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• Protest against modernising heritage locomotive
• Hectic preparations on for Kumbh festival

Protest against modernising heritage steam locomotive (Go to Top)

          Coonoor (Tamil Nadu): Locals in Coimbatore town are up in arms against a recent proposal to electrify the region's heritage steam locomotive, a major tourist attraction. The railway ministry had recently announced a 2.8 billion rupee project to electrify the Nilgiri Express, which runs through a 30 km landscape crossing 218 bends, 31 bridges and 16 tunnels on its way from Mettupalayam to Ooty. The southern railways has been incurring heavy losses on the train as the tourist revenue made from it barely recovers the exorbitant maintenance costs.

          Locals, many of whom depend on it for livelihood, are opposing the conversion tooth and nail saying it would destroy a prized heritage. The 106-year-old Nilgiri Express, as the train is called, runs on a Swiss-run locomotive engine and is also being considered by UNESCO for a World Heritage status. The tracks for the locomotive were specially designed and laid by the British in 1899 and even had a special crank wheel chain to avoid mishaps while moving towards mountains.

          The citizen's forum has questioned the feasibility of the entire project saying the track was just not meant to support an electric engine. "These tracks are constructed only for locomotive engines, because for them 33 degree centigrade is maintainable and for the electric trains, minimum 80 degree centigrade is required , which is not feasibile. Every railway engineer knows that, they have not taken this point into consideration while deciding on the electrification," M.P.G Nambisan, president of the Nilgiri citizens forum, said. People have also raised concerns over the conservation of the region's rich natural beauty saying the electric setup would endanger wildlife besides drastically hitting the tourist inflow.

          "The speciality of travelling in this steam engine train is, we can enjoy the natural beauty, wild animals and elephants moving across the mountains and if this train is electrified there is a serious danger to the elephants and other entire natural beauty will be spoiled," M.A Raheem, a protester, said. A delightful little blue and cream affair with wooden coaches and large windows, the Nilgiri Express was an engineering marvel of its times as it traversed the southern mountains, which at 2192.70 metres above sea level are the second steepest gradient in the world.
April 21, 2004

Hectic preparations on for Kumbh festival (Go to Top)

         Ujjain: Fast-paced preparations are on in Ujjain for the mega festival, starting later this month. More than 1.5 million devotees are expected to reach the city daily for the month-long Ardh Kumbh or half-pitcher festival, held once in six years. The flow of the city's main Shipra river was diverted for about a month from the Ghats or bathing banks to build bridges. New roads are being constructed and all illegal constructions are being demolished to build better lodging facilities for the pilgrims. Ashok Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police, said sniffer dogs were deployed at railway stations.

           "We have DFMDs (Secret cameras) installed at the railway stations. We are inspecting people with this. Then we have sniffer dogs from four places and RPF (Railway Protection Force) have their own sniffer dogs. There are 500 RPF men in this," said Singh. Some 30 million people are expected to take a dip in the holy waters from April 5 to May 4. Hindus believe bathing in the holy river would cleanse them of their sins. "We have met more than 100 holymen who have been here for the past one month. We are constantly meeting for their blessings. They are known saints and some are from Mansarovar and other famous pilgrimage centres," said Maya Devi, a pilgrim.

          Legend says Ujjain, in Madhya Pradesh is one of the four places where the nectar of immortality fell after spilling out of a pitcher during an epic battle for its possession between gods and demons. The Guinness Book of World Records described the last Maha Kumbh Mela in 1989, when around 50 million people attended, as the largest ever gathering of human beings for a single purpose. Half pitcher festivals are the smaller versions of the festival, and are held every six years in three other towns along the Ganga. Among the faithful will be people from rare religious sects including seers in saffron robes and naked "sadhus" with ash spread over their bodies. For devout Hindus, the Kumbh Mela is an occasion to celebrate tales and beliefs handed down through the generations.
April 4, 2004

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