Samra: soil erosion endangering dams
By Vishal Joshi
From Our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, May 9 — The life span and functioning of several dams across the Himalayas, including Bhakra and Pong dams, is being severely affected because of increasing erosion. The erosion is leading to settling of sediments in river beds, at more than 10 to 15 times in volume of what was estimated while planning these dams, says Dr J.S. Samra, Director of the Central Soil and Water Conservation Research and Training Institute (CSWCRTI), Dehra Dun.

Dr Samra was in Chandigarh to participate in the meeting of the National Agriculture Technology Project (NATP). The participants discussed the first ever Rs 1000 crore project financed by the World Bank for the improvement of the ecology and environment of country. This project was approved due to sustained efforts of Dr R.S. Paroda, Director General of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR).

Several programmes have been finalised to be executed with the help of the World Bank finance. These include maintaining the environment and ecosystem, besides helping farmers in different ways.

This project was significant in the Indian context as it was passed after the post-Pokhran II sanctions were imposed upon the country, said Dr Samra.

In an exclusive interview with The Tribune, Dr Samra said that to implement the project, five divisions — hills and mountains, rainfed, irrigated, coastal and desert, as per the geographical conditions of the nation, had been set up with the required infrastructure.

“This project is a challenge as we have to work in different situations because of the diversity in social set ups, ecosystems, vegetations, calamities and problems of the farmers. The project will be executed with the help of experts from different fields, including those related to the ecosystem,” said Dr Samra, who is the Director of agro-ecosystem and hills and mountains.

“Any institute, university or non- government organisation (NGO) can approach us to take up the research work. At present, 23 projects are underway in the Himalayas on which 16 institutes are working at about 60 centres,” he said.

The hills and mountains division covers the entire higher Himalayas, cutting across 90 districts in 16 states and covering nearly 16 per cent area of the country. According to Dr Samra, every range poses different problems, forcing researchers to solve these separately.

A novel project of using apple juice-extract byproducts in mushroom farming is underway at Solan. The project is aimed at finding a permanent solution to the disposal of apple waste, as this is becoming a major problem in the high-yield areas. Another project of establishing piggeries has been introduced in the North-East where locals are very fond of meat.

The Palampur University is doing a domestic survey on local migration, while a cold-water fishery project has been undertaken by the Mahaseer Fish Project. The specie is rare and found only in the Higher Himalayas. Mahaseer fish grows only in running water, and dies if released in stagnated water.

The projects would include cultivation of apple, dry fruits, potato and raising angora rabbits among others. Dr Samra said that attention would be paid on saffron farming in parts of Kashmir. Italy was the only other country where the crop was grown.

While giving details about the disbursement of funds, he said that the money would easily be available to the scientists. In previous projects more funds were spent on construction of buildings. But, the guidelines of the present project were strict in this regard. The rules stated that no money would be spent on construction of any building or purchase of any vehicle.

The project had a provision for sending experts abroad for higher education. “We have no scarcity of manpower in the country, but we lag behind in training” he said.

Dr Samra said that least attention was paid to protect the environment while constructing roads or other amenities. The structure of slopes at the time of constructing roads was ignored. Sharp slopes increased possibility of erosion. This happened because soil and environment experts were not invited for suggestions, he added.

He suggested that strict laws were the need of the hour for a better environment. He said the developed countries had strict laws in this regard. In the USA there was a provision in the constitution to protect a forest area of 20 meters on both sides of any river to avoid soil erosion.

While explaining the challenges being faced working in the Himalayas where an earthquake occurs everyday, Dr Samra said that their aim was to work with well trained scientists for the betterment of the environment.

Water scarcity in govt schools
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 9 — Picture this: the temperature shoots beyond 41°C. A school that has 1500 students and 48 teachers is equipped with just seven taps, not even one of which has a drop of water. The toilets, of course, stink from a from distance, because of lack of water. The cobweb-covered water booster, installed in the school, tells a sad tale of disuse.

To experience such a pitiful sight, a visit to Government High School, Sector 26, would be enough. In fact, most of the city schools visited by the TNS presented similar sights.

The Principal of the GHS, Sector 26, said the problem of water was being faced only for the past “two-three days”. However, when the students and some workers of the school were asked about the problem earlier, they said no water had been available in the school premises for the past “two-three months”. When the Principal took this reporter to show the taps, there was no water in any of the taps.

The sight at Government Girls High School, Sector 25, was peculiar. Water was flowing out of the taps, incessantly and had flooded the entire area. The water cooler, evidently not in use, was seen locked up in a cage-like contraption. Said Mrs Amita, Vice-Principal of the school, “People of the Sector 25 colony take away everything that they can lay their hands on. So the lock”. Pointing towards some taps without “heads”, she added, “Even the taps have to be guarded. In such a situation you can imagine how we have to provide for the children”.

Curiously enough, since the second floor of this school building was last year given to the Government Model Middle School, 150 students of the GGHS-25 have to share one room. Five fans have been allotted to each class of 150, but in a government school “and that too in a colony”, many were either missing, while some were not in working condition. “There is no dearth of resources actually, but the colony makes it very difficult to run the school. Some time back only I had got all toilets renovated, and look at them now”, moaned Mrs Swaran Bhatia, Principal of the school. The toilets were like any other in any government institution, which a nose can follow from far off!

In Government High School, Sector 7, water was available in earthen pots in classes. These have been bought from class funds, contributed by the children.

In Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 32, all eight taps were in working condition in the afternoon. “But this is not always the case”, said one of the employees of the school. Another employee added, “Children in this heat keep on crying for water, but only at times does water flow out of these taps. You are lucky to find it today”.

The Principal of Government Middle School, Matuar, Mrs Gurpreet Sachdev, said, “We do not even have a proper building for the school. How can we talk about water facilities? Teachers carry their personal water bottles and the kids use the hand-pump here”. At times, people in the houses being built nearby come to the aid of the teachers and the students in providing them with water. The strength of the 170 students has to rely on a single hand-pump.

Guinness record aspirant a sad man
No govt, private organisation ready to finance him
By Varinder Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 9—Mr Rattan Dev Jangra has a passion — to make an entry into the Guinness Book of World Records for accomplishing the unusual feat of conducting a backward foot march covering a distance of 164 km in a record time of 48 hours and 20 minutes.

He is a sad man today.His main grudge is that though he has been invited by the Guinness Book of World Record authorities to perform his feat in front of its representatives in England so that his record could figure in the book, no government or private organisation has come forward to provide him the financial assistance required to meet the travel expenses.

"Though the performance is scheduled for May 24 to June 11, no one, including the Government of India and the Haryana Government, has offered any help, despite a number of written requests to the authorities concerned," rued Mr Jangra, during a chat here after being honoured in a function organised by the local Vishvakarama Sabha.

" I have accomplished a feat for which the nation should be proud of. But sadly,I have got nothing but hollow promises," said Mr Jangra. He was also critical of private companies, who claim to patronise sportspersons, but have shown no interest in him.

Born on November 20, 1952, in Jamawari village near Hansi, he is a practising ayurvedic doctor in Hansi, where he also regularly practises to prepare himself for the trial.

He claimed to have covered a distance of 164 km from Gujri Mahal Hisar to Rajghat in Delhi in 48 hours and 20 minutes, walking backwards and beating the record of Swat Harden of the USA, who covered 70 km in 30 hours in 1982. He also claimed to have covered a distance of 164 km in a time frame of 21 hours and 40 minutes in the 'non-stop' category, in which one has to walk non-stop for at least 12 hours a day.

Mr Jangra claimed that there was no one in the country who could reach near his record."Actually, except for a South Indian no one has ever tried it as our countrymen hardly consider it a worthwhile thing," he added. "Though I have been honoured by the Haryana Dalit Sahitya Academy, the then Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma and the Arunachal Pradesh Governor Mr Mata Prasad Misra, my services have not been recognised either by the state or the central governments," he complained.

Talking about the thing which stirred him to take upon the unusual game and the hardships being faced by him he said, "I was inspired by an article in an English daily about Swat Harden. The problem is mainly of practise ,which I have to conduct on busy road and to avoid traffic, I practise on the GT road in the early hours," he said, while adding that chaotic conditions are created on the road as drivers stop to have a glance of a man who is walking backwards." So much so that sometimes I have to request them to leave me alone," he added.

'Blend modernity with tradition'
By Poonam Batth
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 9 — "We should understand the importance of the West in terms of its modernisation, but at the same time not give up our Eastern culture and traditions. The goal of education should be a blend of Indian values and modern technology.'' These views were expressed by Mrs Rajni Thareja, Principal of Hansraj Public School, Panchkula, Sector 6, in an interview with the Chandigarh Tribune here today.

A gold medallist in M.Sc.( physics) she is an alumni of Hansraj College, Delhi University. She has also done a doctorate in education from Panjab University. She joined the education profession, as a lecturer in Physics in DAV College, Sector 10, at the age of 22. She took over as the Founder-Principal of Hansraj School in 1994.

Her idea is to lay more stress on quality rather than quantity, thus providing a teacher pupil ratio of 1:35 for senior classes and 1: 25 for the juniors in her school. This is to enable teachers to know the child individually as personalised attention ensures quality learning, which in turn leads to the all-round personality development of the child.

"Do away with heavy school bags for little ones. It hampers their growth,'' maintains Mrs Thareja. With this in mind, she has adopted a different concept of education called the Early Education Development Programme (EEDP) with the aim of adding fun to education. Under this, the basics are explained with the help of concrete experiences and variety of teaching aids to simplify the concepts for the children.

According to Mrs Thareja, the thrust of education should not be just to prepare students for examinations, but also to make their concepts clear and boost their power of reasoning. In the system that is being followed in the school, the evaluation of a student is done on the basis of a checklist specially designed by a team of experts. A child is compared with his own previous work rather than with the other students.

She feels that rather than disciplining the child through corporal punishment, self-discipline must be inculcated. "Spare the rod and spoil the child''. This no longer holds good. Psychologists have also shown that harsh punishments have an adverse effect on the psyche of children.

Mrs Thareja firmly believes that a child can be disciplined through love and affection. However, patience is required to tackle these problems and find the root cause. She said that school has appointed a counsellor to deal with emotional problems of teenagers.

She describes tuitions to be the bane of today's educational system. They should s a rule be avoided by all except those students who have problem regarding their fundamentals at school level. However, these cannot be done away with at the time of preparation for various competitive examinations at a later stage.

To cope with the challenges in today's world, a well-rounded personality of an individual assumes significance. This becomes possible when academics and sports go hand in hand, says Mrs Thareja. The school has provision of adequate sports facilities on its campus to train students to excel both at the national and international levels.

Giving priority to the safety of school children, the school transport system has been equipped with a wireless system. This mobile wireless network, which became operational with the commencement of the new session in April this year enables the school authorities to know the on-line status of each bus, which remains in touch with the control room. In case of a breakdown or emergency, we will be in a position to take instant action, explained Mrs Thareja.

About the future plans, she said that the school is gearing up to meet the requirements of the cyber age. They are planning in terms of having their own server at the school through P and T lines. This will enable the students to access the same from their homes for daily assignments, homework and other current information.

Next month, the school will host its own website giving detailed information about the school with pictures and animation. Plans are also being worked out for a hostel with all modern amenities. The school will be starting a class exclusively for the deaf and dumb children in the evening after the summer vacation. They also plan to start a nursery class for the children of the economically weaker section of the society and will provide them free education.

Her message to the students — 'Go into the world and become model citizens. Give society your best, leaving a legacy of new ideas and creations.''

Toilets locked for years
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, May 9— Public toilets in different sector markets here are in pathetic condition due to lackadaisical approach of the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA). Some of the toilets have remained locked even after several years of construction.

Even in the sector markets where the toilet blocks are open for public use, most of the sanitary fittings are missing. The shopkeepers say the sanitary fittings were stolen due to the absence of watchmen. Inadequate supply of water and dirty surroundings keep the users at bay. In most of the toilet blocks there are no lighting arrangement.

The handing over the toilets to Sulabh Sauchalayas over two years ago had not shown any visible improvement in their maintenance.

Mr S.K. Bansal, a shopkeeper in Sector 9 market, lamented that repeated complaints to HUDA to improve the condition of the public toilets had not yielded any results. The metal and sanitary fittings were missing. Even the door and window frames were either broken or in poor condition.

A visit to different sector markets revealed that the cleanliness in the toilet blocks has remained last on the agenda of the authorities. The toilet blocks in Sector 4, 8 and 15 markets have become resting places for stray dogs.

A watchman at the Sector 15 toilet block said he had removed the sanitary fittings to prevent their possible theft. A toilet block in Sector 2 market has been lying unused for the past several months.

Getting tired of the false promises made by HUDA, the Shopkeepers Association of Sector 7 took the charge of maintaining the toilet block in their market. Mr B.B.Kochhar, President of the association, said: "We are paying Rs 750 to a person for maintaining the toilets.''

A shopkeeper in the Sector 10 market, Mr B.B. Singal, said a toilet block in the market had been lying closed for the past 10 years. The block had been constructed at an isolated place of the market, he added.

While holding the Sulabh Sauchalayas, which was being paid Rs 1,327 for each toilet block, officials of HUDA said the contract with the former to maintain the public toilets in Sectors 4, 6 to 11 and 15 to 18 had been terminated with effect from this month. They said the public toilets would now be maintained by a private contractor who had been handed over sanitation of the sector concerned.

School project hangs fire
From Our Correspondent

MULLANPUR-GARIBDASS, May 9 — A proposed project by an NRI of this village to build a school here is facing difficulties due to the indifferent attitude of the Punjab district and school authorities.

Mr Nathu Ram Puri, founder member and chairman of The Puri Foundation, Nottingham, established the Mullanpur Improvement Trust for the upliftment of his native village. He announced to construct a school building here as the existing senior secondary school was declared unsafe by the Public Welfare Department.

Mr Puri, in a fax message from the U.K. to Mr Tota Singh, Education Minister, Punjab, had mentioned the problems being faced by the trust in this regard.

In the message, Mr Puri offered to bear the whole cost to be incurred in the project. An estimated Rs 70 lakh for the school building has already been announced by the trust. A total of 20,000 square feet of covered land was provided by the village panchayat for this purpose.

The main hindrance in this project is changing the name of the school. There is a provision under the Punjab education system to allow change in the name of any educational institute if an individual or an organisation is ready to bear 50 per cent of the total expenditure.

Mr Puri, in the message to the minister, also offered to renovate another boys’ school at the village besides promising to provide other educational facilities to convert the village into a major education centre.

MFC students up in arms
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 9 — Students taking their Masters of Finance examination have been running from pillar to post to establish the fact that they have been granted a second chance for the re-appear examination approved by the Syndicate at its meeting on April 24. However, a press release issued by the Controller of Examination, Dr Sodhi Ram, said the chance would be given to the students “subject to the approval of the Syndicate” which is sending confusing signals to the students.

The students are reportedly harbouring a grudge against the university on account of the delay in declaring whether the students were required to take their first year examination in which they had failed to get pass marks or could appear in the second year examination. Over 200 students found they had failed to clear the compartment examination held in January after the result was declared in April.

Since the second re-appear chance had not been approved at that time, these students began preparation for their first year examination in the subject all over again and this was followed by the decision of the Syndicate to allow a second chance to these students and treat it as any other postgraduate examination. Thus, began their tirade against the university authorities for the declaration of the examination which did not happen.

However, on May 8 it was notified by the COE that the students who could not clear the re-appear in one admissible chance would be given a second chance subject to the approval of the Syndicate in the examinations conducted by the university in September\October for the purpose. Meanwhile, the students with re-appears in Part I of the examination could avail themselves of the chance of sitting for the Part II examinations.

The students are critical of the late declaration of the decision of the authorities and that they are in a tight spot since they are required to prepare for the second year examination at such a short notice besides having to collect the roll number cards from the department two days before the commencement of the examination.

Syndicate members, however, confirm that the decision of granting a second chance to the students was made in the said meeting of the Syndicate. Mr S.S. Gill emphatically states that the matter was decided in the meeting of the Syndicate and that there was no need to refer it back to the members.

“The authorities take their own time in getting matters approved and that is what is causing undue harassment to the students at the hands of the university authorities,’’ he says. Mr G.K. Chattrath, another Syndic, opines, “I do recall that the decision was made in the meeting but the minutes of the meeting have not been circulated in the office after approval and that is the reason behind all this confusion. I, myself, had informed the group of students waiting outside the venue of the meeting of the decision.”

Check encroachments: ex-Mayor
By Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 9 — “Encroachments must be prevented to maintain special and separate identity of Chandigarh”, cautions Mr Gian Chand Gupta, an ex-Mayor of the city, saying “the anti-encroachment work should be free from both political and administrative interference”.

Mr Gian Chand Gupta, who came to Chandigarh in 1960, was the Mayor of the city before the present incumbent, Mr Kewal Krishan Adiwal.

“When we came here in 1960, only a few sectors — 22, 23 and 19 — were developed. Sector 27 was considered the outer most developed sector. The Sector 26 grain market had only 10 to 12 shops. At that time, the city had not taken any definite shape. At that time no one expected Chandigarh to develop so fast, become so important and be in the news all the time. May be the planners could visualise that but not a common man. It used to be very peaceful, open and wide city. Even the lifestyle of people was different.

“My personal feeling is that the only reason for the rapid and all-round development of Chandigarh has been because it has remained a Union Territory for the past 33 years. No state could have afforded to pay that much attention and divert so much of funds as the central government has done. Had it been part of one state or the other, the scenario would have been quite different”.

“The reason for the deterioration in basic amenities has been the population explosion. The planners never visualised Chandigarh to be a city of more than 5 lakh people. So the services were planned and laid accordingly. Since there has been a population explosion and the number of people living here has already crossed 7 lakh, the services tend to crumble under pressure. Here, I feel, it is the administration which has failed to visualise the pressures, including the growing population and the rapid development, that has taken place during the past 15 to 20 years.

“Though there is no restriction on the movement of the people anywhere in the country, a major factor for this unprecedented growth of the city has been the allurement of allotment of a dwelling unit or a booth or a shop by the Administration for migrants. Though there are similar schemes in the rest of the country, it takes very long for anyone to get a dwelling unit elsewhere compared to Chandigarh. Here, it takes only a couple of years for a slum-dweller to get a dwelling unit”, adds Mr Gupta.

About the future of the city, he says, the onus is on the people. “The city will be the way the people here want it to be.

“All political parties must rise above their local political considerations and cooperate with the Administration to set certain norms so as to preserve the special character and separate entity of the city. Everyone must think in terms of preserving the character of the city. Otherwise, the pace at which encroachments are taking place, it will be difficult to preserve it beyond 20 years.

“The Administration must come out with a rehabilitation policy once and for all. There should not be any going back on it. In fact what Chandigarh needs is a concrete, integrated development plan for future. To make it sacred and important, such a plan can be rectified by Parliament so that the bureaucrats who come here for short-term postings can’t tinker with the overall plan and work in accordance with a given framework. Everytime, a new Adviser comes, he starts something new abandoning plans or schemes introduced by his predecessor. This bureaucratic wrangling of the planning process must stop.

“The only alternative left for us is to go for vertical growth as the scope for horizontal growth is restricted because of limited land. But before we go for vertical growth, we must assess and supplement our services so that they can take the additional load. This is necessary, especially in case of services like storm water, sewerage, drainage, garbage disposal, besides water and power supply.

“I am saying from my experience that the present set-up of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation is a joke. The dual set-up must be discontinued with immediate effect.

“The present system is neither economical nor for the benefit of the people. For example, the Administration is maintaining a full-fledged circle of public health just to ensure water supply to 16 villages of the UT. Rest of the work is with the Corporation. Same is the case with the horticulture wing. The Administration is maintaining three gardens and has the same staff strength as the Corporation which maintains all open spaces and remaining gardens in the city. The case with anti-encroachment staff is no different. The strength of inspectors is equally divided.

“The only thing lacking in the present administrative set-up is accountability. If Dr Kiran Bedi can get corridors of all shopping centres cleared without any additional manpower, why could not the earlier set-up. It means there has been a lack of will power. Why influential people be allowed to encroach upon public land for their own benefit by denying general public the common use of those spaces?”

“For example, an open piece of land, earmarked for booths, cannot be auctioned because this site is used by an influential hotelier for his own business. Similarly, an open site adjoining another hotel, even after expiry of its lease, could not be cleared of hedges and fences which had been grown in violation of the terms of lease to the great discomfort of general public. In fact, the piece of land was meant to be a taxi stand.

“I, therefore, feel that there should be a separate anti-encroachment department which should not allow any political or administrative interference and should strictly enforce bylaws of the city to maintain its special character and separate identity”, adds Mr Gupta.

“The future planning should be directed in making it an educational and conventional city by upgrading the airport to international level. The future planning should only be to develop it as a centre of education, higher learning and for holding conventions of international level”, concludes Mr Gupta.