Saving heritage tag for ‘British Jewel of Orient’ : The Tribune India

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Saving heritage tag for ‘British Jewel of Orient’

HERITAGE TAG:The heat and dust-weary British made the Queen of Hills their six- month long summer capital of the Raj in 1864 to avoid the sweltering heat of the plains.

Saving heritage tag for ‘British Jewel of Orient’


Kuldeep Chauhan 

The heat and dust-weary British made the Queen of Hills their six- month long summer capital of the Raj in 1864 to avoid the sweltering heat of the plains. They added another “British Jewel of Orient” to the hill station: a 96-km long Kalka-Shimla railway track. Powered by the steam engine, the first toy train chugged its ways up from Kalka on this track in 1903, connecting Shimla to Delhi for the first time. 

The track ended not only the relative isolation of the ruling British from the vast plains of the country, but it also opened the natural resources of western Himalayas — timber, flora and fauna — to a loot that was unleashed by the British company ‘Bahadurs’, says a local historian. 

The missionaries and British officials toured the interiors of Himachal to spread the Christian gospel and indulged in hunting of game animals, respectively. One of the missionaries, Evan S Stokes, got influenced by the Pahari culture, married a local woman at Kotgarh, embraced Hinduism and spread apple cultivation in Shimla district that later transformed the hill economy as never before.  

Track of global heritage value 

After the British made Shimla as the summer capital of the Empire, they also shifted the British army’s headquarters here subsequently to beat the scorching heat so that they could enjoy “London-like cool climes in India”. But reaching the sylvan heights of Shimla from the scorching plains in bullock carts was nothing less than an ordeal for British officers and their wives who used to come to Shimla along with their paraphernalia during the summers. 

To lay the track was a Himalayan task. But the Shimla-Kalka track turned out to be an “unmatched marvel of engineering and architecture that combines the best masonry work and alignment skills of Shimla hills’ artisans led by Baba Bhalku Ram and British engineers, HS Harrington, Colonel Barog and S Edwards. 

Small wonder the track earned the epithet of “British Jewel of Orient” that still has its global appeal and value, which was instrumental in earning it the prestigious world heritage status of Unesco in 2008. The track has its unique 103 tunnels, 800 bridges that resemble Roman aqueducts and a 2.8-km long arch viaduct, 900 curves and its unique reverse curves, which have radii of 36 metres. 

Time was when only 500-odd British officers used to arrive in Shimla till the 1900s. But Kalka-Shimla narrow gauge changed the whole scene dramatically. By the 1920s, more than 50,000 British officers, soldiers along with their families used to arrive in Shimla for six summer months. The Punjab government summer headquarters used to be in Shimla that increased the migratory population of Shimla close to 60,000, says history sources. 

The track was opened by the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon, in 1903. And since then, the toy train has been operating regularly. Even today British citizens travel in the train and cherish the old-world charm while they travel here to pay their respects to their ancestors buried in various cemeteries in Shimla city, says Anil Shaink, a travel agent. 

Heritage tag, a challenge  

The vintage track has brought in crores of visitors to Shimla during its 115 years’ journey. But with this, the face of the track has changed over the years — more than 2 lakh population and 2 lakh vehicles. That is how Shimla, the state capital, is paying the price for maintaining its heritage and carrying capacity, comment old-timers here. 

More worrisome for the heritage fraternity of the city is that over 3,000- odd structures, including the new MLA hostel near the Vidhan sabha, the automobile showrooms near Taradevi, houses, huts and colonies near Solan and Dharampur town, industrial units at Taksal in Parwanoo, all have come up within the 30 meter radius of “no construction zone”, reveals a recent survey by the Railways. 

Trash and junk, and slush and sewage leaked from the colonies is spoiling the track that can upset the Unesco team, which is likely to inspect the track again to review its heritage inscription, says Shelender, a railways heritage official. 

Glimmer of hope 

However, the much-awaited glimmer of hope dawned on the heritage track on May 13 this year when state governor Acharya Devvrat and acting chief justice of the High Court Justice Sanjay Karol, other judges, NGOs and state and central authorities, territorial armies, panchayat bodies and school students joined the “clean and conserve Shimla-Kalka campaign” and sent a strong message to Unesco that things were falling in line. The heritage track is clean, affording the same old-world charm and landscape of rich greenery and beauty to its visitors. “We will write to the Unesco and assure it that the vintage track deserves the same world heritage status it got in 2008,” says Raja Bhasin from INTACH, an NGO, which bets for protecting heritage property in the capital city. According to top railways officials, Unesco has asked the caretakers of the world heritage track to either stop the haphazard growth in the “no- construction zone and littering of track with junk and trash or lose its heritage status”. Unesco’s world heritage committee is likely to inspect the track after 10 years now. 

Eco-warriors on track 

The “Save heritage campaign” has become a movement as eco-warriors, with the help of the Forest Department, the Railways and panchayats, will keep it going for years, says Prempal Ranta, member secretary, state legal service authority, which will monitor the campaign as desired by the Chief Justice. 

Himachal ‘Eco-warriors’, the territorial Army, says that they have planted 3,200 trees and will plant more trees along the track to improve the landscape, clean it and maintain it for another five years. 

Fanciful stories and scenery 

As passengers board the Kalka-Shimla train, they negotiate green hills and hamlets while it winds up from Kalka on the track, crossing 18 stations and reaches Shimla at 2,076 meters in the lap of the lower Himalayas. Among 18 stations, the most prominent are Koti (17 km), Dharampur (33 km), Barog (43 km), Solan (47 km), Kandaghat (59 km), a window to Chail , Shoghi (78 km), Taradevi (85 km), Summer Hill (93 km) and finally, Shimla (96 km). 

Barog station, which has the longest tunnel (tunnel 33) on the route, stretches 1, 143.61 meters. Also, bridge number 226 is an architectural marvel that passes over a deep valley surrounded by steep hills on both sides. 

This rail track is a living tribute to engineers who bored 107 tunnels and set up a global bench mark for a railway line that could pass through the mountains without destroying the beauty of the hills. The tunnels were renumbered in 1930, as some of them were found to be defunct. From 107, their number was reduced to 103, and this further came down to 102 when tunnel 46 near the Solan Brewery was demolished. 

Two of the longest tunnels on this track are at Barog and Tara Devi. All the tunnels were built between 1900 and 1903. 

L Edwards, executive engineer of Dharampur division, completed the work on as many as 30 tunnels. 

Baba Bhalku’s connection 

To dig tunnels those days when there were few modern tools and kits, reveal railways chroniclers, was no small task. The workers used large mirrors and acetylene gas to light the tunnels. The longest tunnel on this track is the Barog tunnel and it was named after Barog, a British railway engineer, who committed suicide after he failed to dig the Barog tunnel correctly. After his death, Chief Engineer HS Harrington chipped in and constructed another tunnel 1 km away from the earlier point with the guidance of Bhalku, a local saint from Jhaja, near Chail. Bhalku possessed natural engineering skills and it was believed that he also helped the British engineers to bore other tunnels on the track and the alignment suggested by him turned out to be correct. According to Shimla Gazette, the then Viceroy presented Bhalku a medal and a turban which are still treasured by his family. The Railways has dedicated Baba Bhalku museum at Shimla railway station to his memory. 

Barorg tunnel took three years and cost Rs 8.40 lakh. Many workers, most of them Indians, died during its construction. The toy train at a speed of 25 km per hours takes 2.5 minutes to cross the tunnel. 

A similar story runs on the digging of the 992-meter long Tara Devi (no. 91) tunnel which was built at a cost of Rs 3.04 lakh. Since a shrine stood on top of the Tara Devi hill clad with oaks, locals believed that Tara Devi goddess would never permit the construction of the tunnel. One day, work had to be stopped, as there was panic among the workers following rumours of a huge snake in the tunnel. The work was resumed only when it was found that a large iron pipe running along the tunnel for providing fresh air had been mistaken for the serpent. 

All efforts are afoot to save the track and keeping its world heritage status intact. How these efforts bear fruit, only time will tell when the Unesco committee comes and review its status anytime this year, says a Railways official. 

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