Nainital, July 6
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has declared its candidates for four seats in Kumaon for the forthcoming state Assembly elections that are due to be held in a few months. The announcement was made at a meeting of the party workers held at Ambedkar Bhawan here today. The meeting was attended by Transport Minister of Uttar Pradesh Ram Achal Rajbhar and senior leader Meghraj Singh.

It was Meghraj who announced the names of the conveners for different constituencies and qualified the announcement by saying that the names of these conveners would be recommended for party ticket for the forthcoming poll. The names announced were Sanjay Kumar Sanju for the Nainital seat, Dewan Singh Bisht for the Kaladhungi seat, Kishori Lal for the Ramnagar seat and Shekhar Lakchaura for the Almora seat. The party has already announced Mohan Pal as its candidate for the Bhimtal seat.

Meghraj pointed out that besides eyeing the 36 Assembly seats that fall in the plain areas of the state, the BSP is also working hard for winning seats in the hill areas. As of now the support base of the BSP has been confined mainly to the plain areas and it has representation in the state Assembly from the districts of Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar. The party has been reaching out to the residents of the hill districts of the state over the past four years with a view to getting a foothold in these areas.

In his speech, Meghraj pointed out that it was because of the foresight shown by Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar that there was a rotational reservation on various seats and this time Nainital would be electing a candidate from the reserved category.

The BSP leaders lashed out at the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for letting down the people of the country. Rajbhar said: “These parties are pointing at the rising crime graph in Uttar Pradesh. They do not consider the happenings in Gujarat a crime where the BJP is in power and in Maharashtra and Delhi where the Congress is the ruling party.”

Referring to the demand for creating new districts in Uttarakhand, he said it was the Mayawati-led government that had created the districts of Champawat, Bageshwar and Udham Singh Nagar besides creating several new tehsils. He said the party would adhere to the demand of the people for the creation of new districts if it was elected to power in the state.

Dehradun, July 6
Putting rest to speculations, former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Lt-Gen BC Khanduri (retd) today said he would continue to be a loyal soldier of the BJP and had no intention of quitting the party.

“I do not know the source of the rumours. We have to prepare for 2012 elections. As of now, there is no question of forming a third front,” stressed Khanduri.

Speculations were rife that Khanduri was trying to bring together forces opposed to both BJP and Congress after he met UKD chief Trivendra Singh Panwar. But Khanduri brushed aside suggestions that he had held talks with Panwar on the issue of creation of a third front as “figment of imagination with no base”.

The meeting was routine. Political leaders kept meeting each other irrespective of their allegiance and nothing much should be read by these meetings, he said.

After BJP president Nitin Gadkari had said the next assembly elections would be fought under the collective leadership of Khanduri, Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and former Chief Minister B S Koshiyari, it was believed that the political rumblings in the BJP would subside, but his meeting with the UKD chief once again brought to light the widening rift between the BJP leaders.

Khanduri was instrumental in knitting up an alliance with the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, during his tenure as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand and he continues to have cordial relationships with the UKD that supported him for his clean image.

In view of the 2012 assembly elections, several leaders and parties have begun to explore options for creating a third front.

Dehradun, July 6
The UKD (Panwar faction) has joined hands with the state unit of the CPI for the forthcoming Assembly elections.

Addressing a press conference here today, the president of the UKD (Panwar faction) Trivender Singh Panwar, state secretary (CPI) Samar Bhandari and MLA Munna Singh Chauhan shared the dias and talked of emerging as a strong third regional front in the state. But they are yet to give a name to the new front. Panwar claimed that: “The UKD played a pivotal role in the formation of the state. It was the only regional party which led from the front at that time.We are happy to get support from Munna Singh Chauhan and the CPI.”

Bhandari said other political parties might differ with the policies of the CPI but they could not deny the clean image of this party. He alleged that: “First it was the Congress which got implicated in the scams. The BJP also went two steps ahead in the distribution of hydro-power projects, syphoning of the funds meant for disaster relief and the Kumbh fair. As per our policy, we are always ready to support regional forces with a clean image which could come up as an alternative, and hence decided to join hands with the UKD.” Bhandari said: “We will have to spread public awareness at the grassroots level,” he said.

Chauhan slammed the state government for migration from the border areas of the state.

Haridwar, July 6
The Congress and social organisations have demanded that the CBI probe into Swami Nigmanand’s death be speeded up. The Matra Sadan sain had laid down his life for the cause of the holy Ganga.

To lend support to the anti-quarrying movement of the Matra Sadan, an agitation, which entered its 23rd day today, is being held by certain social organisations and the Congress at Birla Setu here.

Leader of the Opposition in the Uttarakhand Assembly Harak Singh Rawat addressed the agitators. He pointed out the slow pace of the CBI probe into the matter. Rawat said those involved in the illegal quarrying in the region be put behind the bars as there seemed to be a nexus among the quarrying mafia, administration and certain politicians of the BJP Government.

Leader of the street vendors and smalltime traders Sanjay Chopra said despite the ban imposed on quarrying in the Kumbh mela area, the illegal practice was going on.

“Quarrying in the Ganga riverbed has been going on unabated for the past one decade. One can see trucks, tractor-trailers moving to the Ganga riverbed to collect sand and stones early in the morning and late evening. The prohibitive orders should also be carried out on the ground,” said Chopra.

Indu Pandey, chief of the local unit of the Congress, said the anti-quarrying movement had assumed national importance owing to Nigmanand’s sacrifice, and quarrying should be put to an end in the region.

The administration is working on the directions of the quarrying mafia and certain BJP leaders, Pandey alleged.

Former municipal Chairman Satpal Brahamchari also demanded a total ban on quarrying to save the holy Ganga and ecology in the region.

Dehradun, July 6
The Rajasav Karamchari Mahasangh, at its meeting here today with members of the Uttarakhand Ministerial Collectorate Karamchari Sangh (UMCKS), decided that no employee would complete the work that was pending due to the ongoing strike by employees of the tehsil and SDM/DM offices.

It was also decided that members of the Rajasav Karamchari Mahasangh would also join them in the rally that would be held in Haridwar on July 22. While on July 28, when the sangh would visit the residence of the Chief Minister, all employees would follow it.

Rajinder Semwal, state president of the UMCKS, said, “The mahasangh has said none of the employees, including Aameen, Lekhpal, Stenographer, Class IV or the Mining Department, will work in our place and if they try to do so, strict action will be taken against them.”

Employees of the tehsil and SDM/DM offices all over the state have been on strike since June 1, as they are demanding restructuring of the collectorate. They have claimed that the government has backtracked on its promise made to representatives of the employees in 2008. Recently, they had talks with Revenue Minister Diwakar Bhatt which did not prove fruitful

Those who participated at the meeting included Govind Singh Negi (president, Class IV, and president, Rajasav Mahasangh), Khem Singh Negi (secretary, Rajasav Mahasangh and state executive member, UMCKS), Manidhar Dhasmana (president, Aameen Sangh), Radhey Shyam Panuyli (president, Lekhpal) and Raj Pal Singh (state secretary Class IV sangh).

Haridwar, July 6
With various anti-corruption movements being carried out in the country, Jagadguru Shankaracharya Shardha Peethadheeshwar Raj Rajeshwashram has called on for introspection by following principles of Vedanta as preached by Adi Jagadguru Shankaracharya. Jagadguru Raj Rajeshwashram was speaking at a national working committee meeting of the Gowansh Development Cell in the Nishkam Sewa Trust in Haridwar. The guru pointed out that corruption couldn’t be removed by making stringent laws and commissions as one couldn’t guarantee that even Lokpal would be free of corruption.

The Jagadguru stated, “Vedanta of Guru Shankaracharya will have to be imbibed by society and spiritual awakening will only remove corruption from society.”

Shedding light on the Vishwa Mangal Gau Gram Yatra, the Jagadguru said, “This yatra has covered more than six lakh villages and spread awareness about the protection of cows.”

Govansh national cell coordinator Radhey Shyam Gupt cited the need for protecting cow for the development of society. While Cabinet minister Madan Kaushik called on to protect cow, many orators voiced for need of stringent law to protect the killing of cows. Among others who addressed the convention were Muni Jagdish, Naresh Bansal, Jai Bhagwan, Om Prakash, Dr Navneet Parmar, Krishna Mittal and members from various states of the cell.

Pithoragarh, July 6
The Atal Khadyann Yojana, the state government’s flagship scheme providing cheap rations to poor villagers, has become a tool for the owners of the fair price shops to indulge in corruption in rural areas. They not only give less quantity of grains to villagers than what they are entitled to under the scheme but also charge higher rates for these. This came to light during an Atal Chaupal programme held by a member of the state Planning Commission, Dr DD Dani, at Baste village of this district today.

“The villagers told me that the owner of the local fair price shop was charging higher rates for the food grains being provided to them under the scheme, telling them that the government had not released adequate quota of the food grains for the village,” said Dani.

“I have warned the owner of the shop that if he does not pick up the adequate quota of food grains in the future and give it to the villagers as per the rules of the scheme, his license will be cancelled,” added Dani.

According to a note issued by the Pithoragarh district administration, at the Atal Chaupal programme, 40 problems were raised by the villagers who came to the chaupal from distant villages.

“The issues raised by the villagers included linking 10 villages with the local Baste market by pucca roads and the release of compensation to villagers for the roads constructed earlier,” said the member of the state Planning Commission.

“The other issues raised by the villagers pertain to providing potable water supply to 16 families of Dungri village and the appointment of teachers in the local high school, which has been running without sufficient staff for the past two years,” added Dani.

At a similar programme held at Bhurmuni village in the Chandak area of the district, the villagers raised the problem of a poor network of link roads in the area.

“Bhurmuni village, which produces various commercial crops, needs pucca roads to send its produce to the local markets and sufficient water for irrigation. Our village does not have sufficient potable water. We have been told by the officials concerned to wait till a major lift scheme from Ramganga (Eastern) becomes operational.

The project report of the lift scheme has not even been prepared yet,” said Dewan Singh, a villager.

Pithoragarh, July 6
Two women died in Ganai and Nachni areas of the district when they slipped from a hilltop where they had gone to collect fodder for their cattle when it was raining.

The bodies of Pushpa Devi of Ganai and Bhagirathi of Kapa village in Nachni had been sent for post-mortem, said police sources.

Meanwhile, 40 families of Tallasong village in Munsiyari subdivision and 12 villages in the Darma valley in Pithoragarh district have continued to remain cut off from the mainstream due to heavy rain that has hit essential facilities like electricity for the past 48 hours.

Even pedestrian bridges linking these villages as well as electric poles were washed away in the rain that occurred on Tuesday.

The villages, situated beyond Giniband in the Samkot area, were facing food shortage as no ration supply had been available to these villages, said Gagan Singh Rajbar, MLA from the area who met the SDM, Dharchula, today, requesting him to make arrangements to open the road soon. Villagers of the Garvadhar area in Dharchula subdivision had to travel 40 km to reach the Dharchula market as boulders had blocked the road. The BRO staff were trying to open the road, said the MLA.

Keeping in view the monsoon, the district administration had sent a five-member disaster management team to the areas to prepare villagers for landslides, said JS Rathod, SDM of Munsiyari.