SPECIAL COVERAGE
CHANDIGARH

LUDHIANA

DELHI
JALANDHAR


THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS
50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

D E H R A D U N    P L U S

Encroachments removed at Hathibarkala
Guardroom outside Koshiyari’s residence also razed
Dehradun, July 7
A team of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation in collaboration with the district administration, today removed the guardroom, which was built on the drain outside the residence of former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Bhagat Singh Koshyiari
A JCB vehicle in action during an anti-encroachment drive at Hathibarkala on Thursday
A JCB vehicle in action during an anti-encroachment drive at Hathibarkala on Thursday

Sawachkar Karamchari Sangh holds march
Dehradun, July 7
Angry at the beginning of a contractual system for hiring employees for a sanitation drive in the city, members of the Uttaranchal Sawachkar Karamchari Sangh today took out a march from the premises of Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) to the office of the Dehradun District Magistrate (DM). They also submitted a memorandum to the DM to be forwarded to the Uttarakhand Chief Minister.

Low-cost housing on state’s agenda
Dehradun, July 7
With a thrust on providing affordable houses to the urban poor and removing the bottlenecks of housing, the Uttarakhand government has begun preparations for the Dehradun Master Plan-2025.



 

EARLIER EDITIONS


2 rooms in temple area fall due to rain
A view of the collapsed part of the Nau Manzila temple in Mussoorie.Mussoorie, July 7
The overnight incessant rain led to the collapse of two newly constructed rooms on the temple premises of the Kailashanand Mission Trust on the Spring road today, instilling fear among residents. Fortunately, no loss of life was reported as the rooms were not occupied when the incident occurred.



A view of the collapsed part of the Nau Manzila temple in Mussoorie.

Andolankari sanyukt manch renamed
Uttarakhand Rajya Nirman Sainani Manch convener Manoj Dhayani addresses a press conference in Dehradun on Thursday.Dehradun, July 7
The Uttarakhand Rajya Andolankari Sanyukt Manch has been renamed as Uttarakhand Rajya Niraman Sainani Manch.Manch convener Manoj Dhayani, while talking to the media at a press conference here today, said a year ago, it was decided to bring various organisations that were fighting for the rights of the statehood strugglers under one umbrella

Uttarakhand Rajya Nirman Sainani Manch convener Manoj Dhayani addresses a press conference in Dehradun on Thursday. A Tribune photograph 

Public service commission members call on CM
Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank interacts with members of the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission in Dehradun on Thursday.Dehradun, July 7
The Chairman and the members of the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission called on Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank at the Secretariat on Thursday and briefed him on the activities of the commission.


Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank interacts with members of the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission in Dehradun on Thursday. A Tribune photograph

Bus driver held for stealing ATM card
Dehradun, July 7
A bus driver was today arrested for stealing an ATM card of a woman passenger and withdrawing Rs 31,000 from an ATM. The driver after taking out the money from ATM informed her that her missing bag had been found in Premnagar.

Members of the ABVP burn posters of ‘Delhi Belly’ at a cinema house in Dehradun on Thursday. Film posters burnt
Dehradun July 7
Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) burnt posters of the film “Delhi Belly” to show their protest against the Natraj cinema hall authorities for allowing minors to watch the movie here today.


Members of the ABVP burn posters of ‘Delhi Belly’ at a cinema house in Dehradun on Thursday. A Tribune photograph

Digging of roads: Dalanwala society meets ADB team
Dehradun, July 7
In order to solve the problem of the area due to the digging of roads and laying water pipes, members of the Dalanwala Welfare Society held a meeting with a team of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) here today.

Shiva star in XI Star victory
Players in action in the Nemi Dass Memorial District Football League in Dehradun on ThursdayDehradun, July 7
Shiva scored a brace in the 4-1 win of XI Star over Doon United in the 60th Lala Nemi Dass Memorial District Football League held on the Pavilion football ground today. Shiva struck in the 40th and 45th minutes. Lalit (sixth) and Nausad (38th) were the other scorers. 

Players in action in the Nemi Dass Memorial District Football League in Dehradun on Thursday. A Tribune photograph

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Encroachments removed at Hathibarkala
Guardroom outside Koshiyari’s residence also razed
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 7
A team of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC), in collaboration with the district administration, today removed the guardroom, which was built on the drain outside the residence of former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Bhagat Singh Koshyiari at Hathibarkala. The team also demolished the encroachments made by shopkeepers.

The police tries to pacify residents during the drive.
The police tries to pacify residents during the drive. Tribune photograph

The team, along with hundreds of police personnel, reached the market. It was led by SDM Manmohan Singh. All the temporary as well as permanent illegal structures were razed with help of two JCB machines.

Many people confronted the team claiming that they have proper documents and the land belong to them. They said they had not been given any notice prior to the removal of their structures. However, none of the officials was ready to listen to them.

None of the top leaders came to support the affected people. Earlier, MLA Ganesh Joshi had intervened during such a drive and the team had to return without carrying out any demolition.

Requests fall on deaf ears 

Many persons confronted the team of officials, claiming that they had proper documents and the land belonged to them. They said they had not been given any notice prior to the removal of their structures. However, the officials ignored their pleas

Ashok Kumar Gupta, owner of a shop, stated that he had the permission to carry out certain constructions by the PWD but none of the officials was ready to listen to him. Viney Aggrawal claimed that it seemed that they were not even allowed to construct the boundary wall at their own house. Rajesh Sharma, owner of a sweet shop, said they had been running business from the same place for the past 20 years and they even had proper documents. Furthermore, they have not encroached upon the small drain as being claimed by the corporation, he added.

Many of them were heard discussing that they were suffering due to the fight of two top BJP leaders with the rest of the party leaders.

Talking to The Tribune, Ramesh Pradhan, BJP Mandal president, asked: “If the administration is so eager to remove the illegal constructions why does not it demolish the Kumar Sweets shop and many other shops that have encroached upon government land.”

Showing his concern, councillor Bhupinder Kuthait said: “Owing to the fight among the present Chief Minister, a former Chief Minister and the Mayor, people have to pay a lot. The drive was aimed at removing the rehriwalas who have encroaching upon the way leading to Chief Minister’s residence and it was not in the plans to remove the permanent shops.

“The team should have given enough time to the affected people so that they could have removed the constructions on their own or submitted to the authorities concerned the legal documents of the land which they claim belong to them,” he added.

Chief Minister’s Former OSD Ranjit Singh Jyala said: “We have no objection that the team is removing encroachments. This guardroom was constructed by the government itself when Koshiyari was the Chief Minister. When I asked the SDM to show the orders he replied that the District Magistrate had told them to demolish all the encroachments”.

Meanwhile, the team of the DMC demolished a toilet that was constructed on a drain at Subash Nagar here. Assistant Executive Engineer HR Rawat stated the illegal construction was blocking the drainage, leading to water stagnation in the area.

Another team of the DMC razed three shops in Govindgarh that had come up on government land.

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Sawachkar Karamchari Sangh holds march
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 7
Angry at the beginning of a contractual system for hiring employees for a sanitation drive in the city, members of the Uttaranchal Sawachkar Karamchari Sangh today took out a march from the premises of Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) to the office of the Dehradun District Magistrate (DM). They also submitted a memorandum to the DM to be forwarded to the Uttarakhand Chief Minister.

Talking to the media, Hari Om Anant, district president of the sangh, stated that it had been long since the vacant posts of safai karamchari were filled. The fact is that staff strength has increased in most of the departments but not the sanitation wing, due to which unemployment is increasing among members of the Balmiki community.

He stated that the corporation had awarded the work of picking up garbage from residences and the dustbins of the corporation to contractors without discussing it with the sangh and they request the DMC not to implement the same. Anant mentioned that to overcome the problem of the shortage of safai karamcharis in 2004, the Mohalla Swachta Samiti was formed. The government is exploiting them by providing just Rs 2,000 as wages.

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Low-cost housing on state’s agenda
Preparations on for Doon’s new master plan 
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 7
With a thrust on providing affordable houses to the urban poor and removing the bottlenecks of housing, the Uttarakhand government has begun preparations for the Dehradun Master Plan-2025.

Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar approved the recommendations of the Disparity Committee at the Secretariat on Wednesday. The committee had been constituted for the purpose of sorting out the hurdles coming in the way of housing. The Chief Secretary directed the officers concerned to promote the low-cost housing so that dream of common man could be realised.

“Housing for economically weaker section (EWS) and low income group (LIG) under group housing should be promoted,” he added. Under the Affordable Housing Policy, separate standard for housing structures has been made. Keeping in view the increasing population pressure on the cities, the Building Construction and Development Bylaws-2011 have also been formulated.

The committee recommended that following the guidelines of the Urban Development Plan Formulation and Implementation (UDPFI) of the Government of India, the standardised land use classification and ideal zonal regulation should be implemented in the state.

The Chief Secretary approved the recommendations and directed to prepare the master plan by using GIS technique.

Principal Secretary, Housing, PC Sharma said that the Building Construction and Development Bylaws-2011 were aimed at ensuring transparency, clarity and practicability in the wider interest of public. Provisions of the National Building Code-2005, the UDPFI, Delhi, Bengaluru, Haryana and UP had been enshrined in the bylaws, he added.

For the first time, separate standards for plain and hill areas had been incorporated. Provisions of basement, parking, community centres, approach roads, hostel, LPG, habitat centres, cellular mobile towers, new cinema houses, industrial and commercial complexes etc. had been made, he said.

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2 rooms in temple area fall due to rain
Ajay Ramola

Mussoorie, July 7
The overnight incessant rain led to the collapse of two newly constructed rooms on the temple premises of the Kailashanand Mission Trust on the Spring road today, instilling fear among residents. Fortunately, no loss of life was reported as the rooms were not occupied when the incident occurred.

According to persons living nearby, they were sitting in their rooms when they heard a loud noise on the Nau Manzila temple premises. They rushed to enquire about it and found that the two newly constructed rooms had collapsed.

They also said the whole construction work was shoddy and was being carried out illegally. They also believed that the newly constructed rooms were being used as guest house for the tourist during the peak season.

The caretaker of the temple M. Nautiyal, however, had a different view. He said the overnight rain had led to water seepage inside the pushta which led to the collapse of the two rooms that were the extension of the building. The Disaster Management and Sports Minister of the state Khajan Das, said prima facie it seemed to be a case of natural disaster. However, on the question of illegal construction being carried out on the premises, he said the SDM, Mussoorie, had been directed to investigate the matter and in case of any irregularity, action would be initiated against the perpetrators.

Waterlogging due to overnight rain at the ISBT, Dehradun; and (right) a part of a kutcha road caved in near the Saharanpur road in Dehradun on Thursday. Tribune photos: Vinod Pundir
Waterlogging due to overnight rain at the ISBT, Dehradun; and (right) a part of a kutcha road caved in near the Saharanpur road in Dehradun on Thursday. Tribune photos: Vinod Pundir 

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Andolankari sanyukt manch renamed
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 7
The Uttarakhand Rajya Andolankari Sanyukt Manch has been renamed as Uttarakhand Rajya Niraman Sainani Manch.

Manch convener Manoj Dhayani, while talking to the media at a press conference here today, said a year ago, it was decided to bring various organisations that were fighting for the rights of the statehood strugglers under one umbrella, and acting on that decision, these have unified under the Uttarakhand Rajya Niraman Sainani Manch. He said theirs being a non-political organisation, they would make it sure that no statehood struggler remained devoid of the benefits due for the people of this category.

He stressed though the state government was doing a lot in this direction, the discrepancies in the process to identify statehood strugglers and provide them various benefits should also be removed.

He said: “The women statehood strugglers who had spent less than seven days in jail have not been provided with the benefit of 10% horizontal reservation as they have exceeded the maximum age limit of 50 years long ago. Similarly, as regards the provision of pension of Rs 10,000 a month to the bedridden statehood strugglers, none has been given this benefit so far despite the fact that many such cases exist in the state. A number of statehood strugglers have also not got the benefit of ‘relief pension’ and ‘family pension’.”

While highlighting the objectives of their organisation, he said their target would be to identify all the statehood strugglers, get the limit for 10 per cent horizontal reservation extended to 2020 and ensure free medical facilities to the statehood strugglers. They have been observing a fast for the past 39 days to press for all of these demands.

Dhyani said they would intensify their agitation from July 11 to awaken the sleepy government on these issues.

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Public service commission members call on CM
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 7
The Chairman and the members of the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission called on Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank at the Secretariat on Thursday and briefed him on the activities of the commission.

Nishank said the commission had the vital responsibility of providing the state with talented human resource. He added that there should be no communication gap between the commission and the government at any level.

The CM directed the Personnel Department to provide details on all vacant posts falling within the jurisdiction of the commission to the CM’s office. He also directed the identification of departments which were negligent in sending requisitions to the commission and ordered action against the officers responsible.

Nishank said the state had to face difficulties in implementing development schemes because of the shortage of personnel. In such a situation, the commission ought to complete the selection process speedily.The CM also ordered the appointment of the Examination Controller in the commission.

Chairman of the commission DP Joshi said the panel had almost finalised the examination calendar of the PCS and the PCS (J). He added that an advertisement for the vacant posts for the year 2010 had been released and the selection process started.

He said the results of the examination held for 241 posts of Reviewing Officer and Assistant Reviewing Officer would be declared within the next three days. He also said that the commission was attempting to declare the results of for the posts of Junior Engineer within a week except in the case of the posts that were covered by a pending case in court.

He also put forth a demand for the appointment of a full-time Secretary and a Joint Secretary in the commission.

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Bus driver held for stealing ATM card
Rs 31,000 also withdrawn from woman’s bank account
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 7
A bus driver was today arrested for stealing an ATM card of a woman passenger and withdrawing Rs 31,000 from an ATM. The driver after taking out the money from ATM informed her that her missing bag had been found in Premnagar.

The police on the basis of the information questioned him and the driver admitted to the crime. The police recovered the card, which was thrown at the Shaspur area and also recovered the whole amount withdrawn by him, the police said.

Premnagar police chowki in-charge PD Bhatt said the incident happened yesterday morning after the woman boarded the bus from Premnagar to Clock Tower. After getting down at Clock Tower, the woman realised that she had lost her bag containing the ATM card.

On the other hand, driver Suresh, a resident of Shyampur took the bag from the bus after all passengers got down. He opened the bag and found the card in it. He used the card at two different ATMs in Premnagar and Clock Tower each.

In total, he withdrew Rs 31,000 from the woman’s account. The woman last evening received a call from the driver informing her that the purse had been seen lying near a shop in Premnagar.

The woman after getting that purse saw her card missing and reported the matter to the police. The police questioned the driver. The driver during interrogation revealed the whole story.

He then took the cops to Shaspur where he had discarded the card after having used it. Bhatt said he would be produced before the court tomorrow. He has been booked under Sections 403 and 411 of the IPC.

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Film posters burnt
Tribune News Service

Dehradun July 7
Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) burnt posters of the film “Delhi Belly” to show their protest against the Natraj cinema hall authorities for allowing minors to watch the movie here today.

The protest led by Shobhit Bourai, Hitesh Kumar and Manish tore posters of the film and blamed the cinema hall authorities for not keeping the check on the minors who are coming to watch the adult movie.

However, the police came into the scene and prevented the protesters from entering the cinema hall. 

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Digging of roads: Dalanwala society meets ADB team
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 7
In order to solve the problem of the area due to the digging of roads and laying water pipes, members of the Dalanwala Welfare Society held a meeting with a team of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) here today.

Area councillor Raj Kumar apprised about the problems to Arpana Pandey, Social and Community Development Officer, and Brij Mohan Garg, Executive Engineer, ADB. He stated that all roads had been dug by the Jal Sansthan in order to lay the pipeline, but it failed to reconstruct these due to which the residents were facing trouble while crossing the roads.

“Many a times, vehicles get stuck in the mud,” he said. Raj Kumar further stated that on some roads, two sides had been dug to lay a pipe and now the department said according to its agreement they would only do the patch work. “If the road has been excavated on both sides, how is it possible to just repair it? The Jal Sansthan should immediately repair it so that people should not face any trouble,” he maintained.

“When asked when would all work finish, we were told that it will take two years but we asked them to ensure that the work is done as soon as possible,” General Nandwani (President of the Dalanwala Welfare Society) stated and added that they ensured that the patch work at various places would be completed within a week.

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Shiva star in XI Star victory
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 7
Shiva scored a brace in the 4-1 win of XI Star over Doon United in the 60th Lala Nemi Dass Memorial District Football League held on the Pavilion football ground today.

Shiva struck in the 40th and 45th minutes. Lalit (sixth) and Nausad (38th) were the other scorers. Whereas Amit Nautiyal netted the goal for Doon United, all attempts of the team ended in a vain.

While in the earlier match, Sachin Rawat fashioned the 1-0 win of Sunderwala Boys over Doon Eagle. Rawat scored the lone goal to put his team on the winning circuit while Sunderwala lost the tough fight.

Gorkha Rangers will cross swords with Khukri and Tapovan will lock horns against Garhwal Boys in the tomorrow’s match

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