DMC needs Admn help to rid city of polythene
Dehradun, August 28
Four months have passed since the state government announced that it would make the capital city free of polythene bags but the ban has not been enforced effectively as of now. Shopkeepers are openly using polythene bags and claim to be unaware of any ban on these. Nevertheless, the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) is trying to enforce the ban in the city but certainly needs the help of the administration.

Dehradun, August 28
Five persons, including the Children’s Academy principal and organiser of the “Run to live” marathon and Eco Watch Society office-bearer, have been booked. A 14-year-old student of the school died when a tree fell on her during the run at Rajpur Road on April 18.

Judicial Magistrate Shivakant Dwivedi ordered to register an FIR against the school’s Principal Kiran Kashyap, PTI Amit Gupta, sports in charge Vishal Gupta, teacher Jagdish Prasad and Eco Watch Society office-bearer Dr Kuleep Dutta under Section 304 (A) of the Indian Penal Code yesterday.

The next hearing of the case has been set for September 5. In this race on April 18, about 2,000 students of different public schools of Dehradun took part. The race, which started from St Joseph’s Academy, Rajpur Road, had to finish at Scholars Home, Jakhan.

However on their way during the marathon, a burning tree fell over students near NIVH, Rajpur Road. Over 12 students got injured and the Children Academy’s student Shruti Lodhi died in the mishap.

It was reported that Shruti died while saving one of her friends. After Shruti noticed the tree was about to fell while they all were running she pushed her friend away to save her but unfortunately the brave girl came under the tree and lost her life.

An inquiry was ordered into the matter. The probe found the school authorities and the organiser responsible behind the incident but no action was initiated against either of them.

Following this, the father of Shruti, Deepak Lodhi, went to the court. On Saturday, Lodhi submitted his complaint in the court through his

counsel Gaurav Sharma. The court ordered to register the case against them. 

Dehradun, August 28
Four months have passed since the state government announced that it would make the capital city free of polythene bags but the ban has not been enforced effectively as of now. Shopkeepers are openly using polythene bags and claim to be unaware of any ban on these. Nevertheless, the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) is trying to enforce the ban in the city but certainly needs the help of the administration.

The state government on April 1 this year announced that Dehradun would be made a polythene-free city. The wholesale dealers were asked to shun the use of plastic bags weighing less than 20 microns but still one can see all the shopkeepers using them. Though many shopkeepers have been challaned, they start using plastic bags weighing less than 20 microns soon after paying the fine.

Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli, who is totally against the use of plastic bags, says they are in the process of making the city polythene free, as it is one of the major causes for drain blockages. The DMC launches anti-polythene drives from time to time, he adds.

The Mayor also stated that without the help of people they would not be able to rid the city of polythene. They need to understand that the indiscriminate use of polythene bags can cause various problems as well as environmental damage.

Talking to The Tribune, Assistant Executive Engineer, MC, HR Rawat, said: “We have challaned more then 1,500 people who were found using polythene bags and littering streets, especially the ‘thelewalas’.” “It has also been made mandatory to keep a dustbin outside a shop or in the case of rehriwalas they have to carry along a bin. If they are caught without it they will be challaned,” he said, adding, “the district administration has to be strict against the violators.”

The city generates more than 300 metric tonne of solid waste per day. But, the DMC is unable to scientifically dispose of all the waste using present resources and facilities.

Though the problem of polythene is expected to be rectified with the construction of the proposed Solid Waste Management (SWM) facility at a cost of Rs 24.6 crore by the DMC under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), its use may cause a serious damage to city infrastructure and environment. Polythene is considered the most harmful content of the solid waste generated in the city. 

Dehradun, August 28
Dalanwala (north) is one of the oldest residential colonies of the state capital whose large portion comprises posh area. However, its residents are facing many problems due to the absence of drainage system and bad condition of roads.

Mussoorie, August 28
The Queen of the Hills today wore a festive look as the annual Krishna Doli procession was organised by the Sanatan Dharma Mandir Sabha with fervour. The procession is held on the Sunday following immediately after the Janmashtami celebrations.

The Krishna Doli (palanquin) procession started at 2 pm after the initiation ceremony at the temple at Landour amidst chants of “Radhey Radhey”.

The “kirtan mandalis” followed the Doli, singing and dancing in praise of Krishna. Adding colour to the procession were tableaux depicting the life of Krishna.devotees thronged the roadside on the 4-km route of the procession to seek blessings and catch a glimpse of Krishna. For tourists it was a rare photo opportunity.

The procession has historical significance. According to Sandeep Agarwal, an office-bearer of the Sanatan Dharm Mandir Sabha, the Krishna Doli procession began around 1870-1900 during the British rule. The British had banned worship at this temple.

The Hindu devotees discreetly established the Krishna idol at the Radha Krishan Mandir and brought it here in a wooden Doli in a procession. Since then it has become an annual feature. The procession ended at Lakshmi Narayan Temple in Library Bazar. 

THE recent agitation by Anna Hazare for Jan Lokpal Bill aimed at curbing corruption from the grassroot levels up to the top echelons of power in the country put both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition Congress in Uttarakhand on the defensive. Although as a lip service, they gave support to the bill of Anna Hazare, they are not willing to remove corruption in the state.

The ruling BJP in the state, already facing charges of corruption in several cases that even went up to the courts, did try to draw mileage hoping that the general resentment of the people against corruption and the stalemate between Anna Hazare and the Congress-led United Progressive Allainace (UPA) government could be directed against the Congress.

Several senior functionaries of the ruling party and RSS workers were seen in most of the protests supporting Anna Hazare,

Congress leaders were nowhere to be seen in the pro-Anna agitation but their senior leaders, including two MPs Vijay Bahuguna and Satpal Maharaj and state party chief Yashpal Arya, did issue statements supporting his crusade.

Uttarakhand, which was formed on the premise of neglect, nepotism and corruption in the mother state of Uttar Pradesh, has surpassed all records of corruption in the past one decade of its existence.

Interestingly, the state of Uttarakhand not only followed the work culture of Uttar Pradesh but also inherited the most corrupt bureaucracy of the mother state. The first scandal to hit the state was in the making of the interim capital after the new state was formed but despite reports, the successive government of both Congress and BJP failed to take action against the accused bureaucrats.

The first elected government of Uttarakhand, headed by veteran Chief Minister ND Tewari, will be remembered as the period of initiation of the corruption in the state. While Tewari ran his government from his bedroom, seldom going to the state Secretariat, the work culture of the entire government machinery went for a toss as the chief executive of the state government was not available in the Secretariat as a rule.

The scandals kept on surfacing in the Congress regime as politicians as well as bureaucrats ruled the roost. Whether it was patwari or police recruitment scandals or unwed mother scandal, scandals kept on tumbling during the Congress regime. Most interestingly, Tewari did appoint a toothless Lokayukta to fight corruption in the state.

The Assembly elections of 2007 was fought by the BJP on the plank of all pervading corruption during the Congress regime with a promise to punish the guilty.

On assuming office as Chief Minister Maj-Gen BC Khanduri (retd) appointed a one-man commission to probe 56 alleged scandals of the previous Congress regime. However, after a year, in a major embarrassment to the state BJP government, the commission, appointed by the state government to probe the irregularities of the previous Congress regime, Justice AN Verma resigned without giving his report. Neither the judge heading the commission nor the state government was interested in the probe as the judge only once came to the state capital during past one year.

He was given a year to give his report. The state government then appointed Justice RA Sharma, a retired judge of the Allahabad High Court, but he too left after a few years without completing the task. The work had not been given to a third judge but there is no hope that anyone will be found guilty in the 56 scandals.

After Khanduri left, the state BJP government headed by Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has been involved in several controversial decisions and had to take back many such decision fearing adverse high court verdicts. Since the bureaucracy is having a total stranglehold over the government, the political leadership of the state has lacked the intellect, vision and the experience to tame the unbridled bureaucracy.

The commitment of the state government towards fighting corruption could be gauged from the fact that since 2005, the reports of the Lokayukta had not been tabled in the state Assembly. During the Anna Hazare agitation also, leaders of both parties in the state tried to skirt the issue as they did not want even to discuss the issue in the state.

There was a reshuffle of the senior police officials during past week. GS Martoliya, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), one of the most hardworking and efficient police officer was also transferred before the expiry of his two-year mandatory term as per the Police Act.

There was talk of his removal as it was believed that the state government was unhappy with him. It was believed that the state government wanted him to take action against leader of the Opposition Harak Singh Rawat in an alleged land grab case. A case has already been registered against Rawat for allegedly usurping more than 100 bighas of land but there was no further action.

It was believed that the state government was annoyed over the failure of the SSP to book Rawat. With Assembly elections round the corner, the BJP government wanted to tame an aggressive Rawat but officials are wary of such drastic action that could land them in trouble after the assembly polls, if the Congress comes back to power.

There were also rumours that the Chief Minister was also unhappy over the failure of the Dehradun police to nab a journalist who was booked by the police in several cases. The journalist had come from Uttar Pradesh during the Congress regime and, enjoying the patronage of the Congress masters, had indulged in brazen acts of alleged land grabs.

After he annoyed the present Chief Minister, he was booked but he evaded arrest. While the Chief Minister wanted him to be arrested, a former Chief Minister of his own party was openly supporting the so called journalist. (By SMA Kazmi)