Haridwar to be solar city soon
Master plan is being prepared by Energy Resource Institute
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, February 5
In the coming days, the pilgrim city will also be known as solar city. This will reduce state's dependence on hydro-electric power sources. It will also add to the city's name on being largely dependent on solar power.

Under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, the conversion of Haridwar into solar city will be done, which will be the first in Uttarakhand.

A master plan is being prepared in this regard by the Energy Resource Institute, Government of India, which will cover the Municipal Corporation area of the city initially.

The Municipal Corporation will carry out the project as nodal agency which as per corporation officials will take at least two to three years to fully complete the ambitious project.

Executive Officer of the Municipal Corporation Harshwardhan Mishra told TNS that already an amount of Rs 5 lakh had been sanctioned for this project of which the first master plan and then detailed project report is to be prepared by the middle of this year.

Engineer of the corporation AK Pandey said via solar panel, streetlights, traffic lights, water pumping, sewer pumping and offices of government departments would be covered.

He added that the cost of power supply would be minimum and problem of irregular power supply at street, traffic light posts would be addressed as via solar panels, light would be available round the clock, barring on those days when sunlight is not available due to clouds.

Under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, the aim is to focus on setting up an enabling environment for solar technology penetration in the country and to promote ecologically sustainable growth while addressing the country's energy security challenges.

Former chairman of the local civic body Satpal Brahamchari said since Haridwar being elevated to the Municipal Corporation status a year ago, this is one of the major projects which will illuminate the city's lighting requirements to a major extent.

Brahamchari said dependence of power on solar system was a mast particularly during Mahakumbh, Ardh Kumbh, Kanwar Mela and other religious festivals when power was needed round the clock.

Heavy snow, rain hit life in Kumaon
ITBP sounds high alert on border posts, bans transportation
Darma and Vyans valleys wear white mantle
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, February 5
The ITBP has sounded an alert on the border posts, as heavy snowfall has paralysed the life at the ITBP pickets. There has been heavy snowfall in the higher reaches of Kumaon and incessant rains in the plain areas. “We have banned transportation between two border posts following this high alert,” said Kedar Singh Rawat, ITBP Commandant.

Heavy snowfall at upper reaches and rain that started in the region in wee hours on Monday has not only fully blocked the track way to the Vyans valley, but also closed Thal to the Munsiyari road for the past 24 hours. “The way to Munsiyari is covered under heavy deposits of snow ranging from 6 inches to one feet in 25 km-long stretch starting from Gini band to Munsiyari town,” said a Meteorological Department official.

According to the disaster mitigation office of the district, the hills of Kalamuni, Betulidhar, Ratapani, Chiplakot Lilam and Ralam mountain ranges received nearly 3 ft of snow in the past 24 hours. “Keeping the chilling cold in mind, the administration has not only distributed blankets to needy in Munsiyari town but also arranged for burning of firewood at various places in the district to keep poor people warm,” said RS Rana, district disaster management officer.

According to the reports received from the Darma and Vyans valleys, the valleys are covered with heavy snow for the past 24 hours. “The villagers in the Darma and Vyans valleys of the Dharchula sub-division of the district, which were already struck by closing of road to their villages for the past 15 days, have further fallen to crisis, as the snowfall has closed the parts of the road which were being opened by the BRO personnel,” said Krishan Garbiyal, a Darma resident, presently at Dharchula.

The lower region of Kumaon continues to receive medium to heavy rain for the past 24 hours, resulting in a dip in mercury and biting cold at some places. “The minimum temperature in Nainital district was recorder at 3C on the Tuesday night followed by 4C in Champawat and 4.2C in Pithoragarh district,” said a Met Department source at Nainital.

Drive against illegal water connections fetches Rs 75.24 lakh
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, February 5
In a bid to check unaccounted water connections and sewerage lines in the state, the Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan’s during its one-and-a-half-month drive has seized illegal connections, issued notices and earned Rs 75.24 lakh through new connections.

The drive that will continue till March has disconnected 2,783 illegal and regularised 1,516 connections.

“We have collected an amount of Rs 75.24 lakh after 1,516 connection holder applied for new connections,” said DD Dimri, Chief General Manager, Jal Sansthan. They were imposed a fine of Rs 1,000.

Further, a total of 321 sewerage connections were found to be illegal and revenue of Rs 15 lakh was collected after these persons agreed to pay for the connections.

The drive also yielded information on the connection holders who had been issued water connections for domestic purpose but were illegally using it for commercial purpose. A total of 574 users were identified and penalised by asking them to pay annual water charges.

In addition to these, there have been 3,743 water connection holders who had been involved in water theft but after notices were issued to them, they tried appealed to issue them of new connections.

“By imposing penalty on them, we have earned a revenue of Rs 2.5 crore that has helped us in bringing the habitual offenders fall in line, now they will have to pay bills regularly,” said Dimri.

Prior to the drive, the Jal Sansthan had no clue how to track or bring down thousands of illegal water connections in the city through which millions of litres of water is pilfered for domestic and commercial purpose without a dime being paid to the civic body. The illegal connections had been taken from the main water pipeline.

Apart from decreasing per capita water availability and inequitable access, urban water supply in Uttarakhand has high unaccounted quantity of water due to leakages, theft, metering inaccuracies and losses.

Haj pilgrimage only once in lifetime
Tribune News Service

Rao Sher Mohammed

Dehradun, February 5
Haj aspirants will now be able to go for Haj pilgrimage only once in their lifetime through the state Haj committee. The applicants will have to submit affidavits on stamp paper to the committee about having never been for Haj before.

While addressing a press conference in the city today, chairman of the state Haj committee Rao Sher Mohammed said the changes were effected on the directions of the External Affairs Ministry of the Government of India. He said under the new arrangement, more people would get an opportunity to go for Haj. Hence, this new step was welcome. The applicants of the reserve as well as general category would have to submit affidavits with regard to Haj pilgrimage. In the first installment, Rs 76,000 would be deposited. The applications can be submitted from February 6 to March 20. One helping applicant must accompany 90-year-old applicants, otherwise their registration will be done in the general category. The committee will also hold camps in all the districts to receive applications in this regard. 

Workshop on climate change at FRI
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, February 5
With an aim to develop leadership, particularly in Asia, in the area of sustainable development and climate change, a workshop on sustainable development and climate change was held at Forest Research Institute today.

As part of Asian Development Bank initiative, a team of 68 foreign delegates representing about 50 smaller countries today discussed and evaluated the experiences and policies of the country in promoting sustainable development and to combat the climate change.

Chairing the panel discussion on leadership for sustainable mountain development and climate change, former Uttarakhand Chief Secretary RS Tolia gave a brief account of the mountainous areas of the country in general and Uttarakhand in particular. He said climate change today was a big challenge in the changing times. He said the unplanned settlements in the mountains and unscientific management of land were responsible for degradation of the mountains in his opinion.

VK Bahuguna, Director General of Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, shared his thoughts, experiences and opinion about sustainable mountain ecosystem development. He emphasised on the sound principles of resource management with reference to socio-political atmosphere and role of science and technology in management of natural resources.

PP Bhojvaid, Director, Forest Research Institute, presented briefly the natural resources of the country, the opportunities and challenges for sustainable development of the resources in the context of climate change. He said the effects of climate change caused detrimental influences on hydrology, which resulted in harmful consequences on aquifer recharge, biodiversity and availability of water at the perennial scale.

After initiation of the debate on the issue, the participants discussed the relevant issues in detail and contributed the experiences of their respective countries. They also discussed the opportunity for India to assume leadership role in the areas of sustainable development and climate change in Asia.

SP Singh, FRI (Deemed) University, RK Goyal, Director General, Indira Gandhi National Forestry Aacademy, and Rajender Dobhal, Director, Uttarakhand Council of Science and Technology, were other prominent speakers.

The delegates as part of their stay in Uttarakhand will also visit several institutes and organisations and also the Tehri dam for obtaining in-depth comprehension of the prevailing situations, and interact with local people and other community-based organisations.

Need to conserve environment: Delegates
Jotirmay Thapliyal
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, February 5
Climate change continues to a matter of concern for smaller countries world over.

Foreign delegates from 50 smaller countries today gathered at the Forest Research Institute's board room sharing their climate-related challenges confronting them.

Talking to The Tribune, Zamir Hussain from Pakistan asserted that weather was taking to extremes in Pakistan. "While summers are extremely hot, winters are extremely chilly as well. Temperatures in Islamabad was touching as high as 44 degree Celsius", said Hussain. "The forest cover has considerably declined in Pakistan. We need to work for conservation for environment", he added

Chandani Wijayavardhane from Sri Lanka revealed the occurrence of high intensity of rain in the island nation in recent times.

She said landslides and floods were major challenges before Sri Lanka. "Twenty per cent of hotels are along the coastline and we had already experienced a tsunami so our vulnerability to disaster caused by climate change is quite evident", she said. She said 3,00,000 people had been directly affected in such disasters.

Nheden Amiel from the Philippines disclosed that a large population of his country lived in its coastline and the nation had been a witness to frequent tycoons and cyclones. "We are experiencing almost 20 to 22 tycoons annually in recent years, which is a matter of concern for the Philippines", Nheden Amiel asserted.

Another participant Konstantine from Georgia said a small country like Georgia faced diverse climate change challenges. He said while Georgia needed more of hydropower projects to make up for its much-needed power, but its adverse impact on environment was another challenge for the country.

Vietnamese Nguyen Thanh Van said drought and flood were major natural disasters being faced by her country. She said Vietnam looked forward to India to lead the climate change concerns of smaller countries. 

Traders stage protest against harassment
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, February 5
City traders today staged a protest against harassment by different government agencies, particularly income tax, vigilance and police.

Traders under the city trade division gathered at Har-ki-Pauri and took out a protest march to the City Magistrate office, Devpura.

Last week various traders’ establishments were raided by income tax and commercial tax teams for evading taxes to which trader fraternity expressed resentment.

As part of the pre-announced programme led by district chief Kailash Keshwani, traders raised slogans against the respective government departments for harassing them in the name of raids, routine surveys and checking of their papers.

Traders also lashed at the state government for failing to cater to traders’ interests. Chief of the city traders' union Suresh Gulati said traders of the city had been cooperating with the administration on numerous occasions but still they wee being targeted.

Chief of the Jwalapur Traders’ Union Rakesh Malhotra said be it Municipal Corporation, Power, Food and safety, Income Tax or other departments, their employees harass them and threaten them with dire consequences on not fulfiling their monetary demands.

Suresh Bansal, Shiv Kumar Kashyap, Pradeep Kalra, Nagesh Verma, Ravi Dhingra, Amar Kumar, Vijay Goyal, Vijay 
Bhandari, Shali Chopra, Anil Puri, Vishnu Mittal, Surendra Khatri, Ashwani Sharma and Rajan Kaushik among other traders protested at the City Magistrate’s office.

Tej Prakash Sahu, veteran trader and social activist, said if harassment of traders continued, then they would be force to adopt more stern measures with indefinite agitation and closure of commercial establishments.

Woodstock staff to perform for students
Ajay Ramola

Mussoorie, February 5
For the first time in more than a decade, the staff of Woodstock School will be performing in front of the students a musical titled ‘You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown’ at Parker Hall on February 7, 8 and 9 here. The musical is based on the Peanuts cartoon strip by Charles M Schulz and was premiered in New York in 1967. It has since appeared on Broadway and in London’s West End.

The international cast is made up of 16 staff members from four different countries; India, United States, the UK and New Zealand. The cast is also a good cross-section of the school’s staff base with nine teaching staff and four support staff involved.

Bethany Okie, the school’s new Dean and a professional actress, will be directing the shows scheduled for the weekend.

The actors have been busy rehearsing their lines over the winter break and have returned back to Mussoorie early in order to start to prepare themselves upfront, as the students sitting in the audience would be judging the performance in the reversal of the role this time round.

Music and choir teacher Abe Okie will be playing the lead role of Charlie Brown, ESL teacher Meredith Dyson will play Lucy, while hostel dorm parent Devan Landseidel will play Snoopy the dog.

Communication associate Ed Beavan is playing Linus.

“It is going to be an absolutely hilarious show,’ said Ed Beavan.

Meredith Dyson, another actor, playing the role of Lucy Van Pelt , said, “We have not got much time, but under the expert guidance of Bethany, who has already directed a number of stunning shows at Woodstock, including Brigadoon and Macbeth, we are confident its going to be awesome.”

The Principal of Woodstock, Dr Jonathan Long, said the show promised to be a theatrical extravaganza and that the musical highlighted the talent of Woodstock staff. The other show cast is lined up as Sally Brown played by Bethany Irby, Schroeder by Lindsay Boyd, Patty by Kirsten Beavan, Pig-pen by Steve Luukkonen, Marcie by Melanie Reichwald, Franklin by Adi Manral, Rerun van Pelt by Ritika Roy, Little Red-Haired Girl by Julia Schroeder, Frieda by Anne McGregor, Roy by Enosh Thomas, Violet Gray by Rachna Peter and Shermy by Mark Windsor.

Jessie Huang will be on piano while Chris Rhatigan and Sohail Dass will be on bass and drums, respectively.

Education system needs overhaul: Islamic scholar
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, February 5
Dr Asghar Ali Engineer, eminent moderate Islamic scholar, has said his five-point suggestions should go a long way in checking communal riots and maintain communal harmony in the country.

Talking to mediapersons here today, Dr Asghar Ali said there was an urgent need for a complete overhaul of the education system of the country. “It should be focused on character building rather than the present career-oriented system,” he said. There should also be a vigorous training programme for the teachers to make them aware of the common cultural heritage and proper perspective of history, he stated.

Dr Asghar Ali said there was also a need to rewrite history in its correct perspective to narrow down the misunderstandings between Hindus and Muslims in the country. “I studied all the communal riots in the country since 1960 and found that the role of the police had been highly biased against the minorities. There is also a need for training in secularism for the grass roots policemen and officials,” he said.

He was of firm opinion that the proposed Communal Targeted Violence Bill pending with the Union Government should be passed, as it would fix responsibility of communal riots in the country. “The history of the communal riots in the country has shown that there could not be any major riot without the complicity of the police and the politicians,” he said.

Dr Asghar Ali, who has been advocating better understanding between Hindus and Muslims for the past half a century, said there was a need to forcefully enforce Section 153A of the Criminal Procedure Code dealing with hate speeches. “The provision of seeking permission from the state government to book a person indulging in hate speech should be done away with,” he demanded.

On the question of Hindu and Muslim fundamentalism, he said that extreme Hindu forces as well as Taliban were misinterpreting their religions for their own vested interests. “No religion teaches violence and hatred,” he said.

Dumper owners’ protest continues for 12th day
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, February 5
The protest of dumper owners continued for the 12th day today and only a few of them reached Gaula, Nandhor, Lal Kuwan and Haldwani ranges of the Gaula river for loading minerals. The dumper owners are demanding permission for loading 14 tonnes of minerals from the Gaula riverbed instead of 9 tonnes allowed. The river was opened for tapping minor minerals a week ago.

Only 1,305 of the 6,500 registered dumper owners reached Nandhor to excavate sand and stones, causing revenue losses to the government, said Mahesh Lal Arya, a Van Nigam official at the Nandhor range.

“While only 636 of the registered 3,000 dumpers reached five gates of the Lal Kuwan range, no dumper reached the Shantipuri range,” said the official.

Dr Srikant Chandola, Managing Director, Van Nigam said, “It cannot resolve the problem as the permission for loading nine tonnes of minerals have been given on the direction of the Supreme Court. We are bound to obey the court orders.”

The dumper owners said due to the nine-tonne restriction more than 4,000 daily wage earners had lost their jobs as the lifting of minor minerals from these gates had been below expected targets. While more than 10,000 square metres of minerals should be lifted daily from the Haldwani range of the Van Nigam, only 2,000 square metres of mineral was lifted yesterday, causing a loss of nearly Rs 18 lakh in form of royalty and other taxes to the state government

PNB opens retail asset branch at Astley hall
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, February 5
Punjab National Bank inaugurated its retail asset branch (RAB) at its new spacious premises at Astley Hall here in order to provide better services to its customers.

The RAB processes, sanctions and disburses retail loans, i.e. housing, car, personal loans etc of the entire Dehradun city at this RAB expeditiously to enhance the disbursement of the loans.

The RAB’s new premises was inaugurated by Mahesh Kumar Pangtey, Field General Manager, Meerut, and he said it had been decided that car loans would be sanctioned by this branch within 24 hours and housing loans in five working days. Pangtey distributed sanction letters worth Rs 2 crore to different customers on the occasion.

The gross NPA ratio of the bank has declined from 4.66 per cent in September 12 to 4.61 per cent in December 2012 and net NPAs declined from 2.69 per cent in September 2012 to 2.56 per cent in December 2012.

Ashok Aneja, Circle Head, Dehradun, further said the total advances of our circle have increased by 40.55 per cent in December 2012.

BK Mishra, Chief Manager of the RAB, assured that the entire loan process shall be more customer friendly. SK Bajaj, AGM, Circle Office, BB Chopra, Chief Manager, Circle Office, Naresh Kumar, AGM, Astley Hall, Ramesh Goyal, AGM, and Kaulagarh Road, were present among others.

Education leadership award for GB Pant univerrsity

Dehradun, February 5
GB Pant University of Agriculture & Technology has been selected for the ET Now National Education Leadership Award. University Vice-Chancellor Subhash Kumar will be honoured with the award on February 16 at Taj Lands End, Mumbai, for the outstanding contribution to education.

Dr RL Bhatia, founder project director, Stars of the industry group B-school affairs, has invited Subhash Kumar to receive the award.

The award is given to recognised institutions that are innovative, modern and industry-related in their curriculum in marketing, advertising, marketing communications, engineering and technology. — TNS

Schools to remain closed today
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, February 5
The District Magistrate, Pithoragarh, has ordered the closure of primary and junior schools in the district tomorrow keeping the forecast of heavy rain in the lower reaches and heavy snowfall in the higher reaches of the state, an Information Department press note stated here today.

The DM also alerted departments related to the rescue and rehabilitation work in the event of natural disaster as heavy snowfall along with snowstorm in the higher reaches could harm people and their property. “The District Magistrate has requested the Army, local units of the SSB and the ITBP and the police to remain alert for any kind of exigency,” it said.