Dehradun diary

Express News Service
FCCI FLO’s local chapter  gets new chairperson In Uttarakhand chapter of FLO, the woman’s wing of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce’s announced the appointment of its new chairperson, Komal Batra, for the year 2021-22 through a virtual change of guard ceremony. Komal Batra is the founder of Kairos Consciousness. After being appointed as the new chairperson, Komal shared her vision for the FLO. “I am honoured at being conferred a position of such stature,” she said at the virtual ceremony. “Following on lines of FICCI FLO’s goal of women empowerment at various levels, our theme for this year is ‘IKIGAI’, which is a conceptual foundation for a better life,” she said

State’s tourism sector takes a beating amid second waveUttarakhand’s tourism industry has started feeling the heat of the second Covid wave. In recent days, more than 50% of hotel bookings have been canceled. People who make a living out of the state’s tourism industry are worried about another year of dull business.  Ved Sah, secretary of Nainital Hotels and Restaurants’ Association said, “More than half of the bookings have been cancelled in Nainital. This is like the last year when the complete lockdown deliver tourism industry of any business. We don’t know how many of us will be able to sustain under the present circumstances with the pandemic raging.” Similar reports have emerged from other parts of the state —Mussoriee, Ramnagar (home to Corbett Tiger Reserve) and Mukteshwar. Officials of the Corbett Tiger Reserve said a large number of reservations have been cancelled. 

Migrant workers flee fearing lockdown Fearing another lockdown, migrants working in mining and industrial areas of Uttarakhand have started fleeing the state. Concerns mounted after night curfew was recently extended to all districts of the hill state. Sunil Narang, owner of a plywood factory in the industrial area of Rudrapur said, “More than 150 workers, out of a total of about 300, have left for their homes in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and other states. They hurriedly left after the CM announced a night curfew in the state.”  Many factory owners said production works have been halted due to a paucity of workers. 

More students moving from private to govt schoolsA study sanctioned by the Administrative Training Institute, Nainital (ATI) in Uttarakhand has found that an increasing number of students are moving from private to government schools. The study was conducted by Malika Pandey, a former research fellow at the ATI in 18 blocks of the state’s four districts–Nainital, Bageshwar, Almora and Champawat. “The most significant and noteworthy theme is the reverse migration from private to public schools. This trend developed even before the pandemic in several government schools and is expected to further increase, as a result of Covid-19,” says the report. 

vineet upadhyayOur correspondent in Dehradun [email protected]