Page 9 - Uttarakhand

PM Modi promotes tourism in Uttarakhand, urges people to visit in winter

Prime Minister also branded Uttarakhand's winter tourism as 'Gham Tapo Tourism' (Basking in the Sun Tourism)

PM Modi pitches for year-round tourism in Uttarakhand to boost economy

Making a strong pitch for round the year tourism in Uttarakhand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said there should be no off-season in the picturesque hill state and this would strengthen the state's economy in a big way. Addressing a rally in Harsil after offering prayers at the village of Mukhwa, the winter abode of Goddess Ganga in Uttarkashi district, the prime minister said visitors will get the true flavour of Uttarakhand if they come to the state in the winter. "The government's vision of round the year tourism will strengthen the economy and create jobs for the youth," he said. "We want border areas to reap the benefits of tourism," Modi added. Some villages were evacuated during the 1962 war with China and efforts are being made to rehabilitate them, the prime minister said. He also referred to the two ropeway projects approved by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday -- Sonprayag to Kedarnath and Govindghat to Hemkund Sahib Ji -- and said they would reduce travel time

SC raps Uttarakhand for not filing affidavit in CAMPA funds misuse case

The Bench of Justices BR Gavai and AG Masih said that the state had provided no explanation for why the funds (allocated for compensatory afforestation) were used to purchase iPhones and laptops

PM Modi offers prayers to Goddess Ganga at Uttarakhand's Mukhwa temple

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday offered prayers at Mukhwa temple -- the winter abode of Goddess Ganga in Uttarkashi district. Mukhwa is located on the way to the Gangotri temple dedicated to Goddess Ganga. Her idol is moved to Mukhwa temple from Gangotri Dham every year after the closure of its gates for winter. The prime minister will flag off a trek and bike rally and address a public meeting in Harshil. Modi's visit to the temple, his first as prime minister, is expected to boost winter pilgrimage and tourism in Uttarakhand. It comes a day after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs headed by him approved two major ropeway projects to Kedarnath and Hemkund Sahib worth over Rs 6,000 crore. The Uttarakhand government has initiated a Winter Tourism programme this year to promote religious tourism and boost the local economy, homestays and businesses, among others. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami extended a warm welcome to the prime minister in a post on X. "A hear

SC seeks Uttarakhand govt's reply on 'misuse' of environmental funds

The Supreme Court on Wednesday took exception to the alleged misuse of the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) funds by the Uttarakhand government to purchase iPhones among other items and sought the state chief secretary's response. According to a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), CAMPA funds, meant for afforestation, were allegedly used towards inadmissible expenditures, including the purchase of iPhones, laptops, fridges, and renovation of buildings. The CAMPA fund is to be utilised for increasing the green cover. Utilisation of the same for non-admissible activities and not depositing the interest as per the Act with the SCAF (State Compensatory Afforestation Funds) is a matter of serious concern. We, therefore, direct the chief secretary of Uttarakhand to file an affidavit on these aspects, a bench comprising justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih said. The CAG report, which examined the use of CAMPA funds from ...

U'khand performs better than Himachal in last 2 decades: EAC-PM paper

Uttarakhand performed better than Himachal Pradesh over the last two decades as it opted for planned industrialization in designated Industrial Estates as compared to its neighbour which asked the companies to buy land directly from farmers, an EAC-PM Working Paper said on Wednesday. The Paper titled 'The Great Convergence: A Case Study of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh (2000 to 2020)' also said that the growth in the manufacturing sector had a multiplier effect on the overall economy of Uttarakhand, and its tax base. Co-authored by Shamika Ravi (Member, EAC-PM) and Alok Kumar (Principal Secretary, Industrial Development & MSME, Government of UP), the paper compares the growth and economic transformation of Uttarakahnd (UK) to that of HP over a period of two decades, examining the impact of Union Government's Concessional Industrial Package (CIP) for Hill States announced in 2003. With identical industrial policies but distinct and different land policies the trajectories for ..

Uttarakhand Cabinet approves implementation of Unified Pension Scheme

The Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) has been introduced as an option under the National Pension System (NPS) by the Central Government

Bodies of 4 more workers recovered from avalanche site, Mana rescue op ends

The bodies of the last four of the trapped labourers were pulled out from the site of the avalanche-hit Border Roads Organisation (BRO) camp in Chamoli on Sunday, taking the death toll to eight as authorities ended the nearly 60-hour rescue operation. Army doctors said 46 workers who were rescued on Saturday have been brought to the military hospital in Jyotirmath. Two of them have been referred to AIIMS, Rishikesh. Three of the workers are in critical condition, Lt Col DS Maldhya said. The body of the last missing worker has also been retrieved. The recovery marks the culmination of the Mana Village Rescue operation, Defence Public Relations Officer (PRO) Lt Col Manish Shrivastava said. "Out of the 54 labourers who went missing after the avalanche, 46 were rescued alive and eight found dead," Chamoli District Magistrate Sandeep Tiwari said. Four bodies were retrieved on Saturday and as many on Sunday. The avalanche hit the BRO camp between Mana and Badrinath on Friday, burying th

Uttarakhand avalanche: Army recovers 2 more bodies; 1 worker still missing

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said this morning that the search and rescue operation for the missing workers is ongoing

Uttarakhand avalanche: 1 more body recovered, death toll goes up to 5

Fifty workers have been pulled out of snow from the site of an avalanche-hit BRO camp in Mana village in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district, but four of them died on Saturday as rescuers raced against time to trace four more labourers feared trapped. According to latest rescue updates provided by the Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority (USDMA), five labourers were missing but one of them -- Sunil Kumar from Kangra in Himachal Pradesh -- has reached home safely on his own and now, the search is focused on the four remaining workers. The avalanche hit the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) camp between Mana and Badrinath between 5:30 am and 6 am on Friday, burying 55 workers inside eight containers and a shed, according to the Army. Thirty-three of them were rescued by Friday night and 17 on Saturday. Rain and snowfall hampered the rescue efforts on Friday and the operation was suspended as the night fell. As the weather cleared up on Saturday morning, the Army and Indo-Tibeta

NGT seeks presence of Uttarakhand govt over illegal felling of trees

The NGT has asked the member secretary of the Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board (UKPCB) and the state's principal chief conservator of forests to appear before it in a matter regarding illegal felling of 176 trees in Udham Singh Nagar district. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) was hearing a petition on the unauthorised felling of trees during the development of a residential colony by private persons in the district's Chandpur village. In its order dated February 24, a bench of judicial member Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi and expert member A Senthil Vel said that according to a report submitted by a joint committee that was set up earlier, 176 trees were felled illegally and environmental compensation had to be recovered for it. The committee comprised the district magistrate, the Dehradun regional office of the Union Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, and the UKPCB. Taking note of the report, the tribunal sought a response from the Uttarakhand chief secretary and ..

News updates: Nadda launches weeklong Jan Aushadhi Diwas celebrations

Latest news updates: Catch all the latest news developments from around the world here

Uttarakhand avalanche: Of 50 workers rescued, four die, search on for five

Rescuers pulled out 14 more labourers from the snow that engulfed a BRO camp in the high-altitude Mana village in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district as search operations resumed at the site of the avalanche on Saturday, officials said. Eight workers remain trapped. With the evacuation of the 14 labourers, 47 of the 55 labourers who were trapped under the avalanche, which hit the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) camp between Mana and Badrinath early on Friday morning, have been rescued. Thirty-three had been rescued by Friday night. Rain and snowfall hampered the rescue efforts on Friday and the operation was suspended as the night fell. As the weather cleared up on Saturday, choppers joined the operation. District Disaster Management Officer N K Joshi said Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel based in Mana resumed the rescue operation in the morning. According to the officials, the rescue teams pulled out 14 more labourers from the snow while a search is on for the ...

Landslide blocks Rishikesh-Badrinath highway, CM Dhami monitoring situation

According to reports, the highway remains closed, with debris falling at multiple locations, including Animath and Pagal Nala in the Jyotirmath Kotwali region

Avalanche buries BRO camp in Uttarakhand: 33 workers rescued, 22 trapped

Thirty-three of a total of 55 BRO workers trapped under an avalanche in the high-altitude village of Mana in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district have been rescued, with concerns over the safety of the remaining 22 mounting as night fell on the snowbound slopes and the rescue efforts came to a temporary halt. Updating the information on the rescue operations here, Uttarakhand's Disaster Management Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman said 33 trapped labourers have been rescued and 22 remain to be traced amid adverse weather conditions. Correcting the information shared earlier, Suman said it was subsequently found out that two of the 57 labourers feared trapped in the avalanche at the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) camp were on leave and the actual number of workers trapped was 55. While 33 of them have been rescued, 22 are yet to be traced, he added. Suman agreed that the task is challenging as there is seven feet of snow near the avalanche site. However, more than 65 personnel are engaged in t

32 of 57 BRO workers trapped under avalanche in Uttarakhand rescued

Thirty-two of the 57 Border Roads Organisation workers trapped under an avalanche near the high altitude border village of Mana in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district were rescued on Friday, sources said. The avalanche has buried a camp of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) between Mana and Badrinath and multiple teams battled tough terrain, heavy snow and rain to rescue the workers. There was no immediate news of any casualties. Mana, three kilometres from Badrinath, is the last village on the India-Tibet border at a height of 3,200 metres. Sources said 32 people have been rescued safely from the avalanche site and brought to the ITBP camp in the Mana village for treatment. According to them, rescue operations have been halted due to bad weather and the impending danger of more avalanches. It will restart when the weather improves, they said. Two mild avalanches followed the one which hit the BRO camp and the rescue operation has been halted, the sources said, adding the site is ...

Badrinath avalanche: 41 workers still trapped, 16 rescued in ongoing effort

An avalanche near Badrinath trapped 41 workers, with 16 rescued so far. The Indian Army is leading rescue efforts despite heavy snowfall and challenging conditions

U'khand HC asks if state can seek fresh input on UCC's live-in provisions

The Uttarakhand High Court has asked the state government whether it can invite suggestions afresh on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and consider making amendments wherever necessary. A division bench of the high court comprising senior Justices Manoj Tiwari and Ashish Naithani posed the query on Thursday to Solicitor General Tushar Mehta while hearing two new petitions challenging the UCC's provisions regarding live-in relationships. Mehta who attended the hearing via video-conferencing responded by saying all suggestions are always welcome. According to Chief Standing Counsel C S Rawat, the court also orally asked the Solicitor General to request the state assembly to implement necessary amendments to the UCC which was brought into effect in the state on January 27. The court also asked the state through the chief standing counsel whether it would be willing to make the necessary tweaks in the UCC. The PILs heard on Thursday challenged the constitutionality of information sought f

CAG flags misuse, delays in Uttarakhand's compensatory afforestation funds

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has cited many loopholes in the management of compensatory afforestation funds in the forest divisions of Uttarakhand, including their diversion to inadmissible activities and delayed submission of annual plan of operations to the Centre leading to cost escalations in various cases. The CAG's latest audit report on Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) laid recently in Uttarakhand Assembly during its ongoing budget session said Rs 13.86 crore was diverted at the divisional level to inadmissible activities like state scheme Harela, tiger safari work, renovation of existing buildings, expenses on personage visits, court cases, purchases of I-phones, laptops, fridges, coolers and stationery. The state authority did not control the diversion or inadmissible expenditure from the State Compensatory Afforestation Fund, it said. The audit report on the functioning of CAMPA covers a period of ...

Land reform law is a step towards innovation: Uttarakhand CM Dhami

Chief Minister Dhami also added that the state government has taken a decision in accordance with the public sentiments and expectations of the people of the state