Dehradun, July 1
The Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Harish Rawat in a scathing attack on the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has called upon the state legislature to rescind the decision to change the land use pattern of Citurgia Bio-chemicals Ltd at Rishikesh from industrial to residential.

The state government had changed the land use pattern of 10 acres leased to the company following a decision of the Bureau of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR). The issue has become a major embarrassment to the stat government when the Opposition raised it in the last assembly session. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had defended his decision claiming that it was legally binding on the state government to accept the decision of the BIFR.

Rawat, a senior Congress leader who is also member of the Lok Sabha from Haridwar, said here today the decision of the state government was bad and it would open floodgates for change of land use pattern from industrial to residential in future. “It will be a precedent that many industrialists in future would try to take advantage of. It will harm the interest of the state as prime industrial land will be subverted for other purposes,” he claimed.

“I appeal to the state government and to the legislature of Uttarakhand to rescind the decision which was in clear violation of many Acts of the state, since industrial lease cannot be changed as per the state laws,” he added.

He said the decision of the BIFR was for the revival of the particular industry to which land was leased. “Now, that company has gone and others have taken advantage to build a seven-storied building on the banks of the Ganga,” he said.

The Union Minister attacked the state BJP government of its failure to take advantage of the various centrally sponsored schemes and even utilising the money given by the Central government. “I hope with the liberal grant of Rs 6,800 crore for the annual plan of the state by the Centre, the state government instead of accusing the Centre of discrimination should work to spend the money in the developmental works,” he said.

Talking about the NREGA scheme, Rawat said the state stood among the last as far as its implementation was concerned. “There are no job cards and the state government is not interested in spending money given by Centre. The man days of assured employment generated by the state are 37 days which is far below the national average of 67 days of assured employment,”  he alleged.

Similarly, talking about the Prime Minister’s Grameen Sadak Yojana, Rawat lamented that the roads taken up under the programme in state were still in the second or third phase of progress whereas other states were in the eighth or ninth phase. He denied the state government charge that the Union Environment Ministry was not giving clearance for roads. “The state government does not have staff to implement it,” he commented.

He also took the state government to task on the non-implementation of the National Agriculture Development Scheme and the Crop Insurance Scheme for farmers, particularly against natural calamities.

Money was not being utilised in the National Rural Health Mission as the medical facilities are miserable in the state. “Though the government has claimed the success of the 108 emergency service, the medical facilities in the state have not improved. The state government has failed to even submit a master plan under the Jawahar Lal Nehru Urban Renewable Mission to the Central government to get money and spend it for the minority communities’ development in Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts,” he said.

Rawat said it was sad but true that the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Electrification scheme had not even started in some hill districts of the state. “We could be even below Bihar in future in terms of development as all other states are taking full advantage of the Centrally sponsored schemes,” he said.

Asked about the claims of the Chief Minister on having an annual development rate of 9.2 per cent, Rawat replied that it was completely misleading. “The annual development rate was above 10 per cent during the Congress regime from 2002 to 2007. It has fallen down in the BJP regime. There is flight of industry from the state, there is a large-scale migration from the hills and the agriculture has been ruined,” Rawat said.

On Chief Minister’s claims on the Maha Kumbh in Haridwar, Rawat said the only achievement of this government was spending Rs 700 crore on the Maha Kumbh works, which were not visible.

On the the extension to the industrial package in the state, Rawat said he had been trying for it but appealed to the Chief Minister to dilute his demand for a package till 2020 as other states did not take kindly to it.

Dehradun, July 1
Despite giving 50 per cent reservation to women members in panchayats, every effort is being made to scuttle the functioning of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and only half-hearted attempts have been made to transfer 14 departments to the panchayats in the past.

The elected representatives of the PRIs are still waiting for the copies of the government order that was passed during the previous term of the PRIs.

Though the government was to hand over the responsibility of 29 departments, it managed to proceed with 14 departments only, that too without communicating to the PRIs.

“In reality, the transfer of powers of 14 departments did not take place, as the copy of the government order, too, was not sent to us. What kind of game is the government playing?” questioned Vimla, gram pradhan of Bageshwar.

The elected women Panchayati Raj functionaries from Uttarkashi, Tehri, Bageshwar and Haridwar today raised the issue before the officers of Uttarakhand Accountant General Office, on the last day of the capacity building workshop organised by the Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RLEK).

If the elected representatives are confused regarding the exact status of the transfer of responsibility of 14 departments, even the Accountant General Office was unable to collect information on the number of departments that were supposed to have been transferred to the panchayats.

“We were unsuccessful when we approached the department, later through our own sources we managed to collect the information,” said Amarjeet Singh, Accounts Officer (AO), Uttarakhand Accountant General Office.

In fact, the office was also mislead on the act, the representatives were told that the state had its own act, when it does not and is governed by the Uttar Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act.

The absence of the Panchayati Raj Act of Uttarakhand is also proving to be troublesome as the Uttar Pradesh Act does not speak of an honorarium for the pradhans.

In Uttarakhand, the pradhans were drawing honorarium from the Contingency Fund, but later they were given Rs 600 as monthly honorarium in lieu of discharging their duties. This, the members say, should now be raised.

Besides, the members also objected the government for nominating pradhans as public information officers, which was later clarified by AO.

“Only the government servants can be made public information officers according to the Right to Information Act. The pradhans are elected representatives and cannot be asked to provide information,” said Singh.

Dehradun, July 1
There is no clarity on the role of a Member of Parliament (MP) in the country and a majority of them are encroaching on the turf of the panchayats. This was stated by Sachidanand Murthy, Editor of The Week, at the conclusion of the workshop on “Development Plans and Accounting at Panchayat Level” for Elected Women Representatives (EWRs), organised by the Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RLEK) here today.

Murthy said the MPs were law makers and should be busy with law-making, but, “a majority of them are interested in construction of tube wells, roads, etc. in their constituencies. They are doing the same things as being done by the pradhans. This should be left to the panchayat functionaries,” he stressed.

Officers from the Accountant General Office, Uttarakhand, Amarjeet Singh and NS Chauhan deliberated with the EWRs on the accounting procedures in the Panchayati Raj Institutions system.

On the last day today, the EWRs formulated a set of suggestions related to local governance. These included that the government orders of 14 departments out of 29 be given to the panchayats, appointing one gram panchayat secretary for every panchayat and increase in the honorarium for all levels of EWRs and, above all, a separate state Panchayat Raj Act.

Dehradun, July 1
Dinesh Sharma, Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) Engineer, who allegedly provoked anger among Congress councillors for not working swiftly on tenders worth Rs 4.10 crore meant for development work in the city, was called by Mayor Vinod Chamoli yesterday.

Sharma explained the situation to the Mayor saying that he had been overworked due to census work and now had got time to work speedily on the tenders.

But he also apprised the Mayor of the stubborn attitude of contractors who had decided to boycott the tenders due to low rates. On this, Chamoli and Sharma held common views that the contractors were deliberately playing this ploy to buy more time to finish their earlier projects.

Chamoli asked Sharma to make a list of the contractors and the projects they were handling at present.

“The contractors have enough projects in their hands and are purposely making lame excuses of lower rate to delay the whole process to complete their pending projects. Once the list comes out, I’ll be able to identify the contractors to choose from”.

Congress councillor Ganesh Dandwal asked the Mayor to select the small budget contractor rather than big ones who were the real spoilsport.

The Mayor, too, want to speed up the whole process of doing 89 listed assignment for 55 wards before the monsoon actually picked up.

“It will be difficult to do the work like repair roads and nullahs during the rainy season. Even the winter, too, is not apt for road work either. So, I want most of the job done before the rainy season.”

The DMC had issued a notice for tender on June 15 to invite applications for it. The form for the purpose are to be sold on July 1 and 2 and the tender process will begin on July 5.

Nainital, July 1
The police in Uttarakhand is in the dock once again, this time in an issue pertaining to alleged custodial death of a youth in Rudrapur.

A case has been registered in the matter while prompt departmental action has been initiated against the accused.

The matter pertains to the death of one Balwinder of Raipur village, who allegedly died in the police custody after being interrogated in cases of snatching. He had been handed over to the police on the assurance of the gram pradhan of Bindukhera village. It is learnt that Balwinder was subjected to some “harsh interrogation” on Tuesday evening, and it was after having dinner that his condition deteriorated and the 26-year-old youth died while being treated at the district hospital.

It is being alleged that an attempt was made to make his death appear as suicide and a sulfas tablet had been pushed into his mouth.

As the news of his death spread, hundreds of villagers gathered at the Rudrapur police station yesterday seeking action against guilty police personnel.

With a view to pacify the agitated villagers and relatives of the deceased, the police authorities have suspended four police officials identified as Sub Inspectors Vinod Kumar and Rajat Kasana, along with constables Mahesh Arya and Narendra Singh. A trainee officer of the Indian Police Service (IPS), Nivedita Kukreti, who was in charge of the police station, has been attached to the office of the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) and Inspector Parishit Kumar has also been sent to the Police Lines.

Talking to The Tribune, Inspector General (IG) of Police, Kumaon Range, RS Meena said, “A case has been registered in the matter. A thorough probe will be conducted into the incident and the guilty will be punished in accordance with the law”.

The incident also led to a massive protest by activists of various political parties, including the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress. They demanded an appropriate compensation and an impartial probe into the incident.

Congress leader Tilak Raj Behed said, “The deceased is not going to return. We just want to ensure that his family members are given proper compensation.

A proper investigation needs to be conducted into the incident and the guilty need to be punished.”

Behed was critical of the state government for its failure to control the violation of the human rights by the state agencies.

“They have no control over the police. They are instead trying to use the force for achieving their political goals,” he said.

Mussoorie, July 1
Responding to the directions given by the Uttarakhand High Court, on a writ petition filed by Pradeep Bhandari on rampant encroachment in Mussoorie, SDM Manoj Kumar embarked on an identification drive starting from the Jhoola Ghar to the Picture Palace here today. The team, led by the SDM, consisted of Nayab Tehsildar Mata Din, Nagar Palika TS and draftsman. The physical identification process began around noon and carried on for several hours. The officials measured the encroachment done by various shopkeepers after consulting the old records.

A few shopkeepers entered into verbal altercations with the officials and were dealt with firmly. Some shopkeepers argued that no nullah ever existed in front of their shops to which the SDM said he would act according to the old records. He also took note of the encroachment on the culverts and nullahs alongside the Mall Road at Kuri and Picture Palace. He said the drive was being carried out in accordance with the High Court directions and the report would be submitted in four weeks before July 16.

Earlier, acting on the PIL filed by Pradeep Bhandari, the High Court had ordered advocate Ajay Veer Pundir to assist Bhandari and make a physical verification on the encroachment issue in Mussoorie. Pundir had submitted the report to the court on physical assessment of the situation and had aired dissatisfaction on the working of the Palika. Following that, the High Court has made Palika Mussoorie a party in abetting encroachment in the town. 

Mussoorie, July 1
A protest rally on eight-point demands for workers was held under the aegis of the Hotel, Restaurant Karamchari Sangh in Mussoorie today. The rally began from the Anupam Chowk and ended in a meeting at the Gandhi Chowk. The workers raised slogans against the state government and presented an eight-point demands memorandum addressed to state Labour Minister Prakash Pant via the SDM, Mussoorie.

Association president Sobhan Singh Panwar, addressing the gathering, said the workers of restaurant and hotels in Mussoorie were the most exploited lot, hence their problems needed to be addressed on an urgent basis.

He said Mussoorie was a renowned tourist spot and expensive in nature, but the workers were being given paltry wages in hotels, schools and shops and being exploited to an extreme extent. He demanded that the minimum wages of the workers be raised to Rs 10,000, to provide them free medical benefits and ESI by an insurance company at the community hospital, to give them housing facility under weaker housing section schemes, to stop the contractual tradition in hotel kitchens, to enforce labour laws strictly, to include all workers under the Provident Fund scheme and to provide one weekly off.

He further said if the demands were not met, they would be forced to start a massive agitation soon. General Secretary Shamsher Singh Rawat, Darmyan Singh Meher and others were present on the occasion. 

Haridwar, July 1
Setting an example for police personnel and local people, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sanjay Gunjiyal donated blood at a camp urging people to shed inhibitions and donate as much as they can at regular intervals.

SSP Gunjiyal donated blood at Ram Krishan Mission Hospital wherein a blood donation camp was organised by the Rotary, Haridwar. A total of 62 units of blood was collected from various sections of the society.

Notably since 2003-04 when a blood bank was formed at Ram Krishan Mission, the Rotary Club has been contributing in a major way to this bank with organisations of the blood donation and awareness camps every now and then.

Pointing to the negative misconceptions prevalent in society that blood donation weakens the donor and it takes years to fill the blood given, the district police chief said every healthy human being could donate every three months and blood began to regroup in the body within hours of donating it.

“Each one of us should at least contribute four times a year as this is one of the simplest way by which we can contribute to society and this may prove life saving for the needy,” said Gunjiyal after becoming the first donor of the camp.

Circle Officer Pankaj Bhatt too accompanied the SSP in donating blood. President of the club Vivek Mishra pointed on the various activities conducted by the club.

Dehradun, July 1
Theatre is an expression, which not only describes the inner feelings of the artiste involved, but also stimulates the audiences and refreshes them to think beyond their own dimensions. One such theatre masterpiece “Yayati”, a famous play written by contemporary writer Girish Raghunath Karnad, when he was in his early 20s, was performed at Town Hall here this evening. The Parvatiye Natya Academy, Dehradun, in collaboration with the National School of Drama, New Delhi, held this play in their two-day workshop.

The play is a borrowed piece from the great Indian epic Mahabharata. It is about a mythological King Yayati. To satisfy his lust, King Yayati marries twice. Firstly, to Devayani, daughter of Guru Shukracharya, and then to Sharmishta, daughter of the King Vrishparva. Annoyed by his second marriage, Shukracharya curses Yayati to become an old man for his entire lifetime. The only concession he is given is that if Yayati wants he can give his old age to someone and get back his youth from him.

As Yayati is unable to live without worldly pleasures, he decides to exchange his old age with his son Poorus’ youth. However, after returning to his vibrant young age, Yayati can not find contentment and regrets for his son. In remorse, Yayati chooses to return his youth to his son and he himself goes into the woods.

The artists gave life to the characters. Akhilesh Nomani and Jatin Negi played Yayati. Devayani was enacted by Babita Anand and Sharmishta by Sakshi Sharma. Rikki played Pooru.

Director-cum-designer of the play Ajay Malkani says theatre is a powerful part of the media that has the potential to move audiences and bring out their feelings on which strong relationships are built.