|
|
|
|
|
Govt to buy produce of disaster-hit areas: CM
Four Delhi residents killed
in Almora mishap
CPI slams govt for poor relief work
|
|
|
|
Develop Uttarakhand as ayush state, says Ramdev
Proposals worth Rs
168 cr presented under agriculture scheme
Wildlife activists to oppose new govt order
2 held with herb under Forest Act
Uttarakhand: The challenge ahead
Media asked to be sensitive towards cause of disabled
Ration given to Rudraprayag villagers
NCC cadets motivated to join Army
Dehradun diary
|
|
Govt to buy produce of disaster-hit areas: CM
Dehradun, August 4 A decision was taken at a meeting prominently attended by Uttarakhand Chief Minsiter Vijay Bahuguna, Uttarakhand Agriculture Minister Dr Harak Singh Rawat, Disaster Management Minister Yashpal Arya, Union Agriculture Secretary Ashish Bahuguna and Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar. The meeting held at the Chief Minister’s residence today was aimed to discuss the losses incurred by the farmers in the disaster-hit areas and the damage caused to agricultural land. Further, mule operators will be given grants under the National Agriculture Development Scheme. Proposals regarding agriculture developments and other schemes will be forwarded to the central government by the state. The state would also soon also set up seed storehouses and ropeways. The Chief Minister gave directions to the officials to formulate action plans on the proposals regarding the agriculture sector that have been received grants from the Centre. The CM laid emphasis on preparing detailed project reports for ropeways immediately and establishing seed centres at the Nyay Panchayat level. He has also asked the authorities to give importance to the modernisation of dairies. He discussed the possibilities of building cold storages in the hill areas. Union Agriculture Secretary Ashish Bahugna asked all departments concerned with the Agriculture Ministry to make reports on the losses incurred in all areas and to prepare reports on controlling further damage. He also stated that immediate action would be taken on any proposals received under the National Agriculture Development Scheme. He assured that monetary aid would be provided for all proposals, including those on the conservation of agricultural land. He assured the Chief Minister that the Central Government would give full compensation for the damage caused to agricultural land. |
||
|
Four Delhi residents killed
in Almora mishap
Pithoragarh, August 4 In another incident the body of a man was recovered from a nullah. The Almora police said four residents of Delhi, who were on their way to a village near Chaukhutia in Almora district, were killed and two others were injured when the Maruti car they were traveling in fell into a deep gorge at Ramghat near Chaukhutia town last night. It added the driver of the car failed to see a road bend clearly due to low visibility and the vehicle fell into a 20-metre gorge near Ramghat on the Chaukhutia-Ramnagar road. “They were on their way to take part in a religious function in a village near Chaukhutia town,” said Mahesh Tiwari, revenue sub-inspector of the area. “Two persons seriously injured in the accident have been admitted to a Haldwani hospital,”
he said. Tiwari said while Triloka Devi Rawat, Sher Singh Rawat, Birendra Singh Rawat and Chana Devi were killed, another passenger Chandra Singh and driver of the car Raghuvir Singh were seriously injured in the accident. The injured were admitted to a hospital in Haldwani. Body found
from nullah
In another incident, the body of 64-year-old Mohan Sirari was recovered from a nullah yesterday. According to the police, Mohan was drowned in the Balta nullah while trying to cross it. “The incident came to light when Mohan Singh’s pet dog that was accompanying him returned home alone at 9 pm. This created suspicion in the minds of Mohan’s family members about his whereabouts,” said
Tiwari. |
||
|
CPI slams govt for poor relief work
Dehradun August 4 Reddy, while addressing mediapersons in the city, today said, “Even after 50 days of the calamity the relief material and financial assistance have not reached the affected villagers in the hill areas. Residents of 300 villages are yet to be rehabilitated. The state government is blighted with poor management and the relief measures are moving at a slow pace. The winter is only a couple of months away. How the villagers will survive in jungles without a roof over their heads is a big question. They have lost all their means of livelihood. Their fields have washed away and houses have been destroyed. The government must pick up momentum in this hour of crisis.” He said a kucha road network should be made for people and mules in the cut off areas. “As it will take time to build proper roads in many affected areas, it is advisable to build a kucha road network so that the relief material could be provided to the villagers through ponies. The youths from hill areas could be employed under the MNREGA scheme to send the relief material through ponies to these villages.” Senior party leader of the state Samar Bhandari said, “It has been seen that during the calamities in the state earlier the disaster relief fund was misused by corrupt officials.” He said, “A few days ago, I met the Chief Minister and suggested to him to form a Disaster Relief Monitoring Committee comprising representatives of political parties, civil society and social workers to ascertain whether the relief amount was being spent correctly and the people were benefiting.” Reddy questioned the methodology of development in the state. He said, “The development has been carried out without caring two hoots for the ecological or the topography of the state. This has triggered unprecedented devastation. Hence it is very important to adopt the right method to usher in development. Big buildings and hydropower projects are not suitable for the state considering the fragile ecology of the hills. Many power projects have come up in Joshimath, Uttarkashi and Srinagar districts. It is high time that these projects are reviewed.” Declare state
disaster a national calamity: Reddy
Mussoorie: The general secretary of the Communist party of India (CPI), S. Sudhakar Reddy, speaking on the sidelines of the party workers' meeting in Mussoorie, said that after assessing the magnitude of the disaster that struck the state, the government in the Centre should have declared it as national calamity, but it has failed to do so as yet. S.Sudhakar Reddy said so far, the emphasis had been on rescuing the pilgrims affected due to the gruesome tragedy of floods and landslides and stranded in Kedarnath, Badrinath and Uttarkashi. But not much attention was being paid to the miseries of the local population which is suffering from day one of the disaster. A large number of people who suffered losses and have been uprooted from their homes, but the government has failed to provide adequate relief to them. “The CPI has demanded that the union government should grant a special financial package to the state for the relief and rehabilitation work, particularly the affected local population, and also declare the disaster in the state as a national calamity so that it becomes the responsibility of the union government to fund the relief works on priority basis," added Reddy. He also demanded that the government should review all the dams and hydro projects sanctioned during the BJP and Congress regimes in the state. Reddy reiterated opposition of his party to the setting up of the Coco-Cola plant near Dehradun as it would not only affect
the nearby hydro projects, but also make water a scarce commodity. Reddy demanded that the state government should sincerely implement the law granting ownership right to the forest dwellers on forest land and property. Speaking on the CPI preparation for the 2014 parliamentary poll, he said the people were frustrated with both the NDA and UPA for their anti-people policies, so the endeavour of the CPI was to make an effort to bring a non-BJP, non-Congress government in 2014 and for that the party was strengthening its mass base by increasing the number of party workers through a nationwide campaign. The Left parties would hold conventions to mobilise masses for the broader unity of political forces and to build a Left alternative. Reddy also said that his party was for electoral reforms to decrease muscle and money power from politics. He gave a call for proportionate representation so that the deprived sections could participate in politics without fear. He said that the Communist party and the Left would oppose the neo-liberal policies of the Congress that have ruined the country economically and the non-secular policies of the BJP and would not tie up with these two parties. The party workers also observed a two-minute silence in memory of the disaster victims who lost their lives in the Kedarnath area. |
||
|
Develop Uttarakhand as ayush state, says Ramdev
Haridwar, August 4 For past two years, it is being organised to coincide with the birthday of his protégé Acharya
Balakrishan. He said Balakrishan had taken ayurveda via Patanajali Yogpeeth to the common man, benefiting lakhs of people. "Confining medicinal knowledge to oneself is not right. We are celebrating Jadi Booti Divas to spread awareness about medicinal herbs and plants that can be taken to cure ailments," said
Ramdev. He said: "Ayurveda is a complete medical therapy in itself with no side effects unlike modern allopathic medicines. We have been curing people with yoga and ayurveda for several years." He said Patanjali Yogpeeth had also started Patanjali Sewashram at Guptkashi for the flood-hit women and children, where they were being provided accommodation, food, education and relief aid. He also sought people's contribution for this ashram and relief works in
Uttarakhand. Ramdev also credited Balakrishan with the success of Patanjali
Yogpeeth-II, Yog Gram, Divya Pharmacy, Padarthaa and other such social
foundations. Balakrishan said the Patanjali Bio-Research Institute had collaborated with the Bhabha Atomic Research Institute,
Trombay, with regard to biogas, animal fodder and agriculture. Noted film star Manisha Koirala,who is undergoing treatment at Patanjali
Yogpeeth, was also present on the occasion and congratulated Balakrishan on his birthday. |
||
|
Proposals worth Rs
168 cr presented under agriculture scheme
Dehradun, August 4 Union Agriculture Secretary Ashish Bahuguna, Joint Secretary Utpal Kumar Singh and agricultural scientists jointly held the meeting to focus on the compensation for agricultural land and farmers hit by the natural disaster. At the meeting, 13 proposals worth Rs 91 crore for the year 2013-14 were approved. Under the programme, work will be conducted for the Animal Husbandry, Mandi Parishad, Fishery, Dairy, Organic Food, Farming Education, the Indian Council of Agriculture Research and Horticulture Departments. Agriculture Secretary Ashish Bahuguna said compensation for the disaster-affected agricultural area should be also made through central schemes like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Principal Secretary, Agriculture, Ranbir Singh put forward the details of the damage caused due to the disaster in the form of a presentation. At least 20,000 hectares in the state has been affected due to the disaster, of which 18,000 hectares is in the plains while 2,000 in the hilly areas. The sugarcane crop in Haridwar district has been severely damaged while vegetables and horticulture crops have been affected in the hilly areas. Giving the details of livestock, it was informed that 18,228 animals had died in the disaster. In the livestock area, a compensation of Rs 9.43 lakh has been estimated. It was informed by the Livestock Department that during the calamity, animals in the disaster-affected areas of Guptkashi, Gaurikund and Govindghat were given medical treatment. Fodder for animals was dropped through helicopters. Present in the meeting were Additional Chief Secretary Rakesh Sharma, Principal Secretary Om Prakash, S Ramaswami and other officials. |
||
|
Wildlife activists to oppose new govt order
Dehradun, August 4 The order states that nomadic livestock herders within the reserve forests in the Terai region may carry on with cultivation on forest land and the same should not be restrained by the department. Gauri Maulekhi, member secretary, People for Animals, Uttarakhand, says that the order is in contravention of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, where it has been clearly laid down that no “non-forest activity” such as cultivation may be allowed in the reserve forests, except for work related to conservation. Once cultivation is permitted, protection of cultivated land would follow, which unfortunately is done by laying traps
and snares to keep wildlife at bay. She said, in the process, precious wildlife will get confined to even smaller compartments and the risk of
conflict will increase exponentially. Elaborating, Maulekhi said cultivation done by livestock herders in the Terai area will be detrimental to forest wealth and wildlife. Citing examples, she said Terai forests serve as a corridor for wildlife between the Nandhaur Wildlife Sanctuary and the Corbett Tiger Reserve. Cultivation will mean restriction of movement of wildlife, which is critical. Similarly, the Terai landscape is the buffer zone for the Corbett Tiger Reserve and the tiger population here is many times more than in the Rajaji National Park. Further, the Shivalik Elephant Reserve extends throughout the Terai landscape and cultivation here would increase man-elephant conflict. She alleged that this will also promote land mafia. They have been installing tubewells and encroaching upon huge spans of reserve forest in the Terai for almost a decade. “Various studies have indicated that losing the Terai landscape will be a death blow to the wildlife, especially the tiger and the elephant. It is crucial to maintain the sanctity of the reserve at all cost”, she added. “Wildlife activists and conservationists have decided to move a complaint to the union ministry of environment and forests and take up the matter with the National Green Tribunal to reverse the arbitrary and illegal order issued by the short sighted and vote-greedy government,” Maulekhi said. |
||
|
2 held with herb under Forest Act
Dehradun, August 4 The accused — Yashpal and Amar Singh — belong to Gopeshwar. They were arrested at Singhniwala in Dehradun on Sunday when their activities were found to be suspicious by the police. The police recovered more than 1 kilogram of Yarsagumba from them and both them were in Dehradun to supply the herb at Selakui. According to the police, the worth
of the herb in the international market is around Rs 35 lakh. |
||
|
Uttarakhand: The challenge ahead
Dehradun, August 4 Dobhal told The Tribune here that a detailed study of glacial lakes would be of much help in understanding these lakes, particularly after the unexpected bursting of the Chorabari glacial lake situated 2 km upstream of the Kedarnath temple that resulted in flash floods followed by large-scale deaths and destruction. “It is important to have thorough information about the glacial lakes in the Uttarakhand stretch of the Himalayas,” he said. Dobhal said the bursting of the Chorbari lake was the reason behind the Kedarnath catastrophe. “I have been observing the Chorabari lake for the past 10 years. It had never filled to the brim within just two days of continuous rains as it happened on the fateful day, causing it to burst. Thus, a comprehensive study of all glacial lakes in the region is necessary.” He referred to relief and rehabilitation works and said first of all relief and rehabilitation should be done with proper planning. It was urgent as it concerned the victims of the natural disaster, who would have to brave cold in the winter. He said the state government should set up linkages with nationally-acclaimed scientific departments in the state so as to extract the maximum help from them, particularly in rehabilitation and reconstruction works. “Uttarakhand has several scientific institutions that are working in different aspects of science. The state government needs to establish linkages with all these scientific departments to come out with a proper policy to deal with such challenges in future,” he said. Dobhal favoured a ban on construction within the 500-metre radius of the Kedarnath shrine and called for restrictions on the movement of pilgrims in the areas of all shrines. He said the increasing anthropogenic pressure needed to be curtailed. He also called for effective preparations so that pilgrims in distress during such disasters could be immediately taken to safe places. “The deployment of a timely warning system is needed so that people could be alerted about such disasters,” he observed. Dobhal said hydropower projects had no role to play in the recent disaster. He added flash floods had nothing to do with hydropower projects as a Kedarnath-like catastrophe happens once in 100 to 200 years. “There is a need for a coordinated scientific programme for mapping and assessing devastation in the region so as to reduce the extent of damage,” he said. He added that climate was a dynamic feature and one should not worry about changes in it but should be prepared for the challenges. Dobhal was given the Heroes of Environment title by Time Magazine in 2007 for his study on glaciers. He is also credited with devising a unique method of using bamboo sticks to measure the thickness of the glaciers that has helped in collecting valuable scientific data from the Himalayan region.
|
||
|
Media asked to be sensitive towards cause of disabled
Dehradun, August 4 “It would be of immense help if the media focused on stories of courage displayed by disabled persons in their day-to-day lives. I urge you to set aside a few inches of space where we could enlighten the people about the various schemes being run by us for them,” he said. He was speaking at the media sensitisation workshop for persons with disability held at Cheshire Homes. He also shed light on various programmes being run under self-employment schemes being conducted for the disabled persons by Cheshire Homes. Cheshire Homes India is member of the Leonard Cheshire Disability Global Alliance, working in 52 countries in support of persons with disability. Since 1956, 24 Cheshire Homes are running across India, caring for persons with severe disability. Since 2010, Cheshire is also working in the area of livelihood for persons with disability via employment opportunities through its Livelihoods Resource Centres in nine cities across India. "In these centres, we provide free counseling and training to persons with disability to facilitate them towards wage or self employment," he said. Those present at the workshop included Brig K.G Behl (retd), vice-chairman, Cheshire Homes, MK Puri, secretary, Cheshire Homes, and Mamta, superintendent, Cheshire Homes. |
||
|
Ration given to Rudraprayag villagers
Dehradun, August 4 District Magistrate of Rudraprayag Dilip Jawalkar said ration was distributed in the 10 villages of Shivpuri, Agustmuni, Panjana, Tat, Falati, Triguninarain, Toshi and Ral. He said solar lanterns were also distributed for the affected villagers at Rajkiya Balika Inter College. He said that till date, a total of Rs 36,57,80,612 ex gratia amount had been distributed among the affected persons in Rudraprayag district. A total of 61 routes in Rudraprayag district that were breached had been opened for traffic and work was on in the 16 remaining routes, he said. |
||
|
NCC cadets motivated to join Army
Mussoorie, August 4 The lecture was delivered by Col Kuljit Singh
Jaggi, Commanding Officer of 127 Infantry Battalion (TA) Eco Task Force. He highlighted the advantages of serving in the armed forces. Col KS Jaggi covered various other aspects of the Territorial Army (TA), including the process of getting commissioned in the TA as an officer as well as direct Junior Commissioned Officer and recruitment as a
sepoy. He said that working in the defence sector is a pride in itself as an individual is serving the nation. Colonel Jaggi informed the cadets that his unit would impart training to all candidates aspiring to join the Army, particularly the TA.
|
||
|
Dehradun diary
The magnitude of death and destruction caused by the recent natural disaster in the mid-Himalayan region of Uttarakhand points towards an alarming increase in human interference in a fragile mountain ecosystem, which happens to fall in a seismically active zone.
Even after more than one and a half months of the disaster, the state government is not clear about its priorities for the future. The state government has announced to constitute a reconstruction and rehabilitation authority in the state but it seems to be marred in a controversy since there are many such agencies already in existence but doing nothing on the ground. However, the disaster is a grim reminder of the increasing pressure of development needs of the people and the fragility of the Himalayan mountains. The Himalayas are the youngest, tallest and the most fragile mountain ranges in the world, which are still in the making. Landslides, earthquakes, avalanches and floods are frequently taking place in the Himalayan region. To compound the problem, there are no proper scientific studies on the phenomenon of landslides which, in geological terms, can be described as the outward and downward movement of earth material under the influence of gravity. The problems get aggravated during the monsoon period. Geologists say seismic movements are constantly taking place in the Himalayas. On an average, nearly 200 earthquakes of smaller magnitudes occur every year in the Uttaranchal region alone. Most of these are undetected by the local communities. Seismic activities lead to landslides. Thousands of landslides of medium to large dimensions have been occurring in the Himalayas every year. However, they become noticeable only when accompanied by loss of human lives and destruction of property. A major part of the Himalayas, particularly in Uttarakhand, usually receive heavy monsoon showers and also some rain in the winter months. The uncontrolled and downhill flow of water after heavy rains, particularly along barren slopes, remain one of the major causative factors of landslides. Apart from geological factors, changes in the land-use pattern in the mountains have also led to an increase in the frequency and magnitude of landslides. Most of the roads are carved out on the banks of the river valleys and towns are situated on these roads. Every monsoon during floods, most of these roads are washed away, disrupting the road connectivity. The most obvious of these changes has been a rapid destruction of forests which has left large tracts in the entire Himalayas region with denuded slopes. The destruction of forests and the vegetative cover that binds the top soil has been going on at an ever increasing pace because of various development activities in the region, including the expansion of the road network, the construction of a large number of hydroelectric projects, underground tunnels, the establishment of new townships, the expansion of the existing ones and the conversion of forest land into agricultural and horticulture holdings. The Himalayas are a poverty-stricken region. To get better returns from land, local communities have taken recourse to creating more and more terraced agricultural fields to grow cash crops like paddy, a switchover that has made the area more ecologically fragile. More than 66 per cent of the land mass of Uttarakhand is under forest while only 12 per cent of land is under cultivation in the hills. Scientists feel that changes in the cropping pattern have also increased the seepage of water into the rocky surface of the mountains. This could, in the long run, break up the interlocking ecosystems which binds the mountains. The use of explosives to blast surfaces of the mountains while making roads has denuded its own brand of havoc. A study conducted in 1984 on the relationship between the building of the Mussoorie-Tehri road and the landslides occurring in the region revealed that landslides caused more devastation in deforested areas rather than forested areas. The study found that 148 landslides took place on slopes where the tree cover was less than 40 per cent and 118 took place where the tree cover was more than 60 per cent. It was found that the landslide debris in the afforested area was only 12 cubic metres as compared to 26 cubic metres of debris in deforested areas. Similarly, 30,000 to 40,000 cubic meters of soil is excavated in carving out a 1 km of road in the Himalayas, a figure that eloquently reveals the extent of damage done to the local ecology. To make the matter worse, most roads are built without proper surveys. These invariably cause new landslides or reactivate old ones. No holistic approach is being evolved for development process in the hills to measure the geological fallout of the development and construction activities despite the fact that each hill district has a government geologist to advise the administration. Unbridled urbanisation has also done its bit in making the region more unstable. Changes in the architecture of the houses in the hills (increasing use of brick and concrete instead of the traditional mud and wood) has resulted in higher casualty figures when disasters strike. The country needs a separate institution dealing with mountain hazards in general and landslides in particular. Despite a hue and cry raised by the scientific community, the proposed centre for landslides study and control is yet to come up. The National Disaster Management Authority has claimed that the Ministry of Mines will set up a centre for landslides research, studies and management in a landslide-prone state to deal with the problem in a comprehensive manner. In neighbouring China, which has more than 60 per cent of its land mass under mountains, excellent work has been done in studying and taking remedial steps to prevent landslides and rehabilitate victims. The Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment at Chengdu, China, set up as early as 1965, has done tremendous work in identifying landslide-prone areas and taking measures to check and prevent further landslides. A proper geological and geo-technical survey is vital before launching any development project in the hills, including the preparation of landslide-hazard zonation maps, so that prior knowledge about the status of the area to be undertaken for development is available. Landslides can occur anywhere at anytime, but unlike earthquakes, their occurrence can be predicted and planned for. The tragedy is that despite a wealth of data and numerous experts in the field, there is a little planning going on. It is the construction lobbyists and mafias dealing in Himalayan timber and stone, working in league with politicians and administrators, who finally get to set the agenda for the development of the region. The forgotten people of the Himalayas continue to die as their land slips from under them and their houses collapse over them. There has been an urgent need to change this all. — S.M.A. Kazmi |
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Classified | E-mail | |
In a major decision, the Uttarakhand Government has decided to buy the produce of disaster-hit areas of the state.
S Sudhakar Reddy, national general secretary of the CPI has slammed the state government for the poor management and slow pace of relief work in the aftermath of flash floods.
Being the land of herbs and other medicinal plants, Uttarakhand should be developed as ‘ayush’ state. This was stated by yoga guru Ramdev at a mega convention named Jadi Booti Divas being held at the Patanjali Yogpeeth
in Haridwar today.
