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Tea Growers’ Despair
Toki excise barrier staff, Home Guard suspended
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38% of state’s hydropower potential tapped
CPI protests Ikku river’s diversion
1,500 take part in mega job fest at Bahra varsity
Private college lecturers demand govt jobs
vignettes
RTI activist seeks inquiry into ‘wrong’ info given to CM
Sabha complains of irregular motorboat service
Clarification
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Tea Growers’ Despair
Palampur, July 24
Tea produced in India has failed to compete with the tea produced in African countries, Sri Lanka and China where the production cost is much less than the tea produced in India. Though in the past few years, Kangra tea growers have made efforts to improve the quality of tea to compete in the international market but because of high production cost, only few buyers came forward to buy Kangra tea. In the face of serious crises in the tea industry, the area under tea cultivation is squeezing day by day. Thanks to the apathy of the state government which has failed to initiate any steps for its revival. Tea growers in Baijnath, Bir and Chauntra area have abandoned their tea gardens. The cooperative tea factories set up by the state government at Bir, Baijnath, Sidhwari and Palampur have failed to deliver goods because of recession in the market. Though the state government provided adequate financial assistance to these units, but these units could not come out of the red and faced losses in crores year after year. Leading tea grower and senior Cong leader Brij Bihari Butail while interacting with The Tribune said that recently the Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma had announced special package for the Kangra tea industry. After implementation of the package plan, there could be new hope for the tea industry and the abandoned tea gardens could be revived if financial assistance is provided by the Government of India. The areas which were under tea till recently were being replaced with housing colonies, hotels, tourist resorts, shops and other religious places etc. The state government has remained a mute spectator. On papers, the total area under tea cultivation is 2,060 hectares with a total production of 1.3 million kg of made tea. The average
production is 578 kg of made tea per hectare as against 800 kg in Darjeeling. Tea has been cultivated and manufactured in Kangra Valley since the middle of last century. It was first introduced between 1830 and 1840 by the European tea planters, known as Nissan Tea Company. The valley grows the hybrid China tea known to be rich in flavor and compares favorably with the tea grown in other parts of the world. In the early years, the tea industry flourished very well because of suitable agro-climatic conditions and availability of plenty of land for tea cultivation. The tea seed imported from China responded well in the valley’s prodozolic grey soil with pH of about 5.4. Perhaps very few people knew that the Kangra tea was awarded gold medal at an exhibition in London in 1886. Until 1905, the Kangra tea was rated finest in the world for its flavor and quality. The Kangra earthquake in 1905 proved fatal for Kangra tea when large number of tea gardens were destroyed, several tea factories were raised to the ground and a number of tea planters were killed. The British administration declared the valley unsafe and almost all the European tea planters left the valley after selling their plantations to Indians. That was not the end of miseries for the Kangra tea industry. It received another setback in 1914 after the First World War broke out. Many people joined the army and low labour availability further affected tea prices adversely. After 1971, the Himachal Pradesh government made efforts to revive the Kangra tea industry but it yielded no fruitful results due to lack of political and administrative will. Though the state government set up four tea manufacturing and marketing units in the cooperative sector at Bir, Baijnath, Palampur and Dharmshala, only one unit is functional while the remaining three units have been sold to private parties because of incurring losses year after year. Irregularities have been reported in these units and a number of its employees and directors have been facing criminal cases.
IN distress
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Toki excise barrier staff, Home Guard suspended
Nurpur, July 24 The team found 29 out of 33 trucks loaded with crushed stone crossing the barrier without paying RUT. According to information, the barrier staff had issued RUT receipts without mentioning the time on them to some loaded vehicles with the intention of allowing reuse of these receipts. Cash collected at the barrier did not match with issued receipts. A home guard posted at the barrier was also found collecting money from the truckers. The team caught him red-handed with Rs 4,700 allegedly collected from truckers by allowing them to cross the barrier without issuing RUT receipts. JC Sharma, Commissioner, Excise and Taxation Department, Shimla, when asked admitted that the department team had detected revenue pilferage and various irregularities on Toki barrier. “The department has suspended the excise and
taxation officer, inspector and peon of the barrier and shifted them to Dharamsala. The Home Guards Commandant has been asked to take requisite action against the home guard jawan and not to depute him on any excise barrier across the state,” he revealed. He asserted that the department would not tolerate corrupt practices and strict action would be taken against the erring personnel.
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38% of state’s hydropower potential tapped
Shimla, July 24
Last year, the state allotted 17 projects of 1,325 MW through competitive bidding. In the Assembly's last Budget session, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal had said projects with a combined generation capacity of 12,798 MW were in various stages of commissioning. “All these projects are likely to be commissioned by the end of the 13th Five Year Plan (2017-22). On completion, the state will get power of 16,270 million units every year worth Rs 4,393 crore (as per the current power rates) as royalty,” Dhumal, who holds power portfolio, said. The government is encouraging local entrepreneurs to take up projects with 2-5 MW capacity. The government has allotted projects above 5 MW through open bidding. It recently allowed 26 per cent dilution of shares by an allottee belonging to the state for up to 2 MW capacity and 49 per cent for 2-5 MW projects to non-Himachalis at any stage. "This helps local entrepreneurs raise funds for expeditious development of projects," the spokesperson said. The state has abundant water resources with five major rivers flowing from the western Himalayas. The Satluj basin has the highest power potential of about 10,355 MW. In his Budget speech, Dhumal had said to link the inter-state transmission corridor for the Ravi, Beas, lower Satluj and Yamuna basins, the government had succeeded in securing a loan of Rs 1,600 crore from Asian Development Bank for the Himachal Pradesh Power Transmission Corporation Ltd.
— IANS
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CPI protests Ikku river’s diversion
Kangra, July 24 Himal Chand, a former member of the CPI’s national council and sitting member of the state CPI secretariat, alleged that the Ikku river was irrigating one lakh kanals of fertile land belonging to the farmers of 14 villages for decades. These villages are: Narwana, Tangroti, Upper Tangroti, Dhaloon, Serathana, Baldhar, Ramehar, Rounker, Jassour, Kaled, Rajiana, Kholi, Tanda Kholi and Saderpur. But the course was diverted to Yol cantonment. He said earlier in 2004 also, the course of the river was diverted, leaving a little water in the Ikku. When the farmers agitated and made representations, the authorities concerned remained mute to their demands. “Subhash hydro-power project had ‘illegally and wrongly’ drawn excess water from the river against the interests of the farmers, which left the fertile land un-irrigated. The All-India Kisan Sabha complained about the man-made trauma but no action was taken,” Chand asserted. The CPI leader warned the government that if remedial measures were not taken immediately,
the situation might go out of control.
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1,500 take part in mega job fest at Bahra varsity
Solan, July 24 Dr SK Bansal, Vice-Chancellor of Bahra University, said the drive was held for management, B.Tech and pharma students. More than 82 candidates were given job letters on the spot and around 200 were shortlisted by various companies. Showbiz offered a package of Rs 3.8 lakh for MBA candidates, whereas Bazooka hired four MBA students and three B.Tech students, the highest annual package being of Rs 3.2 lakh. As many as 15 national and international companies participated in the drive, which included Artech Infosystems, Yebhi.com, GradM Technology Private Limited, Mind Ford, Seed Infotech, Pingaksho Technology Inc (Asia Pacific Region) among others. Senior executives from Exim Enterprises, who were impressed by the level of awareness and education of the students, said they had hired three girls from MBA and two boys from B.Tech. Rajesh Aggarwal from Seed Infotech, Pune, who hired 19 students from Computer Science and IT, emphasised the need for giving more practical training to students. Likewise, Ajit Brar of Mind Ford, who selected 29 students, too, said though students lacked practical knowledge, they excelled in theoretical domain. MAGBRO Health Care hired three students from B.Pharmacy and two from D.Pharmacy, whereas Micro Lab shortlisted nine candidates from pharmacy. Gurvinder Singh Bahra, chairman of the group, inaugurated the event and thanked various companies for being a part of this drive. He said the aim of the group had always been to provide good career opportunities to the students of the region.
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Private college lecturers demand govt jobs
Kangra, July 24 GGDSD Girls College was set up at Nagrota Bagwan in 1971 as a branch of GGDSD College, Baijnath, and was managed by a committee headed by Dr Shiv Kumar Sharma, former BJP MLA from Palampur. GGDSD College at Nagrota Bagwan was functioning well till a Government Degree College was set up in this town by the Congress in 2006. The managing committee of the college tried to run the college till 2008, but finally declared it closed in 2008, leaving the teaching staff in a lurch. As many as 15 teachers, most of them women, started struggling on two fronts, one to run the college of their own and another to approach the state government to accommodate them in government college or school cadre as had been a practice in the state. They lost on both the fronts. The students preferred to study in Government College and the teaching staff of the college lost all the hopes to pull on further, thus the college was practically closed in 2009 and the teaching
staff jobless. The struggling teachers, 10 of them who have crossed 45 years of age, said they had been struggling for the past four years with no one to help them. They alleged that they called on Chief Minister Prof PK Dhumal and former Union Minister Shanta Kumar at least five times and both Shanta Kumar and managing committee chairman Dr Shiv Kumar Sharma wrote to the Chief Minister, but to no avail. The teachers alleged that GGDSD College at Baijnath was taken over by the government and its staff too was absorbed and on the same pattern another
college at Haripur was also taken over and the teaching staff was absorbed as government lecturers or teachers. Dr Yogesh, Additional Director, Colleges, Himachal Pradesh, refused to comment on the issue. “I am not authorised to talk to the media on such delicate issues,” he said. Dinker Burathoki, Director, Higher Education, was not available for comments as he was busy at a meeting.
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Himachal diary
With no proper approach roads, residents of many areas in the state capital like the Kacchi Ghati face problems during rains due to lack of proper approach roads (see
photo).
What to speak of roads, many of the colonies do not even have a good pedestrian path.
The problem is acute for the residents served by the Ghora Chowki-Dargah path which becomes dangerous during rains. Out of the total length of 1,100 metre, more than 800 metre is very narrow and in a bad shape. The 3,000-odd residents who use it suffer daily as a result. The alternative motorable road constructed to link the area is equally bad. It is full of potholes and the gradient is so steep that residents avoid plying their personal vehicles on it. It is being used only by pick-up vehicles and serves no purpose for the residents. Haphazard construction has been mainly responsible for the sorry plight of the area that falls under the local municipal corporation. It is not the only area having an accessibility problem. The cemetery area in Dhalli has been the worst, but construction took place there in the early 1980s when the Town and Country Planning Act had just come into force. However, most of the development in the the Kacchi Ghati area has taken place only over the past 15 to 20 years. Had the authorities enforced the Act, the people would have been spared this ordeal. Worse, it is not possible to improve the approach path or roads as huge structures have come up all over the place and there is no scope for widening or changing the alignment.
Voluntary blood donation
Shimla-based Non-Government Organisation, Ashadeep, organised a blood donation camp at Arki at which as many as 50 persons donated blood. While inaugurating the camp, Dr SL Sharma lauded the contribution of Ashadeep in promoting voluntary blood donation and taking various initiatives to improve the life of the poor and the needy. The camp was held with the assistance of a medical team from the blood bank, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Hospital, Shimla. President, Ashadeep, Sushil Tanwar said voluntary blood donation was the biggest service to humanity as it helped save lives. The need was felt for organising the camp in view of the shortage of blood in the hospitals of Shimla. He also talked about the initiative taken by his organisation to promote cycling as the mode of transport to reduce the carbon footprint in hill stations like Shimla. This was the third such blood donation camp organised in a rural area to create awareness about voluntary blood donation among villagers. The next camp will be organised at the Directorate of Education, Shimla, he stated. Pradhan of Arki Nagar Panchayat Seema Sharma, Ashadeep in charge of Arki Parminder Singh Thakaur and camp co-ordinator Jaya Sharma extended their support for the noble cause.
Reciprocal camaraderie
BJP leaders had been avoiding criticising Nadaun Congress MLA Sukhvinder Singh (Sukhu) during the present term of Dhumal government and he has also been reciprocating the gesture by maintaining a cordial
relationship with the powers that be. Though the war of words between the Congress and the BJP leaders is at its peak, ahead of the assembly election in the state, no BJP leader from the district Nadaun Assembly constituency has attacked lone opposition MLA in Hamripur district. Even Chief Minister PK Dhumal during his public meetings in Nadaun Assembly constituency avoided making any comment against the Congress MLA. Similarly, even Sukhu has not been criticising BJP leaders or the government, except on a few occasions. However, Babu Ram Mandial, veteran leader of the area, after joining the HLP criticised the MLA for not doing enough for the clearance of Dhola-Sidh, first power project coming up in the Nadaun area and on other issues. He said Sukhu did not pursue the matter despite having very good relations with Vidya Stokes, the Power
Minister in the Congress government. How much impact such criticism will make on the public is a different matter but Sukhu must be perturbed over the open attack on him to which he is not used to.
(Contributed by Rakesh Lohumi and DP Gupta)
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vignettes
It is a modern structure in a mix of vernacular and Elizabethan style of architecture that highly impressed me (see photo). Him Chatterji has established an Art Gallery here. It is the first private gallery in Shimla and I shall write about it in detail some time in future. Today my topic is Sanat Kumar Chatterjee who, finding Nahan to be a pretty small town, ran away to Lucknow, the place of his birth, twice in 1962 from the Government Arts College, Nahan, where he got an appointment as lecturer in Arts. He was pushed back by Asit Kumar Haldar, a major artist of Bengal renaissance and grandnephew of Rabindra Nath Tagore. Haldar was the first Indian to be appointed as the Principal of any Government Art School when he joined at Lucknow. He was also the first Indian to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, London, in 1934. When he was in the ninth class, Sanat Kumar made an idol of Saraswati, which Haldar liked. He called the boy, patted him and also agreed to hone his skills. Sanat passed the matriculation examination and then for 14 years served as a disciple of Haldar. Returning to Nahan, Sanat not only taught the students but also established Shanti Sangam, raising 22 statues in cement-terracotta, in a secluded corner there in his spare time. He also erected eight idols around Renuka Lake. He shifted to Shimla in 1968 and then made it his home. Here he started giving free training in Arts to children in his small house at Kaithu. He continued with the job for 24 years and produced many an artist who earned name in the field. Sanat had a firm belief that his daily pranayam and yogic exercise will cure his hypertension, too, so he shunned taking the allopathic medicine advised by the doctors that resulted in a stroke in 2008 paralysing the right part of his body. When I met him, he was dressed in his usual kurta-payjama but was in a wheel-chair being looked after by his wife Aarti (see photo). Though recalling the past, he had emotional gusts that brought tears to his eyes, yet he had ‘never say die’ spirit in him and he pencil-sketched me with his left hand. Here is an artist who has made more than 10,000 paintings and has erected about 1,100 statues. He figures in the Guinness Book of World Record for the longest painting in the world that he has made in silk measuring 100 X 11 feet, has written several books. He presented his latest two books - Dash Mahavidya and Shruti Manjari - to me. Born on 18 October, 1935, at Lucknow to parents Nirmal Krishna and Durga Devi, Sanat, since 1962, had been serving the state of Himachal Pradesh and was so fascinated by the word ‘Him’ that he named his twins Him (boy) and Hema (girl) and Homi, the next born.
Tailpiece
The police engaged a person doing modern art to make sketches of a burglar. On the basis of his drawings, the police arrested a mother superior, the revenue minister, a television set and Qutub Minar.
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RTI activist seeks inquiry into ‘wrong’ info given to CM
Bilaspur, July 24 Based on his RTI query, he received information on August 20, 2010 which revealed details of the contracts with each page signed with the official seal of the government. The RTI information revealed misuse of government funds and violation of government orders with respect to contracts awarded to a son of a prominent BJP politician, he alleged. He had sent a representation (along with the RTI information) to CM PK Dhumal urging him to hold an enquiry and take suitable action. The Chief Minister had sought information from the PWD Department based on his RTI query, he said. He apprehended that several official documents were fabricated and manipulated and fake and fictitious documents prepared to prove their stand to justify their report to Dhumal. Mishra said this fact came to light when he again applied for details about the report submitted to the Chief Minister by the PWD Department. He received information to his second query on July 13, 2012.
— OC
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Sabha complains of irregular motorboat service
Bilaspur, July 24 Sabha general secretary Vijender Singh Chandel alleged that contractors were not following government directions in plying their motorboats in the Gobind Sagar Lake. During holidays and Sundays, several contractors skip their turn to ply their boats and thus deprive farmers, labourers and daily wage earners among others who need to come to the district headquarters, of the service. The sabha demanded that the administration should conduct regular checking, monitor the timing of the boats and ensure that safety of passengers is not compromised while travelling in these boats.
— OC
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Clarification
The general manager of the State Bus Stands & Management Authority, Raghubir Chaudhary, has in reference to the news item entitled
“Palampur bus stand cries for attention” published on July 18 clarified that administrative approval and estimate sanction amounting to Rs 35,39,241 had been accorded to the PWD for the project on April 6, 2012.
He further said that an amount of Rs 20 lakh had been deposited by the authority with the office of Executive Engineer, Palampur, on May 19,2012. The executive Officer had intimated that the department was in the process of inviting open tenders, which will called within three days.
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I did not know the whereabouts of Hyun village where lived Sanat Kumar Chatterji, an artist of which Himachal can be proud of. His son Him Chatterji, teaching in the Department of Fine Arts in Himachal Pradesh University, told me the way on the telephone. Bypassing Summer Hill, I crossed through Sangti village and Chadwick Fall bifurcation and landed up at ‘Prantika’ in Hyun.
Sanat Kumar, after the closure of Arts College, started teaching Arts in the degree colleges and when serving the local college at Kotshera, he made idols of Buddha, Saraswati and the signs of zodiac there, which still exist. I was told that one of the signs of the zodiac has gone for good. It shows how we maintain the works of arts. Sanat Kumar’s deft fingers produced ‘dash mahavidya’ and were installed in the parikrama (circumambulation) of famous Kalibari temple. When these were being propitiated, there happened a miracle; Sanat Kumar’s hair started falling from his body. Good-looking Sanat became an ugly hairless man and had to take medicine to regain his handsomeness.