Attack by wild animals becoming more frequent in Uttarakhand

Dehra Dun : Uttarakhand is a small mountain state of contrasts. Where on one side poachers are having field day, killing animals at will, including the national animal tiger, on the other man-animal conflict has peaked and leopards, bears and even elephants are striking at will sending shivers down the spine of the rural population.
Sunday was a classic example of the man-animal conflict, when a leopard attacked a woman, but thankfully she was able to get away with minor injuries, but another woman was badly mauled by a bear and died on her way to hospital and an elephant played havoc in a village mealing upon the standing crop, till it was scared away by bursting fire crackers by the forest department staff.
According to report, 52-year-old Darshani Devi, of Panchur village in Pauri district of the state went to answer the call of nature behind her house. A leopard which was waiting in the bushes, perhaps to pick up a calf or dog attacked her. She raises an alarm on which villagers came running, but luckily a scythe lying nearby came into her hand and she attacked the animal, which fled. Injured, she is lucky to be alive to tell the tale, though admitted in the hospital.
In the other incident, 35-year-old Kansri Devi, resident of Banari Banchauri village also in Pauri district, was working alone in the filed when a huge sloth bear attacked and mauled her badly. Desperately she put a bold fight with the animal, but could not match the strength and big claws of the bear. The unconscious Kansri Devi was later picked up by villagers and taken to the local hospital who referred her to a specialist hospital here. She, however, succumbed to her injuries on way.
For Nakraunda villagers, it was a trying Sunday, as they were pitched against a wild elephant who came to their fields and started mealing on their standing crops. The villagers tried to scare the animal, which would go back, only to return anmd start eating the crops again. This continued for quite some time and a situation came when the elephant refused to go back to the forest and continued eating in the fields.
Exasperated, the villagers rushed to seek help of the forest department staff, who also tried that the elephant return to the forests, but the pachyderm refused to go back. Left with no alternative, they got some fire crackers (thankfully Dewali is round the corner) and burst them near the animal which scared it back.
Meanwhile senior forest officers, on anonymity, admitted that the man-animal conflict in Uttarakhand had reached serious proportions, as it was not confined to one part of the state alsone, but was affecting the entire state, specially in the rural areas. “It is quite apparent that the state government is waking up the situation, after the damage has been done and it will be years before green infrastructure can be created, which will partially resolve the problem”, they felt

Gangotri shrine closed for winter

Dehradun, November 14
The Gangotri shrine was closed for the winter today. A large number of pilgrims queued up to have the last darshan of 'Akhand Jyoti' before the closure of the shrine. The ceremonial closure took place at 12 noon amid the recitation of Vedic mantras. The idol of Goddess Ganga was taken to nearby village Mukhba, where it will be worshipped during the winter. Situated at a height of 10,000 ft above the sea level in Uttarkashi, the Gangotri shrine is closed for pilgrims every year during October-November and reopens in April-May, as the area remains snowbound during the winter. The portals of the Yamunotri shrine in Uttarkashi and the Kedarnath shrine in Rudraprayag district will be closed for the winter on November 16. The closure of the Badrinath shrine, the last to be closed among the Char Dham shrines, will take place on November 18.

Virasat-2012 comes to close

Dehradun, November 11
Folk dances from Garhwal enthralled the audience on the last day of Virasat-2012, a cultural festival, last night. The dance group first performed ‘Mandanh’, followed by ‘Chachari’, a dance in which artistes form a human chain as they dance. The second performance of the evening was that of Ziya Azazi and his representation of the whirling dervishes called, “Dervish in progress”. He was born in 1969 in Antakya, Turkey. Since 1994, he has been based in Vienna, Austria. He speaks Arabic, English, German and Turkish. Ziya Azazi and his troupe held the audience spellbound with an entirely different Austrian-Sufi flavour. The next performance was by Murray Molly from Ireland. His repertoire includes escapology, clown, comedy, magic, fire manipulation, fakirism, pyrotechnics and contortionism. The show began with interaction with the audience. By building the crowd with the techniques of theatre and clown, he formed a bond with the spectators. After winning the crowd’s confidence, the show began with Murray’s stunts. From Australian stockwhips to hilarious contortionist’s stunts of squeezing his entire body through a toilet seat, Murray enthralled Doonites. A comedy piece with members of the audience was followed by the grand finale, his most impressive, original and spectacular sword swallowing stunt. The last performance of the evening was Sufiana Quwwali by Mohd Ahmed Warsi. Warsi Brothers are excellent representatives of the Quwwali form of musical expression. They belong to the Rampur Sahaswan Gharana of Quwwals. They are a very popular Qawwali musical group, consisting of brothers Mohammad Ahmed Khan Warsi and Khalid Hussain Khan Warsi. They were accompanied by their next generation - son Waris Nawab Warsi Sahib. Their singing is best known for the purity of raaga’s, measured tones and taals which are special to original Delhi Gharana Gayaki.

Eleven Star beat Chanderbani XI

Dehradun, October 22

Eleven Star beat Chanderbani XI by 2-1 in the first quarterfinal match of the Martyr Jaideep Bhandari Memorial Football Tournament being played at Nehru Gram here today.

Siddarath of Chanderbani XI scored the first goal in the 26th minute but Arya of Eleven Star scored the equaliser in the 28th minute and later scored the winning goal to give a 2-1 lead to his team in the 40th minute.

Bajrang XI will take on Sunderwala Boys and Akranata Club will take on Gorkha Rangers in the quarter final matches to be played tomorrow.

Musical baithak at Gurukul Viram

Dehradun, October 22

Performances by Chitrank Pant, a student GB Pant University, and Ajay Prasanna on flute and Akram on tabla were the highlights of the first ever musical baithak held at Gurukul Viram.

Chitrank, who hails from the Benaras gharna, captivated the audience with his virtuosity on tabla. Pandit Manoj Mishra of the Bhatkhande School of Music, Lucknow, is training him.

He was followed by Ajay Prasana on flute who played raag yaman, rupak taal and finally raag phari.

Another baithak will be held in November at Gurukul Viram.

Punjab joins hands with FRI for green mission

Chief minister Parkash Singh Badal has embarked on a green mission to double the forest cover to 15% from 7%

Dehradun Oct 14, 2012 - Punjab may be famous for its rich agriculture production in India. But very little is known about its miniscule forest cover of 7% as against 65% green cover of states like Uttarakhand.

In what is being billed as the first major afforestation initiative, chief minister Parkash Singh Badal has embarked on a green mission to double the forest cover to 15% from 7%. Badal, who became the chief minister for the record fifth time last year, today formally inaugurated the Rs 1,900 crore “green Punjab mission” in the hallowed precincts of the prestigious Forest Research Institute (FRI) here. Under the project, the state government signed an MoU with the FRI here to achieve the goal 5-8 years time with the involvement of farmers and the state forest department.

For this purpose, the state government has also set up a green fund and has already raised Rs 22 crore, Badal said. From seed to trees, the MoU envisages the FRI to tackle all the forest-related problems and provide its technical expertise to farmers in the maintenance of the green cover. “FRI will take only plant a sapling but take care of for 3 to 5 years till it properly grows,” said Badal after the signing of the MoU.

Plantations of industrial timber and ornamental tree species will be carried out in this programme, Badal said. To ensure the proper price for the timber grown by farmers, timber market will be strengthened and upgraded throughout the state.

To cater the research needs of the state, a research institute will be established in Punjab with the help of FRI. “Through this green mission, the Punjab government has set an example which will be followed by other states in future,” said V K Bahuguna, Director General Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education which controls the FRI.

Lathi charge in Race Course

Dehradun, October 11
The Dehradun police today resorted to a lathi charge on VHP and Bajrang Dal workers after they forcibly tried to take possession of a house in Race Course locality of Dehradun.
According to police sources, Ravi Mittal and Mahendree Devi had a house at G 11 Race Course. Both Ravi Mittal and Mahendree Devi passed away some time back. Today, Subash Mittal, brother of deceased Ravi Mittal, who is a Deputy Director with the CBI, Delhi, reached Race Course in order to take the possession of the house. He was aghast to find a Bajrang Dal board at the house. The Bajrang Dal workers even manhandled Subhash Mittal and damaged his car, HR 26 BF 7200. Subhash Mittal reported the matter to the police.
SP, Dehradun City, Dilip Singh Kunwar, accompanied by a police force reached Race Course and tried to calm down things. But BJP MLAs Ganesh Joshi and Sahdev Pundir tried to argue from Bajrang Dal's side, whereas Congress MLA Rajkumar accompanied by other Congress workers came to Subhash Mittal's rescue.
The verbal duel between BJP and Congress workers turned into a full-scale scuffle, forcing the police to go for a lathi charge, resulting in minor injuries to a few persons.
Deputy Director, CBI, Delhi, Subash Mittal, said the Race Course house belongs to him and it was his paternal property. He also claimed possessing the papers of the property. On other side, VHP workers claimed that the deceased Ravi Mittal had donated the property to VHP.
Meanwhile, the district administration has sealed the property till further action.