Pitthoragarh, December 20
The police has found no evidence of murder in the death of senior Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) leader Ghanshyam Joshi who was found dead in a Jeep last week. The investigation into the case followed the lodging of an FIR by the wife of the deceased leader who was also a senior advocate.

“The post-mortem examination report indicated that it was the case of a natural death, and after the investigation, no evidence of any foul play was found,” said Pitthoragarh Superintendent of Police Nilesh Bharna.

“After the deceased leader’s wife cast suspicion on the driver, the police questioned the driver of the vehicle of Hiltron Chairman Kashi Singh Airy, but it seems that the death was caused due to excess consumption of liquor,” said the SP.

Workers of the UKD and members of the Bar Associations of Pitthoragarh, Didihat, Dharchula, Champawat and Khatima have demanded a fair investigation into the death of Joshi.

Pitthoragarh, December 20
Amid boycott of judicial work by members of the Didihat Bar Association, who are demanding a probe into the death of Ghanshyam Joshi, senior advocate and UKD leader, Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice Barin Ghosh today visited Pitthoragarh and Champawat District Courts and met the Bar members.

“The Chief Justice reached Munsiyari on Friday and visited Champawat and Pitthoragarh District Courts on Saturday,” said a spokesperson for the association from Pitthoragarh.

“Addressing the Bar members in Pitthoragarh Judicial Complex, the Chief Justice instructed the judges to speed up the disposal of pending cases and appealed to the Bar members to be instrumental in speeding up the delivery of justice to the common man,” said Ajay Bora, secretary, District Bar Association, Pitthoragarh.

“The Chief Justice reached the Gorilchor ground on Saturday evening and met members of the Champawat Bar Association. He appealed to them to help in restoring common litigants’ faith in the judicial system of the country,” said BS Murari, secretary, Bar Association, Champawat.

The Chief Justice also visited the sacred spot of Mayawati established by Swami Vivekanand some 109 years back in Champawat and mediated for sometime there.

Mussoorie, December 20
Youth and NSUI workers welcomed Congress leader Megh Singh Kandari after his bail was accepted by the court in Dehradun. He had been charged with preventing a police personnel from performing his duties in Mussoorie yesterday.

The supporters of the Congress leader burst crackers and gave a rousing welcome to him at Picture Palace late night.

Kandari thanked all on the occasion and said the tirade against incompetent policemen would be carried out till the time their demand of punitive action against the erring police personnel was met.

Trader Association president Rajat Agarwal said they had not done anything wrong and the police had acted unlawfully.

Dehradun, December 20
In the Anupama murder case, accused Rajesh Gulati, who was supposed to give his statement before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) in the district court here, expressed inability to do so, citing his unstable mental state as the reason. The CJM fixed December 24 for the next hearing.

The CJM had accepted the request of the police investigation team for getting writing and signature specimens of the accused. These were later taken and sealed in an envelope and given to the police.

Inspector, Garhi Cantt, Arvind Singh Rawat, said, “The signature specimen will be matched with the signature of the accused which he had made on the voucher to buy the fridge in which he had hidden his wife’s body. The police has managed to get that voucher from the salesman of the shop. His thumb and fingerprints taken from the murder site will also be matched with the fresh specimen. The signature and writing specimen will then be sent to experts for further corroboration in the case”.

On the matter of the accused’s inability to give statement in the court, Senior Superintendent of the Police Martolia said after spending two days in jail, the accused, who was earlier baffled, had got freshened up and guided by fellow jail inmates and his advocate.

The SSP seemed unperturbed about the possibility of the accused playing similar tactics in future as well. He said, “It does not matter to us whether the accused accepted his involvement in the crime or not, as we have enough proof to implicate him. Furthermore, finger prints of the accused and the DNA test of the victim’s parents who have

agreed to come on Tuesday in this regard, will do the needful to nail him”.

In the morning, while sitting in the police van in the court premises, the other accused sitting beside Gulati, had a minor scuffle with a few mediapersons when they tried to question and videograph him. 

Dehradun, December 20
Agitated over the stepmotherly treatment by the Cantonment Board, members of the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee today submitted a memorandum to the district executive engineer asking him to ensure that the area of Prem Nagar was treated well by the board.

Vijay Singh Chauhan, state secretary of the committee, said all construction work done by Cantt Board in the past two years, whether it was the construction of roads, streams etc, were not perfect as quality material was not used for it.

He further said the area just had 1,213 sanitation employees, due to which cleanliness had almost ended in the area. There were many employees who were not working as sanitation workers. Instead they were doing some other work. They also demanded proper roads and street light for the area. 

Dehradun, December 20
A leopard that caused scare among local residents was caught in a trap laid at Bhopal Pani (Ballawala) by Forest and Wildlife Department officials here today.

The leopard was caught at the solar fencing at Kiduwala range. Later, a rescue team, led by DFO, Mussoorie, Ram Gopal Verma and Veterniary of Raipur area Dr Shailender Bisht, rescued the animal with the help of a trap.

“We had used a tranquilizer and then set the cage for the animal. The male leopard is safe and has now been brought to the Kiduwala range,” said Verma. He said the caged animal was fine and appeared really scared as it sat in a corner of the iron cage away from the presence of a large number of curious onlookers.

Nainital, December 20
Agitated over the prevailing problem of low voltage and the failure of the administration to get the power lines damaged in the rain-related disaster repaired, the Gram Pradhans and Zila Panchayat members of Bhimtal block have threatened to launch an agitation from the middle of the next month.

Taking up the issue at a meeting of the Block Development Committee held at Bhimtal today, the agitated public representatives urged the officials concerned to get the lines repaired by January 15.

Local legislator Kharak Singh Bora called for rebuilding the devastated water supply schemes in a transparent manner as early as possible. Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government in the state is facing resentment among people of the Kumaon region for its failure to get the devastated water supply schemes repaired.

Chief Development Officer (CDO) Deepak Rawat asked the Gram Pradhans to send to him proposals for the repair works needed on the projects destroyed in the rain-related disaster at the earliest so that the required funds could be sanctioned for those.

It was disclosed that 103 proposals had been received and Rs 73.95 lakh had been sanctioned for the same. It was also disclosed that for the next financial year, 1070 proposals for various schemes to be implemented under MNREGA had been received and a demand for funds worth Rs 12.74 crore had been forwarded to the department concerned.

Dehradun, December 20
Going against the decision of the state government as well as the administration, Mayor of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) Vinod Chamoli said today that all the illegal hoardings would be removed, as the board had given its nod for their removal. “The matter is still sub judice, but if all the councillors get together I am ready to go against the government.

Though the court has declared that all the hoardings installed after March, 2010, as illegal, it was due to the interference of the government that the work was stopped midway,” he said. While some of the councillors protested the removal of the illegal hoardings, many seemed to be happy with the decision taken during the board meeting.

Talking about the encroachment in various parts of the city, Chamoli said shifting back the shops that had encroached upon the government land was no solution to the problem as the traffic was increasing day by day. “I am always against the encroachment in the city. But, I cannot go beyond the decision of the administration. The nigam was planning to remove the encroachment and shifting of shops and due to this we were not taking any tax from the shopkeepers that are located at the Tehsil chowk. But, instead of shifting the market, the shops are being moved some inches back. This is not a resolution to the problem as the problem will increase with the time,” he affirmed.

The Mayor said they would ask the Survey of India to start a GIS mapping of the land that belonged to the nigam. “We would track details about all the nigam lands and check it whether anyone has encroached upon it or not. The action would be taken against the defaulters,” he added.

When one of the councillors told him that eunuchs were creating a lot of trouble for the residents, the Mayor said a committee was required to be constituted to look into the matter. Other than him, it should include the District Magistrate, police officials and NGOs who would identify the problems created by the eunuchs and fix the rates of the “shagun” taken by them.

Regarding the fish market, the Mayor said all councillors should search for a place to relocate the market. He also asked the officials to prepare a draft so that the slum areas could be made free-hold places. 

Dehradun, December 20
To spread awareness regarding Pre-Natal Determination Test (PNDT) Act in the state, the women’s cell of MKP PG College, Dehradun, organised a one-day Capacity Building Workshop here today. The workshop was conducted at the college auditorium under the project Shrinkhala 2010-11. The project is being run in collaboration with the Department of Medical Health and Family Welfare, Government of Uttarakhand.

The workshop commenced with the registration of 52 master trainers as well as students of the college. Following it was the assigning of role activity for participants and experience sharing. The chief guest for the formal inauguration was HC Bhatt, Director-General, while the guests of honour were Dr Asha Mathur, Director, Health and Family Welfare, Uttarakhand, Dr Abha Chaudhary, Chairperson, Anugrah, a social organisation, New Delhi, Rakesh Dhawan, RK Pant, Chief Medical Officer, Dehradun, Dr AP Mamgai, ex-Director, National Programme.

On the occasion, the chief guest also released a calendar followed by a presentation on the “Implementation and Implication of the PNDT Act” by JC Pandey, IEC officer, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Uttarakhand.

A presentation was also made by students of BA III (psychology) on the “Relevance of sex education in schools and colleges”. Dr Geeta Balodi, convener of the women’s cell, then gave an introduction of a film on female foeticide after which a film on female foeticide “Sankalp” was screened.

The post-lunch session saw a presentation on “Female foeticide, identification of the roots and their eradication through the youth” by Dr Elvy Dass, member of the women’s cell, MKP.

The participants were given practice time for role-play activity. The final dates for a district workshop were decided and the programme culminated with the distribution of certificates to the participants. 

Pitthoragarh, December 20
Taking cognizance of frequent motor accidents on roads of Pitthoragarh and Bageshwar districts, the 108 Emergency Medical Services today started a 10-day-long road safety campaign which was flagged off by Pitthoragarh District Magistrate (DM) NS Negi in the presence of the SP and the Chief Medical Officer of Pitthoragarh.

“On analysing the past 30 months data, we found that motor accidents on the roads of the district are on the rise. It has only one reason, that of violating traffic rules,” said Notiyal, district coordinator of the service.

Elaborating the services rendered by 108 Emergency Services, the Pitthoragarh DM praised the quickness of the service and said some more aspects, like displaying traffic rules from time to time should be added to it.

“The service, while observing traffic safety rules, should be aimed at the youths who drive vehicles without helmets and after taking liquor, besides using mobiles while driving on the roads,” said Pitthoragarh SP Nilesh Bharne.

According to the 108 Emergency Service network, a total of 2,29,617 motor accidents were reported in the state between May 15, 2008, and December 15, 2010. “Most of these accidents were the results of violation of traffic rules,” said Notiyal.

Haridwar, December 20
With the winter season on, illegal hunting of animals etc in the Rajaji National Park is on the rise with several cases of illegal hunting and netting of fishes coming to light. Early morning a vigil team of the park finding a suspicious movement within the park’s Chilla range found a person with several jute bags.

On seeing the park employees, the person tried to flee, but was unable to do so as he was carrying heavy bags in which half a dozen kg of fishes were stacked. The person, named Hanif, a resident of Bijnore district in Uttar Pradesh, accepted that he was illegally fishing from the protected area of the park in Chilla range.

Hanif confessed that he had a couple of times earlier also intruded in the park’s prohibited territory and used to supply fish in the open market, and that a few other locals were involved in the illegal trade.

Informing about this, Chilla Ranger MS Negi said the arrested man had been booked under the Wildlife Act and vigilance in the park range had been intensified. 

Pitthoragarh, December 20
Nearly 40 per cent water being wasted due to leakage in drinking water projects of Uttarakhand could be saved by installing a computerised system of monitoring at these schemes, as introduced in Brazil. This has been stated by Prakash Pant, Drinking Water Minister.

The minister was talking to mediapersons after his return from Brazil, where he visited many towns to witness the method of minimising loss of water due to the leakage in water supply.

“After our delegation returns from Brazil, we will discuss introducing the Brazilian method of saving valuable drinking water by installing the computerised system of monitoring at the potable water projects in the state. The whole process involves a big spending,” said the minister.

Brazilian nationals have not only curtailed water losses due to leakage to less than 7 per cent, but also have expertise in water distribution in small towns, said Prakash Pant, adding that under the computerised monitoring introduced in Brazil even a small leakage could be traced, and plugged in time.