Nurpur, September 4
The Dehar Khud bridge on Pathankot-Mandi National Highway (NH) 20 at Kotla has outlived its utility and is facing threat of sudden collapse. Heavy rains and flash floods in the Dehar rivulet has weakened foundations of the supporting pillars.

This single lane 111-year old bridge was built in 1901. Its footrest has also developed big holes. Thousands of loaded vehicles use this dilapidated bridge daily but contrary to its load capacity of 18 tons, a large number of heavily loaded vehicles use this bridge everyday.

No government agency is keeping a vigil on overloaded vehicles crossing the bridge. Moreover, illegal and unscientific mining along the river bed also poses a threat to the bridge, with a width of 4.25 meters and enclosed with iron framework. Illegal mining has already caused damage to the railway bridge on Chakki rivulet at Kandwal.

Owing to low height of the Dehar Khud Bridge, loaded vehicles like buses and trucks find it difficult to cross it. Some times such vehicles can be seen unloading goods before crossing the bridge.

A new double-lane bridge with an estimate cost of about Rs 7.54 crore is under construction. This bridge to have 98 meters’ span with 12 meters’ of width had been sanctioned by the Union Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways a few years back. The slow pace of construction by a Hydrabad-based private construction company has delayed its completion scheduled for June, 2010.

According to official information gathered from the NH authorities, the new bridge will be earthquake proof and is being built with the integrated bowstring technology. The construction of this bridge had been embarked upon in May 2008 but so far its supporting pillars have not been built. There is a demand to expedite the ongoing construction of the new bridge.

According to Gurinder Dhiman, Assistant Engineer NH, the authorities had imposed a penalty to the tune of Rs 56 lakh on the construction company in March this year for non-completion of the project within the schedule period. He claimed that all efforts were being made expedite construction of the bridge. 

Mandi, September 4
The farmers growing vegetables in poly houses and open fields are facing an onslaught of pests. Insects in their farms are forcing them to resort to heavy spays of pesticides and insecticides, but to no avail. Either pesticides are spurious or pests and insects have developed immunity, say farmers.

As a result of heavy sprays, the vegetables grown in poly-houses and sold in the markets are posing health hazards.

Directed by Deputy Commissioner, Mandi, Devesh Kumar, the department concerned has started taking samples from some farmers from Balh valley after a team of scientists had been constituted to monitor the whole system in the district.

More than 16,500 poly houses, 1,900 in Mandi district alone, have come up in the state under Pt Deen Dayal Kisan Bagwan Samiridhi Yojna, launched three years ago with the assistance of NABARD.

The farmers told The Tribune that they had no option other than resorting to heavy sprays as the “pesticides are ineffective in controlling pests and insects”. There are reports that even organic vegetables need heavy sprays.

President, Himachal Kisan Sabha, Balh, Paras Ram Thakur says the department does not prescribe certified pesticides or insecticides or seeds as by doing so, it land them in a consumer court. “There is no mechanisation to provide technical assistance to farmers and checking private pesticides or seed sellers, selling spurious products to farmers,” he charged.

On the other hand, the department claims it provides about 160-168 MT of pesticides through its sale outlets to farmers in the state and has a State Pesticides Testing Laboratory with an annual capacity of 500 samples. It also has one bio-control laboratory to propagate bio-agents, but its results are unknown to farmers.

The team has taken samples of heavy sprays from farmers in Balh and will test these to know their health hazards in the lab of Agriculture University Palampur. “But the problem is one sample will cost Rs 70,000”, says Devesh Kumar.

Deputy Director, Agriculture, Dr AR Sharma says the farmers have to do sprays, but three samples of pesticides and insecticides have turned out to be spurious. The department is taking action against the company and its agents, he asserts.

He says sometimes the farmers give a higher dose and buy products from open markets. “We give prescription and certified seeds and train farmers on spray schedule and blacklist dealers and companies, wherever it so warrants. A few complaints from poly house owners have come to light,” he adds. 

Palampur, September 4
The Pathankot-Mandi National Highway, which is considered as the lifeline the residents of the northern region of the state, is crying for the attention of the authorities. This is one of the most significant roads of the country, which links Pathankot with Leh via Manali. The road has gathered more importance after the disturbed conditions in Jammu and Kashmir as the Army authorities are utilising this highway for moving their supplies to Leh, Ladakh and other forward areas.

Keeping in view the defense requirements and supply of goods to Leh and other border areas, the road was declared a national highway in 1987.

The highway is still narrow at many points as the PWD has left the widening halfway. Over 50 bridges on the highway, which were constructed by the British, had already lived its life and are on the verge of collapse. But the Ministry of Surface Transport is not ‘concerned’ about the situation.

The Himachal Pradesh Public Works Department, which looks after the execution and maintenance of this highway, blamed the Ministry of Surface Transport for not releasing funds for the road, hence affecting the early completion of the project. With the opening of the Rohtang Pass and clearing of snow from the road, the Army authorities have already resumed the defense supplies to Leh through this road, but the conditions of road between Kotla and Mattor has gone from bad to worst and vehicles carrying supplies for the Army find it difficult to move on it.

Vehicles loaded with supplies are daily seen stranded at various points. A 25-km stretch of the highway between Trilokpur and Draman, Joginder Nagar and Urla has virtually turned into a drain and no bitumen is seen on the surface at many points on these roads. 

Nalagarh, September 4
The ruling BJP appears to have learnt no lessons from its defeat in last year’s byelection from the Nalagarh seat as promotion of an Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) official as a probable candidate for the ensuing Vidhan Sabha elections has kicked up a row here.

The official, who was yet to enrol himself as a member of the BJP, appears to have found favour with the Chief Minister.

The development has come as a setback for the Nalagarh Mandal that had neither been consulted nor informed about the CM’s rally. The leaders comprising Hardeep Thakur, vice-president, zila parishad, state executive member Gurnam Kaur, Hem Raj Thakur, member state executive kisan morcha, district vice-president Dharmender Rana, Yogesh Sharma, general secretary, Nalagarh Mandal, and others while opposing the IPH official said he had been vying to join the Congress until recently and was now vying for a BJP ticket.

With Kaur, wife of late MLA HN Saini, facing defeat in her maiden election held in November 2011, the Saini family had now forwarded the name of her brother Avtar as their choicest candidate.

There were others in the fray, including vice-president, zila parishad, Thakur, and interestingly all aspirants have got together to oppose the candidature of the official, who has been termed a “parachute leader”.

While Saini had remained an unparalleled leader who had won on three consecutive occasions, introduction of an official will cause more damage than benefit.

This was especially so as delimitation exercise had transformed the boundaries of this constituency with the Khera area being shifted to the nearby Doon constituency and the Pargana Malaun being part of the Arki constituency now. Since the Saini family has a considerable influence over the constituency, an attempt to sideline them was sure to impact the two surrounding constituencies as well.

The BJP will have to weigh its options before deciding on a suitable candidate for Nalagarh as it can not afford to make a wrong choice and further decrease its tally in Solan district. Though it had won all five seats in 2007, it had lost the Nalagarh seat to the Congress in last year’s byelections.

Hamirpur, September 4
The National Institute of Technology (NIT), Hamirpur, recently organised a national-level seminar on intellectual property rights (IPR- 12), in which experts from various institutes dealt in length on the subject.

The seminar, sponsored by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, was inaugurated by Dr AK Garg, Additional Director (IPR), from the ministry.

In his address, Dr Garg talked about the importance of IPR and dealt in detail about its applications in semiconductor designs, electronics systems and software.

He also highlighted the efforts being made by the government to promote the IPR in this field and also asked the experts to patent innovations made at various levels and make commercial use of these to benefit society.

In his valedictory note, director of the NIT, Prof Rajnish Shrivastava, highlighted the importance of IPR and its growth in the country. He said understanding of patents, trademark, copyrights, trade secret and piracy was important.

Coordinators of this seminar, Dr Rajeevan Chandel, associate professor in electronics, Communication and Education Department, and Dr Ashwani Kumar Chandel, associate professor in the Electrical Engineering Department, said 102 delegates attended the seminar.

Experts in the field, Dr Padama Satish, IIT Bombay, Prof PJ Philip, NIT Kurukshetra, Shashi Dhar, DST, Shimla, and Prof SS Chandel from NIT Hamirpur, also spoke on the occasion. 

The four-week long training workshop organised by Bollywood thespian Anupam Kher’s acting school, Actor Prepares, at the Gaiety Theatre in Shimla concluded on a successful note with the 49 participants turning out an impeccable performance of the play “Bejuban” (see photo) on the final day.

The quality of training provided during the programme left no doubt in the minds of aspiring actors why Yash Raj Jahdav, dean of the school who conducted the programme, was considered the best in business. The workshop was not confined to acting skills alone and included a host of other things which help in making a complete actor.

A lot of time was spent on physical fitness and body conditioning to facilitate smooth body movements for effective communication. Besides, techniques of speech modulation and voice modulation, the participants were made to exercise their mental faculties to hone their ability to visualise situations so that they could strike the right emotional chords. They were given a topic for story writing as part of the group task. They were also given home work to draw various postures and other drawings which could help them in stage performance.

Based on a story written by famous Himachali writer SR Harnot, the play “Bejuban” brought home how industrialisation affected the life of local people and the realisation that development was not an unmixed blessing with prosperity-induced corruption and other social vices like liquor and drugs. The most important message was that industries like cement plants destroyed the fragile hill environment , affecting not only the life of people but also endangered the survival of both cattle and wild life.

The best thing about the play was that Jahdav ensures that each of the 49 actors got five to 10 minutes on the stage during the 90-minute performance. The participants realised the virtues of a production-based workshop. Jahdav said he would like to do more with the participants but a majority of them were very raw and had little grounding in the art and craft of theatre.

Bilaspur, September 4
The Himachal Pradesh State NGOs Federation has hailed the Chief Minister’s declaration of releasing of grade pay on the Punjab pattern to employees.

A meeting of the state federation presided over by its state president Ram Singh here recently adopted a resolution stressing that the Dhumal government had consistently followed the policy of maintaining good, cordial and open-hearted relations with employees since it came to power.

He added and it had not only stopped all political victimisations, including transfers to far-off tribal snow-bound areas but also controlled the “transfer trade” which was harassing most of the employees.

The resolution said Dhumal had increased daily wages from Rs 75 to Rs 150, given good increase to Home Guards, paid interim relief before Punjab pay scales, provided facility of free travel and holidays on three special functions, scrapped the State Administrative Tribunal, issued DA as and when announced by the Punjab government and now had released Punjab pay grades.

Ram Singh said the resolution had stressed that now the Chief Minister should accept the remaining two important demands. These were restoring service of two NGO leaders, OP Goyal and Gopal Dass Varma, who were “victimised” by the former Congress government for their “pro-employees” activities and “removing injustice” to Class III employees by enhancing their retirement age from 58 years to 60 years.

The federation said employees were well informed and there was no reason that anybody could mislead and force them to take any future decision which was against their own interests and which damaged interests of those who had always been very sympathetic and helpful to them. 

Shimla, September 4
A person not only has the right of conscience, the right of belief, the right to change his belief, but also the right to keep his beliefs secret.

This important observation was made by the state high court while striking down the provisions of the Himachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2006, under which a person intending to convert from his religion was required to give a notice of 30 days prior to his conversion to the District Magistrate concerned. It held that Section 4 of the Act and Rule 3 of the State Freedom of Religion Rules, 2007, contravened Article 14 of the Constitution of India and was thus ultra vires.

“No doubt, the right to privacy is like any other right, subject to public order, morality and the larger interests of the state and when the rights of individuals clash with the larger public good, the individual's right must give way to what is in the larger public interest. However, this does not mean that the majority interest is the larger public interest. Larger public interest would mean the integrity, unity and sovereignty of the country, the maintenance of public law and order. Merely because the majority view is different does not mean that the minority view must be silenced,” the court observed.

A division bench comprising Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Rajiv Sharma passed this judgement on a petition filed by Evangelical Fellowship of India and Shamsher Masih challenging the provisions of the Freedom of Religion Act, 2006.

The bench further observed that “a person's belief or religion is something very personal to him. The state has no right to ask a person to disclose his personal belief. The only justification given is that public order requires that notice be given. We are of the considered view that in case of a person changing his religion and notice being issued to the so-called prejudicially affected parties, chances of the converted being subjected to physical and psychological torture cannot be ruled out.”

The remedy proposed by the state might prove to be more harmful than the problem. In case such a notice was issued, then the unwarranted disclosure of the voluntary change of belief by an adult could lead to communal clashes and even endanger the life or limb of the convertee.

The bench also observed, “We are not, in any manner, condoning or espousing conversions especially by “force”, “fraud” or “inducement”. Any conversion, which takes place by such means, must be dealt with strictly in accordance with law which is held valid. At the same time, the right to privacy and the right to change the belief of a citizen cannot be taken away under the specious plea that public order may be affected. We are unable to comprehend how the issuance of a notice by a convertee will prevent conversions by fraud, force or inducement”.

“In fact, this may open a Pandora's box and lead to conflicts between rival religious outfits and groups once the notice is issued. No material has been placed on record by the state to show any adverse effect on public order by any conversion in the State Act. In fact, till date only one case has been registered under this Act.

The court allowed the petition to a limited extent, striking down Section 4 of the Himachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2006, and Rule 3 of the relevant Rules framed under it. However, all other provisions of the Act and the Rules are held to be legal and valid.

Shimla, September 4
Once the mode of transport for royalty and women in ‘purdah’ nearly a century ago, the palanquin will be resurrected to ferry patients from remote and inaccessible mountain villages in the state that don't have road access to ambulances and hospitals.

The State Health and Family Welfare Department plans to deploy palanquins, or ‘palkis’ as they are called, to help patients in over 500 small villages scattered over rugged, cold and inhospitable terrain. The department will provide one palki to each village not connected by road under the '108' Atal Swasthya Sewa, an ambulance service launched by the state government in December 2010, to carry patients. Most of the villages are located in the interiors of Chamba, Kinnaur, Lahaul and Spiti, Shimla and Kangra districts.

“The process to identify the villages, not connected by road, is still on. We are also looking into the financial implications. But within three months, we will be in a position to provide palkis to some of the remotest villages,” Health and Family Welfare Secretary Ali Raza Rizvi said. The department would initially provide aluminium-made open palkis to 150 village health and sanitation committees. Later, all the identified villages would be covered.

In case of an emergency, the palki could be hired from the committee for four people to physically carry the patient to the nearest road head from where the stationed ambulance will carry the patient to a hospital.

Each palki, which will cost Rs 7,000, will have a flexible stretcher that can be stretched or folded as chair depending on the need of the patient. At present, patients ride piggyback to reach a nearby road.

"Often the condition of the patients suffering from grievous injuries and multiple fractures deteriorates during physical lifting," Rizvi said. Officials of the GVK-EMRI (Emergency Management Research Institute), a Hyderabad-based company hired by the government to run the ambulance service, said locals in some villages had to trudge 40-50 km to reach the road head. Bara Bhangal village in Kangra district would be provided a palki in the first phase, an official said.

With a population of over 400, Bara Bhangal, part of the Dhauladhar Wildlife Sanctuary, is amongst the remotest villages in the hill state. Sheep and cattle rearing is the main occupation of the people who are nomads. It is 65 km from the last village that is connected by road. The government also plans to link over 100 villages located in the islands of Pong Dam and Bhakra Dam reservoirs to provide timely medical aid to people in emergencies. According to health officials, two fully equipped boat ambulances, each costing Rs 17 lakh, would be introduced to ferry the patients to the nearby stationed four-wheeled ambulance.

To run the ambulance service, the state has already tied up with GVK-EMRI under a public-private partnership mode. The project is jointly funded by the National Rural Health Mission and the state government. Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal launched the free ambulance service December 25, 2010, the birthday of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. All the 108 ambulances, currently operating across the state, are furnished with life-saving equipment like automatic external defibrillator and drugs like anti-snake venom.

According to a government spokesperson, the '108' Atal Swasthya Sewa had so far attended 219, 469 emergency calls, including 184,490 medical emergencies, 32,775 pregnancy-related cases and 10,101 trauma. It has saved 1,474 lives. Of the total service provided, 88 per cent was in rural areas. — IANS 

The State Health and Family Welfare Department plans to deploy palanquins to help patients in over 500 small villages scattered over rugged, cold and inhospitable terrain

The department will provide one palki to each village not connected by road to carry patients

In case of an emergency, the palki could be hired from the committee for four people to physically carry the patient to the nearest road head from where the stationed ambulance will carry him to a hospital

Most of the villages are located in the interiors of Chamba, Kinnaur, Lahaul and Spiti, Shimla and Kangra districts

Hamirpur, September 4
Satluz Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (SJVNL), the agency executing Dholasidh, the first hydel power project in the district, is likely to get final environment clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests soon, paving the way for starting construction work on the project.

The final stage environment and forest clearance approval for the 66-megawatt hydel power project has been cleared by the expert advisory committee of the ministry and the final approval for the project is likely to be given soon.

SK Mahajan, senior manager of the SJVNL, said, “The environment and forest clearance for the Dholasidh project, which is being awaited for more than a year, has now been approved by the expert advisory committee of the Environment Ministry, which has been uploaded on our website and the final environment and forest approval will be coming very soon”.

“The acquisition of land for the project is in an advance stage and tender for the main work has also been invited. We have fixed a target of 43 months to complete the construction work of the project,” he added.

The Dholasidh power project is being constructed on the Beas and the construction of the project will be undertaken in Kangra and Hamirpur districts.

The SJVNL has already taken up several activities and launched welfare schemes for the affected people in the project area. In this context, medical camps, horticulture camps, etc, have been organised in the affected and surrounding villages.

“With the start of the construction work on the Dholasidh project, employment opportunities and employment in tertiary sector will also speed up, boosting the economy of the area in a big way, benefiting the local people,” Mahajan added. 

Kangra, September 4
The lives of students and teachers of Government High School, Jaladi, are at risk as their school building has been declared ‘unsafe’ by the PWD authorities more than a year ago.

Aman Guelria, CPI assistant secretary, Kangra, said here recently that the building of the Government High School, Jaladi, was declared ‘unsafe’ on June 13, 2011, and the PWD authorities recommended its dismantling. The Executive Engineer, PWD, Kangra division, in a letter on June 13, 2011, said it was found that the roof of the building was sagging. Besides, some cracks had also developed on the walls and cement beams. The letter added that the roof slab was in a bad shape and not fit for running classes. He described the building as ‘quite unsafe’ and was required to be dismantled.

Guelria said the school building with five rooms was constructed 12 years ago. Five classes from Class VI to X were being run in two classrooms. At times these classes were being accommodated in one room. He said it was affecting the quality of education and lives of students and teachers were at risk. Bidi Chand, Deputy Director of Education (Higher Education), said he did not know anything about the unsafe building as he had assumed his office on August 6 this year. He said he would look into the matter whether the budget was sanctioned for the building or not and why for the past one year the school building had not been dismantled.

Shimla, September 4
The International Paragliding Championship and the Himalayan National Paragliding Championship will be held at Billing in the Kangra valley from October 25 to November 1.

Stating this while presiding over a meeting of the Organising Committee held here recently, Principal Secretary, Sports and Youth Services, VC Pharka said world’s best pilots would participate in the championship being organised with the technical support of the Aero Club of India and the Federation of Aeronautical International (FAI). Pilots who had performed 35 km cross-country twice and had requisite knowledge of collision avoidance and air traffic rules would be eligible for participating in the event. Thr registration of pilots would be carried out before October 22, after which the final selection would be made, and briefing for the event would be done by the technical committee on October 24. Pilots could also apply online for participation in the event, he added.

He said the participants would be provided free transportation from the landing site at Bir to the take-off site at Billing. The Atal Behari Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports would provide rescue and retrieval teams for the event. The participants will have trial flights on the first day and the actual competition will commence from October 26.