Dehradun, October 6
At a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi, Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank asked for a relief package of Rs 21,200 crore owing to a large-scale devastation in the state caused by unprecedented rains, floods and cloudbursts.

Dr Nishank held detailed discussions with the Prime Minister about the extent of damage and said the basic infrastructure, including potable water schemes, electricity lines, irrigation facilities, roads, etc, in the hill areas are amongst the worst hit.

He also urged the Prime Minister to consider revising the relief parameters so that the battered state could access more financial aid. He also thanked the Central government for sanctioning the interim aid of Rs 500 crore to the state government for combating the disaster and said although the final assessment of the damage had yet not been completed, a loss of around Rs 21,200 crore had generally been estimated.

The Chief Minister further said the Central team sent by the government of India had already visited all 13 districts of the state and noted the damage and loss in the disaster-hit areas. The government of Uttarakhand had already handed over a Disaster Relief Memorandum. The Central team was also astonished to see the furiousness and intensity of the disaster. Dr Nishank demanded that the state government should be provided with forest land for rehabilitation of the 250 ravaged villages.

The Chief Minister requested to the Prime Minister that Uttar Pradesh should be asked to give 25 per cent share in the Tehri Dam project to Uttarakhand.

He said as per the State Reorganisation Act, the state having the headquarters/property of any project in its territory would get the ownership of the project, so the Central government should take action at its own level to ensure that 25 per cent share in the Tehri Dam project, which Uttar Pradesh was getting at present, was transferred to Uttarakhand.

The Prime Minister assured Dr Nishank of all possible help on behalf of the Central government.

Dr Nishank called on Union Home Minister P Chidambaram in the North Block and reiterated his demands. The Chief Minister also thanked the Central government for its assistance during the Maha Kumbh and added that the expenditure of about Rs 100 crore incurred on the deployment of the Central forces during the Kumbh Mela should be borne by the Central government, keeping in view the poor economic condition of the state.

Disaster Management Minister of Uttarakhand Khajan Das, Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar, Anoop Badhawan, and Secretary (Disaster Management) Rakesh Kumar accompanied the Chief Minister during his meeting with the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister.

Haridwar, October 6
Considering the gravity of the rain disaster in hill districts as well as plain areas of the state, several questions are being raised on the interim relief and the working of the state government.

After assessing damage in the hill district of Tehri Garhwal in a whirlwind tour of flood-affected areas of Haridwar, parliamentarian from the Tehri Garhwal constituency Vijay Bahuguna termed the administrative relief as inadequate, leading to unrest among the affected people.

Pointing out that the administrative officials, who are to assess the losses in the disaster-affected regions, are only either visiting district headquarters or filing the assessment report from their offices itself. Damage assessment is being done only in 20 per cent of the affected areas.

“Be it agricultural fields or houses, 80 per cent detailed assessment data has still not been compiled and even interim aid is not being provided by the state government in these areas. The BJP government seems to be playing a political game eyeing the 2012 Assembly elections. Thinking that by blaming the Central government by demanding unrealistic amount of relief they will bag votes is on the contrary giving rise to public resentment,” stated Bahuguna after visiting flood-affected areas of Haridwar, Laksar and Roorkee.

Emphasising that as Prime Minister’s letter of allocation of relief fund package of Rs 500 crore has been received by Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, the Tehri parliamentarian said now the Chief Minister should direct District Magistrates to divert state funds for the relief as even interim aid is not being provided to the affected people.

On the hydroelectric projects on the Ganga in hill regions, Bahuguna, who is also a member of the parliamentary committee on power consultation, said the hydro projects were the very pillars of the economy of the hill states and they couldn’t be overruled merely in the name of religion or sentiments.

Agreeing with Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, Bahuguna added that only environmental concerns should be the measures.

Bahuguna urged several ashrams, temple committees, muths and akharas to come forward in this time of disaster. “Either donate in funds or adopt affected villages as per your discretion,” urged Bahuguna, who is the son of former Chief Minister of undivided Uttar Pradesh Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna.

Taking strong cognisance of a lack of state-governed development schemes in Uttarakhand, he made it clear that the present state BJP government had totally failed in providing able governance citing that almost 90 per cent of the development schemes successfully running in the state are funded by the Central government.

On the appointment of the Uttarakhand Congress chief, which is pending for a 10 Janpath decision and the speculation is rife that he has forged an alliance with fellow state parliamentarian and Union State Minister Harish Rawat for pushing a candidate’s name, a diplomatic Bahuguna refused to comment, saying that it’s not the right time to discuss inner party matters while he is gauging people’s woes.

Roorkee: Kunwar Parnav Singh, Congress legislator from Laksar, wants the Prime Minister to set up a monitoring committee for a fair distribution of relief among victims of floods and not like the one set up by the BJP state government to allegedly siphon off the Central funds for the Maha Kumbh. Pranav said he had written to the Chief Minister, seeking special assistance for the area.

Dehradun, October 6
Despite the imposition of the Essential Services and Maintenance Act (ESMA) last night, the pharmacists continued with their indefinite stir and refused to join duty today. Interns and medical officers managed the disbursement of medicines at various hospitals.

Amid heavy police security, medical stores and the counters began operations in the morning, much to the satisfaction of patients though the availability of injections continued to be poor.

The government has already declared that action will be taken against the pharmacists who do not report for duty by 9 am. “We are ready to hold talks with the pharmacists and accept their genuine demands but at no cost would people be put to inconvenience,” said Secretary (Health) Umakant Panwar.

On the other hand, office-bearers of the Diploma Pharmacists’ Association remained belligerent charging the government for adopting strong tactics. “We need an honourable settlement. Unless the government gives us in writing, our stir will continue,” said BS Payal, president of the state unit of the Diploma Pharmacists’ Association. Association members today staged a dharna at the office of the Director General, Health and Family Welfare, HC Bhatt and raised slogans against the government and the Health Department.

“If the members do not join duty tomorrow it will be termed as avoidance of essential services and accordingly action will taken under the Act,” said Dr Bhatt.

Meanwhile, angry at the alternative arrangement initiated by the hospital authorities, the members of the ssociation said they too would seek the help of the courts and by evoking provisions under the Drugs and Pharmacy Act against those persons involved in disbursing medicines.

Fears are also being raised in certain quarters that government is moving towards abolishing the cadre and using the stir to allow privatisation of this arm of the medical services.

Dehradun, October 6
Post rainy season, Mayor Vinod Chamoli held a meeting with officials of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC), Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA), Public Works Department and Payjal Nigam.

Chamoli asked to refer the matter to state government to pay the pending detailed project report (DPR) cost of Rs 64 lakh to Gurgaon-based company KMC, which had drawn a drainage master plan of the city so that it could proceed with action according to the master plan.

It was also deduced that the city was facing the major problem of flooding in monsoon due to two reasons. One is the reduction in the size of the drains and the second building pavements on them. Because of these reasons, the drains could not be cleaned.

Officials of the PWD and the National Highway Authority had been directed to widen the drains from Transport Nagar to Petrol Pump. These officials would also create drains to discharge water from the Shimla Bypass and vegetable market.

Because of a lack of proper drainage on the Subzi Mandi Chowk, rainwater flows toward Majra. The National Highway Authority was given directions to prepare a project to connect the drainage with the river.

Since a canal of the Irrigation Department is damaged at many places, water overflows into the Moolchand enclave. The direction were given to the Executive Engineer, DMC, to prepare a project to repair it.

Morowala had been the most affected region in the city during the monsoon period. Therefore, engineers of the departments had been directed to carry out a joint inspection and present a project to create a drainage under disaster management and the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

To sort out the problem at the Prince Chowk, PWD officials were directed to divert the water flow in the area towards the Tyagi Road and build a cross-drain at the local railway station so that both places could have a proper drainage system.

The Darshan Lal Chowk had registered improvement in terms of functioning of drainage but the water remained stagnant near the statue of Badoni at the Clock Tower. The PWD and the DMC had been directed to clean the drains at this spot after removing the slabs. The Uppar Nagar Adhikari was directed to relocate the people of the nomad community staying on the Saharanpur Road to the designated places.

Nainital, October 6
Employees of the District Collectorate retrieved whatever record they could at the burnt premises of the heritage building of the British era here this morning. The building had been gutted in a devastating fire yesterday.

An eerie silence ruled the premises as people gathered there on the day after the massive fire. The employees maintained an uneasy silence as they went about trying to sort things out. District Magistrate Shailesh Bagauli operated from the office of the Additional District Magistrate (ADM) as his own office had been burnt to cinders.

The employees came to the official premises at six in the morning and were down to work to ensure that the offices start functioning by the normal hours. Most of the offices are now being shared as several rooms had got burnt down.

Sitting in his temporary office, Bagauli said a proposal to the tune of Rs 20 lakh regarding the urgent requirement of new furniture, computers and stationary had been sent to the state government for immediate sanction. He added the ADM and Sub Divisional Magistrates (SDMs) had been given duties to restore the functioning and tabulate the losses incurred in the fire.

Talking about the destroyed documents, he said the papers pertaining to land, land record and important papers of the British period had been saved. However, efforts are being made to restore the remaining papers so that the public does not suffer.

On being asked about the reconstruction of the building, he said it would only be done after taking due advice from the experts as the building was a heritage structure. A team of experts is expected to visit the site later this week and give its opinion on the matter.

The District Magistrate has stated that all offices in the Collectorate would start functioning normally from tomorrow.

Constructed in 1898 after Nainital was carved out as a new district from Almora, the building had been accorded a heritage status in 2005 by the state government led by Narayan Dutt Tiwari. The restoration works are learnt to have been entrusted to 
the Indian National Trust For Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). Plans to the tune of Rs 2.96 crore had been drawn out for its restoration. 

Dehradun, October 6
Almost all projects started by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) are lying in cold storage. Some are stuck in legal wrangles, some have become victims of red-tapism, some are said to be waiting for the release of funds and for the rest the corporation does not have sufficient manpower.

Mayor Vinod Chamoli has expressed hope that in the next six months or one year, the DMC will be able to complete some of these projects. He first pinned hopes on the beginning of the Solid Waste Management project, which is progressing under the baton of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. “In the next few days, we will get survey reports of all those bidders who have applied for the tenders. The selected one will be given the Solid Waste Management project worth Rs 24.5 crore. I am quite hopeful that it will start in the next six or eight months,” he said.

For the other project of Parade Ground development, he did not have much response as it was dangling between the MDDA and the PWD for the preparation of the project blue print. “The MDDA now exercises authority over the Parade Ground after taking its charge from the Nagar Palika. A part of land also lies with the sports complex. All basic modalities are yet to be sorted out by the MDDA and the PWD”.

But, he said, he would be able to achieve the target of the beautification project involving the Gandhi Park, Clock Tower Chowk and the area around the Badoni statue within a year. He also talked of completing the renovation of the Town Hall in the next six months.

The claim seems to be a tall order as Executive Engineer Ravi Pandey two months ago had claimed to overhaul the Gandhi Park within 20 days, but not a single thing has been changed or done there in the past two months.

The file of the DPR report sent by the Mandi Utpadan Smiti regarding Rs 160-crore project of the shifting of Arhat Bazar, which went missing in the Urban Development Office, is not in the knowledge of Chamoli, who said he had no clue to such a development but accepted that the report had got stuck at the Urban Development Office in the Secretariat for the past one year. Therefore, he did not expect much hope on this front as well. Similar is the case with the widening of the Chakrata Road, after initial glimpses of a series of rapid action.

Chamoli also emphasised that the corporation had achieved the target of lighting up 90 per cent of the city by installing 600 light poles worth Rs 2.5 crore, central poles worth 60 lakh from Tehsil to Lalpul and LED lights on the Chakrota Road. Underground cabling on the JMS Road and timers too have been fixed. For the rest of the 10 per cent part of the city, he was hopeful of completing it in the next six months. It is different matter that councillors often created clamour for poor quality of lights where most of them went out of order after a few weeks.

He also emphasised that work on 16 roundabouts would also be visible to the public in the coming few months. How much of these claims will turn or progress toward turning into reality, will be known in next six months.

Dehradun, October 6
In a major boost to Uttarakhand efforts to seek compensation for its environment conservation measures, the Union Planning Commission has put Uttarakhand at the first place in the country with 0.8086 Environment Performance Index (EPI) entitling the state for more of Central assistance.

The EPI is decided on the basis of weightage given for the endeavors made in the field of environment conservation while considering granting Central assistance to the states. Himachal Pradesh stands at the second place with 0.7308 EPI and Chandigarh stands at the third place with 0.7185 EPI.

The Union Planning Commission has divided the attempts made by the Central and the state governments towards environment conservation into five categories. The first category pertains to forest conservation, in which Uttarakhand stands at the first place with full points. Similarly, Uttarakhand stands at first place in the second category, i.e. climate change with hundred per cent points. Uttarakhand stands at the 15th place in abeyant air quality index with 0.8486 points whereas Himachal Pradesh stands at the 14th place with 0.869 points. Goa, Kerala, Mizoram, and Pondicherry collectively are at the first place. Uttarakhand stands at the 28th place in the fourth category, i.e. water quality with 0.478 points. The state stands at the 9th place in the fifth category, i.e. garbage management with 0.823 points. In all, Uttarakhand stands at the first place in the country with 0.8086 points.

The EPI results come at a time when Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has constantly been putting forward state’s demand for Green Bonus in lieu of its environment conservation efforts. The Chief Minister has said Uttarakhand with 65 per cent of its geographical area under forests provides the country with oxygen. The Uttarakhand government works for the maintenance of these forests at its own level and it does not get any direct benefit by such a contribution made by it towards environment conservation.

Uttarakhand Chief Conservator of Forests RBS Rawat terms the report of the Union Planning Commission as encouraging and adds that this will strengthen the attempts made in the state towards environment conservation.