Pingalwara Trust not to open branch in state
Dehradun, September 18
Dr Inderjit Kaur, Chairman, All-India Pingalwara Charitable Trust, who was in the city today to participate in a seminar on “Sewa and Simran” organised by the Gursikh Education Society said the trust had no plans to open its unit in Uttarakhand, as she felt gurdwaras were doing a good work in providing service to the mankind.

Rally against corruption on Oct 2
Dehradun September 18
President of the Bhrashtachar Mukti Morcha Usha Negi has formed a task force of four group activists who will go to various departments in

Mussoorie, September 18
The rampant use of substandard material in the construction of crash barriers, guard rails and embankments on the Mussoorie-Kempty road by the contractors of the Public Works Department (PWD) has put a serious question mark over the whole exercise of improving the road safety standards to minimise road accidents in the state.

The demand for erecting crash barriers and repairing the embankments was acted upon after several fatal accidents had occurred on the Mussoorie-Kempty road during winter. But, it seems the contractors are more interested in increasing their profit by using sub-standard material in the construction. By doing so they are putting lives of commuters to a grave risk.

The contractors are flouting all the norms, including the one pertaining to illegal mining. Instead of adhering to the guidelines for the construction of barriers and embankments, they are busy digging out rocks and boulders from the adjacent mountains destroying the fragile environment in the reserve forest area in the process. While constructing road embankments the staff of the contractors dump the mud debris in the forest below the road presumably in connivance the officials of the PWD, thus causing damage to several oak and devdar trees.

When this correspondent visited the road he found the labourers using their equipment to dig out boulders and place them on the newly constructed concrete barriers. The newly constructed metal crash barriers or guard rails that are supposedly designed to absorb the impact of a vehicle going off the track are already shaking at the base.

The Tribune has also learnt through sources that under the political pressure, most of the work has been sub-contracted to the local people who have no knowledge of installing such barriers.

Apart from this the newly constructed concrete barrier and the embankment on the Mussoorie-Barlowganj road has already collapsed due to the use of substandard material in their construction. The local residents, however, alleged the use of substandard material was not possible without the support of the PWD officials.

The forest range officer, Mussoorie division, M Maindola, said they had imposed a fine on the officials of the PWD under various sections of the forest laws and if the contractors were still indulging in illegal activities they would be arrested without any further delay.

The PWD Executive Engineer, DN Chaudhry, showed ignorance on the issue. However, he affirmed that the matter would be investigated and if any anomalies were found then punitive action would be taken against the erring contractors.

Meanwhile, the commuters are sceptic of the investigation by the PWD and have demanded an independent enquiry into the matter so that the officials involved are also punished.

It is worth mentioning that the PWD is with Chief Minster BC Khanduri itself. 

Dehradun, September 18
Dr Inderjit Kaur, Chairman, All-India Pingalwara Charitable Trust, who was in the city today to participate in a seminar on “Sewa and Simran” organised by the Gursikh Education Society said the trust had no plans to open its unit in Uttarakhand, as she felt gurdwaras were doing a good work in providing service to the mankind.

“We don’t have enough dedicated people for opening new branches. Gurdwaras are contributing well in this direction,” she said. The Pingalwara Trust has its premises in Amritsar and Chandigarh.

Dr Inderjit Kaur, who has been associated with the Pingalwara Trust activities since 1987, said: “We have come a long way in providing shelters, schools and proper medical aid to the destitute, deaf and dumb and mentally challenged children. We have doctors, nursing staff and physiotherapists who provide assistance to us on a voluntary basis. As many as 200 destitute children from our centres reunite with their families each year.”

She is taking newer challenges head-on, be it awareness on the environment or organic farming. “The trust also began organic farming on zero budget after we saw rampant deaths taking place in Punjab due to cancer for which the blatant use of pesticides is to blame,” she said. The meagre budget is another concern. She said: “We get Rs 10 lakh from the SGPC every year and the rest comes through donations. We spend between Rs 3 and Rs 5 lakh every day. We certainly face the constraints of employing adequate trained people as they demand good salaries.”

She stressed the need for more compassion and human values in the time which is marred by “violence and corporatisation of each institution.”

Dehradun September 18
Volunteers of an NGO, “Citizens for Green Doon”, staged a protest at the main gate of the Rangers’ College Ground against the alleged takeover of the Rangers’ College ground by the District Administration from the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, here today.

Dr Nitin Pandey, founder of the NGO, said, “The Rangers ground is the lush green asset of Dehradun where many events and sports activities for the youth takes places. The takeover of this land by the district administration might turn up into the construction of commercial building there.”

“We request both administration and state government to hand over the ground to the FRI, before Dehradun turns into a concrete jungle. The institute can take good care of the ground as well as of various trees there,” he added.

Another volunteer of the organisation Rajeev Sachar said Dehradun was once known for greenery but it had changed because of the insensitive town planning. Canals, which flowed through the city since the British period, had been made underground, thus robbing the city of its identity. The rich and the powerful flouted the norms with impunity leading to numerous problems to city dwellers. 

HAVING felt ignored and let down by former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank during his two-year two-month long tenure, the people of the Kumaon region have a large wishlist ready for his successor Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri.

Although the masses are disillusioned with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for having failed to prove a stable government in the state, they want Khanduri to deliver on their genuine demands.

The people are justified in comparing the scenario with Himachal Pradesh whom they want the state to follow as a role model instead of continuing with the legacy inherited from the parent state of Uttar Pradesh. They point out that while Himachal Pradesh has seen only five Chief Ministers coming to the chair in the last four decades, Uttarakhand has seen five in a mere decade.

They further point out that out of these six Chief Ministers, five have been from the BJP itself which speaks a lot in terms of the state of affairs in the party. The

Congress had heavy weight Chief Minister Narayan Dutt Tewari who managed to retain his chair for a complete five-year term despite a lot of dissidence.

Talking about the terms of the five Chief Ministers given by the BJP, the people see the term of Nishank as the worst when it comes to governance, accountability and administration. The people are now looking up to Khanduri to do whatever he can in the brief tenure at his disposal.

The first wish of the people in the region is to see the roads being repaired. Having been devastated in the rain-related disaster last year, the Nishank-led government had simply failed to repair the roads. Going by the reputation earned by Khanduri as the Surface Transport Minister in the Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in the Centre, the people feel that he can do something for them.

The most important road that cries for repairs is the Halwani-Almora national highway that continues to lie in ruins despite being the lifeline of the region catering to the needs of the entire hilly terrain.

People are now questioning,"What is it if it is not the failure of the administration to repair the roads even after one year."

They hold the Nishank government and the local bureaucracy squarely responsible for their misery.

The people are also hoping to see a proper transfer policy in place with regards to the postings of teachers and doctors. With none willing to go and serve in the remote areas, the scenario is pathetic as medical equipment and infrastructure lay waste. It has been alleged time and again that money has been changing hands when it comes to postings and transfers.

People also want a proper supply of power to their villages. There are areas where the supply has been very badly hit since August 15. The people do not know whom to turn to. There is also the issue of the water supply lines lying devastated for the last one year. The list is simply endless. Going by the posturing Khanduri has resorted to after being reinstated

as the Chief Minister, the people expect some outcome in the next couple of months. As an employee pointed out to this correspondent,"It was a great surprise to see even those officials turning up for Khanduri's first video conferencing after his taking over who had not bothered to attend any government meet for the last two years. Not only did they turn up but they had done their homework and could be seen calculating figures with regards to their respective departments."

It is a well-known fact that while Nishank had resorted to lots of theatrics with regard to making the bureaucrats accountable, the result at the ground had been a big naught.

Khanduri was seen in his old element during the video conferencing as he pulled up one official after the other. He snubbed a couple of them for beating around the bush on issues instead of giving straight replies. He was particularly annoyed with the officials in Almora and Nainital for having failed to repair the Haldwani-Almora highway.

Dehradun, September 18
Residents of Adhoiwala (South) are irked over poor condition of roads and the absence of sewerage. Potholes and waterlogging during rain cause lots of troubles to commuters. Area councillor from Congress Anand Tyagi said: “Most of the roads fall under the PWD and MLA Ganesh Joshi makes proposals for their construction or repair work. Since he belongs to the other party, he is not concerned about the problems being faced by us.” He further said shopkeepers at the scrap market had encroached upon the road, thus leading to traffic jams.

Regarding a sewerage system in the area, he said: “An application in this regard has been submitted to the Jal Nigam, which has given an assurance to provide the same by the next year,” he added.

He said as the area was surrounded by the Rispana river from three sides, all embankments were in bad shape, causing problems for residents during heavy rain. “I have written to all departments concerned, including the District Magistrate’s office, the Irrigation Department and the Municipal Corporation, regarding the repair of embankments, but nothing has been done so far. It seems all of them are waiting for some mishap to happen.”

The councillor further said he had got a water tank constructed in the area and there was no water shortage. He said they had also submitted a proposal to the Mussoorie-Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) regarding the construction of a community hall when the colony was formed. “We had even asked the MDDA to issue us an NOC and we will get it constructed ourselves, but it failed to provide so,” the councillor added.

Aneesh Khan complained of potholed roads and poor condition of drains. “Owing to potholed roads, water gets stagnated in the area during rain. Drains also remained choked.” Kiran Sharma said: “Sanitation employees rarely come. Garbage remains scattered on the roads.” Bharose Lal said, “Drains are never cleaned and they remain choked. Water enter houses during rain.” Shamim Ahmed said: “For over two years, roads are in poor condition, causing inconvenience to us.”

Dehradun, September 18
A total of 100 vehicles were issued challans during a two-day joint drive of the Regional Transport Office (RTO) and the Dehradun traffic police that concluded today.

Besides this, five vehicles have been impounded and five persons arrested for drunken driving.

Officials said the challans were issued for overloading, rash driving, driving without licence and drunken driving. Fitness test of other five vehicles was also done during the drive. They said the drive would continue.

Dehradun, September 18
Doon Star got the better of Wills Youth Club 3-1 during the Doon Callisto Football Tournament played at the Pavilion grounds in the city today.

The first half of the match ended goalless. Dharam Singh (47th) opened the account for the winning team. Later, leading 1-0 Doon Star started mounting pressure on the rival team by taking several chances in the goal area.

However, Shubham of Wills scored the equaliser to level the scores in the 56th minute.

This was soon retaliated by Doon Star, which scored two goals in the next four minutes of the match. Sushil (58th) and Akash (60th) were the scorers for the Doon Star team.