The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Rafting on Ganga comes to a standstill
Jotirmay Thapliyal
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, September 15
After talks between the Forest Minister and the agitating rafting companies failed, the tussle between the Uttarakhand government and the rafting operators is headed for a showdown with the rafting companies today bringing their operations on the Ganga to a halt.

They even forced the closure of the Bhagirathi circle office of the state Forest Department at Muni ki Reti.

Rafting operators’ demands

Five-year permits in place of one-year permits

No auctioning of beaches to outsiders

Toll collected to be used for maintaining beaches

New beach policy

Visibly angry rafting operators today forcibly entered the Bhagirathi circle office of the state Forest Department at Muni ki Reti that manages rafting operations. After much argument with forest officials, they forced the closure of the office.

They even threatened to block the Rishikesh-Badrinath highway on Sept 18 if the forest authorities did not change their attitude towards the rafting companies.

After much persuasion, Uttarakhand tourism authorities had allowed five-year permits for rafting operations, but the forest department had struck to its earlier stand of only providing year-long beach permits which had put rafting companies in direct opposition to the forest authorities.

To make matters worse, forest officials want to auction the beaches. They argue that the auction will lead to an increase in revenue but also provide equal opportunities for all rafting companies.

The 35-crore rafting industry, which entails a total of 108 rafting companies, has gradually come up in Uttarakhand particularly on the Ganga solely due to local initiative.

But in recent times, it has also become a bone of contention between operators and the Uttarakhand government, particularly forest authorities, due to the high profits linked to the upcoming adventure industry.

As a mark of protest, rafting operators, who today forcibly closed the Bhagirathi forest circle office, pledged to continue their protest.

“We will continue to force the closure of the office till September 18. If even then, the Forest Department does not budge, we will be forced to stage a blockade at the Rishikesh-Badrinath highway on September 19,” said Deepak Bhatt, president, Adventure Tourism Action Committee that is spearheading the agitation.

Charging the Uttarakhand Forest Minister of passing the buck to the Chief Minister’s office for redressal of their concerns, rafting operators said they would not compromise on the unjust attitude of the forest department.

“We will end all rafting activity on the Ganga, if needed,” they said.

These local operators are opposing the auction of beaches on the Ganga on part of the forest authorities as they maintain that this would take the beaches out of the local operators’ control and put it in the hands of the syndicate managed by outsiders.

“The auction of beaches will harm the interests of local rafting operators who have toiled hard to make rafting a profitable adventure sports industry in Uttarakhand,” said Dinesh Kathait, a rafting operator.

If the beaches are auctioned, local operators fear that outsiders, due to their better financial condition, will take control. This will directly hurt the interests of local adventure tour operators.

But forest authorities maintain that by putting these beaches to auction, they are providing equal opportunity to all rafting companies rather than a few who under the present system get these beaches.

Moreover, the forest department’s revenue is also expected to rise phenomenally if it goes ahead with the auction.

But rafting companies contest these claims asserting that such an auction was only aimed to benefit big companies from outside the state.

On five-year permits, forest authorities contend that while the new beach policy was in the making, an year-long permit was part of the interim arrangement.

Rafting companies also accuse the forest authorities of injudiciously levelling a charge of Rs 10 per client. As per an estimate, an amount of Rs 22 lakh was collected by the forest department through this charge.

This money was to be used on the maintenance of beaches but the authorities have gone back on this promise.

“It is we who work on the maintenance of these beaches and have paid for the installation of changing rooms,” Dinesh Kathait said.

Uttarakhand Forest Minister Bisan Singh Chufal, who has held several rounds of talks with the representatives of rafting companies, held that the decision on their demands could only be taken at the Chief Minister’s level and were beyond the purview of the Forest Ministry.

The new rafting policy is yet to take shape. Since 2005, the Uttarakhand government has been claiming that the policy was being framed but for the rafting operators, this looks more like an excuse.

“How many years does the state government need to frame the policy?” said Deepak Bhatt pointing out that rafting operators were suffering due to the delay.

The rafting season in Uttarakhand starts after the conclusion of monsoons and ends by June-end.

Finding water on hills: Isotopes come handy
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, September 15
Environment isotopes are being used in a big way to identify recharge areas of drying springs in mountainous regions of Uttarakhand where naturally occurring springs may be the only source of water supply for villagers.

Environment and artificial radioactive isotopes are proving to be effective tools for solving many critical hydrological problems.

Making a case for the use of these isotopes, Dr Bhishm Kumar, a scientist of the National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, in his paper presented at the ongoing Indo German workshop on “Source, Treatment and Distribution of Drinking Water” said the use of environmental isotopic techniques in conjunction with conventional hydrogeological and geo chemical information could be employed to understand the recharge source of a spring and to locate the recharge areas.

He said the National Institute of Hydrology had done a case study to identify recharge areas of a few springs located in the Bhagirathi catchment areas in the Garhwal region. The Gauchar area of Chamoli could be said to be one of the successes of the entire study.

Springs are the major source of water supply and in some areas they are the lifeline for villagers who use them for domestic consumption and even for agricultural purposes. The situation becomes bleak for villagers in the summer months that may have no other source of water supply except the springs. In these months the discharge level reduces to a trickle.

It is here that the isotopes can be used to find the recharge areas of springs in mountainous regions in addition to the conventional methods used to study the hydrological processes linked with the various types of resources. The daily to weekly discharge rates of springs are measured and water samples of other sources (groundwater) are collected and then samples are analysed for environmental isotopes. The isotopic signature of spring water with other sources of water is then compared.

Environmental isotopes are freely available in atmosphere and automatically introduced in the hydrological system. The most frequently used isotopes in hydrological studies are the isotopes of elements of water molecules.

Studies have given enough indication that the the recharge areas and sources of springs can be identified using the environmental isotopes in the mountainous region. The studies were undertaken by Bhishm Kumar, YS Rawat, SP Rai and Gopal Krishhan from the same Roorkee institute.

As the environmental isotopes are freely present in the earth’s atmosphere, they do not require large investments. Clearly they have an advantage over artificial Isotopes.

Fortune tellers do brisk business
Divya Semwal
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, September 15
In this fast-paced life, with levels of stress increasing with each passing day, people of the city are being attracted to solutions offered by roadside fortune tellers as well as gemstone vendors.

Near famous Gandhi Park, Doon Hospital, Darshan Lal Chowk and other prime locations, people can be found surrounding these “solution providers”.

However, these solutions come economical and the persons providing these have oodles of confidence to convince their customers. People belonging to various strata of society often visit them.

“Since 1975, I have been running my business of astrology and over these many years I have gained the confidence of several customers.

“The reasons for an increasing number of fortune tellers at every other street corner are primarily advertisements, traditional beliefs and numerous challenges people are facing in this competitive world,” said Pt Mahendra Dutt Joshi.

Coloured stones, chains, bangles and various other articles, touted as sure-shot solutions, lure particularly those who are on a lookout for a quick and cheap remedy.

“I am basically from Jaipur, but during the festival season we come to Dehradun. For the past 25 years, I have been visiting the city and sell precious stones, which are reasonably priced compared to the prices offered in showrooms,” said Mohammad Kalim, a stone-seller.

“Though our family has our own priest, due to reasonable rates and easy accessibility of these priest at many locations, at times I do visit them,” said Kalpana.

With people becoming inclined to numerous fortune tellers doing business at temples, mazhaars and the upcoming trends of tarot card and numerology to know the deepest secrets of the future, at times they end up getting bluffed also. “Over these many years, on the basis of trust, I have gained confidence of my customers. But nowadays I am observing that people without proper knowledge have started giving solutions, which can even have dire consequences. Though people get remedy to their miseries for Rs 21, owing to the presence of certain fraud fortune tellers our business definitely gets effected,” added Pandit Joshi.

“I feel before consulting any roadside priest about your problems, it is essential to know his credentials so that one might not get into any trouble. After all stones definitely have both negative and positive effects,” said Vipin, a jeweller.