Haridwar/Rishikesh, January 6
Officially, the Maha Kumbh has commenced from January 1 in Haridwar, but Kumbh-related works and projects are still going on and are way behind the scheduled completion.

With a huge chunk of people expected to use bus transport services during the mega fair, the bus stations in Haridwar and Rishikesh assume greater significance. But, it’s sad that while just a week has left for the first festive bath in the Ganga, these bus stations are not yet ready to cater to a huge rush of pilgrims.

For the Maha Kumbh, temporary bus stations are being constructed at Rishikul, Chandighat, Dakshdeep and Motichur. The main bus station will be set up at Rishikul where the roadways bus station will be temporarily shifted for the Maha Kumbh period. Initially, it was planned that by January 4, the roadways bus station will be shifted to Rishikul, but now the shifting date has been further extended due to incomplete work.

Assistant Regional Manager Hari Mohan Dabral says all things are in place and by the first festive bath, the main bus station at Rishikul will get operational when the main roadways bus station gets shifted there.

Managing Director of Uttarakhand Roadways Surendra Singh Rawat during an inspection did not find the arrangements up to the mark and strictly directed the nodal departments concerned to speed up their respective works.

“In all probability, the Rishikul bus station, which will be the main bus station during the Kumbh, will be ready before the 14th of this month,” said Rawat.

Though a shoddy light arrangement has been done in these temporary stations and there is a lack of other basic facilities, only ordinary lights are being replaced with sodium and high-mast ones. Also only drinking water and toilet facilities are being set up there, which itself speaks of the working of related agencies towards these bus stations neglecting the aspect of a major pressure of pilgrims there during the fair.

Similar is the case with the Rishikesh bus station. With the Maha Kumbh mela areas covering Swargashram and Muni-ki-Reti in Rishikesh and considering the pilgrim status of Rishikesh, it’s quite imperative to have a elaborate functional bus station.

On the first look itself the Rishikesh bus station seems in a poor shape and doesn’t even give a glimpse of it being a station of a world-renowned city where foreigners match in numbers with the locals and tourists. Pot holes, garbage, stink and uneven surface make the bus station commuters’ nightmare. Add to it, a lack of shelter, water and sanitary facilities at the bus station put a bad impression of the city.

Though there is barely a week left for the first festive bath of the Maha Kumbh, a proposal sent by the Rishikesh transport authority to the mela administration is still in consideration and it’s anybody’s guess when will the proposal gets passed and finally when will the work gets started? Forget the finishing touches as already the Kumbh works are trailing behind their schedule completion. And with the start of Kumbh the immense rush will make more difficult for carrying out renovation work of these bus stations.

The Rishikesh transport authorities have submitted a Rs 54-lakh proposal for the renovation, beautification and maintenance of the bus station to the mela administration. However, it is still under consideration. The mela administration office says such a proposal has been received and it’s up to the authorities concerned for giving the project a go-ahead. Considering the mela area now expanding to Rishikesh and with no paucity of funds, the probability of getting the order passed is higher.

Dehradun, January 6
The plan to set up collection centres for undertaking H1N1 tests during the Maha Kumbh has failed to take off due to a poor response to tenders called by the Director-General, Health and Family Welfare.

The tenders that were invited in December elicited a poor response with only two companies submitting applications. According to sources, the provisions in the tenders making accreditation by National Accreditation Board for testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABCL) mandatory for aspiring laboratories do not specify any norms for the collection centres.

The poor response to the tender is being attributed to the non-specification of quality for collection centres. As a result, the government will be forced to re-invite tenders further delaying the setting up of centres either in Dehradun or Haridwar.

The collection centres are to be set up exclusively for the Kumbh Mela so that the samples could be sent for testing to the laboratories and later results sent through fax. This way the administration aims at setting up an independent arrangement and not putting any pressure on the existing state nodal facilities.

At present, all samples of suspected H1N1 patients are being sent to testing centres in Delhi. Only a few laboratories in Dehradun have the facility for undertaking real time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests.

The cost of the test at any private laboratories could be between Rs 2,500 and 3,000. The government’s intervention is aimed at keeping the costs under control.

Nainital, January 6
The Delhi government is keen on the installation of a plastic recycling plant like the one that has been installed at Kathgodam.

According to Vipin Kumar, who is a consultant with the Uttarakhand government as well as the government of India on solid waste management, “They have written to us showing interest in replicating the model that envisages the outsourcing the functioning of the plant in a Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. The dialogue is on and hopefully a plant will be put in place very soon in the days to come”.

Vipin is in Nainital to conduct a training of representatives of the municipal bodies on “Issues in Municipal Solid Waste Management through People’s Participation”.

Talking about the preparations being made in New Delhi ahead of the coming Commonwealth Games with regards to the solid waste management, he said the Delhi government had done a commendable job in this direction.

Besides giving a facelift to the city, the Delhi government has set the ball on solid waste management rolling by involving not only the citizens, Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) and the Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) but also private companies.

He said the Delhi High Court order banning the use of plastic bags with a density of less than 20 microns had led to a qualitative change in the direction even as the industry producing these bags had curled up.

Talking about the seriousness with which the Delhi government is moving in the direction of solid waste management, he said a sum of Rs 3.5 crore had already been allocated by the Delhi government for procurement of green and white bins for segregated collection of bio-degradable and non-degradable waste in the city.

“They are sensitising the children on this issue and are taking it up as a long-term policy programme,” said Vipin.

Meanwhile, during the ongoing training programme, he gave an insight to the participants on the world of plastics. He called upon the civic bodies representatives to not look at the issue of plastic bags and the menace caused by them in isolation but to look at tackling the issues thrown up by the plastics as a whole while laying special emphasis on the plastic bags.

He dwelt at length how plastic could be recycled to make things of utility and how value needs to be added to discarded plastic so that it became economically viable to recycle it. “We have to link the community and the collectors of discarded plastic to the end product that comes from segregation and recycling,” he said.

Dehradun, January 6
Popular Science Lecture series was organised by the Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology (UCOST) in collaboration with the National Academy of Sciences, Uttarakhand Chapter (NASI) and HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar, here on Monday.

Directors, heads of departments of different colleges, professors and research scholars from different institutions attended the lecture. During the seminar, experts from abroad informed about the optical fibre communication technology, which can prove to be a solution to global warming.

Dr EJ Thomas, Deparment of Chemistry, Manchester University, USA, elucidated on Synthesis of Biologically Active Naturals for arriving at Drug Discovery to combat diseases inflicting mankind.

Another lecturer from the University of Nevada, USA, Dr BS Rawat informed that nuclear energy and non-renewable sources of energy like fossil fuels were the best-known sources of generating electricity, as of today. He focused on the usage of solar energy for the past 30 years out of which not more than 12 per cent of the energy has been able to achieve efficiently.

He elucidated on the urgent need for generating and storing energy efficiently and cost effectively. In his lecture on ‘Energy Challenges of the Future’ he added that countries like France had started researches in generating electricity by using sea currents.

Dr Rawat informed that the basic principles of generating electricity through electrons by magnetic induction and electromagnetic induction should be kept into account. Basic natural energies like wind, solar, heat and gravity could be utilised to generate energy. Besides these, electrostatics or tribo electricity could also be explored to generate electricity that could be supplied to houses and offices of the urban as well as rural areas.

Dr Rajendra Dobhal, Director, UCOST, said, “India can gain energy security if approaches like solar energy for lighting, LED concept, recycling of light and utilisation of solar energy through photon concept is adopted gradually”.

Dr Rawat laid more emphasis on saving energy by the usage of optical fibre technology and on Information Technology that had not been able to keep pace with optical technology till date. It was concluded that optical computers would change the face of energy sector in India in the coming two to three years.

Eminent scientists Dr BS Arora, former Director, Wadia Institute of Geology, Dr GS Rawat, secretary, NASI, Prof MSM Rawat, Head, Department of Chemistry, HNB Garhwal University, Dr DP Uniyal, Dr BP Purohit, Dr DS Negi and Dr Prashant Singh, DAV (PG) College, were present at the meet.

Dehradun January 6
The customers take a sigh of relief today after the strike of the LPG agencies was called off in the city. Serpentine queues could be witnessed at almost all the private and government gas agencies today. The wildcat strike by the LPG distributors on Tuesday against the murder of a dealer in Uttar Pradesh has thrown the supply out of gear.

A large number of LPG customers with empty cylinders were seen at various gas agencies from the early hours of the morning. The first purchaser arrived at the agency at 4 am while others had a tough time to get a refill. Chaos was also witnessed once the distribution started.

However, those who could not get a refill, showed their resentment by shouting at the dealers. They demanded for distributing the LPG cylinders at least till 3 or 4 pm, so that even ladies can go to purchase the same without inconvenience. Similar, was the case at other gas agencies in the city.

Pitthoragarh, January 6
Cold with a dry spell is not only getting unbearable chilling for humans but also taking a heavy toll on this year’s rabi crops, as the moisture in the fields is gradually getting evaporated, says agricultural experts as well as Kumoan farmers.

“The wheat, barley and ‘masur’ crops sown in the Kumoan region required rain in the second fortnight of December, but due to paucity of rain in December these crops are in crisis and if the sufficient rain does not come by January 15, the top soil will start drying,” said AK Singh, agriculture scientist, based at Krishi Vigayan Kendra, Pitthoragarh.

As the higher reaches above 9,000 ft are witnessing snowfall the lower valleys are shivering with dry spell, the cold without rains.

“In Didihat and the Pitthoragarh areas the temperature has gone down to 4°C, which is a record in the past 10 years, but rain which was a frequent phenomenon every year, is evading the region this year,” said Damoder Rathor, an environment activist.

The farmers in the Chaukhutiya region in Almora district are a disappointed lot, as due to lack of sufficient rain their rabi crops are drying out like last year. “If the rabi crops fail this year the farmers will starve,” said Khushal Singh Bora, from Bhikiyashain in Ranikhet.

In the potato-rich Champawat region the farmers are losing not only rabi cereals, but also the winter crops of potato, which is a cash crop for the farmers of the region. “We are waiting up to next week and hoping for rain, but even if it does not happen, the farmers of the district will lose more than 90 per cent of their wheat and potato crops,” said Gopal Singh Bhandari, district agriculture officer. “This year even the frost is not sufficient enough to get the top soil smear with moisture. Had the frost been sufficient the farmers would have been able to sustain the crops for some more time,” said AK Singh, agricultural scientist at KVK Pitthoragarh.

Dehradun, January 6
The recent rain in the apple-growing areas of Chakrata and Kalsi blocks of Dehradun district has lifted the gloom of farmers who are still to recover from the poor apple crop last season. Last year, fruiting was in the range of 30 to 40 per cent only.

The farmers can now hope for a better crop this year. Buoyed by the rain, the Horticulture Department has issued directives to farmers to plant saplings of apples, pears and walnuts in view of good climatic conditions.

Under the National Horticulture Mission plan, 174 hectares are under apple plantation and new plantations of walnuts, peaches and apples are on approximately 210 hectares.

The total area under apple production in Chakrata and Kalsi blocks is 6,000 hectares. Procured from the USA by the Horticulture Department, these varieties include star king and top red grown at a height of 6,500 ft and red chief, organ spur, scarlet gala, red Fuji and vale spur, suitable for growing at an elevation of 5,500-6,000 feet. These varieties begin to bear fruit after three years.

“The spur varieties of apples are disease resistant and can withstand temperature variations. These grow in cold conditions and require dormancy break of 72 hours in December and January.

“We have advised farmers to use cow dung fertilisers and insecticide and also to protect the plant from extreme cold,” said Dr Amar Singh, District Horticulture Officer.

Besides distributing free saplings, the Horticulture Department also distributes free fertilisers and nutrients. And around 75 per cent subsidy on apple plantations is also extended to farmers under the centrally funded scheme.

“The farmer can get Rs 22,500 as subsidy that is given in instalments in three years,” said District Horticulture Officer Amar Singh.

Apples in the state were introduced in the pre-Independence era and the popular variety was red delicious, a hybrid variety that was also introduced in Himachal Pradesh by British officers.

In Uttarakhand, apples could not become the mainstay of the economy or even change the fortune of the farmers who did not take to apples in a big way.

But the popular red delicious variety of apples is grown mainly in Chobatia, Munsiyari, Chakrata, Uttarkashi, Harsil and Joshimath.

Dehradun, January 6
Employees of the Ayurvedic and Unani Ministerial Association, Uttarakhand, held a protest outside the Directorate Office at Shastri Nagar here today.

The employees submitted a memorandum to Pujan Bharadwaj, Director, Ayurveda and Unani Medicine. Besides the regularisation of ministerial employees, promotion orders of the senior members and setting up of a structure of the ministerial cadre, the employees are demanding the reinstatement of sacked employee DC Budlaokoti. “For the past three months, Budlaokoti is unemployed for no valid reason,” said Sunil Kothari, president of the State Federation of Ministerial Association. They said if their demands were not met soon, then they would launch a massive protest from January 11.

Dehradun, January 6
To build awareness about road safety rules, GVK EMRI 108 has been organising nukkad nataks (street plays) at various traffic junctions of the city from January 1. The campaign will continue till January 7.

Performers staged a street plays at Rajpur Road, Hathibarkala, Sai Institute, Dharampur Chowk, ISBT and Gandhi Park imploring people to use helmets while riding two wheelers, not using cell phones while driving cars and the compulsory use of seats belts.

At Gandhi Park today, the COO of GVK EMRI Anoop Nautiyal paid tributes to the individuals who lost their lives last year. He said road accidents continue to increase in the state because safety rules were not being followed. He called upon the youth to follow rules while driving. Last year, a total of 3,573 persons were victims of road accidents in Dehradun district.