Dehradun, December 2
Uttarakhand has added another 60 sq km to its rich forest and tree cover bringing it to 47.04 per cent of its geographical area.

The revelations came through the India State of Forest Report 2009 that was released yesterday and prepared by the Forest Survey of India, Dehradun.

The biannual report amply revealed an increasing trend in forest and tree cover in Uttarakhand.

The total tree and forest cover as per the latest report is 25,160 sq km while the last report had recorded 25,100 sq km of tree and forest cover, thereby registering an increase of 60 sq km.

The tree cover has gone up from 658 sq km to 665 sq km while the forest cover has marginally increased from 24,442 sq km to 24,495 sq km.

On the forest cover count, the new report revealed that a total of 4,762 sq km comprised very dense forests, 14,165 sq km were moderate dense forests whereas open forests were 5,568 sq km.

Interestingly, while there has been an overall increase in tree and forest cover, moderately dense forests have registered a decline of 5 sq km. There is an addition of 7 sq km to open forests.

The most fool-proof document to know of status of forestry in the country, the India State of Forest Report, is published once in two years.

The latest report covers satellite date from October 2006 to January 2007.

Published in both English and Hindi, it gives direction to forestry planning in the country and is even referred to by the country’s courts, state Forest Departments, voluntary organisations and universities.

The accuracy level of the FSI report has even been acknowledged abroad as the margin of error stands at a miniscule 7 per cent.

The Forest Survey of India that prepares this report for the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests works on satellite imagery data for the preparation of the report.

It also goes on field visits across the country to ensure that the imagery is fool proof and there is very little possibility of flaw en course its interpretations.

Apart from providing the report, the department also sells maps both in hard copy and CDs to its clients.

For the past many years, there have been delays in the release in the report. It was only after Herculean efforts, that the present report that should have been released in 2008, was released in December 2009.

Union Minister of State for Forest and Environment (independent charge) Jairam Ramesh, who visited the FSI on the very sixth day after assuming office at Delhi, has laid particularly emphasis on the timely release of the report.

Dehradun, December 2
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has announced setting up of a separate Climate Change Department in the state.

The Chief Minister today inaugurated a two-day Environment Summit organised jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industry, Uttarakhand Council of Science and Technology and Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board.

Dr Nishank said the government was preparing an action plan on climate change and, if needed, establishment of a separate department for climate change may also be taken into consideration.

He said the government was also planning the establishment of an Environmental Research Centre to further the cause of environment studies.

Uttarakhand Minister of Forest and Environment Bishan Singh Chufal said that population explosion and urbanisation were the main reasons for environmental pollution.

He said that in addition to the efforts of the government, the cooperation of the people was necessary to protect forest against fires.

Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Indu Kumar Pande emphasised on sustainable development by maintaining a coordination between environmental conservation and establishment of industries.

S Raghupathy, head, Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) - Godrej Green Business Centre said India’s ecological footprint (its demand on nature) exceeded global bio-capacity (nature’s ability to meet this demand) by 50 per cent.

As this was unsustainable, we need to re-look at and reduce the ecological footprint for our survival, he added. He also presented the CII’s recommendations for a greener Uttarakhand.

Earlier, Rakesh Oberai, Chairman, CII Uttarakhand State Council, delivered the opening remarks. He shared some key environment-related initiatives of the CII in the state including the CII Annual Green Award, Mission on Sustainable Growth and the Green Building Mission.

The Chief Minister also released a book Science and Technology in Uttarakhand, which is a collection of research articles on Uttarakhand in 15 different disciplines, and has been edited by Dr Rajendra Dobhal, Director, UCOST and Prof BS Kotlia.

The two-day summit will deliberate on environment issues in the context of Uttarakhand.

National Pollution Prevention Day falls on December 2 and National Conservation Day on December 3.

Dehradun, December 2
Even though the Uttarakhand government has taken a lead in establishing the state police complaint authority by becoming one of the six states to have the complaint authority in India, but it is yet to set rules and regulations for it.

Goa, Kerala, Uttarakhand and Sikkim are among the other states to have set up the police complaint authority. Goa has come out with a broad outline on rules and regulations that it is going to implement in its complaint authority.

Sources said that the Uttarakhand Police Complaint Authority had requested its counterparts in Goa to send them a copy of the rules, which it recently received.

It will give additional benefit to the state authority to come up with a better set of rules by going through the one it has received.

The department, which has just completed a year, has five members including a chairman and four members.

The authority has written to the government several times in regard of setting up of rules but the government is yet to issue the proper set of rules.

“The Registrar-cum-Secretary and other members of the complaint authority are unaware of their powers and it creates confusion among them.

A proper set of rules and regulations will obviously make the working efficient,” said a senior official preferring anonymity.

At present, the complaint authority is working as per the provision in the Act. “Yes, we are currently working according to the provisions in the Act, but sometimes, it becomes a pain for us when a contentious issue comes up which requires a proper set of rules,” the source informed.

The complaint authority based in the state capital has received 250 complaints against police personnel.

On order to reach out to a large number of people, officials of the department also move to far-off districts like Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar to sort out complaints.

Dehradun, December 2
While on one hand motorists, mostly youngsters, continue to flout traffic rules by riding two-wheelers without helmets and indulging in rash driving on city roads, on the other police records indicate a decline of over 50 per cent in these violations.

Sweety Agarwal, Assistant Superintendent of Police (Traffic), Dehradun, said the most number of accidents in the city occurred due to speeding and drunken driving and these were certainly on the rise. However, the records available with the traffic police show otherwise.

The records reveal a steep decline in the number of such traffic violations as the challans issued this year, including those for drunken and helmet-less driving and speeding.

According to the records of the Dehradun traffic police, 2,972 challans for speeding were issued last year while this year till November only 1,357 such penalisations took place. The same is the case with challans for drunken driving. As many as 175 challans were enforced in 2007 till November last year whereas only 40 challans were done in the corresponding period this year.

Regarding challans for helmet-less driving, the department has lost the record of the first six months and for the past six months the number was 1,292. In 2007, the department had issued 6,886 challans for the same offence.

This, of course, gives violators a free run on the roads. These violations of traffic rules also lead to frequent accidents and violators not only put their lives in danger but of others as well. This is also due to a handful of cops deployed on city roads, most of whom are just for managing traffic at various junctions.

Meanwhile, traffic police officials revealed that the decline in the number of challans was due to the less number of challan drives carried out this year. “The decline could be due to the fact that the force manning traffic has been put at traffic junctions to ensure a smooth flow of vehicles where red lights are non-functional and they hardly get time to participate in challan drives,” said a senior police officer.

“You tell us whether we manage traffic at busy crossings or undertake penalisation drives,” quipped another traffic officer.

Dehradun, December 2
TRP-driven private television and radio channels do not allow space for creativity and the sole pursuit of commercial interests cannot guarantee creative content or satisfaction, said Narender Acharya, former Director of Doordarshan and Akashvani (Varanasi).

A product of Pune Film Institute, Acharya said producers and directors on the rolls of government-owned broadcasting services had a high degree of stability that others in private television and radio channels could not experience.

“In a stable environment, creativity can be explored to the fullest and there is no fear of market forces playing a role in the selection of content,” Acharya said.

He was speaking yesterday on the sidelines of a seven-day workshop organised for amateur artistes by the Uttarakhand Culture Department and the North-Central Zonal Cultural Centre, Allahabad.

Credited for producing the longest feature “Manav ka Vikas”, that ran for several years, and another play “Dehantar” on Akashvani, that won several awards, Acharya, however, said private channels took a lead in innovation of content.

“They can try out new things and discard them if the interest of the audience begins to wane. However, government broadcasting agencies are bound by social responsibilities,” he stressed.

Against any form of regulations imposed by government agencies, Acharya said these should be self-imposed.

“In the wake of the Mumbai terrorist attacks, some television channels received a lot of flak for going berserk in their race to get exclusive pictures of the NSG commandos storming the buildings under siege.

“There should be introspection at our own end. Before the government contemplates harsh measures, we need to act on our own,” he stressed.

Still maintaining that Doordarshan, despite the erosion of its popularity in terms of viewer ship in the wake of onslaught from private channels, has managed to retain a foothold, “but it is the humble radio that is truly acting as an agent of change in the rural hinterland. Despite years of service, it has 90 per cent reach,” he reiterated.

Dehradun, December 2
Dehradun shooter Dilraj Kaur gave an outstanding performance to win silver at the International Wheelchair Amputated Sports meet held at Bangalore from November 24 to December 2. She was the only women contestant from Indian at the games.

Things are getting bigger and bigger for Dilraj Kaur with every passing year, as she is making rapid strides in shooting arena. In a span of five years she has not only left a mark for her self at the national level but also at the international level.

Speaking about her recent achievement she said, “My hard work paid rich dividends. I have been working hard for a long time and that showed at the competition. Though I lost to Thai counterpart, I am satisfied with my performance at the games,” said Dilraj.

In a shot span of five years she won 10 gold medals and a silver at the national level. She won her first gold in 2005 and thereafter never looked back. These results kept on increasing her confidence and she gave an outstanding performance at the international level.

Dilraj was little upset over the kind of facilities provided to the Indian shooters. She said, “Foreign countries provide their competitors with all kind of facilities. Like in the recent competition, I found that there was one coach with each competitor, who kept on guiding them after their shooting. As far as we are concerned there is no coach for us at the national level”.

She appealed to the central government to come forward for the promotion of physically challenged child, who have been performing well for their country at the international level.

Roorkee, December 2
For the members of families of veteran athletes Sultan Singh and Captain BN Pandey, the 8th Uttarakhand Masters Athletics Championship at BEG Grounds here was not less than any historic event.

While members of three generations of 105-year-old Sultan Singh’s family were present in the ground to cheer Sultan Singh, who virtually defied age to participate in the 100 m race in the 100+ section, 95-year-old Captain Pandey too completed the 100 m race in the 95 plus category.

As both participants had no competitors in their age group, both lifted gold medals in the events.

For them, participating in the race meant just spreading the message that one should take up sports to be healthy instead of just gunning for medals.

The meet witnessed a total of 162 athletes from the age groups of 35 years to 105 years.

Local master athletes Sanjay Garg and Sreegopal Narsan also brought laurels to the town by winning the first and second spots, respectively, in the 5,000m walk in the 40+ category.

After winning the event, an elated Garg said that this was his second consecutive gold. “Last year, I participated in 40-45 category in which I stood first,” said Garg while adding that he was preparing for the National Masters Athletics Championship to be held at Chennai in February next year.

The names of other athletes who bagged top honours in different events were Vijaya Chaudhary, Pakinder Singh, Devinder Tyagi, Mukesh Rana, Harshwardhan, Prem Singh, Atar Singh, Madhu Arora, Umesh Bhatnagar, Jai Veer Singh, Sudhir Sharma, Ranvir Tomar, Shaukat Jahan, BS Rawat and Dr Ramesh Chandra.

Haridwar, December 2
The match between Punjab and the BSF at the All-India BN Mallik Police Football Championship had all the ingredients that makes soccer the most-popular and most-watched game in the world.

From clinical display of football, classic dribbling skills, brilliant set pieces, precision passing, attacks-counterattacks, strategies to exhilarating finish - all these ingredients made the first quarterfinal at BHEL Sector-1 stadium the best one among all quarterfinals.

In the first half, both teams assessed each other, but couldn’t find ways to open their accounts. After chilling out for 15 minutes and having intense discussions with their coaches, both teams again tried to outsmart each other in the next 45 minutes but to no avail.

Then, extra time of 30 minutes was taken. Though this period too saw a goalless scorecard, it tested the skills and temperament of the players to their fullest.

After this, the penalty shootout was taken to crack the nullity in the scoreline in which again the two teams drew level. For BSF, Surjit Singh, Mani Tumbi Singh, Kamal Kishore and Deepak Kumar scored while for Punjab, Siraj Hasan, Sumit, Mandip and Naren matched their counterparts.

In sudden death, Punjab’s Harjindera Singh netted while BSF’s Sarabjit Singh failed to score. His shot deflected off the goal post and Punjab progressed into the semis.

Sikkim too joined Punjab outclassing Uttar Pradesh who had ousted host Uttarakhand from the tournament yesterday.

Sikkim players Birba, N Bhutia, Karma Lepcha and Suman Devan scored a goal each while Gyan Prakash and Mohammed Afroz lessened the deficit for UP with the final scoreline reading 4-2 in favour of Sikkim.

Assam Rifles with a solitary goal from Gullu Jindum became the third semifinalists defeating SSB 1-0.

Despite Meghalaya showing stiff resistance, the CRPF pulled off a victory to become the fourth semifinalists 2-1. Suzen and Narendra scored a goal each for the para-military outfit while for Meghalaya, Simon Nongram scored the consolation goal.

State minister Trivendra Singh Rawat enjoyed the matches at the ongoing tournament with SSP Haridwar Sanjay Gunjiyal. He lauded the district police for successfully hosting the tournament.

With the quarterfinal stage over, now the meet will shift to Dehradun where two semifinals, the third-place playoff and final will be played.

The semifinals will be played tomorrow at Police Lines Stadium, Dehradun. The first semifinal will be played between Punjab and Sikkim Police from 10 am while the second semifinal will be played between Assam Rifles and CRPF after the conclusion of first semifinal.

Dehradun, December 2
Scintillating century by Ranveer Kumar helped the Pauri team register a 88-run victory over the Chamoli team at the U-19 Inter-District Championship organised by the ONGC-Uttaranchal Cricket Association here today.

Batting first, the Pauri team piled a fine total of 238 runs in 45 overs. It was an outstanding batting display by the Pauri team, who hammered the bowlers all over the ground. Opener Ranveer Kumar went on to make 106 runs off 111 bowls.

Shallendra supported him well on the other end to play a supportive knock of 25 runs from other ends.

Lower order batsman Pankaj made 20 runs, whereas batsman Naveen Uniyal went on to score 17 runs. For the Chamoli team, Pawan was the pick of the bowlers. He took three wickets for his side in nine overs. Other bowlers supported him from the other end, Santosh, Vipin and Surat claimed up one wickets each.

Chasing a target of 239 runs the Chamoli team was all out for 150 runs. Their batsmen failed to occupy the crease for a long before some disciplined bowling displayed by Pauri bowlers. Surai Bisht was the only batsman who led the fight for the Chamoli team. He made a valuable contribution of 48 runs. Other batsmen did have good start, but failed to convert it into a big score. For the Pauri team, Pankaj created the major havoc and claimed four wickets in his six overs spell, whereas Sunil took three wickets and Dhanraj Bisht took two wickets.

Dehradun, December 2
The Amba XI team registered a 17-run victory over Lucent Sports Academy at the ongoing Beehive Challengers Trophy 13th Twenty 20 Inter-District Cricket Tournament 2009 here today.

Batting first, the Amba XI team piled a mammoth total of 163 runs in their allotted 20 overs. Opening batsmen contributed 39 runs for the first-wicket partnership. Opener Gwalier scored 29 runs off 13 balls, whereas another SS Rawat scored 54 runs in just 47 balls, thus setting momentum for their team to set a big score. First-down batsman Gurpreet scored 55 runs off 48 balls, hitting seven fours for his team. For Lucent Sports Academy, Anshul and Rahul pick up two wickets each.

Chasing the target of 164 runs, the Lucent Sports Academy team was all out for 146 runs. It was a bad start for the team as it lost both its openers at the score of 31 runs. The bad run for it batsmen continued as none of them could produce a good inning, except Kapil, who scored 30 runs at a runner bowl. For the Amba XI team, Gwalier and Gurpreet were among the pick of the bowlers claiming three wickets each.