High train speed could have caused elephants' death: WTI probe
Dehradun, January 24
Preliminary Wildlife Trust of India’s investigations over the brutal death of two elephants on the stretch of railway track in Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand have not ruled out speed being a crucial factor behind the elephants getting hit by the Jan Shatabdi train on January 13 early morning.

CM, Guv greetings on Milad-Un-Nabi
Dehradun, January 24
Governor Aziz Qureshi and Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna have greeted the people of the state and the country on the occasion of Milad-Un-Nabi (Barawafat) and have conveyed their best wishes to them.

BJP workers burn an effigy of Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde against his remarks on saffron terrorism in Dehradun on Thursday. Tribune photo: Vinod Pundir

Women donate blankets to poor
Haridwar, January 24
With intense cold gripping the region, a section of the women have joined hands to provide warm clothes to the poor and needy. Led by Kiran Singh, a social activist and office-bearer of the Women's Congress Committee, these women have donated 660 blankets to the poor so far and organised six free distribution camps.

Animal shelter home inaugurated
Dehradun January 24
Mayor Vinod Chamoli inaugurated an animal shelter home at Inderpuri today. The shelter home spread across 2.25 bighas and can accommodate 50 stray animals. It has a store room for fodder, a room for a veterinary doctor and a separate room for treatment and open green space.

Campaign to educate youth about harms of smoking
Dehradun, January 24
The District Tobacco Cell has decided to launch a campaign ‘Tobacco free Youth-leaders of Tomorrow’ to educate the youth about the harmful effects of smoking.

On National Girl Child Day, a girl, who should be going to school, sells food for fish at Har-ki-Pauri in Haridwar on Thursday. Tribune photo: Rameshwar Gaur

Dr Pathak is Director, Doon hospitals
Dehradun, January
Dr BC Pathak, Principal Superintendent and Additional Director of Doon group of hospitals, was today promoted to the post of Director. Dr Pathak will continue to be the in-charge of Doon Hospital till the meeting of the Department Promotion Committee for the post of Additional Director is held.

Take inspiration from freedom fighters, saints: Swami
Haridwar, January 24 To inculcate good practices and know about great personalities, Haridwar rural legislator Swami Yatishwaranand is targeting little school children, apprising them about the historical past of the country.

Mussoorie, January 24
The exercise carried out by the state Forest Department to determine the eco-sensitive zones (ESZs) around national parks and wildlife sanctuaries in the state, in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment, Government of India, was met with vehement opposition from the residents of Mussoorie today.

It is worth mentioning that around 6 national parks, 6 wildlife sanctuaries, which include Corbett Tiger Reserve, Rajaji National Park, Valley Flowers, Nanda Devi Govind Vihar, Gangotri National Park, Sona river, Askot, Kedarnath National Park, Binsar and Binog Mountain Quail Sanctuary will come under the ambit of the new guidelines of determining the eco-sensitive zone areas once approved.

The residents of Mussoorie gathered at a hotel here today and held a press conference, objecting to the exercise to determine the eco-sensitive zones and rued the fact if the guidelines were approved, the tourist town of Mussoorie would come under it's purview, being adjacent to the Binog Mountain Quail Sanctuary, thus affecting the livelihood of the residents here.

The former MLA, Mussoorie, Jot Singh Gunsola, addressing media persons today said that the proposal to extend the eco-sensitive area to around 10 km was highly objectionable and not feasible practically as the entire Mussoorie town, hotels, schools and the government installations such as Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, ITBP and neighbouring villages will be affected by this notification.

The former Municipal Council president, Manmohan Singh Mall, said that major public services like water supply, pumping stations, power substations, power lines and water sources that fell within this area, and any area beyond the existing boundaries of Benog Wildlife Sanctuary will be affected, which was unacceptable and not practical.

Furthermore, the ambitious Purkul-Hathipaon-Ropeway Project, Mussoorie, proposed by the PWD, will also will be affected.

Manmohan Singh Mall said that the Mussoorie Municipal Council had transferred the Benog Hill Mountain Quail Sanctuary area to the Forest Department in 1990 only to manage the forest area, and presently the land still belongs to the Municipal Council, but the council members and other stakeholders were not consulted while preparing the report.

The spokesperson for the Mussoorie Hotels Association, Sandeep Sahni, also informed the gathering that the district administration in a meeting held in 1995 had also suggested to the state government that only 338 hectares of land should be acquired for the sanctuary, instead of 1082 hectares. But the Forest Department did not take any action then.

In continuance of the flurry of activities, later the delegation met the SDO, Forests, DP Baloni, and ADM, Dehradun, Jharna Kamthan, at the DFO office and apprised them about the problems which people will face due to the new guidelines. The delegation presented a memorandum to the Chief Minister and 
the Secretary, Forest Department, via ADM, Finance, and demanded immediate action in the matter, considering the geographical conditions and the ambitious development programme for Mussoorie. It suggested dropping the enforcement of the eco-sensitive zone recommendation and to make no changes or extension to the existing boundaries of the Benog Mountain Quail Wildlife Sanctuary. Around 1082 hectares of land has been assigned for the purpose of the Benog sanctuary.

The SDO, Forest, DP Baloni, in response to the objection said that the whole exercise was being carried on the directions of the Supreme Court and the Ministry of Environment and Forests, and the objections should be made in front of the higher authorities.

He further said that as the area of the sanctuary in Mussoorie was actually located in an urban set-up, the ESZs will have to be kept flexible and protected area-specific. "The width of the eco-sensitive zone and type of regulations will differ from other protected areas around the country," added Baloni.

The ADM, Dehradun, after a detailed discussion with the stakeholders, said that the local self government representatives should have been included while carrying out such an exercise, and that she would apprise the district authorities about the volatile situation that has occurred due to the present exercise carried out by the concerned departments.

Meanwhile the affected persons are also planning to meet the Chief Minister in this matter for immediate solution of the problem.

The approval of the new guidelines for declaring eco-sensitive zones would mean imposing new restrictions on constructions, industrial, tourism and farming activities around 10 km aerial radius of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, affecting the livelihood of the people living in the area.

"The zones will work as shock absorbers for the protected areas," the guidelines stated. Another objective for creating eco-sensitive zones is to regulate certain activities, such as mining around national parks and wildlife sanctuaries so as to minimise the negative impacts of such activities. It is worth mentioning that the ministry had asked all states to constitute a committee comprising the wildlife warden, an ecologist and a Revenue Department official of the area concerned to suggest the requirements of an eco-sensitive zone and its extent. The panel could also suggest the best methods to manage such zones and broad-based thematic activities to be included in the master plan for the areas, which have been classified as prohibited.

Dehradun, January 24
A team of the Vigilance Department caught Assistant Registrar of the Sahkari Samiti, Haridwar, Umarav Singh Saini red-handed yesterday while taking a bribe of Rs 1 lakh from complainant Jagdish Dutt Sharma at latter’s house in Haridwar. Saini has two years to go before retirement.

Sharma had retired as Secretary from the Sehkari Samiti on December 12 last year. Saini, who was to release pension, gratuity and GPF amounting to Rs 13 lakh to Sharma, was demanding 25 per cent of the total amount due (i.e, Rs 3,25,000) from him to do the needful.

When Sharma refused to grease Saini’s palm the latter threatened him that he would then do the work on the payment of 30 per cent of the total amount due. He kept pestering Sharma and did not release his dues until the latter relented. Sharma asked him to release some amount so that he could give a share to him. At this Saini released Rs 402,996 to him and reached his house in Haridwar yesterday to take Rs 1 lakh as bribe.

The Vigilance team caught him red-handed while he was taking the money.

Sharma said it was on the insistence of the manager of a bank that he took the help of the Vigilance Department to expose the corrupt official. In the past too, Sharma had filed an FIR against Saini for harassing him for money. But Saini also filed a cross FIR against Sharma.

Meanwhile, Saini denied that he had taken bribe and said he went to Sharma’s house to enquire after his ailing brother’s health. 

SP, Vigilance, Sweety Aggarwal told mediapersons that a team led by ASP Arun Kumar Pandey later recovered Rs 1.5 lakh from Saini’s house in Haridwar and Rs 50,000 from his possession that he was carrying when he was caught.

Saini, however, said it was Ajay Singhal, a coordinator in a cooperative society, who was carrying Rs 50,000.

Sweety said the accused, who has a house at Rampur in Uttar Pardesh, had also built two houses in Haridwar and Kashipur.

An inquiry by the Vigilance Department against him for amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income in 2003 could not proceed further for lack of evidence. She said many persons hesitated from proceeding against Saini as he had implicated several complainants by lodging false FIRs against them.

The SP said the Vigilance team recovered a huge amount of jewellery, 15 passbooks and a licensed revolver from Saini’s house in Haridwar and property-related documents from the house in Kashipur.

Another complainant Rakesh Chauhan, Secretary of the Sahkari Samiti, said Saini illegally disposed of a property of the department near the Sitapur bypass to the land mafia.

He was also involved in many cases of bribe. Saini had lodged an FIR against him for not clearing audit records of Rs 1370,000, which was found to be baseless.

Dehradun, January 24
Discovery Channel is making an hour-long documentary on the Army's first-ever All-Women Successful Everest Summit campaign held under the supervision of Col Ajay Kothiyal of the Army Adventure Wing last year.

Its premier will be telecast on January 25 at 9 pm and will be repeated on January 26 at the same time. It will be further shown 52 times in the next 3 years.

For the first time, the channel has joined hands with the Army and followed an all-women team of seven officers to capture a gruelling expedition to the Everest. The programme trails all team members as they scale Everest.

There are, however, many other stories interwoven with the main story --- adventure, team spirit, history and natural beauty. The documentary highlights team members' efforts towards learning Nepali language for better interaction with sherpas and bringing change in strictly followed religious rituals like stopping fasting as part of their resolve to achieve their goal which came in the form of the first batch scaling the peak on May 24 last year.

The women took the difficult South Ridge route to scale Mount Everest, which amply reflected the arduous training which they had undergone earlier. The women officers initially underwent two selection- cum-trial camps conducted in Siachen Glacier and thereafter in Manali, where the probables were put to test through sub-zero temperature in super altitude. The difficulty further accentuated by extreme environmental odds leading to the final selection of seven women officers. Another Doonite, Capt Namrata Rathore, was also among these proud officers. Other members were Maj N. Linyu (Nagaland), Maj Neha Bhatnagar (Rajasthan), Capt Poonam Sangwan (Haryana), Deepika Rathore (Rajasthan), Capt Prachi R. Gole (Maharashtra) and Capt Smitha (Karnataka).

Dehradun, January 24
Preliminary Wildlife Trust of India’s investigations over the brutal death of two elephants on the stretch of railway track in Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand have not ruled out speed being a crucial factor behind the elephants getting hit by the Jan Shatabdi train on January 13 early morning.

Wildlife Trust of India’s AK Singh, who has been instrumental in coming up with the Rajaji train hit mitigation model in 2002, firmly believes that the mechanism that worked behind the model was in place on the fateful day of the incident, and the speed could have been the reason behind the elephants getting hit by the train.

The spot where elephant deaths in the present case fall within the very 3 km of railway track starting from Motichoor station uptil Motichoor river towards Raiwala side. This has been the most vulnerable spot for elephant-hit incidents in the past. All pre-2002 elephant causalities have taken place on this very stretch, primarily due to the local topography, which includes three sharp curves and some embankments. Abundance of Rohini shrubs which are pachyderm’s favourable food along side the track have also been attracting elephants.

“The incident prima facie reveals a deceased elephant being carried away to a distance of 100 metres even after application of breaks. Further, 80 per cent of the engine had run over this elephant, amply hinting that the train was in speed,” said AK Singh, who was the first of the WTIs official to reach the incident site.

A patrolling team on this stretch of track was at work and that was the reason it reached the site of the accident within some minutes of the happening. 

There was no fog on January 13 morning and ,thus, the Jan Shatabdi train was in high speed. Fortunately, even as the engine got de-railed, there were no losses on the side of human passengers, or else a major tragedy could have happened.

Not getting discouraged by the turn of events, the WTI, whose Rajaji train hit mitigation model is being replicated across the country, is now eyeing permanent solutions. WTI’s AK Singh strongly supports complete fencing along the vulnerable track with the Railway’s scrap lying waste in the region.

Fencing from the side of forests on this crucial 3 km stretch would prevent elephants from coming to the killer tracks.

Women social activists distribute blankets to poor women at the Tibdi colony in Haridwar on Thursday. Tribune photo: Rameshwar Gaur

Haridwar, January 24
With intense cold gripping the region, a section of the women have joined hands to provide warm clothes to the poor and needy. Led by Kiran Singh, a social activist and office-bearer of the Women's Congress Committee, these women have donated 660 blankets to the poor so far and organised six free distribution camps.

Kiran Singh said she had approached Haridwar MP Harish Rawat, local politicians, corporates, traders and common people to donate for the purpose. “We are getting good response from all of them," she said.

Meera Raturi, a statehood fighter, while distributing blankets among the poor at Tibdi colony on the outskirts Ranipur bypass, said they feel elated to be a part of this social cause.

These women now want to organise more such camps in the coming days to reach out to more people with no financial assistance from the government or from any NGO.JP Pandey, a social activist, said it was quite laudable that these women had taken this initiative and were catering to the segment that needed these things the most.

Dehradun, January 24
The District Tobacco Cell has decided to launch a campaign ‘Tobacco free Youth-leaders of Tomorrow’ to educate the youth about the harmful effects of smoking.

As part of the campaign, a rally to target schoolchildren and college 
students of the state will be held at Parade Ground on January 29.

After the rally, the students will march from Parade Ground carrying placards and pass through Survey Chowk, Clock Tower and Darshan Lal Chowk before arriving back at Parade Ground, said Dr RP Bhatt, CMO, at a press conference here today.

An IEC van has also been readied with publicity material that will be part of the rally and the material will be distributed in schools and colleges to spread awareness.

Besides generating awareness, action will be taken under the provisions of the Control of Tobacco Products Act that has been adopted in the state and is being implemented in Tehri and Dehradun districts only.

Under the guidance of nodal officer Dr BS Jangpangi and psychologist Dr Anuradha, the District Tobacco Cell will organise activities for generating awareness throughout the year.

“Further, the department will also work with the Education Department for spreading awareness in schools. Health education is not part of the curriculum in schools. We need to educate the children and tell them how smoking begins to harm their lungs,” said Bhatt.