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CM stresses on coordination between departments
Plant poplars in hills, provide jobs to check migration: CM
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80 positive cases of dengue in state
Kunjwal: Need to use hill terrain commercially
Tehri Dam-affected families get ex gratia
Good response to Army recruitment campaign
Govt order on ex-cadre policy hailed, assailed
Bahuguna remembers Indira
Mala meets PWD officials
DMC clears 40 cases of property mutation, tax
Agitating villagers appeal to Hridayesh
Pickup van hit by boulders, four killed
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CM stresses on coordination between departments
Dehradun, October 30 Bahuguna, laying emphasis on better coordination among linear departments, hoped that the project would be useful in improving the living standard of people in hill and rural areas of the state. He said the project would prove a milestone in inclusive development and its focus would be on the development of poor families and women as they would be connected to agriculture, horticulture, forestry, tourism, animal husbandry and catchments development to enhance their income. He instructed the officials concerned to take the project as a mission and give priority to the SC and ST dominated areas. Disseminating information about the project, Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain said the project would be executed jointly by the Uttarakhand Gramya Vikas Samiti, Uttarakhand Parvatiya Ajivika Samvardhan Company and Jalagam Prabandh Nideshalaya constituted under the Rural Development Department. This project has been executed in 38 development blocks in 10 hill districts and would benefit 1,03,975 families. The project has been launched for seven years. Jain said the state government had launched various schemes with the aim to strengthen rural market system in remote hill areas and provide financial assistance to people. The people would also be provided with easy loans to strengthen their business, he said. International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) Country Programme Manager Nigel Brett said the time frame had to be strictly adhered to for the better execution of the project and for this special attention had to be given to better budgeting, procurement, disbursement and the rules had to be simplified. Brett said it was the biggest project of the IFAD with the budget of Rs 90 million dollars. He also stressed on improving quality in programmes initiated for poverty eradication. |
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Plant poplars in hills, provide jobs to check migration: CM
He was speaking after inaugurating the 24th session of the International Poplar Commission 2012 at the Forest Research Institute, the premier forestry institute of the country, here today. He assured all support for poplar and willow plantations as mandated by the International Poplar Commission. The theme of the International Poplar Commission being held is “Improving Lives with Poplars and Willows.” Chief Minister Bahuguna appreciated the outstanding research work being done by ICFRE in the field of forestry, and said that poplar was very popular in the state of Uttarakhand, and was supporting the livelihood of rural populace. “As the state has about 65 pern cent of its area under forests, its conservation is paramount as it is also the catchment of many rivers and glaciers. Poplar trees have helped increase the livelihood of farmers who are getting returns of about Rs 2 lakh per hectare per year. They have also helped to a great extent to bridge the gap between demand and supply, and to conserve forests,” he said. He emphasised that in the state of Uttarakhand there was a conducive environment for promoting more plywood-based industry, given the current literacy rate at 80 per cent and growth rate at 12 per cent. He released Envis Forestry Bulletin Titled “Poplars in India” commemorating the 24th session of International Poplar Commission. Earlier, speaking on the occasion, VK Bahuguna, Director General, ICFRE, and Chancellor, FRI, and leader of the Indian delegation in the International Poplar Commission session, while welcoming the delegates, thanked Food and Agriculture Organisation of United Nations for strengthening the livelihood opportunities for the cause of farmers through the activities being undertaken by the IPC. He mentioned that the Indian forest policy, 1988, stated that the wood-based industries shall have to generate their own raw material on the farmers’ land, which can be achieved by planting fast-growing short-rotation species like poplars and willows, which successfully grow in the agro forestry systems. In India about 10 lakh hectares was under poplars, which ensured livelihood to lakhs of people, ensured social and environmental services, improving soil health and mitigating climate change by sequestering carbon up to 27 tonnes per hectare. He said that to promote livelihood the short rotation crops had great potential and needed to be promoted. He mentioned that ICFRE had successfully introduced poplars through agroforestry models in Vaishali district of Bihar, which fell outside its normal range of distribution. In this effort 6 million poplars had been planted during the past 5 years, benefiting around 12,000 farmers in one district of Bihar generating more than one million mandays, thereby improving their livelihood. VK Bahuguna, DG, ICFRE, in the executive committee meeting advocated propagating International Farmers' Forestry Commission and expanding the role of IPC by re-designating it as International Poplar, Willow and Short Rotation Crops Commission, which will have wider acceptance. He emphasised that there was a vast scope of expanding the domain of poplars and willows to many other short rotation crops like acacia nilotica, casuarina species melia dubia and other fast-growing tree species. Stefano Bisoffi, Chairman, International Poplar Commission, while speaking on the occasion, said that the poplars helped sustainable land use, food security, livelihood and well-being of people and the goal of IPC was not developing poplars but sharing knowledge and experience among the member-countries, making the result accessible to the grower community. Eduardo Mansur, Director, Forest Management Division, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), while speaking on the occasion stated that IPC undertook to promote the study of the scientific, technical, social and economic aspects of poplar and willow cultivation to facilitate the exchange of ideas and material among research workers, producers and users; to arrange joint research programmes; and to stimulate the organisation of congresses and study tours. Through these activities, the IPC has had an important role in the development of national forest sectors of many poplar and willow-growing countries. Poplars and willows account for more than 95 million hectares of natural and planted forests globally. PP Bhojvaid, Director, FRI, proposed the vote of thanks at the end of the inaugural session. After the inaugural session the plenary session commenced in which 10 presentations from 9 countries, including India, were deliberated upon. Sandeep Tripathi, from ICFRE, presented the case of ICFRE, taking poplars into non-traditional zone under agroforestry in Vaishali district of Bihar. Martin Weih from Sweden presented papers on ecological and environmental implications on producing biomass from marginal lands. Jim Richardson from Canada, Ian McIvor from New Zealand, Li Ming Jia of China, Joris Van Acker from Belgium, BR Thomas from Canada, Anatoly Tsarev from Russia, Silvia Cortizo from Argentina and Botman K Evgeniy from Uzbekistan deliberated in detail on varied subjects of poplars like new publication for global audience, stabilising soil and carbon storing by poplars and willows, physiological studies of poplars and effect of soil water potential and drip irrigation on poplar growth. In the evening a cultural programme was arranged for the delegates. |
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UP Irrigation Dept employees launch agitation
Haridwar, October 30 Their demands included the removal of pay anomalies, clearance of arrears, travel allowance and the allocation of houses to employees on a seniority basis. The agitating employees said they had been forced to launch the agitation as despite several meetings with top officials of the department, nothing had been done to fulfil their demands. State chief of the association Bani Singh said they were being meted out step-motherly treatment by the UP Irrigation Department. “Despite a number of houses vacant in the department's residential colony, several families are living in rented accommodation,” said Bani Singh. General secretary of the association OP Sharma said last month, the Executive Engineer, Ganga canal, Roorkee, had given them an assurance with regard to looking into their demands. However, even after a month, no action had been taken so far. On the other hand, SDO, UP Irrigation Department, Veer Virendra Singh Yadav said he was looking into the matter and had also taken up the issue with higher officials, so that it could be solved at the earliest as the strike was affecting the ongoing Ganga canal cleaning and maintenance work. |
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80 positive cases of dengue in state
Most of these confirmed cases have been reported from urban areas. We have also taken blood samples from the rural areas and are awaiting confirmatory reports." Although two deaths due to dengue have been reported from private hospitals, the Department of Health and Family Welfare is refuting this. "Private hospitals have not informed us about these deaths," said Dr CP Arya, DG, Health and Family Welfare. Arya said the arrangements of platelets had already been made at Doon Hospital, HIHT, Sushila Tiwari Medical College, Haldwani, Sri Guru Ram Rai Hospital, and the Indian Medical Association Blood Bank (IMA). He said so far 10 per cent of the patients under treatment for dengue required platelets therapy. Later, while chairing a review meeting on dengue and expressing concern at some of the cases from neighbouring UP towns being referred to Dehradun, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna directed Health Minister Surinder Singh Negi to hold talks with the UP Health Minister on this issue so that joint preventive measures could be taken against the spread of the disease. |
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Kunjwal: Need to use hill terrain commercially
Pithoragarh, October 30 Kunjwal was speaking at a function organised by an Inter College at Chitai, near Almora. He said until the state government adopted a genuine policy to use the hill terrain commercially, migration from these villages could not be stopped. “Every village of this hill district now has deserted fields and locked houses due to a large scale migration and this shows the failure of the state government,” he added. Kunjwal emphasised on the need for health and education facilities in the hill areas of the state and said the state had not kept pace with the changing needs in the two sectors. “If the situation could not be saved, the future of the hill areas of the state would be dismal,” said the Speaker. Later speaking at a function at Dwarahat in Almora district, the speaker said the politics of allegation and counter allegation was going on at the cost of social growth. “During the freedom struggle, the country was with the freedom fighters as they were committed to the principles of social and political growth of the country,” he said. |
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Tehri Dam-affected families get ex gratia
Uttarkashi, October 30 He asked the officials present at the meeting to make ex gratia forms available to those affected families that have not been able to benefit from the scheme so far. The minister also directed them to immediately solve the problems faced by people in the area and conduct a survey of the temples affected by the dam, so that railings near the Tehri lake could be constructed.
— PTI |
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Good response to Army recruitment campaign
On the second day of the open recruitment drive today, 6,666 applicants registered themselves for various non-commissioned posts. Elated by this, Colonel Virender Kumar of the Army Recruitment Office, Lansdowne, Pauri Garhwal told TNS that this was a good indication that youths still had a passion to serve their country. Colonel Virender urged the youths to come with a prepared mind for a test, be it physical or written, prior to their induction in the Army. "Passion, determination, will to succeed, sharp mind, analytical thinking, healthy lifestyle, courage and patriotism are the essentials that we look in the youths,"said the Colonel while monitoring the physical events of the youths at the city sports ground. Yesterday, 3,347 applicants had taken physical tests for the post of education hawaldar. Youths from Pauri, Tehri, Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Dehradun and Haridwar will take part in the ongoing recruitment drive from the Garhwal division of Uttarakhand that will be held till November 3. |
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Govt order on ex-cadre policy hailed, assailed
Dehradun, October 30 At a meeting held today, Suman Singh Valdiya, chief coordinator of the Uttarakhand Adhikari Karamchari Shikhsak Sangharsh Morcha, while welcoming the government decision, said: " We have temporarily postponed the sit-in being carried at the parade ground and will now wait for the Justice (retd) Irshad Hussain report. While we are happy with the government order, we will submit a memorandum urging the government to cancel all the promotions made in the ex-cadre," said Valdiya. However, the members of the Uttarakhand SC/ST Karamchari Adhikari Shikshak Sangh have criticised the government's decision to overturn the ex-cadre arrangement. |
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Bahuguna remembers Indira
Dehradun, October 30 Bahuguna described Indira Gandhi as one of the most renowned women in the world history and said with her talent and intelligence, she had played an instrumental role in the overall development of the country. She had also worked towards the eradication of poverty and social benevolence. |
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Mala meets PWD officials
Dehradun, October 30 “There seems to be no coordination between the departments and the result is the delay in the work,” said the MP.
— TNS |
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Shobha yatra on Valmiki Jayanti
Dehradun, October 30 Speaking on the occasion, Bahuguna said there was greater need to spread the message of equality and brotherhood in the society as espoused by Maharishi Valmiki. Present on the occasion were Rajkumar, Congress legislator, Surayakant Dhasmana, vice-president Uttarakhand Congress, Ashok Verma, Leader of the Opposition in the Municipal Corporation and Arun Valmiki, city councillor. |
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DMC clears 40 cases of property mutation, tax
Dehradun, October 30 The cases pertaining to exemption in tax for tenants and property in the names of tenants, correction of names of the property holders etc were also sorted out. Legal opinions were sought about the property cases stuck in legal wrangles. The matter with regard to giving exemption in tax for war widows will be discussed as per the government order released in this matter in a couple of days. |
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Agitating villagers appeal to Hridayesh
Pithoragarh, October 30 “We met Hridayesh yesterday and apprised her of our condition. She assured us that she will soon visit the area with the Chief Minister to solve the problems of people,” said Basant Ballabh Pathak, adviser of the agitation. Medical worker Vikram Verma, who examined the fasting agitators, said weight of one of the agitators Mathura Dutt Pathak had lost 5 kg during the 10 days of the hunger strike. “If the agitator does not break his fast, his condition will further deteriorate,” said Verma. Meanwhile, the agitators have alleged that local MP Pradeep Tamta is neglecting the Pungrau valley as he visited Berinag, Kanalichina, Didihat and Askote last week but did not come to listen of the agitators who represent 42,000 villagers from 27 village panchayats. “The MP had assured the villagers on various problems, including construction of road for which the villagers are agitating,” said Dinesh Arya, president of the Pungrao Ghati Ekta Manch. |
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Pickup van hit by boulders, four killed
Pithoragarh, October 30 They were on their way to Garvadhar from Dharchula. The deceased have been identified as Karan Singh (28), a resident of Narayan Asharm (Sosa), Mangal Singh (35), a resident of Dharchula, and two Nepalese Ganesh Singh (32) and Dhan Singh (30). The road widening work is going on at the spot where the accident took place. On September 7 also, a similar accident had taken place. The bodies had been sent for a post-mortem examination, said MC Durgapal, SO, Dharchula Thana. |
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Dehradun, October 30
Dehradun, October 30
Haridwar, October 30