Haridwar, March 30
Being himself an avid exponent of Hindi and Sanskrit languages, Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank emphasised upon need of making Hindi popular worldwide.

The CM stated this today at the two-day 63rd Annual Hindi Convention, organised at the Nishkam Sewa Trust, Prayag, Haridwar.

“The day when the Hindi language will be widely used in Parliament, Supreme Court, High Courts and Union Public Service Commission, only then we can deem the language to be really the national language of the country,” said Nishank. The CM was also accorded the highest honorary degree Sahitya Vachaspati by the organising committee at the convention.

Citing growing acceptance and recognition of Hindi in other parts of the world, the CM said, “Foreign students in India are quite interested in learning Hindi”.

Chief of the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan Vibhuti Mishra said, “The language has been binding society owing to its mass acceptability”.

Dehradun, March 30
Uttarakhand Opposition leader Harak Singh Rawat today announced that the Congress would probe all the scandals of the state BJP Government within three months if voted to power in the forthcoming Assembly elections in the state.

Addressing a press conference here, Rawat said the recent CAG report had amply revealed that largescale embezzlement of funds had taken place in the Maha Kumbh arrangements, all at the behest of the state government. He said similarly scandals had taken place in Ceturgia and hydro power allotment issues.

Rawat announced holding a probe on all the scandals of the incumbent state government in case the Congress was voted to power. He said the ruling party wanted to hide its failures. He also accused the state government of trying to mislead people over its misdeeds.

“So far the BJP rule in the state has been full of scams and the Congress has pledged to expose ruling BJP if voted to power,” he pointed out.

Rawat also said Congress legislators had taken up each and every issue in the recently concluded Budget session of the state Assembly. He said the ministers had failed to come up with replies to the issues raised by the Congress legislators.

The Congress leader also asserted that people of the state were fed up with the state government and was looking for an opportunity to teach the BJP Government a lesson. 

Dehradun, March 30
The Communist Party of India (CPI) held a Jago Uttarakhand campaign in the city against the alleged corruption and inflation in the state and country. The party conveyed the message by holding street plays, foot marches and protests.

Speaking on the occasion, state secretary Samar Bhandari said the BJP Government was getting trapped in one scam after another. “The baffled Chief Minister was making a plethora of hollow announcements out of sheer desperation. The ground realities and escalating problems faced by people have exposed the concocted campaign on development,” he said.

Bhandari did not spare the Congress as well, saying that the tainted party was attacking the BJP as a face-saving exercise. The Congress had no right to target the BJP on corruption and inflation, as it too had walked on the same trail when in power, he said.

He stressed on the fact that their campaign run from February 20 to March 30 was aimed at clarifying that the state could only be saved with the outright rejection of both the BJP and the Congress. He also indicated toward floating a third front saying, “We are making efforts to unite likeminded political parties, organisations and intellectuals to create a third alternative, and without us, no such force can be formed in the state”.

District general secretary Ashok Kandwal said only with struggle, the public could safeguard their rights.

Those who addressed the gathering at the dharna included Harinarayan, Devi Godiyal, MC Devrani and GD Danglwal 

Dehradun, March 30
A group of 20 elected women representatives and self-help groups are going to Karnataka to study the best self-governance practices. Karnataka is the state where the practice of the local self-governance has emerged.

The State Institute of Rural Development, Karnataka, is facilitating the visit and RLEK/ PRAGATI, with the support of the Canadian International Development Agency, will organise the trip.

The group comprises members of the forum constituted after the completion of six leadership and gender sensitisation trainings, in which newly elected women representatives as well as those who are presently working with the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) took part.

“The visit is being coordinated by Chairman of the Karnataka Law Commission Justice VS Malimath. The purpose of the visit is to gain insight into the effective working of the PRIs and to act as pressure group in bringing about changes in the panchayats in Uttarakhand for advocacy and lobbying to have our own Panchayati Raj Act and respectively devolution of powers as stated in 73rd and 74th Amendments,” said Chairperson of RLEK Padamshri Avdhash Kaushal.

Dehradun, March 30
Country liquor shops and Indian-Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) shops at Raiwala, between Rishikesh and Haridwar, falling in Dehradun district, fetched the highest price of Rs 8.25 crore and Rs 3.367 crore for the next financial year. The increase is 20 per cent in comparison to last year.

“For Dehradun district, the government has fixed the highest revenue target at Rs 59.51 crore from the allotment of the country liquor vends and Rs 82.47 crore from the IMFL shops for this financial year,” said the District Excise Officer.

The allotment of the shops began yesterday morning amid tight security and prohibitory orders were in place at the auditorium of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC). For the second time since the creation of the state, the shops were allotted in a single day instead of three days. A projector, too, was used for the first time to usher in greater transparency.

There are 31 IMFL shops and 35 country liquor shops in the district. The government received Rs 10 crore as licence fee from the applicants. None of the women were visible at the site of the liquor vend allotment at the DMC. Eleven vends were allotted to women. In all 7,475 persons participated in the vend allotments made through the lottery system.

Pitthoragarh, March 30
Anti-liquor activists, led by women in the Kumaon region, surfaced a day after the administration settled the liquor shops for the next year and said the police did not let them demonstrate on the allocation day.

“We have now decided to boycott the landlords who will rent out their house or shop to open liquor shops in our area,” said Saroj Devi, gram pradhan of Bastia village in Champawat district and leader of the women group, which has been protesting against liquor since March 25.

The women group in Josyura Dhunaghat, Pati and Devidhura in Champawat district surfaced a day after the allocation of shops, organised processions and pledged to fight until the government shifts the liquor shop from their respective areas. “If liquor shops are opened in our area, women will be bound to commit self sacrifice one by one,” said Susheela Bohra, pramukh of Pati block in Champawat district.

Women in Bastia sat on a dharna at the liquor shop after locking it yesterday. In the Banbasa area of Champawat district, the women groups staged a dharna and demanded shifting of the shop from the main market area to some remote place.

“The women destroyed 50 bottles of country-made foreign liquor, which were being carried to Reetha Sahib in Champawat district today to express their anger,” said Susheela.

Nainital, March 30
The allotment of liquor vends across Kumaon saw the emergence of certain new trends in the region yesterday.

To begin with, there has been an emergence of small players who got the opportunity to run the vends. This means that the days of liquor barons and syndicates have fizzled out, at least for one financial year. Earlier, the syndicates had ruled the liquor trade in the region, but their share in the allotment of shops has gone down considerably this year.

Another interesting fact that has emerged is that the women applicants have sustained their presence in the trade. There were a large number of applications that had come in the name of women. The maximum allotments made in the name of women candidates in the region was in Nainital district, where out of 61 shops nine women got the allotment. There are reports of a woman being allotted a shop in Almora district, too. There were 15 women applicants in Bageshwar and 44 in Pitthoragarh, but they were not lucky in the allotment that was done on lottery basis.

PC Tewari, who is a politician and an activist coordinating social groups against liquor in Kumaon, told The Tribune, “Putting up applications in the name of the women is a ploy of the liquor lobby to derail the movement of the women against liquor and the applications are nothing but proxy moves to obtain rights to run the vends”.

Tewari has lashed out at various political parties for maintaining a stoic silence with regards to the massive agitations launched by women across the region in the past fortnight against opening up of the liquor vends and they demanded closure of several liquor vends located at prime market locations.

He said, “If the government feels that it is necessary to sell liquor on account of revenue earning reasons, it should run the vends itself so that people can create pressure on it and ensure that their voice is heard. But the government does not do so as the revenue earned by top-level functionaries is at least three times more than what goes into the government exchequer. They will never allow this to happen and it proves our contention that the liquor mafia has complete patronage of the government”.

Referring to the trend of smaller players replacing syndicates, he asserted, “There is no difference in the culture of the two. But in certain manners, the smaller players are far more dangerous as they have immense local clout and muscle power at the local level that further subdues the people who want to speak out against ills of the liquor”.

This year also saw various district administrations earning revenue in crores just from the application fees deposited by the people interested in getting a vend allocated in their name.

Pitthoragarh, March 30
The ailing 200-year-old tea gardens of the Kumaon region will now get a new lease of life through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme. The Uttarakhand Government has a plan to revive the ailing tea gardens of Almora, Bageshwar and Nainital districts with the help of this scheme.

Director of Uttarakhand Tea Board and District Magistrate of Almora DS Garbiyal, while talking to this correspondent here on Monday, said: “Not only the old tea gardens will be revived with the help of this scheme, but new tea gardens will also be set up”.

According to information, a three-year action plan with an estimated cost of Rs 1.15 crore to revive the tea gardens situated on 55 acres of Dhari block of Nainital district and another Rs 3.32-crore scheme to set up new tea gardens in Dhaulade block of Almora district have been envisaged.

“Under the action plan, new tea gardens will be set up in Takula and Jageswar blocks of Almora district, on 112 hectares at Harinagar and 50 hectares at Dharamghar in Bageshwar district,” said Garbiyal.

The scheme will also focus on the ailing tea gardens of Kausani in Almora set up by the British 200 years ago. The actual area of tea plantation in Kausani has reached up to 206 hectares, which is more than the area the British had actually earmarked for the garden, said the Director.

In Champawat district, a new revival scheme for tea gardens has been calked out. Under the scheme, a tea nursery will be developed at Chirapani besides a tea processing plant at a cost of Rs 99.15 lakh. “At present we are sending green leaves produced in 12 tea gardens of Champawat to Delhi for processing,” he added.

Dehradun, March 30
Matrix, L’Oréal’s Professional Products Division, organised ‘Look and Learn Show’, a day-long training session for hair stylists here yesterday. Demonstrations of the latest haircuts and hair treatments were given.

As many as 150 persons from 76 salons participated in the event and they were given tips by Christopher Jacob, Senior Technical Adviser, Matrix, and Abhey Girdher, hairstylist.

Pitthoragarh, March 30
The Pitthoragarh-Dharchula motor road linking villages situated at the inter-national border with the mainstream remained blocked and transportation was suspended for 18 hours from Monday noon as heavy rains and hail stones lashed the river valley areas of the district for second day today, district administration sources said.

“Due to the road-widening work being done by the BRO on this road, the mudslide put on both sides of the road by workers, got swept downwards by the force of rain and spread on the road blocking it for more than 18 hours and causing inconvenience to passengers, including Armymen going to join duty at border posts on the Indo-China border,” said the sources.

“The passengers had to return to local markets of Jauljibi, Bagrihat and Askot after remaining stranded for long hours. They faced hardship as there are no suitable hotels in these small places,” said JB Pal, a local social worker in Askot town. “The road can only be declared open only on Tuesday evening,” added Pal.

Meanwhile, villages of Didihat tehsil witnessed heavy hail for the second day today. “After remaining clear for some hours on Tuesday, the sky suddenly became clouded and soon hail stones started lashing the crops of fruits and vegetables for the next 30 minutes,” said Prated Singh, a farmer of Charma village in Didihat subdivision.

Haridwar, March 30
Issue of constructing Guru Gyan Godri Gurdwara in Haridwar seems to be gaining momentum again, as several Sikh organisations are taking up the issue quite vehemently. They have reiterated that they will not sit back until the construction of the gurdwara was allowed near Har-ki-Pauri by the state government.

To press their demand, a seminar will also be organised here on April 16. Various Sikh delegates and representatives will take part in the seminar.

While the Sikh organisations that are involved in the matter have been invited by Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank at Dehradun for discussion on the issue, the representatives of these organisations claim that they will be adamant on the construction of the gurdwara near Har-ki-Pauri, particularly at the place where the Bharat Scouts and Guides office is currently situated. According to them, Gur Gyan Godri Gurdwara used to exist at the place decades ago.

The Sarva Pradesh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee has decided to bring other Sikh organisations together in view of which the seminar will be quite vital.

Apprising The Tribune about the move, Sarva Pradesh Gurdwara Mahaprandhak Committee national president Jagjit Singh Jhinda said if the state government did not take decision as per wishes of the Sikh community on the issue soon, they would have to step up their movement with massive protests.

“This is a sensitive issue. Keeping in view the religious-historic sentiments of Sikhs, the state government should grant land as well as permission to build a gurdwara near Har-ki-Pauri where once the Gyan Godri shrine existed,” said Jagjeet Singh.

Inderjeet Singh Chug, national chief of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prachar Committee, said the seminar would be well attended by Sikh leaders and community people. Joginder Singh , former chief of the CBI, would also be present in the meeting.