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Koti Benal finds place of pride
Dehradun, November 2 One of most-sought-after encyclopaedia of housing construction in seismically active areas of the world, it has decided to include Koti Bana, taking into accounts its architectural merits vis-à-vis quake resistance. The encyclopaedia aims at sharing knowledge on housing construction practices and encourages the use of quake-resistant technologies. The Koti Benal architecture that has withstood the most powerful earthquakes has been a subject of study by Uttarakhand disaster management officials working on quake-proof constructions in the region for quite some time. Welcoming its inclusion in the World Housing Encyclopaedia, Girish Joshi, senior executive with Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre, points out that Uttarakhand’s traditional skills in the construction of multi-storey houses in the highly vulnerable region holds much importance and are a fit case for study. The Rajgarhi area in Uttarakashi has a large number of these multi-storey traditional houses with marked antiquity and distinct construction style. Detailed investigations suggest that the region had evolved a distinct and elaborate earthquake-safe construction style . “Definitely the old structures have withstood the ravages of nature. That is mainly because of quality and construction technique of the architecture,” observes MO Garg, director, Central Building Research Institute. “Structural detailing of these buildings amply suggests that those responsible for designing these buildings had a fairly good idea about the forces likely to act upon the structure during an earthquake,” says Jagdish Negi, director, Uttarakhand Building Centre. These age-old structural systems are still in tact and the non-structural components have not been damaged by the seismic activity, despite these being located in the most severe damage risk zone V. The 1991 Uttarakashi and 1999 Chamoli earthquakes are still fresh in public memory. Significantly, experts in architecture strongly advocate heritage buildings for the coming generations. The Kot Banal architecture provides researchers with an opportunity to study this architectural style in depth.
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As Ranjan makes living of exotic birds...
Dehradun, November 2 business. "My whole family is in this business and now my son helps me. We all enjoy this work,” he said. Birds of different species and colours are imported mainly from Kolkata. Bajrigar, zebra pinch, cockatiel, love birds are some of the species which are popular and are available at reasonable rates starting from Rs 100 to Rs 1500 depending on the species. "These birds are easy to maintain and prove to be good pet. They love eating bajra and we recommend our customers to cover their birds with dark cloth in the evening,” informed Ranjan. Interestingly, these birds are real entertainers too. A species called ‘Pahari Parrots’ loves to talk and becomes like a family member to the owner. "My pahari parrots are always in demand they are very fast in learning language, " he added. The life span of these birds is five to 10 years, stated Ranjan. "Bird selling business over the years has not done too well, yet lot of people like to tame them as it helps us to make our ends meet", said Singh. But some people object to the caging of birds, added Singh. Interestingly, selling of exotic birds is not illegal but catching and selling of Indian birds like parrots and other species is unlawful under the Wildlife Protection Act. “The selling of Indian birds is illegal but they can sell birds that are imported,” clarified Uttarakhand Chief Wildlife Warden Shrikant Chandola.
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Pet parlours appearing in city
Dehradun, November 2 “My parlour ‘Pet Planet’ is a complete pet shop with high tech facilities to groom pet dogs”, says Dr. S.K. Gupta, the owner of Pet Planet, who is also a president of Animal Watch Organization, engaged in welfare of stray animals. Though Pet Planet offers dog food,
medicine to varied accessories like bed, warm clothes and designer chains but
the main feature of the shop is its grooming section. “The grooming section provides facilities like hair trimming, styling, dog bathing, blow drying and nail clipping. Depending on the requirement of the dog, we do shampooing of various kinds like detangling bath, anti-fungal bath, anti-dust bath and anti-tick bath,” disclosed Gupta. At Pet Planet, special emphasis is laid on importance of medicinal value, beauty and health. The various packages at Pet Planet vary between Rs 150 to Rs 250. For big size dogs special care is taken and in case they turn wild, sedatives are given for additional rupees 50. “Since this kind of facility is new in the city, we are offering services at affordable packages”, said Gupta, while adding that so far they had received excellent response. “In coming days we will be expanding our parlour area as well as introduce ear cleaning, anal gland and teeth cleaning of dogs”, revealed Gupta. “Coming up of pet grooming center is a new trend but soon it will become regular amongst people. Spread awareness and help the society to work for the welfare and betterment of animals”, said Shrishti an animal lover.
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Mussoorie facing acute water shortage
Mussoorie, November 1 The issue of water scarcity in the queen of hills has surfaced yet again. However, no permanent solution to the situation can be found although Jal Sansthan officials attribute this to erratic power supply to their pumping stations. Speaking to The Tribune, A.K. Sharma, executive engineer of Jal Sansthan cites erratic power supply as a major cause of water shortage in the town. “Water supply is done through multi-stage pumping systems spread over several kms, and frequent breakdowns in power adversely impact the pumping of water,” he said. Notably, the entire water supply of Mussoorie is done by pumping water from springs to tanks located several kms uphill. There are a total of seven pumping stations serving this town having a capacity of 7.51 million litres per day although the town’s demand of water in peak season stands at around 13 million litres per day. According to Sharma, there is a huge shortfall between the demand and supply of water during the months of May, June and July. “This shortfall is countered by storing water in the reservoirs during winters and later used as a buffer during the peak season,” Sharma explained. However, Sharma lamented the fact that the frequent power breakdowns prevent the Jal Sansthan from filling up the reservoirs during the winters. P.B. Bhatt, assistant engineer, said that if power supply was regulated the water supply to the town could significantly be improved. Moreover, officials also mention that power supply to some pumping stations is through the same feeders which are supplying power to the main market. “For repairing electrical faults occurring in the markets power
supply from the feeders is frequently stopped and our pumps are shut down,” A.K. Sharma said. On the other hand, SDO of electricity department, B.D. Uneria refutes such charges. “Our department is doing its best to ensure that there are minimum power breakdowns,” he said. Despite the remote location of pumping stations of Jal Sansthan his department was repairing all power breakdowns at the earliest possible, he added. However, in the blame game between two different departments, the critical issue still remains unsolved. And people of Mussorie are wondering when will they a slolution to their problem .
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IIT alumni function ends
Roorkee, November 2 The diamond jubilee alumni of 1948 batch, the golden jubilee alumni of 1958 batch and the silver jubilee alumni of 1983 batch, along with the silver jubilee alumni of B. Arch 1984 batch were honoured.
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Letters
I am a student in and I study in Delhi. This time when I visited my home town Dehradun, I was extremely happy to know that Tribune has started its Dehradun edition.
I am still on holidays and read the daily. I thoroghly enjoy reading the local news. Dehradun Plus is my favourite as it gives entertains me as well gives me lot of information on local stuff. I love reading fashion stories and it helps in updating my fashion knowledge too. As I mentioned that I live in Delhi, I get to know very little about what is happing in my state. But I am happy that from now, the localites will be aware of what is happening around them and will alos help the yougsters to know more about the whos who in the cite and sate as well.
—Stuti,
Dehradun
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