Nainital, June 26
One of the oldest public libraries of the region Durga Lal Sah Public Library, which is located on the Mall Road, is at present plagued by multiple problems. Its present condition is perhaps reflective of the diminishing reading culture in society.

Not only does the library wear a deserted look in spite of being a treasure trove of old and rare books but also there is no attempt either from the local administration or municipal body at promoting it.

The Lake City has been home to this public library since 1914. After changing venues several times, the library was established at its current site in 1942 by late Mohan Lal Sah who had named it after his father Durga Lal Sah. Besides being deemed as a heritage site for its historic significance, it is also a major tourist attraction because of its aesthetic value and prime location.

More than 70 ducks tamed by the local municipal body which are kept in the basement of the building adds to its charm.

At present, the library is facing a shortage of qualified staff as no new recruits have been taken in for quite sometime. People well versed with the functioning of libraries point out that on account of limited job opportunities, the number of local students taking up courses such as bachelors and masters in library science has declined in the past few years.

The library is home to several rare books and boasts of an extensive collection of books in English, Hindi, Sanskrit and Urdu. In an attempt to incorporate modern ways, the staff has undertaken the scanning and digitalising of several older books in the library.

Mahesh Gururani, who worked at this library for several years, claims to have noticed a changing trend in the public’s reading habits.

He relates that classics by the likes of Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy are outshone in demand by newer contemporary authors with their fast-moving quick reads. As a result, the timeless collection in the library acquired over a century is rendered almost obsolete. Newer forms of entertainment have pushed reading books into the far background.

As a result very few new releases have been brought in. “The Raja Ram Mohan Roy Foundation donates only a certain type of reading material every year. Hence, the inflow of new content is very limited,” says Gururani.

He fondly remembers ‘old-timers’ who would spend hours in the library discussing authors and advising him on how to further build the collection. Now, the public library is a desolate area where it is rare to chance upon more than a handful of visitors.

Gururani blames this on the declining reading habits of the youth. “By having the Internet with its ready information so close at hand nobody turns to books anymore.” he comments.

A few decades ago, research students from Kumaon University would religiously visit the library every morning for researching on their subjects. But the presence of numerous alternative mediums today leaves books as a last option.

Haridwar, June 26
Tributes were paid to Swami Nigmanand who laid his life for saving the Ganga from illegal quarrying.Congress Committee activists led by Uttarakhand women general secretary Anupama Rawat visited the burial place on the Matra Sadan premises situated in Jagjeetpur, 4 km from Haridwar.

Congress leaders met the Matra Sadan ashram founder Swami Shivanand, expressing condolence for the noble cause for which he sacrificed his life. With placards in their hands, activists offered flowers at the burial place.

Congress chief OP Chauhan lashed at the BJP-led state government saying that had the Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal and the Haridwar district administration been sensitive, life of the Swami could have been saved.

Demanding a ban on quarrying so that the Ganges bed could be saved, Indu Pandey, city women chief, said the decision by the district administration to ban quarrying in the region had come quite late. It had been done to calm the people’s resentment post-Nigmanand’s death.

City Congress committee members also pledged their support to the Matra Sadan saints in their movement against illegal quarrying being done incessantly in the river bed. 

Dehradun, June 26
In order to discuss about the problem of sanitation and flooding at various areas of the city, Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli convened a meeting with officials of all the departments here yesterday so that precautions could be taken before the monsoon begins.

Discussing about the problem near the ISBT, the Mayor said, “To avoid stagnated water near the ISBT a drain is being constructed and the work is in progress with speed but it need to be taken care so that it finishes in time.”

He said, “It is due to the polythene and garbage that water gets halted.”

Chamoli further avowed that despite various requests, the Jal Nigam did not provided the drainage master plan to them, which made working on small drains more difficult. He asked the officials to provide the same to him immediately.

The Mayor said they would be starting a control room on flood management from July 1 and all the departments needed to provide one executive along with five vehicles each.

He asked the officials to make an estimate for the 200-m drain that needed to be constructed at the Turner Road up to Morowala. The Mayor further told them to complete the construction of drain at Darshan Lal Chowk and Lansdown Chowk.

He asked the PWD Department to give him an estimate for the construction of a drain at Prince Chowk so that the corporation could arrange funds for it.

An MDDA official apprised the Mayor that they had not received any letter from the corporation in order to provide money as rent for tractors used for the sanitation drive, thus, funds were not released.

The Mayor told officials to ensure that ongoing work be it the digging of roads or construction of drains etc be completed soon as the monsoon had arrived before time and people should not face any difficulty this time.

Those who attended the meeting included Chief Executive Engineer Sushil Kumar, Additional Executive Engineer HR Rawat, Executive Engineer Ravi Pandey from the corporation while other included MDDA secretary Vinod Suman, Assistant Engineer National Highway YN Rajvanshi and Executive Engineer (PWD) Mulayam Singh. 

Pithoragarh, June 26
As the monsoon advances towards the eastern part of the Kumaon region, the Champawat district administration has started preparing for the rescue and rehabilitation programme against the likely floods in the plain areas of the district which includes the areas of Tanakpur and Banbasa under Tanakpur subdivision.

According to the Champawat district administration, the whole plain region of the district where a number of hilly rivers create flood havoc during monsoon has been divided in three sectors.

“Besides dividing the area into three sectors to manage the flood havoc effectively, we have also identified police swimmers and locations where flood affected people will be lodged,” said Dr Pankaj Pandey, District Magistrate of Champawat.

The first flood affected area includes the area covered by the Jagbura, Huddi rivers and the Bujar rivulet in Tanakpur for which an assistant engineer of the Irrigation Department has been made in charge of the team which includes officials from veterinary, revenue and rural development having a control room at Banbasa police station.

“In the second sector, the areas covered by the hilly rivulets of Ucholigith Gairakhali, Thawalkhera and Kirora will be looked after by the Jal Nigam assistant engineer having control room at the Tanakpur Jal Nigam office,” the DM said.

“The third sector includes Sharada Ghat, Ambedkar Nagar and Tanakpur town. They will have headquarters at the office of Nagar Palika Parishad, Tanakpur,” he added.

THIS year’s tourist season is likely to be remembered for its gross mismanagement on the part of the administration and the government. What has come out strikingly is the fact that the administration simply failed to put an effective traffic management system into place and to check the fleecing of tourists by most of the hoteliers.

Till the writing of this column, the administration had not taken action against a single hotelier in Nainital for fleecing of tourists for failing to maintain a proper tariff card and for running a hotel or a guest house illegally.

It is a well-known fact that close to 250 guest houses and hotels are functioning illegally in the town. Most of them refuse to give receipts of payments to their customers and there is no rationale behind the tariff being charged and it varies on day-to-day basis. For example, in majority of the hotels, one cannot book hotel accommodation in advance on Monday while stating that the rooms would be required over the weekend. He is simply told to come on the day the room is required and the rates depend on the situation on that given day. The trauma for the customer does not end there. Apart from being charged almost 10 times the off-season rates, he is politely but firmly told that he would have to pay extra for every bucket of hot water, for using iron in his room etc.

Despite tall plans announced before the onset of the tourist season with regards to the traffic management, starting of shuttle services from the periphery to the heart of the town etc, the result has been a big naught. The traffic inflow has been too heavy and the parking too inadequate.

It has once again brought to the centre stage the issue that unless a big parking facility with dormitories for drivers is developed outside the town, the situation is sure to go from bad to worse in the coming years.

Having started with token challaning of a couple of tourists for littering the place, there has been no further check on the filth being deposited by visitors on the roads of the lake city. This is an issue which offends the majority of the locals. “Just because they pay the hotels and the eating joints does not mean that they are free to spit around and litter the town,” said an old resident of the town.

(By Rajeev Khanna)

Dehradun, June 26
Residents of the Race Course ward are facing an acute shortage of power and water. They also rued a lackof sanitation.Interestingly, the area was named Race Course as Britishers used to organise horse racing here.

The councillor of the area, Raj Kumari Anand, said she had spent nearly Rs 35 lakh on various works in the area, which include the construction of roads and small drains. However, she complained of dirty water in the area. “Water that comes through the tubewell is not clean,” she added.

Residents of the area also shared problems being faced by them. Most of them complained that the councillor never visits the area.

Balbir Singh, a local resident, said: “Instead of throwing garbage in the dustbin, safai aramcharis dump it in front of my shop, making it difficult for us to even walk.”

Another resident, Jyoti, said: “The councillor never visits the area. Roads are in a bad shape. During rain, it becomes a nightmare for us to go out of our houses.

Despite repeated complaints to the authorities, nothing has been done so far,” she said.

Jag Virmani, vice-president of the Race Course Welfare Society, complained of an acute power and water shortage in the area.

“The authorities have failed to solve our problems. Whenever we complain to the Electricity Department, officials maintain that the shortage is due to heavy load on transformers and nothing can be done,” he added.

Residents Speak

He added that the councillor never visited the area and there was no one to listen to their roblems, thus the society itself managed every problem.

Raj Kumar, another resident, said he had never seen the councillor inspecting the area.

“Small drains remain choked. Safai karamcharis do not come regularly to clear them. An acute shortage of water further adds to our woes,” he added.