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Post floods, tourists once more throng Mussoorie
GMVN to help youth hit by calamity
Motorists give helmets a miss
MLA accuses admn of siding with Cong |
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Free mobile health service started for residents of rural Haridwar
A mobile medical van for rural areas is launched by MP Harish Rawat and social activist Kiran Sharma in Haridwar on Sunday. Tribune photo: Rameshwar Gaur
Khanduri slams Aiyyar for remarks on martyrs
Uttarakhand the challenge ahead
Mall, flats being built on govt land illegally: Samiti
Dharna held as BHEL Nagar Panchayat staff fail to get pay
Congress on defensive over relief work
Union Minster for Water Resources Harish Rawat at Damkoti state guest house in Haridwar on Sunday. Tribune photo: Rameshwar Gaur
Two bodies cremated in Kedarnath
CBI probe sought into minister’s PRO’s death
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Post floods, tourists once more throng Mussoorie
Mussoorie, August 11 The Mall road here was once again abuzz with tourists bringing smile on the faces of the business community. It seems that the efforts of the Hotel and Traders’ Association along with that of the state government of removing fear from the minds of tourists by declaring the town safe paid a rich dividend as tourists from Punjab, Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh reached Mussoorie for weekend celebrations. Eid holidays also helped in bringing in more tourists to the town. Street vendor Ramu, elated at the rush on the Mall road, said for more than a month the hill station looked like a ghost town with not a single soul on the Mall road, but this weekend it seemed the influx of tourists had changed all that. “I sold more roasted corn in the last two days than in the entire month of July,” he said. Hoteliers also heaved a sigh of relief as most of the rooms were occupied by tourists setting the coffers rolling once again. The president of the Mussoorie Hotel Association said the weekend rush would help the hoteliers to pay their electricity and water bills to some extent. Japinder Singh, a tourist from Ludhiana, said after the disaster struck the state, the general perception was that the entire state was affected, but after coming to the hill town, they found it to be as safe as any other tourist destination in the country. The mood of the Municipal Council officials was also upbeat as they collected more than Rs 20,000 as eco-fee from tourist vehicles at the Kholukhet Barrier. However, the inflow of tourists once again revealed the shoddy traffic arrangements made by the administration as commuters faced traffic snarls at both the end of the Mall road due to the absence of adequate traffic police force as most of them were busy serving in the disaster-prone areas of the state. Many tourist preferred long drives towards Dhanaulti and enjoyed at the Eco Park. Rajendar, another tourist from Delhi, said the aroma of fresh bakes from cafes at Sisters Bazaar and the soaked smell of the the Devdaar Forest, near Char Dukaan, was a welcome change from the busy metro life here. Eminent author Ruskin Bond also paid a visit to the Cambridge Book Depot and obliged a large number of fans by signing autographs. “The return of the tourists to the town is always a welcome sight,” said Bond. The business community here has demanded that the government should continue publicising the town as a safe place for tourists so that more tourists should come to enjoy the beauty of the hill town.
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GMVN to help youth hit by calamity
Dehradun August 11 The nigam has decided to help the youth in establishing home-stays in their houses in their respective villages. Rajesh Kumar, Managing Director, GMVN, said, "The GMVN has already trained 1,150 youth under the scheme last year, which had a budget of Rs 1.25 crore. The Centre has now widened its scope and doubled the budget for this year. Now, we can train 3,040 youth with the budget of Rs 3.15 crore. Under this, we are targeting the youth who have lost their work in the disaster". The GMVN is willing to play an extended role in setting up the business for these youngsters. "We will encourage these youth to start tourism from their houses. Tourists who are keen to experience the pristine culture of the village life and abundance of nature can make online bookings through our website. These youth will be trained to keep a room and bathroom of their house clean and provide local authentic food without much spice or oil to the tourists. They will be informed about the historical and geographical detail of the places in their vicinity so that they can provide all this information to the tourists," he said He said those who were directly or indirectly working in the tourism sector would be trained by experts in the hospitality sector. "This will include all the wings related to hotel business such as front office, house-keeping, culinary expertise as well as guide and tour operator," he added. "Once they complete the course of 6 to 8 weeks, they will gain confidence and technical know-how of the field. While doing the course, they will also be given a stipend of Rs 3,000 per month as well," he said. "All our tourist houses, which have a capacity of above 10 beds, will provide the training in respective places or districts," he said. He said learning from the shortcomings in the implementation of the scheme last year, this time he wanted to publicise about the scheme in a better manner so that maximum youth could benefit from this. For this, the help of district magistrates as well as block development officials would be taken, he added. |
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Motorists give helmets a miss
Dehradun, August 11 Though the traffic police and the Regional Transport Office (RTO) frequently conducts drives against such riders, city’s motor riders shy away when it comes to wearing helmets during riding bikes and scooters. “We constantly run drives against errant two-wheeler drivers who avoid wearing helmets, but still we can see people compromise with their safety by not wearing them. The problem is that wearing helmet while driving is still not institutionalised in the habits of the motorists and they take it as an extra burden while driving,” said city SP Jagdish Chandra. Generally, it has been observed that people wear helmets when they see a policeman around and then take it off after crossing the junction or police barricade. On the question of youth not wearing helmets, Chandra said, “I believe parents should ensure that their children are wearing helmets whenever they are going out on a two-wheeler”. It is a well-known fact that most of the causalities in accidents are due to head injuries and such situations can be avoided just by wearing a helmet while driving. “W will again start a special drive against motorists who do not follow the mandatory norm of wearing helmets,” the SP city added.
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MLA accuses admn of siding with Cong
Haridwar, August 11 Gupta also accused Haridwar MP Harish Rawat of inaugurating the said bridge a day earlier, despite the fact that the bridge project was taken up by him and was cleared due to his efforts only. The Rs 91-lakh bridge was inaugurated yesterday by Harish Rawat amid protests by BJP activists, with police confining legislator Sanjay Gupta in the Bahadrabad guest house, fearing the law and order situation could go out of hand. Gupta said he was protesting the removal of his name from the credits but on pressure from Congress leaders. “When it was time to inaugurate the bridge, Rawat tried to take credit to himself by inaugurating it without even inviting me. My name was also deliberately removed from the stone near the bridge,” alleged Gupta. Replying to the allegations of the Lakshar legislator, Harish Rawat said Gupta was creating nuisance and he did nothing for the clearance of the budget for the bridge. Rawat claimed that the project was passed by Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna after taking cognisance of his application, which was sanctioned by the State Planning Commission later. |
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Free mobile health service started for residents of rural Haridwar
Haridwar, August 11 A special route chart will be prepared on a fortnightly or monthly basis, so that villagers know when the medical van will arrive in their village. Initiated by Haridwar parliamentarian Harish Rawat, this medical van is funded by WAPCOS Limited, a Government of India undertaking. While launching the medical van, Rawat said in rural areas getting medical aid was not so easy, therefore, such initiatives which provided medical facility to the people at their doorsteps held immense significance. He said health sector in the urban areas had taken a giant leap with both the government run and private hospitals, institutions, research centres and medical colleges, but still the benefits of this boom had not reached the rural India. He assured of more such medical vans via his MPLAD fund and also urged corporate-social organisations to come forward in this project. PS Arora, chief of the WAPCOS, said a doctor, nurse and attendant would be available in the medical van and later on medical equipment would be added. He said free of cost consultancy and medicines would be provided and for elderly or seriously ill patients, the mobile medical team would specially go to the house of that person. Social activist Kiran Singh lauded the initiative taken by the local parliamentarian, saying that now the villagers who don’t have access to high medical services can benefit from this new
service. |
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Khanduri slams Aiyyar for remarks on martyrs
Dehradun, August 11 In a statement issued here today, Khanduri said the martyrdom could not be compared with figures. “Martyrdom holds same respect whether it’s by individual or a number of persons,” he said. He criticised Aiyyar for his recent remark that only five soldiers had attained martyrdom in the incident. Khanduri also asked political parties not to play politics with martyrdom of soldiers and thereby lower the morale of the forces.
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Uttarakhand the challenge ahead
Pithoragarh, August 11 "Until we recognise the wisdom of the local people of the Himalayan region in their pursuits of life and livelihood, besides ensuring international standards of environmental protection, we cannot save the Himalayas from future disasters," said Radha Behn. "We should not introduce in the Himalayan region the technology which is used in other areas while constructing roads and other infrastructure. We should learn from the traditional methods of the Himalayan people who have been cultivating even the techniques of track making for centuries," said Radha Behn. Radh Behn said the core sector of the Himalayan economy should be agriculture and horticulture, which should be supplemented by traditional handicrafts and other cottage industries. "For that, we will have to get respite from the British tradition of growing pine trees. Instead, forests of oak should be planted for the use of future Himalayan generations," said Radha Behn. Sharing her experience of Norway, the country she visited recently, Radha Behn said the government in Norway does not construct roads on steep hill slops; instead it constructs ropeways for transportation to maintain the ecology of the mountains. "Even the forest density in Norway is intact while we have denuded our forests in the Himalayan mountain," said Radha Behn. She said the heavy loss of lives in the disaster was due to dumping of debris after road construction near the rivers which was carried by flood water after heavy rains. "Had this debris of roads and tunnels not been present at the river banks, the rivers would not have spread in such large area, damaging lives and property," claimed Radha Behn. Radha Behn felt that the tourism to the Himalayan region should be of cultural nature and it should be managed in such a way that local culture and traditions are visible to the tourists who come to the region. The tourist department should persuade more tourists to travel by foot and see the life in the region and understand it from close quarters. "There should not be any helicopter services or direct motor link to Gangotri. The tourists should trek in the Himalayan region," said the Gandhian social worker. Radha Behn said contractors should be avoided in the Himalayan region while constructing roads and other infrastructure in the region as this would keep corruption in control and quality roads would be constructed for the tourists and local villagers for coming generations. Dynamites and JCB machines in road construction should be avoided and it should be a labour intensive work. "We have not witnessed any such catastrophe in our childhood though the rainfall used to be more then than these days. That was only because such dumping of debris was not prevalent those days," said Radha Behn. Radha Behn said that studies should be undertaken that why such a disaster did not strike in Sikkim, Bhutan and other northern states even thugh they are also hit by the much talked about phenomenon of global warming. Only Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand were affected by it because these states have allowed the use of heavy machinery and dynamite in their road construction works. "If we keep broad leave trees intact in the Himalayan region and do away with dumping of debris in the Himalayan rivers, and replace pine trees with the forests of oak trees, we could keep the entire area safe and keep away cloudbursts and flash floods like which happened this year," said Radha Behn. Radh Behn has a solution of keeping the border villages intact to check migration. She said that by disturbing local lifestyles and introducing new and alien culture to local economies in hills, the governments have been deliberately or innocently promoting migration from border villages. "Even when the government gives any loan, it does not help the villages in managing, marketing and availing themselves of appropriate technology for the particular industry, resulting in the failure of the industry and subsequently migration for the loan-ridden farmer from the border village," said the Gandhian social worker. |
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Mall, flats being built on govt land illegally: Samiti
Dehradun, August 11 Addressing a press conference in Dehradun today, Virendra Singh Panwar, state president of the Brastachaar Virodi Sangarsh Samiti alleged that Bihar fooder scam accused were indulging in large-scale construction of flats and a Mall in Dehradun by flouting all norms and laws of the state. He alleged that most of these flats were being built on illegally occupied government land. He said the Brastachaar Virodi Sangarsh Samiti had been repeatedly urging the state government to act against the builder but he had so far managed to
get away with his wrongdoings. Panwar referred to Pacific Mall in particular, alleging that the Mall has been constructed without the approval of Mussoorie Dehra Development Authority. Panwar alleged that the Brastachaar Virodi Sangarsh Samiti would
shortly launch an agitation if prompt action was not taken against the builder. Kripal Singh
Pushkar, vice-president of the Brastachaar Virodi Sangarsh Samiti, was also present at the news
conference. |
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Dharna held as BHEL Nagar Panchayat staff fail to get pay
Dehradun, August 11 The Uttarakhand Kranti Manch president alleged that the BHEL Nagar Panchayat employees had not got their salary since September 2012 and it was becoming increasingly difficult for them to make their two ends meet. The president of the Uttarakhand Kranti Manch pointed out that the Hardiwar district administration had been repeatedly using the services of BHEL Nagar Panchayat employees for the preparation of Adhaar cards, voter
ID card listing and Census works, but now the administration was taking little pains to ensure that these employees got their salaries on time. The Uttarakhand Kranti Manch president also held that the Manch had submitted a memorandum to Uttarakhand Urban Development Minister Pritam Singh Panwar, seeking his intervention on the matter, but the employees were yet to get any relief. Manch general secretary Meera Raturi said it was strange that while large-scale corruption was taking place in the state, there have been little efforts towards providing salaries at the right time to the employees. Ramdev Maurya, Puran Singh Chauhan, Rekha Rajpur, and Mohan Naithani were prominent among those who participated in today’s dharna. |
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Dehradun diary
The massive disaster that hit the state and devastated the infrastructure and lives of the people of the state in the month of June has also put the ruling Congress Although the state government did try to send relief material, food and other essential goods to the affected areas, the inaccessibility of the areas and the lackadaisical approach of the state government machinery has added to their miseries. Most of the people in the Garhwal region are dependent on the Char Dham yatra for their economic survival and the disaster that struck mid-June has completely destroyed their means of livelihood. Since the disaster struck in mid-June with the early onset of monsoon, destroying more than 3,000 roads in the state which were the major arteries of life and economic activities, it was difficult to rebuild and repair these roads immediately. Since, the rains have poured incessantly since the disaster struck the state, the task of rebuilding these damaged roads has become even more difficult. Fresh landslides and washing away of the rebuilt roads had further affected the road connectivity in the state. According to th state government officials, even after nearly two months, out of the total 2,251 obstructed roads due to the disaster, a total of 394 roads are still obstructed. Efforts are also on to reconnect 349 villages with roads which were cut off due to damage to roads and washing away of bridges. Similarly, 50 water supply schemes are still to be repaired in the disaster-affected areas. Affected residents are incensed at the proclamations made by the state government of getting these essential services restored without realising the ground realities. They argue that unaware of the ground realities in the hills during the monsoon months, the state government had been making claims of restoring normalcy, including starting the Char Dham yatra. They argue that no fruitful work in road repair and rebuilding of roads could be done till rains subsided in the hills. Public representatives, including legislators, particularly of ruling the Congress party, are well aware of the public resentment and are talking about it. They fear the public resentment could spell trouble for the party in the forthcoming General Election scheduled to be held in May 2014. Such resentment was at display at a party meetings where union water resources minister Harish Rawat who is the Lok Sabha member from Haridwar showed his displeasure at the low compensation to sugarcane farmers of Haridwar affected by floods. He even said that it would be difficult for him to contest from Haridwar in the next Lok Sabha poll if the state government did not show a sympathetic attitude towards the farmers. The controversy over the constitution of the reconstruction and rehabilitation authority announced by Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna and the resentment shown by Disaster Mitigation Minister and state Congress chief Yashpal Arya has not gone down well with the general public. It is being felt that while the people are suffering, the ministers are fighting to take control of the huge relief funds that are pouring in the state from all quarters. Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna has convened a meeting of the Congress legislators and others supporting the state government on August 18 to discuss the situation and listen to their woes. The divided state leadership of the Congress has been making a half-hearted attempt to put their house in order after two months of disaster. Most of the ruling party legislators are furious at the turn of events and admit that the writing for them and their party is on the wall.
— SMA Kazmi
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Harish Rawat condemns ceasefire violation by Pak
Haridwar, August 11 He was speaking to reporters at the state guest house at Damkoti here today. Condemning these acts, Rawat said at the diplomatic, economic, defence and international level, the Indian government needed to act tough on such issues. “India needs to be give a straight message to Pakistan that such incidents should not be repeated. A war is not a viable solution to the issue,” he said. “I belong to Uttarakhand where almost every family has at least one member in the defence services. There is a nationwide sentiment boiling over such incidents and the Centre is taking steps to make sure such incidents are not repeated and the nefarious designs of the Pakistan government are exposed,” said Rawat. On the recent catastrophe in the state, he said the Uttarakhand government was doing satisfactory work in providing relief to the flood-hit. Rawat said assessment of the Ganga and its tributaries was being done by the Water Resources Ministry to get the information that may come handy in monitoring the course of the river course |
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Two bodies cremated in Kedarnath
Dehradun, August 11 According to the police team stationed at Kedarnath, almost all the bodies from the vicinity of the shrine have been recovered and cremated and now they will wait for the machines to come so that heavy debris can be removed and bodies lying beneath it can be recovered. However, the joint team of the police and the NDRF will keep camping at Kedarnath till the machines are airlifted and reach
Kedarnath.
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CBI probe sought into minister’s PRO’s death
Dehradun, August 11 Bhatt said the recovery of the body of the former PRO of a Cabinet Minister from Rajpur had put a big question mark on the prevailing law and order situation in the capital city. “I urge the government to initiate a CBI inquiry into the incident,”
the leader of the Opposition saaid.
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A mobile health van will be providing free of cost primary healthcare services to the residents of rural Haridwar from today onwards.
The mobile health van will be having specialised medical staff to cater to patients and will also distribute free of cost medicines in the rural areas.
Uttarakhand Kranti Manch members led by their president JP Pandey today staged a dharna outside Gandhi Park in
Dehradun, resenting the delay in the payment of salaries of employees of BHEL Nagar Panchayat in
Haridwar.
She said the second thing which has to be kept in mind by the policy planners is that the Himalayan people have their own distinct lifestyle which they have cultivated over the centuries and it is in sync with the nature around them and should be followed and respected.