News Analysis India

Tag: Uttarakhand

  • BKU leader Rakesh Tikait bats for stringent land laws in Uttarakhand

    By PTI

    DEHRADUN: BKU leader Rakesh Tikait on Wednesday lent his support to the demand for stringent laws that restrict outsiders from buying land in Uttarakhand and accused the state and the Centre of ignoring interests of farmers.

    He said farmers in remote hill areas of Uttarakhand have been forced to migrate to the plains or to places like Delhi as farming is no longer a viable option for them due to persistent problem of wild animals destroying their standing crops.

    Successive governments in the state have failed to address the problems of farmers, Tikait told reporters at Uttarakhand Press Club.

    Tikait also lent his support to the demand for stringent land laws, restricting outsiders from buying property in the state.

    He also appealed to farmers in the state not to sell their land to outsiders.

    The BKU leader advocated the formation of a village tourism policy for the benefit of the Himalayan states, including Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

    He also spoke against the Centre’s three agriculture laws, saying the government itself suggests amendment.

    “Of what use are these laws if they need to be amended,” he said.

    The farmers’ agitation will go on till the three agriculture laws are withdrawn, he said.

  • Health workers trek treacherous Himalayan trail to expand COVID jab cover

    Express News Service

    DEHRADUN: Weather can change at a moment’s notice in the hilly tracts of Uttarakhand; sunny days are often interspersed with bouts of rain.

    Sometimes, it snows and the risk of landslides is ever present. But Shweta Rana and her team of Himalayas Health Workers labour on, for the onus of reaching out to the far-flung with vaccines for Covid-19 has fallen on their shoulders.

    On a particularly demanding day, the team covered 18 kms through the treacherous hills to inoculate some hill villagers.

    Talk about hell and high water! there are at least 15 villages on the India-China border in Uttarakhand that sit 2,800 metres high in the lap of the Himalayas.

    It is this cluster that the Uttarakashi district health workers aim to cover by inoculating at least 90% of their population by august 15. Rana, an auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM), is one of the many health workers assigned to handle the task that was launched on January 16 last.  

    “The journey is tough and there is no shortcut. Landslides are common, and food is hard to come by if you are not stocked up. there have been occasions when we have survived on mere biscuits and water. It took my team 13 hours to reach a village last month. there, we convinced the people about the importance of vaccine and went about our jobs,” she recalled.

    Their treks are often interspersed with incessant rains, chance encounters with animals, resistance from the locals, and food and shelter shortage. the state’s vaccination drive has picked up pace in the recent months. as of August 9, 15,96,342 people in the state have been fully vaccinated, while 50,69,725 have received at least a single dose.

    The hill state has a total population of 49,34,219 in age-group of 18-44 years; 27,95,247 in agegroup of 45+. the state has 1,28,002 healthcare workers and 1,93,216 front line workers handling the task.

    Sonam Rawat, another health worker, said, “It is a difficult, but an important job. We overcome natural and manmade hurdles to do what is required of us. We intend to meet our august 15 target.”

  • Health workers trek treacherous Himalayan trail to expand jab cover

    Express News Service

    DEHRADUN: Weather can change at a moment’s notice in the hilly tracts of Uttarakhand; sunny days are often interspersed with bouts of rain. Sometimes, it snows and the risk of landslides is ever present. But Shweta Rana and her team of Himalayas Health Workers labour on, for the onus of reaching out to the far-flung with vaccines for Covid-19 has fallen on their shoulders. On a particularly demanding day, the team covered 18 kms through the treacherous hills to inoculate some hill villagers.

    Talk about hell and high water! there are at least 15 villages on the India-China border in Uttarakhand that sit 2,800 metres high in the lap of the Himalayas. It is this cluster that the Uttarakashi district health workers aim to cover by inoculating at least 90% of their population by august 15. Rana, an auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM), is one of the many health workers assigned to handle the task that was launched on January 16 last.  

    “The journey is tough and there is no shortcut. Landslides are common, and food is hard to come by if you are not stocked up. there have been occasions when we have survived on mere biscuits and water. It took my team 13 hours to reach a village last month. there, we convinced the people about the importance of vaccine and went about our jobs,” she recalled.

    Their treks are often interspersed with incessant rains, chance encounters with animals, resistance from the locals, and food and shelter shortage. the state’s vaccination drive has picked up pace in the recent months. as of August 9, 15,96,342 people in the state have been fully vaccinated, while 50,69,725 have received at least a single dose. The hill state has a total population of 49,34,219 in age-group of 18-44 years; 27,95,247 in agegroup of 45+. the state has 1,28,002 healthcare workers and 1,93,216 front line workers handling the task.

    Sonam Rawat, another health worker, said, “It is a difficult, but an important job. We overcome natural and manmade hurdles to do what is required of us. We intend to meet our august 15 target.”

  • Uttarakhand: SC terms as ‘atrocious’, imposes fine of Rs 1 lakh on accused for delaying trial in wife’s murder

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Monday termed as “atrocious” and imposed a fine of Rs one lakh on a suspended policeman of Uttarakhand for filing a plea to “procrastinate” trial in a case in which he is accused of harassing his wife for dowry and killing her in 2007.

    “You are misusing the system. Your client is a police constable who is suspended. You have to be removed forthwith from the service and be sent to the jail without a minute’s delay. You have successfully dragged a case where you are accused of killing your wife. This is an atrocious case. This is misuse and abuse of the judicial system,” a bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana said.

    The apex court was irked over the fact that accused Puran Chandra, whose earlier attempt to get relief from the top court had failed in 2019, has again moved before it seeking to examine some defence witnesses including himself in the case which is pending trial since 2008.

    The bench also comprising Justices Vineet Saran and Surya Kant dismissed the plea of the suspended police constable and imposed a cost of Rs one lakh to be paid to the mother of his deceased wife.

    If the cost is not paid then the same may be recovered from attaching the property of the accused and the trial court should complete the trial in a period of three months from today, the bench ordered.

    Earlier, the Uttarakhand High Court had refused to entertain his plea against an order of the trial court of February 10, 2020.

    The accused had filed the plea before the trial court stating that some important defence witnesses are required to be examined, in order to prove certain documents, which was dismissed.

    The high court had noted the facts of the case and said that this aspect had been agitated by the accused even before the apex court and was finally dismissed.

    Dismissing the case, the high court had said that the accused has been delaying the proceedings of the Sessions Trial.

    “Dilly Dallying is not permissible. Undue delay in disposal of Sessions Trial is uncalled for. One cannot take a plea under the garb of defence evidence that one can prolong the proceedings of any Sessions Trial till the period one wants to keep the same pending. Learned trial court has rightly rejected the applicant’s application and the trial Court has rightly come to the conclusion that the object of filing such application is only to prolong the decision of the Sessions Trial, which is not permissible in law,” the high court had said.

  • One more held in Uttarakhand for passing casteist slur on hockey player Vandana Katariya’s family

    By PTI

    DEHRADUN: One more person has been held for passing casteist remarks on national women’s hockey team player Vandana Katariya’s family taking the number of those arrested in connection with the case to three.

    Twenty-two-year-old Sumit Chauhan was arrested from his home on Saturday, Haridwar SSP Senthil Avoodai Krishna Raj S said.

    With his arrest, three people have been arrested in connection with the case, the other two being Vijay Pal and his brother Ankur Pal who were arrested earlier, he said.

    They have all been booked under Section 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the official said.

    They are charged with dancing and bursting fire crackers outside Vandana’s house in a gesture of mockery soon after the Indian women’s hockey team lost to Argentina in Olympics semifinals.

    They also allegedly passed a casteist slur against the family saying that the team had lost because it had too many Dalit players in it.

    Meanwhile, police personnel have been deployed outside the Olympian’s house in Roshnabad area for the family’s security, he said.

    Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has announced a reward of Rs 25 lakh for Katariya in recognition of her great performance at the Olympics.

    He also spoke to the Olympian on Saturday to congratulate her.

     

  • Vandana Katariya’s performance had done the country and Uttarakhand proud, says CM Dhami

    By PTI

    DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Saturday congratulated India’s women hockey team player Vandana Katariya and her teammates for their great performance at the Tokyo Olympics asking them to keep up their morale.

    Speaking virtually with Katariya who hails from Haridwar, Dhami said her performance had done the country and the state proud and extended an invitation to her to meet him at his official residence in Dehradun on her return.

    ALSO READ | ‘Shameful’: Rani condemns alleged casteist slurs hurled at teammate Vandana Katariya’s family

    A new policy is being framed for sports promotion in the state under which all possible support will be given to sporting talents, he said.

    Dhami, who has already announced a cash award of Rs 25 lakh for Katatriya in recognition of her performance at the Tokyo Olympics, said she will also be honoured with the Tilu Rauteli award.

  • India’s first earthquake early warning mobile app launched in Uttarakhand

    Express News Service

    DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand government on Wednesday launched an Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) Mobile App — ‘Uttarakhand Bhookamp Alert’ — developed by IIT-Roorkee. 

    It is the country’s first application for notifying people about earthquake alerts. 

    After launching the mobile app, CM Pushkar Singh Dhami said, “The application will prove useful in saving many lives. People must be made aware of this app through various awareness campaigns. I applaud our scientists from the IIT-Roorkee who through their innovative thinking are contributing to the welfare of the society.”

    The programme was initially launched as a pilot project only by the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences for the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand.  Given its success and the need of the region, the IITR’s EEW project proposal was further extended by the Uttarakhand government. 

    The application is available in two versions, compatible with both Android and iOS platforms. The project was sponsored by Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority (USDMA) since the Uttarakhand region is the most seismically active and prone to earthquakes.

    EEW is a real-time earthquake information system that can detect the onset of the earthquake and issue warnings before the significant tremors take hold of the state. 

    The physical basis for an earthquake early warning system is the speed of the seismic waves, which propagate after the release of stress from faults movement. 

    The strong ground shaking is caused by shear waves which travel at about half the speed of the primary waves and much slower than electromagnetic signals. The EEW system exploits this advantage.

    Professor Ajit K Chaturvedi, director of the IIT-R said, “I take immense pride in sharing that IITR has designed an Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) mobile app, for timely dissemination of the information regarding an earthquake occurrence in the neighbourhood and the expected time of arrival and intensity at the location to prevent any loss of life. The project had been specifically launched in tie-up with the Uttarakhand Government as the region is prone to seismic activities. As part of the project, sensors had been installed in the high terrains of the Garhwal and Kumaun regions of the state. 

    “Seismic data stream in at the central server established in EEW System laboratory, CoEDMM, IIT Roorkee. High-speed telecommunication is used for data streaming, while high-performance computers quickly compute scenario projections. The central server processes the retrieved data continuously on 24 × 7 basis. The server issues the warning to the public as soon as it detects that an earthquake of magnitude greater than 5 has occurred in those areas where sensors are installed. Warning time varies with the distance of a location from the epicenter of the earthquake.”

    Describing the uniqueness of the mobile app, Professor Kamal, principal investigator of the project mentioned that this is the only app in the world to record the location of the people who are unfortunately stuck somewhere during the earthquake and send this information to the Disaster Response Force. 

    Issuing the warning through these devices appeared to be a more effective plan to reach the masses in a relatively lesser time which resulted in the development of a smartphone application for earthquake early warning dissemination. 

    The information is sent out to the users through to app, advising them to evacuate and relocate before the damaging earthquake waves approach their dwellings through the app. 

    For receiving an earthquake early warning, all a user has to do is install the app and fill in the necessary information during the installation process. 

    The app contains informative videos to guide the user to follow the steps during the earthquakes to save themselves,  gives an early warning of damaging earthquakes of magnitude greater than 5 originating in Uttarakhand only, sends the current location in the SOS message, which requires location permission to be granted. 

    The warning would be issued to the public when the server estimates that the impending earthquake is damaging, while only notification would be issued for non-damaging earthquakes.

  • Uttarakhand: Kids orphaned by Covid to get Rs 3,000

    Express News Service
    DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand on Monday launched ‘Vatsalya Yojana’ to support children who have lost a parent or guardian during the Covid pandemic.A total of 2,347 children between the age group of 0-21 years have been selected to be provided with various kinds of assistance.

    “We are committed to helping every child. Our vision is ‘Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas’ under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi. We are working to provide assistance to everyone affected by the pandemic,” Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said. 

    In the initial phase, 1,032 children have been chosen by the state government for providing benefits. To ensure the rights of the children, including their share on ancestral properties, the district magistrates of all 13 districts were nominated as custodian-officer of these children.

    Under the initiative, the state government will provide financial help of Rs 3,000 per month till they are 21. It will also provide healthcare, education and other support to these children, including 5% horizontal reservation in government jobs. 

    The scheme was announced last month to support children rendered orphaned due to Covid-19. Later, the scheme was extended to children between 0-21 years of age who have lost one or both parents. Guardians will be covered under the scheme.

  • BJP MP Dharmendra Kashyap booked for misbehaving with priests at Uttarakhand temple

    By PTI
    DEHRADUN: A case has been registered against BJP MP from Aonla in Uttar Pradesh Dharmendra Kashyap and his associates in Uttarakhand’s Almora district for allegedly creating a ruckus at the Jageshwar Dham temple and misbehaving with the priests, officials said on Monday.

    This comes a day after a video purportedly showing Kashyap and his associates engaging in a heated argument with the temple priests went viral on social media.

    Facing criticism from opposition parties, the state BJP said it is gathering details of the incident and will apprise the central leadership of it.

    “The FIR has been registered under sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) of the Indian Penal Code against the MP (Dharmendra Kashyap) and his friends,” Sub-Inspector Gopal Singh Bisht said.

    Kashyap and his associates visited the temple on Saturday afternoon to perform a puja.

    The temple is closed for visitors after 6 pm every day in compliance with the Covid guidelines.

    However, the MP and his friends stayed inside the temple even after 6.30 pm, Jageshwar Dham Mandir Samiti manager Bhagwan Bhatt said.

    When the MP and his associates were requested to leave, he got angry and began abusing the priests and misbehaving with them.

    Some of the priests were even pushed, he alleged.

    The incident drew sharp reactions from opposition parties, who termed it an insult to the priests and the ‘Devbhoomi’.

    State Congress chief Ganesh Godiyal said the insult of priests will not be tolerated and that this incident reflects Kashyap’s arrogance.

    Senior Congress leader and Jageshwar MLA Govind Singh Kunjwal staged a sit-in, demanding a public apology from Kashyap for insulting the priests.

    He also sought action against the BJP MP.

    Congress and Aam Aadmi Party workers also burnt effigies of the BJP at a number of places to protest Kashyap’s misconduct.

    State BJP chief Madan Kaushik said details of the incident are being gathered and the party’s central leadership will be informed about it.

  • Uttarakhand High Court issues contempt notice to civil judge

    By PTI
    NAINITAL: The Uttarakhand High Court on Wednesday issued a contempt notice to a civil judge for not following its order to treat as woman a rape victim from Mumbai whose gender was not disclosed.

    The contempt notice was issued to Sandeep Kumar Tiwari, Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority of Pauri Garhwal and Civil Judge, Senior Division, after hearing the petition of the rape victim who is a resident of Mumbai.

    He has been given four weeks’ time to file his reply. The hearing was held by the single-judge bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari. Earlier, a petition was filed in the high court on behalf of the victim in which it had passed directions to treat/observe the petitioner as a woman.

    The victim later filed the contempt petition alleging that the judge in question refused to accept the direction of the high court.