Dehradun, May 9
Encroachments at the Jim Corbett National Park are under the scanner.After much furore over the fast upcoming encroachments in the tiger-famous Corbett Park, Uttarakhand forest authorities have now entrusted the space technology institution - the Uttarakhand Space Application Centre, Dehradun - to track down these encroachments through satellite images and using these images as documentary evidence for punitive action against the encroachers.

The Uttarakhand Space Application Centre has already started gathering satellite images for identification of encroachments in and around Corbett.

The issue of unhindered constructions in the close vicinity of Corbett, most of which are in the form of encroachments, have been a long-drawn concern among conservationists.

The Wildlife Trust of India’s recent disclosure regarding the blockage of a narrow patch across the Gola river near Lalkuan in Nainital district, the only critical link for movement of tigers and elephants between the Terai Central and Terai East Forest Divisions, the peripheral forest divisions at Corbett, had stirred the hornet’s nest and caused much furore in wildlife conservation circles.

This had also brought to the fore the long-pending issue of encroachments at Sudarkhal in Ramnagar Forest Division adjacent to Corbett, Ladhang village in Corbett and the key Dhikuli corridor.

The settlements at Sunderkhal pocket that stretches from 3 km in length and half a km in breadth are all but encroachments. Even Laldhang, once a revenue village and now in Corbett, is an encroachment.

In the case of Dhikuli that begins from Ramnagar and goes up to Mohaan and covers a distance of 18 km, the extension of hotels and resorts towards the Kosi river are all encroachments.

This when there have been efforts across the country to secure wildlife corridors, particularly those linked to pachyderms, Dikhuli - a key corridor connecting the tiger-famous Jim Corbett National Park to the biodiversity-rich Terai region - is shrinking at a rapid rate, thanks to these unhindered encroachments. Only a 4.5 km stretch of Dikhuli is now left free for the movement of wild animals.

The Uttarakhand Forest Department that had been under tremendous pressure over these encroachments, particularly after the Centre expressed its concern over degrading Corbett wildlife habitat, has finally decided to go for fool-proof identification of these encroachments.

There have been sporadic efforts to identify encroachments in Corbett, but these efforts have often ended with little results due to confusion and lack of documentary support to point out encroachments.

The satellite images will now be concrete evidence in the hands of state forest authorities to zero in on to these encroachments and subsequently take punitive action.

“We have been asked by the state forest authorities to take satellite images so as to track down the encroachments in and around Corbett. We have already asked ISRO, Ahmedabad, for satellite images of the Corbett region,” disclosed Dr MM Kimothi, Director, Uttarakhand Space Application Centre, Dehradun.

Comparing today’s satellite images with old imageries or even the past topo sheet will clearly reveal the quantum of encroachments.

“Through high-resolution satellite imageries, it is easy to identify even the minutest of structures on the ground and thus, these images are a boon to help identify encroachments,” said Dr MM Kimothi.

The Corbett encroachment identification through satellite comes at a time when similar images had helped the judiciary in Maharashtra in settling a large number of long-pending forest encroachment cases in their state in one go.

Welcoming the satellite mapping of encroachments, Dr AK Singh of the Wildlife Trust of India, said, “Certainly technology will be of great advantage here as satellite images will reveal the quantum of encroachments that has taken place in and around Corbett in the past decade or more.”

Deep Gunawant, a local student union leader in Ramnagar near Corbett who had been at the forefront of anti-encroachment campaigns in Dikhuli, welcomed the initiative.

“Satellite images will reveal the level of encroachments in Corbett and its territorial forest divisions. Hopefully, Uttarakhand forest authorities will follow it up with stern action,” he said.

Haridwar, May 9
Just a day after tension gripped Bishanpur village in Haridwar district over the killing of a youth by an elephant and subsequent violence by villagers, the RSS carried out a march, “Path Sanchalan”, today.

Notably, the last time such march was carried out by the RSS there was during a communal confrontation. As part of RSS Week, a march past had been carried out in adjacent villages of the camp venue. But, at nearby villages, specially at Dhanpura village, which is a Muslim-dominated area, villagers had objected to the march past passing by a mosque. To this RSS activists had reacted sharply.

Today, despite the administration urging the RSS activists not to pass by the mosque this time, they were adamant to carry out the march on the same route. But, due to sensitiveness shown by Muslim leaders, administration and RSS leaders, the march passed off peacefully. Heavy deployment of police personnel on the march route kept the situation under control.

The march passed through Pherupur, Dhanpura, and Kisnapura villages and culminated at Pherupur village with Muslims even welcoming the RSS workers. State Urban Development Minister and former Bajrang Dal leader Madan Kaushik was in traditional attire of the RSS outfit and participated in the march past. Kaushik was aided by Chairman of a commission Suresh Rathor and Haridwar MC Chairman Kamal Johra, BJP district president Om Prakash Jamdagni and other BJP leaders.

Meanwhile, the Congress has termed the RSS march as an act to gain political mileage by fuelling communal tension in Haridwar district. Party workers even held an agitation at Dhanpura village.

In today’s marchpast, 100-odd buses carried thousands of RSS activists. The District Magistrate and the Senior Superintendent of Police monitored the Dhanpura situation.

Mussoorie, May 9
Tragedy struck when the only child of parents from Delhi studying in ITL Public School, Dwarika, died under mysterious circumstances at highly rated Hotel Dunsvirk Court, a few kilometres from here, today.

He was found by hotel staff lying unconscious on the road facing the main gate early morning. He was rushed to the hospital, but was declared brought dead by doctors.

More than 180 students of classes III and V of the school arrived at Dunsvirk Court Hotel situated at the height of 6,500 feet, near Radha Bhawan estate, yesterday. The accompanying staff after checking in went for sightseeing along with the students to the Kempty Fall and Mall Road on the same day and returned to their respective rooms late evening. Four students occupied one room each.

Shivam Soni (10), a student of class V, son of VK Soni of Najafgarh, was adjusted with Sagar, Bharat and Agrim in room No. 307. The students, along with 23 teachers, were occupying 42 rooms in the hotel.

According to the driver of a hotel vehicle Virendar Giri, this morning as he entered for the duty he saw a student lying on the road in front of the main gate in an unconscious state. He immediately informed hotel Manager Gagan Kapoor who reached the spot immediately. The child was rushed to the hospital in 108 ambulance, but was declared brought dead by doctors there.

The CO, Sadar, Shajahan, along with Mussoorie police station in charge MC Joshi, reached the hospital and began investigation. According to the police, the death of Shivam was shrouded in mystery as the teachers said on Saturday night at 12 they checked every room and found the students fast asleep and came to know of the mishap early morning today. The students sleeping beside Shivam said they were not aware when and how Shivam fell off the balcony as most of them were fast asleep.

The Mussoorie police is finding it difficult to establish on how the boy landed on the road late at night when everyone was sleeping. The police has also learnt that one student in room No. 307 was suffering from some stomach problem. Late at night he spoilt the room. Shivam was sleeping till then.

The family members of Shivam have been informed in Delhi and his uncle also arrived at the hotel. The body has been sent for a post-mortem examination and investigations were on.

The uncle of the student said the father of Shivam had been admitted to a hospital in New Delhi a few days ago. His mother still has no idea that her son has died.

It has been alleged that the balcony has a very short railing and could be the reason reason of Shivam’s death.

Haridwar, May 9
The ambitious mega railway line project to join Rishikesh and Karanprayag cities in the Garhwal hills seems to be getting on the right track after the allocation of a separate fund in the Budget 2010-11.

The Rishikesh-Karanprayag railway line spanning 125 km is to be set up at an estimated cost of Rs 4,295 crore. Work on its technical aspects and the final location survey is under way and till the end of this year will be completed, paving the way for the one-of-its-kind railway project in the country.

Informing about the current status of the project, Chairman of Railway Board SS Khurana said related works to make the railway line feasible were in full swing and before next year, technical study and location survey would be completed.

About the exact or probable time when the project will get completed, Khurana evaded a direct answer, saying that as this railway project will cover hilly routes, a time deadline can’t be set. He pointed out that laying of railway tracks in mountainous terrains was quite difficult, so when the rail service will get functional is not easy to tell.

Apart from this project, the Railways is trying its level best to provide best of the facilities to passengers and is incorporating the latest technologies to make the Indian Railways a world-class system. At present the Indian Railways is generating a revenue of about Rs 1,000 crore only from advertisements, Khurana said, adding that new avenues are being explored to multiply the Railways profits.

Trains are being fitted with advanced warning system to avoid accidents during foggy weather. It applies brakes automatically as soon as it gets a warning signal or when there is another train running on the same track. Also the global positioning system (GPS) is being fitted on all trains to make railway operations smoother and easier.

Lauding the efforts of railway employees involved in the Kumbh duty, Khurana said the department would felicitate those employees who rendered their services to operate hundreds of trains on the single section of the Haridwar-Laksar route for Kumbh shahi snans.

NAINITAL: He might be down, but he is surely not out. The grand old man of Uttarakhand politics Narain Dutt Tiwari got the alarm bells ringing for his detractors, both within and outside his party, when he made a whirlwind trip of the Kumaon region some days back. This was the first trip of Tiwari to this region since he resigned from the post of Andhra Pradesh Governor in December last year following a sex scandal.

Throughout his stay in the region during which he moved to places like Haldwani, Pantnagar, Rudrapur, Kashipur and Jaspur, he was accorded a warm welcome by people who turned up in large numbers wherever he went. Tiwari’s comments on the state of affairs in Uttarakhand made headlines in the local dailies.

His reactions covered a large range of issues ranging from the Indian Premier League to a lack of cleanliness at the Sushila Tewari Memorial Hospital at Haldwani. Very deftly he made the remark: “Development will obviously take a back seat if public leaders are more concerned about the IPL”.

He took it upon himself to make a personal visit to the hospital where he went to see the recently set up Swami Ram Cancer Institute. The institute was a brainchild of Tiwari and ironically he was not to be seen at its inauguration on February 22. Medical experts who had come from as far as Lucknow were heard saying that Tiwari was the most deserving person to inaugurate the facility. The inaugural function had turned out to be a fiasco when Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank simply went away after cutting the ribbon and attending a pooja.

He had not bothered to come to the dias at the function where a large number of people, including top brass of the medical fraternity, bureaucracy, students and journalists, had been waiting for him for well over three hours. His conduct left several people red faced and fuming. However, on his visit Tiwari did turn up at the facility to point out the minor shortcomings and suggested steps to improve the setup.

Dehradun, May 9
It was a day of fun and creativity at MKP Inter School as “Break Through” organised a Crush with Brush drawing and painting competition here today. About 1,200 students from 110 schools of Dehradun participated in the competition.The competition was conducted with an aim to provide platform to students to showcase their skills.

The competition was open to all students and divided into six categories. Category A had students up to KG, category B for students of classes II and I and category C for classes III and IV with the theme “My House”.

Category D comprised students of classes V and VI with the theme “Circus Show”, while category E was for students of classes VII and VIII with the theme “Holiday on Beach” followed by category F for students of classes IX and above with the theme “Railway Platform Scene”.

Judges for the competition were Vandana Verma, Tushar Arora, Alva Oberoi and Parvinder Singh, who are members of the organising committee.

Dehradun, May 9
A five-day writing workshop organised by Bal Prahari, a children’s magazine, in collaboration with the Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti, concluded at the Hindi Bhawan here today. The aim of the workshop was to enhance writing and creative skills among children.

Students of various government schools got tips on creative writing that could benefit them in developing imagination skills while making them more aware about the world. About 150 students attended the workshop, where they learnt how to write poems, essays and stories in a more skilful manner.

Poetry, essay writing, collage making and various other activities were held during the workshop, while students under the provision of their teachers and organisers took out their own magazine.

Principal of CNI Girls Inter College K Martin awarded the winners of various competitions held today. Spokesperson of the District Institute of Educational Training RB Singh, littérateur Krishna Khurana and Editor of Bal Prahari Vivek Gairola were also present at the event.

Gairola said, “The main motive of our organisation is to encourage children to become confident and creative. We want to nurture children to become good writers and good human beings that can bring a good name to the school as well as to the family”.

Dehradun, April 9
DS Negi’s lone goal for Eleven Star took the team to victory at the 4th RB Singh Memorial Football Tournament held on the Pavilion Ground, here today.It beat Vijay Cantt 1-0 to lift the title. DS Negi of Eleven Star scored in the 40th minute to win the match. Spectators witnessed a neck-to-neck competition in this final encounter.

Bhuvan of Vijay Cantt and Ashvani of Eleven Star were shown red card during the match. Surinder of the winning team was also shown yellow card.

Meanwhile, winning and runner-ups teams were given away trophies by the chief guest. Gypsy Young was awarded with an award for fair play during the tournament. Striker Sushil Rawat of Shivalik Club was awarded with best player of the tournament prize. 

Dehradun, May 9
Maharastra swept all the three positions at the u-14 girls’ Kata event on the first day of the 6th All-India Karate Championship held at Doon Sports Academy in Ballupur.Deepali, Pranali and Rashika of Maharastra got the first, second and third positions, respectively. While in u-14 year boys Kata event, Sanatan of Uttarakhand stood first and Akshat of the same state got second position. Nikam of Maharastra stood third.

In u-18 category, Kiran of Maharastra, Napur of Rishikesh and Ashwariya of Maharastra stood first, second and third place respectively. Akshay, Agam and Angad of Uttarakhand in u-10 boys’ Kata event got the first three places respectively.

Dehradun, May 9
The Youth Club Jaipur registered an exciting win over the UPCA by four runs here today at the ongoing 28th All-India Uttarakhand Gold Cup Cricket Tournament being played on the Rangers College cricket ground.

Batting first, the Jaipur Club scored 267 runs before getting all out in 38 overs. Anshu Jain (58 off 48), Vinit Saxena (48 off 58) and Vaibhav Desh Pandey (42 off 29) were the principal scorers for the team.

While Imitiaz Ahmed of the UPCA captured three wickets and Bhuvneshwar Kumar got two. Amit Singh, Avinash Yadav and Rohit Chaudhary got a wicket each.

Chasing the target, the UPCA gave good competition to its rival but just fell short off the target by five runs. Opener Amit Singh (103 off 93) was the mainstay of the batting side. He reached the fence 11 times and smashed a six too.

However, with lack of solid support from the other end, his useful innings went in vain and the team lost the match.

First down batsman Prashant Gupta (34) and second down batsman Ankit Tiwari (30) started well, but couldn’t stand on the pitch for a long time.

The Jaipur Club bowlers put up a good combined effort in front of their rivals. Shailender Gahlot got three batsmen out, while Mohd Arif, Ajay Devanga and Anshu Jain pocketed two wickets each.