Dehradun, June 20
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s appeal to people for saving the Himalayas from the invasion of exotic flora species, underlines the importance of efforts needed to safeguard indigenous tree species. In his convocation address at Uttarakhand’s prestigious Gobind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture at Pantnagar yesterday, Dr Manmohan Singh called for allowing the Himalayan biodiversity to flourish in its original habitats and keeping a check on exotic species even. He described Uttarakhand state as a beautiful state with a fragile ecosystem.

The Prime Minister’s statement could not come at a more appropriate time when exotic species have fast made inroads into Uttarakhand. The Central government had recently specifically introduced a component on “Control and Eradication of Forest Invasive Species” in its ongoing centrally sponsored schemes starting last financial year with an outlay of Rs 30 crore proposed in the XI Five-Year Plan. This to check invasive species in the country at the national level.

Uttarakhand’s capital Dehradun has invasive species in high numbers. A study carried out by the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, has identified 308 woody and 128 herbaceous exotic species enlisted from various localities of the valley with 37.61 per cent of these being of American origin. This relative proportion of exotic and native elements is irrespective of 28.8 per cent endemic dicot species in the Indian Himalayas and 40 per cent exotics in the entire Indian flora.

“The occurrence of the present share of alien species and their naturalisation cannot be considered safe for native and endemic flora.

“This is especially true of the Doon valley, which is part of the mega Himalayan ‘hot spot’ belt and globally designated for priority of conservational activities in India,” revealed the study conducted by PS Negi, Senior Scientist with the institute.

Interestingly, the study demonstrated that 37.61 per cent of the alien species in Dehradun are of American origin followed by China (11.46 per cent), Africa (10.77 per cent), Australia (8.02 per cent), Europe (5.27 per cent), the Mediterranean region (5.04 per cent), West Indies (2.75 per cent) and Japan (3.66 per cent).

Welcoming the Prime Minister’s statement, Negi, who is also the first Indian scientist to undergo a PG course in Mountain Environment and Climate Biodiversity Conservation from Torino University, Italy, called for focused efforts to protect indigenous species. “Protecting indigenous species should be taken on a priority basis by forestry-linked agencies, particularly in the Himalayan region or else we may lose many of our indigenous species which may ultimately lead to a disturbance in eco-system,” Negi said.

The only hope now comes “Control and Eradication of Forest Invasive Species”. During the initial years, financial assistance is being provided to the State Forest Department for carrying out survey of forest invasive species and for preparing a management plan.

Activities in the management plan will include research and eradication of invasive species from forest areas. It also envisages a study on the physical removal of invasive alien species of plants which adversely affect the availability of water and also the fertility of land.

Dehradun, June 20
All technical colleges in the state are likely to increase their fee structure from this academic session. The pronouncement has made the employees of the colleges quite happy, but the Fees Planning Committee of education had decided to recover the increased monthly salary from the candidates seeking admissions in these colleges.

“It is sure that the technical colleges in the state are increasing their fees for the BTech, BSc (computer) and BSc (IT) courses this year and it’s also true that revision of the fees is done to facilitate the employees of the college with the Sixth Pay Commission. The committee frames the fee structure of all courses in the technical studies. The committee would call upon a meeting to finalise on the revised fee slab in the last week of June,” said Sunil Aggarwal, secretary of the Self-Finance College Association.

Under the norms of the All-India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), all technical colleges of the state are issued a guideline to regularise the Sixth Pay Commission for their employees from the new academic session. It’s been issued by the council that each institute in the state would spend Rs 65 lakh to Rs 70 lakh only on the income of its employees for which the committee had decided to revise the fee structure.

Registrar of Uttarakhand Technical University CS Mehta said, “On the demand of the universities’ employees, the state government has given thumbs up to the regularisation of the income on the basis of the Sixth Pay Commission, due to which the committee has thought of deriving from the fees of the students. The committee has already made a meeting once to keep up the proposal in regard to the issue raised while the next meeting would be in the last week of the June.”

Dehradun, June 20
Like surgeons, conservation experts from the science branch of the Archaeology Survey of India (ASI) revived art objects and statues dating back to the 16th century. They recently undertook conservation and consolidation of wooden sculptures and objects carved of polychrome durable ficus wood used in carving images.

When these wooden objects came for restoration at the science branch, they were in a highly deteriorated state requiring immaculate handling without disturbing the original features.

The objects comprised a carved elephant, a statue of a drumbeater and a jewellery box, each representing a unique style of polychrome wooden carving. “The objects point to the stylistic art style prevalent in 2000 BC in India. The craftsmen in the case of the drumbeater may have incorporated colours directly on the wooden surface of the body parts and also over the fabric adorning the figure as clothing that had faded with time,” said KS Rana, Director, Science, ASI.

Giving termite treatment to centuries old sculptures and figurines, labouriously removing dust and grime from art objects so that they are better prepared to face the vagaries of time are some of the procedures that the conservationists adopt, depending on the complexity and extent of damage.

“In the case of the drumbeater statue, the damaged arm was not added, as the craftsman who may have known this form have all but disappeared.

“Only they can recreate the original. Due to lack of dimension, we did not think it appropriate to recreate the arm. Complete colour reintegration was undertaken in the case of the elephant statue that was covered with soot, but nothing was done so as not to spoil the antiquity of statutes and only organic solvents are used,” said Shilpa Raturi, Deputy Superintendent, Archaeologist Science Branch.

One of the statues was termite ridden. So fumigation was undertaken to eradicate insect activity. Consolidation of weak wood and strengthening of the wood core by filling up cavities were carried out. Lastly, the application of preservation coating was taken for conservation purpose also.

“One of the boxes was in a poor shape. It was broken from several places. Like solving a jigsaw puzzle, we began by first arranging the pieces bit by bit,” said Anju, modeler at the ASI. 

For yet another year Nainital has failed to improve upon the arrangements for the tourist season. Despite claims by the administration and a series of meetings held with hoteliers and other sections of the population linked to the tourism industry, things have stood where they were before the tourist season began last year.

The Lake City continues to be plagued by the daily traffic snarls. The plan to persuade people to park their vehicles outside the main town and then proceed inwards through shuttles does not seem to be working.

A shortage of traffic police personnel has added to the misery. Also to be blamed are people coming as tourists who do not want to follow any law and seem to be believing in the dictum that rules are made to be broken. It has been an observation of local citizens that tourists coming particularly from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab are the ones who tend to disrespect the law and, in fact, feel pride in parking their vehicles in the middle of the road to cause traffic snarls.

Even the recent death of a child has failed to generate any awareness among people who are as careless as before when it comes to handling their tiny tots while roaming on the Mall Road when there is also a traffic movement.

The police has also expressed helplessness on this front as tourists do not seem to care even a bit about the safety of children. Repeated pleas by the police to tourists to be careful about the safety of their children seem to be falling on deaf ears as people simply don’t care what children are up to while they move on the roads.

Vehicles without number plates and unauthorised horns are proving to be yet another menace in this tourist season. Though the authorities are in agreement with the suggestion that a special drive needs to be carried out to check this practice, no one seems to be serious in actually starting such a drive.

In fact, this tourist season has proved to be a shade worse than the previous ones. To begin with, this year even the fresh metalling of the Lower Mall Road that has been sinking has not been done.

Secondly, the places of tourist interest continue to be in a shambles. Places like the Himalaya Darshan spot on Nainital-Kilbury Road are crying for maintenance. The road to the spot which is being visited by thousands of tourists daily is in a very bad shape with potholes dotting the entire route. The rain shelter has proved to be useless as it is located far from the spot where tourists come to have a view of the Himalayas.

Dehradun, June 20
Again students of Graphic Era University have made their institute proud. Thirtytwo students have proved their mettle and proficiency by getting placed in the famous IT firm, Patni Computers System, through their campus placement drive.

The placement company had organised a pool campus drive where about 600 students from Dehradun as well as from other districts of Uttarakhand had participated. About 73 students of technology got selected through the written test followed by a round of Technical and Human Resource (HR) interview organised by Patni. The selected candidates were from BCA, BSc and BSc (IT).

Perhaps, with the campus placement drives more than 700 students of Graphic Era have got selected in well known IT, finance, medical and hotel firms such as Tata Consultancies Services (TCS), Wipro and Ashok Leyland, Bajaj Allianz, Ranbaxy, The Grant, Le Meridian, ICICI, ITC, Infosys, Nokia, Taj, Park, Maurya and others.

Kamal Ghanshala, Chairman of the institute, congratulated the students who got selected in the placement drive and encouraged them to achieve more.

Nainital, June 20
The tragic death of a Government Inter College student, who had fallen into a gorge on Friday, has led to the blowing off the lid of the state of affairs prevalent in the institution.

Things came to such a pass yesterday that teachers in the college exchanged choicest of abuses and even came to blows in front of senior officials of the Education Department, who had gone to the premises to condole the death of the student and probe how the boy, along with two others, had managed to get out from the premises while the school was on.

In the latest development, two of the teachers identified as class teacher of the boy Deepa Rawat and assistant teacher JS Bhandari have been suspended, while a similar action has been recommended by the Education Directorate against three others. The orders have been given by District Education Officer JS Hyanki who has also been entrusted with the probe into the incident recorded on Saturday.

Everyone was surprised when no one from the school had turned up either at the spot of the incident or at the hospital, where the body of the boy had been brought. Sources later disclosed that on Friday too teachers had a clash among themselves, this time allegedly over a list of promotions.

On Saturday morning, a condolence meeting was held at the school after which children went off to their homes. However, Additional Director (Education) Kusum Pant, Joint Director Dr DK Mathela, JS Hyanki and the teachers remained back.

While the senior officials were going through the attendance registers of the school, the two groups of the teachers had clashed and while making allegations and counter allegations of various wrong practices, hurled the choicest of abuses against one another. They also came to blows which led to the police intervention. The fighting teachers were later called to a room, but even while leaving the premises they went on abusing one another.

Pant later told mediapersons, “No one who was responsible for the death of the child will be spared and strictest possible action will be taken against him”.

Amit Pande, who was a student of Class IX, had fallen to death on Friday noon. It is yet to be ascertained how he had gone out of the school premises to such a dangerous spot.

Amit’s father Tara Dutt Pande works as a driver with the District

Information Office. The deceased was an outstanding student who had recently got a scholarship of Rs 6,000 for his academic performance. He was very popular among his friends.

Action has also been initiated against school Principal Kesar Ram. While he has reportedly been removed from the post of Block Education Officer, recommendation to end his service extension has also been sent to the Education Directorate.

Dehradun, June 20
Replying to the allegations of its committee elections not being fair, the District Football Association (DFA), affiliated with the Uttarakhand State Football Association, in a press conference said it was fully working in promotion of football in the region. It had further refuted all allegations.

General Secretary Devender Bisht said the committee elections had been conducted fairly and the clubs had faith in them. That was why 23 clubs had been registered with them.

The DFA members said after the formation of the Uttarakhand state, Dehradun district had given several international players in boys and girls categories.

And at the national level more than 175 boys in the senior, junior and sub-junior categories and about 50 girls had participated at the national level.

The members added that considering the performance of the state team last year in one of the prominent tournaments of the country, Sikkim Governor Gold Cup, the association had got the permission to send its participation this year too.

Dehradun, June 20
The first Uttarakhand State Paralympic Games organised by the Paralympic Association of Uttarakhand held at the Parade Ground today.

Events, including runs of 100m, 200m and 400m and shot put, javelin throw and discuss throw on wheel chair were held during the competition. Organising Secretary Prem Kumar said 78 players (60 men and 18 women) from 10 districts of Uttarakhand took part in the championship.

“We conducted practice camps in Uttarakashi, Tehri, Dehradun and Udham Singh Nagar to motivate the physically challenged people to participate in the games,” the secretary added. Most of the participants were playing for the first time. Kumari Sobandi who came from Gangotri specially to take part in the championship, said, “I took part in shot put and discuss throw on wheel chair,” she said.

Pintu Singh (22) who cannot stand on his legs won gold medal in the shot put said, “Before this championship, I played in Delhi and Jaipur but didn’t have much success. However, today’s win has boosted my confidence,” Pintu said.

More results: 100m (men): 1 Kasim Ali, 2 Noor Hasan, 3 Prem Pati Chauhan; Discuss throw: 1 Satender Kumar, 2 Narender S Rawat, 3 Pradeep Kumar; Javelin throw: 1 Manoj Bhatt, 2 Satender Kumar, 3 Arvind Singh; Shot put: 1 Pintoo, Satender Kumar, 3 Arvind Singh Shot put (women): 1 Durga Rani, 2 Pooja Dobhal, 3 Sobhandai. 

Dehradun, June 20
The Diamond Cricket Academy (DCA) got the better of Doon Warriors by 31 runs in the ongoing Uttarakhand Challenger Cup here today.

In this 35 over match, the DCA won the toss and elected to bat first. Amit (48) and Pramod (33) did the good work and were also mainstays of the team. While Anurag chipped in 24 runs.

The team set a target of 170 runs in 33 overs. Anant and Rohit took two wickets each for Doon Warriors. Saurabh, Sumant and Samagra pocketed one wicket each.

Batting second, Doon Warriors were bowled all out for 134 runs in 28 overs. Chintu (25) and Saurabh Dobhal (17) were the main scorers.

Header captured four wickets for 25 runs in six overs besides bowling a median. Rahul, Amit and Himanshu took a wicket each.

Dehradun, June 20
Gairola scored three goals in the 5-1 win of Doon Star over the DMK in the Lala Nemi Das District Football League underway on the Pavilion Ground here today.

Gairola was also the one to strike the first goal and to open the account of his side. However, the DMK’s Jaidip equalised in the 20th minute and the first half finished on one each.

The Doon Star gave its best in the next half and didn’t let its rival score even a goal. Goirola (45th and 55th) scored two in this half while Rajendra Rawat (40th) and Balvinder (47th) netted a goal each.

The side registered huge win of 5-1 against the DMK. Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Tiger and Doon Challenger will play tomorrow.

Dehradun, June 20
Yankees were no match for the Uttarakhand Police that trounced it 3-0 in the District Football League here today at the police lines.

Himanshu (11th), Amit (55th) and Narender Rautela (67th) scored a goal each to fashion the win of U’khand Police. Rival Yankees didn’t have a good outing as it failed to find even a single target.

In another match, Yugvinder scored a brace to lead Bajrang Club to 2-1 victory over the Shivalik Club. The tough encounter saw first half ending goalless.

Sushil Rawat of the Shivalik Club netted the first goal of the match in 50th minute. However, Yugvinder (55th) not only equalised it but also took his team to a win striking his next in the 59th minute.

The Uttarakhand Police will face Khalanga and Nagar Nigam will play against Garhwal Sporting in tomorrow’s fixtures.