Dehradun, August 16
After having successfully won the fight of reinstatement of 81 displaced employees and replacement of Managing Director in question BVRC Purushottam with new MD D Santhiyal Pandiyan, fiery vice-president of Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) Raghunath Singh Negi assured a group of the Supervisors and Manager Welfare Association (SMWA) of justice with regard to their outcry against several anomalies in GMVN within a month.

Negi during an interaction with mediapersons also indicated toward revelation of a racket involving secretary-level officials of the nigam in a couple of days. He said he attended to the outburst of the SMWA who seemed completely disheartened over out-of-the-turn elevation given to some very junior employees, whereas they had been denied promotions throughout their services.

“It is sad that despite having well-qualified and experienced workforce, some officials of the nigam under a conspiracy hired people from outside on contract. Not only this, they also gave the Volunteer Retirement Scheme (VRS) to senior employees. To curtain the damage, I have assured of regularisation of Grade III who had been working for 15-20 years”.

Besides, he also talked of appointing 20 employees whose future hanged in balance because of the closure of GMVN SC/ST subsidiary company saying that, “These are the employees who despite enforcement of the Sixth Pay Commission are getting wages as per the Fourth Pay Commission. They have demanded the VRS facility for those above 50 and assimilation in other departments for ones below 50”.

Negi stressed that the genuine issues of employees had been overlooked for a long time which demoralised them to the extent that as a result the nigam started suffering and incurred losses.

“My first priority is to do the needful for employees, which include giving required facilities and promotions to the deserving candidates and even writing to the state government for it. And then to engage the enthused workforce in improving the dismal conditions of our tourist rest houses with the proper utilisation of our own funds, without taking any fund from the state government”.

Negi also brought home the point that the grievances of the employees should not go unheard. 

Dehradun, August 16
The Supervisor and Manager Welfare Association, Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam, met vice-president of the association Raghunath Singh Negi to put across their demands on Monday.

Their first demand was to get the decision to cut the one-day salary of 66 employees who allegedly met for a gate meeting on June 16 for 15 minutes cancelled. They also pressed for the revocation of the ban imposed on liquor and mining work, primarily managed by the GMVN earlier, supporting their arguments that these vocations gave huge revenue to the GMVN and employment to local youth who now felt disgruntled on losing jobs.

The association also brought some of the policies to the notice which according to them did more harm than good to the interests of the Nigam.

Citing the example of Auli, their memorandum read that it was due to the wrong policy that Auli could not develop, because of which the TRH’s had not been able to pull enough funds to sustain the salaries of the employees.

The other shock was the cancellation of reservation at the peak of the tourist season and the worsening condition of infrastructure built in wake of the South Asian Federation (SAF) Winter Games, they said.

The association also expressed resentment over managerial-level positions given to some of the lower employees on contract basis with the assurance that if they performed well, they would be regularised after one year.

They fumed that their demand to regularise third and fourth grade employees had been put off with various reasons.

They urged for the cancellation of these appointments and regularisation of their employees with effective measures. 

Haridwar, August 16
The Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, used to urge people of India to wear and use khadi in daily usage not only for self-reliance, but also to give a special identity to the Indians signifying unity. But the recent step by the Central government to slash subsidy on khadi fabric seems to contrary to the Gandhian vision.

As the discount given by the Central government on the fabric has been cut down, the khadi sellers are in a dilemma as already the sale and usage is quite restricted and with this decision the sale is bound to suffer a lot.

Perturbed by this, Khadi Ashram Stock owners have decided to agitate in a slightly different manner i.e. Gandhian style or in modern terminology Gandhigiri.

All three Khadi Stock Ashrams in Haridwar are on a symbolic agitation with the employees squatting outside the shop weaving khadi on the charkha.

Besides, Mahatma Gandhi’s portrait is also put up which is itself attracting people towards the agitation spot.

Speaking to The Tribune Purnavashi Yadav, manager of the Shri Gandhi Ashram Khadi Bhandar, said both the Central government and the state government gave discount to them on khadi fabric which made the cost of the fabric quite less. “Khadi is a fabric for all be it poor or politicians, but with waiving off the concession it will surely go beyond the reach of common man,” added Purnavashi.

Meanwhile, the Traders’ Union, too, has pitched in lending support to the agitators. Union general secretary Dr Himanshu Dwivedi said traders too opposed the Central government’s move as it would hamper the future of the khadi as well as the thousands of people involved in the industry.

Notably, the decision of waiving off concession comes in the same year when under the Union Budget an allocation of Rs 400 crore has been made for the khadi institutes presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

So, while over the decades’ khadi has been moved from the freedom fighters’ dress to politicians’ identity and has been slowly becoming a fashion garment. The slashing the concession seems to be hurting the advancement of the khadi among common man.

Dehradun, August 16
Sachin Kurve today took charge as the 52nd District Magistrate (DM) of Dehradun. He has succeeded Senthil Pandiyan as the new DM.

The 2003 IAS officer was earlier serving as DM (Tehri). Before that he was the DM of Rudarpryag and Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam, respectively.

Kurve had a maiden interaction with mediapersons at his office.

He said strengthening the public distribution system would be his first priority. He added that strengthening mid-day meal scheme at schools, BPL and delivery systems would be his chief works.

Kurve replying to questions of mediapersons said he would first need time to assess the state of affairs in Dehradun, since it was a state capital.

The DM answering a question of a mediaperson regarding land mafia grasping land in Dehradun, said he would strictly deal with such issues.

Haridwar, August 16
It was a kaleidoscopic sight at Har-ki-Pauri as the area was beautifully decorated on the Independence Day by the Multan community as the day coincided with the 100th year of the Multan Jot celebration here.

Thousands of people across the country belonging to the Multan community gathered in the Kumbh city to mark the twin occasions. The celebration started from the Chhawla House in Khadkhadi early in the morning moving towards Har-ki-Pauri spraying colours in the Tricolour with the holy “jot” to be offered to the Ganga being taken.

A procession traversed the path with local people and tourists, too, pitching in the celebrations. Milk was offered to the Ganga as part of rituals while people played the Holi with gullal. 

Pitthoragarh, August 16
The famous hilljatra mask dance of the district will represent the state in the All-India Mask Dance Festival to be held in October at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Art, New Delhi, said Dr DR Purohit, Director, Centre for Folk Performing Arts and Culture, HNB Garhwal University.

The hilljatra mask dance is participating for the first time in the festival. “A seven-day workshop will be organised in the district to find the classics of dance and its philosophical aspects,” said Dr Purohit, who is working on folk traditions of Uttarakhand for a long time.

The dance has been developed by a local dance troupe, Navodaya Parvatiya Kala Kendra. “We have staged this dance, taken from the historical village of Kumaur near Pitthoragarh town, at various places across the country, including Jaipur, Mumbai, Delhi, Surajkund and Ramnagar, so many times and won kudos for it,” said Hemraj Bisht, director of the troupe.

According to Dr Purohit, a 35-member batch of artistes from the state will be trained for the national competition. “Not only the hilljatra mask dance, but the Nanda Devi raj jat, ramman, Pandav gatha of Garhwal and anthon are also some of traditional festivals of Uttarakhand which deserve national and international recognition,” said Dr Purohit.

Nainital, August 16
The Nainital Nagar Palika has initiated a move to restart two cinema halls in town. The move will give residents the option of watching movies in the town on a big screen.

The two cinema halls have been lying shut for more than a year depriving denizens of Nainital as well as tourists of a popular mode of entertainment. The halls were shut following a litigation on the issue of their being given on lease.

The proposal to give the two cinema halls - Capital and Ashok - on lease to a firm named New Capital Cinema was approved by the Palika Board on Thursday and the decision will be presented before the High Court on August 18.

A six-member committee had been constituted to look into the matter following the direction from the High Court in April. The report was presented before the Board on Thursday following which the proposal was approved.

The approval came amid some stiff resistance from a section of the palika councillors who wanted that an open tender be floated for giving the two cinema halls on lease.

This section pointed that here is no point in giving the two cinema halls on lease for a mere Rs 5 lakh per year as the parking of Ashok Cinema hall alone is being given on a lease of Rs 3.5 lakh. However, their resistance was overruled during the voting.

Talking to The Tribune, Mukesh Joshi, Chairman of the Nagar Palika, said, “Everything is being done in a proper and transparent manner. We want the palika to get some income and, in any case, the matter is still before the court”.

The closure of cinema halls in the town had been a disappointing experience for cinema lovers as the nearest cinema hall now is at Haldwani. While multiplexes are springing up even in small towns of the country, it is surprising that a popular destination like Nainital does not have even a single functioning cinema hall.

It is learnt that the Capital Cinema hall was initially a dancing hall that was later converted into a movie theatre. While it had been a Nagar Palika property right from the beginning, Ashok was taken over by the civic body on May 1, 1948, after purchasing it from one Major PL Maroda.

For a long time, the cinema hall was being run by the New Capital Cinema firm that was giving an annual revenue of Rs 20,000 per year to the palika for every hall.

However, the controversy over the leasing out had erupted in 2004 once the lease was over. However, the local administration had extended the lease period till 2007.

Dehradun, August 16
An elephant calf was found dead by the forest authorities in Lacchiwala, Dehradun.

The six-month-old male calf got stuck while crossing a canal at Kesarwala in Raipur range of Mussoorie forest division.

The body of the calf was carried away by the gushing flow of the canal to the Lacchiwala area in Dehradun forest division.

Villagers in Kesarwala disclosed that they had informed the Forest Department about an elephant calf getting stuck in a canal, but got little response.

The villages came to know of the baby elephant getting stuck in the canal when they heard the loud noise being made by another elephant, supposedly, the mother of the calf.

The elephant and her calf were believed to be part of the herd of pachyderms, whose movement has been observed in the Sahastradhara region of Dehradun for the past few weeks.

A postmortem of the calf was conducted by three veterinarians in the presence of Dehradun Divisional Forest Officer Meenakshi Joshi at the range office after which the body was buried in Lacchiwala range.

Sources reveal that the baby elephant died of shock after it got stuck in the canal and was subsequently drowned. Interestingly, while the death of the calf is believed to have occurred in Raipur range of Mussoorie forest division, the flow of the canal carried the body to the Lacchiwala area in Dehradun forest division.

Dehradun, August 16
Uttarakhand wildlife authorities, with the assistance with the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), today busted a gang of poachers who were into selling of leopard skins in the region.

The WPSI sources reveal that acting as decoy customers, members of the society struck a deal with two persons from the Ghat area in Nandprayag at Chamoli district. The duo offered to sell leopard skins at Rs 15,000 per piece. They even handed them a leopard skin to make a beginning and promised four more skins following which they were arrested.

The arrested duo was identified as Devendar Singh belonging to Luntara village and Shivraj of Guwadak village in the Ghat area of Chamoli.

Two leopard skins were recovered from the Ghat area in July.

Rajendar Agrawal from the WPSI admitted that increased cases of man-leopard conflicts seem to have led to more of hostilities between man and the beast. He disclosed that most of the cases linked to leopard deaths were linked to positioning.

However, Uttarakhand Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Srikant Chandola lauded the anti-poaching cell of the State Forest Department on its success in busting a gang of poachers in Chamoli. He asserted the fact that wildlife poachers and smugglers being nabbed by the anti-poaching cell revealed that the department was determined to washout poachers from the region. He revealed that the Uttarakhand Forest Department was working towards setting up of an effective information network particularly in far-flung areas to check poaching activities.

Dehradun, August 16
A Kasargod boy has taken unto himself to introduce religion to schoolgoing children. Sachin George Sebastian is busy preparing pop-up books on the Ramayana and Christmas.

In his late 20s, Sachin has been working on pop-up book designing for the past couple of years. He was in Dehradun at The Heritage School to participate in Ghummakkad Narain - The Travelling Children’s Literature Festival on Saturday.

He interacted with children informing them of the art of exploring the paper form, both from a visual and structural angle.

While his pop-up book on Christmas is almost over and is expected to be released on Christmas, Sachin’s works on the Ramayana has also begun.

Christianity is his faith, but a book on the Ramayana is a self-initiated idea. He said the two books would make interesting reading for schoolchildren, who are far away from religious reading, but their newfound attraction to pop books is well known.

A paper engineer, Sachin Sebastian George is an alumni of the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, and does freelance graphic designs.

He describes the creation of pop-up books as one of best forms of creativity. “Just a piece of paper and a magic touch here, a magic fold there, can create fun and fantastic pop-up creations,” points out Sachin, who asserted that there is an increasing tendency among children to read pop-up books.

Referring to Ghummakkad Narain, Sachin said such festivals had immense importance as children in places like Dehradun got an opportunity to interact with children book authors and writers, which certainly was a rare opportunity for them.

Dehradun, August 16
If neighbouring Himachal Pradesh has its hands full, completing orders of flowers for the Commonwealth Games, Uttarakhand’s florists away from the limelight here are quietly doing their bit readying flowers expected to bloom when the Games unfold in New Delhi.

It’s the big arena and individual efforts that will see different varieties of flowers reach the Commonwealth venue, there are a couple of farmers who are eager to make a splash at the Games.

“We do not have direct orders, but our arrangement with buyers who rule the flower market is bound to be fruitful. I am aiming to supply 20,000 pots of flowers that are expected to flower between September 15 and October 5, 2010,” said Dr Akhilesh Tyagi of Flora Vale, Bhimtal.

A resident of Bhimtal, he has a poly house comprising 30,000 sq feet, which is a steady source of supply of flowers providing protection against rain and inclement weather. In fact, he began planning during the last winter season and began scouting for varieties that would stand steady, able to bear the hot Delhi climate.

For a change, it does not bother him that the government has not taken any initiative and all efforts are coming from individuals. “I am aware that Himachal Pradesh government is taking interest in completing orders for the Commonwealth. But we did not get orders of that kind, its better for us. If the government begins interfering, it leads to unfair competition there is an effort on the part on the government to encourage floriculture activities. There are several aspects that need to be addressed for example the potted plants is big business abroad. They come handy when events such as the Commonwealth Games are round the corner. It is a major industry, to provide fully grown flowers that will bloom during the Commonwealth season requires right mix of soil and judicious choice of species that can be grown,” said Dr Tyagi

Balbir Kamboj, a Haldwani-based flower grower has already set sights on supplying gladioli and carnations that he is growing in two acres and a poly house 6,000 sq metre.

“We can somehow manage production, ensuring that these flowers bloom around October, but it depends on the rates that have to be negotiated. If we manage good rates it makes good business sense,” said Kamboj, who is readying gladioli and carnation flowers for Commonwealth.

He has also entered an arrangement with Florence Buy Back Company that may be interested in offloading flowers at the Connaught Place flower market in New Delhi, ultimately reaching the Commonwealth Games.

“As such we have not been approached by the Commonwealth Games organising committee or the Delhi government for supplying flowers, but individually farmers will be selling their flowers at the flower market. We have great potential to supply flowers of all varieties but it has to be huge,” said Dr BP Nautiyal, Director, Horticulture.