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Efforts afoot to revive Nurpur Silk Mill
Illegal mining goes on unabated in Neugal riverbed
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Encroachments on roads endanger lives of pedestrians
Vignettes
Himachal diary
Govt approval to admissions at pvt institutions resented
Meditation can solve legal disputes, claims expert
Govt fails to provide adequate police force in Palampur dist
A dilapidated police complex in Palampur. Photo by writer
Women artists' workshop marks Amrita Sher-Gil's birth centenary
A group of Punjabi artists honour Vijay Sharma of Chamba at Khajjiar. A Tribune photograph
Experts discuss ramifications of US exit from Afghanistan
Kangra roads in deplorable condition
Leakage in pipes cause huge loss to PWD
Pinegrove School retain cricket title
Sujanpur MLA proves his clout by mobilising women
Sujanpur MLA Rajender Rana during a women’s conference in Hamirpur.
A Tribune photograph
Students of MIT excel in exams
Leopard attacks create panic in Ghumarwin
Workshop on networking security held
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Efforts afoot to revive Nurpur Silk Mill
Nurpur, October 8 This silk thread reeling and cloth weaving mill set up in 1964 had accumulated losses for about two decades and finally, the HPGIC had stopped its silk reeling unit in 2001. At present, this mill is producing seven varieties of fabric like chiffon, crep jari, chiffon jari, soft silk and pure silk. According to the new strategy, the sericulture unit of the state industry department will run the silk reeling unit of the mill whereas sarees and dresses will be produced by the HPGIC itself. The HPGIC has formulated a strategy to modernise its production as per the requirement of the market by adopting new fashion technology. For this purpose, it will also take assistance of the government’s fashion designing institute, NIFT, Kangra. According to BR Verma, managing director of the HPGIC, the state government has taken the decision to revive the old glory of the Nurpur Silk Mill. “The corporation has planned to open its showroom in Shimla and has set a target of producing 1,000 metre silk cloth every month. This unit will produce the latest designs,” he said. He said weavers of the mill would be trained and its machinery would also be upgraded keeping in view the requirements of the market . He said the corporation had planned for an aggressive marketing of silk products and three exhibitions would be held in Shimla, Dharamsala and Kullu during the Dasehra this month. Moreover, the corporation is
contemplating to diversify the production.
Nurpur Silk Mill was taken over by the HPGIC in 1969 and eight power looms were set up in it for weaving silk fabric. After earning name in producing quality silk fabric and sarees for years, it lost its fame as it failed to keep up with the market trend. The then successive state governments did not take steps to modernise it.
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Illegal mining goes on unabated in Neugal riverbed
Palampur, October 8 It is on record that illegal and unscientific mining in the Kangra valley has resulted in a large-scale deforestation, landslides and flash floods. The situation is alarming as over 20,000 hectares of land has been seriously affected by mining, quarrying and other activities in the region, resulting in drastic reshaping of landscape. Illegal mining has posed a serious threat to the existence of dozens of irrigation and drinking water supply schemes which get water from the small rivers of the region. The existence of Kirpal Chand Khual Charnamati and Lower Baijnath Kuhals, feeding 50 panchayats of Palampur, Bhawarna and Baijnath blocks, is in danger because of continuous mining in the catchments of Neugal and Binwa rivers. Despite extensive losses to the drinking water supply schemes, the Mining Department has failed to check the menace. The issue relating to illegal mining in the Kangra valley was already under consideration before the Himachal Pradesh High Court. A senior official of the IPH Department said if no timely action was taken, a number of drinking water supply schemes would go dry in the next three years.
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Encroachments on roads endanger lives of pedestrians
Palampur, October 8 Police sources said large-scale encroachments on the roads in the town were responsible for the mishaps. The road from Nehru Chowk to Bindravan stretch of the Palampur-Dharamsala National Highway No. 24 had turned into a death trap. The police also admitted that most of these accidents had taken place at Ram Chowk and nearby SSB Chowk where shopkeepers had encroached upon the Palampur- Dharamsala state highway. The police said until these encroachments were not removed, accidents could not be avoided. Though the local police and the PWD authorities are well conversant with the situation, they have failed to initiate any action. An officer of the PWD said in 2011-12 they had planned to widen the highway after removing the encroachments, but due to the political pressure the plan could not be materialised. Meanwhile, People’s Voice, a voluntary organisation in the town, has urged the Superintending Engineer, Fifth Circle, HP PWD, Palampur, to remove encroachments on the highway. Neelam Sood, KB Rahlan, Daleep Sharma and Subhash Sharma, members of the organisations, have sought the CM's intervention in the matter.
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Shahi Theatre of Shimla for the ‘aam aadmi’
by Shriniwas Joshi
He also got his customary stance inserted on the background of glass work (see photo). Sheer chance made Shahi Hakim and his family settle in Shimla. He, with his wife and two children, had come here in 1947 as a summer bird from a village in Sialkot, now in Pakistan. They could not return because of the eruption of communal violence in the two countries after the Partition. The rest of the family joined them here later. Gyan Chand was an eminent practitioner of Unani medicine. The title Shahi Hakim was bestowed on him by a Nawab of an erstwhile princely state. Besides curing other diseases, his panaceas were blood purifiers and ointments for skin troubles. He had his clinic on the eastern side of the Lower Bazaar and I had seen him riding horse for home visits. He was one of the prominent ‘pagri-walas’ of the then Shimla, who bade farewell to the world in 1968. Shahi Hakim thought of starting a theatre for the ‘aam-aadmi’. This theatre could not be in the vicinity of the Mall where Regal, Rivoli and Ritz already existed with the legacy of the British period that one has to be suited-booted to see a movie. His eye fell upon the Fern Cottage at the Ram Bazaar. Its owner Puran Mull, a philanthropist, had made a charitable dedication of the property in 1929, which dedication was converted into a trust deed in 1930 with big businessmen of Shimla as trustees. The trust had converted a portion of the building touching the Cart Road into the Rai Bahadur Puran Mull Dharamshala, but the upper portion, where the theatre exists today, was with the Republican Party of India, the only post-Independence party centred on untouchables, a political vehicle devised by Dr Ambedkar. It was vacated, a licence to run films was procured, rate of tickets was fixed at 5 annas (30 paisa), 10 annas and sawa rupiya, there were no chairs, but benches to sit on, a labourer inaugurated the cinema hall that started as nautch-girls joint in April 1953. I as a college fresher was tempted to see the nautch-performance but could only visualise it through the discussions of those class fellows who had visited the theatre. The filming in the theatre started in June 1953 with “Lakshmi Narain” starring Meena Kumari and Mahipal. Directed by Nanabhai Bhatt, it was released in 1951. The Shahi Theatre (see photo) gained popularity as the cinema hall for the labour class and women shunned visiting it. It was then decided that the 12 noon show on every Wednesday would be for women only. The benches were replaced by folding chairs when “Mughal-e-Azam” was filmed here. That film ran for 18 weeks in the hall but the record-run of 25 weeks is shared by “Junglee” and “Sangam”. Sahil tells me that among the modern movies, “Krish” ran for 10 weeks here. Sushil, owner of Shahi in the 80s, ventured on film-making too and produced “Fakir Badshah” in 1987 starring Danny, Roma and Bindu. The auditorium of the Shahi Theatre echoes of the old British design, though a gallery to it is a later addition and to have a glimpse of that the Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dixit, visited the 251-seat theatre in 2005 and saw “Parineeta” here. The Shahi Theatre, today, has push-back chairs, films run on digital projector system, has dolby sound track and is the only single silver-screen 3D cinema in the north India. It is like the story of “From Log-cabin to the White House”.
Tailpiece
A big fat woman purchased two movie tickets for herself as she got uncomfortable on one seat. The attendant said, “Madam, you’ll have a difficult time. The ticket numbers are 16 and 22.”
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Musical evening marks Raising Day of Army Training Command
Raising Days are important occasions in the calendar of the Armed Forces that draws upon an invisible but especially nurtured esprit de corps amongst its rank and file. The week-long celebrations to mark the 23rd Raising Day of the Army Training Command (ARTRAC) was made special by the series of programmes which included a musical evening by the “Indian Symphony Orchestra” with a mix of Indian and western instrumental and martial music and also a Hindi comedy play. A Barakhana and a Sainik Sammelan for troops and a banquet lunch for veterans and other distinguished guests were also organised. The highlight of the programme was “Udhaar ka Pati”, a three-act Hindi play staged by the Amateurs Dramatics Club (ADC) at the Gaiety Theatre. The play was written by Vanmala Bhawalkar and performed by officers of the ARTRAC and civilian members of the theatre. It was performed thrice and ran to packed audiences. It was a 70-minute comedy of errors set in the rural India on the misadventures of a wife who has eloped against her grandfather’s wishes. When the grandfather decides to pay them an unexpected visit, the comedy of errors ensues. The star performers of the play were Lt Col TRD Sinha, Taruna Soni, Simi Kaushik, Lt Col Paramjot Singh Virk, Col Jayant Kar, Atul Chauhan, Sanjeev Sood and Col DK Sen. Lt Gen Sanjeev Madhok, GOC-in-C, ARTRAC, and president of the Amature Dramatics Society, gave away appreciation medallions, gifts and bouquets to the performers. Training programme
Edukinect, a Hyderabad based company associated with the Microsoft Corporation, organised a Microsoft Windows-8 application development training certification programme
(MTA) at St Bedes College, Shimla, from September 24 to October 2. It was for the first time that such a programme was held in the state. In all, 89 students from various courses of the college participated in the application development
programme. In the first seven days, students were trained by event trainers. An online Microsoft certification exam was conducted on September 30. In the last 2 days,
YAPPON, India’s largest Youth Hackathon, was organised where students developed applications in teams based on the previous training. The Hackathon got underway with a cultural programme after which a two-day application development exercise was carried out. After the completion of the event, the students were awarded certificates by the Microsoft Corporation and
Edukinect. The initiative for the programme was taken by Dr Beena John, Principal of the college, and the course was conducted with the active involvement of faculty members of the Computer Science Department Neha
Walia, Vikesh Kumar, Kuldeep Sharma, Nivedita Bhardwaj Sharma and Priyanka Rana. Neha Walia said such programmes would also be organised in future as they help enhance job opportunities for students.
3 managers for HPTDC
hotel
Hamir hotel of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC), which has been one of its profit making units, is nowadays having three managers. The hotel was well managed by a single assistant manager all these years. However, with the change government, some local people “close” to Congress leaders have been trying to “bring their own man” to replace the manager. The HPTDC transferred a manager from Shimla here a few months ago and with two managers in one place, a confrontation ensued. As the reports of confrontation reached the management of the
HPTDC, it transferred a manager, who had obtained a stay from a court. Meanwhile, one more manager has been brought here from New Delhi with three managers working in the hotel, the situation has become really tricky. While the HPTDC management seems to be taking decisions “detrimental” to the commercial interest of the hotel, people are apprehensive that it might not be good for the financial health and reputation of the profit earning unit. (Contributed by Rakesh Lohumi and DP Gupta)
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Govt approval to admissions at pvt institutions resented
Solan, October 8 The state cabinet had recently granted the one-time approval to admissions to various courses like BTech (including Bio Tech, Food Tech. and Bio Info.), M Tech, B
Pharma, M Pharma and MBA. Though the decision has been taken in the interest of students, it has raised a question over the intension of the state government, which appears to have succumbed to the pressure exerted by the
private institutions. The approval, however, has not come easy and it is subjected to the imposition of penalty as per the rules of the HP Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Commission Act, 2010. The commission will impose twice the amount charged as fee from the students by these institutions. Sources in the regulatory commission said they were waiting for the notification of the cabinet’s decision following which they would impose the penalty. Notably, since the All-India Council for Technical Educational issued unique identification numbers to all students, the fate of degrees obtained by the students who took admission after failing to fulfil the eligibility norms hangs in balance. This norm was introduced in 2011 to check the excess of admissions and
bring transparency. Interestingly, out of 14,000 students, who cleared the entrance test conducted by the State Board of Technical Education, only 1,200 took admission in private polytechnics against 9,000 seats. The institutes could fill only about 3,700 seats, out of which 2,500 students were admitted in
violation of norms.
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Meditation can solve legal disputes, claims expert
Mandi, October 8 Talking to The Tribune on the sidelines of a six-day training programme on mediation for judicial officers of the central region that concluded here on Saturday, Sharma said, “The judicial officers can act as mediators and referral judges to send the rightly selected cases for meditation at the centres opened in the state.” He said mediation was a voluntary process of law and aimed at settling disputes that are agreeable to both parties, he added. “Mediation is fast gaining popularity among youth. An ounce of mediation is worth a pound of arbitration and a tonne of litigation,” he said. “It needs a positive legal response from the judiciary and lawyers to clear pendency of over 3 crore cases in courts across the country,” said Sharma, who has imparted training in over 400 workshops on mediation in the country and abroad. “The Supreme Court of India has an elaborate training manual. Mediators can be lawyers, judges or knowledgeable persons, but they need training and there is a certain code of ethics that they must follow,” he said. Sharma said the lawyers and judges needed to understand conflict and solve it in a way that was acceptable to both the parties. Mediation was a voluntary process mentioned under Section 89 of the Civil Procedure Code, he said. “The role of a referral judge is of a great significance in the court-referred mediation, as not all cases are suitable for mediation. The success of mediation depends on proper selection of cases,” he said. It was wrong to assume that lawyers would lose their income once the mediation process gained ground in the country, said Sharma. “Over 80 per cent cases in the USA and 70 per cent in the UK are settled through mediation and lawyers earn handsome money there,” he said. Sharma said mediation was a developing concept in the country. Talking about future plans, he said, “We will be training judicial officers in Dharamsala next week.”
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Govt fails to provide adequate police force in Palampur dist
Palampur, October 8 The state government has failed to provide police force as per the sanctioned strength. At present, the police force is almost half of the sanctioned strength. Despite large jurisdiction, the police station has only one jeep and one
motor cycle. The number of cases of theft has also increased. Over one dozen vehicles were stolen in the past two years. Besides, numerous theft cases were also reported. A senior police officer admitted that most of the thefts and burglaries in the region were being committed by criminals from other states. Inadequate police force was a major hurdle to check the crimes. The present strength of constabulary in the police station was only 21 including a driver, cook
and munshi. The police complex are also in a bad shape. The houses were built during the British rule. The residence of the SHO is also in a bad shape. Likewise, the constables and other staff of the police station are also residing in unsafe buildings.
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Women artists' workshop marks Amrita Sher-Gil's
Chamba, October 8 The group had successfully organised the 10th annual exhibition, International show and workshop, seven painting workshops with the overall aim and goal to promote art and women artists. The Punjabi artists group honoured Vijay Sharma of Chamba on the occasion. A number of artists from different parts of the country participated in the workshop. The artists, included Dr. Ram Shabad from Saharanpur; Prof Prem Singh and Promila from Delhi; Ashwani Verma from Hoshiarpur; S Satwant Singh Sumail, Alka Kalra and Col Jasbir Bhullar from Mohali; Malkit Singh, Sadhna Sangar, Jaskanwal Kaur and Gurmit Kaur Goldie from Chandigarh; Balwant Beeba from Gurdaspur; Gurdeep Dhiman from Zirakpur; Shakti Singh from Rohtak; Surjeet Singh from Shimla; Shakaya, Rakhi Saini and Pushpa Singh from Lucknow; Kiran Sharma from Shahbad; Charanjit Singh from Faridkot and
Geeta Ramashesh.
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Experts discuss ramifications of US exit from Afghanistan
Solan, October 8 Former Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal delivered the keynote address and siad that India must guard against Pakistani machinations as their Afghan policy was directed at keeping the Indian influence out of Afghanistan. Air Marshal Matheswaran said Afghanistan was a country whose strategic importance to India should be fully understood by all in the country. Hiranmay Karlekar, former editor-in-chief, Hindustan Times, discussed the various options India have and stressed on the need to continue supporting Afghanistan. He batted for the supply of lethal military equipment to Afghanistan to bolster the Afghan security forces. Lt Gen Kamal Davar asserted that India must act with determination and maturity as the Afghan people held India in high esteem. Gen Davar emphasised that India must charter its own Afghan policy and be prepared for all contingencies after the US withdrawal. Dr Shalini Chawla of the Centre of Air Power Studies stated that Pakistan would continue to seek strategic depth
in Afghanistan.
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Kangra roads in deplorable condition
Kangra, October 8 The college road is one of the most busy roads in the town. The road connects MCM DAV College, GAV Public School and GAV Senior Secondary School, besides the local municipal stadium and the famous Bajjreshwari temple. The road is in a shambles. BL Sharma, a local businessman, said the road was the worst affected. Rajeev K Puri, a local resident, said the condition of the Donga bazaar was the same. The road connecting Zamanabad crossing and the National Institute of Fashion technology (NIFT), is lying damaged, causing inconvenience to the residents and NIFT students. S Bala Krishanan, Director, NIFT, said the NIFT road was in a bad state. He had also requested the PWD authorities and the SDM Kangra in written to get the road repaired. "It's been more than two months, but no action has been taken so far," said Krishanan. The road connecting Guptganga with Kachairai was also in a bad shape. Kishori Lal Thakur, chief executive officer, Kangra Municipal Council, said the roads were supposed to be repaired by the sewerage wing of the IPH Department and the municipal council had no role to play. He said if the IPH Department provided them with the estimated cost of the work, the municipal council was ready to carry out the repair work. Vijay Sharma, SDO, IPH Department, said it would take more than two months to get these roads repaired. The residents also sought the intervention of the Chief Minister to get the roads of the town repaired.
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Leakage in pipes cause huge loss to PWD
Palampur, October 8 Despite the fact that the IPH Department is aware of the situation, till date no efforts have been made to fix the leakages in different parts of the town. Requests made by the PWD in this regard to the IPH
authorities have also gone unheard. The IPH Departments has failed to follow the norms fixed by the government. While laying water supply pipes, most of the pipes are open. Therefore, these are leaking and directly affecting the PWD roads causing loss not only to the state exchequer, but also inconvenience to the general public. It is difficult to drive on many roads. As per norms notified by the state
government, the minimum depth of the pipes should have been one feet, but these norms have been flouted by the IPH
Department. Roads leadings to Bundla, Neugal Park, Sugar, Aima and Lohana are worst effected where water is flowing openly on the roads. Near Neugal Chowk, there were leakages in six water supply pipes and the road had developed big holes. A road leading to the Lohana and Sai Garden is worst affected where road has turned into drains. Because of the leakages in the pipes, residents of Aima, Bundla, Ghuggar and SSB Chowk are forced to use contaminated water resulting in various diseases like jaundice, hepatitis and various other water-borne diseases.
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Pinegrove School retain cricket title
Solan, October 8 Pinegrove batted first but lost an early wicket. However, Palak Goyal took the responsibility and scored an unbeaten 60 runs in just 56 balls. She was ably supported by Sneha Yadav who scored 20 valuable runs in just 25 balls. Muskaan Gill also added a patient 15 and remained not out. Pinegrove eves managed to put up a total of 125 runs for the loss of four wickets. Neha Chillar, Tanya, Pratika and Vaishali of Modern School took one wicket each .Chasing the total under the floodlights proved tough for Modern School and the dew factor favoured the host team with opponents losing a couple of wickets in the beginning. A sudden middle order collapse saw Modern School tottering at 20 for five wickets. However, a determined knock of 46 runs in just 43 balls by captain Neha Chillar and 15 runs by Mansi brought the Modern girls back into the match. But a wonderful bowling by Surreet Kaur, who took 3 wickets, Diya Medha and Muskan Gill, who took two wickets each for Pinegrove, brought the host team back into the match and the Modern School girls could muster up only 89 runs for the loss of seven wickets, thereby losing the match by 36 runs. The player of the match award was given to Palak Goyal for her batting.
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Sujanpur MLA proves his clout by mobilising women
Hamirpur, October 8 Rana, who had been mobilising women in his programmes under the banner of SKKS and got overwhelming support from them in the last Assembly election, which he won by a huge margin from Sujanpur constituency, had organised a women’s conference here. Enthused by the presence of responsive women members, Rana said, “I will always remain indebted for your support as you not only contributed in my win but also lent me moral support.” Assuring them of his services as a member of the legislative Assembly, Rana said, “I will always take up their problems in the Assembly and will be present in the hour of their grief and joy.” He said the SKKS would organise its annual day function in Chowgan in Sujanpur on October 27 in which Himachal Gaurav awards would be given to people excelling in different fields. Several presidents of panchayats and mahila mandals attended the conference. Jyoti was nominated as working president of the women wing of SKKS in this conference.
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Students of MIT excel in exams
Hamirpur, October 8 She has been awarded the bronze medal. Pushpender got third position in a diploma course of the mechanical engineering department. He has also been awarded the bronze medal. Both the students have been given a Certificate of Merit and Rs 3,100 each for their excellent performance in the exams. Sumiti V Thakur, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), MIT Group of Institutions, said it was an honour for the institute as the
students performed great in the technical board examinations.
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WHEN I reached May Villa, below the old Bus Stand to meet Sahil Sharma, the present owner of Shahi Theatre, I was introduced to a smaller version of Sheesh Mahal that matched the set of “Pyar Kia To Darna Kya” dance by Madhubala in “Mughal-e-Azam”. Shahi Hakim Gyan Chand was so fascinated by the Sheesh Mahal that he got its replica erected in his house.
He also got his customary stance inserted on the background of glass work (see photo). Sheer chance made Shahi Hakim and his family settle in Shimla. He, with his wife and two children, had come here in 1947 as a summer bird from a village in
Sialkot, now in Pakistan.
Raising Days are important occasions in the calendar of the Armed Forces that draws upon an invisible but especially nurtured esprit de corps amongst its rank and file. The week-long celebrations to mark the 23rd Raising Day of the Army Training Command
(ARTRAC) was made special by the series of programmes which included a musical evening by the “Indian Symphony Orchestra” with a mix of Indian and western instrumental and martial music and also a Hindi comedy play.
The strength of police force in the local police station of Palampur district remains the same as it was in 2005. Despite increase in population in this region, the government is yet to enhance police force in the local police station.
The state government has failed to provide police force as per the sanctioned strength. At present, the police force is almost half of the sanctioned strength. Despite large jurisdiction, the police station has only one jeep and one
motor cycle.
"WE", a group of Indian Contemporary Women Artists, Chandigarh, organised a three-day All-India Arts Workshop-2013 from September 29 to October 1 at the Jai Jagdamba Mandir Trust,
Khajjiar, Chamba District.
The chief objective of holding the workshop was to commemorate the birth centenary of Amrita
Sher-Gil (1913-1941).
Kangra, October 8
during the programmes organised by the Sarva Kalyan Kari Sabha
(SKKS) for the past quite some time, has once again proved his popularity among them as he managed to mobilise a large number of them in a programme organised at
Hamirpur, recently.
WHEN I reached May Villa, below the old Bus Stand to meet Sahil Sharma, the present owner of Shahi Theatre, I was introduced to a smaller version of Sheesh Mahal that matched the set of “Pyar Kia To Darna Kya” dance by Madhubala in “Mughal-e-Azam”. Shahi Hakim Gyan Chand was so fascinated by the Sheesh Mahal that he got its replica erected in his house. Artists from Indore had come to slice small pieces of glasses and they took three months to give the room the desired profile.
