Mussoorie, September 9
The flash floods wreaked havoc in several villages in Jaunpur block in Terhi Garhwal district. More than 200 hectare of fields with standing crop were washed away due to the flash floods.

The nature’s wrath fell on Public Works Department (PWD) roads and more than 12 houses were completely submerged under the debris.

The Suvakholi Thatyur Road caved in at several places leaving villagers stranded on the roads. The falling boulders and debris entered houses at Bhavan village on the Mussoorie-Gangotri highway.

The houses of Tota Ram near Bilaundi village, Govind Singh at Naughar village, Bhag Singh at Danda ki Baili, Attar Singh at Dangal village, Mast Ram at Bani village, Pancham Aswal at Fidogi village, Prem Singh and Gambhir Singh at Naughar village were submerged under the debris.

The households lost several domestic gas cylinders and 50 sacks of cement in the flowing water at the affected area. A ration shop was completely buried under the mudslide. Standing crops, along with the fields, were completely wiped out in the flash floods that occurred early this morning. The two bridges at Bilaundi were affected the most as water from the river cut the base of the bridges leaving wide gaps.

Minister of State for Disaster Management Khajan Das also visited the site to assess the situation and said the loss was extensive in the whole constituency including Dhanaulti and other areas. He also visited the Dunda-Bhawan road that has been washed away in the flash floods completely. At Dunda, six RCC bridges have been decimated. Several water mills and irrigation canals have also been damaged extensively. One village has been cut beyond repair from two sides leaving villagers stranded.

Khajan Das was unhappy with the construction of the road at Dunda and directed officials to make an assessment of the road and penalise those who had constructed the road using sub-standard material.

Speaking to mediapersons, he said the rains had struck with force in the entire state which was reeling under disaster at several places. He said the damage was beyond repair, but no loss of life had occurred.

The minister also directed officials to provide immediate relief to rain victims. For those who had lost their fields, assessment would be made and compensation would be decided later. He also demanded Rs 5,000 crore for the disaster relief in the state from the Centre.

State Congress secretary Manmohan Singh Mall, however, was of the view that the Centre was doing enough for the state and if more was required, it should send proposals through the proper channel so that the Centre could provide immediate relief.

Rajesh Nautiyal from Kempty was of the view that the rain had dealt a severe financial blow to farmers, who had lost not only standing crops, but also the fields in the rain.

Dehradun, September 9
Perturbed at the rampant exploitation of the Himalayas and the inherent dangers of lopsided development, activists, while observing Himalaya Day today, said that development that is counterproductive to the existence of the Himalayas was unacceptable to them.

They urged upon the government to pursue policies without undermining the identity of the Himalayas. “We demand the right to live in harmony with the Himalayas,” said Prof Virender Painuly, a social activist.

He said governments continued to be immune to the problems faced by the hill people. “They are the ones who were forced to leave their home and hearth when the Tehri dam was built. Every year, they have to face the fury of rain. Strangely, their concerns and welfare do not figure on the list of governments,” said Painuly.

Stressing on the need to observe Himalaya Day, Geeta Gairola, State Project Director, Mahila Samakhya, said over the years, governments only passed projects aimed at exploiting the natural wealth of the Himalayas.

“While the governments became richer, people became poorer. There has been no effort to draft policies that help in the conservation of the Himalayas,” said Gairola.

Suresh Bhai of the Nadi Bachao Andolan said greed had compelled the government to go in for big dams without worrying about the repercussions.

“Things have come to such a pass that there is hardly any village in Uttarakhand that has not developed cracks due to the use of dynamite,” said Suresh Bhai.

Pointing out at the lack of interest shown by the government in including suggestions of social organisations in framing the water policy, Panchayat Raj Act and rehabilitation policy, Suresh Bhai said, “We, in the social sector, held several rounds of discussions and deliberations in the hope that people-friendly policies will be adopted by the government, but in vain,” he said.

The absence of any political representative from the government was acutely felt as only senior Congress leader Suryakant Dhasmana found time to participate in the deliberations.

In all, 28 organisations participated in the deliberations. This was followed by the release of the People’s Himalayan Policy that broadly calls for building of small dams, giving more rights to locals on the use of natural resources and providing job opportunities for the people by setting up cottage industries.

Earlier, social activists participated in a rally that began from the Gandhi Park and passed through important locations in the city.

A play by the Sambha Manch and a puppet show by Ram Lall were the other highlights of the celebrations.

Nainital, September 9
Even as the administration takes proactive steps to deal with the disease outbreak following incessant rain in the region, cases of dengue, high fever and diarrhoea continue to pour in at various health centres across Kumaon.

A palpable panic can be witnessed across the region following reports of some deaths and more cases coming up on a daily basis. According to reports, two aged women died of diarrhoea at Kot village of Tadikhet block near Ranikhet. The deceased have been identified as 72-year-old Anandi Devi and 63-year-old Leela Devi.

The Health Department has sent across a team of medical experts to the village to take stock of the prevailing system as a 12 more people showing symptoms of diarrhoea are being treated at the Primary Health Centre at Tadikhet.

Till Wednesday night, 10 more confirmed patients of dengue were admitted to the Sushila Tiwari Hospital in Haldwani. The number of patients undergoing treatment for the disease at the hospital has reached 29. Two separate isolation wards to treat patients of dengue have been set up at the hospital and its capacity has been enhanced to 50 persons. According to hospital sources, patients are being provided treatment round the clock.

Two more patients of dengue were reportedly admitted to the government hospital in Ramnagar till Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, people suffering from high viral fever came in hordes at the various hospitals in Haldwani, Ramnagar, Rudrapur, Kashipur and Sitarganj. The Health Department officials are making arrangements for fogging in these places, both at public places as well as residential areas.

In Haldwani, plans are being drawn out to carry out fogging in educational institutions and the interiors of the houses in areas from where high incidence of diseases is being reported. The administration has sought the help of the people in carrying out the exercise. Meanwhile, there are reports of newly procured fogging machines going out of order in Rudrapur. It is learnt that in a surprise check a couple of months back, chemicals that are to be sprayed were found to have expired.

Dehradun, September 9
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has called for out-of-turn promotion of forest employees who show excellent results in the works with van panchayats.

Launching a scheme for strengthening of van panchayats, the Chief Minister said the state government aimed to usher in development in the village areas through the means of van panchayats. He said those forest employees who worked excellently with these van panchayats should be given out-of-turn promotions. “We want to further strengthen these unique institutions of Uttarakhand with are symbols of the affection of people of Uttarakhand to the forests,” Nishank said.

He said there were a total of 12,000 van panchayats with a large population directly linked to these villages for earning their livelihood. He said an amount of Rs 80 crore would be spent over a period of 10 years in the scheme. The CM also took the opportunity to launch the symbol of van panchayats.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Dr RBS Rawat said the van panchayats had been an active contributor to check forest fires that took place in Uttarakhand hills during the summer season. He said the Campa fund had been put to van panchayat scheme.

Haridwar, September 9
In order to provide better opportunities to farmers, the Horticulture Department has been introducing newer production methods in the state.

In this context, the Horticulture Department is now adopting meedo farming to have maximum production in minimum area. Meedo farming will improve the crop yield and also ensure quality and resistance to insects, diseases and environmental stresses.

From this season onwards in Haridwar, meedo farming is being adopted. It is based on plant-to-plant distance, proper maintenance of crops and other procedures like topping and bio-mass removal. Being run under the Central government scheme, Horticulture Technology Mission 2010-11, meedo farming will prove instrumental in the yield of mango, litchi, guava and amla in Haridwar district in places where these are grown on a large scale.

Initially, these four fruits are being taken under this scheme with the Horticulture Department gearing up for maximum implementation, which will substantially multiply production as well as profits for the farmers.

This farming works on the main principle of distance like for every 1 hectare of land 5x5m per line mango plant will be sowed which will be 500 in quantity. Similarly, 6x6m distance 270 litchi saplings, 3x6m distance 555 guava saplings and for amla 500 saplings will be planted at a 5x4m distance per line.

Notably, with this farming technique while the area needed for plantation is almost half of what it takes for normal plantation and it is easy maintenance due to the topping of the plants maintenance cost is also cut down sharply.

Due to this technique plants also receive adequate sunshine which makes the photosynthesis much better making plants healthy without any disease while branches of these plants doesn’t overlap on one another which gives them adequate space to grow. This makes plants smaller in size, need less water, fertilisers, easier in biomass removal, which ultimately paves way for good production.

There is also a scope left for growing inter-crops between these gardens, which makes meedo farming more profitable. Informing about this, District Horticulture Officer Sanjay Shrivastav said this farming methodology would be starting in the coming months and one could also grow inter crop in the same area.

“While growing mango, litchi, guava, amla alongside as an inter crop, one can grow other crops too like peas and also flowers which will double the income of the growers. More and more farmers in the district should use this method of farming as it takes less space while doubles the production,” Shrivastav said.

Harmeet Singh, a mango and litchi cultivator in Bahadrabad, said he had seen this farming methodology in Himachal Pradesh where production of fruits was on a large scale. He too felt this farming should be applied in Uttarakhand and was waiting for the scheme to get launched to boost his production.

Dehradun, September 9
It was a day of enjoyment and celebration at the Cambrian Hall that celebrated its founder's day and 44th annual speech and prize distribution day here today.

The function began with the lighting of the lamp and by chief guest Major-Gen Ranvir Yadav, General Officer Commanding Headquarters, Uttarakhand Sub Area, Dehradun, amid applause by the audience. Junior students presented action song “Old McDonald had a farm” followed by yoga display that touched the heart of the audience.

Principal RC Singhal presented the report discussing achievements of the school in various fields and mentioned the names of students who brought laurels to the school in several fields. The students, who have been outstanding in the field of sports, were awarded prizes with senior students enthralling the crowd with Rajasthani and Bengali folk songs and dances, English play, “The prize poem” and Hindi play, “Marne wale se bachaane wala shreshth hai”.

“Annual Speech and Founder's Day holds a lot of importance in the directory of our school functions and from parents, students to the guests, everyone had a gala time as we had done all required preparations for the day,” said Singhal.

The function concluded with the organisers thanking the guests as well wishing students very best for future endeavours.

David Hilton, Principal of Hilton School, Rani Chandra, Raj Laxmi, Krishna Yadav, staff and students of the school were also present at the function.

Dehradun, September 9
When Savita (name changed) first looked at her face in the mirror, it filled her with horror and extreme revulsion. Burnt by her husband, she was lucky even to be alive. So began her struggle to regain her lost face and self-esteem.

A chance meeting with Dr Yogi Aeron, plastic surgeon, emboldened her to go for post-burn contracture surgery. Not only was she able to prevent distortion in her face, but was also able to retain her vision. “Any delay would have resulted in loss of vision. It would have been the first casualty. The woman regained her confidence immensely,” said Dr Aeron.

In fact, it was this single-minded zeal to help people recover from burn injuries that encouraged him to tie up Inter Plast of the United States and the government of Uttarakhand to conduct a unique project for children of Uttarakhand since 2006.

“In Uttarakhand, accidental burn cases involving children are common. We are still living in rural surroundings where a majority of rural folk still use fire wood for cooking. Small children have a tendency of jabbing their hands in the traditional chullas, with serious repercussions. A majority of these cases are now getting due attention as we conduct post-burn contracture surgeries and even address deformities. Timely intervention in the form of immediate treatment shows good results. Every year, we organise camps with our American partner, Inter Plast, in Dehradun,” said Dr Aeron.

So far 1,347 free surgeries have been conducted. As part of the unique arrangement, the Inter Plast of America sends equipment and a team of doctors, while the selection of children and cost of the surgeries is borne by the Uttarakhand government under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). The surgeries are conducted on children in the age-group between 6-18 years and the government spends Rs 8,000 on each child requiring surgery,” said Dr Kush Aeron who assists Dr Yogi.

Once again a team of doctors from Inter Plast will be coming to Dehradun to perform surgeries on children between September 14 and 24 at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Coronation Hospital. “Prior to the camp, a registration camp will be held on September 13 at Jantar Mantar Kuthal Gate.

Buoyed with the success of the project, the government of Uttarakhand is also planning to step up a local out reach centre and hospital equipped by Inter-Plast so that free surgeries can be conducted.