Dehradun, February 7
With Lok Sabha elections only a few months away, leaders of the main opposition party, Congress, have started lashing out at the ruling BJP on various issues.

While Congress MLA Dinesh Aggarwal yesterday accused the government of misusing the official machinery for political interests, today the Congress leaders slammed the government for overlooking the drought-like conditions prevailing in the state.

Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) media incharge Suryakant Dhasmana said against an average rainfall of 50 mm in January, the Garhwal region recorded 5.2 mm rainfall whereas Kumaon received less than 4 mm rainfall. He said there had hardly been any snow in the hilly areas this year.

“Because of less rain and snow, wheat and potato yields have been severely affected. The meagre rainfall has also hit apple cultivation in Uttarkashi and Chamoli districts,” said Dhasmana.

Dhasmana said due to the dry spell there would be severe problem in power generation and the state would have to grapple with water scarcity during summer.

Accusing the state government of not taking stock of the situation, Dhasmana said a survey should be conducted at the tehsil level and the report sent to the Union government for immediate action.

“Any further delay in conducting a survey would prove detrimental for the state. Once the election process gets underway, the Central government would not be able to release any grant,” he said.

While giving an ultimatum to the government to take necessary steps to deal with the situation, Dhasmana announced that on February 12 a Congress delegation, led by UPCC chief Yashpal Arya, would meet Governor BL Joshi in this regard.

The party would also resort to demonstrations in case state government fails to initiate corrective measures, he added.

Dehradun, February 7
Pitthoragarh district administration has sounded an alert all along the Kali river in the district following massive landslides at Tawaghat area ahead of Dharchula along the border with Nepal.

Massive landslides had hit the road from Dharchula to Mangti at Tawaghat on the bank of the Kali on Friday.

A large portion of the road was blocked. Six families living in the nearby area were evacuated by the administration.

Since the debris from the landslides was falling in the fast flowing Kali, which forms the border between India and Nepal in the district, there was a danger of blockade of the river.

However, district and police officials maintain that despite debris from landslides settling in the river bed, there was little chance of a lake formation.

They maintain that only earth has been falling in the river and no rocks.

The district administration has alerted people living on the banks in Jauljibi and Dharchula towns. They have been asked to vacate their premises.

According to the administration, there was no danger to the 280 MW Dauliganga project downstream of the Kali.

Haridwar, February 7
After a blast and major fire on February 4 in the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited SMS plant, production has resumed at the plant.

Of the three furnaces that were damaged, production has restarted in the 10-tonne electric arc furnace.

In the other two furnaces, company officials claim that work will restart soon.

All injured workers have been discharged from the hospital and have been given additional holidays by the management.

Meanwhile, BHEL yesterday flagged off a 500 megawatt generator to West Bengal’s Faracca super thermal power station.

BHEL managing director DK Modi flagged off the generator in a special wagon from Haridwar. Other senior BHEL officials were present at the function.

Company officials said that the generator has cost about Rs 0.5 million less than the market price due to BHEL’s timely and cost-effective techniques.

Haridwar, February 7
After being sidelined for years and used as a vote bank, the Uttarakhand Rajya Safai Mazdoor Sangh and Balmiki community has decided to field their own candidate from Haridwar constituency in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Announcing this, Rajesh Badal, district head of the Uttarakhand Rajya Safai Majdoor Sangh (URSMS), said the state government has ignored demands of the union for quite some time and kept them away from the purview of the Sixth Pay Commission.

Stressing on the exploitation of union members and the Balmiki community in particular, state organisational secretary Chetan Das Dumara said that for several years, the community has been suppressed.

The time has come to unite and show the political parties the strength of the Dalit community, he said.

“In the municipal committee, there is so much exploitation but no one pays heed to our condition,” said Anjana Singh, district secretary of the union.

Among those who spoke at the meeting were Virendra Shramik, Ramkumar Lodhi, Sanjay Kumar, Ashok Kangra, Jugnu, Ghanshyam, Vijay, Jagdish, Poonam Chauhan, Kavita Chauhan, Rajesh Dhiman, Mira Katariya among others.

Mussoorie, February 7
The administration has shifted the shivling-shaped stone from the premises of Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy, here today, which has angered the locals.

Administration officials, with the help of police authorities, shifted the stone from the academy premises to a temple situated nearby.

The action followed a report by scientists of the Archaeological Survey of India that this was just an ordinary stone.

However, the move did not go down well with locals, who staged a noisy protest at the site where the shivling was discovered.

They raised slogans against the administration and said matters of faith should be left to the people.

The protesters included Virendra Rana, Jagdish Bhatt, Vijay Ramola, Naresh Anand and Rajwant Rawat.

Dehradun, February 7
The ICFAI team defeated SBS (PGI) during the 57th District Cricket League being held at the Survey Stadium, here today.

Batting first, SBS College started shakily, but recovered with Adarsh's 35 runs followed by a half century by Praveen, who made 56 runs.

Virender and Rahul made useful contributions down the order scoring 43 runs and 34 runs, respectively.

Their final score was 258 runs. For ICFAI team, Pranay picked up three wickets, Ankit, Akshay and Nishant took two wickets each.

Chasing the victory target, the opening pair of Parinay and Ashish contributed 76 runs. Parinay went on to play an outstanding innings of 119 runs, which secured the win for IFCAI. His innings was studded by 17 fours. Akshay contributed 67 runs.