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Disaster affects Ramzan, very few jayarins turn up
No danger from Satopanth lake: Govt
Trauma centres to get staff soon
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Negi announces probe into machine purchase
Probe into halt of pilgrims’ registration sought
Space centre monitoring mountainous lakes in higher reaches
Forest Dept begins plantation drive
Gyan Deeksha at Shantikunj today
60 lakh people to benefit from food security scheme
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Disaster affects Ramzan, very few jayarins turn up
Haridwar, July 13 While flash floods, landslides, cloudbursts and soil erosion devastated Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag and Chamoli districts, the lower plains of the Garhwal division like Haridwar and Roorkee have been facing a flood-like situation. This has directly impacted the festivities during Mah-e-Ramzan as well as the supply of fruits and other eatables specially taken by the Muslim faithful. Even the world famous shrine of Piran Kaliyar is witnessing a fall in the number of ‘jayarins’ (including Hindus) who pay obeisance there during this Muslim holy month. The natural disaster has simultaneously affected pilgrimage to Har-ki-Pauri and the Piran Kaliyar shrine. Devotees are visiting both places in less numbers due to the death of a large of people in the natural disaster in the state last month. With incessant rains lashing the state, fewer devotees (jayarins) from other places are visiting the Piran Kaliyar shrine as compared to previous years. Earlier tenders for shops at Piran Kaliyar during the month of Ramzan used to fetch high rates but this time contractors showed little interest and did not quote high rates. Mohammed Amil, a contractor, said they would suffer losses if the number of the faithful did not increase in the coming days. The Ramzan festivities have also been affected at suburban Jwalapur in Haridwar, where a substantial number of Muslims reside. Fruits like apple and malta that used to come from Garhwal hills are not available owing to the natural calamity. This has led to an increase in the prices of other fruits and eatables. Dates, grapes, kiwis and other fruits are being sold at exorbitant prices, affecting poor Muslim devotees. Foreign dry fruits are available in the market but they too are not finding buyers. Afzal, a shopkeeper at Jwalapur, said the market was quite dim in comparison to the Ramzan month last year. Floods in both upper and lower reaches of the Garhwal division have washed away seasonal fruit crops. This has forced shopkeepers to rely on fruits brought from outside, particularly imported, but they are not finding any buyers. Maulana Afiz and Imam Kutibuddin said their sympathies were with the people who were killed in the natural disaster. They said they hoped that the Ramzan month would bring peace and normalcy to the state and the people would rise once again from the impact of the calamity. Tanveer Ali, a faithful, said high prices of dry fruits were beyond their reach and they were particularly missing local Garhwal seasonal fruit of malta this time. |
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No danger from Satopanth lake: Govt
Dehradun, July 13 In a statement issued here today, Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar disclosed that a team of Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology and Geological Survey of India along with officials from the ITBP and the Army was sent to Satopanth to assess the situation. On its return the team ruled out any threat from the lake and termed it as a natural phenomenon. Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna said assistance will be taken from geologists, other scientists and environmentalists for reconstruction of the state. A meeting will be held on July 21 in
Dehradun. |
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Trauma centres to get staff soon
Dehradun, July 13 “We have been facing shortage of manpower for several years. As a result, 17 Trauma centres have been non-functional. But soon we will have staff from 16 Community Health Centres (CHC) who would be deployed at the Trauma centres. The process of running 16 Community Health Centres in Garhwal and Kumaon region is complete. The private partner will make arrangement for recruiting doctors and other staff,” said Surinder Singh Negi. He said the Trauma centres were set up to provide life saving treatment to victims of road accidents. The centres could have been proved useful during the Char Dham yatra, but they remained non-functional due to the shortage of manpower. The Minister said the efforts to run CHCs on PP mode was aimed at solving manpower problem. “A CHC in Bajpur, Kumaon region, is already running on PP mode. While the other CHC in Raipur (Dehradun) will become functional on PP mode from July 15,” added Negi. He said the proposal to merge the MBBS (general duty medical officers) and specialists into one cadre, would be brought before the cabinet soon. |
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Negi announces probe into machine purchase
Dehradun, July 13 His response came after he was informed about the charges levelled by the state BJP Chief, Teerath Singh Rawat, "The machines were procured through the tender process, in case the charges are found to be true, action would be initiated against the officer and the amount would be recovered from the person involved," said Negi while speaking to the reporters. Earlier, in the morning the BJP Chief Teerath Singh had alleged, " The actual cost of one machine after payment of excise duty was around 73 lakh but the vendor had charged around Rs 2 crore (approx) for a single machine, thereby charging close to Rs 4 crore for both the
machines." |
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Probe into halt of pilgrims’ registration sought
Dehradun, July 13 “Had the minister not stopped the registration of pilgrims, who proceeded on the Char Dham yatra on buses, the government would have known the number of people who had gone missing. An inquiry should be initiated to find out why the minister stopped the registration of pilgrims,” said Rawat. Rawat, who returned after touring Chamoli, said in the name of relief disbursement fake receipts showing pilgrims were ferried on buses from Agustmuni were being made to claim Rs 2,000 per person offered by the government as relief. He alleged that the relief material being sent by the state government was vanishing from government warehouses and reaching private godowns. “In the Tharali block of Chamoli a private godown owner, who had stocked relief material illegally, hid it the moment he came to know that we were in the area,” said Rawat. He also hit out at the Department of Health for procuring a costly electro machine, which was not pressed into service at the Doon Hospital for giving relief to flash flood victims admitted there. “The electromagnetic shockwave lithotripter machine was not used for giving relief to the pilgrims, who were admitted to the Doon Hospital with swollen legs and varicose vein problem,” said Rawat. He added that the Vijay Bahuguna government was unable to make a proper assessment of the extent of damage caused to life and property in the rain-induced tragedy. “How can ministers know about the extent of damage when none of them has visited the disaster-hit areas. More than 40 house have been partially damaged in the Narayan Bagar area of Chamoli but the government insists the number of damaged houses is 35,” he said. |
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Space centre monitoring mountainous lakes in higher reaches
Dehradun, July 13 Dr MM Kimothi, Director, USAC, said they had started monitoring mountainous lakes to know the level of water in these lakes. The formation of new lakes would also be observed. Data will be collected in the next few days. Kimothi said the USAC, in assistance with the ISRO, was also working to come up with an advance warning system for landslides. He said the USAC and the Ahmedabad-based ISRO had signed a memorandum of understanding to work on the advance warning system for landslides with the Ministry of Earth Sciences and the Ministry of Water Resources also becoming part of the project. He said the project was expected to complete within two years. |
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Forest Dept begins plantation drive
Haridwar, July 13 Besides planting saplings, various varieties of tree saplings are being provided by the department at Bhagat Singh intersection based forest department nursery. More than six varieties of trees are being offered at a nominal price for common people. This nursery will remain open till September, as during monsoon season plantation of saplings is much conducive, compared to other seasons.Forest employees Renuka Badola and Ram Kumar said they are getting bulk bookings from schools, factories based in SIDCUL industrial estate, ashrams, dharamshalas and hotels for saplings. Badola said buyers are also being given first hand information about right methodology of sapling, planting and maintenance. Haridwar range Ranger VK Singh said every year they carry out this nursery sale to promote green cover awareness among local residents.Varieties of peepal, chameli, molsari, ashoka tree, badai are available from Rs 15-60 per sapling. Meanwhile, Horticulture Department has also initiated selling of fruit saplings to increase green cover in the city.
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Gyan Deeksha at Shantikunj today
Haridwar, July 13 Shantikunj head Dr Pranav Pandya and Shail Jiji will be the chief guest.The Gyan Deeksha is an annual ritual of ancient Gurukul mode of education, wherein teachers and pupils obey "Guru
Shishya" tradition. |
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60 lakh people to benefit from food security scheme
Dehradun, July 13 “We have drafted 15 norms for the beneficiaries which have been simplified to cover around 60 lakh beneficiaries in three categories. In case we receive more suggestions, these too would be brought before the cabinet for approval,” said Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna while addressing the media persons. Bahuguna said the cabinet had also approved the norms for the APL category card holders and would be covered under the scheme. “The selection of the APL beneficiaries has to be finalised at the gram panchayat level. Approximately 75 per cent of the beneficiaries would be from rural areas,” he said. |
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The impact of the natural disaster in Uttarakhand is also being felt during the ongoing pious month of
Mah-e-Ramzan.
Dehradun, July 13
Uttarakhand BJP president Teerath Singh Rawat today sought an inquiry against Transport Minister Surinder Rakesh for stopping the process of registration of pilgrims who visited Rishikesh for the Char Dham yatra this year.
