The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Power projects threaten existence of villages
Ravinder Sood

Poor villagers stand outside their damaged houses in the village in Palampur. Photo by writer

Palampur, October 25
Over one dozen power projects, being executed in the Dhauladhar hills, have made the lives of hundreds of villagers miserable as these project have adversely affected local drinking water sources, villages roads and pastures. Besides, reckless cutting of hills for these projects have resulted in a large-scale soil erosion and landslides threatening the existence of villages. Though the local administration is well-conversant with the situation, but no efforts are being made to do something about it.

The 15-MW Om Power Project being executed on the Neugal river, near Palampur, has proved a curse for the poor residents of Surad village, situated 200 m from the main powerhouse site.

For them the project has brought miseries and a lot of problems in their day-to-day life. The project has become a major health hazard. The dust, emission from vehicles and regular inflow of sand and poor soil to the village from the adjoining hills have made the life of the villagers quite miserable.

The entire population of the village is suffering from various disease like tuberculoses, asthma, allergy and burning in the eyes due to this. Villagers told The Tribune that they had been facing problems for the last four years when the Om Power Corporation, a Hyderabad-based company, started the construction of the project.

The villagers said a road leading to the powerhouse site was passing through their village. Hundreds of heavy and light vehicles were using the kutcha road daily. The dust and emission from the vehicles had been polluting the atmosphere, resulting in disease like asthma, tuberculoses, burning in the eyes and allergy.

A number of residents of the village had already left their homes and living in Palampur town and Bundla village. If the administration failed to initiate an action, the entire village population would migrate to a safer place soon abandoning their houses and fields.

Dr Rajan Sushant, MP from Kangra, visited the affected village three months ago and assured the villagers that he would take up the matter with the government. But even after three months nothing was done to mitigate their hardships and miseries.

The villagers have also paid dozens of visits to the office of the SDM and DSP, Palampur, seeking their assistance to get rid of these problems, but they get only assurances. They also reported the matter in the local police station, but instead of helping them a police team threatened the village women, who were sitting on a dharna at the village in support of their demands, of putting them behind bars.

Two years ago, The Tribune highlighted the problems of the villagers in these columns. Thereafter Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal directed the administration in the presence of mediapersons to look into the matter and extend assistance to the villagers, but nothing was done. The directions of the CM were not implemented and local officers are still shielding the company.

It is also alleged that the company has also not paid the compensation for damages caused to their houses in the village two years ago. However, a project official said they had already given the compensation, but the villagers refuted the claim of the company and said they had not received even a single paisa. The official record in the SDM office also revealed that no compensation was paid to them.

The drinking water source and irrigation channels of the village have also been damaged by the heavy boulders and debris falling from upper hills because of reckless cutting for the construction of the road to the tunnel site. Villagers have been forced to drink contaminated water.

Himachal diary
Attaining spirituality by painting

A three-day painting exhibition-cum-workshop “Five essentials in time and space” held at the Gaiety Theatre (see pic) in Shimla this week showcased the works of five women artists from Punjab representing different styles of art and diverse themes.

Artists Rajinder Kaur, Ambalicka Sood Jacob, Sukhranjan Kaur Cheema, Daljit Kaur and Jasmine Pasricha also painted live to demonstrate the finer nuances of acrylic painting. In all, 50 works were on display. The five artists have different styles, but they all strive to discover the realm of the invisible to reach the spiritual destinations. With beauty, divinity and serenity as the thrust areas, they yearn to transcend the narrow boundaries to create the unlimited space for their own flight.

They were all brought together for such a unique art show by Dr Saroj Chaman, former head of the fine arts department of the Punjabi University. “The essentials have no limits, no logic, no text of rituals, they have One Tree of humanity to grow,” said Jasmine while explaining the objective of the show.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal inaugurated the exhibition jointly organised by the Art, Language and Culture Department and the Chail Heritage Foundation.

Genius in Japan

The education department has selected six students of Class IX and Class X on the basis of merit for participation in the Genius Programme for talented students in Japan.

The department had short-listed over 150 students for the purpose and six of them have found place in the final list at the central level. The selected students include Hemlata Sharma of Government Senior Secondary School (GSSS), Galma (Mandi), Diksha Kumari of GSSS, Junga (Shimla), Rohit Kaundal of GSSS, Gangath (Kangra), Naurav Kaushal and Nikita Sharma of GSSS, Raja ka Talab (Kangra) and Pushpendra Kumar of GSSS, Rampur Bushair (Shimla).

A teacher Suriner Singh Negi will accompany the students, who are scheduled to leave for Japan on November 28 and return on December 6.

Praise for police

The police department, which generally attracts public criticism, got a pat on the back from the Estimate Committee of the state Assembly during a recent review of the functioning of the Hamirpur district police.

The committee not only appreciated efforts of the police for a low crime rate in the district but also for bringing professionalism in its working. It observed that incidence of crime came down last year in comparison to the previous years.

The members of the committee complimented the district police for taking prompt and stringent measures to eradicate social evils like drug addiction by holding seminars and delivering lectures in the educational institutions.

A comparison of crime figures of 2010 and 2011 indicates that cases of major crimes have come down significantly. The number of murder cases reduced from 11 to 3, rapes from 9 to 5, abduction from 16 to 5, cruelty to women from 17 to 3, outraging modesty of women from 21 to 10 and theft and burglary from 71 to 53.

Appearing before the committee, SP Kuldeep Sharma explained the efforts being made to bridge the communication gap between the police and people by holding seminars and meetings in all the police stations every month and meetings at panchayat level, where the police officials interact with the people. The public-police cooperation is being enhanced through community policing, which helped in detection of crime, and ensuring the police help to public in the hour of need, he added.

(Contributed by DP Gupta and Rakesh Lohumi)

A true artist does not need formal training
Sirmaur’s self-taught artist creates perfect models
Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 25
Having a look at the models created by him, it is hard to believe that he is a self-taught artist and that too a simple village lad with hardly any exposure to such refined artistic refined work, which only a professional can create.

It is the passion for building such models and doing excellent art work that has brought Ram Swaroop, a 19-year- old youth from Tandio village in the Shillai area of Sirmaur, to Shimla. He has a small part-time job which barely provides for his stay and studies, while he pursues his dream of getting a job linked to his passion for art.

While showing the model of a village that he has created, one wonders how he is able to create such a beautiful hamlet, replete with the temple made in hill architecture style, small houses and cattle. The backdrop of a thick deodar forest and snow-capped peaks with the sun peeping is breathtaking.

“Some people, who have seen his models, refuse to believe that he has learnt making them on his own as even those who undergo professional training can hardly match his expertise and the fine detailing of minutest things,” says his employer. He says that Ram Swaroop could do an excellent job for engineers and architects, only if somebody could give him an opportunity.

His only drawback is the fact that he has no formal training and a degree which can get him a job. In fact, it was after completing his Class XII from Government Senior Secondary School, Halan, that he packed his bags to pursue his dream and came to Shimla. With his family not able to support him financially, he is studying in BA III year as he did graduation privately. Unassuming and laborious, he is willing to do any work to earn a living and support his family, but work linked to his passion for art and creating models would make his life a success, says Ram.

Chamba hospital without gynaecologist, ENT specialist for seven years
Balkrishan Prashar

Chamba, October 25
Neither a gynaecologist, nor an ENT specialist has been available for the past seven years in the only Regional Hospital at Chamba town, which is set in the focal point of the district. The situation is worse due to the dearth of doctors and other paramedical staff in rural health centres.

What then is the fate of people of Chamba who are suffering from various ailments and living in penury? Chamba District Progressive Council president Hari Ram Puri rebuked the Department of Health Services while airing their grievances.

The posting of a gynaecologist in the Regional Hospital in June this year appeared to be merely an eyewash to inhabitants of the difficult Chamba district having a population of over five lakh.

It was due to the fierce resentment among the people of Chamba and their forceful representations made to the state government in the recent past that the Department of Health Services was compelled to post a gynaecologist on June 13 this year. He served at the regional hospital for only three months and was transferred to outside the district on September 13. Thus, people of Chamba were back on square one.

As a sequel to the transfer of the gynaecologist, the post of the specialist again stood vacant and the masses, especially women of the entire district, were made to suffer, revealed the Medical Superintendent of the Regional Hospital Dr Ram Kamal while speaking to The Tribune here.

The post of the ENT (ears, nose and throat) specialist here has also been lying vacant for the past seven years, thanks to the apathy of the state government.

Expedite settlement of revenue cases: Gulab Singh
Jai Kumar

Bilaspur, October 25
Revenue and PWD Minister Gulab Singh Thakur has ordered all the revenue officers in the district to settle revenue cases of ownership, division, demarcation and correction of land records at the earliest. He said there should not be any delay in these matters as it affected the villagers.

Thakur was presiding over a review meeting of the district revenue officers to assess progress of reforms in the Revenue Department here recently.

He said no delay would be tolerated and a serious view would be taken of such lapses.

He, however, praised the efforts of a few district officers, including Deputy Commissioner Ritesh Chauhan, and said the pace of work should be continued.

The minister expressed satisfaction that 84 cases of division of land in families had been settled by mutual consent. Out of 1,056 applications received by the Deputy Commissioner, 501 illegal encroachment cases of Bhakra Dam oustees in the town have been investigated by the revenue staff till now.

The minister said the remaining work should be done within the shortest period so that the government should decide a suitable policy for giving essential relief to the oustees.

He said the settlement of 830 revenue cases out of the total 837 received by the department in the district from July to August had been done successfully.

Deputy Commissioner Ritesh Chauhan, Additional District Magistrate Darshan Kalia, SDMs and tehsildars were present on the occasion.