Brutality, man-made disasters cause regular elephant deaths With their habitat shrinking fast, elephants are regularly falling prey to human brutality and man-made disasters. The last few days have been especially tragic for these gentle beasts. After the shooting down of a tusker in Ranipur Jhal area of Hardwar district last Thursday, an elephant and her one-year-old calf were electrocuted near Dimna lake near Jamshedpur on Monday while the decomposed body of another pachyderm was discovered at the Corbett Tiger Reserve in Uttarakhand.

Brothers Kuldeep and Sandeep had eaten cucumber from their field

Forest and police officials have gunned down a rampaging elephant which killed two persons and injured seven others, including police and forest officials, in Ransura, Budhahedi, Quasampur and Gharisanghipur villages near Hardwar. The animal had been rampaging through different villages since morning and was finally gunned down by AK-47 rifles in Ranipur Jhal and the administration had to work overtime to restore confidence among the panic-stricken villagers. "Tough decision'

Four persons were crushed to death and three others injured when an elephant ran amok in Hardwar on Thursday. The incident occurred at Khuddaheri village in the district when an elephant, which apparently came from nearby Rajaji Park, attacked villager working in fields, forest officials said. Four persons were killed on the spot and three others injured, the officials said, adding, the identities of the deceased were not immediately known.

Unplanned urbanisation, environmental degradation and lack of interest shown by the government to prevent its traditional sanctity are deteriorating the natural beauty of Dehra Dun. Ever since Uttarakhand came into existence on November 9, 2000, and Dehra Dun became the capital, all sorts of activities in the city have increased manifolds, which mainly have aggravated the pollution problems.

To promote the production of bamboo and generate awareness about its manifold uses, the

The ministry of rural development has sanctioned Rs 696.39 crore to the National Rural Roads Development Agency (NRRDA) and the states of Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sarak Yojana (PMGSY) for the period ranging 2004-05 to 2008-09 respectively. The amount will be received by the respective state rural roads and national rural roads development agencies. An amount of Rs 6 crore has been sanctioned as the first installment of grants-in-aid to the NRRDA during 2008-09 for meeting the expenditure on its activities.

The decision of the rural development ministry to keep tabs over the performance of states regarding the implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) is giving sleepless nights to the development officers in Uttarakhand. According to a recent report, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Gujarat will undergo

Uttarakhand Chief Minister B.C. Khanduri has urged the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre to extend the period of special industrial package granted to the State till 2013 to facilitate its industrial and economic development. In this connection, Mr. Khanduri met Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath here over the weekend. The Chief Minister told Mr. Nath that initially while granting the package to the Himalayan State till 2010 the Centre had promised to reconsider extension of the Concessional Industrial Package for the benefit of the State.