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Uttarakhand the challenge ahead
Check corruption in rehabilitation, reconstruction work: Pangtey
CM announces Rs 10 lakh each for chopper crash victims’ kin
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Army completes rescue work in Kumaon region
Govt not serious on Kedar dham repair: Bhatt
Central insurance scheme for BPL families hits a roadblock
BSF starts rehabilitation
work in adopted villages
Development top priority: Hriyadesh
Rs 49.9 lakh donated for disaster-hit people of
Uttarakhand
Families leave homes after fresh landslides
Highway blocked due to landslip
Ration stocking could have reduced deaths: Pokriyal
Teenager arrested on theft charge
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Uttarakhand the challenge ahead
Dehradun, July 25 He said a re-thought needs to be given to the ongoing development activities in the state. While asserting that disasters do happen, he said precautions and scientific preventive measures are a must to deal with such disasters and minimise human casualties in future. Bahuguna is a M.Sc. in Resource Management from Edinburg University and D. Phil. in Forest Ecosystem from Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University. He has been conferred upon several prestigious awards like Commonwealth Forestry Association's Queen's Award (2000), Seth Memorial Prize (1989) and Brandis Memorial Prize (1987). He is presently in the Tripura administration as Principal Secretary in Planning and Coordination Department. Referring to his visit to Uttarakhand way back in 1999, when he was part of inter-ministerial team of the Union Government in the aftermath of Chamoli landslides, Bahuguna had then even called for a restructuring of the entire planning process and a re-think for the present system of planning for the hills. ''Uttarakhand needs to have scientific planning for execution of projects,'' Bahuguna said. He said unplanned development was taking its toll on Uttarakhand. He said unplanned
development had choked the drainage systems of the hills. ''Uttarakhand hills receive a good amount of rainfall from June till September and all the rain water needs to be drained out, but instead it gets choked due to unplanned construction of buildings and habitation and road construction work,'' he said. Bahuguna added that this rain water does not find way and goes into sub surface with landslides as its fallout. Bahuguna said villages vulnerable to landslides must be shifted. There have been
proposals to shift villages that are prone to disaster and the state authorities must work fast towards rehabilitation of these villages, said Bahuguna. He said while roads are coming in the Uttarakhand hills in a big way, rampant blasting of hills could be disastrous and taking roads through steep slopes could be dangerous. ''The authorities must go for tunneling instead of going for roads with steep slopes as such roads will always be vulnerable to landslides like disasters,'' he pointed out. On the recent rain disaster in Uttarakhand, VK Bahuguna said many
hilly parts of the country are experiencing excessive rainfall within a few days followed by prolong
dry periods. ''This also brings in cloudbursts. We have during our assessment of Forest Types of India during 2012 noticed that though the rainy days in hills in many locations are decreasing by 4 to 5 days but there is an overall increase of 5 to 10 per cent in the rainfall. Thus, possibility of sudden heavy rainfall is increasing. This situation is critical both from the point of view of ecological stability as well as livelihood of the people,'' he said. Stressing on proper river training in Himalayan rivers, Bahuguna said gradually large-scale mud, boulders and sand start collecting in the river beds, and these if not removed from the rivers, expand laterally, encroaching on adjoining lands and forests, which is also a major cause of devastation. WHAT TO DO — VK Bahuguna, Ex-DG, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education |
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Check corruption in rehabilitation, reconstruction work: Pangtey
Talking to The Tribune, SS Pangtey expressed concern over unnecessary delays in the execution of works of reconstruction and rehabilitation post disaster. "My experience has been that while proper rehabilitation is never done, the re-construction process, too, is very slow. For the construction of even one damaged bridge, the process is long drawn due to the technicalities invloved. And in the case of Uttarakhand, it is generally seen that before the reconstruction and rehabilitation for a particular disaster even gets completed, another disaster hits the state, thus bringing a shift in the priorities of the government," he said. He stressed on the constitution of a monitoring committee for reviewing the progress of re-construction works on a day-to-day basis. "This time too, once this disaster is over, the rehabilitation and reconstruction works will be taken up in a routine manner that may lead to delays. A monitoring committee is important to take the works of reconstruction and rehabilitation on priority," he said. He underlines the need for completion of all major reconstruction works before the start of monsoons next year. "A lot of corruption takes place in the name of re-construction. Often contractors intentionally delay re-construction works and claim that what they had re-constructed has been swept away in the next monsoon, thus siphoning off funds," he alleged. "Once a fresh calamity occurs, verification of the actual utilisation of funds becomes virtually impossible. Such practices are repeated with impunity because accountability is never fixed. The CAG audit report of 2010 contains comments about impropriety in the expenditure of the funds received for disaster management for the period 2005-10 in Uttarakhand," he added. He stressed on the adoption of a zero tolerance policy in the state towards corruption linked to rehabilitation and reconstruction works. "Thus, reconstruction works in the present disaster must be completed before the start of 2014 monsoons and even if some work is left, it should be immediately stopped as the rains start in the state. This will ensure that there is no scope of corruption in works of reconstruction," Pangtey suggested. Calling for the strengthening of the disaster mitigation and management mechanism in Uttarakhand, Pangtey said the state was ill prepared for the Kedarnath disaster. It was only with the assistance of the Army and paramilitary forces that effective rescue and relief operations could be done. "The state of Uttarakhand did adopt the Disaster Management Act (DMA) in 2007 and declared the constitution of the State Disaster Management Authority under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister and a State Executive Committee under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary. However, the repeated failures of the state machinery in managing the disasters year after year, indicate that the line of action envisaged in the DMA has never been followed," he pointed out. "Uttarakhand has suffered two major earthquakes -- in Uttarkashi and Chamoli --, a huge incident of landslide on the Varnavat Parvat and a cloudbust in Ashiganga valley in the recent past and the state now needs to pull up its socks and must exhibit will and determination towards taking adequate measures. Referring to the rampant construction activity in the environmentally fragile higher Himalayas, Pangtey remembered his visit to Kedarnath in 1986. "I went to Kedarnath in 1986. There was very little construction then. But today, the temple is surrounded by constructions, which is revealed in pictures of the rain-ravaged Kedarnath," he said. "There should be some check on such constructions as they make an adverse impact on the region's sensitive topography," he said. On the type of construction in hills, he said the traditional house building techniques were not practised any more. “The traditional house building techniques of the region developed over the ages establish the fact that the area had been affected by frequent tremors in the past. But today, the wisdom of our forefathers is not practised and even basic prevention measures in constructions in hills are seldom adhered to," he said. He also favoured a check on the picnicking tendencies at the places of religious significance in the Himalayas. "Pilgrimages are a matter of faith and the spirit of pilgrimage must be maintained at all costs, particularly when it involves environmentally fragile places. Mass tourism needs to be regulated," Pangtey said. Maintaining a distance from the anti-hydro project stance of environmentalists, Pangtey argues that one should not oppose technically correct hydro projects. He asserted that as per some experts, the Tehri dam helped save floods downstream townships like Deoprayag and Rishikesh. He said that only those under construction projects that were not technically sound were destroyed in the floods. Referring to frequent cloudbursts in hills, Pangtey disclosed that in recent years, the frequency of cloudbursts along with their intensity had risen in the Himalayan region. “On the other hand, such incidents are not reported from the plains of north India. The remedy thus lies in the plains whereas only hills are blamed by the elite intelligentsia of the Indian society for the problem," he said. “Inadequate forest coverage and its uneven distribution within the country are the real problems. Till date, no environment activist has raised the voice supporting greater focus on afforestation in the plains,” he said.
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CM announces Rs 10 lakh each for chopper crash victims’ kin
Dehradun, July 25 The Chief Minister appreciated their spirit and dedication towards work and announced a relief of Rs 10 lakh each for their families. On the occasion, a guard of honour was also presented by a police contingent. Bahuguna said the past one month had been very unfortunate for the state. Everyone was helping the victims despite difficult circumstances. Everyone, along with the Army, was involved in the relief operations and together would face all difficult circumstances. The Chief Minister said the helicopter pilots had been given directions to fly only in favourable weather conditions and to take special precautions, even though the situation was improving somewhat. |
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Army completes rescue work in Kumaon region
Pithoragarh, July 25 According to an Army spokesperson, in a one-month time, it extended all help to disaster-hit people in the four valleys of border subdivisions of Dharchula and Munsiyari. It evacuated 8,036 stranded persons, treated 1,800 persons by holding medical camps and dropped 37,816 kg of ration in the affected areas of Drama and Johar valleys. “The Army established rope ways at eight places in both valleys, where the existing bridges had been swept away or damaged in landslides,” said Brig Sanjive Soni, Commander at the local Army base. Brigadier Soni said Army personnel also took expecting mothers in remote villages to hospitals and organised a medical camp at Teejam in Drama valley. “Our 1,500 jawans who ran this operation were assisted by 12 helicopters — six of Air Force, four of the Army and two civilian helicopters,” he said. |
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Govt not serious on Kedar dham repair: Bhatt
Dehradun, July 25 "The state government is playing with the sentiments of the people of the country. It is not interested in the the reconstruction of the Kedar dham. In that case, the government should hand over the reconstruction of the Kedar dham to the BJP, which would willingly take up the task,” charged Bhatt. He said instead of taking up the offer of Gujarat Chief Minister Narinder Modi for the reconstruction of the temple, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna had rejected it. “It is not sincere. A team from the Archaeological Survey of India who had come to Dehradun to survey the damage at the temple had to return as the government failed to provide a chopper to ferry them to Kedarnath,” said Bhatt. He said the Congress had been exposed on the issue of the Setu Samundaram project as it had questioned the existence of Lord Ram in court. He also criticised the government for tardy distribution of relief material. He said several villagers had not been able to access food supplies.
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Central insurance scheme for BPL families hits a roadblock
Dehradun, July 25 Initially, around 29 hospitals were empanelled under the central scheme when it was started in 2010 for providing free medical treatment up to Rs 30,000 per year to the BPL cardholders but due to the delay in payment by the insurance company only five hospitals are now left. United India Insurance Company Ltd is yet to clear bills of over Rs 20 lakh due to private hospitals and Rs 10 lakh is pending for this year. The empanelled hospitals under the RSBY include Seth Hospital, Doiwala, and Lehmann Christian Hospital at Vikas Nagar in Dehradun and Prem Sukhdham and Nirmal Ashram in Rishikesh. These hospitals are empanelled with United India Insurance Company Ltd for providing medical treatment free of cost to five members of every BPL family registered under the RSBY. “The issue of pending payment towards private hospitals has been discussed with United India Insurance Company Ltd at meetings. So far, there has been no response from it,” said CMO Dr AS Sangar. Each BPL family registered under the RSBY is issued a smart card that entitles its five members of treatment up to Rs 30,000 every year. The private hospitals allege that despite the agreement stating that payments have to be made within 21 days, the insurance company has failed to do so. “On one pretext or the other, United India Insurance Company Ltd tries to uphold the payment. Sometimes it finds fault with the diagnosis and on other occasions the delay may be due to a software problem,” said a doctor of a private hospital. |
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BSF starts rehabilitation
work in adopted villages
Dehradun, July 25 Since July 9, the BSF men have been providing medical aid, holding community kitchen and building temporary shelters and small bridges for the villagers to cross rivers. BSF doctors have been providing medical services at camps to locals visiting Guptkasi via Kalimath and treating about 300 to 400 persons daily at these camps. Similarly, more than 400 persons are crossing the bridges daily. BSF women constables have also been deployed to help village women cross rivers. Besides, the BSF has made arrangements for school students whose houses were washed away in the recent floods to continue their studies without hindrance at Kalimath. The BSF teams are providing hot meals to all villagers through community kitchens. BSF troops are also repairing damaged foot tracks for villagers. |
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Development top priority: Hriyadesh
Haridwar, July 25 Indira, while directing the concerned officials, said that in case district scheme budget allocation was not possible, then the funding would be completed by either state or Central schemes, as district scheme covers vital areas in the rural areas of the district. Appealing for speeding up implementation of development -oriented schemes, the Finance Minister said the government was committed to overall development of all 13 districts of the state. On providing potable water, Indira directed Jal Sansthan and Jal Nigam officers to provide clean drinking water and directed the Electricity Department to publicise toll free complaint cell number in newspapers. The minister also took strong cognisance of various complaints regarding different departments and nodal agencies put up by legislators, Zila Panchayat chairperson and Municipal Corporation Mayor. District Magistrate Nidhi Pandey stated that while in the previous meeting a budget of Rs 50.52 lakh was passed for district-level schemes, this time new works and projects had been allocated to the departments of PWD, Pay Jal Nigam, Power Corporation,Irrigation, Allopathic-Ayurvedic, Animal Husbandry, Sugarcane Development and Tourism. Legislators Swami Yatishwaranand, Aadesh Chauhan, Pradeep Batra, Hari Das, Sanjay Gupta and Furkan Ahmed were present at the meeting along with Zila Panchayat chairperson Anjum Begum, Mayor, Haridwar, Manoj Garg, and Mayor, Roorkee, Yashpal Sharma. |
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Rs 49.9 lakh donated for disaster-hit people of
Uttarakhand
Dehradun, July 25 The Uttarakhand Head of HDFC Mutual Fund, Dehradun, Prashant Sharma, presented a cheque for Rs 30 lakh to the Chief Minister while the General Manager of Titan, Subba Rao Shetty, gave a cheque for Rs 15 lakh. The others who contributed to the relief fund were president of the Gorkhali Sudhar Sabha Bhagwan Singh Chettri (Rs 3.10 lakh), principal of Constancia School Lt Col AK Pundir (Rs 1 lakh) and president of the Uttarakhand Vishwavidyalay, Mahavidyalay Parishad Dr Satya Narayan Sachan (Rs 80,000). The Chief Minister expressed gratitude to all for their support at this time of the crisis. |
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Families leave homes after fresh landslides
Pithoragarh, July 25 Thirtyfive families of Chukani village, near Suva, had to abandon their houses last night after a building and its adjoining kitchen were destroyed in fresh landslides. Chukani village was totally devastated due to heavy rains last month. “We had to leave the village after heavy stones started shooting down from the hills at night. Due to timely information, precious lives were saved,” said Aan Singh Rokaya, a zila panchayat member from the area. Rokaya has demanded that these homeless villagers be evacuated by helicopters to Dharchula. According to information received from Munsiyari subdivision, families of Parvati Devi, Saruli
Devi, Lachman Singh and Paruli Devi had to abandon their houses in Chaura helmet of Girgaun village
after they developed cracks due to landslides last night. “We have sent patwari Deen Dayal Varma to assess the damage caused to these houses due to landslides,” said AK Shukla, SDM, Munsiyari. Meanwhile, Indian Air Force helicopters dropped 40 quintals of ration at Rung, Jipti, Dar and Teejam villages of the Darma valley today. Some ailing persons were airlifted from Teejam village and admitted to a Dharchula hospital. According to sources, the district administration has sent a proposal to the state government for resettling the disaster-affected villagers of Munsiyari subdivision at the Balati horticulture farm and in the Patalthor areas of the subdivision where there is a large chunk of barren land. “We can comment on the issue only after the government accepts the proposal,” said Shukla. |
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Highway blocked due to landslip
Mussoorie, July 25 Sources said the road subsided near Marod village which is close to Nainbagh due to incessant rains that began last afternoon. Commuters on both sides of the road were stranded for around five hours and had to wait till the debris on the road was cleared. A commuter, Virendar Kavi, said they had to wait without any food or water for five hours for the road to open. He said due to subsidence, a huge hole had been created on the road, endangering the lives of the commuters. He further said if the road was not repaired soon, it could result in a major accident. PWD officials said the repair work would begin after the rainy season.
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Ration stocking could have reduced deaths: Pokriyal
Pithoragarh, July 25 Nishank told mediapersons after visiting the disaster-hit Banbasa and Tanakpur regions that the Congress-led government in the state had been totally indifferent as neither the Chief Minister nor any of his ministers visited remote and rugged places to see the condition of the people after the natural disaster. They visited only those areas where helicopters could land. “The government showed sympathy to the people of only those areas which were approachable by helicopters. It miserably failed to deal with the natural disaster and the resultant situation and, hence, it be dismissed and President’s rule imposed on the state,” he said. Nishank advocated the formation of an all-party committee to deal with the post-disaster situation in the state. He said the actual suffering of the people could not be known at present as the government had been changing its figures of casualties and missing people. “The actual count of casualties and the subsistence power of the state could be known only after the government officials collect data from remote parts of Garhwal districts,” he said. The BJP leader visited areas devastated by the swollen Sharda and Huddi rivers in the subdivision and termed the situation as grave. Both rivers were now turning towards residential areas and required immediate measures. “I will appeal to the government through the party forum to start work of taming these two rivers, which start overflowing due to rain in the hill areas of the Kumaon region,” said Nishank. |
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Teenager arrested on theft charge
Dehradun, July 25 According to the police, Lala was apprehended by the police near Chawla Chowk, Karanpur, when he was allegedly trying to break the dickey of a scooter to steal the money. During interrogation, Lala confessed that on July 1, he had stolen money from the scooter of Mansinghwala, a resident of Urmila Parihar.
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Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna today paid homage to pilot Jagjit Singh and technician Abhay Ranjan, who died in a chopper crash in Garudchatti on
Wednesday.
The Border Security Force (BSF) has started relief and rehabilitation operations in Kalimath, Kabiltha, Kotma, Syansu and Chilond villages, besides other areas of Kalimath valley. It has adopted these villages and is operating from its base at
Kalimath.
Representatives of several organisations met Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna at the Secretariat today and handed over cheques for Rs 49.90 lakh towards the Chief Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund.
Uttarakhand hills receive a good amount of rainfall from June till September and all the rain water needs to be drained out, but instead it gets choked due to unplanned construction of buildings and habitation and road construction work. Uttarakhand needs to have scientific planning for execution of projects.
Dehradun, July 25