Social activist Avdhash Kaushal announced here on Tuesday that he along with some colleagues would observe a one-day fast outside the Gandhi Park on Wednesday against what he described as indecision on the part of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the National Ganga Basin Authority at its meeting in New Delhi on the stalled hydro-power projects in Uttarakhand.

These projects had the necessary clearances from the Union Ministry of Environment & Forests but were stalled by the Government under pressure from anti-development forces. “

Nine years after a PIL said that over five lakh people were engaged in manual scavenging across the country, the government today told the Supreme Court that a bill aimed at banning such practice will be introduced in Parliament soon. “I have received written instructions that a bill is being introduced in the monsoon session of the Parliament which will take care of the entire matter,” additional solicitor general Haren Raval told a Bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia. “We are committed to it (eliminating manual scavenging).

District administration has given conditional permission for carrying out mining in Bhogpur and Bishanpur areas of Haridwar. Mining in these places was banned after Swami Nigamanand’s death last year and Swami Shivanand’s subsequent fast in Matra Sadan. Following a nod by the State Government, the district administration on Saturday gave conditional permission to carry out mining in Bhogpur and Bishanpur mining areas. Stone crushers in these areas have been asked to start mining of material stocked.

Former BJP general secretary and noted thinker KN Govindacharya was in Haridwar on Wednesday to support Swami Gyanswaroop Sanand (Prof GD Agrawal), who is fasting at Matra Sadan. “I have come here to extend my support to Swami Sanand’s fast and the cause he is fighting for. I am against commercial exploitation of Ganga and have also raised this issue several times before,” said Govindacharya at a Press conference on Wednesday afternoon.

The increasing frequency of chance encounters between people and elephants on road in the Rishikesh and Haridwar region has triggered widespread anxiety among locals. The forest department is undertaking measures to avert damage to property and life but officials believe the problem will persist. It advises the affected population to maintain more caution in their movements which they have not been doing in the recent past.

Gwaldam: There is a bizarre disconnect between the lives of people in this region and the electoral process, best exemplified by the crisis in agriculture. Unlike the rest of the country, almost every family has some land, although 54% have less than two hectares. But a combination of dependence on rain, the small, fragmented nature of land parcels, and the lack of marketing avenues has led to very low returns — barely enough for survival. Yet both dominant parties — Congress and BJP — have no solutions.

The Haridwar administration has collected more than Rs32 lakh in the last three months in fines from those involved in illegal mining in the district. Officials said they charged Rs25,000 as penalty from each of the offenders. According to figures, the district administration has, in the past three months, fined close to 130 defaulters.

Villagers protesting against the State Government’s order to ban quarrying on Ganga called off their three-week long stir on Monday after president of Gau Raksha Ayog and senior BJP leader, Maharaj Yatishwaranand, assured them that the Government orders will be revoked soon.

Swami Shivanand, founder of Matri Sadan in Haridwar, on Tuesday ended his 11-day fast after the Uttarakhand government ordered suspension of quarrying on the Ganga riverbed in the Kumbh area, pending an environmental impact assessment report.

Swami Shivanand accepted a glass of water with lime and honey after District Magistrate Senthil Pandian handed over a copy of the government order suspending quarrying in Vishanpur Kundi and Bhogpur.

Alarmed by the increasing number of dengue cases being reported from Haridwar district, the State Health Department have sounded a high alert in the entire district. While leaves of all medical officers in the district have been cancelled, they have been put into 24X7 service in Sultanpur area, which is the worst affected area in the district.

Director General Health, Dr Asha Mathur on Monday visited Sultanpur area near Laksar. Of the total of 40 cases of dengue reported from the district so far, a total of 27 have been reported from Sultanpur area alone.