Congress has submitted 89 lakh complaints to ECI: Pawan Khera on Bihar SIR exercise

Shimla, Feb 9 (IANS) Four-laning of the British-era Kalka-Shimla highway via Parwanoo in Himachal Pradesh, a ribbon of asphalt twisting through hills and soaring over flyovers, is finally inching towards completion after more than a decade of construction.

Driving on it now is fast, smooth, almost effortless, but it comes at a small price. The national highway 5, part of the ancient and historical route of Hindustan-Tibet Road, has bypassed some of the old colonial-era landmarks: the quaint train crossings, the gentle curve where tracks once ran alongside the road, and the tiny, lingering memories of Shimla’s British past. All that remains is one final piece of the puzzle: a tunnel near Kandaghat in Solan district, the town known for its vibrant vegetable markets.

The air there always carries the scent of fresh produce and earthy soil, and the bustling streets are alive with vendors calling out to passersby. The tunnel promises to carry vehicles past this lively rhythm, saving time while leaving Kandaghat’s pulse intact for those who live and work here.

For years, landslides and other factors held the project back, but the Himachal Pradesh High Court’s scrutiny seems to have put the highway back on the fast track.

Officials say the remaining works, especially the Kandaghat tunnel, the last one, are now moving at pace, bringing motorists closer to a seamless journey between the plains and Shimla’s hills.

Once open, the highway will run like a silver thread through pine forests, over flyovers that appear to float above deep gorges, and through tunnels cutting cleanly through hillsides. Mist will curl around deodars, sunlight will shimmer off stone bridges, and Shimla, perched patiently at the top, will await travellers with its familiar charm.

In the 1970s, the Parwanoo-Shimla was upgraded to a national highway. Motorists to the erstwhile summer capital of British India, taking the highway, bypass the old towns of Parwanoo, Kumarhatti, Barog and Kandaghat. Missing landmarks like railway crossings along the narrow gauge Unesco World Heritage tag Kalka-Shimla rail track, the bazaars of Dharampur and Barog and the statue of Rani Jhansi at Chambaghat also mark their travel.

The work on the project was started on September 21, 2015, and was scheduled to be over by March 21, 2018. As per Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, a 160-m-long viaduct has been constructed using the method of hydraulic push launching of superstructure in the construction of this project, a remarkable achievement.

Currently, the work on constructing a 667-m twin-tube tunnel and a 368-metre flyover in Kandaghat is in progress. However, the four-laning of the 88-km stretch between Shimla and Parwanoo that aims to cut travel time by 17 km is largely complete.

Another, the 936-m one-way tunnel on the Barog bypass is already motorable. Constructed with an outlay of Rs 100 crore, it reduces the distance on the highway by 3.5 km. Also, two overbridges over the Kalka-Shimla narrow gauge heritage railway line in Sanwara and Chambaghat and a flyover in Kumarhatti, reduce the distance by three km.

“It’s wonderful to see how infrastructure in Himachal Pradesh is improving by the day,” Neha Dubey, a motorist from New Delhi, told IANS, while pointing towards the British-era Solan Brewery while standing on a flyover passing through its complex.

Edward Dyer opened a brewery nearby Kasauli hills in 1855 and a distillery in Solan town, known as India’s Mushroom and Red Gold City, owing to the vast mushroom and tomato farming, respectively.

Going nostalgic, her husband Virain remarked, “If you are driving at speed, there are chances you can give a miss to the Solan distillery too, a prominent British landmark.”

Driving uphill to Shimla, he added, with the construction of the new highway, they missed Chakki Mod, once a popular hangout spot for the youngsters near Kasauli.

Old-timers recall the zig-zag of the old highway, along tunnels of the heritage rail tracks, which were once the famous selfie points with the air filled with the aroma of fluffy omelettes and roasting corn from roadside vendors.

As per history, the work on the Hindustan-Tibet Road from Kalka to Shimla via Parwanoo started by British India in 1850. A ‘mail wagon’ drawn by horses first began running up to Shimla by 1860’s. Later, motor cars started plying on the Kalka-Shimla section by 1935.

As per the National Highways Authority of India, the executing agency, the PRAGATI-enabled top-level review and monitoring by the Project Monitoring Group under the digital governance ecosystem played a decisive role in resolving long-pending inter-departmental and inter-governmental issues affecting the 39-km-long Parwanoo-Solan section, which was executed with an outlay of Rs 1,635 crore.

This section traverses 33 revenue villages, including major habitations in the Solan district and passes through densely populated and environmentally-sensitive hilly terrains.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)

–IANS

vg/dpb

Thiruvananthapuram, March 14 (IANS) With Assembly elections in Kerala drawing closer, the Congress party is witnessing intense activity as leaders and aspirants line up to secure party tickets.

Though the Election Commission is expected to announce the poll schedule next week, party offices in Thiruvananthapuram and New Delhi are already buzzing with activity. Aspirants have stepped up lobbying efforts, making a strong push to stake their claim for seats in the upcoming elections.

As the countdown to the polls begins, the familiar pre-election drama within the Congress has once again taken centrestage — a spectacle political observers say is almost as predictable as the monsoon.

In the Kerala unit of the party, the process of candidate selection often resembles an open contest rather than a quiet, closed-door exercise. From senior leaders to relatively new faces, many have publicly expressed their ambitions, leaving party workers both amused and anxious.

Among those staking claim for tickets are former Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president and Lok Sabha MP K. Sudhakaran, along with leaders such as Deepthi Mary Varghese, Babu Divakaran, former Speaker N. Sakthan and former Deputy Speaker Palode Ravi, besides several others waiting patiently for their turn.

The stakes are significant. The Congress currently has 22 MLAs in the 140-member Assembly, but that number is expected to change this time. Senior leader K. Babu has already announced his retirement from electoral politics, while Rahul Mamkootathil has been expelled from the party.

In the coming election, the Congress is expected to contest around 90 seats, leaving the rest to its allies in the United Democratic Front. The seat arithmetic has triggered intense lobbying, with hopefuls pressing their claims publicly — sometimes even before the party leadership has formally begun discussions.

Attention has now shifted to New Delhi, where senior leaders are reportedly working to finalise a candidate list that would create the least possible friction within the party — a task easier said than done.

However, a senior Congress leader appeared unfazed by the current buzz. “In Kerala, if things are quiet in the Congress, that is when we should worry,” he remarked with a smile. “When everyone speaks at once, it only means the party is alive. Eventually, the dust settles and we fight the election as a united team.”

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition V. D. Satheesan on Saturday urged the media to wait for the official announcement of candidates.

“Please allow us to decide at least who the party’s candidates are. Our list will be ready and published soon after the elections are announced. When the media prepares its own list and puts it out, how can I comment on it? Our final list will be cleared and announced by the party high command,” Satheesan said.

For now, however, the dust — and the debate — continues to swirl within the party as the state heads towards the Assembly polls.

–IANS

sg/skp

New Delhi, Aug 11 (IANS) The government gives utmost importance to protecting and promoting the welfare of farmers, entrepreneurs, exporters and MSMEs, and will take all necessary steps to secure national interest, the Parliament was informed on Monday.

It is estimated that around 55 per cent of the total value of India’s merchandise exports to the US will be subject to this reciprocal tariff, Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, said in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.

Reciprocal tariff at the rate of 25 per cent came into effect on certain goods exported from India to the US from August 7, with another set of 25 per cent tariffs scheduled from August 27 for buying Russian energy.

“Combination of different factors, such as product differentiation, demand, quality, and contractual arrangements, would determine the impact on India’s exports,” Chaudhary said.

“The Department of Commerce is engaged with all stakeholders, including exporters and industry, for taking feedback of their assessment of the situation. The government attaches the utmost importance to protecting and promoting the welfare of our farmers, entrepreneurs, exporters, MSMEs, etc. and will take all necessary steps to secure our national interest,” the minister added.

New Delhi has reiterated that the latest tariff actions by US President Donald Trump are “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”. “We have already made clear our position on these issues, including the fact that our imports are based on market factors and done with the overall objective of ensuring the energy security of 1.4 billion people of India,” the government had said in a statement.

“It is therefore extremely unfortunate that the US should choose to impose additional tariffs on India for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest,” said the official statement.

The new tariffs will be applied to all eligible Indian goods entering the US from 21 days after the order’s signing, except for shipments already in transit before the deadline and cleared before September 17.

–IANS

na/vd