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).

The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has not yet issued a no-objection certificate for construction of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) on forest land at Sumari in Srinagar Garhwal. The NIT administration has started to search for land to run the institution temporarily elsewhere outside Garhwal. Meanwhile, local residents have formed a joint forum to pursue the issue and facilitate establishment of the institute here.

A total of 219 roads under the purview of the Public Works Department in seven districts of the Garhwal division have been closed due to landslides and mudslides caused by incessant rains.

According to official sources, it will take between a week and a fortnight to reopen these roads to regular traffic depending on the weather.

Kotdwar (Garhwal): Thousands of fish were found dead in the Khoh river in Uttarakhand

deer population in Garhwal forest division of Pauri district of Uttarakhand has plummeted to a dangerous low. According to the division