Palampur, July 5
The tourism industry, which plays a significant role in the economy of the state, is going through rough weather, thanks to the apathy of the state government which has failed to develop tourist places in a planned manner, much to the inconvenience of the tourists.

Traffic jams have become a regular feature at Manali, Kullu, Dharamsala, Palampur, Shimla and McLeodganj. Although the government has time and again announced to come out with a “master plan” to boost tourism , all remained confined to official files and in the past 10 years, most of the tourist places in have turned into ill-planned, over-crowded places.

Haphazard and unplanned construction of hotels at Manali, Dalhousie, Shimla, Dharamsala, McLeodganj and other places has given rise to various problems, like disposal of garbage, contamination of drinking water, pollution and large-scale soil-erosion. Despite the fact that the state has a huge potential in the sector, little has been done in the past 10 years to exploit the same because of “lack of administrative and political will”.

The government has been making tall promises to provide better amenities to tourists, but in reality, nothing has been done. What welcome the tourists are “corrupt” traffic police officials, traffic jams, costly hotels and poor parking facilities. Besides, narrow, bumpy roads, poor transportation, expensive food and fleecing of tourists by taxi operators affect the tourists.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, who holds the portfolio of tourism, finds little time to review the programmes and polices of the department because of his busy schedule. Senior officers of the Tourism Department are least bothered about the problems of the tourists.

Kanti Lal Bhai Shaha, a tourist from Gujarat, said he visited Manali, Shimla and Dharmsala, there were no fixed hotel tariffs, one has to bargain in hotels to get a room. Besides, in the absence of metered taxis, tourists were being cheated. He said in this regard, states like Kerala, Goa and Karnatka were better placed and safe for the tourists.

The deteriorating law and order situation in religious centres of the state is a matter of serious concern. Cases of rape, theft and murder have adversely affected the pilgrimage tourism, particularly in northern parts of the state. In Chintpurni and Kangra alone, one dozen cases of murder and rape were reported in the past one year.

The state boasts of scenic beauty and pleasant climate. The snowcapped peaks of the majestic Himalayas are a visual treat. The lush green tea gardens, dense forests having pines and deodar trees, river and hills attract tourists in large numbers every year.

The state has a long way to go to catch up with the front ranking states like Kerala, Goa, Karnatka, Haryana and Uttrakhand in tourism. Promotion of the tourism is essential for filling the coffers of the state, since it is an important source of revenue and foreign exchange.

Dharamsala, July 5
Not just in pilgrimage, the Kangra valley has tremendous calibre in adventure tourism also. The naturally rich valley can do wonders in attracting adventure lovers if given proper boost.

Deputy Commissioner along with the Tourism Department highlighted the achievements and new plans to promote tourism in the Kangra valley but there was no mention about adventure tourism at the meet here recently.

Tourists, especially foreigners, come to hills either in search of peace or adventure. As per the official records, this year as many as nine lakh tourists have visited the valley between the period of January and May, out of which 48,000 were foreigners. In 2010, out of 18 lakh total visitors, 91,000 were foreigners and 75,549 foreign tourists visited Dharamsala in 2009.

With such a huge number of foreigner tourists visiting Dharamsala, the Tourism Department has no adventure holiday packages to offer. Tourists have to look for private agencies or other government departments to arrange some adventure trips, which include trekking, camping, paragliding etc.

Divisional tourism officer RS Rana said, “We offer normal holiday packages, but the adventure aspect is being looked after by our other agencies like Regional Mountaineering Training Centre, Regional Water Sports Centre at Pong Dam and similarly, we have tied up with a paragliding institute at Manali.”

Tourists have to run to different departments for various activities as there is no joint package available or they rush to private agencies which provide adventure-filled holiday packages.

Meanwhile, DC Gupta informed that Rs 71 crore has been sanctioned by the Asian Development Bank to promote tourism in Kangra Valley. Schemes like Home Stay and Har Gaon ki Kahani have been introduced to promote rural tourism. As many as 46 parties have registered themselves under Home Stay scheme, which is free of taxes and tourists will get water and electricity at domestic rates.

The administration has been working on promoting shakti peeths in and around Dharamsala as the Kangra Valley is considered a pilgrim destination.

Shimla, July 5
With the erstwhile summer capital of the British being famous for its sizeable presence of pheasants, the Wildlife Department is considering setting up an ornamental pheasantry at its nature park in Kufri along with breeding programme for the species, which fall in the endangered category.

Though the Himalayan nature park at Kufri has all the nine species of pheasants found in Himachal for display purpose, but the authorities are now keen to have an exclusive area devoted especially to the birds known for their brightly-coloured plumage and once found in abundance in and around the Queen of Hills.

In fact, at least three species of pheasants, including Kalij, Chir and Red Jungle Fowl, can still be spotted in areas like Advanced Study, Summer Hill, Annadale and Aira Home. The Dhalli catchment area at one point of time had the highest density per sq km of the Chir pheasants.

“We have prepared a detailed plan for setting up the ornamental pheasantry at the Nature Park in Kufri so that the visitors, especially those from outside the state, can get a glimpse into the various species of pheasants found in Himachal. Though there are about 51 identified of pheasants, but nine of them are found in various parts of the state,” said RK Raj, DFO (Wildlife), Shimla.

The Wildlife Department is already running breeding and conservation programmes for Western Tragopan at Sarahan near Rampur and near Chail for the Chir species. “Rather than just restricting ourselves to having an ornamental pheasantry at Kufri, we are also keen to start breeding programmes for the other species like the Kalij and Red Jungle Fowl, which were once found in abundance in and around Shimla,” said Raj.

He added that the proposal for setting up the pheasantry was ready and the moment the approval is granted, work would start on it. The Zoo Conservation Breeding Society, which is managing the running of the nature park, has about Rs 28 lakh in its kitty which would be utilised for setting up the pheasantry.

Shimla, during the British time was famous for having a sizeable population of the various species of pheasants. The Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) is one of the few places in the world supporting a substantial population of the endangered Western Tragopan. All the pheasant species have been placed in Schedule I and IV of the Indian Wildlife (Protection), 1972 to provide them adequate protection.

Cops of the city were introduced to music therapy to overcome stress which takes a heavy toll on their health and well-being. They were given valuable tips on stress management in a capsule, including positive thinking, healthy lifestyle, meditation, spirituality and social support.

Holistic health consultant Dr Rakesh Sehgal provided all the required information regarding factors leading to “stress” and the “stress busters” to cope with it effectively at a workshop organised at the Kaithu Police Lines in the state capital by a local NGO Ashadeep. He said three major aspects - sound sleep, exercise and adequate nutrition - were pre-requisites for avoiding stress.

Head of the Cardiology Department at Indira Gandhi Medical College PC Negi threw light on the relationship between stress management and a healthy lifestyle. He underlined the need for effectively combating stress for a healthy heart. He expressed concern over the youngsters falling prey to the lifestyle changes leading to various cardiac disease and advised healthy diet and regular physical activity to avoid such complications.

SP Sonal Agnihotri lauded the efforts of Ashadeep and said more such workshops and health check-ups should be organised for early detection of cardio-vascular diseases and ailments like diabetes. He impressed upon the cops that adopting healthy dietary habits was most important in view of their hectic schedule and work pressure.

Kangra, July 5
Ten blood donors and an NGO, besides the Blood Bank, Dharamsala, were felicitated for their contribution to society and service to the ailing and needy people by donating blood during an awareness workshop organised by the Department of Health and Family Welfare in auditorium of the local Polytechnic College recently.

Ten top donors of the district were felicitated in recognition of their service to society. Ajay Kumar Dogra, who had donated blood for 78 times, told the audience that he made it a point to donate blood after every three months and asked them to follow the suit.

Ensuring the availability of safe blood would go a long way in reducing maternal mortality and achieving the vision of the NRHM. Blood Bank Society, Palampur, and the Blood Bank, Dharamsala, were also honoured for their contribution towards blood banking.

Dr Kultar Dogra, CMO, Kangra, who distributed prizes among the winners, said one-month-long awareness campaign on the World Blood Donor Awareness Month was launched on June 14 under the aegis of the State Blood Transfusion Council.

He said blood storage centres would be opened in the district. Dr RK Sood, district AIDS programme officer, stated that there are 52 Red Ribbon Clubs (RRC) in educational institutions in the district which work for creating mass movement on HIV awareness and promoting voluntary non-remunerated blood donation among youth.

Dr Vanita Kapoor, principal, Health and Family Welfare Centre, Kangra, administered mass pledge to all members of the village health and sanitation committees to promote blood donation.

Dr V. Mahajan, blood bank officer, Palampur, highlighted the importance of blood donation by any healthy person between the age of 18 and 60 having a minimum weight of 45 kg. 

Solang/Sissu, July 5
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO), under its Rs 1,497-crore Rohtang tunnel project, will built 18 state-of-the-art anti-avalanche structures that will make the highway journey on both sides of the world’s highest and longest tunnel (8.82 km) hazard free.

The work on the first 120-m-long anti-avalanche structure near Solang Nullah from the Manali side was to be completed in 2010, but the BRO contractor failed to meet the deadline. The contractor has completed 80 per cent of the work so far.

The BRO has proposed to build another similar 130-metre-long anti-avalanche structure at Dhundi where devastating flash floods in Solang Nullah inundated the whole area in 1979.

Talking to The Tribune, Chief Engineer of the Rohtang tunnel project PK Mahajan said, “As many as 13 anti-avalanche structures will be erected between Manali and the south portal of the Rohtang tunnel while five other structures will be built from the Sissu side of the north portal 
of the tunnel. These structures will take care of any possible avalanche threat.”

Mahajan said the Snow and Avalanche Establishment was in favour of anti-avalanche structures at the north portal of the tunnel in Lahaul, where a giant avalanche destroyed an office site last winter.

Mahajan allayed fears of locals regarding avalanches and said studies had been conducted before deciding the north and south portals of the tunnel.

There was no danger to the road regardless of the intensity of the avalanche, Mahajan claimed.

Mahajan said the anti-avalanche structure near Solang would be completed within a few months.

Whenever I pass by Solan, I make it a point to just touch the rest house to see whether the interesting notice board installed in the complex has been re-done or removed. Till my recent visit, the board was standing there through which the Executive Engineer, PWD threatens the ‘violators’ that ‘the air of the tyres shall be defleated’ (See Photo). If you search for the meaning of the word defleated in the dictionary, you will be wiser by knowing that the word, so far, is undiscovered. It has, however, been invented by the Ex En, PWD and so has found place in office-English. My computer corrects it as ‘deflated’ and the dictionary gives its meaning, if used in transitive form of verb, as ‘let air or gas out of (a tyre, balloon etc.)’ and in intransitive form as ‘be emptied of air or gas’. That makes me anxious, like a child, to understand the procedure that the officer would adopt to deflate the air of the tyres.

Here I narrate the story of another display board that was installed by the Forest Department near the official residence of the Chief Minister stating ‘site development near CM’s residance’. I told the then Principal Chief Conservator of Forest that your board reads ‘dance’ instead of ‘dence’. He replied, “In a way, it can ‘walk’ because we all dance to the tunes of the Chief Minister.” The board with its office-English spellings continued standing there as it was and later when the site development resulted in no-development, it was removed.

Recently, an NGO in Shimla wanted to have information about the funds allocated for social activities in the state by the corporate sector under CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). The State Electricity Corporation is so engrossed in Anna Hazare and his team that it replied that it had allocated no funds under the Civil Society responsibility. What do you mean? The entire work that you do is for uncivil society?

I am reminded of good old days when I was SDM at a sub-division in Mandi district. There, I had sanctioned a paltry sum to the non-teaching employees of a school to hold a function. I was also honoured to be the chief guest. The narrator started, “The function is possible only through the ‘connivance’ of our worthy SDM.” Why blame the Babu? The dictionary defines him as ‘an Indian official who has superficial knowledge of English’. A teacher, byproduct of public educational institutes, was addressing the morning assembly session in a school, “The school is like a garden. You are the seeds, school is the soil. We will bury you in this soil, pour water of knowledge on your heads and one day you will become great fools (flowers).”

It happened in the Health Department that when the Social Justice and Women Empowerment Department wanted to discuss human trafficking, the paper concerned was marked to the Deputy Director, who was in charge of the departmental vehicles and asked to attend the meeting. Throughout the meeting, he sat as a dead man with eyes open. The chairman, SSB, Hamirpur, had told me that when he asked a candidate to explain the sentence: “He met his waterloo at Panipat.” The candidate for a high post in the government replied: “Sir, it is idiomatic English for he urinated at Panipat.” Waterloo for him had something to do with water and loo.

My friend once telephoned to me in the morning saying that he has received an attention-grabbing leave application from a subordinate, “ Sir, kindly give me three weeks leave for medical reasons and when I join, I will not be the man writing this application. I’ll change from ‘Mohan’ to ‘Mohini’ and entitled for lighter work. Thanks.” Everything really walks in office English.