Dehradun, August 13
Normal life has been disrupted due to heavy rain in hill areas of Chamoli, Uttarkashi and Pithoragarh districts in Uttarakhand.

More than a dozen villages in Pithoragarh, Chamoli and Uttarkashi have been cut off from their respective headquarters due to landslides on connecting roads following heavy rain. The Rishikesh-Gangotri route has been blocked for the past seven days.

The rain was continuing in different parts of the state till reports last came in. The Met Department has predicted heavy to rather heavy rain in Dehradun, Chamoli and Uttarakashi in the next 24 hours.

In Dehradun, after clear weather, there was heavy rain during early evening hours. The sudden downpour sent people scurrying for cover. Most of the Dehradun roads got flooded due to the rain.

Pithoragarh, August 13
Tea production in Champawat district continues to increase as the Tea Development Project has found the climate of the district like those of Darjeeling and Assam.

“After the formation of the state, we have been successful in getting 135 hectares on lease from farmers of the district.A tea processing plant has been installed at Chirapani, near Champawat town,” said Desmund, manager of the Tea Development Project in Champawat district.

According to project officials, even before the formation of the separate state of Uttarakhand, Champawat district had been identified as a place where tea plantation could be promoted.

But only after the formation of the state, serious efforts could be made in this direction and the state tea board started taking land from the farmers on lease for seven years for the cultivation of green leaves, said the project manager.

At present, the production of tea leaves in the district is increasing 1.50 times every year, and it has reached 29,000 kg at present from mere 150 kg at the time of the formation of the state, said the manager.

According to project officials, it can be possible only after installation of the tea processing unit under a national project with the help of the Union Government. The farmers are enthusiastic to give their land for tea plantation as they started earning more than what they used to earn by other crops in the same piece of the land.

The villages of Siltak, Chirapani, Muriyani, Lamai, Chauki, Phugar, Churakhark, Bhaganamehra, Sunari, Kalukhan, Garkot and Rajpura have been involved in the production of green leaves of tea, said Desmund. 

Nainital, August 13
In the wake of the directions of the Election Commission, the Nainital administration will be conducting a verification of the voters’ list from August 17 to 31. Under this fortnight-long drive, personnel from the Election Office will be carrying out a door-to-door verification.

At a meeting held on the premises of the Lake Development Authority (LDA), District Magistrate Shailesh Bagauli, also the Election Officer, said booth-level officers (BLOs)be appointed at the earliest and imparted proper training so that there was no problem in carrying out the electoral exercise.

Bagauli said at present, electoral lists conveyed that the number of male voters exceeded that of female voters by a large margin. He has ordered that a special emphasis be laid on the enrolment of women so that they could become active participants in the democratic exercise.

Bagauli has also asked representatives of various political parties to support the official machinery, particularly the BLOs, so that the final voters’ list could be prepared in a transparent manner.

The Election Officer has conveyed to the Tehsildars to appraise all political parties of the BLOs appointed in their respective areas so that they could coordinate with them. At the same time, he has called upon political parties to appoint their booth-level agents (BlAs) at the earliest. — TNS

Dehradun, August 13
The Health Secretary has issued a notification on the Food Safety Authority of Uttarakhand paving the way for the transfer of all Food Inspectors working under the Health Department.

Now, the Food Inspectors will be known as Food Safety Officers and they will work under the Food Safety Authority of Uttarakhand.

Manisha Panwar who is Secretary Health has automatically become the Food Safety Commissioner. “The notification is the first stage; we will be requiring more officers as these will be directly recruited through the Public Service Commission (PSC). Even the minimum qualification for the Food Safety Officers has now been raised to MSc (Chemistry). Further, we will also be undertaking tests for all food samples at the Rudrapur (Kumaon) laboratory,” Panwar said.

She said as of now the Food Safety Officers had been given responsibility of undertaking sampling for the rural and urban areas. Now, the authority had been empowered to undertake samples in the state.

The government has not yet decided on the status of the lone Food Inspector-cum-Sanitary Officer under the Dehradun MC, who is entrusted with the additional responsibility of undertaking sampling in the city.

Due to shortage of the Food Inspectors, since the time Uttarakhand was part of UP, additional responsibility of the Food Inspectors was given to the Sanitary Inspectors.

Nainital, August 13
Women of Rattanpur-Phulayya village, Udham Singh Nagar, have decided to teach a lesson to drunkards.

They said those who abused their wives or created a ruckus after consuming liquor would have to pay a fine of Rs 5,000. If the accused does not pay the fine, he will have to carry out work of the panchayat on a daily wage of Rs 120.

Villagers, particularly the women and children, have been facing the problem of nuisance being caused frequently by men who resort to heavy drinking. Reports say that illegally distilled liquor is easily available in the vicinity of the village.

The women came out with this decision yesterday. Just when their meeting was on, one of the women approached them running and told that her husband Mukesh was thrashing her after getting drunk. This led to the women visiting her place and meting out a sound thrashing to Mukesh. They dragged him to the Panchayat Ghar where he had to give in writing that he would not resort to a similar offence again. He was let off with a warning, as it was his first offence.

The decision has been reportedly announced under the banner of the Mahila Mangal Dal, Savera Sangh and the Bhumi Adhikar Manch. The women in Kumaon have been carrying out a sustained campaign against liquor. Not having received a proper response to their demands for relocation and closure of liquor vends at various places besides stopping of illegal sale of liquor from various shops, they have also been resorting to new techniques to compel the men from not having liquor.

More recently there were instances of women sitting outside liquor vends with stinging nettle in their hands. Anyone approaching these vends, whose relocation was being demanded by the women, would be attacked with the stinging nettle. Earlier this year, the women were successful in getting some liquor vends relocated.

Nainital, August 13
Minister for Labour and Planning Prakash Pant said there would be no compromise on protecting the interests of labourers in the state.

Speaking at a meeting organised by the Kumaon Garhwal Chamber of Commerce and Industry at Rudrapur, Pant asked officials of the Employees State Insurance (ESI) Corporation to implement the schemes providing facilities to the labourers in the state. He has also asked the officials to carry out one-month drive from August 16 for issuing Health Smart Cards to workers of various industrial units.

He said: “The cards being issued to the labourers are biometric so that the entire family of the beneficiary can avail benefits offered by the government. A generator set has been made available to the registration office so that there is no delay in issuing of the smart cards.”

Haridwar, August 13
Though on Rakshabandhan a sister ties a rakhi to her brother, in Haridwar a unique ritual is observed on this day by thousands of teerth purohits.

Since the Vedic era, teerth purohits have been tying rakhis to each other, which they describe as “raksha sutra”. This tradition is still being performed by the teerth purohit community in Haridwar.

Teerth purohits celebrate Rakshabandhan as ‘Shravani Parv’ by taking a holy dip in the Ganga at Har-ki-Pauri that is held under the management of the Ganga Sabha. Another holy dip is held at the Kushawrat ghat which goes on for three hours. Later, they perform religious rituals and perform hawan amid the chanting of Vedic mantras.

In the evening, teerth purohits tie rakhis to each other.

Teerth purohits said they eagerly waited for this festival as it was being celebrated since the Vedic era.

Dehradun, August 13
The under-19 and under-14 District Handball Tournament got under way at the Parade Ground here. A total of nine matches were played today.

The first match, OFD vs Doon Club, ended in a draw 5-5. The second match was between Kendriya Vidyalya ITBP and SBS Balawala. KV ITBP won 12-3. For KV ITBP, Uttakarsh was the top scorer with 7 goals. Kavit scored 2 goals. Shubham scored 2 goals and Kuldeep one for SBS Balawala.

The third match, Vivekanand vs SGRR Nehrugram, was won by SGRR 15-8.

The top scorers for the SGRR team were Sohan (3 goals), Suraj (4 goals) and Manish (3 goals). The top scorers for Vivekanand were Manish (3 goals) and Naresh(2 goals). In the match between KV ITBP and Kendriya Vidyalya KV (OFD), KV OFD won 8-5.

For KV OFD Jaideep (3 goals) and Abhilash were top scorers. For KV ITBP, Uttakarsh and Kavit scored 2 goals each.

The fifth match was between Doon Club and Stadium. Stadium won 10-2.

The top scorers for the winning team were Gopal (3 goals), Sanjay (3) and Arjun (2 goals). In the match played between Sri Laxman Vidyalaya (SLV) and Vivekanand School,SLV won 6-4. Furkan with 4 goals was the top scorer for his team, while Sandeep and Manish scored 2 goals each for Vivekanand School.

In the match played between KV ITBP and SGRR Nehrugram, SGRR won 13-9.

Sohan with 4 goals and Rahul and Manish with 3 goals each were top scorers for SGRR. In the match between KVOFD and SLV, KVOFD won 6-2. Abhilash, Suraj and Yugal with 2 goals each were the top scorers for the winning team. The under-14 match and ninth match of the day played between KV OFD and SBS Balawala ended in a draw 3-3. — TNS

Mussoorie, August 13
St George’s College emerged winners of the 40th Jackie Memorial Invitational Football Tournament held at St George’s grounds by defeating Rauthan Sports Club by 2-1 today.

Sheru from Rauthan Sports Club scored the first goal but St.George’s College responded with an equaliser by Karan Pratap in the 16th minute. Frankie from St.George’s scored the winning goal in 18th minute of the second half and romped home victorious.

The highlight of this year’s tournament was a theme song prepared by the school music division headed by Naveen John who wrote the song, which was played during the interval and after the end of the match.

Sushant Aley from St.George’s and Kulwant from Rauthan Sports Club were declared the best players of the tournament.

The chief guest, Eric Benny, Manager of Indian football team, distributed the citation and the winning trophies to the players. Benny said it was indeed a gratifying moment to be a part of the 40-year-old tournament. He advised players to follow their passion and excel in future too.

He said he was inspired to see the standard of football tournament here. He commended the announcement of making football a state game of Uttarakhand. He added that a training camp would be organised at Dehradun free of cost soon.