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Loharinag Pala Issue
Rafting camps pose threat to wildlife, Jairam admits in LS
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Char Dham: Rain washes away GMVN profits
BEd aspirants return disappointed
Om Parkash Memorial Football Tournament
Six matches played on Day 2 of RIMC soccer tourney
UKD opposes revoking of project
Eco Task Force plants 10 m saplings in Garhwal region
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Loharinag Pala Issue
Dehradun, August 25 Not even once were the people of these villages told that their water sources, irrigation channels, forests, houses, cremation ghats, bathing ghats, etc, would be affected by the project. They were not given copies of the Environmental Impact Study of the project. “The decision has come too late. Why was the environment impact assessment not taken seriously and where do we go from here after losing everything?” asked Nathi Singh of Sungar village. The eight gram sabhas of Hurree, Bhukki, Kunjan, Sanglahi, Tihar, Sungar, Gunga and Bhangoli villages have been badly affected by the blasting carried out for constructing the tunnel. Two watermills that were the mainstay of the villages have been destroyed due to the blasting and two natural water sources at Harugad and Nargad villages have been destroyed, bringing the water supply to Hurree Gram Sabha to a standstill. “There was no public hearing of the project before it was started and as a consequence the uninformed villagers were literally in for a shock when the dynamite blasting for the tunnel construction began. The agricultural land that yielded precious cash crops and the pastures that sustained their cattle have already been acquired for the project,” said Suresh Bhai of the Raksha Sutra. Even the agricultural land of villages has been affected by the chemicals that were used while undertaking tests. “Our crops have been affected by the dust that accumulated during the project construction activities. Even our crops such as rajma, amaranthus, potato, etc, are wilting,” said Bharati Devi and Dabel Singh of Hurree village. Receding water sources
Buildings at the hot water springs at Gangnani (a pilgrim and tourist spot) have developed cracks too. There is fear among people that the blasting may cause the hot springs to recede into the earth and thereby affect this place of pilgrim and tourist importance. At Bhukki Gram Sabha, the study team observed that there were two watermills at a place called Ghatugad in the village which is acting as a dumping zone for the tunnel project and it lay right opposite the village. “The blasting for the tunnel had caused the water source that powered the watermills to recede and in the near future will render the watermills redundant. The village had its sole natural water source at a place called Jayeni,” said Abbal Singh and Badar Singh, owners of the mills. At Sungar Gram Sabha, the natural water source of the village at Panyara has been affected by the project and the water at this source is slowly drying up. During the survey the activists were told that a high tension transmission line has been laid right above the village and this may be a source of danger to the village in the future. The bathing ghats of the village are being used as an open-air toilet by the labour working at the project site. Further at Gunga Gaon Gram Sabha, two natural water sources at Hena and Akhdiyana have been affected. The blasting for the tunnel has reduced the water levels at these sources. While at Bhangoli Gram Sabha two watermills have been severely affected by the project construction. The blasting has reduced the water levels so much that these mills will soon be redundant. Most of the agricultural land of the village has been lost to the project as it was acquired by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) for constructing its residential colony.
Cracked houses
in villages
During the survey it was observed that houses belonging to 45 families have developed cracks due to extensive blasting. The people of the village were so petrified of the blasting that they ran into the open fearing that their houses might collapse on
their heads. Further continuous blasting has badly shaken the villagers of Kunjan Gram Sabha and all houses in the area have developed cracks. It is learnt that people of Kunjan have been forcibly stopping the project work from time to time demanding that they be rehabilitated and resettled. “Their demand is justified because the three natural water sources of the village are drying up due to the project. The outlet tunnel and power house are being built right below the village and as a result their agricultural fields have lost their moisture content. Their forests and pastures have been destroyed by the power project
construction work. All that they are left are with cracked houses, a reminder of the dam that has damned them,”
said Pancholi.
Social impact in affected areas
In the coming days, the social impact of hundreds of labourers, who were hired for the project from outside the area and are living in and around the village and its forests, will be felt. This has affected the social security of the village. “The women are scared to venture into the forests and thefts have started taking place which were unheard of earlier,” said Bhuwan Pathak, activist of the Raksha Sutra.
Pastures become dumping ground
Thirang, a hamlet of Kunjan village, too is in a similar state of chaos. All access paths to Thirang are blocked as this area is a dumping ground for the project. The NTPC has given jobs to 50 men from Kunjan village who just stand around for which they get paid. “The NTPC has done this out of fear that the village people may start agitating for employment on the project. It is with elusive promises of employment that the NTPC has been able to carry on its work unhindered. The poor people have time and time again agitated for permanent jobs, but their demands have gone unheard,” said Suresh
Bhai. At Sanglahi village, the agricultural land has been acquired for the construction of a residential colony and a road for the project and has rendered people of Sanglahi, Agra, Helgu and Thirang landless. Around 150 nali of agricultural land belonging to the above mentioned villages have been affected by the construction of the power house, roads, residential colony, surge shaft and tunnel. In Sanghali, agricultural land belonging to 11 persons has been acquired for the project. In Tihar Gram Sabha, forests at Agra, Helgu and Saglai have been affected by the project construction. “These forests are spread over 70 hectares. There is a road being constructed right through these forests for the project. These forests are the only source of wood and fodder leaves for all villages in the Tihar Gram
Panchayat. The pastures of Tihar Panchayat are located in Agra Centre (19 hectares), Sanglai (12 hectares) and Helgu (19 hectares). A total of 50 hectares of pastureland has been affected by the project. These pastures now lie buried under debris and waste generated by the road construction for the project. The animals of Tihar now have nowhere to graze,” said Dr Arvind
Dharmoda, member of the study team. The NTPC has acquired 500 nali of agricultural land from the village where it is constructing a residential colony for the project employees. The land belongs to eight families in the village. They have been given a compensation of Rs 1,00,000 per
nali.
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Rafting camps pose threat to wildlife, Jairam admits in LS
Dehradun, August 25 According to Press Information Bureau Dehradun sources, Minister of State for Environment and Forests (Independent Charge) Jairam Ramesh in a written reply to a question by Dr M Thambidurai in the Lok Sabha today admitted that river rafting in stretches of rivers passing through areas having wild animals does impact the animal life in terms of accessibility of animals to water and other habitat use in the areas around the river. “Establishment of rafting camps further impacts the habitat use by animals,” the minister has said. The statement assumes significance keeping in view the recent WII report on rafting camps in Uttarakhand. The report had categorically stated 13 out of 34 camps alongside in the 35-km stretch of Kaudiyala and Rishikesh Ganga were proving detrimental to the region’s wildlife. The report had put rafting operators at loggerheads with the State Forest Department with the latter being forced to go for punitive action against these 13 rafting camps at the earliest. Finally, a meeting under the chairmanship of Uttarakhand Additional Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar has already slated to take place early September, that will give its final decision on these 13 camps. Uttarakhand Principal Chief Conservator of Forests will also be participating in the meeting. Union Minister Jairam in his reply had also added that wildlife aspect is taken care of by the concerned licencing authorities for river rafting under the state governments. Under the backdrop of the new development, Uttarakhand authorities would also now be forced to go take suitable measure to safeguard the wildlife. Interestingly, rafting operators that are mostly local lad are contesting the WII report alleging that it was state forest department’s ploy to hurt their business prospects. They had also written a strong worded letter to the Uttarakhand PCCF cautioning him against any action that would affect their trade. Sources reveal that these rafting operators have also met the Governor seeking her intervention on the matter.
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Char Dham: Rain washes away GMVN profits
Dehradun, August 25 The roads leading to Gangotri have been blocked for the seventh day and the one to Yamunotri for the third day. Similar is the situation with the Kedarnath and Badrinath routes traffic on which had been disrupted due to massive landslides, road cuts and cave-in incidents. The figures received from the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) says it all. It shows revenue earned in April to be of Rs 73.83 lakh, rating of peak season in May topping at Rs 216.67 lakh and in June at 264.91 lakh. It made a good profit of Rs 279.27 lakh by deducting the collective expenditure of the GMVN of Rs 142.33 lakh of April and May, and Rs 136.94 lakh of June. While in July, instead of low profit rate, the GMVN tasted a loss of Rs 87.90 lakh. Since the nigam is yet to come up with the total figure for August, calculated from 91 tourist rest houses, it fears to lose a further sizable chunk touching above a crore. Twentysix tourist rest houses out of the total have registered from zero to negligible business like the ones at Arakot, Barkot, Gairsain, Expedition Hostel in Joshi Math, given their placement at odd locations, bad maintenance and poor marketing. They have become a big liability on the GMVN for burdening it with expenditure. Vice-President, GMVN, Raghunath Singh Negi said: “The loss was inevitable seeing the rainy season taking its toll on almost every walk of life. Roads have broken or blocked by debris of landslides or mudslides, houses are crumbling down, traffic has gone completely haywire and tourists are stranded at various places for days together. In such a situation, the yatra was bound to suffer. The nigam too want tourists to hold on for a month before resuming the yatra in pre-winter months without putting their lives for undue risk”. General Manager UK Kabadwal too said there was no other alternative possible in such a disparaging situation to put a break on the loss phenomenon. “Rafting is not possible in tumultuous rivers; trekking or mountaineering is not viable on vulnerable mountains; travelling for any purpose, be it for sightseeing or religious places, is not advisable due to the poor conditions of roads. Therefore, we are just keeping our fingers crossed for the monsoon to end well in time so that by mid-September, the Char Dham Yatra can pick up its momentum once again,” he said. The pinch of loss is felt more stinging because the yatra began late almost by a month. Then the hopes that the state will be able to fetch crowds from the Kumbh Mela for the Char Dham too came crashing down due to difference of timings between both. Senior Manager, Rishilok, Rishikesh, ND Kothari says: “The yatra which usually starts by late mid-April took off on May 16 so we lost a good opportunity to cash in on that. This also had a major telling effect on our hopes to see a mammoth crowd diverting at the end of the Kumbh toward the holy shrines of the Char Dham, by continuing their religious voyage well motivated by the marketing team of the Tourism Department provided on the Kumbh venue. But, it was not destined so. Somehow, this season, which could have been rocking of all times proved to be a damp squib for all of us in tourism sector”.
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BEd aspirants return disappointed
Dehradun August 25 Worries soon clouded their mind after they got the news that the admissions would be considered on the basis of merit. Since morning a large number of students had started thronging the college campus, but their spirits were dampened by rain while the absence of the clerk in the department compounded their problems. Though admission forms have been submitted, the rest of the process will resume from tomorrow. Students from far-flung places accompanied by their parents came for the counselling. The police was deployed to prevent any untoward incident.
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Om Parkash Memorial Football Tournament
Dehradun, August 25 In the second half, the Hilton School team made several attacks and succeeded in scoring three goals through Rahul Rai (7th minute), Ankit (9th minute) and Sumit (12th minute) one after the other. A stunned Children’s Academy team did try to counter attack but without any success. Hilton School won by 3-1. The first quarter final match between Cambrian Hall and Carman School and the second quarter final between Kasiga School and Carman ‘A’ Shyampur will be played tomorrow.
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Six matches played on Day 2 of RIMC soccer tourney
Dehradun, August 25 A total of six matches were played on the 2nd day of the competition with all the sections having at least one match. The matches were organised into three categories- senior, middles and juniors. The results are as follows: 1. Ranjit vs Chandragupta (juniors) Ranjit won by 3-0. Tabu (Ranjit)-2 goals, Aurobindo Mishra (Ranjit)-1 goal. 2. Pratap vs Ranjit (middles) Ranjit won 3-1. Khumanlamba-2 goals, Shiv Shakti (Ranjit)-1 goals, Kobing (Pratap)-1 goals. 3. Shivai vs Chandragupta (seniors) Chandragupta won by 1-0. Ayush Salaria-1 goal, 4. Pratap vs Shivaji (juniors), Pratap won by 1-0 Tarun Dhainik-1 goal. 5. Ranjit vs Shivaji (middles), the match got draw at 2-2 Shivaji- Pratik Pegu and Anmol Rawat scored 1 goal each Ranjit -Khumanlamba and K Arjun scored 1 goal each. 6. Ranjit and Chandragupta (seniors) Chandragupta won by 3-0. Ayush Salaria -3 goals.
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UKD opposes revoking of project
Dehradun, August 25 President of the UKD Trivender Panwar protested in front of Drona Hotel with party activists and later went to meet the District Magistrate to submit him a memorandum on the issue. Panwar said: “If the governments get swayed by the fast and do not hesitate in abandoning a project (Loharinag Pala) that is almost one-third complete and incurred an expenditure of Rs 600 crore, then the UKD activists too can go on a mass fast. We are quite good in such pressure tactics which we used to the hilt to get Uttarakhand carved out of Uttar Pradesh to make governments revoke the ban on the project.” He also shed light on the fact that the UKD had never been in favour of big projects, but since a lot of work had already been done on the Loharinag Pala project and the damaged too had been done to the environment in the process, it was better to let it get completed. If it was left unutilised it would harm the environment and if the tunnels were closed then it would cost Rs 200 crore in the process. He cautioned against denting the image of the state which had been known as the power state in the country for its capability to churn power through rich resources of rivers. He said from Wednesday, the party members would sit on dharnas at the Shahidi Sthal and in other districts turn-wise. The others who participated in the effigy-burning agitation included state president Omi Uniyal, city president Bahadur Singh Rawat, former vice-president Shivanand Chamoli and senior leader Vinod Nautiyal.
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Eco Task Force plants 10 m saplings in Garhwal region
Mussoorie, August 25 The chief guest on the occasion, Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen JP Singh, AVSM, planted a sapling at Kempty to celebrate the greening of Garhwal by the ETF. He congratulated the soldiers on the reaching the figure today and motivated them to continue serving people in similar fashion. Lt Gen JP Singh informed that the Battalion was the first to be formed in 1982 when Mussoorie was reeling under the problem of limestone mining and the green cover of trees had vanished depicting the ugly face of the Queen of Hills. It was then, on the advice of Mexican environmentalist Morlow, the then Prime Minster Indira Gandhi constituted the Eco Task Force for the revival of the environment. The task force since then has brought back the green cover in Mussoorie receiving several accolades. Seeing the success of the force, seven other units have been constituted in various states of the country. Lt Gen JP Singh also said the ETF contribution was saving the planet from environmental degradation and would be remembered in the annals of history for a long time. A sketch and painting competition with the theme of environment was also held at Kempty in which various schools from Dehradun and Mussoorie participated amidst heavy downpour. Lt Gen JP Singh also presented awards and citations to the winners of competition. Earlier, an environmental run was also organised in which more than 500 jawans from different battalions, NCC, IMA and other station units participated with enthusiasm. The run was flagged off by Addl Dir Gen, Territorial Army, Major Gen ADS Grewal, VSM, and TA GH, Central Command, Gurinder Singh. Additional Director General TA and Major Gen ADS Grewal said on the occasion that this was a great achievement for the unit which had inspired the formation of other such units in the state. He also said the Army given a task did it on war footing and now it was the responsibility of comman people to join in the campaign to save environment from global warming and that could be done only by planting trees. Major General Grewal when asked about assisting in the revival of the Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh, said the ETF was always willing to assist in its revival and talks were on with the Punjab and Haryana governments regarding this. A painting exhibition on Save the Ganga by eminent author and artist Leela Swaroop was also organised at Sampoornanand Hall at LBSNAA depicting the voyage of the Ganga and efforts made by people to bring down to the earth by Bhagirath. Swaroop said on the occasion that it was extremely important to keep the Ganga clean and free from pollution otherwise chances were that it would go back and vanish leaving the population high and dry.
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Life has become hell for people of eight villages badly affected by the construction of the 13-km tunnel and the scrapping of the Loharinag Pala hydro power project has not brought an end to their
miseries.
It looks like more troubled times ahead for rafting operators in the state. In the backdrop of the Wildlife Life Institute of India (WII) identification of 13 rafting sites.
Dehradun August 25
Dehradun, August 25
