18-day rescue work ends, 100 still stranded
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, July 4
The18-day rescue and relief operation has ended in the district.

About 910 stranded villagers and people from other states were rescued and 332 quintals of relief packets dropped in 20 affected helmets in the Darma and Johar valleys of Pithoragarh district during this period, Kumaon Commissioner RK Shudhanshu said here today.

Shudhanshu told mediapersons that about 100 persons were still stranded in the Darma and Johar valleys.

“Most of the villagers are busy in farming in higher valleys as this is the season for sowing local crops of potato, palthi and phaphar, besides medicinal herbs. We are rescuing only those people who are either outsiders or locals who have settled outside these valleys and gone there to worship their deities,” said the Commissioner.

He added that to ensure that only genuine people were evacuated through helicopters from these valleys the administration had decided to drop a senior officer in the villages to identify persons who were to be lifted.

“Genuinely, over 100 persons are required to be lifted and rescued in a day if weather gets clear for helicopter sorties,” said Sudhanshu.

The Commissioner said the administration had allowed an outside organisation to distribute relief material among the stranded people. 

Focus now on ensuring relief reaches needy
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, July 4
As the rescue operation has almost finished in the disaster-hit villages of Darma and Johar valleys of Pithoragarh district, the state government has given priority to giving relief material to every needy family in the district, Manoj Tiwari, parliamentary secretary in the Bahuguna Cabinet and deputy in charge of the district plan, said here today.

“As trucks loaded with ration for one month are to reach the district, we have given priority to the distribution of this material to the needy villagers of Darma and Johar valleys,” said Tiwari.

He said there were reports that relief material was distributed to the villages near road heads and the others who needed it were deprived. “We have instructed the district administration that whatever means they get -- by helicopters, mules, porters or any other means, they should ensure delivery of relief material to the victims," said Tiwari.

He said truckloads of relief material was likely to reach the district shortly. It included 15 kg of flour, 15 kg rice, 3 kg of sugar and 1 litre of kerosene for each affected family.

Garbage treatment project awaits Forest Dept clearance
Seema Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 4
The road for the construction of a Shishambara Scientific Land Fill (SLF) under solid waste management is full of hurdles. Though the project has got clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, it will now need permission from the Forest Department for cutting down around 100 trees. It will also need approval from the State Pollution Control Board before going ahead with construction work for the SLF.

The bigger obstacle is to obtain necessary clearance from the Ground Water Authority for the use of groundwater. The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) has laid tough conditions for the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) for carrying out construction at the site. The members of the EAC will make periodical visits to the site to ensure that the necessary guidelines were followed properly.

Garbage collected from all over the city is dumped at the trenching ground and not treated for manure or recycled. The proposal of the SLF, which is meant to treat garbage and recycle it, awaited clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests for the past two years. Now, after getting clearance it will take one more year to complete other formalities and construction work.

The DMC will have to develop a green belt of 20 metres all along the boundary of the SLF and at least 30 metres on the riverside. Connectivity to roads will also have to be provided according to the guidelines.

The biggest concern of the Ministry of Environment and Forests that the local river can get polluted due to the project has again been raised. The EAC has directed the DMC to carry out periodical monitoring of groundwater and soil to check the level of pollution in and around the site. As the DMC has suggested that waste can be transported through village roads, the EAC has directed it to widen the roads so that villagers do not face any inconvenience and the work at the site too continues unhindered.

The DMC will also have to give in writing that the project will fulfil all provisions of the hazardous wastes management, handling and trans-boundary movement rules, 2008, including collection of waste and design of the project.

Since gas emanating from such a site will be poisonous, the EAC has asked the DMC to tap and dispose of the gas according to the scientific measures prescribed in the rules. The same goes for the prescribed standards for collection and treatment of the residue from the facility. The depth of the land fill site will be decided based on the groundwater table there. The DMC will also prepare an onsite emergency management plan to deal with any emergency. 

DMC fails to auction shops, collect rents on properties
Seema Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 4
Officials of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) often complain of lack of revenue to carry out development works in the city. Several vacant shops, situated at different places in the city, have not been auctioned for the last 10 years.

The DMC did not take the pains to collect rent from the tenants of its properties in the last eight months, which amounts to Rs 85 lakh. Mukhya Nagar Adhikari Ashok Kumar said yesterday he did not have sufficient number of employees who could be sent to collect rentals for DMC properties. The tenants themselves did not bother to pay the DMC.

He said his two inspectors had retired. Additional Mukhya Nagar Adhikari left while Harsh Vardhan Mishra has occupied the post but another official, Sahayak Nagar Adhikari Neeraj Pandey, was keeping unwell. There were a couple of junior engineers and one executive engineer who kept running for works related to wards or meetings with other department officials. However, he said, he would send notice to the tenants to deposit rents.

With regard to several shops in the city, which had been lying vacant for almost a decade and were getting damaged for not being in use, he said:'' There is a lot of anomaly with regard to the premium rate fixed for these shops and their monthly rental. Since all these evaluations were done much before I joined, I am yet to see on what basis these rates were fixed, and will alter them as per the current circle rate.”

There are 25 DMC shops vacant on Kanwali Road, 10 on Malviya Road, 8 at Race Course, 7 at Subhash Nagar and 32 before DMC premises.

He also admitted that the rental was a bit high, which had discouraged the buyers to take up these shops on lease. For instance, for 45 shops in front of DMC, the premium had been fixed between Rs 35 lakh and Rs 25 lakh.

Regularise services of lower caste staff: Makwana
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, July 4
Uttarakhand Rajya Safai Karmachari Ayog chairperson Bhagwat Prasad Makwana has taken strong objection to the "lacklustre" approach by the Haridwar Municipal Corporation towards the employees' interest.

Taking a review meeting at his Niranjanpur office, Bhagwat Prasad Makwana said yesterday the city’s Municipal Corporation had failed to regularise the contractual workers' services hailing from lower castes, while others have been given time-bound regularisation.

Makwana said he was not satisfied with the approach of the officials regarding issues of health workers and warned of punitive action if they did not take time-bound action on his directives.

Bhagwat Prasad Makwana also cited the 119 vacant posts of sanitation health workers lying vacant for the past two years, which despite his repeated directives, the corporation seemed to be deliberately delaying.

He also directed officials to immediately pay the three months' delayed wages of the contractual sanitation workers, and those hired as per Mohalla Swatchtha Samiti should be given immediately their due of 14 months wages.

The chairperson also expressed his concern over the manual scavenging, saying that as per Census 2011 figures and counting done by Social Welfare Department, dry toilets touch a whopping 14,000 mark in the state, while 4,701 people, mostly Dalits, are involved in this procedure.

“In Haridwar alone in urban area 630 manual scavengers are operating while in rural areas the number is 2576. But Municipal Corporation officials submitted a wrong affidavit, which is quite surprising. I ask corporation officials to submit again the real numbers and make sure this procedure is totally abolished in the district,” said Makwana.

Biomarkers that alert people before attack by disease 
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 4
The two-day national symposium on biomarkers being held at SGRR Institute of Medical and Health Sciences concluded here today. In the symposium, specialists presented research papers on modern models of biomarkers.

Today, on the last day, HP Pande gave a lecture on ''Status on Breast Cancer Metastasis.'' He explained that by means of clinical science using modern techniques, the various stages of breast cancer can be known.

T. Malati of Hyderabad explained the topic “Screening of Early Prostrate Cancer and Benign Prostrate Hyperplasia.” He said that the differentiation between prostrate cancer and prostrate enlargement can be easily understood by means of prostrate specific antigen protein which acts as bio indicator.

He informed that in case of prostrate cancer this protein’s level shoots up very much. In case of prostrate enlargement it's level does not increase so much. Rakesh Kumar Singh of Beneras Hindu University threw light over the topic “Recent Advancement in Diagnosis of Visceral Leishmaniasis”. He said that the disease of kalazar was more prevalent in eastern UP.

Ankit Khanduri of Microbiology Department of SGRR Institute of Medical and Health Sciences delivered a lecture on ''Diagnosing Sepsis: Role of Biomarkers.''

Earlier yesterday, emphasis was laid on irregular lifestyle and carelessness towards health, which could lead to devastating results in the future. The health experts invented certain parameters that are named Biomarkers. Biomarkers were certain such indicators of any disease that alerted the person far before the disease attacked the person. This was the common opinion expressed by renowned medical exponents of the country at the national symposium.

The national-level symposium was organised in collaboration with Medical Council of India, Government of India and Indian Council of Medical Research. The topic of the symposium has been “Biomarkers in Health and Disease: Bench to Bedside”. V M Katoch, Secretary to Government of India, Department of Health Research (Ministry of Health & Family Welfare), and Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, inaugurated the symposium and was also the chief guest. Prior to the beginning of the programme, the participants observed two minutes' silence and prayed for the peace of the departed souls in the recent natural calamity that hit Uttarakhand.

VM Katoch in his address said that from the point of medical science, the subject of biomarkers is very significant. In the coming days, the researches over the various types of biomarkers will play a significant role in the treatment of various diseases. He also expressed deep condolence over the recent natural calamity that hit the state.

He appealed the country men to assist in the making of a new strong Uttarakhand. Shri Mahant Davendra Das ji Maharaj in his message congratulated the organisers and participants of this national symposium. He said that research works should be motivated more and more in the country.

BRO: Repair of Pithoragarh roads will take 3 months
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, July 4
Disaster-hit villages of Madkot and Garbadhar of Dharchula subdivision will have to wait for three months to get proper road connectivity as Border Roads Organisation officers have expressed their inability to open these highly damaged roads before three months.

Talking to newsmen at Madkot after inspection of the damage, additional director-general of BRO, VK Yadav, said it would take two months to open the 44-km long road from Jauljibi to Madkot as it has been damaged badly and a 3-km long patch has been completely washed away.

“The road which is the essential lifeline for over 50 villages of the Madkot area could be opened in three months as the essential machinery will have to be airdropped,” said Yadav.

He said opening of way from Tawaghat to Garbadhat will also take three months as the vital bridge at Tawaghat was washed away in the rain fury. “The rain fury has damaged BRO roads from Jauljibi to Madkot, Tawaghat to Garbadhar and Munsiyari to Madlot ,” said Yadav.

138 doctors promoted and transferred
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 4
The Uttarakhand Health and Family Welfare Department today promoted 138 medical officers to the position of senior medical officers in the state.

Along with promotions, these doctors have also been transferred to new health facilities.

The promotion of these doctors was awaited as recently the Uttarakhand Gvernment had promoted several specialist grade doctors.

On the other hand, to help the relatives of missing persons in their search of relatives lost in the Uttarakhand natural disaster, the missing persons' registration cell set up at the Secretariat has now launched an Internet-based software which would provide a platform for the relatives of the missing persons to connect with each other on Facebook and Twitter.