Missing cops’ kin face challenges
Left with 2 infant girls and mother-in-law, Ukhimath resident wants a job
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 18
Family members of police personnel that went missing in the recent rain disaster face a fresh set of challenges as they have lost all hope of finding their loved ones.

Ukhimath resident Anjana Devi, wife of missing Home Guard Puran Singh, has no earning member left in the family and seeks a job for herself.

Puran Singh went missing in the recent rain disaster in Uttarakhand, leaving behind Anjana, two infant girls and his mother. "Supporting two infant girls is not easy. Moreover, I have an aged mother-in-law. I will have to support all the three. I need to do a job," Anjana Devi said, urging the state government for job.

Puran Singh, father of missing constable Kalpana Arya, expressed concern over improper distribution of relief and little efforts on the part of the state government to retrieve the bodies. “While my daughter along with other police personnel went missing in the course of duty, there have been little efforts to retrieve the bodies. I think whether it is a policeman or a pilgrim or a commoner, efforts should be done to retrieve their bodies," Puran Singh pointed out.

He also expressed concern over "improper" distribution of relief. "I belong to Tehri. What I am seeing is that the relief is confined to some places, where it is in abundance. In other places, relief material is still to reach a large number of places, where it is urgently required," Puran Singh said.

Pathi Ram, brother of missing constable Suraj Chand, too expressed remorse that he could not perform the last rites of his brother as his body was yet to be retrieved. Referring to his ordeal after hearing the news of the Kedarnath disaster, Pathi Ram said he had to run from pillar to post, trying to seek information about the whereabouts of his brother. However, he said, he has no complaints against the police department, where his brother served. He said the void created in his life would always pinch him.

Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna today distributed ex gratia to the families of missing police personnel today.

Traumatised kids to be provided psychological help
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 18
Lending urgency to the events of last month’s natural disaster that has left many schoolchildren orphaned and homeless in Uttarakhand, the Department of School Education has decided to provide psychological support to the traumatised children.

“These children are still grappling with the after-effects of the tragedy. They have seen their homes crumble under the impact of the gushing river and lost families. Worse still, their schools, too, were washed away. Therefore, we have decided to counsel the children through our resource persons who will be provided short-term training at Srinagar Medical College,” said R.K Kunwar, Additional Director, Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).

He said around 35 resource persons would be trained at the medical college for a short period for basic counseling and health and hygiene.

The department has also held consultations with the NGOs such as Pratham, Butterfly, Sri Bhuvneshwari Mahila Ashram (SBMA), Room to Read and Azim Premji Foundation under it’s “Aap aur Hum” programme for improving the lot of the schools that have been partially damaged.

“These organisations have agreed to support the department by providing books and sponsoring school bags and stationery for schoolchildren,” he said.

The Department of School Education is assessing the loss incurred to the schools, some of which have been completely washed away in the rains.

Around 57 elementary schools have been totally washed away and around 302 primary and junior schools partially damaged in the natural disaster.

The department has made short-term arrangement of holding classes in private buildings and panchayat ghars. “The damage to the schools has been heavy. We have estimated it to be around Rs 8 crore. We will receive assistance for building these schools from the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan funds and through disaster relief,” said Kunwar.

The Uttarakhand government has also released funds towards one-time grant for assisting the students for buying textbooks and stationery. 

Delhi highway to be closed for Kanwar yatra

Muzaffarnagar, July 18
The Delhi-Haridwar national highway would be closed for traffic from July 30 to August 5 to ensure smooth movement of Kanwar pilgrims during their yatra.

Traffic on the Delhi-Haridwar national highway would be diverted to alternative routes, SSP Manzil Saini said.

The steps have been taken to prevent any untoward incident in the district.

As many as 30 CCTV cameras would also be installed along sensitive places for security, Saini said.

During the Kanwar yatra, pilgrims carry water from the Ganga to offer it to Lord Shiva.

Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand government has suspended the char dham yatra following the recent disaster in the state in which pilgrims could not reached Gangotri to bring water.

These pilgrims would also take the holy water from the Ganga in Haridwar.Kanwars are devotees who gather at Haridwar every year to take a dip in the Ganga and collect its water to offer to Lord Shiva. -- PTI

Five rail lines proposed for Kumaon hills
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, July 18
Krishan Kumar Atal, General Manager, Railways (Bareilly Zone), has said he has prepared five proposals for railway lines in the Kumaon hills on the instructions of the Union Railway Ministry. These include new rail lines from Tanakpur to Bageshwar, Tanakpur to Jauljibi and Ramnagar to Chaukhutia.

“The proposal for laying a 155-km railway line from Tanakpur to Bageshwar at a cost of Rs 2,791 crore has been sent to the Railway Board for further action,” said the General Manager.

He added besides the Tanakpur-Bageshwar rail line, other proposals were for the construction of Tanakpur to Purnagiri and Kathgodam to Nainital rail lines. These proposals had also been sent to the Railway Board. “We have also been tasked to prepare a proposal for a survey of a new rail line between Haldwani in Nainital to Ritha Sahib in Champawat district,” he said.

Centre’s ministerial team on tour of disaster-hit areas
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 18
Members of an inter-ministerial team today left for undertaking a survey of the disaster-affected five districts of the state led by Joint Secretary (Home) Lokesh Jha.

The two members from the Central team would cover all the five districts accompanied by seven IAS officers from various departments of the state.

However, Jha would first go to Pauri and then visit Rudraprayag, Chamoli and Uttarkashi. Garhwal Commissioner Suverdhan would accompany him.

On the other hand, Director of Ministry of Rural Development L. Fanai would travel to Dharchula (Pithoragarh) accompanied by Director, Sugarcane Development (Uttar Pradesh government) Virender Singh, Additional Secretary, PWD, Amit Negi, and Commissioner, Kumaon, RK Sudhanshu, from Uttarakhand.

The team to Uttarkashi would comprise CMO Niloy Roy and he would be accompanied by Additional Secretary (Health), Uttarakhand, Piyush Singh.

Liaison officer with Ministry of Transport Pankaj Kumar and Deputy Conservator Amit Mishra of Ministry of Environment and Forests would tour Rudraprayag. The 11-member inter-ministerial team that arrived today in Dehradun is expected to complete its survey by July 20. 

SDM stops hall construction on Saryu banks
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, July 18
The Bageshwar district authorities have stopped the construction of a hall near the banks of the Saryu river. The Uttarakhand government has imposed a ban on constructions on riverside or riverbanks in the state.

“The government has banned the construction of any building near the river and ordered stopping of all constructions under way on any side of it. We have stopped the construction of a hall near the Saryu river,” said Uday Singh Rana, SDM, Bageshwar.

According to engineers of the Rural Development Service (RES), the department contractor has already spent Rs 5 lakh on the construction of the hall and has also gathered material worth lakhs of rupees at the construction site. “After instructions from the SDM, we have stopped the construction of the building. We have also decided to send a proposal to the higher authorities for paying the contractor, who has spent his own money on the hall construction after obtaining contract some months ago,” said the SDM.

According to the Bageshwar district administration, the Saryu has started damaging the security wall near the Numaish ground where district-level exhibitions and cultural programmes are held. “If the river continues its present course, it will damage all constructions near its banks in the futute,” said Rana. 

Illegal hoardings dot Doon roads
Seema Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 18
The Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) neither restrains anyone from putting up hoardings on roadsides and over roads without permission nor holds tenders for allotting hoarding slots. As a result, people install hoardings illegally causing a significant revenue loss to the corporation.

Illegal hoardings have been installed on Haridwar Road, Tyagi Road and Ballupur roads. Mukhya Nagar Adhikari (MNA) Ashok Kumar said, “I have also noticed this. I was told that whenever tenders for the allocation of rights for installing hoardings were held, companies which showed interest withdrew later as they were not willing to pay the quoted price. In an attempt to earn more profits the DMC has been rejecting lower bids, thus incurring losses. We need to check it.”

He said he had earmarked about 25 such roads in the city where the tender process could be held for allotting hoarding rights. “Three companies have bagged tenders for 10 roads in the city. These roads include Rajpur Road, Gandhi Road, Saharnpur Road, Chakrata Road, JMS Road, Rest Camp Road, Race Course and the Mussoorie diversion. The DMC earns Rs 2.5 crore in a year from these hoardings,” the MNA added.

Ashok said, “We will have to change our approach to earn revenue from other roads as well. We need to accept whatever lower prices are quoted in the bids for these roads. At least we will get some revenue. Or else we will keep spending our energy and time in preventing others from displaying their hoardings alongside and on these roads.”

Mayor Vinod Chamoli also supported the idea saying the DMC must hold tender for hoarding rights for other roads as well and make some money that could be spent on development and welfare works. 

Uttarakhand the challenge ahead
The Tribune series on what needs to be done to rebuild state
Think about the bearing capacity of region: Tamta 
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, July 18
“It is the time to think about the bearing capacity of the Himalayan region as this disaster has proved that the Himalayan rivers are angry with the policies that we have adopted in the name of development over the past decades,” said Pradeep Tamta, MP from Almora and former environment activist.

“This is for the first time probably in the history of the Himalayas that the Himalayan rivers have shown their wrath towards the developmental strategies adopted by us and to awaken us for the future," said Tamta.

On the measures to be taken by the Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority, which has been constituted by the state government recently, Tamta said it should think of construction in terms of building bigger dams and tunnels from a new angel as the Himalayas have been awakening us from time to time. "It is not the water that caused the havoc, but the mud and silt brought with heavy boulders that wrecked havoc in Kedarnath and elsewhere this time," said Tamta.

The Almora MP said the state governments have not taken cognisance of the various forest movements, like the Chipko movement, while formulating policies for the Himalayan region, but they have adopted techniques which were being used generally all over the country. "We should have considered that there are four stakeholders of Himalayan development. Besides the forests, water and soil, the Himalayan people are the fourth stakeholders of these policies, which the successive governments have overlooked," said Tamta.

He said that when the European countries can overcome the hurdle of mountain development, why we cannot. "Dr MS Swaminatahan, in 1982, advocated the preservation of water, forest and soil in the Himalayan region while developing these regions. He had said that while giving a boost to tourism, the ecological physiology should be taken into consideration," said Tamta.

Tamta said the recommendation by the ZA Qasim committee on forming a Himalayan development authority and creating a Himalayan development fund be taken into consideration while going in for reconstruction in the region. "We will have to divide the Himalayan region in different zones and consider making some zones restricted for human interference,” he said.

"At present, the Himalayan region is being exploited for national needs. Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister ND Tiwari had declared that the Tehri Dam would be last big dam in the Himalayas. But we have permitted the construction of new dams in the region which has angered the youngest mountains of the world," said Tamta.

Tamta says that whenever any new project in is constructed in the Himalayan region, the human cost of it should also be kept in mind.

The tunnelling and blasting for roads and bigger projects have weakened the mountains. "The catastrophe has also taken away tourism. We will not be able to restart the pilgrimage for Kedarnath in the next two years and the tourists have also deserted the other tourists destinations like Nainital and Mussoorie," said Pardeep Tamta.

Tamta has suggested that even in the construction of BRO and PMGSY roads, the concept of using dynamites should be abandoned. "In Hong Kong, we have seen how a landslide gets treated during the construction of roads and highways. It can be adopted in our region as well," said Tamta. He added that despite leaders from the Himalayan region traveling to all parts of the world at government expense in the name of bringing fast development, none returns with new ideas. He said there was need to adopt new techniques on road and other constructions which have been followed by advanced European countries while developing their Alpine regions. "Despite the Government of India giving huge amounts to BRO to construct new roads in the Himalayan region, it does not change its techniques which could help preserve the ecology of the region,” Tamta said.

He expressed concern over the border villages being abandoned due to the frequent disasters and other natural calamities. Tamta emphasized the need of strengthening border habitations and said only those villages which have been declared endangered from the habitation point of view should be shifted from the borders and given land in the Terai region. “The other villagers in the border area should be linked with the latest communication network and small helipads be constructed near these villages for their evacuation in case of any natural disaster," said Tamta.

The Almora MP was of the view that helicopters services and ropeways should be considered as an alternative to modern motor road transportation for the higher regions of the Himalayas. For this, all the Himalayan states should be called to discuss these issues and initiative should be taken by the Government of India.

"We are today inviting tourists beyond the bearing capacity of the region. This has also played havoc many times in the past. The flow of tourists should be restricted keeping in view the limits of the Himalayan resources and their bearing capacity. For this, the registration of tourists coming to the region should be started and some areas kept out of bounds for them. This will help preserve the ecology of these mountains. This way, we could maintain the sanctity and attraction of this great mountain range which has not only given the boon of rivers and river valley culture to the country, but also solace, creativity and inspiration for life,” said Tamta.

WHAT TO DO

Stop use of dynamites in road construction

New look needed for bigger projects, including hydroelectric projects

Prefer ropeways to roads

Adopt new technologies in developmental process in the Himalayas

Restrict number of tourists and keep some areas out of bounds for tourists to preserve ecology

Sustain border villages

ICICI, HDFC, IDBI contribute to relief fund 
Tribune News service

Dehradun, July 18
ICICI Group today made a contribution of Rs 15 crore towards the Uttarakhand Chief Minister's Relief Fund. Chanda Kochhar, MD and CEO, ICICI Bank, met Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna and presented the cheque to aid the relief work in the disaster-hit Uttarakhan.

Meanwhile, Dilip Apte, General Manager of HDFC Bank, also presented a cheque for Rs one crore for disaster relief to the Chief Minister. CMD of IDBI MS Raghavan also presented to the Chief Minister a cheque for Rs 1.63 crore while the president of the Sai Baba Super Spiritual Hospital Trust, Geeta Sharma, also gave a cheque for Rs 5.12 lakh. The Chief Minister has expressed gratitude to the institutions for the help being extended to the flood victims.

PNB contibutes Rs 7 crore

KR Kamath, Chairman & Managing Director of Punjab National Bank (PNB), presented a cheque of Rs 7 crore representing contribution of one-day salary by the employees of PNB to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna towards Chief Minister’s Relief Fund here today.

During the discussions Kamath requested the Chief Minister to utilise the contribution money for renovation / reconstruction of school buildings affected by the recent natural calamity. The Chief Minister readily accepted the request and advised the bank to work in close coordination with the state government.

Kamath also assured to supplement the contribution in case of need for completing the work of reconstruction of identified schools.

He also highlighted the various measures taken by the bank to provide immediate relief after the floods. The bank organised relief camps at Uttarkashi, Jolly Grant Airport, Dehradun, Rishikesh bus stand, Gaucher, Gopeshwar, Joshimath, Okhimath and Agustmuni. The bank also provided relief material and food packets which were distributed to the victims via helicopters.

Further, the bank is planning to adopt a number of flood-hit villages for rehabilitation. This will supplement the efforts being made by the state government.

Kamath also assured the Chief Minister that all the branches will be totally involved in the rehabilitation of the businesses and vocational activities of people affected by the calamity by restructuring the existing loans and providing fresh loans to the inhabitants of the state.

250 disaster-hit families given relief material at CII camps 
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 18
Officials of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) successfully concluded distribution of relief material to 250 families at camps held at Sumadi and Chakha in Rudraprayag district and Narayanbagar in Chamoli on July 16 and 17 with the support of respective district administrations.

About 100 families from 10 villages were benefited from the camps at Sumadi and Chakha while 150 families from 30 villages were distributed relief material at the Narayanbagar camp. The relief material distributed included bedding sets (cots, quilts and mattresses), water purifiers, solar lamps, blankets, torches and hygiene items.

The next set of camps is being planned at Agustamuni and Ukhimath and is expected to reach out to more than 300 families. Besides relief material, temporary shelters would also be made available at the camps. There is also a plan to hand over a large quantity of medicines and chlorine tablets to the district administration authorities.

These camps are being organised as part of the relief and rehabilitation initiative for Uttarakhand of the CII. The initiative is being carried out under the aegis of the CII Foundation and is supported by CII members.

CM enquires from gram pradhans about relief aid 
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 18
Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna enquired from gram pradhans of several villages about the relief material being provided to them.

Bahuguna personally spoke to them and enquired about relief programmes being held in their villages. He asked whether the villages had adequate amount of ration, connectivity of roads and the availability of drinking water, electricity and health- related facilities.

On the directions of the CM, an eight-point questionnaire has been designed for the villages. The duty of getting this filled has been given to a few officials at the camp offices. The CM is also calling up pradhans personally and without any prior notice.

In Uttarkashi, he called the head of Ladari village, Bhatwadi, Lalita Semwal, to know about the problems being faced by them.

Lalita Semwal informed the CM that the relief work in her village was being regulated by the district administration and enough ration had been provided to them. In Pithoragarh district, he spoke to pradhan Jamuna Devi of Madkot, pradhan Bhagat Singh of Mawanidawani, head of Panchu Narayan Singh and Kalawati of Kimiyada village and Jagdish Lal of Ukhimath village.

Besides, telephonic enquiries were made from Kalawati Devi of Kimon village (Chamoli) , Kallgot’s Dharam Singh, Pandkeshwar’s Baktawar Singh, Bhundar’s Devendra Singh, Mahavir Singh of Tyula village in Tharali Tehsil, Deepa Singh of Tharali, Jaishankar Prasad of Devrada, Rajendra Singh of Audar and Rakesh Devradi of Suna.

The Chief Minister told the village heads that the state government would support them fully in this hour of crisis. He assured them that the government was resolved on undertaking the work of providing relief with complete dedication.

He said strict action would be taken against any official who was found shirking his duties and promised he would personally take feedback from them from time to time. The relief work had slowed down a bit due to difficult weather conditions, he said. The DMs had been directed to provide the relief material to the villages in adequate quantities and in time.