Mussoorie, April 11
In a meeting of Congress workers held at the Congress Bhawan, Mussoorie, today, women workers of the party demanded 33 per cent reservation while distributing MLA seats in the forthcoming elections in the state. The meeting was attended by the Tehri Lok Sabha MP Vijay Bahuguna.

Municipal Council ward member and Congress leader Subhasini Barhtwal kept her demand before Vijay Bahuguna and said Congress women should also be given a chance to represent the people. She said women played a major role in electing candidates, but were not given due share in power. That should change in this election.

Congress women workers consented with the demand, whereas male Congress leaders , including Vijay Bahuguna, the chief guest, were taken aback for a moment.

Congress leader Manmohan Singh Malla said the Congress party was committed towards women issues and hopefully the Women Reservation Bill would be tabled in the coming monsoon session in Parliament. Bahuguna, addressing the gathering, said the Congress was ready for the forthcoming elections and this time the party would win in the state with a thumping majority. He said the Congress was preparing a letter about the misdeeds and rampant corruption of the BJP Government in the state, and all the MPs would be meeting President Pratibha Patil and apprise her of the situation here.

Bahuguna also said all Congress workers were together and there was no infighting of any sort in the party.

Later, speaking to the media, Vijay Bahuguna said the BJP Government in the state had a one-point programme of criticising the Central Government for funds, but they themselves had failed to utilise the funds allocated under various schemes run by the government at the Centre.

A delegation of residents from Mullingar Estate met Bahuguna and informed him about the high-handed attitude of the Landour Cantt authorities who were bent upon evicting residents who had been residing at the estate for several decades. They urged Bahuguna to consult with the Defence Minister and stop the Cantt Board from demolishing their houses.

Bahuguna assured the residents that he would bring the matter to the notice of Defence Minister AK Antony soon.

Earlier, Bahuguna also attended the annual function of the Non-Gazetted Officers Association of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy. The function was also attended by the Leader of the Opposition in the state Harak Singh Rawat.

President of the association Nanak Chand in his address said as new courses at the level of Phase III, IV and V had been introduced in the academy due to which more than 52 posts were lying vacant in the academy. On the other hand, the gazetted posts had been filled in the same sections. He demanded that the government fill the vacant non-gazetted posts to avoid the overload on the staff. The association also demanded that the dependents of the deceased government personnel at the academy should be given preference in the jobs.

The other demand of the association was that the benefits of the 6th Pay Commission should be given in totality to the non-gazetted officials in the academy on par with Central employees in New Delhi. 

Pitthoragarh, April 11
Due to the efforts of People For Animals volunteers and Mela Committee officials and priests, for the first time in the history of the Purnagiri Fair, no animal sacrifice has taken place this year. Three weeks have already passed in this three-month-long fair which began on March 21.

“Instead of sacrificing animals brought by devotees, we are using their hairs as a symbolic sacrifice of the animal,” said Kishen Tiwari, a priest of the committee.

According to the committee, more than 25,000 devotees are reaching the fair every day during the Navratras. “More than 1.25 lakh pilgrims reached on the first day of the Navratras,” said JC Kandpal, SDM and Mela Magistrate.

Every year more than 2,500 male goats used to be sacrificed in this fair during the three months. The animal sacrifices used to take place at the Kali temple near the main temple. “Even now 40 animals have been brought for sacrifice in the temple, but after being convinced, the devotees have agreed to sacrifice only the hairs of the animal,” said Kandpal. “It is the hard work of the priest community of Purnagiri and the volunteers from Barahi Dham in Devidhura who for the first time refused animal sacrifice in their temple in August and are working hard to convince devotees at other places saying that with the change of times, change in the tradition is a must,” said the Mela Magistrate.

According to the priests, mostly devotees are coming with eight goats as sacrificing eight goats at one time is considered sacrifice enough to please the goddess. “Sometimes it is the atmosphere created by the volunteers and some the persuasion by the Mela Magistrate himself, we are out to get 100 per cent success in making the Purnagiri Mela free of animal sacrifice in the thousands years of history of the fair,” said Pandit Kriti Shastri, Peethacharya of the temple. 

Nainital, April 11
The failure of the administration to provide basic amenities in parts of Haldwani town led to the public venting its ire on Cabinet Minister Bansidhar Bhagat who happens to be the legislator from the town.

Bhagat was in for some major criticism and had to face the wrath of residents from Kusumkheda and Indiranagar (Phase II) areas on Sunday. Forced to borrow and beg for drinking water from residents of neighbouring localities, people of these two localities lost their patience and descended on the minister’s residence early in the morning. They were riding motorcycles, scooters and tempos.

They not only gheraoed the minister, but also raised slogans in support of their demands. They related their plight to Bhagat and it was pointed out that despite the money having been sanctioned from the legislator’s development fund, the officials of the Water Department had laid down the pipelines in a faulty manner.

The matter was resolved only when Bhagat assured them to call the Executive Engineer of the Jal Sansthan and order him to put the water supply in order at the earliest.

Those who had descended on his residence included women and children. They said there were about 36 houses in Indiranagar (Phase 2) that had not been getting a regular supply of drinking water for the past three years. The people are managing by borrowing water from those who have a regular supply coming from the main pipeline. Bhagat has promised them that the matter will be looked into and the guilty officials will not be spared.

With the setting in of summer, certain areas of Haldwani are facing acute problems with regards to provision of basic amenities. Besides the erratic supply of water and power, the residents are also complaining of a lack of sanitation facilities.

Media reports say there is at least 56 tonnes of waste that is generated from the town and requires to be effectively disposed of. It has also been pointed out that the number of persons deployed for carrying out this task is less than half of what is required.

The residents of various localities have been pointing out that several drains in the town are choked. They said there was a possibility of an outbreak of diseases in the absence of proper sanitation in the town.

Dehradun, April 11
The Multi-Speciality Hospital at Satpuli, for which the stone-laying ceremony took place recently, will be a 60-bed hospital catering to the medical and health needs of the hill people. It is expected to be completed by early next year.

Addressing a press conference today, Mangala Devi of Hans Karuna Foundation and Singdha Cultural Centre said the hospital was being built at an estimated cost of Rs 20 crore and would house a trauma centre, two operation theatres, mother-and-child care, ENT and orthopedic departments.

The hospital is being jointly built by the Hans Karuna Foundation and Singdha Cultural Centre and Manoj Bhargav, a businessman from the USA, is financing the project.

Besides, the Parvartiya Sanskritic Sansthan and the Singdha Cultural Centre will organise a satsang tomorrow in which famous folk singer Kalpana Chauhan and Rajender will perform.

Mangala said Kalpana would be performing for the first time after recovering from a road accident in June 2010 in which she had lost her right leg. 

Pitthoragarh, April 11
Workers of the BJP thronged the streets in a victorious mood today, as no other nominations except for that of the party nominee Sunita Devi were filed for the election to the post of Pitthoragarh Zila Panchayat Chairperson. Today was the last day for the filing of nominations.

The post had fallen vacant after Ranjana Devi, also a BJP member, was ousted through a no-confidence motion on January 19. Members of her own party had moved the motion charging her of partiality. “The last date for withdrawals is April 15 and after that she can be declared elected to the post,” said Pitthoragarh DM NS Negi.

The Congress, having a good strength of 13 members in the Zila Panchayat, did not file nominations. According to party sources, after expelling eight members from the party for voting in favour of the no-confidence motion against Ranjana, no 
Dalit women has left in the local unit of the party. “The lone Dalit woman member of the Congress in the Zila Panchayat, Malti Arya, has been expelled from the party, so the Congress has no candidate for the post,” said Mahendra Lunthi, president of the district unit of the Congress.

Haridwar, April 11
In view of making India a global leader in medical sciences too, apart from yoga, Patanjali Yogpeeth, channelled by yoga guru Swami Ramdev, has now made acquisition of a California-based company, Naturamic LLC. It will be manufacturing ayurvedic medicines under the new label of Patanjali HerboVed.

Informing The Tribune about the commercial acquisition, yoga guru Swami Ramdev said, “Since ages India has been a world leader in the medical field. It’s high time we turn to ayurveda, as other medical sciences, particularly allopathy, are being followed world wide and stand nowhere in comparison to the Indian medical therapy”.

He further said, “While Indian traditional medical sciences are billions of years old, allopathy is just 200 years old, having major side effects. But under ayurveda treatment, there is no such thing. Now non-residents Indians on foreign shores as well as foreigners can get ayurveda medicines at their places via HerboVed”.

HerboVed Chief Executive Officer Dr Sharad Mehta said with this acquisition ayurveda would be bringing a revolution in the western world too. A wide range of medicinal and food products were being made under the label. These would be purely based on high ingredient standards as followed by Patanjali Ayruveda Limited in India.

Vice-Chancellor of Patanjali University Acharya Balakrishan cited the recent kuttu flour poisoning incident, saying society had taken a backseat as even the food material used for religious fast purpose was being contaminated to make illegal money.

Alongside, a three-day convention on agriculture and development was also being held at Patanjali where experts from agriculture, economy and related fields were dwelling on the topic, “Challenges before Nation and their Solution”.

Emphasis is majorly on agriculture sector as a majority of the Indian population is dependent and related with it, which is approximately 65 per cent.

Renowned economist Dr Bharat Jhunjhunwala said farmer’s dependency for agriculture purpose was majorly water, and this aspect had to be looked with serious concern by the respective governments.

He cited the example of big dams failing to provide essential water for agriculture purposes, like the 1,000-MW Tehri Dam situated in Tehri Garhwal. He demanded shunning the project as had been the norm in the western world where smaller hydel projects were being put in place of huge hydel projects that put on hold flowing river water in tunnels.

Dehradun, April 11
Members of the Jaati Praman Patar Banao Sangharsh Morcha staged a rally from the DL Road to the Clock Tower and burnt an effigy of the state government to oppose the non-issuance of the caste and domicile certificates by it. Convener Lekh Raj said by not issuing the caste and domicile certificates, the state government was divesting people of the SC/ST/OBC communities from opportunities to come up in society.

He said vague explanations given by Chief Miniser Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Social Welfare Minister Matbar Singh Kandari on the floor of the Vidhan Sabha were more misleading.

Disappointed by the attitude of Members of the Legislature from the Opposition and Speaker Harbans Kapoor, he said they would once again start their protest in the face of apathy shown by politicians on this issue. In their second round, they would lay siege to Kandari’s house, he said. 

Pitthoragarh, April 11
Residents of the Darma valley, who have started migrating to their permanent residences in the higher Himalayan valleys from their winter homes in the plains, have asked the Dharchula Tehsil Administration to clear the traditional migration routes of the debris, which has been dumped by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and the Central Public Woks Department (CPWD), that have been engaged in the construction of various motor roads on India-China Border.

“The BRO is constructing the motor road from Tawaghat to Garvadhar and the CPWD that from Sobla to Tidang. Both these roads are very close to the traditional migration routes of the people of the Darma valley. Owing to the blasting, the kutcha traditional ways have disappeared. We want these to be restored so that the migrating herdsmen can reach their homes easily,” said Krashna Singh Firmal, a resident.

A delegation of the residents met Dharchula SDM Abhishek Tripathi and apprised him of the situation.

Dehradun, April 11
Seeking absorption as regular teachers, members of the Shiksha Acharya Sangthan, Uttarakhand, commenced staging a dharna at the state Education Directorate here today.

The sangthan has been undertaking agitation seeking absorption of 1,113 shiksha acharyas in the regular teaching service in government schools. Under the scheme of regularising the jobs of shiksha acaharya, the protestors have also handed over their memorandum of the Education Department of February 21, but nothing has materialised yet.

Puran Singh Rana, president of the sangathan, said “We have demanded immediate absorption of shiksha acharyas at education guarantee, alternative study and primary and higher learning centres”. 

Haridwar, April 11
Following several incidents of chain and cellular set snatching in broad daylight by biker gang members, the police successfully nabbed three gang members who were trying to carry out another snatching incident in the industrial estate here.

Local resident Sonu informed the Control Room on helpline number 100, that three youths on a motorcycle had tried to snatch his mobile set near SIDCUL-situated Kirby Bank when he was talking on the phone.

Due to resistance from him, the on-bike thieves failed in their attempt and fled from the spot. But due to the quick reaction of the police team, the three were cordoned off near Raj Biscuit factory around 1.15 pm.

Finding no way to escape Monty, Nitin and Alok, all residents of Anandpuri, Civil Lines, Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh, surrendered confessing to their involvement in various cases of chain, purse and cellular sets snatching.

Superintendent of Police (Haridwar City) Dr Kiran Lal Shaw informed The Tribune about this.

“We are probing into other things seized from these three accused. Two of them, Monty and Alok, have been jailed in the past in various criminal cases, including Arms Act,” said Assistant Superintendent of Police Nivedita Kukreti Kumar.

Five stolen cellular sets, one gold chain and Rs 5,200 cash were seized from them. The motorcycle on which the three were arrested was also found to be stolen one.

“Thanks to the police team for arresting these thieves as I too had become a victim of their crime as they had tried to snatch my chain in broad daylight in the Kankhal area last month,” said Prabha Vishnoi, a Kankhal resident.