Large-scale transfers of doctors in Uttarakhand
70 pharmacists also shifted
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 1
The Health Department today carried out transfers of a total of 238 doctors in the state at the level of Additional Director (Principal Superintendent, Chief Medical Superintendent, CMS), Joint Director, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Deputy Medical Officers, Senior Medical Officers (specialists), Senior Medical Officers (general cadre) and Medical Officers (grade-I) of Provincial Medical and Health Service cadre.

A total of 16 senior doctors of Additional Director grade have been transferred. Dr R.K Pant, CMO, Dehradun, has been transferred to the Directorate, General Health and Family Welfare, as Additional Director. Dr R. P Bhatt, Additional Director (Medical Education), has been transferred as Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dehradun.

Dr Ajit Gairola, Additional Director, has been transferred as Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Chamoli. Dr Harish Chander, CMO, Tehri, has been transferred as CMO, Champawat. Dr SC Pant, CMO, Pithoragarh, has been transferred as Chief Medical Officer, Nainital. Dr N.S Jangpangi posted as CMO, Pauri, has been transferred to the Directorate, Health and Family Welfare, in Dehradun as Additional Director.

Dr K.K Tamta, Additional Director, Doon Hospital, has been transferred to the Health Directorate in the same position.

A total of 56 senior doctors of Joint Director grade have been transferred. Among them are Dr HC Pathak, (Acting) Principal Superintendent posted at district hospital, Pithoragarh, who goes to district hospital, Champawat. Dr J.S Pangtey, posted as CMS, Bageshwar, has been transferred to Pithoragarh as Deputy CMO. Dr A.K Rastogi, Senior Pathologist at Coronation Hospital (Dehradun), has been transferred to State Mental Hospital (Selaqui, Dehradun), as CMO. Dr Jyoti Bohra, Senior Orthopaedic Surgeon at Coronation Hospital, has been transferred to Doon Hospital. Dr Gurpal Singh, Joint Director, posted at the Directorate, has been transferred to Dehradun Municipal Corporation. Dr K. P Joshi posted as senior physician, Doon Hospital, has been transferred to Base Hospital, Srinagar. Dr Suman Arya, Joint Director at Health Directorate, has been transferred to District Female Hospital, Dehradun.

Similarly, a total of 76 Senior Medical Officers have been transferred to different hospitals in the state. Out of these the doctors who have been transferred out of Doon Hospital and Dehradun district include Dr N.S Tomar, Senior Medical Officer to District Hospital (Pauri). Dr R.C Joshi, Senior Medical Officer posted at Raipur Community Health Centre has been transferred to Combined Medical Hospital, Kotdwar. Dr S.P Kuriyal, posted as Senior Medical officer (Radiologist) at Doon Hospital has been transferred to District Hospital, Uttarkashi.

Dr Manoj Kumar Sharma, posted as Senior Medical Officer (Radiologist), Sahaspur, has been transferred to District Hospital, Gopeshwar. Dr Raj Kumar Singh, posted as Senior Medical Officer (Radiologist), Coronation Hospital, has been transferred to District Hospital, Boradi (Tehri). Dr Parag Singhal, Senior Medical Officer at Doon Hospital has been transferred to District Hospital, Uttarkashi.

Dr P.K Chauhan, Senior Medical Officer at Community Health Centre (CHC), Vikasnagar, has been transferred to District Hospital, Gopeshwar. Dr Narayan Singh Khatri, Senior Medical Officer at Doon Hospital (TB Clinic), has been transferred to District Female Hospital, Pauri. Dr Shalini Dimri, Senior Medical Officer posted at District Female Hospital, Dehradun, has been transferred to Combined Medical Hospital, Kotdwar. Dr R. P Khanduri, Senior Medical Officer, posted at Sahaspur, has been transferred to District Hospital, New Tehri.

Similarly, Dr Manu Jain, Senior Medical Officer and posted at Community Health Centre, Raipur, has been transferred to Doon Hospital. Dr Kumar Kharinder, posted at Community Health Centre, Roorkee, has been transferred to Combined Hospital (Prem Nagar, Dehradun). Dr S K Jha, Senior Medical Officer at Rudraprayag, has been transferred to Combined Hospital (Prem Nagar). Dr Manoj Kumar Badoni, Senior Medical Officer and posted at District Hospital, Boradi, has been transferred to St Mary Hospital (Mussoorie).

On the other hand, another hand 42 Senior Medical Officers (general grade) and 48 Medical Officers of grade I have been transferred. In addition, a total of 70 pharmacists have also been transferred. 

 Central grants received for tourism development around Tehri: Alok Jain
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 1
The state government is looking ahead to develop tourism infrastructure in the Tehri lake and its surrounding areas. The state Tourism Department has received a grant of Rs 5 crore from the Union Ministry of Tourism to initiate eco-log huts project in the area and has also received an approval for another Rs 5 crore for development of a water adventure centre and a floating marina at Tehri. The Union Tourism Ministry has approved another Rs 50 crore for development of integrated mega circuit there.

Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain, while chairing a meeting at the secretariat on Tuesday in this regard, said that the eco task force would plant trees to develop a green belt around the lake. He directed the officers concerned to present a detailed project report (DPR) for the academy and other projects. He said that adventure sports activities would be extended also to Pratapnagar and Jakhnidhar tehsil. Jain said that 80-acre land was available with the Tourism Department located around Tewar and Goran villages, Khandgaon, Nanagaon, Koti Colony, Sirai and Chham.

He said water sports would include water jet skiing, parasailing, paddle boats, kayaking, canoeing, sailing and water walking balls. The aero adventure activities would include hang gliding, para motor flying, hot air balloon, flying fox and sky diving. The Adventure Theme Park at Koti Colony would comprise water slides, giant wheel, go-carting, swings & rides, trapeze air float, hot air balloon, sound and light show, artificial climbing wall aquarium and digitarium.

Jain said sub-centres for skiing would be made at Auli and for river rafting at Shivpuri and other appropriate places. He said that local people would be provided with employment opportunities through ‘Hunar-se-Rozgar’ Scheme.

 Satpal Mahraj seeks re-organisation of departments
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 1
Uttarakhand Garhwal MP Satpal Maharaj has sought re-organisation of various departments taking into account the requirements of the state.

In a letter written to Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, Gahrwal MP and senior Congress leader Satpal Maharaj said the re-organisation of various departments in the state would help prompt redressal to the problems of the people. He reminded that there were hardly any canal in the hill areas of the state, but still the Irrigation Department has a big set-up which was unnecessary burden on the state finances. He said only micro irrigation schemes were relevant in the state.

Maharaj said similarly the Uttarakhand Peyjal Nigam and the Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan must be amalgamated so as to ensure quality of the potable water schemes as one common organisation would prepare a scheme and also working for its upkeep.

Maharaj further said there were a total of 70 divisions of the Public Works Department in Uttarakhand and held that as there were 70 Assembly constituencies, one division should be made responsible of an assembly constituency.

He also appealed to the Chief Minister to work towards bringing a change in the work culture of the employees in state. 

 Grid failure caused Rs 200 crore loss to SIDCUL industries
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, August 1
Industries at SIDCUL in Udham Singh Nagar are demanding regular supply of power to their units as due to the failure of the northern grid for two days they have suffered a loss of more than Rs 200 crore.

“Nearly 400 industrial units at the SIDCUL complex in Udham Singh Nagar suffered a loss of Rs 125 crore yesterday when power supply remained suspended for 15 hours and loss of about Rs 500 crore yesterday when power went off for five hours,” said Ajay tiwari, vice-chairman of the SIDCUL Entrepreneurs Welfare Association, Rudrapur.

Tiwari said 400 manufacturing units at SIDCUL include the units of Tata, Bajaj, Singhania, and Mahindra Groups besides the units of multinational corporations like those of SCL and HP groups. “Even before the northern Grid collapsed on Monday, these units faced a power cut of 75 hours from July 21 onwards causing heavy losses to these units who operate round the clock and give employment to thousands of skilled and semi skilled workers from the hill districts .’ said Tiwari.

According to former president of Kumaon- Garhwal chamber of commerce and industries, Darbara Singh, these are not good omen for the state of Uttarakhand as the industrialists are facing losses due to apathy of Government which has done no alternative arrangements to run the wheel of industries unabated in the state to attracted more entrepreneurs to the state.

“This is for the first time the SIDCUL industrial units faces so long power cut this time, but the Government of Uttarakhand has never asked us about the alternative arrangements for the industries which require 24 hours power at first priority to run the wheel.’ said Darbara singh.

According to sources in SIDCUL, during power cut due to Grid failure, 90 per cent big industries got affected, some medium industries which tried to keep the when running also collapsed after some time as the power cut was long. “As the power failed at 2.30 am on Tuesday, we tried to continue power to the industries but could do so only to 30 percent industries for some time only,” said Pradeep Chaudhari, executive engineer of electricity distribution circle at Rudrapur.

 CM’s decision to empower MCs hailed
Our Correspondent

Mussoorie, August 1
The decision of Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna to empower the municipal councils according to the spirit of the 74th Amendment of the Constitution has been welcomed by various organisations in Mussoorie.

Bahuguna had announced yesterday that in order to strengthen the local bodies under the 74th Amendment, the government would soon bring an order empowering the urban local bodies and municipal corporations to pass the maps of houses.

Even the BJP-supported Mussoorie Municipal Council president OP Uniyal welcomed the decision and termed it as path-breaking and in the interest of the common person.

Uniyal said it would ease the difficulty of the common man who had to go through an ordeal while getting his house map sanctioned from the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority.

The Congress workers have also hailed the decision of empowering the local bodies with more powers. Satish Dhaundiyal, senior Congress leader, opined that this move would bring relief to those families which were residing in the houses that are in dilapidated condition and living under fear since a long period, especially in Landour Bazaar.

Dhaundiyal further said that this decision had paved the way for such houses as now they can be renovated without any hindrance. With this decision the hope for finding some solution for the chronic housing and parking problems in the town had also gained wings and most of the public representatives hoped that this would be next in the pipeline. The residents also thanked The Tribune for highlighting the related issues on a frequent basis. 

 Ecologist’s concern over environment in state
10,000 villages face water shortage despite several glaciers
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 1
CMS Vatavaran hosted a panel discussion on challenges to biodiversity of Uttarakhand from climate change at the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education Auditorium today.

Taking part in the deliberations, founder of Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO) and renowned ecologist Anil Joshi spoke about the wisdom of farmers. He further stated: “It is certainly not the first time that the world is facing an environment crisis. These issues are linked to the villages and not to metros like Delhi. We require an inclusive approach. Our state has several glaciers but still over 10,000 villages suffer form water scarcity. For any positive change we do not need science alone; we need tradition involved with science. We most definitely require a resource-based economy. In India, the richest in resources are poor and the poorest in resources are rich. India will soon require oxygen booths.”

Other speakers gave presentations on various aspects like species, temperature, seed germination, Himalayan glaciers, black carbon, Uttarakhand as a water capital and water problems. A discussion on depleting rivers was also held. The speakers concentrated on collective community growth.

The discussion targeted on focusing Uttarakhand as a hub of biodiversity with an estimated 7,000 species of plants along side several rare and endangered species of herbal and aromatic plants. They stated the importance of conserving Uttarakhand’s biodiversity to keep danger at bay.

Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests DVS Khati, Deputy Director General (Ext), Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, Saibal Dasgupta, scientist, Wildlife Insitute of India, Ruchi Badola, were prominent participants in the discussions.

Further, the second day of movie screenings was yet again enjoyed by students of various schools. Movies on environment were screened at Jaswant Modern Senior Secondary School, Doon University, The Asian School, Welham Girls' School, Welham Boys' School, Merico Industries and Guru Nanak Fifth Centenary School.

The most exciting phase of the festival today was a green film-making workshop that took place in Doon University itself and Malsi Deer Park. Celebrated photographer-film-maker Gurmeet Sapal taught the intricacies of filming wildlife to the participating students.

Encouraging students to participate in such endeavours, Doon University Vice-Chancellor V K Jain appreciated the efforts of the School of Communication and CMS Vatavaran. Gurmeet Sapal elaborated the functioning of a camera for students and explained the significance of concepts like picture composition, colour combination and frames.

A total of 26 students from six renowned institutions, Doon University, Sai Institute, Doon School, Welham Boys’ School, Jaswant Modern School and Guru Nanak Fifth Centenary School, Mussoorie, participated in the workshop.

 Three NHPC engineers hurt in landslide
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, August 1
Three engineers of National Hydropower Corporation (NHPC) were seriously injured when the jeep they were travelling in came under a heavy landslide near Julaghar on the Dharchula-Tawaghat highway yesterday. “All three engineers have been referred to hospital,” a press note of the district disaster management office stated today.

Traffic between Nepal and India remained blocked for two hours yesterday as the authorities closed the bridge at Banbasa in Champawat district on the border with Nepal as the water level in the Sharda river rose above the danger mark on Monday due to heavy rain in the Sharda basin.

“We had to close the bridge for vehicles and pedestrians as the water level in the Sharda reached at 1.5 lakh cusecs on Monday,” said Jagdish Sriwasrawa, in-charge of the barrage at Banbasa. He added the barrage could be opened after the water level receded in the evening.

The track route to the Purnagiri temple at Batnagar was damaged due to continuous rain at Tanakpur, causing hardships to pilgrims who are visiting the temple daily during the Sharwan month.

In the Munsiyari region, Ramesh Ram (40), a resident of Nai Basti village in Munsiyari subdivision, was killed when he fell into a deep nullah near his village. “Ramesh Ram, who received head injuries in the fall, later died at a local hospital,” said Prakash Ram, another resident of Nai Basti village.

“Nine families of Malla Pandrapala village, which are among the 15 families that were hit by landslides on Monday, could not be evacuated. Six other affected families have taken shelter at the houses of their relatives,” he said.

Power billing to go online next year
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 1
With data centre of Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited started functioning from today, billing, metering and collection will go online by March 2013.

The consumers can see their bills and download these from UPCL website and know about the bill payment made by them earlier. Besides, the consumers will also be informed about their bill detaols through e-mails or SMS alerts. Consumers can register their complaints at the call centre.

Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain reviewing the meeting of the Power Department yesterday at the Secretariat directed the department officials to start online bill payment service within a month.

He asked them to release three-digit number for the call centre and introduce the third party audit system. He instructed them to reduce commercial loss from 23 per cent to 21 per cent and reduce collection loss to 4 per cent from 6 per cent. 

 Border areas lack infrastructure, says Dharchula MLA 
Our correspondent

Pithoragarh, August 1
Harish Dhami, Congress MLA from Dharchula Assembly constituency, has reiterated that he will keep praising the infrastructure available in parts of western Tibet of China compared to that available to the people of his constituency at the tri-border of China and Nepal. 

“It is not wrong to praise the infrastructure inside Nepal and China adjoining our border as our people are facing a severe shortage of basic infrastructure due to enforcement of the Forest Act and wildlife sanctuary laws from the last 30 years, forcing the people to leave their border homes,” said Dhami, who was addressing a press conference here today to explain his reported statement given by him in a meeting at Dehradun on Saturday that his people would prefer to live inside China or Nepal due to availably of better living facilities there.

“How can a son whose father sacrificed his life in the Indo-Pak war of 1971 go against the nation? The press quoted a wrong statement without feeling the pain expressed in it,” said Dhami.

The Dharchula MLA alleged that the Chief Minister of former BJP government in the state had never pleaded in the court for the people of border areas on the issue of sanctuary laws to speed up basic development of the 111 villages which fell inside the sanctuary. “The adjoining areas of China and Nepal, which were much behind us in the matter of development during the seventies, have now gone much ahead. This is the point which gives an inferiority complex to the population living in these borders of the state,” said Dhami.

Dhami announced that he would start an agitation soon against the state disaster management minister Yashpal Arya, who did not pay even a courtesy visit to his area despite the natural calamities that occurred in these areas.

 Tax official to monitor trenching ground
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 1
Dehradun Muncipal Corporation (DMC) Mukhya Nagar Adhikari Ashok Kumar appointed tax superintendent Dinesh Sharma as monitoring in charge of trenching ground in the city today.

Kumar said the complaints of all sorts were coming regarding the dumping and segregation of garbage at the trenching ground. He said, “The company which had undertaken the task of the Dehrdun Valley Waste Management (DVWM) under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) too reported arbitrariness of local sanitary workers in this regard. Now I have deputed an official who will monitor the entire activity and give me daily report about the vehicles used, garbage dumped etc.”

On the issue of opposition from residents of the surrounding areas over the existence of trenching ground in the area, he said, “The scientific land fill ground will come up at Shishambara shortly. The environment clearance report has already been sent regarding it. After this, hearing over objections by the public will be held by a Pollution Control Committee. As soon as these formalities are completed, the construction over the site will also be completed.”