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Power corpn moves to thaw winter chill
Dehradun, December 17 The power generation from hydro-electric units has decreased by half in the past two months. From more than 15 million units per day in October, it has dropped to less than 8 million units per day in December. With the weatherman predicting heavy snowfall caused by a western disturbance on December 19 and 20, the generation is expected to drop further. In the winter months, while there is less generation in the hydro-electric stations due to paucity of water in the rivers, the demand for power increases
rapidly. The state faced a massive shortage of power last winter following the shutdown of an ONGC gas-based power unit, on which the state is much
dependent. However, the Uttarakhand Power Corporation has taken a number of measures to meet the increasing gap between demand and supply. “We are aware of the situation and have learnt from past experience. We hope it would be a warmer winter with uninterrupted supply of power to the consumers,” said S. Mohan Ram, MD, Uttarakhand Power Corporation. The authorities, during the summer season, had banked 380 million units of power with the neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Gujarat. “We have started withdrawing power from our banked quota for the next four months, besides getting central allocation from the grid,” said Ram. He said the hill states of the country were also entitled to a discretionary quota for the winter months. “We have the mandate to provide round-the- clock power to the consumers and are even overdrawing from the grid to meet the shortfall,” he added. The state buys power from the grid as per the norms that specifies a rate of up to Rs 8 per unit during the morning and evening peak hours. On December 15, while the gross energy availability in the state was more than 17 million units per day, the demand had peaked to more than 22 million units per day. “We are hopeful that the situation will be comfortable unless there is a major shutdown in any of the units of the central grid,” he said. The Power Corporation has embarked upon a campaign to improve its technical and commercial services. In August 2007, the corporation’s revenue generation from tariff was only Rs 70 crore. It went up to Rs 140 crore in this month due to better realisation of tarrif, increase in rates and better power meters. Interestingly, more than 3,500 high-value consumers, particularly industries and commercial establishments, are paying more than Rs 100 crore of power tariff per month while the rest of the 12.5 lakh consumers pay Rs 40 crore per month. The corporation has started an automatic meter reading system for these high-value consumers through the CDMA technology where human intervention in meter reading is
not required. “We are starting the scheme for consumers with establishments with powerloads of more than 4 kw and propose to involve 50,000 high-value consumers like industries, hotels and commercial establishments in the first year,” said P.Panda, director (finance) of the
corporation. In the next phase, residential consumers will be provided with foolproof meter-reading technology. The exercise has been undertaken as part of efforts to bring down transmission ands distribution losses that were more than 40 per cent till 2007. “We have been able to bring down the explained or unexplained losses from more than 40 per cent last year to 32 per cent this year and the target will be to reduce these to 24 per cent by March 2009,”
explained Ram. Moreover, the corporation has started Bijli Suvidha Kendra at each of more than 100 electricity subdivisions in the state to handle complaints, from technical to billing. The corporation has started a toll-free number(18001804040) to register complaints on power supply anywhere in the state. The complainst would be registered at a centralised monitoring station in the capital and senior officials would then without delay pass on the information to the sub-division concerned for prompt action,” explained Ram.
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The Uttarakhand Power Corporation has introduced anytime payment machines (APMs) to ease the rush at bill collection centres and also streamline billing. Six such machines have been installed at six centres at Vasant Vihar, Bhandari Bagh, Dila Ram Bazaar, Bindal Bridge, EC Road and Araghar bill collections centres. “It takes a minute for the consumer to punch in the consumer number and deposit the bill. These APMs are open from 8 am to 8 pm,” said the corporation MD. “More than 5,000 consumers have been depositing bills with these machines every month since these were installed three months back,” said Jagmohan Singh Rauthan, president of the Uttarakhand Power Engineer Association. “We would be installing more such machines in the state soon,” said Ram.
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Sabra decides to take fight to New Delhi
Dehradun, December 17 “I plan to go to New Delhi in search of justice,” she told mediapersons. For the past two weeks, Sabra (20) from Kabul, has been camping in Pitthoragarh, pleading with her “husband” to accept her but without success. Even though a case has been registered against Army doctor Major Chandershekhar Pant, no action has been initiated against him by the district police and administration. Sabra claims that Major Pant is her husband. She says two years ago, Major Pant, while on deputation with the Red Cross in Afghanistan, met her in Kabul and befriended her. She was working as a translator with the organisation. They fell in love and got married according to Islamic laws. Sabra claims that Major Pant converted to Islam to marry her and was re-named Himmat Khan. She says they got married on August 19, 2006, and has with her the “Nikahnama” and a video film of her marriage as proof. Sabra says they stayed in Kabul as husband and wife till the doctor returned to India with the promise that he would call her there soon. But this was not to be and tired of waiting, she decided to visit India. She managed a visa for India and located him in Pitthoragarh. The doctor is married with two children. Police sources say since the matter involves two nations, senior Army officials and the union home ministry have been informed. “We will wait for instructions from them,” said a police officer. Sabra, with support from civil society groups and mediapersons staged a dharna at Pitthoragarh yesterday. Holding placards, they demanded justice for the young woman. “We feel sympathy for her,” said Vijay Vardhan Upreti, a local journalist.
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On quail trail
The society carried out a monthlong search in the Binog Wildlife Sanctuary, Mussoorie, another key habitat of the quail in Garhwal last winters, leading to collection of feathers, which were subsequently sent to feather experts in London. Former Uttarakhand chief wildlife warden and vice-president of the WPSI, Dehradun, A S Negi, said after completion of the search in Mussoorie, the society was now eyeing Nainital, the other habitat of the
quail. The society last winters deployed a team of villagers in Mussoorie who undertook the monthlong search. These
people, with a sound knowledge of birds, gathered a large numbers of feathers for any possible presence of the
Himalayan quail. “The feathers were subsequently sent to experts at London at the behest of the BNHS,” Negi said. He said while the results were awaited, the next search for the presence of this elusive bird would begin in Nainital area this winter. Popularly identified as pahari bater, this galliform has not been sighted with certainty since 1876, but there have been some credible claims on its presence in recent times. One such putative sighting of this bird was recorded near Suwakholi in the Mussoorie hills in September 1984 and another in Nainital in 2003. After having spent long years in different habitats of the Himalayan Quail in Uttarakhand, S Satyakumar does not rule out the possibility of its sighting in future. He says in the absence of surveys to rediscover the bird, it was difficult to pronounce the species as extinct. The IUCN has kept the Himalayan quail in the critically endangered list rather than declaring it as extinct. A known expert in bird study, Hilaluddin, in the year 2002 had claimed possibility of the bird surviving in some areas in the lower or middle Himalayas between Nainital and Mussoorie. There have been cases when a bird reportedly not seen in India for 140 years was re-discovered, albeit at a different location. The large-billed reed warbler, an olive brown bird with a long beak and short wings, was last seen in 1867 and its presence subsequently recorded in March 2006. Bird Life International had some years back advocated a well-planned survey of suitable habitat in the lower Himalayan ranges through the use of remote-sensing and satellite data followed by ground surveys for tracking down the quail. As the Himalayan Quail favours dense grass and is reluctant to fly, the WII team had suggested utilising the flushing technique with the help of trained dogs to get a clearer picture on the presence of the bird. But the suggestion was turned down by the authorities as they felt such an exercise would have an adverse affect on the rest of the wildlife.Those engaged in the study of birds are hopeful of the Himalayan quail’s presence. The Uttarakhand Forest authorities are also not giving up and continue to have the bird on its roll as flagship species of the Binog wildlife sanctuary in the tourist resort of
Mussoorie.
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Green plans go grey
Dehradun, December 17 Gandhi Park, in the heart of the city, stands most definitely ignored. It is full of wild growth and litter and has few flower-beds. While political parties amply utilise this park for carrying out protests, rallies and dharnas, the very aim of the park, of providing succour to Doon residents, seems to have been lost. There were times when people took off time during the weekends for a visit to Gandhi Park. But the park no more attracts the ordinary Doonite. There are few morning walkers who frequent it. The corporation has not added infrastructure to the park. To make matters, the other two parks have been turned into dumping grounds. However, the Dehradun Municipal Corporation claims it has ambitious plans for these parks. “We have already entered into a public-private partnership towards creation of Kids Zone at Gandhi Park and a sum of Rs 25 lakh sanctioned for the purpose,” said mayor Vinod Chamoli. A few weeks back, the corporation waived the parking fee at Gandhi Park in order to attract more visitors. There have been complaints of visitors encountering anti-social elements in the park. Dehradun mayor Vinod Chamoli has been focussing attention on these parks, describing them as essential part of the city’s beautification drive. He has made sprucing up of the parks the topmost priority, often making on-the-spot inspections. The DMC has taken the assistance of the Mussoorie-Dehradun Development Authority to upgrade the parks. It has entered into a tie-up with the MDDA and proposed Gaura Devi Park in Defence Colony. This ambitious project assumes significance as it involves a staggering Rs 12 crore expenditure. Dr Bimal Kant Nautiyal, management committee, Defence Colony, says the proposed Gaura Devi Memorial Park will come up at a dry pond. He suggests opening of a cafeteria at Gandhi Park to attract more visitors. Another resident Naveen Juyal says parks should look inviting to women and children. While the Dehradun Master Plan favours creation of a botanical parks and topiar park, the authorities need to work towards betterment of the existing ones. M.S Mehta who has been working for restoring greenery in Dehradun, says with rampant construction in the city, these few parks are the only open spaces which can be utilised by children and the aged.
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Homage paid to Babu Bootha Singh
Dehradun, December 17 At a meeting held by the organisation, the members recalled the contribution made by Bootha Singh, born on December 16, 1898 at village Koldi in Pauri Garhwal in a family of craftsman. However, keen to impart education to his son, Bootha Singh’s father enrolled him in a school far from his village. While shedding light on the life of Bootha Singh, Swami S. Chandra, patron of Shail Kala Sangam said that as a result of his father’s efforts, Bootha Singh managed to continue his education. Prior to Independence, he joined the Air Force as an upper division clerk while based in Quetta (now in Pakistan). But the problems of his community were never far from his mind. He formed the Quetta chapter of Garhwal Shilpkar Sabha. He was later appointed secretary of Shilpkar Sabha that was formed in Pauri in 1937. Bootha Singh appraised the then administration in Uttar Pradesh about the problems of his community (craftsmen), urging the administration to allocate land for them. As a result, a total of 1,135 acre of land was allocated in Garhwal and Chamoli for settling the landless craftsmen. Due to his efforts, scholarship and provision for free books were made for the students hailing from this community. It may be mentioned that Shail Kala Sangam is a social organisation engaged in the conservation and preservation of hill folk culture.
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Haridwar Congress felicitates Rawat
Dehradun, December 17
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Dehra Dun, December 17