Dehradun, May 7
Though still in its infancy, the Indian Red Cross Society in Uttarakhand is spreading wings in the state with plans for district disability rehabilitation centres.

Faced with infrastructure problems, its state branch has sent a proposal for one such centre at Uttarkashi.

“There is a growing need for such centres and the Red Cross Society’s state branch is well-equipped to provide care to the disabled.

“With this we will be fulfilling our aim to engage our volunteers in the care of those who require help the most.

“The population of the disabled is growing and where medical officers and the NGOs cannot reach, our society will make its presence felt,” said Dr IS Pal, honorary secretary of the society.

Housed in a small building, society’s infrastructure woes are expected to end when work on the new building underway at Danda Lakhon is completed by next year for which an allocation of Rs 1.97 crore has been made by the state government.

The district branch of the society is expected to be housed there; for now it is functioning sans an office.

Besides establishing the disability rehabilitation centre, the state branch will begin training ASHA health workers in the state.

“We will be training 9,000 workers in first-aid. They will be able to deal with any emergency in villages thereafter,” said Dr Pal.

The Red Cross Society is committed to creating volunteers during peace and emergency situations trained in administering first-aid. These volunteers are imparted seven days’ training by a cadre of 40 medical officers.

The State Red Cross Society had made financial contribution for the welfare of families affected by the Bihar floods in 2008.

It is actively contributing to the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) programmes, holding blood donation camps and training volunteers in first-aid.

To reduce mortality, the society is actively involved in all health programmes underway in the state. It has achieved the singular distinction of constituting the State Disaster Management Committee.

“The idea is to create a disaster response team with 30 members, mostly
volunteers from the Indian Red Cross Society, hospitals and the Indian Medical
Association,” said Bhuwan Joshi, disaster management coordinator, Indian Red
Cross Society, Uttarakhand.

“The district disaster response team will comprise 30 members consisting of
doctors and paramedics and district-level volunteers of the Indian Red Cross
Society,” he explained.

The society has a branch in four hospitals at Chamba (Tehri), Gular Dhoj (Udham Singh Nagar), Nagthath (Dehradun) and Balwa Kot ( Pithoragarh).

These hospitals are situated in tribal areas and are the main links in providing maternal and child healthcare facilities to tribesmen. Besides, it has six sub-centres and “Balwadis” at Tehri (4), Dehradun (2) and Pithoragarh (1).

The Indian Red cross Society is a voluntary organisation with a network of over 700 branches in the country providing relief in times of disaster and emergencies and providing healthcare to vulnerable sections and communities.

In 1914 during World War I, no Red Cross organisation existed in India. A Bill to constitute the Indian Red Cross Society, independent of the British Red Cross, was introduced in the Indian Legislative Council on March 2, 1920, by Sir Cloud Hill, member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council, who was chairman of the joint war committee in India.

The Bill was passed on March 17, 1920, and became law. It was last amended in 1992 and rules formulated in 1994. The Red Cross Society has state/union territories branches in more than 700 districts and sub-districts.

The Red Cross was conceptualised by Swiss businessman Henry Dunant who went to see the French Emperor and was confronted with the suffering of thousands of wounded and dying soldiers on the battlefield of Solferino.

The Uttarakhand branch has 5007 life members, 1545 life associates, 1254 annual members, 269 annual associates and 168 institutional members with the Governor of Uttarakhand as president.

It faces a huge challenge as there is vast variation in conditions in different states; it has to tackle poverty and illiteracy and to brace up for a complex disaster profile.

“The Red Cross volunteers act as the first line of relief operators in conflict zones like Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. They are actively engaged in providing relief to the war- ravaged states, setting up temporary lines of water and electricity supply,” informed Dr Pal.

Dehradun, May 7
An M Tech (Electronics) from IIT Kharagpur and MBA from IIM, Kolkata, and an incredible mountaineer, a few people know of Malli Mastan Babu’s mountain exploits.

An accomplished mountaineer, Babu has hoisted the Indian flag atop all tall peaks of the seven continents, and that too in 172 days, setting a world record.

Sharing his experiences with The Tribune, Babu, who was with scientists of the Wildlife Institute, Dehradun, today recalled his struggle while undertaking the daunting task of conquering as many as seven top peaks across seven continents of the world, that too within 172 days (January 19 to July 10, 2006) and braving all impediments, from finance to visa requirements.

Nothing could stop him. He was unflappable in his single-minded objective. Starting from the Everest on May 21, Babu conquered Denali (Alaska, US) on July 10, followed by the highest European Peak Elbrus (Russia).

This was followed by Kilimanjaro in Tanzania on March 15, Vinson peak in Antarctica on January 19, South American tallest peak Aconcagua in Argentina on February 17 and scaled Australian’s tallest peak Kosciuszko on April 1.

After his schooling from Sainik School Korukonda, Babu completed M Tech (Electronics) from IIT Kharagpur, and further successfully pursued his MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, in 2004.

But for the love of the mountains, Babu never went for placement and started vigorously pursuing mountaineering.

Conquering seven summits in seven continents was not all that easy particularly when he had little resources and all major mountaineering bodies in the country were in mood to assist him.

While undertaking all this on his own, the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) kept a distance from Babu categorically stating that the IMF can’t support any mountaineering exercise outside the country.

Babu has high hopes for Uttarakhand, particularly in trekking. After the seven summits accomplishment in 2006, he undertook a journey of Char Dham passes in 2007, covering nearly 800 km of the Himalayan terrain.

He said Uttarakhand has some of the finest trek routes in the country, which can be exploited to the state’s tourism interests.

Not resting on his laurels, he ran 14 half marathons (21.1km) in 14 states in 14 days. In December 2007 he ran 8 full marathons (42.2 km) and 3 half marathons in 11 states in 13 days.

In 2008, he had done a high-altitude travel between the Everest and Kanchenjunga regions. His next focus is to accomplish Trans Himalaya on foot visiting all high- altitude passes across the Himalayas between Arunachal Pradesh and Karakoram.

Dehradun, May 7
As the Mother’s Day is round the corner, city gift shops are decorated with variety of gifts to be purchased on the occasion to make mothers feel proud and special for their unconditional love and care.

Since a week ago, children in large numbers were flocking to various galleries as well as stores to purchase something which mothers are fond of.

“Throughout the year the sale of sarees are good, but during this time also girls, who are staying in hostels, come in large numbers to pick up something unique for them and even boys sometimes come to purchase one or two items,” said Sandya Nagar, owner of Bengal Collection Store.

However, if not something huge and expensive, the galleries have wide range of small and big cards with lovely quotations to make her day an extraordinary one.

The range of card varies from Rs 30 to Rs 135. “Cards are always a big hit particularly amongst teenagers and boarders who really miss their mothers.

“Our sales are good due to the coming up of so many professional colleges,” said Sandeep Garg, owner of Sunshine Gallery.

An array of perfumes in Benetton and other international brands are a perfect gift, and swarouski crystal jewellery starting from Rs 395 till Rs 899 can be picked for those who are fond of jewellery and want to wear something different and stylish.

“From the past one week the sale of gifts and cards are very good and on May 9 we are expecting maximum sales,” said Shiv Kumar, salesman at Archies Gallery.