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Warrants against three employees
Forest Landscape Restoration |
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CM for steps to repair roads, check accidents
So far, 61 lives lost in rain-related incidents
Congress leader expelled from party
Assembly Elections
Proposal on setting up dental services structure shot down
Irrigation Dept staff end strike
Additional charge for three IAS officers
Railways begins drive against encroachments
FRI to set up foresters’ memorial in Doon
Doon International School victorious
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Warrants against three employees
Haridwar, September 14 Field security employees reportedly deposited their weapons at all nine range offices. Protesting employees cited the waiver given by the Home Ministry to forest employees that in case of encounters during performance of duty, if an FIR is registered, then first magisterial investigation will be done and then only on directions of the ministry, further action can be taken by the police. Forest ranger MS Negi said despite this order, the police had issued warrants against three park employees. If such be the trend, then smugglers, poachers, and illegal activities would only increase. He added that such police move would only deter park employees to take strict action against intruders in the restricted forest area also. Tibdi forest range office in charge Kewalanand Tiwari informed the Tribune that all employees had deposited the ammunitions as mark of protest and these had now been locked up in the office. “We have informed the higher authorities of the park of today’s development and we are waiting for their directions. Though the protesting employees have not boycotted their work, yet it’s a matter of concern as without weapons how will they be able to perform their duties efficiently”, said Tiwari. Meanwhile, it’s being feared that if the protest of the park employees continues, then the activities of the smugglers and anti-social elements in the restricted park area may increase. Also without weapons it will not be easy to provide security cover to residential colonies situated on the outskirts of the park as in past few days the movement of elephants has increased in these areas. Notably, the incident had occurred in October 2010 when Bullawala village resident Babu Lal was killed in an encounter at Dhaulkhand, falling in the western range of the park. Park employees claimed Babu Lal to be a poacher and fired on the patrolling team led by then ranger Jai Pal Singh Rawat, along with forest guards Satpal Singh and Saleem Khan. Both sides had filed FIR against each other but when directions from the Home Ministry are awaited, the police action has only fuelled the resentment among the park employees. Seema Bisht,a forest guard, said, “If the police sides with smugglers then there is no need to have these weapons with us.” The protesting park employees have also given the park administration a week-time to look into this matter otherwise they will be forced to go on strike boycotting their work. |
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Forest Landscape Restoration
Dehradun, September 14 Dr V K Bahuguna, Director-General, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, today said here the agreement was signed at Edinburgh (the United Kingdom) on September 6. The agreement was signed at the UKFC, Edinburgh office by Tim Rollinson, Director-General, UKFC, Dr PJ Dilip Kumar, Director-General Forests and Special Secretary, Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, and Dr VK Bahuguna, DG, ICFRE. The collaborative project will attempt to map assessment of potential Forest Landscape Restoration sites in different states of India and linking of other assessment being carried out in other countries under the umbrella of Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration (GPFLR), founded by the UK. The collaborative project conceives a Stakeholders Participatory Spatial Planning and Learning Platform (SPLP) draft and creation of a National Learning Network. During its stay in the UK, the Indian delegation also visited the Plan Vivo Foundation and the Bio climate Centre, Liberton, Edinburgh, which is actively engaged in issues of carbon management. |
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CM for steps to repair roads, check accidents
Dehradun, September 14 General Khanduri directed the Principal Secretary, Public Works Department (PWD), that all the road blocked by landslides or due to any other reason should be opened immediately. He said paucity of funds should not be allowed to come in the way of a smooth execution of these operations. While reviewing the disaster management works, the Chief Minister directed the Chief Secretary to ensure that the funds sanctioned under the disaster head were utilised in a time-bound manner. The disaster-affected as well as the most sensitive areas should be identified and steps taken for the rehabilitation of the people residing there. On checking road accidents, he directed the Principal Secretary, Transport, that intensive checking operations should be launched in all the districts. Those who were present on the occasion included Principal Secretary, Home, Rajeev Gupta, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister DK Kotia, Principal Secretary, Transport, S Ramaswamy, Principal Secretary, PWD, Utpal Kumar, Director-General of Police JS Pandey, Director, Shiwalik Headquarters of the BRO, GP Cherian. |
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So far, 61 lives lost in rain-related incidents
Dehradun, September 14 Eightyone persons have been killed in road mishaps during the same period. This apart from losses of livestock and damage to houses and other public properties like roads and bridges. As many as 189 head of cattle like cows and buffaloes and 1,264 small animals like goats have perished so far. A total of 268 concrete houses were totally demolished while another 1,317 concrete houses were partially damaged in the rains. Seventyone thatched-roof houses were completely demolished while 1,706 similar houses were partially damaged. Among public properties, 71 pedestrian roads, 591 motor roads, one pedestrian bridge and 12 public buildings were damaged. As of other infrastructure, 48 electricity poles, 18 potable water pipe lines, 27 culverts, six canals, four transformers, three small water bodies and 12 micro hydel projects were destroyed in the rains. Rahul Jugran, Manager, State Emergency Operation Centre, said the disaster management officials had been working round the clock to monitor the situation particularly during the monsoon and asserted the response too had been very prompt this year. He admitted that there had been a rise in road mishaps
this year in comparison to last year. “There has been a significant rise in the number of roads accidents this monsoon with major mishap incidents touching the figure of 51. However, there has been a drastic decrease in the other rain-related casualties this year when compared to last year, when the state had experienced heavy rains,” Jugran observed. |
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Congress leader expelled from party
Dehradun, September 14 Announcing this at a press conference in Dehradun, Narendra Bhandari, Chairman, Uttarakhand Congress Disciplinary Committee, said Bahadur Singh Fartyal, a former Parmukh at Chamapawat, had been expelled from the party for six years for being involved in assaulting Champawat
District Congress in charge in a party meet on September 9. He said Fartyal had assaulted Champawat Congress in charge Lalit Verma in presence of Nilesh Saini, an AICC observer, at the meeting of the party. “Fartyal’s conduct was found to be seriously offensive by the disciplinary committee following which it has been decided to expel him for the party for six years”, Bhandari said. He added that two others, Rajendra Singh and Pawan Pandey, who were with Fartyal but did not participate in the assault, had been served show-cause notices which they would have to reply within a
fortnight. Bhandari asserted that the disciplinary committee was very serious on any act of indiscipline. He yet again appealed party workers not to go directly to the media to air their grievances and raise the matter only at the appropriate party forum. Responding to a query, Bhandari denied that the disciplinary committee was meant to expel workers from the party
and added that it was rather aimed to infuse a sense of discipline among them. He said due to strict action on part of the disciplinary committee, no act of indiscipline was reported in the last parliamentary elections resulting in resounding success for the party in that elections. |
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Assembly Elections
Haridwar, September 14 Suman Yadav, district observer of the party for the poll, has started holding meetings with aspirants. Today, Yadav interacted with aspirants and their supporters from the Haridwar city seat number 25 and the Ranipur-BHEL Assembly segment seat number 26 at Kankhal. Addressing a gathering of party activists, Suman Yadav said that all party men should work together to dislodge the state government. Suman Yadav, a veteran party leader from Rajasthan, said candidates with a clean image would be given preference during the allocation of the party ticket. Yadav said she would try to ensure that at least two party tickets be allotted to women
candidates. For the newly formed Ranipur-BHEL Assembly segment, those who put forth their claims were the PCC general secretary, Dr Santosh Chauhan, Balwant Singh Chauhan, Rajbeer Singh and Vikas
Chaudhary. — TNS |
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Proposal on setting up dental services structure shot down
Dehradun, September 14 The proposal was mooted to remove the inherent lacunae in the administrative structure of the Health Department that had failed to envisage a separate structure for dental services and also ensure that dental care was easily accessible to the residents of the state. “The Finance Department has vetoed our proposal citing financial constraints. The existing dental cadre has 78 dentists. We had proposed for the recruitment of additional 152 dentists at the level of dental surgeons, senior dental surgeon, assistant director and joint director in different pay bands, but it has been rejected,” said Dr JDS Rana, Joint Director (Dental), Directorate Medical Health and Family Welfare. Aware that their proposal would hit a roadblock, adequate care was taken to come up with a realistic number while putting forward the requirement of dentists. The proposal had even forgone the decision to take the block level as the unit for setting up dental clinics because this would have increased the number of required doctors. “We had suggested the deployment of 211 dental hygienists who would hold camps providing primary dental care to villagers. Besides, we had also proposed 47 dental clinics to be set up at the Community Health Centres and Primary Health Centres,” said Rana. At the tertiary level the proposal had called for appointment of two additional dental surgeons to run the dental clinics at the district hospitals, the Base Hospital at Haldwani, the Medical College at Sringar and Almora. |
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Irrigation Dept staff end strike
Dehradun, September 14 President of the union Shekharanand Raturi said: “The Irrigation Department has 67 divisions under
18 circles, out of which only 36 divisions have work while the rest became idle after the work related to hydro power was taken away from them. The Irrigation Department has begun to have loads of construction work after it floated a new corporation. In this changed scenario, we were demanding for an equal distribution of
work and the renaming of the department according to the new set of projects allotted to the department. The state government has approved our demands and sent a letter to the department to this effect”. Three divisions, which earlier handled hydro-power projects, have been renamed as construction circle, tubewell circle and flood circle. |
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Additional charge for three IAS officers
Dehradun, September 14 Director-General Prisons Bhaskaranand has been give the additional charge of Additional Secretary to the Chief Minister, Additional Secretary, Urban Development, Director, Local Bodies, and Director, State Urban Development Agency (SUDA). Project Director, Asian Development Bank Project, Nidhi Mani Tripathy has been given the additional charge of Additional Secretary to the Chief
Minister. |
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Railways begins drive against encroachments
Nainital, September 14 To begin with, the Railways has a plan of expansion for the Lal Kuan Railway Station which is to be developed as a gateway to Kumaon as Haldwani and Kathgodam do not offer the kind of space required for the purpose. The evacuation drive began on Tuesday from Khaddi Mohalla that had come up illegally over the last several years right next to the Lal Kuan station. Officials had told the residents that their hutments would be removed on Tuesday morning. The Railway officials reached the site with a strong police force for protection in the event of any resistance coming in their way. The residents, most of whom were labourers, vacated the hutments after a brief resistance and themselves destroyed a large number of the huts. A child was injured when a wooden block fell on him while it was being shifted. Functionaries of the Uttarakhand Berozegar Sangathan have started a dharna in Lal Kuan seeking proper rehabilitation of the people being evacuated in the area. On Tuesday, more than 100 hutments were removed. Railway officials have been saying that the development projects proposed by the Indian Railways for the Kumaon region are facing a roadblock in the form of large-scale encroachment of land belonging to the department. Official estimates convey that almost 1.04 lakh square metres of land belonging to the Railways is under encroachment in the zone between Kathgodam and Lal Kuan alone which needs to be restored to its owners. A large number of unauthorised settlements have come up on this land. During the recent inspections of the Haldwani, Kathgodam and Lal Kuan junctions, besides the other land belonging to the Railways, Izzatnagar Railways division officers have been dismayed at finding the large scale encroachments and have called for their removal at the earliest. The officials have also expressed surprise at the move of the administration to build roads to the illegal colonies that have come up on the
land. — TNS |
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FRI to set up foresters’ memorial in Doon
Dehradun, September 14 The memorial at the initiative of the Indian Forest Service Association is aimed to commemorate the sacrifice made by foresters all across the country for the cause of protecting forests and environment. To come up opposite to the Officers Club in the FRI, the ceremonial memorial will have the main components with eco-friendly materials and landscaping merging with the FRI Campus surroundings thereby conveying the conservation message to the public through interpretative signage and guiding system. These components will significantly be established without sacrificing the tree growth and other natural resources with a proper planning. Forester Memorial Committee Chairman VK Bahuguna said the memorial was coming up at the initiative of the Indian Forest Service Association and is in memory of the entire foresters’ community who has made supreme sacrifice for the cause of forestry and environment in the country. He said the memorial whose dimensions were still be finalised would be in around 85 by 60 square metres of area in the FRI. |
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BSNL staff stage dharna
Dehradun, September 14 They submitted a memorandum to Chief General Manger, Uttarakhand Telecom Services, Ashok Kumar, who assured them that he would forward it to the Head Office, BSNL, New Delhi. President of the union Rajinder Singh Kathait said: “The facilities of LTC and leave encashment were withdrawn a week ago. The facility of medical without vouchers too will be withdrawn in one week”. These orders have been released for the employees and officers of the BSNL posted across the country. He said the BSNL had taken these steps citing financial constraints. “We understand the compulsion but if our boss, Chief Managing Director Kuldip Goyal, whose name has surfaced in the siphoning off of crores from the BSNL funds allegedly with the connivance of A Raja, former Union Minister of Communication and Information Technology, then the Union Government can spare some amount to give a few facilities to its employees”. He said if their demands were not met then they would march towards Parliament on November 29. Haridwar: The working at the BSNL district office came to a halt as the employees staged a symbolic protest against the non-fulfilment of their demands by the Central Government and the company management. Under the aegis of the Joint Forum of Officers and Employees, the employees staged a dharna on the premise of the BSNL office situated at Mayapur for the whole day. Union leaders addressed the protesting employees. A memorandum was submitted to the officials concerned to be forwarded to the ministry by the protesting employees. Those who addressed the protesters include KS Chauhan, BK Bandhu, Madan Singh Negi, Dile Ram, Rajendra Singh, Jaipal Singh, Sompal Singh, Rishipal, Ram Prasad and Ram
Kumar Sharma. |
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DAV school, Welham winners
Dehradun, September 14 In the second match, St Thomas College won by a margin of 41-32 over Hopetown Girls School. Latika of St Thomas scored 14 points. Also, Welham Girls’ School thrashed Doon International School 68-14 with Akshita as top scorer (14 points). |
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Doon International School victorious
Dehradun, September 14 In the second match, Summer Valley Public School got the better of Cambrin Hall 4-2 in a tiebreaker round. Amulaya Shahi and Avinash Rahal were the scorers for the losing team. For Summer Valley, Akash Chhabra, Aman Chandola, Deobjeet Kalita and Abhisheek Saklani struck to help register the win. Tomorrow, North Point School will take on ITITI Jhajra and Doon Valley Public School will
meet Maharishi Vidya Mandir. |
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