Pithoragarh, July 29
Two persons have died and more than 75 fell ill after viral fever broke in Tarikhet and Lohaghat areas of Almora and Champawat districts.It was suspected that the disease might have spread due to consumption of contaminated water by villagers and their negligence towards sanitation, according to health department officials.

“Two elderly patients have died and over 60 villagers are suffering from high fever coupled with stomach pain and vomiting in Harada village of the Tarikhet block of Ranikhet sub- division of Almora district and the entire belt of Kandara Khua is affected by viral fever,” said Dr DS Nabiyal, medical officer at Tarikhet Primary Health Centre.

“We have sent a medical team to the area after the death of Chain Ram and Pana Devi of the village,” said Dr Nabiyal. According to the medical team, over 60 patients are being given treatment in the village by the health centre doctors. “Poor sanitation in the village and drinking of contaminated water by the villagers could be the reason for this disease as the symptoms of typhoid have been found in the blood samples of some patients,” said the doctor.

According to doctors of the PHC, the samples of blood and water have been taken from the villagers and sent in the district laboratory and the villagers are being provided essential medicines.

The viral has also erupted in the Pancheswar valley of Lohaghat sub-division of Champawat district, affecting 14 members of a single family. “Out of the total of 14 family members of Kalyan Singh Ghatal admitted to the Lohaghat Primary Health Centre for treatment, Kamla Devi has been referred to Pithoragarh hospital after her condition became serious,” said Dr PD Pangaria, medical officer at PHC, Lohaghat.

“We have sent a team of doctors to check the viral-affected patients in five villages of the Pancheswar valley. The team is led by Dr Farid Jaffar with sufficient stock of medicines,” said Dr Susheela Shah, senior medical officer of the centre.

According to the doctors at the PHC, Lohaghat, more than 300 patients are coming daily at the PHC with symptoms of viral and jaundice. The hospital wards are full of viral-affected patients from the Pancheswar valley. 

Pithoragarh, July 29
Pithoragarh district administration is facing the shortage of resources in various departments in order to solve the problems related to education, health and communication in the Chaudans valley of Dharchula subdivision of the district.

A delegation of 70 men and women from the area met District Magistrate MC Joshi last week to acquaint him with the long-standing basic problems of scarcity of teachers and doctors and lack of communication services due to unavailability of mobile towers in the area which is situated at 200 Km distance from the district headquarters and 70 Km from the subdivision headquarter.

“As the District Education Officer said there were no spare teachers to be sent there, so we have decided to appoint retired teachers from the area to run the schools till permanent teachers are appointed there,” said MC Joshi.

“The same excuse of having shortage of doctors was given by the Chief Medical Officer, Pithoragarh, when he was asked to send doctors to the primary health centres at Sosa and Pangu. The proposal to appoint new doctors for these health centres is pending at the office of Director General Health for a long time,” said the District Magistrate.

On establishing a mobile telephone tower in the Chaudans area, BSNL officials also pleaded helplessness at a meeting called by the DM to solve the problem. They argued that they had no means with them to install a mobile tower in that area and a decision in this regard could only be taken by the higher authorities.

“We will be sending the proposal to the Union Communication Ministry,” said the District Magistrate.

“Not only the education, health and communication departments, but the Public Works Department (PWD) has also showed its inability to construct Gunji to new Sobla road to be constructed at a cost of Rs 2 crore on the ground of geographical toughness.

This amount sanctioned under the Border Area Development Plan (BADP) of the Government of India has now been given to the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), as it showed interest in constructing it,” said MC Joshi.

Haridwar, July 29
Kanwar Yatra concluded on the Shravan-Mahashivratri with offering of Ganga jal on the Shivalayas by Kanwariyas. Their last batch left the pilgrim city todayTill last night, lakhs of Kanwariyas were seen on highways to reach their places, particularly the Dak Kanwars, and the city wore a deserted look as for the past two weeks, it had been flooded with saffron-clad Kanwariyas.

The total number of the Kanwariyas, who visited Uttarakhand from Haridwar, stood at 1.45 crore making it the biggest Kanwar Yatra till date. The fair which started 
on July 16 was peacefully held.

From early this morning, Shivalayas at temples were offered milk and water by devotees till late afternoon. In view of the influx of devotees, some police personnel were deputed to maintain security and better management of the religious proceedings at the temples.

At Kankhal, which is considered the hometown of Goddess Parvati, devotees flocked at Daksh Mahadev temple in a large number. Similarly at Bilkeshwar Mahadev temple, Daridrabhanjan,Tillbhandeshwar Mahadev, Jwalapur-BHEL temples, devotees offered prayers since morning onwards.

Dehradun, July 29
woollen products will be more soft and thin, the lentil nuggets (bariyan) will be more tasty, the dried hill fruit packets be a discovery for numerous customers from the plains and many more such innovations are being promised by the Uttarakhand Khadi and Gramudyog Board this year.

The UKGB has been scripting its success story year after year since 2001-02 as its revenue has seen exceptional rise from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 1.30 crore in the 2010-11.

Chief Executive Officer, UKGB, AK Khanduri, said, “This year we are experimenting with mix-match of different kinds of wool. For instance, we are mixing silk, angora wool and desi wool of 26 microne which will give us super soft and thin-looking wool, an anti-thesis to what Khadi wool is normally considered. Apart from this, we have already begun sending our wool products to Amritsar for fine treatment.”

The board has also taken lentil nuggets from Amritsar and is coming up with its own concoction in this regard.

“The radish found in the hills is of a big size and it tastes good. Similarly, Arbi stem and mustard seeds grown in the hills in Uttarakhand too have their own peculiar tastes. Seeing to these veggies, besides spinach, fenugreek leaves growing abound on the hill side, we are utilizing their production by mixing them with different types of lentils to prepare unique lentil nuggets,” he said.

The new dyes too are being made with some of the splendid raw material easily available in the hills. “The pine-needles, lantana, teak leaves, saal, bark of eucalyptus trees and elephant grass are giving us bright and fast colours. Similarly, the bark of local trees bhimal, nettle and hemp are also being used for fibre. This way we are making the best possible use of these natural products and providing the utility items to the customers this year.”

The seasonal fruit which will grow on wild plants, eaten by some locals and get wasted largely, will also be stacked on the shelves of plush Khadi show-rooms.

Khanduri said, “Not many will have heard the names of hissar, kafal, kingaud which will now be blended with plum, khumani and groundnut in dry forms and sold in packets in Khadi outlets. The mixture has been brought about as per the tastes of these fruits complimenting each other and ingredients providing the maximum nutrition value to the consumers.”

With the popularity of these new products, he said, the local manpower would get more work and more money.

Dehradun July 29
The Diwakar faction of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) is now fully engaged in preparations for the coming assembly poll on its own after getting clear signals from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), their alliance partner in the state government, post-Mussoorie convention where it refused to accommodate the faction in seat distribution.

President of the faction and Revenue Minister Diwakar Bhatt is now focusing more on strengthening his party from within. Even when the Chief Minister gave many of his portfolios to his fellow BJP ministers, he ignored Diwakar in the reckoning.

Spokesperson of the Diwakar faction Satish Semwal refused to accept this assertion and said, “It is our opponents who are spreading rumours that we have been sidelined by the BJP because of which we have begun attending to our party affairs more closely”.

“This is the party which Diwakar Bhatt has nursed for so many decades, and he cannot imagine parting himself from it. In wake of the assembly elections, we have begun unifying our members at all levels and asked them to go to the masses and inform them about our agenda and achievements.” In their strategies, both factions have taken to different routes. If Diwakar Bhatt is aiming at forging alliance with the national parties, then the Panwar faction is already involved in creating a regional front with the like-minded parties. Semwal said, “The sheer idea of floating a third front or regional group has never succeeded in the state. We tried it in the last assembly elections in 2007 where we managed to get three seats but our alliance partners failed badly. Even after election, they never remain in touch like a united forum.”

He also went on adding that if such a front could not get the representation in the House, then the very purpose of forming alliances got defeated. He minced no words in saying that their first preference would be the BJP, with which they stayed for four years and the second option would be the Congress. The difference between the ideologies of both parties did not seem to matter much in this case. The Panwar faction has already begun making positive advances in winning over the support of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and MLA Munna Singh Chauhan and is finding more such like-minded parties or factions to float a regional front.

Kotdwar, July 29
The district administration of Pauri Garhwal has sent a report to the Uttarakhand Government to acquire farmers’ land for the setting up of a proposed medical college at Kotdwara.

The proposed college will be a part of Central Garhwal University. The university has laid down the condition that the college will be constructed if the government provides land to the university free of cost. The Revenue Department had identified the land in the Kotdwar-Bhabar area and a report had been sent to the government, SDM, Kotdwar tehsil, GC Gunwant said. He added that the land belonged to the farmers of that area.

According to him, this exercise was conducted to restrict land mafia from buying land from farmers at cheap rates to halt the construction of the college at Kotdwara. — PTI

Dehradun, July 29
Uttarakhand will soon get “Skill Gurukuls”, a joint initiative of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Alumni, to train unskilled and school dropouts in rural areas to make them work for industries.

The Uttarakhand State Council of the CII organised an industry meet at Tata Motors, Pantnagar, with an objective of enhancing competitiveness of industries through cluster formation and setting up of “skill gurukuls” for meeting the unfulfilled demand of the skilled manpower in the state.

Dr S Farooq, Chairman, CII Uttarakhand State Council, highlighting the skill shortages faced by the industry said the CII was looking at setting up 30 gurukuls across the country, including a few in Uttarakhand also.

“Skill Gurukuls are residential training institutions based on the traditional gurukul system focusing on vocational skills,” said Shahnawaz Ali, Lead Sewak - Clients & Partnerships, Pan IIT Alumni Reach for India at the industry meet.

He shared that these institutes work for poor (below poverty line, unskilled students and school dropouts) through skill development, specifically in rural areas. He further said these gurukuls empowered the underprivileged by making them employable and enhancing their incomes.

The gurukuls were established on a self-sustainable model through industry partnerships and micro-financing, he added. Ali said seven skill gurukuls had been set up so far and was a highly effective model for the manufacturing industry to meet there skill shortages.

Atul P Renavikar, Chairman, CII Kumoan Zone & Plant Head, Tata Motors, while addressing the industry captains expressed that competitiveness was about re-looking at business everyday. He shared that the unique combination of quality, service and price (QSP) had to be continuously fine-tuned to turn satisfied customers into delighted customers.

“Industries needs to have a competitive edge and wastages in the plant needs to be identified and eliminated,” said Harinder Jeet Singh, Head, CII - Avantha Centre for Competitiveness, while addressing the industry. He explained that “The CII - Cluster for Competitiveness Programme” aimed at further strengthening Indian small and medium enterprises and component suppliers to meet the requirements of global competitiveness with the fast-changing environment.

He shared that so far the CII had formed 203 clusters all over the country, impacting 2,192 companies. He presented the case studies on some of the successful clusters formed at ABB Nashik and Faridabad, Crompton Greaves, Nashik, Munjal Showa, Faridabad and Gurgaon, Hand Tool Cluster, Jalandhar. The Industry meet was attended by over 40 delegates.