Dehradun, September 11
Terming the decision of the government to scrap the Lohari Nagpala project as a conspiracy to stop development in Uttarakhand, social activists today said religious and political interests were working over time to push Uttarakhand on the brink of poverty and retarded growth.

At a meeting held today at the Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RLEK), Avdhash Kaushal, Chairman of the organisation, said the closing down of the project had come at a time when the energy needs of the state, that was still developing, were going to increase.

Senior journalist Jay Singh Rawat said electricity needs of the state could not be met if power projects were scrapped at the slightest whim of political leaders. “A careful thought should have gone while planning these projects in the first place. Why no hue and cry was raised when the projects were planned on the Alaknanda river? It too has religious sentiments,” said Jay.

He also called for giving stakes to the local communities whenever projects of this dimension were prepared.

PC Thapliyal, a statehood activist, rued the tendency of individuals to hijack issues and misinterpret them according to their political agenda. “It has been the misfortune of Uttarakhand state that most of the local issues get misinterpreted or hijacked by individuals with vested interests,” he added. 

Nainital, September 11
Despite there being a lull in precipitation being received in the Kumaon region over the past two days, the miseries of people residing in the region continue unabated.

A large number of tenements continue to be endangered forcing people to look for other alternatives to take shelter.

In Nainital, a two-storey structure collapsed to the ground in the Hari Nagar locality of the Tallital area on Friday afternoon. Fortunately, there was no loss of life in the incident.

Just a day earlier, a labourer had died as the shed in which he was residing at the Bara Pathar area collapsed killing him on the spot.

A large number of people at Saata village in Bageshwar district and Kaula village in the Salt area of Almora district have had to leave their houses and seek shelter elsewhere on account of frequent rock falls being experienced in their hamlets.

In a large number of villages in the mountainous belt of Kumaon, people have taken shelter in panchayat ghars of the villages.

In the Terai region, there have been a large number of houses and tenements that have been washed away or have been damaged. Since these buildings will take some time to be repaired, the problem of housing being faced by the people who had resided in them persists.

According to reports, 65 goats at Bacham village of Kapkot area were washed away in a seasonal stream as the bridge on which these animals were moving collapsed all of a sudden.

A large number of roads, particularly link roads, continue to be blocked on account of frequent landslides. Reports say that the Almora-Berinag route has been shut for vehicular traffic for more than five days.

Such conditions are causing major problems to the people residing in the remote villages as the supplies of essentials like cooking gas and kerosene have been badly hit.

Meanwhile, the outbreak of diseases and their spread in the region continues unabated. New cases of dengue, typhoid, malaria, jaundice and diarrhoea continue to pour in at various hospitals on a daily basis.

Health Department officials are working round the clock to address the problems. Health surveys are being conducted in various areas that show the potential for spread of viral or waterborne diseases.

Special awareness drives have also been undertaken. Plans are being chalked out for fogging in residential colonies over the next few days. Free distribution of medicine is also under way at several places. 

Dehradun, September 11
Residents of the state capital have a reason to cherish, as they will no longer have to wait to get to know about various schemes launched by the government. They will be receiving information in the form of a short message service (SMS).

The service is expected to start by the end of this month and those who are registered will benefit the most. With this service, people will immediately get to know about the policies launched by the government. The district administration feels that mobile phones are the best option to inform people regarding services and information that is provided by the government, but due to certain circumstances does not reach the common man.

Sources in the administration stated that the scheme had already been started on the trial basis.

Talking to The Tribune, District Magistrate Sachin Kurve said, “In the first phase people will get the information regarding the public distribution of ration. This will stop the black marketeering or diversion of ration. The information will be flashed on the mobile phones of gram pradhans as well as card holders as soon as the ration is drawn from the godown by the shopkeepers,” said Kurve.

People need to get registered with the National Information Science Centre. In the second phase, information regarding life-saving injections used for children will be sent to the parents who will register in the national humanisation card. With this, parents will not have to go through the card again and again and will have no tension of forgetting the date. For example, if a two-year-old child has to visit the hospital for injections or any other drops, his parents will be informed well in advance and this will save their time as well,” he explained.

“The scheme will bring transparency in the working system. The plan may cost around Rs 15,000 a month for the administration and will be free of cost for people,” said Kurve.

Dehradun, September 11
Leopard continues to be on the prowl in the close vicinity of the habitations in Dehradun. The Cantonment area continues to be in the thick of a leopard movement even as residents have piled up crackers to meet any exigency.

A leopard was recently traced in the close vicinity of the Dehradun Cantonment Office when a child of one of the residents inside the Cantonment Board Office’s accommodations came across a prowling leopard.

Deepak Panwar, a resident of the Cantonment Office, told The Tribune that his son came across a leopard during the evening hours on August 8 when he was going to the lavatory situated at a distance from the accommodation.

The child raised an alarm which led to the gathering of people residing inside the Cantonment Office.

The residents brought the matter to the notice of the local forest authorities, who held inspections in the region. The forest officials did not rule out a leopard making forays into the residential section of the Cantonment Office, as this area has been prone to the leopard movement for long.

The Dehradun forest authorities had some time back even put up a cage in the region, but the leopard continues to evade the department. Forest Officer JS Rawat said the department promptly acted whenever it got any information of leopard movement.

Even in the case of the Cantonment, the forest officials have advised residents to be on caution, particularly during morning and evening hours.

Rishikesh, September 11
With the Ganga rising to dangerous levels in the past few days, the commercially viable river-rafting business in Rishikesh has taken a beating.

Heavy consistent rain in the upper regions of Garhwal has swelled up the river and, as a result, the rafting season, which was scheduled to begin on September 1, has now been put on hold. If the weather improves, it may begin on September 15.

As the water in the river has been close to the danger mark for quite some time due to consistent rain, rafting companies are waiting for the clouds to retreat and the water level to recede so that they can earn their livelihood.

Due to this 15-day delay, the 100-odd rafting companies that have got licences to pursue rafting in the Rishikesh rafting belt are losing thousands of rupees everyday. Nearby hotels, resorts, eateries and transport operators too are in the same boat as the rafters.

Adding to the woes of the rafting companies as well as rafting lovers, rain has damaged the link roads and paths from the main road to the river at various rafting centres like Shivpur and Brahmpuri.

Even rafting companies are finding it difficult to transport their rafts to the river from the main road due to the damage caused by landslides and mudslides.

Rafters and the Sahsik Paryatan Sangarsh Union have demanded instant repair of these routes.

Quite eager to start the rafting season, the union has formed a highly skilled committee comprising veteran rafters who will be gauging the flow in the Ganga to see if it is safe to continue operations.

Speaking to The Tribune, Anirudh Rawat, who has been involved in the river-rafting business in Rishikesh as a rafting guide for more than five years, said that to make sure there is no danger to tourists, they would first gauge the conditions and only then, recommend commercial rafting operations on the river.

Deepak Bhatt of the rafting association said that the rafting season would begin as soon as the technical committee submits a favourable report.

As this rafting zone falls under the Forest Department, the Tourism Department has to get permission from the Forest Department, but the Forest Department is busy evaluating the losses and mapping the sub-routes that have got damaged.

Forest Department officials informed that an estimate of the loss to the damaged routes is being done. As soon as the routes are reconstructed, rafting will get under way on the Ganga.

The 36-km stretch of the Ganga between Rishikesh and Kaudiyala and along the road to Deoprayag constitutes the rafting zone. There are as many as 35 camping sites on this stretch.

Mussoorie, September 11
Mussoorie Public School (MPS) and Mussoorie Girls School (MGS) were adjudged joint winners in the 15th Late Sarda Sarmukh Singh and Sardarni Gurpal Kaur Memorial Inter-School Hindi debate competition held under the aegis of Sadhbhavna Mussoorie on the Nagar Palika premises here today.

More than 21 students from 11 schools participated in the competition. The title of the debate was “Is spending a huge amount of money in the Commonwealth Games justified?” After a keen contest, in favour and against the title, judges declared Mussoorie Public School and Mussoorie Girls School joint winners.

Himani Negi was adjudged winner in an individual competition. The chief guest in the end distributed the prizes to the winning teams.

BP Kukreti, Harbhajan Thakral, Javed Khan commended the level of the students in the debate. Thakral said it was one of the longest debate competitions in Mussoorie and from next year they were thinking of bringing in more schools from outside the town.

Dehradun, September 11
A photo exhibition on "9/11 World Trade Center" was organised by renowned photo journalist Kamal Sharma at the UGB Art Gallery on the premises of Uttaranchal Gramin Bank here today.

Sharma who was in New York at the time of the tragedy for covering the US Open clicked about 500 frames of the city before and after the incident.

Some of the best photographs out of those were displayed at the exhibition today.

He said this exhibition was his tribute to all vicitims of the 9/11. “Our thoughts and prayers will always remain with the innocent victims, their families and friends. The indomitable spirit of heriosm of fire-fighters, police officers, emergency works and people of the US will be ever remembered,” added Sharma who has already put up about 20 exhibitions on sports and this tragedy.

Pitthoragarh, September 11
Cabinet Minister Prakash Pant inaugurated a three-day traditional fair, Mostamanu, at Chandak Ridge, near here, today. The Mostamanu fair is being organised in the central place of the Sour valley.

“The fair has its main day on Bhado Panchami (September 12) when the dola (palanquin) of Mosta devta is brought out from a nearby village, but the state government and the local administration have made it a three-day cultural festival.

According to the mythology of the Mosta deity, it was brought from Nepal and when it was being carried to Badrinath by one of its devotees, stayed in this place permanently after the devotee took the basket down in order to get rest. The deity refused to be picked up again and expressed the will to live permanently at the place. “Since that time centuries ago, our forefathers have started worshiping the deity as a deity of rains,” said Trilok Singh, main priest of the temple.

“The men from interior areas of the valley, Nepal and the Kali Kumaun region, come to the fair to either purchase or sell agriculture items as the fair was considered the right place to do business of agricultural goods in a traditional way,” said Ganesh Dutt Kandpal, manager of the Mostamanu Mela Committee.

Besides the business of traditional pahari agriculture instruments of wood and iron, the fair is also known for the display of traditional Kumauni songs and dances. “In olden days groups of folk artistes from Sour Sira, Johar, Kali and Nepal used to gather the previous night of the mela and have a healthy cultural competition during the entire night. But this tradition is now fading out gradually and commercial culture troupes from Delhi are also participating in the mela,” said Kandpal. 

Dehradun, September 11
Residents celebrated Haritalika Teej with full fervour at Gangora here today.

The day holds great importance in the Gorkhali society. Married women of the society keep fast for two days for the long life of their spouses.

Several competitions were organsied on this festival. Women wore traditional attires and gathered at Gangora to celebrate the festival. Women and children danced to Gorkhali songs.

It is believed that on this day Goddess Gaura had kept fast for the long life of Lord Shiva. Shiva and Gaura are worshipped on the occasion.

Meawhile, Godvari Thapali presided over the function as the chief guest of the programme. 

Nainital, September 11
The Rudrapur police has arrested the person responsible for strangulating a woman to death in the Resham Badi area of the town on Thursday.

It is learnt that accused Om Vir was nabbed by the police at his native village of Dinkari in Rampur in Uttar Pradesh.

He is learnt to have confessed to his crime and has told the police that he had killed Rubi as she had been preventing him from going home fearing that he would desert her.

Despite her being married to one Raj Kumar, who is Om Vir’s distant cousin, she had developed illegitimate relations with the accused. Om had been residing with the couple and the children for the past six months.

Rubi had been allegedly strangulated with her scarf Om. On Thursday morning Raj Kumar had left his home on his rickshaw which he plies to earn his living. In the afternoon when his younger son Arjun started crying, his landlady Zubain Nisha had called his elder son Vishal to ask his mother to take care of the child. When

Vishal tried to wake his mother up, she did not budge, following which he too had started crying. When Nisha went to see Rubi, she had found the latter dead.

It was during the questioning by the police that Vishal said he had seen his uncle Om fighting with his mother in the day time.

Om had asked him to get out of the room. However, he had hidden close by and had seen Om strangulating his mother. 

Dehradun, September 11
A rally was organised by Samadhan, a voluntary organisation, yesterday. As many as 30 rural youth participated in the event.

The rally was attended by Sulekha Mahipal, a law student. She said the state governments in the past 10 years had not taken any action to establish a sports university.

“We are gearing up to include more and more youth supporters from all districts under the banner of Samadhan. These rural youth want this issue raised during the monsoon session of the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha,” she added.

The rally has already gone to Bageshwar, Haldwani, Nainital and Haridwar districts to get signature of thousands of youth to establish a sports university, specially to prepare rural youth for the Olympics and the Asian Games.

The rally left for Uttarkashi in the evening.