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Cong brings no-trust motion against govt
Nishank inaugurates Surya plant
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Two arrested for murder of tea-stall worker
New norms dampeners for liquor business
Seminar on Intellectual Property Rights held
Pregnant woman burns to death
Man run over by train
Mayor inspects project sites
Villagers protest power fluctuation
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Cong brings no-trust motion against govt
Dehradun, March 25 During Zero Hour, Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker Harbans Kapoor informed the Assembly that the Congress had brought in a no-confidence motion against the state government, but said he would give his decision on it on Friday. The Speaker, however, reserved his decision till Friday on the admissibility of the motion. One of the longest-ever sessions of the Uttarakhand Assembly, the current Budget session has witnessed the Congress members launching scathing attack on the BJP government over the issues linked to alleged irregularities in allotment of hydro-power projects, giving land to a private housing company at throw-away prices in Rishikesh. Later, talking to the reporters, Leader of Opposition Harak Singh Rawat alleged that the state government had not only failed on all fronts but also indulged in widespread corruption. He said the Congress will continue to oppose the anti-people policies of the state government both inside and outside the house. Prakash Pant gets Best Legislator Award
Uttarakhand Parliamentary Affairs Prakash Pant was bestowed with the Best Legislator Award. Governor Margaret Alva handed over the Scroll of Honour. Constitutional expert and former General Secretary Subhash Kashyap described the Assembly as a temple of democracy. He said awarding the best legislator was certainly a moral booster for legislators and set the right precedent for other legislators to follow. Earlier, Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker Harbans Kapoor welcomed the legislators and other to the function. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, former Chief Minister Major-Gen BC Khanduri (retd) and former Chief Minister ND Tiwari were also present. Mahesh Chand, Secretary, Vidhan Sabha, accorded the vote of thanks. Walkout over govt jobs for youth
The Congress MLAs, led by Leader of Opposition Harak Singh Rawat, today staged a walkout from the Uttarakhand Assembly registering their protest against the state government's unconcerned attitude towards the problems of educated unemployed youth. During post-lunch proceedings, the Leader of the Opposition raked up the issue of agitation by educated unemployed youth, who are demanding government jobs. The Congress legislators alleged that while there was a large number of unemployed youth in the state, the government was the least concerned to fill the vacancies. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Pant, however, said the government had been giving jobs to unemployed youth as and when the vacancies were created. Expressing dissatisfaction, the Congress legislators staged a walkout from the Assembly in protest. |
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Nishank inaugurates Surya plant
Kashipur, March 25 The Chief Minister expressed his pleasure at the investment made by the group and said he looked forward to greater investment in the industry friendly state of Uttarakhand. Nishank has again called for extension of the special industrial package for the state that comes to an end on March 31, 2010. He said each and every party in the state had been demanding the extension. He further stated that he himself along with the Congress MPs of the state had met the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to demand extension of the package. “I am willing to go to any extent for this genuine demand of the state,” he quipped. “Any retardation in the industrial development of the state would lead to greater migration of the unemployed youths to other parts of the country,” he feared. He further said the 13th Finance Commission had given Rs 1,000 crore for better financial management of the state and the state had been making rapid economic progress. “The per capita income of Uttarakhand was Rs 14,500 at the time of formation of the state in 2000, which has now risen to Rs 41,000. Moreover, the state is the third as per the survey done by the Union government in terms of growth rate and the first amongst the Himalayan states,” he added. Out of Rs 550 crore investment plans of Surya Roshni, Rs 100 crore has been invested in this plant to manufacture T5 lamps, CFL, FTL, PCB, HID and PVC pipes. The plant has been equipped with the most advanced machinery which has been imported from Japan, the US, Austria and other countries. The tube lights manufactured at the plant will be of the best quality and will save 85 per cent electricity. The group has five manufacturing units out of which two units situated in Uttarakhand are producing lighting products. The rest of the three plants are a steel-pipe units situated in Bahadurgarh, Haryana, Bhuj, Gujarat, and at Gwalior in MP. |
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Two arrested for murder of tea-stall worker
Nainital, March 25 Both suspects are residents of Dhamuvadunga Devnagar and had come to the Chitrashila Ghats on the day of the incident to attend a funeral. Contrary to the earlier version, police investigation revealed that Pan Singh had also consumed alcohol with the two suspects following which they had entered into an altercation. The suspects had then moved out of the shop where Pan Singh worked and had proceeded to the ghats. When Pan Singh again approached them for the glass tumbler that they had taken away from the shop, the two accused abused him. This then led to Pan Singh getting back at them with three of his friends. During the skirmish between the two groups, Pan Singh’s friends fled from the scene. Then, the suspects reportedly hit him repeatedly which led to his death. 2 Principals held taking bribe
Personnel of the Vigilance Department have arrested Principals of two schools for graft. The two were arrested while they were taking a bribe of Rs 40,000 from a contractor. The contractor had complained to the department that the two suspects, Inam Ali and Jamuna Prasad, who were posted as Principals of government schools being run on the ashram pattern in Gadarpur and Khatima, respectively, had sought a payment of Rs 25,000 and Rs 15,000 for clearing payments related to various catering
supplies. A team of the Vigilance Department laid a trap and nabbed the two while they were allegedly taking bribe. |
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New norms dampeners for liquor business
Dehradun, March 25 Though the overall excise revenue has been increasing steadily in the state, the past three years saw an increase of 50 per cent in revenue from the sale of liquor but for filling government coffers. Critics say the policy is proving counterproductive to growth of liquor business. As the liquor policy for this fiscal year too remains unchanged, the businessmen are fearful that soon after the new vends are allotted by March-end, it will make liquor dearer in the state and encourage large-scale smuggling. A series of sops and changes by way of introduction of new excise policy in 2001-02 that ended the auctioning system were widely hailed as positive steps aimed at ending the monopoly of the syndicate that controlled most of the liquor business in Uttarakhand and ran it through proxies. By going for the lottery system, instead of auctioning, there was a level playing fields in which locals too could venture. “Initially the lottery fee was pegged at Rs 200 and only those who were residents of Uttarakhand could participate in it. In the subsequent years, the government has increased the lottery fee from Rs 200 to Rs 1,300, making a character certificate and residency certificate of tehsil too mandatory upon those keen to set liquor shops,” said Rameshwar Havelia, managing partner in Doon Valley Distellers and Doon Valley Breweries Ltd (Harrawala, Dehradun). The increase in license fee by 16.74 per cent and the hike in minimum guarantee that is paid as duty by shops to 27 per cent has dwindled the number of lottery entries, which ranged between 80,000 and 1,00,000 initially, to 10,000. “Instead of encouraging small players, the state is hell bent upon surrendering the business to the mafia,” alleged Havelia. The Excise Department has refuted claims that the policy was proving detrimental to the growth of the liquor industry. “We have the best policy that broke the monopoly of the syndicate. Even the manufacturers are selling foreign made liquor directly now. For meeting the new target, officials had said they were hoping that the government would expand its excise business by opening more shops. This is the only way we can prevent smuggling and dumping of liquor from neighbouring states,” said SC Gupta, Assistant Excise Commissioner. In 2009-10, the government earned a revenue of Rs 572.72 crore against a target of Rs 598.21 crore from liquor business. |
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Soon, single-window tax desk at Doon, Rishikesh
Dehradun, March 25 Satpal, Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Dehradun, today said the department, acting on specific information, would conduct raids on companies not paying taxes. At a press conference here, the Chief Commissioner said in the past couple of years, incomes had gone up and the city had been witness to heightened economic activity. “Through our own sources, we know that there are deviations. The collection through these sources is not good. Compliance is only 50 per cent and more has to come,” he said. The Chief Commissioner said politicians and bureaucrats too were on the radar of the Tax Department. “Besides our own officers keeping a vigilant eye, we will not hesitate to take the help of the state Vigilance Department as part of the countrywide move to check black money,” he affirmed. He said to provide facilities to tax payers, the department would soon set up a single window desk at the Tax Department offices in Dehradun and Rishikesh. “The Aaykar Sewa Kendra is expected to come up by the end of May and will be able provide answers to the tax-related queries of taxpayers,” said Satpal. The problem of delay in the payment of tax refund too has been sorted out with the installation of a new software. The department achieved a budget target of Rs 9,504.3 crore against the target of Rs 9,598 crore last year and in the current year against the target of Rs 12,790 crore, it achieved a target of Rs 8,547.36 crore in the current year by March 23. |
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Amway posts 25% turnover growth
Dehradun, March 25 Uttarakhand had shown a steady growth in the past few years and contributed Rs 17.4 crore to the company’s revenue in 2009.
Amway also tripled production capacity at its leading vendor facility at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh and now ranks amongst the top FMCGs in India, a feat achieved in just over 10 years of commercial operations, making a truly fast-moving FMCG. Amway has two offices in Uttarakhand i.e. Dehradun and Haldwani. There are 15,000 Amway distributors in the state doing a business of over Rs 1.45 crore per month in 2009 compared to Rs 1.3 crore per month in 2008, and Rs 1.25 crore per month in 2007. Taxes paid by Amway to the state exchequer exceed Rs 1.86 crore for the current financial year. Addressing the gathering, Bhuvan Kapur, vice-president (north) of Amway India, said here today: “The year 2009 will go down as another significant year for Amway India, not just as Amway celebrated 50 years of successful business globally, but in maintaining business momentum in India. We have had a great 10-11 years in the Indian market and in terms of turnover are currently in the same neighborhood of companies that have been around for much longer. We owe this success to the extremely high quality products, a pan-India presence in over 130 locations as well as the strong entrepreneurial spirit of Amway distributors in India”. Amway India offers over 115 products in five categories of personal care, home care, nutrition and wellness, cosmetics and gift catalogue. Apart from manufacturing and selling world-class consumer products, Amway also contributes for societal cause by organising blood donation camps, rendering help during natural calamities and doing various charity works. |
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Seminar on Intellectual Property Rights held
Patwadangar, March 25 biotechnology at the Institute of Biotechnology at Patwadangar today, Priya Ranjan P Singh alleged that everything related to international conventions right from the framing to the signing of protocols was in the hands of the United States. “Trade and agriculture were prevalent in the world even before the World Trade Organisation (WTO) came into being. Why is it that hybrid varieties of seeds are being patented for high yield of crops?” he questioned. In an address that was emotionally charged Singh rued that it needed to be understood why Indian economy was not what it should be when the country had top economists running the show. “There has been no leadership in the past 60 years which can take up proper representation at the international level,” he said. An advocate of agriculture entrepreneurship, Singh asserted, “We have to decide whether there are intellectuals and if there are then comes the issue of their rights. Once this is established then we need to ensure that these intellectuals have a responsibility towards society.” He encouraged the students of various institutions present at the venue to start their own ventures and consortiums instead of aiming to get a job in the US. Prior to him while speaking on the social aspects of the IPR, activist Om Pal very bluntly described the WTO as a hollow principle aimed at American consolidation over the resources in the world. The main speaker of the event was Dr HS Chawla from the Gobind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology at Pantnagar. Dr Chawla, who heads the IPR Cell at the university, gave a detailed insight into the entire IPR concept. Starting from the Uruguay Round of Talks held in 1986, he placed things into historical perspective and dwelt at length on things that are patentable and those that are not. |
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DMC continues with sealing drive
Dehrahdun, March 25 He said there were approximately 40 defaulters in the same locality, each of whom were to pay Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 to the DMC. They had been given a warning to pay their dues till tomorrow. One music shop at Raj Plaza has been sealed. The dues pending on Raj Plaza is Rs 2 lakh. Similarly, an outlet was also sealed at Swaraj Plaza which is to pay Rs 5.78 lakh. |
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Pregnant woman burns to death
Nainital, March 25 The flames were accompanied by shrieks of a woman. Nobody could enter the room and it was only after the fire brigade arrived that the personnel broke into the room to discover that Rashid’s wife Shabana (22) had been burnt
to death. During the course of interrogation Rashid told the police that Shabana was pregnant. The police also discovered that the relations between Rashid and Shabana had been strained with the former threatening to re-marry. This matter had also reportedly come up before the panchayat. Acting on a complaint given by Shabana’s father, the police has taken Rashid, his mother Shakiran, brother Asif and sister Noor Jahan into custody for further questioning. |
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Man run over by train
Dehradun, March 25 One dies in
hit-and-run case
A native of Karnal, Haryana, who was hit by an unknown vehicle, died during treatment at the CMI Hospital here yesterday. Sudhir Rastogi told the police that his son Harsh was heading towards Baliwala Chowk on his motorcycle (UA-07-E 4224) when he was hit by an unknown vehicle. He lost control on his vehicle and he got critically injured. |
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Mayor inspects project sites
Dehradun, March 25 He said, “We have seen a 3-bigha land at Kargi near Sat Sai Mandir and the petrol pump. I have asked for demarcation to make a transfer station here. “The garbage collected from the city will be brought in a compact form and transferred here before being taken for the next stage. This project, at this stage, will be undertaken in the Public Private Partnership mode.” The other piece of land which he inspected today was the 104-bigha land at Shishambada. The Mayor said there was some confusion related to a mosque which was considered to have been built on the DMC land, but in front of the mosque, a huge piece of the DMC land is available for the project.
— TNS |
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Villagers protest power fluctuation
Nainital, March 25 The agitators alleged that six months back a team of senior officials of the department had come to their area and were apprised of the problem. The team had promised that a new transformer would be set up within two months and the power lines would be connected to a new phase. However, nothing had come out of the promise till now. The agitators further charged that the region had been facing power supply problems for the past several years and the delay in installation of a new transformer was leading to frequent voltage fluctuations. They said despite repeated applications and memorandums, nothing had been done to address the problem. |
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The Budget session of the Uttarakhand Assembly today witnessed the Congress party bringing in a no-confidence motion against the Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank government.
