Palampur, July 10
Power companies executing small hydel projects in the Kangra valley are playing games with nature. These companies have been openly flouting environment norms. They are involved in large-scale felling of trees, dumping debris in the local khuds and reserve forests and have been causing extensive damage to drinking water supply and irrigation channels. Besides, acres of forest and agricultural land have turned barren because of the reckless cutting of hills and dumping of debris.

It is unfortunate that the district officials like Deputy Commissioners, SDMs, Divisional Forest Officers and state government officials responsible for the proper implementation of an MoU signed with the government have become silent spectators, giving the private hydel companies a free hand to go ahead with the destruction of the precious natural and forest wealth of the state. There is nobody to listen to the woes of the affected villagers.

Most of the companies executing hydel projects have failed to deposit the local area development fund with the state exchequer. The state officials have not bothered to collect it from them due to their high political connections.

The arrests of over half a dozen officials while accepting bribe from power companies in the past two years has exposed the nexus between corrupt officials of the Revenue Department and the owners of hydel companies. There are a number of such cases where NOCs (no Objection Certificates) were issued overnight for setting up these projects throwing all norms to the wind.

SDMs, tehsildars and other revenue officials play a vital role in the grant of permission for setting up such projects as most of the NOCs for the transfer of land, marking of dumping sites, construction of roads to project site, etc are issued by the SDM, DFO and other officials and later approved by the district magistrates.

A dozen such micro hydel projects are coming up in the Dhauladhar hills of the Kangra valley. In the past three years, these companies have flouted environment norms damaging over 36 drinking water supply and irrigation schemes of the IPH Department. Besides, they have also damaged acres of forestland. In the Baijnath and Palampur area, hundreds of acres of agricultural land has turned barren in the absence of water for irrigation.

In Palampur, Baijnath, Nagri and Kandbari areas, local residents have lodged a strong protest against the illegal acts of these companies and have taken to the streets. In the Kandbari and upper area of Palampur, several houses have been damaged because of reckless blasting and debris falling on them with no compensation being paid to the victim.

Likewise in Baijnath, half a dozen irrigation channels feeding several panchayats in Palampur and Baijnath sub divisions have been damaged. Despite several meetings held with the SDM, Baijnath, and the SDM, Palampur, the companies have failed to implement the orders of the government causing inconvenience to the public.

In Palampur, Om Power Corporation executing 15MW hydel project has flouted environment norms with impunity. It has damaged as many as 12 water supply schemes and six water channels causing net loss of Rs 5 crore to the IPH Department. Besides, several houses in Surad village have become unsafe.

Because of the reckless cutting of hills and dumping of debris in water sources, over 100 villages in the Palampur region were getting muddy contaminated drinking water and also facing acute water crisis.

Hamirpur, July 10
The International Institute of Fashion Design (INIFD), Hamirpur, organised its annual day function here recently. Not only students of the institute displayed their dresses but also famous models from Mumbai and Chandigarh displayed the dresses designed by the students of the institute.

The first to begin in this series was red and golden round in which western dresses made from red and golden fabric were displayed by the models.

For the next round, the models had selected the dresses designed from black and white fabric combination. In this combination, the students had designed attractive dresses tailored in one piece and designed with draping technique. More than 100 dresses in black and white combination were on display.

The next round was the smoking round in which the designers had designed dresses using their cutting skills.

The dresses designed for kids from 6 to 12 years were displayed in the kids round in which various dresses like frock suits, umbrella suits and gowns were on display.

In sarees and lehanga round, causal sarees were used by the models. For designing lehanga, the students also used lace, beed and mirror work to give them glitter and shine.

The students of the institute also presented colourful cultural items during the fashion show.

Palampur, July 10
The sudden U-turn of the state government of not creating new districts in the state has caused widespread resentment among the populace here.

Earlier, the state government had proposed to accord the status of districts to Palampur, Nurpur and Deharagopipur.

In fact, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, during his visit to Palampur in May, had given an assurance to the people of the region that the government would grant district status to Palampur, keeping in view its area and population.

Residents of three subdivisions- Palampur, Jaisinghpur and Baijnath, also launched an agitation for district status. People came out in streets and bandh was also observed in support of their demand. Four MLAs of the region- Bipan Singh Parmar, Sudheer Sharma, Captain Atma Ram and Ravinder Singh Ravi, openly came out in support of district status to Palampur. They also wrote to the state government for the early announcements of districts.

They publicly supported the demand for the district status for Palampur.

However, local BJP MLA Parveen Sharma opposed the creation of new district at Palampur. Because of the opposition of Parveen Sharma and state Transport Minister Krishan Kapoor, the government postponed the creation of districts till further order or after the Assembly elections if the BJP was voted to power.

The Zila Banao Sanghrash Samiti has announced to launch a campaign against the local MLA in coming Assembly election.

Palampur, July 10
Despite warnings issued by the state government to medical officers posted in various government hospitals in the state, particularly in Palampur, Nagrota Bagwan, Kangra and Dharmshala not to prescribe substandard and spurious medicines to the poor patients visiting government hospitals, doctors seem to have turned a deaf ear. The Health Minister had issued a warning to medical officers all across the state after The Tribune carried a news item to this effect.

The Health Minister had earlier also warned medical officers not to prescribe unwanted and substandard drugs to patients. But in Kangra district, hardly any medical officer had bothered to take the warning seriously. Doctors are still prescribing medicines of pharma companies which offer them commission and costly gifts.

The state government has failed to check rampant corruption prevailing in the state Health Department. State vigilance agencies have remained mute spectators.

Because of difficult topography and the lack of corporate hospitals, the state is flooded with substandard drugs and there is no agency to check these malpractices. A senior official of the Health Department admitted that over three hundred brands of sub standard and spurious drugs were being sold in different parts of this district on the prescription of medical officers.

Though the Principal Secretary Health and Director Health Services are well conversant with the situation but no action has been initiated against medical officers enjoying political protection from ministers and MLAs.

The state government has a detailed list of corrupt medical officers but no one could dare either to shift them or initiate disciplinary action against them. Recently, a doctor involved in illegal activity was shifted by the health secretary but an MLA immediately came to his rescue and got his transfer orders cancelled.

A doctor on duty when confronted by The Tribune regarding warning issued by the health minister had this to say: No one has the authority to challenge the prescription of the doctors, not even the health minister or health secretary. Such circulars are regular routine.

CMO Kangra had failed to implement the orders of the state government in this regard. The record of various hospitals in Palampur and other places established that the doctors had repeatedly prescribed particular brand of medicines of particular companies who give them commission upto 40% on its sale to patients for the past three years. The Tribune has a number of such prescription slips in its possession.

A leading wholesale distributor of medicine at Nurpur told The Tribune that though the standard company medicines like Cipla, Ranbaxy, Torrent, Centaur, Cadla, Lupin etc were cheaper in the market but doctors did not prescribe these medicines, as these companies did not bribe the doctors and give them commission or other incentives.

Salooni at a height of 1,829 m is a small township, 56 km west of Chamba town. I observed it as dirty or as clean as any other town that has semi-scavenging facilities in the state. While I was footing its lanes and streets, I found the usual litter that catches one’s eyes scattered in the pathways of small townships. The tiny hall where we had to do a workshop was cluttered with cigarette butts, paper glasses and ragbags.

Still I was fascinated by a board raised by the development block (see photo) in the town. It is a sort of granting you a passport to visit Salooni again if you have maintained the norms of cleanliness, if not, the passport is not issued. A very interesting board! When I told the story to my granddaughter, she interpreted it as the population of 1,500 of Salooni is enough to sully the township, no visitors required. The tehsildar there, Pratap Singh Rathod, told me that the place was called Salooni as a corrupt form of Sailani (tourist) who frequented the place since the time of the rajas. I do not agree with him but agree with a few villagers who conveyed that Salooni offered a breathtaking panoramic view of the snow-covered hills and peaks and situated at the top of a ridge, which opened into the Bhandal Valley. This scenic spot of great beauty led to Bhaderwah. They added that because of its beauty, the place was called Saloni which in English meant attractive and charming. Saloni also means salty in Hindi. Saloni, therefore, is the origin of Salooni. It also contains ‘loon’ which means salt in pahari.

The board has the portrait of ‘Bhalei Mata’, she is ‘Bhadrakali’ and has a temple about 28 km from Salooni on Dalhousie road. It was built by Raja Pratap Singh Varman (1559-1586) who was the contemporary of Akbar.

“He is said to have been generous and considerate of the well-being and comfort of his people. This was shown especially in his unwillingness to impose heavy taxation upon them,” writes J Hutchison in ‘History of the Punjab Hill States’. The temples of Chamba required repairs and new temples were to be built, but there was no money in the treasury. He was concerned about the matter when a man came to his durbar and told him that a copper mine had been discovered at Ilaqua Hul. The raja ordered to work on the mine and the money he got from the produce was utilised in constructing the temple at Bhalei and maintenance of other temples. It was in 1973 that an antique idol of Bhadrakali was stolen from the temple but was recovered from Chohra, the present Chamera dam site. The temple at Bhalei was rejuvenated first by Raja Siri Singh (1844-1870) and now by JP Associates. I confess that I had a sincere desire to visit the temple but I missed it while I was returning to Dalhousie from Salooni. They say that the goddess allows darshan to the virtuous -- maybe I am not.

I was impressed by the Rest House building at Salooni, which was built in 1908 by Raja Bhuri Singh (see photo). Its original façade has not been tampered with by the PWD and to provide additional accommodation to the earlier one, the newly constructed attachment jells with the older one. Credit to the PWD, because they seldom agree with the phrase ‘old is gold’ and believe in ‘new is diamond’. Raja Bhuri Singh also raised rest houses at Bhandal, Kilar, Sundla, Tisagarh and Bhanjraru. He was a noble and wise king, so he had received the distinction of knighthood from the King-Emperor in the ‘Most Exalted Order of the Star of India’ on January 1, 1906.

The recent posting of an SDM at Salooni has fulfilled a long-standing demand of the people of the area and many a case for which they had to go to Tissa would be solved on spot.

Chamba, July 10
Many private hydropower enterprises executing hydel projects in Chamba district are yet to deposit the Local Area Development Fund (LADF) for environment management and restoration of natural resources and land adjoining hydroelectric projects besides other development activities.

So far, 35 hydropower companies have deposited a sum of Rs 1.32 crore in the past four years out of which an amount of about Rs 63 lakh has been spent on various development activities in the district.

These statistics came to light through information garnered under the RTI Act procured by a spokesperson of the Congress party Dharam Malhotra.

The RTI information divulged that the notional cost to be spent on these hydroelectric projects, which included the projects already commissioned and the projects under construction would amount to about Rs 12,132 crore.

Out of 529 small hydroelectric projects in Himachal Pradesh, 117 projects have been allotted to Chamba district, the RTI information further revealed, stating that barring one hydropower company, all the companies were non-Himachali.

RTI information disclosed that work on 65 small hydroelectric projects had so far been undertaken out of which ten projects had been completed and commissioned in the district.

Intriguingly, there are many projects out of the 65 hydroelectric projects in ehich forest clearance is awaited.

As many as 1,053 unemployed Himachalis had got employment in these projects, the information further revealed.

Nurupur, July 10
The proposed Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for the Nurpur subdivision on the foothills of Kangra district is hanging in balance notwithstanding its nod in principal in 2006. According to information, the Government of India had approved in principal three SEZs for Damtal (Nurpur), Gagret (Una) and Vaknaghat (Solan) and one year had been scheduled for the completion of formalities of acquiring land for this purpose.

A Delhi-based private DS Construction Company had to execute this project in the Nurpur area. The company had to invest Rs 20,000 crore on this project and generate 20,000 direct or indirect employment opportunities.

The proposed identified site for the SEZ could not be acquired due to flood-prone nature of the land. The construction company had expressed its desire to shift the proposed site in the Milwan and Lodwan area of Nurpur. The SEZ had to be set up on 300 hectares of land out of which 50 hectares of government land is available there, whereas the remaining land had to be acquired from private landholders.

Owing to rejection of that site, work on the proposed SEZ project could not be started. The state Industry Department identified another 350 hectares of government land at Ghandran and Sarudana near Indora in this subdivision. Sources reveal that this land is yet to be transferred in the name of the state Industry Department. However, the proposed SEZ has not been shelved but due to the non-availability of the requisite land, this has been hanging in balance.

In this connection, Satish Choudhary, general manager, District Industry Centre, Dharamsala, says that the state Industry Department is trying to transfer the ownership of the identified 350 hectares of land on its name.

“The forest and environment clearance has been taken for this land and land transfer proceedings are in the final stage. As and when ownership is transferred, private companies will be invited for setting up the proposed SEZ,” he said.

This proposed SEZ will have multi-products manufacturing units, trading centre, along with housing colonies. The delay in setting up the SEZ has dismayed the beneficiaries who had been waiting for its execution five years ago. There is a demand that the government should expedite the land transfer process for setting up the much-awaited SEZ.

Solan, July 10
A two-day workshop on “Crafting strategy for Horticulture Crop Production under Changing Regional Climatic Scenario in Solan District of HP” was organised by the Department of Environmental Sciences, Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, recently.

It was attended by 80 participants, including scientists, officers from the Department of Horticulture and Agriculture, NGOs and progressive farmers from different blocks of Solan district.

The workshop was inaugurated by Vice-Chancellor Dr KR Dhiman of the university. Dr Dhiman highlighted the relevance of climate research as the environment was getting polluted and degraded at a fast pace due to over-exploitation of natural resources and faulty practices in agriculture, horticulture and industry.

He said this phenomenon was being witnessed all over the world where every year the world was losing 24 billion tons of top soil, damaging 100-million acres of farm land, destroying 44-million acres of forests, creating 15-million acres of new deserts, using 160 billion tons more water that could be replenished, burning fossil fuels which took 10,000 years to attain its present form, pumping huge quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, puncturing the ozone layer and overheating the earth.

Forest fires which are of common occurrence during the summers are having a devastating impact on the ecosystem and biological wealth.

Dr RC Sharma, Director, Research, said climate change was going to affect the productivity of crop species and its geographic distribution. He emphasised the need to adopt crop diversification to combat the adverse effects of climate change.

Dr Satish Bhardwaj, Head of the Department of Environmental Sciences, UHF, Nauni, Solan, discussed in detail about the changing climatic scenario in the state.

“Solan district falls in Shiwaliks, which have been identified as one of the eight most degraded rainfed ecosystems of the country. The region is experiencing severe impacts of climate change in terms of the increased temperature, reduction in annual rainfall, drying of perennial springs, drought, etc,” he said.

Expressing concern over the scenario, he said the weather patterns were becoming more unpredictable and extreme and this phenomenon was causing concern over the long-term reduction in the total water supply affecting lives and livelihoods of the people.

Monsoon rains are concentrated during August and September in place of June to September earlier i.e. before 1990, resulting in high rates of surface runoff that cause severe land degradation.

Bhardwaj highlighted the role of diversified perennial horticulture and protected cultivation in adapting and mitigating the ill effects of changing climate.

Suggesting remedies, he said taking into account the amount of rainfall received in the region, good potential existed for rainwater harvesting by tapping surface and sub-surface flow.

“The harvested water can be utilised during lean periods to stabilise crop production, apart from recharging groundwater and ensure economic and ecological development of the region,” he said.

The Language, Art and Culture Department organised a two-day programme to mark the birth anniversary of the renowned Hindi writer, Chandra Dhar Sharma Guleri, who shot into limelight with his famous story “Usne Kaha Tha”, in the state capital on July 6 and 7.

The department organised a special screening of the film “Usne Kaha Tha” produced by Guru Dutt for schoolchildren at the Gaiety Theatre so that they could appreciate the work of the writer. Students of the Portmore Girls School staged a play based on the same story. The schoolchildren who saw both the film and the play later participated in a quiz competition and the winners were given books as prizes. Eminent writers from the state had a literary session at which stories, essays and other works of Guleri were discussed. The programmes concluded with a poetic symposium.

The great granddaughter of Guleri and other relatives also participated in the programme.