Assocham seeks Rs 10,000 cr for state’s reconstruction
Pegs damage in state at Rs 8,400 crore in report
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 7
While estimating damages in various sectors of the rain-ravaged three districts of Rudraprayag, Uttarkashi and Chamoli of Uttarakhand at Rs 8,400 crore, the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) has sought a special aid of Rs 10,000 crore from the Union Government to rehabilitate and redevelop the state.

Releasing a report on “Assocham Prescription: Coping with the Impact of Disaster in Uttarakhand State”, DS Rawat, secretary-general, Assocham, asserted that Uttarakhand needed special assistance of Rs 10,000 crore for rehabilitation and restoration works. He said the report had analysed the cost of damage to housing properties, crops, livestock, tourism- the prime livelihood in the affected area and destruction of transport and communication systems.

The Assocham report revealed damages to various sectors due to the rains. “Loss to the state’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would be to the tune of over Rs 5,000 crore, owing to the decreased contribution from tourism and trade, hotels and restaurants segments. Over and above this, there would be further loss to state GDP owing to the low demand for transport services in flood-affected areas, said Rawat.

The tourism sector would also witness a direct employment loss of about 1,80,000 persons becoming unemployed for 6 months in the current year. Industrial units in Uttarakhand, especially in these three affected districts, were predominantly micro and small enterprises.

As per the Assocham assessment, the approximate cost of repairs to the national highways would be Rs 6 crore is also indicated by the Border Roads Organisation.

As regards the loss to the industry, the three affected districts accounted for 13.8 per cent share in the total industrial units in Uttarakhand. The loss of the industrial output is estimated as Rs 1,147 crore per year.

The report had been prepared on the basis of feedback provided by a two-member team from Assocham which had visited the affected areas in the three districts, he added.

Referring to the role of Assocham in relief works, he said to extend relief and support and to facilitate and rehabilitate the people of Uttarakhand, Assocham had set up a task force of past presidents, headed by its president Rajkumar Dhoot, who is also a Member of Parliament.

Dr CS Rao, Chief Economist, Assocham, was also present at the news conference. 

 Blasts can be detrimental to Mahabodhi tree: FRI
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 7
Responsible for the upkeep of Mahabodhi tree, Dehradun-based Forest Research Institute has expressed concern over serial blasts in and outside Mahabodhi Temple Complex in Gaya during morning hours today. It said the blasts could be detrimental to the Mahabodhi tree.

Dr NSK Harsh, who heads the FRI's pathology department which is responsible for upkeep of the Mahabodhi tree expressed concern over serial blasts rocking the temple complex. He hoped that both revered Mahabodhi tree and the temple were safe.

"I had a talk over telephone with Mahabodhi Temple Management Trust's Secretary Dorjee and he has informed me that both the Mahabodhi tree and temple are safe", Harsh told The Tribune. He, however, held that he was still to know as to of exact location of blasts inside the complex and how close these were to the Mahabodhi tree.

When asked of harmful effects of blasts on tree physiology, Dr Harsh admitted that blasts at a close range of a tree can be detrimental to the root zone. "The blast tremors can loosen the grip of roots adversely affecting the entire tree. Further, any direct impact of splinters on trunk and other parts of the tree can be damaging", he said.

Dr Harsh and his team is credited for revival of the Mahabodhi tree when the tree reported stress symptoms in 2007. FRI had then suggested removal of iron grill put across the bark of the tree apart from cloth that was proving to be the den of termites. It had also asked for making separate arrangements for burning of incense and other sticks following tree showed signs of revival. FRI has been since then engaged in monitoring the health status of the Mahabodhi tree. FRI scientists visit Bodh Gaya regularly and monitor the condition of the tree from time to time as part of its Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee, after the latter's request to the Institute towards upkeep of the tree.

Revered worldwide Mahabodhi tree has grown from the original tree under which Lord Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment about 2500 years ago. Buddhists from across the world visit Bodh Gaya.

 Blasts in temple ‘unfortunate’, says Satpal Majaraj
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 7
The Uttarakhand Garhwal MP, Satpal Maharaj, has termed the serial blasts in Mahabodhi temple, in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, as unfortunate. In a statement issued today, Satpal Maharaj said blasts at a religious place only revealed the cruel face of terror organisations.

He asserted that Lord Buddha always gave a message of peace and non-violence.

Maharaj sought strengthening of intelligence network in the country to expose terror elements behind such blasts.

Referring to Uttarakhand rain disaster, Satpal Maharaj called for speedy efforts towards the construction of Trijuginarayan-Ukhimath-Kalimath-Guptkashi road in Kedarnath valley.

He also favoured immediate start of worship in the Kedarnath temple.

 Kedarnath yatra: Efforts on to bring saints on one platform
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 7
After a war of words between Shankaracharya Swaroopanand and Rawal of the Kedarnath temple Bhima Shankar, the government started efforts yesterday to bring different stakeholders on one platform and prepare a road map for the resumption of the pilgrimage and initiating rituals and pooja at the temple.

While 55 persons have been sent to cleanse the Kedarnath temple and remove the debris, inclement weather has hampered the work. However, the government was able to break the stalemate after the Rawal of the Kedarnath shrine Bhima Shankar met the Chief Minister yesterday. “There is no confusion on the pooja. We have already resumed it. Now, the temple has to be cleansed and rituals started. I was hurt by the allegations made by Swami Swaroopanand about my status and the way I conduct the rituals. For several ears now we have been the torch-bearers of these rituals and will continue to do so,” he said.

On the other hand, the chairman of the Badrinath and Kedarnath Temple Committee Ganesh Godiyal also said he was willing to resign after Shankaracharya Swaroopanand's statement that the committee was being run by a bunch of incompetent people.

“I do not want to get into a debate of what is right and what is wrong about the rituals. It is faith that matters. Even today, people continue to make offerings at the temple even though the idol is no longer there and the temple has to be cleansed,” he said.

Godiyal said the process to start rituals had been hampered, as the entire area had not been cleared of bodies.

Meanwhile, the vice chairman of Sri Hemkund Sahib Management Trust, Narinderjeet Singh, also met the Chief Minister to discuss ways to start the Hemkund yatra. A meeting would now be held tomorrow in which all saints and other stakeholders would participate.

 VARSA organises relief camp
Tribune News service

Dehradun, July 7
A team of Voluntary Action and Research and Social Activity (VARSA) oragnised a relief camp in the disaster affected area in Badrinath. The team was headed by Ashish kumar along with Bhagwan Singh Karki, Arvind Kumar, Yusuf and Manoj Pundir.

They distributed food packets, water, clothes and medicines to the people in the interior part of the Badrinath area.

They travelled 15 to 20 kms on foot to reach the people in Joshimath, Govindghat, Pandukeshar and Hemkund sahib.

They reached out to the helpless with a spirit of serving the victims. They jointly worked with the army, the Uttarakhand police, the Garhwal scouts and other para-military force.

Team leader Ashish Kumar expressed great satisfaction over fulfilling their commitment to help the victims. 

 Bamboo processing centre opened
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 7
Dr PP Bhojvaid, Director, Forest Research Institute, Dr Anil Joshi, Chairman of Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO), and STS Lepcha, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests of Uttarakhand, jointly inaugurated a common facility centre for bamboo processing and training (CFCBPT) at the Forest Products Division of the Forest Research Institute recently.

Bhojvaid said this centre was part of the FRI’s endeavour to develop value-added products, including handicrafts from bamboos. He added the centre would function as a facilitator and promoter to train self-help groups, NGOs, local artisans and others in bamboo processing, seasoning, preservation, polishing, board and furniture making. He said it will also extend the processing facilities to different stakeholders.

Dr Sadhna Tripathi, Head, Forest Products Division, said the CFCBPT would conduct sensitisation programmes, training programmes for floor-level workers, small-scale producers and entrepreneurs. She said Services of the centre would also be available to stake holders at nominal fees.

The CFC would also contribute to the division’s research and development programmes on value addition in bamboo products. Many machines for cross cutting, removing nodes and skin, slicing, width slicing, stick polishing have been installed at 
the centre.

Scientists and officers of the FRI and the ICFRE apart from the workforce of the Forest Products Division were present on 
the occasion.

 Tourism in Rishikesh affected badly due to calamity
Stakeholders say had never seen such fall in tourist flow
Tribune News Service

Foreigners do yoga along the Ganga ghat at Rishikesh before the natural disaster that struck Uttarakhand last month casting a shadow on tourist inflow to Rishikesh. A Tribune file photograph

Dehradun, July 7
The flash floods have delivered a severe blow to the tourism in Rishikesh this season. The different wings of hospitality industry have never seen such a sharp and sudden decline in the tourist flow to the city, stake holders observed.

Although the season for “kanwariyas” has started to hit the town, the sea of saffron-clad youngsters and rants of “Bham Bham Bhole” are altogether missing.

Sanjeev Kumar, a shopkeeper, said “Neither foreigner nor desi tourists are coming to Rishikesh. We have no business at all. There is an atmosphere of depression all around.”

Vinod Sharma, an employee at a restaurant said, “These couple of months in the entire year spelt maximum business for us. We had to be on our toes all the time to attend a crowd of customers. But after the calamity struck on June 17, we lost all our work. Now, the entire staff sits idle.”

Sunil Bhatt, a senior staff member at Parmarth Ashram Niketan said their guests, who were staying there before the flash flood, left in large groups after the gigantic statue of Lord Shiva was flown away in the gushing Ganga River. Now, though the regular morning-evening arti was taking place, a kind of eerie silence pervaded.

BD Petwal, manager, Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam, said “No one is ready to come to Rishikesh. Guests who had made reservation for rooms in rest houses have cancelled their bookings. No amount of reasoning or explanation that everything is alright in Rishikesh is working for them.

The panic has spread everywhere. The coverage of the disaster shown on news channels has frightened people so much that they are not ready to travel to any part of the state now.”

 Interviews under ‘Uthan’ scheme held
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 7
In the tiny back room of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, interviews of candidates of poor sections are going on these days for selection under scheme "Uthan". Under this programme, around one lakh youngsters are to be given training in various vocational courses.

Earlier, 425 were provided training in these courses. Project Implementation Unit Member, Pallavi Joshi said "Those youngsters who come from family with annual income of one lakh are eligible for the programme. After interview conducted by us, these candidates are screened by a committee comprising of the District

Magistrate, Chief Development Officer, Mukhya Nagar Adhikari and a member of District Udhyog Bandhu Organisation. They are then provided training in the craft of their choice, such as nursing, data entry,family health management etc. The duration of these courses differ."

She said, the training would be given free of cost to the candidates. The department also provide them placements as well. However, the rate of placements was little disappointing. In the first batch out of 425 only 45 have been facilitated placement.

However, the enthusiasm of the aspirants is not waning at all. In past few days, around 200 such youngsters have come for the interview.An official from Grass Academy of Education and Training Science, Sumit Grover who is also on the interview panel said, "The state government is very serious about this project. It can be gauged from this fact only that earlier only DMC handled it, but now it has been shifted to Urban Development office. DMC is only conducting the interview. It is a very ambitious plan to make the urban poor youngsters financiallyindependent.”

Additional Mukhya Nagar Adhikari, Harsh Vardhan Mishra said, “The DMC team is sizing up each candidate and ensuring that the worthy candidates were selected who learn the vocational course of their choice or those suitable for them. There is no limit on as such, if e get more number of good candidates, they too will be provided raining and placement as well.” 

 Nainital hoteliers resent CM’s statement
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, July 7
Nainital hoteliers have opposed the advisory by the Chief Minister to the tourists from across the country, not to come Uttarakhand as the state is under the grip of unprecedented disaster, by saying that this announcement of the Chief Minister will further incur losses to the tourist industry in Nainital.

“The Chief Ministers announcement was taken in no time by nation press and it is spreading the message that every tourist place in the state in the grip of disaster where as the real condition is that Nainital have been least affected by this disaster ,” said Kamal Shah Jagati, spokesman of Nainital hotels and restaurant association.

According to the spokesman, the weather in Nainital is highly congenial for the tourists these days but the tourists’ inflow in the city is not as it used till last year these days. “The natural disaster as well as the announcement by the Chief minister has led to fewer tourists visiting Nainital this year,” said the hotel association spokesman.

According to the spokesman, the town has already lost nearly Rs. 20 crore worth tourists business due to bad weather in first 20 days of the month of June which is considered peak time for tourists business of the lake city. “Over 100 odd hotels and associated restaurants in the city are running in heavy losses due to this weather this year and needs to recover with the help of Government policies, for that the association has requested the Government to give relaxation in central and state taxes for the premier tourist town of the state could recover from heavy losses it has incurred due to unprecedented weather this year,” said the hotel association spokesman. 

 Art of Living holds meditation, relief camps
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 7
In an initiative to provide immediate material and trauma relief to the victims of natural disaster, the volunteers of The Art of Living in Dehradun and North India under the aegis of Volunteer For A Better India (VBI) have been working with the relief agencies and the state government.

Eversince heavy floods lashed the area and resulted in heavy loss of lives, volunteers of the organisation have set up relief camps in Guptkashi, Dharasu, Harsil, Rudraprayag, Gauchar ,Rishikesh and Jolly Grant Airport. Volunteers trekked and reached out to the remotest villages like Chandrapura, Medula, Sili, Agastya Muni, Vijaynagar, Ukhimth, Neily, Kund and Arkund to provide relief material, food, medical aid and trauma relief to the inhabitants in distress.

Door to door relief material was distributed in homes who lost an earning member. A team of 250 volunteers, including doctors, are constantly providing trauma relief, medical aid, food and assisting in rescue operations and clearing the debris. As many as 100 truckloads of relief material which came in from various parts of the country have reached the afffected areas. Apart from providing relief material, trauma relief workshops at Dharasu and Harsil have reached out to hundreds of people. "Meditation, breathing exercises and satsangs are helping people to regain their composure and faith and plan their life ahead. Amidst disaster and grief, people are finding solace through these practices," shared Swami Divyanand who is camping at Guptkashi.

 Dehradun diary
Rehabilitation an enormous task 
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 7
The natural disaster, which led to thousands of deaths and destruction of property, has put enormous burden on the state government to rebuild damaged infrastructure and rehabilitate people.

A large number of poor people, who were dependent on the Char Dham pilgrimage, have died in the Kedar valley and other places. The death of earning male members have left these families in lurch. There are villages in the Kedar valley where a large number of men, who used to work in the Kedarnath Dham, are missing and presumed to be dead.

The washing away of a large number of homes, hearths, restaurants and hotels en route the four dhams have left lakhs of people without any means of earning.

Most of the roads in the disaster-hit areas have been damaged and it will be an enormous task for the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and the state Public Works Department to rebuild them. Moreover, incessant rains could hamper the rebuilding work.

It will not be possible to restart the 'Char Dham yatra' this year due to the prevailing conditions. Apart from the Char Dham route, most other places in the state, which used to attract lakhs of tourists every year, have also been badly hit. The enormity of the disaster and the number of deaths of pilgrims has given a message that the state is the most unsafe place in the country. The tourists have left even places like Haridwar, Rishikesh, Mussoorie and Nainital, which used to attract the maximum number of tourists during the summer. Lakhs of people dependent on tourism, including hotels, restaurants, lodges, buses, taxis and tour operators, are without any work. They want that the state government should give a message that despite the natural calamity there are places in the state which are safe for tourists like Mussoorie and Nainital.

Another challenge before the state government is the distribution of relief and compensation to the affected people. The relief operations dependent on helicopters in the cut-off areas in Chamoli, Uttarkashi and Pithoragarh districts have come to a standstill due to incessant rains. Despite claims by the state government officials that there has been no shortage of ration and essential items in any area of the state, there are reports that many areas are still cut-off and awaiting relief supplies. It has been the experience in the past that the relief supplies coming from outside through private or voluntary efforts gets frittered away and lands up in worng hands. Whether it was an earthquake of Uttarkashi in 1991 or Chamoli in 1999, it was found that the relief material which came through voluntary efforts was taken away by the people living near roadside and most of the sufferers living in the places far off from roads did not get anything. The major chunk of such relief material gets cornered by the influential people of the area and distributed on their whims and fancies. Already such reports have started trickling in from various parts of the state. It is also a fact that anyone coming from far away places of the country with relief supplies have no knowledge of the terrain, exact areas of damage or the maximum of affected persons. They tend to drop their supplies at the road head as neither they have the means nor knowledge of the local conditions.

It is the duty of the state government officials to help and guide such relief to reach the most needy people. But the state machinery has yet to fully gear up to reach the affected people due to problems of connectivity. The state government officials are claiming that the BRO and state PWD have been given a deadline of making mule tracks to cut-off villages by July 15 so that the relief supplies could be sent to affected people. Already, efforts are on to use choppers to reach such cut-off areas but these machines depend on the weather conditions.