Dehradun, March 23
After awarding an AYUSH Gram to the Kolkata-based Emami group, the state government has not been able to finalise other AYUSH Grams to be established in the remaining 12 districts of the state.

After its efforts to acquire land in Pitthoragarh and Champawat did not yield desirable results, the Directorate of Ayurved and Unani had set sights on the Chaurasi Kutiya site, near Lakshman Jhoola in Rishikesh, hoping it would attract top-notch companies of the country, but the land transfer could only take place after environment clearance from the Centre.

Eager to cash in on the popularity of Mahesh Yogi’s Chaurasia Kutiya situated atop a hillock, the government had submitted a proposal to the Centre for the land clearance, as the area falls under the Rajaji National Park. “But the process is proving to be tedious. We have still not got environment clearance, despite another round of meeting held this month. We are aware that the clearance would only be subject to certain conditions and we expect to fulfil those,” said Principal Secretary, AYUSH, Rajeev Gupta.

To be developed on the public-private partnership, the government has been finding it hard to select land for the AYUSH Grams. After the first AYUSH Gram took such a long time to take off, the government has been advised to first select the land and then invite bids for the project.

“The key feature of these grams will be its herbal garden, which will be set up at around 1,000-1,200 sq m area. It will also have a specialised research centre to focus on the local herbs and medicinal plants. An innovative hospital complete with all the five features of AYUSH i.e. Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy will be established,” said director, ayurveda and Unani, Dr Pooja Bhardwaj.

Morover, the government claimed to have identified the land in Champawat and Pitthoragarh districts for establishment of these grams. However, the government was yet to get forest and environmental clearances in this regard.

The Beatles, who were followers of Mahesh Yogi, frequented the internationally renowned Chaurasi Kutiya site. This was expected to give desired mileage to the project despite objections by the environment lobby.

Covering 15 acres of land, the Chaurasi Kutiya ashram area was leased out to Mahesh Yogi by the Uttar Pradesh Government for 20 years in 1961. However, after the lease expired in 1981, the land was included in the Rajaji National Park.

Governor Margaret Alva addresses the Vice-Chancellors of various universities of the state in Dehradun on Wednesday.

Dehradun, March 23
Uttarakhand Governor Margaret Alva today discussed ways and measures with the Vice-Chancellors of different universities of Uttarakhand on bringing about qualitative changes in the higher education scenario in the state. At a meeting organised at the Raj Bhawan here today, the Governor, who is also the Chancellor of the universities, gave them necessary guidelines and instructions.

The Governor took stock of the action taken report (ATR) of recommendations and suggestions on important matters that had come up for deliberations at the last meeting held in July, 2010. Alongside, the Governor also discussed with the Vice-Chancellors the issues of current importance, such as affiliation of different colleges with various universities, consolidating basic facilities in the universities, filling vacancies in faculty, increase in remuneration of the teachers and the Vice-Chancellors and making amendments to the Act relating to their age limit and service conditions, etc. With reference to pending cases, the Governor directed that the three-member committee comprising the Vice-Chancellors of Uttarakhand Technical University, Kumaon University and Uttarakhand Open University would carry out regular monitoring for disposal of all such cases of different universities while maintaining adequate coordination with the government.

The Governor noted the grave inconvenience being caused to students of unaffiliated colleges and held detailed discussions with the Vice-Chancellors and the government representatives on the issue. She directed them to carry out all affiliation procedures in consonance with the guidelines and standards as prescribed by the University Grants Commission. But it should also be kept in mind that there is no undue delay caused due to this, she said. She also directed the Vice-Chancellors to clarify the current state of affairs and the present status of all the Sanskrit colleges in the state.

Speaking on “Future Focus”, a theme that aims to bring about educational and institutional development in the universities, the Governor said there was a need to make the courses employment-oriented. She said the courses such as hospitality, hospital management, watershed and nurses’ training should be included on a priority basis in view of their rising demand at the state, national and international levels. She also advocated increasing sports activities in the higher education institutions.

On the occasion, the Governor also directed that the placement cells in all the universities be activated and the apprenticeship scheme adopted. Among other things, she also directed all the Vice-Chancellors to complete the process of holding of examination and declaration of results by June every year. She said a time schedule should be drawn up for the same.

Pitthoragarh, March 23
Senior Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD)-Trivendra Panwar faction leader Kashi Singh Airy will lead the Pol Khol campaign on March 25. The campaign will begin at Narain Ashram, a remote spiritual tourist place in Pitthoragarh district.

“We have decided to go to people with facts and figures as to how the BJP Government in the state and the Congress-led government at the Centre are befooling them,” said Airy while addressing a press conference here today.

According to the UKD leader, the campaign will begin at 44 places of religious importance in the state and culminate at Gairsain on April 3, the proposed capital of the hill state.

“We will tell people that as the national parties in the state - the Congress and BJP - have not delivered on the basic issues of the people, they should give a clear mandate to the UKD in the 2012 Assembly elections,” said Airy.

“We will inform the people as to how the state government, on the pretext of saving the Ganga, has snatched thousands of jobs from the youth of the state and how local languages - Kumaoni, Garhwali and Jaunsari - are being neglected by the government to politically appease some sections of the state,” he said.

Dehradun, March 23
The Uttarakhand Assembly today expressed condolences over the deaths caused by the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Observing silence for the peace of the departed souls, the House said the people of Uttarakhand and the country stood with the people of Japan in their hour of grief.

Uttarakhand Speaker Harbans Kapoor described the death and destruction caused by tsunami in Japan as very tragic. He said people of Uttarakhand who, too, had suffered in the recent rain-related disaster understood the agony of the Japanese.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Pant said the tsunami that struck Japan on March 15 had resulted in large-scale deaths and destruction. He said according to the Indian High Commission, there was so far no Indian causality due to the tsunami in Japan. He said a total of 4,500 had been moved to safer places.

Pant said the Uttarakhand was in touch with Indian High Commission in Japan through the Central Government. He said so far no statewise data of Indians living in Japan was available.

Leader of the Opposition Harak Singh Rawat referred to his experiences with tragedies in Uttarakhand. He said man finds himself helpless in front of nature’s fury.

Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mohammed Shahzad said as many as 20,000 had been lost in the Japan tsunami.

Dehradun, March 23
Better understanding of climate change and variations in the weather will help us in making informed choices about managing our energy resources and tackling the adverse impact of climate change.

Delivering a lecture on the World Meteorological Day today, Anand Sharma, Metrological Centre Director, Dehradun, said the Global Framework for Climate Services could be an answer to the problems arising due to climate change.

“With these choices we can improve our food supply, protect forests and fisheries, conserve biodiversity, improve public health and humanitarian assistance services and manage tourism opportunities,” said Sharma.

He said the Global Framework in which information about variations in climate was shared aimed at enhancing climate observations and monitoring, transforming that information into sector-specific products and applications and disseminate those products widely. This would allow us to better manage the risks generated by climate variability and change.

He also debunked the argument that the developed world was becoming increasingly independent of climatic variability. “Despite a marked decline in mortality and social disruption resulting from climate extremes, the financial consequences of climate variability are increasing. People are buying properties in more vulnerable locations, such as close to the seashore, on flood plains of rivers or high in the mountains. The losses incurred as a result of extreme weather events in these parts of the world are rising steeply,” he said.

The centre had also put up an exhibition of equipment being used while studying climate variation and predicting weather.

Dehradun, March 23
A leopard was burnt alive at Ratwadhab in Kotdwar area of Garhwal at around 4 pm today after it injured three persons.

Meanwhile in Tehri district, local residents demanded the immediate killing of a leopard after it was trapped and put in a cage today. The wild cat had reportedly killed a girl yesterday.

In the first instance, the leopard had injured a number of persons at Ratwadhab in Kotdwar following which the villagers trapped it in a cow shed.

The Divisional Forest Officer, Kotdwar, reached the site and put it in a cage. But after that, the DFO and forest authorities became mute spectators in front of the large crowd as the feline was burnt to death in the cage.

Wildlife Protection Society of India sources told The Tribune that the office of the Chief Wildlife Warden has assured strict action against the culprits.

In the second instance, forest authorities today managed to trap the leopard that had reportedly caused a girl’s death in Tehri yesterday.

Then, an angry crowd of villagers surrounded the forest authorities and demanded the immediate killing of the wild cat.

Forest authorities were struggling hard to take the feline out of the area to shift it to a rescue centre at Chidiyapur, Haridwar.

Dehradun, March 23
The Kedar Ghati Bachao Samiti staged a dharna at the Gandhi Park here today against the alleged transgressions in the execution of the Vyong Phata and Singoli hydro-power projects in Rudrprayag district. Their agitation has been supported by the Uttarakhand Kisan Sabha.

Addressing the gathering, convener of the samiti Ganga Dhar Nautiyal said it was unfortunate that the opinion and consent of the people of the region were not considered before starting these projects. Their land was being acquired forcibly.

He said, “There is no prior permission from the Environment Ministry for these projects. A mindless bombing and mining is being done in the earthquake sensitive region. No consultants were hired or studies to take safeguards in this regard. The so-called engineering experts have no experience of electrical and mechanical work. And above all the riparian rights of the people who live near the river are being ignored blatantly,” he said.

Nautiyal opined the consent of the Forest Panchayat should have been taken before starting work on these hydro-power projects. He called these projects as human tragedies.

They would continue their fight till the work on these projects was either stopped or the projects terms were amended as per the demands of the public.

Dehradun, March 23
“Knowledge shared is knowledge gained”. Keeping this thought in mind, the Sarvagun Society took a step forward and distributed free study material amongst underprivileged children of primary and junior high school at Galjwadi here today.

The programme was headed by a group of teachers from Oxford University, the United Kingdom.

Society president Ankit Sharma introduced the school staff and children to the guests and showed them the underdeveloped conditions of the school.

He asked for their support in increasing the education level in rural areas.

Children presented a welcome song and interacted with the visitors by sharing their views on the upliftment of their education level. Dr Jean Paul motivated them to excel in the field of education.

The society volunteered to provide the students English and computer classes.

The programme was followed by the distribution of education material such as notebooks, teaching charts, notice board and stationary to all the students. The programme ended with a group interaction between the teachers and the guests followed by refreshments.

Rahul Rawat, secretary of the society, thanked all the guests and teachers. Dr Jean Paul, Dr Sharon, Dr Reena Carvilloh, Dr Shalini and other guests from Oxford University were present, along with volunteers and other members of the Sarvagun Society.

Dehradun, March 23
The detection of tuberculosis patients continues to pose a challenge and experts say that routine screening of all the patients of tuberculosis is recommended because tuberculosis is the most common presentation in all the stages of HIV infection.

Although the overall HIV prevalence rate in tuberculosis patients was lower in Uttarakhand, the rapidly rising trend over the past six years makes the state highly vulnerable to opportunistic infection.

“This is the earliest opportunistic infection in these patients and by routinely screening all the tuberculosis patients, we can get a fair idea of the extent of the HIV-related problems in the area,” said Dr Ajit Gairola, State Tuberculosis Officer.

Furthermore, the co-existence of hepatitis B infection highlights the need for intensifying hepatitis B immunisation and screening of hepatitis B reactive patients for HIV.

According to the state tuberculosis cell, in Uttarakhand, the total numbers of new patients of tuberculosis is 5536 while the total number of patients suffering from tuberculosis is 14,755. In Dehradun the total number of tuberculosis cases is 2,874, in Haridwar 2,179 and Udham Singh Nagar 2,330.

In addition to these, HIV-TB co-infection and multi drug resistance (MDR) TB are the two major challenges which need to be addressed in the fight towards elimination of TB. Roping in medical fraternity, civil society fraternity (working for TB elimination) “recognising the innovative approaches, which are replicable in dealing with TB, are very essential,” said Lawrence Singh of the Agnes Kunze Society, which runs Hope Target Tuberculosis in association with the state tuberculosis cell.

Dehradun, March 23
The police has arrested the four persons who had allegedly robbed two houses of Rs 38,000 cash at Doiwala on February 28. The police has also recovered Rs 10,000, mobile and countrymade pistol from the four.

According to the police, the four are residents of Haridwar and have been changing their residences to commit thefts and robberies. They were traced this morning by the cops.

A total of cash Rs 8,000 and Rs 30,000 were stolen from the house of two brothers Anil Kumar and Ravinder Kumar, respectively, on the night of February 28. They had also beaten up the families.

After committing robbery at one house, they had gone towards the second house. When the family in the second house heard the noise, the robbers claimed that they were policemen. Following this they entered the second house and robbed it too.