Dehradun, November 24
The collapse of a portion of the Life Insurance
Corporation building at Chakrata Road two months
back had brought to the fore the threat from old
dilapidated high-rise buildings in Dehradun.

There are as many as 24 old structures in the city that are on the verge of collapsing and call for immediate attention.

These old buildings lay in the heart of the city amid thickly populated areas. Many have occupants. The Dehradun Municipal Corporation, had taken serious note of these old buildings but found itself helpless as these are embroiled in legal tangles.

To make matters worse, the occupants who also have business concerns, are fiercely opposed to vacating the buildings owing to their location advantage.

Baj Building at Cannaught Place and Mansa Ram Building at Rajpur Road are some of the old buildings that are vulnerable and may collapse any time.

The Dehradun Municipal Corporation had undertaken a survey and identified as many as 24 buildings that were a fit case for demolition.

“We had identified 24 buildings and had sent letters to the concerned persons before any demolition exercise could be carried out. As most of these structures are involved in legal disputes, we can do little”, explained Sushil Kumar, chief executive officer, Dehradun MC.

The risk attached to these old buildings can be gauged from the fact that a survey carried out by the disaster management and mitigation committee some months back forewarned of large-scale human mortality if some of these buildings were to come down due to an earthquake or other reasons.

“Existence of these buildings were a potential threat as these fall in highly sensitive seismic zones ”, Girish Joshi, a senior executive in the corporation said.

Another study conducted by scientists from the Dehradun-based Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing and International Institute for Geo-information and Earth Observations, Enschede, the Netherlands, has highlighted the threat posed by earthquakes to buildings in Dehradun.

The city falls in seismic Zone V and a faultline passes through Rajpur. Following the collapse of the LIC building on September 24, the district authorities had constituted a three-member committee to investigate as to whether the building ought to be demolished.

The report is, however, awaited despite two months having gone by. Owner of Arora Photo Studio, that is adjacent to the caved-in portion of the building, says he lives under a constant threat as there have been no efforts to undertake concrete repairs of the LIC building.

PC Verma, an office-bearer of the Cannaught Place Traders Association, squarely blames the LIC authorities. “ The LIC does not let us undertake repairs and this is leading to deterioration of the building”, he says.

Interesetingly, another such structure stands at a distance of a mere 100 metres from the office of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation.

Rakesh Jaiswal, who ran a teashop in this old building at Tehsil Chowk, vacated the building premises to make way for demolition of the structure.

“ I had received a notice from the corporation some time back to vacate the shop as it wanted to demolish this building. In public interest, I vacated the shop but the building still stands with the corporation making lame excuses that it can’t carry forward the demolition due to legal tangles. Significantly, the structure stands along the main road.

“These high-rise old buildings pose a major threat and the authorities need to act firmly on these matters”, says councillor Arun Valmiki, acknowledging that these structures can come down any moment.

Dehradun, November 24
Robert Giacometti, a renowned baker in Lavin village, Angadeen valley, Switzerland, with his brand products having a niche market in the US and Australia, was in Dehradun today as part of "Alps to Himalayas" initiative by the people of the Angadeen valley to teach the art of baking to women of Garhwal Himalayas.

Roberts Giacometti does not speak English. He was accompanied by Dr Padruot M. Fried, head of the international relations department, Zurich University, who translated Swiss into English.

He in turn was assisted by Dr Kiran Rawat of the Himalayan environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO). She translated the recipes from English to Hindi for the benefit of Garhwali women.

The initiative started three years ago has started bearing fruit. Five woman entrepreneurs have been invited during these three years to the Angadeen valley with Giacometti teaching them the finer elements in Swiss cake-making.

" We are so enthusiastic to help our sisters from the Himalayas so that they are able to not only earn a livelihood, but also help provide jobs to others," said Giacometti.

Giacometti is a busy man with his bakery products a rage in Switzerland, the USA and Australia under the brand name 'Giacometti'.

" We have ageold baking and cake-making secrets that we do not share with others, but for the people of the Himalayas with whom I have shared my trade secrets," said Giacometti. His products are sold at all retail stores in Switzerland, particularly at the "Coop".

"Roberts Giacometti uses more than 7,000 tonnes of flour for bakery products and has a turnover of two million US dollars per annum," said Dr Paudruot. M. Fried.

During a visit to Switzerland three years ago for a meeting of the Indo-Swiss joint working group, Dr Anil Joshi, founder of HESCO, requested the people of the Angadeen valley in the Alps to help the people of the Himalayas.

Responding to the request, residents of Alps mountain started a “community initiative” for transfering technology in various fields to the communities living in the Himalayas.

Dr Fried, said people in the mountains faced same problems throughout the world. "The problems of the people living in the Alps are similar to the problems faced by the people in the Himalayan region. But, technology has played a big role in the development of the Alps mountains."

He said that people of the Angadeen valley had already sponsored five women from Dehradun working in various fields to tell them of the work being done by their counterparts in Switzerland.

He said a baker, a cheese maker, a farmer and a water miller from the Himalayan region had visited Switzerland in June, 2007, to learn about techniques that would benefit them in their work here.

Sumiti, Sandhaya Joshi, Nisha, Rukmini, Kala Bisht and Dr Kiran Rawathad had visited Switzerland to gain knowledge about various trades like bakery, fruit preservation and cheese-making.

Dr Fried and Giacometti hoped that the interaction and technology transfer would benefit the Himalayan community.

Haridwar, November 24
As part of the Kumbh Mela preparations scheduled to be held in 2010 here, Uttarakhand tourism department has started a unique project to make a temporary colony for the foreigners who will visit the city during the Kumbh Mela celebrations.

On the lines of sports village in Asiad, village constructed for Commonwealth games in New Delhi, this temporary colony will be equipped with all modern facilities including broadband services. Tourism department will carry out this project at an estimated cost of Rs 30 lakhs.

The preparations for the Kumbh are in full swing with administration, tourism department and police chalking out plans to make it well organised and providing fool proof security cover.

District Tourism officer YK Gangwar said that the department wants to give the foreigners good lodging and boarding facilities so that they take good memories of the event with them. He also said that on the border of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, 'Kumbh Dwars', would be constructed to welcome the visitors and also to give an added touch to the city.

On the security front, police is making elaborate arrangements so that a foolproof security cover is provided during the mela, where lakhs of people are expected to come. The mela area has been bifurcated in 32 divisions and apart from local police, Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and Para-military force will manage the security in the city.

Also central government has been requested to provide commando squad from the elite National Security Guard, which comes under Union Ministry of Home Affairs, considering the magnitude and sensitivity of the Kumbh. For the Kumbh, a special mela security officer Alok Sharma has already been appointed who will be the sole in charge of the security for the Kumbh.

Also dog, horse and bomb disposal squads will be on alert round the clock considering the terrorist attacks in the major cities in India.

"Apart from the terrorist threat controlling the massive crowd and traffic will be a great challenge. We will install more than 100 close circuit television circuit (CCTV's) to monitor the major and sensitive areas and have asked the central government to provide additional forces," said Alok Sharma, mela security officer.

Haridwar, November 24
With increased threat of use of vehicles with fake registration numbers by terrorists and thefts of vehicles, a need is felt for high security registration plate in Haridwar in view of the Kumbh mela celebrations scheduled to be held in 2010.

It is to be noted that in May this year, that a Supreme Court bench had asked the central and state governments to frame a policy within six months to introduce tamper-proof license plates for all motor vehicles in the country. Court viewed that with the new plate system it will be helpful in the prevention of misuse of the vehicles by terrorists and also in detecting traffic offences by the violators.

The apex court was hearing on a petition filed by M.S. Bitta chairman of All India Anti Terrorist Front soughting implementation of high security permanent registration plate in view of the 2001 terrorist attack on Parliament. But despite the time limit, nothing concrete has been done in this regard in Uttarakhand.

"The current number plate system isn't effective now and miscreants use fake number plates often and after violating traffic rules culprits run away easily as several plates aren't clearly visible as they don't conform to the standards and it makes the job of police and witnesses tough," said Shweta Chaubey, Circle officer, (Traffic), Haridwar.

The speciality of the new plates is that it will carry holograms and shall be suitable for hot stamping. It will also not lose its attributes for minimum five years with state of the art latest technique making the possibility of counterfeiting impossible.

Besides, with code system in the plate, instant details about vehicle registration and owner can be known that would help police immensely in their work.

Shweta Chaube said that the decision of implication of the new system solely depends on the state government and as and when it comes into force it would be enforced properly. Recently at a seminar on traffic at Gurukul University traffic officials and participants also discussed the need for high security plates for vehicles.

Dehradun, November 24
Gurumat Prachar Sabha today observed 334th Martyrdom day of Sikh Guru
Teg Bahadur in Dehradun with flurry of programmes held across the city to
mark the occasion.

Sikh martial arts Gatka being performed on the occasion of the Martyrdom Day of Guru Teg Bahadur in Dehradun on Monday. Tribune photo: Anil P. Rawat

The major highlight was the Nagar Kirtan that was led by Panj Pyaras and started from Gurudwara Dharampur.

After taking to Police Line, Race Course, Haridwar Road, Prince Chowk route, the Nagar Kirtan culminated at Gurudwara Guru Singh Sabha Arhat Bazar.

The Nagar Kirtan that saw big participation from the members of Sikh community had that Palikee Sahib that was showered with flower petals all along the route.

Gatka parties from Ponta Sahib and Amritsar gave presentation of their Sikh martial art were highly appreciated by the audience.