Now, cameras at IIT to
nab thieves
Roorkee, March 15
Keeping in mind the rising incidents of theft on campus, authorities at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) have decided to install close circuit television cameras (CCTVs) at all the sensitive points.

Yet another theft

Whet your appetite
with momos
Dehradun, March 15
Small Tibetan food joints serving authentic dishes like momos, thupka and chowmein have become favourite food of Doonites being tasty and affordable.

 

 

Dehradun, March 15
With as many 25 forest fires already reported from various areas of Uttarakhand
this year, the authorities are apprehending more trouble as the summer season
reaches its peak.

Uttarakhand saw a dry spell this winter leading to rise in temperatures in February-March, putting the forest wealth to a greater risk of fires.

The forest authorities are geared up to take the challenge head-on putting their fire-fighting staff into operational mode.

“We are apprehending a bigger danger of forest fires this summer as there has been little rain this winter leading to a sudden rise in temperatures,” explained Chief Conservator of Forests AR Sinha.

He said as part of preparations, 2000 crew stations had been created to ensure prompt action in case of a fire.

Major fires are occurring in the hills every three to four years because of accumulation of leaves and litter in the forests.

The most devastating fires in Uttarakhand hills and Himachal Pradesh in 1995 destroyed an area of 6,77,700 hectares and according to a government committee report, the quantifiable timber loss alone was around Rs 17.50 crore (US$ 43 million) although losses in the form soil erosion, loss of employment, drying up of water sources and loss to bio-diversity were not calculated.

The devastating forest fires in the summer of 1999 destroyed nearly 50,000 hectares of forests in Uttarakhand hills.

These fires have been a cause of grave concern in recent times. The state forest authorities have focused their energies on meeting these challenges.

From clearing of forest lines and taking villagers into confidence, the authorities have distributed 1,300 fire kits this year to ensure prompt action on ground.

Identification of areas prone to forest fires on the basis of past records has been done and reasons that lead these areas into frequent fires are being ascertained.

Measure likes control burning of fuel load and increasing frequency of patrolling by forest guards in identified areas during the season is being ensured.

“For quick response to fires, training programmes for forest ground staff have been undertaken for better management of fire-fighting resources and the department's user-friendly equipment,” Sinha observed.

Taking into account the studies by forest researchers that reveal that fires are reported to be most frequent in the chir forests, the forest department has been discouraging planting of chir saplings and opting for other broad-leaf tree varieties.

Extensively tapped for the production of resin, chir is a main cause for the spread of fires. In fact, it seems that locals cause a majority of fires in chir pine forests for better grass for their livestock.

The Uttarakhand Space Application Centre (USAC) has been assisting the forest department in checking fires. Dr MM Kimothi, director, USAC, termed the forest fires as a major threat to the rich forest wealth and held that the centre had been extending its monitoring and early warning system technology to the forest department for minimising losses.

While the state forest authorities fight it out to check the fire menace, Dehradun-based Forest Survey of India has had a yeoman role in providing information linked to forest fires to the state government.

“We provide information on the outbreak of a forest fire as soon as it breaks”, said Rajesh Kumar, senior FSI official.

Apart from destroying forest wealth, these fires have proved to be detrimental
to the forest fauna. Last year forest fires had spread into Corbett National Park
and Rajaji Park.

Forest fires have had adverse influence on galliformes conservation in the state. Usually, the loss of ground dwelling for bird life during fires is not documented and even less understood, but its impact on the population of bird species is grave.

A survey shows almost 90 per cent of fires in forests are started by people. The forest department has from time to time issued warnings that anyone behind the forest fires will be dealt with firmly under the Forest Act.

Sensitising villagers, particularly schoolgoing children and women, vis-à-vis forest fires has been the focus of the forest department.

As part of this awareness exercise, seminars with participants from Mahila Mangal Dals, Van Panchayats and other village-level public representatives, are being convened in villages that are located on the periphery of forest areas.

Mussoorie, March 15
Historian Gopal Bhardwaj has a rare collection of postal envelopes, picture postcards and stamps some of which date back to 1870 and believes that these could provide a connoisseur with an interesting glimpse into the past.

“These envelopes, postcards and stamps have some interesting tales to tell,” said Bhardwaj. In his collection, there is an envelope, postmarked January 11, 1901, addressed to a Hindu student in Church Mission School, Dera Ismail Khan, Punjab.

“Apparently, this letter was written by the parents of this student who resided in Tuticorin in India,” Bhardwaj said.

According to him, this indicates that prior to the Partition, Hindu students used to study in places such as Dera Ismail Khan, which is now a district headquarters in the highly disturbed North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) in Pakistan.

“Today, people from India cannot get a visa to go to Pakistan and vice-versa but things were very different in those days,” he said.

There is another envelope dating back to 1905 on which the address is written as “House No. 45, Peshawar.”

“Peshawar is today a big city in Pakistan and such a simple address on the envelope is an indication that cities used to be much smaller back then,” added Bhardwaj.

He also has a collection of about 50 picture postcards, some of which are as old as 1870, and rare postage stamps which number over 1,000.

According to Bhardwaj, who is an authority on Mussoorie’s history, one needs to carefully preserve and interpret old stamps, envelopes and postcards.

“I have been collecting stamps, postcards, pictures etc. since my childhood,” he said. However, he laments the fact that present-day children are not interested in hobbies like stamp collection.

“Stamp collection used to be a craze during our childhood but these days, children are perhaps more interested in collecting computer CDs,” quips Bhardwaj.

Dehradun, March 15
Small Tibetan food joints serving authentic dishes like momos, thupka and chowmein have become favourite food of Doonites being tasty and affordable.

The taxi stand area near Indra Market in the city has got some old famous Tibetan food joints is one of the hot spots for the food.

“We are serving mutton momos and other authentic dishes from past 25 years. People come here especially to have our mutton momos and thupka,” said Hera Devi Joshi, owner Joshi restaurant.

It is common to find large numbers of these joints opening at every nook and corner of the city. KC Soup Bar, famous for its chicken and tomato soup with mutton momos, is located in the heart of the city and is always jam packed in the evenings.

“We get mixed crowd but with a large number of professional colleges in the city
youngsters find it a perfect place to hangout with friends,” said Leena, owner,
KC Soup Bar.

“I enjoy chicken soup of KC’S, and I come here with my friends every weekends,” said Satyam, a college student.

With a large population of Tibetans residing in the city the authentic Tibetan
food has lured everybody. People love to have the delicacies with spicy red
and green chutneys.

“I am running my joint since 1983 and apart from locals people from Delhi, Chandigarh and Jaipur come here especially to have my momos, chowmein and thupka,” said Lakpa Doma, owner, Didi joint. Where others joints specialise in mutton momos, Didi is known for its beef momos.