Dehradun, June 3
Hundreds of Congress workers, led by Uttarakhand Congress chief Yashpal Arya, today marched to the state Secretariat in protest against the alleged failure of the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.

Organised by the Dehradun District Congress Committee Congress, workers from all over the district assembled at the Gandhi Park here where senior party leaders addressed them and later marched to the state Secretariat.

A heavy police force stopped the protesters short of the main gate of the Secretariat. Amidst slogan shouting, the Congress workers and the Congress President submitted a memorandum addressed to Uttarakhand Governor Margaret Alva through the Chief Secretary of the state.

Earlier, addressing the party workers, Arya charged that the BJP government had failed miserably on all fronts and all developmental works started by the previous Congress government had come to a standstill.

He alleged that due to acute power shortage faced by the state, industries, traders and common man were suffering and business activities had been adversely affected. He further said most areas of the state were suffering from water scarcity. “The state government has failed to start any developmental scheme and even failed to utilise the Central funds,” he said.

Harak Singh Rawat, leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, charged that the BJP government had been hand in glove with mafias as was evident from the allotment of hydro-electric projects and Sterdia land use scandal at Rishikesh.

Congress legislators, namely Kunwar Parnav Singh, Dinesh Aggarwal, Tilak Raj Behad and Jot Singh Gunsola, along with other senior leaders addressed the party workers before proceeding towards state Secretariat.

Senior party leader Suryakant Dhasmana conducted the proceedings. The Congress memorandum demanded appropriate action against the state government for its alleged failure by the state Governor.

Dehradun, June 3
Rajpal Singh Rawat, central executive member of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD), who met the SSP along with his partymen regarding threat through an SMS sent to him by an unknown person, seems to have lost his faith in the police. He has asked for a Vigilance inquiry into the matter and refused for any security cover for himself.

The day when the SSP had assured him of making a breakthrough in the case, Rawat told the media that though he had faith in the police, there were chances that it might present an innocent as guilty to protect the real culprit.

Rawat said the police was taking time to identify the culprit, but he gathered all information about him through his sources on the very first day when he received the threat. But, he wanted the police to investigate on its own, as it would not believe him. He asked the culprit to be paraded before him.

He also signalled toward a tripartite nexus of bureaucrats, politicians, especially of the BJP, and mafia, responsible for hitting at him as a soft target as they had sensed that he was going to file a PIL in the court regarding multi-crore hydro-electric power project scam. He also conceded of having some very important documents pertaining to the scams which could put the involved bodies in deep trouble. On being asked why his party, which was accusing the BJP government of being instrumental behind the scam was supporting it, he said the central leadership would decide about it.

Rawat could not give a satisfactory answer to the question as to why only he was being targeted when the people who already exposed the scam and even named the guilty persons remained unscathed. For the time being, he has withheld his decision to file a PIL unless the accused was brought to the book, he said.

Haridwar, June 3
Seeing no positive result of their agitation involving gate meetings, dharnas, rallies, sloganeering and giving memorandums, finally the State Employees Council of the Rajya Karamchari Parishad has decided to take an aggressive stance, but with a difference.

Now the memorandum and demand letters will not be of ordinary pen ink, but of human blood. Yes, it may be shocking, but perturbed state employees have now decided to write their problems and grievances to the Chief Minister dipped in their blood.

While gate meetings are being held daily, employees from Monday onwards will be starting this procedure to demand 40 per cent Kumbh mela bonus.

Speaking to The Tribune, Fourth Grade Employee Union district secretary Pramod Pant said their demand was legitimate as in 1998 during the Maha Kumbh they were given 10 pc of the salary and in 2004 during the Ardh Kumbh 20 pc. So in Maha Kumbh 2010, the state government should allot minimum 40 pc bonus of the total salary as it was in sync with the gradation.

“We worked hard for full four months, besides the efforts put in during building the mega fair. There is a huge mela fund with the state government and it should not refrain from giving what is our due,” said Pant.

The Lekhpal Union has also warned of intensifying the agitation if their demand is not met this week. Secretary of this union Sanjay Saini said the state government should instantly intervene and agree to their demands, otherwise its repercussions would be severe. Resentment among the employees might prove costly for the state government in the next Assembly elections, he added.

Mussoorie, June 3
Reacting to reports published in a section of the media on a dispute triggered over the barking of a dog that led to two sides indulging in a fight and injuries, in which Palika president OP Uniyal sided with the perpetrators, has raised the temperature of the peaceful town of Mussoorie.

Uniyal, in a hurriedly called press conference, lambasted on the role of Mussoorie SDM Manoj Kumar in the whole issue of a scuffle between two sides on Tuesday.

Uniyal in a press statement demanded the ouster of the SDM for using indecent language yesterday against him during the dispute in Kumar’s office. He alleged that the SDM used indecent language against him and said, “This is SDM office not Nagar Palika”.

Uniyal further said the SDM was siding with anti-social elements and creating unnecessary tension in the town. He said the Palika members and the employees were disappointed with this act of the SDM and had condemned it vehemently.

Palika president and members, along with employees, demanded the immediate transfer of the SDM who had taken charge recently.

Member of Palika Jasveer Kaur also said, “Kumar should apologise in public and if he does not adhere to this, a massive movement will begin against him”.

Uniyal said they had sent a memorandum explaining the whole incident to the Chief Minister. Palika president also said they would wait till June 7 and if the SDM was not transferred, then he would sit on hunger strike.

On the other hand SDM Kumar said, “I had to look after the whole of Mussoorie and my role was to diffuse the situation, which could have turned ugly at any given moment”.

He also reiterated the fact that it was the Palika president who was shouting in the top of his voice in front of the media and losing patience now and then.

However, sources believe that an investigation is on against the Palika over the autumn festival tender scam worth Rs 30 lakh, and the whole exercise of the Palika president is being seen as an attempt to affect the investigation and create unnecessary pressure on the SDM so that the truth is not revealed.

Palika members Viru Rawat, Kanta Bisht, Jasveer Kaur, RP Badon, Mahavir Rana, Kedar Singh Chauhan and Sushil Agarwal were present on the occasion.

Nainital, June 3
A gram prahari (village security personnel) from Dayari village near Someshwar in Almora was killed after being crushed by a stone by a person from the same village.

According to information, 45-year-old Mohan Singh Kaira entered into an altercation with accused Padam Singh, while they were having a drink at a shop at Kishenpur Bwar.

Padam Singh allegedly hit him repeatedly with a stone crushing his limbs. He later dragged the injured victim towards a ditch and fled after dumping him in a field.

Mohan was discovered by some women in a critical situation on Wednesday morning.

He died after he was taken to a hospital in Someshwar by villagers.

The accused is still absconding. The police has meanwhile recovered his blood-stained clothes from his residence at Kishenpur Bwar. 

Haridwar, June 3
The health services in the district at health centres have come to a halt with women health employees refraining from work owing to their various demands. From small health centres to civil hospitals, all suffered as pregnant women couldn’t be attended. Newly born babies too couldn’t be given injections as the health workers were not on duty.

Notably these health workers, under the aegis of the Matra Shishu Kalyan Mahila Karmachari Sangh, have gone on a statewide strike from the commencement of this month demanding uniformity of pay allocation in comparison to their counterparts in neighbouring state Uttar Pradesh.

Hundreds of employees gathered at the Roshanabad-situated district office of the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and took out a rally raising anti-government slogans.

Addressing the agitating women employees, Haridwar district president Sushma Dhyani said while the government was getting full work done by them, medical centres that were in rural and far-flung areas making the task more difficult for women employees, yet it was not paying them adequately. This was equivalent to their exploitation.

“All women employees in the district are on strike and mother-child health services are severely getting affected. Now it’s up to the state government to see that our demands get fulfilled and we return to our duty so that common people don’t suffer any further,” said Dhyani.

Presiding over the agitation, district secretary Kamlesh Gupta said the application of same work-same pay should be adhered to by the state government. He cited that ASHA health workers were getting better pay and stipends in Uttar Pradesh, and if in 2000 Uttaranchal hadn’t been carved out of UP, they would have been getting the same pay and emoluments.

He pointed out that the health workers had been on symbolic strike since early May. In this regard they also took out a rally in capital Dehradun on May 20 boycotting work since May 21-31. And now finally with no response from the state government side, health workers had to take this extreme step.

Those who addressed the gathering at Roshanabad were Rajbal Tyagi, Janak Rawal, Ramesh Chand Sharma, Pushpa Saini, Sushma Saini, Kamlesh Singh, Geeta Sharma, Anjum Ara, Poonam Gupta, Ruchi Shah, Aruna Saini, Sudha Tyagi, Veena Victoria, M Leena, BD Gupta, Vimla Chauhan, Madhumesh Sharma, Gayatri, Pramod Kiran, PremLata Yadav, Jasvindra, Lalita Nayar, Maya Sharma, Tulsi Mehta and Uma Dubey, among others.

In Roorkee, under the Joint Employees Union banner, employees of the Matra Shishu Mahila Karmachari Parishad also remained absent from their duties in several medical hospitals over pay irregularities.

District chief of the union Sudha Tyagi at the Civil Hospital, Roorkee, addressing the agitating employees said state employees since 1979 had been suffering pay irregularities. She said several employees were still getting Rs 750 as basic salary, which in today’s time was quite insufficient.

“We are deemed as second-grade employees despite us working equally efficiently as other state employees. This pay irregularity should be sorted out as early as possible, otherwise we will have to take the streets,” said Sudeshna Dhiman, a women union representative, at Primary Health Centre, Imlikheda. 

Dehradun, June 3
Dr (Major) Nand Kishore, a senior member of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Dehradun branch, and eminent psychiatrist, has been elected president-elect of the IMA, Uttarakhand.

Dr (Major) Nand Kishore

Dr Kishore got 638 votes to win the post and he will be president for one year for the term 2010-11.

Dr Kishore said he would actively take up the issue of “violence against medical establishments and personnel” and get an ordinance passed similar to the one passed in Andhra Pradesh.

He urged the government to actively involve the IMA in all planning and policy matters related to health.

He also sought improvement in the doctor-patient and doctor-doctor relationships and promote public private partnership (PPP) mode in improving the health services and implementing the national and state health programmes.

Dr Kishore is an active and dedicated member of the IMA and direct council member of the IPS (national) and the State Mental Health Authority, Uttarakhand.