Dehradun, June 19
With Uttarakhand receiving scanty rainfall during the past few months, there has been a drought-like condition in the state. Besides the adverse affect on crops, the water level in the rivers, especially the Ganga, has gone down considerably.

The situation has acquired an alarming proportion. It is for the first time in the past four years that the water level in the rivers in Uttarakhand has dipped so much.

The situation has not only left the farming community high and dry but also hit power generation.

On an average, till June 15, the water level in the Ganga in Haridwar stood at 21,000 cusecs but this year the figure has not gone above 15,000 cusecs. In 2006 and 2007, the water level in the Ganga, Haridwar, till mid-June was recorded at 23,223 cusecs and 21,255 cusecs. However, due to scanty rainfall this year the level recorded is just 14,700 cusecs.

In other rivers like the Tons, the Bhagirathi and the Sharda, the situation is more or less the same. Comparative figures reveal that in the Tons in June last year there was 306 cusecs of water, whereas this year it is a mere 39 cusecs.

Similarly, against 420 cusecs of water on June 17, 2008, in the Bhagirathi near Tiloth, it is only 1,787 cusecs this year. In the Sharda river, there has been a dip of almost 82 cusecs as compared to last year.

During the summers, rivers generally dry up but the Ganga water level remains fairly good. On account of meltdown of glaciers in the Himalayas coupled with the rainfall in the first two weeks of June, the water level in the river remains above 20,000 cusecs. But this time, there has been scanty snowfall and rainfall.

The situation created by scanty rainfall can well be gauged from the fact that against an average rainfall of 50 mm in the month of January, the Garhwal region recorded 5.2 mm rainfall and Kumaon less than 4 mm rainfall this year.

Likewise, there had been negligible snowfall in the hill areas.

The long dry spell last winters had affected the wheat and other crops in Tehri, Almora and Pitthoragarh districts. Dr Anand Sharma, director, meteorological department, Uttarakhand, said: “During December 2008, and January - March 2009, the state received little rainfall. As a result, crops suffered damage as there are no irrigation facilities in the hills.

“The month of February was good as far as rainfall is concerned. But now again in June because of the dry spell the water level in the rivers has gone down.”

Dr Sharma said since sowing was undertaken in June, the dry spell was likely to affect the farmers.

Because of the low water level in the rivers, power generation in the state has also gone down. Uttarakhand is mainly dependent on its hydro-power and with the rivers receding, power production has been hit hard.

Though the demand for power in Uttarakhand has gone up to 25 million units from 17 million units per day, the generation has come down.

The target of power generation for the month of June stands at around 534 million units, which means generating 18 million units of power on a daily basis.

But because of the low water level in the rivers, the power corporation is not able to meet the target of generating 18 million units of power daily.

Under the prevailing conditions, the state government has sought a central assistance of Rs 200 crore. State agriculture minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said the scanty rainfall had not only affected agriculture and horticulture, but also dried up natural water sources. He said as many as 11 districts had been affected.

“Almost 50 per cent of the crops have been damaged in 3,216villages of five districts alone.”

Rawat disclosed that three central teams headed by the joint secretary, agriculture, RK Tiwari, had toured the state and found that of the 13 districts, 11 were in the grip of drought-like conditions.

The team had advised the state government to initiate certain measures like water harvesting and agriculture insurance.

Dehradun, June 19
Following the detection of a suspected swine flue case in Dehradun, the Uttarakhand health department has put its health officials on alert while seeking masks and medicines from the Centre.

“The masks and medicines are expected to reach the state this evening,” said the DG, health, Dr Premlata Joshi. She said the department was monitoring the situation and had asked all CMOs to keep a vigil. Health officials had been told to remain in a state of preparedness for any exigency.

Dr Jain said the sample report from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases was awaited. On Thursday, four members of the family of JS Rathore, chief engineer, ONGC, a resident of Indira Colony here, was admitted to the ONGC hospital after A(H1N1) flu symptoms were noticed in his nine-year-old son. The family had recently returned from a trip to Singapore.

Rathore, his wife Hemlata, 37, and elder son Sahleen, 14, have been quarantined. As a precaution, the health department has asked all those who have recently returned from a foreign trip to get themselves medical examined.

A suspected case of swine flue in Haldwani had recently tested negative. Dr Joshi said they had decided to put the state on alert, with special focus on Pitthoragarh district. More samples collected from the affected family have been sent to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases. The report is expected by noon tomorrow.

As none of the government hospitals undertake culture tests for the diognosis of swine influenza, blood samples are collected and sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, or the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, New Delhi.

“The clinical samples are transported on dry ice in triple packaging and sent to Delhi and the results usually received within 24 hours,” said Dr PL Joshi, DG, health.

Nasal swabs need to be collected within the first five of the illness (when an infected person is likely to be shedding the virus). However, children may shed virus for 10 days or more.

Haridwar: The Haridwar district hospital has only one isolation ward and no testing kit and medicines.

“Medicines, including Tami Flu capsules, and the requisite protection gear will be sought from Dehradun if any such case is reported here,” said Dr Anand Kishore Gautam, nodal officer . However, a special five-bed isolation ward with facilities like ventilators and oxygen masks had been set up at Har Milap Chikitsalya, he said.

Roorkee, June 19
In the field of solid waste management, the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (IIT-R), took a huge leap by developing an advanced prototype of Rotary Drum Composter (RDC) which produces manure of fine quality from waste in two weeks.

The faculty of environmental engineering in the Department of Civil Engineering developed the machine which they term as an innovative solution to organic solid-waste recycling.

The remarkable feature of the composter is that it produces compost within 15 days whereas conventional techniques require three to six months for giving the same results.

“Its decomposition rate is very fast. The organic matter reduces from 50 per cent to 25 per cent within seven days while conventional methods take 2-3 months to get the same results,” said the IIT experts. The faculty said that very high temperature is achieved in the drum after rotation which means higher microbial activity due to mass transfer and addition of oxygen.

The icing on the cake is that it has an odourless and mosquito-free operation and can be installed in residential areas. A composter has been installed in the IIT-R where vegetable waste from thestudent messes, canteens and dry leaves in the campus are being used to produce manure.

“At present, the composter that is very easy to operate and maintain produces 100 kg compost per day,” said the faculty.

“To run the system, negligible power is required,” said the experts while terming the system self-sustainable.

The system can be operated in manual, semi-automatic and fully automatic mode and the salary of the operator can be easily earned by selling the produced compost.

“The installation of the system in various colonies will help in not only reducing the transport and disposal burden of solid waste on municipalities but also provide a healthy recycling and reuse environment,” feels the faculty.

“Research is on to further reduce the composting period,” said the project members.