Uttarakand news update on Sept. 24, 2010

Kingfisher to add Pant Nagar to flight network

Private air carrier Kingfisher Airlines plans to launch flights to Pant Nagar in Uttarakhand and Mysore in Karnataka by October, a source said. The launch of these proposed services is a part of the airline's plan to add over 10 per cent capacity during the winter, the source said. The airlines' winter schedule in India commences from October 29 and lasts up to March 28 every year. "We plan to launch a flight between Bangalore and Mysore, starting from next month," a source close to the development said. The proposed flights will be operated daily with a 66-seater ATR 72-500 aircraft, the source said. The airline is also mulling a flight service between Delhi and Pant Nagar in winter, the source said, adding, "We are awaiting regulatory approval. In addition, we also plan to add one more domestic station in our network, but it is yet to be finalised," the source said. Kingfisher Airlines Executive Vice-President (Commercial) Manoj Chacko recently said the airline has plans to add over 10 per cent capacity in its winter schedule to meet market demand. The airline plans to enhance the frequency of its service in the winter schedule and was also looking at adding a few more destinations, Chacko had said.

4 ministers elevated to cabinet rank

In an apparent move to strengthen his position within the ruling BJP, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank last week elevated all the four ministers of state as full-fledged cabinet ministers. Vijaya Barthwal, Khajan Das, Balwant Singh Bhoryal and Govind Singh Bist were administered oath of office and secrecy by Governor Margaret Alva at a function at Raj Bhavan in Dehradun. All the four were ministers of state in the Nishank government. With this, there will be no junior minister in the state council of ministers. Nishank took over reigns of the state on June 27 last year after his predecessor B.C. Khanduri was forced to relinquish the post of Chief Minister in the wake of the party's debacle in the Lok Sabha elections. The move to elevate the four ministers to the cabinet rank is being seen as the Chief Minister's attempt to strengthen his position within the ruling BJP ahead of the 2012 assembly elections. State BJP President Bishan Singh Chufal welcomed the step saying BJP would further consolidate its hold in the state. However, there was no announcement regarding the new portfolios. Official sources said an announcement to this effect is expected to be made shortly.

25 pc power from Tehri sought

Demanding 25 per cent of power generated from 2400 MM Tehri Hydel project, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank asked THDC officials to compensate the damages done due to increasing the water level of its reservoir that posed threat to human habitation. During a meeting, Nishank also asked the THDC officials to carry out a survey of the area, to be submerged when the reservoir level reaches 835 meter, and send a proposal to the Centre for compensation and rehabilitation of the affected population, an official release said. He asked the corporation officials to work in tandem with Tehri district administration while taking a decision to raise the water level of the reservoir.

SE Investments to foray into Uttarakhand

Micro finance sector lender S.E. Investments will be venturing into Uttarakhand and Rajasthan this fiscal and plans to add one lakh new customers. The non-banking financial company is also aiming to almost double its loan book to Rs 1,000 crore by March 2011, from Rs 540 crore in the last year. "We have been able to secure a customer base of 3.15 lakh customers since the start of micro finance operations in Uttar Pradesh in 2002. We have asked authorities for permission to start business in Uttarakhand and Rajasthan to tap the opportunities in these two states," S E Investments Ltd MD Sunil Agarwal said. He said permission had also been sought from the nodal agency, National Housing Bank, to expand into financing of low-cost housing of up to Rs 2.5 lakh. "Our target is to add one lakh new customers this fiscal and start of operations in Rajasthan and Uttarakhand, will give a boost to this," Agarwal said. S E Investments has a number of projects under individual and group schemes. It provides loans to low-income households with a loan size of up to Rs 50,000 with an average interest rate of 24-27 per cent. Agarwal said the firm is aiming to take its loan book to Rs 1,000 crore this fiscal. "We ended last fiscal with a loan book of Rs 540 crore and we intend to reach the Rs 1,000-crore mark by March 2011," he added.

Uproar over alleged mining scandal in Uttarakhand

The Uttarakhand Assembly was adjourned today amid uproarious scenes with the opposition members alleging that a private company has been given licence for mining at the eco-sensitive Bageshwar district nestling in the Himalayas. The members belonging to the main opposition Congress alleged that the licence for 14.5 sq km area in Kukroli in the district was given in gross violation of licensing as well as mining norms, which is banned in the Himalayan region. Led by State Congress President Yashpal Arya, the opposition members further alleged that such proposals by Haldwani-based Messrs Great Himalayan Minerals and Chemicals earlier had been rejected by previous governments.

In this regard, they raised slogans against the BJP government and demanded a CBI probe. "We demand a CBI probe into this scandal which is the biggest in the state," Congress MLA Tilak Raj Behad told reporters. The members also demanded a detailed discussion on the alleged scandal and began shouting in the house following which Speaker Harbans Kapoor adjourned the house for 15 minutes. Later, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Pant said it was not a big issue of immediate importance and asserted that the opposition was wasting the Assembly's time.

Apple crops damaged in Uttarakhand

Floods and cloudbursts have ruined over 30 per cent of the apple crop in Uttarakhand, much to the disappointment of cultivators of the popular fruit. "Over 30 per cent of the apple crops have been damaged in the flood and cloudbursts that have brought miseries in Uttarakhand," State Horticulture Department Director B P Nautiyal told.

In monetary terms, the damage to the apple crops has been estimated at between Rs 22-25 crore, he added. Apples are grown in 31,662 hectares areas in the upper reaches of the hill districts of Nainital, Almora, Pithoragarh, Tehri, Chamoli and Uttarkashi in the state, which have been hit badly by floods and landslides. The state produces about 32,254 tonnes of apples per annum on average. Prominent varieties of apples grown in the state are 'Sper', 'Red Delicious' and 'Golden Delicious'.

Uttarakhand ranks much below neighbouring Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir in terms of apple production. The latter two states account for almost 99 per cent of production of the fruit in the country. However, apples still feature among the prominent produce of Uttarakhand. Nautiyal said over 10 per cent of the apples grown in the current crop year were lost in flood water, while 20 per cent were damaged due to landslides that hampered transportation of the fruit. In New Delhi, Chamber of Azadpur Fruit & Vegetable Traders President Metharam Kriplani told that arrival of apples from Uttarakhand at Asia's biggest fruit and vegetable market have stopped after flood and landslides in the hill state.

"Till August-end, 4-5 trucks (each carrying 10 tonnes) of apple used to come to Azadpur from Uttarakhand. The arrival is zero nowadays due to the natural calamity there," he added.

Declare Uttarakhand calamity-hit

The Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly passed a resolution calling on the Centre to declare the state as calamity-affected in the wake of havoc wrought by incessant rains.

The state also sought a package of Rs 21,000 crore from the Centre for relief and rehabilitation measures. During an 8-hour discussion, Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhiryal Nishank said heavy rains had wreaked havoc in the state killing 170 people. As he was making a statement in the House on the devastation caused by rains, Congress and BSP members trooped into the well saying the government had completely failed to deal with the situation. Rejecting the charge, Nishank said the government machinery was working on a war-footing finishing repair work on 496 damaged roads. He said an amount of Rs 21 crore had already been provided to each of the 13 districts for relief work. The House observed a two-minute silence in memory of those killed in torrential rains.

Rain havoc hits tourism in Uttarakhand

Incessant rains and resultant floods and landslides have badly affected adventure tourism in the state with tourists cancelling bookings for the hill state. "Tour operators are not taking any chances and have cancelled trips to Garwhal and Kumaon regions in the state at at request of tourists," Mandip Singh Soin, President of the Eco-Tourism Society of India, told.

He said some tourists are still stranded in upper reaches of Himalayas like Gangotri and Manali as landslides have blocked national highways. Suffering heavy losses due to cancellations, the tour operators, most of them from the UK, the USA, France and Australia, are keeping a constant track of the weather and praying for its improvement at the earliest. "In fact, one of my clients had to hire a helicopter in Dharasu region after she got stuck in Uttarkashi which is witnessing a flood-like situation with river Ganga fully swollen," said Soin, an owner of travel agency Ibex Expeditions.

Ravi Tickoo of Delhi-based Kash Venture Travels said "in view of floods and cloudbursts, we have advised our groups to return mid-way suggesting them alternative routes." Usually, the tour package comprises a range of adventure activities like river rafting, para-gliding, skiing, heli-skiing, mountaineering, trekking, rock climbing and cycling. He said after the cloudbursts in Ladakh, floods and unabated rains in Uttarakhand have taken a toll on their revenue.

The weather fury has hit-hard the resort owners too. The all-time favourite tourist destinations such as Almora, Rani Khet, Jolle Kote and Manali in Kumaon region have become out of bounds due to heavy rains and landslides.

"There has been booking cancellation for September. The arrival of tourists, especially foreigners, has certainly dropped as the rains are plentiful," Bieter Reed, owner of Kalmatia Sangam resort in Almora said. He said it is for the first time in the past 10 years he had witnessed such heavy rains and floods. At least 67 people have lost their lives and thousands rendered homeless in incessant rains during the past few days in Uttarakhand.

BHEL Haridwar unit bagged Shram Awards

BHEL'S heroes

For third successive year BHEL Haridwar unit has bagged a chunk of Prime Minister's Shram Awards

P.S. Chauhan

Haridwar, Sept, 23, 2010: Haridwar unit of the BHEL, one of the Navratna public sector undertakings of the country, once again has a reason to cheer. It has the proud distinction of winning nine of the Prime Minister's Shram Awards, the highest in the country, for the three consecutive years, for 2005, 2006 and 2007. The awards were recently conferred on the employees by the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, the union minister for labour and employment, Mallikarjun Kharge and the union minister of state for labour and employment, Harish Rawat, at a glittering function recently held at the Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. The BHEL bagged 14 awards, out of which Haridwar unit of the company alone won nine of these coveted sobriquets. Instituted in 1985 by the union ministry of labour and employment, these awards, which include Shram Bhushan, Shram Veer and Shram Shree, are the country's highest honour bestowed on individuals for outstanding achievements leading to higher productivity, improved quality, greater safety, import substitution and foreign exchange savings.

Among the recipients of the Shram Awards is Karan Singh, an assistant engineer of Block-1, who bagged the top laurel of Shram Bhushan for 2007 and Shram Veer for 2006. He was selected for the top award for giving valuable suggestions for simplification of the functioning of the process which is useful for all types of generators. His suggestions, along with that of Ghasitu Ram, also an additional engineer in Block-1, who got the Shram Veer for 2006, gave suggestions about simplifying the manufacturing of various types of drilling devices, fixtures and universal attachment. "Their innovative suggestions have helped increase the quality and productivity, resulting in a profit of Rs. 3 crores," said the additional general manager (publicity and public relations), Rajiv Bhatnagar. Others who received these awards are Rajveer Singh, who got Shram Shree for 2005 and Shram Veer for 2007, Bhagmal (Shram Shree for 2005), Satyapal (Shram Veer for 2005), H.P. Joshi (Shram Shree for 2006 and Shram Veer for 2007) and B.L. Ahuja (Shram Shree for 2007).

Karan Singh, who, besides winning Shram Bhushan and Shram Veer, has also been honoured with Vishwakarma award in 2003, 2005 and 2008 and gold medal in international quality circle meet, is overwhelmed with excitement and joy at receiving the top honour. "If we work with commitment and perseverance, we can achieve any height. Getting the Shram Award is a life time achievement," says Karan Singh. The retired employee of the company, H.P. Joshi, who received Shram Veer for 2006 and Shram Shree for 2007, says, "If we work hard, it not only brings success, but also enhances the prestige of the company. It is a dream come true for me," says Joshi. Rajveer Singh, who bagged Shram Shree for 2005 and Shram Veer for 2007, says, "Though the awards are great motivating force, no award is greater than the satisfaction of fulfilling one's duty with the best of our capabilities".

Congratulating the awardees, the executive director of the BHEL, Haridwar, D.K. Mody said that these employees had made the company proud. "They are the source of inspiration to everyone and also our greatest asset. It is on account of such employees that the BHEL is marching from height to height," said Mody.

There were scenes of jubilation and celebrations in the BHEL, as the awardees returned from Delhi after getting the honour. It may be mentioned here that the zeal of Haridwar unit of BHEL's employees, supported by the company's constant encouragement, has resulted in 74 of its employees so far winning a sizeable number of 57 of these top accolades. Continuing the award winning spree, Ramdhar Gautam of the company has been selected for Shram Veer by the union ministry of labour and employment which has recently announced the list for the year 2008.

Plantation of broad-leaved trees being encouraged

Uttarakhand government is making efforts to expand the area under forests of broad-leaved trees to achieve the target of 30,000 hectare as fixed in 11th Five Year Plan.

While replying to a question by Congress MLA Jot Singh Gunsola, State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Pant told the Assembly that plantation of broad-leaved trees like Oak, Spruce and Fer are being encouraged under a new regeneration scheme of 11th Five Year Plan.

He said the government has so far spent Rs 2 crore under the scheme and planted such trees on 1350 hectare of forest land since 2007. The broad-leaves trees are considered better for the ecology and government is trying to encourage the plantation of broad-leaved trees in forests especially those where Chir pine is found in abundance. In this regard, Pant said the area under forests of Chir Pine in Uttarakhand is 11 per cent of the total area.

Bengal ministerial team to visit Uttarakhand

Haridwar, sept., 24, 2010: A ministerial team has left for Uttarakhand to monitor the rescue and safe return of hundreds of tourists from West Bengal stranded in the flood-affected state as Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee reviewed the situation. Bhattacharjee said two ministers - civil defence minister Srikumar Mukherjee and sports minister Kanti Ganguly - were going to Uttarakhand to coordinate with the government of the Himalayan state in order to ensure safety of tourists from the state. "At least 500 to 600 tourists from the state are stranded at different remote places in Uttarakhand," Mukherjee told.

Mukherjee, who is leaving for Delhi this evening apart from the other minister, said that tourists from the state are stranded mainly at Chamoli, Sangla and Beroli. "After reaching Delhi, we will hold a meeting with the state's resident commissioner and other officials there to chalk out our next course of action," he said. "We will go to Uttarakhand to liaison with its government for rescue and safe return of tourists from West Bengal stranded at several places for days due to breakdown of roads and communication channels," Mukherjee said. Three trekkers of a 16-member team, who were on a mission to Kalindi Peak and Pass, are reported to be missing and efforts are on to trace them.

West Bengal Tourism Minister Manab Mukherjee has been asked by the chief minister to monitor from here the situation and liaison with the state's ministers who are going to Uttarakhand and relatives of the stranded tourists.

Two army officers buried under snow avalanche

Two Indian Army officers of a mountaineering team were killed when a snow avalanche hit their camp in Uttarakhand where torrential rains and landslides have left 66 people dead since Sunday, an official said Tuesday. The dead army officers, Lt. Col. Poornachandra of the 9 Para Field Regiment and Major Manish Gusain of the 11 Kumaon Regiment, were part of a a 44-member team on an expedition to the 7,756 metre high Mt. Kamet, army spokesperson Col. Om Singh said in New Delhi.

The expedition to Mt. Kamet was part of a selection process to scale the 8,163 metre Mt. Manaslu mountain in Nepal next year. The spokesperson said a fierce avalanche in Chamoli district hit their expedition camp Sunday and buried it completely under snow.

Team leader Col. Ajay Kothiyal and nine other members who were camping in Chamoli had a narrow escape and managed to extricate themselves out of the mound of snow but "despite desperate efforts made by the survivors to extricate the rest of the team mates, Lt. Col. Poornachandra and Major Manish could not be rescued alive", Singh said.

As the weather deteriorated, the team descended to the advance base camp, leaving behind the bodies of the two officers, he said. The bodies were recovered from Ghastoli village near the Mana pass Tuesday and will be airlifted to Joshimath when the weather clears. "In the entire episode, a few personnel also sustained cold injuries and they have descended to Ghastoli," Singh said. The Himalayan state has been lashed by heavy rains and landslides over the past three days causing deep cracks in the earth and virtually paralysing life. According to an official spokesperson, "over 100 tourists who were returning after their sojourn to four popular Hindu pilgrimage destinations - Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri - are stranded in different areas."

Uttarakhand Flood update 2010: Rs.500 cr for floods victims

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has announced an advance ad hoc assistance of rupees 500 crore for Uttarakhand State in addition to the money advanced a day earlier for the State Disaster Response Fund. Prime Minister announced the advance ad hoc assistance to the State, keeping in view the situation arising from unprecedented floods and landslides in Uttarakhand, the request made by the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, for liberal Central assistance, and the demand of slightly over ` 900 crore projected by the Government of Uttarakhand to the Central Government in its interim memorandum, said an official release. Meanwhile, an inter-ministerial Central team has been constituted for visiting the State to make an on-the-spot assessment of the damages, and will make its visit as soon as the State Government is ready to receive it. Based on the assessment of the Central team, further assistance would be considered.

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Landslides, flash floods damage roads in Uttarakhand

Widespread landslides and flash floods triggered by last week's torrential rains in Uttarakhand have cut off large parts of the Himalayan state and left hundreds of tourists and pilgrims stranded, including on the Mansarovar route. The landslides and flash floods have claimed at least 68 lives since Sunday. As many as 170 major and minor roads have been severely damaged, leading to complete disruption of traffic in the mountainous districts of Chamoli, Uttarkashi, Bageshwar, Nainital, Almora, Tehri Garhwal and Pithoragarh districts. Even the main road connecting the plains to the popular hill station Nainital is closed to traffic, while the Delhi-Dehradun and Mussoorie route is also badly damaged. Hundreds of tourists and pilgrims are stranded in different places including the Mansarovar route. "Several Mansarovar tourists were halted in Pithoragarh and advised not to proceed further. A bus carrying foreign pilgrims on the 'char dham' yatra (four pilgrimages) was stranded in Uttarkashi for the past three days," an official said.

However, there was some respite for a large number of villages downstream of Tehri dam on account of absence of any heavy downpour upstream since Monday. Earlier, the rising waters of the gigantic reservoir of Tehri dam had already submerged or inundated a large number of low-lying villages in Uttar Kashi district. According to an official spokesman, "despite no rain for the past four days, the level of the Tehri dam had not gone below the danger mark of 830 metres." While both power and drinking water supply was adversely affected in large parts of the hilly districts, extensive damage to crop was reported in the rich vast plains across Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar districts.

The state which draws lakhs of tourists every year from different corners of the country and abroad to the popular pilgrimage centres - Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri - was now being avoided by them. "Not a single tourist has been able to come to any of these places over the past one week since rains have caused deep cracks and washed away parts of key roads in the region," a senior official of the state tourism department told.

According to a spokesman of the state disaster management department, "only three major roads functional at the moment are Dehradun-New Tehri, Pratap Nagar-Peepal Pani and Rishikesh-New Tehri." The scene in the interior and far-flung areas was much worse as disruption of movement on the roads had seriously affected the supply of essential commodities, including fuel, vegetables, and even bread. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has urged the central government to provide a special assistance package of Rs.21,000 crore to enable the flood-ravaged state to spring back to its feet. As many as 172 people have been reported dead and 68 missing since the outbreak of the current monsoon in June.

Uttarakhand: Haridwar Floods update on September 24, 2010

Uttarakhand bore the brunt of nature's wrath in the form on flood but it failed to dampen masses’ spirit, says P.S. Chauhan:

Indeed, when nature turns violent then human have to where to run and hide. And the same was experienced by the people of Uttarakhand, when its major rivers turned violent and inundated one and all. The torrential and incessant rains, which lashed the state, breaking all the records in living memory. The state has so far recorded the cumulative rainfall of 1675 mm. as against the average annual rainfall of 1163. Floods, cloudbursts and landslides, left behind a trail of wide spread devastation of human life, property and ecology. As nature battered the state, all the disaster management measures crumbled down and due to heavy downpour state's river Alaknanda, Bhagirathi, Yamuna, Kosi, Sharda, Gola etc., all swelled up and even the small brooks and rivulets, including Ratmau, Solani, Pathri, Kansrau, all overflowed, sweeping away whatever came in their way. Humans, cattle, roads, bridges, water supply lines, trees and everything was swept away by the swollen currents. Large parts of cities, towns, villages and forests were turned into vast pools of water. The Ganga flowed above the danger mark at Haridwar and Rishikesh and was three meters above the danger mark at Bhimgoda Barrage. Such was the force of water that the gate no. 6 of the barrage, made of highly solid iron structure, gave in, resulting in floods like situation in the holy city and Laksar tehsil of the district. The entire Har-ki-Pauri region was submerged in 3-4 feet of water. Water level in the gigantic Tehri dam reached 831.5 meter mark, which is 1.5 meter above its capacity. The authorities released 1000 cusecs water from the dam to maintain its level and as reports poured in that still more water may be discharged from the dam.

As nature continued to wreak havoc, red alert was sounded throughout the state. Almora and Nainital districts bore the maximum brunt of nature's fury, with floods and cloudburst so far taking the toll of 42 lives in Almora alone. The sources in the state administration have confirmed that 172 people have so far met the watery grave, while dozens are still missing.

Around 50,000 people have been evacuated to safer places. The sources also say that the number of cattle which perished in the floods is about 1282, while 3,500 villages have been inundated, affecting 9.35 lacs people and damaging about 10,000 houses. The state administration has also confirmed that more than 22,000 hectares of agricultural land, 1,200 roads and 1,522 drinking water projects have been hit by the natural calamity. "The natural disasters have inflicted a damage of more than Rs. 20,000 crores in the state," says Subhash Kumar, the chief secretary of the state. The power generation in the power stations in the state, including Pathri, Cheela, Koteshwar, Maneri Bhal Phase-I and Phase-II, has been badly hit.

Army has to be called in at the worst affected areas. The paramilitary forces, six columns of the army and 200 personnel of the National Disaster Relief Force were deployed and four helicopters of the army have also been pressed into service. "More than 1,400 villagers, trapped in floods have been rescued by the divers and the NDRF from 20 villages in Laksar tehsil where the caving in of the Bishanpur Kundi - Bhogpur embankment on the Ganga brought deluge in the adjoining areas," says the SSP, Haridwar, Sanjay Gunjyal. "At least nine persons have so far lost their lives in Haridwar district," says the district magistrate, R. Meenakshi Sundaram. The state remained cut off from the rest of the country for many days. Char Dham Yatra had to be stopped as the roads from Rishikesh to Badrinath and other shrines sank at many places and there were heavy landslides.

More than 13,000 pilgrims are stranded on Char Dham yatra route. Road transport was completely thrown out of gear. Haridwar Bijnor national highway, and the national highway between Haridwar and Roorkee and between Dehradun and Delhi were closed for traffic. Due to heavy deposits of silt and water logging on the railway track near the tunnel at Haridwar and at Motichoor near Rishikesh, train services between Haridwar and Dehradun remained disrupted for many days, with hundreds of passengers remaining stranded at Haridwar and Dehradun railway stations.

The chief minister Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, who visited Haridwar and other districts, announced an ex gratia of Rs. 1,00,000 to the next to the kin of the deceased and Rs.50,000 each to those seriously injured. He also demanded that the entire state should be declared by the centre as "disaster hit state". The Governor, Margaret Alva also made an aerial survey of the flood hit districts, including Haridwar. The devastation is of such a vast magnitude that no amount of efforts by the central and the state governments can make up the losses. Ultimately, it is the brave people of the state, accustomed to face the natural disasters with patience and fortitude. Nature has caused incalculable losses, but it has failed to vanquish the heroic spirits of the people of the state. And this is how life always moves on in this state.

Rashmi Singhal narrates her sojourn to Garhwal

The first dip in the holy water of river Ganga numbed all my senses. Suddenly, the sound of chanting of the mantras and temple bells seemed, as if coming from a very far distance. I gathered courage and plunged into the water to take a second dip and then third. It was early morning in the month of September and I was taking divine dips in the holy township of Haridwar. We were on a short vacation with my Husband and kids, away from the hustle and bustle of metros. The holy dips in the sacred river and worshipping at Maa Mansadevi and Maa Chandidevi Temples at Haridwar, rejuvenated our sagging sprits and we continued our journey to Uttarkashi in the Garhwal Hills.

The early morning journey at this time of the year was quite nippy, specially in the forest of Rajaji National park. We had taken a detour through the Chilla wild life sanctuary, on way to Rishikesh. The breeze coming from the open windows of our car was full of freshness and signalling approach of winters. The smell of wild flowers of the woods was very convivial. Memories of my college days at IIT Roorkee came flooding, when I had visited with other students of Physics department, on an educational tour to Chilla Hydro electric project. The Chilla Sanctuary of Rajaji national Park is habitat of wild Asian elephants, but other mammals like leopards, spotted deer, Sambhar, Nilgai, Wild boars, etc., are in plenty, presence of tiger also is boasted by the sanctuary. The safaris in open jeeps are conducted by the Forest department and Usha Breco Ltd. from mid November to mid June, when the park is open for the visitors.

The route through the sanctuary was along an irrigational canal of holy Ganga with clear and sparkling water. The morning sun rays were flickering and dancing on waves in the canal, with water drops throwing colourful prismatic lights. We stopped at a place where the canal went underground, avoiding hindering the natural flow of a rivulet. The canal was made by Britishers and it took approximately 15 years to complete the project.

The area was full of natural beauty, accentuated by the chirping and tweeting of the birds, which was music to the ears. The distance of approximately 30 kms through the forest and canal passed in a jiffy and we found ourselves on the winding roads climbing up in the hills. After crossing the township of Nariender Nagar, as we neared a small hamlet Agrakhal, there was a diversion and a single lane road climbed steeply up in the hill. This was the diversion to the famous temple of Kunjapuri, which is one of the Shaktipeets and believed to be the place where the breast portion of the Sathi fell. We also took this climb, which was dangerously narrow at certain places. From the place of parking there were approx. 200 steps to the temple. The place wore a desolate look with some makeshift shops selling parshad and very few devotees. Even the monkeys and the langoors, which are a common sight at these places of worship, were very conspicuous by their absence, it seemed either they are on vacation or moved to greener pastures.

As we moved further into the Shivalik hills, the narrow streak of Ganga which was visible deep down, suddenly took the form of a mighty lake. We released that we are in the vicinity of the famous Tehri dam. It was difficult to imagine that numerous villages and the complete township of Tehri are at the bottom of this lake. The route ahead was doted with many tiny hamlets. I wondered as how people living in the hamlets up on the hill tops commute. The hardship of life was clearly visible on the wrinkled faces of the women folk. As we neared Uttarkashi the valley of river Ganga widened considerably. Uttarkashi is one of the districts HQ in Garhwal division. It is an important pilgrimage center equated with Varanasi or Kashi in divinity.

As the Char Dham yatra was in full swing, the roads were quite congested with vehicular traffic. A thick boundary wall was cordoning off one side of the road towards the hill. It was the famous Varunavat Mountain, which was in the news about 3 yrs back for the massive land slides. The tip of the mountain had slithered down. Now it resembled more like a drawing pencil tip with one side tapered off for shading. The earth moving equipments on top of the hill were reminding me of Bob the Builder, my daughter's favourite cartoon show.

After covering approx. 200kms, we finally reached excellent Kamla Bhawan Cottage, lying just below the shoulder off the main highway to Gangotri, along the bank of Holy Bhagirathi. The place was surrounded by the veil of trees and fragrant shrubbery. The ambience and the surrounding vistas were unrivalled. Children just freaked out on its open lawns, after a long incarceration of the journey. The lunch was served in the rooms with an equally hospitable staff. The temples of Lord Vishwanath, is located in the middle of the town. A massive iron trident, 26 ft high is erected here. It is believed that if one tries to shake this trident with both the hands it will not move, however if pushed by the little finger the trident shakes. We paid our homage at the temple and moved around in the small market selling various souvenir. We came to know through the locals that the temple of Goddess Kuteti Devi, a local deity is on the hill top on way to Nehru Institute of Mountaineering. The approach to both the places was very charming and the serenity and the tranquillity prevailing at these places were magnetizing.

Next day morning saw us ready for the trek to Nachiketa Tal. Armed with sticks, trekking shoes and satchels containing water bottle and eatables, both my daughters marched out of the rooms first, with full of josh and to take the trek head-on. But we knew that most part of the trek, will be taken by my little daughter, saddled on my husband shoulders. My husband who is an ex army officer, is used to these types of punishments, as most part of his Army training in academy passed in Big packs and doing extra drills.

We drove through the terraced fields to Chaurangi - Khal, a place 29 kms from Uttarkashi. It is from here that a trek of 3 kms through the lush green forest took us to Nachiketa Tal. The gardener of the cottage Rajpal had volunteered to guide us to the spot. It was a peaceful spot and the greenery all around with a small temple at the bank of the lake, gave it a serene look. It is a virgin place, with no signs of any kind of commercialization, even no accommodation available there. Nachiketa, the devout son of sage Uddalak, is believed to have created this lake, hence the name. After coming back to Chauragni Khal, the small shops hosted our lunch of Aloo parathas made on the typical village chulas, burning the conifers leaves and branches.

The following day, we visited a sylvan hamlet, famous for apple orchards, Harsil. It is at a distance of 73 kms from Uttarkashi. The place is also famous for the shooting of the various sequel of Raj kapoor's famous film "Ram Teri Ganga Meli". This sleepy hamlet offers immaculate beauty of the Himalayas. Harsil, is a quite resort to discover the undiscovered stretches of green, grassy land and to enjoy the natural beauty. It has all the natural beauty which one can imagine. I think this was the perfect picture finish to our great short excursion in the Himalayas.

Waiting for mitra police in UK

The need for police reforms in India is long recognised. There have been almost three decades of discussion by government-created committees and commissions.

Historical Perspective

Way back in 1979, the National Police Commission (NPC) was set up to report on policing and give recommendations for reforms. The Commission produced eight reports consecutively and then dozens of topic specific recommendations. And this was followed by a Model Police Act. At that time the government did not adopt any of the recommendations. This persuaded two former DGPs in 1996 to file a PIL in the Supreme Court, asking the court to direct the government to implement the NPC recommendations. In 1998, the court set up the Ribeiro Committee which handed in its reports in 1999. This was followed by the Padmanabhaiah Committee Report in 2000 and eventually the Police Act Drafting Committee headed by Soli Sohrabjee. This committee drafted a new model bill to replace the colonial 1861 Colonial Police Act. Meanwhile, very little was ever done on the ground to improve policing or implement recommendations put forth by any of these committees or commissions.

It was only in 2006 that the court delivered its verdict in what is popularly referred to as the Prakash Singh Case. The Supreme Court ordered that reform must take place. All the states and union territories were directed to comply with seven binding directives to kick start the reforms. These directives pulled together the various strands of improvement generated since 1979. The Court also required implementation of its orders, either through executive orders or new police legislation. At first the court itself monitored the compliance of all states and union territories, however in 2008 the court decided to set up a three-member monitoring committee, with a two year mandate to examine complains, state by state and report back to it periodically.

Reforms vis-a-vis Uttarakhand

In Uttarakhand, the State Police Complaints Authority (SPCA) was set up three years ago to comply with the directive. Surprisingly having no state Human Rights Commission, the PCA was the only body available for common public to put forth their complaints, against high ranking police officials or against any misconduct. According to general secretary of People's Union for Civil Liberties Pushkar Raj, who was in Doon recently to release an analytical report on the performance of the SPCA, "The greatest flaw of the SPCA was lack of co-ordination and understanding and camaraderie between members. Most ironically in all these years there were hardly any convictions or even reprimands. It was worse than a defunct body and the result is that it is now on the verge of being dissolved. Now the SPCA head, Justice Sambhunath Srivastava, is heading a new committee for the formation of State Human Rights Commission."

In any state if the police have to function well, it must take into joint cooperation civic societies and the common man. This did not happen in previous years. But now with the change of guard in the state, there is a remarkable positive scenario that is emerging.

Advocate Renu D. Singh of Samadhan, a mainstream activist organisation that is working for police and judicial reforms in Uttarakhand, states, "It is after the initiative taken by the present DGP, Jyoti Swarup Pandey, that we can expect great improvement in the working of the Uttarakhand Police, particularly with respect to training and capacity building and sensitization of police personnel below the rank of inspectors, mainly working at the Thana and Chowki levels. We can clearly see the changing trends and more of professionalism under Joshi's tenure. There is a marked difference in the work attitude and environment in the police department. He is already highly sensitised and with high respect for human rights and values for humanity."

Renu adds, "In the coming years, it will not be an easy journey for DG Jyoti swarup Pandey to overhaul the entire force. Those who are habitual violators and easily break the law in the name of maintaining law and order will find the going difficult though."

Experts point out that looking at the attitude of the police in the previous regime, civic societies felt de-motivated and discouraged to come forward to to assist in any way in the functioning of the police in the state.

It is hoped that the training of our personnel that is presently being done in Moradabad takes into consideration the state's specific needs. Uttarakhand needs its own training centre for its officials. The UP societal needs and criminal profile are quite different from that of Uttarakhand. It is high time that we have our training centre for police personnel with emphasis on human rights sensitization lessons and workshops in close coordination with civic society.

In this regard the contribution of Samadhan is praiseworthy. It has prepared a set of useful guidelines in the form of easy to understand pamphlets that are being distributed for the enlightenment of the police as well as the common men. The dream of CM Nishank's regime to make Uttarakhand a model state cannot be accomplished without police reforms, reiterates Renu. "Let's hope Uttarakhand police turns a new leaf. There must be measures put in place to make the police force happy. Only a happy police force can be a mitra police. What is required urgently is some respite for the personnel such as easy hospital and educational facilities for their families. Happiness, health and wealth when required should be top priority. Wealth means if they require treatment for a family member, they should be able to afford it. In other words the budget for the force should be enhanced."

DGP Uttarakhand J.S. Pandey says that his thrust would be twofold.

"Firstly, we have to ensure that the police have a problem-oriented approach. They should be proactive instead of just taking it as a law-enforcing issue. The force has to get out of the reactive mode. Secondly, the force must invite the participation of civic society members and try to solve problems with their help. Even within the force we should not be punishment-oriented and should take to counselling as and when required. The health of the force needs to be improved. Families of our personnel, too, have to be well looked after. Unless this happens they would not be able to devote real energy to quality work," he concludes.

Tiger protection force to be raised in Uttarakhand

P.S. Chauhan

In compliance with the directive of the National Tigers Conservation Authority the state government has decided to raise a Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF). Out of the total tiger population of 1411 in the country, there are about 200 tigers in the forests of the state, including 164 in the Jim Corbett National Park alone. The sources in the forest department say that there will be three platoons in the company of the STPF which will be led by a forest official of the rank of a serving assistant forest conservator of forests, while the platoons will be led by the officers of the rank of the forest rangers and will be designated as the Tiger Force Range Officers. Every platoon will consist of six tiger force foresters and 30 special tiger forest guards (commandos). The chief principal conservator of forests of the sate, R.B.S. Rawat said that 60 posts of the special tiger forest guards would be filled up by direct recruitment, whereas 30 would be filled up by the locals and the youths from the Van Gujjar community in the age group of 18-21. After the attainment of the age of 40 by these special tiger forest guards, they will be absorbed in the regular services of the forest department and the vacancies thus caused will again be filled up. The personnel of the STPF will be provided special training and equipments. The entire expenses incurred on the STPF will be borne by the central government.

Platinum Jubilee

Jim Corbett National park, the oldest national park in the country, is going to celebrate its platinum jubilee in 2011 with great fanfare. The park, established in 1936, was first named as Hailey National Park and was rechristened as the Ram Ganga National Park in 1954. Finally, in 1955 the park was designated as Jim Corbett National Park after the name of Jim Corbett, the legendary hunter and conservator of wild life, who passed most of his life in this region. The park is known all over the world for its density of tiger population. Besides tigers, there is also a good population of elephants and other species of wild life. A committee under the chairmanship of Subhash Kumar, the additional chief secretary of the state and commissioner for rural development, has been constituted to draw up programme for the celebration of the platinum jubilee. Subhash Kumar said that eminent personalities, specially those working in the field of wild life conservation, would participate in the platinum jubilee celebrations.

Pokhriyal favours smaller states

Uttarakhand chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal has favoured further division of Uttar Pradesh saying that smaller states achieve better growth rate. "For better development, Uttar Pradesh should be further divided," he said in Varanasi on Monday. Pokhriyal said that small states can achieve better growth.

Giving the example of his own state, the CM said that the growth rate of Uttarakhand was at 2.9 per cent at the time of its inception, but now it is growing at 9.31 per cent and the state stands at third place in country in terms of growth. The per capita income of the state has risen from 14,000 per person to 42,000 per person which is higher than the national average, he added.

After Uttarakhand was craved out of Uttar Pradesh, demands for making Poorvanchal and a Harit Pradesh grew stronger. Pokhriyal also paid a visit to Kashi Vishwanath temple and attended the aarti at the Dashaswamegh ghat. He also appealed to the people to make the river Ganga pollution free.

Uttarakhand Raj Bhavan website launched

Uttarakhand governor Margaret Alva on Monday launched the official website of Raj Bhavan in Dehradun. The website governoruk.gov.in, developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC), would provide information regarding the history of Raj Bhavans of Dehra Dun and Nainital, the tenures of the governors, their profiles and addresses on special occasions in both English and Hindi. Besides, the website would also provide information on the bio-diversity and various places of tourist interest of the region. "The website would help common man to get information about Raj Bhavans, Governors as well as the role of this constitutional post in a democratic system," Alva said.

Uttarakhand news update as on September 2010

Top auto component-maker Setco plans to set-up a new manufacturing unit at Kandla, Gujarat, by end of this fiscal besides doubling capacity at its existing Uttarakhand and Baroda plants. The company will be raising Rs 100 crore in the next two years to fund these initiatives.

"We want to tap the rapidly growing demand for clutches in both the domestic and overseas markets. We will not only expand our existing capacity but also set up a new facility at Kandla," Setco executive director Shvetal Vakil said. He, however, did not divulge the route the company proposed to take for raising funds. "We are still evaluating the appropriate routes for raising this money." At present, Setco manufactures 6.5-lakh clutches annually at its Baroda and Uttarakhand plants. "We will double our capacity to 13-lakh clutches per annum in the next two-years," Vakil said. On its new plant at Kandla, he said land acquisition would be completed soon and an investment of over Rs 15-crore has been earmarked for the same.

Action against THDC likely

Uttarakhand government is contemplating action against Tehri Hydroelectric Development Corporation for increasing the water level of 2400MW Tehri hydroelectric project that "posed a threat" of submergence to property and lives of the people living around its reservoir. As the reply of THDC officials in response to the notices issued by Tehri District Magistrate in this regard has been found "not satisfactory", the state government might take action against THDC, official sources said. Tehri District Magistrate Radhika Jha had issued notices to THDC on August 27 for increasing the water level of reservoir beyond the permissible level of 821.05 meter that posed the threat of submergence to the population living around the reservoir. Uttarakhand chief minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank had visited the affected area in Tehri and Uttarkashi district on Tuesday and held THDC officials responsible for the mess due to the incomplete rehabilitation work. Nishank also demanded Rs 450 crore from THDC and the centre as compensation to the damages done by the increasing water level of Asia's highest dam and to complete the rehabilitation of affected families.

'Scams' to be probed

Retired High Court Judge B.C. Kandpal will head the Inquiry Commission, set up by the BJP government in Uttarakhand, to probe 56 alleged scams during the previous N.D. Tiwari-led Congress dispensation. Justice Kandpal, who recently retired as a judge of the Uttarakhand High Court, had been appointed Chairman of the Commission, official sources said in Dehradun. He would succeed Justice Shambhu Nath Srivastava who had expressed his desire to be relieved of his responsibilty, they said.

Uttarakhand September 2010 news update

Kumar new CS

Subhash Kumar, an IAS officer of 1977 batch, on Monday took over as new chief secretary of the hill state of Uttarakhand. Fiftysix-year-old Kumar succeeded N.S. Napalchyal who took voluntary retirement one-and-a-half-month before expiry of his extended tenure on October 31 this year. Kumar, till recently additional chief secretary, is the 8th chief secretary of the state.

Chief minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank last night took the decision to appoint Kumar as chief secretary, officials said. After taking over as chief secretary, Kumar said his top priority was to achieve targets fixed by his predecessors. He said he would strive hard to strengthen the disaster management network in view of widespread rains across the state this season. Napalchyal has been nominated as principal advisor to the state -planning commission. He is also being tipped as next Uttarakhand chief information commissioner.

Sikhs' procession from Delhi to Haridwar

Members of the Sikh community will take out a procession from Delhi to Haridwar later this month seeking re-allocation of land on the banks of the Ganga where a Sikh shrine was allegedly destroyed. Various Sikh organisations under the banner of All India Sikh Conference (Babbar) are demanding that land opposite Har Ki Pauri in Haridwar where the Gyan Godari Sahib Gurudwara existed should be re-allocated to them, president of the conference Gurcharan Singh Babbar said.

Babbar claimed that proof of the existence of the Sikh shrine 400 years ago is available in the revenue records of the then government. "There is ample evidence that the Gurudwara was there adjacent to holy Ganga, but was later destroyed in the 80s and shops were constructed in the area," he said.

Rejecting the Uttarakhand government's offer to allot alternative land to establish a Gurudwara in Haridwar, Babbar said, "If the government is keen to allot alternative land for establishing the Gurudwara which once existed, then there should be the same criteria as in case of Ram temple and Babri Masjid."

The procession will commence from Gurudwara Rakab Ganj in the national capital on September 22 and will converge at Haridwar. Activists of several organisations, including radicals Damdami Taksal and Sant Samaj, will also be part of the procession, he said.

Northern Ganga canal reopens

Northern Ganga canal, whose closure last week had affected power generation in various states, was reopened on Wednesday. Besides power generation, the canal also caters to irrigation needs of agricultural lands in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. The canal was closed after farmers refused to take water from it following heavy rains as this led to crop damage, executive engineer (Ganga Canal) K.P. Singh said. Power generation in various projects at Haridwar, Roorkee, Muzaffarnagar, Muradnagar, Aligarh and Allahabad was disrupted due to its closure.

Alaknanda project work suspended

Uttarakhand government has temporarily suspended the work on the 330-MW Alaknanda hydropower project under pressure from local activists, who have opposed it as its reservoir will submerge the famous Dhari Devi temple.

The state government has also constituted a high-power committee headed by Garhwal commissioner to look into the demands of the people and directed it to submit a report within a fortnight's time, officials sources said. The work on hydel project, being built on Alaknanda river near Srinagar town of Pauri district by GVK Infrastructure Company, has been suspended for nearly two weeks, they said.

The activists from ABVP, VHP, Mahila Vikas Samiti and Sanyukta Utthan Samiti led by senior BJP leader Mohan Singh Gaonwasi have been agitating in the area for the past three months to press for their demands, including not to increase the height of dam beyond 63 metres to prevent the submergence of the Siddhapeeth Dhari Devi temple and provide employment to affected families.

Dehradun breaks its rain record

The monsoon rainfall this year has broken a 37-year-old record in Dehradun and is headed to break the 39-year-old record as well, officials said. The city has so far received 2678 mm of rainfall since June 1 and is just short of 85 mm from the 1971's record when 2763 mm of rainfall was received by the Doon valley from June 1 to September 30.

"Still a fortnight of September is left and monsoon is active, the possibility of breaking the 39-year-old record seems very high," said Anand Sharma, Director of Met department here. Significantly Dehradun is among the top cities of India which receive maximum rainfall during the monsoon season. Nine of the total 13 districts of Uttarakhand have so far received excess rainfall this monsoon season. Chamoli district received the maximum 92 per cent more rainfall than the average followed by Champawat (56 per cent), Bageshwar (49 per cent), Dehradun, Udhamsingh Nagar, Uttarkashi and Nainital (37 per cent), Almora 21 per cent and Tehri 20 per cent, Met office said. Heavy rains this season have already claimed more than 110 lives and rendered thousands homeless in the state.

Season’s first snowfall in Uttarakhand in September

Nearly a month ahead of schedule, the higher reaches of Garhwal Himalayas in Uttarakhand received snowfall, sending the mercury plummeting in Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts. The hills around Badrinath and Kedarnath temples have received snowfall while lower areas received rainfall forcing the people to take out their woollens.

Reports that incessant rain hit normal life in Kumaon division of the state. Reports of more and more roads getting damaged and blocked continues to pour amid incessant rains lashing the Kumaon region. Apart from the havoc caused by the rain on the infrastructure in the state, people continue to combat the onslaught of water borne diseases including Dengu and Conjunctivitis especially in Hardwar, Dehradun, Udhamsingh Nagar and Nainital. Meanwhile, due to record rainfall the Gang Nehar has been closed. Met department predicts more rain.

Flood situation continued to remain grim in western Uttar Pradesh. Our correspondent reports that incessant rain has claimed five lives including 3 children in Moradabad. While the heavy rain is still lashing various parts of the state, the situation in 14 western districts remained grim due to periodic release of water from the barrages of northern India. The water of Yamuna is touching the base of Taj Mahal in Agra. The low-lying city areas of Mathura have become flooded. The A large number of pilgrims are stranded following landslides in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand today. Three more persons were reportedly washed away in Kumaon division. The Met department has predicted more rain in the next 24 hours in the state.

In neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, the rivers Ganga, Ramganga and Yamuna continue to swell due to release of water from different barrages during last 48 hours. The heavy rain also continues to lash a wider area of the state making flood situation worse in the western region.

Sikhs to demonstrate for Gurdwara land

Sikhs from various parts of the country would converge at Haridwar on September 22 to press for their demand of getting back land of Gyan Godari Sahib, the 450-year-old gurdwara which was allegedly demolished during 1984 anti-Sikh riots. "Sikhs would travel to holy town of Haridwar on September 22 and stage a peaceful demonstration on the site where once the historical Gurdwara existed," President of All India Sikh Conference (Babbar) Gurcharan Singh Babbar told reporters here. Akaal Takht chief Jatthedar Gyani Gurbachan Singh and other Sikh leaders will arrive at Haridwar for the protest. Babbar claimed the gurdwara, which was built on the place where first Sikh Guru Baba Nanak Dev had spent a long time of his life, is even older than the Golden Temple and finds mention in religious books.The gurdwara was demolished during 1984 anti-Sikh riots and later local administration under Congress rule encroached upon the land, he alleged. The community has taken the decision to demonstrate after its repeated pleas to governments of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand as well as the Centre went unheard, Babbar said. The Conference has already written letters to President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India, Governors and Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand seeking help to get back the land, he added.

Cultural centre

A cultural centre would soon be set up with a cost of Rs 25 cr aiming at promoting literature, art, handicraft and culture in the state. On Thursday a high-level committee, which was chaired by Uttarakhand Governor Margaret Alva and attended by Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank discussed the modalities of setting up the centre and its operation and also invited suggestions from the experts in the field, a release from Rajbhavan said here. The meeting also decided to lay the foundation stone of the centre on 10th state formation day on Nov 9 this year, it said. A state-of-the-art auditorium having a seating capacity of 1000 people along with a vast parking, library and a cafetaria have also been proposed for the centre, it said.

‘Involve people to conserve Himalayas’

The Need of the hour is to work in tandem to save region’s fragile ecology, feel experts:

Anjali Ojha

It is unfortunate that large-scale dams are being constructed. They devastate the environment and uproot people for short-term benefits, said Anil Joshi, who was here with fellow environmentalist Sunderlal Bahuguna to observe Himalaya Day last week.

Joshi, winner of the Padma Shri, one of India's highest civilian honours, is the founder of the Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organization, which is working for the development of rural villagers in the Himalayas. "Ecologically sensitive programmes should be taken up in the name of development. The fact is that it has become more difficult for the residents of the Himalayas to survive and sustain in the wake of regular commercial exploitation of forests, mines and dams," Joshi told.

Bahuguna, 73, leader of the famous Chipko movement of the 1970s against deforestation, is actively leading a campaign to save the Himalayas by mobilizing local communities. He also spearheaded the movement against the Tehri dam in Uttarakhand. Despite large-scale protests, the dam was completed in 2006. It is a rockfill dam on the Bhagirathi river, the source stream of the Ganga river. The dam submerged the historic Tehri city.

"A dam can keep the water for a while and then it will be filled with silt. The problem of water is permanent; the solution should also be permanent," Bahuguna said.

"Dams stop the natural flow of the river, destroying the river's ecology. They hold the sediments which result in the rivers eroding heavily downstream. It also adversely affects the geological balance by putting high pressure on the sensitive geological area of the Himalayas," Bahuguna added. India currently has 74 hydro-power projects in the Himalayas with an installed capacity of 15,208 mega watts. Thirty-seven more projects are under construction while over 300 more have been planned. However, Joshi believes a solution to big dams is not possible until alternatives are provided to the government.

"The government will continue constructing them (dams) until we provide an alternative.

Construction of small hydrological dams is one alternative. This way water does not stagnate," he suggests. Joshi, who has been working for providing livelihood to the rural communities of the Himalayas, stresses that locals should be involved in finding a solution for sustainable development in the Himalayas. "Local intelligence and local community involvement is most important. The bigger the project, the more alienated are the local communities," he said. "The Himalayas are a huge carbon sink, they provide water and many other resources to the whole of India. The people from the plains should also be included in the conservation of the ranges," he added. On the other hand, Bahuguna suggests large-scale plantation of trees along the ranges as a solution. "Make the Himalayas a continuous dam by planting trees. Trees will attract more rains and give more water," he said. "Planting a variety of species is also important so that there is more resistance to factors like climate change and pests," he added. A manifesto for the Himalayas released Sep 9 by environmentalists includes demands like paying attention to melting glaciers, the falling graph of the ecological balance, restriction on commercialisation of natural wealth and restriction on heavy industries in the region.

However, the main focus is on inclusion of local communities and ensuring a sustainable life for them. "The Himalayas are not just soil, water and glacier, they should be seen along with the people who live there. The conservation of Himalayas must be inclusive of its people," Joshi said.

Uttarakhand floods latest news update on Spetember 20, 2010

Uttarakhand floods latest update as on Spetember 20, 2010: Death toll rises to 72.

Flood situation is getting worse in Uttarakhand: Almora, Chamauli, Uttarkashi and Nainital are worst hit places, where more than 25 homes have been washed away. Uttarakhand flood has also damaged tourists resorts at Corbett National. Power and communication lines are down and road transpose in many villages has been affected. And Uttarakhand floods have forced state government to be shut schools and educational institutes till tuesday, September. 21, but assessing the situation it seems that schools will not be opened for at least a week.

To make the situation more worse water released from the Tehri dam and made Ganag to flow two meters above the danger mark.

Ramesh Pokherial Nishank, Chief Minister, Uttarakhand, said:

If it breaches the 830 feet mark, there could be a deluge. The Teri dam has the capacity to hold water up to 830 feet. The Koteshwar dam will overflow as a result. Massive damage is feared in parts of Rishikesh, Haridwar and western Uttar Pradesh.

Uttarakhand floods leave over 40 dead as on September 19, 2010, , Tehri dam to release more water

Incessant rain in the last 24 hours, which triggered fresh floods in Uttarakhand epecially in Almora district has left over 42 dead. Major rivers in the Utarakhand have been flowing well above the danger mark and continuous rain and rising water level has left thousands homeless. To make the matter worse landslides at various places across Uttarakhand has not only claimed several lives but it made thousands of passengers and devotees stranded. Utarakhand worst floods district are Corbett National Park , Chamauli, Uttarkashi and Nainital.

Feel free to tell about your experience if you have seen or nature's fury in th form of Uttarakhand floods.

Also A high alert has been sounded in Rishikesh and Haridwar as more water is likely to be released from the Tehri dam reservoir. Tehri dam has so much of water that it can cause major floods to all the way to Meerut, which close to 350 km from the dam. So you can very well imagine that what will happen if sometime wrong goes with the dam.....

Uttarakhand floods leave over 40 dead as on September 19, 2010

Incessant rain in the last 24 hours, which triggered fresh floods in Uttarakhand epecially in Almora district has left over 42 dead. Major rivers in the Utarakhand have been flowing well above the danger mark and continuous rain and rising water level has left thousands homeless. To make the matter worse landslides at various places across Uttarakhand has not only claimed several lives but it made thousands of passengers and devotees stranded. Utarakhand worst floods district are Corbett National Park , Chamauli, Uttarkashi and Nainital.

Feel free to tell about your experience if you have seen or nature's fury in th form of Uttarakhand floods.

Power sector attracts major share of investment proposals

Five states, including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, attracted about 50 per cent of the total Rs 105 lakh crore investment proposals made in 20 states, a study has said. "These five states have emerged as the most preferred investment destinations attracting 52.42 per cent of total investment proposals of about Rs 105 lakh crore made in 20 states in the past four years," an Assocham study said.

Gujarat received investment proposals worth Rs 12 lakh crore, followed by Maharashtra, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka, Assocham secretary general D.S. Rawat said in a statement. Among sectors, which received maximum amount of funds in these states, electricity topped the chart receiving 40.3 per cent investments, followed by services 22.6 per cent, manufacturing 22.1 per cent, real estate 9.9 per cent and mining 2.4 per cent, the study said. It said that electricity sector got the highest share of investments in states like Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. States like Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Maharashtra emphasised more on development of services industry, the study said. For real estate sector, Haryana was a major destination as it attracted 57.8 per cent of the total investment proposals, it added. Apart from these five states others in the list included West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh.

Quality re-check of some CWG projects

IIT-Roorkee and IIT Delhi are among the institutions which are carrying out third party quality checking of Commonwealth Games projects in Delhi:

Virtually rejecting CVC findings of sub-standard quality of work in some of the Commonwealth Games projects, Delhi government has requested the corruption watchdog to carry out a "re-check", indicating lapses in its procedure to lift samples. PWD Principal Secretary K.K. Sharma has said, following the CVC report, his department has conducted a series of "standard tests" in renowned institutions to check the quality of construction of five major projects but did not find anything wrong with them.

"Now, we have requested the Central Vigilance Commission to take the samples again and conduct a retest as our tests showed that there is nothing wrong in the quality of construction," he said. An assessment report prepared by CVC's Chief Technical Examination Wing in July, found large-scale procedural violations, including corruption in 16 different projects being carried out by various government departments. Six of the projects out of the 16 mentioned by the CVC were implemented by the PWD where the watchdog found sub-standard quality of work.

The senior official said the CVC has sent a fresh letter to Delhi government Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta two weeks back asking him to present a detailed response about the questions raised by it. "We carried out the tests in renowned institutions and test report did not indicate any compromise with quality of material or overall standard," Sharma said, adding that he has directed his officials to prepare a detailed report which will be submitted to the CVC. "The findings of the various tests done by us have already been sent to the CVC. Now it is up to them to decide on the issue," he said. Another top official said any enquiry by the CVC's Technical Examination Wing is preliminary in nature and no detailed probe has been carried out by it so far. "In all our projects, third party certification is a must and institutions like IIT-Delhi and IIT-Roorkee are carrying out third party quality checking. So there is little room for any compromise on quality," said PWD chief engineer A K Sinha. The PWD had initiated a host of key infrastructure projects worth over Rs 5,000 crore as part of its efforts to enhance city infrastructure ahead of the Games.

The CVC report said that almost all organisations executing construction work for the Games have flouted rules in tenders and increased their prices.

Election at GKU

Independents trounce NSUI and ABVP

In the prestigious elections for the students union of the Gurukul Kangri University, Haridwar, the candidates fielded by the NSUI, the students wing of the Congress and the ABVP, the students wing of the BJP, have been humbled by the independents.

For the coveted post of the president of the union, Manish Chauhan, an independent, came out with flying colours by securing 875 votes, while his nearest rival, the NSUI candidate Rahul Kumar secured 609 votes and the ABVP supported candidate Gurvendra Singh trailed at the third position with only 95 votes. Gokul Kumar, an independent, bagged the post of the secretary by routing Neeraj Kumar by 372 votes. Kartikeya has been declared as joint secretary by trouncing Arshit Agarwal by 471 votes. Of total 1639 votes 20 were declared invalid. The NSUI and the ABVP could not win even a single seat. After the results were declared there were scenes of jubilation in the campus and the supporters of the winner candidates took out a procession in the city.

For the post of the vice president, Ajit Kumar, for the treasurer Gaurav Singh and for the members of the executive committee Preetam Kumar and Shubham Kumar Chauhan had already been unanimously elected. The results were declared by the chief returning officer, Dr. Ambuj Sharma, amid tight security arrangements.

Strangely enough, the girl students were not given voting rights. The university public relations officer, Dr. Pradeep Joshi said that the girl students did not demand voting rights.

Nari Shakti

Bhavjeet Kaur is the first female general secretary to be elected for the top post of IIT students union:

P.S. CHAUHAN

Bhavjeet Kaur has been declared elected as the general secretary, the top position in the students Affairs Council (SAC) which looks after the interests of the student community in the IIT Roorkee. It is for the first time in history of IIT Roorkee that a girl breaking barriers, has won this prestigious accolade in this top technical institute of the country. In the past, not only the top positions of the general secretary but even most of the other posts have been bagged by the boys. A sense of euphoria gripped both the boys and the girls in the IIT at this historic occasion as they congratulated the path maker.

In the first phase of the elections the students had elected 94 delegates. In the second phase of elections held to elect the general secretary, the joint secretary, the treasurer and four members of the executive of the SAC, 90 delegates exercised their franchise, while 4 did not turn up to take part in the electoral process.

Bhavjeet Kaur of M.Tech trounced her rival, Naga Bharaion Sai Vinod by 18 votes in a straight contest, while in a triangular fight Mrinal Sinha routed his nearest contender, Nagalla Venkata by a margin of 8 votes. The post of the treasurer was bagged by Vidit Agarwal who secured 48 votes, whereas his rival, trailed behind with 41 votes. Those who made to the executive committee of the SAC included Kush Kothari (48 votes), Pukhraj Grewal (52 votes), Pankaj Agarwal (55 votes) and Shobhit Singh (56 votes). There were scenes of jubilation as the supporters of the winner candidates celebrated the occasion.

Talking to Haridwar Plus, Bhavjeet Kaur said that she really felt proud and excited at the moment. "I shall try to come up to the expectations of the students who have reposed confidence in me. It will be my best endeavour to co-operate with the administration, without comprising with the interests of the student community," she added.

Once again landslides have halted Char Dham Yatra

Three more persons were killed and 'Char Dham Yatra' was halted as heavy rains lashed Uttarakhand on Wednesday paralysing normal life with most of the rivers flowing at danger level. Two children were killed when their house collapsed over them following heavy rains at Mehargaon village in Tehri district, officials said. In a similar incident at Lakshmanpur area in Vikasnagar town, a woman was buried alive under the debris of her house. So far, heavy rains have claimed more than 100 lives in the state this monsoon season. Meanwhile, the 'Char Dham Yatra' comprising pilgrimage to the four hilly shrines of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri and Gangotri was halted as heavy rains triggered a series of landslides at a number of areas in Garhwal Himalayas. Work is on to clear the debris and repair the roads, the officials said.

Major highways connecting the region have been blocked due to landslides triggered by heavy rains disrupting normal life. Nahan-Shimla, Nahan-Paonta-Dehradun, Nahan-Chandigarh, Paonta-Shillai-Ronhat highways, all roads linking tehsil headquarters of Rajgarh, Renuka, were blocked due to numerous landslides bringing normal life to a still, officials said. One person was buried alive, while two others were injured when a house collapsed near Delhi Gate in Nahan. The victim was identified as Sumer Chand (70), while injured persons were Roshan Saini and Ashwani Kumar.

In another incident, two persons were critically injured when another house collapsed in Kotla Mullar village. Hundreds of vehicles carrying horticultural produce and vegetables and over two dozen buses, including state government-run buses, were stranded at various places even as Public Works Department had pressed its men and machinery into action to clear the blocked roads. Badhana, Killaur and Dhanda villages in Paonta area received heavy rains throughout the night. In Killaur, situation was more grim. The rains also disrupted power supply in Nahan and some other areas. About 300 bighas of cultivated land with paddy crop was completely submerged under water. All the major rivers, including the Yamuna, Giri, Bata and Tons were in spate, inundating several low-lying areas. Two labourers were killed and another injured in a landslide at Dharchula area of hilly Pithoragarh district. The incident occurred when the labourers, who were working on a road project, suddenly got buried in debris of the landslides which triggered following overnight heavy rains in the region.

At A Glance: September 12, 2010

Air ambulance, boat services soon

Uttarakhand would start air and boat ambulance services within the next six months, chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said on Thursday. Both the services would be managed by 108 EMRI service, said Nishank. While the air ambulance service would be used in case of emergency in the far-flung areas, the boat ambulance would be plied in the Tehri dam reservoir, he said.

'Declare Shivalik a biosphere reserve'

The Punjab government has asked the union government to declare the Shivalik ranges as a 'biosphere reserve' area. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal urged union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh at a bio-diversity boards' meeting to look into the suggestion and announce the Shivalik as the first inter-state bio-diversity corridor of the country. This corridor will pass through Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand.

"Various states are associated with this project. We have received the proposal only from Punjab, and so we have to talk to the other states for consensus," said Ramesh. The minister said sand-mining mafias would protest the move as the Shivalik range is known for sandstone and conglomerate rock formations. However, there would be no prohibition on mining.

"We will not stop mining but follow a sustainable approach towards it. There would be a monitoring committee to draft a bio-diversity plan and only then we would allow any economic activity in the area," Ramesh said.

Ramesh was the chief guest at the inaugural session of the sixth edition of three-day national meeting of state bio-diversity boards at Chandigarh. The meet was held from Monday. The state government has also asked Ramesh to declare the Emami Bagh area in Hoshiarpur district as a bio-diversity site. The union minister said he would look into the request. He announced that a peacock breeding centre will be established at Bathinda town in Punjab in the next few months.

Max Dehradun to add 150 beds

Max Healthcare will add about 1,200 new beds across North India by the middle of 2011, which could entail an investment of up to Rs 715 crore. The company, which currently has a capacity of nearly 1,000 beds, will be adding about 650 beds through its three new projects in Mohali, Bhatinda and Dehradun, while another 550 beds will be added in two hospitals in Delhi. "By next year, we will be the biggest player in Delhi with the commissioning of our Shalimar Bagh (North Delhi) hospital, which will have 300 beds," Max Healthcare CEO & MD Pervez Ahmed said.

The company's existing hospital at Patparganj in East Delhi unit will become a 500 beds facility by the end of January next year, up from the existing 250 beds, he added. "Besides, we have already expanded our Saket facility by adding another 100 beds," Ahmed added.

On the upcoming projects, he said Max Healthcare will add 250 beds each at Mohali and Bhatinda and 150 beds in Dehradun. Asked about the investment, he said: "While the cost per bed in Delhi would come in the range of around Rs 65-75 lakh, it's going to be around Rs 55 lakh for other places." Overall, the total investment could be of around Rs 715 crore. Max Healthcare has eight hospitals across Delhi and employs over 1,500 physicians and 3,000 support staff

157-yr-old bridge collapses

A 157-year-old bridge over the upper Ganga Canal collapsed in Noorpur village in Muradnagar area, 30 km from here. The bridge, constructed by the British in 1853, collapsed as it was in a dilapidated condition, officials of state Irrigation Department said. One person, Chander Pal Saini, who was on a bike, plunged into the canal due to the mishap. He was rescued by passersby. The bridge was constructed when British engineers had dug the 500-kms-long Ganga canal from Haridwar to Kanpur at that time. Such bridges were constructed after every five kms on the canal and their life was estimated to be 50 years, which expired 107 years ago.

Popularising Sanskrit

After becoming the first state to accord the status of second official language to Sanskrit, Uttarakhand has now finalised a proposal to have signboards of names of places, departments and officials in the language, a move aimed at making it popular among common people.

Chief minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank said he has directed all the 13 district magistrates in the state to take steps to popularise Sanskrit among the people. Uttarakhand is the only state in the country which has accorded Sanskrit the status of second official language after Hindi. The chief minister has directed the DMs to display names of places, government departments and officials along with their designations in Sanskrit, besides in Hindi. Now the media centre would also be known as 'Pracharprasar Kendram', while a board of 'Nyunmulyannabhandaram' would be displayed on the fair price shops. Similarly, inter state bus terminus and computer centre would be known as 'antarrajiya bus sthanam' and 'sangarak kendram' respectively.

To display the names of places and various departments in easy and simple Sanskrit, the state government is also taking help from Sanskrit Academy, said Sudharani Pande, Vice Chancellor of Uttarakhand Sanskrit University. "Sanskrit is not at all a difficult language and can be understood and even used by common man with little effort," she said.

All in the name of God

Illegally constructed places of worship and colonies have been usurping the reserved area for years, while administration looks the other way..

P.S. Chauhan

There is encroachment galore in the name of religion. The district administration has identified 315 places of worship in the district which have been constructed on encroached land. "We have to abide by the direction of the Apex Court to remove all encroachments in the name of religion on public places," says the District Magistrate, Dr. R. Meenakshi Sundram. The encroachments are also obstructing the work of expansion and beautification of the 12 main crossings in the city, including Chandracharya Chowk, Devpura Tiraha, Tulsi Chowk and Shankaracharya Chowk, under the JNURM. The situation has further worsened due to the installation of the statues of the great personalities, specially of the religious leaders, at these busy crossings.

"The large scale encroachments in the city could not have been possible without the connivance of the administration and the politicians. The modus operandi is that first the administration turns a blind eye to encroachments and illegal constructions and later on regularizes them by compounding them by charging some penalty. The political leaders are also to be blamed. They allow encroachments and later on get the houses and shops built on encroached land regularized," rues Gandhiwadi Purshottam Sharma of Kankhal. The situation is becoming grim everyday due to soaring prices of land as a result of rapid industrialization and commercialization. Illegal colonies have been built on agricultural land and after felling trees from gardens and orchards, with the forest department remaining a mute spectator. As the number of tourists is swelling with every passing year, the residential buildings and dharamshalas are being converted into hotels and lodging houses, without permission from the Haridwar Development Authority. The Authority, which was set up in 1986 for the planned development of the city, has failed to fulfil the desired purpose. V.S. Dhanik, who has recently assumed charge as secretary of the Authority, says that he is aware of the gravity of the situation and the Authority will soon initiate remedial measures.

During the last Kumbh the mela administration launched an anti-encroachment drive, but it had to be given up, obviously under pressure of the local politicians. Recently, the district magistrate launched a determined drive against encroachments, specially those which cause water logging and traffic jams. In spite of opposition by vested interests, the administration largely cleared encroachments from Chandracharya Chowk to Dev Pura and from there to Laltarau Bridge and from Shankaracharya Chowk to Kankhal Chowk. But strangely enough, some officials, who were leading anti-encroachment drive, were transferred. The drive had to be suspended, obviously again under political pressure. "It was a bold initiative in the interest of the public in general. All the enlightened citizens whole heartedly hailed and supported the initiative," says Sadhvi Rama Chaudhary of Kharkhari. The district magistrate asserts that the drive has only been suspended and not given up. "We shall again launch the drive soon to clear the mess, says the D.M.

Faculty crunch at IIT Roorkee

Facing a massive shortage of well-qualified teachers, the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) have mooted a proposal for hiring foreign nationals as permanent faculty members. With one-third teaching positions lying vacant, the proposal as a solution to meet the unprecedented staff crunch is expected to be deliberated at the next IIT council meeting to be held in New Delhi, IIT officials said.

The move, if accepted, would enable the premier engineering and technology institutes to appoint foreign teachers on permanent positions, up to 10 per cent of the faculty strength. In 2007, the IITs had been granted permission to hire foreign nationals as faculty members, but only for a maximum period of 5 years on contract basis. IIT-Kharagpur leads the pack with 299 vacancies followed by IIT-Bombay with 222, IIT-Roorkee with 194, IIT-Madras with 138 and IIT-Delhi with 78. Others are not far behind either. There are 69 vacancies in IIT-Kanpur, 65 in IIT-Guwahati and 48 in IIT-Ropad. In fact, the situation is the same in all the 15 IITs in the country. IITs have contended that the presence of foreign faculty on their campuses would expose graduating students to globally distinguished professors besides lending a true international flavour in the campuses and reducing brain drain. Appointment of foreign faculty could also give a boost to IITs' plan to enrol foreign students for the post-graduate programme. IITs have already requested the Human Resources Development(HRD) Ministry to enrol foreign students to the extent of 25 per cent of the total student strength. "IITs are now being increasingly recognised internationally as attractive destination for students. This perceived superiority needs to be leveraged to the fullest extent as expeditiously as possibly," the officials said.

They said that US varsities have benefited by attracting faculty from across the globe and India cannot afford to lose the chance to attract the best talent in teaching and research. The HRD Ministry had recently permitted IITs to hire Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) as permanent faculty after an initial vetting process. The IIT council meeting could also finalise plans to set up 'centre of studies' devoted to a foreign country with a view to develop expertise on countries of strategic importance. Each IIT, the officials said, could concentrate on a particular country. As in the US, such centres will be available for advising the Government especially in terms of strategic negotiations.

The recommendations of the Prof Acharya Committee on streamlining and rationalising JEE examinations and the prospects of a two-tier examination process will also be discussed at the meeting.

Land: grabbing the attention

Unabated encroachment is making a mockery of administration’s claim of making Haridwar a better place, writes P.S. Chauhan..

Gone are the days when Haridwar used to be a well-planned, clean and serene city, with broad roads and no traffic jams. But now encroachment in its various forms rules the city. As a matter of fact there is hardly place in the city where the menace of encroachment is not visible. One wonders that how can land grabbing on this level is possible despite norms and rules. To make the matter worse during these incessant rains these illegal structures have caused unprecedented water logging and traffic snarls. There is heavy encroachment on the beds of the rivulets and the drains in the city, such as the rain-fed, Lalta Rau which drains out water of the Shivalik Hills and of Brahmpuri, Nirmala Chhawani and the adjoining areas. The width of this seasonal rivulet has shrunk due to the construction of hotels and places of worship on its bed and on banks. Similarly, the big drain passing through Govindpuri, a posh colony, is under heavy encroachment. The drain at Katehra Bazar has become a shadow of its former self due to encroachment. Illegal construction on the water channels of the city is a major cause of water logging and creates floods like situation during monsoon. These encroachments do cause traffic snarls and accidents. On account of encroachment, the streets of the city have turned into lanes.

"During peak hours, it takes less time to reach Har-ki-Pauri from Shiv Murti on foot than on a two-wheeler or four-wheeler," says Prem Malik of Ram Nagar Colony. The busy markets of Upper Road, Moti Bazaar and Har-Ki-Pauri area in Haridwar, Kankhal Chowk and Kathera Bazar and Peeth Bazar in Jwalapur, are choking with encroachment. Shops have been illegally constructed on Mansa Devi and Chandi Devi temples vicinity, which are the reserved forest areas and are in the ecologically fragile zone. More than 200 houses have been constructed on the tunnel through which the railway line passes. It may cause major accident any time. Illegal colonies have come up on the land of the BHEL near Bhagat Singh Chowk as well.

Due to encroachment, the mela land is constantly shrinking, Durga Shankar Bhati, a social activist of Bhupatwala says that nearly 40 per cent of the mela land is under encroachment. Houses, shops and ashrams have been constructed in Bairagi Camp in the mela area. "There was a spurt in encroachment and illegal constructions during the last Kumbh, as administration was preoccupied with the holding of the mega event," says Adesh Tyagi, a social activist of Shiv Lok. As per rules of the government and the judgement of the High Court, there can be no construction of residential and commercial purposes within 200 meters of the bank of the Ganga. However, the rule is honoured more in its violation than in its observance.

The need of the hour is to launch anti-encroachment to save the city.

30 leopards poached in 2010 in India alone

Watching a leopard stroll on sun-beaten tracks at dusk is a sight that never fades away, yet these big cats are now in danger in India. At least 130 leopards have been poached this year, say experts calling the figures "alarming".

Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra recorded the highest number of leopard deaths, stated the NGO Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI).

There have been reports of 240 leopard deaths so far.

Across the country, 17 leopards were killed in man-animal conflict, 19 died in road accidents, eight were shot dead by the forest department, six died in rescue operations, two killed by other big cats, while 58 more were found dead, says WPSI.

The rest of the deaths are feared to have been caused by poaching.

Uttarakhand has seen a spurt in leopard deaths. Twenty-nine leopards were poached, four killed in man-animal conflict, including three that were shot dead by the forest department. Fifteen leopard skins and bones were seized.

"Thirty-one more leopards were found dead in the state. Some died of natural causes, but others may have died in conflict. We don't have proof," said Tito Joseph of the WPSI. Seven more died in road accidents.

A census in 2007 showed 2,300 leopards in the state.

"We are compiling a report as part of the tiger census this year which will reveal the latest figure of leopards," Paramjit Singh, chief conservator of forests of Uttarakhand, told IANS.

There is no record of the total number of this agile and stealthy predator in India. They are protected by Schedule 1 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, the highest protection provided to wild animals.

Fifteen leopards were poached in Maharashtra, 13 in Uttar Pradesh and 12 in Karnataka. Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Assam and Himachal Pradesh have also seen leopard deaths in man-animal conflicts.

The buffer areas of wildlife sanctuaries have been the main poaching grounds. Some of these places have seen intense man-animal conflict.

Among big cats, leopards are the most adaptable. They are skilled climbers. Wildlife enthusiasts swear by the exquisite grace with which the animal sways while disappearing into the forests.

Each year, a large number of these endangered animals face unnatural deaths.

In 2009, some 160 cases of poaching and body parts seizures were recorded.

In 2008, the figure was 157, according to the NGO.

Some members of Haryana's Bawaria tribe are alleged to be involved in organised poaching and operate across a vast areas in and around wildlife sanctuaries. They are expert hunters.

"These people (Bawaria poachers) know only how to hunt. They don't have anything else to do. So they kill them for money. It's business," said Singh.

"Poachers from other states also come in two- or three-member groups," he said.

Tito said there are different types of poachers: "One type is organised like the Bawarias.

"Another type is opportunistic - for instance, one who faces the threat of leopard attacks. He will poison the animal and skin it. When he gets a chance he will sell it.

"The third type looks to hunt other animals but will kill a leopard if there is an opportunity."

Landslides hit pilgrimage to Badrinath, Gangotri, Yamunotri

Fresh landslides triggered by rains today disrupted the pilgrimage to Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri in the Garhwal Himalayas of Uttarakhand.

The landslides hit various places in Chamoli and Uttarkashi districts blocking the routes to the shrines of Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri, Disaster Management and Mitigation Centre (DMMC) said here.

While Rishikesh-Badrinath national highway was blocked by landslides at Chhinka area, Rishikesh-Gangotri national highway was hit at Karmkund blocking vehicular traffic, they said, adding the road leading to Yamunotri has been blocked at Ranachatti.

Teams comprising personnel of police, ITBP and BRO have been pressed into service to clear the debris and reopen the routes for vehicular traffic.

The rains also pushed up the water level of a pond at Dhakrani area of Vikasnagar near here damaging 15 houses this morning.

Moderate to heavy rains continued to lash most parts of Uttarakhand with Banbasa receiving maximum 117 mm of rainfall followed by Champawat with 113 mm, Nainital 102 mm, Srinagar and Rishikesh 73 mm, Haridwar 65 mm and Dehra Dun 60 mm during the past 24 hours, Met office here said.

40 school children rescued from overflowing river

As many as 40 school children were today rescued after they were caught in the overflowing Dhoodali river here, police said.

The children of a private school were rescued by police at Premnagar area where they had gone for a picnic, they said.

Due landslides triggered by heavy rains the pilgrimage to Gangotri shrine in Garhwal Himalayas remained suspended for second consecutive day today.

The landslides that hit Rishikesh-Gangotri national highway at Karmkund yesterday, could not be cleared despite the police, ITBP and BRO personnel working day and night to reopen the route, the Disaster Management and Mitigation Centre here stated.

However, the yatra to two other shrines of Badrinath and Yamunotri was resumed today after the removal of debris of landslides from Chhinka and Ranachatti respectively, it said.

Moderate to heavy rainfall continued to lash most parts of the state with major rivers of Ganga and Yamuna flowing near danger level.

Uttarakhand has so far received 19 per cent more rainfall than the average this monsoon season claiming more than 80 lives and damaging property worth crores of rupees, Met office here said.

The inclement weather also forced Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank to cancel his visit to Almora as his chopper could not take off due to bad weather, a government spokesman said.