Dehradun, January 30
With the possibility of extension of industrial package looking remote, close to 500 industrial units with an investment of Rs 10,000 crore still waiting in the wings have been advised to start production immediately declaring the capacity of the unit by March 31 this year, as any add on after deadline will be taken as expansion and not liable for exemption.

Imploring the manufacturing units to come up with full capacity, Manmohan Singh, Commissioner, Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax Merrut-I, said the units should come with full capacity and could start their production bit by bit so that they could avail the exemptions of the industrial package.

“In the event of the industrial package coming to an end, the cap will be at the production level and manufacturing units should anticipate well in advance and make a declaration in the set-up,” he stressed.

In fact, speaking today at the open house meeting that was organised by the Industries Association of Uttarakhand, the Commissioner clarified the issues raised by the pharmaceutical industry regarding change or addition in products by the company and if it could be exempted saying that: “The products added later will not benefit exemption as the inputs are not specified in the list of produced goods, that is why it is better that a whole range of products is disclosed before hand”.

When told that the pharma units were given licences for manufacturing tablets, injections and syrups, the Commissioner said licences were issued only on the basis of products by the Drug Control Authority, “Normally this should not happen.

“The norms are being violated and the Drug Control Authority should address it,” he said.

But he said the units could change formulations that would not fall under the purview of product expansion.

He also called upon the officer-bearers of Uttarakhand chapter of the Industries Association to take up issues at the policy level with the Finance Minister before the budget was presented.

The biggest taxation reform in the form of Goods and Services Tax (GST), once implemented would make Central excise tax redundant and usher in a taxation regime that will be one with the global world.

Speaking today at the open house meeting of Uttarakhand Industries, Manmohan Singh, Commissioner, Customs Central Excise and Service Tax Merrut-I, said the path-breaking reform would not only increase tax collection volumes for the government but also decrease human interference. “The implementation has been delayed primarily because of the requirement of large number of computers but now the tentative date for its implementation is expected to be in October,” said Singh.

He said around the world there was a single system of GST, but in India, dual system with the state and the central government pitching in would be introduced.

Adding that while governments were looking to increase tax volumes, the exemption in duties on certain products adversely affected the collection. “With the reduction on duty the tax collection on steel and paper has only been 8 per cent and 4 per cent, respectively, much lower than last year,” Singh said.

While Pankaj Gupta, President of the Industries Association, Uttarakhand, said the rate of tax compliance in Uttarakhand was quite good, the tax department had to rationalise procedures so that it becomes easier for industrialists to transact business.

Nainital, January 30
The two-day second review meeting on “Atmospheric Trace Gases - Chemistry, Transport and Modeling” concluded at the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIOS) here last evening with a call to check the growing atmospheric pollution and maintaining clean air.

More than 70 participants from India and broad participated in the meeting. Participating scientists represented some of the top science institutes like Climate Service Centre, Hamburg, Germany, Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad, Indian Science Research Organisation (ISRO), Bangalore, Physical Science Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, besides several others.

The project, which is popular in the science parlance as AT-CTM, envisages setting up of 15 observation sites all over India. There will be observations related to gases like ozone, carbon-mono-oxide, sulphur oxide, etc, besides the collection of data related to radiation, wind and temperature. In addition to this, three high-altitude sites are also to be set up under the project at Mount Abu, Nainital and Ooty.

The highlights of event were talks by eminent expert like Prof GP Brasseur on climate change and on studies related to glacial melting of the Himalayas. Dr Manish Naja, who had organised this meeting at ARIOS, gave a past, present and future overview of air pollution study in India.

The last day of the event saw five special talks on wide ranging topics. The first was on “Simulating the Future of the Planet: An Earth System Perspective” by Professor Brasseur. The second was on “Modelling the Changing Composition of the Atmosphere over the Indian Region” by Dr Varun Sheel of Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad. This was followed by one on “Trace Gas Emissions in India/Asia with Special Reference to Mega Cities” by Dr BR Gurjar of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee. The penultimate talk was delivered by BM Mukhopadhyay and Dr Siddharth Singh of the the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) while the last one was on “Influences of Different Gases on Crops” by Dr KP Singh of the Gobind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology.

Dehradun, January 30
Experts gave valuable information about various aspects of water pollution and offered solutions to combat these during the concluding day of workshop on assessment of water quality, where more than 30 beneficiaries were given training at a workshop organised by the Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology (UCOST) in association with Pollution Control Research Institute (PCRI), that concluded at Haridwar today.

Experts advocated providing communities and households with information about their water source and drinking water and supporting them to make improvements.

The workshop offered valuable insights into the consumption of water which is contaminated causing agents (pathogens) or toxic chemicals, which leads to health problems. Poor hygiene and use of inadequate volume of water have led to an alarming rate of skin and eye diseases across the state. In addition, poor hygiene, resulting from a lack of adequate water, is also a key factor in the transmission of many contagious diseases.

Therefore, importance of surveillance in identifying whether contamination of water sources and drinking water is the need of the hour. It was also concluded that 75 per cent of water pollution problems is caused by sewage and proper sewage treatment plants should be put in place.

The workshop offered an overview of national and state-level status of drinking water quality and gave inferences that community water supply projects should be integrated with hygiene, education and sanitation in Uttarakhand.

A lecture on epidemiological and health aspects of water quality was delivered by Dr HS Dhapola, Head, Medical Municipal Corporation, Nainital. He informed about water-based diseases like malaria, filariasis, yellow fever and dengue in which the pathogen spends a part of its lifecycle inside water bodies. Aquatic animal like snails and guinea worms, anopheles mosquitoes are major carriers of water-borne diseases in the hill state and children are often most at risk due to greater exposure to water.

Dr Arjesh Sharma, senior manager from the PCRI, while speaking on the occasion said water quality monitoring and surveillance was an integrated work, which should be done by agencies like the Departments of Health, Social Welfare, Jal Sansthan, Jal Nigam, Rural Development , Panchayats, Swajal Project, educational institutions and NGOs.

He touched upon factors influencing water quality like waste water, industrial discharge, hazardous waste facilities, mine drainage, spills, releases, agricultural run off, livestock, urban runoff, land development, landfills, erosion and recreation activities.

Subjects like water sampling, preservation and transportation of sample, water quality standards, case study on water quality and community participation were discussed during the workshop. Demonstration of Field Test Kit for water quality and demonstration of analysis of water quality parameters were other major highlights.

Case study impact of community toilets on ground water quality at downstream of Har-ki-Pauri and near the vicinity of the Ganga by Dr NG Shrivastava, Dy General Manager, PCRI, Haridwar concluded that ground water quality of existing deep wells are suitable for drinking purpose while the shallow bore well ground water can be used for drinking purpose after disinfections only.

Valedictory session was chaired by Dr Ajay Gairola, member secretary, Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board.

Dehradun, January 30
Shakti Srot Sansthan organised an awareness campaign programme at Municipal Corporation’s Town Hall here today. The campaign aimed at the Ganga Bachao (Saving Ganga) programme and made a plea to the common public to keep it clean. Students from Government Girls Inter College presented a cultural programme.

Agriculture Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat was the chief guest who inaugurated the occasion by lighting the lamp and presenting flowers to Goddess Saraswati. The ceremony also comprised encouraging people in taking a pledge and releasing slogan stickers to save the Ganga from getting polluted.

Rawat appreciated the initiative taken by the organisation and requested the audience to spread the awareness among people on how precious the holy river was to us and it was our responsibility to save it from getting polluted.

Eminent guests present at the event were Vineet Kumar Gupta, president, and Pankaj Kumar Bhagat, secretary, of the organisation, Sushil Gupta, municipal councillor, Lakhibagh, Rama Gaur, municipal councillor, Khurbhura, and other members of the organisation.

Nainital, January 30
A visibly mellowed down International General Secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Pravin Togadia, who is otherwise better known for his anti-minority posturing and fiery speeches, made a whirlwind trip to Kumaon promoting an economy based on bovine products and announcing the start of a Hindu helpline.

Togadia chose to don the mantle of a salesman of bovine products and laid stress on their marketing. He visited Rudrapur, Khatima and Haldwani where he promoted the manufacturing, use and marketing of products like soaps, shampoos, creams, after-shave lotion and soaps, etc, that have contents of cow urine and cow dung. The VHP, the parent organisation of the Sangh Parivar is already developing a cola made from cow urine.

In his speeches at the above-mentioned places, Togadia said after a research that was more than a decade old, more than 200 gaushalas had undertaken the production of various products with the bovine waste as their base. “This will go a long way in providing economic stability to those people who are domesticating cows,” he said. He also pointed out that this would also check the incidence of cow slaughter. At a programme in Haldwani, people were surprised to see him going from one man to another asking them to smell the “fragrance” of the products made from bovine waste.

Talking about the proposed Hindu helpline, Togadia said it would be put in place by the next couple of months. Its purpose would be to stand by and help the members of the Hindu community through their sorrows and sufferings. He said it would also help in bringing together the Hindu community.

Togadia once again called for declaring India as a “Hindu Rashtra” through an amendment in the Indian Constitution. He said a programme was under way in a phased manner to achieve this goal in a decade and asked people to do their bit for its success.

The VHP would oppose 10 per cent reservation for the Muslims in jobs and educational institutions besides the proposed bringing of the entire community into the category of below poverty line (BPL) status.

Dehradun, January 30
A day after a leopard drama on the Forest Survey of India (FSI) campus, Dehradun residents continued to live under leopard fear today. While the FSI leopard died in the wee hours today, two more leopards were sighted in the Arcadia Grant area.

The one-year-old male leopard that was captured by forest officials from the FSI campus yesterday, died in the wee hours of Saturday at the Malsi Deer Park where it was housed after being captured after a long exercise. The veterinary doctors cited pneumonia as the main reason behind his death. The leopard was behaving normally on Friday evening when he was brought to Malsi and even had food at around 10 pm.

A team of veterinary doctors that was pressed into service citied pneumonia as the reason behind the wild cat’s death. “The body of the leopard was subsequently burnt at Malsi in the presence of three gazetted officers and a team of doctors,” said Meenakshi Joshi, Divisional Forest Officer, Dehradun.

Meanwhile, to make matters worse for Dehradun Forest Division, another two leopards were sighted in the Arcadia Grant area, which falls in the vicinity of Kaulagarh that was in thick of leopard episode the previous day.

The local villagers, who spotted the two leopards this morning, informed the matter to the forest authorities. A team of forest officers, lead by the DFO, Dehradun, visited the Arcadia Grant area to take stock of the situation and after frantic searches could not ascertain the exact location of the big wild cats.

As a mark of caution, the Dehradun forest authorities placed one more cage in the Arcadia area, the third in the series of cages put up in the region in the aftermath of leopard activity witnessed in the region recently.

Significantly, the Malsi Deer Park has become a makeshift arrangement for the rehabilitation of wildlife, particularly leopards. Already two of such captured leopards are kept there. Even forest officials admit that the park has no good infrastructure for the rehabilitation of leopards.

Dehradun, January 30
A day after advocate Sanjay Sharma allegedly used foul language against District Judge Indira Ashish during the hearing of a rape case, the accused in the case also used abusive language against the women judge after he was awarded eight years’ imprisonment and fined Rs 20,000 yesterday.

The judge lodged no complaint against the accused, Rustam Ansari of Bihar, for using foul language against her.

Ansari had been booked at the Dalanwala police station for raping a girl. He had allegedly taken the girl to Bihar and then Delhi on the promise of getting her a job. However, he had raped her there.

Defence advocate Sharma had yesterday reportedly lost his calm after the allegations against his client were found true.

Dehradun, January 30
The Dehradun police has given directions to court “mohrirs” and “parokars” deployed at the district courts during the hearing of any case to be more vigilant and inform the control room or the police station concerned in case of any unpleasant happening in the courts.

The directions have been given in view of the recent incident in which district judge Indira Ashish was allegedly abused by advocate Sanjay Sharma after allegation against his client Rustam Ansari in a rape case proved true. Even a day after when Ansari was awarded eight years’ imprisonment and fined Rs 20,000, he also allegedly used foul language against the woman judge.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Abhinav Kumar has said in view of this incident they had asked court “mohrirs” and “parokars” to immediately give information to the control room or the police station if such incident happened so that it could be dealt with effectively.

The judge had made a complaint in writing to the SSP in this regard. Sharma had fled the spot after the hearing, but was arrested the next day.