The purpose of my recent expedition to the Soun valley was more than
just roaming the mountains on my bike or aimlessly hiking the
mountains. The idea was to visit a historical place near Sodhi that
some time ago I had heard about. Somewhere in the mountains there are
remains from old Buddhist temples from the B.C. times. A friend
accompanied me for the journey. On reaching Sodhi we discovered fencing
by the side of the road; the whole area had been blocked. On our query
a local person told that the area was under the control of the army and
there was no way we could make it to the temples. I had heard about the
army having acquired huge area in the mountains on more than one place
for storing nuclear warheads. The question is: for what purpose did we
get the nuclear technology? At a time when we are confronted with
internal threats what good is our nuclear technology? A government that
is not responsible enough to take care of the general needs of its
public, can it protect its nukes? Why do we need to amass our nukes? Or
even if we need to do that then why not store them away from the
populated areas? Why the nukes that are meant to protect the citizen
should be a peril to their life? Have we forgotten already the Ogri
Camp episode? Whatever be the reason of army’s control of the area, it
should have been at a place away from the reach of the common man, not
only for the protection of the public but also for its own security.
But there is least you can expect in a country where one of the two
atomic plants is just by the side of the highway, the Grout atomic
plant.