Dehradun, June 13
A 12-year-old boy was killed and as many as 50 villages in Ranikhet block of Almora district of Uttarakhand were affected due to a cloudburst that occurred in the region, the previous night.

Victim Naresh, 12, son of Bhim, had gone to collect some water at Jala village when a sudden gush of water due to cloudburst swept him away.

According to District Magistrate Almora Suvardhan, the cloudburst occurred last night leading to the death of this boy. He said the victim was identified as Naresh, son of Bhim Singh, and his body was still to be recovered. He said household goods were also washed away in the flash floods.

The District Magistrate said the weather conditions were still very inclement and providing hindrance in relief and rescue efforts.

Meanwhile, the cloudburst led to large-scale damage of kuchcha roads in the 50 villages that fall under pattis Chowgaon, Dhurafal, Kandarkuan and Chowgaon.

The cabbage crop was completely destroyed causing losses to farmers. Apart from agriculture fields, some cowsheds and other makeshift constructions were also washed away in the gushing waters.

Local MLA Karan Mehra rushed to the site of the incident to take stock of the damage. He also met the affected families and assured them prompt assistance from the administration. He also sought compensation for those who had lost the crop due to the cloud burst.

Anil Singh Bhandari, Naib Tehsildar, and other disaster management officials were also supervising relief and rescue operations.

Dehradun, June 13
Western disturbances have led to severe rain in the state with capital Dehradun receiving it in the mid afternoon.

Dr Anand Sharma, Director, Dehradun Meteorological Centre, attributed westerly disturbances for the rain. He predicted that the weather would mostly remain dry in the state in the coming days with little off and on rain expected up in the hills in the near future.

Meanwhile, Garhwal hills and other parts of the state also experienced rain.

Dehradun that has been experiencing intense heat got a respite due to the rain. Mercury dipped in the later part of the day due to sudden rain.

Strong winds also led to the falling of tree branches at several places. Electricity wires were also snapped due to the winds.

Nainital, June 13
Ten years after its inception, more than 22 per cent of Uttarakhand villages are dependent on tankers and mules for their drinking water supply in summers. This hard fact was accepted by Chairman of Payjal (Drinking Water) Advisory Committee Brajbhushan Gairola amidst oft-heard tall claims on the achievements of his government.

When asked to specify in terms of numbers, the number of villages dependent on water supply by mules and water tankers, he reluctantly said, “About 7 per cent of villages are dependent on mules and 15 per cent on tankers. But things are improving and efforts are being made to take water supply to every village under the Sector Wide Approach Programme (SWAP)”.

After almost three-and-a-half year of being in power, the government, according to Gairola, is drawing a road map on the issue. “We do not want to be caught without arms and ammunition once the battle begins,” he claimed while adding that no compromise would be made on the quality of drinking water being provided to people across the state. He also said efforts were being made to make the rain water potable.

Referring to the water supply in schools across the state, he said the government had undertaken on priority a programme to ensure that every school had drinking water supply. He said problems were arising in schools that were located on heights and cliffs.

Referring to the drinking water crisis in Okhalkanda and Bhimtal areas of Nainital, he said officials had been asked to do everything possible to ensure an uninterrupted supply to the villages in these areas. He added that proposals had been sought for installation of tubewells.

When asked about problems being encountered in the implementation of the SWAP, he said at places villagers were cynical about the success of the entire plan. He pointed out that efforts were being made to make them aware of the positive aspects of this plan.

Gairola claimed that he was touring the state to see the ground realities for himself. “I have asked the officials not to present mere statistics, but to ensure that people get water,” he said.

Dehradun, June 13
Once the state government comes out with its own drinking water policy, legalities regarding extraction of water will be clear, besides taking long-term perspective on the judicious use of drinking water and its conservation.

After the water policy is framed, only one agency will be responsible for extracting water and it will also curb the practice of rampant boring undertaken by numerous agencies without permission. “At the moment the Jal Sansthan has limited powers. Once the policy comes into being, the legal aspects too will be addressed, and even ensure the genuine involvement of people in the management of water resources,” said MH Khan, Secretary, Drinking Water. In all probability, it would be made the nodal agency, he added.

He said the policy would aim at regulating and ensuring the judicious use of water, so that water could be supplied to districts that face water scarcity. “In that sense the issue of water conservation, recharging of resources too will be addressed,” he said.

Since water is a state subject, the states are required to formulate their own water policies on the guidelines provided by the National Water Policy.

“There should be a periodical reassessment of the ground-water potential on a scientific basis, taking into consideration the quality of the water available and economic viability of its extraction. Exploitation of ground water resources should be so regulated as not to exceed the recharging,” said PC Kimothi, Secretary (Appraisal).

Along with the Drinking Water Policy, the Peyjal Nigam and the Jal Sansthan are also working on completely saturating the city with sewerage and also starting the metering exercise that unfortunately has been hanging fire for several years now. “Ultimately, our goal is to provide drinking water 24X7 and this will be possible once metering system is undertaken and the entire city monitored from the Central pool,” he said.

Dehradun, June 13
Different unions of Uttarakhand Andolankaris held a joint meeting on the court premises here today.

The meeting was held under the leadership of Bhuvneshwari Kateth. The participants expressed anger over the alleged miserable plight of the youth made by the state government. They asked the government to take measures in the right direction, otherwise the Andolankaris would intensify their agitation.

Nirmala Bisht said at present the future of youth in the state was in the dark due to the apathetic attitude of the government. She added that if clear employment policy was not made, they would start an agitation to root out the government.

Haridwar, June 13
Keeping with the youth vision of Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, the Uttarakhand Youth Congress is focusing on young leaders of the party who can lead the youth of the state.

With youth playing an imperative role in the Congress making a clean sweep in the last parliamentary elections in the state, their role assumes more importance with the Assembly elections scheduled in 2012.

Youth Congress chief Rajpal Kharolla in this context is trying to generate a crop of youth leaders who in each district and block will be carrying the party’s message, specifically focusing on youth, so that the party lives up to its image of experience and youth.

Kharolla said the Youth Congress was trying to bring in youth in politics in large number, but only after immense segregation so that only visionary, capable and mass leaders were inducted in the party which would carry the state to the path of development.

Adding on this, Haridwar Youth Congress chief Rajeev Chaudhari points out that only this outfit is inducting young leaders who have a non-criminal background and enthusiasm to do something for the nation.

“The Congress via the Youth Congress is providing a platform to the youth of the state to work for the society and reap dividends as they are acting as a mediator between people and state party representatives,” said Kharolla speaking at a Youth Congress convention.

On the upcoming 2012 Assembly elections, Kharolla said in this too the youth would be an important aspect though a large number of youth from the state were migrating, specially in hilly districts, owing to lack of employment opportunities.

He put the onus on the BJP-led state government for not being able to provide ample job opportunities to the state youth.

Notably Union State Minister for Employment in the Manmohan Singh cabinet Harish Rawat since contesting the Haridwar parliamentary elections has been focusing on youth wings of the Congress and as a result, especially in Haridwar district, Youth Congress activists have outwitted other political party units.

Even rival BJP leaders accept that the Youth Congress in Haridwar has strong roots.

Om Prakash Jamdagni, BJP district chief, in view of the Youth Congress said the BJP in the coming time would prepare youth that would try to outshine their rivals, a statement which itself revealed the impact of Youth Congress workers.

Dehradun, June 13
Six Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) selected by the Uttarakhand State AIDS Control Society (USACS), whose performance in the target intervention programme was supposedly not up to the mark, are back in the reckoning putting a big question mark on the validity of the entire evaluation exercise.

The decision taken at the highest level has given a new lease to the NGOs that were termed as not recommended for carrying out the programme at the evaluation exercise which was attended by Nishima Goswami, evaluator of the target intervention programmes, NACO, and Deepak Dhobal, evaluator from the National Technology Support Unit (New Delhi), besides officials from USACS.

The reason being given is that the government had already spent considerable amount on the NGOs that were encountering minor irritants while achieving targets and required more time and space. However, the government move has given room for speculations if at all rules were bent to accommodate the NGOs, whose performance was not satisfactory, reducing the evaluation exercise to a mere formality and raising questions whether the standards set by the NACO can be given a go-by.

Among the six rejected NGOs, three are from Dehradun and have repeatedly not come good on even in monthly reports.

While four NGOs were asked for revaluation, among these the Mamta Samajik Sansthan voluntarily decided to withdraw from the programme.

"We had decided to quit the programme voluntarily. I must tell you that the evaluation team had given favourable comments about our performance,” JM Singh of the sansthan said.

Now 24 NGOs are working for the USACS programme, including seven NGOs that were roped in recently. Under the programme the NGOs are given the target to raise awareness and prevent the spread of the HIV/AIDS among the high-risk groups. These NGOs receive Rs 12-14 lakh for the programme.

Haridwar, June 13
The newly appointed vice-chairman of the recently formed Mela Authority that will oversee all religious fairs took a bath in the Ganga here and prayed at a ghat for the successful completion of future fairs during his tenure, which begins from tomorrow.

Ashok Tripathi, who a fortnight ago was appointed to the post by Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, performed rituals at Brahm Kund, Har-ki-Pauri, and also attended the Ganga prayer late last evening.

Incidentally, Tripahti assumes office on Monday and will be heading as the first vice-chief of the Mela Authority. As the infrastructural set up of the authority has not been put in place initially Tripathi will be having the office at the CCR Mela tower.

Emphasising on his mode of working, Tripathi said he would try to develop Haridwar as more of religious city rather than in terms of tourist city with provision of all basic facilities needed to cater to the lakhs of pilgrims thronging the city on various religious occasions.

Accompanying Tripathi were state Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik, former parliamentarian Balraj Pasi, BJP general secretary Suresh Joshi, BJP vice-chief Om Prakash Jamdagni, Ganga Sabha’s Ram Kumar Mishra, Krishna Kumar Sharma, Verendra Shrikunj and others.

Dehradun, June 13
The fate of the Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) project facilitating electronically transfer of records from one hospital to the other within seconds is expected to get delayed further due to the inordinate delay caused in selecting a agency that will finally take it up.

The system was to be introduced in all 38 hospitals comprising base hospitals, district hospitals (male and female) and combined hospitals.

In September it was announced that the project would be run on a PPP mode and for the selection of an agency tendering process was to be started.

But now it is believed that the project will be run under the NRHM that has even hired two consultants.

As of now, in Doon Hospital only the issuance of a prescription slip is computerised, but if the new system is introduced, the patient will be able to access all treatments as advised by the doctor by quoting the unique number issued to him. The number will be a unique identity and contain the health record of the patient.

A team of medical officers have already visited the Kasturba Gandhi Medical Hospital Trust in Wardha to get familiarised with the functioning of the system installed over there by C-DAC that has successfully transformed ward boys and sanitary staff into computer savvy operators.

In most government hospitals in the country half-hearted attempts were made.

Hospital managers point out that for the installation of system a software company has to be hired that requires a hefty investment of at least Rs 5 crore. “It is a challenge to keep the system going once it is installed. No wonder it is partially operating in most hospitals, and now with the NRHM stepping in, it is not known when the project will finally take off,” said a top official.

Haridwar, June 13
With summer at its peak and post-Kumbh frequent electricity cuts becoming a norm, residents of Haridwar are forced to live under power cuts for hours. Add to this the water shortage, people seem to be losing their temper as perturbed residents of the Jamalpur area of Haridwar expressed this by their outburst.

Today, residents came on the streets against the administration for ignoring their woes. Lashing at the Electricity Department for continuing on daily basis power cuts for hours, protesters warned officers of dire consequences if power cuts were not curtailed.

In a memorandum to the administration and departments concerned, residents said long power cuts for hours had made their life miserable and despite apprising the officials concerned mere assurances had been the norm which made them to take to the agitation route.

The residents, as a mark of protest, burnt the effigy of the Electricity Department and demanded uninterrupted supply of electricity in their area. “We have been reeling under power cuts for almost a month, yet there seems to be no respite, despite assurances by officials of lessening the power cut hours,” said Vijay Kumar, a resident.

Dehradun, June 13
By planting saplings, workers of the Udayan Care began the movement of afforestation in the city today.

A large number of people participated in the noble cause driven by students and the NGO that pledged to plant more saplings in and around the city before the rainy season.

The organisation also took out a rally for spreading the awareness among the residents of Dehradun.

The rally began from the Gandhi Park to the Clock Tower to Ashley Hall and finally culminated at Primary School, Rajpur Road, followed by a discussion on environment and afforestation by officials of the NGO.

Dehradun June 13
Rama Cassettes Industries launched its video album “Teri Ankhyu Dekhi” at the Garhwal Sabha here today. Chief guest of the event was Rajpur MLA Ganesh Joshi.

The video album consists of eight songs and is based on the theme of “Mile sur mera tumhara”, the signatory jingle that was been aired on the national television in the late ’80s.

The video album features the customary traditions of Garhwal and its scenic beauty.

Folk singer Sanjay Pal and Lakshmi Pal, children of veteran lyricist and musician of Garhwali cinema late Surender Pal, have given their voice in the album. Gajendra Rana, Manglesh Dangwal, Chandra Singh Shahi, Kalpana Chauhan, Meena Rana and Madhulika Negi have also lent their voice in the album.

Addressing the gathering, Ganesh Joshi said featuring Garhwal would surely help in conserving the cultural heritage of the hilly regions and promote regional music universally.

He also congratulated the crew of the album for making such challenging work come true.

He appreciated the support of people on and off screen and was hopeful for the album to do well in the regional film industry.

The directors of the video album are Sanjay Pal and Vijay Bharti, while Haroon Madar has given the music in the video.

Lakshmi Pal, Ajay Solanki, Aajay Bharti, Jassi Panwar, Poonam Pandey, Ankita Negi, Vijay Bharti, Renu Bharti, Vijay Vashisth, Digumber and Shivendra Rawat have acted in he video.