Central status for Kumaon varsity sought
Tribune News Service

Nainital, November 26
As campaigns start to gather steam across the state with the Assembly poll nearing, Congress president Yash Pal Arya managed to score some brownie points by raking up the emotive issue of according the status of a central university to Kumaon University.

Arya has expressed his support for the demand of the people to bring Kumaon University on a par with HNB University in Garhwal. He had come to the DSB Campus of the university to participate in the annual function organised here today.

While interacting with mediapersons, Arya said,”The university should be made a central university.We will convey the aspirations of the people to our party high command and will try to address the issue.”

The residents of Kumaon have been annoyed with all political parties for ignoring the issue of a central university status for Kumaon University so that it comes on a par with its counterpart in Garhwal, which got the status a few months prior to the parliamentary polls in 2009.

The central university status for their regional university has been an emotive issue in this part of the state as the residents feel that Chief Minister BC Khanduri and his government favoured Garhwal University over Kumaon University when he was posed with a choice to select one out of these two in 2009.

The students, teachers and the local intelligentsia feel that somehow their right has been denied.

The issue has become such an emotive one that the entire Kumaon region had witnessed a complete bandh on November 12 in 2008. The movement for getting the central status has been going on in fits and starts since then.

In the parliamentary polls, the contestants from all the parties were held responsible for not making this a prominent issue in their campaign and trying to downplay the issue to appease their seniors in respective political parties.

It was during the Chief Ministership of Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna that both the universities had been sanctioned in 1973 to cater to the needs of the two distinct regions of this backward part of the country. Thereafter, both the universities were treated on a par by various governments of erstwhile Uttar Pradesh and now Uttarakhand. However, when it came to giving a central university status, it was Garhwal university at Srinagar that was granted the benefit.

When the Centre was approached at that point of time, the then Human Resource Development (HRD) minister, Arjun Singh, had conveyed that his ministry could give the status to only one of the universities and the recommendation was to come from the state government.

Minister: AIIMS-Rishikesh to be completed by 2013
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, November 26
The much-delayed construction of All-India Institute for Medical Sciences (AIIMS) building being built at Rishikesh will be completed by 2013 which will pave way for a boon in the health sector for people residing in Uttarakhand and neighboring states.

This was stated by Union Cabinet Minister of State for Health Sudhip Bandhopadhyay here, while inspecting the implementation of the Central Government-run health schemes in Haridwar.

Bandhopadhyay, while talking to TNS on the sidelines of a health inspection of the district hospital, said the much-awaited superspeciality AIIMS building would be completed by 2013 and get fully operational, which would cater to lakhs of people in the region.

He further added that in the 12th financial scheme, two more similar prototype AIIMS projects had been sanctioned, to be build at Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, while the Uttarakhand-AIIMS is a part of the 11th financial scheme which was being constructed along with five other AIIMS hospitals i.e. at Patna, Raipur, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar and Jodhpur.

Later at a meeting of medical officials and doctors, Bandhopadhyay stressed on better implementation of the Centre-run medical schemes and providence of better medical facilities to the lower strata of society.

Accepting that during his inspection, he found the health facilities and infrastructure not up to the mark, the Union State Health Minister said he would be taking this issue with Uttarakhand Chief Minister Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri, particularly regarding the Central Government-run health schemes.

Later, the minister went to Rishikesh at the site where AIIMS is being constructed.

Unutilised MLA LAD funds to make state govt richer
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, November 26
With some Assembly segments losing their existence and some new ones being created, the funds under the MLA local area development remain unutilised. The funds released during this term of the Legislative Assembly will not be carried forward but will lapse once the model code of conduct comes into place.

This has come as a blessing in disguise for the cash-strapped government that is expected to benefit for the first time, if the funds remain unutilised.

In pursuance of the government recent announcement of a hike in the LAD fund, the department has released Rs 35.50 crore, but it has come with a rider. If this amount continues to remains unutilised till the time the model code of conduct comes into place, it will be deemed lapsed. This amount will not be carried forward but be deposited under the government receipt head. Usually, the amount released under the LAD fund is carried forward from year to year.

“Several Assembly segments will cease to exist. The next Assembly elections will be held according to new delimitation. Therefore, the amount that remains unutilised under the LAD fund will not be carried forward,” said an official. With the increase of Rs 50 lakh per MLA announced recently by the Khanduri government, each MLA in Uttarakhand is entitled to receive Rs 2.5 crore under the LAD fund.

According to officials, the total accumulated funds under the MLA LAD fund from 2001 onwards stands at Rs 131.48 crore. This amount has not been spent. Now with the addition of Rs 35.50 crore, the total funds available under MLA LAD funds is Rs 166.98. On the one hand, the MLAs have been instructed to utilise the recently released amount for making payment for the ongoing works, officials say with the little time left, the government treasury will gain from the cash flow.

Second phase of Ramdev’s yatra from Dec 2
Tribune News Service

Ramdev practises yoga in Haridwar. Tribune photo: Rameshwar Gaur

Haridwar, November 26
Elated at the overwhelming response to the first phase of the All-India Bharat Swabhiman Yatra focusing on the issues of corruption and black money, yoga guru Ramdev is all set to launch the second phase of his yatra at Gulbarga in Karnataka from December 2.

With the Assembly elections nearing in a few states, the second phase of the yatra assumes more significance both in terms of political impact and Ramdev’s stature.

In the first phase of the yatra, more than 300 districts of various states were covered by Ramdev.

Talking to TNS, Acharya Bala Krishan said their mission was to eradicate corruption and bring back black money stashed away in foreign banks.

Ramdev wants to make this second phase more successful and is organising a number of meetings, personal interaction and camps to reach a consensus on these issues.

Meanwhile, the yoga guru expressed dissatisfaction at the working of the Central Government and its "inability" to control the rising inflation, petrol prices and check corruption.

Ramdev also condemned the recent attack on Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, but at the same time maintained that public unrest was due to poor governance and termed the incident as a warning call for ministers.

According to Bharat Swabhiman Trust office, Ramdev will be holding a three-day free yoga camp at NV Ground, Gulbarga, with more than 50,000 persons already confirming their participation.

Cong has no issue for Assembly poll: BJP
Tribune News Service

Nainital, November 26
Showing an aggressive posture, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has demanded that the Congress should apologise to the people of the state for misleading them on several issues and resorting to a smear campaign against the state government.

Senior BJP leader Suresh Joshi, while claiming that the Congress has without any concrete issue to contest the Assembly poll, said it must explain to the people what constructive role it had played as the main opposition party in the state Assembly.

“The opposition is known to be a shadow government. The Congress must come out amid people on its role as the opposition. It must apologise to the people of the state,” Joshi said.

He further charged that the Congress had been resorting to levelling political charges against the state government that had fallen flat in the various courts. In an interaction with mediapersons in Nainital this afternoon, he said the BJP would contest the forthcoming Assembly poll on the plank of development and the steps taken by it for combating the menace of corruption. It would also go amidst the people of the state with the issue of the total failure of the five Congress Lok Sabha members from the state and would relate the “negative” role played by them with regards to the development of the state.

Claiming that the BJP was ready for the poll, he said the response which senior party leader Lal Krishna Advani’s recent Jan Chetna Yatra got in the state pointed at the fact that the people wanted to bring the BJP government back to power in Uttarakhand.

Joshi pointed out that the party cadres were being galvanised as per the new norms of the Election Commission of India (ECI) which stated that the parties would not be setting up kiosks and distributing voters’ slips at the polling booths. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) SY Qureshi had underlined that Uttarakhand would become the first state where the election slips would be distributed by the Election Commission. Earlier, this activity was undertaken by political parties. Along with the election slip, even kiosks set up by political parties will be banned for the coming Assembly poll.

Close shave for bus passengers
Tribune News Service

Nainital, November 26
Passengers travelling in a bus had a narrow escape when the vehicle hit an electric pole. The uprooting of the pole led to the flow of current on the road near Chhoi village in the Ramnagar area of Nainital district on Friday afternoon.

Showing the presence of mind, the bus driver manoeuvred the vehicle to safety and informed Power Department personnel to immediately take preventive action. The bus was on its way from Ramnagar to Haldwani.

There was a commotion among the passengers.

The falling of power line right in the middle of the road led to a massive traffic jam that could be cleared only by late evening.

As a result of the incident, a large number of villages were plunged into darkness in the entire area. The power supply to all affected villages could only be restored by this afternoon.

The worst affected areas were Belgadh, Kyari, Kanchanpur, Indraprastha, Kishanpur, Chhoi, Gabua and some other areas.

Dependency on Fuel Wood
Make LPG cylinders available in forest villages: Expert
Jotirmay Thapliyal
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, November 26
Professor at the University of Toronto, Canada and expert in Forest Economics Dr Jagdish Nautiyal has suggested for ensuring easy availability of LPG cylinders in forest fringe villages so as to prevent people from venturing into the forest areas for fuel wood.

Interacting with The Tribune in Dehradun, a former Indian Forest Service officer, who left the IFS to join the University of Toronto as professor three decades back, Dr Jagdish Nautiyal said making LPG cylinders available in the villages that fell in close vicinity of forests would end dependency of the people on fuel wood.

Dr Nautiyal said apart from the value of growing stock, the value of services provided by the trees was much more than the cost of an LPG cylinder.

He said even the services of the Forest Department could be taken for the purpose as forest chowkis that dot the undulated remote terrain of Uttarakhand could be used as distribution centre for LPG cylinders.

Laying stress on high fencing in forest stretches along thick habitations, Dr Nautiyal said he had come across heaps of garbage in the forest areas that shared borders with habitations.

“In area like Clement Town in Dehradun, you come across garbage strewn in the forests by the residents”, he said pointing out that fencing could prevent throwing of garbage in the forest areas.

An authority on Forest Economics, Dr Nautiyal said forest wealth in Uttarakhand had enormous value in terms of money.

Earlier in the day, Dr Jagdish Nautiyal presented his book - Forest Economics Principles and Applications - to Uttarakhand Principal Chief Conservator of Forests RBS Rawat. He also informed RBS Rawat about the forestry scenario in Canada. He also visited Natraj Publishers and interacted with its proprietor Upendra Arora, who is also the publisher for Forest Economics Principles and Applications.

Interestingly, Dr Nautiyal joined the IFS in 1966 and left the services in 1968. He has been instrumental in guiding several senior IFS officers of the country who have undertaken studies in Toronto University.

Intl workshop from tomorrow
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, November 26
Uttarakhand Open University in assistance with Doon University and Graphic Era University will be organising a two-day International workshop entitled “Information Communication Technologies Initiative Policies and Governance in Dehradun on November 28-29”.

Addressing a press conference in Dehradun, Prof Vinay Kumar Pathak, Vice-Chancellor, Uttarakhand Open University, disclosed that Uttarakhand Governor Margaret Alva would be inaugurating the conference in presence of Prof Asha Kanwar, vice-president, Commonwealth of Learning, Canada. He apprised that Uttarakhand Potable Water Minister Prakash Pant would be attending the valedictory session of the workshop.

Pathak revealed that experts from E University, Malaysia, Dakha Open University, Bangladesh, Rajshri Tandon Open University, Allahabad, Nalanda Open University, Patna, MP Bhoj Open University, Bhopal, Karnataka State Open University, Yashwant Rao Chavhan Open University, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu Open University will be participating in the workshop.

So far, 50 research papers have been submitted for the workshop while another 50 synopsis of research papers have been received by them. He said the workshop aimed to explore possibilities of better usage of technologies in the open learning system.

Prof Govind Singh, in charge for Journalism and Mass Communication Department, Uttarakhand Open University, held that Sir John Daniel, an expert in open learning system from Canada, would also be joining the workshop from Canada through video conferencing.

Prabal, Shivanshi, others win race
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, November 26
The annual athletics meet of Bachpan Academic Heights School concluded here with distribution of medals to the winning players. On the second day of the meet in long jump, Shivam, Vanshika, Rachit, Naina came first in different age group categories.

While in 100-mt race, Prabal, Shivanshi, Vansh and Ojaswi won gold medals in their respective age groups.

In hurdle race, Vansh, Drishti, Priyanshu, Shivam and Gurleen clocked the fastest time to emerge as winners.

In girls football event, group-4 won the match against group-1 with a margin of 1-0, while in boys, group-1 scored victory against group-2 with a solitary goal. For kindergarten kids, light events like biscuit race, sack race and spoon race were organised.

Giving away prizes, school principal Ashok Sharma urged students to play with a sporting spirit and make a balance between studies and sports.

Sports event in charge Pawan Bisht and Archana Arya were also felicitated on the occasion while Rama Ahluwalia, Sakshi Sehgal, Parul Sharma, Vani Verma and Kanika Arora among others were present from the school management side.

Cover canal by April 30: DM
Tribune News Service

Nainital, November 26
Nainital District Magistrate Nidhi Mani Tripathi has ordered that the entire exercise of covering of the canal running through Haldwani be completed by April 30, 2012.

The delay in the work has been causing inconvenience to the people. The areas where the work is on have become accident-prone zones and the dumping of construction materials on the already narrow roads of the town has been causing traffic chaos on daily basis.

Tripathi carried out an inspection of the covering work being done. She has ordered that there should be no compromise on the quality of work being done and pointed out that the officials of the Power and Water Supply Department must work in coordination with those of the Irrigation Department to ensure that the broken pipelines and power supply lines were repaired at the earliest.

Tripathi has also ordered that the PWD begins work on the construction of stretches where the canal has already been covered.

The District Magistrate has asked Executive Engineer with the Municipal Corporation Bala Singh Hyanki to take strict action against those dumping waste in the canal.

Parties urged to field nominees with clean image
Our Correspondent

Mussoorie, November 26
Members of the Mussoorie Against Corruption and the Society for Civil Opinion, Reforms and Empowerment (SCORE) at their review meeting held at a hotel in Mussoorie yesterday demanded political parties to field candidates with clean image and impeccable integrity, or they would be rejected jeopardising the prospects of gaining power in the state.

The core committee members of the Mussoorie Against Corruption forum and the SCORE stated that they had been conducting awareness camps in various wards in and around Mussoorie, including Rikholi and Bhitarli villages. They have also been educating the masses about new Lokayukta Act, citizen charter and the Right to Information. Director of the SCORE Vishal Sharma also said the forum would make the RTI Act, the Lokayukta Act and citizen charter as important tools to weed out corruption.

Tributes paid to 26/11 victims
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, November 26
Congress workers remembered the victims of the Mumbai attacks on the third anniversary of the incident here today.

The workers gathered at the Clock Tower and lit candles to pay homage to the victims.

They condemned the terrorists associated with Pakistan and demanded action against all those responsible for the attack and punishment to them.

The workers also prayed for the peace of the souls of all those who lost their lives.

Leopard found dead
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, November 26
A seven-year-old leopard was found dead in the Didihat forest today, according to forest officials. KS Khati, forest range officer of the area, said the leopard had died a natural death.

Dr PS Chauhan, a veterinary surgeon, who conducted its post-mortem, said the death might have occurred after a flesh piece got stuck in its wind pipe. “It seems that a big flesh piece got stuck in its wind pipe and it died of asphyxiation,” Dr Chauhan added.

“After a post-mortem examination, the animal has been cremated,” the forest range officer added.