Haridwar stands up for Anna
Juna Akhada members perform havan, offer prayers to ensure success of his movement
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, August 17
Lending its support to Gandhian Anna Hazare’s movement for a strong Jan Lokpal Bill, the religious community of the pilgrim city is holding hawans and other rituals to make sure his movement is successful.

At Juna Akhada, it members performed a hawan and offered prayers to the holy Ganga and even did sloganeering in support of Hazare, which is usually not associated with the members of the religious community.

The national general secretary of Juna Akhada, Shri Mahant Harigiriji Maharaj, said time had come to remove the menace of corruption from our society.

The religious head of the shrine of Shri Dakshin Kali Peet, Shri Mahant Kailashanand Brahmchari, prayed for Hazare’s victory, saying that it’s high time that all those part of government machinery, be it the MPs or the bureaucrats, have to be accountable to law and people.

Meanwhile, mass support is pouring in to Anna’s campaign, as almost every hour either a procession or a symbolic protest is held in the city. Employees of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited too took on the Union Government for confining Anna Hazare to the Tihar prison.

Led by Information and Public Relations Department AGM Rajiv Maniktala, the employees took out a protest march from the Chandracharya chowk to the Prem Nagar Ashram ghat.

Maniktala said the Jan Lokpall Bill draft prepared by the representatives of the civil society and the one prepared by the Cabinet Ministers had quite a large difference. “If the government’s draft becomes an Act then it’s of no use but if the other one becomes an Act then it will surely help nail erring ministers, bureaucrats, judicial officers or government employees”.

Former councillors too observed a symbolic agitation at the Devpura chowk. They included Dinesh Joshi, Rajendra Rawat, Tarun Vyas, Satish Tyagi, Anuj Walisa and employees.

Under the aegis of the Uttarakhand Kisan Morcha, farmers organised a protest at the SDM’s office in Roorkee today. While the activists of the Rashtriya Gram Vikas Party and Maidani Kranti Dal protested at various places in the city and courted arrest.

 Khanduri leads march in Doon
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 17
A former Chief Minister, Lt-Gen BC Khanduri (retd), today took out a march in support of social activist Anna Hazare that began from Shivaji Dharamshala, passed through Paltan Bazar and finally wound up at the Parade Ground.

Though accompanied by a large number of party workers, the former Chief Minister ensured that the march was apolitical from the very beginning.

He even asked the party workers not to raise party slogans or carry the BJP flag. However, this did not prevent the party workers from raising slogans against the Congress government.

On reaching the Parade Ground, the former Chief Minister said a mass movement was required to prevent the cancer of corruption from spreading.

True to expectation, while BJP party leaders and ministers kept away from the rally, the workers and BJP leaders with ministerial ranks, who are perceived to be close to the former Chief Minister, participated in it.

Later, members belonging to the Jat Mahasabha, the Doon Auto Association, the Peoples’ Forum, a group of Advocates and members belonging to the Bhim Rao Ambedkar Sangathan also held a march in the city. This was followed by a march by residents from different colonies, which converged in different groups and marched down the Clock Tower.

A group of students also held a scooter rally from Rajpur to Gandhi Park.

 New districts
Mood upbeat in Didihat, Ranikhet
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, August 17
People of Didihat and Ranikhet are in an upbeat mood as their long-pending demand of having separate districts has been fulfilled. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank announced the creation of four new districts in the state, including Didihat and Ranikhet, during the Independence Day address in Dehradun.

“After we came to know that the new district of Ranikhet would be declared on Independence Day, we waited patiently for the announcement and started rejoicing after we learnt that the new district had been declared,” said Ravindra Joshi, convener of the Zila Banao Sangharsh Samiti which had resumed the movement on January 2 this year under the leadership of the Ranikhet Bar Association for the creation of the new district of Ranikhet.

According to Joshi, the demand for a separate district of Ranikhet was raised for the first time in 1956 by members of then Bar Association, Ranikhet.

“The revenue board of Uttar Pradesh at that time agreed in principle for a separate Ranikhet district but due to resource crunch, the UP government could not fulfil it. The people of Ranikeht started taking the demand seriously,” said Joshi.

“After starting in 1956, the movement also picked up in 1988 when BJP leader Rajnath Singh promised the district during the election campaign,” added Joshi.

According to officials, four sub-divisions of present Almora district, Ranikhet, Dwarahat, Chaukhutia and Bhikiasain, will be included in the newly declared district of Ranikhet.

The voice to separate border sub-divisions of Munsiyari, Dharchula and Didihat as a separate district unit was at first raised by advocate Bhagwan Singh Dangi in 1980 on the ground that these areas were at a great distance from the district headquarters of Pithoragarh, thus hampering the progress in these areas.

“The district headquarters of Pithoragarh, when it was separated from Almora in 1960, was proposed at Didihat but due to some political reasons, it could not be materialised and the headquarters was made in the Sor valley, but it provoked the demand for the separate district of Didihat as the headquarters had been snatched from the hands of the people of Didihat,” said Jodh Singh Bora, a leader of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) and prominent activist of the movement for Didihat district.

“After Bhagwan Singh Dangi, leading advocates of the sub-division Dan Singh Kharayat, Chamu Singh Bhaisora and other Bar Association members led the movement before we resumed it two months ago,” said Bora.

The sub-divisions of Didihat, Kanalichina, Berinag, Dharchula and Munsiyari will be included in the proposed district of Didihat. 

 1,028 schools without water in state
763 are in Garhwal and 265 in Kumaon: Survey
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 17
Water, a basic necessity of life, continues to be out of reach of children studying in 1,028 primary and basic schools of Uttarakhand. Deprived of potable water for the past several years, the students have been forced to either go thirsty or make alternative arrangements on their own.

With the Supreme Court stepping in and issuing directives, the Uttarakhand Government has released Rs 10 crore for providing basic and primary schools with water facilities by November 30, 2011.

Out of the total number of 1028 schools, 763 schools are in Garhwal and 265 in Kumaon, according to a joint survey conducted by the Education Department and the Jal Sansthan.

The Jal Sansthan has proposed to provide potable water facilities in 866 schools. So far, the work is in progress in seven schools, said PC Kimothi, Secretary Appraisal (Jal Sansthan).

The Peyjal Nigam had been entrusted with the task of extending water facilities in 29 schools, out of which work was in progress in 12 schools located in Tehri(2), Pithoragarh (7)and in Almora (3). The Swajal would be extending water facilities in Champawat and Pauri.

The state government had sanctioned Rs 13 crore for providing water supply in the schools, out of which Rs 10 crore had already been released.

“Along with providing water facilities in schools, there are 100 places where water sources do not exist but the schools are located there. Such places are located in both Kumaon (26) and Garhwal (100). These schools are at a considerable height. We have to carry out a detailed investigation in these areas,” said Kimothi.

In addition, there are 12 schools which are not functioning due to absence of teachers or due to some other reason.

To ascertain the number of schools without water facilities, a joint survey was undertaken by the Education Department and the Jal Sansthan and a list of 1,504 schools was provided, out of which 476 schools had water facilities.

 State govt accused of favouring encroachers
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 17
President of the Uttrakhand Poorva Sainik Evam Ardh Sainik Sangthan Lt-Col Ganga Singh Rawat (retd) has accused the state government for disposing of lease land under the category 4 to encroachers.

He said initially the government played the game of selling the forest land to politicians, gram pradhans and land mafia. Now it started giving ownership rights to encroachers. The Revenue Department was keeping silence on the entire issue. It had not undertaken the renewal of the land lease as well, he said.

He said they had requested the Governor to dismiss the committee constituted to give the ownership rights to the encroachers in a letter dated August 10 but five days later, the Chief Minister announced to give the ownership rights to those who were in possession of the land.

He appealed to the state government to first verify the actual ownership of the land before handing it over to the people. He also demanded that the Revenue Department should also be probed for delaying the renewal process.

“The government should incorporate the category 4 land in gram panchayat and distribute the available land to the landless,” he said.

 Kumaon reels under rain fury
Rajeev Khanna

Nainital, August 17
Life in the entire Kumoan region, particularly the hill districts, has been totally thrown out of gear on account of the continuing incessant rain. The hill districts remain totally cut off and even in case of Nainital, the connectivity is being restored only in phases.

The worst affected are the passengers coming from the plains who were not aware of the prevailing conditions in the region. On the Tuesday night, a large number of people were stranded at Moradabad as the route to Haldwani and parts of Udham Singh Nagar via Rampur was closed on account of flooding in Rampur town. With Moradabad undergoing a night time curfew on account of the recent communal clashes, the passengers were left high and dry, although the police and other authorities could be seen building confidence among them.

The alternative route for reaching Haldwani and Ramnagar via Kashipur was also closed after sometime as there was severe waterlogging near the Thakurdwara region. The staff of the Uttar Pradesh Transport Department and the Uttarakhand Transport Corporation, as personally witnessed by The Tribune team, did a commendable job trying their best to make the passengers reach viable destinations driving through the waterlogged areas.

With Almora, Ranikhet, Bageshwar, Champawat and Pithoragarh having been cut off from the rest of the region, a large number of the passengers were stranded at Haldwani and other places that are nodal centres for transportation. The District Magistrate at Nainital, Shailesh Bagauli, has directed all the Sub-Divisional Magistrates (SDMs) and Tehsildars to ensure that these passengers find a roof over their head to stay and food to eat. He has stated that there is no dearth of funds and everything will be done to provide relief to those in distress.

In Nainital town there was a landslide in Chuna Dhara and Popular Compound areas. Some families are being shifted to safer places by the local administration. There was also a massive landslide near Pines on account of the gushing flow of a nullah. The vehicular traffic between Nainital and Bhawali was suspended.

Similarly, the stretch between Bhimtal and Kathgodam was closed. Vehicles were allowed to ply on the Nainital-Haldwani and Nainital-Kaladhungi roads in phases. Areas like Betalghat, Ramgarh, Okhalkanda remained cut off and there are reports of families at several location shifting to safer places.

The road between Khairna and Ranikhet is open while the stretch between Khairna and Almora has been devastated. It is this stretch which the administration has failed to repair for almost a year since it was devastated during the monsoon last year.

In Almora, District Magistrate DS Garbyal has put the entire administration on alert. He has also ordered distribution of tents among people whose houses are highly vulnerable to natural disasters.

In Udham Singh Nagar, District Magistrate BVRC Purshottam has appealed to the people not to venture near water bodies either for fishing or otherwise. He has asked the officials to make sure that there is ample supply of food grains in all parts of the district.

Meanwhile, keeping in view the inclement weather conditions, a holiday has been declared in all the educational institutions on Thursday.

75 families shifted as Sharda swells
Tanakpur faces flood threat
Our Correspondent

  CM for increasing Haj quota

Dehradun, August 17
Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has stressed the need for raising the quota of Haj pilgrims for Uttarakhand to 2,500 in view of the increase in the number of applicants every year.

In a letter to Union External Affairs Minister SM Krishna, the Chief Minister has said that since the formation of Uttarakhand, there has been an increase in the number of Haj applicants every year, but owing to the low Haj quota for the state, many applicants are left out of the annual pilgrimage. – TNS

 Irrigation staff start dharna
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 17
Members of the Employees Association of the Irrigation Department started an indefinite dharna in front of the office today. They are protesting against the alleged delay in deciding over a fair distribution of work among the various divisions of the department.

President of the association, Shekharanand Raturi said the matter of distribution of work had been pending for the past 10 years. Now, when the time for the decision has arrived, the file has got stuck between the department and the state government, he added. General secretary Ramesh Ramola said the Principal Secretary cleared the file but the Irrigation Minister, Matbar Singh Kandari, had still not approved it. The association also raised other demands, including the merger of the Irrigation Department and the Minor Irrigation Department and swift approval to the projects related to Arakot-Tyuni and Tyuni-Plasu hydroelectric projects.

 Scientists, IFS have vital role in forestry: Topper
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 17
Agni Mitra, who was today awarded the Gold Medal for his all-round outstanding performance in the Indian Forest Service Probationers 2009-11 course, will be joining the service in far-flung Andaman as he has been allotted the AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh,Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories) cadre.

Interacting with The Tribune on the sidelines of the convocation, Agni Mitra said Adaman had its own set of challenges. Restoration of the coral reef following devastation caused by the tsunami was among the works that could be focused upon in Andaman. Indonesia initiated poaching was another major challenge for forest officers in Andaman which needed to be looked into, he said.

A former researcher at the Wildlife Institute of India, Agni Mitra said both scientists and the IFS had an important role in forestry. He, however, personally favoured scientists heading research institutions in the country.

Mitra was also the topper in core forestry subjects. He also won the EP Gee Prize, the KP Sagrieya Prize, the Sulochana Naidu Prize and the BN Ganguli Award for excellence in various disciplines of forestry.

 CM asks tourists to put off visit to state
Saryu, Ganga flow above danger mark

Dehradun, August 17
Heavy rain today continued to wreak havoc in most parts of Uttarakhand, prompting the government to urge tourists and pilgrims to postpone their visit to the state for one week.

"I request the tourists and pilgrims planning to visit Uttarakhand to postpone their programme for one week in view of the heavy rain continuing in the state," Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said.

Pantnagar recorded the highest rainfall of 79 mm, followed by Dehra Dun at 74.8 mm and Nainital 47 mm.

The administration had sounded an alert yesterday in the state and directed the officials concerned to maintain a high level of preparedness to deal with any eventuality that may happen due to the rain. It had also declared the closure of schools for two days.

The incessant rain also hampered the work by the BRO and police personnel to reopen the landslide-hit roads, including the national highways leading to four Himalayan shrines of Rishikesh, Badrinath, Kedarnath and Yamunotri.

While the Rishikesh-Badrinath road is blocked at Helang and Lambagar in Chamoli district, the Rishikesh-Kedarnath route is blocked at Sirobagad, and the Rishikesh-Yamunotri national highway is damaged at Dharasu in Uttarkashi district.

The blockade of roads have left hundreds of pilgrims and tourists stranded at various places.

Meanwhile, the level of most of the rivers, including the Ganga, Yamuna, Sarayu, Song, Rispana, Gaula and Asan, is rising. The Saryu in Champawat and the Ganga in Haridwar are flowing one metre above the danger mark. — PTI

 2 swept away by rivulet current
 45 families shifted to school, panchayat building
 Passengers stranded on landslide-hit roads evacuated
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, August 17
Two persons were killed in Pithoragarh district while 45 families of Bhanoli village in Dhauladevi block and 18 families of Dhargoan village in Lammgarha block of Almora district were shifted to the the local primary school and the panchayat building, respectively, after six houses were badly damaged in a landslide on Monday night.

“We have sent 40 waterproof tents to the village as the capacity of the primary school and the panchayat building is limited,” said Sumit Joshi, District Disaster Management Officer, Almora.

Forty passengers, including students of Sainik School, Ghorakhal, who had been stranded at the Katar bend on the Almora-Dhaulchina road since August 16, were evacuated. “The road repairs will take time as six big trees have fallen on the road. These are being removed by the labour of the Public Works Department (PWD),” said Joshi.

All the roads leading to Almora town have been blocked for the past 72 hours affecting the normal life in the town.

“The passengers stranded at Makrioa on the Almora-Pithoragarh highway were evacuated this morning but more than 100 vehicles are still stranded on the road, as the incessant rain in the area is hampering the road clearance work,” said Joshi.

According to the Pithoragarh District Disaster Management Officer, RS Rana, two persons were killed in Gopalma village of Munsiyari subdivision when they were swept away by the current of a local rivulet. At least 24 houses were also damaged in the same area due to landslides.

“Due to the closure of all the roads leading to the district headquarters for the past 72 hours, the supply of essential commodities to the town has been severely hit,” said Rana.

 Develop love for forests, probationers told
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 17
Union Environment and Forest Secretary T Chatterjee has called upon young Indian Forest Service probationers to develop affection towards forests and not join the service with a bureaucratic mindset.

Delivering the convocational address for the Indian Forest Service Probationers 2009-11 course at Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy, Dehradun, Chatterjee said forest officers should have a feeling of affection towards the forests. He called for developing a sense of camaraderie between IFS officers and their subordinates, asking the former to also have excellent rapport with lower level district officials apart from having coordination with voluntary organisations and gram panchayats.

Chatterjee favoured improving the livelihood opportunities for villagers through forests.

Director-General of Forests and Special Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests, PJ Dilip Kumar asked the IFS probationers to work as excellent land, forest and people managers. He said while forest officers now had to ensure that forest land was encroachment free, they had also to have partnership with people to become excellent people’s managers.

 Python killed by onlookers
Tribune News Service

Nainital, August 17
Human interference with the norms of nature is assumed to have led to the death of a python in the Kaladhungi area of Nainital district on Tuesday. According to reports, a python in the forest area between Kotabagh and Kaladhungi had killed a deer and was in the process of consuming its hunt.

As it was trying to swallow the animal near the Nihal forest post, a group of onlookers gathered at the spot and their numbers kept on swelling. The python had almost swallowed half of the deer when some of the onlookers started pelting the reptile with stones. As if this was not enough some youngsters caught hold of the hind legs of the deer and tried to pull the animal out of the mouth of the huge python.

While their efforts proved futile, the python is learnt to have died. The postmortem of both animals was done and they were buried. It is learnt that both animals are from the category of protected wildlife. 

 3 held with 170 rare tortoises
Tribune News service

Haridwar, August 17
A consignment of 170 tortoises of endangered species were seized from the members of an inter-state gang in Haridwar today. These rare tortoises are worth lakhs in the international market.

According to the Assistant Divisional Forest Officer, KS Rawat, the gang leader, Sunil Kumar, who is a resident of Bareilly, along with two accomplices, was nabbed at Jwalapur sub-railway station early this morning while he was bringing the tortoises from Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh.

On a tip-off from, a joint team of forest police personnel searched the coaches of the Janta Express during which Sunil tried to escape, but was nabbed along with Jitendra and Saurabh Ghulati, both residents of Jwalapur.

The three have admitted to their involvement in the illegal trade of endangered species. They said they were in search of potential buyers in Haridwar when the police arrested them.

Rawat told The Tribune that some people kept turtles in their homes for good omen while on the other hand there is a good market for the turtle meat in the South East Asian countries and it is also used in some medicines too.

After the arrest of the three wildlife smugglers, vigil was intensified in the city, particularly in the Rajaji National Park and its adjoining forest areas.

The turtle is a scheduled animal and its trade is banned in India under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.