From the desk of Chairman

Youth Hostels Association of India – Dhamtari Unit is thrilled to see the natural beauty of Bootigarh.

Dhamtari Unit has organized one day trekking cum training progaram at Bootigarh, where successful experience of trekking in dense forest mountain was taken by 110 female male members of all age groups. The trekkers benefited from pure natural life in an inaccessible location in the Singpur Forest Range, 55 km from Dhamtari.

Chairman of the unit, said that the event was successful only with mutual support of members in Vananchal like Bootigarh. It is known that in this region there is abundance of forgetfulness, on which the memory is lost on foot, and the forest becomes disoriented. Therefore, vigilance becomes necessary in such rugged forests. Senior members said that Youth Hostels is an international institution, which at a nominal fee, nature preserves the environment as well as introduces the unseen beauty of nature. Places that cannot be reached alone, such inaccessible, rugged, uninhabited places can be reached only through youth hostel.

According to members, about 15 km trekking of Bootigarh got to observe the diverse geographical forms of forest, mountain and river.

Discipline along with team spirit is very important for trekkers in such a geographical area.

From 7-year old Vedic Sonkar and Shaurya Sahu to 80-year-old senior member Chandrakant Gandhi participated in this very tired event.

In return, members visited Chhota Shirdi Dham Kukarel, all members were given a certificate on completion of trekking cum training.

Environment Protection Committee of Yhai Korba Unit jointly with Forest Division Korba organized a Public awareness program to protect Environment, Animals and to keep Environment Clean and Green.

The flex had slogans to Protect Environment, Save animals, Say No to Plastic, Prevent Fire in forest, Use dustbin etc. 50 flexes were highlighted at various locations & picnics spots i.e. Rani Jharna, Satrenga, Boda Nala and it's nearby areas and also asked the public to follow the rules and discipline to keep the surrounding clean and green.

Team Also planted saplings nearby areas with tree guard and arranged the security of it. Team covered around 100 km area today.

YHAI Korba unit organized one day Trekking and Training program at RANI JHARNA, Ajgarbahar Korba. 70 participants took part in it. Trek was around 7 KM. Trekkers enjoyed in the trek as it was the longest Trek after a year. Team also made banners to avoid use of plastic, clean environment clean and green and hanged on the trees. Many new members joined this trekking program. At the end, clean drive program was done in nearby areas of the spot and the garbage was disposed properly.

Youth Hostels Association of India CG State Branch jointly with its Units Bhilai, Raipur, Dhamtari, Korba, Raigarh & Bilaspur Adhoc Unit has organized Blood Donation Camp on 12.01.2021 on the occasion of 158^th Birth Anniversary of Swami Viekanand.

Bhilai Unit has organized Blood Donation Camp at District Hospital, Durg.

Raipur Unit has organized Blood Donation Camp at City Blood Bank, Raipur.

Dhamtari Unit has organized Blood Donation Camp at District Hospital & Dhamtari Blood Bank, Dhamtari.

Raigarh Unit has organized Blood Donation Camp at JSPL Campus, Patrapali, Raigarh.

Korba Unit has organized Blood Donation Camp at Samvedna Blood Bank, Niharika, Korba.

Bilaspur Adhoc Unit has organized Blood Donation Camp at CIMS, Bilaspur.

Male & Female participants equally donated their Blood without any Hesitation / Distress. This message boosts up all the participants who are scared by Donating Blood.

In these entire Blood Donation Camp three students of DPS, Durg donated their Blood; out of these three two of them have donated for the first time.

Around 85 participants donated the Blood.

Also we are thankful to all the Covid warriors who took initiative for organizing this event without considering their own health.

Last but not the least entire unit members are thankful to our Senior Members Dr. Anant Narayan Dixit, Mr. Satish Shukla & Mr. Sunil Vishnoi, who all acted as Back Bone in supporting all the units for organizing and making this event a Grand Success.

One Day Trekking Cum Training Program at Khursipar Khurud, Dongargarh held on 10.01.2021

35 participants participated in the said program. Participants were asked to report directly at Dongargarh. From there members started their journey for Khrusipar Khurud.

1 Km prior to Khursipar-Khurud a truck over turned and the entire materials were felt on road and to remove the entire debris, 3 – 4 hours time was required.

Local public of the area suggested no to go ahead as the labors are shifting the debris, so participants decided to turn back from the said spot and entered into the nearby forest zone Kauhapani and enjoyed, for many of them it was totally new as they never had been into the depth of the forest and never had a natural beauty, while coming back participants visited the Bamleshwari Temple, Dongargarh.

Subramanyam asked the participants to become member of YHAI at the earliest, so that in future participants can be informed on priority basis for the upcoming events.

All participants were thankful to members of YHAI Bhilai Unit for organizing a wonderful event.

The one-day "Family Camping and Trekking" organized by Raipur unit was organized on 10 January 2021 at "Harfar Arod" (about 125 km from Raipur & 55 km from Dhamtari). Members visited Murumsilli Dam, Barabandha Stay (water fall from boring without running hand pump),  Trekking at Harfar, Boat Ride in Arod. Members enjoyed the entire program.

On the way, at Hinduja Hotel-Dhamtari, all the members were welcomed by Bouquet on reaching Dhamtari. Members of Dhamtari Unit Mr. Yogesh Gupta, Mr. Kotwani, Mr. Hukum Chand Jain & Dr. Anant Narayn Dixit all greeted the trekkers to have a Happy and Fruitful Event.

With the guidance of all the above, this program was magnificently completed. We express our heartfelt gratitude to the members of Dhamtari unit.

YHAI Korba unit organized "Unused Cloth Distribution Program" on 7.01.2021 (Thursday) at Leprosy Ashram, Motisagarpara. Around 300 pairs of cloths and 30 New Blankets were distributed by the members.

Around 20 YHAI volunteers were involved in the program. Members got full support from the local Parshad of Motisagarpara Mrs & Mr. Santosh. We are thankful to both of them. The clothes were donated by around 20 families. New Blankets were donated by Mr Satish Shukla Unit President, Mrs Suman Seth, Mr. R S Sahu, Mrs & Mr Manoj Mishra and Mr. Shailendra Namdeo. Female members Reena, Anita, Riya, Nilu, Poonam, Mayarani, Reeta, Rolly, Sharda and Kalpana had special contribution in making the program a success.

Other active members involved were Subba, Vishal, Shyam, Vijesh, Vikas, Ravindra and Sandeep. 

30 members participated in the program. Team started its journey on 26.12.2020 at 7:30AM. Members reached Sita Bengra (Ramgarh) at 10:30 AM where the trekking program was organised. After trekking, members were served lunch and then visited TIN TIN stone, ULTA PANI, JAL JALI in the evening and reached back to Anmol resort. At resort Secretary Mr Namdeo gave a surprise visit with his family. At night had a marvelous CAMP FIRE with games, songs etc.

Next day (27.12.2020) all visited Fish Point, Apple Garden, Tibetan Monastery and Tiger Point. After lunch break, CERTIFICATE distribution program was organized and then returned back to their places. This was one of the most memorable moments for all the participants, as due to the pandemic situation members were not able to organize the camps. The team was led by Korba unit Chairman Mr. Sandeep Seth. Unit President Satish Shukla, EPC member DB Subba and Secretary Shailendra Namdeo had a great contribution in organizing this program. Other members present along with the family were R.S. Seth, M R Pati, Bhupendra Yadav, Anil Agrawal, Manoj Mishra and Rahul Gupta etc...  

20 participants participated in the said program, Nagzira is situated in Gondia District, 170 Kms away from Bhilai.

After reaching Nagzira on (24^th), in evening members were welcomed at Resort & served with High Tea, snacks & visited for Lake View, at night dinner was followed by Camp Fire. Next day on (25^th) morning around 6.30 am participants visited Jungle Safari & surprised to see wild animals, birds, natures beauty. After coming back from Jungle Safari around 11 am, participants were served with lunch packs and left for their destinations. Stay was at Rishad Resort, Chor Khamara, Nagzira.

Participants were asked to work on Environment Protection, so before leaving the premises members took keen initiative and participated to keep the surroundings clean.

The entire program was led by K.Subramanyam, G.Rajesh & Salim Khan.

52 members of all age groups participated in this event and experienced trekking.

Chairman Yogesh Gupta said that, the first stop of the event was at Khallari Mata Mandir Khallari. After crossing the rough & thrilling ground, reached the temple. The trekker were very pleased to see Bhima Pawn and Donga Pathra there.

Senior member Rameshdev said that the next stop of the trek was the Chandi Mata temple Ghunchapali Bagbahara. The main attraction of this place was the wild bears coming for the PRASAD at Sandhya Aarti, which all the members were thrilled to see. It was a different experience to see wild bears in the open, wandering freely.

The active members of the organization, Hemant Decatte, Venkatesh Sahu and Kamlesh Kothari gave joint information that such local events of youth hostels are organized for membership of new members as well as membership campaigns. Dr. Shesh Narayan Chandrakar said that, members of the organization were eagerly waiting round the year for such events to be held. Going between nature we forget everyday tiredness and take a new energy and heat.

Vishwesh Kotwani, Dr. Abhishek Goyal, Sudarshan Gupta, Daulat Gyanchandani, Kailash Kukreja, Richa Kukreja, Manoj Lakhwani, Bhavika Lakhwani, Satram Vasani, Srishti Vasani, Kushal Chopra, Parvinder Singh Khalsa, Dr. Monica Vardani, in making this event a success. All members including Mehak Vardayani, Dr. Deepti Chandrakar, Dr. Diwakar Jaspal, Geetika Wadhwani, Yashika Wadhwani, Yash Khandelwal, have made commendable contributions.

Dhamtari Unit organised a one day program at BIKE RALLY at Harfar Aaroud on 20.12.2020.

Harfar Aaround was forty km away from Dhamtari, 29 members took part in the event. The members, who had successfully participated in the rally, told that it was an excellent event in all respects; In which the joy of biking, trekking, boating, water fall and adventure got together.

Chairman Yogesh Gupta said that there were 18 new members in this event, who were thrilled to see the diverse beauty of nature for the first time under the banner of Youth Hostels. Senior member Hukum Chand Jain said that Dhamtari zone is an area full of natural spills.

One can enjoy a spectacular view of rugged inaccessible Vananchal not alone but by connecting with an institution like Youth Hostels. Senior member Dr. Shesh Narayan Chandrakar shared his experience and said that we go out of Dhamtari for tourism, while our area is full of immense possibilities of tourism.

Mohanrao Ran Singh, Mustafa Bhai, Ramesh Minni, Narendra Golchha, Venkatesh Sahu, Gopal Tamarkar, Ravi Krishnani, Amar Patel, Ghanshyam Sahu, Rudraksha Chandrakar, Sagar Kaushik, Vedprakash Sahu, Deepmala Sahu, Shubham Yadav, Ayush Bhande All the participating members including Chitranshu Sinha, Purnendu Rajak played a commendable role.

YHAI Korba unit donated Hand Sanitizers, Masks and Hand gloves to the "SAFAI MITRA" at Manikanchan Centre, Korba. Around 30 members of SAFAI MITRA were present at that time. Our team motivated them for their work and also thanked them for the work they are doing for the society.

Team also gave small training to keep themselves safe from spread of CORONA. At the end the MITRA team also thanked our team for the small gesture.

Team members present were Shailendra Namdeo, DB Subba, Shyam Kewat and Sandeep Seth.

YHAI Korba Unit organised a one day weekend program to Hirakud Dam, Sambalpur, Odisha on 13.12.2020. Around 30 participants participated in this program. The team at Sambalpur visited Eco Retreat, Hirakund  Dive, Gandhi Minar and Nehru Park. While returning back the team also visited Shri SATYANARAYAN BABA dham at Raigarh. This was the longest program of one day. The team traveled around 540 KM to and fro. All age group participants participated in the program from 5 years to 74 years. All participants were very happy and enjoyed a lot as many participants came out of home after 7-8 months due to COVID19.

The program was organised by Unit Chairman Sandeep Seth along with unit President Shri Satish Shukla. Unit organizing  secretary Shri Shyam kewat, Treasurer Shri Vijesh, Executive Member Vikas Patel also participated along with family members. It was difficult to organise such a program in this Pandemic situation, but motivation from our National Chairman Venkat Sir, Johri Sir and Rupesh sir helped us to organize the program successfully. Thanks to all of them.

Mr. Sandeep Seth & Mr. D.B. Subba attended three days training program at Korba from 25^th to 27^th April 2020 organized by Chhattisgarh State Health Department. Later on they were selected as Volunteers for Covid-19 Hospitals. They will be placed as & when required.

YHAI Chhattisgarh State Branch & on behalf of Bhilai, Raipur, Dhamtari, Korba & Raigarh Units under the leadership of Mr. K Subramanyam distributed Water Bottles, Masks, Fruits, Food Packets, Biscuits, at Durg Bus Stand (15.04.2020), SupelaChowk (30.04.2020), Power House Bus Stand (11.05.2020), Industrial Area (25.05.2020), Khursipar (31.05.2020) & Camp Area (03.06.2020) on the said dates. Also, we have supplied water bottles to Traffic Police at Sector-10 Globe Chowk, Near Sector – 9 Hospital & Hudco Railway Crossing.

Total amount was approximate Rs. 28,500/- till date, the said amount was generated from the members present.

Members present were K.Subramanyam, Sanjeev Kr. Mehta, Dr. Srijan Dr. Anjana, Vicky Shukla, V.Shekhar, Rupesh Taunk, Rajendra Prasad Sahu, Neetesh Thakur, Gopen Sahu, Shailendra Sharma, Alka Singh, Ashok Dubey, Mahima, Sanjay, Anant Dubey & Sanjana.

The entire work was done without photography.

It was an open forum for all (Members & Non Members). In all 529 participated. Real-time certificates were sent to 480 participants as they scored 40% & above and the rest were below 40% marks. Participants were from:

EPC organized the said activity on behalf of World Environment Day (05.06.2020) and it was open for students of all age groups.199 students participated in total. Students were conferred with certificates on 05.06.2020.

Topics covered were

1) Environment Protection     2) Rain Water Harvesting

YHAI Korba Unit has organized sapling plantation on WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY (5^th June 2020) near SARVMANGLA MANDIR and planted around 20 saplings of Lemon, Peepal and Almond plant. Members present were Sandeep Seth, Shailendra Namdeo, D.B.Subba, Kalpana Seth, Sharda Namdeo, Neelu Subba, Safal, Amal and Sankalp. Due to COVID-19 the members were restricted to 9 only.

Mr. Sandeep Seth, HDC member from YHAI Chattisgarh State Branch was awarded for his efforts in generating maximum Licensee Youth Hostels in last 2 months, by National Chairman Shri. S . Venkat Narayan during HDC meeting held on 5th August at International Youth Hostel Darjelling. The Award was sponsored by Shimoga Unit of YHAI Karnatak State Branch.

Units interested in organizing State Level Trekking Programme / other activities may place their proposal to State Branch by 31.10.2020

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