Dehradun, December 21
A vigilance team of the Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL), led by vigilance officer PP Thakur, busted an interstate electricity racket on Thursday and apprehended one of the culprits, Navneet, in the Mahudabra region of Jaspur in Udham Singh district.

The accused had a tube well connection that is situated near the transformer. He was operating a floor mill through direct theft and by putting connection with this transformer. He was selling electricity to one of the UP farmers. The team was also successful to seize 300 metre of cable wire.

The emerging new pattern of electricity theft along the border districts of Uttarakhand has raised eyebrows of the power corporation officials.

As per official information provided by the UPCL, the racketeers indulge in the electricity theft with help of Uttarakhand farmers, having tube wells, flour mills or transformers in their farms adjoining the UP border. In connivance with these farmers, the electricity is being sold to the farmers of UP at an exorbitant rate of Rs 50 per hour.

With rise in demand of water for irrigation in the coming days for the rabi crop, the situation is further going to get vulnerable. The power corporation of Uttarakhand is likely to face more prevalent electricity thefts in this mode, as the border districts of UP that are reeling under the power shortage and the remoteness of the area provide them with an opportunity to flee from the site well in advance without leaving any clue.

To cope with the situation, the vigilance team has geared up its intelligence network and is prepared to take stern action against the negligent officials.

Dehradun, December 21
In a significant decision towards saving endangered tigers in forests, the State Cabinet today gave sweeping powers to newly created tiger protection force.

The State Cabinet, under leadership of Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, today finalised the service rules of the Tiger Protection Force of the state. The tiger protection force has been given powers like those given to the police under the CrPC and IPC and to shoot poachers without magisterial orders.

State government permission would be required to prosecute the tiger protection force guards for their acts, omissions or commissions. The force would only be deployed in the forests to protect the tigers.

Prinicpal Secretary (Home), Uttarakhand, Rajiv Gupta, while talking to mediapersons here today, said the Centre would bear the Rs 4 crore annual expenditure on the force and would also give a company of the force to be deployed in the Corbett National Park.

The force in all would have 111 personnel with an assistant conservator forest rank officer heading it, with three companies each headed by a ranger and assisted by six foresters and 90 guards.

The foresters and guards would be recruited directly, while senior officers would be sent on deputation from the Forest Department. Local people living on periphery of the forests and tribals, like Gujjars, would also be recruited as guards.

Nainital, December 21
Aiming to check illegal mining activities in the region, the administration is carrying out a series of raids following which illegally mined material is being confiscated.

The latest in the series were the raids carried out in Haldwani and adjoining areas where more than 11 lakh quintal of illegally mined material was detected from stone crushers that were involved in extracting material from the ground while violating norms laid down for mining. The said material is learnt to be worth Rs 2 crore in the market.

A team had raided a stone crusher unit on the Bareilly road this afternoon from where this huge seizure was made. The disparity between the stocks lying in the premises and the papers that were supposed to corroborate it pointed to the illegal activity being going on there. The violator has been slapped with a fine of Rs 50 lakh. The officials also confiscated mined material from an adjoining plot.

Later in the day, another raid was carried out in the premises of another stone crusher operating in the close proximity of the railway track. A large amount of illegally extracted material was also seized from the spot. The operations in these units have been suspended till further orders from the District Magistrate’s office.

Meanwhile, officials in Sitarganj also carried out raids in the mining area on the banks of the Kailash river early Monday morning. The officials were shocked to find dozens of labourers involved in illegal mining activity.

Seeing a team of officials arrive, the violators fled from the spot in tractor trolleys. The implements left by them were confiscated by the officials. There have been reports of large-scale illegal mining in Sadhunagar and Ukhrauli areas on the banks of the Kailash river.

Haridwar, December 21
As per the administration’s drive to prohibit the usage of the polythene in the pilgrim city of Haridwar, after carrying out mass awareness programmes, now the authorities have started imposing penalty on those traders who give goods in polythene bags.

Polythene bags are being seized. Led by City Magistrate R Shreedhar Babu, a team of municipality officers, the tehsildar and police personnel carried out raids in city markets.

While a large section of the trader community is supporting the drive, many are still selling consumer goods in the polythene bags. But, in the wake of raids, now many of them have started using paper bags or the ones made of cloth.

Giving a strict warning to those traders who are not cooperating in the clean-green Haridwar drive, Shreedhar Babu has said the current drive is a symbolic one, and if in the future the traders were found stocking polythene bags or selling goods in these then a legal action will be taken against them.

Not only the big traders but also vendors and street hawkers are being brought under the purview of the inspection.

Dr Naresh Chaudhari said despite the one-month anti-polythene campaign carried out by the administration, a large section of the trader community was still not cooperating in making the city polythene free.

“Many consumers argue when we don’t give them goods in polythene bags or inform them about the anti-polythene drive being carried out in the city. To make the campaign a success, local people and tourists should also be made part of it,” said the owner of Pawan General Store situated at Shrinath Nagar.

Dehradun, December 21
President of the city unit of the BJP Punit Mittal has lashed out all the five Congress MPs from the state for not playing their roles to get the remaining Central relief fund for the rain-hit and get the industrial package extended.

Mittal made sharp attacks on the Congress MPs saying that the Centre’s allocation of Rs 500 crore to compensate an estimated loss of Rs 2,400 crore due to rain-related disaster was pitiful and the MPs did nothing to get the remaining amount from the Centre. “The Centre had been totally biased against Uttarakhand as it had time and again spurned the demands of state to extend the industrial package up to 2017, as was fixed by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It had been interfering in the mining policies and constructing of roads in the forestland. This is affecting the development of the state. The silence of the Congress MPs in these matters is quite queer. If they can not advocate the interests of the state, then they should resign from their positions”.

Mittal gave clean chit to Mayor Vinod Chamoli when questions were hurled on him regarding the poor functioning of the Municipal Corporations. He also seemed content with the state government and said the process of the widening of the Chakrata Road was going on smoothly as the Chief Minister was quite serious about it.

Haridwar, December 21
While the Haridwar Municipality Committee is to be accorded the status of municipal corporation in the near future, the present committee is drawing flak for its poor style of working.

Now, the city municipality is embroiled into a computer “scam”. Dozens of computer systems are missing from the municipality office with the officers concerned failing to give any satisfactory explanation about the missing systems. Notably, out of 43 computers in the municipality sanctioned in 2003-04 by the government, the record of only 24 computers is available with the authorities.

Opposition councillors have demanded an inquiry into the missing computers. They have alleged that without the knowledge of the municipality officers, computers in such large numbers couldn’t have gone missing from the municipality office.

Executive Officer BL Arya says the rest of the computers are operating in other government departments. He said the Palika computers were being used at the CCR, district election office and the JNNURM office. A few computers are also given to educational institutions.

However, Leader of Opposition in the municipality Sanjay Sharma alleges that the municipality board is trying to hide the facts. There is no record about when the said departments applied for taking computers and when these took away the computers from the Palika office.

Seeking a clarification from the EO and Chairman of the Palika, councilor Satyanarayan Sharma all the computers given to other departments should be immediately brought to the municipality office. Several councillors heading sub-panel committees have also demanded the resignation of the EO in case he fails to provide the details of all missing computers.

Palika Chairman Kamal Johra accepted that a proper usage of computers is not being done in the Palika, but he owed it to a lack of computer illiteracy among the Palika employees. He denied he had any knowledge of the computers having been given to other departments.

Dehradun, December 21
The local police today arrested members of the Uttarakhand Mahila Morcha, who were moving towards the Chief Minister’s residence, near Hathi Barkala barricade. They were later released after filling personal surety bond.

The mahila manch members gathered at Gandhi Park and marched towards the CM’s residence in support of their demands. The protesters were on their way when the police officials stopped them, on which they got aggressive. They were then arrested by the police and sent to the police lines.

During the protest, the agitators said, “It has been almost 10 years since Dehradun was declared as state’s temporary capital. Various governments came, CMs appointed, everyone talked about state’s progress, but none of them did anything for development of the residents.”

Taking to mediapersons, district organiser of the manch Nirmala said the state government had been giving step-motherly treatment to Dehradun, since it was declared as the state capital. She claimed that the government was not announcing the schemes due to their own profits and this was the reason the residents were being ignored.