Dehradun, March 11
Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and head of Prime Minister’s Technology Committee, said today that all the efforts would be made to protect privacy while collecting large amounts of database under the Unique Identity project.

“All efforts would be made to protect the privacy, and the personal data compiled by us is for specific purpose only and would not be accessible,” said Nilekani while speaking with reporters at The Doon School here today.

He said a managed service provider, under the control of the UIDAI, would be tasked to run the data centre. “As we grapple with the privacy issue and system breakdown, etc, a system with some of the services outsourced but managed by us would soon be set up,” he stressed.

Nilekani, who was handpicked by the Prime Minister for the project, said it was a challenge to meet the deadline and the authority under him aimed at achieving the target of giving 600 million people unique identity numbers by the next four years. “We have already crossed the target of 3 billion and hope to speed up the project in the next coming days,” he added.

He said the authority had begun online enrolment in Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Tripura, Kerala and other states simultaneously. “We will be spending Rs 100 per person, of which Rs 50 would be spent on registration,” he said.

The project, which will cover even children, is aimed at establishing citizenship, reducing identity-related frauds, addressing security issues and preventing leaks of government schemes.

“All the states are cooperating with us, because all of them want to prevent leaks and are keen to share the data. This will prevent duplication and enhance better delivery system. We started from scratch, but the cooperation we have received, speaks volumes about the work culture we have managed to evolve,” said Nilekani.

Dehradun, March 11
The Doon School has become the first school in the region to have an effluent treatment plant (ETP).

The plant at the Chand Bagh Estate was inaugurated today by Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and the Prime Minister’s Technology Committee.

Speaking on the occasion, Nandan Nilekani said that in the next coming years, water would become an important issue and it was prudent to adopt technologies to save this precious commodity.

Echoing similar sentiments, Ranjit, a former student of the school, said that the ETP was a unique endeavour for the school that boasts of a unique watershed arrangement at the Skinners Ground.

“The water, while meandering through the upper Skinners Ground falls into the Bindal river. The water flowing through the lower Skinners falls into the Tons river. These two rivers of the Doon Valley feed this part. We have taken several steps to preserve the flora and fauna of Chand Bagh Estate,” said Ranjit in his address.

The plant has a capacity of 1.2 lakh litres and the technology adopted is an upgraded version of the Submerged Fixed Film (SAFF) aeration system. The upgraded SAFF technology combines superior oxygen-mixing efficiency and its aeration system prevents the spread of any foul smell.

The plant has been built at a cost of Rs 1.04 crore by Tigo Private Limited and is expected to consume 200 kW of electricity per day.

“I think we took the right step by adopting the technology that is environment friendly. The cost would have escalated if had we delayed the project,” said Peter McLaughlin, Headmaster of The Doon School.

Analjit Singh, Chairman of the Board of Governors, said that the ETP would reduce the reliance of the school on its tubewell. “The recycled water will be used for irrigation of the playing fields and gardens,” he said.

Dehradun, March 11
Angry at the absence of the police force in the areas where encroachments are removed by teams of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC), Mayor Vinod Chamoli has alleged that the administration and the police are not supporting them in removing illegal constructions.

“It seems that the administration as well as the Police Department is backing the encroachers as neither of them is ready to support the corporation with its staff when encroachment are being removed,” he said.

He added, “During the drive, we require a proper police force and a magistrate as people may get aggressive and attack the staff.”

The Mayor also lashed at the DGP for not providing the police force. “Most of our work is pending due to the unavailability of the police force.”

During the recent anti-encroachment drive at Kargi, the police force left the spot without informing the DMC team. As a result, the DMC team was forced to leave its task midway.

Dehradun, March 11
Representatives of various political parties burnt the effigies of the Uttarakhand Electricity Regulatory Commission (UERC) as the power consumers raised objections at a public hearing, which was held by the UERC on the matter of increase in the power tariff for the current financial year here today. The UERC will come up with new tariff rates by the month-end.

Members of the Uttarakhand Jan Manch, led by its spokesperson Devender Dhyani, said the public would no longer pay for the losses to Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited caused by the widely prevalent corrupt practices in the system. Dhyani called the formality of public hearing before increasing the power tariff a mere farce.

Several members of the Gaura Mahila Manch from the neighbouring towns of Dehradun, raised the slogan, “Roll back increment in power tariff”. Bina Bhatt, a member of the manch, complained of frequent incidents of faulty bills issued by the corporation. The corporation was also blamed for charging consumers twice or thrice the actual bill amount under one pretext or the other.

Shanti Prasad Bisht, general secretary, expressed his anguish over the steep increase in the line losses and the debt of Rs 1,800 crore on the UPCL due to these massive losses. He said: “Unless the corruption is not reined in within the corporation and punitive actions are not taken against the higher-ups, the system in the UPCL will continue to rot. A fair inquiry should be done in the matter of disproportionate assets amassed by several officials of the UPCL through nefarious means such as the purchase of inferior material while showing the vouchers of higher rates.” He also cautioned the UERC against any further increase in the power tariff.

Acting Chairman, UERC, Anand Kumar admitted lacunae in the collection of power bills. At the end of the hearing, he concluded: “I found that people are unsatisfied with the working of the power corporation. The billing system too was found faulty with the difference in the bill amount and meter reading being a common factor. The tariff charges seemed more on the base of arbitrary ad-hoc system. It also came to his notice that the employees of the corporation are not following the rules and the regulations. I have asked the MD, UPCL, to examine the complaints where they have faltered and take appropriate action, and wrap up the complaints placed by public within seven days.”

From all the suggestions, the ones which he found concrete were not to increase the power tariff for the BPL people, abolish the minimum consumption rates based on billing, and treat the inns/dharamshalas as part of the domestic category as these don’t charge electricity charges from the guests.

Certain industrial units also asked the Acting Chairman, UERC, to cease the arrangement of continuous power supply to those units, which paid 24 per cent surcharge. The public emphatically urged him they should no longer be punished for the power losses and demanded that the recovery of arrears be made in time.

The Acting Chairman, UERC, assured the public that he would try to strike a balance by being reasonable with those consumers whose power consumption was not much. He also directed Chief General Manager, Tariff, Anil Kumar to take action on the related complaints as also the Distribution chief of the Garhwal region to correct all the erroneous bills submitted during the hearing in the next two days. He also admonished the UPCL employees to be courteous with the public while handling their cases.

Dehradun, March 11
Delay in the implementation of demands of field employees by the state government forced the Peyjal Nigam Jal Sansthan Mazdoor Union to stage a protest march in front of the Chief Minister’s residence here yesterday.

The union also threatened to launch a sit-in and demonstration from March 23, if the government continued to ignore their demands. The employees have been demanding assimilation of 343 posts in the department structure and benefits of the Sixth Pay Commission.

“As many as 1,051 out of the 1,394 posts of the field employees were assimilated in the department structure in the past, but the remaining 343 were not absorbed despite Water Resource Minister Prakash Pant’s assurance to them. They are also getting the benefits of the Sixth Pay Commission,” said president of the union Pitamber Dutt Lohni.

He said the government had been adopting double standards. On the one hand, 1,051 field employees were assimilated, on the other hand, the government had left out 343 employees.

“The union office-bearers have been raising the issue with the authorities concerned from time to time, but to no avail. Also baffling is the discriminatory attitude of the authorities when they have already adopted the principle of the equal pay on similar posts. It is strange that the field employees continue to be denied benefits of the Sixth Pay Commission,” he stressed.

Dehradun, March 11
A few of the employees of the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) the appointments of whom have been declared null and void by the Board of Directors, have begun breaking their long spell of silence and gathering courage to speak against the management.

Earlier, the Board had cited findings of the inquiry report submitted by the Garhwal Commissioner that reinforced the alleged irregularities committed in the selection process.

A couple of these employees have gone to the extent of outrightly rejecting the assertion that the Commissioner, Garhwal, mentioned about the irregularities regarding their appointment criterion in his report.

Receptionist Babita Badola, who meteorically rose to the position of Regional Manager in this very selection imbroglio, is the sole emboldened voice challenging the authority’s decision. “I received a copy of the Commissioner’s inquiry report through the RTI and did not find a single comment describing any wrongdoing with regard to our selections. The Board has declared the cancellation of our appointments under the mounting political pressure,” she said.

Another employee Trilochan Nautiyal, who left an unsteady job of an instructor in a private institute to have a better career in the GMVN as the Regional Manager, also rubbished the claims of the Board of Directors. Since these appointments were stipulated for a year with a condition that if any employee’s performance was found satisfactory, he/she might be promoted as permanent. The fear is somewhere lurking in the minds of these appointees that they might be relieved after the expiry of one year of their appointment, of which eight months have already gone by.

Nautiyal though still hoped for their removal. “We expected to work hard to become permanent in our present jobs. This will be an injustice with us if we were shown the door at this stage”.

Spokesperson of the SAF Games held recently in the state, PC Thapliyal vouched for the dedication and hard work exhibited by some of these officers during the SAF Games and demanded a justified and fair play in the whole ball game initiated after the board meeting. Bodola, who has sworn to challenge the decision in the High Court, signalled towards vice-president Raghunath Singh Negi, who spearheaded the campaign against these appointments from the very beginning, for fanning the rebellion among employees against their appointments.

Denying acting under any vendetta, Negi pointed at the inquiry report saying that the Commissioner had very clearly mentioned in his report about tampering with the marks obtained by candidates, one candidate gettig selected even after scoring zero in computer and 6 marks in written exams, the ludicrous contention of the MD of giving minimum 30 marks and maximum 80 marks to the applicants and, above all, of the MD’s another feeble argument stating that he preferred not to hold lengthy written exams as the relevant books were not available in the market.

Dehradun, March 11
BJP leader Devender Dhyani has condemned Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) for continuous increase in electricity charges, which, he said was a by-product of the autocratic and corrupt set-up of the UPCL and power theft prevalent at a large scale.

Dhyani said the line loss should not increase more than 5 per cent, but in our state it was more than 37 per cent. “In reality, it has exceeded even 68 per cent,” he alleged.

“The amount that is tampered in the electricity bills are shown as line loss and the money generated from the bills is further distributed amongst factory owners, power thieves and UPCL officers.

He stated that the burden of the line loss that took place mostly in three districts of the plains, namely Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar and Dehradun, was imposed on rest of the honest consumers of 10 hill districts.

While giving an example of hobnobbing between steel factory owners and UPCL officials in Kotdwar, he said the UERC exempted the peak hour penalty of six months of these defaulters to the tune of Rs 15.5 crore.

“This way, if we take into account the total loss to the exchequer, it will amount into several billions that is charged from the consumer at a high cost of the electricity charges,” he said.

He questioned the logic of the enhanced charges, saying several hydro-projects such as Dakrani, Chapro and Kulhan were more than 50-year-old and had already justified their cost. “There are 10 big and 28 small hydro-projects where the cost per unit in big projects is fixed at 36 paisa and in some it is even 57 paisa. When purchase cost is so low, then how come the line loss is shown in billions. With a line loss of this extent, our state must be surplus in power and not require electricity for the next 100 years”.

He said he would register his protest on the increased rate of the electricity charges before the UERC.

Dehradun, March 11
Annoyed by demands of regularisation of the UGC packages and others being not fulfilled by the state government, the agitated members of the Federation of Uttaranchal University College Teacher’s Association (FUUCTA) took out a rally here today.

A large number of teachers from the Garhwal University Teachers Association, Kumaon University Teachers Association and Pantnagar University Teachers Association gathered to protest in support of their demands and shouted slogan against the administration.

The rally initiated from the Gandhi Park and gheraoed the Secretariat, where the police barricaded the protesters.

According to president of the FUUCTA Dr Sudhir Gairola, “The teachers are demanding to enforce five increments for the PhD holders, while three increments to the non-PhD holders.”

“We are also demanding to increase the retirement age of the teachers to 65 years, while providing them medical and LTC facilities,” he added.

Ramnagar, March 11
The Platinum Jubilee celebrations of the Jim Corbett National Park hit a series of stumbling blocks today.

To begin with the much-publicised workshop on the topic, “Strategies for the Preservation of Tiger Population of Corbett Landscape for the Coming 25 Years”, could not be held at the venue, a private resort situated at a distance of about 7 km from here as protesters from the Sunderkhal village, which is located adjacent to the park, prevented the event from taking place. The villagers did not allow a single forest official to enter the venue as they raised slogans against the Forest Department. They went on to hold a demonstration outside the gate of the resort. The speakers put across their views on their proposed rehabilitation and the recent tiger attacks on the villagers.

The village had witnessed the killing of four women and one man since November last year in the man-animal conflict. The Forest Department had gone ahead with the trapping and subsequent release of a tiger followed by the killing of a “man-eater”. The relations between the villagers and the Forest Department have been far from conducive.

Sources in the Forest Department said the proposed workshop was instead held inside the park.

The second stumbling block in the celebrations came when the Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh failed to turn up for an event. His inability to attend the event was conveyed to the organisers last evening and the reason given was his being busy with the Parliament proceedings.

Another dampener for the department came in the form of yet another incident of a man-animal conflict being reported from Tedha village where a woman was allegedly attacked by a tiger. The victim has been admitted to a hospital.

The platinum jubilee celebrations of the park are scheduled to continue from March to December, 2011. During the period a variety of events are to be organised.

The celebrations had started with a visit of the delegates, including top scientists, wildlife experts and the top brass of the Uttarakhand Forest Department, to the Kalagarh area for deliberations on Wednesday. This was followed by the inauguration of an exhibition on the life and times of the legendary Jim Corbett at Dhikala on Thursday.

Dehradun, March 11
As part of its commitment to improve livelihood opportunities for villagers, the Forest Research Institute today held a programme linked to the gainodarma lucidam mushroom.

Inaugurating the programme, Director of the FRI SS Negi reiterated the commitment of the institute to work for the betterment of society through its latest techniques. He apprised that participants about the different species of mushrooms that hold medicinal properties. He asked the participants to take full advantage of expertise of the FRI on the subject.

NSK Harsh from the pathology division said it was for the first time that a training programme on mushroom was being held by a prominent institution. He apprised the gathering about the simple technique devised by the FRI for the cultivation of the gainodarma lucidam mushroom.

BS Chauhan of the Mushroom Extension Division, Dehradun, lauded organisers of the training programme for their efforts. He stressed the need for holding such training programmes for the benefit of the local farmers in the future.

As many as 19 villagers, who cultivate mushroom, participated in the programme. 

Dehradun, March 11
Now Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) and Sick Newborn Care Units (SNCUs) will play a big role in curbing infant mortality rate in the state. A two-member team comprising officers from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on a visit to Doon on Tuesday asked the Doon District Hospital (Female) authorities to strengthen the hospital structure by building Neonatal Intensive Care Units.

The officials comprising Additional Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Keshav Desi Raju and Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, K Chandra Mouli, inspecting Doon hospitals and chairing the meeting of state health officials, said a concerted effort was required for improving the child and mother health indicators in the state.

“We have been told that NICU and SNCU units will be set up at Doon (Female) Hospital, while SNCU will be set up at Base Hospital, Haldwani. Similar units need to be set up at all the hospitals for women in the state,” said Keshav Desi Raju.

To popularise the use of generic medicines, it was also decided to involve the State Drug Controller., “Along with doctors upon whom it has been made mandatory to prescribe generic medicines, even the drug controller has been assigned responsibility,” said Dr BC Pathak, CMS, Doon Hospital.

The following key priority themes have been identified for priority action in 2010-11 under the National Rural Health Mission. These are Neo-Natal Mortality - Facility and Home-based Care for the Newborn, Population Stabilisation, Malaria MDR - TB, Making facilities family-friendly having water, electricity, clean toilets, lights, security and NABH/ISO certification of government facilities.

The Health Department officials said besides taking stock of the RCH and NRHM programmes, the visit was important as the Doon Hospital (Male and Female) was already seeking accreditation from NABH.

Pithoragarh, March 11
Fed up with the sale of illicit liquor in their area, women from Chaudasethi and Bastia villages of Champawat district launched an agitation on International Women’s Day on Tuesday.

They staged a dharna near the collectorate and tehsil offices of their respective areas and submitted memorandums to the officers concerned.

The agitation at Chaudasethi was led by gram pradhan Pushpa Goswami, who also met circle officer Dhani Ram Arya and apprised him of the situation in their village.

“Some anti-social elements of the village are brewing illicit liquor near the village. The illegal trade has destroyed the serene atmosphere of the village,” said Pushpa.

The village women also complained to the police that on being challenged, these anti-social elements threatened them with dire consequences.

“As no one has lodged a complaint with the police about this matter, the police did not take notice earlier. Now, that we have received the complaint, the police will take action against these anti-social elements,” said Dhani Ram Arya.

The women of Bastia village, near Tanakpur town of Champawat, took out a procession on and submitted a memorandum to SDM Shiv Charan Dwivedi.

They have complained of the growing threat of liquor mafia in their area.

“Our village comprises 100 families, among whom 53 are below poverty line card holder and all of them are labourers. Since anti-social elements started brewing the illicit liquor near our village, the women have been at the receiving end of the ill-effects of the liquor.

“The illegal trade is not only destroying the economy of the area, but also disturbing peace in the village,” said Saroj Devi, gram pradhan of Bastia village.

“One such place where illegal liquor is brewed is close to Junior High School, Bastia village,” said Saroj.

Dehradun, March 11
The Defence Instrument Employees Union, Instrument Research and Development Establishment, Raipur, continued their protest on the fifth day asking for swift action on their 12-point demands.

General secretary Dhyan Singh said employees in all the DRDO laboratories were holding serial wise protest. Singh said their protest would turn into hunger strike on March 14 and one-day strike on April 8.

Their demands included prevention of privatisation of the DRDO, direct foreign investment in defence sector, not to constitute DRDO on the recommendations of Prof P Ramarao Committee, to fill up the vacancies and promotions to the deserving employees through a committee.

Those who sat on dharna included Bimal Singh Negi, Kul Bahadur, Navin Chander, Manoj Kumar, Ramesh Chander Yadav.