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Road mishaps on the rise in state
Dharamsala vet helps revive extinct deer
At 14, her passion is to depict life on canvas
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Cooperative bank fails to expand
Himachal diary
Sale of Red Cross tickets by officials questioned
Palampur projects hang fire
Cong demands more buses to Bilaspur
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Road mishaps on the rise in state
Palampur, August 23 Despite tall claims by the state government regarding implementation of traffic rules, nothing worthwhile has been done to ensure the safety of passengers. There is no check on roof travelling as hundreds of trucks and other commercial vehicles overloaded with pilgrims can be seen regularly on the roads. Even as the government is well conversant with the situation that 95 per cent of the state’s population is dependant on the road transport, the issue of passenger safety has been neglected altogether. Rampant corruption in the traffic police and the transport department has made the matters worst. The authorities allegedly grant bus permits on political considerations without looking into the conditions of the roads where the buses are being plied. There has been manifold increase in the light and heavy vehicles in the state and interstate traffic too has gone up, but the width of most of the roads has remained the same as it was 20 years ago. Though the government has taken steps for widening the roads, a little improvement has been made so far. The condition of internal roads is even worst. Frequent accidents involving roadways buses take place on such roads. In 2010-11, over 200 persons lost their lives and 400 injured in different road accidents in the state. Himachal has a high rate of accident because of its difficult topography and narrow roads. The passing of buses by motor vehicle inspectors has just become a formality as their “rates” are fixed for giving the permits. No one bothers about the fitness of the vehicle while issuing the passing certificate. It seems that in Himachal Pradesh an accident-free day makes news while heavy casualties have become a matter of routine. Almost after every accident, the state government orders an enquiry into the cause of the mishap, but no follow-up action is taken on such reports. Sometimes vital issues are pointed out in such reports such as improvement of a particular portion of the road where frequent accidents take place, but the reports remain confined to files and ultimately thrown into the dustbin.
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Dharamsala vet helps revive extinct deer
“I was handed over nine White Oryx deer comprising seven female and two males about 10 years ago. Today after protected breeding, the number of deer in the sanctuary of Sheikh Mohammad Bin Bhutti has grown to 112. The sanctuary has recently donated 35 White Oryx deer to the president of the UAE,” he said. He said six other varieties of deer were also being bred artificially in the sanctuary under him. These include long-necked deer which is also an extinct variety. The number of long-necked deer has increased from six to 36 through breeding under controlled conditions. The other wild varieties that are being bred under him in the 32 sq km wildlife sanctuary include Reem deer, Mountain goats, Spotted deer and rare variety of Saluki dogs that is the only variety of dog which is loved by Arabs. Dr Sharma said Arabs were fond of falcons. They used various varieties of falcons for hunting deer and various bird varieties. The falcons that were bred and trained in the sanctuary under him were sold at prices ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. Dr Sharma said he was also trying to breed Hobara bird under controlled condition. This bird belongs to the Bustard family. Arabs are fond of hunting Hobara bird with falcons as its meat is considered as aphrodisiac by them. “In case we succeed, it can also help save the great Indian Bustard. Less than 10 great Indian bustards are surviving in the wild,” he said. Dr Sharma said they were also trying to artificially incubate the eggs of peacocks and other pheasant variety birds. Dr Sharma, who was a veterinarian with the Himachal government, went on deputation to Abu Dhabi in 1987. He was initially selected as the dairy animal expert. He worked there for 13 years on deputation. After that, the Himachal government called him back. However, on the request of Sheikh Mohammad Bin Bhutti, who was impressed by his services, Dr Sharma took premature retirement and went back to Abu Dhabi to work as in charge of the sanctuary. Now, he has been working there for the past 11 years for protecting extinct wildlife species by breeding them under controlled conditions. While talking to The Tribune, Dr Sharma said he would love to come back and work in India in case the Indian government intends to use his experience in protecting the endangered wildlife species through controlled breeding. However, the process involves a lot of commitment and expenditure, he added.
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At 14, her passion is to depict life on canvas
Shimla, August 23 Amanat Singh, who was born in the Queen of Hills and spent her childhood years here before moving to Los Angeles with her parents, says, “I started drawing when I was as young as four, but it was at the age of seven that I actually started painting and the obsession just grew with each passing day”. Currently she is in the town visiting her grandparents and is extremely excited to be at home and enjoy everything about her country. “I paint because it is my way of expressing myself. I like to connect to others through my art and see how people react to it,” she opines. Amanat attends Troy School in Los Angeles, California, where she is a ninth grade student but continues her passion with painting. “I mainly paint oils but also do acrylics, water colour, charcoal and pastels,” she adds. She has already held three exhibitions in India with 66 of her creations being admired by art aficionados. Even while on a holiday here she held an All-Prima (all at once), a live display of work for schoolchildren. She painted on canvas and gave a live demonstration of her art while students watched every stroke of her brush and each line she drew. She painted a live still life set up of a candle stick, fan and a pot with flowers. “It took me three hours to complete the oil painting with the basic idea of this style being giving a feel of the objects, shape and colours to give it a very realistic look,” she explains. She says it is a quick painting method that captures the full feeling of the moment. Amanat wants to pursue her passion of painting even as she continues with her school and college education. She has kept all her options open about choosing a career as at the moment it is painting which completely engrosses her. “My goal is to inspire everyone to pursue their interest, hobbies, passion as I feel age is no bar to follow your dreams and success can just be round the corner,” she chuckles. Her parents too encourage Amanat to get completely soaked in her passion as that is what gives her immense pleasure. Her grandfather, Pritpal Singh, who runs a school here, is proud of every creation of his granddaughter as he shows each painting of hers to everyone.
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Cooperative bank fails to expand
Solan, August 23 HP State Co-operative Bank (HSCB) has not been able to open any new place of business since March 2009. Though the bank has a network of 175 branches and 15 extension counters, it has failed to expand its network for the past 18 months. The problem arose when the Union Government decided to implement the Vaidyanathan Committee report and directed all states to sign an MoU which laid down several stringent conditions vis-à-vis cooperative sector. Since the conditions were contrary to the interests of Himachal where the cooperative sector was performing well, it was decided not to sign this MoU. Since the Centre had laid a uniform policy for states performing poorly as well as for those performing well in the cooperative sector, Himachal did not sign this MoU at that time. In view of the new policy of the Reserve Bank of India, HSCB falls under the definition of short-term cooperative credit structure under a two-tier system as the bank is discharging the dual role of state cooperative bank and the central cooperative bank in six districts - Bilaspur, Chamba, Kinnaur Mandi, Shimla and
Sirmour. Thus, these six districts have now been deprived of new branches. Though the state government had in August 2010 decided to accept the recommendations of the Vaidyanathan Committee by signing the
MOU, the time period for its implementation had expired. Other states like Kerala and Goa too have been affected by this
condition. HPSCB is now demanding relaxation in the conditions of signing the MoU so that the expansion of rural banking could take
place. Amit Kashyap, managing director, HPSCB, said this had jeopardised the growth of the bank as it could not harness the potential in the areas identified by it for opening new places of business. Since no other bank is willing to open branches in the rural areas for economic reasons, the rural masses have been denied banking services.
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Himachal diary Home guards and the Fire Services Department of the state have been undertaking programmes to promote awareness about disaster management, environment conservation and other such issues for many years. It has been organising such programmes in schools to educate the children about fire safety and rescue operations, but now it is also involving other sections of the society and with their cooperation carrying out tree plantation drives. It recently organised an afforestation programme in collaboration with the bar council in the Benmore area(see photo). Divisional fire officer BS Mahal said unlike other organisations, the plantation drive is focused on filling the vacant patches created in forests due to drying up of trees. Last year, over 2,000 saplings were planted in the Baldiyan area on the outskirts of Shimla. He said the main responsibility of the department was to prevent fire and organise rescue and relief operations. However, the department had started undertaking various social activities after B Kamal Kumar took over as the director general of the home guards. He had been encouraging the staff to undertake various activities, particularly plantation drives, as the process of climate change could only be halted by expanding the depleting green cover. Declamation contest
“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will. No matter how many times you fail, you are never a failure as long as you don’t give up! Failure is an event, not a person,” quipped one of the participants at the maiden inter-school English Declamation Competition held at The Lawrence School, Sanawar. It witnessed a neck-to-neck struggle of fecundity between teams from 12 schools, namely Army Public School, Dagshai, Mayo College, Ajmer, MGD Girls School, Jaipur, Scindia Kanya Vidyalaya, Gwalior, St Mary’s Convent School, Kasauli, The Punjab Public School, Nabha, Vasant Valley School, Delhi, Vidya Devi Jindal School, Hissar, Vivek High School, Chandigarh, Welham Girls School, Dehradun, YPS, Mohali, and the host Lawrence. Brigadier PN Ananthanarayanan, station commander, Kasauli, who was the chief guest, lauded the performance of the contestants and awarded the trophies and prizes to the winners. He said, “In today’s world, good communication skills have become a pre-requisite for a successful career. Competitions like this encourage students to hone these skills and provide a platform to the students to display their oratorical skills.” Mannat Tipnis and Gyatri Kashyap of The Lawrence School and Tuhin Basu of Mayo College won the first, second, and third individual positions, respectively. The first and second consolation prizes were bagged by Siddhanth Dutta of Mayo College and Harshika Yadav of St Mary’s Convent School, while the overall trophy was won by host. Headmaster Praveen Vasisht said the biennial event was at its nascent stage and aimed to provide an opportunity to the students to hone their communication skills and promote articulation among students of all age groups. The contest was held under the aegis of the English faculty.
NIT alumni meet
The third alumni meet organised recently at the NIT campus, Hamirpur, turned out to be an emotional event. Over 400 alumni along with their families came from distant places to attend the meet. The organisers of this meet had made effort to contact about 5,000 alumni of the institutions set up as Regional Engineering College in 1990 and later upgraded to the NIT. The alumni association has been very active in the NIT and regular meets had been organised. It has formed many local chapters within the country in places like Shimla, Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata and Hamirpur besides in foreign countries. Media coordinator YD Sharma said the purpose of the meet was to bring the old students together and their interaction with the students studying here. The alumni had also been contributing to the growth of the institute by giving valuable suggestions and supporting a few activities, he added. Several events like cultural function (see photo), cricket match between old and present students and special programmes for the kids and families were organised during the meet. The members also planted saplings in the campus during the meet, besides holding its annual meeting. (Contributed by Rakesh Lohumi and DP Gupta)
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Sale of Red Cross tickets by officials questioned
Kangra, August 23 Ravi K Puri, an RTI activist and advocate, disclosed the case here recently and alleged that it was unfortunate that state government officials who held power of registration of land, made people pay through their nose for registration and later forced them to purchase Red Cross tickets. Puri said in some cases the Red Cross tickets sold to people cost far less than the amount paid for these. He added that the contribution for the Red Cross was a pious job, but questioned why the officials selling the tickets were being paid 10 per cent commission when they were on official duty. He further said he had asked the Chief Secretary, Himachal Pradesh Government, through an RTI to disclose whether a state government employee could earn from other sources, including the commission on the Red Cross tickets while performing official duties alongside. He asked whether the government employee was bound to deposit the extra income in the government account and under which head the commission of the Red Cross and other mela tickets were being deposited by the officials concerned. Puri said if commission was being paid to the officials for the sale of Red Cross tickets, it was allegedly a gross violation of government employees salary and other income rules. He asserted that such officials be asked to deposit the income earned from the commission in the government treasury.
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Palampur projects hang fire
Palampur, August 23 Sharma said he had managed funds for various projects from the state government, but the council was not providing land and taking up construction which was in the purview of the council. Four months ago, the council headed by the Congress was voted to power, since then Sharma and the council were at loggerheads. Sharma had initiated various projects in the municipal area but no headway was made till date. The state government had sanctioned Rs 10 lakh for the construction of Tourist Information Centre for Palampur. Sharma laid the foundation stone of this project in August 2009 near bus stand in outskirts of the town. Later, he wanted to shift this project in central area near the Rotary Bhawan, where a piece of land was vacant. Despite efforts, he failed to get the land from the council and the project was hanging fire for the past two years. The MLA had also got approval for two parking sites from the government on the Baijnath road and near Radha Krishan temple. The government had transferred Rs 50 lakh for these two projects. But these projects are also hanging fire. A multi-story parking project is also pending as the government had failed to finalise whether this project should be constructed under the BOT or by the council. The foundation stone of this project was laid by Chief Minister PK Dhumal in 2008. Sharma said he was hurt by the attitude of president and vice-president of the council. He alleged that he was not getting any cooperation from the council in the execution of development projects for Palampur. He said the council should not play politics in completion of development works, it should work for the public interest. Thakur Balwant Singh, president of the council, said residents of the town were opposing the construction of parking stand near Radha Krishan temple, therefore the project was abandoned. The land chosen by Sharma for the tourist information centre was earmarked for senior citizens’ park and the council could not transfer this land, he said. He added that any constructive proposal of the MLA was welcomed.
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Cong demands more buses to Bilaspur
Bilaspur, August 23 Bambar said the Himachal Road Transport Corporation should adopt “first come, first serve” principle. He said, “Ticket counter clerks first ask the travellers going to the farthest destinations of Manali and Kullu to get their tickets and passengers from Bilaspur and Hamirpur districts get tickets only if some seats remain vacant. Even if they stand in beginning of the queue and wait for tickets for several hours, the same treatment is meted out to them.” Bambar said sometimes passengers from Bilaspur and Hamirpur, due to urgency, have to purchase a ticket up to Mandi town so that they do not miss the bus, though they have to get down at Bilaspur bus stand and cough up Rs 70 more than actual fare of Bilaspur. He said there were complaints that the counter clerks openly declared that these were the “government instructions”. He said some passengers claimed that when they gave Rs 50 “under the table”, a ticket for Bilaspur bus stand has immediately fallen in to their hands, a saving of Rs 20. He said if there was extreme rush of passengers for Kullu-Manali and Mandi, more buses should be started for Bilaspur and Hamirpur districts. He demanded that the passengers should be saved from this ordeal at the Chandigarh bus stand and the buses should be available every hour. Bambar warned that if this partiality was not stopped, the Congress would not only agitate against it, but it would also go to the high court against undemocratic and despotic system.
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A rise in the number of road accidents in the state has once again put a question mark on the functioning of the state transport department. In the past six months, over 150 persons have lost their lives in different road mishaps, particularly in the far flung areas, with
Chamba, Shimla, Kullu and Kinnaur districts recording the highest number of accidents.
Dharamsala, August 23
