Dehradun, May 3
The bail application of former Energy Adviser to the Chief Minister and former Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (UJVNL) Chairman Yogendra Prasad was cancelled and he was sent to 14-day judicial remand by a District Court here today.

He was arrested yesterday by the vigilance on charges of corruption and was sent to one-day remand by the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate late in the evening.

He is accused of bending norms to provide benefits to KAVEAT International, which allegedly paid him in return. The company allegedly put Rs 50,000 in his daughter’s bank account every month on the pretext that their staff members were staying in her house on rent in Faridabad, but no such house existed.

The vigilance in its petition to the judge alleged Prasad had awarded tenders for a hydraulic project of Rs 1.20 crore to KAVEAT International flouting the set norms in 2007.

After being awarded the tender, the company did not finish the work in time. The company was to face some penalty for the same, which was also waived by the former Chairman, the vigilance further alleged in the court.

To this, Prasad and his advocates clarified that at the time when the tenders were awarded, he was not the Chairman. “The tender was given to the KAVEAT company on May 5, 2007, when Shatrughan Singh was the chairman while I was appointed Chairman on July 27, 2007,” Prasad told the court.

Vigilance (SP) Brijendra Juyal maintained Prasad was the Chairman when the tenders were awarded to the company. On this the judge asked the SP to show documents for the same.

The vigilance team then started looking for the documents. However, after much finding they failed to get any documents and had to cut a sorry figure. The vigilance then said this is in the case dairy, which is in the office.

Juyal later informed The Tribune though the tender was awarded at the time of Shatrughan Singh, when Prasad joined, he relaxed the norms to let KAVEAT International gain huge benefits.

“Shatrughan gave the tenders to the company with some mandatory rules and norms but Prasad bent all of them when he joined as the Chairman.

“This resulted in loss to the government and benefit to the company. The pertaining documents have been produced before the court and on this ground the court has rejected his bail and sent him to judicial remand,” the SP added.

Prasad’s advocate Atul Pundir said: “We will approach the Nainital High Court against the bail cancellation order. We will also appeal in the court, that why Prasad was arrested when they had the stay orders.”

Meanwhile, Prasad alleged he was being framed in the corruption cases by the state government, as he did not sign various project deals.

Dehradun, May 3
The Joint Employees’ Association of Garhwal and Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam have suspended their strike till May 25 after Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar passed interim orders to annul must-roll system in the GMVN by taking these employees on payroll, and giving them the benefit of equal work-equal pay. But he asked for time till May 20 to wrap up the regularisation issue of 375 employees.

The association decided to give him five extra days till May 25, to work on the issue. It also agreed to suspend the strike after Kumar passed interim orders to end the must-roll system, while taking must-roll employees working since December 30, 2007, on pay-roll, and giving benefit of equal work-equal pay to those working since 1998.

Kumar also agreed to depute a temporary Managing Director and a General Manager on the GMVN premises after the employees complained of absence of both the present incumbents, which hampered the smooth functioning of the GMVN. To do away with the stopgap arrangement of a finance comptroller, who too could give little time to the GMVN, Kumar also accepted the request of appointing a full-fledged Chartered Accountant at the GMVN to deal with the financial issues regularly and efficiently, especially during pilgrimage season.

On the issue of giving long-due promotions to the deserving employees, he assured of doing this task within next 15 days by setting up a Departmental Promotion Committee.

President of the Joint Employees’ Association Purushottam Puri said the controversial appointments had also been cancelled two days ago, the decision regarding which had been kept under wraps to avoid the aggrieved party from approaching the court until the GMVN guarded itself with a caveat.

The issue of regularisation had been somewhat tricky. In this regard Puri said, “The matter of regularisation has become more of a political one after Chief Minister himself promised to announce the regularisation of contractual employees of all departments. Therefore, Kumar said the decision is likely to be resolved in the Cabinet meeting by May 20. We have extended our deadline till May 25, after which we will again resort to strike by taking along other corporations on this demand.”

Dehradun, May 3
Under the aegis of the Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh, members of the Uttaranchal Roadways Chalak Avam Parichalak Sangathan took out a protest rally in support of their demands here today. Workers from all the 17 Roadways depots of the state participated in the rally.

State president of the Sangathan Chandar Shekhar Sharma led the procession, which began from old bus stop and went through Gandhi Park, Kanak Chowk, and reached Subhash Road.

Protesters also surrounded the Secretariat to press for their major demands, which relate to regularising of their jobs, discontinuation of the contract system, and granting them pay scales on a par with their regular counterparts.

Speaking on the occasion, Bal Mukund Suyal, state general secretary of the Sangathan, said, “We have gathered here to raise our voices against the lethargic attitude of the state government towards the drivers and the conductors of the Roadways Department.” He also said the Sangathan members would further intensify their protest if the demands were not met.

The protesters also submitted an eight-point memorandum to the Uttarakhand Chief Minister.

Dehradun, May 3
They are never on night duty, rarely respond to telephone calls even in emergency situations and are believed to use the four hours of duties that they render at the Doon District Hospital only to further their private practice.

These are private super specialists hired by the Health Department. A shortage of manpower was the main reason that the Director-General of Health and Family Welfare hired the services of the super specialists offering them a hefty pay package and only four hours of OPD duties. They all have thriving private practice. But, this flexibility in service rules is proving costly for the Doon Hospital.

“Their services are required in an emergency situation as well, like in case of accidents, but they rarely turn up. Even during the OPD hours they are never at their designated rooms,” said Ram Sharan, an aggrieved patient.

Besides the patients visiting various OPDs complain that one has to be really lucky to catch the super specialists. “The super specialists were hired keeping in mind an acute shortage of experts in these fields. Though they are being paid Rs 50,000 per month, the patients get the services of experts at nominal rates for those in the APL category and free for those in the BPL category,” said Dr BC Pathak, Chief Medical Superintendent (CMS), Doon Hospital.

Only this year the Health Department has introduced a clause pertaining to extension of contract depending on performance. As of now four super specialists, neuro surgeon Pankaj Arora, neuro physician Naveen Ahuja, plastic surgeon Mohit Goyal and urologist Vikrant Pathak, are rendering their services at the hospital.

The services of the super specialists are for a period of one year, scaled down from three, which was the case in 2008 when the first batch of super specialists was hired. Earlier, there were three more super specialists, Dr Vikram Singh, nephro physician, Dr Anil Rathi, DM, cardiology, and Rajeev Tyagi, DM, endocrinology, at the Doon Hospital. Their contract was not renewed.

However, not everybody is happy with the arrangement. Experts point out that the hospital needs permanent doctors and hiring services of private doctors is but a short-term solution to an endemic problem.

Mussoorie, May 3
Residents are angered at the sight of wild weeds growing on the rock-cut sculpture of a lion opposite Vasu cinema on Mall road here in the city. The sculpture is an important landmark for tourists, who stroll on the Mall road while staying in the city.

In addition, the lion sculpture has been awaiting a fresh coat of paint since last couple of years. The Mussoorie Municipal Council (MC), despite their tall claims of beautifying the town prior to the peak

season, has done little in this regard so far.

Alok Jain, a merchant, who owns a shop near the sculpture, rued the fact that most of the public representatives pass by without even noticing the growth of wild weeds on the sculpture.

He further said the parked cars in front of the sculpture hinder the view of tourists leaving a bad taste when they return to their destination. He asked why the MC, one of the richest in the state, did not have funds for the upkeep of the heritage sculpture.

The Lions’ Club Hills president, Madan Mohan Sharma, said the rock-cut lion sculpture was given shape by eminent sculptor C Roy from West Bengal, who was on a maiden visit to Mussoorie in 1960. The protruding rock caught his imagination and the artist, after seeking

permission from the MC, picked up his chisel, hammers and carved out the rock intricately, converting it into an artistic beauty for everyone to cherish. The club had, after seeking permission from the MC, maintained the site for several years and also barricaded the area. However, the club stopped the practice due to opposition by a few MC members. “Presently, it is free for all, as some tourists are seen pulling the teeth of the lion, while some rest on it for hours, defacing it further,” said Sharma.

The Mussoorie Traders’ Association general secretary, Javed Khan, said the lion sculpture was a pride of the town and should be treated with utmost care; but the MC was neglecting its upkeep despite the availability of funds for such works.

The recently-installed ornamental lights at the site are also not working due to the dispute between the MC and the Tourism Department pertaining to the payment of electricity bill, added Khan.

When contacted, Mussoorie Municipal Council president OP Uniyal showed his ignorance of the situation, and immediately directed a health official to look into the matter and initiate the process of removing the wild weeds growing on the sculpture.

He also said that he had directed the authorities concerned to re-paint the sculpture at the earliest.A tourist from Punjab, Ravinder

Singh Sodhi, who is a frequent visitor to the town, said in the past, the sculpture was well maintained, as the photographs of his family members at the site show. He added that the civil society and the government should both contribute in preserving the heritage before it was too late.

Dehradun, May 3
Mayor Vinod Chamoli here today reminisced the three successful years of his officiating tenure in which he initiated many development works the area.

Speaking to the media, Chamoli said, “We have successfully initiated many projects, such as removing illegal hoardings, repairing of roads, installation of streetlights construction of 89 housing units under the JNNURM projects, beautification of city and widening of roads, and many others.”

He also spoke about the challenges being faced by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation with regard to the lack of adequate manpower, administrative back up and appropriate funds.

Dehradun, May 3
Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) walked away with the trophy of the 7th SK Kandhari Memorial Hockey Tournament beating St George's College, Mussoorie, 3-1 today at Welham Boys’ School here.

Ayush scored an early goal for the winning team through a penalty corner. Akash (15th) and Ayush (penalty corner 58th)

netted the next two goals.

Karan (32nd) was the lone scorer for the rival team.

Officiating principal Mahesh Kandpal gave away the prizes to the winning and runner-up teams.

Dehradun, May 3
Guru Nanak Academy (GNA) made it to the final in both the junior and senior categories during the DDCSA Inter-school Senior/Junior Girls’ Hockey Tournament here today.

In the junior category, GNA will take on Welham Boys’ School tomorrow following which hosts Unison World School challenge GNA in the senior category. In the senior semifinals today, GNA defeated Welham Boys’ School 2-0.

Lakshmi (21st) and Shrishti (28th) were the scorers in the win. The rival team failed to retaliate throughout the match.

In the second semifinal,the hosts beat Moravian Institute 1-0. Praghati Paliwal was the star scoring the lone goal. No other goal came despite some good efforts.