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Losing sheen
Grim
scenario |
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Now, toll-free helpline for electors
Notice to doc for refusing emergency duty
Medical camp a big draw
Farm scientists told to be innovative
Himachali youth to get training in Western music
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Losing sheen
Shimla, May 31 The total production this season is likely to be 400 tonne as against 1,039 tonne last year, which was an exceptional year. In the normal course, a poor crop invariably fetches a good price which compensates the growers for the fall in production to a large extent. For instance, in 2009, the production was only 419 tonne, but the good quality fruit was sold at Rs 275 to Rs 350 per kg in the Delhi market. However, this year, the market has not looked up and barring a few exceptions when the lots fetched more than Rs 300 kg in auctions, the rates have been hovering between Rs 180 and Rs 250 per kg. In fact, the prices are almost at the last year’s level when the state had a bumper crop. The total area under cherry crop has increased to 400 hectares with a potential to produce 910 tonne of the fruit. However, it is not likely to touch the 400-tonne mark this year. It has been emerging as an alternative fruit crop in the high hill areas for apple growers who are keen to diversify in view of endless marketing problems. Cherry being a low volume high value cash crop was an ideal option to replace apple, says Ranjit Mehta, a leading grower of the Kotgarh area. As more and more growers take to cherry cultivation, area under the fruit which remained stagnant at a meagre 240 hectare for years has started increasing. New plantations are coming up in Shimla and Kullu districts which account for 90 per cent of the state’s apple production. This year, unfavourable weather conditions, particularly untimely rain in April and May, not only affected the production but also the quality of the fruit.
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Grim
scenario
Palampur, May 31 In the absence of police force and night patrolling, anti-social elements are active in the region. Despite large jurisdiction, the police station has only one jeep and one motorcycle. Modus operandi being adopted by criminals is in the knowledge of the police, but it finds itself helpless in the absence of adequate manpower. A senior police officer admitted that most of the thefts and burglaries were being committed by criminals from outside the state. He said the present strength of constabulary was only 21, including driver, cook and munshi. Out of these, three remain busy with court matters, two have been deputed for postmortems and MLCs in hospitals, one always remains on Army duty in the firing range and two to three constables remain on leave. Besides, women constables cannot be deputed for late night duties. Hardly 10 constables are left at the disposal of the SHO. Therefore, all 10 constables had to work for 24 hours. No overtime is paid in the Police Department. With meagre staff, the police cannot do justice
with public and check the rising crime. It is further revealed that since trade unions are banned in the Police Department, policemen have no forum to air their grievances. If they approach the higher authorities directly, it is termed as indiscipline. Even the pay scales of constables are less than a ordinary clerk of the state government. It is surprising that there is no timescale in the Police Department. A constable joins as a constable and also retires as a constable. They have been waiting for the revision of their pay scales for the past 10 years, but all in vain. The residences provided to policemen in the Palampur police complex are also in a bad shape and have already lived their life. Most of the police quarters were constructed about 90 years ago by the Britishers. The residence of the SHO is also on the verge of collapse. Likewise, constables and other staff of the police station are residing in unsafe buildings. Some of the buildings had already collapsed. The deteriorating law and order situation has also caused serious concern among residents.
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Man on mission
Shimla, May 31 This is what makes Nav Qirti, a successful Singapore businessman hailing from Chamba in Himachal, different from the rest. He has started a mentorship scheme for MBA students at Himachal Pradesh University (HPU), from where he studied. He is today grooming and guiding students about the nuances of the fiercely competitive corporate world. “The youth from Himachal are bright, sincere and hard working, but lack of the right social and personality grooming puts them at a disadvantage as compared to other students in bigger towns,” says Nav Qirti, who was in the town to interact with the students. He along with other alumni gives tips and guides the students about the dress code, handling interviews and preparing bio-data the way it should be as per corporate demands under the aegis of Association of Shimla Management Alumni (ASMA), of which he is the founder member. Many of the mentors are occupying senior positions in banks and big companies in Singapore, Dubai, US and England. It was about six months ago that Nav Qirti introduced the scheme where every student in HPU School of Business will have a businessman who is a pass out of the HPU guiding and helping him shape their career and make the right moves. “The mentors are not just those who have studied here at HPU but even other corporate people who are friends of alumni and are more than happy to guide students,” he says. Two MBA students, Anchit Chauhan and Pratima Kalra are already under his wings and he rates them as good as any pass outs from internationally renowned business schools. Nav Qirti completed his class 12 studies from Chamba and then did engineering from Hamirpur. He then did MBA from HPU and is today successful having his own business consultancy, Chemistry which does innovation, design thinking and branding for business and academic institutions. His company also has the honour of being one of the five companies which have been chosen by the Singapore government for its brand designing. “Ever since the mentorship scheme has been introduced, we are getting excellent guidance from the alumni who are successful in various fields as we are in constant touch with them and get help as and when required,” says Aditi Gupta, a final year MBA student. The scheme has also helped students get better opportunities in terms of varied training programmes at the most happening places, says Ruplai Vaid. Nav Qirti is keen that the students undergo more training programmes in their area of interests. “I want to bridge the gap between the market requirement and the academics so that the fresh MBA pass outs from HPU do not have to slog unnecessarily,” he opines. It is his dream to see the earnest and sincere youth from Himachal make it big in various fields as he feels that they have all that requires one to be successful.
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Now, toll-free helpline for electors
Hamirpur, May 31 Rajender Singh Thakur, district election officer, (deputy commissioner), Hamirpur, said: “The centre has been made functional throughout the state and all network service providers have been linked with the toll-free number. The centre is also functional from other parts of the country”. The toll-free number of the centre is 1965 and it can be accessed from within the state from both landline and mobile phones. Callers from outside the state keen to establish link with this centre would have to add the STD code of Shimla and call at 0177-1965 from both landline and mobile phones. The call centre service could be utilised by the people to register any type of election-related complaint with in the state or for seeking any information or query pertaining to the process of getting oneself registered as elector, deletion of names from the electoral rolls, electoral malpractice during election, complaint or suggestion regarding the functioning of the office of district
election officers, electoral registration and booth-level officers. The centre may also be used to enquire about the services offered by the Election Department and the office of chief electoral officer of the state. Thakur said: “At the time of registering queries and complaints in the centre, the callers would have to disclose their names, addresses and phone
numbers. The callers who will provide their mobile numbers at the time of registering complaints will be
sent an SMS regarding the progress of their complaints”. The people could also register their requests through Internet by clicking the link “Public Grievance Redress Related to Elections” on the official website of the chief electoral officer, HP, http://ceohimachal.nic.in. This centre would be helpful for the callers seeking information and registration regarding election-related grievances for the election of the president and vice-president of the country, Lok Sabha,
Rajya Sabha and Assembly elections of Himachal Pradesh.
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Army restrictions in Brigade Bazaar ‘illegal’
Kangra, May 31 In a letter to the PM, the shopkeepers have alleged that the Army authorities of HQ Yol Cantonment station in order to force them to evict their shops, which were in their possession since 1955, have deployed soldiers not to allow customers enter these shops. The shopkeepers said they were brought to the brink of starvation along with their family members by an illegal ban imposed by the Army on their business in the Brigade Bazar for the past one month. The shopkeepers had sought intervention of Chief Minister PK Dhumal to take up the matter with Antony in order to save their families from starvation. They alleged that nothing was done in this direction. The shopkeepers had pinned hopes that the CM would take up the matter with the Army Chief staff during his recent visit to Shimla but nothing such happened. The shopkeepers said land for 76 shops was allotted to the migrants in 1955 when they arrived here following partition but now only 44 shops were running in this bazar. The authorities have asked the shopkeepers to vacate the shops and get another accommodation for business through an open bid. The shopkeepers are ready to vacate if they will be given accommodation in lieu of the present one without undergoing an open bid.
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Notice to doc for refusing emergency duty
Hamirpur, May 31 Dr Shushil Sharma was asked to perform an emergency duty at block medical hospital, Toani Devi, a few days ago, but he did not obey the order. The district health authorities had taken a decision to appoint medical officers working in the field in the nearby hospitals on emergency basis because of their less workload. Dr Keshav Kaushal, BMO, Toani Devi, said, “Dr Sharma had been directed to perform an emergency duty in the block hospital several times, but he never complied with the orders”. “As I have to move out for administrative work quite often, I had asked the medical officer to perform emergency duty, but he never obeyed the orders. Finally, I had made a written complaint against him to the government,” he added. The government through the showcause notice has asked the officer to explain his position with regard to disobeying the orders. It is notable that several medical officers posted in the field have not been complying with the government orders of performing emergency duties in nearby hospitals on one pretext or the other. Meanwhile, Dr Shushil Sharma said, “In case of my absence from the PHC, people complain to the local MLA and the higher authorities. Thus it is difficult to perform emergency duty in another hospital”. Dr DS Chandel, CMO, Hamirpur, said, “The government had decided to appoint doctors working in the field in nearby hospitals on emergency duties to ease out work load of doctors there”. “I had received a compliant against Dr Shushil for refusing the duty which I forwarded to the government and now a showcause notice has been given to
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vignettes On the banks of the Ohio River in Cincinnati (US), I saw a cottonwood tree with its history recorded on a slab under the words “Rooted in History”. It was a 100-year-old tree that had weathered the devastation of the 1937 floods when the river crested 24 ft into its branches. They know how to sell the places to the tourists, we do not. We, in Shimla, have the greatest heritage in the shape of a retaining wall on The Mall and if we move from the west to the east, the wall moves with us from the building housing State Bank of India right up to the Clarke’s Hotel and beyond with intermittent building structures breaking its continuity. The 3-km-long wall with height ranging from 6-15 ft at places is a gravity wall typically made of dressed stones and dry masonry that relies on its weight for stability. It may appear a marvel to the present day engineer of the MC who uses cement for re-erecting the wall wherever it has caved in thus raising off-ambience structures as are opposite Coffee House and Krishna Bakers. Retaining walls are a very popular landscape feature for many residential and commercial properties making a great decorative statement with flowers and other plantings. But a long retaining wall in Shimla is a different testimony serving a functional purpose of bearing the burden of the landmass of Kalibari to Ridge and more without negating the aesthetic appeal. And we Shimlaites, the proud possessors of it, glance at it just casually as if it also exists. No environmentalist or writer has ever written on it. We have never bothered to ask the MC why they could not re-do it as the British had done it in 1879. Is it essential to plaster it with cement now? The Municipal Corporation by raising the wall in cemented version has deprived the people of Shimla of the beauty of ‘Erigeron’ flowers that ooze out of the gap between two stones (see photo). The art reliefs by MC Saxena on the wall, too, are anti-heritage and should have been mounted at a place other than the wall. The MC, now, should see to it that these are regularly cleaned and polished to make these presentable. The wall is required to be preserved as it was built. Edward Buck writes, “Even in 1869, The Mall was but an ordinary hill road, fit for use by pedestrians, horses, jhampans and dandies. In many parts, only two horses could go abreast, and this to not without some danger to the riders.” Lord Lytton was Governor General of India from 1876 to 1880 and it was in 1878 that the first impetus to really good roads in Simla was given. Lytton desired to have The Mall’s gradient levelled so that riding or driving on it is as pleasant as on the Shimla-Kalka road. The Mall was widened, the retaining wall was built and the wheeled traffic - the jinrickshaw - started plying here in 1879. Pamela Kanwar writes, “The Mall became one of the best cared-for of roads, watered daily, and oiled before ceremonial functions. In the 1880s, 72 lamps were erected on The Mall between Benmore and Peterhoff and lit 20 nights each month for the seven months that Shimla was capital”. China had been infatuated by the walls. Besides the Great Wall of China, Ming Dynasty’s Xian City wall tells the history in silence showing the wisdom of the ancient labourers and the high level of architecture of the time. Albarrada (retaining wall in Spanish) of Santa Cruz the Mompox in Colombia is architectonic pearl and part of cultural tradition and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There are many other cities that boast of their walls and make them the attraction for the tourists. We in Shimla care less about our wall and the MC, the owner, cares still less and for ‘tourism’, it does not exist. We should have celebrated its 100th year in 1979 and 125th year in 2004. And even today, we should shout “wall izz well” so that the voices reach the deaf ears. Tailpiece Why has Rahul Dravid come to Shimla? To meet his first cousin - the Wall meets the Mall Wall.
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Himachal diary
The Amateur Dramatics Club (ADC) staged a comedy play “Five Characters” by Neil Simons at the Gaiety Theatre, here recently.
The play (see photo) was about a couple living in a small apartment. The main character, Corrie Bratter, played by Simrat Bedi tries to fix her mother Ethel Banks played by Feroza Singh with a
neighbour.
The role of the neighbour was played by Vijay Singh while Sanjeev Sood did a good job as the husband of Corrie. Major Sudhir Khanna played the character of a telephone operator. The ADC stages an English play every year, drawing a lot of applause from theatre lovers. This time around one of the distinguished guests was Chief of Army Staff VK Singh, who was visiting the town. Besides, Chief Minister PK Dhumal and Chief Justice Kurian Joseph also watched the play.
Monal Times’ silver jubilee
A local weekly Monal Times celebrated its silver jubilee to mark 25 years of its uninterrupted publication. On this occasion some senior journalists were honoured. Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal who was the chief guest at the function highlighted the role of small newspapers in dissemination of information, news and views in the current times when the media was facing the crisis of credibility. He said, “Journalism is a challenging profession, which calls for unflinching dedication and commitment. Maintaining credibility is the biggest asset of any media whether print or electronic, which has to be maintained at all costs. Besides the media also played an important role in taking the programmes and policies of the government to people.” The CM congratulated Ganesh Dutt, founder editor, Monal Times for successfully bringing out the newspaper for 25 years. Punya Prasun Bajpai, Editorial Advisor, Zee News, presided over the function. Veteran journalists Ram Dyal Neeraj, Satyen Sharma, Ravinder Randev, Sita Ram Khajuria and Garish Gururani were among those honoured on the occasion.
Health camp for girls
As a part of its corporate social responsibility Radisson Hotel conducted a camp to create awareness among adolescent girls about basic hygiene at the Kasturba Gandhi Sarvodaya Balika Ashram in Naldehra. Besides, providing detailed information about the related issues, material pertaining to health and hygiene was also distributed among inmates. The hotel chain has been pursuing the cause of abandoned girl child for which the initiative was undertaken by Managing Director RD Khanna last year. He discussed health-related issues to help improve the quality of lives of the less fortunate people, who need support from the society. The focus of all activities has been on the abandoned girl child. Last year a health camp was organised at which a team of eminent doctors examined the inmates and informed them about main diseases and precautions to be adopted. This year the aim was to generate awareness about personal hygiene, which is very important for the girls. There was an interactive session to educate the inmates about healthy habits and their daily routine to keep fit and leading a robust life. Head of the ashram Dr Prem Lata Gandhi was all praise for the initiative taken by the Radisson team. Vijaya Datta, head of the HR Department, discussed with the Ashram authorities issues related to garbage disposal and waste management along with the need to ensure proper drainage.
Dhiman Kalyan Sabha
Raj Dhiman, a local social activist, has been elected as the new state president of the Himachal Pradesh Dhiman Kalyan Sabha at the recent biennial meeting of the sabha. She earlier remained the state president of the women wing of the sabha. Several leaders of the community like Education Minister ID Dhiman, Surjit Singh Dhiman, MLA from Didwan, and other leaders from Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, UP and Uttarakhand were present at the meeting.
(Contributed by Pratibha Chauhan, Rakesh Lohumi and DP Gupta)
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Overloaded vehicles have free run in Solan
Solan, May 31 While the overenthusiastic policemen don’t miss any opportunity to challan a vehicle around this VIP zone, they conveniently allow overloaded vehicles to pass through with ease even on the busy and narrow roads. This not only damages the roads but also increases the probability of accidents, thus putting to risk the lives of road users. The policemen however fail to realise the potential danger from such overloaded vehicles and rarely challan them. With defined targets, the policemen challan vehicles in the prime area alone while the vehicles parked haphazardly near the Regional Hospital hampering smooth flow of traffic fail to be even noticed despite the presence of a police assistance booth outside the hospital. This often causes inconvenience to the patients who visit the hospital. With little attention on improving the traffic management, underage drivers who drive three-wheelers and two-wheelers are openly flouting traffic rules. The number of three-wheelers has gone up drastically as the ones registered in other places also ply in Solan. No efforts have been made to check unauthorised plying of these vehicles and they have further added to the traffic congestion. With few parking places for these vehicles, they have reduced the available space on the road by parking their vehicles haphazardly. Though rehris have been removed from the Mall Road near the DC office, vendors have shifted near the Sainik Rest House, making life difficult for motorists. The plying of mini-buses and trucks through the town further adds to the traffic influx as the roads are already congested. Vehicles can be seen parked on the busy Mall Road outside shops. With presence of a school on the Mall Road, the children are particularly at risk. DSP Shushil Kumar said overloaded vehicles were being challaned, but drivers continued to ply these vehicles even after being penalised. He said efforts were afoot to improve traffic management in the town and remove undue congestion.
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Medical camp a big draw
Bilaspur, May 31 While the government having failed to provide services of specialists in regional hospitals, all patients present there were all praise for this effort of the district administration, the Department of Medical and Health services, Red Cross, Chetna and Krishna Utsarga Sansthan, two social organisations, which made this possible by organising this camp as it provided them a rare opportunity during these days to get a chance of being inspected by a devoted and experienced specialist doctor and a hope for relief from their pain and agony of a
persisting disease and affliction. Some of the patients who had travelled from 60-90 km inside the district, said such “specialist doctors camps” should become a normal feature of the government programme called “Health for All” and these camps should be held at various places in all districts every month. This they said would provide at least some fill up to the acute paucity of specialists in district hospitals and provide much desired relief to the patients. It was suggested that it should be mandatory for all specialists to attend at least one such camp away from his normal place of posting every week. The specialists who gave their services free of cost in this day-long camp included cardiologist Dr RK Jaswal, child specialist Dr Atul Gupta, medical specialist Dr Rakesh Jaswal and Dr Deepak from Forits Hospital, Chandigarh, Dermatologist DrNeeraj Sharma, dental specialist Dr Vinay Bhardwaj and other doctors of various specialties - Dr Pravesh Jhigta, Dr Sanjiv Baid, Dr Shelly Photedar and Dr Ashish Justa from Indira Gandhi Medical College Hospital, Shimla, Dr Kamal Atwal and Dr Ahmed from Regional Hospital, Bilaspur. Fifty patients with heart ailments, 58 patients of dental diseases, 44 patients of joints and bone problems and 152 patients with medical problems were inspected and treated on the spot and were given proper advice to enable them to recover fast and live a better life with care and medicines or even with required operation. ECG was also done on 25 patients in the camp. Chetna president and prominent industrialist Nand Prakash Vohra, general secretary Dr Mallika Nadda and administrator Amar Singh Kashav, district medical officer Dr Jitendra Sexena and several other officials of the Health Department
were also present on the occasion.
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Farm scientists told to be innovative
Palampur, May 31 Dr Chopra said there had been a substantial increase in the budget for education and research in the ICAR, yet it was not money alone but a new thinking which would develop sustainable world-class technologies. “Sufficient and efficient platforms were needed for excellence in each institution,” he said. He also touched the issues of competence and credibility of individual scientist for achieving excellence. Dr. Arvind Kumar, deputy director general, ICAR, informed that 30 centres of excellence in different institutions and farm universities all over the nation had been created to develop world-class teaching and research facilities. There was a proposal to create at least one such department in each agricultural university where a competent faculty would be posted. He regretted that state governments were not providing sufficient financial support to state agricultural universities which were a basic necessity for enhancing quality education. He elaborated upon the efforts made by the ICAR for bringing excellence in farm education. Dr. SK Sharma, vice-chancellor of the host university, expected that the interaction of eminent farm scientists with his faculty would add new dimensions to their knowledge. He also informed about the work being done by his university in the niche area of excellence in organic agriculture. Dr. C. Devakumar, assistant director general, ICAR, said due to the varied agro-climatic conditions in the country, niche areas of excellence were established and it had been planned to open one such niche area in each farm university. Dr. SP Sharma, director of research, and Dr. YS Paul, professor and head, Organic Agriculture, also expressed their views. Former vice-chancellors, eminent farm scientists, principal scientists of 30 niche areas of excellence and officials of the ICAR took part in the national-level meet. Five publications were also released by the chief guest and the deputy director general, ICAR.
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Himachali youth to get training in Western music
Sundernagar, May 31 Arun, who hails from Mandi district and is settled in New Delhi, has taught a number of students who not only got distinctions but also one of his students topped the international examinations of Trinity-Guildhall recently. Arun, on his visit to Mandi recently, spoke to The Tribune and said he had planned a programme to train Himachali youth in the art of reading, writing, composing, performing and singing Western music and he had contacted various organisations to help him in this regard. He informed that his student Dhwani Sadaphal topped Trinity-Guildhall by securing 97 per cent marks and brought laurels to the country whereas all his students got 87 per cent to 97 per cent marks and this was world-class achievement. Arun learnt the art of Western music from his mother and then from Florence Samual of Kangra while studying in school and he later on settled in New Delhi. “Art of Western music can provide livelihood to young people as professional performers in the field of music industry and as composers using the latest notation software worldwide,” he said. “The music industry, which includes film industry, musical bands and orchestra, throughout the world is growing at a higher rate and lots of opportunities are opening up in this field,” he added. He wishes that the capable youth of the state shall get the opportunity of earning their livelihood through Western music.
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It has been a bad year for cherry growers in the state with low prices adding to their woes in the wake of lean crop.
Production always plays a decisive role in the determination of market trend due to the short duration of the crop and the highly perishable nature of the fruit. Once the market falls, there is little time for recovery as harvesting season is over.
