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Five students drowned in Alaknanda
Farmers expect hard work to bear fruit
Amar Singh, District Horticulture Officer suggests spraying trees with pesticides to save mango and litchi flowers from common diseases. The most effective are Bavastin (1 gram in 2 litre water), M-45 (2.5 gm in 1 litre water) and Mono-Chroto Thos (1 ml in 1 litre water)
People get impure water supply
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Roshan Dhasmana and SP Mamgai of the Garhwal Sabha address a press conference in Dehradun on Wednesday. A Tribune photograph
Punjabi Sangathan to celebrate Baisakhi
Soniya Anand, president, women’s wing of the Uttarakhand Punjabi Sangathan, addresses a press conference in Dehradun on Wednesday. A Tribune photograph
Social Welfare staff told to keep record of applications
IT Park witnesses slow pace of work
Power project invites natural disaster in Aglar valley
Harish Rawat condemns lathi charge on SSB guerillas
Industrial package: Pushkar Dhami slams Centre
Sabha protests non-payment of sugarcane dues
Govt to launch job generation programmes
Water sources drying up: Pant
Property worth lakhs destroyed in fire
Refusal to oblige boozers costs tea stall boy life
Cong men burn BJP MLAs’ effigies
3-day yoga camp from March 26
13-year-old elephant dies
Woman accuses ex-husband of rape
2 hurt as refrigerator bursts
Nehrugram residents’ demand
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Five students drowned in Alaknanda
Dehradun, March 24 A group of five students, studying at Birla Campus of HNB Garhwal University, was on a visit to the Dhari temple. They reached Dhari Devi at 10.30 am and had a bath at the Alaknanda river. While bathing, one of the students, who was busy clicking photographs, slipped into deeper part of the river and was carried away by the swift current, following which the others, who tried to pull him out, too were swept away in swirls. The district authorities, who came to know of the incident, so far failed to extract the bodies and was trying hard to locate these. Murky water was causing a lot of inconvenience to the authorities to zero in on
the bodies. The authorities find it hard to fish out the bodies as the water current could have carried these kilometres away downstream. All five deceased belonged to Mansuna. While four were studying at Birla Campus, the fifth was a student of polytechnic. According to Station House Officer PS Rautela, the police has sought services of divers to find
the bodies. The deceased were identified as Yogendra Singh, a BSc final-year student, Sanjay Singh, BA final-year student, Sunil, a BA final-year student, Dharmendra Singh, a BA first-year student and Sunil, a polytechnic student. Nishank condoles students’ death
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has condoled the death of the five students at the Dhari Devi temple on the Alaknanada river near Srinagar in Garhwal. He has asked the Pauri Garhwal District Magistrate to give a detailed report about the incident. He has also directed the authorities to speed up the work of finding the bodies with the help of divers. |
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Farmers expect hard work to bear fruit
Dehradun, March 24 Amar Singh, District Horticulture Officer, said, “It is a habit in mango and litchi to give good yield on alternative basis. In comparison to dismal produce of last year, this year it is expected to do quite well”. He warned of the most common pest, mango hopper, which is known for devastating the crops of mango as well as litchi by sucking up its juice. “This pest multiplies very fast and thrives on the juice of flowers during flower setting time. It turns the pale-greenish or white-greenish flower into its black dried form. The pest flies over the flowers in the vicinity and contaminates these. The disease is known as powdery mildew”. Some of the sucked out liquid can be seen deposited under the mango or litchi trees. This indicates that the trees have come under throes of the pests. Singh also talks about the other pests such as stew borer, mango soot gall maker that lay eggs on the flowering and milli bug which damages the delicate parts of the trees, including the soft branches and young leaves. “The part of the tree which comes under the attack of bacteria should be cut and then buried or burnt. The bacterial infection can easily spread to rest of the tree,” he said. He suggests of sprinkling pesticides, the most effective are Bavastin (1 gram in 2 litre water), M-45 (2.5 gram in 1 litre water) and Mono-Chroto Thos (1 ml in 1 litre water). It is not just the pests which harm the crop, but strong winds and lashing rain too can damage the crop. “It is necessary to provide wind protection, composting and mulching to the trees which were sown last year. The mulching is done by giving a protection of polythene or dried weeds/grass. The big trees can’t be given any such protection. They should be watered little at this time of flowering. Heavy rain is not good for them at this stage”. Singh predicts the first litchi crop to be ready by early June and mango by
July. |
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People get impure water supply
Pitthoragarh, March 24 According to a study done by the Central Pollution Control Board, the water quality in the rivers of Uttarakhand is fast deteriorating. “Out of 60 stretches of 19 rivers, 41 indicated clean water quality, five were slightly polluted and six stretches were moderately polluted and one stretch was highly polluted,” said N Semwal, a researcher who carried out the study for the board. Semwal said the religious places had contributed significant levels of sulphates to water quality. “According to our study, the water of Bhagirathi is severely polluted down stream the Tehri Dam, the water of Dhauliganga in Pitthoragarh district is severely polluted near barrage, the dam side and near Chirkila whereas the water of the Sharada river is polluted beyond Brahmdev at Tanakpur and the Ram Ganga river is severely polluted upstream and downstream of the Kaulagarh Dam,” said Semwal. In Pitthoragarh district, all six local springs, which used to be the source of potable water traditionally for residents, have been declared polluted and unfit for drinking by the Jal Sansthan. “The sources are situated amid habitations and are getting sewage from local dwelling, thus getting more coliforms. We have declared such sources unfit for drinking in the state,” said Pant. “As the urbanisation in the state is increasing there is more possibility of water getting polluted. At present, we are drawing more than 60 per cent water from traditional sources and 40 per cent from surface. In future the dependency on surface water will increase
accordingly there is need to install filtration plants, added Pant. |
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Natya Parishad to celebrate Vishwa Rangmanch Diwas
Dehradun, March 24 The requisite expenditure for the celebrations is Rs 6 lakh, but due to no concrete policies under the budget for the promotion of dramatics, the dramatic societies are trying hard to curtail their expenditure. Shedding light on this issue, general secretary of the parishad said it was facing a very tough time due to monetary constraints, where on the one hand cultural programmes were being
organised, Dehradun’s and Almora’s rang mandals were unable to provide platform to talented artistes due to lack of motivation and financial aid. The theatre artistes of Uttarakhand during the days of protest for a separate state had played a crucial role and umpteen number of times had highlighted the issues of AIDS, water conservation and other relevant issues. The participants during the dramatic presentation will be
Yugantar, DAV Public School’s Rapatri Parvartiya Abhirang Natya Academy, Sai Kala
Manch, Auto Sanskriti Manch and other local dramatic societies. Present at the meeting were TK
Aggrawal, Samish Dhaulakandi, Garendra Verma, Lakshmi Narayan, Atik Ahmed and other artistes. |
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Punjabi Sangathan to celebrate Baisakhi
Dehradun, March 24 Anil Khanna as secretary, Gurdip Singh Sondhi as president of the Prem Nagar wing, Pintu Bhatia as vice-president of Prem Nagar, Narender Sethi as city general secretary and Gurdeep Singh have been nominated as city vice-president. Sanjay Chopra has been made in charge of Haridwar. Soniya who is also a teacher with St Joseph School said, “I will rope in my acquaintances and willing aspirants to help poor women and children living in slums near the Bindal river and provide them with clothes, food, medicine etc. I’ll also arrange for their studies and hobby classes. I’ll also try to redress the grievances of afflicted women”. On this occasion, Devender Singh Sethi, state president of the sangthan, said he as a part of the group running Guru Nanak International Institutes would fully cooperate with Anand through his resources and experience to make this women wing successful. Vijay Bagha, Gurdip Singh Sondhi, Pintu Bhatia and Anil Khanna were present. Dhananjay Kukreti, owner of an event management company, which will present a mélange of folk and rock music on Baisakhi, was also present on the occasion.
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Social Welfare staff told to keep record of applications
Nainital, March 24 Meanwhile, 302 beneficiaries were identified under the Gaura Devi Kanya Dhan Yojana. Out of these, 25 beneficiaries are from among the Scheduled Castes and one from the Scheduled Tribes. Prior to this 104 applicants from general category and 232 applicants from the reserved categories had been provided benefits under the scheme during the current financial year. In an on-the-spot decision, while 187 girls from the Scheduled Tribes were chosen for granting benefits for their marriage, another 32 persons from reserved categories were granted relief for medical treatment. A government spokesperson said 32 applications had been received from widow pensioners for financial aid for marrying off their daughters and out of these 17 applications had been approved. Further, 66 beneficiaries had also been identified for getting financial aid
of Rs 10,000 each under the National Family Welfare Scheme. |
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IT Park witnesses slow pace of work
Dehradun, March 24 The minister admitted that the company, with which the government had entered into an MoU, had failed to get a loan leading to disruption of the works, thus a show-cause notice had been served to the company. The minister informed that while Rs 8 crore had been invested by the company, an equal amount had been invested by the state government. Opposition legislators resented slow pace of work at the IT Park alleging that there had been changes in the height of park building which was a matter fit to be probed. Congress MLA Dinesh Agarwal, however, sought setting up of a probe into the matter. Legislators Kazi Nijamuddin and Joth Singh Gunsola also charged the government of doing little to promote IT in the state.
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Power project invites natural disaster in Aglar valley
Mussoorie, March 24 The debris falling from the road construction has destroyed several hundred trees and collected at the riverbed leading to formation of small ponds in the area and hindering the free flow of the water in the Aglar river. The villagers also fear that loosening of the soil can result in a major disaster and loss of human lives during a short spell of rain or in the months of monsoon. They alleged that the Forest Department has averted its eyes to such destruction. An inspection was also done on site by the SDM, but the work is continuing unhindered. The villagers from Tuneta village also allege that the mining and blasting is going on without any prior permission from the Forest Department. Village Tuneta Gram Pradhan has lodged complaint at the DM’s Office and demanded immediate action from the administration on the issue against the company involved and save the environment immediately. The villagers have also written letters to the Ministry of Environment. Nayab Tehsildar Dhanolty said no permission had been sought from them as yet by the power project company and many complaints had been received by them. He had also reported the matter to higher authorities.
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Harish Rawat condemns lathi charge on SSB guerillas
Dehradun, March 24 Guerillas in Uttarakhand were recruited after the Indo-China war in 1962 to work in the border districts of the state. After the SSB was made a para-military force, these guerillas were left unemployed and had been agitated for the past few years. Rawat in a letter to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has requested him to absorb these guerillas as per the Manipur pattern, where such a force was amalgamated in the regular force. He further stated that if the state government wanted to have a separate arrangement to take the services of these people, they should immediately do it. He suggested that since Uttarakhand had lot of forests, these guerillas could also be used as eco-task force. Rawat requested the state government to immediately make a plan for absorption and utilisation of these guerillas. In his reply to Harish Rawat, Union Home Minister has said that he would be doing something in this.
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Industrial package: Pushkar Dhami slams Centre
Dehradun, March 24 Addressing a media conference, Dhami said while the earlier National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government had sanctioned industrial package in 2003, which was reduced by three years by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government as soon as it came to power at the Centre and was not extending the package now. He said the BJP at every level would be opposing this injudicious act of the Centre. Dhami also appealed the Congress MPs from the region to use their influence with the Central Congress leadership for extension of industrial package. Referring to his new responsibility as vice-president of the Urban Development Monitoring Authority, he said it would be his endeavour to ensure that the urban development schemes were implemented in a proper manner. While responding to queries, Dhami denied that he was in the race for the BJP Yuva Morcha presidentship. “It’s for the higher BJP leadership to decide,” he observed.
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Sabha protests non-payment of sugarcane dues
Nainital, March 24 Referring to the Martyrdom Day of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, the agitators charged that the present governments were following a policy that was bang opposite to the dream of economic self-reliance seen by Bhagat Singh. Hitting out at the anti-farmer policies of the Central government, the protesters said it was because of the myopic vision of the government that the farmers were being forced to continue committing suicide. They said by doing away with the subsidies, the cost of production had shot up for the farmer. They also charged that the payments pertaining to sugarcane produce had not been received since January 25. The farmers have demanded the introduction of a pattern of purchase at mandis that is prevalent in states of Punjab and Haryana.
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Govt to launch job generation programmes
Dehradun, March 24 Briefing about the strategies, Dr Rajendra Nathani, advisor to the Uttarakhand Chief Minister, said as per the growing demands of the youth for lucrative job opportunities, Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had planned to come out with new policies for employment generation. The state government in association with the National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBUD) would initially start employment generation workshops in Pauri and Haldwani. Further elaborating the plans, he said as the motive was to benefit large number of rural youth, the state government was collaborating with NIESBUD, which was working in the field of small-scale industries. NIESBUD, Senior Director AR Arya, the programme in the initial phase would provide employment to 500 students. However, the first phase of training would focus
on the tourism sector and its nuances. |
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Water sources drying up: Pant
Pitthoragarh, March 24 “Out of these habitations with dried up water sources, Pauri district has the highest number 137 in rural areas while nine in urban areas followed by Tehri with 114 rural habitations and Haldwani with 40 rural localities and 16 urban localities,” said Prakash Pant, Uttarakhand’s Drinking Water Minister. According to a survey of areas covered under schemes to provide potable water supply carried out in 2003, out of 39,967 habitations in Uttarakhand, 20,355 were fully covered, 14,091 were partially covered and 4,730 were not at all covered but according to Drinking Water Ministry of Uttarakhand sources, on April 1, 2009, the number of localities fully covered under the potable water supply schemes was 26,828, partially covered localities 9,404 and 2,948 were not covered under
any scheme. “But, this year till date out of our target of 1,220 localities where the potable water has to be provided, 938 projects have been completed by March 7, 2010,” said Prakash Pant.
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Property worth lakhs destroyed in fire
Dehradun, March 24 Amit Prasher had gone with his family to Vikas Nagar and nobody was at home when the incident occurred. The neighbours noticed the fire at 10.40 pm. They instantly called up the owner and later 101. One fire tender reached the spot and doused the flames. Amit said there were refrigerators and TV sets kept for repairing, along with other house articles worth about Rs 5 lakh, had gutted in fire.
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Refusal to oblige boozers costs tea stall boy life
Nainital, March 24 A large number of people, who had come to participate in a funeral at Chitrashila Ghat, came to the said shop on their way back after cremation of a resident of a Dhamuvadunga Chauphula. A group of them wanted to have liquor. When they asked Pan Singh for an empty glass tumbler, he refused. These people allegedly hit him with sticks and stones, following which he collapsed. The accused fled from the spot in a black four-wheeler. Pan Singh was declared dead on arrival at the Base Hospital. A resident of Indira Colony, Pan Singh was the lone earner for his family. He was in his late teens.
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Cong men burn BJP MLAs’ effigies
Nainital, March 24 The protesters charged the state government with corruption in
every sphere and opposed the attempts of the government to privatise the power setup in the district. They also aired resentment over the alleged misuse of funds allocated by the Centre for organising the Kumbh Mela
at Haridwar. The agitators gathered at the office of the Sahkari Samiti and
had marched through the main market to the Subhash Chowk, where they burnt
the effigies. |
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3-day yoga camp from March 26
Dehradun, March 24 Deepak Raturi, yoga trainer, said health and fitness were primarily the most important thing in everyone’s life and yoga was the best way to stay in shape as well as in strength. The trainer will teach the effective asanas and exercises. Chatur Das Hurla, pradhan of Dharmpur, Brij Lal Sharma, vice-pradhan, Vivek Sharma, secretary, Sitaram Bhatt, treasurer, SN Gupta, coordinator, Jagdish Sharma are the organising members of the camp. |
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13-year-old elephant dies
Dehradun, March 24 Despite being rare, there have been cases of a tiger struggling with a elephant. But experts attribute such a struggle between a baby elephant and a tiger. Tigers at times attack baby elephants as prey. A few years back, a baby elephant had been killed by a tiger.
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Woman accuses ex-husband of rape
Dehradun, March 24 A resident of Shyampur Bypass, she alleged that she had divorced her husband on November 5 and lived at her father’s house. Despite this, her husband had been having physical relations with her. She alleged her former husband, along with his brother, had come to her house on March 21. They both beat her up and raped her. The police has registered a case.
— TNS |
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2 hurt as refrigerator bursts
Nainital, March 24 The two have been identified as Sunita and her daughter Akanksha. They have been admitted to a hospital in Delhi. The impact of the blast was so intense that the walls of their residence developed cracks and the room where the refrigerator had been kept was engulfed in flames.
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Nehrugram residents’ demand
Dehradun, March 24 Bharat said: “There are seven hamlets in Raipur which can become a gram sabha in themselves. These are Bohli, Keshavwala, Raipur, Raipur Khapar, Nehraugram, Kiduwla and Rajawala. Out of 24, 921 people of Rajpur, 1,400 people live in Nehragram over 662 hectares. Whereas 456 hectares in forest area”.
— TNS |
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Mango and litchi trees are laden with resplendent flowering these days.
Dehradun, March 24
