Dehradun, July 9
At least 13 persons were killed and 11 injured in two incidents when the buses they were travelling in met with accidents in the Garhwal region today.

At Gopeshwar in Chamoli district, 11 persons were killed and 10 injured when a local bus they were travelling in fell into the Alaknanda river after it developed some technical problem. The bus was on its way to Karanpryag from Gopeshwar.

Search for the rest of the travellers is still on. Around 25-26 persons were said to be travelling in the bus at the time of the incident. Personnel of the ITBP and police from Karanpryag are assisting the local police in search operations.

Eight deceased persons have been identified. Two of the injured have been admitted to a Gopeshwar hospital and the rest referred to a hospital in Srinagar.

BR Arya, Circle Officer of Chamoli, told The Tribune that the incident occurred at 10:30 am when the bus lost balance due to some technical snag. The driver couldn’t control the vehicle and it fell into the river.

Local people plunged into the river to rescue the passengers. The police also reached the spot and took out several bodies. “The ITBP personnel and the Karanpryag police are also assisting us. Besides, we have called divers for search of the missing passengers,” said the circle officer.

In another incident, two persons were killed and one was injured when a Hemkund-Rishikesh bound bus hit by falling stones from a hill in Pauri district.

Meanwhile, expressing grief over the loss of lives in the accidents, Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank asked the District Magistrates of Pauri and Chamoli to provide the family of the deceased and the victims with required financial assistance immediately.

Nishank has also ordered a magistrate-level probe into the incidents.

Dehradun, July 9
Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) national President Nitin Gadkari today gave clean chit to the Nishank government over the alleged involvement of the party in any land scam and ruled out any change of guard in the state. The BJP President’s statement comes in the wake of the Congress allegation of involvement of state BJP government in changing the land use of Citurgia Chemical factory at Rishikesh in Uttarakhand and speculations of another change of guard before the sate assembly elections scheduled to be held in February, 2012.

Interacting with mediapersons in Dehradun, Gadkari said he himself has gone through all documents and have found the charges baseless. “It’s not proper to link the RSS or the state government with such baseless land scam accusations,” Gadkari said.

“The state government is doing well and it would continue to do that in future under the leadership of Nishank,” said Gadkari.

On his previous day statement on Parliament attack case accused Afzal Guru in which he questioned Congress’ alleged sympathy to Guru, Gadkari said he stood by what he had said and yet again asserted that the Sheila Dikshit government in Delhi had admitted that she had been asked by the then Home Minister to keep Afzal Guru’s file in cold storage. Gadkari, while addressing the Janakrosh rally of his party, commented on the delay in the hanging of Afzal Guru. He had asked whether he was a son-in-law of the Congress for getting such preferential treatment. He had also said the Congress could never fight terrorists and terrorism and would bow before them. Gadkari refused to apologise for his statement.

On Jaswant Singh’s exit and return episode, Gadkari said such things happened in politics. He also held that while Jaswant’s expulsion was unfortunate, he had himself gone to him asking him to return to the party fold. He also held Jaswant’s opinion on Jinnah was his own and it got nothing to do with the party.

The BJP President also disclosed that the BJP would be taking up special industrial package issue for the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand in the forthcoming sessions of both Houses of parliament. It was a breach of trust on the part of the Central government to withdraw the package already in stages of implementation. “Even if the Congress is unhappy with the BJP governments in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, they must at least not do injustice with the people of the two states,” he observed.

Responding to a query, he denied that the BJP had lost its mass base in the Hindi heartland and asserted that the party was fast expanding its base in Uttar Pradesh. “It is the BSP that backed the Congress during a cut motion in Parliament and the Samajwadi Party members too abstained. Thus both parties have exposed themselves,” Gadkari added.

Referring to the recent successful Bharat Bandh, Gadkari said coming together of parties, both of the NDA and those outside it against price hike, signalled new realignment of political forces. 

Haridwar, July 9
After the Janakrosh rally, it was the time for Haridwar district BJP workers to get a slice of advice from its national president, Chief Minister and other state cabinet ministers to strengthen the party base as well as prepare for the assembly elections of 2012 in Uttarakhand.

The occasion was the district party workers convention held at BHEL wherein emphasis was on strengthening the party cadre base, organisational structure and preparing for the assembly elections way ahead to ensure BJP retains power in Uttarakhand.

Voicing that politics is not only a tool to have power but is a mean to carry out projects for the welfare of people and society, party’s national chief Nitin Gadkari emphasised on taking politics as social service to party workers.

“Politics of power is wrong but it should be taken as a way to ensure uplift of people and usher development of nation,” said Gadkari who assumed party mantle after resignation of Rajnath Singh in December last year.

Addressing the convention, Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said the BJP had always been a party with difference with its strength being the very party worker who was behind the scene.

He said despite Central government’s indifferent attitude towards the state his government had ushered in developmental works never seen before.

Uttarakhand BJP chief Bishan Singh Chufal motivated party workers to refrain from inner party politics to set higher goals so that party retains power not only in the state but also at the national level in the future.

Haridwar legislator Madan Kaushik who holds the portfolio of Urban Development Minister in the state, urged party workers to indulge intensely in activities of the party units to which they belonged to be it the youth wing or women cell.

He said all those seen on the dais had not achieved this position merely dreaming but based on their 
hard work, sustained efforts and putting party before self interests.

The convention was attended by a fair enough number of party workers coming from the city area, Roorkee, Lakshar, Laundara, Mangalore, Iqbalpur, Jhabdera, Laldhang and other sub-urban and the rural areas.

Haridwar party unit president Om Prakash Jamdagni termed the convention as well as yesterday’s BJP rally in Dehradun as hugely successful ones.

Dehradun, July 9
The Uttarakhand Congress has reacted sharply to the remarks of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national President Nitin Gadkari against the Congress on the issue of hanging of Parliament attack accused Afzal guru made at the Janakrosh rally of the BJP here yesterday.

Congress workers gathered at the Ashley Hall Chowk and burnt an effigy of the BJP President today.

Former city Congress chief Lal Chand Sharma, who lead the workers, termed the statement as a shameful act.

Gadkari, while taking potshots at the Congress over the delay in the hanging of Afzal Guru, had asked whether Afzal Guru was a son-in-law of the Congress to get such a treatment.

Uttarakhand Congress chief Yashpal Arya in a statement criticised the statement and termed it as a well thought out conspiracy to communally vitiate the atmosphere of the peaceful state.

Arya said it was a poor attempt to divert the attention of the people of the state from the state of affairs in the Uttarakhand BJP where the government had been mired in so many scandals and failed to provide even basic necessities like power and water to the common man.

Arya said he wanted to politely ask Gadkari what relations did the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then Union Home Minister LK Advani and then Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh, in the terminology of the RSS, had with Maulana Masood Azhar, the dreaded terrorist set free by the then National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at Kandhar?

He said the Congress believed in responsible public conduct but if such irresponsible political statements are hurled at them they would retaliate not only by words but by launching protests on roads.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Harish Rawat in a statement issued here said it was least expected that the National BJP President would stoop to such low level.

“The BJP President seems to have lost control over his words due to a rampant infighting in his party,” Rawat alleged. He also questioned Gadkari’s clean chit to the Nishank government over the issue of state government alleged involvement in the Citurgia land use scam.

Uttarakhand Media Advisory Committee President Dr Devendra Bhasin has criticised Congress for its opposition to the BJP National President’s remarks on Afzal Guru.

Haridwar: Meanwhile, strong condemnation poured in from the Congress over Gadkari’s statement on Afzal Guru. Various protests and meetings were held in the district condemning the statement, seeking apology from him.

State Congress general secretary Santosh Chauhan termed the statement as offensive and exposing the mindset of a chief of communal party.

City Congress chief OP Chauhan termed the remarks as disgraceful and sought apology from Gadkari. The Congress workers burnt effigies of the BJP chief at various places. Heavy deployment of the police on the route of Gadkari’s cavalcade was made. 

Dehradun, July 9
Hundreds of members of the Anganwadi Activist Union took out a rally on the call of Akhil Bhartiya Anganwadi Workers And Helpers Federation to pressurise the government to accept their demands.

The rally started at Gandhi Park and passed through Ghanta Ghar, Darshan Lal Chowk, Parade Ground and culminated at the secretariat at the Subhash Road.

In a memorandum given in the name of the Prime Minister, the agitators asked for pension facility, gratuity equal to half the salary after serving for 60 years, minimum wages to all the workers, regularisation of jobs, accordance of designation to activist of Grade III and Grade IV, increment of remuneration, ban on privatisation of ICDS were their main demands.

Acting president, Sarveshavri, General Secretary Janki Chauhan, treasurer Luxmi Pant, secretary Meenu Dogra and others participated in the rally. 

Nainital, July 9
The All-India Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) Federation has decided to launch a mass agitation on the issue of non-payment of the salaries to the safai karamcharis posted at Bhawali over the past several months.

They have also demanded an immediate payment of retirement dues to the safai karamcharis who have retired from the Bhawali Nagar Palika.

The agitators staged a demonstration here on Thursday and handed a

memorandum to be sent across to Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank.

They said the employees at Bhawali had not been getting their salaries, what to talk about the benefits of the Fifth or Sixth Pay Commission Recommendations.

They have decided to hold a public meeting on the issue on July 26 following which they would launch an indefinite fast if the concerns of the safai karamcharis are not addressed by then.

Dehradun, July 8
Fed up with the attitude of the government, angry auxillary nurses and midwives (ANM), who have been agitating in support of their demands, today laid siege to Dr AP Mamgai, Director of the National Programme at the Health Directorate.

The matter came to a head when a group of leaders spearheading the agitation laid siege to Dr Mamgai blaming him for sitting on the government order pertaining to their salary revision as per the Sixth Commission.

Later, he managed to pacify the group and explained the position of the Directorate that had already cleared the file.

It may be mentioned that the delay was at the end of the Finance Department that had not cleared the file as it would cause great financial constraints on the state.

Finally, the matter was sorted out after Secretary, Health, Dr Uma Kant Panwar assured the delegation of the ANMs that the government order would be released by tomorrow as the Chief Minister was away. 

Dehradun, July 9
Six persons were held with two leopard skins seized from their possession in Nandprayag region of Chamoli Garhwal district.

The arrest came after a joint raid was conducted by the anti-poaching cell of the Uttarakhand Forest Department and the also the Wildlife Protection Society of India. Badrinath forest division authorities assisted in the conduct of raids.

Only few days back, another haul of leopard skins was seized from Dakpathar area of Dehradun. Three leopard skins were seized and an equal number of miscreants were arrested by the forest authorities in process. Here too, anti-poaching cell and WPSI had played a key role in the arrest of these poachers.

Mussoorie, July 9
If all goes well, another hospital in the city will get funds from Manorama Devi Birla Trust. This was decided at a meeting held between nominated Rajya Sabha member Shobhna Bhartiya and Palika president OP Uniyal at Birla House here today.

Bhartiya has agreed on principles to support the cause of the hospital run by the Palika at Library Bazar. It was also decided in the meeting that coordinator of the trust Dr Sunil Sanon will be coordinating the whole process and formulating the modalities on behalf of the MP.

Bhartiya is daughter of renowned industrialist late KK Birla. The Birla family has an emotional attachment with the town and a mobile health clinic is running in the villages around Mussoorie under the aegis of Manorama Devi Birla Trust.