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Rs 14.45 lakh given to 627 families in Uttarkashi
Cloudbursts hit 6 villages, damage Kausani highway
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Declare Uttarkashi incident a national disaster: Koshiyari
Bisht seeks land rights for disaster victims
State gets Rs 9.49 cr for protection of tigers
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Rs 14.45 lakh given to 627 families in Uttarkashi
Dehradun, August 12 He said while there have been 28 recorded deaths in the tragedy, 6 persons are still missing and 11 are among injured. Twelve hectares of agriculture land had been destroyed. Garbayal said an amount of Rs 14,45,000 had been distributed as relief to a total of 627 families under the calamity fund. Further, Rs 21,28,000 had been provided to the victims as grant for reconstruction of collapsed houses. Referring to rescue operations done through helicopters, he said a total of 160 persons were rescued from the affected areas of Uttarkashi through helicopters. On relief camps, Uttarakhand Disaster Management Secretary DS Garbayal said relief camps had been set at Government Inter College and Chief Development Officer’s office at Gangori, Maharishi Vidhya Mandir at Joshiyara, Kailash Ashram, Birla Dharamshala and Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam tourist rest house at Uttarkashi township. He said as of availability of foodgrains, a total of 10101.50 quintals of wheat was available in Uttarakashi. Similarly, 8001.68 quintals of rice, 1907.50 quintals of sugar and 33,800 kilo liters of kerosene were also available in Uttarkashi township. He said more stock of foodgrains was being sent to Uttarkashi Garbayal also held that 6 damaged power lines in the affected areas had also been repaired. SBI chips in with Rs 2 crore
The State Bank of India (SBI), fulfilling its corporate social responsibility, has donated Rs 2 crore in the Chief Minister Relief Fund for the victims of the recent natural disaster in Uttarkashi and Chamoli districts. Chief General Manager, SBI, B Sriram handed over a cheque for Rs 2 crore to Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna at his residence here today. The bank also donated 100 mattresses to the Ramakrishna Mission, Dehradun, for distribution to flood-affected people of the area. Bahuguna called on the people to donate relief amount for the victims in the hour of crisis. He said the government was dedicatedly carrying out the relief works. Bahuguna said if climate permitted, he, along with the Disaster Management Minister, would visit affected areas on August 14 and 16 and review the relief work on the spot. He said the SBI had also contributed in the development of the state. Bahuguna expressed hope that the SBI would soon open its branches in remote areas. Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Brahma Swaroop Brahmachari donated a cheque for Rs 1 lakh, SP Kotchar donated Rs 50,000 and Surendramuni donated Rs 31,000 for the Chief Minister Relief Fund. Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain, General Manager, Corporate Centre, Mumbai, Padmaja Nair, GM (NW-II) Sunil Srivastava and DGM, Uttarakhand, Diwakar Bhatt were present on the occasion. |
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Cloudbursts hit 6 villages, damage Kausani highway
Pithoragarh, August 12 According to information, the rain, which lasted for 20 minutes at the Chanauda area, resulted in landslides and flooded the Chaunauda market with mud. According to Kunwar Singh Bhakuni, a shopkeeper at Chaunauda market in Someswar area of the district, nearly 100 acres of cultivable land belonging to farmers of Pinath and Chatar villages were washed away by the flash flood in a rivulet that occurred immediately after the cloudburst. “After 2 hours of the cloudburst at Chatar forest, another cloudburst occurred at Pinath forest and caused heavy damage to Almora-Kausani highway”, said Bhakuni. In another incident, a building of Government Inter-College, Nailwal Pali, damaged while another building destroyed partially due to heavy rain. “All students were safe as we had already sent them to their homes before the rain could start”, said Jagat Ram Gautam, principal of the college. |
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UKD (P) sends relief material
Haridwar, August 12 A four-member team of UKD activists accompanied the vehicle. They will distribute the material to the people of the flood-affected region. Flagging off the vehicle, Haridwar SP Kiran Lal Shah lauded the voluntary efforts of the activists while urging people to come forward and contribute to the cause. He also laid stress on imparting disaster management training to youths in all thirteen districts of the state. The District Disaster Management Officer, Dr Naresh Chaudhari, said apart from the government relief, several organisations, institutions, ashrams and NGOs were also dispatching relief material to Uttarkashi. Tanuj Rathi, Uday Ram Semwal, Lalit Mamgain and Ravindra Rana of the UKD (P) said they collected the relief material and on knowing about their initiative, many people came forward to give their contribution. |
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Declare Uttarkashi incident a national disaster: Koshiyari
"It will take at least a year to rebuild Uttarkashi. The government is still assessing losses in the rain-ravaged Asi Ganga valley. The Chief Minister should pursue the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh so that the calamity is declared as a national disaster," said Koshiyari. He said things would be much easier for Chief Minister Bahuguna as his party's government was in power at the Centre. He said the initial estimates of putting the loss at Rs 600 crore by the Uttarakhand Government was too less. "The Chief Minister has not visited the site, nor the District Magistrate of Uttarkashi who visited Gangori only yesterday. So they do not know how widespread are the damages to property," he said at a press conference. Bhagat Singh Koshiyari said there was lack of communication between different wings of the administration. Soon after the disaster, the Chief Minister should have held an all-party meeting and formed a core committee to monitor the situation. It would have assured the people that things were in control, said Bhagat Singh Koshiyari. The former Chief Minister who, along with former Agriculture Minister Trivender Singh, toured the district said as 16 bridges had been swept away in the rain, a temporary arrangement should be made so that people could cross the river and resume normal life. Bhagat Singh Koshiyari along with BJP MP from Meerut R. Aggarwal was specially sent by central BJP leaders to the rain-ravaged villages for an on-the-spot assessment. He said on his return to New Delhi, he would personally ask members of Parliament to make contribution for the people of Uttarkashi.
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Uttarkashi's annual butter festival cancelled
Dehradun, August 12 The villagers received two major blows this year, which forced them to cancel the festival. First, the main promoter of the festival Chandan Singh Rana expired due to prolonged illness in July. The villagers were recovering from the loss, when the heavy rains and cloudburst struck the district, killing 28 persons and injuring many others.
Manoj Rana, village head of Raithal, said: "We have cancelled the butter festival due to flash floods and death of Chandan Singh Rana
ji." The butter festival offers the visitors an opportunity to play Holi with butter, milk and
'chacch' (butter milk) on the lush green high altitude meadow at Dayara Bugyal. It is once-in-a-lifetime experience to play Holi with milk, curd and
'chachh' at an altitude of 3048 mts, with the lush green meadow forming the
backdrop. Chandan Singh Rana should be given major credit for making the least known festival popular. Despite staying in remote area of
Uttarkashi, Chandan created worldwide interest about the unique fair through his commitment and approach. The main promoter of the butter festival was no longer in this world. Ajay
Puri, president of the Uttarkashi Hotel Association, said. " There can be no second Chandan Singh
Rana. I have not seen a committed person like him in my life. When he started promoting butter festival, many villagers used to make fun of him. But Rana knew the importance of the festival and uniqueness, which can be promoted as a tourism product. The butter festival organisers will find it difficult to recover from the loss of Chandan
Rana, " he added. Rana was annoyed with the approach of the local politicians. He used to complain that the local leaders had done little to promote the festival. In 2010, he dispatched a letter to Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, inviting him to attend the festival in
Uttarkashi. Recalling the incident, Manoj Rana said: "We were thrilled to receive a call from Rahul Gandhi's office in 2010. Conveying the message on behalf of
Rahul, the staff said that Congress general secretary had wished the festival all the success. The person also said that due to prior engagements, as Rahul was travelling to Karnataka, the AICC general secretary would not be able to attend the butter festival." This year 28 persons lost their lives and many others suffered injures in the August 3 flash floods. The natural calamity had created havoc in Uttarkashi and Raithal villagers had decided to cancel their annual festival. |
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Bisht seeks land rights for disaster victims
Mussoorie, August 12 Bisht speaking to mediapersons said it was unfortunate that no adequate disaster management policy had been framed in the state due to which most of the villages in Uttarkashi were still damaged forcing the people to live in difficult conditions. He also said, “The state government is insensitive towards the disaster victims and is playing vote bank politics by misleading the people of Kempty by announcing the sops which are not technically feasible.”
Bisht said the government would have to bring in change in its assessment of the damage due to disasters. Only then, victims could be benefited from
it. Bisht also suggested that the government should form district-level management teams to deal with any such disasters so that the affected people were provided immediate relief. Speaking on the non-implementation of the Scheduled Tribe and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006 in the state which clearly mentions providing land rights to forest dwelling/depended communities, he said it was unfortunate that act had not been implemented and committees also had not been formed as yet.
Bisht, raising his apprehension towards the distribution of the compensation to the disaster victims, said it remained to be seen whether the amount announced reached the victims affected from the disaster or not. He demanded that the disaster victims should be provided the compensation within a week and the government should step up the process of implementing the Act. |
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Hill Jatra, based on worship of Shiva and Parvati, celebrated in Shor valley
Pithoragarh, August 12 The Hill Jatra festival is part of the Aathon festival, as it is based on the worship of the deity duo, Shiva and
Parvati. Lord Shiva destroyed the yagna of Dakshya Prajapati, said Dr Ram Singh, a local historian. The Congress MLA from Pithoragarh town was the chief guest on the occasion in the village today where thousands of spectators viewed the rituals of the folk drama. In Hill Jatra festival, the artistes wear wooden masks depicting the various forms of ancient agrarian life of the valley. They represent the plight of local farmers, who plough their muddy fields with the help of a lazy pair of oxen. The main attraction on the occasion happens to be Lakhia
Bhoot, the deity otherwise named as Birbharda, the disciple of Lord Shiva, said Singh. According to local organisers of the Hill
Jatra, they celebrated the festival as their ancestors had brought the festival tradition from Nepal after winning the heart of the King by their brave act. "The Hill Jatra festival, celebrated in Shor valley, has its roots in Gai Jatra and Indra Jatra celebrated in Nepal and areas of West Bengal," said Madan Chandra
Bhatt, a retired university teacher and historian of Himalayan region. "We can also call it a mask dance, which is performed like some other parts of Himalayan states to please the local deities," said
Bhatt. According to the rituals, with the celebration of Hill Jatra today, the week-long rituals of the Aathon festival have been concluded. |
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State gets Rs 9.49 cr for protection of tigers
Dehradun, August 12 Chief Wildlife Warden SS Sharma said today that the NTCA had allocated this amount for a period of 5 years for the protection of tigers in its territorial forest divisions. Of the total amount, Rs 15 lakh had already been released. Sharma said the fund would be used to deploy 65 ex-servicemen in seven territorial divisions of the state. Twelve ex-servicemen would be deployed in
Ramnagar, Lansdowne and Terai West territorial divisions, eight each in Terai East, Haldwani and Haridwar divisions and five would be deployed in the Lansdowne soil conservation division. These ex-servicemen would also undergo a training prepared by the
WWF. Arms and other equipment needed for patrolling would be provided to them. He further said although the Corbett Tiger Reserve and even the protected area of the Rajaji National Park get funds for tiger protection, these territorial divisions, which were key to the movement of tigers in the state, were often found wanting in tiger protection measures. He expressed gratitude to NTCA's member
secretary Rajesh Gopal and NTCA member Brijendra Singh for putting forward Uttarakhand's concern at a NTCA
meeting. |
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1,551 saplings of Kalp Vriksha planted
Haridwar, August 12 However, Governor Aziz Qureshi, who was the chief guest, could not come due to poor health. Conservator of the Forest Garhwal circle Gambhir Singh presided over as the chief guest and planted the first sapling of Kalp Vriksha. Terming the joint initiative by the NGO and the Forest Department as commendable, he urged people to come forward and plant as many saplings. Rana Ranbeer Singh of Himalaya Vahini said they chose Kalp Vriksha as it had high quality of purifying air content and it survived for 1,500-2,000 years. The twigs and leafs of this tree had high medicinal value. Jay Prakash Pandey, divisional convener of Himalaya Vahini, said 100 saplings had been donated by foreigners while others had come from various states and organisations. "Our mission is to make Haridwar a Kalp Vriksha city with 5,000 saplings to be planted in the coming months. Kalp Vriksha has mythological connection with Kapil Muni and has reference in Hindu scriptures too, " said Uday Ram Semwal, a social activist. |
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PNB kicks off plantation drive
Dehradun, August 12 He said while trees
were being mercilessly felled, the rate of tree plantation was quite poor comparatively. Sundarlal Bahuguna said the devastation in Uttarkashi and other Himalayan regions was result of environmental degradation. Padma Shri Dr Anil Joshi said environment had never been taken up in the country as an index of development. He said like the GDP, the Gross Ecology Development should also be taken up as a term of development. He appreciated PNB’s commitment towards the environment. Earlier, PNB zonal head Ashok Aneja said rapid development was taking toll on the environment. He said the PNB would plant saplings on the campuses of colleges, universities and institutions. Aneja said the PNB had planned to plant at least 1,000 tree sapling
every monsoon. |
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Transfer policy of teachers to be revised
Dehradun, August 12 Admitting that there were problems in assigning the remote and accessible areas, the minister said the entire process would be evaluated once again and anomalies addressed. “As soon as the list was declared by the minister, we began to receive a number of complaints and by August 25 problems will be sorted out,” he said. Sources say the government was forced by teachers' unions to revise the transfer policy after they threatened to launch a statewide agitation. Meanwhile, the affected teachers of Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar have even approached the court. |
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Dehradun, August 12