Dehradun, January 19
The extension of the water supply system and the laying of sewerage are proving troublesome for most residents of Dehradun.With the Peyjal Nigam engaged in this work, extensive digging is under way in most parts of Dehradun putting residents to a lot of inconvenience.

The city has been dug up at Indira Nagar Colony, Ballupur, Vasant Vihar, Haridwar Road, Bypass Road and Tehsil Chowk for laying of sewage pipes under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

Sewage pipes are also being laid from the Haridwar Road to the ISBT. These will go on to Brahamanwala and be connected with the sewage treatment plant (STP) there.

Similarly, sewerage work is also on at the GMS Road and Kamla Palace onward to the ISBT and the Brahamawala STP.

In certain parts of Dalanwala, Peyjal Nigam engineers, under an Asian Development Bank (ADB) project, are engaged in removing old pipes.

The new pipes will not only improve the water supply, but also stop leakage from rusty pipes.

“We will check leaking and rusted pipes over a distance of 150 km. The rusted ones will be removed and on some main roads, the connections are being enhanced so that these can be connected with overhead tanks. These tanks are also to be constructed,” said SC Pant, Executive Engineer, Peyjal Nigam.

However, this reckless digging is posing a host of problems to the residents of Doon. Telephone poles have been uprooted in some places, while in others these stand tilted, ready to fall any moment.

“These activities have hindered the supply of water in my area. Every year, some department or telephone company undertakes digging and leaves pits behind. These leftovers on the roads are very difficult to navigate,” said Ira Gupta, a teacher.

The Peyjal Nigam, already behind schedule, has to complete the construction of the STPs by 2012. These are to be constructed for isolated pockets in the Indira Nagar Colony, Salawala, Doon Vihar and Vijay Colony.

An amount of Rs 13.65 crore has already been allocated for the construction of STPs in the city.

There will not be any let-up in digging for the next two and half years. In fact, for the past three days, the city is facing traffic snarls due to the work under way at different places.

“The digging is being carried out on the sides of the roads. It is a necessary exercise. Sometimes due to the negligence of workmen, the trenches are not covered. But we are make attempts that such situations do not arise,” said BM Garg, Executive Engineer, Peyjal Nigam.

Pithoragarh, January 19
Lakes in the Himalayan region, in addition to the caves there, can give vital indications about the climate over the past millenniums. This information can also be used to project changes in the future, said Dr BS Kotlia, a geologist who has been studying the climate of the Himalayas in the past centuries with the help of caves and lakes in the region.

Dr Kotlia has done this research under projects named ‘Holocene climatic changes in Uttarakhand’ sponsored by the Uttarakhand Council of Science and Technology and ‘Palio climatic changes in Tethys Himalaya’ under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.

“Even though the information gathered from lakes is not as accurate as it is from the caves, the Himalayan lakes are an effective instrument to study climatic changes in the region in the past centuries. These lakes contain layers of soil that had been washed down or blown away from the surrounding hills over centuries.

“The soil also contains traces of pollen which is in the air every monsoon and some of it settles down in the lake. This indicates the nature of vegetation in that area during a particular period,” said Dr Kotlia. “Even if the lake bursts, the pollen remains there,” he added.

According to him, a layer of soil as thick as 30 cm gets deposited every one thousand years. This reflects the nature of the prevailing vegetation. The litter in a particular layer of soil points to the fauna prevalent during the era.

“These facts help us ascertain the different climates that existed in the past millenniums,” said Dr Kotlia.

He said that out of a dozen lakes that he had studied under the project, the lakes of Bhimtal, Naukuchiatal, Champawat, Bageswar and Pithoragarh in Kumaon and Nachiketatal in Uttarkashi are significant from the point of view of climate study.

“The lakes in the Himalayas were formed mainly due to tectonic activity four times - 50,000, 35,000, 21,000 and 3,500 years ago,” said the geologist adding that these four events stacked up the Himalayan region up to the Ladakh Himalayas and can be called a lake-formation event.

“The present lake of Naukuchatal in Nainital district was 12 km long some 53,000 years ago. It extended from Bhawali to Naukuchaital, but due to tectonic reasons, it dried up 3,500 years ago.

Dehradun, January 19
District Magistrate (DM) Sachin Kurve expressed dissatisfaction with the Chirayu health check-up programme for schoolchildren undertaken by the CMO office, Dehradun.While chairing a meeting of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Kurve said the health teams had conducted health check-ups in 283 schools in the district.

“The number is far too less. The officials need to cover more schools, so that all the schoolchildren in the district are covered under the programme,” he said.

Dehradun CMO RK Pant said two teams had been constituted for carrying out the health examination of the schoolchildren. He said 4,372 children had been examined out of 6,404 and 49 children were referred for further examination to hospitals.

He said the teams were yet to undertake check-ups at the schools in Vikas Nagar, Chakrata, Kalsi, Mussoorie, urban areas of Dehradun and Rishikesh.

The District Magistrate said the officials should plug loopholes, so that the grading of the state improved, especially of the 20-point programme in which some health programmes were included.

He also ordered the procurement of weight machines for 908 anganwadi centres. Under the child-tracking scheme, the children from Raipur and Dehradun anganwadis would be brought to the Doon Hospital and examined by a child specialist on February 3. This is being done to arrest the malnutrition among the children.

Nainital, January 19
The local administration has decided to take the help of religious institutions in generating awareness about the pulse polio programme.At a meeting held here yesterday, Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Lalit Mohan Rayal directed officials to take the help of the authorities at temples, mosques, churches and gurdwaras across the district to propagate the message about the need to get children administered with the pulse polio drops.

He asked the officials to ensure that the next phase of the programme to be held in the district on January 23 is successful and more attention is paid towards administering the drops in the labour colonies, slums and mining areas.

Chief Medical Officer (CMO) DS Garbyal disclosed that the administration had set a target to administer the drops to 13,75,595 babies in the district through 884 booths. Out of these 51 are mobile booths. He added that 2,05,140 children would be administered the drops at their homes in the hilly as well as the plain areas from January 24 onwards.

Dehradun, January 19
Kanpur beat Meerut by six wickets on the inaugural day of the 25th Late Banke Lal Shah Memorial Cricket Tournament being organised by the Little Master Cricket Club on the Rangers College Ground here on Wednesday.

The winning team opted to field first. Meerut scored 126 runs for nine wickets in 20 overs. Atul top scored with 17 runs.

Arun of Kanpur bagged three wickets. Nihal took two wickets. Wasim, Asif, Shivam Sharma and Saurav also pocketed a wicket each.

Batting second, Faizanwan guided the batting innings of Kanpur scoring 43 runs in 33 balls.

Shivam Sharma gave an all-round performance scoring 24 runs from 20 balls. The team scored 129 runs at the loss of five wickets in 18 overs.

Vijay of the losing side took two wickets. Dusyant, Prashant and Sabir got a wicket each for Meerut.

A batsman in action at the 25th Late Banke Lal Shah Memorial Cricket Tournament in Dehradun on Wednesday. A Tribune photograph