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Bahuguna demands Rs 13,550 cr from Centre for relief works
4 killed in landslide,
houses damaged
SDM dies after fall from bridge over Mandakini
Delay in CBI, vigilance probe hits MC development works
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Kanwariyas and Kanwars take the pilgrim city by storm
'Mindspree' begins at St Jude's School
Students participate in the creative art festival title "Mindspree" organised at St Jude’s School in Dehradun on Wednesday. A Tribune photograph
Trenching ground cannot be cleared, says DVWM Director
UJVNL makes Maneri Bhali-I (90 MW) functional
Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (UJVNL) has been able to make the last hydropower house , Maneri Bhali-I (90 MW), functional today. Eleven other power houses have already been repaired. Maneri Bhali-I was the last one in the series which too was made operational today. With all the hydropower projects, which were generating power earlier, becoming functional, performance of power generation has also begun improving now. Dehradun, July 31 ‘Non Stop India’, a book authored by eminent journalist and writer Sir Mark Tully was released at a function at St Joseph’s Academy here last evening. Teachers as well as students from prestigious schools of Dehradun like Ann Mary’s, Welham Boys’, Hopetown Girls’, Welham Girls’ and the host school, St. Joseph’s Academy, zealously participated in the event.
Four of a family die in house collapse
District Magistrate RM Sundaram visited Tarla Nagar at Vir Gabbar Singh Colony, where four members of a family died due to house collapse.
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Bahuguna demands Rs 13,550 cr from Centre for relief works
Dehradun, July 31 Later, Bahuguna said he had put various demands before the committee and got a positive response from all members. Addressing mediapersons, Bahuguna said the committee gave an affirmative response to all of his requests. He expressed hope that after the completion of all required formalities by the state government, the Centre would give formal sanctions to these demands. Bahuguna said for the rehabilitation of the damaged villages, a package of Rs 8,000 crore was required. For rescue, relief, restoration and reconstruction works in the rest of the state, Rs 5,500 crore was needed. He also demanded a special package for Kedarnath. Bahuguna said the rehabilitation plan would be built in accordance with the advice given by the Geographical Survey of India and other specialist institutes. He said for the livestock loss in the affected areas, they required Rs 100 crore, for damaged commercial properties Rs 100 crore and for safe shelters in the disaster-prone areas Rs 200 crore was needed. Bahuguna said, "Besides improving the police services, the civil police will be better equipped to act as first responders in case of disasters. Adequate and early funding support will be required from the Ministry of Home Affairs under the police modernisation scheme or under any other head for this purpose," he said. He also demanded the waiver of interest by nationalised banks on loans given to the affected population and moratorium for one year on repayment on loans, including crop loan and
subsidy. Bahuguna said while the Ministry of Tourism had sanctioned a special package of Rs 100 crore for the development of infrastructure, since the Uttarakhand's economy was largely tourism-based, it should become a special focus state for the Ministry of Tourism. "It will greatly help if Nainital and Dehradun are developed as major conference centres," he added. He said a highly sophisticated world-class and area-specific weather warning system was the need of the hour in Uttarakhand. Stressing on generating employment opportunities for the local youth, he said there was an urgent requirement for providing employment to the persons from the state who had lost their jobs and also those who were unemployed. He said the state government would do its best to provide employment opportunities. The Army, the ITBP and the NDRF should also start recruiting personnel from the state at the earliest, he added. Bahuguna also raised the issue of a shortage of officials in the state. He emphasised on alternate evacuation routes for all prominent temples. "It is necessarily that shrines should have separate entry and exit routes and also cable cars and helipads for evacuation," he said. On behalf of the government and the people of Uttarakhand, Bahuguna expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi for extending full support and help in this hour of crisis and distress.
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4 killed in landslide,
houses damaged
Mussoorie, July 31 District Magistrate, Dehradun, Meenakshi Sundaram along with MLA, Mussoorie, Ganesh Joshi visited the affected areas, namely Kath Bangla, Vijay Colony, Tarla Nagar, Aryanagar, Bardigad, Gabbar Singh Colony etc., to assess the damage caused due to heavy rains. The MLA said several areas in his Assembly segment had suffered extensive damages. He asked the administration officials to relocate people from Tarla Nagar to a safe place as the whole area was in danger and could result in loss of lives and property. The District Magistrate directed the officials to provide relief to the affected persons and repair roads damaged due to heavy rains. He also directed them to assess the damage caused and prepare a plan for relocating the people from the affected areas to a safe place.
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SDM dies after fall from bridge over Mandakini
Dehradun, July 31 According to the Garhwal Commissioner sources, deceased Ajay Arora was coming back from Kedarnath to the camp at Garudchatti when he fell from the narrow makeshift bridge due to a slip. The National Disaster Response Force personnel failed to locate the dead body of the deceased officer in the gushing waters of river Mandakini.
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Delay in CBI, vigilance probe hits MC development works
Mussoorie, July 31 The investigation started by the CBI and the Vigilance Department during the regime of the previous MC is hindering the routine work of the council. The files that are still with the investigative agencies pertain to increase in the ticket fee for Company Garden, contract agreements of Mussoorie Lake, an illegal construction at Company Garden in 2009, alleged illegal construction of the Food Court, installation of Bollard barriers on the Mall Road at a cost of Rs 60 lakh, theft of two vehicles owned by the MC, irregularities in eco-tax and the file of a bus bought during the tenure of the previous council. The MC officials said eight files relating to major constructions done during the tenure of the previous council, besides 37 other files pertaining to various other issues lying with the investigative agencies had hindered development works of the council. They added the MC did not have even a copy of many files that were in the possession of the investigative agencies. A ward member, Vinod Semwal, has asked the MC officials to talk to the investigative agencies in accordance with the guidelines of the Supreme Court and try to retrieve the files so that development works could be started without delay. MC Executive Officer PS Rawat said a number of works had been delayed due to the continuing investigation and the unavailability of the files.
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Kanwariyas and Kanwars take the pilgrim city by storm
Haridwar, July 31 Such is the craze of these Kanwars that people residing far from Kanwar route specially tread long distances to see these beautifully decorated Kanwars. Specially children’s enthusiasm is there for all to see, as they get amused, amazed and fascinated by the kaleidoscopic varied Kanwars. With changing times, the evolution of Kanwars has taken a huge stride, whereas in the earlier decade of the nineties, most of the Kanwars were long and were mostly made keeping in mind the sole idea to fetch the holy Ganga water. Later on it assumed different proportions. Varied types of block,vertical,horizontal,semi circle, fort-like door-shape Kanwars are prevalent. This year innovative Kanwars are fast catching the attention of both Kanwariyas and local people. This adds an extra bit to the already colouful Kanwar pilgrimage. Kanwars having replica of temples is being seen a major trend, lending the yatra a more religious significance. Besides statues of deities, goddesses, particularly Lord Shiva-Parvati put on wheels is also a spectacle to watch, resembling the grand royal procession ( Peshwayis) witnessed during the Maha Kumbh and Ardh Kumbh fairs. Many of the Kanwar groups that are bringing such decorative, huge Kanwars point that the people’s response is overwhelming towards their Kanwars .This further motivated them in their journey. Many make it a point that it is a part of their religious faith only and Kanwar, be it simple or grand, ultimately it is the devotion that matters. So from Ayodhya temple ,Daksh Prajapati Maha Dev temple in Kankhal to fort like Kanwars-jet fighter Kanwars, one gets to see a wide array of replicas moving on wheels or being carried by Kanwariyas with utmost devotion. Kanwar makers at Pant Deep market, which is the official mela market, inform that there has been an increase in demand of innovative Kanwars in the past few years, particularly in the younger lot and mostly seen among groups. By just standing at one point on the Kanwer route, one can get to see non-stop from early morning to late night. Be it men,women,old or children, everyone is left in awe, as Kanwariyas are treading in lakhs daily round the clock with varied Kanwars making Haridwar once again the place to be in. Post flash floods, the pilgrim city is once again witnessing the cultural diversity, mythological-religious aspect in Northern India’s biggest Kanwar pilgrimage.
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'Mindspree' begins at St Jude's School
Dehradun, July 31 Max Chandra, who has been working tirelessly for the cause of the unprivileged of India, was the chief guest on the occasion. Chandra has decided to walk across India (20,000 km) in three years to understand the country and raise money for charity. He started his journey on foot in November 2011. He has also set up a charitable foundation, One Step at a Time Charitable Foundation (registered in Goa), to bring awareness and raise funds to undertake charitable projects across India. So far, Max has walked over 5,000 km through 15 states - Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. One Step at a Time Charitable Foundation, along with St Jude’ s School, has also taken a pledge to help the disaster-affected people of Uttarakhand. Meanwhile, the schools that participated in the art and mega poster event were St Thomas College, Carman School (Dalanwala), Carman School (Premnagar), Hilton’s School, Mussoorie Public School, Touchwood School, Aryan School, The Indian Cambridge School, Doon Cambridge School, Summer Valley School, Indian Public School, Wynberg Allen School, Raja Ram Mohan Roy Academy and St Jude’s School. The theme for the contest was ‘Hope’. The results of the mega poster competition are as follows: St Jude’s School (first), Hilton’s School (second) and Summer Valley School (third). The individual art competition was divided into two categories - category A (for classes IX to XII) and category B (for classes VI to VIII). The theme for the category A was 'Be the change you seek' and for the category B 'Heal the world'.
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Trenching ground cannot be cleared, says DVWM Director
Dehradun, July 31 Director, Doon Valley Waste Management , Sidharth Jain, said the trenching ground could not be cleared even if DMC stopped using it for the purpose of dumping the city garbage into it. It had to be left like this for the next 15 years. Throwing further light on this issue, member of Project Implementation Unit and environment expert Pankaj Bhatt said:'' It has been clearly demarcated in the guidelines with regard to Solid Waste Management project implemented in the city that neither the trenching ground will be cleared nor any construction will take place over it for the next 15 years, after DVWM company start using scientific land fill at Shishambara. The trenching ground will be covered with thick layers of soil, while big pipes will be installed into it with their high rise ends opening toward the sky. The pipes will be used to emit the poisonous gases such as methane forming in the garbage deposits.'' He said grass and trees could be grown over the dump after some years but not the flower beds. ''People tend to smell the flowers and take them home. The flowers growing over this land will not be healthy. Hence plants or flowers cannot be grown here as well.'' Mukhya Nagar Adhikari, Ashok Kumar said the department had strong reasons to defend itself, so there was no reason to feel alarmed over the issue. Mayor Vinod Chamoli said:''We do not have any alternative land to dump the garbage of the city at present. Even if a venue is selected, it will be filled within a couple of days. One year lapsed in taking permission from Ministry of Environment and Forests to develop the Scientific Land Fill (SLF), to be used as trenching ground and processing unit of garbage. One more year will be taken up in completing rest of the formalities and creating the infrastructure.
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UJVNL makes Maneri Bhali-I (90 MW) functional
Dehradun, July 31 The generation which till a week ago had dipped to 9 to 10 Million Units (MUs) every day has improved drastically. Especially in last two days, the generation has risen around 15 to 16 MUs. Now with Maneri Bhali II joining the tally, UJVNL is hoping to touch the magical figure of 19-20 MUs in next few days, if the natural calamity did not hamper the generation once again. The other projects which have been successfully repaired so far are Chibro (240 MW), Khodri (120 MW), Dhakrani (33.75 MW), Dhalipur (51 MW), Pathari (40 MW), Mohammadpur (30 MW), Chilla (144 MW), Maneri Bhali II (304 MW), Galogi (3 MW), Kaliganga (4 MW), Kulhal (30 MW) . Managing Director, UJVNL, GP Patel said:'' We did not hire any experts from outside and totally banked on our own resources for the repair of all the hydropower projects. I was told that Maneri Bhali-1 had huge deposition of silt due to which the gates of the projects had completely jammed and the machinery got greatly affected. I was given the deadline of September for its repair. However, I got after my staff and got it ready today, in the month of July itself. Now all the UJVNL projects are functional.'' The damaged projects by private partners such as NTPC and Vishnu Prayag have still not been repaired, and, the heavy deposition of silt and debris in the river water continue to make matters further difficult. Patel said great precautions are being taken these days. The flushing of silt is done simultaneously before it harms the machines. Due to this , the affected power houses have to be shut down for few hours to half a day or at times one full day. This affects the generation, ''but surely we cannot afford getting the power house damaged for long periods.'' He said he was happy that the generation had begun rising and hoped that the graph would continue to soar in future as well. —TNS
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Dehradun, July 31 Principal of St Joseph’s Academy Bro AJ George welcomed Sir Tully and introduced his life and works to the audience. Dr Shekhar Raha, a member of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, former DGP AB Lal and Brijnath, adviser of the Doon Library and Research Centre, were other distinguished guests present at the function. The event saw a highly interactive session. At the end of the function Sir Tully averred, “What we need today is not a revolution but an evolution.”—TNS
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Four of a family die in house collapse
Dehradun July 31 The incident took place at 1 am that killed Vinod Thapa (30), his wife Sarita (25), daughter Pooja (7) and son Nishant (2), while they were sleeping.
—TNS
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Following heavy rains in parts of Uttarakhand today, including Dehradun, Subdivisional Magistrate Ajay Arora, died after he fell from a makeshift bridge over river Mandakini in
Kedarnath.
While the orange colour dress is synonymous with the Kanwariyas, the same cannot be said about the Kanwars they carry on with them to fetch holy Ganga water. Kanwars, beautifully decorated and innovative at once become cynosure of all eyes throughout the whole route wherever these Kanwar’s pass through.
An inter-school singing and art contest marked the beginning of ‘Mindspree’, the annual creative and academic festival of St Jude’s School, here today.
