Dehradun, August 26
A total of 519 villages in Dehradun district experienced below normal rainfall this monsoon that is bound to affect the agriculture output in the ongoing kharif season.

The poor yield may not be able to help them offset the rabi crop losses. Even horticulture too has been affected by poor rainfall.

As per the data provided by the meteorological department 49 villages in Dehradun sub-division, 80 villages in Rishikesh, 32 in Vikas Nagar, 169 villages in Kalsi, 109 in Chakrata and 80 villages in Tyuni sub-division have been declared rain deficient.

In Dehradun district 38.11mm of rain was recorded in the month of June this year, while it was 171.61mm in the same month last year, while in July, this year, the total rainfall recorded was 147.74mm, while it was 279.33mm for the same month last year.

“Several areas in the district received below normal rainfall, only those farmers who could access irrigation facilities managed to provide regular water to their crops, even horticulture produce is bound to get affected in Tyuni and Chakrata,” said Dr Ranbir Singh, agriculture secretary.

The revenue department too has prepared a report about the worsening agriculture situation in Tyuni and Chakrata.

Further the disaster management department has also prepared a detailed report about the agricultural losses (expected output losses).

The agricultural losses in Dehradun sub-division are 17 per cent, Rishikesh sub-division 20 per cent, Vikas Nagar sub-division 12 per cent, Kalsi sub-division 40 per cent, Chakrata sub-division 50 per cent and in Tyuni sub-division 40 per cent.

Uttarakhand Agriculture Minister Trivender Singh Rawat said, “After the rabi crops failed last season, the state government had made a demand of Rs 250 crore under the Calamites Relief Fund, but the centre is yet to release our share,” he said.

Rawat said that a suggestion has been made to the central government to revise drought criterion so that the state become eligible for the calamity relief.

However, the sources said that the state has not been able to spend fully Rs 159 crore that was allocated to it under the Calamity Relief Fund, that was the reason behind central government’s reluctance to release aid to compensate the rabi crop failure. 

Dehradun, August 26
Governor Margaret Alva today said in order to curb the menace of ragging, a suggestion would be made to the government to bring an anti-ragging legislation and even introduce amendment in the CrPc.

Briefing mediapersons here, she said though the situation in most educational institutions and universities has been, by and large, under control

“But we would like to give a message to students of zero tolerance towards ragging. Any amendment in the law would be brought in only as a deterrent and necessary steps would be taken as per the Raghvan committee recommendations,” she affirmed.

Prior to the briefing, the Governor also held a meeting with the Vice-Chancellors, principals of private and government colleges and educationists.

The Governor said universities, colleges and institutions were asked to set up anti-ragging committees and also send a monthly report on the steps taken so far. “We have asked them to set up a helpline so that the aggrieved student could get counselling and also create a data base on the complaints being received. This would help the authorities take preemptive steps,” Alva stressed.

She said the authorities of educational institutions had also been asked to pay special attention to newcomers and even ensure that a warden is available to attend to their problems at the hostels.

A suggestion was also made to simplify the procedure of issuing conduct certificates that have become necessary for seeking admission in colleges.

The Governor pointed out that in a recent incident of ragging at a private college in Doon, an FIR was lodged against students.

Besides, there have been one or two incidents of ragging at engineering colleges in the state.

The government was streamlining anti-ragging measures in affiliated engineering colleges where such incidents had been reported, the Governor added. 

Dehradun, August 26
Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies Diwakar Bhatt today blamed the union government for creating scarcity of foodgrains as it was releasing less than the state’s quota.

He alleged that this was happening for the past one-and-a-half year. During this period, the state received 32,912 MT sugar against 1.37 lakh MT under the quota.

The situation was no different in the case of wheat and rice. Against its quota of 18,000 MT and 10,000 MT, the Centre released 14,766 MT wheat and 2,300 MT of rice.

“In this situation the state government is helpless in augmenting the supply on its own,” he said.

The biggest sufferers are the consumers who largely depend on the Public Distribution System (PDS) for the supply of these essential food grain items.

Under PDS, ration card holders are entitled 600 gram sugar per unit.

Due to less supply by the Centre, the available quantity is distributed on first come first serve basis. But this deprives a large number of consumers of their monthly quota of sugar.

The number of complaints has been increasing since the problem set in. Bhatt said relentless efforts were being made to put pressure on the Centre for the release of full quota of the state.

“We have proposed a meeting of state unit chiefs of all political parties as well as the MPs next month for increase in the supply.

“We have already apprised the Union Food Minister of the problem,” he said. 

Haridwar, August 26
Farmers, led by the Bharatiya Kissan Union in Laksar, have demanded the governmental rates of sugarcanes to be raised to Rs 300 per quintal among various other demands and have warned of agitation if their demands are not met.

While farmers also have sent a memorandum to the President, Pratibha Dev Singh Patil, and Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank in this regard.

Complaining that the mill owners have still not cleared their pending dues, which have posed problems for them.

They demanded that the current rate given by the government was insufficient and it needed to be hiked to Rs 300 so that they could earn decent livelihood.

Terming the state government as well as mill owner’s attitude anti-farmers, former district chief Kirat Singh said if farmers demands were not met, they would be forced to come out on streets.

“We will launch an agitation on 28th August if attention is not paid to our demands,” said Kirat.

In the memorandum sent to the President and the Chief Minister farmers urged instant payment of their sugarcane dues and a proper set up for the payment so that in near future the same problem doesn’t arise. The farmers will agitate at Laksar tehsil and then decide on the future course of action.

Meanwhile, residents and several organisations have demanded repair of the Laksar-Haridwar road which is in a dire condition.

In a memorandum to station superintendent representatives demanded that thousands of commuters utilise the same path and have to face problems galore due to rough and ill condition of the road. 

Dehradun, August 26
In a protest over the deteriorating law and order situation in the light of the Kaladhungi incident, the state Congress Committee staged a day-long dharna at Gandhi Park here today.

Led by state Congress chief Yashpal Arya and Leader of Opposition Harak Singh Rawat, Congress leaders and workers participated in the dharna.

Addressing the workers, Arya said the law and order situation had worsened in the BJP government as was evident from the Kaladhungi incident.

“A ruling party leader was shot dead in the police station and later unruly mob, led by the BJP workers, indulged in shameless acts of arson and violence against the policemen resulting in the death of a policeman,” he alleged.

Arya said the Congress being the main opposition party would continue to highlight the ineptness of the BJP government.

Rawat in his address charged that the common man had lost confidence in the state administration. “When policemen are not safe in their police stations then it is a serious situation.

“There is complete failure of law and order machinery in the state.

“We would continue to struggle against the failure of the BJP government that is plagued by internal dissensions,” he added.

Meanwhile, Uttarakhand director general of police today visited Kaladhungi in the aftermath of violence in the region few days back that led to a death of BJP leader and a policeman in the subsequent mob violence.

DGP Subhash Joshi, today met the injured policemen and directed free and fair probe into the incident.

DGP interacted with the head constable Bhopal Ram and other police official Kishore Tiwari.

He also provided an amount of Rs 25,000 each to the family members of the two policemen. Subhash Joshi also sought treatment details from Dr BD Joshi.

DGP described Kaldhungi incident as unfortunate and said that none of perpetrators of the crime will spared.

The DGP however shunned from making any comments over reported suspension of entire Kaladungi Police Station. IG Kumaon Ashok Kumar and other senior police officials accompanied the DGP. 

Dehradun, August 26
Dehradun unit of the Shiv Sena today held a protest demonstration against China at Clock tower here today.

Shiv Sena workers burnt Chinese plastic goods in protest against the publication of an article by a Chinese writer threatening balkanisation of India in near future.

Amit Jain, president of the local unit of the Shiv Sena alleged that China, along with Pakistan, was involved in anti-India activities.

He appealed to the people to boycott Chinese goods being sold in the markets.

He cautioned that flooding of the Indian markets by China with its’ own goods also pose a serious economic threat to the Indian economy.

Jain threatened to intensify the agitation against China throughout the state.

Dehradun, August 26
The state government is proposing amendment in the Indian Registration Act (IRA) 1908, with the assent of the President enabling reconstruction of any missing document related to registration of property.

Notably, the development follows mysterious disappearance of a sale deed document No. 9041 relating to a local property from the office of sub-registrar, since 2006. This is the first case of its kind in the state. Inspector General, Stamp Duty and Registration Department, has already ordered detailed enquiry into it on the basis of the preliminary enquiry report prepared by the ADM (Finance).

Sources said the government had set in motion the process of preparing proposal of the amendment in the IRA, which is being a central Act that requires the Presidential assent. It has to be first cleared by the state cabinet and then passed by the state assembly before it is sent to the President.

Its necessity arose because Section 51(5) of the IRA is silent on the reconstruction of any missing document though it is allowed in the case any document gets destroyed due to floods, tempest, excessive rain, fire, mob violence or other irresistible force.

The state Information Commission had issued directions for making the provision for reconstruction of a document when the case came up before him under the RTI. 

Roorkee, August 26
There will be no need to wait in long queues for the payment of electricity bills here in near future.

Very shortly, the Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL), Roorkee mandal, is going to install computerised any time payment (ATP) machines for collecting electricity bills in the area.

In the ATP machines, which would be supervised by the official of the installation company, the consumer can deposit the bill any time round the clock. UPCL (Roorkee) deputy general manager Madhu Sudan Chandola said that two such machines are proposed to be set up (one in Roorkee and another in Manglore) here by the next month.

“After that two more machines would be set up in other areas like Ramnagar locality and Civil Lines to facilitate the consumers,” said Chandola. To deposit the bill, the consumer will be supposed to go to the machine with the bill where the attendant, posted there, would help them pay the bill on the spot. A computerised receipt would also be given there, added Chandola.

Initially, the machines would be kept open for limited hours, around 12 hours in a day but after that we make those functional for 24 hours, said Chandola while adding that the beginning only cheques, demand drafts, pay orders etc will be accepted.

“We start accepting cash payment only after making arrangements of the presence of our official on the spot,” said the DGM. Hailing the decision of setting up the machines, local resident Ravinder Kumar said that making payments through these machines at any time would cause lot of convenience for the public.

The DGM also admitted that setting up of machines would help to raise the collection graph of the department. 

Dehradun, August 26
As part of its statewide drive to effectively check pilferage of power, Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) has targeted replacement of 50,000 mechanical meters by December. There are about 4 lakh metres in the state.

MD, UPCL, Jagmohan Lal said the reason for launching such a massive drive was that the old meters were easy to temper with. This had increased the quantum of pilferage of power manifold. The UPCL had successfully conducted a drive in which illegal use of ACs was detected.

The electronic meters would replace these technologically obsolete meters to curb the malpractice, which is causing huge revenue loss.The number of mechanical meters is greater in the rural areas. There are a large number of such meters in Dehradun as well. These included a reckonable number of commercial connections. Lal assured that shortage of meters would not affect the replacement drive. The authorities were trying replacement of mechanical meters by 2010-end.

Dehradun, August 26
Medical reports have confirmed that Ronak Singh, a BTech student who died 10 days back, was infected by swine flu.

The state health department received the information today.

State nodal officer Pankaj Jain said they had received confirmation from National Institute of Communicable Disease (NICD) that Ronak was suffering from the swine flu which ultimately took his life.

It may be recalled that Ronak had contracted the virus in Pune where he was studying and was treated in Dehradun, where he was on a visit. Later when his condition worsened he was referred to the higher centre in Delhi.

As per the medical reports, out of 12 results, 10 tested negative, while two tested positive.

Meanwhile, in order to rope in the private hospitals, a meeting of Indian Medical Association members would be held tomorrow at the DG office, “A plan would be chalked out so that the private hospitals too come up with isolation wards for treating patients,” said Dr Pankaj Jain. 

Dehradun, August 26
Sanskrit Academy, Haridwar, organised block-level Sanskrit competitions at various places in the state to promote Sanskrit language amongst children.

At the competition organised at Government Girls Inter-College, Dehradun, over 20 schools registered their participation.

At competition Sanskrit dance, Sanskrit chorus and Sanskrit debate were organised. From the competition two teams will be selected to participate at the district-level competition scheduled to be organised next month.

Sarojani Nautiyal principal of the GGIC said that over the years the popularity of the Sanskrit has gone down, therefore, to promote the language Sanskrit Academy Haridwar decided to conduct various competitions in the language and selected schools for the purpose. She said thet academy started to hold any competition in Sanskrit last year. 

Roorkee, August 26
The Uttar Pradesh police has arrested Zishaan, third accused of a double murder in Teliwala village, on the charges of selling illegal liquor.

Though local police preferred to remain tightlipped on the development, ASP Arun Mohan Joshi confirmed that Zishaan was in the custody of the police at Haldaur police station, Bijnore district (UP).

Talking to The Tribune, ASP Joshi said the police was trying to bring Zishaan, one of three accused who brutally murdered a widow, Samar Jahan (40), and her daughter Shazia (18) during the intervening night of August 18 and 19, on transit remand.

However, the ASP did not utter a word whether the reported arrest could be any conspiracy of Zishaan to avoid the Uttarakhand police action against him.

On the issue, the ASP said the picture would be cleared in a day or two. Interestingly, a cop from UP, who was posted here in the state some times before, has reportedly been helping Zishaan in the case.

On the matter, Joshi said they had identified the cop and the police was keeping eye on his activities.

However, the ASP assured that a major development in the case would take place in a day or two.

It is to be noted that both mother and daughter were murdered by later’s lover Shoaib with the help of his friends Shahnawaz and Zishaan.

Their bodies were set on fire by the accused in an attempt to destroy the evidences. Shoaib and Shahnawaz had been arrested by the police on August 20 but Zishaan, who had the stolen jewellery with himself, managed to give a slip to the police.

“We have sent a team to Bijnore for required legal process to bring Zishaan here,” said the ASP. 

Roorkee, August 26
The police is yet to identify the body of a woman which was found near Peeran Kaliyar shrine, 8 km from here, yesterday.

Sources said the woman, aged around 30 years, seemed to have died around a week before. “We are yet to identify the victim,” said ASP Arun Mohan Joshi while ruling out any foul play in the incident. “Prima facie, it seems that it was a natural death. However, we are looking into all possibilities in the matter,” said Joshi.

Meanwhile, the police is still clueless about the identity of victims of double murder, which took place here around a month before. On the issue, Joshi said the police got some vital clues in the incident.

Dehradun, August 26
Historic Morrison Memorial Church on Rajpur Road today celebrated its 125th anniversary. Members of the church paid tributes to its founder and American missionary Rev John H Morrison and his wife on the occasion.

Established on this day in 1884, its original name was Dehra Presbyterian Native Church, which was changed to AP Mission Hindustani Church in 1890, before getting its present name in the memory of Rev Morrison.

Its building surviving more than a century is one of the oldest dotting the Doon valley.

Its present pastor in charge Rev Sunil A Luke said the couple passed away in Dehradun. The management of the church had taken the responsibility of looking after their graves at Chandernagar Cemetry.

“We have decided to establish the graves as monument in recognition of their services to the church,” he said.

A total 22 pastors and nine missionaries have served the church in its history so far. Some pastors are still alive.

Dehradun, August 26
It would be all Dehradun finals at the u-19 Ram Bahadur Chhetri Memorial Football Championship underway at Ambedkar Stadium. In today’s semifinal match Dehradun Blue outplayed Nainital by solitary goal.

Nainital team failed to repeat its magic in the semifinal match. The team lost to Dehradun Blue in a tough contest. It proved to be Dehradun’s day, as Nainital team failed to convert its chances into goals due to poor finishing.

Nainital started on a strong note in the match creating some sharp moves in the initial minutes of the match. In the 10th minute they managed to penetrate the Dehradun defense from the right. But its forward failed to convert their aerial cross into a scoring opportunity.

Dehradun Blue team made a counter attack immediately afterwards to take their opponent by surprise but their forward faltered in the end to miss the scoring opportunity.

Dehradun team was constantly on a lookout for a goal and they managed to score a goal in the 39th minute of the match. It was Pankaj for the team who scored a goal from the D top to help his team take a 1-0 lead.

In the second half Dehradun Blue managed to hold on to a lead and won the match by solitary goal.

Meanwhile, Doon Eagle and Akranta team won their respective matches at District Football League underway at Pavilion Ground here today. In the first match, Doon Eagle team defeated Little Star team by 3-2. It was a close contest between both the teams.

Little Star team managed to score their first goal in the 4th minute of the match through Deepak. But Doon Eagle team scored an equaliser in the 15th minute of the match through Naveen.

Doon Eagle team took a lead in the match in the 23rd minute through Anshul. But Little Star team came back strongly to fetch an equaliser soon through Tushar in the 25th minute.

But in the 33rd minute Sandeep help Doon Eagle team to take a final lead in the match to make it 3-2.

Meanwhile, in the second match, Akranta team thrashed Vijay Cantt team by 3-0. Akranta dominated the proceedings right from the beginning. It scored its first goal in the 10th minute of the match through Naresh.

In the 32nd minute Harvinder scored the second goal for Akranta team making it 2-0. Vijay Cantt team could not do much before the experienced Akranta team.

In the second half, Akranta team further increased their goal tally as Bhupender scored for the team in 50th minute to make it 3-0.