Dehradun, August 20
With rains in full fury, the Dehradun office of the Central Water Commission has put all its 42 forecast stations on preparedness mode and has even deployed additional manpower to ensure proper flood forecast.

The Hydrological Observation Circle (Central Water Commission), Dehradun, looks after the crucial Upper Ganga Basin that is most prone to floods.

The department constantly monitors water levels in rivers within the basin and has set up forecasting stations for the purpose.

While the highest forecasting station is located at Badrinath on river Alakananda, the lowest is at Dalmau in Uttar Pradesh. This is apart from other stations at various vantage points all along the Ganga Basin.

To make up for manpower shortage to meet exigencies during the monsoon, as many as 100 personnel have been engaged by the department to help in monitoring water levels at the stations for a period of four months.

The CWC also intends to start the speedier “base station rainfall and forecasting station gauge” co-relation system for forecasting on an experimental basis.

The new system is expected to replace the “gauge to gauge” correlation system of flood forecasting that is presently in practice.

The new system entails measuring the level of rainfall upstream and co-relating it to the expected rise in water levels downstream, which helps in early and accurate forecast.

The system currently in practice - “gauge-to-gauge co-relation” - involved recording of water height in river upstream and then predicting the volume of discharge downstream.

“With the new system, forecasts will be speedier as the process commences from the start of rainfall. This also helps save precious time,” said Mohd Faiz Syed, assistant executive engineer, CWC.

Notably, CWC forecasts have led to timely dissemination of information on floods, which has often helped in preventing devastation in plain areas of the state. The Circle, from time to time, also comes out with a year book that comprises data on various topics. It is not only provided to various governments, but also to private agencies for various water development works.

The Hydrological Observation Circle has two offices - The Himalayan Ganga Division, Dehradun, and the Middle Ganga Division in Lucknow.

While Himalayan Division has three subdivisions, one each at Haridwar Shrinagar and Tehri, the latter has sub-division offices at Moradabad, Kanpur, Lucknow and Bareilly.

Dehradun, August 20
The deciduous tree mahua has a new utility. The usage of non-edible mahua-based 2T lubricant has been found to cure two-stroke engine troubles, reduce smoke, stabilise fuel and enhance fuel combustion, that too at a low cost.

Mahua is widely found in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. It has flowers rich in sugar (73 per cent) next to cane molasses and forms the most important raw material for fermentation of alcohol, a yield of 405 litres of alcohol from one tonne of dried flowers.

Dehradun-based Indian Institute of Petroleum has discovered that mahua seeds containing 35 per cent oil and 16 per cent protein can be a boon for two-stroke engine lubricants.

The two-stroke gasoline engine has the benefit of simple design, lightweight construction and ability to provide high power output with quick starts even at low temperatures.

While the cost of 2 T engines are relatively low, smoke and fuel economy linked to these gasoline engines were certainly an issue for research.

Evaluation by AK Singh, a scientist with the Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun, in his study “Effect of Two-Stroke Engine Lubricants from Mahua Oil on Fuel Economy” reveals the mahua has properties that reduce smoke by 50 to 70 per cent at one per cent oil fuel ratio while simultaneously helping stabilise gasoline to reduce carbon deposits. Starting problems like piston seizer too are reduced by using mahua oil while keeping the acceleration normal.

AK Singh maintains that mahua as oil-based biodegradable 2 T lubricant has the potential to reduce smoke and improve fuel quality. It can help enhance th fuel economy.

Dehradun, August 20
In this fast-paced life where everyone is eager to acquire best of knowledge to attain peace of mind, fame and money. Data card or wireless USB modem has become another new mode for quick communication these days.

Being portable and durable, this mini device is attracting people to use it anywhere and anytime. Whether it’s a MNC, government office or a shop, the dependency on computers with facility of Internet is increasing.

From a café house to a formal meeting, from a youngster to a professional everyone is finding this mode the most convenient and handy.

“I am staying away from my family and friends. And I can’t even stay a day without going online. I thoroughly enjoy being in sync with the latest activities around me, after all its an era of networking,” said Sakshi, a college student.

However, where three years ago Reliance launched a normal USB modem with a speed of 153 Kbp, presently, its come out with broadband+, a USB modem, which has speed of almost 3.2 mb and soon will be available in Dehradun stores.

“The craze for USB modems is increasing everyday as it provides Internet facility 24x7 and can be easily used depending on convenience factor. Also, now a day as large number of private colleges are venturing in Dehrauon, students are thronging to purchase it so that they can keep themselves well informed,” said Vimal Arora, owner of the Reliance enterprise.

With initial payment of Rs 3,000 and plans varying from Rs 400 to Rs 1,500 USB modem can be purchased and used while eating, travelling or for the sake of leisure, forgetting unnecessary rounds to the nearest cyber cafes.

Tata USB modem for the past three years has got a very good response, the latest being the Tata Photon which as compared to the previous USB is a broadband and has a very good speed facility.

However, for heavy users where broadband facility of Photon is sufficient, normal dial-up connection used USBs is equally good for people who are not regular with Internet,” said Barkha, retail executive, Tata Communication.

“As I don’t find time to visit café, lately I purchased a USB modem so that I can keep in touch with my friends and also keep a tab of the latest happenings in the world,” said Sankalp, a student.