Dehradun, February 3
The Uttarakhand Human Resource and Economic Management Development (UHRMD) Foundation supported the strike of sugarcane farmers and demanded to remove the irregularities in the sugarcane prices.

Addressing a press conference here today, founder Chairman, UHRMD, Jitendera Mohan Sharma (Semwal) said some private firms in Haridwar were giving high prices of sugarcane ranging from Rs 270 to 275 per quintal to the farmers while in Doiwala this is just Rs 225-230.

Due to this, the farmers are opting for private firms to the government and the cooperative firms, which puts the risk of “no cane” in front of the government.

The founder Chairman added there was no doubt that the Uttarakhand was giving higher sugarcane prices in comparison to other states in the country, but there was need to control the price of private firms otherwise farmers as well as government sugarcane firms would suffer.

The foundation also demanded that Doiwala block be included in the Special Agriculture Zone as this was agricultural area. “Raipur and Naintial are proposed to be included in the zone and we want that Doiwala should also be included in it since it was the pocket bow of farmer and agriculture,” quipped Sharma.

Meanwhile, he said the sugarcane farmers had been on strike for the past three days in Doiwala-situated government sugarcane mill and he had also joined them yesterday.

Roorkee, February 3
Rising prices of sugarcane have brought cheers to cane growers of the area. Mills here have been offering no less than Rs 270-275 per quintal for the produce, a hike of as much as Rs 20 compared to their previous rate Rs 250-255.

On the other hand, the cane crushers too are purchasing the produce for about Rs 280-285 per quintal whereas the rate of special variety cane, namely 8436, is being picked up at the rate of Rs 300.

Talking to The Tribune, Rakesh Aggarwal, national general secretary of the Uttarakhand Kisan Morcha, said the shortage in the supply of cane to the mills and the spiralling prices of sugar were the main reasons behind the rise in the prices of cane. He said the cane growers were very happy as now they had started getting a good price for their produce.

Expressing similar sentiments, Chaudhary Surinder Singh Pawar, a cane grower of Gaddarjudda village, said now he had no remorse in growing cane in his fields. “At least, now the prices of our produce have start touching the figure we have been expecting for a long time. With the hike in cane rates by sugar mills, the rates at cane crushers will also go northward very soon,” said Pawar.

Bal Chand Saini from Mewar Kalan village feels if farmers get such “respectable” price of their produce every year, the area under cultivation of cane will certainly increase manifold.

“Our area is being known as a sugarcane belt. But, the problems being faced by the cane growers due to non-supportive attitude of the government have forced the farmers to stay away from the cane cultivation, resulting in the shrinking of the area under cane here. I think the inability of the government in controlling the sugar prices will force the authorities concerned to think towards promoting the cane cultivation,” said Saini.

Notably, the Uttarakhand government was the first to announce the state advised price (SAP) of Rs 192-197 for sugarcane with a promise of bonus in December.

Dehradun, February 3
The Municipal Corporation (MC) authorities had a tough time today during an anti-encroachment drive carried out at Mandakini Vihar, Brahamawala, on the Shastradhara Road here.

A case against 300 persons was registered at the Raipur police station for trying to hamper the drive and allegedly beating up workers engaged in it.

Regional Inspector, MC, Darshan Keshtwal said 100-150 makeshift houses, including a hostel, which is under construction, were razed during the drive. The drive started at about 11 am and continued till 6 pm.

The authorities had to face ire of agitated residents during the drive. Several people lay in front of the bulldozer in an effort to stop the drive. However, the MC workers demolished the houses manually.

Residents even pelted the MC staff with stones and allegedly beat up the workers. The Regional Inspector said they had lodged a complaint against 300 persons (giving names of six of them) for trying to hamper government work.

He added that they had removed 350 houses in 2000-03, but the people again encroached on the land. In November, 2009, also the MC had removed 100-150 houses from the land.

Dehradun, February 3
A 24-year-old youth lost his life after a truck hit his bike from behind at Lakhanwala here today. Both vehicles were heading towards Herbetpur.The bike of deceased Vijay Kumar was hit by the truck bearing registration number UP-07-J-9586 from behind. The truck driver fled the spot, while nearby commuters informed the police of the matter.

Kumar died on the spot and his body was kept in the mortuary of the hospital. The number plate of his bike had broken in the mishap, thus the number of the vehicle couldn’t be noted.

The police has impounded the truck and was looking for its driver.

Dehradun, February 3
Uttarakhand Technical University (UTU) BEd entrance test, which was slated for February 14, has been postponed again.This is for the third consecutive time that the BEd entrance test has been postponed due to clash of test dates with those of the Combined Defence Services (CDS) examination.

Under the new ruling of the government, at present only three BEd colleges are under the UTU. For 300 seats for the degree, the entrance test was initially supposed to take place on January 24, but was postponed for February 14.

A sudden expulsion of former Registrar Mrityunjai Kumar Mishra and clashing of scheduled dates has once again created a state of confusion.

“The dates have been postponed for a third time due to clash of the test dates with the CDS entrance examination. However, now the new dates for the entrance test will be decided in March, keeping in view all important entrance examination dates so that students don’t have to face any kind of problems,” Sunil Agarwal, Secretary, Private BEd Colleges, said.

Agarwal said: “As per the earlier recommendations of the state government, the UTU was instructed to take both government and newly established private college under its umbrella.

However, as per the latest ruling now, only nascent colleges can join the UTU. At present only three colleges are with the UTU having 300 seats, which is very less compared to a huge number of applicants”.

Dehradun February 3
Even as the strike by Ministerial Services staff entered its 24th day today, agitating employees of the Prantiya Adhyaksh Uttarakhand Mandi Samiti Karmachari Sangh from the Garhwal mandal went on an indefinite strike. They also staged a dharna at the Gandhi Park here.

“Owing to the fixed regularities in the fifth pay scale of the employees and non-incorporation of the scale-to-scale scheme, the administration has failed to provide us the income according to the Sixth Pay Commission. Our repeated pleas to Agriculture Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat have not yielded results in our favour yet,” said Ajay Dabral, senior vice-president of the association.

“Trivendra Rawat, who is unaware of our sufferings, hasn’t invited the association for a meeting. Hopefully, the minister through our strike and protest will definitely hear the voices raised by the association members,” he added.

Former minister Heera Singh Bisht also took part in the protest to support the employees of the samiti. Bisht said the strike would affect the lives of several farmers and agriculturists in the state. The conflict, if not solved soon, could give rise to many problems in the vegetable and fruit markets in long term.

Moreover, Hari Bhandari, president, Navbharat Sangh, also raised hands in support of the protesters, who have been suffering for a long time. The association is determined to continue with its indefinite strike till it received a government order.

Nainital, February 3
Barely after two days of Haldwani coming to a standstill on account of Transport Minister Bansidhar Bhagat’s welcome procession, state BJP President Bishen Singh Chuphal has issued a directive to his party men not to waste their time in welcome processions and other such activities, but instead proceed to work amongst the masses.

Chuphal was here to participate in the first meeting of the newly constituted BJP executive of the Nainital unit today.

He said the BJP leadership had told its workers and leaders to get down to work and not waste time in organising welcome processions. When it was pointed that the party’s cadres had flouted virtually every rule on Monday to organise a welcome for its minister Bhagat at Haldwani, he said, “Such processions are a wastage of time and resources. The leaders should instead spend their time interacting with people of their respective constituencies and trying to solve their problems”.

The procession organised for Bhagat, who had come after assuming charge as a minister was unprecedented and had put the Haldwani to a standstill. It had caused a tremendous traffic jam and even schoolchildren returning home had been delayed with school buses being stuck in the jam. The noise pollution caused was an additional public nuisance.

Following the repeated track of his party, Chuphal once again attacked the Centre and held it responsible for the problems and shortcomings in the state. He also attacked the five Congress Lok Sabha members from the state for not taking up the issues pertaining to the state forcefully with the Centre.

When pointed about the slow pace of implementation of centrally sponsored schemes in the state, he defended the state government by denying the allegation and said, “If that was the case, we would not be amongst the best in implementing projects like the 20-Point Programme etc.”

However, he was at a loss of words when the seriousness of officialdom was questioned with regards to their absence from meetings related to execution of developmental works. It was only on Tuesday that officials of the Forest Department had failed to participate in the meeting of the Development Monitoring Committee for the district held at Bhimtal under the chairmanship of the Lok Sabha member KC Sigh Baba.

All that he could say was that such an attitude on the part of the officials was wrong and there was still need to bring about a change in the mindset of some of the officials in the state. He also stated that there was a need for better co-ordination between public representatives in the state.

Chuphal stressed that it was time for the organisation and the government to work in co-ordination for solving the issues related to the public. When asked about the financial health of the state government, he claimed that despite constraints the developmental works were being executed without delay and employees were getting their salaries on time.

Dehradun, February 3
The government has transferred key officers. Principal Secretary (Public Grievance) Vijendra Paul has been transferred to the post of Principal Secretary (Planning, technical education and tourism). Watershed Secretary MH Khan has been made Secretary (Forest and Environment).

District Magistrate, Bageshwar, DS Garbyal has been made Managing Director, Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam, while Additional Secretary to Chief Minister Ajay Pradhyot has been transferred to the post of Additional Secretary (Medical and Health).

Uptal Kumar Singh, at present Secretary (PWD, State Property Department and Sports) has been relieved of the Sports charge. Additional Secretary (Agriculture and Sainik Welfare) Pankaj Kumar Pandey has been made Chief Executive Officer, Nainital, and Deputy Secretary (Panchayati Raj) Vijay Chandra has been transferred to Udham Singh Nagar district.

Dehradun, February 3
At a meeting chaired by Rural Development Minister (independent charge) Vijay Barthwal for the progress of the Indira Gandhi Awas Yojana and the Drought Area Programme was undertaken.

The second instalment of the programme has already been released by the Central government for all districts under the Indira Gandhi Awas Yojana.

It was decided to complete all programmes sanctioned under the Drought Area Programme by March 31, 2010.

Barthwal said under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) Rs 41 crore had been sanctioned for the convergence programme. The labour component would be borne by the Central government, while the material component by the state department.