-Governance Now A CAG report dated March 15, 2013 had found Uttarakhand sitting on a time bomb, with nearly zero disaster preparedness back in Sept 2012 when the nationwide performance Audit was done. Will other states, marked equally poorly in the Audit, sit up and smell the coffee? The massive disaster in Uttarakhand has brought to the fore not only the old debate of ecology versus development but also thrown up...

-Timescrest.com Three successive CAG reports warned the Uttarakhand govt about the consequences of multiple hydropower projects, and their unpreparedness in the face of disaster. The advice was ignored. With aim of turning Uttarakhand into Urja Pradesh, the state has committed to building 680 dams, currently in various stages of commissioning, construction and planning. The powers that be have expedited the clearances for these projects. However, when it came to the issue of credible...

-IANS NEW DELHI: While thousands have suffered the fury of floods in Uttarakhand, experts say worse tragedies may strike the region unless the rampant violation of the Himalayan state's sensitive ecology is checked. Environmentalists blamed the volume of the disaster on the dams, indiscriminate construction, uncontrolled tourism and ignorance about the fragile ecology of the area. Experts have called for an immediate halt to unchecked tourism, especially religious tourism, and haphazard construction. "The...

-Outlook The oasis UPA is supposed to have brought Pakur is a mirage UPA Divertissement Ad claims refurbished pond in Hiranpur block has promoted communal amity through ‘social and religious events'. Locals say no such events have held. Locals dissatisfied with the siphon irrigation system praised in the ad have damaged it repeatedly In fact, local administration is worried about a law and order situation if it files...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: As a humongous natural calamity grips Uttarakhand, it is now emerging that the state has had no disaster management plan worth its name despite the region being highly disaster prone due to fragile mountains, tectonic activity and climatic events. A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) released as recently as on April 23 this year says that the State Disaster Management Authority, which was formed in October...