Dehradun, August 5
The people who are visiting the Food and Supply Office in order to get new ration cards have to return empty-handed as the department has run short of cards due to the increased number of applications for the same. The officials concerned maintained that it would take another one month for the cards to reach the office as they are being printed.

The number of requests for new ration card has increased since February this year when the Atal Khadayann Yojna was launched, providing cheaper ration to any card-holder. Sources said no new card had been issued to any applicant in the past two months and the officials were waiting for the new ones to reach the office.

When asked about number of applications for new cards, the officials concerned failed to tell the exact figures, but mentioned that everyone was now seeking ration cards.

The sources maintained that due to the launch of the Atal Khadayann Yojna more and more people are visiting the office to get new ration cards. Furthermore, families are trying to get as many cards as they can, they added.

Area Rationing Officer Shilpi Shukla said: “If there are five members in a family they have applied for five ration cards. Not only this rich people are also trying to get ration cards in order to provide these to their servants. This is one of the major causes for the shortage of ration cards”.

According to the record, there are 33,416 BPL and 14,575 Antyodaya cards, respectively, that have been renewed while 3,27,750 APL cards had been made during the past year. The department receives as many as 1,000 applications every month.

The sources maintained that the task of data collection had been assigned to the Gram Panchayat Development Officers but they had not been able to provide the same to the office.

MS Visan, Food and Supplies Officer, said: “Cards are being printed and will reach the office within 15-20 days”. About the number of new card-seekers, he said more than 10,000 people had visited the office in order to get new cards.

Dehradun, August 5
The “stingy” ways of the Social Welfare Department have brought a great deal of hardship to 25 Nari Niketan inmates suffering from neurological problems, as they have to rely on medicines provided by the Chief Medical Office (CMO) and the state mental hospital.

As Nari Niketan falls under the department, it is supposed to make provisions for medicines that are required to treat the inmates suffering from neurological disorders. On the pretext of a tight financial condition, the department has been evading from allocating separate funds that could be used to procure psychotropic drugs for such patients.

For the past several years, Nari Niketan has been relying on the CMO office and the state Mental Health Institute (Selaqui) for psychotropic drugs. Physicians from Doon Hospital visit the niketan twice a month, but it does not have an in-house medical cell despite the fact that 57 patients are suffering from one or the other mental illness that requires supervision by a psychiatrist.

“Patients suffering various neurological disorders can be kept at the Selaqui-based state Mental Health Institute for two-three months because these women have been abandoned by their families and do not have permanent homes and are housed at Nari Niketan. Their condition has to be constantly monitored. Patients need to be administered prescribed medicines to control their aggression,” said Dr JN Bisht, psychiatrist, Doon Hospital, and the State Mental Health Institute (Selaqui).

“The condition at the Nari Niketan has considerably improved. We have never made separate allocation for medicines. The superintendent of Nari Niketan has apprised me of the problem,” said Matbar Singh Kandari, Social Welfare Minister.

Mussoorie, August 5
The district tourism officials paid a visit to the Municipal Council office here today to discuss the proposed parking projects in the town to provide relief to the tourists from recurring traffic jams.

The district regional tourism officer, Upendar Kumar Gangwar, who has taken charge recently, met Municipal Council President OP Uniyal and discussed with him the possible locations of the parking lots coming up in the town.

Uniyal suggested the land near Bakery Hill, library and Kingcraig as possible sites where more than 500 vehicles could be parked in order to ease traffic congestion on the Mall Road. He said during his earlier talks with the Principal Secretary, Tourism, he had highlighted the importance of parking for the town and said the council would assist the Tourism Department in getting land for the projects.

Gangwar said he was here to identify sites for the projects and he would develop those sites on an urgent basis. He said right now the estimated cost of the project was Rs 5 crore but it could be increased if more productive proposals were presented to the department. Mukesh Uniyal, consultant, was also present.

Haridwar, August 5
Despite being a protected habitat of Asian elephants, the Rajaji National Park doesn’t provide the elephant safari service to its visitors. This is affecting the income of the park, which earned a good amount in the form of elephant safari fee when it was in service earlier. The park has more than 400 Asian elephants.

The service was discontinued in 2007 after the death of Arundhati, the female elephant which had carried tourists around the park ranges for almost a decade. For the time being another elephant, Mamta, was pressed into service, but owing to a court order she was shifted to Delhi.

The park authorities tried to train two elephants, Radha and Rangili, for the service but the move failed. For the past one year, the park authorities have been contemplating buying a trained elephant for the safari service. They sought such an elephant from southern states but none reciprocated.

Taking an elephant on lease is also not easy given the strict rules of the Wild Life Act. According to the Wild Life Act norms, no elephant can be bought in the country but in special circumstances it is allowed after the agency concerned has obtained a no-objection certificate from the respective state government and the Wild Life Institute, which is also quite a complicated procedure.

Ranger of the Rajaji National Park MS Negi said the search is on for an elephant for the safari service. The lives of tourists can not be put to risk so only a select few elephants are safe for this purpose. “Besides intense training is given to such elephants and many a time during training itself we found that those elephants were not safe to be used for safari purposes. We are in touch with many states and hopefully in the coming years we can provide tourists with the elephant safari facility,” said Negi.

In the absence of elephant safari, most of the tourists hire vehicles for the purpose. While per person cost of elephant safari ranges from Rs 350 to Rs 400, the vehicle safari costs Rs 1,000 for five or six persons.

Dehradun, August 5
Expressing concern over various problems being faced by residents of the city, Congress workers, under the leadership of Ram Kumar Walia of the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee, submitted a memorandum to the Assistant Executive Officer of the Dehradun MC, HR Rawat, today.

Walia alleged that officials were turning a blind eye to problems being faced by people of the state capital. Poor condition of roads, waterlogging, the filth on the roads and the absence of streetlights were some of the problems concerning the residents.

He stated if the officials failed to solve these problems, residents of the city would take to the streets.

Dehradun , August 5
Team I-Care, a voluntary group, as part of its ongoing “Right to Information campaign,” conducted an awareness campaign among the students of Carman School and Sai Grace Academy International on their respective premises here today.

The students were told about the use of the Right to Information Act as a tool which was available to all citizens of the country but used by only a few.

The RTI Act gives every individual the right to question all government organisations and even some private ones, thereby allowing the exposing of corruption in these sectors. The programme was conducted by Tanya Kapoor, Chetna Gurung, Monika Singh, Suchita Uniyal and Harshal Mirchandani under the guidance of their divisional president, Ankit Shrivastava.

The success of the campaign lies in the fact that students from various schools and colleges have been able to file RTI applications. Since the inception of this campaign in April, I-Care has filed over 200 RTI applications with the help of students in Uttarakhand alone against various government departments.

“The simplicity with which the legal cell of I-Care explained the RTI Act was good for the students,” says Samarjeet Singh, Director, Sai Grace Academy International.

Yudhishter Puran Singh of I-Care-India stated that it was through an RTI application filed by one of the members that they became aware that in the past six years more than 20,400 trees had been felled on account of the construction of roads.

RK Trehan , a senior co-ordinator of Carman School, said legal awareness in our country was quite poor and it was extremely important for everyone to realise the benefits and uses of the laws, particularly students who were the future of the country.

Dehradun, August 5
The Punjabi Jagriti Yatra was given a warm welcome by the Uttaranchal Punjabi Mahasabha here today. The yatra is being carried out to pay tributes to 10 lakh anonymous Sikh martyrs who laid down their lives during the Partition.

This yatra, led by Swami Dharmdev, has already covered Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pardesh and now after Uttarakhand, it will culminate at Haridwar on August 12 followed by a function on September 25.

Besides Speaker Harbans Kapoor, members of the UPM, including Harish Narang, PS Kocchar, Neelam Sehgal, Satish Kapoor, Amarjit Singh, Jagjit Singh, Rakesh Oberoi, felicitated the chariot at Clock Tower.

Dehradun, August 5
Three cops of the state capital police were honoured with a cash reward and an appreciation letter each at a monthly crime meeting held here today.

Station House Officer, GRP, RP Sati, Raipur police station Sub-Inspector Vinay Kumar and woman traffic constable Jyoti were rewarded by Dehradun Senior Superintendent of Police Ganesh Singh Martolia on behalf of DGP Jyoti Swaroop Pandey.

Sati was felicitated to reunite a missing six-year-old child with his family while Vinaly Kumar was instrumental in nabbing a servant who had withdrawn Rs 60,000 from his owner’s ATM account.

Constable Jyoti was honoured for setting a good example of patience while performing duty. She had solved the dispute of a couple quarrelling on a road. Even though the couple misbehaved with her, she did not forget her job.

“As per the directive of the state DGP, a policeman will be honoured every month for doing good work,” said Pankaj Gairola, Public Relations Officer of the Dehradun SSP office.

Meanwhile, the policemen were informed about the benefits of the “U-Health” smart card. They were told that an amount would be deducted from their salary yearly and they, along with their families, can get free treatment for major diseases in the future.

Meanwhile, the cops were also asked by the SSP to start working for a smooth conduct of the forthcoming Vidhan Sabha elections. They were asked to identify sensitive segments. All Station House Officers were directed to solve the cases of chain snatching and vehicle theft. They were also directed to do a thorough checking of hotels, the railway station, the bus stand and other public places in view of Independence Day on August 15.