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Rajaji National, Jim Corbett Parks thrown open to
public
Rajaji National Park being reopened for the public in the Pauri Garhwal-Haridwar zone
on Friday. Tribune photo: Rameshwar Gaur
Third tiger census to focus on north eastern states
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Negi approves new site for hospital, BJP cries foul
Villagers threaten agitation, ask for alternative route
Mountain biking race begins tomorrow
Bahuguna announces setting up of seven trauma centres
Tehri residents live in fear of leopard attacks
Forest corp employees continue protest
Bhatt flays govt for ‘poor law and order’ situation in state
‘Kidney failure can be checked at initial stage’
Dr Vikram Singh, a nephrologist, (right) and Dr Pravin Jindal, a vasucular surgeon, address a press conference in Dehradun on Friday. Tribune photo: Vinod Pundir Four policemen, 6 others hurt in sectarian clash Security up on Indo-Nepal border
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Rajaji National, Jim Corbett Parks thrown open to
public
Haridwar, November 15 Rajaji National Park is spread across the three districts of Pauri
Garhwal, Dehradun and Haridwar in the foothills of the Shivalik ranges. It is named after the last Governor-General of India, C
Rajagopalachari, and was founded in 1983. It has 23 species of mammals, 315 of birds, 40-odd species of reptiles and fish and is home to Asian elephants
(elephas maximus). Earlier, the gates of the park were reopened in the presence of park Deputy Director HP Singh, Chilla range officials and a large number of tourists in the wee hours today. This time, the park authorities have equipped safaris gypsy, which ferry tourists inside the park corridor, with wireless connectivity. It will help ensure better communication among all gypsies ferrying the tourists as well as coordination with the park checkposts and
officials. Chilla range officer DP Uniyal said this would help officials at the park control room know the whereabouts and the exact location of gypsies. In case of any conflict or danger, these handsets would come in handy. The park authorities have also deployed local youths as specialised nature guides, who will guide tourists in the interiors of the park corridors. These nature guides have been given special training regarding varied species of wildlife, flora and fauna and birds. They have also been given tips on the locations where elephants, tigers, deer, peacocks and other animals are most spotted. The Rajaji park authorities have made also the registration of safari gypsies with the RTO mandatory, failing which the vehicles will not be allowed to operate in the park
area. Arun Ohri, a localite, who visited the park for the first time, said they spotted rare species of peacocks, deer and some birds today. Park officials and wildlife experts said visitors would be spotting Asian elephants in the winter months.
Rajaji park, Dhikala zone of Corbett park open
DEHRADUN: The Dhikala zone of the Jim Corbett National Park was formally thrown open to tourists today. No formal inauguration of the park took place due to the natural disaster in the state and a large number of casualties therein. Meanwhile, the opening of the Dhikala zone of at the Jim Corbett park was marred by a protest by UKD activists, who forced the main gate of the park to close from 5 am to 1 pm. The UKD workers alleged that the state forest authorities were denying locals the traditional Kandi route that connects the Garhwal division with the Kumaon division. The Bijrani zone of the Corbett park, which is a daytime zone for visitors, was opened on October 15 and with the opening of the Dhikala zone, which has the facility of night visit also, the park is now completely opened for tourists. According to the Uttarakhand wildlife authorities, all broken culverts and kuchha roads have been repaired and tourist facilities have been spruced up. Meanwhile, all accommodations at both Rajaji and Corbett parks have been booked for November.
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Third tiger census to focus on north eastern states
Dehradun, November 15 Tough terrain and extreme weather conditions at times make it difficult for wildlife enumerators to ensure long days of camping at the sites and thus getting results from camera traps is not at all easy in such places. But now with the availability of genetic-based tiger count system, tiger biologists are hopeful of covering more of tiger areas in the North East and getting results with high accuracy. Tiger biologist and senior scientist at Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Qamar Qureshi, who has been part of WII-led tiger census in the country from the very beginning, disclosed that apart from camera traps, genetics-based tiger count will also be put to use in North East, where infrastructure and logistics support that facilitate conduct of census are major challenges. “Genetics-based tiger count will be an added advantage in case of North East, where getting logistics support is not easy due to tough topography,” he said. “No matter, a bit costly affair, genetics system of tiger count will be of much assistance in the North East and help cover more of area this time in the North East,” Qureshi added. Known for its accuracy, the genetic-based tiger census exercise involves collecting tiger scats and subsequently putting this scat into DNA test. Significantly, scat provides a unique DNA signature that helps to accurately identify every individual tiger. The WII 2008 tiger census report has put the tiger population at 70 in the North East. The region also shares long international borders with trouble -torn Myanmar, which has been a transit country as far as wildlife trafficking is concerned, particularly when it comes to South East Asia, where tiger products are in great demand. Out of six tiger reserves in the North East, three are in Assam, that include Kaziranga tiger reserve, Manas tiger reserve and Nameri tiger reserve, two in Arunachal Pradesh, Namdapha tiger reserve and Pakhui tiger reserve, and one Dampa tiger reserve is in Mizoram.
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Negi approves new site for hospital, BJP cries foul
Pithoragarh, November 15 BJP workers resented the approval of the new site for the hospital by the Health Minister and said the government was playing cheap politics. The selection of the new site for the hospital means that the plot chosen and developed by the previous BJP government would be abandoned. The BJP government had approved the construction of the hospital in 2007 and the then Chief Minister, Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank, had sanctioned Rs 2 crore for the development of the land in 2010. The land was duly developed at the cost of Rs 2 crore. “Abandoning the land selected by the previous BJP government for the base hospital shows that the Congress leadership is complicating the matter and deceiving the people. The issue will be duly scrutinised by the Finance Department
as well as CAG,” said Prakash Pant, former Cabinet minister. The Congress after coming to power rejected the earlier selected land on the ground that it was situated at a distance from the district headquarters. It selected a new plot for the hospital to take credit for it.
“It is nothing but cheap politics in the name of giving facility to common people,” said Naresh Joshi, a social activist in the
district.
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Villagers threaten agitation, ask for alternative route
Pithoragarh, November 15 The villagers alleged that due to the construction of the boundary wall, the traditional routes to their respective villages have been blocked and it takes some of them more than six hours to reach their homes. “Some of the villagers have to travel more than six hours through arduous terrain to reach their villages as traditional routes have been blocked because of the boundary wall around the air strip,” Ramesh Singh, a local, alleged. “At the time of occupying our lands in 1991 for the construction of the airstrip, the then government had assured jobs and essential facilities to the villagers, but now all those assurances have been turned down,” added Diwan Singh. He alleged that the state administration has given the contract of developing the airstrip to a private firm without taking into consideration the assurances given to the people of the area by the then government. Diwan said the villagers have also sent a memorandum to the Chief Minister in this regard and sought his intervention. “The administration is not paying any attention towards our demands. We have decided that if the Chief Minister doesn’t take notices of our issues we will stage an agitation near the airstrip,” Diwan singh added. The district administration, meanwhile, said they were aware of the problems faced by the villagers, but said the protest by the villagers was unwarranted. “They have given notice to the administration yesterday and today they have resorted to protest. It is uncalled for,” an official of the district administration said.
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Mountain biking race begins tomorrow
Dehradun, November 15 It will be India's first-ever mountain biking competition, which is being organised by the Mountain Biking Association of Uttarakhand (MTB), Cycling Federation of India (CFI) and Artsmith Concepts and Visions with the support of the government of Uttarakhand and the Indian Army with Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) as the title sponsor. The races will be held in three categories, 20 km for the elite rider, 15 km for the amateur rider and 10 km for the teens. The tournament will offer a total prize money of Rs 2.5 Lakh with top 10 cyclists getting a share of the prize money. According to the organisers, already over 100 top cyclists of the country have agreed to participate in the event. While giving details about the competition, Onkar Singh, secretary general, Cycling Federation of India, thanked the state government and the Indian Army for supporting this initiative and expressed confidence that the event would grow in stature in the next few years and would become India's premier mountain cycling event.
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Bahuguna announces setting up of seven trauma centres
Dehradun, November 15 “There is need to set up trauma centres in the hilly areas of the state, so that these could take up emergency cases immediately. The funds for setting up these centres will be provided through the Chief Minister’s relief fund,” said Bahuguna, while inaugurating a newly built Emergency Service Centre at Mahant Indresh Hospital here. He said all 13 districts in the state would have a mobile unit equipped with ultra-modern facilities. Lauding the efforts of the Mahant Indresh Trust, the Chief Minister said it was making a significant contribution in the field of education. Principal, SGRR (PG) College, Prof VA Baurai, said the 25-bed trauma emergency unit had an operation theatre, X-ray and ultrasound facilities. On the first two floors, a surgical ICU, medicine ICU and a critical cardiac unit had been set up. MLA Rajkumar, Aryendra Sharma, SGRR Education Trust’s VP SP Thapliyal and Dr NK Singh were present on the occasion.
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Tehri residents live in fear of leopard attacks
Mussoorie, November 15 The villagers claimed that they had been forced to stay indoors after dusk and fear for the lives of their children. Yogeshwar Nautiyal, Sohan Nautiyal and Naresh Nautiyal said villagers from Sendul Bhadri, Fedgaon Bhadri, Birod, Siyor Tok, Ghoralpani, Khairad, Mason, Kharson villages from Silwad Patti were facing Leopard terror as it was leaving no opportunity to prey on domestic animals for the past three months. Rukumdas, forest ranger, Bhadri Gad, said the forest guards were on patrol considering the movement of the Leopard in the area. They also hired drum beaters to keep the Leopard away during night. But, the drum beaters were not paid and they left the work. Dr Dheeraj Pandey, DFO Mussoorie, said a ranger had been sent to the affected area along with his team to assess the damage. He said the ranger had also been directed to submit a detailed report so that adequate compensation was released soon.
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Forest corp employees continue protest
Dehradun, November 15 VS
Rawat, Jagan Ram, Ashwani Tyagi and Puran Singh Rawat were prominent among the protesters. Power staff strike completes 19
days
Dehradun: Seeking regularisation, the Uttarakhand Power Contractual Employees Association continued with their dharna at Old Raipur bus stand for the 19th day on Friday. Led by Yogendra
Vishal, the employees accused the state government of intentionally ignoring their genuine concerns. He said there was large number of vacancies for regular employees in all the three power corporations, but it was strange that the state government was not willing to regularise the contractual
employees. Manoj Pant, a protesting employee, said lot of inconvenience was being caused to the general public due to the stir. He said they had been serving as contractual employees for the past many years. “We are left with no option to express our resentment, except for going on a strike,” he added.
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Bhatt flays govt for ‘poor law and order’ situation in state
He said that the discovery of the body from a high security zone speaks volumes about the poor state of affairs in the state. “Anybody can walk in and dump a body in the high security zone. I want to ask the government where was the police? Clearly, things are getting out of hand,” said Bhatt. In the same light, he said that a Dalit was allegedly murdered in Kashipur but the police failed to arrest the culprits. “I will be going to Kashipur and the BJP MLAs will organize a sit-in as a mark of protest,” he said. The Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly also blamed the police for playing a partisan role and lodging an FIR against the BJP MLA Rajkumar Thukral, seven months after the incident.
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‘Kidney failure can be checked at initial stage’
Dehradun, November 15 “Early detection can help in curing the diseases or stop its progression to more serious complication such as kidney failure. Common symptoms that point towards the possibility of kidney problems are swelling of feet, face, loss of appetite, high BP and vomiting,” said Dr Vikram Singh, a senior nephrologist. He said the people prone to excessive weight gain, hypertension, smoking, drinking and diabetic were at risk in developing kidney malfunction, if they did not lead a healthy life style. On the other hand, vascular surgeon Dr Praveen Jindal said diseases involving arteries and veins, if neglected at an early stage could turn out to be serious and may lead to limb loss. The Renal Care and Dialysis will organise a patient awareness programme to build awareness about the kidney diseases at the Town Hall on November 16 at 2 pm.
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The world famous Rajaji National Park was thrown open to the public on Friday after a gap of five months.
The third tiger census in the country will be laying much focus on North Eastern states, where lack of infrastructure and logistics support have proved to be a stumbling block in coming up with tiger figures in the seven sister states. The much awaited third tiger census begins in December and will be conclude by February.
Dehradun, November 15
Dehradun, November 15