of patients, which failed to be accommodated in the small OPD rooms. The CMO, while agreeing to the scarcity of space, said they were trying to make optimum use of the space and adequate funds were available for expanding health facilities.
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Nalwari mela losing sheen
Bilaspur, March 30 Now, things have changed to such an extent that it hardly carries the traditions except a part of inauguration which starts with pitching a peg into the ground and tethering bullocks with it and worshipping them for bringing good crops and prosperity to the people. Before the onset of summer and start of harvesting season, there was a plenty of time for Rajas and the people to celebrate. The entire population of the state used to converge at the famous Sandhu ground. Now, the ground has been devoured by the Gobind Sagar lake. It was made a regular and annual feature as a ‘Pashu Mela’ for the development of good breed bullocks and other cattle by their exchange, sale, purchase, etc., from Chaitra 4. The dates were agreed by the princes of at least four adjoining states of Handur, Kehloor, Suket and Kangra apart from the hakims of Ropar and Patiala. The “Kanooni Report Bandobast” of Vikram Samvat 1946 of Kehloor state gives the credit of naming the fair to Nalwari mela to superintendent W. Goldstein of the Shimla division. He visited this place and started the cattle trade. This account is mentioned by Amar Singh, a revenue officer of the Raja that time, in his report in 1907. Traditionally, the fair fulfilled several objectives like encouraging rural traditional sports, games, mass entertainment and also preserving, protecting and developing the local hill folk art and culture in its true spirit. For the past several years, the fair has been turned into a political affair. Rural sports, local cultural events and folk artistes and artisans are being ignored. A huge amount is spent on filmi and uncultured programmes, urban sports and irrelevant events inviting criticism from several sections of society. The fair is losing its sheen and something serious needs to be done to restore its traditional gloss and glory.
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Shortage of funds hits Nurpur ITI building project
Nurpur, March 30 The PWD released the drawings of the proposed building by January this year to the contractor charged with constructing the ITI building. The department owes Rs 60 lakh to the contractor who had so far completed work worth about Rs 1.40 crore on the building. The PWD authorities have, however, served four notices on the contractor for delaying construction. AK Abrol, executive engineer, Nurpur PWD division, said a letter had been sent to the director, technical education, Shimla, to release more funds for timely completion of the building.
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Power project a source of misery for residents
Kullu/Brau, March 30 The project has turned the area into a dumping ground, as sewerage and debris flow on the road as tippers and other heavy vehicles ply round the clock, resulting in bronchial and pulmonary ailments, added the residents. They do not sprinkle water, thereby risking health of residents, as aerosols are deposited on crops and houses, they rued, demanding action against the SJVNL that claims to be a “mini ratna” company. The project has become a source of misery for the residents living from Wazir baori to Brau. While residents of the new colony have yet to come to terms with a tragedy that struck Lasah colony at Khopri just opposite to new colony last year, in which the residents had to desert the place in the nick of time to save their life, as the rains and debris sank the colony. “The project has not erected retaining walls along the 800-m long road stretch that lies just 100 ft above the colony that houses 4,000 people,” rued members of a local NGO Spardha. The colony faces threat as the road has exposed it to danger of sinking, they rued. “We have taken the matter with Kullu DC, PWD Department and the SJVNL, but no action has been taken so far,” they complained. “Even work on sewerage line for Brau, as promised by the SJVN three years back, still remains a paper work,” rued the residents. SE of the PWD Ritesh Kumar said the Brau-Jhakhri road has been widened and was being strengthened and the SJVNL has given Rs 2 crore for this road. “But the right bank road from Wazir Baori is maintained by the SJVNL and PWD has no role,” he added. RHEP in charge (environment) Arvind Mahajan said he was not aware about the problems, as nobody has brought it to his notice. “The roads are maintained by the PWD, as they get funds for the same from RHEP.” He added that the RHEP has deposited Rs 4 crore under local area development authority (LADA) with DC Kullu, who is the LADA chairman. “We are public sector undertaking and does not execute works directly,” he explained. DC Kullu BM Nanta, who is on official training, said the panchayats have to give project list under which the funds are allotted to the affected panchayats. The LADA funds are given to different schemes, including water supplies etc, he added.
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Nalagarh investors form body
Solan, March 30 About 150 investors unanimously elected Prem Sharma as their president and Harish Aggarwal as senior vice-president. Rajesh Aggarwal and Sahil Kumar have been elected vice-presidents; Ramesh Gupta, Rakesh Sharma, Vinod Khurana and Hitender Chawla got the posts of general secretary. Anil Sharma has been given the task of press secretary while an organising secretary, three joint secretaries, a treasurer and directors have also been elected. Prem Sharma said, “It is regrettable that significant issues like road connectivity have suffered adversely and the crucial Chikni bridge, which got damaged in August 2008, is yet to be repaired. Not only are the roads of the Nalagarh industrial belt awaiting repairs but this area has been given a step-motherly treatment when Baddi Barotiwala Nalagarh (BBN) industrial area is considered in totality. Funds allocated in this area were much less than the proportionate industries located here and therefore, it has become vital to highlight problems of this area”. The association chiefly demanded expansion of the jurisdiction of the office of single window clearance agency at Nalagarh as it would facilitate their operations. Though major industrial houses like Ambuja Cements, TVS Motors, GPI Textiles, Sahara Textiles, Dev Bhumi Saria, Green ply etc, are located here, there is not even one community hall or facility centre where investors could address grievances of various departments under one roof. The association would, therefore, endeavour to open such a facility centre. “Although there is an association of the BBN industries, but investors of Nalagarh seldom figured in the list of priorities and all crucial offices have been opened in Baddi ever since the BBN was carved out as a separate police district”. The association later met local MLA HN Saini and apprised him of various problems plaguing the area and sought his support. Saini managed to get approval to open a common facility centre in Nalagarh as a first step to facilitate the investors. An announcement in this regard was made by the Chief Minister during his recent visit to the area.
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NIFT students display talent
Kangra, March 30 Dinesh Rangra, director, NIFT, said the event was organised to explore the creative art of students. As students from other institutions also participated in the event, it helped students develop communication skills and confidence, besides strengthening cultural bond, he added. Pankaj Rastogi, media in charge, said such events provided suitable environment in which students could express their creative ideas and other hidden talents. Besides exhibition of creative art and models, an essay writing, drama and singing competitions were organised. RS Gupta, deputy commissioner, Kangra, said NIFT played a pioneering role in providing academic leadership to the textile, apparel and lifestyle industry. He said the state government was working on an expansion plan for NIFT here.
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vignettes
Although Mandi was founded by Raja Ajbar Sen in 1527, events of the history of Mandi are available in detail and with greater chronological precision only since the rule of Suraj Sen: 1637 to 1664. He was an ambitious chief but during his reign Mughal supremacy was fully established and his state was a tributary to the Empire. His marriage with the daughter of Raja Jagat Singh of Nurpur is a story of deceit. Jagat Singh wanted to capture Mandi by killing his son-in-law when he would come for marriage.
Suraj Sen got aware of the designs of his father-in-law when in the wedding procession the former galloped back to Mandi without the bride. Left with no face Jagat Singh sent his daughter as a bride to Mandi to project his clean image among the rest of the Rajas under the escort of his elder son, Rajrup. Suraj Sen accepted the bride after a long drama. Suraj Sen fought many battles but lost all in the beginning but 1653 onwards, luck started favouring him. He won large areas from Suket and also the difficult parts of Sandhol and Chantha. Kangra too bowed and offered his daughter in marriage and the area of Kanhwal as dowry to him. The Raja begot 18 sons from his wives but all of them died during his lifetime. He was miserable and heirless so he got made a silver image of Madho Rai to whom he assigned his kingdom. The image bears an inscription in Sanskrit that reads "Surya-Sen, lord of the earth and destroyer of his rivals, had this blameless image of the blessed discuss-bearer (sudershan chakradhari) and master of all gods, the illustrious Madho Rai, made by goldsmith Bhima in Vikrami 1705, on Thursday, the 15th phagun." It corresponds to March in 1648 AD. Suraj Sen also built the fort of Damdama, meaning a 'breathing place', in Mandi where he installed Madho Rai (see photo). Madho Rai got precedence over Mahadev since then and during Shivratri, the procession, called Jaleb in the local dialect, from the temple to Paddal Maidan is led by him. All local deities coming to Mandi pay obeisance to Madho Rai first. While the Raja was on a winning spree, the Rana of Anantpur, who resided in a fort that was impregnable on two sides and very strong on the third appeared an invincible blot on the landscape of Mandi to Suraj Sen. He wanted to capture it by hook or by crook. The Raja had a minister Jalpu. Jalpu devised a plan and told the Raja to feign anger upon him and censure him in the presence of all. The Raja did so. He left Mandi in a pretended huff to be accepted by the Rana, who honoured him with a position in the state of Anantpur. There he gained the confidence of the Rani and became her dharm bhai. Jalpu then took permission to bring the ladies of his family from Mandi to pay respect to the goddess whose temple was in the Fort. Hutchison writes in The History of Punjab Hill States that "this request being granted, Jalpu sent a message secretly to Suraj Sen to provide 18 palkis, with 10 sets of armour in each, and 10 bearers (soldiers in disguise) to each palki." This procession entered the fort and the camouflaged soldiers killed the Rana and captured the invincible Anantpur. Jalpu, thus, played the Trojan horse in Mandi. It is said that the Rani became sati but before going to the pyre, she cursed Jalpu for the treachery and betrayal of faith. The curse proved to be true. All his descendants were lame or deaf; deformed or imbecile, reports Hutchison.
Tailpiece
When Suraj Sen died, his Ranis became sati. They sent a message to the treasury for money to be given away in charity. They got the news that all was under lock and key. Disappointed, they threw a dagger at the outer wall of Damdama Palace that made a lasting impress there and uttered: "The faithless servants will always prosper in Mandi." Is the uttering true? I do not know.
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Engg students display skills at NIMBUS
Hamirpur, March 30 Students from engineering institutes and colleges of Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh also participated in this festival. Chief Adviser to the Prime minister and Chairman of the National Knowledge Commission Dr Sam Pitroda, Raman Magsaysay Award winner and eminent environmentalist MC Mehta, winner of architect of the Decade award Christopher C Benniger and famous automobile designer Dilip Chabbaria were the eminent guests present during the function. Noble laureate and renowned astrophysicist from NASA Dr John C Mathers interacted with the students through video conferencing and talked about his work which won him the Noble prize, and his ongoing work at the NASA. A workshop on ethical hacking and web design organised by the students were also focus of attention. Apart from the glaze of technical events, Parikrama, one of the famous bands enthralled the audience. Star lovers were provided an opportunity to view clusters of stars through the telescopes brought from Jantar Mantar Observatory, New Delhi. Lectures by Dr Archana Sharma, CERN physicist intertwining science and technology into each other, was also spellbinding. She talked about the Large Hadron Collidera experiment, a mega project to study the Big Bang theory. Engineering students put to display solar cars, a ropeway to carry goods and an exhibition of concretion - a crib retaining wall designed by students from various departments.
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Himachal diary The historic Gaiety Theatre has been buzzing with activity ever since it was reopened after restoration in May last year. The Language, Art and Culture Department has been organising various events in collaboration with the Northern Zonal Culture Centre, Lalit Kala Academy, theatre groups within and outside the state and various other organisations. If it was phalgun utsav last week, this week saw chaitra rang utsav during which a series of plays were staged (See photo). However, the artists complain of lack of requisite facilities that affect performance. While the imposing edifice has been restored to its old glory at a huge cost of over Rs 12 crore, not much attention has been paid to the lighting and sound arrangement, provision of proper rehearsal rooms, green rooms and other facilities required by artists. The lack of a proper theatre lighting system affects the performance of actors as expressions are not clearly visible to the audience. There are no spotlights and little manoeuvrability as a result of which the desired effects are not be created. The sound system also is not the one required for a theatre as a result of which any soft voices are lost. If the government could hire the service of top architects for the restoration of the structure, it could also engage a theatre expert for installing a state-of-the-art lighting and sound system, they point out. Further, greenroom is on another floor far away from the theatre which creates problems for artists. Eatables are not allowed as a result of which the artists face problems as they cannot move out of the theatre with make-up for having tea or snacks. Certified financial
planner's course
Vidyapeeth at Shimla, a coaching institute for entrance tests for the IIT, CPMT, AIEEE and other such examinations, has decided to start a certified financial planner's (CFP) course in the state. It will be the first institute in the state to introduce the programme, to be run in collaboration with the well-known RNIS (Ritu Nanda Insurance Services) College of Financial Planning. Vidyapeeth director Ravinder Awasthi said that CFP programmes were being conducted in over 20 countries across the world under the supervision of the Financial Planning Supervision Board (FPSB), Denver (USA). CFP certification had immense scope in areas of banking, financial products distribution, mutual funds, life and general insurance, tax planning and other financial services. A candidate will have to pay about Rs 60,000 as the fee, including registration charges, with the FPSB, India.
CM's message for
Dhiman?
The recent tour of Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal to the Bhoranj (formerly Mewa) assembly constituency, currently represented by Education Minister ID Dhiman, was an occasion for joy and anxiety simultaneously. During his tour on March 24, Dhumal showered the constituents of Dhiman with many development schemes and projects amounting to about Rs 15 crore. He laid the foundation stones for a cattle feed plant, agriculture produce market and a mini secretariat in the Bhoranj assembly constituency and announced to implement many development works there, saying that "Dhiman is my Guru and I would make every effort to please the constituents of my Guru, which definitely elated Dhiman. But the Chief Minister also gave him(Dhiman) a shock, saying in a lighter vein that "though my Guru is happy with these works and thinking of hitting a sixer (Dhiman had won five elections from here consecutively) he should also think of the younger lot." Though Dhiman kept laughing he must also be worried since politicians sometimes convey many things through their light remarks. (Contributed by Rakesh Lohumi and D.P.Gupta)
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Widening of Chamba-Goli stretch hits roadblock
Chamba, March 30 Since the road falls in the Kalatop-Khajjiar wildlife sanctuary, no work of cutting and digging the hillside in the sanctuary area could be executed without approval. However, the prescribed procedure has so far not been followed by the PWD authorities for obtaining clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests. Consequently, the work of widening the road could not be started. Officials of forest department maintain that no such project or proposal has so far been put up by the PWD. The submission of a project for its approval from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests is mandatory, they say. The NHPC has already provided Rs 16 crore to the state government for the widening of this portion of the highway, officials maintain. Recently, a meeting of officials of the forest department and the PWD to resolve the issue has been proposed. It may be mentioned that local organisations like the Chamba Welfare Association and Chamba’s Progressive Council have been making representations to the successive governments for the widening work of 28-km Chamba-Goli stretch. It has been a persistent demand of the entire region for a long time. The present road is congested which often leads to frequent traffic jams and accidents.
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Stray cattle menace in villages too
Kullu, March 30 The issue took a new turn recently when villagers and the district administration had a confrontation. Elected panchayat members, along with a number of villagers of the Shamsh-Jarad area, decided to take the stray cattle to forest for grazing so that their fields were not damaged. But Forest Department officials reported the matter to the police, which, in turn, detained villagers and stopped them from taking the cattle to forest. More than 100 villagers demonstrated in front of the deputy commissioner's office and brought about 100 stray cattle, most of them cows, to Dhalpur ground here to express resentment against the police action. They shouted slogans against the administration and demanded to take care of the stray cattle so that their crops were not destroyed. Chhaju Ram, up-pradhan, gram panchayat, Jarad, said villagers from Tegubehar, Jolli, Bhutti Colony, Mohal and Shamshi demonstrated against the government and the administration. He said they had been requesting the administration for the past several months to open a cow shed in the area, but to no avail. It may be noted that last month more than 100 stray cows were brought from the Jia village area by the villagers and were left in Kullu town. Local people here have expressed concern over the situation while the villagers have made it a trend to bring stray cattle to the town. They have urged the administration to check the menace and arrange shelter and fodder for the cattle.
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Indifferent attitude of power board irks consumers
Palampur, March 30 According to information gathered by The Tribune, the HPSEB was passing though a financial crisis. It has no funds even to maintain the existing power lines, transformers and other equipment. In many areas of the town, the HPSEB equipment require immediate attention of the authorities but no one is bothered. Even live power wires have been left open inviting for big tragedy. At the Ghuggar area of the town, on the Palampur-Dharmsala highway, the HPSEB has installed a main switch with fuse boxes at very low height with open live wires. The matter was brought to the notice of the XEN by local residents. The only excuse with HPSEB officials is that they have no funds for such small works.
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PHC Kihar sans doctors
Dalhousie, March 30 The sanctioned strength of the PHC is four doctors, but it is being manned by a staff nurse for the past long time. Besides, there is also a shortage of other paramedical staff in the PHC. Residents of the area have appealed to the state government about the problem in writing but no solution has so far been worked out to appoint even a single doctor. Confirming the staff position, officials of the Medical Department said the regional hospital at Chamba was also running without ENT and MD specialists. There was also a dearth of doctors and paramedical staff in many other PHCs in the district.
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Dharamsala, March 30
It was more than 500 years ago, when the traditional Nalwari mela started as “Vasantotsava” for celebrating the onset of Ritu
Raj, the season of love and joy.Now, things have changed to such an extent that it hardly carries the traditions except a part of inauguration which starts with pitching a peg into the ground and tethering bullocks with it and worshipping them for bringing good crops and prosperity to the people.
Kullu/Brau, March 30
The functioning of the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB) is under scanner these days as the HPSEB has failed to manage its services.In the absence of manpower, the complaints of consumers are not attended for hours. From 8pm to 9am, no complaint of consumers are attended in Palampur and its adjoining areas causing inconvenience to them. Many times the complaints are attended after 18 hours.
J&
K Governor NN Vohra hugs one of his old colleagues during his recent visit to Nurpur, where he served as the SDM in the early sixties.Photo by the writer