$250 mn World Bank aid for disaster relief

Washington, October 26
The World Bank has approved $ 250 million assistance for Uttarakhand, which was hit hard in June by heavy rains and flash floods and 580 persons were killed, to help it undertake rehabilitation work and strengthen its capacity for disaster management.

“In order to respond in a timely manner, the project was fast-tracked under the World Bank’s emergency procedures and was prepared within three months,” said a press note.

India had sought assistance from multi-lateral agencies like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for undertaking rehabilitation work in Uttarakhand. The ADB too is expected to finalise its assistance package soon.

“A team has been camping in Dehradun since the day the government had sent the request for assistance. We all know the winter is quite harsh in these parts and hence it is important for us to get the project going and help in sheltering people before the winter hits them,” World Bank’s Country Director in India Onno Ruhl said.

Earlier, a joint World Bank and ADB team conducted a Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (JRDNA) at the request of the Indian government to rebuild the state’s infrastructure and assets lost in the June disaster.

The JRDNA has estimated the physical damages across a range of sectors and calculated the cost of reconstruction at about $661 million.

The sectors covered include housing and public infrastructure, roads and bridges, water supply and sanitation, livelihoods (in agriculture, fisheries and medium and small-scale enterprises), tourism, energy and environment.

“Disasters like the one we witnessed in Uttarakhand can roll back decades of development and are a fundamental threat to economic development and the fight against poverty,” Ruhl said, adding that this project would focus on both reconstruction and disaster preparedness.

“It will help the government of Uttarakhand with immediate relief efforts by building houses and public infrastructure, including small roads and bridges. A very important part of the project will be to help the state be better prepared for the future,” he added. — PTI

Confusion over special mining vigilance force
Gaurav Talwar
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 26
Questions are being raised over the seriousness of the government over the constitution of Special Mining Vigilance Force, which was announced by Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna in the first week of October, to tackle illegal mining in the state.

Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Sanjay Gunjyal was announced as the head of the force, which is mandated to curb illegal mining in ecologically fragile zones along the Ganga and its tributaries in the hilly state.

The questions are being raised in the police department itself as police officials are calling it a sham and a force with no legal powers to take on the mafia involved in the illegal mining.

Requesting anonymity, one senior police officer told The Tribune, “No homework was done before such announcement was made and police headquarters was not even taken into confidence before setting up the force, which is supposed to be headed by a DIG-rank police officer.”

"Confusion prevails even among the police officers about its legality. Whether the force will have arresting power or not and to whom will it report is still not clear”, asserted another senior police officer. Sources told The Tribune that the order regarding the setting up of Special Mining Vigilance Force has not been issued and the government has attracted criticism from all around after the announcement.

Dinesh Pandey, a green activist who is fighting against illegal mining in the state, told The Tribune, "The government has set up an anti-mining force without seriousness and the move looks like a formality and the intension is not fighting the mining menace.”He also said the government is just trying to befool the people of the state by setting up such force. It has no intention to stop illegal mining.

Significantly, mining is governed by Mines and Minerals (development and regulation) Act, 1957. According to experts, the role of police is limited to the enforcement of anti-mining laws. But in the case of newly announced force in the state, it’s not clear whether the force will have only enforcement powers or will have overseeing control as well.

It also seems that the modalities regarding constitution of such a force was not even taken into consideration. Questions whether the force will consist of policemen only or it will be a joint force of police, forest and revenue need to be answered.

GMVN wants quick geological study for mineral mining
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 26
The Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) has convinced the state government to reduce the time taken in giving clearance to geological studies on the permissible river slot with regard to mineral mining from three months to one month.

The Nigam is making efforts to convince the Ministry of Environment and Forests to do the same. Rajesh Kumar, MD, GMVN, is hopeful to get clearance over 102 mining slots within one year, which will yield an annual revenue to the tune of Rs 800 crore for five years in a row.

Rajesh said, “I have already received permission for 12 slots and will meet MoEF officials next week to get clearance for 15 slots. My appeal to the state government to squeeze the time taken in giving clearance to geological studies from three to one month has been accepted. I am quite optimistic that the MoEF too will also agree to my request. We have got five years to undertake the mining activity. If we go by the cumbersome and time consuming process of obtaining sanctions, then it will take up most of the mining period, causing losses.”

He himself is representing the GMVN before the Centre. Out of the annual revenue of Rs 800 cr earned through mining, he said Rs 300 crore would go to the state government while the rest would remain with the GMVN.

He said the GMVN was not a loss for being denied the mining rights. “As 20,000 hectares are at our disposal for mining, we are unable to carry out mining on such a vast area. We have the rights to hold auctions only, for which we will charge 10 per cent service charge. We are going to utilise the entire are and it will generate a revenue of Rs 800 crore every year. This was unimaginable earlier.”

Tharoor meets CM, discusses post-disaster situation in state
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 26
Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor today met Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna at latter’s residence in Dehradun and discussed the present situation in the state in the aftermath of the recent natural disaster.

Tharoor expressed satisfaction over the rescue operations and management of relief works by the state government. Tharoor and Bahuguna also discussed the unending opportunities for tourism in Uttarakhand, with the former acknowledging that most destinations were safe for tourists here.

The Chief Minister gave detailed information to Tharoor about the relief and rescue works undertaken till now and also shared the work plan for future.

“The pilgrimages to Char Dham and Hemkund Sahib have resumed. Relief amount of Rs 300 crore has been disbursed through cheques,” Bahuguna told Tharoor.

The Chief Minister also told him that tourism development work had commenced around the Tehri lake and the state government was making efforts to increase income-generating activities to enable people of Tehri to become economically independent. He presented a memento to Tharoor.

Ambika Soni to visit Pithoragarh today
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, October 26
The Congress workers will be able to meet the party general secretary and in charge of Uttarakhand affairs, Ambika Soni, during her visit to Pithoragarh tomorrow. Ambika Soni will be touring Pithoragarh and Rudrapur in the Kumoan region to gear up the party functionaries for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Vijay Saraswat, general secretary of the Uttarakhand Congress, said that she would take stock of the situation by interacting with party leaders and workers.

“The Congress will make efforts to ensure victory on all five Lok Sabha seats in the state,” said Saraswat.

The Congress general secretary said all the areas of the state as well as all ethnic groups were equally important to the party. "We do not believe in dividing society for votes," said Saraswat . State Congress spokesman Mathura Datt Joshi said the party will soon begin preparations for the forthcoming parliamentary elections.

Bhoomi poojan for Vidhan Sabha building on Nov 9
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 26
The bhoomi poojan for the new Legislative Assembly building at Bhararisain in Gairsain is scheduled to take place on November 9. The proposed construction of the building had taken a backseat due to the natural disaster in June. The stone-laying ceremony had taken place last year. Deputy Speaker AP Maikhuri said the decision would enthuse the people of the state "The state is on the way to recovery and it would revive the memories of the moment when the Chief Minister had announced to construct the building," said Maikhuri.

The Uttarakhand Government has already sanctioned Rs 80 crore for the construction of the building, a residential complex for MLAs, officers' hostel and the Vidhan Sabha Secretariat.

However, when asked why the government was dithering in announcing Gairsain as the winter capital of the state, the Deputy Speaker said the decision had to be taken by all the parties.

The Deputy Speaker was also careful while answering questions regarding his stand on the Uttarakhand Lok Ayukta Act, 2011, and if he was in agreement with Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal on th issue.

"As the custodian of the Legislative Assembly, the Speaker can demand that the Act be implemented as it was passed by the Assembly. On the other hand, the government has the right to reject, amend or implement an Act," said Maikhuri.

8 held with smack, charas worth lakhs
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 26
In two different cases in one day, eight persons were arrested by the police of two police stations and recovered smack and charas worth lakhs in the international market here yesterday.

The Patel Nagar police has arrested two drug dealers and recovered 50 gram smack from their procession here today afternoon. Both, Gopal, a resident of Chamoli, and Gaurav Rawat, a resident of Dehradun, were nabbed by the police near a public school in the Patel Nagar police station area.

Gopal was caught with 28 gm smack and Gaurav had 22 gram smack. During interrogation, they accepted that they had been smuggling drugs from other places to Dehradun for supplying to their customers. A case had been registered against them under the NDPS Act.

The police is trying to ascertain the names of people who were their regular customers. Both Gopal and Gaurav are said to be in the illegal trade of drugs for last many years and were private course students in DAV PG College, Dehradun.

On the other hand, Sahaspur police arrested six persons and recovered smack and charas from their possession. Around 20 gm smack and 700 gm of charas have been recovered from them. The arrested persons namely, Riyasat, Javed, Shalendra, Yusuf, Sanjeet and Manish used to target students of private institutions for selling drugs.

Riyasat was caught carrying 500 gm charas alone. Cases have been registered against them.

Probe into land allotted to Tehri Dam evacuees
Tribune News service

Dehradun, October 26
Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna has ordered an inquiry into the irregular allotment and transfer of land to the persons displaced because of the Tehri dam project. The government has nullified the complete work of allotment and mutation done by the Director (Rehabilitation) after October 25, 2012. The status quo will be maintained at the disputed sites till further orders. The Commissioner, Garhwal, has been deputed to conduct the inquiry and submit his report by December 15.

Shridhar Babu Addanki, Additional Secretary ( Irrigation), said the October 25 order had permitted the acceptance of eligibility, approval of compensation, approval of the allotment of agriculture and residential land and transfer only after obtaining prior financial and administrative permission of the government.

Govt proposes rice procurement target of 80,000 mt
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 26
The Congress-led state government proposed a target of 80,000 metric tonnes for paddy procurement for the state under the paddy procurement policy for the kharif marketing season 2013-2014 released yesterday.

Out of this, the target for procuring rice for the Department of Food and Civil Supplies has been set at Rs 70,000 metric tonne. The department expects to receive 47,0000 metric tonne of custom milled rice (CMR).

The state government will complete the delivery of levy rice from the state rice millers by June 30, 2014.

As the Central government has not released the levy paddy rates for the kharif marketing season 2013-2014. Hence, for now the levy rates of 2012-2013 would be implemented.

Illegal trade in owl body parts picks up around Diwali time
Jotirmay Thapliyal
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 26
Wildlife conservationists across the country continue with their efforts to check illegal owl trade, particularly during Diwali time when it picks up due to rise in demand. Uttarakhand too is notorious for being one of the states where actual trapping of owls takes place before they are taken to other parts of the country for trade.

In the Hindu religion, owl is considered sacred as the vehicle of Goddess Lakshmi. During Diwali the demand for owl increases phenomenally as their body parts are used in ceremonial rituals by black magic practitioners, who prescribe various uses for owls and their body parts, including their skull, feathers, ear-tuffs, claws, heart, liver, kidney, blood, eyes and bones for fulfillment of worldly desires. These body parts are kept by shopkeepers, who believe that this would increase their trade, while it is a common practice among parents to use these to protect their children from evil forces. This despite the fact that the hunting and trade of owl species is banned under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972,

According to a report on owl trade “Imperilled Custodians of the Night” (one of the sole comprehensive reports ever prepared on the owl trade in the country), Uttarakhand continues to be among the states in the country where the actual trapping of owls takes place. Based on field visits and interviewers with trappers, the report reveals that besides Uttarakhand, owl trapping takes place in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Rajasthan. In Uttarakhand, the Baheliya community in Hindus and the Bhatiyara community in Muslims are said to be involved in owl trapping. These communities in Uttarakhand are active in Haldwani and Dehradun areas. They are traditionally connected with bird trade and catching owl is a simply an exercise for them. However, besides Haldwani and Haridwar, the owl trade has also been reported from Pithoragarh and Nainital hills

SK Dutta, head of the Uttarakhand Anti-Poaching Cell, says the Forest Department keeps extra vigil during days around Diwali to check the owl trade. He admits that the illegal trade takes place more in the Terai region in Kumaon and Haridwar and the Forest department has to be more vigilant during days of festivals.

“Owls play an extremely useful ecological role by controlling the population of rats and large insects. In an agrarian country like India where 60 per cent of the population is dependent on agriculture, the role of owls should be recognised and strict protection should be provided to these magnificent nocturnal birds,” said Abrar Ahmed, author of the report.

Shoddy practices

The body parts of owls are kept by shopkeepers, who believe that the practice will increase their trade, while it is a common practice among parents to use these to protect their children from evil forces.

Lokayukta Bill: CLP to meet on Nov 6
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 26
The Congress Legislative Party (CLP) will meet on November 6 to decide the fate of the Uttarakhand Lokayukta Bill that has received the consent of the President. Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna said the CLP along with the allies would take a call on the Bill at the meeting.

Meanwhile, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Govind Singh Kunjwal, has urged the government to adopt the Act as it was unanimously passed by the Assembly during the BJP rule.