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Bedni Bugyal timber line shifting
A view of Bedni Bugyal in Chamoli district.
Waterlogging wakes up Nainital admn |
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NGO averted Bhopal-like tragedy in Doon
Union minister reviews border roads development
Media support sought to generate awareness on blood donation
Passing-out parade today
Academy gets more cadets from southern states
Bumper apple yield expected
Training goes hi-tech
ICFAI students visit slum area
Bajrang Club drub Cantt Blue
Quake-resistant Buildings
Rao Cricket Academy thump Doon Warriors by 99 runs
Ad hoc teachers felicitate minister
Uttarakhand Club, DMK play a draw
IMA pays homage to 7 martyrs
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Bedni Bugyal timber line shifting
Locally called nature’s own gardens, Bugyals, either flat or sloped, are carpeted with green grass and seasonal flowers and are at elevations ranging between 3,300 metres and 4,000 metres. They remain covered with snow in winters and due to abundance of water and food and the remote locations, Bugyals do attract many animals.
Shifting of timber line towards Bugyals is a matter of concern. If this trend continues, Bugyals will get annihilated one day.
— Dr HB Vasistha, FRI Rodendoron and abies species can be seen in Bedni Bugyal meadows thus showing first visible signs of tree vegetation in this grassland. A team of scientists from the Forest Research Institute that has been studying vegetation at Bedni Bugyal is already in validation process for analysing the root cause behind this shifting of timber line into the Bugyal. While not ruling out climate change as the reason behind shifting of timberline, the FRI scientists are also looking at all possibilities before coming to any final conclusion. “These rodendoron and abies seedlings in Bedni are six or seven years old. We are now in the validation process to know the exact reasons behind this timber line ingress,” Dr P Soni, Head, Forest Ecology and Environment Division, FRI, told The Tribune. The FRI authorities have also asked the Space Application Centre authorities in Ahmedabad for satellite images to reach to exact nature of ingress made by these tree species. Satellite images will be of great help to compare Bedni meadows of today with that of seven or eight years back. While there is little of biotic pressure in Bedni, the scientists do not rule out climate change as reason behind this timber line shifting. The FRI scientists have also asked the Uttarakhand Forest authorities for allowing them to conduct another study in adjacent meadows in Tuganath and other areas so as to ensure as to whether there was a similar ingress taking place in other meadows as well, a possibility not denied by scientists of FRI’s Ecology Department. Dr HB Vasistha, a senior member of the FRI team studying Bedni, admits the ingress of tree species into Bugyals as in case of Bedni was certainly alarming. “Shifting of timber line towards Bugyals is a matter of concern. If this trend continues, Bugyals will get annihilated one day,” Vasistha pointed out. Apart from being repository of water, due to the abundance of food and remote locations, Bugyals are the home of many animals like bharal, thar, deer, leopards, bears, hares and many species of birds and the recession of Bugyal is bound to have repercussion in the entire eco system in the fragile Garhwal Himalayas.
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Waterlogging wakes up Nainital admn
Nainital, June 11 A special cleanliness drive was also undertaken in the morning today at the Naini Lake under the leadership of Bagauli. With reference to the overflow of sewerage on the Mall Road, Kunal Sharma has asked the officers of the Jal Nigam and Jal Sansthan to immediately get the sewer lines cleaned and water removed from areas where it had collected along with the filth. He also ordered that the flow of water in rain-water drains and the sewerage lines be segregated on a war footing. On Thursday evening, Bagauli too had convened a meeting of officials to deal with the situation that had emerged after an hour-long rain. He has ordered that owners of houses from where dirt is found would be fined to the tune of Rs 5000 and the owners of houses from where dirt and waste is finding its way into the drains would be fined between Rs 250 to Rs 1000. He also underlined that the sections of population which have not been covered under Mission Butterfly must be brought under its umbrella at the earliest. He also announced that a special cleanliness drive would be undertaken in the town on June 13. A spell of heavy rain accompanied by sleet had washed away the claims of the local administration with regard to cleanliness as tonnes of filth had found its way to the Mall Road and the Naini Lake emitting an unbearable stench and causing traffic snarls on Thursday afternoon. While the hour-long precipitation was welcome as it provided much sought relief from the hot and sultry weather, it also blew the top off the claims of the local administration and civic body with regards to their preparedness in dealing with the situation. With sewers overflowing and the garbage that had collected in the drains finding its way onto the main roads and then the lake, Nainital had appeared to be an apology for a tourist destination. The administration’s earlier drives at asking hotel and restaurant owners to ensure that plastic bags and fast food packaging material is not dumped in the sewer lines of Nainital proved to be a total failure as the sewer on the Mall Road near the Grand Hotel overflowed and a heap of muck had got deposited on the Lower Mall Road resulting in a traffic snarl. The situation was similar at several other places. Towards the end of March, Bagauli Bagauli had also asked for preventive steps to check overflow of sewers near the Grand Hotel on the Mall Road. He had ordered that a survey be carried out about hotels and residential areas where rain water enters sewers. He had asked the officials to execute works to separate the two lines. The officials had also been asked to ensure that no The DM had also called for desilting of the sewer on the Mall Road before April 15 by the officials of the Jal Nigam and Jal Sansthan. But on Thursday afternoon, it appeared that the orders were never followed. Heaps of plastic bags and packaging material of foodstuffs could be seen floating on the Naini Lake and the tourists going in for boating after the rain stopped were a harried lot.
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NGO averted Bhopal-like tragedy in Doon
Dehradun, June 11 In the 70s, Uttar Pradesh Carbide Chemical Ltd (UPCCL), UP government undertaking Aditya Chemicals and the Atma Ram Chadda (ARC) factory, manufacturing cement, had made breathing difficult for local inhabitants. Coming to their rescue, the Rural Litigation Entitlement Kendra, an NGO, after approaching the local courts took the matter to the Supreme Court on the issue of Right to Breathe, demanding the closure of the polluting industries that were violating the Fundamental Rights of the local people. “As we were fighting our case in the Supreme Court, the Bhopal Gas tragedy occurred in 1984 leaving hundreds of people dead forcing the Supreme Court to realise the gravity of the matter. Knowing the poor safety standards that the industries follow and if a gas leak had occurred in Dehradun, it would be a disaster of far greater magnitude as the valley is cup shaped, forcing the gaseous mixture to remain settled in the air for a longer period. It would have taken much more time to clear,” said Avdhash Kaushal, chairman of the Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra who had pursued the matter vigorously. Those days Uttar Pradesh Carbide Chemical Ltd and Aditya Chemicals had set up a shop in Dehradun on the Rajpur road leading to Mussoorie. Unable to breathe in the heavily smoke-filled atmosphere, the inhabitants of the area were soon up in arms against the factory owners and the Rural Litigation and Entitlement had first approached the then Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) under the Public Nuisance Act (Section 133) and during the course of their appeals they found that the chairman of the Pollution Control Board was also the Secretary (Industries) making their task difficult. “Politicians and bureaucrats are known to collude and cooperate, but the social organisations should be vigilant enough to take up cases in the interest of the people so that disasters like the methane gas leak are nipped in the bud,” emphasised Kaushal.
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Union minister reviews border roads development
Dehradun, June 11 To review the progress report of the Border Roads Development Board
(BRDB), the minister convened a meeting here yesterday. It is for the first time that board held the meeting
in Uttarakhand. Strabag-Afcons JV has been awarded the contract of Rs 1,458 crore for the construction of the tunnel. The Union government has also approved a proposal for raising of new project named Rohtang at Palchan near
Manali. “During 2010-11, the budget of Rs 6,021 crore was planned for the development of roads and bridges in the border states of the country, out of which Rs 3,000 crore was proposed for the work,” the minister affirmed. The physical and financial achievement of the Border Road Organisation (BRO) last year was also discussed in the meeting. “In the current financial year, the targets have been enhanced and it is proposed to execute 3,028
km of formation, 5,482 km of surfacing, 2,272 km of resurfacing and 6,039 m of bridges work have been planned,”
he added. The progress of forest clearance cases were also reviewed and it transpired that with the regular monitoring, the disposal of cases had been expedited and approval accorded to 75 proposals and presently 123 proposals were pending with different authorities. He requested all concerned to take pro-active measures in the matter. The minister mentioned that the BRO had further advertised 2,565 posts in 23 categories. “The step has been taken as the authorised strength of manpower in the BRO was fixed at 42,646 in 2006. At that time, the posted strength was 34,093 and there was deficiency of 8,553. Initially, the progress of recruitment/induction was somewhat slow. Now it is being addressed on war footing and with the sustained efforts and persuasion of the government, the deficiency of the BRO has come down and now posted strength is 36,515. Thus deficiency has come down to 6,131. Recruitment of group ‘A’ officers for 136 posts is also in an advanced stage. With these measures, the deficiency is expected to come down to 4,200 by the end of this month,” he clarified. On being asked about the construction of the road plan near the China border, he said work was in progress. It was taking time as they didn’t have enough of air effort right now. The minister also clarified that they had bought new equipment to clean the roads immediately after a landslide, which was almost a daily affair, and staff had been deployed who would instantly reach the spot. In comparison to the past few years it would take less time. Senior officials of the Ministry of Defence, Army Headquarters, Air Headquarters,
BRDB, BRO, Ministry of Environment and Forest, Ministry of External Affairs and other ministries attended the meeting.
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Media support sought to generate awareness on blood donation
Dehradun, June 11 She said media can play a major role in spreading awareness about blood donation and we need to strengthen our campaign in the hills where the movement is slow and needs to be pushed. “The vans that we have recently received would be able to fill in the gap by taking the blood donation campaign at the door steps of the villagers,” said Dr
Uniyal. Dr Uniyal was speaking today at the media sensitisation programme on blood donations and safety programme held today at the Director General Office. Speaking further, she said the health department plans to establish blood banks at all the district hospitals and Community Health
Centres. “Against the total blood collection target of 65,472 units in 2010-2011, the total voluntary blood collection was 45,830 units,” she stressed. The state has to maintain a higher proportion of voluntary blood collection with a target to achieve voluntary blood collection up to 80 per cent in National Aids Control
Organisation. Dr RK Pant CMS Doon Hospital said after the blood component started functioning at the Doon Hospital in March 2010, the blood is being separated on the basis of components and the hospital provides one unit of blood to first time patients without asking for replacement. “The blood components can be procured from the hospital at Rs 250 per unit from the Doon Hospital that is cheaper than the Indian Medical Association Blood Bank rate. While for the Below Poverty Line
(BPL) it is free. Earlier, Dr Devender Bhasin, Media Advisor to the Chief Minister said role of media is important in spreading awareness about blood donation. While Uma
Prakash, Joint Director (Information in Education and Communication) IEC Uttarakhand State Aids Control Society
(USACS) said besides informing the general public about blood donation and how safe blood donation can prevent AIDS, they should take utmost care while reporting and writing about AIDS. She said persons infected with HIV/AIDS are entitled free blood donation for himself and his family members besides the medical care.
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Passing-out parade today
Dehradun, June 11 General Joginder Jaswant Singh (retd) will be the reviewing officer. He is presently serving as the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh. Lt General Rajinder Singh Sujlana, Commandant, IMA, will also be present during the passing-out parade. This year, the Sword of Honour, which is awarded to the best all-round GC will go to Gaurav Hridaya. Sumeet S Lahane, Gaurav Hridaya and Yogendra Kathyat will get gold, silver and bronze medals, respectively. The IMA Commandant in a press conference said that there was a shortage of 11,000 officers. On the long-pending project of the subway, he said that on June 4, a formal intimation regarding it was received by the IMA from the Centre. “It will be great if the work on the subway starts before my retirement,” he laughed. He added that it would an achievement of sorts for the IMA as it would produce 50,000 officers for the forces of India and 28 friendly countries by December. With this, the IMA will become the only institution in Asia to have achieved this milestone. He said that the training of cadets was being updated periodically to combat militants. He denied that they were being especially trained to tackle Maoists.
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Academy gets more cadets from southern states
Dehradun, June 11 “There has been improvement in number of cadets from the southern states. You see number of cadets coming from Kerala (23), Karnataka (17) and Tamil Naidu (13) have gone high,” said Major Amit Dagar, Public Relation Officer of the IMA. “The advertisements are being done in the Southern states that must have helped. A South Indian film on Army is in pipeline that is being made by the Army officers to attract candidates from the region. The film will be shot in and around the IMA in coming months,” added the major. Dagar said the advertisement were being looked after by the Public Relationship Department of the Army Headquarters. “We train the cadets and rest of the work is of the headquarters. We just tell them send us cadets as many as they can,” he added. IMA commandant Rajinder Singh Sujlana had in December pointed out towards the less number of participation of the cadets from the Southern states calling it an issue of national concern. Sujlana had said the IMA would suggest the top Army authorities in the country for conducting sensitisation drive down South as well choice of the Army as career among youths. However, likewise previous years the trend of the Northern states dominating the participation continues. This time Uttar Pradesh (132) once again has the highest number of cadets. While Haryana (56) and Uttarakhand (51) are second and third, respectively. Other states, including Bihar (47), Rajasthan (45) and Maharashtra (36) also have good participation.
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Bumper apple yield expected
“Due to constant temperature during February and March, the flowering in the apple trees did not get disturbed which will result in increase of production,” said BP Nautiyal, Director, Horticulture. “It will increase to 1.50 lakh tonnes compared to 1 lakh tonne last year,” said Nautiyal. Apple is grown in Uttarkashi, Pauri, Pitthoragarh, Nainital, Tihri, Chamoli and some parts of Dehradun district. Not only apple, but other temperate fruits like peach, plum and apricot are also good in harvest this year, according to horticulture directorate sources. “In the Kumaon region, due to timely and complete flowering and absence of rainfall at the time of flowering, pollination and fertilisation in the trees increased more than double this time,” said IA Khan, senior horticulture scientist at Chaubatiya Garden, Ranikhet. “But the fruit will not be juicy and sizable as humidity in atmosphere and soil is not sufficient,” said Khan.
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Training goes hi-tech
Dehradun, June 11 Several such upgrades in the training have taken place recently, be it physical training or the use of weaponry and above all cyber training in which 15 e-classrooms are already in use while more are in the pipeline. The cadets are also being provided with advanced technology to deal with terrorists. As part of the latest training, a new concept of location of hit and miss has been introduced, which displays where the shoot has to be made and where it has actually hit. “It will help in maintaining the aim and saving the ammunition a great deal. Earlier, we used to go to the target to check its status after hitting it. But, now from the place we shoot, we can check its status through the screen placed beside the shooter,” said Major Amit Dagar, Public Relation Officer of the IMA. To be more efficient in fight against militants, the close quarter field range training has been inducted. In this technology, the targets keep popping up and the cadets have to shoot them. These targets are in a small quarter from where they keep coming in. “The technology was introduced about one and a half years ago but we have started using it actively only recently,” said the Major. Another advanced technology
being used for the training of the IMA cadets is the unattended ground sensors. These sensors indicate
the whereabouts and location of the enemies.
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ICFAI students visit slum area
Dehradun, June 11 The programme was conducted with the aim of alleviating the status of the slum dwellers not only through imparting quality education, but also through its fare share of every individual. A plethora of programmes and various exercises were included to educate the slum dwellers and enlighten them in acquiring education which included questionnaires aimed specifically at inculcating a thought process. Briefing on health, hygiene, proper sanitation, empowerment through knowledge based on various schemes run by the government, their rights as citizens and Non Government Organisations trying to outreach depravity. Moreover, various issues were discussed on women empowerment, health, family planning, education, various vocational opportunities and government schemes primarily based on “Educate a woman and educate the family”. Dr DK
Giri, Dean Faculty of Education, ICFAI University, Prof Dr Seema
Agnihotri, Prof Archana Thapliyal, Prof Sarita Negi, Prof Anjali Bhatiya, Prof Poonam Verma Rana and Prof RK Mishra were also resent on the occasion.
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Bajrang Club drub Cantt Blue
Dehradun, June 11 The winning side couldn’t score any goal in the first half. However, it rained three back-to-back goals to stun its rival in the next half.
Charchil of Cantt Blue had struck the first goal in the 26th minute of the match. While Bajrang Club couldn’t retaliate to it in the first half. But returning after break it started afresh and surprised the opponent team players. Chirag gave the first blow in the 55th minute. He kept up the good work and netted another goal to down Cantt Blue 2-1. The latter desperately looked for its second goal to level the match trying almost everything, but there was no ray of hope. The player of Bajrang Club organised itself and commit no mistake to give any chance to the rivals to score or dominate. It’s Aman (69th) got an opportunity and made the full use of it with a nice goal. Down with 3-1, Cantt Blue couldn’t strike back and lost the match. Meanwhile, two matches have been lined up for tomorrow. In the first match at 3 pm, Doon Eagle will face
Khalanga. While Garhwal Boys will take on Indira Club at 4.30 pm.
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Govt okays MoU to impart training
Tribune News Service
Dehradun, June 11 The agreement will be signed shortly by the Executive Director of DMMC Dr Piyush Rautela on behalf of the state government and the head of the Department of Civil Engineering Edmund Lo Yat Man on behalf of the Singapore Nanyang Technical University. The official spokesperson informed that the Singapore Nanyang Technical University had submitted proposals to the Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre for imparting training in construction techniques for earthquake-resistant buildings and also that of retrofitting of any four school buildings. The university will also give Rs 49 lakh as grant for the proposed work. These programmes will be run in Tehri and Dehradun districts. Forty local builders each from Tehri and Dehradun districts will be imparted training through the university. Besides, two schools each from the two districts will be selected for retrofitting through earthquake-resistant techniques. The official spokesperson added that the DMMC would select schools and builders for training.
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Rao Cricket Academy thump Doon Warriors by 99 runs
Dehradun, June 11 After winning the toss, the Rao Academy mounted a huge target of 223 runs. Opening batsmen Dipanker (55) and Kiran (50) were the mainstay of the innings. Manish (25) also played a cameo knock. Vikas and Saurabh of the Doon Warriors took three wickets each. While Prithvi, Mayank and Chintu claimed a wicket each. But the bowlers couldn’t restrict the batsmen to score runs. In reply, the Doon Warriors team was bowled all out in 123 runs. Samagra (45) was the top scorer for the side. Rest of the batsmen failed to contribute good number for the side. Shankar returned with rich haul of four wickets for 27 runs in six overs. Kiran and Sachin took three and two wickets respectively.
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Ad hoc teachers felicitate minister
Mussoorie, June 11 The state minister was welcomed by the mahasangh president Lalit Dwivedi on the occasion. He said their longstanding demand was met after the concerted efforts of the members and the minister. The Shiksha Mitr Mahasangh also demanded to decrease the BTC training programme from two years to six months as they were not being paid for the duration along with other demand of keeping 18 months formal training in the colleges for the ad-hoc teachers and increasing the pay to Rs 18,000. General secretary of the association Prem Khati, block pramukh Geeta Rawat, Zila Panchayat president Mira Saklani, Narmada Negi and others were present.
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Uttarakhand Club, DMK play a draw
Dehradun, June 11 The teams display a good show throughout the match but didn’t achieve success. Both the sides showed good defence. A few goal attempts were made during the match however all proved futile.
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IMA pays homage to 7 martyrs
Dehradun, June 11 The Governor of Arunachal
Pradesh, Gen Joginder Jaswant Singh (retd), was also present at the venue. He will be the reviewing officer during the passing-out parade tomorrow. He, along with the Commandant and Deputy Commandant, laid wreaths at the memorial of the martyrs. Out of these seven valiant officers, families of four acceded to the request and were present to be a part of the remembrance ceremony today.
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First visible signs of shifting of timber line has been reported from Bedni Bugyal, the Himalayan alpine meadow, situated at an altitude of 3,354 metres in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand.
Dehradun, June 11
Pitthoragarh, June 11