Solang Nallah (Manali), September 3
Encroachers, who run stalls here on either side of the approach road of the south portal of the 8.82-km Rohtang tunnel, have ruined the face of the ski resort, a major sight-seeing and paragliding hub for tourists visiting Manali.

From the take-off spot to the landing site of paragliding, the Solang resort looks like a plundered field as all its greenery and beauty have become the thing of the past. The stall owners, paragliding pilots, children games and scooter operators and horse-rides wallas catering to tourists have turned this resort into a free-for-all.

The Solang-Rohtang Pass comes under the Special Area Development Authority (SADA). But there is no earmarked space for the stalls and the game activities for children, no proper landing sites for the paragliding pilots, no tracks for horses and no proper toilets for tourists.

Palampur, September 3
The area under tea in the Kangra valley is getting squeezed year after year following the large-scale sale of tea gardens, shortage of labour, non-availability of subsidy on fertilisers, inputs and other assistance from the state government.

These facts came to light following a base line survey report released by the Tea Board of India recently. This survey was conducted in 2012-13 on the directions of Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, who had also announced a special package for the tea industry during his visit to Palampur in April, 2012.

The report said of the 2,390 hectares area under tea in the valley, only in 800 hectares was under actual tea cultivation. Growers had abandoned over 1,400 hectares under tea, while in 22 hectares, tea land had been converted into concrete jungles.

However, the report said there was an increase in the number of tea growers from 3,679 to 5,800 in the valley, but this increase was attributed to the partition of tea lands among share holders in the past 15 years. Over all, there was no increase in the number of tea growers in the valley. Earlier, such a survey was conducted in 1996-97.

Sources said in the present scenario, the special package for the Kangra tea industry announced by the Government of India could face rough whether because small tea growers had shown no interest in the revival of their abandoned tea gardens.

Besides, the Union Commerce Minister had also fixed a target to enhance the area under tea cultivation from 2,390 hectares to 7,600 hectares which looked quite impossible. Even after one year, the ruling Congress government in the state had shown no interest for the revival of the Kangra tea industry or making available additional land available for tea cultivation in the valley.

Tea is being cultivated and manufactured in the Kangra valley since the middle of the last century. It was first introduced between 1830 and 1840, by European tea planters, known as Nissan Tea Company. The valley grows the hybrid China tea known to be rich in flavour and compares favorably with the tea grown in other parts of the world.

Perhaps few know that Kangra tea was awarded the gold medal at an exhibition in London in 1886. Until 1905, Kangra tea was rated the finest in the world.

The Kangra earthquake of 1905 proved fatal when it destroyed a large number of tea gardens, tea factories and several tea planters were killed. The then British administration declared the valley as an unsafe zone and almost all the European tea planters left the valley after selling their plantations to Indians.

Bilaspur, September 3
The nagar parishad had built a rest house in its Dholera complex several years ago after spending lakh of rupees. The rest house was built at a vintage place i.e. on the Gobind Sagar. But the rest house was rented out to a private public school because of pressure from district officers. The entire Dholera complex was misused by the school and it never bothered for its upkeep and maintenance.

Later, when the building was considered unsafe for school activities, the school management vacated it. Now, the building is in a shambles and it requires lakh of rupees for its repair. NagarpParishad President Rajni Sharma said the parishad has no funds. It could hardly afford the cost of its repairs.

Sharma said expenditure of few lakh on the repair of the rest house could turn it into a property of several crore and demolition of the building was not a better proposal. — OC

Solan, September 3
The claims of decline in the population of monkeys and langurs made by the state Wildlife Wing of the Forest Department appears to be doubtful as farmers have seen a steep rise in their population in various parts of the district.

Monkeys have not only increased their troop size, but adults are seen carrying their progeny. Troops of monkeys can be seen all along the Kalka-Shimla National Highway-22, especially at Koti, Jabli, Sanwara and Barog.

The monkey population, which stood at 6,596 in 2010 census in the Solan Forest Division, has now increased to 7,900. Thus, 1,304 monkeys have been added in the last two years.

Ram Lal, a farmer of Kasauli tehsil, said maize plantations were being particularly targeted by a large number of monkeys every year and this had forced them to switch over to vegetable cultivation like capsicum and bitter gourd. People residing in urban areas like Garkhal, Kasauli, Dagshai and Sanawar too face the fury of monkey troops which not only attacked women and children, but also entered houses if left unbolted and created a menace. Reeta Kumari, a housewife who was attacked by a monkey some days ago at her village near Sanawar, said it had become difficult to even dry clothes outside as monkeys tore the clothes and took them away.

“The fear of monkeys has forced elderly people to stay indoors,” said Lata Rani.

The Kasauli-based Central Research Institute was regularly receiving cases of monkey bites with a majority of cases pertaining to women and children. Though the field staff of the Forest Department lay traps once in a while in Garkhal and its surrounding areas, their efforts have failed to yield any result as apart from young ones no adult can be caught.

The Kandaghat-based sterilisation centre, which was inaugurated in July last year, has only sterilised six monkeys in the last one year, thus proving how the monkey population is multiplying, while the official census is claiming a decline in their population.

This also proves how sterilisation of monkeys is only a paper formality where despite incurring an expenditure of Rs 15 lakh on setting up the centre, no appreciable work has been undertaken. Kasauli has a large population of langurs.

Now, langurs become a nuisance for residents of Shimla. Photo: Amit Kanwar

It is time for the Forest Department to focus on langurs and come out with some plan to check their growing nuisance.

Rs 800 crore for roads

With the villagers reluctant to give land to the government free of cost for construction of roads, many proposals under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna have hit a road block.

The Centre has sanctioned Rs 800 crore for about 350 roads to be constructed under the scheme but there is no provision for providing compensation for land required for the purpose. Most of the roads involve private land and in case they are to be acquired, the government will have to pay over Rs 500 crore as compensation to the owners.

With no provision for payment of compensation, work on a majority of roads has been held up. There is no way to complete the projects if the local people refuse to give land free of cost.

Disaster management

Rotary Club, Hamirpur, has decided to create awareness among masses about disaster management in the event of an earthquake. A campaign is being organised for the purpose in association with Inner Wheel Club and Indian Medical Association. It started with a workshop at Bahchat Bhawan, Hamirpur on Saturday.

Addressing the participants in the workshop, Deputy Commissioner, Hamirpur, Ashish Singhmar said Hamirpur and Kangra districts fell in seismic zone V and, thus, there was a need to make people aware about disaster management in case of a tremor.

It was also discussed in the workshop that mild tremors in this region were being experienced off and on and an earthquake of high intensity, like the one which devastated the undivided Kangra district in 1905, could not be ruled out.

The experts said building quake-resistant houses, putting in place a disaster-management mechanism and creating awareness among people was a pre-requisite for effectively dealing with any such eventuality. Stress was also laid on keeping emergency kits in homes.

The Rotary Club and associated organisations have also decided to create awareness among schoolchildren through pamphlets and distribution of emergency kits and demonstrating their use.

(Contributed by Rakesh Lohumi and DP Gupta)

Dharamsala, September 3
The recent killing of two leopards in Mandi district on the suspicion of being man-eaters has created a controversy in which wild life conservationists are alleging that the highly protected wild cats were killed without properly establishing their identity as man-eaters.

An inquiry by The Tribune into the case revealed that the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) notified by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests for dealing with emergencies arising due to straying of big cats, including tigers and leopards, in man- dominated landscapes was given a go-by the wild authorities of Himachal while allowing culling of two leopards in Mandi district.

According to the SOP, at the outset of the problem, a committee should be formed including a nominee of the Chief Wild Life Warden, a veterinarian and a local NGO representative.

The said committee was set up by the Wild Life Department of Himachal.

The guidelines then state that the committee should compare the identity of the suspected man-eater. The identity of the man-eater should have been established by collecting data on life-stock depletion, camera trapping and pug mark impressions.

However, in case of culling of Mandi leopards, the standard procedure seems to have been given a go-by. In the orders issued to the hunter, Nawab Shafat Ali, by the forest and wildlife authorities, the man-eater leopard has not been identified. Even the sex of the man-eater has not been identified in the orders, which illustrates that scientific procedure was not followed for killing the leopards. The SPO states that initially, traps should have been laid for capturing the man-eater leopard.

In case the successive trapping efforts fail, chemical immobilisation of the wild cat should be done by an expert team of veterinarians. The guidelines state that in case the tranquilised wild cat was found to be healthy in prime young age without any incapacitation, loss of canine, injury or broken paw, it should be released in wild.

In case of killing of Mandi leopards, the hunter engaged killed the two leopards within a span of 10 days. This illustrates that no effort was made to tranquilise the suspected man-eater to establish the fact that it had killed humans or not. Rajeshwar Negi, member of the National Wildlife Advisory Board, while taking to The Tribune said that the famous conservationist and hunter, Jim Courbet, took four years to kill a man-eater leopard just to make sure that a wrong animal was not killed. However, in the present case, a hunter engaged killed two alleged man-eaters in just 10 days. Since the leopards are very cunning animals and it is very difficult to kill a man-eater leopard, it is highly unlikely that real man-eaters were killed in Mandi.

The Standard Procedure also states that in case humans are killed in chance encounters with wild cats, they should not be declared as man-eaters.

The Wildlife Department of the state, on its part, has been claiming that scientific procedure was followed to kill the man-eater leopards.

The conflict between humans living on the fringes of forests and big cats, leopards, found in Himachal has been increasing. Studies have indicated that decreasing prey in the wild might be one of the reasons for the leopards straying into human habitation.

Though there has been a lot of hue and cry among people who are losing their live stock to big cats, the Forest and Wild Life Department has to exercise restraint before eliminating these animals that are protected under schedule 1 of the Wild Life Protection Act.

Nurpur, September 3
The condition of the Pathankot-Mandi National Highway (NH)-154 at certain places in Nurpur and its adjoining areas is deplorable.

Commuters face a harrowing time while plying their vehicles on the road. Big potholes on a number of highway stretches have worsened the situation. The potholes have virtually turned into death traps as drivers of speeding vehicles apply sudden brakes, thus leading to road accidents.

The NH authorities have not paid any heed towards the deteriorating condition of the roads and failed to complete patchwork for covering the potholes. The recent rains have further deteriorated the condition of these stretches.

The stretch between Dakki to Chogan is full of potholes where driving is a challenge. Owing to the poor condition of this stretch, traffic jams have become a regular feature almost throughout the day. The big potholes filled with rainwater and prolonged traffic jams irk local shopkeepers who are facing problems of water stagnation and noise pollution.

Recently, the affected shopkeepers of Chogan area held protest demonstration against the pathetic condition of the NH by tying black strips on their mouths. The authorities tried to fill big potholes with red brick pieces, but in vain. 

The condition of the NH from Bindravan to Nagni, Kotla to Batees meel and Batees meel to Bhali is also deplorable. Meanwhile, an official of the NH Department said the construction of side drains was underway and resurfacing would be undertaken after the rainy season.

Mani Shankar Ayer once told an interviewer: "I read four or five books simultaneously. I read a chapter or two of one and jump to another and then to another." 

I also have the same habit. These days I am going through "Entrepreneurs of British Shimla -- The Sud, Sarkar and Shimla (1832-1932)" by an NRI Canadian, Hari Sud. He writes, inter alia, in the acknowledgement, "Shriniwas Joshi, often writes about Shimla in The Tribune newspaper.

His journalistic style has kept the British Shimla story alive thru years." I will be writing in detail about the book after I have finished reading it. Another book that is lying half-read in my shelf is "The Life of Vivekananda and the Universal Gospel" by Romain Rolland. Third one is "The Secret Letters of the Monk who sold his Ferrari" by Robin Sharma. Fourth one is "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren that the Principal of St Edward's School had gifted to me when I had gone there to deliver a lecture to the students and the last one is "Ghiana", a collection of Pahari plays, edited by Gautam Vyathit.

I have, however, finished reading two books on poetry written by Shimla poets -- I received -- "Maum ke Pighalte Bol" written by Tej Ram Sharma through daak (See Photo). Published by Nilima Prakashan, New Delhi, it is hard-bound, has 73 poems and costs Rs 250. Is it not costly? I do not think so because Tej Ram is a known poet whose poems are also published in reputed journals of India. He appears to be enamoured by the slate-roof of village houses in Himachal Pradesh.

His poems "Chhat ke Sapne", "Maum ke Pighalte Bol" and "Chait" have mention of slate-roofs though these are, now, gradually vanishing. The houses, even in villages, are taking modern shapes and covered by tin roofs. I believe that the tendency of making a poem look difficult mars the flow of a poem. In "Pasine ki Gandh", the poet writes, " Is ki chinta karo/ kehta hai Epictetus/ Aur main pasine se/ Tar-ba-tar ho jata hun." How many of us know who Epictetus was? I had to consult an encyclopaedia to find out his Who's Who.

He was a Greek philosopher (AD 55-135) who encouraged people to refrain from self-interest and to promote the common good of humanity. There are, however, delightful passages in the poems. I give two excerpts: "Manushya ke Nakhoon aur Daant/ Jab Kamzor padne Lage/ To uske Dimaag mein/ Aaa Basi Hinsaa." in Lachaar Swar and "Aao! Pahaar se Utarte/ Jharne ke Paas Baithen/ Pyaas aur Paani ki/ Jugalbandi Suneien" in Pyaas aur Paani ki Jugalbandi.

The poem that enthralled me is "Janmaa hoon jahaan". The poet, in it, has shown that man is a window through which he sees things. He sees the same world in different ways depending upon the window having tainted or crystal-clean glasses: "Kahin/ Basant mein Sarson sa khilta hoon/ pake aam sa jhoolta hoon garmi mein/ Kahin/ Basant mein hi peela par jaata hoon/ Loo mein gir jaata hoon garmi mein."

The other book is a collection of English poems, "The Last Bend" by RA Lakhanpal, a paperback edition published by Ankush Lakhanpal of Shimla, has 64 poems and costs Rs 140 (See Photo).

It is Lakhanpal's maiden attempt and the best part of the book is a tiny Foreword by Dr Som P Ranchan, a known litterateur and author of several books. He writes about Lakhanpal, "He has started wooing the Muse in his 72nd year." Ranchan writes that Lakhanpal has humour too, whimsical albeit.

"Motionless she sits on an oak tree/ Tension free/ To sprinkle on me/ A few drops of piss/ Without a miss /?Ensuring my morning bath/Which I give a miss/ When snowy shivering days hiss," is all about "A Monkey does Me a Favour". Lakhanpal says about the Shimla coolies, "Their brethrens' back they tell me/ Are made of Dadhichi's bones/?They carry on backs/In threes, kerosene drums/ On slopes steep." No better comment than given by Ranchan describes Lakhanpal's poetry: "As for stylistics, The Muse will teach him with practice. Here and there, The Last Bend has imagery which stays with you."