Haridwar, June 16
Finally, the body of Swami Nigmanand was today buried on the premises of the Matra Sadan ashram where he lived as a saint for more than 16 years here.

As Nigmanand had opted sainthood, the district administration did not allow the members of his family to take his body to Bihar, citing the statement of the sole governing body of akhadas, the Akhil Bharatiya Akhada Parishad. The statement says prior to embracing sainthood, Nigmanand had shed all his social and worldly relations.

The members of Nigmanand’s family, including his father Prakash Chandra Jha, mother and two brothers, left the ashram in tears at about 2:45 pm. They claimed that Nigmanand was made a saint forcefully and even questioned the credentials of Swami Shivananad, his guru.

Prior to his last rites, called ‘Brahamleen’, which are accorded to saints, a second post-mortem examination was conducted on Nigmanand’s body to take the viscera, nail and hair samples. These would be sent to a forensic laboratory at AIIMS, New Delhi.

The second examination on the body was done in view of repeated demands by Swami Shivanand, other members the saint community and Union Minister of State for Agriculture Harish Rawat.

Finally, at 3:30 pm, R Meenakshi Sundaram, Haridwar District Magistrate, gave his consent to conduct a second examination on the saint’s body, which was conducted by four doctors under the supervision of Chief Medical Officer Yogesh Sharma.

A large number of people, including saints, politicians, environmentalists, social activists and local residents, paid tributes to Nigmanand, who gave away his life for the cause of the holy Ganga. Haridwar parliamentarian Harish Rawat, former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi, state Cabinet minister Madan Kaushik, Leader of Opposition in the Uttarakhand Assembly Harak Singh Rawat, state Congress chief Yashpal Arya, Akhada Parishad general secretary Hari Giri Ji Maharaj, Ramachandracharya Swami Hansvedacharya, Acharya Balakrishan, Brahamswaroop Brahamchari, Satpal Brahamchari, RSS ideologue Govindacharya were among prominent persons who paid homage to Nigmanand.

Haridwar, June 16
The historic agitation by Swami Nigmanand to save the holy Ganga from quarrying in the Kumbh mela area will not die down with his death, as efforts are on to rid the area of quarrying.

Now, social activists, environmentalists, local people and Matra Sadan saints have vowed to take the quarrying issue to a higher level, demanding an end to illegal mining.

Leading the cause is noted environmentalist and former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi who visited the Matra Sadan ashram to pay tributes to the saint. Maneka expressed shock over the large-scale quarrying being done illegally in the region and its impact on the flow of the Ganga and ecology.

Talking to The Tribune, Maneka Gandhi, who has spearheaded many environmental and social campaigns, said she would be taking up the quarrying issue with the civil society members at the Central level and she would make sure that substantial steps were taken in this movement.

“I am totally against mass quarrying, construction of dams on the Ganga in the Himalayas, which is a cause of environmental concern not only for the region but also for the entire country. Mass quarrying and big dam projects are leading to the shrinking of forest cover and a mass displacement of people,” said Maneka Gandhi, who had taken several steps on environmental safety during her tenure as Minister of Environment and Forests in the Union Government.

Gandhian Anna Hazare has also showed his resentment against the mass quarrying being done in Haridwar, terming Swami Nigmanand’s contribution to the cause of the holy Ganga as a rare example in this era. In a letter to Matra Sadan, a copy of which is with The Tribune, Anna Hazare has said it’s a matter of deep shock that Swami Nigmanand laid his life fighting against those who are disturbing the natural form of the holy Ganga.

The saint community too is regrouping on the quarrying issue. They have favoured holding talks to pressurise the state government to review its quarrying policy. Religious heads Ramanandacharya Hansvedacharya and Swami Rishivaranand along with other religious-spiritual heads have claimed that they will not let Swami Nigmanand’s historic contribution go in vain. They will be taking his agitation forward. Matri sadan founder Swami Shivanand has said their ongoing movement will be carried out on a larger scale till the Kumbh mela area is rid of quarrying.

Noted earthquake scientist Prabhu Narayan, who is also campaigning against quarrying in Haridwar, points out that the impact of large-scale quarrying was a cause of concern with water getting polluted.

Dehradun, June 16
Though the state administration claims that the mining activity has been banned in the district, the data with the Mining Department shows that the illegal mining is still going on, and that too on a large scale.

Sources in the department said the department charged Rs 25,000 each as penalty from those who were caught carrying out mining activities but after the fine was paid they started mining activities again.

According to the official record, the department has nabbed around 125 culprits in the past two months. “We have registered 46 cases of illegal mining in April, 66 in May and 13 this month. The amount of fine to be imposed on the owners of four vehicles caught yesterday is yet to be decided,” TR Bhatt, Nayab Tehsildar, said.

The department has collected a total of Rs 6,70,528 in April, Rs 12.95 lakh in May and Rs 3,84,147 this month so far as penalty from the persons who were caught mining minerals, sand and other materials illegally in the district. “Two tractor-trailers were impounded at the Aasan and Tons riverbeds while two trucks carrying illegally mined material were impounded near Paonta Sahib,” Bhatt added.

The sources said owing to a shortage of vehicles in the department the staff was not able to check illegal mining properly. Bhatt said: “We would have been more active if the department has an adequate number of vehicles. We have to often wait for the availability of vehicles to carry out drives against illegal miners. We have been writing to the Director of the department for the past more than two years to provided us with an adequate number vehicles, but to no avail,” he added.

Talking to The Tribune, Dehradun District Magistrate Sachin Kurve said action was being taken against illegal miners in the district regularly. However, he denied any shortage of vehicles in the department.

Despite repeated attempts, Ramaswami, Director of the department, could not be contacted.

The department has collected Rs 92 lakh as fine from illegal miners in 2008-09, Rs 1.09 crore in 2009-10 and Rs 1.89 crore in 2010-11.

Dehradun, June 16
The Children’s ward of the Doon District Hospital is facing an acute shortage of space, beds and equipment. After much delay, the hospital authorities had recently procured different kinds of equipment for the Children’s ward but these continue to remain dumped in one corner of the store.

A handful of doctors and nursing staff are struggling hard to keep the hospital running and have been regularly trying to procure better equipment and medicines. But their voices go unheard.

The doctors and the nurses say that their demand for a refrigerator, nebuliser and ventilators were ignored and instead warmers and infusion pumps were sent to them that are not required in the Children’s ward.

“The demand for a refrigerator has been pending as we need it for preserving medicines and vaccinations,” said Dr DS Rawat, senior paediatrician.

Besides, shortage of ambulances and space for equipment are proving major hurdles in the smooth functioning of the ward. Though with the shifting of the paying ward to the second floor, some space was added but it continues to be less as the number of patients continues to rise. Also the central oxygen supply has also not been established in the new area of the ward. The ward can only admit 23 children but at times we are forced to allocate one bed for three kids,” said a nurse on condition of anonymity. Doctors acknowledge privately that children with acute complications like diarrhoea, typhoid and Enteric fever are at high risk and should not be allowed to share beds but such is the state of affairs at the hospital that children prone to infections are forced to share beds. “Most of the time one bed is shared by three children, all suffering from serious ailments. The pressure on the hospital to admit patients is immense and we are forced to make adjustments,” said the nurse.

Admitting space crunch at the Children’s ward, Lt-Col Dr Ramamurthy (retd), manager of the Doon Hospital, said, “We have added some space but it is not sufficient, we are hoping to expand the Paediatric unit, once the plan to build a separate Mother and Child Hospital is approved by the government,” he said.

Dehradun, June 16
Uttarakhand Governor Margaret Alva today met Union Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath regarding the restoration work of the historical building of Raj Bhawan, Nainital, and submitted a detailed project report (DPR) to him.

The Governor is making continuous efforts to bring about long-term maintenance of the unique shape and structure of the historic building of Raj Bhawan, which is famous for its beauty and architectural grandeur.

As a follow-up of the Governor’s directives, senior officials of the Public Works Department had prepared a detailed project report, which was presented by the Governor to the minister today.

Among other things, the DPR contains work plan for the protection and preservation of the façade of the 110-year- old magnificent building, its rooms and interior decoration items, including furniture, from the process of natural degeneration.

The Governor met Kamal Nath to have financial provision made from under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission for this project, which involves a total cost of nearly Rs 7 crore.

The minister, while giving an assurance of complete and positive cooperation to the proposal, issued necessary directions to the officials concerned in his ministry.

During her two-day stay in Delhi, Alva also met Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram and apprised him of the present situation in the state.

Pithoragarh, June 16
The BSF (Jalandhar) today defeated the Neemach Football Association team by 3-0 in the All-India Football Tournament being played at DS Bisht Stadium here.

The first goal was scored by Parbinder in the 37th minute of the first half of the match. Kamal Kishore scored the second goal in the 38th minute while the third goal was scored by Bali Gaganjit in the 26th minute of the second half, said Vinod Singh Waldia, secretary of the District Sports Promotion Committee .

He said the teams of the Youth Football Association, Tamil Nadu, and the Garhwal Heroes, Delhi, and the DFA, Benaras, and the RCF, Kapurthala, will play their next round matches on Friday.

Dehradun, June 16
Manish starred in the 2-1 win of CT Young over Doon Eagle striking both the goals in the ongoing 60th Lala Nemi Dass Memorial District Football League played at the Pavilion ground here today.

All the goals of the play came in the second half as some spirited efforts in the first half proved futile. Manish (45th minute and 65th minute) scored the two goals to sail his team home. Samir (69th minute) netted the lone goal for Doon Eagle.

In the second match, Doon Valley edged past BC Milan 1-0. Rahul scored the lone goal of the match in the 59th minute. Tomorrow, Akranta will play against Tapovan and Shiwalik will meet Gypsy.

Dehradun, June 16
Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar has directed the District Magistrates of the border districts to meet the officers of Border Roads Organisation (BRO) twice a month so that hurdles coming in the way of road construction could be sorted out. Joint survey of the sites should be ensured by the Forest, Revenue, PWD, Power and Potable Water departments, if need be, he added.

He was addressing a meeting of the senior civil and BRO officials held at the secretariat here yesterday. Keeping in view the sensitivity and pilgrims’ movement, suitable roads for smooth plying of vehicles were necessary at the border areas, he said.

Keeping the ongoing Char Dham yatra in view, the Chief Secretary directed that while widening and construction of roads, no hurdle should be left to ensure free flow of vehicles. On various pending issues related to PWD, power, forest, potable water and Revenue Departments, he fixed a time frame for solving the problems.

During the meeting, he sorted out land requisition and possession issues of Maletha (Uttarkashi), Majri Grant (Dehradun), Marwari (Chamoli) and Dharasu (Uttarkashi). Regarding distribution of compensation to farmers for the Joshimath-Malari and the Peepalkoti-Helang road, he directed Revenue Department officials to ensure coordinated efforts.

The Chief Secretary directed Power Department to shift electric poles and transformers coming in the way of road widening within a month. He asked Jal Sansthan to repair the damaged pipe lines immediately caused by road construction.

For sorting out problems of Rishikesh-Dharasu, Dharasu-Gangotri, Joshimath-Mana, Rudra Prayag- Gaurikund roads, he sought a joint survey with civil, forest and BRO officials.

Principal Secretary PWD UK Singh, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests RBS Rawat, Chief Engineer Brig SK Grovar and Col Ajay Kapoor of the BRO and senior officers of various other departments attended the meeting.

Dehradun, June 16
The tiny Himalayan state of Uttarkhand has drawn a plan to launch a UN body-sponsored livelihood programme in five districts of the state in the beginning at a cost of Rs 400 crore.

The outline of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialised agency of the United Nations, sponsored “Livelihood support and partnership programme” has been prepared and it would be implemented in five districts in the beginning, Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar said.

Fund would be made available for the scheme in the ratio of 90:10 in which 90 per cent would be grant and 10 per cent loan. The scheme would generate employment for the youth of the hill state and add to their income.

In place of the traditional mode of farming, newer technology-driven agriculture would be promoted under the scheme besides promoting good breed of animals, Kumar added. The IFAD was established as an international financial institution in 1977 as one of the major outcomes of the 1974 World Food Conference. It is dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries. — PTI

Dehradun, June 16
The Akhand Hindustan Morcha has expressed strong resentment over the National Advisory Council-proposed Communal Violence Bill.

Addressing a press conference here, Narsinhanand Saraswati, national organisational secretary of the morcha, said if the Bill was passed, it would lead to the persecution of Hindus in the country. He said such laws would deepen the divide in the country.

Dr Varunveer from the Manu Sanskrit Sansthan, who is also a member of the morcha, said it was wrong to blame Hindus for communal violence in the country. He said minorities were safe and were prospering in the country. He said the Bill would only spread hatred against Hindus in society. — TNS