Mussoorie, July 16
At a press conference held at the Mussoorie Press Club today, the villagers of Bhandarki village in Thauldar Vikas Khand at Tehri Garhwal district alleged rampant irregularities in various schemes running under the Bharat Nirman and National Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) at the directions of former gram pradhan Mussadi Lal. His wife is the present pradhan at Bhandarki village.

The villagers also said the irregularities were going on at the behest of certain administrative officials of block and no action had been initiated so far despite several complaints.

They informed that their village was identified under the NREGA in 2007, but Mussadi Lal still not initiated any work under the scheme and fraudulently entered the job work in the papers. The villagers also did not receive any job cards under various schemes which was mandatory.

The irregularities did not stop here, the villagers alleged the former gram pradhan invited outsiders to built the check dam despite opposition of the villagers and threatened with dire consequences.

They further said 36,585 metre canal was sanctioned under the Five Year Plan by the Minor Irrigation Department amount to Rs 22,94,339.

In addition to that, 300 metre and 100 metre canals were sanctioned under the Watershed Management Project, out of which only 3,685 metre had been constructed and 400 metre and rest had been left uncompleted.

Whereas Mussadi Lal received the payments for the complete canal authenticating their allegations of financial embezzlement worth several lakhs. The villagers also alleged that the canal had been built using sub-standard material misusing the funds provided by the Government of India.

The irregularities have also surfaced in the construction which are in the pipeline, for which Rs 33 lakh was approved under the Swajal Project.

The villagers have demanded to repair the 25-year-old Babbidhar Hada project which has enough water and has catered to the needs during crisis too.

Apart from these, irregularities have also surfaced in construction of the Panchayat Bhawan amount to Rs 2,10,000, where the work is still incomplete and the former gram pradhan has received full payment already for the said work.

He has also received full payment for the construction of guest house that is still incomplete.

Musaddi Lal refuted all claims and said an inquiry was also set up which found no irregularities and the opposition was raking the issue for their unknown intentions. He said demand for work should come from the villagers itself which they did not, hence outsiders were brought to complete the work.

The villagers are not ready to buy this argument and are of the view that the NREGA project clearly stated that the job cards are essential under the scheme and villagers will be given priority and failing to do so the state government is liable to pay the daily unemployment allowance in cash to the villagers which have not been done yet.

After repeated complaints to the District Magistrate and State Disaster Minister Khajan Das last year after which the inquiry was set up by the District Magistrate, Tehri, but the junior officials have covered the irregularities and returned without any inquiry in the matter due to dubious reasons.

The villagers have demanded an immediate action against the gram pradhan, former pradhan and the officials involved in this financial irregularities and misuse of the funds meant for the poor villagers. Failing in that they will start a massive movement in the region. 

Dehradun, July 16
The Uttarakhand Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, facing flak on the issue of controversial allotment of 56 hydro power projects to various private companies, has tried to wriggle out of the quagmire which it had found itself in for the past few months, by announcing to cancel the entire process of allotment.

The decision of the state government late last night came on the eve of hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Nainital High Court today that sought an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the entire process. Much to the relief of the state government, the High Court today dismissed the petition following cancellation of the entire process of allotments.

The decision of the state government to allot 56 hydro power projects up to 25 MW capacity to different companies had come under scanner following objections to 
the allotment of these projects to liquor companies and cycle manufacturers with no prior experience in hydro power generation.

The Congress, main Opposition party, had attacked the BJP government and alleged that these allotments were made for considerations other than merit. There was a lot of ruckus in the state assembly by the Opposition during budget session. Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank defended his decision and denied any irregularity in the allotment.

Later, as the pressure mounted, Nishank said the projects had not yet been allotted and a committee of officials would look into the viability of the proposals sent by the allottees. These projects were allotted under the self-identified route. It was alleged that some of these companies were purposely floated to grab the hydro-electric projects and that the government had not verified their antecedents before awarding the contracts.

Besides, in some cases, an individual person or company was awarded more than three projects under different names in violation of the state's 2008 power policy.

The Congress started a campaign against the state BJP government and also released documents related to eight companies whose credentials were not well-known and seven of them were headed by three persons only. These companies were given hydro projects of 377 MW capacity.

The state government, in a bid to get out of the muddle, explained that the advertisement inviting the bids in july 2008 was faulty and not in consonance with the Energy Policy framed by the BJP government in 2008. A total of 736 bids came for the self-identified projects up to 25 MW.

An official spokesperson said the committee of secretaries formed on June 18, 2010, headed by the Uttarakhand Power Secretary detected these “mistakes”. He said since the advertisement was not in order, the entire process of allotment has been cancelled and the “letters of awards” to different companies have now become “redundant”. The Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam (UJVNL), the nodal agency for the allotment of these projects, has been asked to issue a fresh modified advertisement incorporating the left-out clauses of the Energy Policy of the state to seek fresh bids.

Interestingly, national BJP President Nitin Gadkari, who visited Dehradun last week, had given a clean chit to the Nishank government on the issues on which the state government has been under attack from the Opposition. The issues included the allotment of hydro power projects and change of land use pattern of the Citurgia chemical factory at Rishikesh. He had said he had gone through the documents and found them in order.

The cancellation of the entire process of allotment of hydro projects again prompted the Congress today to demand the resignation of Gadkari.

“The way the allotments were cancelled, it clearly shows that the entire process was faulty and smacked of corruption. But, Gadkari gave a clean chit to the state government. He should take moral responsibility,” said Harak Singh Rawat, Leader of Opposition in the Uttarakhand Assembly.

Yashpal Arya, Uttarakhand Congress chief, said the cancellation of the projects has shown the true face of the BJP government that kept on defending itself and termed it as a victory of the people and public pressure. He demanded that a CBI inquiry should still be conducted to reveal the truth.

The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD), a coalition partner of the BJP state government, also described the cancellation of the allotment of 56 hydro power projects as unfortunate.

“Any wrongdoing related to a development process is a big setback for the new state of Uttarakhand,” a UKD spokesperson said. The party also sought a high-level inquiry into the entire allotment process.

Similarly, the BSP has also demanded resignation of Nishank saying that he should take the moral responsibility for the entire allotment process.

Cong to hold Jan Vijay Diwas

Uttarakhand Congress workers have decided to rejoice scrapping of the allotment of 56 hydro power projects by the state government.

State Congress vice-president Subodh Uniyal said today that Congress workers under the leadership of state party president Yashpal Arya will be gathering at the Gandhi Park tomorrow to celebrate Jan Vijay Diwas. He said it had been due to the Congress that ruling BJP was exposed in hydro power project allotment issue and had to ultimately withdraw the allotment,

He reminded that the Congress had continued with the protest for the past four months to expose the designs of the ruling BJP. “By withdrawing  the allotment, the ruling BJP has accepted that  it was at fault and there was something fishy in  the allotment of  power projects,”  Uniyal observed.

Social activist Avdhash Kaushal today demanded resumption of work on the Pala Maneri (480MW) and Bhairav Ghati (381MW) power projects in order to speed up development activities in the state.

“In Uttarakhand, there are 1,220 unelectrified villages, even the areas which are connected with electricity are facing huge power cuts, but the BJP government suspended work on these two power projects,” said Kaushal, chairperson of the Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra, while addressing mediapersons here today.

He said the BJP government suspended these hydel projects after spending more than Rs 150 crore of public money. “Under pressure from various groups the party suspended work on the power projects giving it a political colour, now for the first time hydel energy production has become a political issue,” said Kaushal.

Coming strongly in favour of small dams, Kaushal said those living in darkness and without water knew the true value of power and the politics should be kept out of such issues. “It is an accepted fact that the hydel power is still the greenest and cheapest source of energy. Unfortunately, hydel energy production seems to have become a political matter. I am surprised why these projects were suspended even after the Environment Impact Assessment clearance was already given by the Government of India,” he added.

He said restarting of the power projects would open the way for providing affordable power to the people as well as promotion of industrial development and employment in the state.

“If the government fails to act, we will take the matter to the Supreme Court as we feel it is in the interest of the people,” Kaushal said.

Haridwar, July 16
With just less than two weeks left for the commencement of the Kanwar season in Haridwar, the district administration has geared itself up for the largest Kanwar yatra in northern India.

While last year a record number of Kanwariyas thronged the pilgrim city to fetch holy Ganga water this year it is expected the figure may touch the mark of 80 crore. The administration is leaving no stone unturned to provide the best of the facilities for the Kanwariyas.

This year in view of the inconvenience caused to the local people as massive traffic jams in the highways, the district administration has decided to utilise Kanwar patri, a specified route running along the Ganga canal for the convenience of Kanwariyas.

Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik visited the Kanwar route along with district administrative officers and officers of governmental departments to assess the viability of the stretch which would be easing pressure on the highway.

Kaushik directed the departments concerned to work on a war footing to ensure the Kanwar track gets completed in time and Kanwariyas don’t have problem in treading on the path. He also took cognisance of local people suggestions regarding the route.

SSP Sanjay Gunjiyal, who accompanied the minister, apprised him of police administration’s steps regarding security and maintenance of law and order during the Kanwar yatra.

Dehradun, July 16
In order to spread awareness about safe driving, the GVK EMRI, 108 Emergency Ambulance today took out a motorcycle rally passing through Haridwar, Rishikesh, Roorkee and Bhagwanpur.

In the morning, DG (Health) Dr CP Arya flagged off the rally comprising 14 bikes with 28 riders (including pillions) from the Deen Dyal Upadhyay Coronation Hospital.

All pillion riders carried placards, spreading message about safe driving. “We have particularly chosen this route as this
is an accident-prone area,” said Dalbir Singh, media relations officer, GVK EMRI.

Dehradun, July 16
Close on the heels of sanitary workers’ strike, supervisors’ lobby in the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) seems to be making up their mind to start their own strike to demand ward offices in 60 wards of the city.

The demand stems from the past few incidents where their sanitary work equipment got stolen as they did not have a proper place to store these.

Supervisor Hariom complained, “It now looks foolish to ask officials time and again for ward offices. Strike seems to be the only way to make them see reality. When our things get stolen, then they don’t listen to us and think that we are making excuses to make extra money”.

It is not only the supervisors, but councillors too who have been making this demand for a long time. Ashok Verma, leader of the Opposition in the DMC said, “The supervisors certainly require a place of their own in each ward where they can store their things, sit and have talks with sanitary workers of their wards. It does not need much space, but simply a small room”.

Verma said the proposals to make ward offices was placed and passed in the board meeting in 2008 where the councillors were asked to submit details of the land for the purpose in their respective wards. Some councillors did submit the detail, while others did not and, hence the matter had been pending since then.

Executive Engineer Ravi Pandey said finding proper land had become the root cause of the problem as not all the wards had requisite vacant places to construct ward offices. He reasoned people of the localities usually objected to making such rooms where brooms, garbage containers, etc, would be stored. He also explained the current situation by saying, “The five places, Race Course, Idgah Gobindgarh, Kashmiri Colony, Indira Gandhi Marg and the GMS Road, where ward offices have been built by DMC are hardly used by supervisors. If they want, each ward offices can easily be used by two wards of adjoining areas. Then tenders for three more wards, Bakharwala, Chander Nagar and Chukhu have also been cleared.”

He said there were 20 such wards where the possibility of finding land for ward offices was non-existent. He gave example of the area surrounding the DMC office where it was not possible to find land for ward offices, in that case, he suggested supervisors of five-six wards to opt for the DMC premises for the purpose. For the rest, he said, they were looking for suitable land. Pandey also blamed supervisors for not actually making use of the ward offices and unnecessarily blowing the issue up. Reacting to Pandey’s statement, Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli asked him not to get into the mundane issues and focus on finishing the task of ward offices. He said supervisors and councillors had got this issue to humiliate him each time. Meanwhile, councillor Ganesh Dangwal said the DMC could at least proceed on those cases where the land was available.

It is yet to be seen if the supervisors lobby will be able to build consensus on the issue of strike. 

Mussoorie, July 16
Devi Kol festival was celebrated with fervour and gaiety as devotees assembled at the temple area in large numbers to seek blessing from goddess Bhadra Kali.

The festival was inaugurated by State Disaster Minister Khajan Das who announced a grant of Rs 1 lakh for the beautification of the area.

He said the sum would be released only after villagers plant more than 500 trees in the area, thus stating a good precedent today. the villagers danced along whole day in traditional attire. The biannual festival holds at 50 km from Mussoorie in Jaunpur Block in July. It’s a premiere festival of Jaunpur celebrated in honour of Bhadra Kali the incarnation of Goddess Durga. Zila Panchayat member Rekha Dangwal also announced a grant of Rs 1 lakh.

Chief guest on the occasion Khajan Das said such festivals were important to preserve the social and cultural ethos of Garhwal. Devi Kol Mandir Mela Samiti president SS Rawat outlined the fact that this festival was 150-year old and the temple is revered among the villagers of the surrounding area.

Rajya Khel Parishad president Narayan Singh Rana, Palika president OP Uniyal and others were also present on the occasion. 

Dehradun, July 16
Uttrakhand Asha workers working for the health services in the rural areas of the state have demanded a salary of Rs 5,000 per month at a meeting held here today.

Presiding the meeting Savitri Uniyaal, President, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), women wing of the state said if their demands were not considered they would go for on an indefinite agitation.

She mentioned that they want government to provide security to them by doing their group insurance. She also asked the state government to grant free health check ups to the members of Asha.

The names and phone numbers of all the workers should be mentioned on the cards of patients whom they provide services. They also demanded changing rooms in hospitals for them and asked to provide mobile phones to them. She asked for the transparency in the system and requested the government to provide the receipt of amount given to NGOs and further to them as they claimed that they are paid very less money but had to sign on full amount under pressure. They demanded the age limit of facilitator and coordinator to be around 50 years and not less then that.

Uniyaal said the government should blacklist those NGOs who are trying to take away the rights of these workers.

Saraswati Khandpal, Asha worker in Chanda Nagar, said, “We want the government to provide us the fixed salary and also relax the age of facilitator up to 50 years. This is our main demand though we have some others too.” 

Dehradun, July 16
The auxiliary nurses and midwives (ANMs) today withdrew their one-and-a-half-month strike after a government order was issued regarding acceptance of their main demand.

The order directing the DG office to pay the arrears from 1979 in the revised pay band of Rs 1,350-Rs 2,200, Rs 3,200-Rs 4,900, Rs 4,500-Rs 75,000 will be paid from July 1.

The government has also taken back cases registered against the members of the Matar Shishu Parivar Kalyan Sangh. “The government has assured that these cases will not be pursued in the court against our members,” said Guddi Matoda, president of the Matar Shishu Pariyar Kalyan Sangh.

In Dehradun district, alone more than 200 ANMs were on strike and parents of children requiring immunisation had to back as on two occasions the immunisation could not be carried. Some of the parents were forced to approach private clinics as their children were already taken one pulse polio course.

As the ANMs will resume duty tomorrow one-and-a-half month of pending work will have to disposed off.