Rains pound Uttarakhand, schools to remain shut
Dehradun, Sep 1 : With heavy rain forecast in Uttarakhand till Monday and showers continuing in most parts on Saturday, schools have been shut down in Dehradun, Paudi, Tehri and Haridwar, an official said.
"Keeping in mind the safety of the students and teachers, all schools up to Class 12 have been shut down," an official told IANS.
Vigil has been stepped up in the state capital here, and the hill station of Nainital, Chamoli, Rudrprayag, Paudi, Champawat and Udhamsingh Nagar districts.
The state and national disaster management bodies SDRF and NDRF have been put on high alert.
The Regional Met Office has predicted that the hill state will receive heavy to very heavy rains till September 3.
Landslides have been reported from the Badrinath, Kedarnath and Yamunotri highways and trekkers have been asked to stay put at safe places.
More than 200 link roads in the hill regions are out of bounds for traffic owing to damage inflicted by continuous and heavy showers.
The Ganga river is in spate in Haridwar and is flowing near the danger mark. District authorities have asked people living in Haripurkalan, Gaziwali and Kangdi to shift to safer places.
Water entered low-lying areas in Haripurkalan as the Ganga here was flowing at 292.80 metres late on Friday after extra water was released by the Srinagar barrage. The danger mark is at 294 metres.
"We are keeping a close watch," Meera Kaintura, the district disaster management officer of Haridwar said.
This is for the first time this monsoon season that the Ganga is flowing so close to the danger mark.
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Gehlot changes profile pic to 'Save Aravalli', asks Centre to reconsider definition
Jaipur (PTI): Congress leader Ashok Gehlot on Thursday urged the Centre to reconsider its definition of the Aravallis, warning that any damage to the mountain range posed a serious threat to the ecological future of north India.
Gehlot, a former Rajasthan chief minister, changed his social media profile picture in support of the nationwide 'SaveAravalli' campaign amid growing debate over mining and environmental safeguards in the Aravalli Range.
It was his symbolic protest against the new interpretation under which hills lower than 100 metres are no longer being recognised as part of the Aravalli system, he said.
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"The Aravalli cannot be judged by tape measures or height alone. It must be assessed by its ecological importance," Gehlot said, adding that the revised definition raised "a big question" over the future of north India.
Appealing to the Centre and the Supreme Court, Gehlot said the issue must be reconsidered in the interest of future generations and environmental security. He also urged citizens to participate in the campaign by changing their display pictures online to draw attention to the issue.
He said the Aravalli range functioned as a natural green wall against the expansion of the Thar desert and extreme heatwaves, protecting Delhi, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. Opening up smaller hills and so-called gap areas for mining would allow desertification to advance rapidly, he warned.
Gehlot also flagged concerns over air pollution, saying the hills and forests of the Aravallis acted as the "lungs" of the National Capital Region by checking dust storms and absorbing pollutants.
"When pollution levels are so alarming even with the Aravalli standing, one can imagine how disastrous the situation will be without it," he said.
Highlighting the water crisis, the former chief minister said the rocky terrain of the Aravallis played a crucial role in groundwater recharge by channelising rainwater underground.
"If the hills are destroyed, drinking water shortages will intensify, wildlife will disappear and the entire ecology will be pushed into danger," he said.
Gehlot argued that, from a scientific perspective, the Aravallis was a continuous chain and that even smaller hillocks were as vital as higher peaks.
