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June 2004
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Spurious soft drinks doing rounds in Gorakhpur

          Gorakhpur (UP): Even as the mercury is soaring high, residents of Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh can hardly rely on soft drinks to beat the heat, as spurious drinks are doing the rounds in the city. Plastic pieces, toffee wrappers and other contaminants are frequently found in soft drink bottles, much to the dismay of the consumers. Shopkeepers are also having a tough time, as sales have nosedived in the most lucrative season.

          "If we complain to the company officials, they strightaway ask us to return the bottles. But we keep the bottles as proof that they are adulterated. When people see polythene pieces and pesticides in cold drinks, they hesitate to buy them, and it really affects our sales," Digvijay Singh, a shopkeeper, said. Authorities say that an inquiry is on and strict action would be taken against offenders. "We have heard about all these complaints..The Chief Medical Officer has ordered a random sampling in all rural as well as urban areas. All the samples would be sent to Lucknow and if we find any contamination, we would take judicial action against the softdrink companies," Ram Lal, a senior doctor with the state health department, said.

           Cold drink contamination in Gorakhpur is not the only case of its kind. A test ordered by the federal government in August last year, found that nine out of 12 drinks made by Coke and Pepsi- accounting for 90 percent of the 6.5 billion bottles Indian drink each year-contained pesticide levels above the EU limits, though they met with Indian standards. The government tests followed a study by a green lobby Center for Science and Environment (CSE), which said the drinks contained pesticide residues, triggering public outrage and driving sales down as much as 40 percent as consumers shifted to milk, fruit juice and water. The CSE reports and the test results forced the government to form a JPC to hold an inquiry and submit the report.
June 29, 2004

Gang selling fake tiger skins busted (Go to Top)

          Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh): Police in Chhattisgarh on Sunday busted a gang selling fake tiger skins to dupe people. Officials said the racketeers, most of them tribals from Jagdalpur village, would skin dead stray dogs and at times even kill them. The hides were then washed with hydrogen peroxide before being carefully textured with permanent vegetable dyes to duplicate tiger skin. Police suspect larger city-based gangs to be involved in the racket. "The skin is actually that of the dog, which has been dyed and made to look like that of tiger. The claws are made out of bull horns. We still do not know, who are the people buying all this stuff," Rajendra Parihar, police in- charge, Jagdalpur, said. The gang also chiseled hooves and bones of buffaloes to make "tiger" nails, claws and other body parts. Three "tiger" skins including one half-painted skin, around 50 nails and two claws were recovered from them. The duplicate skins were sold for at least 1,000 rupees.

           The arrested men and women said they are poverty stricken and uneducated. Having failed to find any employment they were forced to take to forgery. "We make the hide to look like that of tiger and then sell it off at a minimal price. What can we do? We are poor and have no other option," Rami Bai, one of the accused, said. Trade in wildlife products is banned in India, but skins and bones of animals which are believed to have medicinal values are in great demand in the international market and the trade has flourished despite awareness about tiger conservation and ban on killing.
June 27, 2004

Tourists in Nainital a harassed lot (Go to Top)

         Nainital: Tourists in the hill resort of Nainital, are being forced to sleep in cars as some unscrupulous hoteliers are charging exorbitant rates. Since May, more than 65,000 domestic and international tourists have arrived in the small hamlet, built around a beautiful lake. Nainital is famous for its cable cars, which offer a breathtaking view of the scenic valley. The tourist boom has led to some unscrupulous lodge owners and middlemen hiking rates by 70 percent making lodging almost out of bounds for many. While the rich have given into the exploitation, the middle class travellers, who not anticipating the rush arrived without reservations, have been the worst hit. Many have come from as far as southern and western India and have been forced to spend the nights in sleeping bags. Lack of parking space, water scarcity and the near total absence of help centers have futher compounded the problems.

           "We are facing lot of problems finding a decent accommodation. Hotels are charging exorbitantly. The touts and middlemen, who tell us about the hotels, also want their share. Moreover, the rooms available are only for two days whereas we need them for four days. Where will we spend the rest of our stay?" asked Gurpal Singh, who came from Punjab. "There is a severe shortage of water here. The rooms are not available and even if they are, the hoteliers charge indiscriminately. The problem is further compounded by the touts roaming all over the place," Ashok Kumar, another tourist, said. Angry and disappointed, the tourists say the administration must penalise the erring touts and hotel owners and also regulate tourist traffic. The hotel owners however blame the unregistered lodges and guest houses, many of which are not bigger than a two- room house separated by wooden partition. "We have no idea as to how many licenses have been issued by the Municipal Corporation of Nainital to lodging houses. There are 150 hotels in Nainital and out of them 110 are registered with us. We don't have any control on smaller hotels, which are not registered. The administration should do something about it," Dinesh Shah, president of Nainital Hotel Owners' Association, said.
June 27, 20004

Chopper service begins for Amarnath yatris (Go to Top)

         Pahalgam: An air of excitement was palpable amongst the first batch of pilgrims who availed of the recently introduced helicopter service to the Amarnath shrine in India's northern Kashmir on Sunday. The first aerial visit to the shrine this year is almost a month ahead of the actual pilgrimage, when hundreds of thousands of devotees would then trek the steep, slippery 48-kilometre route to the shrine. In the new chopper service introduced by the tourism authorities in Jammu and Kashmir, pilgrims can take the aerial route from Srinagar and reach the shrine in 40 minutes. Once in Amarnath, the devotees would be allotted two and a half hours to visit the shrine, after which they will be flown back. Though the tour packages are a bit expensive, ranging from Rs 15,000 to 30,000, the aerial route is packed with advantages, especially for the old and the disabled who were otherwise unable to visit the shrine.

          "This pilgrimage is very tough and there were no such facilities till now. So, the service which the authorities have started is very good for us and for people who cannot go due to health problems," said Padma Joshi, a pilgrim. "The feeling is amazing and it was really good and we could do darshan properly. I am really happy," said Seema Jethani, another pilgrim. State tourism officials said that plans were on to increase its frequency, keeping in mind the huge rush of pilgrims in July. "We can take three flights in a day depending on the bookings. For the month of July, we have heavy bookings, and we are thinking of introducing five flights a day. Climatic factors might be the only hindrance," said Shahnawaz Hussain, public relations officer of the Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation. Amarnath stands at a height of nearly 12,500 feet above sea level. The pilgrimage leads devotees through monsoon rain-swollen streams and past a glacier-fed lake to the cave where they worship Lord Shiva.
June 27, 2004

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