Nainital, June 13
The trend of relatives of patients creating trouble at hospitals after the demise of the patient has once again been witnessed at Haldwani. This time it was the relatives of a pregnant woman who had died who went on to create a ruckus at Sushila Tewari Memorial Hospital on the night intervening Saturday and Sunday, following her death.

It is learnt that 25-year-old Shahjahan Begum had been admitted to the hospital on Saturday and she had died late in the evening when the doctors were preparing to operate upon her. This led to her relatives creating a scene at the hospital, accusing the doctors of negligence and not giving them a true picture of the developments with regards to the patient. Since the patient’s maternal family resides in Sitarganj, the legislator, Narayan Pal, and his supporters also reached the hospital in support of those creating a scene.

The matter is learnt to have eventually been resolved once the hospital authorities agreed to conduct a probe in the matter. During the course of the ruckus, the relatives of the deceased had a heated exchange of words with the doctors at the hospital, thus leading to a chaos at the medical facility.

Nainital, June 13
The pre-monsoon showers experienced in the region, a prelude to what is expected over the next two months, has exposed the administration’s lack of preparedness with regards to preventive measures and the repairs of the infrastructure devastated during the last year’s monsoon related disaster. The damage that has been witnessed during the pre-monsoon showers is a clear pointer to the official apathy despite the tall claims being made by the government and the administration.

The problems being faced by the people after heavy showers yesterday are a grim pointer to the state of affairs at the ground. According to reports, a temporary passage built on the Gaula river bed connecting Indranagar locality of Haldwani with Gaula Par areas was washed away as the waters of the Gaula river rose after the showers. A tractor trolley and a Jeep plying on the passage at the time of the incident were washed away while those travelling in these vehicles had a miraculous escape.

The bridge on Gaula bypass was devastated in 2009 and is still awaiting reconstruction. The Forest Department has been preparing a temporary passage connecting Indranagar and Kheda which is about 900 meter in length. Of this, about 20-meter portion was washed away and the pipes used for its construction were located at a distance of about two kilometers.

It is learnt that the only way left for reaching the Gaula Par areas is the bridge located at Kathgodam and travelling by this route would increase the travel by almost 12 km. Reports say that the temporary passage would need at least four days to be rebuilt.

Meanwhile, a temporary dam built in Chorgaliya area by the Irrigation Department was also washed away on Sunday. The residents of the area say that while there is a crisis of drinking water, there are about six villages that have become flood prone.

On Sunday a bus coming from Ritha Sahib to Haldwani was stuck in a ditch at Bedichula village. This not only led to a major traffic snarl but the passengers faced a lot of inconvenience.

The Bhawali-Almora National Highway which has remained a driver’s nightmare over the last eight months, once again witnessed rock falls leading to the disruption of traffic. The worst affected were the tourists travelling on the route to Almora, Kausani and Bageshwar.

Dehradun: The pre-monsoon rains have added to the problems of tourists who are visiting Char Dham in the state these days. The claims of state government of having repaired the damaged infrastructure seemed misplaced to some extent, as the news is pouring in from different places on the Char Dham locations about frequent accidents taking places due to damaged and narrow roads.

Surat Ram Nautiyal, vice-president of Uttrakahnd Char Dham Vikas Parishad, said, “I had given directions to the administrative officials of Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath much in advance to repair the roads and bridges which were damaged during the last years’ rainy season. But they are still working on the project. Seeing this, I have asked them to do the repair work at night time so that the pilgrims do not face any problem in commuting during the day.”

Dehradun, June 13
The proposed university for the BEd course to be set up in Uttarakhand is yet to get the state government’s nod. The project of setting up a separate university for the BEd course was proposed by the Association of Self-Financed Institutes, Uttarakhand, two months ago.

Sunil Agarwal, secretary of the association, said there didn’t seem to be any possibility of the project getting the nod from the government as the government had failed to open its own state-level university for other courses.

“Garhwal University is already overburdened with many BEd colleges due to which the BEd course for this session has not been started yet. The delay in starting the new session for the Bed course by a year is compelling many BEd students to migrate at other parts of the country to pursue the course,” he said.

“To avoid this kind of problems, a specialised university for the BEd course is very much required,” he added.

There are over 60 BEd colleges affiliated to Hemwati Nandan Garhwal University in Uttarakhand while many others are affiliated to other universities in the state. A new varsity for the BEd course will lessen burden on the existing universities and provide students the opportunity to get cost-effective quality education. Every year over 10,000 students go to the neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh to pursue the BEd course.

Pithoragarh, June 13
Panic has gripped residents of three villages in the Baram valley of Dharchula subdivision since the night of June 12 when a flooding rivulet destroyed 12 houses following a cloudburst in the area.

“The current in the rivulet was so intense that the residents of the three villages, having a total of 250 houses, could only thought of saving their lives leaving behind their valuables under a heavy deposit of mud that night,” said Harish Dhami, member of the Zila Panchayat.

“The residents of Jara Jibli, Chori Bagar and Janglat Tok villages in the Baram valley are feeling insecure. Moreover, a disaster mitigation team has not reached the spot even after 36 hours of the incident,” alleged Dhami.

“The road connectivity to the area has completely snapped, as the Jauljibi-Munsiyari motor road has been washed away at three places in the area,” added Dhami.

The Disaster Mitigation Department agreed that their team could not reach the spot immediately after the incident. “The 449 youngsters of the nearby villages, whom we had trained in relief and rescue operations seemed to be in holiday mood, as the incident occurred on Sunday,” said RS Rana, in charge of the disaster mitigation cell in the district.

According to officials of the cell, they receive information of any such disaster in the district from the respective Patwaris. But, in this case instead of Patwari, the local residents informed the cell about the incident after four hours of the incident and by the next two hours a rescue team, led by the Dharchula Sub-Divisional Magistrate, reached the spot.

”A lack of early warning system and information coordination are other drawbacks we face at the time of a disaster in these sensitive parts of the district, leading to delay in the launch of relief and rescue operations,” said Rana.

The landslide-prone Baram valley and other 146 localities are sensitive to natural disasters.

“A total of 50 places are highly sensitive and need to be taken care of before monsoon. We are deploying coordination teams at Thal, Dharchula and Munsiyari before monsoon and their training will be completed by June 15,” said Rana.