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Major traffic jams on Somwati Amavasya
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Woman falls off car, dies
Hemkund Sahib pilgrims stranded
H1N1 Virus
NGO, students join hands to help villagers
Special Package
SBI to install 15 ATMs
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Major traffic jams on Somwati Amavasya
Haridwar, June 22 According to official estimates, the figure at various ghats may touch the 25-lakh mark by late evening. The rush can be gauged by the fact that by yesterday evening, about eight lakh people had come to the city. No rooms at hotels, dharamshalas, rest houses or ashrams were available since yesterday. The biggest problem that emerged today was of traffic management. Serpentine queues of vehicles at all major and arterial roads were the norm of the day. To counter the problem, a specific traffic route chart was followed in the district. Traffic coming from Delhi to Haridwar was diverted from Roorkee via Lakshar-Shivalik Nagar. Traffic towards Dehradun-Rishikesh was diverted from the national highway at Chila. After the parking slots of Pantdeep, Chamkadar Tapu and Dhobighat parking were filled, Rodibelwala maidan, Chandighat under-bridge parking, Motichur parking, which had been kept reserved, were brought into use. At Rishikesh, thousands of devotees thronged Muni-ki-Reti, Triveni ghat and Ganga ghat. Traffic jams on the Dehradun-Rishikesh Highway, Nataraj Chowk, Tehri bus station, Tilak Road, Station Road and main bazaar were witnessed. The heavy movement of people began as early as 5 am. At Har-ki-Pauri, people began to assemble to take a dip in the Ganga at daybreak. All ghats were covered with people and the Dehradun-Delhi highway was packed with vehicles. The mela zone was divided into 11 zones and 40 sectors for smooth conduct and management of the holy bath. District Magistrate Meenakshi R Sundaram managed the whole proceedings. For all zones and sectors, nodal officers were appointed and at the sensitive Har-ki-Pauri, the onus was on Magistrate Archana Grehawar. For security, SSP Sanjay Gunjiyal had appointed SP (City) Asim Srivastava as security incharge. There were massive traffic jams from the mela area to Bhoopatwala, Doodhadhari Chowk, Chowk Bazaar, RTO Chowk, Shiv Moorti Chowk, Devpura Chowk, Rishikul Chowk, Ranipur Mod, Bhagat Singh Chowk. Heavy rush was also witnessed at the Mata Mansi Devi Mandir and Mata Chandi Devi Mandir. Devotees rushed to these temples after taking a dip in the Ganga. The ropeways which ferry the pilgrims had to be stopped due to the rush. Later, they were used only to bring down persons from the hilltop. The Railways had geared itself up for the occasion but it too proved insufficient considering the rush. For the first time, the Railways ran four pairs of special trains on different routes. Additional general coaches were attached to various trains. Station superintendent Samarendra Goswami said that this was the first time such an arrangement had been made for ‘Somwati Amawasya’. At Haridwar bus depot, thousands of travellers were seen waiting for the buses which proved insufficient. ARM HM Dabral said that they had sought 100 additional buses to deal with the heavy demand but these too had proved insufficient. Pilgrims had to face more hardships. “No facility for water, lack of buses and no one to assist us. It is almost an hour and no bus is available at the station,” said Rajendra Negi who had come from New Delhi and wanted to go to Raiwala. Roorkee: Roorkee, the ‘Gateway to Uttarakhand’, has turned into a bottleneck for heavy traffic heading towards Haridwar due to the total failure of the police in traffic management. Long jams have become a routine affair in the city. Today on the occasion of ‘Somwati Amavasya’, thousands of people were stranded in long traffic jams at various points in the town. Vehicles were queued up at BEG Chowk and Roorkee Talkies Chowk since morning. Later, traffic from Delhi was diverted via Laksar. This eased traffic flow on the roads.“I don’t understand why the police has not prepared an effective strategy to deal with heavy traffic that is always expected on major religious occasions,” said Gagan Bhatia, a local shopkeeper. “On occasions like ‘Somwati Amavasya’, lakhs of people from Punjab, Haryana and Delhi go to Haridwar for a dip in the Ganga. The police should have made arrangements to deal with the heavy flow of traffic. “It is a torture to be stranded in a vehicle in this heat,” said Darshan Lal, a resident of Delhi who was on his way to Haridwar. SP (Rural) Ajay Joshi said, “In fact, traffic has increased manifold while the roads are not sufficiently wide in the city. “We try to make things smooth by diverting traffic on various routes. We also depute our personnel at sensitive points to manage traffic flow.” Things are bound to get worse during Mahakumbh next year, feel residents. |
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Woman falls off car, dies
Roorkee, June 22 The deceased, Susheela, was going to Haridwar along with her family for a holy dip on the occasion of ‘Somwati
Amavasya’ when the front tyre of the vehicle burst at around 7 am here. The rear door opened due to the impact. Susheela, who was sitting on the rear seat, fell on the road and received serious injuries. She succumbed to her injuries while being taken to the civil hospital
here. Susheela was a resident of Friends Colony in Faridabad. |
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Hemkund Sahib pilgrims stranded
Dehradun, June 22 No causality has been reported but locals had to struggle to rescue the pilgrims. It is learnt that the bridge was damaged after a private company engaged in setting up of a power project suddenly released water into the Alaknanda. Meanwhile, two pilgrims on their way to Hemkund Sahib died yesterday. Harjit Singh (21) of Mohali, Punjab, died after he accidentally fell into a 200 metre-deep gorge near the Ghangriya route. In another incident, Lakhwinder Singh (44) of Muzzaffarnagar (Uttar Pradesh)died of cardiac arrest. The bodies were handed over to the families. District magistrate Amit Singh Negi has ordered a magisterial probe into the road accident on May 17 near Tyuni involving a Bolearo car (UA 07 N 9936). While one Matbar Singh was killed, Shri Nivas is missing. Car driver Bhola Singh and another passenger Dheeraj Singh had a miraculous escape. The SDM is to submit a report within 15 days.
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H1N1 Virus
Dehradun, June 22 Dr Pankaj Jain, nodal officer of Integrated Surveillance Establishment, informed that five students of the school, who had recently returned from a study tour of Switzerland, have been found with flu- like symptoms. The school authorities had reported the matter to health authorities following which the CMO Dehradun Dr Bounthiyal dispatched a team of doctors for collecting their blood samples. “We have acted following information from school authorities that five of their students had fever and cough after they returned from the trip,” said Dr. Bounthiyal. He added that the blood samples have been sent to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, New Delhi, and reports were being awaited. He, however, categorically said people should not panic, as this was a precautionary measure. Meanwhile, school authorities have put the students in isolation ward and were adopting all
precautions. Notably, this comes close on the heels of an ONGC engineer’s family being quarantined in Dehradun after they
were found with flu-like symptoms. Fortunately, the first blood sample report of the family was negative. The family had recently returned from a trip to Singapore. As a precaution, the health department has asked all those who have recently returned from a foreign trip to get themselves medically
examined. |
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NGO, students join hands to help villagers
Dehradun, June 22 The success story of Fatehgram, 40 km from here, was scripted by volunteers of Himalayan Environment Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO), a Dehradun-based NGO, and students of Doon School, who not only lent financial support but also worked hard to make it a model village. Fatehgram villagers have now new employment options based on locally available resources. Few years ago, the condition of Ambiwala was also no different from Fatehgram, until students of Welham Girls School resolved to provide it the basic facilities. Backed by HESCO, the Welham girls visited the womenfolk of Ambiwala and gave a patient hearing to their plight. Later after making a list, the girls contributed money and helped the villagers in constructing lavatories, building a proper road and imparted knowledge to make vermi-compost, bricks, earthen pots, and incensed sticks. The efforts of the students and the NGO have yielded results and now nearly 20 BPL families of Ambiwala are tasting economic independence. "The aim of the projects is to make the villagers self-independent as well as to give the students of public schools a feel of the rural India. "As they are the future policymakers of the country, the students must know the problems being faced by the people living in the villages," said Anil P Joshi, founder of HESCO, who was credited with providing electricity to border area in Jammu and Kashmir and Northeast by installing and upgrading traditional watermills. Students of the two schools studying in Class XI and XII along with their trainers of HESCO are regularly visiting their 'adopted' villages. They teach the villagers to make bricks, earthen pots, incense sticks, candles and bakery products to make them economically stable. Joshi has developed a specially designed oven for the villagers to make biscuits. "Our biscuits are liked in nearby villages," says an elated Gulabvati Devi of Fatehgram village. For grinding the flours on mills in Fatehgram, the students of Doon School provided electricity by installing HESCO-upgraded watermills on a canal, they have dug, connecting a nearby river and the village.
— PTI |
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Teachers demand govt jobs; protest
Dehradun, June 22 The demonstration also resulted in minor skirmishes between the agitating teachers and the security officials. The agitating teachers who had done BTC through correspondence were resenting delays in their induction into government service. They alleged that their repeated appeals have fallen on deaf ears. The agitating teachers have submitted a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister. They threatened to intensify their agitation if their
demand were not addressed at the earliest. President of BTC Trained Teachers Association Rai Singh Negi and state general secretary Nisha Raturi were prominent signatories to the memorandum. |
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Special Package
Dehradun, June 22 The premier association representing micro, small and medium enterprises have written a letter to the Prime Minister as well as union ministries of finance, commerce and industry. It has been mentioned in the letter that how the pending investments, after extension of package, could ensure massive growth advantages for the state beset with inherent problems of a difficult terrain, border area, gaps in infrastructure, lack of connectivity, long distance of market availability and raw material availability. As per the data available with the central Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Industrial Entrepreneurs Memorandums (IEMs) worth Rs 44,849 crores had been filed up to March, 2008 targeting direct employment of 2,86,639 people. Out of these, IEMs worth Rs 2,136 crores have been implemented up to February 2009 giving employment to more than 22,138 people in the state. “Our estimates show that of the total 4.69 people at present registered with employment exchange of Uttarakhand, more than half are likely to get employment if these IEMs are implemented,” said the association’s chairman
Pankaj Gupta. Besides employment, this huge volume of pending investment would also have a spill over effect on the state’s economy by generating not only additional revenue for the revenue deficit state but also by opening new opportunities for
complimentary services to support such investments. It will also go a long way in checking the rampant migration of the unemployed youth to other states, which was a
major reason for giving this concessional package. In 2003, Uttarakhand was given a comprehensive industrial package of income tax holiday, exemption in central excise and capital investment subsidy till 2013, which was subsequently reduced to 2010. This has resulted in industrial growth of 17.2 per cent from 2003 to 2008. |
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SBI to install 15 ATMs
Dehradun, June 22 It has set a target of having 350 machines across the state by the end of this financial year. Being the lead bank in 9 out of the total 14 districts in the state, the SBI has a natural advantage over other nationalised and private banks functioning in the state in terms of having the largest number of ATMs. Its total 170 machines report about 330 hits per ATM daily. “In view of increasing use of ATMs, we have decided to install new machines both in urban and rural areas. “As of now, about half of the existing machines are installed in rural areas. We will be formally adding 15 new machines on or before July 1 which happens to be the Bank Day,” said a senior SBI official. The move is part of the larger plan to progressively bring around the customers to use alternative banking channels like ATMs, Internet and mobile banking for their transactions. “Moreover, our emphasis is on providing 24 hours service to customers This can also be helpful in sparing them from rigour of physically visiting banks and saving their time,” he added. |
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Sarvodaya, Eleven Star win
Dehradun, June 22 Sarvodaya was on the attack
right from the beginning. They came close on scoring a goal in the 7th
minute of the first half through a move from the right. But Sarvodaya
forward played a rash shot that went wide of the left pole. Barely two
minute later Sarvodaya half line created a chance to score but the
forwards yet again failed to materialise the opportunity. Finally in the
27th minute the efforts made by Sarvodaya team paid, as Kuldeep scored
the first goal for the team to make it 1-0 before half time. New Gipsy
team made repeated attempts to find an equaliser but all their efforts
went in vain. In the second half, New Gipsy team came back strongly and
made a sharp move from the right that paid and helped their team fetch
the much needed equaliser. 1 `qyuuIt was Kuldeep who scored for the
team in the 4th minute of the second half. New Gipsy team failed to
hold on the lead, as Sarvodaya scored the goal in the 28th minute
through Parvesh to make it 2-1. In the end it was a comfortable victory
for the Sarvodaya. In the second match Eleven Star defeated Garhwal
Sporting by a solitary goal. Eleven Star players failed to coordinate
well during initial minutes of the match. Taking advantage of this
Garhwal Sporting team launched number of attacks at the Eleven Star goal
post but they failed to convert their attacks into goals. Gaining back
its rhyme after initial struggle Eleven Star team launched a counter
attack in the 20th minute of the first half but could not take advantage
of the chance. It was goalless first half. In the second half it was
Elevan Star’s Akash who scored a goal in the 34th minute of the second
half to lead his team to 1-0 victory. |
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Sports Trainees in last four
Dehradun, June 22 Winning the toss and electing to bat, Himalayan Cricket Academy made a modest total of 141 runs in 23.2 overs. It was a fine start by the academy with the openers contributing 25 runs for the first wicket. Sandeep made 14 runs off 12 balls while Shristy made 32 runs off 28 balls. First-down batsman Kuldeep and middle-order batsman Ajay Joshi
came up with a solid partnership to further the team’s score. Kuldeep made 26 runs off 21 balls smashing four fours and Ajay Joshi made 21 runs. For Sports Trainees, Manish Verma, Amit Pal and Neeraj Pal picked up two wickets each. Chasing 142 runs, Sports Trainees team reached the target in 24 overs with three wickets in hand. Openers Rishav Mishra and Neeraj Pal paved the way for the team’s victory by contributing 80 runs in the first 14 overs. Rishav Mishra made 30 runs off 35 balls and Neeraj Pal made 59 runs off 55 balls hitting six fours and two sixes. Middle-order batsman Amit Pal made 31 runs. It was an extraordinary fielding display by Himalayan Cricket Academy which caused four runouts. But their bowlers failed to complement the fielders. Deepak, Kuldeep and Vishal picked up one wicket each. |
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