Haridwar, July 24
Major tension mounted in the city when workers of political parties, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), after a verbal duel got engaged in a physical clash at the posh Ranipur area here today.

It was feared that both party activists might take law into their hands in view of the past few days developments, particularly the post-rain havoc that the city witnessed a week ago.

The incident happened when local parliamentarian Harish Rawat, accompanied by Congress workers, was on foot inspection of rain-affected areas of Ranipur, Bhagat Singh Chowk and adjacent areas.

The local BJP unit had planned to oppose the parliamentarian’s visit, citing the delay in his coming to the areas after the flood-like situation and the industrial package issue.

As the cavalcade of Rawat reached Chandracharya Chowk, BJP workers tried to show black flags, raising slogans against him. When Congress local leaders tried to stop them, it took the shape of a verbal duel.

While Congress workers lashed at local legislator Madan Kaushik for his failure to control encroachments as well as in carrying out the encroachment drive without prior notice, the BJP workers opposed the Haridwar parliamentarian for not pursuing the industrial package issue and trying to take political advantage from rain havoc that the city underwent recently.

After the verbal duel, as some bantering crossed the limits, both sides came nearer and it turned into physical violence.

Seeing the situation worsening, leaders from both sides, particularly Rawat, tried to stop them and soon with the intervention of the police, eventually both sides were separated.

Both sides lodged police complaints blaming each other for aggravating the situation. Ravish Bhatija, City Youth Congress chief, said the BJP workers had pre-planned the plot so as to stop the parliamentarian from meeting the affected people so that they could later say that he didn’t care for Haridwar.

BJP’s organisational wing’s Naresh Sharma said they were provoked by Congress workers when they were only showing black flags to the local parliamentarian.

Haridwar, July 24
Union State Minister for Labour and Employment Harish Rawat emphasised that having a proper infrastructure in Uttarakhand to cater to industrial sectors was more important than seeking an industrial package. He said the industrial package was a short-term benefit, but in the long run only infrastructure and civic facilities would matter to make the state the first choice of investors.

The minister was speaking at a seminar on industrial development in the state in Integrated Industrial Estate, SIDCUL, here. Urging political parties to think bigger with a view of development of the state, he said, “Our focus should be with a view of 15-20 years ahead and not think that SIDCUL, which is still in its nascent stage, should be a huge contributor to the state exchequer”.

“Give time to SIDCUL to fully flourish, spend on the infrastructure, highways, manpower, civic facilities, clean environment and then see it give returns in a few years time making the hilly state a real industrial hub,” voiced Rawat.

He cited the example of lack of four-lane highways, power cuts and outdated ITIs churning out ill-equipped technical students. He pointed out that most ITIs in the state had old syllabus which was proving to be insufficient when it came to industrial and professional demand.

On his works being done as parliamentarian of Haridwar, Rawat said an ESI hospital, a medical college and dental college had been sanctioned with just the allotment of land from state government side being awaited. He said on the private public partnership (PPP) mode 20 ITIs in the state had been allocated Rs 2.50 crore for their modernisation which in future would be of utmost help to the students as well as the industrial sector.

Also the World Bank had agreed to sponsor training programme of 500 odd instructors in these technical institutes so that required skilled technicians were available in abundance. This was quite essential as per the Central government’s analysis, till 2020 the need of skilled employees would be around 5 crore and till date India was not able to lessen this requirement gap.

On the unorganised sector, the minister said this was the sector which was being exploited as less expenditure was being done on this sector. He informed that various changes were being enacted in labour laws which include a minimum wages and abolishment of contractor based hiring.

Money has been released for the railway line for the Deoband-Roorkee-Kaliyar line and an additional sum of Rs 165 crore for the Roorkee bypass, including several flyovers for Haridwar, to pave way for four-lane highway. Haridwar will be fully connected with broadband connectivity gas plant to be established in 2012-13 as soon as gas pipeline reaches Haridwar-Dehradun cities.

Dehradun, July 24
Persistent cases of encroachments on the land owned by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) in the city are a regular feature. In very few cases, the DMC has been able to get the possession of its land back, but in most of the instances, the land has been encroached on for good.

Just a couple of days ago, a team led by Additional Mukhya Nagar Adhikari Harak Singh Rawat had to come back, all scared and emptyhanded from the Brahmawala area, a place massively encroached upon by the anti-social elements.

Rawat acknowledged the daredevilry of the encroachers who, he said, thrashed the corporation employees when they went to dismantle the encroachments.

“We did not get police protection in our drive as we were told that the police force is busy in securing safety for kanwar pilgrims these days. Therefore, we have decided to take it up again after the pilgrimage,” said Rawat. He informed that the area had been encroached upon on 25 different locations.

The entire city is riddled with umpteen such cases. While expressing despondency in dealing with such cases, Mayor Vinod Chamoli said, “We have been carrying out anti-encroachment drives from time to time in different parts of the city, but could not overpower it due to shortage of adequate manpower and want of coordination from other departments”.

The infringement by slum colonies on government land is a tried-and-tested method adopted by land mafia for many years. “Not only the land mafia and builders, but in many cases, the patronage from politicians too is evident behind the expansion of encroachments which has made the matter tricky for us,” he added.

Indeed, rent charged from these slum dwellers in lieu of the land is another source of steady income for the real perpetrators. The names of many leaders of a regional party were exposed by the dissidents of the same party for usurping big chunks of land in the Brahmawala area.

Another kind of space encroachment by shopkeepers and rehri pullers too has become a big headache for the corporation. The drives to remove encroachments in markets or streets have always turned out to be futile exercise, as the encroachers resume their former positions as soon as the corporation and police team leave the place.

Chamoli wants desired cooperation from other departments in making these drives a success.

“The other departments had washed their hands off from their responsibilities and imposed it wholly on the DMC. As per the rule and ethics, the encroachments on and near the banks of the river should be dealt by the Irrigation Department, the ones on roads by the PWD, construction related encroachments by MDDA and, with full assistance from police departments. But none of them is willing to do their bits”.

He suggested to revive the task force floated during the Congress regime in the state which dealt with encroachments quite effectively. “The task force comprised different departments which worked in close coordination with each other under the chairmanship of the Commissioner. It turned to be a great success. We require to reconstitute such a task-force once again to deal with the menace of encroachment stringently”.

Haridwar, July 24
Much to the chagrin of political leaders, traders and encroachers, the administration’s anti-encroachment drive continued unabated in the city giving the impression that none is above the law. Today the drive was carried out in the city’s posh area Chandracharya Chowk towards BHEL.

From Sulabh Toilet complex to the city’s posh hotel, whose owner has close connection with a Bahujan Samaj Party legislator, everything was razed by the administration.

Traders were caught by surprise when a heavy police force began to assemble at the Chandracharya to Bhagat Singh Chowk intersection followed by bulldozers at noon. Before the encroachers could do anything from their side the JVC machines began to take their guard and as per the municipality mapping they began to pull down the encroachments.

Be it cemented structures, big hoardings, illuminating sign boards and even stairs encroaching the nullahs and sewer lines every structure was razed.

Led by the SDM and in the presence of police officers, the drive continued till evening with success.

MP Harish Rawat too has condemned the action of the administration saying that an adequate time should be given to people before carrying out the drive. He said exploitation of people in the name of encroachment was not right, and warned that party workers would throng the streets if soon the drive wasn’t stopped.

Pitthoragarh, July 24
Initial monsoon rains have created havoc in the Kumaon region as 13 persons have died and more than 2.25 lakh have been rendered homeless in the Tarai region of the state.

More than a dozen rain-fed rivers have swelled submerging hundreds of villages in the lowland area of Tarai.

“Almost every town of Tarai from Tanakpur in the east to Rudrapur, Kasipur and Jaspur in the west has witnessed floods during the first phase of monsoon during last week’s rain. As much as 400 mm of rain fell in the hill region of Kumaon,” said a source related to the office of the Kumaon Commissioner, Nainital.

In the two sub-divisions - Dharchula and Munsiyari - of Pitthoragarh that received maximum rain, two persons died and more than a dozen public works were damaged.

“The villages close to the main Himalayan region are prone to cloudbursts due to which these are hit by landslides,” said Dr Manju Pandey, an expert at the Disaster Mitigation Centre, Pitthoragarh.

“Keeping in mind the possibility of heavy rain, landslides and earthquakes in the district, we have established an emergency conduction centre at the district headquarters. An expert in disaster mitigation has been made in charge,” said District Magistrate NS Negi, Pitthoragarh.

According to the conduction centre in charge Dr Manju Pandey, the forecast of rain and disasters come from various sources and is being tallied on a day-to-day basis. This information comes from all six Sub-Divisional Magistrates, tehsildars and PWD officers.

“Even DM has ordered the sub-division to be alert 24 hours keeping the possibility of all sorts of natural disasters in mind,” said Dr Pandey.

Nainital, July 24
Heavy rainfall in parts of Terai and Kumaon regions has disrupted the transport services at several places. Passengers travelling to the region have been caught unawares with damage being recorded on certain roads and bridges.

The damaged bridge near Najibabad has had a major impact on the transport services between Kumaon and Terai to Haridwar and beyond.

Without having an inkling about the damaged road, vehicles coming from Punjab, Haryana and the Garhwal region have been left stranded, as most of the drivers were not aware of the alternate routes to reach Jaspur. Even dirt roads, which act as alternate routes, saw traffic jams as a majority of the truck drivers had taken to these roads. The movement of heavy vehicles is posing a danger to these roads as most of them are kutcha roads bordering low-lying areas.

Meanwhile, an alternate route developed by people of the Nanakmatta region to function as an alternate to the damaged khakra bridge has also been washed away. The alternate route had been developed by people through a kar sewa. This put a full stop on the vehicular movement in the region.

The Khakra bridge had been damaged and, hence, closed for heavy traffic a few months back. This had led to people developing an alternate route through kar sewa under the leadership of Baba Tarsem Singh. The effort had cost close to Rs 20 lakh.

In the recent fury of rains, the road had witnessed complete submersion and was found that it had been damaged badly and even the culverts had been broken.

Haridwar, July 24
People associated with Shanti Kunj and students of Dev Sanskriti University did social service on the eve of the festival of Guru Poornima on the university premises.

About 1,200 students, officials, acharyas and employees of the university took part in the social service.

The drive was carried out at various parts of the 100-acre-spread university campus.

Vice-Chancellor Dr SP Mishra said this was being organised to inculcate a feeling of respect towards labour among the younger generation. He said their personality would enhance with respect for social works emanating by mutual coordinated work.

Shanti Kunj activists as well as university students participated with great enthusiasm.

They gave the message of cleaning one’s surroundings on the eve of the Guru Poornima festival.

So, from the university campus, yoga polyclinic, vatika, various departments, college hostels, adjacent labour slums to cow sheds, the activists held a cleaning drive changing quite a bit the look of the university in terms of cleanliness.

Chief coordinator of the programme Agam Veer Singh said the huge response aided with sincerity in the work done by the activists was quite laudable and fulfilling the motive with which the event was organised. He was aided by Baldau Devangan, Vasuki Nath Pathak, Vineet Kumar, Registrar Sandeep 
Kumar and PRO Ram Mahesh Mishra.

Later in the evening, in the presence of Chancellor of Dev Sanskriti University Pranav Pandya, a programme was organised on the life of Gayatri family founder Pandit Shri Ram Acharya Sharma titled “Guruva Ki Sudh Ayi”.

Pandya urged people, citing the example of Acharya’s life, to live an esteemed life with a devotion to work for the service of religion, culture and, above all, the nation. 

Mussoorie, July 24
Rajya Andolankari Kalyan Parishad president Ravinder Jugran on his visit to Mussoorie said the government should avoid giving plum posts to retired government officials in the state.

Speaking at a press conference, he said the officials who had already served their tenure should also think of retiring and enjoy a relaxed life after their outstanding service to the state government and give chance to the forthcoming generation to serve and be a part of the state government.

He also said by generating employment, the youth would consider themselves an integral part of the government functioning and the state’s development.

He welcomed the decision of the state government to remove the posts of Officer on Special Duty (OSD) from the departments and said such moves would lead to minimum burden on the state exchequer.

He said the retired officials should only be used on an emergency basis when no youth was available for the post or their experience was essential.

The government should also provide age relaxations for those candidates who had applied in the state Subordinate Service Commission to fill non-gazetted and Group-C government posts in 2000 and 2004 vide the advertisement published by the government. He said the government should add more posts, apart form clerical grades, in non-gazetted and Grade-C 12,000 group so that more youth could register with the Employment Exchange to apply immediately.

Dehradun, July 24
The Forest Department on the behalf of the state government is embarking upon a Harit Yojana as part of a massive plantation drive in the state.

Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank will launch the scheme on Monday. Disclosing this to mediapersons, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests RBS Rawat said over 20 lakh plant saplings would be planted in the state under the campaign that would have the participation of scores of state departments, including police, education, PWD, municipality, Dehradun Municipal Corporation and health.

“The Chief Minister will be launching the Harit Yojana in Dehradun on Monday, while various ministers will flag off the campaign in other districts,” he said. The programme will be held at the National Institute of Visually Handicapped here.

On the first day of the campaign, saplings will be planted in the 19 venues of the state. Bansidhar Bhagat in Udham Singh Nagar, Govind Singh Bisht in Pitthoragarh, Prakash Pant in Almora, Matbar Singh Kandari in Champawat, Madan Kaushik in Rudraprayag, Diwakar Bhatt in Pauri, Trivendra Singh Rawat in Haridwar, Vijaya Barthwal in Chamoli and Gopal Singh Rawat will be starting the campaign in Uttarakashi.

Rawat also pointed out that these saplings would be that of fruit trees.

He appreciated the role of the eco task force in tree plantation and hoped also for the force’s assistance towards plantation drive in the region.

He held that the Forest Department was also starting two other campaign linked to the herbs promotion and strengthening of the van panchayats.

Dehradun, July 24
The Doon Scooter India Foundation, in association with St Joseph’s Alumnus, organised a tree plantation at Montfort School in Indira Nagar here today. Around 40 persons participated.

They planted saplings of bay leaf, bottlebrush, jamun and neem.

Aromatic Plants Centre Director Nripen Chauhan also actively participated by planting some medicinal plants for the noble cause. About 40 trees were distributed among children.

Talking to The Tribune, media coordinator of the foundation Rajeev Sachar, said, “Our committee has started the programme to plant 2,000 trees in the city and we have managed to plant 200 saplings so far. The next session of the tree plantation drive will be at Doon Global School”.

The activity aims at creating awareness among people towards environment while emphasising on the garbage to compost programme. The plantation drive by youth is the futuristic approach for their better tomorrow.

Dehradun, July 24
Lance Naik Rohit Gurung, 30, of Dehradun attained martyrdom when he died in a landmine blast in Poonch district in Jammu and Kashmir yesterday morning. A Junior Commissioned Officer also got injured in the blast.

He died on the spot when he stepped over a landmine resulting in a powerful blast. Relatives and other known people gathered at his home in Jaliwala village. His father is a retired Armyman and his mother a homemaker. He also has a sister.

He was married a few years back and has a one-month-old baby. The body of the martyr is expected to reach the city tonight. The cremation ceremony will be held tomorrow morning in Chanderbani.

The Rahul brigade members received tips from state president Sunit Singh Rathore and Gen Secretary Mohan Giri Goswami. They presented Ganga jal to all present on the occasion.

Dehradun, July 24
A fraud, who recently duped a native of Chamoli district of Rs 30,000 on the pretext of getting him a job in the Roadways, was arrested here today. The police recovered Rs 3,000 and a driving licence from his possession.

The police said three fraud cases involving him had come to light and there was a possibility of more such cases in which he was involved coming to the fore.

The accused has been identified as Tikaram, a resident of Tehri district, who was earlier working as a bus conductor. An SOG team and a Doiwala police team acting on a tip-off arrested the accused.

The Dehradun SSP GS Martoliya said he was a very clever man and was used to changing his names frequently. He had duped many in the city and it was a possibility that several people, who were cheated by him and hadn’t filed an FIR, would approach the police after his arrest.

On July 14, Narender Singh Bisht, a resident of Chamoli, had complained to the police that Tikaram had extracted Rs 30,000 from him on the name of getting him a job in the roadways.

He was also involved in fleeing with a cash bag after posing as a ticket checker in a Roadways bus in December 2009. And also fleecing Rs 4,000 from one Bhagwati Prasad to make his licence.

Before this, he was also booked in fleecing Rs 25,000 on the pretext of getting job and giving the police a slip in 2008, as he fled from its custody from the Doon Hospital in 2008. The police said it was trying to book him under the Gangster Act.