MP: Work on Bangajhala project soon

Dehradun, April 11
Garhwal MP Satpal Maharaj said today that construction work on the Bangajhala drinking water project, which falls in his constituency, would begin soon.
In a statement issued here, the MP said he had held talks with state Potable Water Minister Mantri Prasad Naithani and the latter had given him an assurance that the work would start soon.
He said the project would ensure clean drinking water to the entire Ramnagar region.

8.6 quake jolts Indonesia, shakes India

Epicentre in Sumatra; tsunami fear grips Indian Ocean belt after 8.2 aftershock 

Banda Aceh, Indonesia, April 11
A powerful 8.6 magnitude earthquake and a series of strong aftershocks struck off Indonesia on Wednesday, sending people scurrying from buildings as far away as southern India, but there seemed little risk of a disastrous tsunami as in 2004.
Indonesia said it was checking for damage and casualties but remarkably, no such reports had been received for several hours after the quakes, including in Aceh, the closest province and the area decimated by the disaster eight years ago.
However, some areas close to the epicentre are remote so it could take some time to find out if there was any damage.
Many people were frightened of further tremors. "It's dark out here but I am scared to go home," said Mila, a 41-year-old woman taking refuge in the grand mosque in the town of Banda Aceh, the provincial capital.
Waves of up to one metre (3.3 feet) high were seen near islands off Aceh, but Indonesia cancelled a warning for fresh tsunamis. It said the worst-hit area was the thinly populated island of Simeulue, off Aceh's southern coast.
The first quake struck at 0838 GMT and an 8.2 magnitude aftershock just over two hours later, at 1043 GMT. Two more strong aftershocks hit later.
The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center also withdrew tsunami warnings for the entire Indian Ocean after keeping them in force for several hours. "Level readings now indicate that the threat has diminished or is over for most areas," the agency's bulletin said.
Thailand and India also withdrew tsunami warnings. Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India were all badly hit in 2004. At least 230,000 persons in 13 Indian Ocean countries were killed in the disaster that year. Last year, an earthquake and tsunami off Japan's northeastern coast killed at least 23,000 persons.
On Wednesday, people near the coast in six Thai provinces were ordered to move to higher ground. Authorities shut down the international airport in the Thai beach resort province of Phuket.
The quakes were about 300 miles (500 km) southwest of Banda Aceh, on the northern tip of Indonesia's Sumatra island, the US Geological survey said. The first was at a depth of 20.5 miles (33 km).
Indonesia's disaster management agency said power failed in Aceh province and people were gathering on high ground as sirens warned of the danger.
"The electricity is down, there are traffic jams to access higher ground," said Sutopo, spokesman for the agency.
"The warning system worked," Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said. Indonesian television showed people gathering in mosques in Banda Aceh. Many others were on the streets, holding crying children.

In the city of Medan, a hospital evacuated patients, who were wheeled out on beds and in wheelchairs. The tremors were felt far away in southern India. Hundreds of office workers in the city of Bangalore left their buildings while the port of Chennai closed down because of tsunami fears.

The quakes were in roughly in the same area as the 2004 quake, which was at a depth of 18 miles (30 km) along a fault line running under the Indian Ocean, off western Indonesia and up into the Bay of Bengal.

Experts said Wednesday quakes were a "strike-slip" fault, meaning a more horizontal shift of the ground under the sea as opposed to a sudden vertical shift, and less risk of a large displacement of water triggering a tsunami.

"The nature of the sideways rupture and sideways movement is not predisposed to cause a bad tsunami, so almost certainly, the crisis has been avoided," said David Rothery, an expert at the Open University in the UK. The quakes were also felt in Sri Lanka, where office workers in the capital, Colombo, fled their offices. — Agencies

Southern shocker

Chennai: Tremors rocked several parts of south and southeast India, prompting panicked people to flock to open spaces as grim memories of the 2004 killer tsunami returned to haunt many. People rushed out of houses and high-rise office buildings in panic in Chennai, Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Visakhapatnam. Operations at the Chennai Port were suspended.

Cracks in Kolkata buildings

Parts of West Bengal, including capital Kolkata, were jolted around 2.14 pm. Scared people rushed out from their homes and offices. There was chaos on roads. In several places, cracks were spotted in buildings. Metro operations were curtailed.

Back-to-back temblors

n The first quake struck at 0838 GMT and an 8.2 magnitude aftershock just over two hours later, at 1043 GMT

n The epicentre was 33 km under water off the Indonesian coast and 435 km from Banda Aceh, the epicentre of the devastating 2004 tsunami

n Indonesia said it was checking for damage and casualties but remarkably, no such reports had been received for several hours after the quakes

n The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center immediately issued tsunami warnings for the entire Indian Ocean, but later withdrew it

n The tremors were felt far and wide in southern and eastern parts of India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia.

HNB Garhwal University VC rejects allegations of irregularities

Dehradun, April 10
HNB Garhwal University in Uttarakhand has refuted charges of irregularities being levelled against it's Vice Chancellor even as the "Save HNB Garhwal University" agitationists have decided to meet Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna and put forward their concerns before him.
According to a release issued by the university, SK Singh, Vice Chancellor of HNB Garhwal University, has outrightly rejected allegations of irregularities levelled on him. He said university employees had themselves sought concession of 5 years as upper age limit for the university employees applying for posts of Public Relation Officer and other non-teaching posts, which was even accepted by the university's executive and he has no individual role in the decision. SK Singh further said that even in case of raising the retirement age of university's teaching faculty from 60 years to 65 years, the subject falls in the prerogative of the university's executive and does not need approval from any other authority. Singh categorically held that he was fully committed to follow the rules and regulations and would not indulge in acts of irregularity under any circumstances.
On other hand, the agitationists, who have been staging a dharna on the Srinagar Garhwal campus of the university, have repeatedly alleged large-scale irregularities in the university at the behest of incumbent Vice-Chancellor. 

More wheat, rice for state for the Char Dham Yatra

Dehradun, April 10
The Union Government has made an additional allocation of 3,000 MT of wheat and 3,000 MT of rice to Uttarakhand for the Char Dham Yatra staring on April 24.
Prof KV Thomas, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, has directed his ministry to release the additional quantity of foodgrains to the state immediately. The allocation has been made in view of request received from the state government in this regard, according to a press release of the Press Information Bureau, Government of India.

Indira Gandhi Sewa Ratna Award to MD of Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (UJVNL)

Dehradun, April 10
Managing Director, Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (UJVNL), GP Patel, has been awarded the prestigious Indira Gandhi Sewa Ratna Award 2012 in New Delhi. This award is given by All India Economy Survey Award Council to those meritorious personalities from various fields who have achieved excellent progress in their respective fields. G.P. Patel received this award from Justice IM Quddussi, Justice of Chattisgarh High Court.
It is notable that after Patel took over the charge as Managing Director of UJVNL , it set new records by generating a record 5261.823 million units (MU) of energy against the annual target of 4760.50 MU, which is the highest ever of a year since the establishment of the UJVNL in financial year 2011-12.
Sensing the limitations of hydropower, he showed foresight by laying foundation stone of gas-based power plant at Kashipur in district Udham Singh Nagar of Uttarakhand. This project is a joint venture of UJVNL and GAIL (India) Ltd. Earlier, an MoU was also signed between both regarding establishment of gas-based power plant in Haridwar and Kashipur district of Uttarakhand.

Diwakar Bhatt plans to form third front

Haridwar, April 10
Former Cabinet minister Diwakar Bhatt, who led activists during the movement for a separate state of Uttarakhand in 80s and 90s, has mooted the idea of forming a third front of regional and smaller parties in the state.
Recuperating from illness, Bhatt, who unsuccessfully fought from the Deoprayag seat on the BJP ticket in the Assembly elections recently, feels that had the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD), the Bhrastachar Raksha Morcha, communist parties, the Rashtriya Krantikari Manch and the Uttarakhand Jan Morcha joined hands during the elections the political scenario would have been different in the state.
Bhatt told The Tribune that one year ago when the UKD broke into two factions -- the UKD (Democratic) under him and the UKD (Progressive) led by Trivendra Singh Pawar -- he wanted to resign but the mode and timing of taking support from the BJP-led government was not right.
It would have been better had Pawar generated a consensus among party leaders. “We had committed to supporting the BJP government in 2007 and hence it was not easy to backtrack without a substantial base,” said Bhatt at his Tarun Himalaya residence in Haridwar.
He added that he would try to regroup parties once again so that the people of the state could have a viable alternative in the next Assembly elections.
The veteran leader also expressed concern over factionalism and tussle witnessed in the Congress over Cabinet berths as this affected development works in the state.
Though Bhatt assured Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna of his full support on development and other issues concerning the state, he also gave a piece of advice to Congress leaders to not to showcase their infighting publicly.
He said he had no plan to join the BJP as this pact was done taking into consideration the political situation and wanted to unite smaller regional parties.

UT Admin to penalise mobile operators

City has over 300 illegal towers; notices already served on violators

Chandigarh, April 10

The UT Administration has now decided to impose penalties on mobile operators who had installed illegal mobile towers in the city. Earlier, the Administration had only issued notices to owners of residential and commercial buildings for violation of building bylaws but now mobile operators will face the music.

At present, there are more than 300 illegal mobile towers in the city.

A senior official of the UT Administration said they would soon issue notices to the mobile operators. Regarding the amount of penalty, he added that they would soon hold a meeting with the Estate Office officials to decide the amount.

But the official added that they were also mulling over allowing installation of mobile towers in residential areas of a few sectors where there was no commercial space available to install mobile towers. Recently, the administration had also issued directions to the architecture department to prepare a road map for the installation of mobile phone towers in the city.

Recently, the UT Estate Office had issued notices to the owners of residential and commercial buildings for violation of the building bylaws. Earlier, the Deputy Commissioner, Brijendra Singh, in his report submitted to UT Finance Secretary VK Singh had pointed out that more than 300 mobile phone towers in the city were illegal.

The UT Administration had asked for the report after receiving directions from the Punjab and Haryana High Court that it should notify its policy on mobile phone towers in the residential areas in two months.

The High Court had made it clear that it wanted these towers to be shifted out of the residential areas in a phased manner.

Sources in the Estate Office said there were 547 mobile phone towers in the city out of which around 300 were operating illegally. The Estate Office had conducted a survey in which it came to light that a majority of these towers were installed in violation of the building bylaws.

• Official of the Estate Office said they were also mulling over allowing installation of mobile towers in residential areas of a few sectors where there was no commercial space available to install mobile towers.
• Recently, the administration had also issued directions to the architecture department to prepare a road map for the purpose.