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Rs 14.81 cr water-supply scheme launched
GMVN Rest House Scam |
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U’khand Tourism office wears deserted look
3 super specialists at Doon Hospital resign
Mayor meets MC officials
Illegal slaughter: Owner fined, licence cancelled
Abducted businessman found murdered
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Rs 14.81 cr water-supply scheme launched
Mussoorie, November 27 Speaking on demand of announcing Kempty as tehsil, he said he would look into the matter on priority basis. At Jakhdaar, he said the government has agreed to the demand of water supply scheme that would cater to a large number of villagers of the area. The scheme has been framed under the NRDWP and is located on the Dehradun-Mussoorie-Kempty-Yamnotri motor road. The water will be pumped from the Yamuna in several stages. The tapping point will be 250 m below Naingaon. The scheme will cover 10 gram panchayats with 90 habitations, including 17 Nyay Chetra, 31 panhchayat chetra, 42 FC and 20 schools. More than 10,000 villagers will benefit from the scheme. With this scheme, 705 households will receive drinking water connection. The civil works to be initiated under the project includes one dry intake well at Naingaon, one raw water sump, rapid gravity filter, clear-water sump. Three Sump pumps, a supply main G1 medium pipe of 34.05 km and 260 stand posts will also be installed. The area has witnessed severe drought in the past several years and residents have been demanding clean drinking water on a regular basis. Sports and Disaster Management Minister Khajan Das welcomed the CM and stated that under his leadership, the state was on a speedy path of growth and development. Addressing the gathering, the CM congratulated the villagers of Jaunpur Block and said this scheme was a result of concerted effort of Minister Khajan Das, who had promised the same to people during his first elections. He also said more than 19 villages would be benefited from the scheme. Nishank said this was the first time that a project amounting to Rs 14 crore had been sanctioned in the area. He also said the tender process had been completed for the projects. He further said more than Rs 34 crore schemes had either been inaugurated or dedicated to the people, including the beautification of the Kempty Falls and providing better parking lots in the area. Highlighting the achievements of the government, Nishank said the state government had addressed the grim situation arising due to the natural calamities that occurred during the monsoon effectively. He said the government had promptly provided interim relief to all affected persons. He also said the work had been appreciated by even President of India Pratibha Patil. Nishank also said more than 35,000 people were saved during the natural calamities that occurred in the state recently. More than 600 projects had been sanctioned in the region. The CM reiterated the fact that Uttarakhand was the fastest emerging state of the country and had got a stamp of approval in a conclave held in New Delhi. He also highlighted various schemes under which cheap foodgrains would be provided to the poor people of the state. He said the women have been the beneficiaries through various schemes. He did not forget to mention the success of 108 EMRI services in the state. Khajan Das presented a handmade woollen coat and a traditional cap to the CM on the occasion. Senior BJP leader and President of the Khel Kalyan Parishad Narayan Singh Rana said the CM had been generous towards the region and the Water Pumping Scheme would address the drinking water problem of the area. Members of the Rajkiya Shikshak Sangh also presented a memorandum to the CM demanding transfer of those teachers who are serving in remote areas for the past 15-20 years. They also demanded that the teachers be given pay according to their seniority. |
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GMVN Rest House Scam
Dehradun, November 27 Without elaborating much on the names and cities so as to take the culprit by surprise, he hinted that some 12 such wrongdoers, including the ones stationed at Char Dham sites were on his target and would soon be punished and replaced with those who have impeccable professional background. “These are the people who have been working at the same place for more than 10 to 15 years and have gradually created their own guest houses in name of their family members and relatives,” he added. Taking undue advantage of their positions, they had been found guilty of diverting the tourists from the government rest houses to their own guest houses by providing the rooms at cheaper rates. “This practice has indeed dented our business in a big way in these places of great tourist interest,” he added. As remedial measures, he said he would take proper legal action against them after collecting sufficient evidence and transfer them to distant places. He also took a dig at Public Relation Officers of 12 zones spread across the entire country, who (according to him) were rolling in wealth despite their meagre salaries by promoting private tour operators/packages than of GMVNs. “Many of these PROs, who are paid a salary of Rs 6,000 per month come by air to attend meetings at GMVN. They have bought plush flats and swanky cars in their respective cities, which also lays bare their nexus with private operators and the reasons as to why GMVN had been having zilch business in these areas. Therefore, I am going to tighten noose around these erring officials by ordering an enquiry about details and means of their assets”. Negi said these new revelations were a part of his consistent campaign “Save GMVN, crush corruption”, where he would make sure to punish those who had been denting the nigam and reward those who had tirelessly been working without getting acknowledged ever. Under this campaign, he said he would also honour the officers from the Vigilance Department, who caught corrupt Office Superintendent JK Sud of GMVN for his alleged financial irregularity
quite recently. Negi also remarked that his efforts had started bearing fruit, under which the decision of the state government on the alleged irregularities shown in the selection of seven high-level posts would come on November 30. He said soon a government order, too, was going to be announced for the regularisation of 700 temporary employees of the nigam. |
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Collectorate staff strike enters day 3
Dehradun, November 27 People were seen facing a tough time at the local tehsil, SDM and Collectorate offices, as they could not get their work done and had to run from pillar to post. Reiterating immediate fulfilment of their pending demands like implementation of staff-pattern in Collectorate and restructuring of Collectorate, the agitating employees threatened that in case the government continued to backtrack from what it had promised them in 2008, they would stage an indefinite protest all over the state next month. “If the state government continues to turn a deaf ear to our concerns, we will sit on indefinite dharna after December 15. We have asked all related departments from the state to present their representations by mid of next month and thereafter, we will fix a date for the indefinite strike,” president of Uttarakhand Collectorate Ministerial Employees Organisation RP Semwal told The Tribune. “Keeping in mind the natural calamities that took place in September, the organisation had already delayed the strike that was slated for September this year, still there is no response from the government,” he added. Semwal affirmed that the administration had constituted a committee under leadership of Commissioner of Kumaon division to look into their 11-point charter of demands and was also asked to submit a report related to the Collectorate’s re-organisation, revenue manual and Collectorate Ministerial Service Rules-1980, after they went on the indefinite strike in December 2008. He further said in the February this year, the state government has passed the order regarding the staff pattern, which has been started in all departments except in the Collectorate, which had been actually fighting for it. “It has been two years that the employees are fighting for their demands. The state government has made the post of a senior administration officer over 10 ministerial staff in all departments except in the Collectorate office,” maintained Rawat. The staff would resume to work from Monday. |
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U’khand Tourism office wears deserted look
Dehradun, November 27 The only officer Deputy Director Chander Sen was seen in the office at 12.30 pm. The other officer, Joint Director AK Dwivedi was said to be in Auli on official duty. The other Joint Director AK Singh was said to have gone to either to the Secretariat or to attend his ailing brother. The finance controller was not in office due to his multiple official charges. Among the second rung of administrative officers, CB Dhulia was away to supervise the construction work of UTDB’s upcoming office near IHM premises; Ramesh Semwal was absent from his chair and staff officers Sher Singh Rana, PD Joshi and KK Raturi were on leave. Accountant PN Pokhriyal was found absent and his clerk RD Bhatt was on leave. The rest of the rooms were found empty. Different versions came up for the disappearance of the occupants. The few seen sitting were found gossiping. An office boy explained that since the year-end was approaching officials were availing their allotted ‘leave’ before these got expired. Chander Sen was disappointed as no one was around to give him water, leave alone bringing files. “I can not afford to pull up anybody here as they tend to abuse or resort to a strike,” he said. On being told about the official availing leave before year-end, he said in disgust, “I had instructed even if officials should go on leave, some should be able to look after official work. But nobody listens here”. One wonders about the state of tourism in such circumstances, when other states are giving due priority to tourism. |
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Tributes paid to social activist Mata Damyanti Kapoor
Haridwar, November 27 Giving voice to the suppressed voices of women, Mata Damyanti vociferously stood for the education of women and worked for the improvement of their social status throughout her life. Born to the family of Acharya Ram Dev and Vishnu Dutt Kapoor, she was given the last farewell at the Kankhal-situated funeral ghat after she died in Dehradun after a prolonged illness. Arya Samaj representatives from every region participated in the last rites. Gurukul Kangri Unviersity Vice-Chancellor Prof Swatantra Kumar, who along with Ashwin Kumar and Varun Kumar gave fire to her pyre, termed her death as an irreparable loss to society and the university. Prominent among those who attended the last rites were Prof Mahavir Aggarwal, state Cabinet minister Madan Kaushik, Arya Pratinidhi Sabha’s Vimal Badhawan, Devraj from Uttarakhand Arya Samaj, Subash Vidyalankar, Pt Ramnat Vedalankar, Pt Vishnu Dutt Acharya, Hargopal Shastri, freedom fighter Tugal Singh, Dr Sangeeta Vidyalankar, Dr Pradeep Joshi, Kartar Singh, US Bisht, Ambuj Sharma, Saroj Nautiyal, RD Kaushik, Virendra Chopra, Satyaprakash Bhatt, Yogesh Yogi, Kulbhushan Sharma, Pankaj Kaushik, Gurukul employees, students, school staff and localites. As a tribute Gurukul University remained closed today and will remain closed on Monday too. The immersing of ashes will take place at Kankhal tomorrow at 3 pm, while at 60 Rajpur Road, Dehradun, a “shanti hawan” and “shradhanjali sabha” will take place at the same time. |
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Law Festival celebrated at petroleum varsity
Dehradun, November 27 Justice Verma motivated students to turn into distinguished lawyers with professional ethics and good governance as their motto. He also stressed on the need of professional values while discharging public responsibilities. Chandhiok
focused on study of statutes in detail. He talked of amalgamation of the past, present and future for the development of the profession. Justice Manju Goel was also a present at the ceremony along with other senior advocates from the Supreme Court. In order to promote academic work on social issues, the university announced the establishment of the Justice JS Verma Chair at the College of Legal Studies, UPES. |
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Manpreet Kochar is Miss Personality
Dehradun, November 27 The contestants were judged by Asha Negi (Miss Uttarakhand 2009), Vineeta Juyal (Centre Head, Alvon Academy), Vineet Jain (Director, Alvon Academy) and Manvi Kotnala (Centre Academic Head) on the basis of their overall look, the way a participant greeted during the interview, their attitude, body language and answers of the questions they were asked. The winner was awarded with a certificate and a gift hamper by the academy. The pageant is organised by Sinmit
Communications. They have also started a contest “Viewer’s Choice” from today onwards and people can vote them on Orkut, a networking site. The candidate who gets the maximum votes will be chosen as “My Miss Uttarakhand”. The result of this contest will be declared on December 3. |
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3 super specialists at Doon Hospital resign
Dehradun, November 27 Now the hospital has only the services of neuro surgeons Pankaj Arora and Navin Ahuja. Urologist Vikrant Pathak and plastic surgeon Mohit Goyal have already shifted to the Coronation Hospital, being developed as a speciality centre. Dr Vikram Singh, a private nephro physician, had resigned in April. Recent resignations have opened up newer possibilities for the government. The
super specialists await renewal of contracts and mandatory pay hike on which the decision is awaited. While raising salaries of the contractual super specialists, the Health Department will now hire new super specialists. The government is expected to re-advertise the posts by February 2011, with newer terms and conditions, to ensure greater accountability. Dearth of super specialists in Uttarakhand has forced the Health Department to scout for private doctors with higher pay scales, a contract for one year and reduced working hours as compared to government doctors. In fact, bowing to the demands of super specialists, a meeting was held to discuss pay hikes, which remained inconclusive, as most of them are demanding a 50 per cent hike taking their monthly salaries to Rs 1 lakh. |
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Mayor meets MC officials
Dehradun, November 27 The Mayor directed them to start the dual account system, passed under the JNNURM Reforms, immediately. He further directed the officials to ensure that the computer networking work was done as soon as possible and the
data of all departments was updated. Other than this, the officials have been asked to make sure that jobs like licence, property tax, registration of birth and death etc were done online, in the first phase of e-governance. |
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Students from J&K meet Governor
Dehradun, November 27 During interaction, the children informed the Governor that they were highly impressed by the Delhi Metro and the Taj Mahal. She interacted with students and asked them about their hobbies and other choices in life. Meanwhile, the entourage also visited premier institutions of the Forest Research Institute (FRI) and the Indian Military Academy (IMA). The students were motivated and impressed with the conduct of their tour at Dehradun and vowed to spread a message of goodwill and peace in Jammu and Kashmir.
— TNS |
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Illegal slaughter: Owner fined, licence cancelled
Dehradun, November 27 The MC came into action after some of the People For Animals (PFA) volunteers raided a mutton shop in the Kanwali Road area in the morning and nabbed the shop owner while he was illegally slaughtering animals. PFA Uttarakhand representative Gauri Maulekhi informed the matter to Chief Executive Officer of the MC. Subsequently, senior health officer, Dr Gurpal Singh visited to the site, slapped a fine of Rs 5,000 on shop owner Vipin Kataria and cancelled the licence of the shop. The sheep saved from slaughter were sent to the PFA hospital for treatment. According to MC sources, the corporation provided licences for meat shops, but animals killed for meat could only be slaughtered in the Bhandaribagh area. However, there were reports of animals being slaughtered illegally at many sites across the city, which involved not only cruelty towards animals, but also posed a serious threat to public health, including consumers of such meat. |
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Abducted businessman found murdered
Nainital, November 27 A resident of Rahamkhani Mohalla of Shyam Nagar, Gupta had gone out on a pleasure trip on the evening of November 24. When he did not return, his family members started looking for him only to find his motorcycle near the government hospital. His father had allegedly received a call from an unknown person stating that his son had been abducted. The caller had demanded a ransom of Rs 20 lakh. Upon locating Gupta’s body the police sent the shirt worn by the deceased to Kashipur, as it bore the name of the tailor who stitched it. It was through the shirt that the family members of the deceased were found and his body was identified. The police is still looking for the abductors. |
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