The government has maintained that it would study the Supreme Court's ruling on hydel projects
At a time when the Uttarakhand government has launched a campaign to highlight its achievements in the media, the hydropower sector, a key growth driver in the hill state, has virtually been put on the backburner.
Mining had been stopped in 22 rivers following alleged illegal activities and growing environmental concerns
The Supreme Court has permitted mining in 22 rivers including that of Kosi in Uttarakhand, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna announced on Wednesday.
Bahuguna also said the government would undertake the extraction or quarrying of sand and other small minerals from these 22 rivers in a transparent manner allowing no illegal activities.
The threat of Dengue is looming large in Uttarakhand after three persons died of the vector-borne disease and 30 more new cases were reported.
Three persons from Haridwar district who had tested positive for Dengue died during the past one fortnight, an official statement here said. So far, nearly 352 cases, mostly from Haridwar, have been reported in the hill state. Nearly, 20 patients have been referred to the government Doon hospital, official sources said.
Leading the campaign, Dr Anil P Joshi, founder of the Dehradun-based NGO HESCO, called for a separate ministry at the centre on the Himalayan region
Environmentalists renewed their campaign against big dams on Monday and called for formulating a new sustainable developmental model for the entire Himalayan region in the wake of the June disaster in Uttarakhand that left hundreds of people dead and devastated scores of hydel projects.
It is a multipurpose project, which would also provide irrigation and drinking water facilities to Delhi and other northern states such as Rajasthan, Haryana and UP.
Central water commission last year had given its clearance to 300 the Lakhwar project located in Dehradun district
With the Uttarakhand government keen on constructing the 300 MW multipurpose Lakhwar project on the river Yamuna, the state planning commission has chalked out plans for developing a Rs 351 crore drinking water network from the dam in order to fulfill the growing water needs of Dehradun city.
Says budgetary provisions for hill state would be almost doubled to Rs 700 cr from Rs 450 cr under MNREGA
Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has substantially raised financial aid for the floods-ravaged Uttarakhand. This includes a budget of Rs 700 crore under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (MNREGA) scheme.
The Uttarakhand government announced a series of major decisions on Monday for recovery and rehabilitation in the flood-hit state.
The state cabinet decided on a Uttarakhand Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (URRA), chaired by the chief minister (CM). It announced a ban on construction of new buildings on and around all river beds, besides a compensation plan for affected citizens.
The 7-member expert committee will be headed by Lt Gen (retd) M C Badhani, former Director General of Border Road Organisation
Faced with widespread criticism over the lackadaisical approach to deal with natural disasters, Uttarakhand today announced the formation of an expert advisory committee in lieu of the disaster management board headed by the chief minister.
