Nainital, February 25
Lok Sabha member from Almora Pradeep Tamta has once again strongly pushed for the Tanakpur-Bageshwar rail link. Having raised the issue vociferously during Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee’s speech in Parliament on Wednesday, Tamta has now written two letters to Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Banerjee seeking rail connectivity between these two areas.

The letters were handed over to Sonia and Mamata by Tamta himself this morning.

In the letters, he has written: “I am writing you this letter to seek your support for establishing a rail link between Tanakpur and Bageswar, which falls in my constituency of Almora, the demand for which has been pending since pre-Independence days.

“A survey for the rail link was carried out in 1912, 1993 and also in 2006. Several important Congress leaders have also made promises to the public to establish this link”.

He has underlined that several organisations have been agitating for this demand and dharnas have been staged at Jantar Mantar time and again.

Tamta has brought to the notice of the two leaders that at present several peoples are on a dharna at Jantar Mantar under the banner of Bageshwar-Tanakpur Rail Marg Nirman Sangharsh Samiti. He has stated that important Congress leaders like Moti Lal Vora and RK Dhawan have also written letters to the Railway Minister requesting sanction for this rail link. “People were expecting in this Rail Budget that approval will be accorded to the project. However, once again this project has been kept under the New Line Survey category, sending wrong signals to the public,” Tamta said.

Advocating early rail connectivity between Tanakpur and Bageshwar, Tamta says: “The railway link is very critical not only for economic development of this most backward hilly region but also from the strategic viewpoint. The link will be very useful for 69 Mountain Brigade Battalion of the Army located at Pitthoragarh. The area is bordering Nepal and China and the only connectivity at present for the Army is through National Highway 125. Thus the rail link will be used extensively by the Army and will serve as an alternative route to NH-125”.

He has requested Sonia to take up this issue with the government and have the project sanctioned under Socially Desirable Rail Connectivity Proposals.

Mussoorie, February 25
MDDA Secretary Sushil Kumar reviewed the various ongoing projects in Mussoorie. He also met Palika President OP Uniyal to discuss the development of the housing scheme for the needy here.

After being appointed MDDA Secretary, Sushil Kumar, on his maiden visit, inspected the land sites to assess the viability of the housing scheme for the needy as advised by Uniyal. He, along with the palika officials, went to 12 scissors road, Shifon Court and Gandhi Chowk to assess the viability in the construction of 130 houses.

Later, speaking to mediapersons, he informed them that several projects were on the anvil in Mussoorie and the re-beautification of the Bhatta Falls was on priority which would be done in Rs 3.5 crore. He said talks were on with Palika Mussoorie, UJVNL and MDDA to discuss the modalities. He also said sanctioning of a new master plan would take a long time, but a survey was going on for the buildings in Landour Bazar and the construction plan would be initiated then in the area.

Sushil Kumar also informed that the survey for notified and de-notified area would be done by a private agency as the rates of the Survey of India were very high and permission was being sought from the Survey Department for this. He stated that the survey was necessary to remove any confusion about the land use pattern in the town which was not well defined till now. He said a lot could be done in association with the Palika Mussoorie for the upgradation and beautification of the town for the forthcoming eason and both departments would sit together on this matter.

AE MDDA Shyam Mohan Sharma and others were present on the occasion. 

Roorkee, February 25
With the news of 181 pilgrims and two officials from Pakistan crossing the Attari border this afternoon, the administration and the shrine authorities have become extra alert here.

The Pakistani guests are coming to pay obeisance at the Sabir Baba Shrine at Peeran Kaliyar, 8 km from here, where the Urs celebrations are underway.

In view of the recent bomb blast in Pune and the ongoing Maha Kumbh at Haridwar, the police claimed to have made elaborate security arrangements for the guests across the border.

From Roorkee railway station, where the Pakistani jatha will reach around 7 am by the Amritsar-Dehradun train tomorrow, to the shrine, full security cover will be provided to them, said SP (Rural) Roshan Lal Sharma.

The Sabir Guest House, where the pilgrims will be accommodated till their stay, will be guarded by special force. “No one will be allowed to go inside the guest house without permission,” said Sharma.

Meanwhile, the administrative officers and members of the reception committee of the shrine will welcome the jatha at the railway station according to custom and tradition.

“They are our special guests. So special arrangements have been made for them,” said Afzal Manglori, head of the shrine’s reception committee.

Now the pilgrims from the neighbouring country have been becoming regular feature of the Urs. While in the past year 83 pilgrims visited the shrine, in 2008 they were 99 in number.

The jatha is being led by Abdul Hamid Rehan and is likely to stay till February 28 at the shrine.

Mussoorie, February 25
Mussoorie MLA Jot Singh Gunsola, in a formal opening ceremony, donated furniture worth Rs 3 lakh from the MLA Fund to Ghanand Inter College here today. He further announced a grant of Rs 3 lakh to install a statue of founder of the school Ghanand Khanduri, along with the creation of a flower park and toilets in the school.

Students also displayed a colourful culture and dance presentation on the occasion.

Gunsola said he would always ready to assist schools for their rightful demands.

Principal Surendar Kaira and others staff members were also present on the occasion.

Pitthoragarh, February 25
Being unable to manage the matching amount for various Central government developmental schemes, the Uttarakhand government is either neglecting them or using only a portion of them adversely affecting the pace of development in the state. This was alleged by Leader of Opposition in the Uttarakhand assembly Harak Singh Rawat here today.

“Central government schemes require 10-25 per cent of matching amount from the state but the Uttarakhand government is not able to manage that money,” he said.

Rawat alleged that due to a poor planning, lack of administrative efficiency and political will, the Uttarakhand government could use only 26 per cent of planned budget till date. “In the vital field of natural calamity mitigation schemes, only 30 per cent amount out of total allotted by the union government has been used so far by the state,” Rawat added. “A sum of Rs 2,500 crore is required from the state against a Rs 5,500-crore allotted annual plan size of the state, but the government is not able to manage this money,” said the Congress leader.

Rawat said the money allotted by the Centre under employment guarantee schemes was being misused by the state government and this money was being diverted to other heads keeping the poor of the state in misery.

“In some cases this government has used the money released under employment guarantee, in disbursing salaries and allowances to its employees,” alleged Rawat.

He welcomed the package given to the state in the Railway Budget and said it had answered the allegation of negligence being made by the BJP leaders of Uttarakhand against the Centre.

Answering a question on the presence of ND Tiwari in Uttarakhand and if this could affect the coming generation of Congress leaders in the state, Rawat said Tiwari had made great contribution in the development of the state and whatever development was seen it was only due to him.

“The new generation Congress leaders are also getting guidance from him as he is above the party politics in the state,” Rawat concluded.

Dehradun, February 25
CPI national secretary Atul Kumar Anjaan said today more than half a million Left workers would hold a collective march to Parliament in New Delhi on a price rise issue on March 12.

Anjaan was in town to participate in a big rally staged by the local unit of the party to protest against failure of the state government in checking unemployment, implementing NREGA well, burdening state with a whooping debt of Rs 15,000 crore and dismal utilisation of funds for various developmental schemes.

Refuting the allegations that the CPI had suddenly woken up to the soaring prices during the Budget session, Anjaan said, “The state units and wings of the Left parties, nine trade unions, women organisations and Kisan Sabha will hold a massive demonstration on March 5 on the issue of inflation in New Delhi. They have consistently been protesting in their states as well”.

He said it was the Left which stopped the export of 10-lakh-metric sugar to the European Union at the rate of Rs 18.60 per kg recently.

He recounted how the Left, as an ally, prevented the Manmohan government from privatising all banks and insurance firms which would have doomed the economy in the current global economic downsize.

He decried economic liberalisation policies, where a minimal section of the society was enjoying a good life full of resources, while others were suffering with poverty.

He said it was high time to stop differentiating on the basis of the Above Poverty Line and the Below Poverty Line in the public distribution system and bring in a uniformity, where basic minimum was given to everyone.

He stressed that no more retrenchment and layoff should take place in job sector now.

Dehradun, February 25
Taking a step closer to customers of Uttarakhand, Uninor, a telecommunication company, today opened its zonal office in Dehradun.

Allan Bonke, Executive Vice-President, Uninor, inaugurated the zonal office in Dehradun today. Centrally located at NCR Plaza on Cantt Road, the office will be responsible for entire operation, sales, marketing, technical and customer care.

Interacting with mediapersons, Bonke said the entire activities of the company revolved around getting closer to the customer. “The company has created 11 hubs in India and the Uttarakhand area falls in the Delhi hub. We have set for ourselves an ambitious target of achieving 8 per cent market share by 2018. Already 10-12 operators are functioning in the country and we are banking on a cost-effective and low-cost model with lots of partners working with us,” said Bonke.

“We are offering a call-more-and-save-money and call-long-and-save-money plans among the main tariff plans that are aimed at giving the best to the customers whose frequency of calls is frequent and for others whose frequency of calls is limited, but long,” said KC Narendran, Hub Marketing Officer, Delhi. With the opening of this zonal office, Uninor now has offices across Agra, Bareilly Merrut and Dehradun.

Uninor is brand name for Unitech Wireless, a joint venture company.

Dehradun, February 25
The current financial year is coming to an end, but the city administration is still waiting for funds from the centre under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) scheme.

The poor unemployed are worried if the financial year lapsed, they would not get any money. They feel perplexed and unable to decide whether to continue with work or stop working.

Unemployed for the past six months for the want of funds, some 150 families of Gram Kedarwala of Vikas Nagar started working on various projects in the village on the behest of District Magistrate Santhiyal Pandiyan for the past one and half month, but despite assurances they have not been paid a single penny. A group of the workers led by their leader Gulfam Ali met the DM and reminded him of his promise. To this the DM again gave them assurance of disbursing money in a week time.

Ali cautioned that if they did not get money, then they would sit on dharna in front of the DM office. Ali said, “We are suffering with hunger and poverty in want of employment. We were not given the compulsory work of 100 days under the NREGA scheme despite tall promises made by the central government. Now when we are working as per the DM’s promise, none of the 150 families got the due amount of 15 lakh. There are 250 more poor families which have gone without work in our village for the very same reason.”

He said they had no choice but to continue to work in hope of getting money.

Showing his positive streak, the DM said, “It is a good news that now people are working and asking for funds, earlier the funds have become lapsed for the shortage of unemployed.” He expressed confidence in receiving funds from the centre in due time.