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Despite global meltdown, remarkable first year, says Harish Rawat
Rawanlta-Jaunpur Community |
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Panjabi Sangthan seeks govt action against Naxalites
Assn seeks equal rights for women statehood agitators
Same Gotra Marriage
5 tourists hurt at Rajaji Park
Char Dham Yatra
Arya hails Centre for power supply
Set up panels to oversee funds, IIM prof to govt
Four get life term for murder of sister, brother-in-law
Missing girl found
Pharma Cos in crisis with power cuts, no excise rebate
Unani, Ayurvedic Directorate
Kumaon’s new Commissioner spells out priorities
Roadways staff boycott work, commuters suffer
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Despite global meltdown, remarkable first year, says Harish Rawat
Haridwar, May 18 In an exclusive chat with The Tribune, Harish Rawat termed the economic meltdown as a big challenge that the UPA government successfully negotiated with India feeling little impact while many booming economies in the world like United States and Europe crashed. “We not only bore the global impact, but also maintained the annual development rate of 9 per cent, apart from unleashing several reforms in Indian economy,” stated Rawat. The Union Minister of State said while job cuts and shutdown of companies were the norm in the past fiscal year, they had set up a target to achieve generation of 5.8 crore jobs. “I am delighted to inform you that we are close to achieving the target which speak of the capability and governance of the Congress-led alliance”. The minister said the government had laid emphasis on four landmark schemes - Right to Education, MNREGA, Food Security and Bharat Nirman - and these had been overwhelmingly successful. On the industrial package issue, about which the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government had criticised the Congress government at the Centre for not being serious about granting extension, Rawat took a diplomatic stance. He said by blame game, nothing concrete could be achieved, particularly out at Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank who on many occasions had blamed all five Congress MPs from Uttarakhand for not cooperating in putting pressure on the Central government. “Many states are totally against Uttarakhand getting the industrial package. Getting extension for it would be very difficult. The first target should be extending it phase by phase. Extension by 10 years is not feasible when you consider that many states are vying for the package as well as many opposing our existing industrial package,” said the four-time Congress parliamentarian. On the home front, Rawat, who represents Haridwar parliamentary constituency, said that work at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) being set up in Rishikesh was going at the right pace and that he was keeping a tab on it. He said by the end of the year, the foundation-stone-laying ceremony of the Haridwar Medical College would be laid as only the sanctioning of land by the state government is awaited. Also an ASI hospital in SIDCUL is on the anvil which will make Haridwar-Rishikesh a core medical zone. On Maha Kumbh which got over on April 28, Rawat lashed out at the mass corruption done with the Kumbh funds which the Centre had provided to the state government. “A sum of Rs 565 crore was granted to the state government to provide the best of facilities to pilgrims and develop an infrastructure that would have put Haridwar as one of the top cities in the country, but after almost two years of the existence of the mela administration, nothing but misuse of Kumbh funds can be seen”. He added that he would speak to the Prime Minister to ask the state government where and how Kumbh funds had been spent. He said he would also apprise him of the mass corruption that took place in the name of Kumbh funds. Harish Rawat supported Leader of Opposition Harak Singh Rawat’s sitting on agitation demanding a CBI investigation on misuse of Kumbh funds and added that the Congress would take up the matter to the public in a democratic way. |
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Rawanlta-Jaunpur Community
Mussoorie, May 18 The community members, along with inter-college students, gathered at the Kempty ground and raised slogans against the minister who is also MLA of the Dhanolty Vidhan Sabha. The traffic going towards the Kempty Fall came to a standstill for a few hours. Bitto Kavi, a protesting member said the government decision to select 2004 as the cut-off date for enlistment was utterly rubbish and against the spirit of the OBC enlistment clause provided to the community. He said the community was given the OBC status to preserve its identity and culture, but this fresh date would only jeopardise the significance and undermine the communities’ future interest. Rawanlta-Jaunpur community leader Amendra Bisht informed that Khajan Das in his statement had said the reason behind the extension of the cut-off date till 2004 was done after the directions of the Apex Court and the government of India which was utterly false and nothing but a white lie. Bisht further said the government of India and the Apex Court had sought the list of 84 OBC communities of which 54 cut-off date was set at 1958, but setting the cut-off date of the Jaunpur-Rawanlta community at 2004 was not only undesirable, but raised several questions on the motive behind it. He alleged that the 2004 cut-off list had been put because certain bureaucrats and public representatives had themselves amassed huge properties in the Jaunpur-Rawain region after 2004 and was keen to enlist in the OBC list. Bisht said the community members had challenged Khajan Das for a rebuttal on the issue and stop politicising it. The community members demanded that the cut-off date for the community enlistment should be reinstated to 1958 instead of 2004 as done with other OBC communities in the past. They also demanded that the community be enlisted in the Central list of the OBCs immediately. They threatened that if their demands were not met, a mass movement would be carried out in the near future. A mass rally would also be organised at Tilari on June 30 in which the Sangarsh Samiti members had appealed the community to reach in large numbers for the fight of identity and esteem. |
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Panjabi Sangthan seeks govt action against Naxalites
Dehradun, May 18 State president Devender Sethi too said the second incident in a row at Dantewara showed the extent of fearlessness among the Naxalites toward the state government. On the occasion, patron Vijay Singh Chauhan said the Naxalite problem had affected 12 states where the killers were now butchering civilians, including innocent children and women openly. They were more dangerous than terrorists and the government needed to be merciless while tackling them, he said. The others who spoke included Harish Virmani, Anil Khanna, Bantu Bhai, Sardar Gurdip Singh, Jitender Tankja and Rajesh Sharma. |
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Assn seeks equal rights for women statehood agitators
Dehradun, May 18 President of the association Kala Pashvan said women fighters, who fought for the formation of the state, had been forgotten by the state government while showering benefits on male fighters only. She demanded an identity card for all such strugglers in the state. Putting across the proposal, Indu Naudiyal, general secretary, said the state should take imminent steps to rein in the increasing prices of essential commodities and issue BPL cards to all poor people. She asked for reduction in bus fare, electricity charges and health services. She also demanded that law against domestic violence should be implemented in the state. Similarly, facilities such as hostels for working women, pension to widows/disabled and caste certificates to SC/ST should also be provided. Naudiyal also stressed on developing an efficient garbage disposal system in the city to keep it clean and disease free. Taking cognisance of water scarcity in Ballupur, Kalidas Road, Vijaypark, Basant Vihar, Nashvilla road areas, she asked the government to take swift action in facilitating clean potable water in these localities. She said in the name of development, the
government should not dislocate poor people who live in slums. |
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Same Gotra Marriage
Dehradun, May 18 Om Pal Rathi, president of the Uttarakhand Jat Mahasangh, said here today that the agitation starting from Haridwar would culminate at Bijnore on October 3, 2010, where a Jat Kumbh would be held. He further said the Jat community had given an ultimatum of three months to the Central government to ban the same gotra marriages by bringing in an amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act. Rathi who chaired the Jat conclave at Bijnore said the same gotra marriages were banned in the community as it had scientific reasons. |
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5 tourists hurt at Rajaji Park
Haridwar, May 18 Seeing the jumbo nearing them, the tourists in the safari panicked and the driver of the safari in fear left the jeep midway. The tourists hastily jumped out of the vehicle and got injured. All five persons belong to the Bahadurgarh district of Haryana. The injured were admitted to a private hospital and declared out of danger. According to the injured, in the safari vehicle there was no employee with a gun which could have come handy in driving away the elephant. |
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Char Dham Yatra
Dehradun, May 18 The portals of the shrine, an abode of Lord Shiva and the second most important among the Char Dham shrines after Badrinath, opened at around 7 am today. Kedarnath’s Rawal performed the Basm Puja before pilgrims were allowed to make an entry into the temple. The temple will now be opened for tourists for period of six months. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank was among the first ones to have darshan of the temple. The Char Dham yatra shrines of Yamunotri and Gangotri were opened for pilgrims on Sunday that formally signalled the start of the yatra. The portals of Badrinath shrine will open for public tomorrow. Meanwhile, the route to the Kedarnath Dham was all in a jam. Managing the traffic proved tough for the authorities. Hotels and restaurants were packed to capacity. Badrinath Kedarnath Mandir Samiti officials today said they were well prepared to meet the pilgrim rush to Kedarnath and
Badrinath. |
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Arya hails Centre for power supply
Dehradun, May 18 Arya said the Centre’s help had come at an appropriate time as power supply was very much needed to the state for the Char Dham yatra. He said people were facing the worst power crisis in recent times. He also reminded that the power would provided to Uttarakhand at a rate of Rs 2.40 than the prevailing market rate of Rs 7.50. “This will save an amount of Rs 160 crore for the state for the next four months,” he said. Arya said he was hopeful that the state government would utilise the power provided by the Centre in a judicious manner. |
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Set up panels to oversee funds, IIM prof to govt
Dehradun, May 18 He said there was a tendency among governments to remain silent on debt incurred and one could not calculate state debt from fiscal deficit or even come to a conclusion about the efficiency of governments in utilisations of all funds allocated in the budget. “By and large governments are silent on outcomes. There is a need for a mechanism to plug leaks. A system should be in place that measures performance and outcome of budget outlays,” he said. Professor Gupta expressed these views while delivering a talk on Managing Uttarakhand’s Public Finances at the Doon University today. Citing the example of poor infant mortality rate (IMR) in Uttarakhand, he said the government needed to have a credible data to target the districts where IMR might be 65 per 1,000 live births. “In all probability these districts should be the ones where maximum allocations should be made, but where is the data to substantiate claims,” said Professor Gupta. Making a few suggestions to the government, the eminent professor said the government needed to monitor action plans and implementations of important programmes. “No doubt in economic parlances higher Gross Domestic Production (GDP) generates money, achieving relevant should be the focus of the government,” stressed Professor Gupta. Chairman of the State Planning Commission Indu Kumar Pande said while there have been efforts to evaluate the performance of the programmes the recommendations are seldom heeded by the governments. He said issues of governance and implementation needs to be tackled for better implementation of projects, “Usually we perform poorly on prioritised projects like construction of roads, providing water and education. Reforms in political economy are slow and we seem to respond only in a crisis like situation,” he stressed. The talk was attended by Prof Girijesh Pant, VC of Doon Pant, Dr BK Joshi of Doon Research Library and staff of the university. |
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Four get life term for murder of sister, brother-in-law
Nainital, May 18 The incident pertains to May 2008 when one Shahbuddin and his eight-month pregnant wife Reshma were murdered by Zaheer Alam, Rais Alam, Anis Alam and Fahim Ahmed. The four were opposed to their sister having married Shahabuddin. They had attacked the couple with sharp-edged weapons when they were on way to the hospital. A total of nine witnesses were examined by the court during the trial. The four accused had been arrested from Moradabad. Woman commits suicide
Dehradun: A 39-year-old woman allegedly committed suicide by hanging from a ceiling fan at her residence in Adhoiwali here today. Prema Sharma reportedly took the step as she was tense with a problem in her leg. The body has been sent for postmortem by the police and a case registered in Raipur police station. Rs 60,000 cash, jewellery stolen
A bag containing Rs 60,000 cash and some jewellery was taken away by two miscreants from the dickey of a scooter belonging to a man when he was buying vegetables near the Jogiwala Chowk here this afternoon. As per the police, AP Juyal, resident of Gangotri Bihari, alleged that he had withdrawn the cash from the SBI. Later he stopped on his way to buy vegetables on the Ring Road where two youths on a black bike took away the bag from his scooter. He had some jewellery also besides the cash in the bag. A case under Section 379 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered at the Nehru Colony police station. |
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Missing girl found
Nainital, May 18 Sharif Ahmed of Bankhola Mohalla had lodged a complaint that his 14-year-old daughter Rubina had gone missing on March 2. It was during the course of investigations that an informer tipped off the police that the missing girl was residing in the Khicdipur locality of Delhi with a couple hailing from Didihat. On the information that the couple was planning to make a trip to Bageshwar, the police laid a trap and nabbed Dinesh Bisht and Munni Devi. They had allegedly lured Rubina with the promise of a job and marriage to come with them to Delhi where they got her to work as a labourer. The accused on the other hand said Rubina was a frequent visitor to their house and had accompanied them of her own will. |
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Pharma Cos in crisis with power cuts, no excise rebate
Dehradun, May 18 To keep the stability chambers going and undertake tests, the companies are being forced to rely on generators that are proving to be a costly affair. Those companies falling under Orange Category are permitted to use generators in the Doon valley by the Central government. Pharma Clusters in Uttarakhand has already lost the advantage of 100 per cent excise rebate. The seven-year tax holiday in the hill state, which had earlier given them a big advantage over others. To top it, for the last two to three months, unscheduled and scheduled power cuts and increase in transport expenses have compounded the problems of the companies who seem to be battling on every front. “We have already lost the excise advantage and now the power cuts are putting extra burden on us. Our production has come down to 40 per cent and in some units it is 16 per cent,” said Pramod Kalani, president, Drug Manufacturing Association of Uttarakhand (DMA). The pharmaceutical units may find it difficult to meet their immediate targets. The DMA office bearers while focusing on the long-term plan of companies had recently declared that the pharmaceutical units in Uttarakhand are committed to achieving the target of attracting investment of Rs 15,000 crore in the next few years. At least four pharmaceutical companies have packed their bags since the past few months denting the pharma-friendly image of the state that was acquired soon after the central tax holiday policy for hill state was announced. The five companies that have moved out of the state or have been co-opted by other companies are Zorax Remedies, (Udham Singh Nagar), Sanjeevani Ahmedabad based biotech company, Arvind Remedies Chennai based (Haridwar) company and Speed Life Sciences (Roorkee). “Several pharmaceutical companies had come to the state attracted by the 10-year tax holiday that was initially offered to the companies setting up units. The exemption limits were almost zero, but subsequently changes in the central excise tax structure for pharma industrial units outside Uttarakhand made the state pharma industry uneconomical. It may be one of the reasons forcing many such units to shift out from Uttarakhand,” said DD Upreti, Uttarakhand Drug Controller. |
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Unani, Ayurvedic Directorate
Dehradun, May 18 The protestors had given a memorandum to the Director on May 14 demanding that the administration take back the employees at their jobs. But nothing has been materialised yet, due to which the perturbed employees of the Directorate locked the office. The agitators have also threatened the
administration to take immediate action over the matter or else it would have to bear
further consequences. The City Magistrate assured the protestors that immediate action would be taken and the Directorate would conclude on the matter soon. People present at the protest were
Vikram Rana, Sohan Singh, Mahesh Uniyal, Rakesh Singh, Sandeep Prasad, Pramod Guniyal and members of the Rajya Karmachari
Sanyukt Parishad. |
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Kumaon’s new Commissioner spells out priorities
Nainital, May 18 Having taken the charge on Sunday afternoon, Sharma told mediapersons on Monday morning, “Transparency in administration and taking benefits of development to the last man will be my priorities. The problems of the last man must be addressed whether these pertain to water, power, roads or education”. Known for his straightforward approach in dealing with issues, he said illegal construction in the region would have to be checked before these start. He asserted that those violating land use norms would be dealt with strictly. His experience as the Managing Director of the State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation of Uttaranchal (SIDCUL) is expected to help in industrial growth, particularly in the hilly parts of the region. Accepting that the benefits of the industrial package given by the Centre in 2003 have failed to reach people of hill regions, he expressed hope that the Hill Industrial Policy framed during the tenure of former Chief Minister BC Khanduri would help in taking industry to the hills. Sharma said under the policy, the benefits given under the special industrial package were being replicated in the hilly regions. He said the focus would be on developing labour intensive industry in these regions. He said 55 applicants had shown interest in setting up production units in the hills. Talking about SIDCUL, he said it had achieved the purpose for which it was set up. The state had managed to get an investment of Rs 17,000 crore and direct employment had been generated for 1,60,000. He said last year the corporation made a profit of Rs 62 crore. He also disclosed that modalities for transferring of industrial assets belonging to the Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Corporations (UPSIDC) to Uttarakhand were being worked out and the changeover was expected in the next couple of months. Following this, a road map would be made for reviving industries in these smaller industrial zones. |
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Roadways staff boycott work, commuters suffer
Dehradun, May 18 Boycott of work by roadways employees in Rishikesh caused numerous problems to Char Dham yatris as the yatra commenced in the state from Sunday. The employees staged
a dharna at the depot office. Rajesh Nanda, regional secretary of the Roadways Employees Sanyukt Morcha, said the employees had been prominently seeking an end to the roster system, apart from prompt redressal to the employee issues pending in court. He alleged that the management of Uttarakhand Transport Corporation Limited had been resorting to an autocratic system of governance vis-à-vis employees. Nanda also held that the employees would further intensify the agitation in the days to come. |
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Mussoorie, May 18
Dehradun, May 18
Dehradun, May 18
Dehradun, May 18
Agitated members of the Unani and Ayurvedic Directorate locked the gates of their office in Shashtri Nagar here today in protest against the sacking of some employees. The agitators raised slogans against the Director, Dr Puja
Bhardwaj.
