No relief for 60 families of Brahmawala Khala
Dehradun, November 29
Some members of the remaining 60 families living illegally at Brahmawala Khala, who are to be removed after three days under an encroachment drive by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, today appealed to Mayor Vinod Chamoli to permit them to stay on the land.

Residents of Brahmawala Khala, who were uprooted from their homes in an anti-encroachment drive, talk to Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli on Tuesday. A Tribune photograph

Dehradun, November 29
The state government has released a policy regarding widening of the Chakrata Road. The road from the Ambedkar statue to Prabhat Cinema on one side and Digvijay Cinema to Krishna Cinema in four lanes will be expanded up to 24 metres.

A total of 134 properties and 262 units will be shifted, but 55 such properties of which only 25 per cent part is getting affected will not be relocated. Those who get shifted will be provided with facilities. The shops will be created in six categories of 10,15 16, 20 and 24 sq feet and displaced shopkeepers will be given land equal to their affected areas.

The cost of difference between the properties to be dismantled and given will not be charged from the shopkeepers.

The distribution of land will start from the Clock Tower in a systematic manner. The nazul land owners, who have deposited 25 per cent of the property conversion cost, will have to pay the remaining amount as per the circle rate of the year 2000.

The same yardstick will apply to the rest of the nazul landowners who are yet to avail the free-hold status. They will be given a benefit of applying for circle rate of 2000 in one stretch itself.

Dehradun November 29
Freehold shopkeepers of the Chakrata Road, who were overjoyed after the authorities assured them of giving more space for shops at the Clock Tower market complex, are feeling dejected over the state government’s policy on the issue. The policy does not mention giving extra area to the traders. The shocked shopkeepers now seem to be in a combative mode and made it clear that they would not sign a memorandum of understanding with the state government for handing over their shops.

Virender Rawat, president of the Chakrata Road Freehold Shopkeepers’ Association, said, “We have been cheated and misguided by Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) officials. As per the Chakrata policy, we are not being given one-and-a-half shop. We will be shifted on the second floor of the complex which is injustice. Instead of giving priority, we have rather been sidelined.”

He was also angry that they would have to leave 6-ft land in the remaining part of shops on the Chakrata Road. “We are left with only 10-ft land after our shops get dismantled. If we forgo 6-ft land also, then we will be left with a little portion which will be of no use,” he said. It was the freehold shopkeepers who had been displeased with the MDDA officials for keeping them on a par with nazul land shopkeepers and tenants, saying that since they owned the freehold land, they must be given double space for shops and preference in selection of new shops.

They also demanded to exempt the stamp duty, registration charges and other legal costs. The officials accepted all their demands where instead of double they promised of giving one-and-a-half shop, before the policy came out.

“The exemption of cost by the state government has given to all. We have not been given any exclusive benefit as promised to us. Therefore, we will oppose the relocation and not sign MoU with the MDDA.

Secretary, MDDA, Jugal Kishore Pant, said the policy was a final draft which could not be altered but only be fine-tuned with minor changes here and there.

The nazul land owners and tenants were happy over the policy. Shashi Kant, president of the nazul land group, said they had been asked to open one shop on December 8 in the new complex so that the rules of the election code of conduct did not come in the way of relocation process.

Dehradun, November 29
Some members of the remaining 60 families living illegally at Brahmawala Khala, who are to be removed after three days under an encroachment drive by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, today appealed to Mayor Vinod Chamoli to permit them to stay on the land. However, Chamoli refused to give them any relief citing their illegal occupation of the land

Meanwhile, Chamoli congratulated the state government for having removed the impediments related to the Chakrata road-widening issue and bringing about a policy on this matter.

Chamoli, who spearheaded the process in the beginning, said, “I started making efforts on this issue in 1997, which finally gained pace in 2008 and it was a year and half ago that I persuaded traders lobby to shift from the Chakrata road and made the government accommodate their demands as well. Now this issue has reached its culmination for which I congratulate the state
government.”

The state government has also given symbolic approval to the issue of authorisation of slum colonies, which will pave way for the residents seeking ownership rights. This, he said, was his second victory.

He said, “The issue of authorisation or regularisation of slum colonies topped the election manifesto. As a chairman of the Regulation Tax Committee in year 1992-93 and again in 1997-98, I recommended imposing house tax on the slum colonies in the city, but the state government did not pass the proposal. It was yesterday that the state government gave the go-ahead to this proposal.” A committee of three members, headed by Agriculture Minister Trivender Singh Rawat, had been constituted to prepare the modalities of the proposal.

Of 300 slum colonies situated on Nazool land, DMC land and others, work on the identification of these colonies has to be started. At least 2.5 lakh people living in slums will benefit from this move. The matter of house tax, which remained on a boil during the tenure of former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, has also been given the green light by the state government. Now the policy regarding levying taxes on new houses will be framed once again.

Pithoragarh, November 29
The parameters to assess the benefits under the MGNREGA scheme, run by the Union Government, should be different in the hill areas than that in the plains areas, for the benefits could be obtained by villagers in raising their income keeping the geography and topography of the region in mind, said KB Saxena, Adviser to the Union Rural Development Ministry.

Saxena, who reached the district to assess the benefits of the scheme being run by the district development office, was talking to villagers in Munsiyari after assessing the scheme.

He, along with four other members of the team from the ministry, visited five development blocks out of eight in the district where the scheme had been launched by the chief development officer of the district two years ago.

“The scheme has been launched in all eight blocks of the district and a total area of 503 hectares has been covered by protein-rich fodder grasses in barren land under the control of gram panchayat,” said Rajesh Kumar, District Magistrate, who is responsible for the launch of the fodder scheme as chief development officer of the district two years ago.

“The advance fodder grasses we have planted for the people, who earn their livelihood out of animal husbandry in the villages, are having 6 to 7 per cent of protein contents on these, whereas the local fodder grass, keeping some fodder plants like Bhimal aside, contains only 1 to 2 per cent of protein in it which happens to be the sole reason of less yield of milk in hilly varieties of milking animals,” said the District Magistrate, who is also a trained veterinary doctor.

The team which also held a meeting of animal keepers of the district answered the queries of the farmers and said if the staple fodder would be available to the women of the hill villages, they would not have to travel 5 to 6 km per day in search of the fodder for their animals.

“This spare time of hill women could be utilised in some productive work and their family income can be increased,” said Saxena.

Dehradun, November 29
Arushi Kakkar from Chandigarh defeated Saranya Khanna 8-4 in the under-14 (girls) category to enter the quarterfinals of the All-India Talent Tennis Series Tournament-2011 played at the Shanti Tennis Academy here today.

In another matches, in the under-14 category, Savi Belwal (Uttarakhand) beat Ishika Sharma (Rajasthan) 8-0, Alisha Menon ( Punjab) beat Nandita Saxena (Delhi) 8-2, Vidisha Balyan (Uttarakhand) beat Hanshika (Chandigarh) 8-2, Kavya Gupta (Punjab) beat Ayushi Gupta (Delhi) 8-5, Sukanya Biswas (UP) beat Ananya Bhargava (UP) 8-7, Anima John (UP) beat Crystal Dhanraj (Delhi) 8-4 and Nirmat Kaur Kang (Punjab) beat Palak Uppal (Uttarakhand) 8-1.

In the under-12 (boys) category, Khush Arora ( Rajsthan ) beat Dron Walia (Uttarakhand) 8-5, Achint Bhagat ( Delhi) beat Tushar Shjarma (UP) 8-7, Suhanshu Sharma ( Chandigarh) beat Ashar John (UP) 8-5, Dhruv Sabbharwal (Uttarakhand ) beat Sarthak Sharma ( Delhi) 8-2 and Mohit Sahrawat ( Delhi ) beat Chaitanya Chaudhary ( Delhi) 8-1.

In the under-14 category (boys), Mritunjay Badola ( Uttarakhand) beat Ashar John (UP) 8-4, Dhruv Sabbharwal (Utarakhand) beat Anubhav Gupta (Uttarakhand) 8-3, Mohak Bajaj (Delhi) beat Prabhav Aggarwal (Delhi) 8-2, Shivank Bhatnagar (Delhi) beat Achint Bhagat (Delhi) 8-2, Rupesh Khokhar (Haryana) beat Prithvi Khanna (Delhi) 8-4, Sanjit Singh Pahuja (Delhi) beat Tushar Sharma (Delhi) 8-7 and Utkarsh Bhardwaj (Uttarakhand) beat Aditya Pratap Singh (Uttarakhand)8-1.

Dehradun, November 29
‘Browning Version’, an English play, was staged at Khetarpal Auditorium of the Indian Military Academy last night. Officers and their families, Gentlemen Cadets and cadets of Army Cadet College were present on the occasion.

It is a play by Terence Rattigan, which was first performed on September 8, 1948, at Phoenix Theatre, London. The play is about the last few days in the career of Andrew Crocker Harris, an ageing classics teacher at a British public school. This is an outstanding play about marriage, relationships, academics and agonising reticence that was a hallmark of British civility. It may be considered an old- fashioned play, but there is nothing outdated about often devastating and always crucial relationships among partners, lovers, students and teachers. This was a play revolving around fun, creativity, romance and authenticity.

Dehradun, November 29
The indefinite fast of members of the Uttarakhand Government College Contractual Lecturers Federation, who are demanding ad hoc appointments, entered fifth day on Tuesday. Addressing a gathering, the president of the federation, Dr DC Bebni, alleged that the state government was ignoring contractual lecturers who were playing a key role in providing higher education in the hilly areas of the state. Bebni alleged that on the one hand, the state government had approved a policy for youths, on the other it was making contractual lecturers jobless.

He said contractual lecturers would continue with their agitation till they were given ad hoc appointments.

Dehradun, November 29
Class IV state employees of all departments held dharna at Parade Ground on the call given by the Fourth Class State Employees Association on the eight day of their protest.

General secretary Banwari Singh Rawat said they had taken the pledge to fight till the end to make the government accept their demands because government officials were adopting double policy for the 52,000 class IV employees.

The members has decided to send memorandums at the tehsil and block level on December 1 and hold a rally to meet the Chief Minister in this regard. They will also hold a massive rally from Parade Ground to

the Chief Minister’s residence on December 8.

Dehradun, November 29
At a state-level consultative workshop on tuberculosis control, experts stressed the need to involve the media and NGOs to make the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) a success.

Head of Global Advocates Sapna Navin stressed the need to have collaborations between the state and NGOs for providing information under the RNTCP programme.

Dr Ajit Gairola, state tuberculosis officer, said for the effectiveness of the programme, it was imperative that community-level interventions were developed in spreading awareness about tuberculosis and its control.

He stressed the need to develop locally relevant advocacy interventions that would further benefit the programme.

“Awareness generation is said to have a major role in reducing stigma and, therefore, discrimination. If neighbours in villages remind one another on taking the DOTS treatment, the disease can be arrested,” said Dr Gairola.

Dehradun, November 29
Haridwar and Dehradun girls’ hockey teams entered the final of the Panchayat Girls Hockey Tournament played at Maharana Pratap Sports Stadium here today.

Haridwar defeated Pauri Garhwal by 2-1 to enter the final. Sushma scored two goals for Haridwar while Aradhana scored the lone goal for Pauri Garhwal.

Dehradun defeated Almora by 2-1 in the semi-final match. Kavita and Shikha scored one goal each for Dehradun while Sangeeta scored the lone goal for Almora.

Nainital, November 29
A seminar on “Class 2020” was organised here today to provide a glimpse into the future of classroom teaching.

Representatives from various schools participated in the seminar that was organised by Educomp Solutions Limited. Principals and teachers were given a glimpse of how classrooms of the future would look. They were also apprised of the latest trends in education.

The participants witnessed new paradigms in digital learning, including a three-dimension walk through technology. They were also exposed to smartclass CTS technique aimed at making the teaching-learning session stimulating, interactive, enlightening and effective.

Dehradun, November 29
Various Muslim office bearers of the Congress have demanded a fair representation to the Muslim candidates from the party for the ensuing Assembly election.

Abdul Razzaq, member of the Congress Manifesto Committee said, “The party should field Muslim candidates from Vikasnagar, Sahaspur and Dharmpur. This is the time when Muslims should be given the right to get votes.”

He said the community people never got a fair treatment from any party, which was why this time they demanded an appropriate representation and participation in the elections so that they could redress their grievances on their own.

District president Hazi Deen Mohammad said “Muslim comprise of 15 to 20 per cent of the total population and must get adequate seats,” he said.