UTTARAKHAND

Emphasising that community radios are important for nation-building, preservation of language, culture and heritage,Governor Lt Gen Gurmit Singh(retd) on Wednesday inaugurated the countrys firstGorkhali community radio stationat Gorkhali Sudhar Sabha in Garhi Cantt area ofDehradun.

Those behind the initiative say the idea is to preserve and promote the culture of theGorkha community.

Programmes will largely focus on spirituality, Women and Health welfare, career counselling and promotion of Nepalese writers works, those behind the initiative said.

Uttarakhandhas decided to constitute villagecow protectioncommittees and pay up to Rs 5,000 per month to its members for protecting and nurturing stray cows. The project is expected to provide jobs to residents of around 50 villages, with an initial of Rs 1 crore in the next six months in the ventures pilot phase.

Unskilled, illiterate and unemployed people from villages will be appointed gau sevaks and will be paid Rs 4,000 to 5,000 per month to look after stray cows. One person will have to take the responsibility for at least four to five cows and will be paid at least Rs 900 per animal. The project will provide EMPLOYMENT to locals and check the issue of cattle menace at the same time.

App will alert about possible natural calamities in advance.

Uttarakhand cabinet has also formed an expert committee that will tell us about the quantum of rainfall in each area in order to make arrangements in advance.

According to minister, Doppler Radar has started functioning at Mukteshwar. Radar will also be installed at Surkanda Devi within 1-1.5 months.

Third Doppler Radar will be installed in Lansdowne.

The latest data from the Uttarakhand postal circle has revealed that the demand for Gangajal jumped up during the peak months of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the official data, 45,648 (11,412 in litres) bottles of Gangajal of 250 ml size were delivered to doorsteps between April and June this year. This is an increase from last year when the postal department delivered 42,288 bottles in the corresponding months.

The Gangajal is sold at Rs 30+transportation cost by the Uttarakhand postal department under project Gangajal, which was launched in 2016. The project covers 3,000 post offices under 22 postal circles in India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his ongoing US visit, carried with him a variety ofUttarakhand’s long-grained basmati rice to gift to US PresidentJoe Biden.

Confirming that the hill state’s rice formed a part of the gifts presented to the US president, CM Pushkar Singh Dhami on Thursday expressed his gratitude toPM Modifor giving representation to a product of the Himalayan region.

Uttarakhand has around 80 varieties of rice grown across its plain areas, including Udham Singh Nagar, Nainital, Haridwar, and Dehradun districts as well as its hilly regions.

The long-grained rice is one of the distinctive varieties, that retails for Rs 110 to Rs 165 per kg.

The gift of rice was done in accordance with the Vedic tradition of ‘Sahasra Poorna Chandrodyam’ (a celebration of a person having seen 1000 full moons during his/her life).

The state finance audit report of the (for the year ended March 31, 2021), tabled in the state assembly on Friday, has pointed out that the total outstanding debt on theUttarakhandgovernment at the end of 2020-21 is a staggering Rs 73,751 crore.

Internal debt, which is primarily market borrowings, accounts for 56% of the total outstanding debt. The breakup shows that Rs 53,302 crore is the outstanding amount of internal debt, Rs 16,636 crore is public accounts liability and Rs 3,813 crore is owed to the Union Government.
Moreover, the report said that Rs 44,583 crore was the loan in 2016-17, Rs 51,831 crore in 2017-18, Rs 58,039 crore in 2018-19, while it was Rs 65,982 crore in 2019-20.

The Humane Society International (HSI), India celebrated the completion of five years of sterilisation of street dogs in Uttarakhand on Sunday. The organisation has sterilised and vaccinated nearly 46,000 stray dogs in the last five years. The organisation held an event to celebrate these five years, which was attended by the Dehradun mayor Sunil Uniyal ‘Gama’ as the chief guest. He appreciated the organisation’s work and said that the of Dehradun always provides its support for such causes.

Talking about the organisation’s work in the State, senior programme manager of HSI Piyush Patel said that efficient, high-quality humane dog management practices have played a significant role in reducing the plight of street dogs, reducing dog bites, and reducing conflicts between humans and dogs in various parts of the State. He said, “The Health and welfare of dogs is HSI’s top priority. With our advanced and carefully monitored medical and surgical protocols, we have successfully sterilised over 46,000 street dogs in Uttarakhand. This has helped reduce the number of puppies born on the streets, many of whom otherwise die early or suffer greatly due to lack of adequate veterinary care. A healthier and more stable dog Population means a healthier and more peaceful community so when we look at the population of dogs, we are also looking for the communities these dogs live with.

TheUttarakhand HousingandUrban Development Authoritywill soon be introducing aparkinglot policy for the state. According to the officials, the policy has already been prepared and the final suggestions are being incorporated in the draft.

The policy is being considered crucial in the wake of an increase in the traffic volume in the hill districts.

As per the policy document available on the UHUDA website, various models have been proposed to develop surface parking, multilevel parking and automated parking facilities.

In the wake of an increasing number ofchildrenbeing orphaned by the Covid-19 pandemic, the state department of Women and child development (WCD) has made it mandatory for Covidpositive patients to fill in the details of their children and the guardians to whom they should be handed over in the event of death of both parents. The details have to be filled up at the time of hospital admission. The state will also give Rs 2,000 per child per month to their caretakers along with the other facilities,Rekha Arya, state minister for women and child development said.