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Two held in Haridwar with cobra venom worth Rs 5 cr
Leopards struggle to survive in Kumaon
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Madrassa teachers to get timely salaries
UKD issues notice to 2 party leaders
Centre willing to help state tackle power crisis, says Naithani
DM concerned over return of scholarships
Schemes reviewed
Bid to loot ATM in Nehru Colony
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Two held in Haridwar with cobra venom worth Rs 5 cr
Haridwar, July 21 The team arrested three persons and seized 550 ml of banned cobra venom worth around Rs 5 crore from them. It trapped the accused by sending decoy customers to buy cobra venom. The accused have been booked under various sections of the Wildlife Protection Act and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. Experts say the seized cobra venom has a value of between Rs 4 and Rs 5 crore in the international market. It is reportedly used by drug addicts, particularly during mass rave parties. SSP of the STF Sweety Aggarwal told The Tribune that on a tip-off a trap was laid and team members were sent to Rajaji National Park as decoy customers to purchase cobra venom from the accused. One of the accused, Jeevan Lal, alias Dev Lal, is a government employee and is serving as draftsman in the Irrigation Department in Pithoragarh district. The other two arrested persons are Basant Bisht, also a resident of Pithoragarh, and Vipin Panchal, a native of Muzaffarnagar district in Uttar Pradesh. “We are trying to find out whether more people are involved in the racket as the initial investigation hints at gangs operating from Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh. Metropolitan cities where rave parties are held and such banned things could be in demand, gangs involved in trade of cobra venom can’t be ruled out,” said Sweety. According to animal welfare activists, the cobra venom is dried and processed to convert it into powder. It is highly addictive when consumed with liquor. “The cobra venom is highly intoxicating and about 4 ml of it is enough for 2,400 drug addicts,” said P. Subaddhi, Director, Rajaji National Park. It also finds wide application in the pharmaceutical sector for curing various ailments and as antidote. Ten bank ATM cards, financial details of which are being checked, were seized from the arrested persons. According to initial reports, transactions
of Rs 25 lakh were done with the cards in the last few weeks. The trio, however, said it was their first attempt to trade in cobra venom with a person who had contacted them on the phone. As cobra is listed under the Schedule-II of
the Wildlife Protection Act, killing, selling, trapping or making it captive attracts a rigorous punishment. |
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Leopards struggle to survive in Kumaon
Pithoragarh, July 21 A leopard entered a house at Soli village in the Bhikiasain block of Pithoragarh district today. “The leopard, which was in search of a prey, entered the house of Mohan Chandra Kandpal who had tied his pet dog there. Kandpal and other members of his family were sleeping at that time,” said Deewan Arya, sarpanch of Soli village. In earlier incidents, a leopardess was trapped by forest officials in the Dugalkhola locality of Almora district a day before yesterday. “The leopard, which was sighted by labourers at an under-construction house at Dugalkhola, got trapped between two narrow walls while trying to escape,” said Ambarish Kumar, SDO of the Forest Department, Almora. Another leopardess was killed after villagers attacked it with sticks in the district a day before yesterday. “The cause of death was cited as heart attack after a post-mortem was conducted on the carcass of the animal,” said Ambarish. A leopard was found dead at the Dhaunigar range on the Ramnagar-Kaladhungi road last week. It reportedly died after it was run over by a vehicle. “The belly of the three-year-old leopard had gone burst due to the impact of the vehicle passing over it as it was trying to cross the road in search of a prey.” The Forest Department officials said of 102 leopards declared man eater in the last decade, 61 were killed by licensed shooters, while the rest of them could not be trapped. These leopards had killed 220 persons in the last decade. “Moreover, it is a case of encroachment by human beings upon the wild habitat,” said SK Bahukhandi, a forest officer at the Almora forest division. According to forest officials studying animal behaviour for a long time in the region, as leopardesses have given birth to cubs lately they are usually on the look out for a prey to meet the increased food requirement. The leopardesses can find easy preys only in human settlements. “The most easy and traditional prey for these carnivores in the Himalayan foothills is pet dogs. The leopards often sneak into human settlements these days to prey on domestic animals,” said Manoj Chandran, a forest officer studying the changed behaviour of wild animals in the Kumaon region.
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Madrassa teachers to get timely salaries
Dehradun, July 21 For the past three years, the scheme had been running behind schedule as the social welfare department had failed to put up files for the educational schemes being run by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. “We have managed to streamline our functioning and Rs 4.34 crore will ensure payments of salaries for teachers for the past two pending academic sessions (2010-2011, 2011-2012) and the ongoing academic session (2012-2013) as well,” said Mohammed Abdul Aleem Ansari, deputy registrar, state Madrasa Board. Under the SPQM scheme, 65 madrassas have been selected for providing computer education for which teachers are hired and the salaries are provided by the Centre. The teachers who are graduates with specialisation in computer course are paid a monthly salary of Rs 6000 per month and those with post graduate degrees are paid Rs 16,000 per month. Similarly, Rs 10.33 crore have been sanctioned for this financial year under the Scheme for Infrastructure Development for Minority Institutions (IDMI) for the construction of buildings for minority private-aided/unaided schools (from the primary to the senior secondary level). “A total of 18 proposals have been cleared. All these proposals pertain to building of schools in Muslim-dominated districts of the state. Transparency is being maintained by ensuring timely submitting of completion certificates,” said Ansari. The computer education programme is 65
madrassas also comprises of strengthening libraries. |
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Cultural programmes mark Teej festival in Doon
Dehradun, July 21 Chief guest Ranjana Manvendra Singh, wife of the Commandant of the Indian Military Academy, presided over the occasion. Usha Bahuguna, patron of the FRI Ladies Club, and Poonam Bhojvaid, president of the club, joined the festivities, which was attended by a large number of woman from the FRI, WildIife Institute of India, Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy and the Forest Survey of India. The women presented cultural programmes and various competitions were also organised. In Teej queen competition, Shilpa Gautam was given the title of miss personality, Munmun Das Gupta best attire, Dr Sadhna Tripathi miss confident, Arpana Mishra miss beautiful and Dr Alakhjot Kaur miss graceful. Bahuguna gave away the prizes and Bhojvaid proposed a vote of thanks. |
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Bhatt asks like-minded organisations to unite
Dehradun, July 21 Addressing a press conference here today, Bhatt said he would appeal to the leaders of the UKD (Progressive), Uttarkhand Raksha Morcha and other regional organisations to come together and form a common front to fight national parties in Uttarakhand. He said the UKD (Democratic) is holding a convention in Dehradun on July 25 in which all present and ex-delegates of the UKD would be invited to participate. He said the interest of the state had always been his priority and he had no greed for any post or position. “In case all like-minded organisations in the state come on a common platform, I am ready to serve them without taking any post or position,” he said. Bhatt also questioned Congress government’s intentions to give landownership rights to Bengali migrants in the Sitarganj region. “There is no harm in providing land ownership to Bengali settlers who came from Bangladesh to Uttarakhand but the government should also take care of those who have been uprooted due to the construction of the Tehri Dam, Nanakmata Dam and Tumeria Dam in the state,” he said. Responding to queries, Bhatt said the party favoured small hydropower projects in the state. He also blamed the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre for scrapping power projects in the state.
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UKD issues notice to 2 party leaders
Dehradun, July 21 Addressing a press conference here today, Sheeshpal Singh Bisht, National General Secretary of the UKD (P), said both Kashi Singh Airy and Harish Pathak were repeatedly patronising those who were working against the party and thus the two leaders had now been served show cause notices. He said both Airy and Pathak would have to reply to the notices within a week or else further action would be taken. Bisht said the national parties like the BJP and the Congress wanted to decimate regional party like UKD (P). He said both the national parties had
been creating trouble in the party by fueling factionalism. He said the UKD (P) represented the aspirations of the the state people and would continue to work for the benefit of the region. |
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Centre willing to help state tackle power crisis, says Naithani
Dehradun, July 21 Naithani and Garhwal MP Satpal Maharaj, during their meeting with Cabinet Minister for Power Sushil Kumar Shinde and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi recently, had tired to convey the sentiments of the Uttarakhand Government, which is in the throes of power crisis after three power projects were shut and efforts are on to
stall the Srinagar Hydropower Project. "We conveyed our point of view and said the decision to shut power projects nearing completion in the wake of protests by a few Sadhus and environmentalists was one-sided and the views of elected representatives and people, who are in favour of the projects, was ignored," said Naithani, during a press conference. Naithani said there was positive response from the Central leadership
and they had agreed to extend help to Uttarakhand in dealing with power crisis. He said the condition of power was worrisome in the state. "Several hours of roistering is being carried out in different parts of the state. This in turn has affected the water supply," he added. On the issue of financial crisis being faced by the Peyjal Nigam, Naithani said the matter would soon be sorted out and the government would provide salaries to the staff. Favouring the reunification of the Jal Sansthan and the Peyjal Nigam, Naithani said the government was awaiting a report to be presented by former IAS officer Indu Pandey on the issue.
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MLA to take up Chakrata traders’ issues with govt
Dehradun, July 21 Presiding over a meeting of the samiti, the MLA said the concerns raised by Chakrata Road shopkeepers were genuine and he would discuss them with the government. Meanwhile, addressing a press conference here today, samiti president Shashikant Goyal accused the MDDA authorities of harassing shopkeepers. He said many buildings on Chakrata Road had been declared dilapidated and earmarked for demolition. However, there was no such building there and the administration was “intentionally harassing” the shopkeepers. Goyal threatened that an agitation would be launched if the administration and the MDDA did not stop harassing the shopkeepers.
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Rotary members vow to eradicate polio
Haridwar, July 21 At a meeting here, Dr Prem Luthra was elected president of the Rotary Club while Dr Annu Luthra was elected chairperson of the Inner Wheel Club of Haridwar. Dr Luthra thanked the club members for reposing faith in his abilities. He elaborated on various points which he wanted to take up as the chief of the club. He added that the organisation would work towards eradicating polio from the district by working with the government and other like-minded people. Chief guest on the occasion, the district governor of the club, Colonel Duleep Patnayak said club had made a mark for itself in social health services working for the lower strata of the society for past many several years. A cheque of 1.50 lakh was also handed over to social organisation ‘Matraanchal', which has been involved in social work related to child-women development.
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DM concerned over return of scholarships
Dehradun, July 21 He directed the officials to send him a fresh list within 15 days. He also directed them to facilitate caste certificates from the scholarship holders. The officials blamed the bank and post offices for posing problems in opening bank accounts for the scholarship holders. The DM directed lead bank officials to open accounts of these students after getting application forms duly attested by the concerned principals of the schools.
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Tina Rawat wins 3 table tennis titles
Dehradun, July 21 After winning the cadet girls title yesterday, Tina today won titles in the sub junior and junior sections. In the sub junior section, Tina beat Vanshika Saxena (also from Summer Valley School) with a score of 3-1 (8-11,11-5,11-4,11-8) in the final. Similarly, in the junior girls finals, Tina beat Saloni Gautam from Doon International School with a score of 3-1 (8-11,11-3,11-7,12-10) in the final match.
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Schemes reviewed
Dehradun, July 21 She said Rs 90 crore had been sanctioned for various development schemes for the district and transparency must be ensured in their implementation. — TNS
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Bid to loot ATM in Nehru Colony
Dehradun, July 21 The ATM counter is situated near Sabzi Mandi, which is off the main road in Nehru Colony. The bank, too, has not deployed any guard. The police had asked bank officials to depute a guard on night duty but the bank did nothing about it. SHO, Nehru Colony, BS Rawat, said it was not possible for the police to remain stationed throughout the night though it kept doing it's patrolling duty.
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