New Delhi, December 10
Work on Delhi Metro’s Phase I is all set to finish with the completion of the line connecting the south-west part of the Capital with the city’s hub later this month.

The 22-km-long line, passing through thickly populated areas, busy markets and congested roads in west Delhi, would connect Barakhamba Road in central Delhi to Dwarka subcity in the south-west part of the Capital.

The line, which cost around Rs 3,000 crore, would cater to thousands of office-goers and is expected to run packed, having a cascading effect on the other two existing lines in Phase I by doubling the current passenger strength of 2.7 lakh per day to 6 lakh passengers using the metro rail network each day.

Revenue is also expected to be more than double from the present Rs 30 lakh per day to over Rs 60 lakh. After completion of the civil work and laying of tracks and electrical cables, signalling and automotive control systems were tested through integrated trials in a phased manner, starting September 30.

By the third week of December, everything is likely to be in place for an inspection by the Chief Commissioner Railway Safety before it could be thrown open for the public by December-end, said DMRC sources.

The line would become the fastest of the three lines to be completed. Work on the line started in June 2003 and took just two-and-a-half years to complete, compared to the four years it took to complete the 8.3-km-long first section of the first line.

The line, though mostly elevated, would also be the first to have both elevated and underground sections. It would have 22 stations with two – a Rajiv Chowk (Connaught Place) and Barakhamba Road – being underground.

The line is unique in the sense that the train would run at about a depth of 16 m in Connaught Place, gradually climbing to a height of 10.5 m. Delhi Metro would have its highest station, Rajouri Garden, perched 17 m above the ground.

All but six stations would have parking space. Trains would run at an average speed of 35 kmph and stop for about 30 seconds each at the stations that are approximately a kilometer apart. The ride from Connaught Place to Dwarka would last a mere 40 minutes.

Timing and frequency of trains are expected to be the same as that in the other two lines at present, but the Fare Fixation Committee could have a re-look at the fares with the increase in the traveling distance. This line would also have small extensions at both ends. The Central Business District of CP would be linked with the central institutional area of Indraprastha.

Delhi Metro has mostly followed the road alignment. Having had the experience of working on two lines previously, some changes were incorporated in this line to cut costs and time.

Officials said that U-shaped girders, which were cost effective, aesthetic and sound absorbent, had been used most of the way. Steel had replaced cement in many places to save time.

The line has been designed in such a way that the ‘viaduct’ (housing the tracks) and the stations would take up minimum space on the road and hence cause minimal hindrance to the flow of vehicles underneath.

On completion of work, Delhi Metro would also leave a six-lane road along the way, something which was not there originally, and also re-design three intersections for better traffic movement.

A tunnel built by DMRC at Tilak Nagar for the benefit of its passengers could also be used by pedestrians wanting to cross the busy street.

Two ‘sidings’ (additional track) were designed on the line along with ‘turnouts’ (track joining the up and down lines) every four km to meet any emergency. The Barakhamba Metro Station is the first underground station on the Delhi Metro system to be built completely with Indian expertise and Indian Contractors.

Completion of Phase I of the Metro Rail project would result in huge decongestion of roads and also increase the average speed of vehicular traffic in Delhi.

New Delhi, December 10
Delhi Police have arrested a person for allegedly cheating a number of people on the pretext of sending them to Libya for jobs. The accused has been identified as Rakesh Chopra.

The accused was running a company in the name and style of M/s Grandlay Constructions Pvt. Ltd. in Mukherjee Nagar.

The Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police were approached by complainants alleging that they were promised jobs worth Rs 15,000 to 20,000 per month in Libya, to secure which they had to pay Rs 65,000 each to the accused. All the complainants paid the money to the accused and the accused asked them all to reach his office on May 28, 2005.

But the accused kept putting-off the date on the pretext that the company’s ‘project’ had been delayed. Fed up with the false promises, the complainants started demanding their money but failed to get it back.

Thereafter, they approached the police who after investigations arrested the accused. The police recovered 30 passports of different persons and different rubber stamps of government officials from the possession of the accused. 

New Delhi, December 10
With the Delhi Development Authority getting the Master Plan-2021 ready, and the Airport Authority of India spelling out its plan to consider the development and expansion of the Delhi Airport, Jawaharlal Nehru University community is hoping that its complaint against sound pollution on campus does not fall on deaf ears.

Having written to the DDA in May earlier this year, the university had asked for a resolution to the problem of sound pollution caused by aircraft flying low over the campus.

In a public meeting organised by the DDA here recently, the university has been quick to send a reminder.

“Having apprised the DDA of our problem, we are hopeful that they will consider making the necessary changes in the flight path,” said a faculty member.

“With a new international airport in Delhi expected to come up within the next three years and the Indira Gandhi International Airport to be turned into a domestic airport, the condition is only going to worsen. The implications of which are not unknown,” he said.

The university has urged the AAI and the DDA to institute environment-conscious planning and stop aircraft sound pollution over the sensitive campus.

Restructuring of the air-landing route towards the Delhi Airport, with redesignated flight-free zones and flight corridors, has been sought by JNU.

In May this year, the then V-C, Prof. G K Chadha wrote to the DDA and the AAI, objecting to the Master Plan for Delhi-2021, which has not taken into account the issue of aircraft noise on the environment of the landing route.

The JNUTA president, Dr Rupamanjari Ghosh, had submitted a report indicating the effects of noise pollution on human health as well as that of the wildlife on campus.

The DDA authorities were informed that parts of the JNU Ridge have been declared reserved forest under Section 38 of the Indian Forest Act of 1927. And that the effects of aircraft noise on wildlife are manifold.

New Delhi, December 10
Lending credence to the deposition of an eight-year-old rape victim, a city court has sentenced her neighbour for life for sexually assaulting her in east Delhi over a year ago.

“The victim appears to be guileless and she minced no words,” and unequivocally accused the convict for her rape, said Additional sessions Judge J M Malik while awarding the punishment to 19-year old Rattan Pal.

Rejecting the leniency plea of the convict, the ASJ said, “in the instant case exemplary punishment is called for so that the culprits belonging to his ilk should not repeat such heinous offence”.

The ASJ also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on the convict for the offence.

The convict Rattan Pal was living in the neighbourhood of the victim in Shahdara locality of east Delhi. On the evening of April 25 last year, Pal called the victim into his house and raped her.

A day after, the mother of the prosecutrix Sangeeta, who works as a maid servant in the locality, lodged an FIR against the accused.

The medical tests conducted on the victim confirmed the offence. Public Prosecutor Alka Goel examined 12 witnesses to prove the case. 

New Delhi, December 10
Almost half a century after she walked out of the college portals, unsure of the life that lay ahead of her, it was time to return to the alma mater as the Delhi Chief Minister this time.

Delhi Chief Minister Ms Sheila Dikshit, who was honoured with the Excellence and Achievement Award by the Miranda House Alumnae Association, chose the moment to make a confession.

Claiming to have had “little ambition”, Ms Dikshit said she would “rather have been a singer or an artist”.

Ms Dikshit, who belongs to the batch of 1951 said, “When we were in college, we had little ambition and I just landed into the rough and tumble of politics without any inclination at all. I found myself in the vortex of politics when I would have been rather an artist or a singer. But I married into a family where politics was an integral part of a meal-time conversation.”

And having carved a niche for herself in the “political vortex”, she has a word of advice for the generation next. “Don’t shun politics. There is a general conception that good people don’t opt for politics as a career choice. We need good people to run the country and bring it to the standards we have set,” she said.

The other awardees honoured by the Miranda House Alumnae Association were Malini Gulati, Romila Thapar, Anjolie Ela Menon and Brinda Karat.

In her address, Ms Karat said that collective action through unions and committees is required to fight the menace of sexual harassment.

She said unions and committees that are slowly gaining ground on campuses are helping in curbing the menace to a great extent. “But there is still a long way to go in equipping ourselves to be able to handle sexual harassment in its totality,” she said.

New Delhi, December 10
Following the recommendation of the National Focus Group on Arts, Music, Dance and Theatre, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has established a new department for Education in Arts and Aesthetics.

The department will focus on the need and importance of arts education and aesthetics in schools. The Focus Group on Art had put forth that contrary to the importance given to the area of arts education in various policy documents, practices in arts education at schools had always been neglected.

The National Curriculum Framework 2005 has also emphasised the need to encourage creativity among schoolchildren and an effective way to enhance creativity in learning is through the arts.

It has also drawn attention to the need for bringing arts education into the mainstream as an integral part of curriculum and as one of the compulsory subjects up to class X.

The Council has constituted a syllabus committee with Prof Ratan Parimoo, former Dean, faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University of Baroda and Nehru Fellow, as its Chief Advisor.

Syllabi for different stages have been developed and the Council also proposes to design textbooks for theory papers in Visual and Performing Arts for Higher Secondary stage for the first time.

Teachers’ Handbook for upper primary and secondary stages are being readied, the Council said in a statement here on Friday.

It was put forth that with the setting up of the department, NCERT has realised the long-awaited recommendation, which came as early as in 1967 by a committee appointed by the then governing body of the NCERT. The committee was set up under the Chairmanship of K. G. Sayiddin to examine the scope of improving arts education in schools.

New Delhi, December 10
The national Capital will pay tributes to Gandhian and former Delhi Congress president C Krishnan Nair by installing his statue in the city and naming a road after him.

Chief Minister Ms Sheila Dikshit has assured the Delhi Malayalee Association that the government would allot land for erecting a statue of Krishnan Nair, who had participated in the Dandi March under Mahatma Gandhi.

A prominent city road will be renamed after Krishnan Nair, who died in 1986, Ms Dikshit told a delegation of the association today.

Faridabad, December 10
Even as the commuters continue to be unhappy with the existing services of the Haryana Roadways, the authorities are busy planning to hike the bus fares in order to check the spiraling losses suffered by the department. The Haryana Roadways, which has one of the largest fleet of buses in the region, has an annual budget of over Rs 500 crore.

The state transport department is preparing to pass on its financial losses to the consumer in the near future. The Transport Commissioner, who was on a visit here on Friday, admitted that there was a proposal to increase the bus fares, though the new rates were still being worked out. He claimed that the swift rise in prices of diesel in the past two years had been an important cause of the rising losses, and a hike in the bus fares seemed imminent to contain the losses.

Moreover, he said the government had been spending several crores on improving the infrastructure and the bus services in the state.

However, many of the commuters while agreeing that the hike in fuel prices had put a huge burden on the roadways, pointed out that the services rendered by it was “careless” and without any scientific study of the traffic flow in the region.

According to a social activist, Mr K.L. Gera, there were other reasons behind the problem, including the lack of discipline, proper strategy and corruption by the authorities regarding the plying routes and timetable of the buses.

As a result, several private taxi operators and illegal transporters used the opportunity to make money at the cost of the Haryana Roadways.

Another commuter said that the government should reward the staff of the buses who were able to make efficient use of the bus timings.

Suggestions were also given that the government should use the CNG option, which would not only cut cost but also provide a relief from the rising air pollution.

“Often, the unavailability of roadways buses on many routes forces the commuters to take to private transport, which have dented the profits of the department,” claimed a union leader of the department.

He demanded that bus pass facility should be eased, particularly for students who do not buy tickets. According to Shailender Singh, an activist of the NGO ‘Punarjagran Sanstha’, the rude behaviour of the bus staff was also a major reason for driving away commuters. He said the government should adopt a strict policy to root out those staff unable to function in a manner that has the interests of the department in mind. Taking a simplistic decision to hike the fare to cut losses is tackling only half the problem, he added. 

Gurgaon, December 10
The Department of Education has given up on its earlier decision to allow the local authorities in the districts to appoint ad hoc teachers till the end of present academic session to complete the syllabus in the schools. In fact, the department is reported to have sent communications to the District Education Officers in the state not to go ahead with the plan for appointing teachers on ad hoc basis.

There are about 1,000 vacancies in Gurgaon and the newly created district of Mewat in all categories of schools affiliated to Haryana Education Board.

With the present academic session in the advanced stage, the completion of syllabus in the classes have not kept pace. Rather, with the lack of teachers in various subjects there was possibility of the bulk of the syllabus not being completed in a good number of schools.

Unfortunately, the earlier government in the state failed to give attention to the issue of shortage of teachers, said a primary schoolteacher here. Now, this government too seems to have lagged behind in redressing the issue, he added.

According to sources, when the Congress government came to power, a decision was taken at the highest level to go in for ad hoc appointments as stop gap arrangement for completing the syllabus.

In fact, an announcement was made in favour of it a few months back.

According to sources in the department, the backtracking on the issue of appointing ad hoc teachers stems from a feeling in certain quarters of the government that the issue had the potential to kick up a controversy. There was possibility that those appointed on daily basis would move the court to press for regular appointment. There are 18 other districts in the

State. The number of ad hoc teachers would have been large. This, however, contradicted the assertion of the Education Department that it wanted to raise the standards of the schools affiliated to the Haryana Board. Moreover, it is a well-known fact that most of the students enrolled in these schools are from rural areas and hail from economically and educationally backward part of the society.

New Delhi, December 10
The Delhi Chief Minister, Mrs Sheila Dikshit, has exhorted public dealing departments to improve their functioning to serve people in tune with basic principles of ‘Bhagidari’.

Both at the national and international levels, governments had expressed keenness to know about the ‘Bhagidari’ movement, she said at the annual ‘Bhagidari’ review meeting last evening.

The ‘Bhagidari’ movement had achieved a number of milestones and helped forge ties with the people in finding solutions to some of the intractable issues facing this city, she added.

The meeting was attended by the Chief Secretary, all Principal Secretaries and all Head of Departments apart from senior representatives from Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Delhi Jal Board, Delhi Police and Delhi Development Authority.

The Delhi Government was conferred with the ‘UN Public Service Award 2005’ for improving transparency, accountability and responsiveness in public service for its ‘Bhagidari’ initiatives from amongst 215 countries worldwide.

Mrs Dikshit also described the Right to Information Act as a historical step towards openness in government.

The HODs presented their report cards on the implementation of various ‘Bhagidari’ initiatives. The MCD reported that 17 ‘Bhagidari’ workshops had been organised to educate citizens on effective solid waste management at the colony level. As many as 145 parks had been handed over to the citizen groups for maintenance under the MOU scheme. It was told that MCD had formulated a new policy for maintenance of parks under public-private partnership in which MCD would give Rs 60,000 in the first year and Rs 50,000 in subsequent year to citizen groups for maintenance of parks.

The Chief Minister asked the MCD to give wide publicity to the schemes and simplify the procedure to enable the people to come forward for partnership with corporation. She also asked MCD to intensify efforts for greening of area below the flyovers.

The DJB informed that 84 rainwater harvesting schemes have been taken up in various localities through citizen groups, who had also been involved in collection of bills in a big way.

Citizens had also responded enthusiastically to the SMS facility of DJB for lodging grievances and detecting leakages. The Chief Minister directed DJB to take up rainwater harvesting in large number of government buildings to inspire private organisations and citizen groups to come forward.

Secretary (Education) said the ‘Vidyalaya Kalyan Samitis’ had been a success and they were functioning in all 631 government schools.

It was reported that the department had planned a new ‘Bhagidari’ initiative in improving the school as well as home environment and involving them in decision making. The Secretary,

Social Welfare, informed that the policy for the senior citizens had already been formulated and state senior citizens council had been constituted.

Around eight lakh women were being covered under the various ‘Stree Shakti’ initiatives. The department was formulating a policy for management of old age homes, senior citizens recreation centres and other institutions with active participation of citizen groups.

Principal Secretary (Health) said separate special clinics had been started for senior citizens in nine hospitals. A scheme for healthcare of children in the age group of zero-10 years was ready to be launched.

Secretary Environment expressed satisfaction over working of all the 1650 eco-clubs. Mrs Dikshit asked all the departments to help in maximum utilisation of 18 paper recycling units commissioned by the Environment Department in schools as well as one established in the Delhi Secretariat.

It was also decided to make Department of Trade and Taxation as a nodal department for the problems of the traders. The Commissioner, Industries, said a scheme in the fold of ‘Bhagidari’ for active involvement of associations for all the industrial estates was ready for approval.

Mrs Dikshit instructed DDA to commission a separate cell for citizens groups for its 100 odd colonies to take care of the difficulties being faced by the residents. The Delhi Police gave an account of its self-defence campaign and parivartan scheme, which had been launched to take care of security need of women.

Noida, December 10
Addressing the three-day seminar ‘Prakriti-2005’ in Noida on Friday, the senior BJP leader, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, said that cow was a central pillar of our economy and its place in Indian agriculture and environment was pivotal.

Cow milk has proved scientifically that it benefits the development of human brain and intelligence as compared to buffalo milk, he added.

As compared to tractor and other methods of mechanized farming, cow, bull and buffalo have kept the Indian agriculture and rural environment pollution-free for ages. Dr Joshi along with the former Agriculture Minister, Mr Som Pal, also inaugurated an exhibition on cow.

Dr. Joshi said most of the development projects in the country are patterned on western models and are not beneficial for Indian conditions. They are harming the country instead.

“If we work on Indian methodology, it can transform the national economy in the next 10 years. Foreign influences on Indian agriculture, chemical fertilizers and insecticides and pesticides have endangered our agriculture, public health and even national security,” Dr Joshi said.

Over 26,000 farmers had been forced to commit suicide during the past 5 years, mainly due to the western system of agriculture being forced on the country.

He strongly advocated return to traditional Indian farming and bio-fertilizers. Cow dung, he said, was the most productive fertilisers.

Mr Som Pal Shastri said that of the 37 breeds of cows in India, 5 have become extinct and the remaining 32 are also in bad condition due to government apathy.

He said Australia and Cuba have taken good care of their cow wealth.

Mr Som Pal said 48 per cent of the cows in UP and Haryana and 77 per cent in southern states are afflicted with diseases.

Speaking in the evening session, the chief of the RSS, Mr K. Sudershan, said cow milk was the second best nutritious food after mother’s milk. And in no case mother cow can become a burden on man. Even during the Mughal period cow had been protected in the country.

He said that cow slaughter has not been banned in the country though as early as in 1952 over 1.75 crore people had signed a memorandum and presented it to the President.

Others present on the occasion included Vijay Agarwal, Dr Naresh Sharma, Krishen Lal Gupta, Lakhi Chand Sharma, Dr Rajesh, Om Prakesh, Dr Kunvar Ji Jadhav, Kalraj Mishra and Balbir Punj.

New Delhi, December 10
Perhaps nothing indicates clearly that life is cheap in India than the presence of several extremely hazardous drugs in the market. These drugs are freely available here despite the fact that they are considered exceedingly dangerous by the medical community and banned in several countries.

The most glaring example is that of mifepristone (abortion pill). This is commonly available and used by many unsuspecting women. Mifepristone, also known as RU-486, is a very dangerous drug if taken without proper medical supervision and results in an incomplete abortion, leading to failure of peritonitis or septicemia and subsequent loss of life.

In France where the drug was first introduced, four visits are required to the trained medical personnel and it is administered only in cases of a pregnancy fewer then seven weeks. The drug is not sold off the counter.

Dr S.G. Kabra, petitioner in a PIL to the Rajasthan High Court while arguing on the wrong usage of this drug, says that this drug is to be sold only on prescription of a registered obstetrician or gynecologist for use in a hospital where a facility for blood transfusion is available for therapeutic termination of intrauterine pregnancy.

Activist Dr Meera Shiva is vocal on this issue. “In India, RU-486 is widely used and is available off the shelf easily. Women do not even consult doctors. They simply take the pill without medical guidance and many pay a heavy price for it. They are left with half a foetus which leads to many medical complications. Many of them even die. Others take the pill despite crossing the seven-week requirement. It does not cause abortion. A malformed child is thus delivered,” she says.

If RU-486 is a nightmare drug, Cisapride is worse. Its usage leads to cardiac arrest, cardiac arrhythmia and sudden death. It has been banned in many First World countries and other aware nations, but not in India. The drug was banned in the markets of over 14 countries because of the cardiac risks which include heart rhythm disorder. The Philippines banned the drug because of documented evidence on adverse events, including deaths associated with the drug, while Oman has suspended the marketing of Cisapride.

Cisapride is sold under many brands, numbering over 30, including Bipride MPS, CESAP-MPS, CIPID and CIPID MPS, CISADE and CISADE MPS, CISANORM, MOTEN, PERISTAL etc.

Hydroxyquinolines or Clioquinols is another dangerous group of drugs. The common brands under which they are sold are Antigyl Comp, Dequinol, Didoquin, Enteroquinol and Quinoforn. This drug is highly dangerous and causes SMON, a painful nerve disease which leads to limb paralysis, blindness and lack of bladder control. More effective and safer anti-amoebic drugs are now available on the market.

According to reports, Clioquinol has caused thousands of cases of SMON in Japan alone. A high dosage of this drug in children can cause loss of vision.

“Highly dangerous are also many combination drugs being sold on the market,” says Dr Meera Shiva. “Chemists prefer keeping these combination drugs that normally give very good trade commissions.”

Fixed dose combinations of codeine, dextromethor-phan, noscapine, levopro-oxyphene with ephedrine and antihistamines can also prove dangerous if not taken properly. Codeine, dextromethor-phan and noscapine are habit-forming substances being derivatives of opium and are used as cough suppressants. Ephedrine is a bronchodilator, but it also causes shrinking of the mucous membrane, anxiety, restlessness, insomnia and gastrointestinal upset. Cough expectorants like Cosome, Triominic, Triatussic and Zedex should be taken carefully as they can lead to dizziness, excitation, mental confusion and gastrointestinal disturbances. High doses of these can lead to respiratory depression. 

New Delhi, December 10
As many as 150 ‘jhuggis’ were gutted in a fire that broke out in the slum clusters at Sarai Kale Khan in South district today afternoon.

It took nearly 90 minutes for 20 fire tenders to douse the fire.

The police officials said that no one has been injured in the incident.

The cause of the fire was still to be ascertained, said fire officials. 

Gurgaon, December 10
In a significant move to take preventive measure to check crimes, the district administration has directed all taxi owners to maintain a record of the identity proof of those hiring their taxis.

The direction has been issued in the light of increasing incident of snatching of taxis, often by those who had hired the taxi.

Exercising the powers vested in him by virtue of Section 144 of Code of Criminal Procedure, the District Magistrate, Mr R. P. Bhardwaj, has directed the taxi owners to maintain a record of the identity proof of those hiring their taxis.

The District Magistrate has further directed the managers and owners of taxis to install digital cameras at their stand for safety purpose.

The increasing incidence of car snatching has created a sense of insecurity and restlessness among taxi owners and drivers here. It may be mentioned that apart from the regular hiring of taxis, a large number of taxis are hired by the increasing number of call centres in the district.

Just a couple of days earlier, some anti-social elements hired a Qualis jeep and tried to snatch it near the IFFCO crossing, which is one of the busiest intersections on National Highway no 8.

The alertness of the driver saved him, said Mr Harish Jain, a taxi operator in the city. He said the direction of the DM would be productive if it is implemented honestly by all the taxi owners and operators.

Some time back, a taxi owner, Naresh Verma of Jharsa village, was allegedly killed by a doctor, who had hired his taxi to Uttar Pradesh, said Mr Mahinder Singh Chahar, a tour and travel operator here.

Mr Chahar said that it was in the interest of the taxi owners to ensure the proper implementation of the order, as it would ensure their safety and security.

All the senior officers including the Senior Superintendent of Police, District Transport Officer and concerned Station House Officer (SHO) have been directed to ensure the implementation of the order.

Such an order would also act as deterrence for the criminals, who hire taxis for anti-social activities, said Mr Bhardwaj.

Noida, December 10
Inaugurating a seminar on ‘Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Livelihood’, the Director-General, Forests, Government of India, Dr J.C. Kala, said sustainable development is part of man’s struggle with nature from ancient times. Eradication of poverty is the overriding concern of sustainable development today and we should not quarrel with concepts but implement what is inescapable reality of tomorrow, said Dr Kala.

The workshop seeks to address the various aspects of biodiversity conservation, protected area management and sustainable livelihood.

Mr M.P. Bezbaruah, Banking Ombudsman and WTO representative, observed that all sustainable development programmes have economic meaning. He pleaded for a comprehensive view on reducing extreme poverty and hunger that should ensure environment sustainability.

The Director, Amity School of Natural Resources and Sustainable Development, Mr B.K.P. Sinha, said that environmental protection, poverty eradication, and promotion of gender equality are highlights of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by the United Nations. Conservation of biodiversity, particularly in our forests, assumes great significance.

The seminar was organised by the Amity School of Natural Resources. Addressing the seminar, Dr Ashok K. Chauhan, Founder of Amity, said Indian forests are a source of employment and provide a setting for recreation. It is, therefore, all the more important to take care of our forests and conserve their biodiversity, Dr Chauhan added.