Haridwar, February 20
Though a crowd in Haridwar is a normal routine these days because of the Maha Kumbh, today it was a different crowd.

It had nothing to do with any holy dip Kumbh rituals and was a conglomeration of persons representing farmers, lower sections of society and surprisingly, a mix of Communists and former flag-bearers of the Samajwadi Party in Haridwar.

Rising prices and its negative impact on society brought these political outfits and social organisations together who vowed to fight against the “anti-farmer and anti-common man” policies of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA).

Activists and supporters of the Rashtriya Krantikari Manch, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Rashtriya Manav Ekta-Uthan Samiti poured on to the city streets with red flags drowning the saffron city into a red sea.

Lashing out at the UPA government, former legislator and founder of the Rashtriya Krantikari Manch Ambrish Kumar termed the Central government as pro-rich and anti-poor. “This is reflected in the poor condition of farmers and the common man,” he said.

Ambrish said a country whose more than 65 per cent population depended on agriculture was facing a food shortage and a sharp increase in the price of food items. He said,“I want to ask the Prime Minister what steps have the UPA government taken to control price rise despite they being in power since 2004”.

Taking a dig at the Congress slogan of “Aam aadmi ke saath”, Ambrish, who has a major foothold in Haridwar district, termed the party as close to the affluent classes. “Amiron ke saath hai Congress ka haath,” he said.

Focusing on the significance of the Public Distribution System (PDS), the former legislator said if PDS shops were fully operational and food items were distributed properly, the poorer classes could buy essential items from there. “This will directly affect the prices in the market. But who cares, the PDS is now dysfunctional and only operates in government files filling the coffers of the rich”.

The rally saw an equal representation from Communist parties. This could be gauged by the hundreds of red flags in the rally. The CPI and CPM district units too opposed the policies of the UPA government. The Communists expressed unhappiness over the Parikh Committee report proposals regarding LPG, petrol and diesel.

RP Jakhmola, state committee member, CPM, said if the government failed to control the price of these petro products, then prices of all items would take an upward spiral.

“Subsidies will be nullified. The rate of kerosene will be increased by Rs 10 and LPG by Rs 100,” said a furious Jakhmola.

Haridwar unit secretary Harish Chandra informed The Tribune that the party was chalking out programmes to bring to light the anti-common man policies of the UPA and to expose its dual face that is only for poor during elections and for the next four-and-a-half years for the industrialists, commented Chandra.

Rashtriya Manav Ekta-Uthan Samiti too lent its support to today’s rally. Trade Union leader Suraj Pandey said everyone, from farmers to workers, were getting affected by inflation.

Later, the rally culminated at City Magistrate’s office where a memorandum was given to the magistrate to be forwarded to the Prime Minister’s Office.

As this rally saw Ambrish Kumar joining hands with the Communists, speculations are now rife that he may join the Left in the near future. Surely, today’s massive turnout has created ripples in the political scene.

Haridwar, February 20
The huge presence of security personnel, including paramilitary forces, for the Kumbh mela has made things tougher for criminals here.

Today the mela police caught a thief at the Haridwar bus station when he was trying to escape to New Delhi after committing a theft of Rs 1.60 lakh.

According to Mayapur Mela police in charge Anil Joshi, a police team was on routine inspection at the Rishikul inter-state bus terminus, a temporary bus stand made for Maha Kumbh visitors, when they spotted a person in suspicious condition.

During the checking operation, they seized Rs 1,11,900, a sharp weapon and some Nepali currency.

On enquiring about the amount and weapon, Keshav, a resident of Lumbani Anchal, Nepal, confessed that he had stolen the amount from Mahendra Gupta, a resident of Paschim Vihar, New Delhi.

He was residing at Gareeb Basti, Karampura, in Delhi and after committing theft he ran away to Lucknow and there he stayed at a hotel for six days. There he has spent around Rs 50,000 of the theft amount and then came to Haridwar.

Nainital, February 20
Condolence meetings were organised across the region yesterday to pay homage to theatre and Bollywood artiste from Nainital, Nirmal Pandey, who had passed away in Mumbai on Thursday.

In Nainital, people turned up in large numbers at the Nagar Palika Hall to pay their respects to the local lad who had made it big in the world of cinema. Everybody present had their eyes moist as speakers recalled their association with Pandey in voices choked with emotion.

An exhibition of clippings on Pandey, along with the brochures of plays that he had performed had been put by the artistes of Yugmanch, a cultural organisation, with which Pandey had been associated as a beginner.

The speakers at the meeting once again raised the demand for establishing an auditorium in the Lake City stating that this would be the most befitting homage to Pandey as the auditorium would be named after him.

Talking to The Tribune, Zahoor Alam of Yugmanch said, “The demand for an auditorium in Nainital is almost 25 years old. Given the fact that the place is known for its contribution to the world of theatre, an auditorium is a must for the place and it will be the best thing to name it after Nirmal Pandey”.

The last time the demand had been vociferously aired was when Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank had visited the town after taking over from BC Khanduri. Nishank had called Commissioner S Raju and promised to deliver on the issue within days, but nothing has come of the proposal till date.

Pandey was fondly called Nanu by the locals. His ashes will be brought to Nainital on late Saturday night and then taken to Haridwar for immersion in the Ganges.

Similar condolence meetings were held in Haldwani and Almora where people from all walks of life turned up to pay their respects to the departed soul.

Yugmanch has cancelled its annual Holi programme that was to be held next week as a mark of respect to Pandey.

Dehradun, February 20
Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has proposed the creation of a Bali cultural centre in Uttarakhand.

Dr Nishank gave a proposal to this effect to a deputation from Indonesian Bali Island that he met at his office today.

Representative of Bali Governor Nenghah Aanava said it was the wish of the Governor to establish a cultural centre along the bank of the Ganga, which would also include a replica of the Padmasana Temple of Bali.

Aanava also said as many as 30 lakh Hindus resided on the Bali Island. He also said every Bali resident dreamt of visiting Rishikesh and Haridwar once in his lifetime.

B Indira Udayana, Edda Bagas, I Sutapa, Lakshmi Yani were part of the Bali deputation.

Dehradun, February 20
To sensitise students and remove misconceptions among the common man about disability, the seventh edition of “We Care”, a film festival on disability issues, got underway at Doon University here.

The festival was inaugurated by Uttarakhand Public Service Commission Chairman SK Das. Speaking on the occasion VC Girijesh Pant said the two-day festival would be an eye-opener for all and to familiarise students of the School of Mass Communication about the sensitive issue of disability. It is being held in association with the Dehradun Disability Forum, National Trust and Doon University.

“Tees”, a film by Pankhuri Wadhwa, depicts the alienation felt by a disabled painter, who despite bagging several awards, continues to question his own worthiness, whether awards heaped on him were as a result of sympathetic factor coming into play.

A “New Adarsh” of seven minutes duration tells the story about a man who takes home a mentally challenged man roaming on the streets of New Delhi. The problems he encounters also enhance his own understanding of mentally challenged persons and the society in general.

Last but not the least, “Kinara”, by Dr Pervez Imam, talks about handling disability through positive thinking. “All 32 films elected have been passed by the Preview Committee in New Delhi. We would also be taking the festival to the SAARC countries. An award ceremony will be held on May 3,” said Satish Kapoor, Director of the film festival.

Nainital, February 20
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) MS Bangyal has promised the parents of a boy, Bhuvan Pant, who died last month that the probe into his death would be carried out by an official of the rank of Circle Officer (CO).

The body of Bhuvan Pant had been found hanging from a tree in the Kaladhungi area. He had been studying in a private institute in Haldwani. His parents have refused to accept this as a case of suicide as claimed by the police. His father Leeladhar Pant had met Bangyal along with some local residents on Friday evening.

A resident of Thapla village, the boy had gone missing from his rental accommodation in Haldwani on January 20 and his body was found on January 30. The police had cremated the boy after the postmortem taking it to be an unclaimed body. The delegation members, who had called on Bangyal, questioned the role of lower-rung officials and charged that they had dilly-dallied while lodging a First Information Report (FIR) and misguided the parents of the deceased.

The police claims to have recovered a suicide note from the room where the boy had been residing and said the authorities at the institute where he was studying had disclosed that he was not faring well in academics.

Roorkee, February 20
Following the Naintal High Court decision, residents at Sabri Sarai here are living under constant threat of demolishing their houses any moment by the administration.

Around 20 houses have built up in the Sarai area, which 14-acre land (approximately) actually belongs to the Waqf Board.

Recently, the administration had demolished the front shops of the area under an anti-encroachment drive and also warned residents to vacate the land, following which some of the residents approached the high court.

But the decision of the high court went against the residents. Now around 15 families are scared of becoming “target” of the JCB machine any time.

“Many families have been living here for the past 60 years,” claimed a resident. “But now all of a sudden we are told to vacate the land. Where should we go with our children?” he asked.

The area people said one of the farmers had donated his land around seven decades back for building an inn (sarai) and a mosque to accommodate the “jaireens”, who visit at Peeran Kaliyar Shrine, 8 km from Roorkee.

“But the persons, who were looking after the affairs here, have built their own houses on the land. Now there are no arrangements here to accommodate the “jaireens”, for whom the land was given,” said Zaffar, an elderly resident of the area.

On the other hand, the administration has planned to come up with a state-of-the-art guest house consisting shopping complex on the land after vacating it.

Roorkee, February 20
To encourage farmers about organic farming, the authorities are all set to go ahead with the organic farming scheme under the National Agriculture Development Programme (NADP).

The authorities concerned held that the organic farming scheme had got a green signal in Haridwar district from the state government under which as many as 12 villages of each block would be roped in for the purpose.

The scheme has been floated at the Centre level to make farmers aware about the benefits of organic farming and protect the fertility of the land, which has come under threat due to the usage of pesticides on a large scale.

The department has planned to involve a total of 720 selected farmers, who will be taught to do organic farming and the methods of preparing organic manure, including vermi-compost and liquid manure with cow dung and “gow mutra” (cow urine).

In Haridwar district, there are six blocks. “From each block, we will select 12 villages and from each village as many as 10 farmers will be selected under the scheme,” said the agricultural officer here.

“In the first step, these farmers will be taught to use the manure, which will be prepared by them after training, in their fields.

“Then these farmers will be given training about organic farming by master trainers, who will be appointed in each block,” he said and added that the master trainers would get the payments only after showing the required results.