Shimla, Apr 12 (PTI) Around 30 writers from across the country went on a train journey as part of the Baba Bhalku Memorial Kalka-Shimla Literary Journey, a statement said.

Himachal Pradesh Health and Family Welfare Minister Dhani Ram Shandil flagged off the train and also went on it till Summer Hill railway station.

The 8th edition of the event was organised by the Himalayan Literature, Culture, and Environment Forum in collaboration with the Department of Language and Culture.

Addressing those gathered for the event, Shandil credited Bhalku for helping out with surveying and mapping required to build roads and tunnels in British India.

Bhalku was an illiterate labourer with extraordinary intuition who played a crucial role in the construction of the Hindustan-Tibet Road from Shimla to Kinnaur and in building several bridges over the Sutlej River, the minister claimed.

“Later, when the British failed to survey the route for the Kalka-Shimla railway, it was Bhalku who successfully mapped the route from Parwanoo to Shimla and was instrumental in the construction of the longest tunnel at Barog,” he claimed. PTI COR SKY SKY