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Ministerial Services Staff Strike
Tamta seeks LPG scheme benefits for Himalayan states
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BJP holds protest against price hike
Padma Shri awards announced
Land mafia becoming active: Social activists
Robbers strike at border village
2 arrested for raping 9-year-old girl
Govt aims to expand ayurveda, Unani services
Regularisation of PWD staff sought
Students clash, damage college property
Students felicitated
Work on ROB stalled
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Ministerial Services Staff Strike
Dehradun, January 25 Fifteen days have passed and demands of the stirred up employees of the Uttaranchal Federation of Ministerial Services Association, Uttarakhand, are still unheard. After the two failed meetings with the administration, the association is determined to continue with the strike till they receive a government order in hand. District secretary Sunil Dutt Kothari of the association said the Chief Minister had assured to organise a conference with them soon. Work in various departments of the Ministerial Services in state continues to suffer, while the government and the protestors of the association uphold their personal plunk. The memorandum of the association consists of the demands of increasing the hike in income as per the Sixth Pay Commission with regularisation of the ministerial employees, promotion orders of the awaiting members and setting up a structure of the ministerial workforce were apparently their major issues that were put forth in the notification. |
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Tamta seeks LPG scheme benefits for Himalayan states
Nainital, January 25 In a letter written to the Prime Minister, Tamta has strongly advocated the extension of the recently launched scheme to the Himalayan states of the country. The recently launched scheme, which is yet another flagship programme of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) at the Centre, aims at increasing LPG penetration in remote and rural parts of the country. Tamta has written: “Under the present guidelines of the scheme, the Himalayan states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir have been excluded from this scheme. I would like to urge you to consider bringing the Himalayan states within the purview of this scheme”. Pointing out that the citizens in these hill states are hugely dependent on firewood for cooking and heating purposes, Tamta has stated that there is a need to replace this traditional source of fuel with LPG on a major scale for a number of critical reasons. The first reason pointed out by him pertains to the depleting forest cover. “A large-scale deforestation continues in our hill states as collection of firewood from forests is increasing, as it is the primary fuel for cooking and heating. As you are aware, our hill states are among the most forested ones in the country, and if we are to meet our ambitious afforestation goals, we need to ensure that the forest cover in our Himalayan states does not decrease. This can only happen if LPG replaces firewood as the primary fuel in the Himalayan states”. Tamta has also pointed at length towards the issue of black carbon and their impact on Himalayan glaciers. He has underlined: “Wood-fired chulhas, which are almost universally used in the hill states, produce black carbon, which settles over Himalayan glaciers, accelerating their melting rate. This is a matter of huge national and global concern. Noted scientists like Prof V Ramanathan have written extensively on this. An urgent shift towards LPG in the hill states will have a major and immediate impact in reducing the amount of black carbon released into the atmosphere, and consequently reduce the rate of melt of our Himalayan glaciers. Taking up the yet another pointer related to public health, Tamta has written in support of his plea that the effect of wood-fired chulhas on the health of the families in the Himalayan regions is extremely adverse. “This has not only health-related costs for individuals and the government, but also leads to a large productivity losses, something that poor households can barely afford. A shift to LPG will go a long way in addressing this problem.” Tamta will meet Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh and hand over a paper entitled “Save the Himalayas: A concept paper for reducing pollution for protection of Himalayas by way of supply of clean fuel (LPG)”, which addresses these issues in detail besides the facts relating to LPG penetration in other states vis a vis Uttarakhand , Himachal, etc. Tamta has requested to the Prime Minister to either bring the hill states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir within the purview of the Rajiv Gandhi Gramin LPG Vitrak Yojana or announce an alternative scheme focused on the hill states entitled “Rajiv Gandhi Himalayan LPG Vitrak Yojana”. He has requested the Centre for asking the Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) that are under the Ministry of Petroleum to strengthen their distribution network in the hill states on an urgent scale. “We need a major drive to distribute light-weight cylinders of LPG (5 kg to 10 kg) in these states in view of transportation problems. I would be happy to provide whatever help I can to help you address this huge challenge for our Himalayas,” he states. A copy of the letter
has also been sent to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora and Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh. |
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BJP holds protest against price hike
Dehradun, January 25 Punit Mital, president of the party, regretted that the Congress and the UPA had promised to bring the inflation down in 100 days during the elections, but on the contrary the prices had soared manifold. |
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Padma Shri awards announced
Dehradun, January 25 Dr Bhargav, along with his wife, has also been working for eco-tourism. Significantly, Deep Joshi, founder pradhan and recent Magsaysay award-winner, has also been honoured with the Padma Shri for social work. Dr Vijay Prasad Dimri is another personality of Uttarakhand origin who has been awarded the Padma Shri. Padma Awards, the country’s highest civilian awards, conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri were announced today on the eve of Republic Day. |
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Land mafia becoming active: Social activists
Nainital, January 25 The rally followed a ‘padyatra’ undertaken by the social activists following a call given by the Jagriti Mahasangh at Ramgarh, Dhari and Betalghat. The activists had marched from Mauna Lavaishal in Ramgarh to Santbunga and Dhanachuli to take stock of the scenario in the rural areas. They came across instances of people selling off vast tracts of their land to people from outside at a very nominal price. This has led to a big question mark over their existence in the days to come. With the elements of the land mafia allegedly becoming active, the people of the region are now living in fear, they said. The activists have called for active intervention at various levels to check this trend. |
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Robbers strike at border village
Nainital, January 25 According to the information, eight masked persons, carrying firearms, managed to enter the village and decamped with jewellery and valuables worth Rs 2 lakh from the house of Aslam Hassan. The family was preparing for a wedding scheduled a few days later. Interestingly, the robbers managed to walk out of the village without any alert being raised. The men folk of the village were keeping a vigil on the boundary and were unaware of robbers having entered the village. Over the past few weeks, residents of villages falling in the Jaspur area of Udham Singh Nagar district that are located along the border with Uttar Pradesh are on tenterhooks following constant forays by anti-social elements from across the border. The villagers have been bearing the brunt of unwanted visitors over the past few weeks and there have been attempted robberies in these villages. The police is aware of such a movement in the region and is extra cautious about it. Police officers are in a constant touch with the villagers and are working on the lines of developing civil defense committees over there. The police has been asking the residents of border villages to remain alert. It is being suspected that robbers from neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh are responsible for the series of robberies committed in the area over the past few weeks. They use the cover of darkness to commit the crime. The residents of villages like Raghuwala Ganj, Ramnagar, Khaguwala have resorted to maintaining night vigils in their villages turnwise. |
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2 arrested for raping 9-year-old girl
Haridwar, January 25
They often used to gamble there and after interrogation the police found that both had raped her. The girl was coming back from her tuition class, but was abducted by the two on her way home on the promise of buying her a kite. Rs 11 lakh stolen
from mart
DEHRADUN: About Rs 11 lakh was reportedly stolen from Vishal Mega Mart situated at the Rajpur Road here last night.
The police said the thieves had entered from the terrace of the building by breaking open a tin lid being put up to stop light coming inside. The thieves reportedly entered through the lift to the fourth floor where the money was kept in a locker. They didn’t break the locker, but opened it with the keys which they supposedly knew where these were kept before fleeing with the booty. The matter came to light in the morning only when the mart was opened. After finding the amount missing from the locker, the owner of the mart informed the matter to the police. City Superintendent of Police (SP) Jagat Ram Joshi and Circle Officer (CO) took the stock of the matter at the crime scene. The SP said it seemed handiwork of hardcore criminals and they had started the investigation.
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Govt aims to expand ayurveda, Unani services
Dehradun, January 25 For the first time, after the creation of the state, a post of Joint Director, Unani, too will be created at the Directorate level. In all, there is a proposal for creation of 318 posts. However, the proposal has to be first approved by the Finance Department. “We have proposed to restructure and upgrade several posts and Unani system too is expected to benefit, simultaneously. Instead of the post of Deputy Director, we have suggested the creation of four posts of Additional Director. So, also the posts of ayurvedic officers will be increased from 45 to 75,” said Dr Pooja Bhardwaj, Director Ayurveda and Unani Services. As per the sources at the Directorate in addition to the post of Director, posts of four Additional Director and 40 Senior Medical Officers have been proposed. Besides the appointment of Unani doctors, the state has, however, not worked towards upgrading the Unani infrastructure in the state. Though a full-fledged Directorate of Ayurveda and Unani Services exists in the state, there are only five Unani hospitals in the state. These are, Rajkiya Unani Chikatsalya, Piran Kaliyar, Rajkiya Unani Kaliyar Sharif, Rajkiya Unani, Sultanpur Kunhari, Rajkiya Yunani Chikitsalya, Luxar ward and Rajkiya Yunani Chikitsalya Jaspur. Among these hospital only the Rajkiya Unani Chikatsalya at Jaspur has a Unani medical officer. However, during the restructuring drive it has also been proposed to establish three Unani hospitals under the National Rural Health mission and upgrade the existing five. |
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Regularisation of PWD staff sought
Dehradun, January 25 The employees have been protesting in favour of their demands for past few days. Association member Rajesh Prasad, general secretary Jaipal Singh and state president Babu Khan were among those present at the dharna. |
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Students clash, damage college property
Dehradun, January 25 A case has been registered against the students in Raipur police station. |
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Students felicitated
Dehradun, January 25 Harish was given the first prize for excelling in academics, Riya was placed at the second spot, and A Ahmed at the third spot. |
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Work on ROB stalled
Dehradun, January 25 The proposed ROB is to be built under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Similarly, work is on for another 175.84-m-long ROB at Lachiwala at a cost of Rs 38 crore on which work is on. The PWD will undertake the work once restructuring work taken by Railway Department is over. Side by side the other ROB is also planned at Mokhampur to streamline traffic passing at the railway crossing totalling a length of 1402 m and at a cost of Rs 86.78 crore that has to be sent to the Central government. |
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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Dehradun, protested against the Central government for rising inflation here today.
The protesters later marched to the District Magistrate’s office raising slogans against the Central government.
The party workers said people of the nation were feeling cheated by the government.
The party members exhorted the Governor to take some remedial steps in this regard.
Haridwar, January 25
Dashmesh Academy felicitated meritorious students at a function held here today and distributed pullovers among 385 children.
Chief guest on the occasion Ashok Wasu, Chairman of Summer Valley School, said such a function boosted the morale of children and brought about their mental development. It also developed a healthy competition spirit among children.
