Mandi, March 6
Patients and their attendants fend for themselves at the 300-bed Zonal Hospital here as stretchers and trolleys are not available. They rough it out in the open and on the floor as there is no sarai and the multi-purpose waiting hall for them at the hospital.

Leela Devi, a resident of Sadhyani, who was on drip, was carried on the shoulders of her attendants from the emergency room to the ward. “We did not get a trolley to take her to a ward at the hospital,” rued her attendants. The attendants have no place to sit in front of the labour room, as there is no waiting hall to take care of emergency duties in the hospital.

Medical Superintendent CR Verma said the hospital had trolleys and stretchers, but attendants did not want to use them. Nurses on duty guide the patients and shift them safely from the OPDs to wards, he claimed. Though the hospital has put some benches in front of each OPD, there is no multi-purpose waiting hall for patients and attendants at the hospital.

“We have to spend days and nights out in the open,” resented patients. “They crowd the corridors or wards when doctors are out and spend their nights till the patients are discharged,” they said.

More than 300 OPD patients visit the hospital daily. Over 200-300 patients are admitted to the hospital daily, but there is no night-stay facility like a sarai at the hospital.

Though enough land is available with the Health Department, there is no “political will” to create the night-stay facility at the hospital.

A temple trust wanted to construct a sarai at the hospital, but it created a row as the land belonged to the department. “Even the hospital land has been encroached upon by private builders under the nose of the Health Department, nothing is being done to initiate proceedings to evacuate the land,” said doctors.

Dr Verma said there was a proposal to build sarai for the patients at the hospital, but it could not take off.

Manali, March 6
After a long spell of winter, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is now going full steam in snow-clearing and re-opening the 474-km-long Manali-Leh highway, one of the highest motorable roads in the world.

According to the BRO, massive efforts are being made to open the 13,050-ft high Rohtang Pass, the nerve centre of tourism and the gateway to Lahaul and Spiti.

Presently, the snow-clearing equipment and machinery has reached the 25-km stretch of the Manali-Leh Highway from Manali. The snow-clearing operation commenced on March 1. The snow-clearance progress is fast this year, as four independent groups are deployed for opening the 222-km-long Manali-Sarchu section of the road. The BRO is hopeful of clearing the snow between the Manali-Rohtang pass by April 15.

Keeping in view the increasing traffic during the tourist season in April, May and June, the BRO is also carrying out widening and carpeting work between Manali and Palchan on a war footing at the Manali-Sarchu Road leading to Leh under the NHDL specifications.

The 474-km Manali-Leh Highway was included in the BRDB programme during 1964. The road portion from Manali-Sarchu is under the area of responsibility of the Project Deepak and beyond Sarchu, Leh is with the Project Himank.

The Punjab PWD was maintaining the Class-5 road. The Punjab PWD constructed a motorable track between Manali and Keylong (115 km). Subsequently, the responsibility was transferred to the BRO and the road opened to traffic in 1973.

In 1989, the Government of India threw open the Manali-Leh Highway to foreign tourists, whereas the tribal belt of Spiti and Kinnaur were opened to overseas visitors in 1992.

The Manali-Leh Highway played a key role during the Kargil conflict and was crucial in carrying arms ammunition for the Indian Army in the border district of Leh and Ladakh. The road to Leh winds its way through the Rohtang Pass, Baralacha Pass (4,883m), Lachlung La (5,065m) and Tanglang La (5,328M).

About 70 km from Manali at a place known as Gramphu, the Manali-Leh road bifurcates to the Spiti and Kinnaur tribal areas. The road from Gramphu to Batal runs along the Chandra river and then in a zigzag manner runs over the Kunzum Pass (4551 m) till it reaches Kaza and Kinnaur, popularly known as cold deserts of the Himalayas.

Baddi, March 6
Having dropped his surname “Khan” in his latest release, “Paan Singh Tomar” Bollywood actor Irrfan Khan believes, “It is the individual talent which brings success to an actor and tagging any surname doesn’t help romp home success.” He adds all Khans have earned fame after putting in hard work.

He said this movie had helped him grow as an actor by offering him a challenging canvass of variety and sensitivity.

In Baddi to shoot for a film, “Kissa”, Irrfan Khan shared a few moments with The Tribune. He asserted that the youth today was interested in viewing original films rather than watching remakes of Bollywood hits. He said “Kissa” was the first international collaboration of the National Film Development Corporation of India with European movies and the movie would be released worldwide.

With increased awareness the youth no longer wanted to visit a cinema hall to barely watch remakes. He added that though even South Indian movies were being remade in Bollywood, original creations appealed more to the audiences who could not be fooled by such old tricks.

Taking about his choice of roles he said, “I choose roles which have an appeal, and want to do a variety of roles portraying various moods.”

While talking about Himachal he said he had been to Kasauli and Chail a number of times and had a great desire to settle here, but the tedious procedure of buying land here had foiled his plans.

Speaking about his latest release, “Paan Singh Tomar” he said, “It is an interesting plot which revolves around the life of an armed forces personnel who despite being an international athlete ends up being a dacoit. Directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia of the “Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster” fame, the movie has hit cinema halls today. Irrfan said Dhulia was now planning the sequel of “Saheb Biwi aur Gangster”.

While piracy has been an issue of concern for Bollywood, Irrfan said, “It was like cancer which was adversely affecting the film industry today.” On the issue of actors hailing from families without any film background having to struggle to carve a niche in the industry, he said there was no dearth of talent and actors having no filmy family background had a more tough time if their films did not work as no producer would risk investing on such actors if their initial films did not work.

On being called a serious actor he said he believed in simplicity and practised farming whenever he found time. He expressed concern at the overwhelming use of chemical fertilizers in the crops today and said it was sad to watch farmers showing overindulgence in chemicals.

Palampur, March 6
The Himachal Pradesh Government is committed to safeguarding the interests of each and every section of society by ensuring their welfare in all regards.

Women empowerment has always remained on priority agenda of the government and various schemes and programmes were being implemented for the purpose.

This was stated by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal while addressing a public meeting at Pharer village, 10 km from here today. He said the state had been conferred the Diamond State Award for having been adjudged as a Best State in the country in Women Empowerment and Welfare.

He said the state government had announced the payment of arrears at the revised rates to the 37,000 Anganwari functionaries in the state since April 1, 2011, in cash to be paid in April, 2012.

Besides, the honorarium of Anganwari workers has been enhanced from Rs 3,000 to Rs 3,300, Anganwari helpers from Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,700 and mini Anganwari workers from Rs 250 to Rs 330 per month from February 1, 2012, onwards.

This will put burden of more than 11.11 crore to the state exchequer. This way, the state government had provided financial benefit of Rs 22.22 crore to the Anganwari functionaries in the state in the recent years.

He said 357 vacancies of Anganwari workers and helpers in different parts of the state were being filled up.

Moreover, 83 Anganwari/Mini-Anganwari Centres in the left-out villages in the state were also being set up.

It had also been decided to give preference to Anganwari workers/helpers in the appointment of tailoring teachers.

The wages of 18,352 Anganwari Sahayikas had been enhanced by Rs 200 per month. Earlier, they were being paid Rs 1,500 per month and now they are getting Rs 1,700 per month from February, 2012.

The monthly wages of Anganwari Sahayikas working in 330 small Anganwari Kendras in the state had also been enhanced from Rs 250 to Rs 330 per month.

Shimla, March 6
The World Bank Mid-Himalayan Watershed Development Project will serve as a model for African countries along the Nile basin for integrated management of watershed focusing on soil and water conservation.

Pleased by the success of the Rs 337-crore project, the World Bank is keen to replicate the techniques developed under the project adopting a participatory approach in the Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Programme (NELSAP) being implemented by it to promote common use of water sources among the riparian countries.

The World Bank has decided to organise a visit of representatives from countries to study the project and explore the possibilities of adopting some interventions for effective management of watersheds.

Representatives from countries, including Burundi, Congo, Egypt, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, will be part of the study team. The World Bank proposes to bring the team to Himachal for field visit for studying various initiatives implemented by involving local people under the project covering 602 panchayats in the state.

The team will also study the afforestation-based bio-carbon project being implemented under the programme to provide direct benefits to the farmers through the carbon credit mechanism. Besides Himachal, the team will also visit Karnataka where a World Bank-funded watershed development project has been successfully implemented.

Project Director RK Kapoor said vast areas in the Nile basin were topographically akin to Himachal and faced similar problems of soil erosion and depletion of water sources.

The experts of the World Bank are of the view that watershed management interventions developed in the past five years can be put to use in the riparian countries. The schedule for the visit of the study team has not been finalised yet.

He said the focus would be on the Makhowal-type water harvesting structures, which did not get silted like the pucca check dams and earthen dams and withstood floods. Such structures were built by making sub-surface of the river bed impervious and crating water using boulders upstream.

The tank is covered at the top and the villagers are trained to maintain it. This type of harvesting-cum-storage structures provided uninterrupted water supply.

Kapoor said keeping in view the success of the Makhowal-type structures, it had been decided to built 100 structures under the project covering different regions of the state.

I was at Kunihar last week to share my views on anti-smoking with the block level officers. Kunihar today is a development block of the Arki sub-division. It was my first visit there and I liked the place. I felt as if I was moving in a saucer with hills all around forming its rim. The Kunihar valley lies nearly 50 km west of Shimla in Solan district and has an average altitude of 1,000 m. The valley spreads like a garland around Kuni stream and, therefore, is called Kunihar. It is a fertile valley and its soil varies from sandy loam to loam. The main crops are wheat, black gram, mustard, pulses, maize and sugarcane.

The people of Himachal Pradesh, especially of Shimla and Solan districts do not utter the name of Kunihar in the morning. Their apprehension is that if a person utters the name, he will have to go without food the whole day. Instead, people call it ‘Chhoti Vilayat’.

Vilayat is the Persian term for foreign and since the times of Jahangir, when Sir Thomas Roe, England's first Ambassador to the Mughal court, was appointed, ‘vilayat’ was assumed as England. Kunihar was called Chhoti Vilayat because people thought it was like England. People boarding a bus in the morning take ticket for Chhoti Vilayat and not Kunihar in fear of going meal-less that day. I asked several persons the reasons for assigning this black-spot to Kunihar, but could not get a reliable reply. I have, therefore, coined my own reason ‘Kunihar in Hindi could be acronym for - koi-nahin-aahaar (no food)’ and so preference to Chhoti Vilayat.

The former state of Kunihar was one of the smaller Shimla hill states with an area of just 32.4 sq km. It was bordered by the states of Baghal and Patiala. Mark Brentnall writes in ‘The Princely and Noble Families of the former Indian Empire’, “The town is in fact no more than a large village, centered on the bazaar, which snakes through the place like an ally in Baghdad.

The main thoroughfare is uneven, flanked either side by small shops. The main employment is in agriculture and the standard of living is low, but the place is lively and people are friendly.

The palace of the Thakur is tucked away from the main bazaar. Kunihar was never a wealthy state and since the abolition of the privy purses, the family has struggled to maintain the palace, which resembles a French country house (see photo). “The palace complex also has an exciting two-domed temple of Radha Krishan and, at present, the royal family does not live in the dilapidated palace but in an adjacent old-style building. Both the palace and the temple need rejuvenation.

The history of this small state is not much known. Mian Goverdhan Singh writes in ‘The history of Himachal Pradesh’ that Kunihar was one of the 12 ‘Thakurais’ of Shimla hill states and Raja Abhoj Dev of Akhnoor, Jammu, established it in 1154. He was a Garg Raghuvanshi Rajput and had won an area which was three times bigger than the present one. Rana Anant Dev, born in 1715, was the most known and brave princes of the state. It was, probably, during his reign that the palace was constructed. He once sided with Kehlur and fought against Kangra in which he had one-to-one fight against Sardar Aagar Khan. He killed Khan and kept the sword of his vanquished foe in his palace. When he was 80- year-old in 1795, Hindur and Baghal attacked Kunihar. He fought bravely and frustrated the attempt of the enemy. The Rana, while returning from the battle-field, was ambushed by Baghal soldiers and was killed. The present prince is Sanjay Singh and enjoys the title of Rana.

Bilaspur, March 6
It was the happiest day of their lives. 102 school girls and boys, winners of national sports and games from all parts of the state gathered here at the Government Girls Senior Secondary School. They received their prizes and mementos from the Education Minister I D Dhiman a couple of days go.

The Education Minister said that they had brought laurels to their schools and the state. He said they deserved all praise and encouragement both from the government and the society. He said the gold, silver and bronze medal winners in national sports during 56th and 57th National School and Sport Meets were being given Rs 3,000, Rs 2,000 and Rs 1,000 as cash prize.

He said that the expenditure on school sports had been increased to Rs 40 lakh from from Rs 25 lakh.

Dhiman said that the government had already reserved 3 per cent jobs for sports persons. Highest percentage of the budget is being spent on education in the state, he revealed.

He announced that Government Senior Secondary Schools in Bilaspur will be provided with science block buildings next year.

Rewalsar (Mandi), March 6
Fish in the sacred Rewalsar lake here face not only an onslaught of “faecal and drain water” but also the “downpour of religious feast” offered by thousands of devotees, mainly during the three-day long Chheshu fair celebrated in this pilgrim town as birth anniversary of Lotus God Rimpoche Padamsambhavam.

The Fisheries Department here has been wrestling with streams of devotees from Ladakh, Lahaul-Spiti, Kinnaur, Dharamsala and Sikkim and other parts of India and abroad zeroing in on this pilgrim centre round the year. Sikh pilgrims also throng the gurdwara here round the year.

Drain water and faecal matter released from nearby houses around the lake are still entering the lake, presenting an unpleasant sight to the devotees.

There is no proper drainage around the lake as the drain has not been given a slope for draining the water out, resented the devotees.

Everything in the Rewalsar lake, the depth of which still remains a mystery, is believed to “be blessed and sacred”, be it fish, algal, plants, dragon flies and insects that float on the lake. The killing, touching and eating of fish - most of them mirror carp and common carp - in the lake is forbidden. Hindu pilgrims believe that Lord Kawaja, the god of water, was born in the lake.

For the Buddhists, Lotus God Padamsambhava was born in the lake and everything is enlightened in the lake, said Hara from the Zigar monastery. Feed is offered to fish in the belief that a devotee feeds the hungry, he added. The rush picks up on the 10th day of the Tibetan Lunar calendar every year that falls on March 3. Buddhists celebrate the day as birthday of the Lotus God, regarded as an avatar of Lord Buddha.

Fisheries Officer, Mandi, Ashok Verma, said they had put up banners and billboards encouraging symbolic feeding at the site and educating pilgrims on how over-feeding results in the death of fish in the lake. The pedal boats would be used to diffuse the trapped toxic gases, he added.

The overfeeding of fish, waste water and fecal discharge was adding to the problem of oxygen in the lake water during the fair, he observed.

Presiding over the concluding ceremony of the Chheshu fair, HR Chauhan, ADC, Mandi, urged the pilgrims and local nagar panchayat to help in conserving the lake and making it a pilgrimage centre of beauty.

Bilaspur, March 6
The government is developing Gwaalthai into a flourishing industrial area in the Naina Devi constituency and has taken a number of steps in this direction. While over 1,810 industrial units have been already set up in this district with an investment of Rs 747.18 crore, employment has been provided to 5,454 unemployed youths.

This was said by Naina Devi MLA and state BJP spokesman Randhir Sharma while inaugurating the Rs 38.41-lakh street lights for the government industrial area at Gwaalthai, about 100 km from here, recently.

Sharma said this year, 47 unemployed youths were selected for training under the “Pradhan Mantri Srijan Programme” and were provided financial assistance of Rs 1.44 crore with Rs 86.60 lakh as subsidy content for setting up their industrial units. Last year, 77 such youths were given training under the same programme with Rs 2.71 crore as loan assistance to them.

Sharma said the Gwaalthai Government Industrial Area has been developed on 83.17 bighas of land and 220 plots have been allotted to various medium, small and big industries here. He said the Rs 1.19-crore Community Bhawan is under construction at Gwaalthai and it would soon provide facilities like post office, bank, ESI dispensary and a conference hall for the industrial area.

Nurpur, March 6
The politics of taking credit of the much-awaited Rs 205-crore Phina Singh Medium Irrigation Project has started between the ruling BJP and the Congress just on the day the foundation stone was laid by Chief Minister PK Dhumal recently in this constituency. The project, which had been conceived by ex-Army man Phina Singh, a resident of Niari village, has virtually become a bone of contention between the ruling and the opposition parties in the state.

Sat Mahajan, former minister and ex-MLA of the area, who had worked for about three decades for the irrigation project, has lambasted the state government for misleading the people of the area by sharing full credit for the approval of the project. The Congress leader said the ruling government had no contribution except delaying the project for four years.

“Now in the election year, the foundation stone of the project has been laid only to draw political mileage in the Assembly election,” he said.

He said when he was a minister in the HP Government during 1981-1982, Phina Singh, a resident of Niyari village, had offered an idea of constructing an earthen rock-fill dam across the Chakki rivulet near Lahru village for irrigation purpose for adjoining gram panchayats of the Nurpur Assembly constituency.

“His idea appealed to me and I started to explore possibilities of constructing irrigation canal. First time the project appeared in the state Budget during 1983-84 with Rs 50000 for undertaking its survey. Its survey and investigation report was accorded by the chief engineer of the IPH Department, Dharamsala, on October 1, 1984. Thereafter, the technical staff of the Shah Nehar Project was deployed for further survey and investigation work to collect field data. After passing through a number of formalities, the irrigation project was approved by the World Bank in 2005 after clearance from HP, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan governments and BBMB,” he said.

Reacting sharply on credit-sharing politics on the irrigation project, local MLA Rakesh Pathania said former minister Sat Mahajan had of course made attempts for it, but never succeeded as he was not serious for its clearance.

“The project was never submitted before the State Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) for its nod and the previous Congress government had submitted its detailed project reports (DPRs) time and again to the Central Water Commission (CWC), which renounced them on the technical grounds. It was the present government which has followed a proper way for its sanctioning and succeeded in getting all the clearances right from STAC to the Central Forest and Environment Ministry. Its fresh DPR of Rs 147.15 crore was submitted on July 21, 2008 and revised final DPR to the tune of Rs 205.51 crore was approved on March 18, 2011 by the STAC for which the state had released Rs 2.65 crore to the Union Forest and Environment Department under net asset value on April 8 last year,” he said.

Mandi, March 6
Chander Shekhar, Congress leader from Dharampur, has urged the Dharampur Progressive Sabha (DPS) to “stand against political forces out to destroy the cultural and administrative identity and affinity of people of Dharampur with Mandi district, which has been in place since ancient times”.

Addressing a gathering of Dharampur residents who have settled in this town on the launch of the DPS here recently, Chander Shekhar said the present BJP regime was attaching the PWD office of Dharampur with the PWD division of Hamirpur.

The delimitation commission had attached Dharampur with the Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency, he added.

He alleged that the present government was shrewdly distancing people of Dharampur from Mandi and they were being treated like second-class citizens when they sometimes met leaders in Hamirpur.

He said people of the area had been emotionally attached to Mandi down the centuries and during the times of the former rulers of Mandi state. They had no affinity with Hamirpur, he said. He claimed they had no ill-will towards people of Hamirpur as such, but they would not allow disintegration of their cultural affinity with Mandi district.

“It is a question of the existence of our identity now, but the issue has not been raised by anybody in a public forum so far,” he added.

Dr Ramesh Thakur, chief guest on the DPS launch, told the gathering that they should come and join hands and take Dharampur forward on the path of progress.

He said the successive leaders of Dharampur had failed to develop it as they did not enjoy rapport with the ruling bosses over the years.

Amar Singh Saklani, former District Public Relations Officer, said the sabha would champion the cause of people of Dharampur in the town and outside.

NGO leader Bhagmal Bharmouria, Bhup Singh Thakur, president of the sabha, vice-president Navneet Chandel and other officer-bearers were also present on the occasion.

The students of the local Shivalik Institute of Nursing welcomed new entrants to the institute.

During lamp-lighting ceremony, the new students took the Nightingale Pledge to the follow the professional ethics in patient care. The oath is taken by the students in uniform with lamps in their hands (see photo). As many as 60 BSc students and 40 diploma students took the pledge after lighting candles from a lamp in front of the portrait of Florence Nightingale.

They made a portrait of Nightingale on the floor using dry colours and decorated it with candles to create an aura signifying spread of knowledge. It was an imaginative piece of collective art which will go a long way in making the new students realise the fact that Nightingale heralded the profession of nursing and the importance of ethics for a practicing nurse.