Dehradun, June 21
All hopes of a 15-day-long strike of sanitation workers of the Mohalla Swachhta Samiti coming to an end after a meeting between Mukhya Nagar Adhikari Indu Kumar Bodai, with leaders of the union were dashed to the ground as the workers decided to continue their strike till their demand of elevating them to the level of daily wagers was met.

The tempers of both Chander Mohan Kala, president of the Akhil Bhartiya Swachkar Sangh, who is leading the agitation, and Harak Singh Rawat, Assistant Mukhya Nagar Adhikari, rose when Kala pointed fingers at Rawat for sparking off the agitation and doing nothing even after the directions from the District Magistrate. Rawat, too, lost his cool when Kala behaved indecently, but Bodai controlled the situation.

Doing a volte-face, Kala exonerated Rawat while addressing his people and said since he had accepted his mistake, he should be forgiven. Rawat, too, addressed the crowd urging them to let go of the bitterness among them.

Bodai, who had been busy in visiting various villagers with the District Magistrate in his capacity as a Chief Development Officer, could not attend the protesters’ meeting on Monday to end the stalemate. He tried to convince the agitators to call off their strike saying that the state government was seriously considering their case and would soon decide upon it. To corroborate his point, he talked of a letter in which the state government had asked about the current status of daily wagers, contractual and temporary sanitary workers and other employees in local bodies, and asked for possible vacancies in this regard. Bodai also addressed the crowd reiterating his assurances, but to no avail.

Showing the letter to the agitators who were gathered on the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) premises, Kala said the letter was a proof in itself that the state government was serious about their concerns. But he said this was not enough, as they demanded a considerable increase in their wage structure, which even if taken according to the minimum labour wages, should be enhanced from Rs 2,000 to Rs 4,000.

Bodai assured him of the increase, but he asked for one month for it, to which Kala refused. He said by that time, he would be able to spread the agitation throughout the state and himself be able to pressurise the government to agree to all their demands.

Kala expressed anger that the posts of seven more supervisors were being filled, whereas 650 sanitation workers associated with the samiti were not made permanent.

“Our workers, who have worked for 20 years and possess requisite qualification and aptitude should be promoted to the level of supervisors,” he demanded. To this, Bodai gave direction to Uppar Nagar Adhikari Harsh Vardhan Mishra to come up with a format of eligibility for the case.

The protesters, who were shaken after the Mayor released a letter of dissolving the samiti system and removing the agitating sanitation workers, threatened to dislodge those who would be employed in their place if such a thing happened. Bodai said it was not possible to dissolve samiti as it could be done only when such a resolution was passed in the board.

Dehradun, June 21
In sync with a series of public consultations on the Green India Mission being held in the country, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forest Jairam Ramesh will chair a similar consultation in Dehradun tomorrow.

The Centre for Environment Education (CEE), a Centre of Excellence of the Ministry, that has been commissioned to hold a total of seven regional consultations to help finalise the Green India documentary, will be conducting the deliberation at the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education here.

Government officials, NGOs, civil society groups, media, local bodies such as gram panchayats, researchers, activists and all those concerned with the linked issues of climate change and forests from UP, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand will take part in this event.

It is noteworthy that the National Mission for a Green India (or the Green India Mission) was announced by the Prime Minister as one of the eight missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).

The GIM aims at addressing climate change by enhancing carbon sinks in sustainable forests and other ecosystems, adaptation of vulnerable species and ecosystems to the changing climate, and adaptation of forest-dependant local communities in the face of climatic variability.

Dehradun, June 21
Taking a step forward towards developing the Parade Ground, Mayor Vinod Chamoli today held a meeting with members of the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority and the Citizens for Doon Green, an NGO. The NGO, which earlier had approached the Naintal High Court on the matter of uprooting trees in and around the Parade Ground in the name of development, was taken into confidence on the issue.

The Mayor said, “Since the District Magistrate is handling the subject of planting trees in the city, therefore I have asked him to undertake the plantation drive in open spaces of the city by allocating the task to various departments concerned”.

He added that the big trees, which get uprooted because of development in the ground area, would be replanted. Besides, a blue print of the area would also be prepared.

He said, “I have asked the PWD and the MDDA to prepare a blue print of the total land, constructed as well as open, of the whole ground area. The MDDA, which has the control of the land, after it was taken from the Nagar Palika, will see how much land has been allocated to the sports complex. As per the rule, only 20 per cent of the sports land should be used to build the sports complex and rest needs to be left open. We will see if the rule is actually followed or not”.

Chamoli said he had asked the MDDA to hire a consultant to prepare a plan for the development of the area which should continue to serve as a hallmark site for the social and political activities of the city for being the centre point.

Mussoorie, June 21
Devotees in large numbers converged at Surkhanda Devi temple, at Dhanaulti, 33 km away from here, to celebrate the Ganga Dussehra festival today. The Surkhanda Devi Fair is held on Ganga Dussehra or Jyesth Navami Day on the temple premises annually.

A devotee at the Surkhanda Devi temple near Mussoorie on Monday. A Tribune photograph

Even the heavy downpour could not dampen the religious spirits of the devotees as they sought blessings from the goddess at the temple situated 9,000 ft above sea level.

The young and old chanting slogans in praise of the goddess trekked from Kaddukhal to reach the shrine.

The locals dressed in traditional attire, too, danced to local religious tunes at the adjacent field.

Some devotees offered silver ‘chattar’ to the goddess. Mahendar Malla, a devotee from Noida, said they had immense faith in Surkhanda Devi and had been visiting the shrine since childhood. This year he had brought his children to the goddess for blessings.

A communal feast (bhandara) was also organised by the temple committee on the occasion.

According to member of Devi Kol Temple Samiti member SS Kharkai, Ganga Dussehra is celebrated in lot of enthusiasm in this part of the region.

This festival starts on the 10th day of Jaishtha (May-June) according to the Hindu calendar.

It begins on dark moon night (amavasya) and continues till Dashami Tithi or the 10th phase of the moon.

The orison (aarti) is held at the temple attended by thousands of devotees. He said that it was in this month that posters called ‘dwarpatras’ or ‘dasar’ with geometric designs were put on the walls.

Speaking about the legend behind it, SS Kharkai said in ancient India there was a king named Sagara whose 60, 000 sons were looking for the lost horse from the sacrificial ashwamedha yagya. Their over-enthusiasm disturbed Sage Kapila, who was into meditation then, and he reduced them to ashes. Later, the sage relented and told them that only the touch of water from the Ganges would give them salvation (moksha).

After a few generations, Bhagirathi, king of Kosala, entered into penance for hundreds of years to please goddess Ganga.

She agreed but asked him to find a intermediary between them since the force of her flow would threaten to destroy the planet.

Bhagirathi requested Lord Shiva and he agreed to take her on his entwined locks. Ganga then came down to earth from the matted locks of Lord Shiva in seven streams and washed down the ashes of Bhagirathi’s ancestors. Bhagirathi's great effort was praised by all gods and his ancestors, and is known as a Bhagirathi’s prayas (effort).

Nainital, June 21
At least 18 persons were taken into custody following raids at various eating outlets in Haldwani who were illegally serving liquor on their premises. As per information, late night raids were conducted by the police on various eating joints in the Mangal Padav area near the bus terminus.

As soon as police personnel swooped down on the eating joints, their owners and employees fled from the spot. The police confiscated a large number of liquor bottles during the raid in the area which is also known as Hotel Lane. As many as 300-filled alcohol bottles and several empty bottles were recovered in the raids.

Mussoorie, June 21
St Mary’s Hospital, located near the residential housing colony, will be ready within a week. This was announced by Chief Medical Officer Baunthiyal on his recent visit to Mussoorie.

Baunthiyal said the housing section was complete and since the century-old main hospital was being protected as a heritage building, the work on it would begin later. The Civil Hospital would be demolished and a new hospital constructed at the same site.

Baunthiyal said till that time, the hospital would be shifted to St Mary’s Hospital, Kulri. As much as Rs 5 lakh has been sanctioned for the repair work.

Baunthiyal said the food inspector had been directed to take samples to curb adulteration.

Doctors had returned from Kumbh duty and some would be appointed soon, he said adding that the tirade against bogus doctors would also be carried out in Mussoorie.

Mussoorie, June 21
In a meeting held at the Press Club of Mussoorie, a decision was taken to form a committee called Eco-Watch to oversee the various ecological issues being faced by residents of the town. It was decided that Vipin Kumar Gupta, an environment expert and mentor of butterfly mission in Nainital, would be the convener of Eco-Watch. It was also said the removal of the dumping yard at Gaddi Khana had become inevitable as it was destroying the environment and was a hazard to human life too.

According to member of Eco-Watch Pradeep Bhandari, a video CD has been made in this regard to show how sewerage water was reaching the drinking source at Bhilaru and being supplied back to the town.

Members in the committee are Vipin Kumar Gupta, Mohammed Yasin, Javed Khan, Sonia Kumar, Jabbar Singh Verma, Pradeep Bhandari, Kala, Vinayak Mehrotra and Sushma Rawat.

Gupta said more people would be incorporated in the Eco-Watch in another meeting called on June 27 to frame a course map to deal with the burning environmental issues of the town which needed immediate attention. He also said public participation was indeed important for it.

Dehradun, June 21
As a part of the ambitious schemes launched under the Anupam Pahal programme by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, the Uttarakhand government has decided to appoint Sudurvarti Swasthya Sahayaks (remote area health assistants). With a view to extending basic health facilities to each and every person in the remotest areas of the state, it has been decided to appoint these assistants in hilly areas situated at a distance of 3 km from the nearest medical unit, and areas in the plains situated at a distance of 5 km from the nearest medical unit. They will be handy in dealing with cases of emergency and natural disasters in remote areas.

An official spokesperson said the Chief Minister had announced the launch of 14 new developmental schemes on November 9, 2009, including Sudurvarti Sulabh Swasthya Yojana pertaining to the Department of Medical Health and Family Welfare.

Under this scheme, in case of any emergency and natural disaster in remote villages, the first aid facilities would be made available to people through Sudurvarti Swasthya Sahayaks. They would do work as varied as taking patients either to the nearest medical unit or to 108 ambulance. The selection of these assistants would be done by the Rural Health and Sanitation Committee in a transparent way.

Educational qualification for aspirants would be Class X, but in case of unavailability of Class X passed candidates, Class VIII passed candidates might be considered. First aid training to these assistants would be given by the staff of 108 ambulance service at the block level and they would be put on duty only after passing written and practical examinations.

These assistants would make available the information regarding any epidemic and communicable diseases to the nearest medical unit in addition to doing their normal work of extending medical help to ill and injured people.

They would also make people aware of other health-related activities, such as sanitation, the importance of birth-death registration, and the ill-effects of the use of the tobacco products. Medicines of Schedule-K would be available with them.

A provision honorarium as incentive during the training period and afterwards for doing their regular work has also been made.

The official spokesperson said the initial guidelines and the government order in this connection had been issued.

Dehradun, June 21
In the absence of hormonal profiling facility at the District Women’s Hospital (Government), patients facing fertility problems are left groping in the dark or forced to shell out at an expensive private clinic.

With fertility problems becoming common among rural and urban women, every day the District Women’s Hospital is flooded with patients seeking advice for infertility. But most of them are turned down.

Since starting PAP smear and fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) tests last year, the Pathology Department is receiving a good response from patients who are volunteering for these tests that can protect them from different types of cancer. But even now biopsy and human papilloma virus (HPV) tests are not conducted for which advanced testing kits are required.

“Every day we prepare around 60 slides of patients. PAP smear and FNAC tests are helpful in detecting cancerous growth in the earlier stages and come cheap at the government hospital. Even rural women are coming up for these tests as these are very cheap here. A FNAC test can cost around Rs 300-600 at any private clinic,” said Dr Sunita Singh, pathologist, District Women’s Hospital.

In keeping with the demand, there is an urgent need to upgrade the Pathology Department which is assailed by manpower shortage and outdated technology. When almost all hospitals have opted for rapid card testing kits for detecting malaria and dengue virus, the department still uses the old system so as to cut costs.

The hospital is in need of upgradation, backed by a hormonal profiling at the laboratory and a fertility clinic that can definitely prove advantageous.