Dehradun, February 16
Under the criticism from the Congress party on the issue of allotment of various hydro-electric projects by his government, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank while defending himself, went all out against the Central government blaming it for the woes of the nascent state.

Nishank blamed the Union government for discriminating against the state government on the issue of extending the period of industrial package, grant of additional financial help of Rs 330 crore, reduction in the quota for food grains, border area development fund and NREGA.

Deflecting the heat from the issue of allotment of hydro-electric projects raised by the Congress, the Chief Minister charged that despite umpteen efforts by him, in which he was even joined by Congress MPs, the Central government had failed to meet the demand of the state to extend the industrial package till 2020.

The industrial package given to the state comes to an end on March 31, 2010.

“Apart from meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh alone, I had met the Prime Minister with MPs from the state to demand extension of industrial package, but nothing has been done,” he charged.

Nishank said there had been talk of opposition to the extension of the package to Uttarakhand from Punjab and Haryana. “Uttarakhand has a unique geographic location and contributing immensely to the ecology of not only the country, but of the entire world by preserving forests on 65 per cent of our land. Do they have any consideration of the fact that each family from the state sends young men to defend the borders of the country?” he asked.

“I am willing to accompany Congressmen from the state if they propose to hold a protest against the Centre on this crucial demand. I will be going to the Prime Minister a 1,000 times on this issue,” he said.

Nishank said it was the people of the state who had been defending the forest wealth since the time immemorial. “We have 12,000 van panchayats in the state,” he added.

He also took pot shots at the initiative of the Central government to pass on the burden of the rising prices to the state. “The Union government is wholly and solely responsible for the rising inflation. Why was sugar exported at Rs 17 per kg and then the same sugar was imported at the rate of Rs 44 per kg?” he asked.

On the financial assistance from the Centre, the CM said the financial year was coming to an end, but the Centre had not yet given the additional help of Rs 330 crore to the state. Similarly, the money for the works done under NREGA and border area development fund had not been released despite repeated reminders.

He also blamed the Central government for banning quarrying in riverbeds leading to the rise in the prices of the building materials and the Congressmen are blaming the state government for that. “I want to make it clear that the Union government of the Congress has banned quarrying of riverbeds,” he said.

On the allegations of malpractices in the allotment of hydro-electric projects, he said he was ready for a probe from any agency in the world since all procedures and processes while allotting the projects were completely transparent. He said a total of 56 projects having a capacity of 950 MW had been allotted.

“We have a policy under which these projects not bigger than 25 MW have been given. It was unlike the previous Congress regimes that allocated projects without following any proper power policy,” he said.

Nishank said power projects up to 100 KW had been given to the locals. 

Dehradun, February 16
State unit of Samajwadi Party said there was no work culture in the present government of the ruling BJP party and termed the state government and the Congress party two sides of the same coin.

Addressing the press conference, party president Vinod Barthwal said the secretariat was empty and no employee was working there. “The state, which boasts of being energy state, is itself facing trouble with shortage of electricity. There is no electricity from 2 pm to 5 pm every day and the employees at the secretariat sit idle,” Barthwal said.

He added that the even the 50 per cent of the budget couldn’t be used by the state government, while the government kept spreading its hands in front of the Central government for more funds. Even the package over Rs 500 crore given for the Kumbh by the Centre couldn’t be utilised, the party president said.

He also informed the gathering that the Samajwadi party would hold a big convention on February 22 in Haridwar. National vice-president and former Central minister Rashid Masood and other senior leaders would address the gathering.

A meeting of the workers would also be held on February 23 in Dehradun.

Dehradun, February 16
Reacting to the Congress’ allegations in regard to the BJP’s recent distribution of small hydropower projects to entrepreneurs, members of the Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM) burnt the effigy of the Congress here today.

Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha state president Vinod Khandari said, “As far as the distribution of small hydropower projects is concerned, the BJP government has maintained transparency and has followed the requisite guidelines”.

“The project has been given to renowned and knowledgeable entrepreneurs who have been in the field for several years,” added Khandari.

Retaliating against the accusations, the members said the motto of the BJP government was to make the state equipped with power generation facilities and generate employment opportunities for the youth.

City President Rajkumar Jaiswal said, “Congress leader Dr Harak Singh Rawat should not point fingers at Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal. Rather, he should look at his 
own mistakes”.

Atul Sharma, Surendra Singh Negi, Vijendra Thapliyal, Atul Sonkar and other members of the Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha were present on the occasion.

Dehradun, February 16
The Mahanagar Congress Committee, Dehradun, protested against the state ruling BJP government for selling of the hydroelectric project to the “mafias” at the Gandhi Park here today. The party, along with Mahanagar Yuva Congress, Mahanagar Mahila Congress and Mahanagar NSUI, protested.

Chief guest on the occasion, Opposition leader Harak Singh Rawat said the Nishank government had insulted the martyrs by his policies.

He alleged that the government had sold itself in the hydro-electric project and demanded a CBI inquiry into it.

Rawat added that he wasn’t against small projects, but was against the process of it.

Nainital, February 16
The OPD services at the Sushila Tewari Memorial Hospital Trust Medical Centre remained disrupted on the second consecutive day following acts of arson at the hospital on Monday by activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) over the death of a patient due to alleged medical negligence.

According to sources, the hospital authorities have approached the district administration for providing adequate security so that the normal functioning can be resumed. It is learnt that personnel of PAC have been deployed at the premises.

Meanwhile, a group of ABVP activists numbering not more than 10 staged a protest in Nainital and burnt the effigy of the hospital administration. The ABVP that is better known as the youth wing of the BJP, has come in for major criticism for once again assuming the role of an extra-constitutional authority and inciting violence at a public service institution, thus causing a lot of inconvenience to patients.

Sources in the hospital told The Tribune that it was out of fear that the doctors did not start OPD services Tuesday morning.

The trouble had started on Monday afternoon following the death of a patient, Baby Joshi, from Garud in Bageshwar. She had been operated upon for a gynaecology complication last week and her condition had deteriorated continuously. Her family members and relatives alleged that this was a case of medical negligence which led to the ABVP activists storming the office of the PA of the Trust’s secretary Monish Malik and resorting to arson. They damaged the computer and torn the files. They are learnt to have manhandled two hospital employees.

This was followed by a demonstration outside the hospital, a blockade of the busy Rampur road and raising of slogans against Malik with a demand for his removal and registration of a case of murder against the doctor concerned.

The agitators charged that this was not the first time that there had been medical negligence on the part of the hospital staff. The drama continued for close to five hours.

Malik on his part has called for a probe into the death of the patient, which is being conducted by Additional Director (Health) Dr SC Tamta. The state administration has been appraised of the developments at the hospital.

Dehradun, February 16
Women members from Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir today formed a 300-member federation that will work for the promotion of social, economic and political rights of women.

Union State Minister for Rural Development Agatha Sangma presided over a discussion on the role of Himalayan women held at Vigyan Gram, Shuklapur.

The minister, on the last day of her visit of the state, said several successful experiments being undertaken here by women groups would be replicated in her constituency in Meghalaya.

The minister took deep interest in the activities of village entrepreneurs and said: “A fine balance needs to be maintained so that our villagers become self-sustained units”.

Speaking on the occasion, Chairman of State Women’s Commission Sushila Baluni said the federation would work to foster ties between women of different states and strengthen a greater understanding between them.

Welcoming the delegates, Dr Anil Joshi, Patron of Himalayan Environment Studies Conservation Organisation (HESCO), said the federation would work for promoting social and economic rights of women.

Geeta Gairola, Director, State Mahila Samakhya, said the federation would provide a platform for women to raise their voice in a forceful manner against any kind of injustice.

Dehradun, February 16
Union Minister of State for Rural Development Agatha Sangma yesterday met Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and appreciated the work done by women in the surrounding areas of Dehradun district. She also appreciated the work done by voluntary groups in collaboration with some prestigious schools like Doon School in the field of providing basic infrastructure and education in the rural areas.

She said such initiatives should be replicated in the other areas of the country also and she would personally take up the matter with the Union Human Resource Development Ministry.

The CM demanded that the Centre keeping in view the geographic difficulties of the state should give a special rural development package to it. He said the state government had been under financial strain, but still more than 750 villages would be covered under the Atal Gram Yojana and provided with basic infrastructure like roads, health, drinking water and education.

Dehradun, February 16
Reaffirming their commitment to transparency in public life, Uttarakhand Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) Dr RS Tolia, along with his Information Commissioner, made his assets public today.

Putting his assets in public domain, Dr Tolia declared that he possessed a house and 39 nalis of land at his native village of Sarmauli in Patti Tiksain in the Munishari region of Pithoragarh district.

As of securities and deposits, Dr Tolia has a Bajaj Alliance and ICICI Prudential Life insurance policies. Of other assets, Dr Tolia possesses a 2005 model Mahindra Scorpio. While on the liabilities front, the CIC took a seven-year-old loan in November 2005 to purchase his car.

Following the CIC, Information Commissioner Dr Vinod Nautiyal too has declared his assets. Dr Nautiyal has a parental 100-nali land as joint holding at Gadwagadh village in Patti Nadalsyun of Pauri Garhwal district. He owns another 50-nali land and a double-storey house at Farakhetu village in Patti Katyul in Pauri Garhwal district, which he inherited from his mother’s parents.

Dr Nautiyal possesses bank accounts with the SBI, Nainital, PNB, Parui, Bank of Baroda, Nainital, and Allahabad Bank, Nehru Colony, has a total of Rs 1,44,000 deposited in these. Nautiyal has life policies for himself and his four sons to the tune of Rs 5 lakh. Similarly, life policies of his spouse run to Rs 1 lakh, approximately.

The CIC earns a salary of Rs 1,29,670 per month, including DA. Similarly, the IC gets total emoluments of Rs 1,02,140 per month, including DA. 

Dehradun, February 16
The Zila Chai Bagaan Mazdoor Sabha, Dehradun, today submitted a memorandum to the District Magistrate (DM) for the state Labour Minister with regard to the revising of their wages after holding a protest rally from the Gandhi Park here to the DM’s office.

The memorandum stated that most of the tea bagaan labourers were women and working without any training on the basis of their long personal experience.

The labourers said their wages were earlier revised in August 2002 and since then it had been over seven years, but the administration hadn’t done anything to revise their wages. In every institute and department the provision of salary hike was there, but there was no such system for them.

They added in the memorandum that in these past seven years the rate of commodities had gone high and their families were on the verge of dieing of starvation as they found hard even affording basic things like wheat, rice, pluses and vegetables. 

Mussoorie, February 16
The body of an unidentified person was found under mysterious circumstances on the Mussoorie-Dehradun highway near Bhatta village today. The discovery was made around 10 am when some village women from Bhatta had gone to collect fodder. On seeing the body, they immediately summoned Gram Pradhan Bhatta Balli Ram who quickly informed the police.

Responding to the call, the Mussoorie police arrived at the scene and found the body of a man around 40 years lying in the bushes 1,000 feet below the main Mussoorie-Dehradun road. The deceased, heavy in structure, was wearing a black jacket, blue shirt and sports shoes.

According to the station in charge, blood was oozing out from his ears and head.

The body was taken by the police for further investigation to determine the cause of death. The identity of the dead person is yet to be ascertained.