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Doon’s litchi orchards vanishing
Meanwhile, the king of fruits dearer by 25 per cent
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Bumpy road to ISBT nags commuters
Village panels play catalyst
MBA: Registration fee not more than Rs 1,000
State Kisan Cong chief felicitated
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Doon’s litchi orchards vanishing
Dehradun, May 28 The construction companies, often under the patronage of the high and mighty, target litchi orchards as there is barely any land available for their projects. Almost 20 per cent of litchi trees in the city have vanished with the spurt in construction activities ever since the city got the interim capital status. In the past eight years, hundreds of litchi trees have been felled by private colonisers in alleged connivance with politicians and the police, at times prompting protests by local residents, much to the embarrassment of the district adminsitration. The felling of hundreds of trees at more than three places, including Dalanwala, by land promoters shortly after the formation of the state in 2000 to built residential colonies which has led to large-scale resentment among the denizens of the city. The then Nityanand Swami government had ordered a probe into the matter. After much hue and cry, cases were registered and two persons arrested for illegally felling trees. In the very same year, hundreds of inhabitants of Adhoiwala village on the periphery of the city held a demonstration at the district headquarters against the axing of litchi trees by a private coloniser. The coloniser claimed that he had a permit by the forest and horticulture department to fell trees to built a residential colony, but the residents accused him of resorting to unmindful felling of trees. This, they felt, would adversely affect environment. However, all that the forest department did in the case was confiscating the felled trees. Similarly, dozens of litchi, mango and other fruit trees in a seven-bigha orchard were felled in Lakhibagh area in the heart of the city under the “protection” of the police. The felling was done at night and the logs transported before the break of dawn. A magisterial inquiry ordered by the Chief Minister in its preliminary report found that the coloniser, hand in glove with some ruling party politicians and the police, had taken permission to cut a few trees but had instead axed hundreds of these. Several such incidents have taken place all these years with little mechanism to protect the trees on part of the district administration. “There have been little effort to protect the fruit orchards in Dehradun. If not more, at least there should be a blanket ban on felling of litchi trees ”, said Atul Joshi, arguing that with real estate prices on the rise, it was becoming increasingly difficult to save Dehradun’s famous litchi orchards. While the Dehradun horticulture department admits that it can do little to check the dwindling number of litchi trees in the city, it claims that due to its policies and programmes there has been a steady increase in the area under litchi cultivation in the district. But this growth has certainly taken place in villages on the periphery. Amidst the decreasing litchi orchards, there has been a move by the horticulture department to make up for the loss of litchi trees in the city. The department has planted as many as 50,000 litchi trees in the past three years. Most of these plantations have been taken up in areas in close vicinity to the city, even as their numbers continue to decline within the city limits. “In order to promote litchi cultivation, we are providing an assistance of Rs 22,500 per hectare to farmers,” claimed Amar Singh, district horticulture officer. He pointed out that there were no policies on the part of the department to ensure that the standing litchi trees in the city were adequately guarded. Constructions certainly have come at a cost of litchi trees. As some kind of compensation, the department has been planting litchi trees in Chandrotee area in Garhi, Premnagar and Vikasnagar in West Dehradun. The announcement of establishing litchi export zones nearly six years back has failed to have an impact towards safeguarding the dwindling number of litchi trees in the region. Dehradun in the financial year 2008-09, produced 5,703 tonnes of litchis with as much as 3,680 hectares under cultivation. In 2007-08, Dehradun district had produced 5,592 tonnes of litchi with 3,634 hectares under litchi cultivation.
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Meanwhile, the king of fruits dearer by 25 per cent
Roorkee, May 28 “Where we normally would get 1200-1500 boxes everyday last season, this time the figure is 400-500 boxes per day,” said Raj Kumar, owner of Rajender Kumar & Raj Kumar . With the poor arrival of the fruit, the rates have gone up by around 25 per cent in comparison to last season. The fruit agents are anxious about their earnings, which they say have fallen drastically. “The poor arrival of the product has affected our income. Our profits have come down by 50 per cent this year,” rued another mango agent Kapil Saini. The only variety of mango, available in the market is ‘safeda’, which icomes from Warengal and Hyderabad (AP) via Delhi mandis. Frequent storms and scanty rain has destroyed the crop, said the fruit agents. The local mango crop will hit the market mid- June. But mango orchardists of Manglore, Bhijoli, Tanda Bhandera, Pirpura, Nagla Imarti, Landoura, Gadarouna and Chandanpur say they has been facing the same Ram Singh said: “The main reason behind the fall in yield is the rapid growth of brick -kilns in the area, whose pollution is directly affecting the quality of the produce.”
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Bumpy road to ISBT nags commuters
Dehradun, May 28 Officials say work on strengthening the 5 km-stretch between the railway crossing on the Haridwar bypass and the ISBT had been held up due to the Model Code of Conduct. The National Highway Division, PWD, Roorkee, started work on the road as well as the roundabout in January. It is to completed at a cost of Rs 3.5 crore. “The roundabout has shrunk the existing space. It has become a U-turn for vehicles, especially buses and trucks, coming from the ISBT and moving towards the city area. Given the rush of passengers, driving has become risky,” commented Satya Prakash Singh Solanki, a truck owner of Kargi Chowk. Gaurav Sharma of Niranjanpur Mandi was of the opinion that private buses, autos and Vikrams parked around the roundabout should not be allowed. “These vehicles create a traffic bottleneck but the police on duty does not seem bothered... The incomplete work on covering the drain running close to the roundabout has further obstructed the flow of traffic,” he said. XEN CM Pandey admitted that work on and around the roundabout was causing problems. He said the work would be completed soon, without giving a timeframe. On strengthening the road, he said work would be completed before the onset of the
rainy season.
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Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan
Dehradun, May 28 At the village level, Village Education Committees (VEC) and School Managing Committees (SMC) have been created to ensure 100 per cent enrollment in schools and also to maintain high degree of retention amongst students. “The committee members help in bringing students to classrooms and also motivate parents to continue with the schooling of their children thereby ensuring that there is less school dropout. By ensuring a role for the village committees there is a fair chance that they would take necessary steps in the education of village children,” said JP Silori, district coordinator inclusive education, SSA. In addition, the SMCs and VECs also make alternate arrangements for deployment of part-time staff in schools that are without teachers. “In hilly areas the problems of shortage of teachers is sorted at the community level with the members taking the services of the unemployed youth and even collect funds at the local level that would go towards their salary,” said Sumitra Juglan, district project officer, SSA. There is a peculiar problem in the educationally backward blocks of the Dehradun district like Chakrata and Kalsi where very few teachers like to be transferred. In these situations the Village Education Committees step in to appoint volunteers who are made Shiksha Mitras in due course of time under the Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS). They also make arrangements for providing buildings and land for schools. Another area where the School Managing Committees (SMC) and Village Education Committees (VEC) are playing an important role is in the distribution and implementation of the mid-day meals. They are now in the forefront of providing mid-day meals during the summer holidays in drought-hit districts of the state. In Dehradun, the scheme is being implemented in 957 primary schools and 449 junior schools for which rice is provided through the district supply office (DSO) and monthly money for dal and vegetables goes to the separate account of the principal. The finances are tabulated Rs 2.50 per child, with both the state and Central governments making contributions.
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MBA: Registration fee not more than Rs 1,000
Dehradun, May 28 As per the order issued by secretary technical education Rakesh Kumar on Tuesday, no institute would be allowed to charge more than Rs 1,000 as the registration fee. Strict action would be taken against the institute if the department received any complaint in this regard. The institutes have also been asked to provide refreshments and transport facility to the candidates called for counselling. The new order has come as a big relief to the MBA aspirants as the institutes had been charging arbitrarily from them. It ranged between Rs 1500 to Rs 2000. Usually, the candidates apply at more than one institute to enhance their chances of getting admission, so they have to deposit this amount everywhere. The department is of the view that the amount being charged by the institutes unnecessarily added to the financial burden on the candidates.
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State Kisan Cong chief felicitated
Dehradun, May 28 Lakshman chowk MLA Dinesh Aggarwal recalled Pramod Kumar’s contribution to the cause of cooperative movement in the state. He said cooperatives have always struggled for the betterment of society and added that Pramod has selflessly worked towards making cooperative a common man movement in the state. Rajesh Sharma district president Sahkari Bhesaj Sangh, Mukesh Mamgain vice president district Sahakari Sangh, Sanjaya Kala and Ajit Rawat were other prominent persons present on the occasion.
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Dehradun, May 28
