Nainital, March 9
With the aim of generating awareness on the prominent developmental initiatives of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government at the Centre, a three-day Bharat Nirman Public Information Campaign was launched at Garud, Bageshwar district, yesterday, which happened to be the International Women’s Day.

Local legislator Chandan Ram Das inaugurated the campaign amidst an impressive cultural programme. He listed the efforts of the state government in bringing about development in the state in the form of the Atal Adarsh Gram Yojana and the Gaura Devi Kanya Dhan Scheme (started to prevent female foeticide). He said financial support was also being provided for education of girls under other schemes.

It has been decided that students of the state will be given priority for admission to medical colleges in Uttarakhand and those from weaker sections of society will get medical and engineering education against these seats with an expenditure of only Rs 1.5 lakh. Chandan Ram Das also said some major industries had invited 50 engineering students of the state for internship programmes.

The villagers, who had assembled at the venue, were informed about the Total Sanitation Programme (TSP). Dr Lalit Mohan Joshi of the SWAJAL project said below poverty line (BPL) families were being provided through the village pradhans Rs 3,500 each as assistance for the construction of toilets. Informing the gathering about the method of sanitation, he suggested the formation of sanitation committees in villages. Joshi also sensitised the villagers about Nirmal Gram Awards being given by the Central Government.

Block Development Officer (BDO), Garud, GS Gadiya, while elaborating on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) programme and other rural development schemes, said under the MGNREGA, in every gram sabha, employment of 100 days was being provided to those families, which applied for the same, and the wage under this scheme had been increased to Rs 130 from Rs 100.

A quiz competition on the MGNREGA was also organised on the occasion and the villagers who gave the correct answers were given prizes. Cheques were distributed among the beneficiaries of various schemes being implemented by the state Social Welfare Department and the four women, who delivered babies in 108 Ambulance, were also honoured.

The campaign is being organised by the Press Information Bureau (PIB), Dehradun, in collaboration with its sister organizations, including the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP), Directorate of Field Publicity, Song and Drama Division, All-India Radio and Doordarshan.

Deputy Director, PIB, Prakash Thapliyal said this was the 11th public information campaign in Uttarakhand. About 375 such campaigns have so far been organised in the country, he added.

Dehradun, March 9
National president of the Sarv Pradesh Gurdwara Management Committee (SPGMC) Jagdish Singh Jhinda and national general secretary Inderjit Singh Chugh nominated Harvinder Singh Ladi president of the Uttarakhand unit of the committee and Harpal Singh Sethi national vice-president.

Stirring the burning topic of handing over to the Sikh community the land in Haridwar where Gurdwara Gyan Godhri was originally built, Chugh said Sikhs from all the states of the country would gather to reach a consensus on the issue during a seminar to be held on April 22 in Haridwar.

While addressing the gathering, Jhinda said they were working tirelessly to strengthen the power of the Sikh community at the religious, social and political levels. To undertake this task in Uttarakhand, they assigned Ladi to further expand the organisation in the state. Ladi too reciprocated the gesture of Jhinda, saying that he would take up the responsibility of mobilising the Sikh community as top priority.

The others who were present on the occasion included Harbhajan Singh Anand, Ranjit Singh, Satinder Singh Sahni, Satvant Singh and Pramjit Singh.

Dehradun, March 9
With the requirement for wood in the country on the increase and an equally fast-expanding wood industry, the nation needs an appropriate national wood-use policy.

As very few trees in the wild are being felled and the requirement for wood being primarily fulfilled through agro-forestry and imports, a wood-use policy could show the way forward.

Representatives of over 50 organisations, including wood-based industries, universities and research and development laboratories, today gathered at the Forest Research Institute (FRI) here to suggest a road map for the nation’s wood-use policy.

Presiding over the deliberations, AK Bansal, Director-General, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), said building consensus towards the evolution of a national wood-use policy was the need of the hour, particularly when the requirement for wood is on the rise.

“Wood and wood composites are more environment friendly materials compared to their alternatives as their production taps the energy from the sun and sequesters carbon from the atmosphere. Thus, these have negative carbon footprints,” Bansal said.

He said even though research on wood had made significant progress, its benefits had not trickled down to the people due to the rather slow absorption of technologies by the processing industries.

Bansal said while the challenge before wood science was to develop appropriate technologies including improved sawing, seasoning and preservative treatment, research in the area of tree improvement was also required for producing better quality of raw material.

SS Negi, Director, FRI, said as there was no substitute to wood due to its carbon-sequestering quality, a national policy was needed to prolong its life, apart from ensuring less wastage.

A policy would also define the usage of appropriate quality wood at an appropriate place. He said the very basis of a wood policy was to ensure the optimum use of the available wood.

Dr Vimal Kothiyal, Head of the forest products division at the FRI, said wood utilisation research required a fresh look in a rapidly changing environment, surging demand and depleting resources.

He said wood science research encompasses both wood and non-wood materials and the term ‘cellulosic’ products was more apt than limiting one’s domain to just wood and wood products.

Wood-based research and development institutions need to provide backup support to related industries.

“Forest products research has witnessed a huge change and the FRI’s 100-year-old history is a testimony to the fact,” he said.

Dehradun, March 9
Aggrieved at the behaviour of the state government regarding the relocation of the shopkeepers who have lost their shops in the process to widen of the roads, the members of the Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti today submitted a memorandum to Leader of the Opposition Harak Singh Rawat. They have demanded for the settlement of various shopkeepers who are waiting for the government to provide them space for setting up their shops.

Anant Aakash, general secretary of the samiti, told Rawat that in the name of beautification of the city and widening of the roads, the administration had deprived them of their shops but failed to relocate them. They should immediately be provided with a proper place along with adequate compensation. Other than this he stated the administration should issue the registry in the name of shopkeepers at Indira Market after taking the full cost of the shops from them. The members also demanded ownership rights for the residents of various slum areas. They said the MDDA should be scrapped and the charge be given to the Municipal Corporation and the Zila Panchayat.

Rawat assured them that he would see to it that they did not become victim of any politics. He stated that the administration should have relocated the shopkeepers before depriving them of their shops. “If the government cannot provide employment to any person it has no right to take it away also,” he added.

“The High Court has passed the orders regarding the beautification and widening of the city roads but has also mentioned that it should not be done without settling the people affected by the process. But, the Uttarakhand Government is deaf and dumb and its working during its four years in office is displeasing,” Rawat said.

Haridwar, March 9
Two days after cracking the twin murder case, the Haridwar police has busted an inter-state gang which committed a 2,500-kg nickel theft at the Aman metal furnishers’ factory, industrial area, SIDCUL, in January, which had put fear in the minds of corporates here.

In the heist, a total of 16 members of the gang were involved. They first caught hold of the factory security guards and took away the hard disc of the closed-circuit camera television (CCTV) to make sure no evidence was left.

This had given the police a clue that those involved were professionals, as the way they carried out the theft was similar to those in the districts of Ghaziabad and Moradabad.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Sanjay Gunjiyal told The Tribune that the mastermind, Raja Ram, aged 70 years, used to devise theft plans and coordinate with other gang members.

A special investigation team was formed under the monitoring of SP (City) Dr Kiran Lal Shaw and Assistant Superintendent of Police Nivedita Kukreti Kumar.

Four members of the gang were arrested on a tipoff. A high-level police team cornered the farm area, barricading the link to the highway. Three police parties cordoned off the spot.

An additional force neared the suspects, who tried to flee in an Alto car. The police nabbed the four of them with 200-kg nickel plates. The car was found to have been stolen from Haryana.

On interrogation, Raja Ram of Basti, Laxman Dwarahat of Almora, Vijay of Faizabad and Rajkumar of Lalganj confessed to their involvement in multiple thefts and revealed the names of other members of their gang.

“This gang used to deftly plan and execute thefts, making sure that there was no CCTV footage. They visited the site many times prior to the theft and issued fake SIM cards,” Gunjiyal said.

Nainital, March 9
The Lake City gave a theatrical tribute to Bollywood actor Nirmal Pande, fondly known as Nanu here, on his first death anniversary in the form of excellent theatre performances that

began at the Chalet Hall here last evening. The family, friends and associates of Nirmal, who hailed from this small town and had gone on to make a name for himself in the world of theatre and films, have organised a two-day theatre festival in his memory.

The event got off to a flying start with a series of skits directed by Bhuvan Bisht. The presentation under the name of “Guldasta” hit hard at the social facades and the rampant hypocrisy in the name of morality that has become a norm of the day.

This was followed by an excellent solo performance, named “Joota”, by local artiste Anwar Raza, who represents the Kutumb Theatre Group of Nainital. His performance revolved around the plight of a clerk who driven by economic hardship is unable to purchase a new pair of shoes for himself. The performance drove home a strong social message.

Then came a spell-binding comedy performance from artistes from the National School of Drama (NSD) named “Koi Baat Chale”. The trio of Hema Bisht, Vinod Sharma and Tikam Joshi regaled the audience with a near-perfect performance that dealt with the increasing trend of fixing marriages through marriage bureaus and the mushrooming of such institutions in present-day society. Interspersed with musical score of the great RD Burman given in the ’70s, the play turned out to be a complete entertainer.

But the best had been saved for the last. The children from Almora, who are affiliated with the group Disha, came up with a stunning performance in Kumaoni. They presented a play named “Teen Kath” (Three Stories) which had three folk tales that had been juxtaposed. The folk tales presented through the one-and-a-half hour presentation were “Kaafal Paako Main Ni Chakho” (I Did Not Eat the Ripe Kaafal), “Aath Pat Pat Sol Chain” (Eight Twos Are 16) and “O Din Didi Jag Jag” (Time to Wake Up Didi).

The first tale is a social story that has the spring season of mountains at its core. It gives the message of not doing anything in haste.

The second story is about poor Brahmin Pinglat and his sweet-and-sour relationship with his wife. It gives a message of staying away from the dogmas of tradition and also points at the fact that one has to tell a series of lies just to cover up the first one.

The third one is about the practice of child marriage and the relationship between a mother-in-law and her daughter-in-law. It talks about the plight of women residing in mountainous areas.

The presentation was a successful experiment which had the musical score based on Kumaoni folk songs. It was an effort to bring to life the depleting culture of the land. The child artistes were helped by senior artistes in the production. The children participating were from the different schools of Almora.

Dehradun, March 9
Five persons died and four others got seriously injured in two separate road accidents in the past 24 hours in Chamoli district.

A Bolero car (UK 07T 1601) met with an accident on the Rishikesh-Badrinath national highway near Kodiya village when it hit with debris on the road and fell into a gorge. It was going to Gopeshwar from Joshimath. Two persons died on the spot, while the remaining two were admitted to the district hospital.

While in last night’s incident a Max car (UK 07-TA 0373) with five occupants skidded off the road and fell into a 200-m gorge near Adi village. The bodies of two deceased were retrieved last night by the local police. The body of the third deceased was recovered in the morning later. The police said condition of the injured is serious.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank expressed grief over the accident and expressed his condolence through a press communiqué today.