Overloaded vehicles in Jaunpur pose danger

Mussoorie, October 15

The incidence of overloaded vehicles, especially Jeeps and Commanders plying in the Jaunpur development region of Tehri Garhwal district are posing a risk to the lives of commuters allegedly due to the apathy of the Transport Department.

Overloaded with schoolchildren and the local commuters, the vehicles can be seen on the Aglar-Thatyur-Mussoorie road plying with impunity and posing a risk to human lives in the process.

The damage to the roads due to the flood disaster in June is making the vehicles less stable and difficult to steer and resulting in resulting in bumpy rides for the commuters.

Most of the Jeep owners ignore the specification regarding the amount of weight one vehicle can bear.

Apart from this, due to overheating, most of the vehicles plying on the roads are in a worn down condition, thus increasing the chance of premature, dangerous and expensive failure or blow-outs.

The risk increases during the night time when the headlights of most of the vehicles blind oncoming drivers to possible debris or obstructions on the road.

The driver’s control and operating space in the overloaded vehicle is also diminished, escalating the chances for an accident and making it difficult to overtake. The brakes too have to work harder due to ‘the riding of brakes’ and because the vehicle is heavier due to overloading, the brakes overheat and lose their effectiveness.

The hapless commuters are forced to travel on the roof and sometime hanging at the back of the vehicles as no roadways bus or vehicle has been allocated on the Aglar-Thatyur-Mussoorie route.

The insurance cover on overloaded vehicles is void as overloading is illegal. So in case of accident the commuters are not able to receive any medical benefit too.

Surendar Kumar, Assistant Road Transports Officer (ARTO), Tehri, said they had they had started a campaign against the overloaded vehicles when some vehicles were seized and fined.

However due to the strike of the RTO constables, the campaign had stopped. Once the strike is called off, the campaign against overloading would begin earnestly, he added.

US team installs four water chlorinators in two villages

American team members interact with residents of
 Matli village in Uttarkashi district.

Dehradun, October 15
A team from the USA has installed four water chlorinators in disaster-hit Matli and Dilsoar villages, ensuring the availability of purified water to nearly 200 families.

The Himalayee Paryavaran Shiksha Sansthan (HPSS), a Uttarkashi-based voluntary organisation, hosted five American volunteers at its Matli, Uttarkashi campus.

Suresh Bhai, founder and chairperson of the HPSS and an activist of the Save the River Campaign, said, “This project represents a unique opportunity to partner with our global family members and introduce a new water purifying technology to Uttarakhand. We see enormous potential for this in rural India.”

The five American volunteers, namely Tina Ward-Pugh, Joe Jacobi, Lynn Smith, Robin Brothers and Suetta Albin, are associated with a non-profit organisation namely WaterStep, which has its headquarters in Louisville, USA.

WaterStep specialises in installing water chlorinators, giving training in hand-pump repair, providing disaster relief services and teaching health and hygiene practices. Their projects operate in over 25 countries, including Bihar, Meghalaya, Manipur, Assam, Odisha and West Bengal in India.The HPSS and WaterStep were brought together by Margaret Weidner, Fulbright-Nehru student researcher, who spent the last year conducting a research on water management in Garhwal.

Weidner says, “This partnership between the HPSS and WaterStep embodies the aim of the Fulbright-Nehru scholarship to promote cultural exchange and mutual understanding. Through my research, I have the chance to learn from villagers living in Garhwal and this partnership means that they will have access to a technology that can improve their quality of life.”

The water chlorinator, M-100, has been designed by WaterStep engineer Lynn Smith and its production was managed by Joe Jacobi, both of whom led the Matli and Dilsoar installations.

The M-100 is easy to operate, uses local material and is highly durable. “Using table salt and a 12-volt car battery, people are able to purify as much water as they require, up to 40,000 l per day with one machine," he says.

“Both the HPSS and WaterStep look forward to expanding the use of the technology throughout Uttarkashi and hope to promote this technology with local and regional government officials”, said Suresh Bhai.

Animal sacrifice stops in temples during Navratras in the Kumaon region

Pithoragarh, October 15
The traditional ritual of animal sacrifice in various temples of local deities in the Kumaon region during Navratras was stopped this year due to the efforts of animal right activists and initiatives shown by temple committees at various places.

According to the information received from Almora district, devotees at temples in Chitai Golu, Jharkar Sam, Mashan and Kailka worshiped the deities with coconut and flowers.

“It was possible with relentless efforts of administration in awakening the villagers about the courts orders and demand of the time, besides the initiatives shown by respective temple committees,” said Pankah Upadhaya, SDM of Almora.

According to priest of Chitai temple, the temple used to attract dozens of animal sacrifices during the Dashera and Navratras since the time the temples was established, but the tradition broke this year, with no animal sacrifice during the festival.

“The police also guarded the temple for 10 days continuously to revert any attempt of animal sacrifice during Navratras,” said the temple priest Hari Vinod pant.

“This year the people came with bells coconuts, and flags to the temple rather than animals for sacrifice,” said pant.

At the Jhakar Sam temple near Almora town, the age-old tradition of animal sacrifice was stopped this year after the local administration succeeded in persuading the temple committee for not resorting to animal sacrifice.

“Instead we told the villagers, they should come with flowers, fruits, clothes and incenses to please the deity, our efforts were helped by the administrative officers and resulted into no animal sacrifice year this year,” said Devi Dutt Pandey, priest of Sam temple at Jhakarsam temple, which had been famous for animal sacrifice traditions in Navaratras.

The news of no animal sacrifice also poured from other places of the region, including Kali temple at Gangolihat in pithoragarh and Kanda in Bageswar districts as the administration kept a strong vigil during the festival.

In brief

CM lays stone of women's hostel 

Dehradun, October 13
Uttarakhand Chief Minister laid the foundation stone of the Indira Gandhi Working Women’s hostel in Dehradun that would be constructed at a cost of Rs 862 crore.

He said the state government planed to open such hostels in Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts also. He reminded that women have played an important role in creation of Uttarakhand. 

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Tripti Dhyani is students’ council president in MKP College

Dehradun, August 30
Tripti Dhyani of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) was elected president of the students’ council in MKP PG College today. The party won all 12 posts in the election.
Tripti secured 366 votes and defeated her nearest rival Karishma Rawat, who contested the election as an Independent candidate. Pooja Gusain of the Vikas group finished third.
The other ABVP candidates, who were elected office-bearers of the students’ council, are: vice president- Sangeeta Sajwan; university representative-Kiran Chauhan; treasurer-Chander Kapoor; and joint secretary- Aasma Ansari. Chander Kapoor was elected treasurer unopposed.
The elected executive committee members are Neha Thapa, Shilpa, Anamika Verma, Garima Chawla, Priyanjali Sharma and Simran Kaur (all belonging to the ABVP).

Meanwhile, the election saw mere 30 per cent of polling in the morning. There were total 2,500 registered voters in MKP PG College. The voting began at 10 am and went on till 1 pm. The counting started after an hour and the results were declared late evening. The NSUI did not field any candidate in the election in MKP PG College though it was supporting many candidates belonging to other groups.

Students’ scuffle

Students owing allegiance to two groups entered into a scuffle during the polls at MKP PG College here today. The police had to intervene to defuse the situation.

Tension erupted when Karishma, an independent candidate for the post of president, was asking her supporters to stand ahead in the queue for voting. This made the supporters of Vikas group angry and they got involved in small brawl. Khushby Raturi of Vikas group registered a complaint against Karishma with the authorities.