Volunteers donate relief material
Dehradun, June 23
Relief material was collected from volunteers at a camp held on Parade Ground here today. Volunteers from different parts of the district and the state had brought sacks full of relief material.

Heavy downpour lashes Doon
Dehradun June 23
Dehradun witnessed heavy rain today. It also rained heavily last night. Low-lying area faced the problem of waterlogging.

Rafters help Chandrapuri villagers in distress
Dehradun, June 23
Members of the Indian Association of Professional Rafting Outfitters (IAPRO) have taken upon themselves the responsibility of rehabilitating Chandrapuri village near Augustmuni.

Gang helping candidates in SSC (CPO) exam busted
Haridwar, June 23
A high-tech gang was busted here today. They were providing answers through cellular phones, ear sets and other hi-tech gadgets to the SSC CPO (Sub Inspector) national -level examination from a city based hotel. Eight persons have been arrested by the police, which carried out a raid at various city hotels after getting information.

Haridwar, June 23
As many as 197 natural disaster-hit persons in the plain region of the city have been shifted to safer places. A total of 89 houses had completely destroyed and nine connecting bridges caved in during the torrential rains last week. Three persons also lost their lives in the disaster.

Meanwhile, District Magistrate Nidhi Pandey here today took a meeting of administrative officials and directed them to speed up relief works being carried out for the pilgrims and other victims.

Nidhi Pandey directed tourism officer KS Rawat to open an information-cum-control room office at Jolly Grant Airport. The district administration has already arranged accommodation for the affected pilgrims at various ashrams and dharmshalas. For people from Haryana, Punjab and Delhi, accommodation has been arranged at Jai Ram Ashram, Ram Kumar Dharamshala, Khukhrayan Bhawan and Multan Joth Sabha, Bhoopatwala, free of cost. For Rajasthan pilgrims, Jodhopur Dharmashala and Maheshwari Bhawan have been booked. Pilgrims from Jammu Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh have been put up at Jammu Yatri Bhawan and Ganga Dham.

For UP pilgrims, arrangements have been made at Maharaj Agrasen Ashram and Rastogi Dham and for Bihar pilgrims Pawan Dham and Neel Kanth Ashram.

Pilgrims from Assam, Kolkata and West Bengal are staying at Bharat Sewa Sangh Ashram and Guru Mandal Ashram near Devpura.

Prem Nagar Ashram, Ranipur Mod, and Kali Kamli Dharmshala have been booked for pilgrims from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Shantikunj-Gujrawala Bhawan for Gujarat pilgrims, Krishna Dham, Aastha Dham Tayal Dharamshal and Baikunth Puri Ashram for Maharashtra pilgrims. For pilgrims from Andhra Pradesh, arrangements have been made at Mahajan Bhawan.

Haridwar, June 23
Former Union Home Minister for State Swami Chinmayanand has linked this calamity with the shifting of revered shrine of Mata Dhari Devi in Srinagar, Pauri Garhwal.

In a joint press conference with Vishwa Hindu Parishad ideologue Ashok Singhal, Swami Chinmayanand pointed out that he had initially warned the Central and state governments of bad omen if the statue or the 'shila' of Mata Dhari Devi was shifted from its original site.

The former minister sought an explanation as well as an apology from the Congress-led Central and Uttarakhand governments for not listening to and respecting the religious sentiments of local people, devotees and saints regarding the shifting of the Dhari Devi shrine.

He warned government that now no harm should be done to the holy Ganga, trees and environment, particularly near the religious shrines and the eco-sensitive zone.

VHP international chief Ashok Singhal said if the hills of Uttarakhand are damaged in the name of commercial development, then disenchantment may arise among local people on the lines of the Naxalite movement.

Singhal said the local inhabitant of hill areas of Uttarakhand bore resentment against mass exploitation of 'jal, jungle and jameen'. There is no denying fact that some sort of anger is brewing in their minds and if a hill Naxalite movement cropped up, it would be no surprise.

" The Central and state governments seem to be anti-hill, anti-religious and anti-environment. This calamity is a warning for the politicians ruling at the helm. The VHP oppose any exploitation of natural resources in Uttarakhand, said Chinmanand and Singhal.

Dehradun, June 23
Relief material was collected from volunteers at a camp held on Parade Ground here today. Volunteers from different parts of the district and the state had brought sacks full of relief material. They were, however, discouraged from donating food items like flour, fruits and vegetables, which could rot or get spoiled quickly. Jagmohan Mehndiratta, a leader of the City Bank Employees Union, said they donated 200 packets containing biscuits, banana, water, Fruity drink and namkeen for the stranded people.

Dr Anmol, a psychiatrist, said he arranged two truckloads of food, clothes and blankets for the disaster-hit people.

The Regional Transport Office too hired 350 vehicles to carry relief material as well as rescue stranded tourists and locals from Badkot and Uttarkashi. Regional Transport Officer DC Pathun said, “The department today hired the maximum possible number of vehicles for the relief work in the natural disaster-affected areas. Around 550 vehicles were hired in the past two days but keeping in view that many roads and routes had been opened, more vehicles were hired today. Till yesterday roads were fit for traffic up to Badkot, Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag and Guptkashi but after the weather became unfavorable, the roads ahead of Rudraprayg may not be fit for driving.”

Dehradun, June 23
Members of the Indian Association of Professional Rafting Outfitters (IAPRO) have taken upon themselves the responsibility of rehabilitating Chandrapuri village near Augustmuni.

The entire village has been devastated by the natural disaster. As the village has been located on the other side of the river, therefore no help could be provided by the state administration to the affected villagers till June 20.

The villagers were even starved of daily rations. A team of the IAPRO using a raft reached the village with relief supplies on June 21. Being the best trained in water rescue, the IAPRO is also trying to evacuate people from the village and bring them through rafts to the national highway side and arrange for shelter.

Haridwar, June 23
A high-tech gang was busted here today. They were providing answers through cellular phones, ear sets and other hi-tech gadgets to the SSC CPO (Sub Inspector) national -level examination from a city based hotel. Eight persons have been arrested by the police, which carried out a raid at various city hotels after getting information.

SSP, Haridwar, Rajeev Swaroop presents the accused before the media in in Haridwar on Sunday. Tribune photo: Rameshwar Gaur

Seizure of 30 cellular mobile sets,2 printers, 22 SIM cards, 2 net setter,1 laptop, copies of SSC examination paper,24 bluetooths, chargers ,batteries, ear phones and a cash of Rs 1,32,000 was also recovered from them.

Police teams also nabbed various examinee aspirants who were in direct touch via tiny bluetooth-enabled ear phones with the miscreants, who were providing them answers. SSC CPO examination was being conducted at various centers from 10-12 noon at all-India level.

SP, Haridwar, Rajeev Swaroop told The Tribune that one of the students scanned the question paper immediately as it was handed out at examination rooms which was then sent via electronic mail to the cheating gang members.

From Devpura-based city hotel the gang members then solved the question paper with most of them being highly qualified.The crackdown at various examination centers and hotels and dharamshalas was led by Circle Officer Jodh Ram Joshi.

Arrestees were being interrogated of their involvement in similar paper cheating in past while clues of this gang being linked with inter-state gang have also not been ruled out.Probe and further interrogation was also being done to reach out to the kingpins of the gang. The arrested persons are Sandeep resident of Raj Nagar, Gaziabad, Kapil Kumar Muzzaffarnagar, Nitin Sainki, Rohit, Pukaj, Pradeep Kumar and Kuldeep Rathi all from Haridwar.

In view of this revelation SSP Haridwar has announced cash prize of Rs 2,500 while he has also send recommendation to DIG Dehradun Range for the commendable job done by the police team also comprising of SHO Mahesh Chand Joshi,SI RK Saklani,Durgesh Chand,Pooran Singh,Balwant Singh,Brij Mohan,Basant Pandey and Diwakar Dhyani.

Dehradun, June 23
Ambika Soni, the newly-appointed general secretary in-charge of Uttarakhand Congress has said the Central Government as well as the Congress party would help Uttarakhand state in coping with the natural disaster.

Talking to mediapersons after a visit to a relief camp set up by the party at Haridwar, Ambika Soni said Prime Minister has already announced Rs1000 crore for the state and would help more as and when required. Motyi Lal Vora, Congress treausrur said the Army,the Air Force and the state government has done well by safely evacuating 94,000 stranded pilgrims and tourists from the disaster-affected areas.

Ambika Soni said it would be wrong to blame the state government as the disaster was gigantic but with the help of the Army and the Air force, rescue and relief operations have been speeded up.

She said 125 tonees of food material would be flagged off by the Congress President Sonia Gandhi for disaster-affected areas from New Delhi on Monday. She said the relief material would be distributed by the Congress workers. 

Pithoragarh, June 23
The Army and the ITBP have been successful in preventing casualties in the rain-hit areas of Pithoragarh district by quick deployment of personnel for rescue and relief work and dropping food packets with the help of the Indian Air Force choppers, Major Vivek Tripathi, Army operation coordinator, said.

“We have dropped 5,000 kg of dry food and the same quantity of prepared ration in the affected areas after we started the operation on June 16. 
We deployed 1,000 Army and ITBP personnel divided in 10 parties at various rain-hit areas of the district and provided the stranded people with food, medicines and clothes,” said Major Tripathi.

He said most of the operation had been undertaken in rain-hit areas of the district and the Army had set up mobile camps at Gothi, Baluakot, Dharchula, Teejam and Gwalgaun, which suffered the maximum devastation.

“Our operation has been successful in preventing casualties and no body has been recovered from any village after June 16 when the Army started the operation,” said Major Tripathi.

According to sources, a 55-member search and rescue party has been sent to the Milam area of the district from where some stranded tourists were evacuated two days ago. “If weather remains clear, we will complete the operation soon,” he said.

Major Tripathi said six helicopters deployed by the Army and the Indian Air Force for the rescue and relief work in the district had made over 300 sorties in the past three days and accessed remote areas for stranded villagers and tourists.

“We are now focusing on the evacuation of 1,200 people stranded at Teejam in the Darma valley and villagers stranded at different places in the Johar valley. We sent a helicopter to the Johar valley today,” he said.

He added it is our priority to open roads for local transportation in these areas. “We have opened the Kuti to Gunji route and evacuated 19 trekkers, who had gone to the Chhota Kailash trek. The rescued people include 10 persons above 60 years of age. We started the work to open 800 metres of the Gothi to Dharchula road with the help of the BRO,” Major Tripathi added. 

Dehradun, June 23
Each year, rain plays havoc in the city causing it to get waterlogged and damaging houses along with belongings in a big way. Despite that, no measures have been taken to control the damage and the intensity of the damage has increased with each passing year.

The MLA of the cantonment area, Harbans Kapoor, blames the district administration, the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) and the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority for not removing encroachments over drains and near canals and rivers. He said the encroachments lead to waterlogging and sweeping away of buildings and material. Kapoor, who is instrumental in getting many embankments built near the rivers, said they were not enough. They got swept away as they were not connected to each other. He emphasized that embankments all around the rivers was necessary, the funds for which could be provided at state level.

Mayor Vinod Chamoli, however, blames these embankments to a certain extent. He said, “The Irrigation Department built these embankments close to the river where it is not needed. In the backdrop of this

embankments, a slum colony has come up, encroaching upon the river area. This also leads to rampant plotting in the area.”

He said the primary problems started with the covering up of canals in order to widen the roads in the city. The roads were given coatings which do not absorb water. The settlement grew randomly in the low-lying area.Water, which earlier used to get absorbed in canals or through roads or in low lying areas, now got blocked and flooded the houses in low-lying regions of the city. This was the reason that pockets like Panditwari, Claimontown and ISBT got almost submerged in rainwater.

He blamed the Jal Sansthan Department for delaying the drainage master plan of the city by not paying Rs 48 lakh to the Delhi-based company which had prepared the blueprint of the plan. He hoped that the drainage plan which was due under the JNNURM scheme for 2014-15 and for which a fund of Rs 750 crore is to be allocated, would be taken up.

This would sort out the drainage problem of the city, he hoped.

Dehradun, June 23
Relief for disaster-affected victims is being offered by the institutions of the Shri Guru Ram Rai Education Mission. A truck carrying food stuff weighing three tonnes has left for Joshimath. An ambulance loaded with medicines was also sent to Joshimath.

The vice-chairman of the Shri Guru Ram Rai Education Mission, Prof S.P. Thapliyal, said all doctors and staff members of Shri Guru Ram Rai Institute of Medical and Health Sciences and Shri Mahant Indiresh Hospital will donate one day's salary to the Disaster Relief Fund.

Food stuff weighing two and a half tonnes was sent by the institute to Phata by a five-member team.

The ambulance service of Shri Mahant Indiresh Hospital was available free of cost at Jolly Grant airport as well as Sahastradhara Helipad in order to ferry the disaster victims today.

The hospital Emergency, blood bank and the doctors were well prepared to deal with any situation.

The disaster victims would be treated free of cost by the hospital.

Dehradun, June 23
Sambhav Manch, a social organisation, has staged a street play at Gandhi Park to highlight the natural disaster that has struck the state, resulting in the death of more than 1,000 persons.

The aim to stage the play was to create awakening among the masses to help the victims in this hour of crisis. The organisation will stage the play in different localities of the city to make the masses aware and collect relief material for the affected people of the hills.

The members who participated in the street play include Abhishek Mandola, Sanjay Gairola , Pradeep Sharma, Kusum Panth, Nandini Pujari, Hema Panth and others.