Haridwar, July 2
Normally in June-July, the temples of Haridwar, particularly those falling in Braham Kund, Har-ki-Pauri and adjacent ghats witness serpentine queues as apart from the local people, Char Dham pilgrims and tourists flock these temples in thousands daily.

As its considered auspicious to take a dip in the Ganga and then visit these temples before proceeding on to the Char Dham pilgrimage, these temples, which are the visual identity of Har-Ki-Pauri, this year have come under the impact of the floods in Uttarakhand.

With the Char Dham pilgrimage, comprising the revered shrines of Shri Badrinath, Shri Kedarnath,Gangotri and Yamunotri in Garhwal Himalayas, being called off for an indefinite period, the priests, their families and traders selling religious materials, flowers and containers for fetching the holy Ganga jal are bearing the brunt of the natural disaster too.

Now, there are no serpentine queues or chanting of prayers-mantras that used to go on almost throughout the day in the peak tourist season. Instead, the priests at these temples can be seen waiting for devotees.

Be it Shri Sringeri Shankaracharya Math temple or Maa Ganga Bhagwati temple, they are bereft of pilgrims, which is a rare sight in Haridwar.

Pt Vishnu Prasad, who performs rituals at a temple in Har-ki-Pauri, said it is rare to see such few pilgrims.

Apart from local residents and those coming to lay ashes, one barely gets to see devotees from other states.

Priests of other temples too say that if the Char Dham yatra doesn’t resume soon, the same trend could impact the livelihood of priests, their families and those related with the religious-spiritual trade.

Similarly, people associated with the trade of religious items too fear the repercussions of this scenario, as without pilgrims, their business has touched an all-time low.

The Ganga Sabha, which manages the affairs of Har-ki-Pauri, is also quite worried over the low turnout of pilgrims.

Anshul Shri Kunj, member of the Ganga Sabha, said the Char Dham yatra would hopefully start again and the people associated with this pilgrimage don’t have to suffer further.

Sandeep Pawar, who sells religious items and artefacts at Bada Bazaar, said one day in the last week, not a single customer came to his shop ,which itself points to the huge impact the natural fury has made on the mindset of pilgrims.

The impact of the natural disaster can also be felt in the other revered shrines in Haridwar, like the shrine of Mata Mansa Devi and Mata Chandi Devi where in the peak season, the booking of trolleys used to be stopped as it would run full for hours.

Khem Chand Thakur, a devotee who pays obeisance at Mata Mansa Devi temple daily, says that it’s quite unimaginable that in the pilgrim season, pilgrims from outside are barely seen, particularly those from Bengal, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Dehradun, July 2
In a setback to beverage giant Coca Cola, the Uttarakhand Forest Department has ruled that the land allotted to the company at Charbba village in Vikasnagar in Dehradun to set up a plant is “deemed forest”.

Coca Cola had recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Uttarakhand government for setting up a Rs 600 crore plant at Chharba village in Vikasnagar. The company had also assured jobs to locals. But Chharba villagers joined by several non-government organisations and opposition parties opposed the Coca Cola plant tooth and nail from the beginning, citing environment reasons.

Opposition by villagers, who describe Charbba forest as their green belt, the Uttarakhand Forest Department had in May held a field survey to determine the status of the allotted land. The Kalsi Sub-Divisional Forest Office after going through documentary evidences and recording statements of several individuals finally described the allotted land as ‘deemed forest’.

Documents made available to Citizens For Green Doon, an NGO working for the conservation of greenery in Dehradun, under the Right To Information Act revealed that on May 23 a team of forest officials visited the Charbba area and after interviewing a number of people and assessing plantation records of the Forest Department concluded that the department had planted 70,360 trees in the area between 1980 and 1989 and now most of these trees are healthy. The team filed a report concluding that the land in question was a ‘deemed forest’.

Chief coordinator of Citizens For Green Doon Dr Nitin Pandey said revelations made by documents amply exposed attempts by the state government to push for the establishment of a Coca Cola plant in the area despite the fact that a forest could not be given to a private company under the Forest Conservation Act under any circumstances. He said the project was detrimental to the environment of the state and as the recent disasters had shown “development cannot be at the cost of the environment”.

Meanwhile, Charbba villagers have pledged to plant 2,000 more saplings during the monsoon. Charbba village pradhan Rumi Ram Jaiswal said they had from the beginning maintained that these forests were the lifeline of Charbba and they would not under any circumstances allow the state government to play havoc with the environment.

Interestingly, in TN Godavarman Thirumulpad versus Union of India and others case, under similar circumstances, the Supreme Court judgment had pointed out that the land in question would come under the category of ‘deemed forests’ and, therefore, falls under the Forest Conservation Act. Thus to carry out any non-forest activity in the area the permission of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests would be required. 

Dehradun, July 2
The Uttarakhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (UREDA) is providing solar lanterns in those villages of the disaster-hit areas where power supply cannot be resumed due to massive damage to the road network or electricity infrastructure.

Chief Project Director, UREDA, AK Tyagi says the agency has provided 30,810 lanterns to the affected villages and out of these 14,500 lanterns have been provided to various district administrations for further distribution in the flood-hit villages.

He adds, “Solar lanterns are supplied to the district administrations according to the estimates given by them for further distribution among local people. These lanterns are very good as they do not need electricity or other medium to be recharged.

Once recharged with sunlight these lanterns function for four days. Hence, even if it rains for two to three days continuously, people can still light up their homes. They can also carry it from one place to another.”

Tyagi says in many villages, which have roads intact or repaired but the transmission lines or transformers are still being repaired or replaced, there too the people are being given solar lanterns so that they could perform their day-to-day activities till regular power supply is restored.

Besides the lanterns, the agency is also repairing damaged micro hydroelectric projects set up in many parts of the calamity-struck areas. Of the total 40 such projects, which have been damaged, around 26 have been made functional. Repair work on 14 other projects is in progress.

“Since Gangotri and Yamunotri were provided electricity supply by UREDA through these micro hydroelectric schemes, we made them operational after required repairs.

However, since the gridline was available till Harsil, the area beyond it could not be lit up. Around 140 villages have been electrified through micro hydroelectric schemes,” he says.

According to Tyagi, micro hydroelectric schemes will now be preferred to large hydropower projects in the hill region in the aftermath of the colossal disaster triggered by flash floods in the state.

“Even the state government is not going to favour big projects after this massive disaster.

Moreover, even under the eco-zone proposal, the Ministry of Environment and Forests has allowed micro hydroelectric schemes of up to 2 MW. With these environment-friendly schemes, villagers are able to produce electricity by themselves for their own limited use.”

Out of the 13 projects in Bageshwar, three are still closed while 11 have been made operational

In Chamoli, out of 11 power projects seven are closed while four have been repaired

 One project in Rudraprayag has been repaired.

Two projects in Pithoragarh are still in a damaged condition

Out of six in Uttarkashi, two are non-functional

Two projects in Tehri are not functioning while four others are working

One project in Nainital repaired and functioning well. 

Haridwar, July 2
Giving specific heed to the officials indulged in relief work District Magistrate Nidhi Pandey has stated that they need to be quite sensitive while dealing with the flood-affected people.

While presiding over a special meeting on the relief aid and preventive measures Pandey warned officials of any laxity in carrying out such measures.

Making it clear that the relief aid be disposed on war footing and it should be made imperative that relief aid reaches to everyone, she said round the clock monitoring is being done of the flood-affected areas in the district.

Teams of patwaris, village development officers, anganwadi activists, health employees and social welfare departments have been formed, which are visiting the flood-affected areas of Lakshar, Roorkee and Khanpur.

For Piran Kaliyar segment District Panchayat Raj Officer M Zafar Khan has been given directions to form a similar team, which will inspect the affected areas in Kaliyar.

Pandey also directed Food and Supplies Department to supply food, ration and petro products such as kerosene and diesel in sufficient quantitiy in the affected areas.

Also the fair price shops have been asked to store essential commodities like match sticks, candles, biscuits etc keeping in mind flood threat in the monsoon season.

“Fair price shops are opened on regular basis and I have directed food supplies officer to camp at the flood-affected areas and ensure these shops adhere to the directives” said Pandey.

Irrigation department has been asked to immediately reconstruct the damaged embankments at Sopri, Sherpur Bela, Gangdwarpur and Mathana as river water is cutting the adjacent land sharply.

She said from state government requisite funds had been sought for the relief aid and soon it will be available as per Chief Minister’s assurance, so the departments need not to give excuse of paucity of funds in doing relief works.

Dehradun, July 2
The Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN), a subsidiary of the Tourism Department, has suffered a loss of around Rs 25 crore due to damage to its properties in the disaster-struck areas of the state.

Not only this, the revenue of around Rs 8-10 crore which the department would have earned till November had the Char Dham yatra not been discontinued has also been lost. The GMVN also has to pay back the advance sum of Rs 50 lakh which tourists had deposited with it in the form of bookings for package tours.

The General Manager of the GMVN, HD Pandey, said, “Six tourist rest houses of the GMVN have been completely damaged, including those at Kodiyala, Siyalsaur, Chandrapuri, Kedarnath Dham, Rambara and Gaurikund. Similarly, eight rest houses suffered partial damages. Other losses, such as 800 cylinders washing away from a GMVN godown at Srinagar, have hit us hard.”

He said the GMVN, which earned profits from its rest houses located on Char Dham route during this period of the year, has suffered a major setback. He added that it would take three or four years to build new rest houses or other infrastructure and renovate the damaged ones.

Barring one employee of the rest house at Rambara, all employees of GMVN, working in rest houses located in affected region, are safe. Pandey said 13 tourists, who were out sightseeing, had gone missing from various places.

Dehradun, July 2
The power generation from all the functioning hydropower projects remained 10.7 million units (MU) yesterday. As per the power demand of 31.98 MUs, availability of total 31-70 MUs was registered by including the share of power given by the Central sector and other private sources.

The Maneri Bhali-I and II, Kalagarh and Pathari hydropower houses remained closed. The effect of low generation can be seen in power cuts which were imposed for 4 hours in rural areas of Udham Singh Nagar, 3 hours in small towns and one hour in big towns of the state 
on Monday.

Muzaffarnagar-Puhana-Rishikesh line was shut down from 1 in the afternoon to 5 in the evening, which disrupted the power supply in rural areas of Hardiwar, Roorkee and the surrounding areas. 

Dehradun, July 2
Heavy rains have caused extensive damage in many areas in the district. Water is entering houses as drains on the Haridwar Road have chocked. The Block Development Officer (BDO), Raipur, has been informed about the damage.

Similarly, Shiv Charan Johri village too has been affected where a house has been badly damaged. A wall around a big drain in the Ratanpur Ganeshpur area collapsed, leading to soil erosion in the fields nearby. 
The Irrigation Department has been directed to take action in the matter. A Junior Engineer of the department inspected the area yesterday.

Rainwater is also flooding the road in Simyari-Masyari village. The villagers fear that their village could get flooded due to rainwater. They are also finding it difficult to commute in knee-deep water. A primary school has also been damaged in heavy rains. The villagers have demanded the construction of an embankment behind the village boundary and a meshed iron fencing on the embankments of the canal. A house has washed away in the swelling water of a drain on the Vir Singh Pundir Jaitanwala Satla Devi Road.

Gram pradhan, Doiwala, Anita Pal said a canal, small bridges and roads had been badly damaged in the area. The Irrigation Department had been directed to take urgent action. An internal road at Gramsabha Khadri was blocked while other roads at Purodi, Damta, Anu, Chilahd, Amrad and Jhamrad were blocked due to heavy rains. The PWD is engaged in opening these roads. 

Dehradun, July 2
elp is pouring in from across the country for the disater-hit victims of of the state. R K Awasthi, regional head of the Bank of Baroda presented a cheque for Rs 2 crore to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna at the secretariat here today.

H R Purna Sadashiv, manager of RSB Transmission Ltd also presented a cheque for Rs 25 lakh to the Chief Ministers’ Relief Fund. S J Chopra, Chancellor of University of Petroleum and Energy Studies also gave a cheque for Rs 5 lakh to the Chief Minister for disaster relief. Uttarakhand Health Minister Surinder Singh Negi on behalf of District Cooperative Bank, Kotdwar presented a cheque for Rs 5.98 lakh, Tengley Jigme, president of Doon Tibetan Community gave a sum of Rs 3 lakh. Uttarakhand Labour Minister Harish Chander Durgapal also presented a cheque for Rs 85 lakh collected by the employees of Bajaj Auto Ltd to the Chief Minister for disaster relief. 

Dehradun, July 2
Three stranded pilgrims were evacuated yesterday from Badrinath to Rishikesh. They were given relief amount of Rs 6000. Around 10 persons were rescued from Matli. Each was a given relief amount of Rs 2000. Members of

Uttarakhand Poorv Sainiv Ardh Sainik Sanyukt Sangthan gave a cheque of Rs 1.2 lakh to District Magistrate BVRC Purushottam to be deposited in Chief Minister's Relief Fund. State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur also gave a cheque of Rs 1 crore to the relief fund.