Articles by Raj Machhan

For a planned city like Chandigarh, street vendors are a floating population difficult to include in the city’s planning mechanism. Street vendors tend to create an independent eco-system dominated by power centres within the government framework and outside from touts and racketeers, having to cope with the constant threat of confiscation of their goods. In the absence of a policy, usage of public space by street vendors remains a bone of contention between the different stakeholders in an urban setting. Objections are raised by motorists, resident welfare associations, market welfare committees and others who perceive them as a threat in…

Cycling was originally proposed as one of the preferred means of mass transport in Chandigarh city by its designer Le Corbusier himself. Corbusier envisaged laying out cycle tracks (classified as V7 and V8 roads) as part of the Master Plan for the city during its construction in the 1950s. As per the plan, every V3 road (fast vehicular roads dividing the sectors) across the city was to have a V7 road (cycle track), or a V8 road (cycle track plus footpath). “The Master Plan envisaged laying out cycle tracks of over 200 kms,” said Navdeep Asija, Traffic Advisor to the…

The clampdown in Kashmir following abrogation of Article 370 has adversely impacted the traditional textile industry in the holy city of Amritsar. Kashmir used to be a major market for Amritsar’s woven textiles, especially the tweeds which are used for making phiran, the long cloak like dress worn by men and women in Kashmir. Moreover, Amritsar’s shawls and stoles have a big market in the valley, which was virtually cut off from the rest of the country till recently. The recent restoration of communication through post-paid mobile phones and opening of roads has provided some relief but the loss in…

Tucked away in a corner of the Phase VI Industrial Area, in a building that has clearly seen better days, is the District Industrial Centre (DIC), the nodal office for industry in Ajitgarh city, better known as Mohali. “We have great infrastructure, regular power supply at competitive rates, ample skilled manpower, an international airport, great work environment, and a government sensitive to the needs of the industry,” said DIC general manager Harjinder Singh Pannu, a jovial, friendly individual who goes out of his way to emphasize that Mohali is the best destination for industry in the North. The problem is,…

Sarsa, a small river that flows through Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, is considered a holy river in Sikh religious tradition. It was on the banks of Sarsa that Guru Gobind Singh’s Khalsa Army fought the Mughals. Though the Khalsa army lost that battle, its effect was far reaching. It led to Guru Gobind Singh’s separation from his family and the martyrdom of the Guru’s four children. To avenge their deaths, Banda Bahadur, a disciple of Guru Gobind Singh who was especially sent by the Guru to avenge the martyrdom of his children, laid the foundation of a professional Khalsa Army, which…

Every time MS Dhoni hammers the ball out of the boundary with his helicopter shot, workers at a medium-sized sports manufacturing unit in Jalandhar have an extra reason to cheer. For theirs are the hands that crafted the bat Dhoni has been using over the years.  "Our bats are also being used by Chris Gayle, Michael Clarke, deVilliers among others. Sachin Tendulkar too used our bats," says Jyoti Sharma, owner of Spartan Sports, with a hint of pride. “Dhoni's bat is made of English Cleft, a special type of willow wood imported from England. It has a more pronounced curve…

The Clean Buddha Nullah programme, which had become a symbol of the extreme apathy shown by successive governments towards citizens raising this issue for years, seems to have received a much-needed impetus. “The Buddha Nullah issue had been in a state of limbo for the past 30 years,” said Jaskirat Singh, State Executive Committee Member of the Naroa Punjab Manch (NPM), a citizen body formed to highlight issues related to water pollution. “It was around the time the Citizen Matters story appeared that we formed the Naroa Punjab Manch and since then we have been actively taking it up with…

Jagraon, a small township about 50 kilometres from Ludhiana Railway Terminus, has nothing much to distinguish it from other such towns on National Highway 5, except for an infamous, but very important bridge named after it. Till July 14 2016, when it was barred for traffic by the Railways, the original British-built Jagraon bridge, along with a parallel single lane bridge built in 1970 to accommodate the increasing traffic, was the lifeline for commuters in Ludhiana, Punjab's largest city and industrial hub, which once led to the city being bestowed with the title, Manchester of the East. Built as simple…

Buddha Nulla, or Buddha Dariya as it was once known, is a symbol of all that is wrong with Ludhiana, Punjab’s largest city. Old timers in Ludhiana remember a cool seasonal stream, a tributary of river Sutlej, that flowed through the city and rejoined the river 16 kms downstream. "It was I think in 1977 or 78, I was in class seven,” recalls Arun Chatwal, born and brought up in Ludhiana. “Both banks of the Buddha Dariya used to be a place for social gatherings. My father used to take all of us as kids there, and some of the…

It will be yet another test for incumbent MP and BJP candidate Kirron Kher when Chandigarh votes on May 19th. Actor turned politician Kher found success late in life. Moving to Mumbai from Chandigarh in 1979 with her then businessman husband, the dimpled actress was unable to get a break in Bollywood’s fickle world. It was only after her marriage to Anupam Kher in 1985 that she found acceptance among movie producers. This hard-earned success was put to test in 2014, when the BJP chose her for the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat over the claims of local party leaders. A…