PAURI GARHWAL: The twisty 2km trek from the paved road to a quaint mountainside village in Uttarakhand’s Pauri district is hard to detect. It is overrun by thickets, bears lurk behind the bushes; and leopards too.
Besides the calls of the jungle, an eerie silence surrounds the trail to Baluni, 50km from Pauri town, which looks like any of the quintessential ghost villages dotting this side of the Himalayan landscape.
“Hark, who goes there?” a deep baritone warns as one approaches the spattering of homesteads at the end of the slog. That’s a warning shot, strong enough to freeze hungry cats. From the vantage point of the village temple, that still stands tall amid the ruins of razed stone-and-wood houses, a voice emerges.
The lone sentinel is retired soldier Shyam Prasad, 67, but for whom Baluni would have been any of the 340 abandoned villages in the district.
In his youth, Prasad protected the country’s borders. Now he guards his birthplace in Pauri Garhwal — alone for the past four years.
Two decades ago, this village thrived with 15 families. All of them, save the Prasads, migrated to urban areas for jobs and “better life”. He stayed put with his family after retirement in 1985. When his wife died and his five daughters were married off, he was left alone. His son, also in the army, visits him occasionally.
“Had the government addressed the problem of drinking water, some families would have stayed back,” Prasad said. “No one cares.”
Jilted army jawan kills fiancé of woman he loved, injures her
VICTIMS SHIVANI AND NEERAJ GOT ENGAGED SOME TIME BACK AND THEIR MARRIAGE WAS FIXED FOR THE COMING AUGUST 28
KIRATPURSAHIB:A jilted army man killed a 24-year-old youth and injured his fiancee, whom he once loved, with a sharp-edged weapon at Kiratpur Sahib on Monday morning. The victim has been identified as Neeraj Sharma and his fiancee as Shivani Sharma.
The accused jawan, Kamal Dev, wanted to marry the girl, and was upset as his parents didn’t approve of the match. Shivani and Neeraj got engaged some time back and their marriage was fixed for August 28 this year.
According to police, Neeraj of Sahrera village of Una district in Himachal Pradesh, along with his fiancee Shivani of Haroia Kalan village in the same district, was going in a bus to Nalagarh on Monday morning.
The accused army man Kamal Dev of Changerdolan village of Una district also boarded the same bus at Mehatpur (Una) and allegedly started teasing them. Kamal, Neeraj and Shivani got off the bus at Kiratpur Sahib bus stand, where they entered into a verbal duel. Kamal attacked both of them with a sharp-edged weapon. Neeraj died on the spot and Shivani sustained serious injuries and war rushed to Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh.
People gathered on the spot and beat up Kamal Dev before handing him over to the police. A case has been registered.
