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Ganga canal to be closed for maintenance from Oct 15
Independent agency to review progress of agri development scheme
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State to have Centralised grievance redress system
121 doctors refuse to serve in remote areas
Kumaon gears up for festive season
Garhwal Sporting, Cantt Blue teams victorious
Kirtan held in protest
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Ganga canal to be closed for maintenance from Oct 15
Haridwar, October 8 Despite the formation of a separate state of Uttarakhand in 2000, the Ganga canal in Haridwar is still being operated by the Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department. However, it has a separate office in Haridwar. The decision to close the canal for maintenance or release water is taken by the department only. However, owing to a lot of resistance by local people, saints and devotees to the canal closure, it was not being done for the past two years. But this time the department has sought permission from the UP Government in this regard. As per the letter of the department to the UP Government, it sought permission to close the canal from October 15 till November 12, which means apart from Navratras that extend for nine days, Dussehra and Diwali will also be affected. People will not be able to perform rituals at Ganga ghats due to the closure. During the festival season, Haridwar witnesses a huge rush of tourists from Gujarat and Bengal. Most of these tourists come along with their families and stay for a short period of time. Meanwhile, the Ganga Sabha, a body comprising local traders, ashram members, hoteliers, traders and teerth purohits, has come out against the decision. Purushottam Sharma, working chief of the sabha, said they would oppose this move as it hurt the religious feelings of the Hindus. He said the Irrigation Department had been asked to maintain substantial water level up to 1,000 cusecs at Har-ki-Pauri so that rituals could be performed at the Ganga ghats. Yuva Teerth Purohit Mahasabha chief Ujjwal Pundit said they would launch an agitation if the canal was closed. He said earlier also in the name of maintenance, the canal was closed but no proper work was done. On the other hand, Subdivisional Officer, UP Irrigation Department, Veer Virendra Singh said they had sought permission from the UP Government as it was important to clean and maintain the Ganga canal. "Since the canal had not been closed for the past two years owing to opposition by a section of the people, the canal required immediate cleaning and maintenance. We will ensure that a minimum quantity of water is available at the canal so that rituals could be performed during this period, " he said.
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Independent agency to review progress of agri development scheme
Dehradun, October 8 He said it was necessary to know the success rate of the programme in serving the purpose for which it was initiated. The evaluation would also reveal the changes that had taken place after their initiation. He said 14 third parties had been empanelled for the evaluation work. Jain said the income of farmers could be enhanced through animal husbandry and forestry. Principal Secretary, Agriculture, Om Prakash, while presenting the statistics of the programme (2007-08 to 2011-12) till September 2012, said till date, projects worth Rs 256.88 crore had been sanctioned to the state, of which Rs 240.16 crore was allocated by the Central Government and a sum of Rs 153.90 crore had been spent so far. An amount of Rs 162.65 crore was allocated for setting up training centres for organic farming, of which Rs 155.97 crore had been utilised. For the development of aromatic and medicinal plants, Rs 312.65 lakh was allocated and Rs 128.75 lakh had been spent so far. An amount of Rs 368.09 lakh had been utilised out of the allocated Rs 381.75 lakh for the farming of medicinal and aromatic plants in hill areas. Om Prakash said the integrated farming system had proved successful and it was being extended under which activities in fisheries, forestry and poultry were being carried out. The meeting was attended by Secretary, Animal Husbandry, AK Dhaundiyal, Secretary, Mini Irrigation and Fisheries, RC Pathak, Secretary, Dairy, RK Sudhanshu, Additional Secretary, Forestry, Nitish Jha, Director, Agriculture, CS Mehra and other senior officers.
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State to have Centralised grievance redress system
Dehradun, October 8 The state will have its own domain and data of all officers designated as nodal officers or public grievance officers (PGOs) in various departments will be fed in it. Space will be hired from the National Data Centre. The designated officers will be trained by the NIC. A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain here today. It was revealed in the meeting that citizens could upload their grievances in the portal and where internet facilities are not available the citizens could lodge their grievances in writing also. The complaints will be registered and registration number will be provided to the complainants. The complainants will be informed about the decision taken on their grievances or progress within 60 days of lodging complaint. They can view the status of their registration online. Phone numbers and email IDs of the PGOs will also be provided in the domain. During the meeting, the officers from the Government of India made presentation of the software developed for the CPGRAMS.
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121 doctors refuse to serve in remote areas
Pithoragarh October 8 The college authorities are also not in a position to send notices to them for recovering Rs 30 lakh each from the doctors as fine. This has been revealed in a reply to an application filed under the Right to Information Act by Gurinder Chadda, an RTI activist in Haldwani. Chadda said the medical college authorities had revealed in the reply to his RTI query that these doctors belonged to the 2004, 2005 and 2006 batches and had passed out of the college in 2009, 2010 and 2011. After graduating from the college, these doctors did not honour the contract condition of serving in government hospitals in the state for five years and had not even properly disclosed their permanent addresses,” said Chadda. He added after the medical college reduced its fee from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 15,000 per annum, it laid the condition that every doctor graduating after availing of subsidised medical education would have to work in the government hospitals in remote areas of the state for five years. Otherwise, he or she would be fined Rs 30 lakh. The permanent addresses of these doctors were still to be verified by the college, said the RTI activist.
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Kumaon gears up for festive season
Pithoragarh, October 8 At various places, artists could be seen making masks of various characters of Ramlila. Besides Almora, the towns of Ranikhet, Chaukhutia, Deghat and Bairati are also preparing their artistes for Ramlila this year, which is beginning from October 16. “We have selected some new faces for Ramlila that is staged at Gandhi Chowk, Ranikhet, every year,” said Yatish Rautela, a member of the Ramlila committee of
Ranikhet town.
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65 bird species spotted at Dhanaulti park
Dehradun, October 8 The 19 participants of birdwatching included nine nature guides, 10 forest staff from the Mussoorie Forest Division, two IFS trainee officers and five members of the Dhanaulti Ecotourism Development Committee and two villagers. Two women forests guards participated in the camp for the first time. The participants visited various forest trails in and around the Eco Park and to the Saurkunda Devi temple and attended lectures on bird identification and behaviour. The participants spotted Grey Winged Black bird, Spotted Forktail, Himalayan Woodpecker, Bonneli’s Eagle and Variegated Thrush. According to Rajiv Bhartari, Chief Conservator of Forests, Ecotourism, said, “Dhanaulti has several trails that are excellent for hiking and birdwatching. In particular, the walk to the Sarkunda Devi shrine is an ideal birdwatching spot for schoolchildren and nature enthusiasts.” Dr Raman Kumar and Dr Malvika Oniyal from the Nature Science Initiative conducted the camp with support from Suniti Dutta, a researcher and a well-known author of guidebook ‘Birding in the Doon Valley’. Gambhir Singh, Chief Conservator of Forests, Garhwal, distributed certificates among the participants on the conclusion of the camp. Copies of field guide ‘Birds of North
India’ was distributed to local participants and field staff. Established in 2008, Dhanaulti Eco Park has received more than four lakh visitors since its formation. The camp was organised to promote birdwatching at Dhanaulti by improving birdwatching skills of nature guides and
forest staff.
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Photography contest marks wildlife week celebrations
Dehradun, October 8 The programme was celebrated in collaboration with the Forestry and Agriculture
Departments. Arvind Gupta, Chairman of the institute, inaugurated the
programme. He called for preserving the biodiversity. Renowned ecologist and scientist at the Wildlife Institute of India,
Dehradun, Dr YV Jhala, in his lecture threw light on the ecology and management of large carnivores, particularly tigers and leopards, and the problems related to their conservation. Following are the results of the competitions:- Bird watching competition: First:
Heihokmi, Dhirender, Shabnam On-the-spot painting competition: First: Thokchom
Rebika Second: Kezang Tobgay Third: Sangay Doma Quiz competition: First: Ugyen Tshering and Dorgee Doma
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Bala Hisar, Shivalik schools in cricket quarterfinals
Dehradun, October 8 In the first match, Bala Hisar School defeated GRD Academy, Rajpur, by 14 runs. The Bala Hisar team after winning the toss elected to bat first and scored 33 runs for the loss of five wickets in their first innings while GRD Academy scored 38 runs for the loss of six wickets. In the second innings, Bala Hisar scored 40 runs at a loss of only wicket but the GRD team scored only 21 runs losing the match by 14 runs. In the second match, Shivalik International School defeated Indian Public School by five wickets. The Shivalik team after winning the toss decided to field first. The Indian Public School team scored 24 runs for the loss of five wickets in their first innings. Shivalik teams scored 33 runs at a loss of only single wicket. Indian Public School scored 19 runs at a loss of four wickets. The Shivalik team scored 11 runs at a loss of three wickets to win the game by five wickets.
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Adhoiwala Boys romp home
Dehradun, October 8 Adhoiwala Boys won by 4-0. Dinesh scored the first goal in the 28th minute of the game. Amar scored two goals in the 63rd and 69th minutes while Vijay Rahi scored in the 68th minute for the winners. The second match between Doon Star Club and Gorkha Rangers ended in a 1-1 draw. Sumit of Gorkha Rangers scored the first goal of the match in the 35th minute but Dharam Singh of Doon Star equalised in the 48th minute. The match ended in a 1-1 draw.
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Garhwal Sporting, Cantt Blue teams victorious
Dehradun, October 8 Garhwal Sporting defeated Pacchwa Doon by 5-0. Rajesh scored the first goal in the 15th minute followed by Sumit (18th), Prashant (35th), Amit (39th) and Neeraj (68th minute). Pacchwa Doon boys failed to score. In the second match, the Cantt Blue team trounced Sarvodaya Club by 2-0. Anshul scored the first goal in the tenth minute of the goal followed by another goal by Manish in the 68th minute. The third match between Garhwal Boys and Exodus Club ended in a 1-1 draw. —TNS
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Stationery distributed among students
Mussoorie, October 8 The headmaster of the primary school at Kolti received the furniture on the behalf of the students. National secretary of the All-India Prerna Society and General Manger of the Punjab National Bank Sushma Bali was the chief guest on the occasion. After distributing furniture, she said students should work hard in to succeed in life. It is worth mentioning that the Freemason community from Mussoorie had distributed solar lights to more than 35 families of Ladoor village on October 7, 2011. It was sponsored by the Grand Lodge of India. They had also distributed furniture, uniform and computers to needy students from Mawana, Kolti and Ladoor villages. The programme was chaired by Shailendar Karnwal and was coordinated by Dr GK Thakral.
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Kirtan held in protest
Dehradun, October 8 Led by Laxmi Agarwal, members of the women's wing of the BJP sang bhajans to awake the consciousness of the Congress government. "The Bahuguna government has failed on
all fronts and we decided to sing bhajans at Gandhi Park to awaken the Congress government," she said.
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