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Fiddlehead ferns get popular as veggie prices go up
Paddy plantation affected due to poor monsoon
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Food Safety Commissioner skips CAC meeting
CII team meets Governor
DMC employees hold dharna, meet Mayor
NSUI, ABVP activists clash; 21 arrested
Waste-destroying machine at hospital develops snags
Roll back teachers’ transfer policy: CPI (ML)
Sewage in Ganga
Jairaj, Pollution Control Board Secretary
‘NCC training develops confidence’
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Fiddlehead ferns get popular as veggie prices go up
Mussoorie, July 17 Fiddlehead ferns are commonly found in watery or damp environment and have been part of traditional diets of local villagers. They have now made their way into kitchens in urban areas and have become the first choice of households in the town due to its affordable price of around Rs 15 to Rs 20 per kg. Shikha, a housewife, while speaking to The Tribune, said the seasonal vegetables such as bottle gourd (louki), tomatoes and potatoes were available in the market for around Rs 30, Rs 50 and Rs 60 per kg, respectively, while fiddlehead ferns were available at much cheaper rates. According to horticulture experts from the Yasimine fernery, Bimol Sharma and Harish Sharma, lengda is a type of fern that is found at a height of 1,900-2,900 metres above the sea level in the Indian subcontinent, especially the Himalayan wilderness. Bimol said, “The fiddlehead ferns are made up of mostly water, but also provides protein and carbohydrates. A 100 gram serving of raw fiddlehead fern has 4.55 gram of protein, 0.4 gram of fat and 5.54 gram of carbohydrates. Fiddlehead ferns are also very high in vitamin A and minerals such as phosphorus, which is an important structural component of cell membranes and bone”. They also provide iron, a mineral essential for red blood cell production. A 100 gram serving of raw fiddlehead ferns has 1.31 mg of iron, which is 16 per cent of the recommended daily amount for men and 7 per cent for women, added Sharma. Bijendar Singh Pundir, an expert in organic food, said due to ancestral knowledge the locals had been consuming fiddlehead ferns since ages but now soaring prices of vegetables had forced even urban households to consume these. “This fern has medicinal properties too. It helps in curing leprosy, urinary diseases, constipation and rheumatism, insect stings and bites,” added Pundir. Milkmen coming from surrounding villages are finding the situation to their liking as they pluck ferns from swampy slopes falling on their way to the market and earn a few more bucks. |
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Paddy plantation affected due to poor monsoon
Pithoragarh, July 17 According to the farmers, paddy plantation was earlier done in a festive way. But as the rains have failed to arrive on time, the farmers are in no mood sow the crop with fun and festivity. “Though the farmers from the valley areas, where natural water sources are used in paddy plantation, are busy this month in the process, the tradition of playing the age-old instrument hurka during sowing operations was ignored by the farmers,” said Pan Singh, a paddy farmer at Hokra village of the Johar valley. The introduction of new varieties of paddy and frequent attack of wild animals on crops have also demoralised the paddy planters in Johar valley of the district, said the farmer. Besides the Johar valley, the Muwani and Soar valleys are also known as rich and fertile valleys in paddy production, but due to various reasons, these areas have witnessed a decrease in paddy output in last decade. “While paddy plantation in the Muwani valley has been hit by migration of the farmers, the condition of the Soar valley is different. There decreasing moisture and scanty rain in the last 20 years have demoralised the paddy farmers,” said PD Pant, a local farmer. The farmers in Vishung and other valleys of Champawat district are also demoralised due to lack of sufficient monsoon rains for the last few years. The farmers have shifted towards commercial crops as these require less water than paddy. “If we grow paddy in the present conditions where the monsoon period is half over, it costs Rs 25 a kg to farmer, but if we shift to season and commercial crops, we have to invest lass than that on each kg of vegetable produced,” said Ganesh
Dutt, a farmer in Bishung areas of Champawat district. Traditional paddy plantation areas in
Ladhia, Koirala and Tamli valleys of Champawat district have also witnessed a decrease in plantation areas over the years due to less availability of rain water during monsoons. “In nearly 12 villages of Koirala valley in Champawat district, the paddy plantation has gone 50 per cent less in the last decade due to lack of sufficient irrigation water. Wild animals have also increased the problems of the farmers,” said Prakash Joshi, a farmer in Jodhi Khola village. |
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Food Safety Commissioner skips CAC meeting
Dehradun, July 17 The Food Safety Commissioner, Dr Ranvir Singh, failed to attend the meeting, preferring to depute the designate officer to attend it in his place. Since the implementation of the Act, no Food Commissioner has managed to attend the meeting. "In the span of eight months, since the Act was implemented in the state, six Food Commissioners have been appointed and eight meetings of the CAC have taken place. However, no Food Safety Commissioner thought it worthwhile to attend them," said a government official in the Health Department. The CAC meetings provide assistance in the implementation of the Act and opportunity to interact with officials of the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India and provide clarity on food-related issues. The disinterest on the part of the Food Safety Commissioner has taken a toll on vigorous implementation of the food safety norms. The Food Safety Commission in Uttarakhand has been functioning from one room office located at the Health and Family Directorate and the implementation of the Act is in the hands of 45 designate and food safety officers who are themselves in the dark about their roles. The proposal pertaining to the approval of the structure for setting up the Food Safety Commission is still lying with the Finance Department, though it was presented eight months ago. "While the post of Commissioner, Food Safety, has been filled, posts of Joint Commissioner (from the PCS cadre, as of now additional Secretary, Health, Piyush Singh has been given temporary charge), Deputy Commissioner-1 post ( from Food Safety cadre), Designate officers --- 13 and food safety officers to be appointed in each Tehsil are part of the proposal. |
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CII team meets Governor
Dehradun, July 17 He shared with the delegation his thoughts on rejuvenating some of the important tourist destinations in the state, including Nainital and Mussoorie. Assuring the delegation of his support, the Governor welcomed the CII suggestions and urged it to bring in investors to the state. A CII delegation, led by Rakesh Aggarwal, Chairman, CII, Uttarakhand State Council, called on the Governor to discuss various issues related to the development of the state. The delegation discussed key policy issues, including the revision of the Industrial Policy 2003 and the Tourism Policy 2001 and the Enactment of the Industries Facilitation Act, for proving regulatory framework to the single-window system in the state. On the power front, the delegation suggested the tapping of hydropower potential of the state with appropriate environmental safeguards. Need for a greater focus on small hydropower projects was also highlighted. The delegation also expressed support for the government's efforts on 'Green Bonus' for the state. The delegation suggested the creation of Greater Doon and also a rapid transport system in the form of a mono rail for the city. |
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DMC employees hold dharna, meet Mayor
Dehradun, July 17 The Mayor assured them that he would consider their demands of the regularisation of contractual employees’ services, jobs for dependents of deceased employees, payment of arrears to class IV staff, timely promotion, registry of the land given to the employees in Brahmpur area and swift construction of houses for DMC staff in Chander Nagar. Meanwhile, councillor Sachin Gupta, who also held one-hour symbolic protest on the DMC premises, sought a probe into the number of sodium lights provided in each ward. — TNS |
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NSUI, ABVP activists clash; 21 arrested
Dehradun, July 17 Of them, nine were members of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) and 11 of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). SSP Neeru Garg said the police would also book those students under the Goonda Act who had been repeatedly indulging in violent acts on the campus in the past. Notably, tempers begin to run high between both the groups when students' body elections draw near. Since elections for this year are scheduled for next month, both the groups are engaged in outdoing each other. On Monday night, some of the posters of the NSUI were found ripped. Following it, members of both the groups clashed today after one among them fired in the air leading to a stampede-like situation. President of the ABVP Ashish Bahuguna got injured in the clash. A team of police, led by Circle Officer Dalawala Swatantra Kumar, reached the spot and arrested the perpetrators. The Principle of the college, Dr Devender Bhasin, has announced to keep the college closed for three days. |
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Waste-destroying machine at hospital develops snags
Dehradun, July 17 The oversight in ensuring provision for local maintenance has completely shut the plasma pyrolyzer, forcing the hospital authorities to go back to the old agency for collecting and destroying biomedical waste. The plasma pyrolyzer of Gandhi Nagar (Gujarat) was installed by UCOST at a cost of Rs 45 lakh on behalf of the Central government’s Science and Technology Department, with Doon Hospital being the main beneficiary. In addition, UCOST also paid towards the monthly salaries of two mechanics for the period of two years, who were also trained to run the pyrolyzer. So, since the last few days Doon Hospital has gone back to the old arrangement of collection of waste carried through Bhagwanpur-based Medical Pollution Control Committee (MPCC). “These little details of asking for local maintenance were overlooked, and within months of the installation of the machine, it has been developing snags. So far the electrician managed to rectify the fault but now the entire unit has stopped functioning,” said Dr BC Pathak, Principal Superintendent, Doon Hospital. However, officials from UCOST maintain that Doon Hospital is a reluctant user of the state of the art equipment that burns biomedical waste at 600 ° C and are hell-bent upon derailing the whole process as they are interested in sourcing waste through a private company due to good commission. “The plasma pyrolyzer proves to be better than the incinerator, burning even small quantities of waste to ashes without the harmful fumes, but Doon Hospital was not enthusiastic about the machine. Doon Hospital together with Women’s Hospital and Coronation Hospital do not produce more than 40 kg of BMW in a day. We had suggested to the hospital authorities to enter into a pact with the Indian Medical Association (IMA) so that private nursing homes, too, could use the facility for destroying BMW waste. This way the equipment would have to run to full capacity. For efficient running of the machine, it should be able to destroy at least 85 kg of waste at a time, but our suggestions were ignored. This is one reason that the machine developed snags,” said a senior official. |
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Roll back teachers’ transfer policy: CPI (ML)
Dehradun, July 17 Purshotam Sharma, member CPI (ML), said successive state governments had framed transfer policy in the state Education Department to suit its interests. Sharma said it was mostly those teachers that keep close links either with politicians or bureaucrats who were getting postings in the cities. He said it was due to faulty transfer policies that most of the schools in the hill areas were devoid of teachers. He said this was adversely affecting the school education scenario in Uttarakhand. He said suggestion of the Vidhyalayee Shiksha Mahasangh must be taken into consideration while constituting transfer policy for teachers. |
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Sewage in Ganga
Dehradun, July 17 Addressing a press conference in Dehradun today, Jairaj said there was large flow of raw sewage downstream Haridwar in the state which needed to be checked. Jairaj said the Pollution Control Board was exploring the possibilities of a joint initiative with the Uttarakhand Peyjal Nigam and other agencies towards checking the flow of raw sewage in the Ganga. He said the board also favoured setting up of infrastructure linked to the Sewage Treatment Plant in the Kumaon region, which had a large number of rivers but was completely devoid of any such Sewage Treatment Plant infrastructure. Responding to queries, Jairaj pointed out that the department was quite prompt in taking action on public complaint and took each and every complaint made by citizens with all seriousness. He also said the board was providing No-Objection Certificates and other consent certificates online and there was no delay involved in it. |
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‘NCC training develops confidence’
Dehradun, July 17 Addressing a valedictory ceremony at the second joint annual 10-day training camp of the NCC at Garhi Cantt, Dehradun, Col Pandey said NCC cadets, especially girls, were fast creating a niche for themselves in the Army. He said the significance of the NCC training was that it helped develop self-confidence among students which ensured them success in almost all spheres of life. He said the NCC training also contributed to the well-being of the nation by ensuring qualities of ideal citizen among the students. NCC Public Relation Officer Anil Verma said the cadets were trained in fire-fighting exercises, rendering first-aid and other rescue mission services. He said practical training in dealing with disasters was also provided in the training camp.
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Soaring vegetable prices in Mussoorie have forced the locals to look for a cheaper option such as fiddlehead ferns. Fiddlehead ferns (lengdas), also known as “poor man’s asparagus”, a strange looking plant that resembles more than anything else the twisted head of a violin, have begun flooding the local vegetable market much to the delight of the consumers.
Dehradun, July 17
