Govt depts a major hurdle in land transfers
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 30
It is not the Department of Forests but other state departments that are proving to be roadblocks in the way of speedy clearance of land transfers falling in the forest areas.

These land transfers are required for the construction of roads, dams and water schemes in Uttarakhand.

As a result, around 275 cases after receiving the stage-I clearance are pending and another 193 cases have not even managed to receive the stage-I clearance. Some of the cases are pending for the past four years and are concerned with road construction, the absence of which has a direct bearing on the lives of people.

In Uttarakhand, for carrying out construction of roads, dams, water schemes, clearances are required for the transfer of land, in case it falls under the forest area from the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Out of the 275 that have received the stage-I clearance, “The clearances have been given with certain conditions that have been fulfilled by the departments concerned, but these have not been addressed and the matter is pending,” said Ranbir Singh, Principal Secretary Department of Forests.

Out of the 275 cases, 179 cases relate to road construction, eight are concerned with drinking water schemes, eight are related to hydropower projects while two are related to mining.

Then out of the 193 cases that have not even managed to reach stage-I, around 140 cases deal with road construction.

Instead of pulling all stops to get speedy clearance for land transfers, the state government departments continue to sit on files. To expedite matters concerning land transfer requiring clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, in aftermath of the mid-June disaster last year, the regional office was set up in Dehradun which was given powers to clear land measuring five hectares.

“The shifting of the regional office from Lucknow to Dehradun will not serve the purpose, if the departments themselves do not take interest in addressing the objections. So many cases pertaining to civic amenities are pending due to disinterest shown by the departments concerned,” said a senior official.

Nation’s green cover sure to rise: Javadekar
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 30
Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (independent charge) Prakash Javadekar has said he was hopeful of the country’s green cover increasing to the required 33 per cent in the next 15 years.

He was addressing the annual convocation for the 2012-14 batch of Indian Forest Service officers at the convocation hall of the Forest Research Institute (FRI) here today. Javadekar said the country at present had only 24 per cent forest cover, which need to be increased to the required 33 per cent. “I am very hopeful that at a rate of 1 per cent per year, the green cover will rise to more than 33 per cent in the next 15 years,” he said.

Javadekar also called upon young Indian Forest Service officers to take their profession as a mission of their lives and advised them to keep away from corruption.

“Work for mission and not for commission,” he said. He added the nation had high expectations from the youth.

It was only because of the young coming out to vote in high numbers that the nation received a decisive mandate in the last Lok Sabha elections, he added.

Javadekat also asked the passing-out officers to ensure people’s participation in every work of forestry that they undertake during the course of their duties. He gave away certificates and awards to the passing-out IFS officers.

Earlier, at the ceremony, officers with outstanding achievements were given awards. Jagyandatt Pati of the Odisha cadre was the topper in the 2012-14 training course.

Jagyandatt Patti also bagged the Best All Round Forester Award.

Later, the Union minister reached the Wildlife Institute of India, where he laid the foundation stone of a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) centre for ‘Natural World Heritage Management and Training for Asia and Pacific Region’.

‘Centre to facilitate environment protection’

Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcast and Environment and Forests, Prakash Javadekar, said the development and protection of the environment had to go hand in hand and the Union ministry was striving to build bridges with people.

“Rather than acting as a roadblock, as it was perceived earlier, the ministry was working hard to remove roadblocks so that the work of the common man did not suffer,” said Javadekar while talking to mediapersons at the BJP headquarters here today.

The minister said lessons need to be learnt from the last year’s disaster. “There should not be any excuse to play with the environment, but work of the public should not get affected,” he added.

He said in view of the problems being faced by people in receiving green clearance, the state level authorities had been given powers to give automatic clearances for proposals involving forest land up to five hectares required for the construction of schools, water schemes etc.

“Similarly, general approval will also be given for the construction of border roads in the area up to 100 km from the Line of Actual Control (LAC),” he said.

BJP workers left fuming
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 30
An unexpectedly short meeting of Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcast and Environment and Forests Prakash Javadekar with BJP workers did not go down well with the latter.

The minister accompanied by Ajay Bhatt, Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, made a hasty exit after being felicitated by party workers, leaving them stunned.

BJP using unfair means to grab power: Upadhyay
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, August 30
State Congress president Kishore Upadhyay has appealed to Congress workers to get ready for the state Assembly elections in 2017 and work for public causes.

Upadhyay addressed party workers in Pithoragarh and Tanakpur and said the BJP was adopting unfair means to snatch power from the Congress in the state. “The Congress has come to power in the state by constitutional means,” he added.

He blamed the district administration for not conforming to the vision of the Chief Minister and was neglecting Congress workers when take up public issues with officers. “The administrative officers in the two districts are neglecting Congress workers,” said Upadhyay.

Upadhyay, who visited the Kumaon region for the first time after becoming the Congress president, said though voters gave all five seats to the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not find any of the MPs fit for Cabinet berth in his government.

Neurosurgeons focus on ways to minimise accident deaths
Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, August 30
Neurosurgeons from across the country and abroad deliberated on the ways to minimise deaths in accidents by ensuring primary and timely medical care to people during such mishaps. They participated in the 23rd annual conference of the Neuro-trauma Society of India organised under the aegis of the Doon Neurosurgeon Club at Jaypee Hotel in Mussoorie late last evening. Union Health Minister Dr Harshwardhan inaugurated the event by lighting the ceremonial lamp.

More than 200 neurosurgeons from across the country and abroad participated in the conference and deliberated upon finding ways to reduce risk to the lives of people, especially in accidents.

Eminent neurosurgeon from Dehradun Mahesh Kuriyal said the objective of the conference was to deliberate upon the ways to reduce the mortality rate during fatal accidents witnessed especially in hill areas. He said most of the deaths during accidents occurred much before the patient was brought to hospital that are situated far from the accident site. Hence, it was imperative to find ways of providing some primary treatment to people at the accident site so that they could survive and could be taken to hospital.

Dr Mark Fitzgerald, Director of Trauma Services, Australia, said a group of doctors globally could work towards minimising deaths in accidents due to lack of timely medical help. He added when people die in a plane crash it incident makes headlines but it was rather shocking that everyday a large number of people die in road accidents and get no attention.

He said governments and doctors could work together to first prevent such accidents and then provide better medical facilities so that the survival rate increases. “The government should envisage a policy of air ambulance on the lines of the Royal Flying Doctors service in Australia that is run on a no profit-no loss basis through donations in order to provide emergency and primary health care services for those living in rural and remote areas. Australia is ready to share its experience and expertise in starting such services in India,” he said.

Dr Fitzgerald said Dr Harshwardhan and Chief Minister Harish Rawat during a meeting with them earlier had shared similar views and expressed their desire to have support from doctors from around the globe in this regard.

Neurosurgeons also deliberated on the issues like improving neurotrauma patients care, role of speech therapists in the rehabilitation process, paradigm shift in the management strategies of cranio-cerebral missile injuries and improving survival and functional outcome in the conference.

Chaudhari elected president, Himani secy of students’ union
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, August 30
Himani Sharma was elected unopposed as secretary of Shravan Nath Jawaharlal Nehru College Students Union ,while Om Prakash Chaudhari became president of the union in a closely fought contest ,the results of which were declared late on Thursday.

As per Lyngdoh Commission norms, the SNJN College management decided to hold elections for class representatives and then opt for voting for executive working body from the elected CRs that comprise posts of president, vice president, secretary, sub secretary and treasurer.

Om Prakash Chaudhari defeated Divyansh by five votes’ margin while Salman won by four votes, defeating Akash Deep. Megha Mishra was also elected unopposed while Vishal Chauhan became treasurer winning by a three-vote margin.

Members nominated for the working executive body were Deepak Kumar Kori, Deepak Chaturvedi, Nirmal Dhyani, Sumit Kumar, Ankush Kumar and Uday Singh.

Doon Striker win by 1 wicket
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 30
Doon Striker Cricket Club defeated Asian Club by 1 wicket in the ongoing 62nd District Cricket Association match, played at Maharana Pratap Spots College, here today.

After being put into bat first, Asian Club scored 131 runs with Gurpreet scored 49 runs while Akshit scored 15 runs. Rajat took 4-wickets in the match for Doon Striker.

During the chase, Doon Striker batsmen chased down the target with one wicket still in hand. Deepak scored unbeaten 30 runs while Kapil scored 22 runs and Subham made 17 runs for their team and won the match.

Indian Public School beat Doon Presidency 2-1

Indian Public School defeated Doon Presidency School 2-1 in the ongoing 16th Colonel Shashi Memorial Inter-School Soccer Tournament at Gorkha Military School here today.

For Indian Public School, Nitesh found the net in the 41st minute while Shanky scored the winning goal in the 50th minute of the match.

On the other hand, Datyarth scored the lone goal for Doon Presidency School in the 3rd minute.

In the second match of the day, Green Lawn Academy thrashed Seven Oaks School 5-0, with Sandeep scoring two goals in the 14th and 39th minutes of the game.

Later, Krishna, Pradeep and Manoj of Indian Public School scored one goal each in the 17th, 20th and 24th minutes, respectively.