Healthy Heart Project | Across the Tunnel

After successfully completing Healthy heart project in 3 districts of the valley, our team plans to move across the Pir Panjal ranges to district Ramban, which will be our next destination.

This district is located in the lap of the Pir Panjal mountain range. It was carved out of the erstwhile Doda district in April 2007. Ramban town is the district headquarters. The town is located midway between Jammu and Srinagaralong the Chenab river in Chenab Valley on National Highway-44, 150 km from Jammu and Srinagar.  The boundary lines of Ramban district encompass hill station Patnitop as its southernmost point, Assar on its eastern edge, Gool to the west, and Banihal to the north.  The terrain of district Ramban is tough and hilly.  District Ramban shares its boundary with Reasi, Udhampur, Doda, Anantnag and Kulgam. Ramban District is divided into eight tehsils: Banihal, Ramban, Khari, Rajgarh, Batote, Gool, Pogal Paristan (Ukhral) and Ramsoo.  Kashmiri, Pogali and its dialects (Sirazi) is the most widely spoken language in the district.  The other languages spoken here are Urdu, Punjabi, Dogri, and Gojri.

   

Before the formation of the J&K State in 1846, there was a small village consisting of 15 houses on the right bank of Chenab river known as Nashband (later ‘Ramban’). When Raja Gulab Singh of Jammu became the Maharaja of J&K State, he adopted Jammu-Udhampur-Banihal route to reach Srinagar for the movement of royal caravans. In this process, Ramban got the status of halting station for the royal caravans. The Dogras constructed a pucca building near present Ramban and a wooden bridge for the crossing of Chenab River. Sukhdev Singh Chadak writes in his book ‘Maharaja Ranbir Singh’ that Maharaja passed order for a cart road from Jammu to Srinagar via Banihal and a suspension bridge over Chenab River at Ramban.  This road became national highway after 1947, and now it is being converted into four lanes. With the development of this road, the halting station Ramban also had lot of development and now it has got the status of District Headquarters.

The most known tourist activity near Ramban is Sanasar which has paragliding, hot air ballooning, trekking, camping, golf, rock climbing and abseiling.  It has several other picturesque places with reasonably good facilities: Nani Marg, Malinsar, Daggan, Chamsar Top Shinkli Top , Ranjati, Ramakunda and several others touristic spots which can be further developed.  They all can be reached easily from Jammu for short visits. Kashmir valley being easily accessible by air has the advantage of easy approach and for that reason these spots in District Ramban are not so well known to visitors from India.

The Pir Panjal range “Panchaladeva” in Hindu scriptures, is a group of mountains in the Lesser Himalayan region, running from east-southeast (ESE) to west-northwest (WNW) across the Himachal Pradesh, entire Jammu and Kashmir , including the part with Pakistan. PirPanjal is the largest range of the Lesser Himalayas.  Near the bank of the Sutlej River, it dissociates itself from the Himalayas and forms a divide between the Beas and Ravi rivers on one side and the Chenab on the other. The renowned Galyat mountains are also located in this range. The region is connected to the Valley of Kashmir via Mughal Road which used to be the historical connection of Kashmir with India.

The PirPanjal range is named after the Pir Panjal Pass, whose original name as recorded by Srivara, is Panchaladeva (Pāñcāladeva) meaning the deity of Panchala). Panchalais a country mentioned in the Mahabharata in the present Uttrakhand.  However, there are also traditions that place the Mahabharata regions in western Punjab and southern Kashmir.  Scholar Dinesh Chandra Sircar has analysed the geography described in the Shakti‐sangamaTantra, where this is indeed the case. Scholar M. A. Stein believes that the concept of deity must have been translated into that of a Pir after the region was Islamised.

The Pir Panjal mountain range separates the present Kashmir from the outer Himalaya and plains to the south. After the closure of the traditional old route from Muzaffarabad to Rawalpindi road after the partition of India in 1947, Banihal pass was the only passage from Jammu to Srinagar until 1956 when the Jawahar tunnel was bored through these ranges. The pass is accessible throughout the year if there is no heavy snowfall. In case of heavy snow fall the roads are closed for few days until the snow is cleared from the highway.This tunnel leads us to the Banihal town. Very soon a new tunnel the foundation stone of which was laid by the then CM Dr Faroukh Abdullah in 2011will be operational in a few months, in early 2021. It connects Banihal with Qazigund. This double tube, state of art tunnel consists of two parallel tunnels. Each tube is 7 metres wide with two lanes of road. It took nearly 9 years to be completed. This tunnel is at a much lower level and reduces the distance to Banihal by 16 Kms.  This tunnel is being made by the executing agency on self-financing basis.  After its completion it will be handed over to the National Highway Authority of India, but will be operated by the constructing agency.  The building cost will be realized from the commuters in the form of Toll Tax over 15 years. There is also a rail connection between Banihal and Qazigund through a tunnel. All these tunnels lead to the town of Banihal in the district Ramban.

Banihal is a small picturesque town very rich in history. In some older texts, it has also been referred to as ‘Devgol’ (The abode of mystical giants). According to the Rajtarangni (C-1000-1011 AD) – a chronicle that recorded the history of Kashmir and its Kingdoms and Kings, Banihal was known as ‘Vishalta’ in the 11th Century and was a very narrow mountain valley which was used as an escape route by revolting Princes, rebel Chieftains, and even conspirators from Kashmir. In the 11th Century, a small fort called ‘Bansalla’ also existed below the old Banihal Pass. The Bansalla Fort belonged to the 11th Century ruler of Vishalta the Khasa Lord Bhagika who was the son-in-law of the Lord of Buddha Tikka. Pandit Sahib Ram, who in his book “Tirthas” copying Abu’l- Fazlibn Mubarak’s notes, metamorphosizes the Sanskrit name of village Banihal from Bhanusita or Bhanusata, i.e., rocks of the Sun or land of the Sun.A Stein in his commentary onKalhana’sRajatarangini describes the place differently. According to him, Vishalata or Banihal must be identified with the valley drained by rivulet Bischlari.

In Kashmiri language Banihal also means a blizzard. Another view regarding the origin of the name of the place is that the word ‘Banihal’ has actually been derived from two Kashmiri words viz ‘bah’ meaning twelve and ‘nallhe’ meaning a rivulet. Twelve rivulets signifying the various brooks flowing through the area and eventually joining the small local river called Nalla Bischlari. There is a yet another school of thought amongst the locals and some scholars in which the word Banihal is thought of as having a Persian origin”Nihal “which in Persian means greenery and hence Banihal would imply ‘Eternally green’.

Banihal town is a rural and hilly area with Kamirwah being one of the most spectacular hills. The population is largely Kashmiri speaking followed by Gojri and urdu speaking population. It has a population of about 6500 persons with a high literacy rate of around 85%, which is more than the national literacy rate.There are 33 villages in the Banihal Tehsil with an estimated population of 1.35 lacks. Total area of Banihal Tehsil is 563 km² including 559.01 km² ruralareaand 4.07 km² urbanarea.

The Healthy Heart Project will visit Banihal tehsil and evaluate patients with high BP, diabetes with or without heart disease, with the aim of optimising the treatment as recommended by various scientific societies.  Aim is to bring in cost effective therapies which are easy to administer, in the form of single tablet combinations.  Most patients need multiple drugs for controlling BP and diabetes.  Promotion of self-measurement of BP is another goal by making easy to use machines available in the towns. All patients would have a BP measurement, post meal blood sugar and lipid profile done. Life style management would be encouraged and all patients counselled regarding this. Posters depicting the goals of treatment would be distributed in the health centres. Health talks through the local radio channels will be made a regular part of this campaign. The doctors working in different areas of the district will also take part in a Symposium on “Hypertension – how to Achieve Targets and Goals “.

A report of the activities and findings would be done and a comparison of the findings with those of the districts already visited will be made and communicated to the health authorities with practical recommendations.

Founder Director Gauri Healthy Heart Project, Recipient of Padma Shri and Dr B C Roy Award.

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