Nainital, April 13
Uttarakhand needs to focus mainly on Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) markets in order to boost its tourism sector.

These are the findings of tourism expert Charu Sheela Yadav from the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management. In her research paper, “Evaluating Tourism Destination Image of Uttarakhand”, which has been published in a souvenir brought out by Uttarakhand Open University recently, Yadav has pointed out: “The Tourism Department of Uttarakhand should highly focus on Delhi and the NCR market. There should be more activities on the banks of the Ganga like organising yoga and meditation camps, spiritual discourses and light adventure activities”.

The writer has also underlined, “There should be more focus on quality accommodation as well as good and hygienic eating joints. The shopping facility should be expanded.”

It has been clearly pointed out that traditional haats can be developed in the state and there should be special packages for the Delhi-NCR market considering their needs.

The writer has made another valuable suggestion by stating, “The website related to destinations and tourism services should be developed and updated regularly. There should be more cleanliness drives in cities. Locals and tourists should be encouraged to participate in these drives”.

Yadav goes on to explain, “The Delhi-NCR market has a tremendous potential because of its close proximity to Uttarakhand. Destinations like Haridwar, Ranikhet, the Jim Corbett National Park, Mussoorie and Nainital enjoy this privilege. They get the visitors on the weekends as well as for a longer period of year. For professionals these places are ideal to visit because of the limited time at their hands.”

The writer has also underlined the initiatives taken both at the Central as well as at the state government level in promoting tourism in the region. It has been pointed out that private players are looking at new segments that can contribute to their business and some companies are setting up hotels in areas where adventure tourism activities like elephant and jeep safaris, nature walk, trekking, bird watching, white water rafting, rock climbing, rappelling and river crossing are proliferating.

It has been pointed out that Uttarakhand has a healthy mix of religious as well as adventure tourist destinations, which can go a long way in helping the locals enjoy benefits of tourism development.

Dehradun, April 13
The Police Training College (PTC) at Narender Nagar in Tehri district will start training its first batch from May 1. The newly recruited constables will get nine-month training at the college.

Work at the college, which is being built at Narendernagar, was expected to be finished by September last year, but it got delayed.

However, the officials now claim that by April 20 to 25 the work will be completed and Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank is likely to inaugurate the college on May 1.

Director General of Police (DGP) Jyoti Swaroop Pandey had visited the college last week to take stock of preparedness. “All the preparations have been made and the construction work will be completed by April 20-25,” Deputy Superintendent of Police (Training) Jagender Singh told The Tribune.

“The combined training of civil police, fire and the PAC constables will be held here and 100 to 125 constables will be of the civil police, while the remaining will be of fire and Provincial Armed Constabulary,” said the DSP.

The constables are to be trained at eight different training centres in the state, including the PTC, training camps of Provincial Armed Constabulary and Recruit Training Centre in Dehradun, Haridwar, Chamba and Rudrapur.

Initially training is being started for constables, but will soon be raised up to the DSP level. “We have the training facilities for other ranks, but have not got the facility of accommodation yet,” said Singh.

Till now, the Police Department used to send its trainees to other states, including Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, which incurred big fee charges besides a lot of other hassles.

The state police has incurred expenses running in crores on training its personnel in other states. Most of which has already been paid, while the rest of the amount is being paid in lump sum. With the coming up of its own training college, it will not be dependant on other states of the country.

Dehradun, April 13
Villagers in Uttarakhand are more likely to take the law into their own hands than seek compensation in man-animal conflicts. This startling finding has emerged during a study by a researcher at the Uttarakhand Council of Science and Technology (UCOST).

Putting forward his findings linked to man-animal conflict in the Alaknanda valley of Garhwal, Sabyasachi Dasgupta from UCOST said the process to get compensation from the state Forest Department for the loss of livestock due to wild animal attacks was so complicated and long drawn that villagers, at times, avoid seeking compensation for the death of their livestock.

The compensation rates for livestock were substantially lower than existing market rates and villagers are forced to travel long distances and indulge in a lot of paper work to get compensation.

Due to these negative factors, many villagers avoid reporting the deaths of their animals in attack by wild animals.

This also increases the probability that some villagers might take action to destroy the predator by resorting to techniques like poisoning the kill.

Interestingly, the study also revealed that few villagers don’t regard the leopard as their enemy number one. They argue that leopards play a significant role in controlling the population of deer and wild boars which might otherwise damage the farmers’ crops.

Reacting to the study, Uttarakhand Chief Wildlife Warden Srikant Chandola said the finding that many villagers understood the importance of leopards in neutralising wild boars and deers who destroy their crops was certainly an eye-opener for him.

He, however, reiterated the state Forest Department’s commitment to further simplify the compensation procedure.

Uttarakhand is on the top in terms of man-leopard conflict in the country. Casualties continue to grow on both sides each passing year. 

Dehradun, April 13
An amount of Rs 3.15 lakh will be given to all the Congress councillors who are working with the Municipal Corporation (MC) for development of their areas. Tehri MP Vijay Bahuguna stated this while speaking to the councillors from the party and the appointed representatives of the Cantt Board here today.

Discussing about the various schemes for water and sewerage under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNURM), Leader of the Opposition Ashok Verma apprised him that without providing information to the representatives, the DPR is being sent to the Centre. While the fact is that it is only the representative who can explain well about the particular area, where there is necessity of water line or sewerage line or to fix the duty of a particular person.

Bahuguna said he would soon be talking to the Urban Development Minister regarding the issue and ensured that the matter would be solved soon.

Haridwar, April 13
With election code of conduct now over for the three-tier panchayat elections in Haridwar, the much-touted Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank’s Vikas Yatra has now again resumed in the district.

In the Jwalpaur-Roorkee segment, people thronged in large numbers with their respective complaints. Many were lucky to get the problems solved instantly. The CM and departmental officers met people on the occasion.

On the one hand, the departmental officers, who were found unconcerned about the problems of the litigants, got a scolding, on the other hand, some were praised for carrying out work on time.

Rajendra Saini, a villager from Narsain, who had come to put forth his problem of delay in rehabilitation post monsoon floods, said, “We have not seen previous Chief Ministers so close and concerned about our problems”.

Dehradun, April 13
The Samajwadi Party (SP) will hold a statewide Pol Khol programme on April 16 to allegedly expose the anti-state policies of the BJP and the Congress.

Addressing the crowd of party workers at the Parade Ground here, the president of the state unit of the party, Vinod Barthwal, said, “These two parties had exploited the sentiments of the public. In all these years, they have not been able to announce the permanent capital of the state. The party will take up all these issues under its new campaign”.

Nainital, April 13
With tomato being sown by vegetable farmers in the state, a team of experts from the Gobind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology at Pantnagar has predicted that the produce will fetch maximum price in the wholesale market in the October this year.

Tomato happens to be a major cash crop grown across the state on a large scale. It is grown both in the hilly terrain as and in the plain areas of the state. Nainital, Dehradun, Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar are the four major districts producing tomatoes and constitute about 63 per cent of the total production in the state.

According to a spokesperson of the university, “To facilitate farmers to know the likely prices of tomato at the time of the harvest, a project “Establishing and networking of market intelligence centres in India” is under operation at the university.

One of the objectives of the project is to make price forecasts of selected agricultural commodities at the time of sowing and during harvesting. The research team of the university conducted a market survey of Haldwani regulated market, a major market for hill tomato in the state and analysed the wholesale price data, which has prevailed for the last 20 years in the market”.

The econometric analysis indicated that the wholesale prices of hill tomato in the Haldwani market would be in the range of Rs 1,100 to Rs 1,300 per quintal in August and September. “In October, the wholesale prices of the hill tomato are expected to be around Rs 1,150 to Rs 1,350 per quintal”.

Scientists have, therefore, advised farmers, who wish to take the hill tomato cultivation in the coming season, to take into consideration these prices to decide the time of sowing and the area to be sown under the tomato crop,” said the spokesperson.

Uttarakhand and its neighbouring state Himachal Pradesh have emerged as major tomato producing centres in the country during the monsoon season. A large portion of the produce from both these states is transported to Delhi wholesale market, from where it is supplied to several other parts of the country.

The crop has helped transform the economy of many villages and constant support from the experts from institutions like the Pantnagar University have helped the farmers in a big way.

Pitthoragarh, April 13
Lohaghat Congress MLA Mahendra Singh Mahra today inaugurated a three-day traditional fair celebrated in the Kali Kumaon region of the state to please the local landlord deity.

Chairman of the Mela Committee DSP Anand Singh Dhoni said more than 25,000 devotees from across the Kali Kumaon region would participate in the fair. “During the fair, we worship our deity Chamu and offer our crop and other household pleasures to deity,” said Dhoni.

After the inauguration of the Chaitol festival in Chamdevel, people from surrounding villages gathered to take the sedans of deities to their respective villages amid the traditional cultural songs and dances by women.

“The festival witnessed more than 10,000 people this year mostly from outside the area,” said Dhoni. “The Chaitol festival in the Soar area of Pitthoragarh district will be held on 14th and 15th day of ongoing Chaitra Navratra,” said local priest Khimanand Bhatt.

The villages of Pitthoragarh district smear in a unique flavour of festivity and the harvesting festival called Chaitola, which is celebrated from 10th day (dashmi) onwards, last day of the Shukla Paksha in the Chaitra month at various places in the Gumdesh area of Champawat district and almost in all the villages of Pitthoragarh and the adjoining areas.

Historian of the Himalayan region Madan Chandra Bhatt assumes that when the northwestern rain and hailstones usually damage the crop and health of livestock, the landlords used to get relief to farmers in shape of the tax concession in the old times.

The festival is welcomed by the village folks, specially the village women who get a chance to not only tell their woes to the beloved deity, but also to have an outing and meet their near and dear ones at the festival place. After the two-day ceremony on the sounds of the traditional drums, the festival culminates at the temple of the particular deity from where it will be resumed next year.

Haridwar, April 13
With the Sikh organisations, which have been demanding the construction of Gyan Godhri Gurdwara at it original place at Har-ki-Pauri getting an assurance from Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank that he would take the matter as a priority, have decided to hold a Sikh Maha Sammelan to press for their demand.

Kamal Jeet Singh of the Sarav Pardesh Gurdwara Management Committee also took strong cognisance of Haridwar District Magistrate R Meenakshi Sundram filing a report to the state government citing that there was no such Gyan Godhri Gurdwara at the said place near Har-ki-Pauri.

The members of the committee also met Jathedar of Akal Takht Gurbachan Singh in Amritsar and apprised him of the entire issue.

The committee, in a press note issued here today, said the Sikh convention would be presided over by former Chairman of the National Minorities Commission Trilochan Singh, Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee chief Paramjeet Singh Sarna, Tamil Nadu Governor Surjeet Singh Barnala, former Director of the CBI Joginder Singh, All-India Sikh Conference chief JS Babbar, Ravindra Singh Dhunna, Sikh Kaushal, chief of Khalsa International Mohakam Singh, Baldev Singh, Kuldeep Singh, Gurutej Singh, Iqbal Singh and others.

Mussoorie, April 13
Members of the Regional Tibetan Women Congress held a candlelight march to pay homage to the late Jamyang Jinpa, a 37-year-old monk of the Labrang Monastery, eastern Tibet, here today.

The Tibetan community began the march by offering prayers at the Buddha Temple in the Happy Valley. The community members, along with students from Tibetan Homes Foundation, CST and old-age homes marched down the Mall Road with candles and placards. The candlelight bearers gathered at the Gandhi Chowk, where the Tibetan women leaders addressed the gathering. Tibetan women Congress President Kelsang Dolma said, “Jamyang Jinpa died on April 3 presumably due to police brutality after his detention on April 9, 2008”.

During the speeches, a series of pictures were also shown from the protests staged by Jamyang Jinpa. Kelsang Lama condemned China's violation of the basic human rights and demanded from the international community to create pressure on the Chinese Government to stop such acts. Vice-president Kelsang Youdon, Tensing Lamo and others were present on the occasion.